The Game of Fools, Part 1 (Patreon)

The Game of Fools

The sorority house was a pleasant enough sight when Stacy finally arrived. Apart from the beautifully routered and polished wooden sign above the door declaring it to be the home of Kappa Psi Kappa Sorority, it looked exactly like a two-story suburban home in a faintly faux-Victorian Style. The path leading up to the front porch was done in pleasant red brick, as was much of the lower half of the structure. An apple tree was growing in the front yard, the branches heavy with unripe fruit. The neighborhood was mostly filled with other dormitories and suburban dwellings belonging to employees and professors of the college, but this was clearly the oldest and most iconic-looking building on its street. The place could have passed for the haunted house in a horror movie if the paint was a little less fresh. As it was, it looked rather cozy.

Stacy approached the porch with great trepidation. She was now a freshman at the University of Colorado, the campus of which was barely a ten-minute walk from her new sorority house. She had just arrived to the city of Boulder by bus, and had walked all the way here. She was excited to become a member of the prestigious Kappa Psi Kappa, one of university's oldest and most prestigious sororities. Stacy had enrolled in the University's psychology program, hoping to one day find work as psychotherapist. She had been emailing back and forth with Professor Islam, the head of the Psychology Department, and it was she who had facilitated her joining this reverend sisterhood of scholars.

Classes for the semester didn't start for another two weeks, but due to some family issues, Stacy had found herself in need of a place to stay in the interim. Professor Islam had kindly offered to let her move into her room in the sorority house a little early. She had assured Stacy that there was nothing unusual in this. She wouldn't even be the first one there. It would be a great opportunity to make some new friends before she was hit with the stress of her new coursework.

Stacy set her two duffel bags on the porch. The door was solid oak and had a bronze doorknocker in the shape of a woman sleeping on a crescent moon. She pulled it up and let it fall three times.

She waited. She realized that given the size of the house, and the fact that, at most, there should be only three other students in residence, it was quite possible , even likely, that no one was close enough to the door to hear her. She was just reaching for the knocker again when the door finally opened.

“Damn girl, that was quick! When you said thirty minutes or...hey, you're not a pizza!” said a tall girl with a slightly unfocused expression on her face.

“Uh...no. Sorry.” said Stacy, taken off guard.

“pffft, you don't gotta apologize! Are you in KPK too?”

“Yeah. Professor Islam said...”

“Awesome! Come on in. My name's Rosanne, but everyone calls me Rose.” Rose put out her hand.

“Stacy.” said Stacy, hurriedly shaking Rose's hand. She grabbed her bags. Rose didn't offer to help with them, but she did at least stand aside to let Stacy into the foyer.

“Oh cool! Another one!” said Rose. Stacy decided that she had been celebrating early.

“Another one?”

“We already have a Staci. Is it with “I”?”

“Y.” said Stacy.

“I'm just curious.” said Rose. After a pause, she blew a raspberry and burst out laughing.

The foyer definitely continued the haunted house theme. The walls were decorated with photos of the successful Kappa Psi Kappa sisters who had gone before her. Some of them were in black and white. Stacy stood in front of a particularly old photograph for a second, and wondered if any of the vibrant young women depicted were still alive. Some of the decor was more fanciful, though. There was a stuffed boar's head above the fireplace, a set of antique flintlock dueling pistols halfway up the stairs, and what looked like a collection of cavalry sabers against one wall.

She realized that she had been gawking. Her arms were tired from carrying her luggage from the bus stop. “Uh...how do I know which room is mine?”

Rose just shrugged. “Get up up there and stake a claim. Pizza is on me if you want some.” She turned and went back into the kitchen.

“Thanks.” said Stacy to her retreating back. “Friendly, if a little abrupt.” she thought as she carried her luggage upstairs.

The stairs opened onto a hallway with doors on both sides. The first one was closed, and had classical music playing loudly on speakers inside. Next a bathroom, then another closed door. Stacy knocked on this to see if anyone was home.

Satisfied that the room was unoccupied, she opened the door.

“Ahhh!”

“Oh, shit! Sorry!” said Stacy, quickly shutting the door.

“Great start.” she thought bitterly. “I've been here a minute and I've already seen one my roommates flicking her bean with head-phones on.”

“Guys!” called Rose from downstairs. “Pizza's here! Come get some before I scarf it all!”

The classical music abruptly ended, and the door that Stacy had just passed opened. A tall woman with long, black hair emerged. She started a little when she saw Stacy. “Oh, hey. When did you get here?”

Stacy stood staring at her for a moment. She found the woman more than a little intimidating. “Um...just now.” she stammered.

She smiled with the kind of easy-going confidence that Stacy envied intensely. “Aww, you're cute. My name's Staci. What's yours?”

“Also Stacy. With a Y.”

Staci with an I chuckled. “Nice to meet you, “Stacy with a 'Y'. Hold up, I have to grab something.”

Staci turned and ran back into her room.

Stacy didn't like being called cute. It wasn't inaccurate, exactly. It was just something she wanted to move past now that she was in college. She had had quite enough of being belittled in high school. Her short stature and prominent front teeth had earned her the nickname “Squirrel”, and she was eager to escape from that. She was attending a prestigious university and working to become a therapist. Was it so much to ask that people not immediately treat her like a kid?

Also, the fact that this statuesque beauty had the same name as her was in no way important or anyone's fault, of course, but it pissed her off all the same. She just knew that it would invite nothing but comparisons between “The Staci(y)s”, and she knew that she would not come off well from that.

The door behind her creaked open and the blonde woman with the ponytail emerged. She was wearing jeans now, luckily.

“S-sorry.” said Stacy again.

“Just...don't.” she said, displaying her palm. “Chelsea, by the way.”

“I'm...” began Stacy.

“Other Stacy, I heard.” said Chelsea, sounding annoyed. Stacy inwardly winced. She had already been reduced to “Other Stacy”.

Staci came out, holding something in her hand. It looked like a slip of paper. “What's that?” asked Stacy.

“You'll see. C'mon, let's eat. Rose can't eat all the pizza by herself, but we'd better hurry if we want any vodka!”

The four women assembled in the kitchen. There were two pizzas between them, which was more than they needed. Rose started passing out shots. She knew how to break the ice. Staci and Rose were the only experienced drinkers in the group, so Chelsea and Stacy were both mocked for their pronounced liquor shakes. They introduced themselves in the superficial ways people do when meeting for the first time. Stacy was surprised to learn that all of the others were freshman like herself. None of the returning members of the sorority were present in the house, at least not yet. That struck Stacy as strange. After all, what kind of organization just gave new members the run of their expensive house?

Stacy spoke briefly about her Psychology major. Chelsea, it turned out, was studying to become a research chemist, and played a lot of tennis. Rose was a party girl who had already visited Rome and Prague and gotten incredibly drunk in both places. She was studying Sports Medicine to be a personal trainer. Staci was double-majoring in Law and Environmental Science, and dreamed of helping to save the planet as an environmental lawyer. Sadly, Stacy's monicker as “Other Stacy” was here to stay, but after meeting and getting to know the others, she didn't mind quite so much. To be fair, the vodka helped as well.  No one was on Rose's level, but Stacy was pleasantly buzzed,  and Chelsea turned out to be much more outgoing and friendly with a couple drinks in her. Staci had the classic unfocused look in her eyes when she stood up and addressed the table.

“So, now that we've had a chance to get to know each other, I'm supposed to share this with you.” she displayed the envelope she had retrieved from her room. It was a very old-fashioned looking envelope, with crisp, yellow paper, a red wax seal stamped with the sorority's Greek letters, and neat but spidery handwriting on the back.

“This was sitting on my bed when I first got here.” Staci explained. She read the back of the envelope aloud:

“Please open when there are four sisters in the house; no more and no less. Keep it secret until then.”

Without further ado, she snapped the seal open, sending pieces of wax across the table. Staci didn't seem to notice, but Stacy wished that she had opened it more carefully. It would have made a nice keepsake.

New Sisters of the Kappa Psi Kappa Sorority,

You are about to take your place in a truly unique and noble sisterhood of scholars and high achievers. In most sororities, an initiation ceremony is conducted by the experienced senior sisters, but our organization is different. Rather than trying to cow our new members by exposing them to overbearing superiors, we offer a simple and elegant way for you to prove your mettle, to us, to each other, and most of all, to yourselves.

Our sisterhood has had a certain treasured object hidden in our house since the very beginning. A special game which each of our new recruits has taken part is as the first challenge they would face as sisters. The four of you will unearth this object, complete its challenge, and in so doing gain a deeper understanding of yourselves and one another. Every Kappa Psi Kappa sister has a story of what happened when they played this game, and tonight, you will discover your own story. In the cellar, under the tile marked with our sacred sign, you will discover our sisterhood's greatest secret.

There was a long pause after Staci finished.

“Damn.” said Chelsea, rubbing her hands together eagerly. “Spooky.”

“Hmm, sorry can you read that again? I wasn't really listening.” said Rose.

Staci passed the letter to Rose irritably. Rose stared at it and moved it back and forth, trying to get her eyes to focus. “It sounds like a fun tradition, at least.” said Staci. “I was worried this was going to be one of those sororities where they make the newbies wear diapers or something.”

Stacy got up from table. “Well come on! It'll be like a treasure hunt.” Stacy winced inwardly at her own words. She didn't want to be the only one showing enthusiasm, but this actually did sound cool.

The cellar, it turned out was accessible only through a hatch in the back garden near the rear dear. The garden was badly in need of some weeding, but it was well shaded with a large chestnut tree, a rhododendron bush, a collection of small rose bushes. The only light in the cellar was a bare bulb that turned on with a pull chain. Once on, the light revealed a room constructed mainly of cinder-blocks reinforced with concrete and re-bar. Several shelves set against the walls were loaded down with mason jars and old  lawn care equipment. A flashlight was sitting on the shelf as well, which Chelsea commandeered, since the one light didn't really reach the corners. After some noisy searching, they found the sorority's Greek letters carved into one of the cinder-blocks that made up the floor.

“I don't think this one is mortared to the others. We should be able pull it up.” said Staci.

“That's probably what this crow-bar is her for.” said Stacy, retrieving it from the shelf and handing it to Staci.

“Good work, Other Stacy.” said Chelsea. It was obvious now that this moniker annoyed Stacy, but evidently Chelsea didn't care.

Staci tried for about a minute to work the pry-bar into the gap between the block, until Rose loudly demanded a turn. Sure enough, Rose had the block up within seconds. Below, the light of the flashlight showed a small chamber constructed from more more blocks. It contained a box about the size of a suitcase. It looked like it was made of solid steel.

“Cool.” said Stacy, try to sound nonchalant now.

“Let's look at it in the kitchen where there's more light.” said Staci.

The pizzas were moved to large communal fridge to make room. The box was surprisingly heavy, so Rose was given the job of carrying it. She didn't object.

Several metal clasps had to be undone in order to open the lid. The box unfolded until it covered most of the table.

“It's a game board.” said Stacy, a bit unnecessarily.

“Wow. It's almost all metal. No wonder it was so heavy.” said Chelsea.

“Where did they get something like this?” asked Rose.

“I know, right? This sorority is from before Monopoly was popular.” said Staci.

The board consisted of three large sections. There were no less than ten decks of colorful cards slid neatly into little slots. A row of colorful boxes ran from one end of the board to the other, like a very short game of Candyland. There was a small  container of markers like looked like nickels, and a large six-sided die with red markings.  There were blank spaces set aside for collections of cards for each of the four players on each side, plus another for a collection in the middle. The five decks on the left were decorated with a sickle and a bail of hay. The five on the right were decorated with a crown and scepter. The two sides mirrored each other, with five decks in five colors: The white decks were marked “Blessing”, the black decks “Punishment”, the red decks “Challenge”, the blue decks “Twist”, and the gray decks “Companion”. Along one side, in small but elegant letters etched into the metal surface, was a list of rules.

The Game of Fools

Rule 1- The Fool goes first. The Fool represents the entire group. If you are ahead of the Fool, draw from the Royal Decks. If you are behind the Fool, draw from the Commoner Decks. On the same space as the Fool, choose either. The Fool itself always draws from the Commoner Decks, except during the Capstone Challenge. Whatever card is drawn during the Fool's turn applies to everyone equally.

Rule 2- The player whose birthday was most recent goes after the Fool. The turns then proceed to the left, until the Fool's turn comes again.

Rule 3- At the start of each players turn, they must roll the die and advance their piece the number of spaces shown on the die.

Rule 4- After rolling and moving, each player must draw from the deck of the same color as the space they landed on.

Rule 5- Each player must take their turn within five minutes of the end of the last player's turn.

Rule 6- Do not attack, restrain, or otherwise attempt to prevent another player from taking their turn. Physical force is permissible only during Challenges. Game pieces and cards must be moved as the rules allow, and only as the rules allow.

Rule 7- Each time a player violates any of these rules, they must draw from the black deck.

Rule 8- The game ends when the first player reaches the final square and completes the Capstone Challenge. Draw 3 red cards and attempt each challenge. If you succeed, you win the game, and all white card effects you have become permanent. All losing players will have their black card effects become permanent. When the Fool reaches the final square, all players must face the Capstone Challenge, and the game then ends, either in victory for everyone, or defeat for everyone.

Staci and Stacy were shoulder to shoulder as they read through the rules carefully. Chelsea skimmed it, and Rose didn't seem all that interested.

“It looks like Candyland, basically. Kinda thought it would be cooler, with the metal box and all.” complained Rose.

“They must have gone to a lot of expense to make it.” said Chesea.

“Either that, or they had a pledge with a lot of metal-working tools and way too much time on their hands.” said Rose.

“If I'm reading this right, the game can end with all of us winning, or just one, or with everyone losing.” said Staci.

“Well, we don't want to lose.” said Rose. “The letter said that everyone in the sorority has played this, and they all have stories about it. We don't want the first thing they hear about us to be that we lost.”

“Maybe you should learn the rules then.” said Staci.

Rose blew a raspberry. “You roll the dice, you take a card. It's baby stuff.”

“Kinda depends on what's on the cards.” said Stacy.

“Well, let's have a look.” said Rose, and she grabbed a red card from the royal side. She squinted as she examined it.

“Well?” said Staci.

“It just says: 'You have broken the sixth rule. Draw a black card.' Doesn't tell me much.” said Rose.

“You weren't supposed to draw yet. That's part of rule six.” said Stacy. “Draw a black card. That's the one you draw when you break a rule.”

“We're not even playing yet. Chill.” said Rose.

“Besides, how would the card say that you took it at the wrong time?” said Staci. “That doesn't even make sense.”

“Just draw the frigging card, Rose. It's in the rules.” said Chelsea.

Rose rolled her eyes. “Fine, whatever!” She drew a card from the Royal deck since it was closer.

Rose looked at the card quizzically.

“Well?” prompted Staci, getting annoyed.

She laid the card down. It showed a rather artful portrait of an anatomically-correct human heart, half black and half red. The card read:

                                                                     The Black Heart

                                                  No regrets, No sorrow, No shame

                Place this card face up in front of you. Whenever you complete a Challenge, you         may discard it, or remove a silver coin from it. Whenever you fail a Challenge, add a silver coin to it.