"The TF Arena" (completed)

-For anyone who has read my "the wily witch of woe" in the "items of power" story, this has similar rules but with a new deck and new changes.

She tried, she really REALLY tried to talk to someone. It was just so… awkward, as if everyone but her was in on the set of rules that they were all supposed to operate on and by not following those unspoken guidelines she was performing an affront on each person she nervously responded to. She wanted to say that it was all in her head, that despite how incredibly embarrassing all of her conversations thus far had been, she tried to tell herself that all of these outgoing men and women actually had no problem with her fumbling attempts at keeping up with the flow of back and forth that was human communication. Still, that little sense floated somewhere in the back of her mind that she didn’t belong here and all of these people were merely putting up with her odd-ness when it came to “hanging out”.

Groups of the young, intoxicated men and women melded into the throng about the house, a heavy beat filling the air alongside that of raucous laughter and happy conversation.

“Yo, whatcha up to?”

A girl plopped into the seat across from Elle, giving her a foxy grin as she dropped into her seat.

She was a tall and thin being of elf-ish features and long blonde hair. A spark of devious delight sparkled in her eye that piqued Elle’s interest even as she dreaded the conversation doubtless to come.

“Uh… well, j-just relaxing I guess.” Elle said, her eyes bouncing around, looking for something to keep distracted from the one she was talking to.

“Good, then you can play with me!”

Shifting slightly to give herself access, the woman pulled something from her back pocket, slapping it down on the coffee table triumphantly. A deck of cards, wrapped twice by an old rubber band. The deck looked worn and had a style on the back that Elle didn’t recognize.

“The lady I bought this from said it had magic to change almost anything about those who played it!” The girl with the deck whispered conspiratorially over to her as she also produced a six sided die that looked like it came from some cheap dnd set and hadn’t been washed since before the inception of the game.

“We just have to play by the rules she gave me and voilà! We can have whatever body we desire!” Her eyes sparkled with excitement as she continued to talk

Elle didn’t, for one second, think that this deck would be somehow magical and was instead only growing more and more uncomfortable by this girl’s weird excitement over this.

“Well, that sounds nice-”

“Great! Let’s play!” The girl cut Elle mid sentence before she could come up with her half-attempt of an excuse.

“Ooh! What are you guys doing?”

Elle “yeeped” in her seat as someone’s soft hands all of a sudden rested on her shoulders. She turned abruptly to see her roommate, Raven, standing above her.

As her name suggested, Raven had long and luscious pitch black hair. Many a day Elle had been jealous of just how naturally beautiful her friend’s hair seemed to always be with almost no effort on the girl’s part. Besides that she wasn’t overly notable in any characteristic, slightly round curves on her athletic body and a face that was somewhere between tom-boy and girl-next door. As a member of the school’s volleyball team she had access to popularity and friends which Elle severely lacked. She was the only reason Elle had even made it to this party, some jock celebrating some achievement of his friends or family, Elle didn’t know. Raven had been trying to get her roommate to go to anything for months now, finally getting the shy girl to cave in, if only to try and prove to her how pointless the endeavor was.

The twig of a woman with the deck gave Raven a massive grin that was only a little creepy. “We were about to play a game… a magical game!” Her voice had dropped just low enough to be heard over the din of party goers walking around. “It can change you to your heart’s desire!”

She then sat back, now playing idly with that die as if uninterested but the sparkle in her gaze remained.

“You know, if you’re into that sort of thing…”

Despite how weird her actions were, Raven’s smile never faltered and giving Elle a significant look, she walked around the couch to sit next to her.

“Oh… well, you know… what girl doesn’t enjoy a little magic now and then.” she bumped lightly into Elle, giving a nod towards her.

Elle rolled her eyes.

“Fiiiiine.”

“Great! So, here’s how the rules work…”

She was stopped as a person stopped beside the coffee table.

“How’s it going guys? Enjoying the party so far?” he said.

“Ha! You know that’s a dumb question Quint, have you ever seen anyone disappointed with one of your family’s parties?” Raven said animatedly.

Elle tensed up, her heart beginning a rapid pace as she saw who it was had stopped to check on their little group. Quint, probably the top track star at their little school and Elle’s longtime crush. Tall and built like runners usually are, a strong jawline, with short brown hair and vibrant green eyes, Elle had to turn her gaze away as she felt heat rising in her cheeks. She tried to hide her increasing embarrassment, hoping that the dim light of the party wouldn’t give away just how bad it was.

“Ha ha, yeah you have a point there. Cody does like these things a little too much.” He leaned in, ending up dominating the space over the ripening Elle so he could whisper to Raven.

“Don’t tell anyone I said this, but I think he spends all of his free time just planning.”

As Quint stood back up to look upon the group again, Elle couldn’t move, the close proximity of her crush for just that short time making it difficult to process any of her racing emotions and now if any of the group were to look directly at her, even in the low light, the red on her cheeks would be obvious.

Raven looked down on her roommate with a slowly widening grin as an idea came to her.

She turned back to the track star who looked about ready to say a polite goodbye.

“Actually, do you want to play with us Quint? Three is a weird number for most card games I feel and I bet some of us would welcome a bit of masculine representation at the moment.”

Quint didn’t miss Raven’s eyes darting meaningfully towards Elle for an instant. It was then he finally noticed her odd posture and blushing cheeks.

A small smirk tugged at the edge of his lips.

Elle’s eyes grew wide.

“Hmm…” he made a face as if deeply pondering the question. “I… suppose Cody has things handled, why not?”

As he walked around to the other side of the coffee table to sit on the other couch that was unoccupied at the moment, The girl with the deck began to speak in an annoyed tone.

“Now that that’s out of the way!”

“Wait, sorry, but I don’t think I’ve asked your name yet?” Raven said politely.

The girl rolled her eyes. “Sam, just call me Sam. Does anyone else have any dumb questions?!” she blurted out.

The others looked around between themselves with slightly awkward expressions, all except Elle who was too worried about not making eye contact that she just looked like she was trying to play ping pong with her pupils.

“Great, so here’s how she told me it works.”

Player's roll to decide who starts, highest roll going first, re roll to decide ties.

Each player starts with 25 hit points.

Go around in a circle, each player decides on another to "attack", roll the 6 sided die to decide how much damage is done then pick up a card. If that card has instructions then follow them (usually some decision on the player's part or a roll for strength of the effect).

Cards are in the categories of "Physical", "Mental" and "Special" with that last one causing more significant and unique changes that often don't require a decision/roll from the player.

After the effect is decided roll again to see who will be aware of changes, 1 and 2 mean all players are aware, 3 and 4 mean only the targeted player will be unaware of the effect, 5 means only the targeted player will be aware and 6 means all are unaware.

Awareness does not give immediate insight into any transformations not visibly apparent.

Last player with hit points will receive a boon from the deck.

Others not participating in the game will (unless decided to be unaware by the awareness die) generally be aware of transformations, but will react as if they aren't the result of something supernatural.

layout of the players