Tunnel Rat

Mako watched the next two hands. Tallsqueak quietly folded in the first one, not drawing any cards. On the second hand, he played more aggressively right from the start, raising twice before taking two cards. The Captain of the Shark Clan watched the game, trying to see each player's cards, it was difficult if you weren't sitting right at the table across from someone. Tallsqueak had a 7, 9, and jack of clubs, and tossed his other two cards to the discard pile. Inwardly, Mako laughed. The ratkin knew the odds of pulling either a straight or a flush off that combo, but acted confidently, raising twice before taking cards. He was going for a longshot, and running a bluff at the same time. Two players dropped at that point. Two more dropped when Tallsqueak raised again. Only Captain Goldtooth was still in. Mako could see that she had two pairs, kings and queens. Tallsqueak had picked up his cards too quickly for Mako to see but she suspected that he must have filled his hand. When Goldtooth tried to call, Tallsqueak tossed in another stack of chips. The Scavenger Captain shook her head, "Not worth paying to see what you have. You've got me beat, anyway." She tossed her cards in the discard, as did Tallsqueak, who raked in the pot. Mako got a look at the backs of his cards: The 3 of diamonds, and the 2 of spades. The bastard had bluffed on a broken hand! That made her happy as a clam. It was hard to play against a conservative player. All of her strategies worked against opponents who didn't mind a little risk. She was preparing to sit down at the game when the ratkin stood up and nodded at all of them.

Tallsqueak smiled and nodded to them all. "Thank you for the wonderful game. I believe that will be all for me tonight." He turned to Sassy, "Could you please tell the polite lady with the gold that I will be exchanging my chips now? Full bars are preferable over coins. I'm sure a well-established casino such as this has plenty in stock." Sassy nervously looked at Mako. That was a lot of money leaving the casino. All the sharks knew the most important rule: Once you have their money, you never give it back.

Mako took two steps toward the table, forgetting anything else, and trying to calculate how much Tallsqueak had in front of him. It was too much by any reckoning. That much would clean out the meager gold reserves they had left in the casino. They'd shifted most of their working capital to the Silver Shark just before the attack. Leaving gold in a casino was a sure way to attract Thieves and Tunnelers. She needed those funds to pay off Annie for the salvage run so she could recover the loot from the Silver Shark. And that meant not letting the Professor leave just yet. She needed to stall until she could get her people in position to distract Annie and Goldtooth as she hustled him downstairs for a talk.

"Sad to see you go, Professor, but I imagine that the life of an academic doesn't give you the stamina to stay up late at night. What is it that you teach, anyway?"

The ratkin had donned his robe and recovered his staff. Sassy was slowly walking away after giving the excuse she needed to find some large baskets for his chips. Now he looked at Mako with a twinkle in his eyes. "I teach mathematics. A very dangerous branch of knowledge that is revolutionizing the casting of magic in the Tower of Strife. I won't bore you with the details of my Stochastic Theories and Analysis of Variance tables. Suffice it to say that they aid me in casting my fourth-tier spells when I travel in the deep realms. The miner's guild is very interested in my techniques for blasting tunnels through rock using Force Spells."

Mako had heard a story about that. Drunken miners had talked about a new guildmember that brought down a whole cavern with one spell. There was a lot of risk involved when dealing with a mage with that kind of power. She signaled to her crew to abort the 'Grab' maneuver and shifted tactics.

"It's a shame that you have to leave. I was just going to suggest we start up a Captain's Game. We have the required three captains, a mate, and a Professor. Normally, it's only Captains allowed, but I'm sure Captain Cuda won't mind Mary playing in her stead, and we can name you an honor Captain for the day."

"No need for that. I have Captained a Ship before, if only for a short voyage after I stole it."

Mako smiled broadly, he was taking the bait. Wonderful, that means we can play at my special reserved table. I was looking forward to opening a bottle of good brandy and that cask of Whiskey-Barrel aged cheddar. And to make sure it's an exciting game, my Casino will extend a thousand gold in credit to Captain Goldtooth and acting Captain Mary. At low interest, of course." Captain Goldtooth and the mate were immediately excited. Loans meant money today, and a chance to play in a high-stakes game. After they won they could immediately pay the loans back.

Tallsqueak paused his chip stacking and thought about the offer. He had planned to come back to the casino again and play more games. Cheating by reading cards was ok as far as the Sharks were concerned, so he thought it was fair if he cheated too. Money had a lot of uses and came in handy. He wanted to hire Captain Pike to guard the docks and boats of the fishermen when his current contract ran out. He had intended to go swimming tonight. He'd gained the skill during his run/swim away from the eels and wanted to remove his tombstone from where he died. But he'd never had Whiskey-Barrel Cheddar and it sounded delicious. Sampling a new cheese and playing some cards with the Captains sounded like fun.

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"That sounds enjoyable. Count me in. I'm sure Sassy can help me convert many of these little 5 and 10-gold piece chips to 25s and 100s. I expect Captains to play a serious game." There were nods all around the table.

Mako called a brief break from gambling in the poker area to allow the normal tables to be cleared away and the much larger Captain's table to be set up. It was an antique teakwood table with room for ten players. Heavy teakwood chairs with leather seats were brought out of storage and polished to a high shine. A small bar and buffet were set up on one side, and a cheese and fruit board on the other, directly behind the professor's seat. Mako knew her job would be easier once she got some cheese into the Professor and whiskey into the other Captains.

An old and distinguished Scavenger was acting as the dealer, her nimble fingers expertly shuffling the special cards used at the Captain's table. Each was a beautiful hand-painted plaques showing pictures of pirates and treasure on one side, and a silver ship on the back. The deck was passed around the table and each captain cut it, or spread out the cards for a quick look before passing them on. The Professor picked them up and smiled broadly. "These are beautifully made. The colors and artwork are a wonder to behold. My compliments to the artist. I would happily lose a pile of gold just to handle these lovely cards." He had a hard time pulling his eyes away from them and passing the cards to the dealer.

The dealer was about to pass out the first hand when there was a loud commotion at the door of the Casino. Four bouncers moved to the door, before being picked up and tossed high in the air and sailing across the room. The front doors they had been trying to shut were torn off their hinges. "Out of my way, minnows, I'm late for a game of cards." A heavyset Scavenger Captain with a pegleg and long black braids in her beard entered the room, followed by her crew.

Mary the Mussel stood up from her chair. "Thank you for the offer, Captain Mako, but seeing as how Captain Cuda has arrived, I'll cede my chair to her. Mako ground her teeth as Captain Cuda slapped her mate on the shoulder and took her seat. "I just happened to be passing by when a drunken sailor mentioned you were hosting a game and my mate had been pressganged into representing me. Mary's a fine girl, but why sit a mate at the Captain's table when you can have a Captain?"

Mako smiled. She didn't like the interruption of her plans to win back the gold in front of the Professor, but Cuda was known more for her drinking than her skill at cards. And skill wasn't going to make a difference tonight, at this table. "Glad to have you here Cuda, lots of important things going on and we can talk about that tonight."

A harsh, deep laugh filled the casino and a larger-than-life figure strode into the casino through the broken front doors. "Can't be too important, if I didn't get an official invite. As the crowd near the front door parted, Captain Whale sauntered toward the table. She had an ornate steel mug in one hand full of aged dwarven whiskey. The buckles of her boots, buttons on her coat, and beads in her beard were made of polished gold. The ruby-encrusted pommel of her cutlass was stuck through a silken cummerbund that was trying to restrain her ample figure. She slammed down her tankard on the table, where everyone could see the inscription on side, 'World's Best Captain' above a picture of a ship that had to be The Iron Queen. She tossed a bag of gems on the table. "Get me some chips, I'm up for a little poker before we start talking about important things."

Mako stared at Whale. The two had never seen eye to eye. The Whales were to oldest Scavenger Clan and the Sharks the newest. She hadn't appreciated Mako's vision whenever the clans got together to meet. Mako had expected it would take weeks of sucking up to her to get Whale sitting at the same table, yet here she was. Makko held out her hand and was surprised when Whale accepted and shook it, Mako wincing yet continuing to smile. Two broken fingers were acceptable for everyone seeing Whale treat her as an equal. Behind Whale came some of her crew, including her daughter, Narwhale, showing off her new Engineer-Husband. More Engineers poured into the casino, buying up the available alcohol and taking up the seating.

Mako yelled out, "Another chair for Captain Whale, and break out a cask of whiskey for our esteemed guests from the Deep Rock Guild."

She'd just started to sit down when there was another commotion at the front door. The remaining low-rollers were getting out of the way, fast, as two enormous cats padded into the room, clearing a route to the table with glares and swipes of their claws. A tall human with crazed eyes, an enormous hat, and far too many knives glided behind the two murder kitties.

"Make that two chairs please, and bowls of cream for my kitties. I was so happy when they told me that I counted as a Captain, despite my airship having a few dents in it."

Whale laughed, "Tonight is 'ship optional', right Mako? As long as you've got the title, you have a spot at the table. Now let's play some cards and move some fortunes around the table.

Whiskey Barrel Aged Cheddar.

I was delighted to find many varieties of Cheddar and Feta that were aged in whiskey barrels, smoked over a fire of old whiskey barrels, or used the charr from the inside of a barrel in the cheese recipe.

This cheese is made from pasteurized milk, cultures, salt, calcium chloride, rennet, and whiskey char. The cheese comes from a local distillery that uses charred barrels to age their whiskey, and then uses those barrels to make the cheese. The result is a marbled cheddar with an earthy, smoky flavor.