The High Stakes Club

The High Stakes Club is a high school clubSunflower said "Hey darlin', you could help on the farm for class credit..." to Helsie. from Reality: 783 whose main objective is to hunt vampires and other monsters. They were first introduced during Chapter 3: Season 4.
==Overview==
The High Stakes Club is made up of four hunters, three of which consider themselves above all family: Joni the Red, Helsie, and Lucien West.Lucien West's description labels the group as found family. Their goal is to hunt vampires and other monsters to defend the innocent. 
The club were mega-fans of Starfang (Countess Daraku), their favorite musical artist, until they were targeted by The Countess - who turned out to be an ancient cunning vampire that enjoyed hunting her fans. They sought revenge by defeating her with newfound allies, proving themselves as capable hunters. 
On Oninoshima, demons have broken free due to a shard of The Zero Point crashing into the island. The club now has taken on demons in their monster hunting. Minato Hakaru - a vigilante monster hunter and an old friend of Joni's known for partially breaking her trust - is revealed as a member of the club. 
==Members & Allies & Weaponry & Facilities & Items==
<tabber>
|-|Members=
===Leader===
Leader 	Description
Joni the Red	The intense leader of the High Stakes Club, Joni the Red is their tactician. Rumor has it she'd do anything for a friend. Joni is fueled by a passion to achieve justice and protect the innocent. She relates to others through a shared passion for music.
===Club Members===
Members 	Description
Helsie 	Member of the High Stakes Club, Helsie is their Club President. She is also a bobarista. She may appear bubbly on the outside, but is quite a threat. Due to her sociable personality, she interacts with other residents on the island, offering the Club's services to them.
Lucien West 	Member of the High Stakes Club, Lucien West is their protector. Nothing matters more to him than keeping his friends safe, so much so he forgets to take care of himself. He considers his friends to be chosen family.
Minato Hakaru	Member of the High Stakes Club, Minato is a merciless monster hunter as well as an old friend of Joni the Red. Both of them were attacked by a monster a long time ago, and survived. Joni's trust in him is limited due to his harsh way of hunting.
===Allies===
Allies 	Description
Victoria Saint	Mentor of the High Stakes Club, Victoria Saint has adopted them as her protégés on their shared quest to slay Countess Daraku. Despite Shimmerdusk's warning about Joni's potential, Victoria learns to be a pack hunter, finding a little change may be good.
Shimmerdusk 	The dark fae who has been hunting Kado Thorne across space and time. She is Victoria Saint's mentor and a reality-crossing monster hunter. Shimmerdusk believes a true monster hunter works alone, but is ultimately proven wrong.
The Looper 	Allied with and taught by the High Stakes Club, Victoria Saint, and Shimmerdusk, they want to kill both Countess Daraku and Kado Thorne.
Jade 	Childhood friend of Helsie. The two haven't seen each other for some time but recently reconnected.
|-|Weaponry=
==Weaponry==
Name 	Icon	Description
Wood Stake Shotgun 	 	Fire wooden stakes that deal significant damage at close range. Created to fight the vampires and the undead - but still good against most things.
High Stakes' Shotgun	 	Fire wooden stakes that deal significant damage at close range. Created to fight the vampires and the undead - but still good against most things.
Westward Knuckles 	 	Carves its own path.
Oath's Hold 	 	It seems another sword was cut from this strong alloy.
Twice Bitten 	 	Take two big bites out of the competition.
Big Bite 	 	Coffins, gravestones, ancient tomes... This'll cut through anything.
The Scarlet Oath 	 	No vampire can stand against it.
Westward Star 	 	Let it guide you.
|-|Facilities=
==Facilities==
Name 	Description
Bobom Milk Tea	The club’s place of work. Helsie, Joni the Red, and Lucien West are bobaristas there. In Bobom the club have a hidden room beneath featuring decoration, memorabilia, and weapons. At the center of the room is four chairs and a round table suggesting Minato Hakaru’s presence.
|-|Items=
==Items==
{| class="fandom-table"
!Name
!Icon
!Description
|-
|Lil Louie
|
|A loyal buddy who’s tuffer than he looks. Lil Louie is the key into the club’s secret room beneath bobom.
|-
</tabber>
== History==
===Unknown Period of Time===
At an unknown time in Helsie’s childhood, she met Jade. They became best friends, wild about sharing myths and stories. As they grew up, distance gradually came between them.
In an earlier time, Joni the Red alongside her then best friend Minato Hakaru founded The High Stakes Club.Minato Hakaru wears the banner despite not seeing Joni since she got new friends. If Joni formed the club with Helsie and or Lucien, Minato wouldn’t be wearing it as he wouldn’t know it exists. The club must predate Helsie and Lucien making him and Joni likely co-founders. Later on, they were attacked by a monster. Surviving the attack, both friends learn from the incident. Minato adapts to be monstrous in his hunting to survive - believing that it takes mercilessness. 
Despite being rather harsh in her own hunting since the attack, Joni couldn’t bring herself to trust Minato’s harshness. The best friends stopped hunting together after Joni made a new friend in Helsie. The two newly friended hunters met Lucien West, another hunter with shared passion. Moving on from past friendships, the new group of friends went on to become chosen family.
===Chapter 3: Season 4===
The High Stakes Club resided on their home world Reality: 783 - facing a vampire escaping from a tomb, before being dragged into Asteria. 
===Chapter 4: Season 1===
The High Stakes Club and Starfang are pulled from their reality, and are brought to the island by The Zero Point as it creates Asteria.Helsie wears Daraku's album, Fangs on her shirt suggesting the club and Daraku share an origin reality.
The Ageless welcomes the club into his kingdom, and offers them safe haven under his rule. Helsie awkwardly thanks him for his generosity while Joni is quick to question The Ageless' intentions.
As the club settles in, they all leave for separate hunts of their own. Helsie takes down a coven of lowly vampires with the Big Bite in Oathbound territory.In the Helsie loading screen the architecture seen in the background is similar to that of Oathbound's. After, she stays at Hidden Henge.
Joni leaves for a hunt on the southwest part of the island. She starts off in Rowdy Acres. After a while, she tracks down three Driftwalker snapshots over at the abandoned bowling alley in Faulty Splits. She turns on the building's lights - revealing the Driftwalkers. She readies herself with her mask and sword, eliminating all three with The Scarlet Oath.Joni the Red eliminates three Driftwalker snapshots in Joni the Red Dawns in the Fortnite December Crew Pack. Click for full details. She then resides at the Faulty Splits bowling alley.
Lucien left for a hunt, but doesn't mention what or where he is hunting. He is gone for several weeks, leaving his friends worried about him.
Lucien reunites with his friends at Slappy Shores. Helsie wants to ask about the hunt but Joni tells her to give Lucien some space.Joni the Red's dialogue towards Helsie changed to say "Give Lucien some space. We don't know what he fought out there."
Following the events of Lucien's return, Starfang holds a concert, giving the hunters some time to unwind with a night out.The dialogue changes showing Lucien's return were introduced alongside A Night Out indicating the hunters went to a Starfang concert after Lucien's return. She plays Joni's favorite album "Fangs."Joni the Scarlet says to Countess Daraku "You've ruined my favorite album forever. You truly are a monster." The only named album we know of hers is Fangs. The trio has front row seats, allowing Starfang to see them cheering more than everyone else in the crowd. 
At some point after the show, Starfang writes High Stakes Club.Countess Daraku wrote High Stakes Club after setting her sights the club as her prey. The only known time she could've initially seen them to spark her desire is at her concert in A Night Out. It is likely to be a canonically unreleased song as it would've spoiled her plans. The song describes her plan for the club during the later eclipse, telling how she knows they will meet under a red sky, and how she looks forward to lowering her fangs on a burning heartbeat.Lyrics in High Stakes Club by DEATHNYANN lays out Daraku's plan, history, and desires. For full details: DEATHNYANN - Fortnite chapter4 High Stakes Club (Official Music Video).
===Chapter 4: Season 4===
With the blood moon eclipse nearing, Starfang puts her plan into action.Daraku's plan is written about in the High Stakes Club Lobby Track's lyrics. She announces another concert and resides at Eastern Watch, where her fans come to see her. She tells the club about how she is overjoyed her music has helped them cope with their lives. She is even more shocked to learn Helsie has all of her albums.Countess Daraku's dialogue for the club members starting in v26.00.
In anticipation for the concert, The High Stakes Club all adorn new outfits and give themselves temporary names for the concert: Joni the Scarlet, Huntress Helsie, and Formal Lucien West.Joni the Scarlet's NPC description: "The intense leader of The High Stakes Club is dressed up for an awesome concert, as Joni the Scarlet". This is likely the same reasoning for the other two members name, outfit, and weapon changes. They adorn new weapons resembling the originals in design and functionality.
Sometime before or during the concert Starfang drops her act, revealing herself as Countess Daraku: An ancient cunning vampire who loves to play with her prey and often targets her fans. Her reveal sends Joni to Kenjutsu Crossing where she meets Victoria Saint. Victoria mentions how she is on a quest to eliminate Daraku. Joni joins her and becomes her protégé. Joni now wants nothing more than to stop Countess Daraku. 
Countess Daraku begins toying with the club. She belittles Joni's monster hunting ability. She makes Helsie double guess if she has what it takes to face the darkness. She makes Lucien doubt his ability to protect his friends.Countess Daraku's new dialogue for the club members from v26.10 onwards. Joni tells Daraku that she ruined her favorite album forever and that she really is a monster.Joni the Scarlet says to Countess Daraku: "You've ruined my favorite album forever. You truly are a monster."Shimmerdusk arrives on the Island to continue her hunt on Kado Thorne. Shimmerdusk tells Victoria she hopes she learns as much from teaching Joni as she did teaching her. Helsie and Lucien go to Windcatch Lake to meet Shimmerdusk. She tells them that monster hunters hunt alone and Joni will have to choose between her friends and true hunt.Shimmerdusk's dialogue to the club memebers. 
===Fortnitemares===
Helsie and Lucien ignore Shimmerdusk's warning, with Helsie writing a very glittery letter to Victoria telling her to meet them at Woodsy Ward.Victoria Saint's first line of dialogue to the player is this: "Do you know a "Helsie"? I got a very glittery letter from her, asking to meet here." Helsie and Lucien also invite The Looper due to their combat abilities. With everyone gathered, Victoria Saint decides to go against her teacher and adopt Helsie and Lucien as protégés too. Whilst training, Joni rigs up her new Wood Stake Shotgun and High Stakes' Shotgun. The club trains each other and The Looper under Victoria's guidance in the ways of monster hunting. The Looper shows great signs of promise and takes up the skill naturally. The High Stakes Club, Victoria Saint, and The Looper have completed their training and are now ready to challenge Countess Daraku. They go to Eastern Watch and challenge her to a duel. She is defeated thanks to the help of The Looper. After the hunt of a lifetime, The High Stakes Club agrees that it's time to take a step back and figure out what comes next. They rest beside a campfire reflecting on their journey together.
===Chapter 6: Season 1===
The High Stakes Club returned to Reality: 783, their home world , alongside the island of Oninoshima. 
A shard of the destroyed Zero Point falls through a rift alongside Hope, Jones, and The Looper, causing demons to roam free across the island. Helsie stays at Canyon Crossing where she tells The Looper about the club's current status.Helsie shares her excitement of seeing actual magic with Joni and tells Lucien to remember to take care of himself. Jade, a childhood best friend of Helsie's, reconnects after sometime apart. Helsie offers the club's services to help Hope find an artifact similar to Pandora's Box but Hope doesn’t follow up.
Minato Hakaru, an old friend of Joni's and a monstrous monster hunter, is made known to the rest of the club as one of its members. Joni has supplied vague information about him to Helsie. Helsie informs Minato of Joni's lack of trust towards him, unsure of the reasoning herself. Even with trust still severed Minato wants Joni to stay safe.At some point after Minato is made known to Helsie and Lucien, Joni explains to Helsie as to why Minato can’t be trusted. She says how his way is harsher than hers making her lose trust in him on the hunt.
===LEGO Fortnite Brick Life===
Joni, Helsie, Lucien, and possibly Minato are residents of Brick Bay - evidently attending Mourndale Academy. On campus, the club seems to share a bedroom with their peers. Just outside their room - across the hall, Lucien's plush wolf: Lil Louie, sits on a shelf. Inside the room resides a drum kit and several beds.
At Bobom Milk Tea, the club serve as bobaristas, with Helsie overseeing and running the café. When interacted with, she may share various thoughts, such as a desire to form a band but being torn between whether she should be the singer or the drummer. 
Beneath Bobom lies the club's hidden room, where Joni and Lucien are located. To unlock the room, Lil Louie must be brought to the back of the café - and placed by the wall. Inside, Joni mentions her want for Bobom to serve red ice cream, while Lucien daydreams about hypothetical questions. The room itself features unique black ice cream, the club's banner, and four chairs at a round table. Raven holds a vampire experiment at Mourndale Academy. His experiment has students select invisibility potions with some altered to covert students to vampirism. The infected will attempt to spread their corruption to all surviving students. If failed, Bobom Milk Tea will award any survivors with the Vamp Champ Trophy decor item.
==Trivia==
*Each member of The High Stakes Club is named after a character from Bram Stoker's novel Dracula:
**Joni the Red/Joni the Scarlet is named after Jonathan Harker.
**Helsie/Huntress Helsie is named after Abraham Van Helsing.
**Lucien West/Formal Lucien West is named after Lucy Westenra.
**Minato Hakaru is named after Mina Harker.
***As the club's main adversary, Countess Daraku is named after the titular Count Dracula.
*All members besides Minato are known to like Bobom tea.In Helsie’s Bobarista Loading Screen the club besides Minato are featured with boba tea. Additionally in Brick Bay all club members npc’s have the bobarista job icon next to their names implying they work there. No NPC of Minato is in LEGO’s Brick Bay.
*Minato likely enjoyed Starfang too given he was Joni’s best friend.
*The Wood Stake Shotgun and the High Stakes' Shotgun were created by Joni the Red.Joni the Red says in 2023 Fortnitemares quests: "I've rigged up a new... 'high stakes' weapon to deal with the Countess. Or there's the old classic: explosive pumpkins."
* The Scarlet Oath and the Oath's Hold are the only two weapons known to be cut from the same alloy.
*Lucien West and Minato Hakaru are the only members/allies who haven't been characters on the island.
*The group's name is used with a capitalized "The" and a lowercase "the" interchangeably by Fortnite and the club's members.
*Joni, Helsie, and Lucien are labeled as teenagers, specifically between 14 to 18 years old. No official age is known.
*The club’s hidden room beneath Bobom is decorated with several Vamp Champ Trophies.
==References==
Category:Factions
Category:Story and Lore
Category:High Stakes Club