Cheaters Never Prosper

[Tio Silver]

Tio nodded to Isodol as she approached, though his expression was one of deep concern. "Aye, it's me." He confirmed, then looked back over to the table Allar was sat at. "And we may have a bit of a problem. I think I've figured out how he's pulling off his card tricks."

He double checked that nobody was listening in, then leaned in closer. "Did you see his shadow? The way it moved? The way it reacted to my bumping into the table was different to how Allar moved, as if it was delayed a little. That's as good an indication as any to me that what we're dealing with here is some kind of magic, and I think I might know what kind. See once upon a time I met a man with a curse that forced him to feed upon vice. He was a gambler, and had to gamble on a daily basis in order to gain energy the same way you or I need to eat. That curse was Kasyni: the mark of the Immortal Mastes, who rules over trickery and vices." A scowl crossed his face. "But every Immortal-given curse has a counterpart: a blessing of the same name. I keep a close eye on all things to do with religion on Scalvoris, and I've read reports that some followers of Mastes have abilities allowing them to control vices that revolve around the use of a living shadow. I don't pay much attention to blessings so I don't know the details, but I think it's safe to say that if Allar is a Kasyni marked with a gambling vice his shadow would have powers that make him a better gambler, such as by changing his cards."

Tio sighed heavily and leaned back on thin air, holding himself in an impossibly unbalanced pose with his floating ability. "The way I see it we have two options before us. The first is to draw the guy out of his element, away from the gambling table, and take his money either by trickery of force. Away from his vice I doubt he'd be much more of a threat than a regular person. Or..." A lopsided smirk grew on the corner of his lips as Tio hummed thoughtfully. "What if we could find a way to beat him at his own game? If we could defeat one of his followers at their own vice despite the advantages he gave them Mastes would either be furious or impressed, both of which sound worthwhile to me." The more he thought about it, the better the idea sounded. He hadn't met Mastes before, but based on what he'd heard he'd always imagined they'd get along like a house on fire. Maybe humiliating a follower of his would be a good way to catch his attention?

"The evidence we've seen so far suggests that Allar needs his shadow to interact with his hand in order to change what cards he's holding. What if we could trick him into going all-in and then remove his shadow from the table? The loss of it might cause his confidence to drop enough that we could bluff him? Or maybe just get lucky enough to actually win?"

[Isodol]

x

A shadow connected to a man but disconnected in movement? An immortal, whom she never heard of but now spoke volumes to her interest? A con-man with a literal addiction to gambling brought on by a curse? All of this information was becoming too much. Isodol thought she was just working a playful, yet risky job scamming a scammer, but now? Everything started to tilt on its axis, including the floating stranger standing-standing?-in front of her.

This immortal, Mastes, sounded like a terrible being, but that was just the impression she got upon knowing the curses he bestowed upon people. What would his blessings be like? Isodol affinity for thrills, alcohol, and gambling resonated within her upon just thinking of such a thing. But she was also getting a head of herself. This wasn’t about her. This was about Allar and the way he turned a malediction into a business, and just the reminder alone caused her to grate her teeth.

As she continued to contemplate however, she began to reflect. What was so wrong with that? Wasn’t she someone who gambled and stole people of their money when she won the bets? She shook her head. Unlike Allar, she played by the rules. There were rules for everything and it was those rules that created some semblance of order. Even when it came to gambling.

Her pondering was interrupted when Tio spoke of Allar having control over his shadow. She bit her tongue so as not to say anything she would immediately regret, and kept a straight face, hopefully showing no signs of either distaste or interest in the idea of having magical abilities to make oneself better at gambling.

The two options that were presented to her made for a difficult decision. While she very much wanted to beat Allar’s ass and make a fool of him, the potential of impressing Mastes spoke to her like bolded text on a page.

She nodded vehemently after Tio had mentioned to second option. It was hard to think that if everything went as planned, Mastes would be angry at her and Tio. What a better way to show your power than to one up someone with a marking in their own game?

“So what you’re saying,” Isodol began, scratching her temple as she transferred her thoughts into audible words. “Is we go back there, involve ourselves in another game, convincingly bluff about how good of a hand we have which then gets Allar all riled up into going all in, and then strike him down by getting rid of his helping hand.” Isodol performed the theatric of pounding her first until her open palm at the end of her recap.

She quickly threw up her hand and announced, “I call not dealing with the shadow!” She smirked and continued, “I deal better with cards.”

“And if we win anything, we split the reward, hmm?” She narrowed her eyes and raised her eyebrows in a mock serious expression, but as playful as she was, she wasn’t going to lose out on some possible bank.

She let a pause settle between the two as Tio mulled over what she had just said. Beside her, on an unmanned table sat a glass half full with a dark liquor. She was going to need some courage now that she was dealing with some curses and other dark magic. She abruptly reached over and grabbed the glass, putting the rim to her lips. She shot back to liquid and squinted her eyes as the harsh burn descended down her throat.

She exhaled with a grunt and practically slammed the now empty glass back onto the table from whence it came.

She nodded to Tio like she’d seen people do when there was a silent understanding being shared, and tromped back to where Allar sat, that smug grin still splitting his face.

They still hadn’t started a new game, as they had just finished arguing and organizing the mess that had befallen them due to Tio’s most recent antic.

“Got myself a drink, avoided cleaning up this mess, ready to get another game started.”

The rest of the players nodded or grunted in agreement. Isodol silently stared at Allar who stared back.

[Tio Silver]

Tio nodded along as Isodol explained the plan back to him, confirming that they were both on the same page. "Precisely. He thinks he can't loose, so tricking him into going all-in shouldn't be too difficult as long as you give him no reason to suspect what we're planning." He took a brief glance around the room. "Haven't figured out how to dispel the shadow yet, but I'll think of something before the time comes. Probably. Hopefully. He's swindled a load of other players out of their coin tonight, so even with a 50-50 I should cover my losses. Good luck." He raised an eyebrow as Isodol nabbed somebody's drink from a nearby table and downed it, apparently unconcerned by the prospect of drinking backwash, but decided not to comment on it.

As Isodol took her seat at the table again, Tio began to search around for something to get rid of the shadow with. Light would be the obvious option: not because it would actually dispel a spirit, but because in order to keep its cover the spirit would need to pretend to be a regular shadow. If he brought a candle close to the table the players would notice that Alar's shadow didn't disappear like everyone else's unless it played along, even if that meant robbing Alar of his card controlling ability. The question was where to get a candle from? There were a few on the walls lighting up the inn; perhaps they would do if he could get them to burn brighter for a while?

He approached one of the candles and, after quickly checking that nobody was watching, licked his fingers and pinched the wink to snuff it out. He subtly hid in beneath the folds of his coat, then stalked over to a far corner of the tavern. Reaching into his domain bag, he felt around for his bags of Banshee Powder and pulled a pinch of it out, which he rubbed into the wick.

As he made his way back to the table it appeared that the new game had already begun. For once Tio was on the other side of the table and thus couldn't see what hand Alar had drew. He could perhaps have tried to sneak around the other side again, but in order to get there before this round finished he'd have to be quicker than he liked to be and risked drawing attention. Better to wait and hope that Isodol could win this round fairly. He took a position at a table a few feet away, set the candle down in the middle of it as if it belonged there naturally, and waved for one of the barmaids.

"Bottle of rum please. Oh, and this candle has gone out. Could you please relight it?" He called, straining his ears to stay aware of what was happening on the poker table.

[Isodol]

x

To say she wasn’t at least a little nervous would have been an understatement. Though, she couldn’t pinpoint exactly why. The whole magical part might have been a good enough reason to be antsy but she was no stranger to the concept. She had abilities with emotions that not everyone had and it was fairly magical. But there was something about a blessing from a high immortal, to have a shadow manipulate you in either positive or negative ways, that made her skin itch insufferably.

While the room was loud with chatter, Isodol began to feel a hint of warmth take over her body. Perhaps it was the drink she had stolen, or perhaps it was just her sinking back into an activity she was familiar with. Yet, she still felt in edge and couldn’t quite push that feeling away.

She needed to relax and so she tried to push out all the excited energy she felt. She didn’t close her eyes; that would seem a little weird as the table was getting ready to start their game. She did however, focus on her breathing. She could hear the gentle thrum of her heartbeat in her ears which gave her a nice beat to follow as she breathed in deeply and exhaled as long as was possible. She did this several times before regaining some semblance of her composure. She couldn’t let Allar see any fault in her expression or else he was bound to know something was up. Or would he? Half the place was drunk and out of their skulls. Hell, even Tio played the part of a deranged lunatic by running into the table and accusing Allar of someone he wasn’t. Even still, she had a mission she had to prepare for and she wasn’t about to screw it up, especially with money at stake.

A woman who sat to her left began to deal out the cards after everyone had divulged their interests in mixing up the play.

After the dealer had thrown two cards to Isodol, their faces laid down, she put the rest of the stack in the middle of the table. Isodol picked up her cards and examined her hand. She had a whopping six of hearts and nine of spades.

She wasn’t a very good liar. At least not yet she wasn’t. But she had a wonderful imagination. In utilizing a scheme of pretend, she could attempt to fool herself into thinking she had better than she did, which would in turn fool Allar. Psychologically speaking, it made sense, but Isodol was also a very stubborn character and often saw the obvious a little too quickly. Still, she tried.

She pictured two queens, one of spades and one of hearts, casually resting between her fingers and thumb. She imagined their differences in shape merging together; there would be no war within her hand, just a war between her and the bald magician across from her.

Picturing these cards in her head evoked a genuine smile to plaster itself onto her face. Her eyes lit up and she continued to envision the middle deck flipping to reveal three cards with at least one of them being a queen. But how lucky would she be if there were two?

Isodol paused her mental conjuration and began searching the room for her fellow comrade. He was no where to be seen. She had thought she had seen him near the bar next to a burning flame, but that was only via her peripherals and she was tipsy.

Everyone at the table began to murmur to themselves either contemplating their next move or cursing that they hadn’t been more lucky. Isodol observed each participant for clues. While she couldn’t read their minds to see if they had any queens or not, she could see if their eyes lit up with hope, if they bit their lip out of anxiety or if they furrowed their brows in frustration.

The woman who had dealt the cards remained expressionless. She had a tight grip on allowing who could and could not see her tells. The man beside her quickly narrowed his eyes before returning to a blank expression and Allar? Well, he seemed to be slipping. She knew not how long he had been here at this tavern, but she guessed it had been quite a while. She didn’t know the time, but her arrival had pegged the hour being closer to the early morning. His face was scrunched up for only a brief moment before he licked his lips, gave a subtle shrug and turned to look toward the bar. Or was he looking at his shadow? Isodol couldn’t see his friendly manifestation at her current position, but she hoped Tio did, where ever it was he had vanished to.

The woman who dealt gently reached across the table and flipped the top three cards. Laying flush with the table top was a seven of clubs, an eight of diamonds and a ten of hearts. Apparently Isodol needn’t the illusion of having a decent hand to help her retain a stoic disposition.

She smirked and wondered if Allar had noticed.

“It May be the liquor talkin’ but I think I’m gonna try my luck here,” she said halfheartedly. She looked around at the table, ensuring she spent no more time on one person than the next before slumping back in her chair.

“Ah,” exclaimed one player.

“Hmm,” mumbled another.

She looked to Allar who had his mouth open ready to speak. “I think I’ll try your luck!”

ooc

Feel free to assume Isodol sweetens the pot

[Tio Silver]

From where he sat Tio couldn't see Isodol's hand, but judging by the way she acted she'd drawn something good. Whether she was bluffing or not, the chances of Alar not calling was practically nonexistent considering that he believed he would always win.

True to form Alar shot her a cocky smirk and scooped a large handful of coins piled up on his side of the table forward; a silent challenge for her to raise even higher. The action continued on the table for a while, with Isodol and Alar engaging in a staring contest while adding increasingly high amounts of coin, while Tio turned away as the barmaid arrived with his rum.

"Thank you." He called as she placed the bottle down, then watched with a smirk as she leaned over the table with a match in hand to relight the candle. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Alar subtly moving to place his cards down on the table so that his shadow could work its magic.

Suddenly the candle Tio he'd tampered with burst to life as the match was brought to it: creating a flame almost as tall as the candle itself and emitting light twice as bright as the other candles in the room. Some of that light spilled over onto the gambling table, dispelling the shadows being cast upon it. To those who knew to look for such things Alar's shadow seemed to tense for a second: lingering for just a moment longer than the others before being banished off the table. Some of the gamblers shot glances over to Tio's table to investigate the source of the light, but most continued to keep their eyes on the other players as they searched for tells the disruption might have brought up. Alar was among those who did not look away, but judging by the way the blood drained from his face it wasn't for the same reason as everyone else.

The barmaid shot back with a gasp, beginning to make an excuse and promising to get him a new candle, but Tio grabbed her wrist as she made to remove the wild candle and shot her a calm smile. "Don't worry about it; I actually rather like the light. Leave this with me."

The barmaid looked confused, but Tio's voice had a way of making people go along with what he said even if they didn't quite understand why. As she strode away Tio shot a subtle look back towards the table, hoping to see how the round would end. There would only be about a minute before the candle burnt out at this rate, so if Isodol didn't wrap this up in time it would all be for nothing.

[Isodol]

x

There was an explosion of light to her right that she couldn’t ignore. Half of the heads at the gambling table were with her on that as they turned, like hers, to examine the source of the brightness.

There Tio sat with a burning candle beside him. What he was specifically doing with it, Isodol didn’t know, but she gathered that it had something to do with Allar’s shadow. Perhaps he was going to dispel it with the flame?

Isodol flicked her gaze back to the table while others still gawked at the spectacle. She noticed Allar’s forehead beginning to perspire; the glow of the candle made this obvious. Perhaps he wasn’t as good at bluffing as she had first speculated.

Wanting to use this distraction as a way to catch everyone off guard, Isodol hurried the game along, not granting anyone any time to recover. She ushered the dealer to flip the cards from the deck. There, displayed on the faces, was a nine of hearts, a nine of clubs and a seven of clubs.

Isodol couldn’t help but smile. She had outdone herself, that’s to say the least. And by doing absolutely nothing. But Allar must have done something, and lying had to have been apart of it.

A trickle of sweat slid down the side of his face, giving away the anxiety he must be feeling, but his lips were curled into a playful snarl.

“I don’t know about you, but I think I just tried your luck and won,” he announced, starting directly at Isodol.

Those players who had been captivated by the burning fire had finally turned their attention back to the table where they witnessed Allar slam two nines, one of them belonging to the heart suite.

But she had that card. And the way they were playing, that wouldn’t have been possible.

Isodol’s eyes narrowed as Allar didn’t even give her a moment to react. He reached in to the pot and drew to him all that it contained. The sound of coins clinging against one another made the hairs on the back of Isodol’s head raise.

What a cheat.

There were mumbles amongst the players. Some bowed their heads in defeat, some gave aggravated clicks of their tongue and one in particular was vocalizing his discontent.

Allar hadn’t given anyone any time to think before he acted. He was most definitely in a rush to scram.

Isodol made a quick look to Tio, wondering what he had up his sleeve. Because if he didn’t have anything, she was about to throw some punches before Allar got very far.

ooc

Im so sorry for the late reply! I thought I had responded and once I found out I hadn’t, things got kind of busy.