Johnstovall
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Demon Card Enforcer 3, Chapter 22
🕑 Added 2024-08-26 18:53:32 +0000 UTCChapter Twenty-Two: Leveling One More Time
Wolfe returned to the center of the mock Cowlitz village, which had ascended to a new and improved state: not being on fire. He had finished the second fight under the seven-minute mark, but it had been close, as the cards hadn’t quite cooperated the second time for his uber-dog strat. Despite that, he saw that two of the cedar longhouses appeared to have burnt down, and a couple civilians were dead in the streets—not dissipated into energy like most monsters or cards did when defeated.
He could hear mothers weeping, and the air smelled of burnt wood, with an undertone of burnt flesh and a coppery blood smell mixed in for maximum pathos. Way to rub it in, gods.
Loowit was still at the base of the fire, weeping as well.
“What happened?” Wolfe asked, motioning to the two houses.
“Arsonists,” Rhett said. “Some of the archers apparently had extra fire arrows, and ticked down the timers. We hit them specifically and hard after that, but they still got two. Sorry.”
“It’s fine,” Wolfe said. Nothing can be done by bitching now.
Wolfe was distracted by three people walking into town. One was Chief Tyee. The other two were his sons, still covered in dog bites but newly restored to…functionality, Wolfe supposed.
They both appeared downcast.
Tyee marched up to Loowit, his sons slouching after him. He took her chin in his hand and faced her up at him.
“I am disappointed in you, Loowitlatkla,” he said, then turned and glowered at his sons before returning his gaze to her. “Not as disappointed as I am in my own sons, but I am still displeased. Why would you not choose one? If you had merely chosen, this feud could have ended.”
She spoke, fresh tears running from her eyes. “I am sorry, my chief, but they were both so strong, and so wonderful, that I could not choose.”
“And now their selfishness and pride, and your indecision, has burned many of the villages of the Cowlitz. But for these heroes here—” he motioned his other arms to vaguely take in Wolfe, Rhett, Fern, and Shel in turn “—the very heart of our people would have burned. I cannot allow this to stand.”
“What will you do with us?” Loowit asked.
“I love you all, and honor the good even though I punish the bad. I shall make each of you a spirit of one of the mountains that look at the heart of our people, and yours shall burn forever with the fire you once tended, that brought us all life.”
Loowit bowed her head, still weeping, and Chief Tyee waved his hand. His two sons and Loowit all disappeared, and in the distance, three mountains rose, one smoking.
Chief Tyee turned to Rhett, who was nearest him. “Thank you, heroes, for your timely aid—you saved most, but not all, of my people’s heart. I will give you these in turn.”
He handed two packs and a card to Rhett, then turned, walking off. As he went, he faded from view. At the same time, the fire in town cleared, and a portal appeared in the place the fire had stood.
A moment later, the trader came back, walking into the devastated town like nothing was amiss. He began setting up his stand near the city center, across from the portal.
Wolfe already knew he was going to trade the two cards they had gotten. He headed over to the trader, offering the chief’s sons creature cards in order to get the two enhancer mountain cards—The spirits of Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams.
He walked back to the group, where they were staring at the card that Chief Tyee had handed to them.
The picture on the card showed Chief Tyee banishing the three to become mountains.
Displeasure of the Divine
Legendary Divine Persistent
2 Divine, 6 Any power
This card banishes for 30 minutes any three cards that are in play. While banished, these cards do not return their power to their deckbearer, nor do they return to the deck. If this card leaves play, the other three cards return to the field as if just summoned.
“The First Chiefs were so powerful that they can turn those that displease them into geographical features.”
“That’s quite impressive, especially for someone that has companions on the field that can fight for them,” Rhett said.
“I don’t have eight power, even with all the enhancers and such,” Shel said. “And it doesn’t really fit my style. I think, if it were up to me, I just sell it and try and get something else.”
Wolfe held the two cards he had gotten out. “Well, if you want, you can take enough enhancer slots, and the building slot, to be able to add the three spirits of the mountain and the Stone Arch Fire building into your deck.”
Shel nodded. “I still can’t believe that two years ago I was just some stupid jumped up kid, and now I’m a card officer with a deck that has legendary and mythic cards in it.”
She turned to Wolfe. “In case my proposal earlier didn’t clue you in, I love you so, so much. For everything.”
Wolfe looked away. “Sure. I love you too. But let’s open the packs and see what we get, this has been the longest day ever, and I want to get some sleep. We have a lot to do.”
Shel tool the two packs from Rhett’s hand and then handed them, along with her two legendary Life packs, to Wolfe. “I want you to open them. Four more chances to get an orphan that doesn’t even exist yet, based on your perk.”
Wolfe still wasn’t sure if taking the ancient packs had been the best idea, as merges would be terribly hard to come by. But he had to admit, the cards they had gotten had synergized with Shel a lot. Maybe they would again.
He opened the first Life pack, which was listed as a ‘Cycle of the Fifth Sun, Twilight, Legendary Life’ and had a picture of a river filled with fish coursing across the packaging, still in the ubiquitous pseudo-Aztec line drawing style.
Four uncommon cards, a rare, and a legendary card, all Life cards, fell into his hand. Wolfe passed them to Shel immediately.
No orphans, but there were immediate heals, and two persistent cards for the rare and the legendary—both of which felt like they had almost been made for Shel.
The first showed a Couatl with hands holding a glowing sun over and Aztec style village.
Quetzalcoatl's Blessing of Promise
Legendary tier-1 Divine/Life [Vitality, Civic] Persistent
2 Life or Divine Power, 2 Mortal Power
Target [Civic] Card you control with power cost 3 or less. This card becomes a token copy of it. While this card is on the field, [Civic] cards you own cost 1 less of any power to play and you may have 2 extra cards on field so long as they are [Civic]. Cards reduced below 1 power becomes cost 1 Any Power (available) and gain Speedy.
"Times are changing and a new age is arriving. I cannot promise that it will be better and already there are omens that it will be a dark age for your people, but I promise you, I will care for you and watch over you, so that you may find comfort and rest after your last days.”—Quetzalcoatl
The second card showed a rainbow sun glowing over an even more complete Aztec metropolis.
Shard of the Second Sun
Rare tier-1 Fire/Light/Life/Divine [Sun, Civic, Ascendent, Vitality] Persistent
2 Power of either Light, Life, Fire, or Divine
Special: Gift of Quetzalcoatl: While this card is in play each allied creature gains +1 to each non-health stat for each power type and each subtype it shares with this card.
Special: Ire of Quetzalcoatl: while this card is in play all creatures that don’t share a power type or a subtype with this card suffers -1 to all non-health stats.
“A fragment of Quetzalcoatl’s grand Sun Stone, it carries within it the light and fire that nurtures life and protects civilizations.”
“Well, no orphans, but those are some good cards for your deck,” Wolfe said.
Shel’s eyes were wide as she stared at the Blessing of Promise. “With this card and Stone Arch Fire on the field, I’d heal everything for twenty a round, and remove a step of injury penalty the first time it occurs. More than that with the Fire Tender Mantle.”
“Well, at a certain point its overkill,” Wolfe replied.
Shel nodded, but she had a far away look in her eyes.
Wolfe opened the second pack. A few more cards spilled out. The Legendary card was actually not very useful at all—it was a Life spirit that healed and increased healing dramatically, but given Shel’s capabilities, it really was pure overkill. Wolfe and Shel quickly decided they would sell it.
But three of the uncommon ones caught Wolfe’s eyes. The first was a Couatl that cost one Life power, but two rounds after it entered, could be sacrificed to bring forth any other couatl at no power cost. It was called a Growing Couatl.
The second was an uncommon building called Civic Irrigation. It showed canals and a few wells around an Aztec-style town.
Civic Irrigation
Uncommon Tier-1 equivalent Life [Civic] Building
1 Life Power
This card expands to grow one hundred feet around every building that was placed next to it. It adds 25% to the effect of all buildings owned by other deckbearers that it touches. All effects round to the nearest whole number of the effect. This building may not modify another Civic Irrigation building regardless of who owns it.
“Rivers are fine, but they must be directed to grow life. An expert guiding the irrigation can bring teeming life where before there was nearly nothing, and cities will follow.”
“Wow…” Shel said, grabbing Wolfe’s arm again. “That would be amazing. I mean, can you imagine? If I had that, the Stone Arch fire would double its effect!”
“So?” Wolfe asked, trying to think through why she was so excited.
“It would make it the bonus fifty percent! And then every single plus one would become a plus two on any buildings that anyone had! Can you imagine? You’d add more to growth of orphans, you would add even more to their tier, you would pick two cards to start your hand with…”
Wolfe eyed her. “You seem to be sacrificing a lot for other people. Don’t you want to increase your own deck?”
She laughed. “No. I want to heal the world, to save those that deserve saving, like you told me more than a year ago. And now, maybe Liam, or Miriam, or even Rhett here could place buildings and get a greater effect as well.”
Wolfe nodded slowly. It made sense, he supposed. She was the light to his darkness, no doubt about it. But…
“Either way, you need fifteen leveling pips to put two buildings in your deck, and you need twenty-five leveling pips to put the remaining Lantern angels in. You’re going to have some hard decisions.”
Shel’s excitement faded. “That’s true.”
Then they glanced at the last card together. It showed a baby Couatl, more of an iridescent green than the rainbow of most of the couatl cards they had seen, crawling from the remains of a shell.
It was an orphan card, which meant that even if it was officially not a unique card, there would only be one in the world most likely.
Couatl Hatchling of the Sixth Sun
Uncommon Tier-1 Life Minion [Orphan]
0 Power
Health: 7
Attack: N/A
Defense: 3
Magical Attack: N/A
Magical Defense: 8
Special: Will fetch normal objects and such with a decent degree of precision and help carry up to five pounds.
Special: Orphan Evolution [Unique]: If kept ‘alive’ for five straight years, will turn into a Rare equivalent, Tier-4 equivalent creature card, gaining notable power. They deckbearer will also gain a common Life pack from the same set as the orphan. If ever ‘killed,’ the timer resets.
“Well, that is nearly everything,” Wolfe said. “Are you going to do your final build now?”
Shel nodded. “I’m going to take the entire collection of Mountain Spirit cards, which will need five more pips of enhancers.”
Wolfe held them out, and Shel took them.
Spirit of Mount St. Hoods
Unique Rare equivalent Tier-1 equivalent Elemental / Life [Earth] Enhancer
0 Power
This card adds +1 defense, +1 Magical Defense, and +3 Health. This person will have their weight doubled for purposes of resisting being moved. +20% lifespan. They restore an injury level per day.
“After the destruction, Chief Tyee changed all three participants into mountains. Pahto became Mount St. Hood, who watched over the Cowlitz.”
Spirit of Mount St. Adams
Unique Rare equivalent Tier-1 equivalent Elemental / Life [Earth] Enhancer
0 Power
This card adds +2 defense and +5 Health. This person will have their weight doubled for purposes of resisting being moved. +20% lifespan.
“After the destruction, Chief Tyee changed all three participants into mountains. Wy’east became Mount St. Adams, who sheltered the Cowlitz.”
Shel continued. “Then I’m going to take a building slot for the Stone Arch Fire card. That will leave me with seven pips, and I can decide what I want to do after I make three more levels.”
“And your cards?” Wolfe asked.
Shel was typing out on her phone, and she passed it over. Wolfe scrolled down, seeing where she was at.
Rachel Lyons Status:
Level 31 Deckbearer (7 Levels pending)
Deckbearer Perks:
Lost and Lonely God-gifted Start: +1 Companion card
Deckbearer Perk 1: Divine Favor: When pulling from a Mortal or Divine pack, one random card will be a rarity higher. If pulling from a mixed deck, at least one card will be either Mortal or Divine.
Deckbearer Perk 2: Guiding Light of the Divine: Gain 1 Light Power. May have one extra card in play so long as it’s a Mortal (Any EMT, Police, or card with the ‘Civic’ subtype).
Level 25 Perk: Nurse of the Chosen: Gain 1 Life Power, and the first time per week any entity is healed by this deckbearer, they lose 1 injury level as well. Gain 2 Legendary Life packs from any set that is represented in the deckbearers deck.
Deckbearer Flaw: Pacifist: May not gain attack from mantles
Deckbearer Stats:
Cards in Deck: 15 (1 pip)
Cards in Hand: 4 (1 pip)
Cards in Play: 3 (1 pip)
Length of Play: 5 minutes
Specialty Cards: Building: 1 (5 pips)
Companion: 2 (5 pips)
Minion: 1 (1 pip)
Enhancer: 3 (6 pips)
Type 1 and Power: 1 Divine
Type 2 and Power: 3 Mortal (3 pips)
Energy 1 and Power: 1 Light
Energy 2 and Power: 2 Life (From Perk, Stone Arch Fire)
Energy 3 and Power: 1 Fire (From Spirit of Mt. St. Helens)
Personal Perks:
Inborn Perk 1: Small: -1 Attack(nullified with all three Spirit of the Mountain enhancer cards)
Acquired Perk 1: Police Training: +1 Attack and Defense. Does not stack with other training.
Acquired Perl 2: Expert Shooter: +3 Attack and Defense only when using firearms. Does not stack with other training.
Personal Stats:
Health: 35
Attack: 6(8)
Magical Attack [None]: 0
Defense: 11(13)
Magical Defense [None]: 6
Card List:
Companion
Sorenia
Liurenia
Building
Stone Arch Fire
Enhancer
Spirit of Mt. St. Helens
Spirit of Mt. Hood
Spirit of Mt. Adams
Mantle
Fire Tender
Persistent
Quetzalcoatl’s Blessing of Promise
Police Academy
Guiding Light
Immediate
Barter the Soul
Burned Sacrifice
Creature
Couatl of the Second Sun
Rookie EMT x2
“I’ll keep some cards, and I will probably need to move to twenty cards soon. But there are some seriously strong plays in that deck at the moment. But I would benefit from a few powerful Mortal cards with the subtype civic if we can find them.”
Wolfe nodded. “Still, your deck is coming along very nicely.”
“As are you, Shel,” Rhett cut in. “I’m impressed. And your salary will be huge now that you’re past level thirty.”
Shel nodded to his words.
“However, what would you say to us opening the next packs?” Rhett asked. “The ones we can all use.”
Comments
Truedragon5374
Whatever happened to the Vengeful Orphan?
John stovall
It sits there, empty. The dungeon can actually be reset by cards, one floor at a time, but I haven't introduced that yet. I have toyed heavily with making a "card dungeon" story about this system, with a dragon type (and also kobolds) dungeon, but it would need to be a hugely successful story before I did more than write the fun couple starter chapters
NinjaChicken
I'm a little curious, can dungeons change or evolve over time like in other dungeon core lit rpg stories? If not what happens when a group runs a complete dungeon, does it disappear, or just reset?
John stovall
yup :)
John stovall
alot. I could do the math, but it would be well into the teens at least
Eric M
With Civic Irrigation not helping the actual deckbearer's buildings, wouldn't it be smarter to make Mrs. Timo or someone else in their group a deckbearer and load them up with cards like that along with healing and defense type cards so there is somone at their base who can help the non combatants. And maybe cards that boost any orphans in their care or proximity. Would be ideal if it was Shel's sister, but I feel like there was an age restriction for some reason. Although, Shel's Fire Arch does take the benefit to 50%, so I suppose that is why she will take the card.
Eric M
Curious how many levels Fern gained. She was way under-leveled, so anything she gets credit for should be massive, but question how much she could do that would earn experience.
John stovall
Actually, you're right about Rhett. I'll change that, but tomorrow, its been a longer day and I'm brain fried lol
John stovall
The potential of the burned sacrifice to the longterm max of the deck is very high, although it does push the "setup time" much further out. And I super, super appreciate that you're having fun--every author says this, but its true--we need to hear it from time to time, and... P.S it made my whole evening :).
John stovall
yupyup, although, to be 100% honest, with dragoncon it will slow a bit over the next week, apologies, but I hope to be back to speed soon after.
Stephen Pearson
Thanks for all the chapters recently! :-)
Colm Ryan
I'm surprised she has burning sacrifice instead of friendly campfire P.S. Love this series P.P.S. Divine Displeasure has no tier. Intentional or Mistake? P.P.P.S. Ps are fun ;)
Lazy Monster
TFTC, the irrigation canal and the couatl orphan are interesting. I kinda feel like Rhett should get the divine displeasure since he did help them earn it. Found 3 typos, the card title for mt hood has an ‘s’ and it gives +3 health so shel would be at 33. Also she is listed as having 2 life and 1 fire, the stone arch gives fire unless you changed that.
