This came from a discussion in a Yu-Gi-Oh! group at Yahoo Groups after Chumley left to become a card designer working for Pegasus (in Yugioh GX). The basic topic of the discussion was, since Pegasus (according to Yu-Gi-Oh! the Movie) doesn't create cards anymore, and now hires card designers to do it for him (according to GX)...what's it like on the card-design team?

Chumley and Pegasus and all other canon characters mentioned, as well as related names such as Duel Disk, Duel Monsters, the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game and all cards mentioned that weren't created by me are © Kazuki Takahashi and Shonen Jump. The lyrics to "Particle Man" are © They Might Be Giants.


Makin' It Up As We Go
By Deathwish
Ch. 1

Chumley felt more than a little nervous, now that he was standing here, at the gates of the castle. True, his skill had gotten him here, hand-picked by Mr. Pegasus himself, but this was the domicile of the creator of Duel Monsters, and the site where Yugi Mutou had been crowned King of Games. A very big part of him didn't feel equal to the greatness that had walked the halls before him now. His hand trembled as he drew the card Pegasus had given him at the airport, and placed it on his Duel Disk. It bore an image of Mr. Pegasus, and its effect simply stated "Grants access to the castle at Duelist Kingdom." Receiving the signal from the Duel Disk, the castle's computers opened the door for him.

Having left Duel Academy behind him, Chumley was dressed in civilian clothes (khakis and a short-sleeved button-up shirt) instead of his Academy uniform. He felt dressed down as he passed one picture of Cecilia Pegasus, Maximillion's late wife, after another. At least I wore my shoes, he thought.

"My cards are not too powerful for release!!" an irate voice shouted from somewhere up ahead. "Whaddaya mean 'unbalanced?!'"

"Did I come at a bad time?" he wondered softly to himself.

"Nah, Bull's always like that." said a voice from nearby, and slightly to the rear. Chumley turned, and was confronted by a woman in her twenties, her black hair braided into a plait behind her head, dressed in a baggy T-shirt with a large, red dragon design on it. She was probably wearing either shorts or a skirt, but he couldn't tell which because the shirt came further down her smooth legs than whatever she was wearing under it. Her earrings looked like a pair of small, green dragons were hanging from her lobes by her teeth. Chumley remembered a kid in elementary school who used to do that with small lizards.

"Uh, hi." he said. "I'm Chumley."

"Ah, the awesome Aussie." the woman said, extending her hand, which he accepted probably too quickly to be polite. "I'm Ryuko. Mr. Pegasus already got the ball rolling on the release of your Ayer's Rock card. That's gotta be some kind of record."

"Um, I guess." he said, blushing.

"I've been here a while." she said, walking with him toward the sounds of arguement. "I made half of Legacy of Darkness and I had one of my cards put into Magician's Force."

"I think I have that one." Chumley said, reaching into one of his pockets. "Usually I like koalas, but this was too good to get rid of." He held up the four-star, 1900-attack point Normal Monster card.

"Yeah, Luster Dragon!" Ryuko enthused. "I originally named it Sapphire Dragon, and I had one called Emerald Dragon, but somehow they both got assigned Luster Dragon. Stupid committee." Chumley chuckled.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Markam, but my decision stands." said Pegasus' voice as they neared the office. Chumley's eyes were captured by the detailed renderings of Obelisk the Tormentor, The Winged Dragon of Ra and Slifer the Sky Dragon above and to the right and left of the office door respectively. Bull Markam stormed out through that door, slamming it behind him and allowing the pair to see the door-sized painting of The Creator of Light that hung there, now teetering precariously on its perch. Ryuko stopped its swing and opened the door more gently.

"Chumley's here." she stated.

"Ah, wonderful!" Pegasus said, striding out. "Thank you, Ryuko. Chumley, my lad, I trust your trip was a pleasant one?"

"Yeah, except for the refueling stop in Los Angeles." Chumley replied. "I swear I thought I was gonna faint when I saw the box of rubber gloves beside the security checkpoint."

"Unavoidable, I'm afraid." Pegasus sighed as they came to a balcony over an old-fashioned dueling arena--it took Chumley a minute to realize that THIS was the self-same arena where the finals of the Duelist Kingdom tournament had been held. "This is where we play-test the cards that designers like you create." he said, gesturing to the arena. Bull Markam strode out onto one side of the arena. Even from this distance, he looked like a brawler, with his shaven head, wife-beater shirt, blue-jeans and steel-toed work boots all accenting his bulging muscles.

"Hiya, boss!" said another voice. Chumley looked at the other side of the arena, where someone else was placing his deck in the customary place. He was dressed in a T-shirt, jeans, sneakers and mirrored aviator shades, and his red hair was cut in a short fade which didn't quite go with his long face.

"Need I ask what's going on?" Pegasus asked.

"You know how stubborn Bull is." the man said with a smirk. "He wants to prove his cards are fair."

"In that case, you'd have to beat him." Pegasus said.

"My favorite passtime."

"That's Amadeus Rosenberg." Ryuko said by way of introduction. "Most of us call him Deuce."

"Let's duel!" Bull shouted.

"Bring tha noise!" Deuce replied, drawing his cards. "I'll summon Elemental Hero Burstinatrix in Attack Mode." He put his card down and one of Jaden Yuki's favorite monsters appeared. "Next, I'll remove her from play to Special Summon Pinch Hero Velocity Girl. While she's on the field, I get to treat her name as 'Elemental Hero Velocity Girl.' Your move."

Wow, she's pretty. Chumley thought, looking at the new monster. Too bad she's got such a low attack score...it's even lower than Burstinatrix's was.

"With only 1000 attack points, your monster's not even worth the three stars you gave her, Deuce, to say nothing of having to get rid of a monster on your side of the field to summon her." Bull said derisively. "Not like my monster! I summon Nanotyrannus in Attack Mode!" A monster somewhat like a small T-rex appeared, and an attack-points amount equaling 1900 was projected as well. "Not only is his 1900 attack points a sight to behold on a no-tribute monster, but every monster he destroys makes him stronger, by granting him half its attack points! You're just lucky your monster's so weak that Nanotyrannus won't gain but a measely 500 points. Attack, Nanotyrannus, with Triassic Terror attack!" The monster charged, mouth agape, while Velocity Girl merely yawned.

"I activate Velocity Girl's special ability!" Deuce shouted, sliding the card to anoter Monster Zone. Nanotyrannus' teeth snapped on empty air, while Velocity Girl laughed from far across Deuce's field.

"What the...?" Bull shouted.

"Any time Velocity Girl is declared as a target, whether it's an attack or a card effect, I can negate the play by moving her to another open Monster Zone, and you can't chain any card's activation to any play that involves her. That's why I had to make her so weak on the attack and defense, and make her a Special Summon that required me to ditch an Elemental Hero."

Jaden would SO love that card! Chumley thought.

"Yes, you see, Mr. Markum, unlike you, Deuce cares about balancing strengths with weaknesses." Pegasus remarked.

"Oh, I'm sure his monsters have weaknesses, boss." Deuce said. "And I'd like the challenge of finding them."

"Suit yourself." Pegasus said, seating himself on a nearby couch.

"You calling my monsters weak?" Bull growled. "You just wait till my next turn! For now, I'll lay one card face-down."

"Looking forward to it, Bull." Deuce said, drawing. "I summon Elemental Hero Particle Man, in attack mode!" He slapped a card onto the field, and an infinitessimal speck of a monster appeared.

"What the heck?" Bull demanded as he saw an Attack score of 100. "You're gonna summon that thing?"

"Particle Man, Particle Man, doing the things a particle can..." Deuce sang, much to Bull's disgust. "Go get him, Particle Man!"

"Maybe you need glasses, Deuce, my monster's way stronger than yours!"

"He's not attacking your monster, he's attacking you!" Deuce replied. Particle Man zipped past Nanotyrannus and smacked Bull in the face, then flew back to his original position, laughing like a demented cartoon chipmunk. "First blood, Bull." he said, as Bull's Life Points dropped to 3900.

"I gotcher blood right here!" Bull shouted. "I summon Megalosaurus in attack mode!" With that, he slapped down a monster that had 2100 Attack points.

"I see what you mean about unbalanced cards." Chumley muttered.

"Unbalanced?" Bull growled. "For your information, Tubby, Megalosaurus is a 5-star monster that I can Special Summon directly from my hand only if my opponent controls more monsters than me when I do it. AND it's destroyed if I have anything other than dinosaurs on my side of the field."

"Sounds fair enough to me." Deuce said.

"Now, Megalosaurus, attack Elemental Hero Particle Man!" Bull shouted. His monster just looked confused.

"I think your monster needs glasses." Deuce remarked. "Or it could just be the fact that Particle Man's too small for any monster above Level 3 to see, much less attack."

"Grr! Nanotyrannus, attack Velocity Girl!"

"You never learn, do you?" Deuce responded, as Velocity Girl once again dodged Bull's attack by moving to another open Monster Zone.

"You'll get yours, Deuce!"

"You know, after hearing that at least once a day, every day, for the past two years, you'd think I'd get tired of hearing it." Deuce said. "Nah, I think I just enjoy your frustration."

"I think Pegasus likes watching them spar." Ryuko whispered conspirationally to Chumley. "Why else would he keep Bull on after all the crud he's pulled during his time here?"

"Well, everybody's gotta have a hobby, I guess." Chumley replied.

"Here, why don't I give you a monster you can attack?" Deuce offered. "I sacrifice Elemental Hero Particle Man to summon Elemental Enhancement Chamber in defense mode!"

"Oh, I like this one. I hope Pegasus releases it soon." Ryuko said, as Deuce put a Machine with no attack points and 3000 defense points on the field.

"Now, I can put a monster whose name contains 'Elemental Hero' inside the chamber to stew in its super-power enhancing rays for a few turns." Deuce continued. "And what do you know, Pinch Hero Velocity Girl's name is being treated as Elemental Hero Velocity Girl while she's on the field, so I'll just put her in there!" With that, Velocity Girl climbed into the chamber and closed the hatch. "Now, I'll put a card face-down and that'll do." The number one lit up.

"He has to keep her in there for three of his End Phases." Ryuko explained. "He played this against me before. After his third End Phase, his hero comes out for the attack."

"Only three thousand defense points?" Bull asked, after drawing his card. "That won't help, I'm afraid! Behold!" He slapped a Spell Card onto the reader. "Dynafusion! I can remove from play monsters in my hand or on the field which are the proper Fusion Material monsters for a Dinosaur-type Fusion Monster, and Fusion Summon that monster! Now, you face the Tyrant Lizard King!" A large reptile with comparatively small (for its size) arms appeared, and roared triumphantly as the reader announced its attack-point score of 3800. "And that's not all! When he destroys a monster, that monster's attack or defense score, depending on which mode it's in, is deducted directly from its controller's Life Points!"

"That's gonna hurt." Chumley muttered.

To be continued...


[B]Makin' It Up As We Go
by Deathwish
Ch. 2

Bull's monster sank its fangs into the power cords of the Elemental Enhancement Chamber, causing it to explode. "Betcha wish you weren't so accomodating now, don't ya?" Bull taunted. Deuce's Life Points dropped way down to a measley 1000.

"Darn, I was hoping to see what Velocity Girl would turn into after she came out." Ryuko moped. "Last time, he turned Burstinatrix into an Elemental Hero called Fire Domina. Burned away most of my Life Points, but I brought back the first half of Titan Dragon and was able to summon the second half and finish him."

"Hey, what'd we miss?" asked another voice. Chumley turned to find that three others had joined them. The one who'd spoken was female, dressed in sandals, red capris and a matching lettuce-leaf top tied in front. Her skin was the color of a latte with a good serving of cream, and her dark hair was tied back in a waterfall ponytail, but the short part near the front covered her right eye.

"Oh, the usual, Fatimah. Bull throws out big freaking monsters while Deuce puts down smaller ones that won't roll over and die." Ryuko said.

"Funny, his so-called Elemental Enhancement Chamber did exactly that." Bull taunted from the arena.

"One hit did all that damage?" asked a big guy who looked like the Russian from Rocky IV in a denim shirt, blue jeans and work boots.

"Same old Bull, doing the 'Hulk Smash, Hulk Bash' routine with his overpowered monsters." said the third, a deathly pale girl with purple-streaked black hair and an eyebrow ring. "The sound recordings for the holograms must have infringed on half of Ju****ic Park's copyrights."

"Hey, you shut up, Jinx!" Bull growled.

"You first." the girl, now known to be called Jinx, responded.

"Hi, I'm Chumley." He extended his hand to the one whose name he hadn't heard yet.

"Vladimir Mikhailovich." the big guy said, grasping Chumley's hand. "But everyone calls me Vlad."

"Nice hair, Chum." Jinx remarked.

"Well, now that you've all been introduced..." Deuce interrupted as he drew his next card. "Here we go...Elemental Hero Swarminator in Defense mode!" A monster that looked to be half man, half bee appeared on the field.

"That's weird." Fatimah said. "1800 attack points and zero defense points?"

"Which means Bull won't do any damage with his monster's effect."

"You're looking a little desperate there, Deuce." Bull taunted.

"I'm never desperate, Bull." Deuce replied. "Have you forgotten this is a game?"

"No, Poker is a game. Duel Monsters is a championship spectator sport played with cards and holograms instead of balls."

"Sports are games too, and if you're not having fun, you might as well not play." Deuce responded. "It's your move."

"Fine, then I'll attack with my Tyrant Lizard King!"

"Suit yourself." Deuce said as his opponent's monster stomped on Swarminator. The field was covered in some kind of purple fume.

"What is this?!" Bull demanded.

"Ever squashed a bee?" Deuce asked. "The individual dies, but he sends out a pheromone that calls out the others to defend the hive." With that, he plucked two more Swarminators from his Deck, summoned them to the field and shuffled. "That's the thing about social insects, Bull. They can set aside their own lives for the greater good."

"You're only delaying the inevitable."

"No, I'm setting you up for a fall." Deuce responded. "Ah, here we go!"

"You've got nothing!"

"What I have is Elemental Hero Universe Man!" Deuce said, sending his two monsters to the Graveyard. A round man in a black, star-spangled wrestling singlet appeared.

"You've GOT to be kidding!" Bull said when Universe Man's attack score showed up. "You were better off with the bugs!"

"Actually, 1000 is just his attack score when he's only taking up one space."

"Huh?"

"I can increase or decrease his size so he takes up multiple adjacent Monster Zones. His attack points are equal to the number of spaces he takes up times 1000."

"And Universe Man is all alone on Deuce's side." Jinx said. "That means if he wants to, he can make Universe Man so big he takes up all five of his Monster Zones."

"And that's exactly what I'm going to do!" Deuce declared. X's appeared on the Monster Zones of Deuce's terminal, while the holographic Universe Man visibly swelled. "Universe Man, Universe Man, size of the entire universe, man. Usually kind to smaller men..." Deuce sang. "But in your case, I think he'll make an exception! Go, Universe Man! Big Bang Bellyflop!"

"Ugh, what an attack call." Jinx groaned.

"At least he didn't call it something like 'Cosmic Keister Crush.'" Chumley said, which brought a laugh out of Ryuko. Jinx only rolled her eyes. Universe Man, meanwhile, had leapt all the way up to the ceiling and was now descending stomach-first on the Tyrant Lizard King. He crashed with a great clamour, and when he picked himself up, the King was pancaked on the floor, and Bull had lost 1200 Life Points.

"This isn't over!" Bull shouted.

"Of course not." Deuce replied. "You've still got 2700 Life points left."

"Darn right, and I play the Spell card Extinction! By removing all the Dinosaurs in my Graveyard from play, I can destroy all the monsters on the field and deduct their original Attack points from your Life Points!" A huge meteor appeared to come down from the sky and strike the field.

"It won't do you any good, Bull." Deuce said, holding up his Universe Man card. "Universe Man's Attack and Defense scores are both dependent on how many Monster Zones he's taking up. There's no number printed here, only two question marks. This way I can't use searchers like Sangan, or Witch of the Black Forest, or Shining Angel, to bring him out faster, in addition to the fact that both of the monsters I sacrifice for him have to have 'Elemental Hero' in their names."

"Maybe you dodged the bullet of Extinction, but now you're wide open for my attack! I summon Nanotyrannus in attack mode!"

"Another one?" Chumley asked.

"1900 attack points for no tribute, of course he's going to have three of them in his deck." Ryuko said.

"Attack, Nanotyrannus!" Bull roared. His dinosaur roared as well, and charged.

"Sorry, Bull, but I'm taking this match into overtime." Deuce said, flipping over the Trap card he'd laid down a while back. "Draining Shield!"

"Grr." Bull responded.

"This card stops your attack, and increases my Life Points by the attack points of your monster." Deuce continued, as the force-field generated by Draining Shield blocked Nanotyrannus' attack, and absorbed the energy to add 1900 to Deuce's 1000 point score.

"And now for my turn, I play Monster Reborn, to bring back Particle Man from the Graveyard." Deuce said. "And I'll throw down a face-down, and that's it."

"If you're planning on springing a trap, think again!" Bull growled. "First, I play Cost Down! By discarding a card from my hand, I can downgrade all the monsters in my hand by two levels until the end of the turn, which lets me summon Negasaurus #3 without having to offer my Nanotyrannus as a Tribute." A 2200-attacking cyborg dinosaur appeared on the field.

"I trust there's some significance to the number?"

"Darn right. You see, as long as I have at least one other monster out on the field, and all my monsters are Dinosaurs, I can negate any Trap card on your side of the field! And the #3 part comes in because he's got two cousins with similar effects, but with important differences."

"In other words, one of them negates Spell cards, and the other negates monster effects." Deuce said.

"I may not be able to attack yet, Deuce, but once I get my other Negasauruses out, your number's up!"

To be continued...

[b]Makin' It Up As We Go
by Deathwish
Ch. 3


"Is it Negasauruses, or Negasauri?" Deuce wondered aloud. "Never mind. It's a really bad idea to shout your strategy across the board, you know."

"Like you can stop me."

"Anyone can be stopped." Deuce said. "For now, I'll summon another Burstinatrix..." he slapped a Monster card on the field and Elemental Hero Burstinatrix appeared. "Then I'll play Miracle Fusion, which lets me remove from play monsters on the field and in the graveyard to Fusion Summon an Elemental Hero from my Fusion Deck...so, bye-bye Burstinatrix and Velocity Girl...and say hello to Elemental Hero Speed Burner!" The two monsters disappeared from field and Graveyard, to be replaced by a woman with red hair streaked with blonde like a fire, dressed in a red-and-yellow costume with fiery wings on her feet.

"A measley two thousand attack points won't help you beat me." Bull said.

"No?" Deuce asked. "Speed Burner, attack Nanotyrannus!" Just like that, Nanotyrannus was gone, as were 100 of Bull's Life Points. The score now was Deuce at 2900 and Bull at 2600. "Now, Particle Man, attack his Life Points directly!" Particle Man zipped past the Negasaurus and smacked Bull across the face. "And now that you don't have a dinosaur other than Negasaurus on the field, I'll activate Generous Handful, which lets us both draw cards until we have seven in our hand."

"Big mistake." Bull called. "I remember when you brought that card to Pegasus for approval. It forces you to end your turn once all seven cards are in your hand, which means it's my turn." He drew an eighth card. "And you've allowed me to draw all the cards I need! First, I summon Gilasaurus, and treat its Summon as a Special Summon."

"Which means I get to Special Summon a monster from my Graveyard." Deuce said, picking up Elemental Enhancement Chamber and placing it on the field in Defense position.

"Doesn't matter. I play Tribute to the Doomed by discarding one card from my hand, and destroy your stinkin' chamber. Finally, I'll sacrifice Gilasaurus to summon Negasaurus #2!" A dinosaur similar to Negasaurus #3, but with its main skin color swapped with the color of its stripes, appeared. "No more Spells for you. Now I'll play 2 cards face-down and attack your Speed Burner!"

"You never learn, do you?" Deuce asked, sliding Speed Burner to another Monster Zone. Negasaurus #2's jaws closed on empty air, as Speed Burner bobbed her eyebrows in celebration of her own cleverness, from clear across the field. "Speed Burner has all the same powers as Velocity Girl, just twice as strong, and I can have her attack twice if I divide her Attack points in half."

"You and your stall tactics." Bull grumbled.

"Hmm." Deuce said, looking at the card he'd just drawn. "I'll pass this turn."

"Huh?" Astonishment was plain on Bull's face. "Guess you've finally given up, huh? Fine, I'll finish you off quick and...relatively painless." He picked up another card, and flipped over one of his face-downs. "Here goes Emergency Provisions! This card lets me destroy my own Spell or Trap cards on the field, and gain 1000 Life Points for each one I ditch. So, I'll use it to ditch this Statue of the Wicked card, which means I get a Wicked Token." A hideous little Fiend monster appeared next to the dinosaurs. "Now, I'd be a little worried if you had something face-down right now, since having a Fiend on my field effectively shuts down my Negasauruses' powers, but you don't, so I'm not, and he won't be here long anyhow."

"My English teacher would kill you if she heard that sentence." Deuce remarked.

"She can bite me. I sacrifice the Wicked Token to summon Negasaurus #1!" With that, Bull's final monster appeared, all black under its cyborg parts. "Now your monsters' effects can't be used, which means there's nothing protecting you from this final assault! Negasaurus #1! Attack that irritating little dot over there!" The first assault dropped Deuce all the way down to 800 points. "Negasaurus #2, attack Speed Burner!"

"This is bad." Fatimah said. "Deuce only has 600 Life Points left, and no monsters left to block a 2200-point direct attack!"

"That's where you're wrong." Deuce said. "I've still got one card to play."

"I ain't letting you use it!" Bull said. "Negasaurus #3, finish him off!"

"You just played right into my hands." Deuce said, holding up one of the cards in his hand. "Desperation Summon!"

"'Desperation Summon?'" Bull asked.

"It's a special kind of Special Summon that can only be performed when my opponent declares an attack while he has two or more monsters on the field, and I have none." Deuce replied. "And it can only be performed with a special kind of monster. Behold, Hikari, Guardian of the Oppressed!" As the card touched the field, bright light began to shine, and a woman in shining armor, armed with a naginta (a staff with a head that had two blades, one straight, continuing the line of the staff, the other curved off to the side, like a fire-stoker with attitude), appeared.

"Oh, okay, I get it, my monsters don't negate effects in your hand, just on the field. My bad." Bull conceded. "It's still not enough, if those attack points are anything to go by." Indeed, Hikari had only 2000 Attack points to her name. "And now that she's on the field, Negasaurus's effect jams her powers!"

"On the contrary, she jams his." Deuce said.

"Huh?"

"Hikari can only be summoned when my opponent has at least one card active on the field whose effect contains the word 'negate.'" Deuce explained. "She can't be harmed by those effects, in fact, she feeds on them." Hikari slammed the butt end of her naginta on the ground, and the three dinosaurs, including the attacking Negasaurus #3, were destroyed.

"My monsters!" Bull shouted.

"Hikari destroys all cards on the field whose effect contains the word 'negate' automatically upon being Desperation Summoned," Deuce said, "and she gains 500 Attack points for each card she destroys with that effect." He smiled, and Bull blanched as Hikari's attack points rose to 3500. "Now it's my turn." He picked up a card and added it to his hand without even looking at it. "Hikari, use your newfound power and attack Bull's Life Points directly!"

Bull's eyes glanced down at his Life Point score. 3400. Soon to be zero. Hikari had leapt into the air, and was slashing down with her wicked weapon, glowing with power stolen from his monsters. The holograms in this comparatively archaic stadium were nowhere near as realistic as the latest Duel Disks, but Bull flinched nonetheless as Hikari's attack landed, and all his Life Points disappeared.

"Wow, what a turnaround!" Ryuko remarked.

"Not bad, eh, boss?" Deuce asked, noticing that Pegasus had resumed the balcony rail. "I actually made her in case Jinx ever pulled that Sorcerer of Dark Magic and Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8 combo on me again, but it works okay in a situation like this too, don't you agree?"

"Yes, indeed." Pegasus said. "And with that in mind, I believe I would be willing to reevaluate the fairness of Mr. Markum's brutish beasts. If you would both see me in my office tomorrow morning, say, eightish?"

"Uh...sure." Bull replied.

"No prob, Boss." Deuce responded. "Hey, Bull, you let me know if you need me to kick your butt again, 'kay?" Bull was about to bite off a nasty reply, but Deuce was already leaving, with his cards in his pocket.

"Man, that was intense." Chumley said. "I could sure go for a grilled cheese."

"Now that you mention it, I'm feeling a bit peckish myself." Pegasus said. "Shall we adjourn to the dining hall?" The group made unanimous noises of assent--except for Jinx, who remained shielded behind a wall of apathy--and they followed Pegasus down the hall. "Now, there's the studio where you'll be working," he said, gesturing to one of the rooms on the left side. "To your right is the multimedia room, where your paintings are turned into cards for playtesting. The mass-production area is underground, in what used to be the dungeon. That's where your cards go if and when they're to be released."

"Just keep your hands out of the foil-stamper." Jinx said. "That'll put a real fast end to your card-design career." Chumley's eyes lit up with delight as they entered the dining hall. A very impressive luncheon was laid out on the ludicrously long table, but Chumley's eyes were fixed on a large platter of grilled-cheese sandwiches in the center.

Oh, yeah, life is good! he thought to himself.

End.