C-HOH-010
Barista: The Serpent, Daichi
Date: Dec-27-2019
Receipt: C-HOH-010
Subject: House of Horus
Well, well, well. Would you look at that? Looks like Unca-Greed finally rolled out the welcome mat. The Cubiculum—██████’█ private lair beneath the Strip, where the real deals are made, and the House always wins—until it doesn’t.
I was escorted down into the depths of the Luxor Pyramid with the kind of reverence usually reserved for kings, high rollers, and the sacrificially stupid. All part of the plan. With ██████’█ full attention, I laid down my challenge to him: an old-school game of ███████ ███ ██████. Hard to lose a game you helped invent. While we played, I think Nick slithered off to do his own investigation of the Cubiculum. Still—I found out some rather interesting details about ████ ██████’█ plans.
██████: Ahhh, the Serpent slithers right into my sacred Cubiculum—took you long enough.
Daichi: You were expecting me?
██████: I’m not stupid. You know ██████████ █████ ██ ████ ██ █████ ███, █████? It reeks of my insufferable sibling. A foul stench of lethargy. No motivation! No grind! No hustle!
Daichi: I don’t know—it seemed like I was hustling pretty well out there.
██████: Mm. That you were.
Daichi: So, what, you want the money back? You know I don't have any kneecaps to break, right?
██████: I couldn’t care less about the surface bets. That’s MGM’s money. Down here we play for keeps. ███ ██████. You know how to play, I assume.
Daichi: Sure. Been a while, though. Where’d you get a full set? I thought these were outlawed outside of ███ █████████████? And even there—they’re kinda dicey. Ha. Dicey.
██████: As if any stone or sordid thing could be banned ████ ██ ███ █████. Besides, I don't allow my subjects to make such gruesome bets.
Daichi: So then what's your less “gruesome” wager?
██████: Fifty million?
Daichi: …I… do not have fifty million. Are you insane?
██████: Five million.
Daichi: You’re gonna be real disappointed with my net worth.
██████: Fine. The Cafe and Diner.
Daichi: I—can’t bet what isn’t mine.
██████: ███’█ ██, ██████?
Daichi: …██ █ ██████████ ███. █ █████. ████ ██.
██████: █ ███ ████ ████ ███████████. And what riches would you like from me?
Daichi: Information. What are you digging up? I heard you've been quite busy with excavations █████████ ██ ███ ████████.
██████: Very well. Then the game is set. My roll.
[██████ ██████ █ ███ ██ █████ ████████ ██████.]
██████: 12—with Crosses.
Daichi: A Calamity?
██████: Tempting. But no. I’ll stand. Better to play it safe, eh, nephew?
[Daichi rolled ███ ████ ███ ██ █████ ████████ ██████.]
Daichi: 5… 5…
██████: Claws. My, we are lucky today, are we not?
Daichi: Some safety. But a Fork would wrap this up nicely.
██████: 50/50 odds, isn’t it? Under a Snake’s Eye—a clear Calamity. Fang we’d tied. Above a Fork—no matter. You’ve lost.
Daichi: I’ve had worse odds. Come on… Fork!
[Daichi rolled ███ ████ ███ █████, ███ █ ███████-████ █████ ██████ █ ███████ ███.]
██████: Ah—Fuck.
Daichi: Ha! 13 on the spot. Now spill. What the hell are you doing ██ ███ ████████.
██████: Tell me, Serpent, what’s buried in the ground?
Daichi: Riches? Gold? Treasures?
██████: Ha. Corpses.
Decaffeinate Receipt
“6♢ 3♠ 6♠ A♡ 6♣ 4♡ 3♣.”
Cipher | 1 Word