Second Labyrinth
The blackened facade, gothic architecture, and leering gargoyles peering down from the eaves of this striking tavern clearly mark it as Chelaxian. Owned by the powerful House Tevineg, the Second Labyrinth has served as a refuge for loyal Chelaxians to gather in secrecy and luxury for generations, but since the return of Grand Ambassador Gulv Tevineg to Absalom, the establishment is enjoying a renaissance that has significantly increased its already impressive profits while diversifying its clientele.
Gambling has always been the true secret of the Second Labyrinth’s success, with a unique card game called maze traditionally claiming the majority of its tables and clientele.
Maze is a complex card game, and the Second Labyrinth holds tournaments every quarter for those who believe they have mastered it. In Maze, three to six players are dealt hands of two cards. Additional cards (equal to four per player in the round) are dealt face down. Players then bet secret amounts, which are revealed to determine the order of play (and then go into the pot). In order, each player looks at a single card. Once he looks at a card, he places coins atop it, leaving it face down. No two players may look at the same card. Then, each player reveals one of their facedown cards, after which each player either looks at a new card (and marks it with coins) or matches the coins on another player’s card. This process is repeated, then each player has one last chance to place coins on cards (either cards no one has looked at, or matching coins on a card someone has seen), then all cards are revealed. The player with the best five-card combination, using his three or four cards with coins and two dealt cards, wins all bet money. Any card used in a winning hand is discarded, but all other cards are simply reshuffled and placed on the board (along with whatever replacement cards are needed) for the next hand.
With Lord Gulv’s influence, the Vudran game of drouge has recently become even more popular, drawing more than just the orthodox culturally Chelaxian crowds of past decades. The establishment was slow to embrace the foreign game at first, but as Lord Gulv dominated all challengers time and time again, the game’s popularity continued to grow. Gulv’s victories, reported breathlessly by embedded (and often heavily bribed) broadsheet journalists, energized Absalom’s Chelaxian community, badly demoralized after a decade of bad news from the homeland.
The Second Labyrinth has a 1-sp entrance fee (waived in the case of “friends of the house”). Within are scrupulously fair gaming tables, extremely expensive food, a bevy of paid companions, and far more political movers and shakers than one would think possible.
Gambling has always been the true secret of the Second Labyrinth’s success, with a unique card game called maze traditionally claiming the majority of its tables and clientele.
Maze is a complex card game, and the Second Labyrinth holds tournaments every quarter for those who believe they have mastered it. In Maze, three to six players are dealt hands of two cards. Additional cards (equal to four per player in the round) are dealt face down. Players then bet secret amounts, which are revealed to determine the order of play (and then go into the pot). In order, each player looks at a single card. Once he looks at a card, he places coins atop it, leaving it face down. No two players may look at the same card. Then, each player reveals one of their facedown cards, after which each player either looks at a new card (and marks it with coins) or matches the coins on another player’s card. This process is repeated, then each player has one last chance to place coins on cards (either cards no one has looked at, or matching coins on a card someone has seen), then all cards are revealed. The player with the best five-card combination, using his three or four cards with coins and two dealt cards, wins all bet money. Any card used in a winning hand is discarded, but all other cards are simply reshuffled and placed on the board (along with whatever replacement cards are needed) for the next hand.
With Lord Gulv’s influence, the Vudran game of drouge has recently become even more popular, drawing more than just the orthodox culturally Chelaxian crowds of past decades. The establishment was slow to embrace the foreign game at first, but as Lord Gulv dominated all challengers time and time again, the game’s popularity continued to grow. Gulv’s victories, reported breathlessly by embedded (and often heavily bribed) broadsheet journalists, energized Absalom’s Chelaxian community, badly demoralized after a decade of bad news from the homeland.
The Second Labyrinth has a 1-sp entrance fee (waived in the case of “friends of the house”). Within are scrupulously fair gaming tables, extremely expensive food, a bevy of paid companions, and far more political movers and shakers than one would think possible.
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