Alzoru and Ronin's Request: Dueling a lamassu?!

Alzoru swam into the cave, and saw a merman among the corals and fish. “You must be Ronin, aye? I’ve heard of you. A traveling apothecary, I hear tell.” Shi nodded.

 

“You are correct, miss. I am he. If you came for potions, I’m afraid you caught me at a bad time. I am nearly out, and I need ingredients. If you can bring me a few, I will make it worth your while. I need many things. The eye of a Basilisk, Essence of Vanilla, essence of silver, milk from a dragon, The Beardhair of a Lamassu, the scales of a singing crocodile, and the heart of a Death Turtle.” He said in a matter-of-fact manner. “Some springs of Mason Kelp would be nice, too.”

 

Shi nodded and smiled, “I can handle several of those! I have dragon milk and essence of vanilla in my own kitchen! As for the rest, I think I can find a Lamassu! Death Turtle I could technically get, but it would take several months just to get where they live.” Shi said with a shrug.

 

“Thank you. Return when you have brought me what I need. As thanks, I will let the guild send you your due payment!” He said with a curt bow.

 

“Any chance you can just give it to me directly?” Alzoru asked him with a grimace.

 

“And risk having the guild bureaucrats impeding my work more than I have to? Not a chance. That amount of red tape isn’t worth it, miss.” He shook his head. “I’d have to like you a lot to risk that headache.”

 

Shi sighed and headed back home. Shi looked in hir fridge and pulled out a jug of hir own milk, and grabbed some vanilla essence from hir cupboard. Easy peasy. Now, shi just had to find a Lamassu.

 

Six days later, Shi had gotten a lead on where to find one, and was now staring one down in the ruins of a desert city. “Okay. I’m here for your beard hair, lamassu. You can either give it to me, or we can fight!”

 

“I abhore violence, dragon. But I will not give away the magical hairs of my beard without a price. I will give you my hairs if you can defeat me in a card game.”

 

“A card game?! What card game is it?” Shi tilted hir head in mild confusion and looked him in the eyes.

“Nafinian Nexus TCG!” He answered pulling out a deck and growling like a lion.

 

Shi smirked and cackled, then shi took out hir deck, “You have no idea who you’re dealing with, do you?”

 

“Should I?” He asked, an eyebrow raised.

Alzoru winked and spun around, creating a magical illusion of hir Game Master’s outfit around hirself since hir real one was at the drycleaners. “I am Alzoru Ledura… The Game Master! And to show my stuff, I’ll let you decide who goes first!” Shi said with a manic grin as shi tipped hir hat.

 

“You are- Oh no…” He shuddered, “I have made a terrible mistake!” He realized, too late. “You go first, I’m not letting you get the early lead in star power, or cards!” Both players drew 5 cards, set their life points to 20, and gave themselves two Star Power.

 

“Fine.” Shi agreed and paid a star power immediately, “I play Starlight Collection, place one card face-down, and end my turn! So much for not giving me the Star advantage, because on my next turn I’ll have it!” Shi said with a flourish of hir hand. “Your move, friend!”

 

“I draw, and gain a Star! With 1 Star Power, I now summon an Afnaza! And when I summon one, I can summon two more from my hand or deck for free! Three cute fish now swim to my aid! I then sacrifice two Afnaza to activate the effect of the Abpokala in my hand! I can summon it for no SP cost if I tribute 2 1-star troops on my side of the field! The predator consumes prey, and it swims to my aid! With my last 2 Star Power, I will activate Beer of Aggression on my Abpokala, raising its 3 attack to 5 for the next three turns! Now, Abpokala and my last Afnata attack you directly!”

 

Alzoru took down this loss, hir life points reduced to 14. Shi seemed unphased, however and kept smiling with confidence. Shi looked him in the eyes and asked, “Is that all?”

 

He nodded, “Your move, Game Master.”

 

“I draw, and gain 3 star Power, bringing me up to 4! Then I place a card face down, and I play… True Unbinding for 3 SP! With this, I must discard or tribute at least two troops on the field or in my hand whose star cost equals 8 or more, and then I can summon myself from my deck, hand, or discard pile! Behold! Game Master Unbound! With 8 attack and defense, I have enough power to destroy anything you can throw at me! I attack your Afnaza with Rule 0 Rampage! Discard that fish.” The Lamassu took 7 LP damage, leaving him at 13 LP. In one move, Alzoru had taken the lead from him and summoned a boss to boot. “Your move, not that I think you have much of a chance.” Shi said with crossed arms.

 

He drew a card silently and gained his Star Power. “Fuck…” He gulped and switched his Abpokala into guard position.  “I equip my Abpokala with Whiskey of Durability! If Abpokala would be destroyed by battle, I destroy this card instead!” He growled.

 

“Is that everything you’ve got, Lamassu?” Alzoru taunted.

 

“No. I summon a Star Collector Pylon in Defense Mode!” He declared. “You can’t destroy them both at once! Of course, I’m totally out of Stars, but I’ll bounce back!” He said with a nod.

 

“Fool.” Shi said and drew a card, then rose back to 2 Star Power. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. I play Starlight Collection for 1 star, and then attack your stupid Pylon to keep you from gaining extra stars. That’s all for now.”

 

The Lamassu gulped, and drew a card, then looked relieved. “I play my own Starlight Collection for my 1 Star Power, and that’s all! Next turn, your GM unbound is taking a dive!” He said, rather assured.

Shi drew and collected 3 Stars, bringing hir up to 5. “Excellent! I Love your spirit so far! But now it’s time to get serious! I summon Bound Game Master for 3 Star Power! But that’s not all! I activate the effect of Game Master Starmaster in my hand, and sacrifice Bound Game Master to summon it for no Star Cost! Starmaster, attack the Abpokala and destroy its Boozy defense! Then, GM unbound destroy it!”

Just like that, the Abpokala was gone, sent off to the discard pile. “Oh no,” Said the Lamassu, sweating.

 

“Your move, lion boy!” Alzoru said with a bow.

 

“This is bad… but now I have 3 Star Power! And with it, I play ‘Screw You in Particular’ for 2 stars! Your Game Master unbound is mighty, but it has no protection from my blue card!”

Alzoru discarded hir prize troop- Hirself. She shook hir head, then smirked and gave a slow clap. “Nicely done! Too bad it won’t save you. You still have little you can do.”

“I play a second Starlight Collection for my last Star power, just to prove you wrong!” He growled. “That’s all.

 

Alzoru drew, “Good. Now Starmater’s ability allows me to gain 2 Star power at the start of my turn! This gives me four. I’ll pay two of those, and summon Game Master’s Scout! With his ability, I can search my deck for a Game Master troop, and add it to my hand! I must shuffle afterwards, but it is of no consequence.” Shi shrugged and picked hir card, shuffling hir deck afterwards. “Good… Now I’m getting somewhere! Starmaster, Scout! Attack directly!” Another 7 points were subtracted from the winged human-bull-lion hybrid, whose life points now sat at 6. “Your move! Make it count!” Shi warned.

 

He had 3 SP again, and a new card. “I summoned Roosha in Guard Position! When Roosha is destroyed by battle, I gain 1 life point! Suck on that, Game Master! You can’t finish me on your next move! Now go!”

 

Alzoru drew, once again gaining 2 SP for a total of four. “Good! Scout, pummel that Roosha! Starmaster, Attack directly!” The Lamassu was down to 1… well, 2 thanks to Roosha’s ability. “Draw your last card. It all ends here!”

 

The Lamassu drew, and gave himself a star, back up to 3. He summoned another Abpokala, using all 3 to get it out “I’ll at least destroy that scout!” He claimed.

“Wrong! I activate Trap of the Game Master! I can pay 1-4 Star Power and inflict an equal amount of damage to your life points, then you discard cards equal to half what I payed, rounded down. Not that it matters. I pay 2 stars. You lose.” Shi winked and gestured at him. “You owe me a locke of beard hair!”

 

The lamassu nodded and packed up his cards. He used his claws to cut a bit of beard hair and give it to hir… “You completely destroyed me, Game Master. Well done.” He nodded and let hir go.

 

Alzoru returned to the merman. “Vanilla essence, dragon milk, and Lamassu beard hair! Just as promised!”

“Very good miss. Your reward should arrive in 1-3 business days.” He nodded and sent hir off. “Thank you.”

 

Shi proudly walked off, going back home until hir next adventure.