THE HOUSE — WEEK 4 LEDGER
Kept by Matt. Stump No. 1, Mucus Swamps. Reviewed by the System without permission.
Line: Fog machines run past four hours. HIT.
Line: Kelsey’s Pendant wakes up this week. HIT. (He posted this line on Thursday. The System would like to know how.)
Line: Matt flips the coin. NO ACTION.
Line: Matt wins by more than half a point. MISS.
Line: Matt wins. HIT.
170.0 to 169.6.
The System has done the math on 0.4. A single shot on goal in this league is worth 0.5. Matt won the biggest matchup of the season so far by less than one shot that nobody took. Somewhere on Sunday night a skater on Kelsey’s roster had the puck at the blue line, looked at the net, and passed instead, and that pass is the reason Matt is 4-0.
System Notice ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: LAST ONE STANDING. RECORD: 4-0. UNBEATEN CRAWLERS REMAINING: 1. COIN FLIPS DECLARED: 0.
System Notice LOOT DROP: PHOTO-FINISH TICKET (MARGIN: 0.4). TIER: UNCOMMON. EFFECT: +5 PTS IN ONE WEEK OF HIS CHOOSING, DECLARED BY WEDNESDAY NOON. THE HOUSE HAS FRAMED A COPY.
Uncommon. Not Common. The System upgraded it personally. Being the last unbeaten crawler earns that. Doing it by four-tenths of a point against the System’s wife earns it twice.
He added it to the wallet. Sticky note. Comp ticket. Participation trophy, moderately cursed. Parlay slip, still damp. Now the ticket. Five items. Zero used. He leads the Dungeon and carries the heaviest pack in it after Kelsey’s, and Kelsey’s is heavy because she is a nurse and over-prepares, and Matt’s is heavy because he has never in his life cashed out early.
The Ring made a noise on Sunday night. Not a hum. Not a complaint. A sound the System does not have a category for. It happened at 11:58 PM, right as the margin settled at 0.4, and it lasted about two seconds. The System has listened to the recording forty-one times and still cannot tell whether the Ring was laughing.
Week 5 line: Vicky vs. Matt. His mother. Her passive fires against him automatically. +10. She has been waiting four weeks.
The House is not taking action on that one.