In a smokey and poorly lit backroom of the cantina, Xanatos Shadewind eagerly eyes his sabaac cards. With a total score of 20, he is close to the target 23 but still far enough away that anyone could hit the number. With the initial two cards in hand, he presses the button on the two cards to freeze their values so they do not randomly change to worse cards.
Typically, at better establishments, there's an interference field where he can push a face-down card into and cards within this field will not randomly change, but in this cantina, he's just lucky they have a automated sabaac dealer droid.
Looking across the table, he tries to infer the hands of the other players: A rodian bounty hunter and two local humans, claiming to be moisture farmers but who's fared too well to not be hustlers. Xan knows the game and the players, setting expectations low is often a ruse of lesser skilled players -or- highly skilled players trying to be perceived as lesser skilled players.
When the shifting phase comes, a few of the other three players' cards randomly change as Xan watches their expressions. Having frozen his cards, he then considers whether he'll draw a card or stay with his 20 points.
Xan presses the button to receive an additional card and when it appears, the card's face shows the Command of Staves valued at 12 points, putting Xan's total at 32 points and 9 points from the target. Another round passes with adding more credits to the pool and this time, Xan allows his third card to receive the randomization pulse and it shifts to a card valued at 2, giving him 22 points and only one point shy of 23.
The rodian calls and it's followed by calls from the two humans. Hoping his 22 points is close enough to win, Xan also calls. On the reveal, he shows his two 10s and 2 point cards to the stunned faces of the other players. The rodian had -20, the first human had 21, and the last human.... 23!
"Well, I'll be a baby bantha," Xan sighs as he reaches for his drink glass and finishes it off.
The winning human then stands up and collects the credits, transferred to his credit chip. Standing up alongside the human, the other human looks over at Xan as Xan stands from his chair.
Xanatos picks his long brimmed hat from his lap and places it on his head. Swinging his long and thick overcoat, he slides his arms into the sleeves and then nods to the other players. His unshaven and scruffy looking face fits in with the local humans who don't care as much for fancy clothing or clean shaven faces.
As he turns to leave, the losing human shouts, "You cheated!"
Xan has heard the words before, many times, by a losing player. Taking his time, he turns and says, "I did not cheat friend. I lost. Why would I lose if I cheated? That would make me a bad cheater or a stupid player."
"That card was suppose to be mine. I'd have gotten 23, with that 2." The losing human retorts.
"I can't help that. I got the 2 and I still lost." As Xan speaks with the man, the rodian and the winning human step back and get lost within crowds of the dimly lit cantina.
* * * * *
Moments later, Xan is nearly thrown out of the cantina and stumbles to keep from falling down in the street after being hustled through the cantina doors. Kneeling down to pick up his hat, he turns and looks back up at the cantina and places it back on his head as he stands.
"Well, that went better than I thought." He says to himself as stands outside the cantina wiping the sand from his coat. He then begins to look up and down the street, hoping to find another cantina where he can at least get a drink or watch some entertainment.
Pose in wherever you'd like! Lot's of opportunities here in this environment! Have fun!
