Palace of Hopes

Locations

Decor keywords: Checkerboard, green baize, marble, gold, casino, palace

North Storeroom

The storeroom of games currently in play. Large and bustling. Contains rats.

West Storeroom

The storeroom of games Liz has grown past or forgotten. Does not contain rats, due to the snakes.

South Storeroom

The storeroom of games Liz has come to dislike, or even (in the deeper depths) hate. A lot of school sports equipment can be found here. Contains rats.

East Storeroom

The storeroom of games that do not exist yet. When a new game is introduced, its equipment is found in some of the boxes in this room. Opening the other boxes is strictly forbidden. Contains rats.

Inhabitants

• Elizabeth is the Queen of Games, a harlequin in black and blue with a crown for a jester's hat (or vice-versa). With a sweep of her fingers, she can create new games, define their rules, reward heroic victors and punish debtors and cheats.

Staff

• Rochambeau is the Queen's Vizier, a dour aging man in dark suit who administers that which needs administration and arranges that which needs arranging.
• Joe is always present behind the bar to salve sorrows and encourage the despairing to try their luck once more.

Players

• Lady Isabel is an elfin femme fatale who rates among the Palace's most successful regulars.
• Tanto the clown is a disreputable ruffian and cheat, always ready with a cunning plan to make his fortune... or dispose of a real troublemaker.
• The calculating Rostina is adept at games of strategy and mathematics, the winnings from which she uses to further ornament her robotic body.

Miscellaneous

• Androgynous, spiderlike Tictac is rarely seen, and more rarely understood, but sometimes visits at just the right moment to dispense a hint, an idea, or even the plan for a whole new game.