The Ace of Spades Campaign - Take a Chance On Me part 3

The Opening Rounds
After a good night's rest, Kimberley, Celeste, Gwendoline and Jeanette returned to the Casino Triomphe late in the afternoon for the evening's quarter finals of the high stakes poker competition. Kimberley was relaxed and full of confidence. She'd seen who the other three players were who would be playing against her and she feared none of them.

She and the other three players, Blue Bollu, a Gormelite, "Black Jack" LeGrange and Shesull, a Lashunta, lined up with the casino manager, James Eliot Brubaker, for a photo shoot and to answer questions from the press. Blue Bollu was polite but distant; "Black Jack" LeGrange came across as arrogant and boastful and Shesull was very taciturn and only answered questions in short monosyllabic sentences. However, Kimberley was cheerful and chatty. When asked how she coped with insults, intimidation or lewd suggestions, she replied, "I just ignore them. They don't put me off my game. When I'm playing my concentration is wholly on the game. Nothing else matters."
And when asked if she thought she could win, she replied confidently, "Of course I do. Why else would I be here?"

Turn 1
Twenty minutes later, the players gathered next to their computer console. Although card games were still very popular in the 26th Century, the management decided to install computer consoles for their high stakes games as it was much harder to cheat an AI.
When two or more players wish to make an action which may be opposed by another, this is called an Opposed Check, which is usually made up of an Attribute plus a Skill. In this case the players would be using the Charisma Attribute plus the Gambling, Card Games or Poker skill. Whoever rolls highest wins that round. LUC dice could be used to boost a player's chance by adding dice to an Attribute on a 1:1 ratio, which in this case would be CHA. Also LUC dice could explode. This meant that any 6 rolled could be rolled again and the results added together. Further rolls of 6 would allow another roll. In theory, there was no limit to how high you could go as long as you continued rolling 6's. There was one Exploit that some players had which was called Cheat. It allowed a player to re-roll any 1's but the second result must stand. Finally, any character with an appropriate hook could use it in any non-combat situation to gain the benefit of exploding 6's just like a LUC die but which could be used every turn!
Kimberley had CHA:3d6 plus Gambling 3d6, giving her 6d6. She had LUC:5d6 and the hook, enjoys gambling.
Blue Bollu had CHA:3d6 plus Gambling 3d6, giving him 6d6. He had LUC:2d6 and the Cheat exploit.
"Black Jack" LeGrange had CHA:2d6 plus Poker 4d6 giving him 6d6. He had LUC:3d6 and the Cheat exploit.
Shesull had CHA:4d6 plus Card Games:2d6 giving her 6d6. She had LUC:3d6 and the Cheat exploit.
So the field appeared equal with everyone rolling 6d6. For the first of the five turns the results were as follows -
Blue Bollu rolled 6+6+5+4+4+3=28
"Black Jack LeGrange  rolled 5+4+4+2+2+{1}(+4)=21 (note numbers in {} are ignored).
Kimberley rolled 6+(6+3)+5+4+4+3+2=33
Shesull rolled 6+5+5+3+{1}(+4)+{1}(+1)=24
Kimberley was the clear winner with Blue Bollu second, Shesull third and "Black Jack" LeGrange came last. It was a good start for Kimberley. During the first two rounds no one would be eliminated but at the end of the third, the rules changed.

Turn 2
The results for this turn were as follows -
Blue Bollu rolled 6+4+3+2+2+{1}(+3)=20. He had a running total of 48.
"Black Jack" Le Grange rolled 5+4+3+2+{1}(+5)+{1}(+1)=21. He had a running total of 42.
Kimberley rolled 6+(2)+5+5+4+2+1=25. She had a running total of 58.
Shesull rolled 6+6+5+3+3+{1}(+4)=27. She had a running total of 51.
In a much more closer fought turn, Shesull just beat Kimberley for first player. And with a margin of just 1, "Black Jack" pipped Blue Bollu into third place. The first two turns were just preliminary games. In Turn 3 the stakes were raised as one player would be eliminated. Kimberley was certain it wouldn't be her.

Turn 3 
In this Turn whoever scored the lowest would be eliminated. In the event of a draw they would compare their running totals (including the score for this round) and the player with the lowest running total would be eliminated. In this turn, the primary objective was not to come last.
In this turn the results were as follows -
Blue Bollu rolled 6+5+4+3+{1}(+5)+{1}(+6)=29. This gave him a running total of 77.
"Black Jack" LeGrange rolled 6+6+4+3+3+{1}(+4)=26. This gave him a running total of 68.
Kimberley rolled 6+(5)+6+(1)+5+3+3+1=30. This gave her a running total of 88.
Shesull rolled 5+5+5+4+4+2=25. This gave her a running total of 76.

Despite having a higher running total than "Black Jack" LeGrange, Shesull was placed last in this Turn as she rolled lowest this round and thus she was eliminated from the game. She left without complaint with her head held high. Kimberley felt some sympathy for her. She was hoping "Black Jack" would be the first to go. Still, she had come first in two of the three rounds, placing her as clear favourite to win this match.

Turn 4
Tensions ran high between the three players. First and second place would go through to the match final, leaving the person in third place out of the game.
Blue Bollu rolled 6+6+6+4+4+3+4=33. Note that numbers in red denote the use of a LUC die. In this Turn everyone spent one LUC die. He had a running total of 110.
"Black Jack" LeGrange rolled 6+4+4+3+3+2+5=27. He now had a running total of 95.
Kimberley rolled 5+5+5+4+3+1+4=27. She now had a running total of 115.

Blue Bollu was the clear winner but Kimberley and "Black Jack" had tied, so their running totals were compared and Kimberley easily beat "Black Jack" with a margin of 20 points. He left his computer console swearing and mumbling under his breath.
"Bad loser," Blue Bollu said, shaking his head in disgust.
"Most definitely," Kimberley agreed.

Turn 5 - The Final
With Blue Bollu winning the last round, the odds had shifted slightly in his favour. It would be a closely fought battle of skill and wits.

Blue Bollu rolled 6+5+5+4+4+3+3=31. His running total ended on 141.
Kimberley rolled 6+(4)+6+(4)+3+2+1+3+4=33. Her running total ended on 148. If she hadn't spent two LUC dice she would have lost.

Kimberley was ecstatic at winning. She couldn't stop smiling. As Blue Bollu left the stage he turned to Kimberley and acknowledged, "You were a worthy winner, Miss Wells. My congratulations."
"Thank you, Bollu," Kimberley replied, "I really enjoyed playing against you. You were both a worthy opponent and a true gentleman."

Gwendoline rushed onto the stage and gave Kimberley a huge loving hug which Kimberley reciprocated.
"I never doubted you could do it, Kim," she said smiling happily.
Celeste and Jeanette followed Gwendoline on to the stage at a more leisurely pace. Jeanette shook Kimberley's hand and said, "Well done."
Celeste simply nodded at Kimberley.
Casino manager, James Eliot Brubaker quickly joined them on stage. He smiled warmly at Kimberley and shook her hand.
"Many congratulations, Miss Wells," he said, "You're through to the semi-finals and as such I'd like to present you with this cred-stick worth 25MCr. Enjoy your victory."
"Oh, I certainly will." Kimberley replied with a huge beaming smile.
Kimberley won for three reasons. First she rolled higher than anyone else. Obviously. Secondly, the reason she rolled higher was that everyone else had the Cheat exploit, which allowed them to re-roll 1s but this meant the most they could score was a 6. Kimberley however, had her Hook advantage. If any of her rolls of 6 exploded, the worst she could score would be a 7 (6+1). So her worst roll still beat the cheat's best roll. Thirdly, she had more LUC dice than anyone else in this game. Blue Bollu only had 2 LUC dice and spent one each in the semi-final and final. Kimberley had 5 LUC dice and spent 1 in the semi final. She spent 2 in the final but could have just as easily spent 4.