High Roller Gambling

“Sorry, but I don’t intend to become anybody’s woman.” Eris replies bluntly. “I’ll win that gem through my own power.”

She expects The Fat Man to express his displeasure, but he instead bursts into a hearty chortle. “Good! I love women with some fight in them.” Then his eyes furrow. “Just know that in the end, I always win.”

He stabs a thick finger into the intercom on his desk. “Rosie, get Jim to prep the casino for the main event. And come to my office immediately. I have the star of the show who needs to get ready immediately.”

Within seconds, a harried middle-aged lady in a black suit enters the office and ushers a confused Eris through yet another series of hallways. The last thing she sees as the door to The Fat Man’s office swings shut is an almost predatory grin on his otherwise bald, expressionless head.

“Now, ladies and gentlemen, the moment you’ve been waiting for! It’s Poker Night!” Jim stands on a gaudy stage in the back of Casino Canaan, now dressed in a sparkling sequin outfit.

A curious crowd rapidly begins to gather around the stage as black-suited staff scurry around the stage, assembling a poker table along with a strange roulette wheel-like contraption.

As soon as the setup is complete, Jim continues. “Introducing our star contestant, ERIS ANDIVE!”

From the side of the stage, a furiously blushing Eris hesitantly walks out, her face as red as the velvet bunny suit she’s been **** into. The crowd whistles and whoops as they admire her curvy form, from the cute earband on her head to the fishnet stockings around her thighs.

“Hailing from the quaint village of Samoyed, tonight, she is sacrificing everything for a chance to win the grand prize- The Fire Gem!” Jim yells into the mic as a stand with a purple cushion rises from underneath the stage. Nestling in the middle is a crimson gemstone that glows faintly.

“And for her opponents for tonight, first up, the Marquis of Schnauzer, GAAAAAASTOOOOOON!” From the opposite end of the stage, a towering muscle-bound man emerges, his pinstripe suit straining against his powerful frame.

“Heh.” He grunts. “I’ll look forward to it.”

“Next up, we have the Baroness of Komondor, Natalie Servaaaaaaal!” A beautiful blonde woman struts out after Gaston, wearing a princess dress studded with diamonds.

“You plebeians will all lose to my royal might.” She smirks.

“Step on me!” “Spit on me!” The crowd cheers as Natalie looks down on them with disgust.

“And finally, the gracious host and owner of Casino Canaan, the name you all know, THE FAAAAAAAAAT MAN!” Despite Gaston’s size, even he seems to shrink as The Fat Man stomps onto stage.

While this is happening, Eris scans the crowd and realizes with horror that she can spot some familiar faces amongst the throng of people. Adam looks aghast with this development, while a distance away, Marcus appears dumbstruck by her appearance.

Interrupting her thoughts, Jim moves on. “Now, introducing the rules. Everyone should be familiar with how poker works, so I’ll instead go through the special rules for tonight’s game. Everyone except for Eris will be starting with 20 chips, which by the way, had a buy-in of a million G per chip. They will be betting these normally. However, since Eris has no money, she will instead be betting spins on this wheel.”

At his words, the roulette wheel finally lights up, showing that the board had been divided into three sections, two taking up most of the wheel and one of them a small slice. In the middle of each section, there is a simple illustration- the small slice shows a figure tossing off a piece of clothing. Of the other two, one has a lipstick mark and the other a hand.

“One spin of this wheel is equivalent to one chip. Whenever Eris loses, the wheel will be spun that many times, and she will have to perform the most valuable penalty to the winner. And for patrons who want a more spicy show, do not fret. As she loses her clothes, more options will appear on the wheel!”

Eris wants nothing more than to disappear in shame. Even though Rosie had explained the rules to her earlier, nothing could have prepared her for having it stated out loud, not to mention to such a massive audience. And yet, she feels a strange tingle in her nether regions as she envisions herself standing naked before the gaze of so many strangers.

“Are you reaaaaaady??????” Jim yells as the casino crowd roars back in response. “Contestants, TAKE YOUR SEATS!”

As the four of them sit down at the poker table, Eris sizes up her opponents. As far as she can figure, The Fat Man is likely to be her biggest obstacle. The nature of the wheel penalty only taking the highest meant that she should be more liberal with betting while the stakes were still low. However, that meant that her foes would likely be more conservative in the early rounds, since minor wins off her would still count for huge damage. Either way, this was not going to be an easy battle.

“Alright. There will be an ante of 1 chip that will increase every time a player is eliminated. No blinds. Any further questions?” The dealer asks.

The table collectively shakes their heads as he deals out the first hand.

A/N: Sorry for the long delay for the next chapter. I hit some serious writer's block on how the next scenes would play out. I know I promised to write the route that got the most votes, but the ideas I came up with for The Fat Man route were ones that I wanted to use in later towns, so unfortunately I will be putting that on hold for now unless I can think of something satisfactory. Maybe its a bit presumptous to assume I'll be able to write enough to get to those scenes but I don't really want to them to play out the same way. Thanks for all the kind comments from BDSMlord, skeever and devgrav.