Welcome To Our ool Table

Choice adventure number: 875

Welcome To Our ool Table

While searching the Haunted Billiards Room, you find a pool table. This in itself isn't very surprising; there's two pool tables in this room, and they're difficult to miss. The surprising part is that a ghost has materialized next to one of them.

He's dressed in spats and sleeve-garters, and all the clothes in-between them are slick high-class fashion -- or at least were, some hundreds of years ago. He notices you looking at him and gives you a sly grin, then gestures toward a rack of pool cues, as if to challenge you to a game. You ready your cue, then notice that his own cue is the ghost of a very expensive-looking two-part mahogany and ivory job. You suddenly recall one of the very few bits of fatherly wisdom your dad ever gave you: "Never shoot pool against someone who brought their own cue."

Sensing your hesitation, the ghost grins again, and places a large, ornate brass key -- a real one, not the ghost of one -- on the edge of the pool table.

Hustle the ghost

• With < 20 pool skill:

You lean over your cue and slam the ball for the break... and somehow manage to entirely miss the lead ball. The cueball clacks into the side of the rack, and the balls barely scatter. "I meant to do that," you say with a haughty expression, as the ghost just stares at you. He proceeds to run the table, and then vanishes with a shake of his head, taking the shiny brass key with him.

Oh well. At least you got some practice.

+1 Pool Skill

• With ≥ 20 pool skill:

You lean over the table, cue in hand, and aim for the break. With a good solid CRACK, the balls skitter around the table like panicked rats, two of them escaping into their holes. You knock in a third and fourth, but can't get a decent shot at a fifth, so you satisfy yourself with parking the cue ball somewhere inconvenient for your opponent.

The ghost grimaces, then tries to cover with a carefree shrug. He just barely manages to make his shot, but it's a close call, and the relief on his face makes it plain that you've already thrown him off his stride. He sinks three more, and then misses. With the table now opened up nicely, your next three balls thunk into the pockets with the rhythm of precision clockwork, and you gild the lily by unnecessarily banking the cue ball off of three rails before sinking the eight and winning the game.

With a howl of frustration, the ghost attempts to break his pool cue over his knee. When they just pass through each other, he becomes even more frustrated, and vanishes to find somewhere that he can really lose his cool without anyone seeing it. You pick up the brass key he left behind, with a smug grin of your own.

You acquire an item: Spookyraven library key

---

Hustle over to the other table and practice

You approach the empty pool table and practice for a while. Your game improves!
+1 Pool Skill
Or:

+2 Pool Skill

Hustle away

---

Occurs at The Haunted Billiards Room.

Notes

• You need to have a total Pool Skill of approximately 20 to beat the Ghost.
• Pool Skill modifiers do apply to your score.