TheNexusProject/TheMainChance

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The Main Chance

by Moxiane

“How did my daughter lose that much money in a single afternoon? Of course, of course, I’ll settle her debts again…”

- Icefire Augrim, Guild merchant, put-upon father

”Well, now that you’re properly dressed we can discuss your service.”

- Capricious Coin, owner of The Main Chance

On the boundary between Bastion and Cinnabar, on a piece of prime riverfront land a couple of minutes’ walk from the Bridge of Ebullient Maidens stands a large, three-storey building constructed of the imperishable materials of the First Age. The only real indicators as to what goes on within are an exquisitely painted sign with the name of the establishment on the wall, and the quartet of large well-dressed men outside the bronze-and-gold doors. Once inside, however, visitors are treated to a cornucopia of sights, for The Main Chance is one of the premier casinos in Nexus.

Owned and run by a golden-eyed godblood named Capricious Coin, practically every game of chance in Creation can be played within the two stories that of the building that are open to the public. It is not the possibility of winning (or losing) vast sums of money that has given The Main Chance its reputation however, but the floor-staff who, apart from the full-face masks and well-crafted leather boots are, male and female, entirely naked. Despite their undress they are not present for the “use” of the casino’s patrons (Capricious Coin reacts very badly to any suggestions along those lines) at least partly because they are the sons and daughters of those patrons.

While the masks assure anonymity for the individual workers (they have an enchantment that prevents removal and clouds magical spying) it is well-known that they are people who were unable to settle their gambling debts within the allotted period (Capricious Coin allows his patrons until the end of business the next day to settle any outstanding debts) and so were indentured for a period of time to pay Coin off. Rich, pretty and young Nexians who have asked “Daddy” to pay their losses off once too often make up a sizeable proportion of the floor-staff, while those whose bodies are, to be frank, less aesthetically pleasing work in the kitchen or do other, behind-the-scenes, menial tasks.

The uppermost floor of the building is off-limits to patrons and is where the day-to-day business of running a house of games takes place, as well as being home to the kitchen, alcohol storage and staff communal sleeping areas. It is also where Capricious Coin himself lives, in a palatial series of rooms in the northern corner.

Rumours

• Capricious Coin actually buys all of his food from the River’s Edge Restaurant, which makes one wonder what he does with those of his “staff” that don’t work on the casino floors.
• Some of the staff of The Main Chance are more than willing to perform various intimate services in exchange for money, if only one can identify them from distinguishing marks on their bodies.

Secret

• Capricious Coin rigs his games against a certain kind of rich, arrogant, young Nexian that he finds particularly offensive, in the hope that service in The Main Chance will teach them some degree of humility, or at least an appreciation of who pays their bills. He does temper his disgust with intelligence, leaning the games only a few percentage points away from the scrupulous fairness that he otherwise exercises across the casino, mostly out of a sense of self-preservation.