webnovel

The One Who Holds The Joker

Cards mean everything here. If you want rations, you can buy them with a pair of twos. If you want matches, you need a pair of threes. A full house, sevens over tens, lets you conjure fireballs. And four aces give you a second life. How do you get cards? You play fun little challenges using the cards you already have. If you win, you get cards. If you lose, you either lose a part of yourself or your card. A two saves a fingernail while the queen saves a lung. Monsters? What are you talking about? Those are people, just like you. They've simply had to pay. After all, everything has a price, and there are always ways to repay your debts. Don't think about it too much. Do what you can to win, and you could achieve even your wildest wishes. Power and riches come to many here. Even immortality isn't off the table. Doesn't that sound exciting? Please come down to The House of Cards. We will surely enjoy your stay. ... Jack was born in The House of Cards, but he was raised by his father without seeing the horrors this place had to offer. Then one day, his father got a gift. "Happy birthday, Jack! Here's your present, a red Joker card." "Wow! Thanks, Dad!" "Now promise me that you will never lose it. No matter what." And after Jack made that promise, his father disappeared the very next day.

Disgrace · Terror
Classificações insuficientes
148 Chs

Goody Seedy

After hearing Jessica's declaration to pick Jack, Stanley then pointed at him.

"Alright then, first our special guest will pick a card and declare whether it will be one needed to steal, or one that is a guard."

He giggled before speaking up.

"Jack, guard! Hehe."

While he was laughing at a joke that only he really understood, Stanley then looked at Jessica.

"Alright, what is your declaration for your chosen audience member, and will you use your cards?"

Jessica sucked in a cold breath.

"A-Ah! Um... uh, a ten as a guard, and I will use all of my 9 points to reduce how many cards need to be drawn."

The cards in front of Jessica were wheeled up promptly after. From there Stanley pointed towards Jack, which caused the giant deck to move over next to Jack.

"Well then, please draw one card, and if it's a Jack, then our contestant will be punished. However, if it is a ten, then our audience member will be punished instead!"

After Jack took a look at the deck for a little while, he reached out and drew a card, which was a Queen. They were both in the clear. Mia followed Jessica's example, and the process repeated itself. The only main difference was that Jack now chose a 4, since repeats weren't allowed, while Mia chose the queen. Along with that, Jack had to draw three cards as Mia could only reduce the total of 10 by 7.

However, Jack decided to draw all three without a break.

There were 6, 8, and 9. In the end, they were in the clear. When Stanley turned to look at Mike and ask him, he didn't respond immediately. However, his eyes opened ever so slightly before he cast a gaze over to Jack.

"...I choose him as well."

Stanley let out a long laugh.

"Wow! It looks like this one is quite popular! Every single audience member chose him! Now, what is your declaration, special guest?"

Jack let out a giggle.

"2, Guard!"

As for Mike, he narrowed his eyes and spoke weakly through slurred words.

"...King, Guard."

Stanley let out a long hum and spread out his hands.

"Well, would you look at that! Both members decided to choose guard. If any of the ten cards drawn are either a 2 or a King, then we will be seeing some punishment! Please take it away, special guest!"

Jack tilted his head to the side and put a finger on the bottom of his mask.

"Is there a requirement where I draw the card from?"

Stanley paused for a little while. His head slowly tilted to the side, as a squeaky voice escaped him.

"Weeeellllllllll... The rules state that the audience member needs to draw cards. Though there aren't any specifications for where they should be drawn from."

Jack let out a giggle and adjusted his mask.

"Then I will be drawing from my deck."

Mike's eyes widened, as he broke out of his drowsy stupor.

"What? You can do something like that?"

Mia furrowed her brows rather intensely.

"I... never thought about working around the rules like that."

And with that, Jack drew cards from his black deck. Drawing ten 2's in a row. All of the drawn cards hovered in front of him, joining the others. From there, Stanley let out a long-winded laugh.

"Hahaha! It looks like our contestant has his feet... or foot, in hot water! As ten different 2's have been drawn, now we will go onto the punishment!"

Mike grit his teeth.

"What the hell is this bullshit? I use an arm and a fucking leg just to barely stay alive, and now you're telling me that-"

He was suddenly cut off, not by anyone in particular. But rather by the fact his jaw suddenly dislodged from his face, ripped off along with his teeth and tongue. Mike let out a strange scream that sounded like a gurgle.

Though it was fairly clear that he was in pain.

Afterwards, one of his eyeballs burst, spraying some strange clear fluid out. In the end, everybody except for Jack and Stanley turned away, not wanting to take in what was happening.

For the next few moments, he was wildly contorting in pain, though nothing was apparent from the outside. However, soon enough the movements of his body slowed.

Then, his last arm that he still had ripped off. However, it didn't appear that he was too bothered by it, given the fact that he no longer had much of a reaction. His body continued to contort awkwardly, until eventually, his planking corpse was just swinging back and forth ever so slightly.

Stanley snapped a few times.

"Hello, Mike? Are you still there?"

After an awkward silence, Stanley let out a laugh.

"Well, since it seems that our contestant here has decided to opt out, he will now be given as a gift to the house!"

After saying that, Mike's body began to contort awkwardly. However, it was rather different from how people normally were when they were "gifted to the house" as it was called.

Instead of his body mutating aggressively, instead, fabric grew out, replacing where his lost limbs were. At first, they were quite deflated, not taking their proper shape. But soon enough, stuffing began bursting out of Mike's corpse, from all of his orifices. The slightly yellow-colored cotton almost seemed like a plague that burst out from the body, particularly so for his empty eye socket.

As for the limbs, they were quickly filled up, taking on the form of a stuffed animal limb. They were wide, and needlessly fluffy looking. The fingers at the end were thick and short.

Before, Mike's corpse looked almost like a deflated bag, perhaps because of the missing organs. But now, it was needlessly bloated, not even a beer belly would come close to how large it was right now.

When things seemed to relax, Stanley spoke up.

"Now, since there was a gift to the house, there will naturally also be rewards handed out to the participants! For starters, there was the basic participation of Jessica and Mia! Since our contestant Jessica used a total of 9 points and survived, she will be rewarded with a 7. As for our contestant Mia, she used a total of 7 points, so she will instead be rewarded with a 6."

He then twirled around to look at Jack before pointing a finger gun at him, with a smile.

"And finally, our special guest here not only drew a total of 13 separate cards but was picked by all three of the contestants! His original reward for being the direct cause of their death is the all-exclusive blood card! However, due to his excessive contribution, his reward is multiple three times over!"

After his announcement of the rewards, they went to their respective people. A 7 forcefully made its way into Jessica's deck and a 6 in Mia's. As for Jack, three blood cards hovered in front of them, slowly rotating almost like they wanted to show off their grotesque design.

Seeing the card, Seedy got rather excited, clapping its hands together, with a tongue out the side of its petals. Its saliva was also dripping down onto the floor in front of them. Jack could tell that Seedy was rather tempted by the sight in front of them.

After collecting all three, he turned to look at Seedy.

"Do you want one of these?"

Jack held up one of the cards next to it. In response, Seedy put one vine up to the petal. It didn't answer immediately, just rubbing the vine against its petals for a while. Eventually, it timidly shook its head, and all the while saliva ended up spilling from its petals.

Jack let out a giggle while holding up one of the blood cards next to his face.

"You are a good Seedy! This will be your reward since you made sure to learn from your mistakes last time."

Hearing that, its vines shot out in excitement, grabbing onto the blood card and holding it up high like a trophy. It jumped from side to side using its vines, quite excited. Its tongue flopped around as its petals opened, revealing countless sharp teeth.

Yet, right before it ended up eating it, Seedy casted one more pensive gaze towards Jack, unsure of itself. In response, Jack patted it with a laugh.

"Don't worry so much! I already have many of them anyway!"

Seedy took another look at the blood card, but it didn't eat right away despite being granted permission. Instead, it hugged Jack's head with its vines while rubbing its petals against him affectionately.

It let out some strange cooing sounds, but their meaning was clear.

Only after that, did it eat the blood card. And almost immediately, Seedy began to vibrate strangely. His body gradually began to spasm, as strange mutations appeared to happen. Jack looked over in concern.

"Seedy, are you ok?"

Nah I'm ded.

Disgracecreators' thoughts