Shadowkill

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The game started. The fine blonde hairs on Rose’s forearms shimmered in the light from the chandelier as she dealt the cards.

At the end of the first Chapter, she was a net winner, having avoided the Grid for the moment, lost two Pen wagers but won the Holse.

Despite his irritation, Barracuda played cautiously; he won one table wager, lost the other, came close to breaking even.

Sunhawk played a meticulous game, had fair cards but bad combinations. That didn’t seem to bother him. He was deeply content, his mind humming with the calcs that let him finesse a small win.

Hiushark was a plunger though he kept the lid on until he had the measure of the other players.

Tanduk was a fusser, but either his intuition snapped to with every card or he could beat a kephalos at calcs. He spread his bets over the number grid in carefully plotted patterns and ignored the Holse during the first Chapters.

Snowcat was slow, refused to be pushed; he played his cards with heavy slaps, threw the dice with a force that nearly took them off the table. He played the Holse and the Pen, ignored the Grid until the last Chapter before Break.

Direwolf played quickly, spread his bets on Grid, Pen and Holse, depended on instinct for the proportions.