Deadlaws - Chance

Player: Marty 

Look, it ain't really cheatin' if everyone out here's doing it. At some point it just becomes another layer to the game. Keep your poker face up. Watch for tells. And keep their attention where you want it so when that extra card slips into your paw, they won't know what hit 'em.

Now, that's not to say the hustlin' life is an easy one. Charles Doyle, better known by marks and madams as 'Chance', has to keep one step ahead of the rubes and ruffians that seem for some reason slighted by his perfectly-legitimate acquisitions. Such tempestuous turns of events mean frequent relocation from town to town across the frontier in search of calmer climates to do 'business' in. 

Life didn't always move so quick for the cheetah. Back East where he grew up, his biggest fear was ending up trapped in that sinking mire of blue-collar drudgery that claimed so many of his kin. Wage-slaves sacrificing body and soul to the factories that churned through them like kindling to fuel their financiers' furnaces. He knew that weren't the life for him. He craved the freedom of the open road and the fickle fortunes that could be won with just the right amount of luck and panache... with maybe a few tricks under the table to put the odds in his favor.

The first spark that kindled this dream was witnessing a travelling magician act that made its way up to the company town he called home in the northeast. The way they moved and guided such eager eyes with masterful precision was breathtaking. They set their own tempo and the audience couldn't help but follow along. They always seemed to have another trick up their sleeves, and it ignited a burning curiosity in the young feline to learn more. Eventually he found his way down to New Orleans, where such showmanship and intrigue flowed like water. There he learned the tricks of the trade from its card sharks, its glory hounds, and even a few cat burglars that ran rackets throughout the city.

He may have overplayed his hand a bit when flexing those newfound skills though, and ended up making some powerful enemies and landing on hard times in the Big Easy. Folks here were wise to his ways. He'd need a new audience that wasn't quite so well-versed. Luckily, the West was still young and naive enough to fall for his tricks. The place was chock-full of newly-rich gold miners and oil barons with purses too fat not to pilfer. Surely they wouldn't mind if he skimmed just a little off the top.

But eventually they all wise up. Once the chips cash out and liquor starts to fade in the morning light, people put two and two together and eventually come calling for the cheating cheetah. But Chance has always been light on his feet. He's yet to meet any trouble he couldn't outrun. The only problem is; he's run out of West. 

He's always been content to move along whenever he'd worn out his welcome in the past. But now that his latest stomping ground's gone and fallen to the Otherside, he's got nowhere left to run to.