The girls looked at each other, uneasiness was clearly written on their faces. Mattie spoke for them. "Well... we don't know if we should continue. We're glad you guys seem to like your new... configuration, but..."
Suddenly, a card from the deck flew up into the air spinning. A bright light seemed to emanate from it, and before anyone could say anything else, a holographic image of an old man appeared before them. "Testing... 1...2...3 Can you all hear me?" Everyone was stunned looking at the image of the old man.
Derek was the only one to recognize him. "Y-your the guy from the store. The guy who sold me the game."
"Your the guy who did THIS to us!" Brian exclaimed, pointing to their body.
"Yes Yes, and no. I am the shopkeeper from the store you bought my game, but I most certainly did not change you into... that. The game has a mind of its own you know." The shopkeeper replied with a smile. Remember why he appeared before them, he sighed, "Oh... thats right you don't know. My apologizes for giving you a game without the proper directions; the last person who bought it failed to put them back.
Amber looked up to the man, obviously a little nervous. "I-I'm sorry Mister, but we don't need the directions anymore. We've decided not to play the game." Amber motioned to the three girls.
"Yeah, no offense to anyone" Bliss stated, "But we don't want to go through any kind of transformations. The boys seem to like what happened to them, but we don't want to end up with six arms or reversed heads or something else thats bizarre."
"Well, I am here to tell you that you will want to play. Like I said before, the game has a mind of its own, and it does not like it when people don't finish what they started. Everyone around when the game was opened has to finish the game until there is a winner... or winners in Derek and Brian's case." The shopkeeper replied.
The girls were about to protest, but he silenced them with a hand. "If a player does not take their turn in an hour, the game will automatically skip their turn and give them a permanent change."
"Permanent Change?" Amber repeated.
"So you mean if we don't play we get changed anyways, and if we play we get changed? How is that fair?" Mattie glared at him. The rest of the girls joined in on the glare as well.
"Listen, Listen" The shopkeeper put both hands up to silence them. "If you play the game, the winner gets to make one wish. So, the changes that come during game play can be undone. You just have to play."
Brian liked the sound of that. "So, we can be separated?" Brian asked eagerly. Though Derek's idea sounded good to him, the idea of being separated sounded much better.
"Yes Brian, the wish can take away any changes that occurred while playing the game." The shopkeeper replied. That news seemed to lighten the mood a lot. "Before you continue the game, I want to give you the rules of the game, so you aren't taken aback when other changes happen."
After clearing his throat, he continued. "There are three different levels of transformation. If you noticed on the card you drew Brian, it had the number one on the corner. That means you were unlucky enough to draw a Cursed Card. Now before I get into those, here are the general flow of cards: 1. Animal Transformation Cards – Ranging from Common to Rare Card Type - These cards can cause a change in the user. The change is almost always animal related, and can range from small changes to complete body changes. 2. Physical Transformation Cards – Ranging from common to Rare Card Type – These cards can affect the very make-up of a person. The person can go from Flesh and Blood to Rubber, Stone, Plant, and etc. Sometimes the person will even grow extra limbs. 3. Cursed Cards – Extremely Rare Card Type – The person this card is used on will receive a curse. These curses can greatly differ from other types a card and create unique situations. These curses can cause several obstacles, or if used correctly, help a player gain an advantage over the other players. Some times, cures even effect multiple players, like in your cases, Brian and Derek. 4. Area Effect Cards – Uncommon – These cards can effect the area around the players. For instance it could change this house into a swamp. Also, these cards can make people enter the world of the game, but you will find out more about that when that card comes up. Anyways, I hope that explained a few things. Good luck to you all. Ta- Ta for now."
With that, the shopkeeper disappeared, and the card used to summon him flew back into the deck. Everyone looked at each other for a few long minutes. Derek was the first to break the silence. "Well, since we have to play the game, who's turn is it going to be next?"