#hmmghh this took so long

[randomgamefan]

Hey local Inscryption fans, guess who it is-

I should probably name this fic outside of playtester AU, huh? Regardless, I'm finally done with chapter 2, and chapter production is going rather smoothly! Thanks to everyone on the discord for helping with inspiration and reading this over in beta version! It means a lot!

You may also see this on A03 sometime soon! Oh boy! Anyways, hopefully you all enjoy!

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Tldr: Luke has already gone through the five stages of grief and just figured he'll roll with whatever's going on

Luke found himself once again across from Leshy, the man handing him a simple four card deck - a stoat, two wolves, and a river snapper. Luke studied the stoat for some time, but found nothing odd about the card as he played it against Leshy. 

The introduction was short and sweet, as expected, Luke gathering an extra tooth for his troubles. Leshy gave a nod, pulling out a wooden figurine of a man with orcish features, dressed in seeming military attire and carrying a large axe. With a sudden snap, a large map depicting a thicket of woods was unrolled on the table, the figurine placed at its beginning

"You find yourself in a thick forest, a single path in front of you." Leshy commentated, allowing himself to get into the theatrics. Not that it was minded, Luke rather enjoyed how much life the scrybe put into his game. “There is a light fog, but not enough that your immediate path is blocked.”

Luke reached out, moving his piece forward. Leshy dealt three cards. “Three of the forest’s inhabitants approached you. The deadly adder, able to kill with one bite. The undying cat, which will not die when sacrificed. The clever beaver, building up dams wherever he goes.”

After careful consideration, Luke added the cat to his deck. In early game, it wasn't much, but late game he often found it invaluable. 

Leshy simply nodded at his choice, allowing Luke to move forward and warm one of his creatures by the fire, before finding an abandoned pack on the road.

The pattern was familiar and easy enough to adapt from his previous playthroughs of the game, so the closer Luke got to the prospector, the more he felt his arrogance getting the better of him. Knowing how the game works, he could afford to take moves a bit too dangerous, and found himself succeeding. 

At least, until his last battle before the prospector. 

Leshy laid out two grand firs on Luke's side of the field, before putting down a grizzly and a sparrow on incoming. The memory hit Luke like a truck. This battle was one that Leshy used to teach Luke how losing worked in his game- but no, he could win this, for sure! He had a lot more experience playing against grizzlies, and could do something about this!

"It is your turn." Leshy's voice snapped Luke out of his thoughts, and he cleared his throat, putting down the stoat in the one spot not blocked by the grizzly. He'd put the cat's sigil on the stoat, so the move itself was good, though Luke wasn't sure what more he could do. He broke a squirrel bottle to block the grizzly for the time being, before ringing the bell

One damage to Leshy. He could do this.

Leshy nodded, playing another grizzly to counter the stoat, Luke gritting his teeth as he looked the older man in the eye. Well, guess Leshy had his mind set on how this would go. "I'm not going to win this, am I?" 

The older man chuckled lowly at this comment, with a simple, "I suppose not, at least with your current setup."

Luke huffed. He didn't exactly like feeling cornered, but let Leshy get his damage in, wanting this battle to be over. That didn't take long. 

"You lost. Fetch me the candlestick by the door, would you?"

Luke nodded, standing from the rather uncomfortable wooden chair. Would it kill Leshy to invest in something that wasn’t made of pure wood? As he stepped forward to grab the candlestick, Luke glanced out the small window on the door, the woods stretching as far as the eye could see. He found his thoughts drifting to beyond the woods - he'd seen outside the cabin on the way in, and it was remarkably similar to Leshy’s cabin that he'd seen while playing the intended version of the game. So, logically, if he'd walk the other direction, Luke could find Grimora. He'd love to have a conversation with her, since she seemed to know the most about him when the files were being deleted. Oh, right, and he’d love to hear more about how the plan even worked, that might have helped it turn out the way she wanted.

Luke shook his head, snapping himself out of his thoughts. Candlestick, right, he wanted to see how the rest of this session played out. He blew out one of the two alight candles before returning. 

"I'm aware how the mechanic works." He told Leshy, simply getting a nod in return from the old man. 

"Then, shall we continue?" Leshy grabbed the scroll, unrolling it and allowing Luke to replace his figurine in its spot, before moving forward to the prospector fight. 

Leshy seemed to disappear for a few seconds, though Luke could tell he was grabbing a couple of props before dimming the lights in the cabin, lighting two candles in the small fake skull he kept. A strange sound began playing, one Luke identified as.. a pickaxe, ringing against stone. Where was that coming from? The props were set up on either side of Leshy as he began his narration.

"The trees seemed to close in around you as a chill mist descended. In the distance, you could hear the clinking of metal on stone. A hobbled figure stood in your path."

Leshy raised a carved mask to his face, a familiar etching of one of his subordinates. 

"Heeee-hawh! 'twas the Prospector!" Leshy called, doing a surprisingly good impression of the man Luke met outside the cabin. With that, cards were shuffled, and the game began. 

Luke found himself lucky to know the gimmick of the prospector, sorting his hand to save his best cards for the second half of the battle. His plan currently was just to take care of that coyote, which wasn't an issue with the stoat Luke drew. He was also able to play a raven egg on the pack mule's spot, something that quickly became invaluable to him. 

The round went off without a hitch, Luke finding himself with a Raven and a stoat ready to attack the next turn, the stoat taking out the coyote easily. Since Leshy was just playing a mole man on his next turn, Luke took a squirrel, and, using the undying sigil on his stoat, played a wolf. 

Might as well get this first round out of the way easily.

He watched the scale tip all the way over, Leshy giving a nod and removing the teeth. 

"Thar's gold in them cards!" Leshy called out, switching all of Luke's side of the field for the gold nuggets. Luke grit his teeth - he knew this was coming, but he still felt himself getting nervous and impatient at his complete inability to play. He reached for his deck, needing a bit of luck for his plan to-

The game was suddenly interrupted by the sound of the cabin door swinging open, crashing against the cabinet and rattling the old safe with an awful cracking sound of breaking wood. Leshy and Luke both looked over in alarm, Luke dropping his cards all over the table. 

There Grimora stood, her hair partially falling out of the hat she wore, clearly offset by wind or.. actually, from the looks of it, she ran here. Her long, old-fashioned dress was caked in mud at the ends, her face was flushed over, and her hand quivered on the doorframe from, well, probably adrenaline. Overall, the older woman appeared frazzled

"Leshy! I need you to-" She cut herself off, taking a moment to realize he was, well, clearly in the middle of a game. 

Confusion washed over Grimora's expression, and she began looking around the cabin. The setup for the prospector battle, the cards across the table, until her eyes locked on Luke.

The moment they made eye contact, Grimoras face dropped in.. shock? It was a reaction Luke wasn't quite sure how to read, simply because Grimora was quick to glance away and clear her throat. 

"Need me to what?" Leshy responded, taking off his mask and setting it aside, his tone turning a bit monotone and bored. It wasn't something Luke was used to, Leshy was always very expressive in his storytelling. 

"I need you to come with me, we need to speak, all four of us." She glanced at Luke again, but didn't allow her eyes to linger. "Clearly, something is wrong in this situation."

Leshy, though he seemed indifferent to the situation at hand on the outside, sighed and got up from his table. "Alright, as long as we can do it somewhere that's not P-03's factory. I'm not quite comfortable with that place considering... recent events."

"And I'm sure they'd say the same about your cabin." She remarked, before glancing once again at Luke.

"You may come, if you'd like."

Luke nodded wordlessly, standing up from the table and moving to follow Leshy out of the cabin.

Once outside, Luke glanced up, noticing the sun starting to rise in the background. 

Well, guess one thing made sense in the world right now. The sun always came back up.

And hopefully, this meeting could help him make sense of the rest.