#for reference mistral (whose name is not paul; they are lying) has proficiency in all gaming sets

[ailinu]

wait hang on realizing that a player in one of my games intends their new character to be some kind of chess-genius one-of-the-smartest-people-alive type absolutely makes last session much much funnier in that context.

just. you know. you’re one of those chessmaster types. you ask if any of your new traveling companions would like to play chess. the one that takes you up on it is a tarot-reading little air genasi with bells in their hair and a big wizard hat, who professes that they ‘like games’. they’ve looked you dead in the eye and told you their name is paul. you don’t know if they’re lying. you’re pretty sure they’re telepathically linked with their traveling companion, whose runic magic is slowly turning him to stone, and who’s straight-up refused to tell you his name. this should be easy.

you sit down to play, presumably assuming that you can just completely smoke them. but then they get an early advantage. you start coming back through the midgame, but the endgame is tight, a real nail-biter. and at the end of it... you lose. your opponent sits back and gives you a big grin, and goes, ‘wow, that was fun! i don’t know if i’ve ever played that one before!’

it happens too fast to do anything: they lean forward, pick up the king they’ve just captured. they toss it to the rune-wizard. is he playing next? no. he crushes it in his hands and eats it.