View source for Play Cards With Famous Dead Guys

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==Non-combat Adventures==
===Cards with the Gods===
Your pure, immortal shade sits down at a card table currently occupied by the pure, immortal shades of Boris and Jarlsberg, as well as the slightly less pure, immoral shade of Sneaky Pete.

"The game we play up here is called Valhallalala Hold 'Em," Boris growls. "You get an infinite number of cards, face down. Then we all bet from our infinite amounts of celestial currency, and then you turn over all your cards and we see who wins."

"That sounds pretty boring," you say.

"It is," Jarlsberg says. "So pretty much we just assume that Pete is cheating and will always win, and then Boris kicks the non-corporeal crap out of him for cheating."

You sit and watch Boris beat the intangible stuffing out of Sneaky Pete for a while. Compared to eternity, it is but a drop in the bucket, but it still seems like a long time.

"How long do those two go at it?" you ask Jarlsberg.

"Well, Boris can't get tired and Sneaky Pete can't be killed, so they could go on infinitely."

"Right," you say, and wander off to find something marginally more interesting to do.

===Blank White Cards===
You walk up to a card table surrounded by mounds and mounds of blank cards. Sitting at the table are King Yore III, King Carl II, and King Kong XVI.

"Hey, guys, what are you playing?" You ask.

"We're playing a very advanced game for very advanced souls. It's called An Infinite Number of Blank White Cards," Yore says.

"Yes, it's a game that only the uber-enlightened can understand," says Carl.

"Oook eeeek ah-ah," Kong chimes in.

"How do you play? Is it like that game where you write your own stuff on the cards and see who can be the funniest?"

"Piffle," Carl sniffs. "No, this game begins and ends with an infinite number of blank white cards. We simply move them around between us and contemplate each one in turn. Then we declare Kong the winner, because you wouldn't believe what he throws around when he loses."

"But the cards are all identical, right? So why contemplate each one? Why not just contemplate them all at once and then go do something else?"

"Clearly," Yore says, "You are not sufficiently enlightened to appreciate the subtleties of this glorious celestial pastime. You are not welcome at our table."

"Yeah, get lost," Carl says.

"Oook!" says Kong, and throws something at you which, fortunately, is intangible and non-corporeal.

===Lady Legends of Loathing===
You approach a card table and find three female Legends of Loathing seated around it: Suzianka, the first Arena Mistress, Ubisunt, the first Knob Goblin Harem Girl, and Viagretta, the first Spam Witch.

"Heya, big boy," Viagretta says. "Want to join us? We're playing Strip Poker."

You gleefully sit down at the table and join in the game. Unfortunately, you soon find that strip poker is a lot more fun with people who have clothes. And bodies. After a while there's a pile of ectoplasm in the middle of the table, which is exactly as exciting as it sounds.

You take your leave of the ladies and go off to find something marginally more fun to do.

===21===
You sit down at the card table and find Fernswarthy's Great-great-great grandfather dealing a game of 21 to Frank Vivala, the leader of the Vivala Revolution, and Gnollish inventor Ram'Al-ama, the inventor of the Perpetual Stasis machine.

"Hey, you guys playing 21? Mind if I join you?" You ask.

"Sure, Comrade," Vivala responds. "But here in the afterlife we are above earthly concepts like '21.' Here we play Infinity Plus One. You're welcome to sit in on the next hand."

"Sure," you say, and sit down to wait for the game to end. After several drops of water in the ocean that is eternity, you start fidgeting your non-corporeal ass in your intangible seat. "About how much longer do you think this is going to take?" You ask.

Ram'Al-ama pulls out an abacus and does some calculations. "By my reckoning, the duration of this game will be..."

"Let me guess. Infinite?"

"You've got it."

You walk away from the table to find something marginally more interesting to do, like counting all the grains of sand on the Desert Beach.

----
Occurred [[Beyond the Pale]].

==References==
*In Lady Legends of Loathing, the first arena mistress's name, Suzianka, may derive from Anya's demonic name in ''[[Wikipedia:Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV series)|Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', Anyanka. Viagretta is an apparent reference to [[Wikipedia:Sildenafil|Viagra]]. [[Wikipedia:Ubi sunt|Ubi sunt]] is Latin for "where are (they)."
*In Blank White Cards, the two mentions of Kong "throwing something" refers to chimps' (and possibly other primates) propensity for hurling their feces when agitated.  Kong's utterance "Oook eeek ah-ah" is probably a reference to the song "[[Wikipedia:Witch Doctor (song)|Witch Doctor]]", and "Oook!" is a reference to [[Wikipedia:Librarian (Discworld)|the Librarian]] of Unseen University, Ankh-Morpork, Discworld.
*The "An Infinite Number of Blank White Cards" adventure is based on the game [[Wikipedia:1000 Blank White Cards|1000 Blank White Cards]].
*In the "21" adventure, the mention of a card game called "Infinity Plus One" is most likely a reference to the [http://www.asymmetric.net/infinityplusone/ Infinity Plus One] attraction on the [[Wikipedia:Asymmetric Publications|Asymmetric Publications]] website.
*Frank Vivala, mentioned in the "21" adventure, was previously (up to the Jick & Riff show November 1st, 2007) named Frank Bibala, but was renamed to match the November 2007 Item of the month, the [[V for Vivala mask]]. The mask references, amongst other things, the [[Wikipedia:V for Vendetta|graphic novel]] and [[Wikipedia:V for Vendetta (film)|film]] ''V for Vendetta''.

[[Category:Locations]]