A brush with fate

Fiction about Ravenloft or Gothic Earth
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Zilfer
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
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A brush with fate

Post by Zilfer »

OOC Wanted to keep a copy of this somewhere so figured I'd post here. Miguel is an NPC in my campaign and I wrote it up as a cutscene that my players could read online. First half I started without the deck getting to the 1 card then the read I did a real reading. Turned out pretty ok!

IC: Miguel stared across the table at the woman who was sitting at the table with him. She was old, perhaps older than even him, and that was saying something for the life span of a human. She had her secrets like he had his, and he wasn’t sure why the Vistani had decided to visit the village of Barovia. Even more curious as to why they were here to see him. The old woman cackled, as if finding his confusing amusing and at that he frowned.

“You’ve no need to fear me,” said the woman as she set down a bag on the table. “I know what you are, but more importantly what happened to your son.”
Miguel’s temper flared for a moment. “Leave him out of this, why did you come here?”

She cackled again this time louder than before. She folded her hands together and leaned forward. “That is not why I have come. Instead I have come to offer you a reading,” she said simply. Miguel flinched at that, there was a heavy weight in the room ever since she entered the room. He had no doubt a thousand different futures were forming and shattering with every moment of hesitation. Some were he said yes, and others were he said no. Others where he reached out and strangled the woman for daring to speak of such matters even in private.
His dice felt heavy even in his pocket. Dikesha made specifically for him, the ones he occasionally threw for travelers to give them an inkling about their future. The Tarokka however, that was a whole different ballgame. He’d only seen one once, and he had hoped to never see one again.

“I understand your hesitancy, it is perhaps good that you as a fellow Adept come to understand that such truths can be revealed that seen too early or destinies revealed doom one in the end,” said the woman patiently.

“I’m but a child playing with a toy, compared to this Seer. You give me too much credit. I am as a sheep, as you are a wolf,” said Miguel swallowing hard. The thought of a reading here… it could possibly… but once the cards were thrown he would know. For better or worse, he would see the will of fate. Something he had strived to give other’s a fighting chance so they could deny fate. In the end it always failed his Dikesha rarely failed, even the most specific readings where vague enough to come true in one way or another. No one escapes their fate, and what could be more horrible than to know one’s fate? He was drawn out of his thought by her laughter once again.

“More like a wolf in sheeps clothing!” said the woman in chuckling spasms that reminded him too well of his past. Her laugh he decided was the worst laugh he had ever heard, not annoying but one that made you feel young, and ignorant. Like when a child has failed to understand a joke, or why something is funny. The laughter only leaves you with confusion. Inside he indeed felt very confused.

“Why would you offer such a thing to me? I’ve done nothing to earn a Vistani’s trust, in fact quite the opposite. I suspect a few tribes may hold grudges against me in my younger years… so why me? And why now? I’ve been here for 10 years, and never once has any of the Zarovan taken an interest in me.” Said Miguel tapping his fingers feverously on the table.

“You should know better than anyone, fate rarely comes when you’re expecting it and when you are it’s never how you expect it to be.” said the crone with a wry smile. A smile he suspected would haunt his next few nights.

“I’ll have your reading, but in return I have one request. Do not reveal the last card, no matter what…” said Miguel. It was the final revelation he feared but what could it hurt to know the just the slightest bit of the future. Perhaps it would give him insight on what he should do?

“As you wish, but you may regret your choice in the end,” she warned as he pulled a deck out of the bag. Oddly, these cards where dull and bleak. Nothing like he had seen with the previous one he had spied. That one had embroideries of gold a mystic design on the backs. The one before him had no such markings; they looked more like wooden tiles than cards. This might have put a normal man at ease but it was the very ordinary appearance that only heightened his fear of impending knowledge. He watched as the tiles where shuffled over and over again until at last the woman was satisfied the deck was ready. He could only half smirk at himself all worried, his son didn't even believe in things such as fate.

“To start, the Avenger…” said the woman placing down the first card. As it hit the table he thought he felt a ruffle of wind. He looked at the card almost instantly associating it with his past. There were many ways he could be considered an Avenger. He had taken money to right ‘wrongs’ against people who were unable to fight back. Not everyone could pay so he had sometimes done it for free. He couldn’t say with a clean conscious that every job was a clean one.

“Simple enough, it’s not hard to miss interpret that one so early.” Said the woman as she threw down the next card. It landed to the right of the first card, and as it hit he heard it slam into place. The power behind the reading… he could feel the air getting heavier as the chaotic forces of fate and destiny were being bent to the will of this woman. How could one control such forces with this kind of finesse… who could wield such power…? It wasn’t...... human.

"The Mercenary," stated the crone as her eyes shifted up to him yet again. She didn't need to explain this represented his past, though the card's meaning was beyond his grasp as he looked at four comrades locking swords. An assortment of spoils between them, and he remembered back to Semaj, Tinar, and Handler. "You were honest in your dealings in the past. Not a saint by far, but you never broke a promise."

"There's enough evidence to prove that many times over, but there are always two sides to every coin..." he said as the next card sailed landing almost perfectly in line with the first card above it, signifying the present. Upside down... the missionary.

"Hmmm... I did not expect your trepidation ran this deep. Even into the reading... you fear.... something that is coming," said the woman looking at the card without the slightest bit of curiosity. His eyes fell to the dagger place upon the alter as the figure stood before it. Sometimes this was how he felt, holding up both the good and the bad in either hand like the man in the picture. Each cast of his Dikesha could bring fortune or woe. He never knew whether his readings would save or doom them. This was why he was afraid of fate of finding out and he was sooo close now.... He relaxed his hold on his seat having not realized he was gripping it tightly. As he felt warmth rush back into his hands he urged her on.

"Enough with what I already know..." he urged as he brought his hands together once more. The tile hit the table, the noise sounding like it was cracking the foundation of the wood as it landed. It was a doll on strings, but this card looked different than the rest and he could tell by the woman's now stern look indeed there was something special about this card.

"Someone you know or will meet, will have an anterior motive... they may seek to use you... You'll need to cut those strings before its too late..." said the woman still giving that card a hard look. He wracked his brain for anyone that might have a motive for helping him or using his services. None immediately jumped to mind and now he wondered at everyone in the past month he had seen, adventurers? The Burgomeister of this village? Who?

The woman picked up the last card looking at it but not throwing it onto the table. He remained frozen... what was to be the outcome of this.... what had once been a mild uncertainty had now transformed into a blossoming fear, would he be able to trust anyone? Who wanted to use him and for what end?

The old woman sighed and stood up collecting the tiles. "I'm sorry... this reading.... it wasn't for you. Not in the way you and I thought at least..." said the woman. Looking lost and helpless he looked at the focus card in the center as she pulled it off the field. Sudden realization dawned upon him as she began to walk out the door. She was right, and he had forced the reading another direction right at the beginning, during the draw of the focus card.... but now he'd never know how it ended. The reading would forever remain incomplete. As she left his house the final realization set in, what had happened could not have been worse than seeing his own fate laid out. No.... now he was forced to see with only half a lens into his son's fate!
There's always something to lose.

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