Several days before the actual story begins, exorcist and con man John Constantine and Etrigan the Demon engage the Demons Three in a poker game for high-end stakes; Constantine offers his home, the House of Mystery#The House, as his part of the pool in exchange for a box of artifacts, including a chipped Dreamstone. When both parties are caught cheating, Constantine summons Etrigan — a demon forced to share a body with Jason Blood — to dispatch the demons. Afterwards, Blood reprimands Constantine for making him summon Etrigan, and the two part ways.