Scalvoris Town: The Beach
14th Cylus, 720
14th Cylus, 720
It had to be said that the Everdark casino looked pretty beautiful in the dusk-like darkness of Cylus. The green sands of the beach shimmered like emerald fragments under the starlight of the clear sky, and the usual cold of the season was kept at bay by the warmth of the lit braziers scattered about the place and the strong alcohol being served by attractive bartenders. Altogether the whole place just had a welcoming, cheerful vibe to it that did wonders to attract custom from the locals.
At the edge of the sea of tents was a large brown beach towel covered in a range of black spiral patterns, upon which a man sat cross legged before a wooden table covered with dice and cups. This was one of the stalls where Liar's Dice was played, and due to the game's popularity with pirates it had seen quite a buzz of activity all day. But with the majority of the populace deciding it was time to turn in for the night the visitors to the Everdark casino has begun to drop dramatically, and for the first time all day the stall was now free of guests.
The man running the stall leaned back and stretched, letting out a quiet groan as his muscles rejoiced at the chance to move. He was human somewhere in his late twenties, with spiky black hair kept out of his face by a blue headband that matched the navy, fir-lined jacket he wore over simple brown sailor's clothing. As he opened his eyes again he jumped when he spotted that another man had appeared out of nowhere at the other side of the table, and was gathering half a dozen dice into a cup. Behind him a girl no more than ten arcs old dressed all in black stood like a body guard, one hand casually holding a bow.
"Hi there." The stranger said brightly, flashing him a cheerful smile. "Sorry, the stall isn't closed or anything is it? Do you have time for one more game?"
The man in blue eyed him suspiciously, his guard raised by the stranger's stealthy entrance, but when nothing else unexpected presented itself after a little while he sighed and began gathering up dice as well. Sure, why not. What's your name friend?"
"Tio SIlver, and this is my ward Morgana."
The name sounded familiar, and the man in blue thought about it for a while. "The new Devout right? I've heard a bit about you."
Tio chuckled wryly. "What a coincidence. I've heard a bit about you too." He closed his eyes and began to speak in a matter-of-fact tone, as if reading from shopping list. "Avin Jowl, born in Rharne but left to join the Everdark casino at the age of sixteen. Known to be a very talented gambler, particularly at Liar's Dice. People say you love it so much that you can go on playing for day on end without eating, drinking or sleeping? Is that true?"
Avin growled, more than a little freaked out that a man he'd never met before knew his entire life story. "What the fek? Have you been spying on me?!"
"Well, not me personally. I have other people to handle that sort of thing for me. Did you not notice a few people keeping an eye on you throughout the day?" Tio replied dismissively. "Oh relax, you're not in trouble or anything. If I wanted you arrested I'd have just called the Elements over. No Mr Jowl, I'm here because I'm interested in that little rumour about you. I'll ask again, is it true?"
When Avin seemed reluctant to reply, Tio shook his head. "Playing hard to get huh? Fine, I'll change tactics. Let me straight with you Avin." Tio leaned forward over the table and stared directly into his eyes, his gaze filled with curiosity. "I know you are cursed Avin. I see it on you as clearly as I see the colour of your eyes. You are hated by Kata and Mastes, aren't you?"
Avin looked away, clearly unwilling to discuss the topic, but Tio pressed on. "It's nothing to be concerned about my friend. It is not illegal to be cursed, and so long as it doesn't present any harm to you or the people around you I'm not going to lock you away or anything. I wont even spread the word about it around if you wish for it to remain a secret. All I would like to do is see how it works. When I look at you now I can see that the curse's intention is to replace your needs to eat, drink and sleep with the need to commit your vice: gambling. If you would agree to have a quick little game with me I would just like to observe how the mechanics of your particular curse function when it activates."
"You just want to gamble with me? That's all?" Avin asked sceptically. When Tio only replied with a happy nod he scoffed. "Fine. One round of dice with high stakes. Wager is ten gold coins."
Tio grinned wolfishly. "I wouldn't have it any other way."
Both men shook their cups, slammed then down on the table, then sneakily peeked at what dice they had to work with. Tio was pleased to see that he had a 1, a 4, three 5's, and a 6. Altogether that gave him a very good advantage with 5's. But of course the game was called Liar's Dice for a reason, and the last thing he wanted to do was be honest. "Three 6's." He called, watching Avin for any reactions. There was nothing: as one might expect from a profession player he showed no signs at all as to what he was thinking.
"Four 5's." Avin called back bluntly. Avin was probably just cautiously testing the waters, but even so he'd hit upon Tio's strongest suit seemingly by chance. Tio could make that call with his dice alone, and by sheer force of probability there must at least be one 4 beneath Avin's cup. The best way to play this then was to trick Avin into sticking to making calls of 5's, then surprise him with the unusually high amount of them he possessed. A simple but effective strategy. But in order to do that Avin mustn't learn that he had a strength of 5's.
"Five 6's." Tio replied, taking a risk. Unless Avin had a strength of 6's himself then that call would definitely not hold up if Avin called it a lie.
Avin looked back at him dispassionately. "Seven 5's."
An involuntary look of shock passed over Tio's face as he found himself genuinely taken aback. Seven 5's! That was a ridiculous call to make! There were only twelve dice between them, and Avin was betting that seven of those were either 5's or 1's! The probability of that was just insane! But what was worse was that, from Tio's perspective, it was genuinely pretty likely to happen! He knew that there were at least four of those dice on his side alone, meaning that Avin only had to have three of his six dice as 5's or 1's as well. That wasn't actually so unlikely.
Should he call seven 6's? No, Avin would definitely call a lie on that. Call Avin a liar? No, he must have a strength of 5's as well to make a call like that. The only option then was to raise up to eight 5's. It was a ridiculously unlikely call to make under normal circumstances, but Avin must be strong in 5's too if he made that earlier call. "Alright then, eight 5's."
"Liar."
Avin said is so abruptly, and yet so dispassionately, that once again Tio was taken aback. Before he could comprehend what was happening Avin lifted up his cup to reveal his dice: two 2's, two 3's, a 4 and a 6.
Tio gritted his teeth and hissed in displeasure. He'd been had. Somehow Avin had sussed out that he'd had a strength of 5's and used it against him. That ridiculous call of seven 5's had been a bluff, all to get in his head. He'd never had any 5's or 1's to begin with.
"Damn, you got me." Tio sighed, fishing out the gold pieces he owed out his pocket and passing them over to Avin. Yet even as he did so he watched the curse of Kasyni activate, turning the victory at gambling into nourishment for Avin's body. It was difficult to describe the mechanics of it in words, yet with an instinctual clarity Tio understood how it did it, and how he could replicate such an ability in his own curses.
"Thank you for the game Avin. It was certainly enlightening. I won't trouble you again. Come on Morgana, let's go." He said as he stood up and made to leave, genuinely meaning it. Not only had he learnt about how the curse of Kasyni worked, but he'd also gained a whole new perspective on the importance of bluffs. He could think of a few ways that might come in handy during his political career one day.
