(Game) Fortuneteller

Foresight Fortunes

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Tucked in the dark between the many booths is a humble tent. Thick fabrics hang heavy over sturdy supports, providing privacy from the hustle and bustle of the active festivities. Sheer, gossamer-thin sheets catch the breeze as people move by and drift lazily about. The mix of bright colors create a strange aura about the small attraction, made all the more potent by the faint glow of arcane light escaping the heavy folds. People enter with curious trepidation and leave with wide grins, lost looks, expressions of horror or of loss. You notice a single banner above the entrance with the name "Foresight Fortunes" embroidered in a brilliantly white cloth.

Upon entering, you can see the inside of the tent is full of flimsy, wooden bookshelves stacked high with books, trinkets, and candelabra enchanted to glow with Arcanamancy's purple light. Bizarre and dizzying patterns decorate the inner side of the cloth walls. A figure sits cross-legged behind a circular table in the middle of an intricate rug. They smile passively at you when you notice them, one hand on the back of a stack of cards.

Rook

Another fallen into the iris for fate to feast? This One will speak the words not yet writ. Give gold before her altar worth the length and depth of sight. Ask.

Whether the words are clear or not, the expectation of the individual is. A wide dish with an eye carved into the bottom sits next to the table, a small pile of golden coins already left behind by the previous patrons. They shuffle the deck as they wait with a fox's smile and burning, golden eyes. Pay your price and ask what question you wish for the cards to answer.

Rules

A full tarot deck has 78 cards, 56 of which are cards known as the Minor Arcana. The remaining 22 are Major Arcana and can grant great boons or foul banes. By paying for a reading, you offer yourself up to fate. Upright and Reversed cards will be used and can change the effects of Major Arcana cards.

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Single Card Draw: This spread requires only a single tarot card. It is a simple answer to simple questions, but sometimes that is all that is needed. For those not very invested, the small spread costs 10g.

Three Card Spread: Master of past/present/future, help/hindrance/potential, strength/weakness/advice, mind/body/spirit, and more. A powerful, popular, and well-rounded spread that costs 50g.

Send gold to @System. Limit of two spreads per OOC account.​

 

Walking around on her own, Harveste knew that things were a bit clouded in her mind recently. She may have been focused on flowers, but there was a distance in her life that was hindering her pep, and she wasn't going to deny that factor. Deciding to take the chance to ask the fortune teller she found while wandering the faire, the girl smiled meagerly as she placed the 50g she owed for a three card spread into the dish.

"I want to ask about the distance I feel from the person most special to me... Am I worrying too much, or is there something hiding in the shadows?"

Her body shifted side to side as she struggled to keep her eyes on the stranger with the cards. She was used to asking questions of tarot cards before, but normally it was her own hands and her own deck dealing the information to her that spirits may want to share.

Her heart raced as she prayed silently. Please... Let my worries be in vain.

 

@Harveste​

As you lay down your gold and ask your question, the other Faerin nods. They draw the first of the cards after shuffling them gently with a far-off look. A card with a brilliant moon that seems to glow despite the worn cardstock it is painted on. A pool of water stretches beneath it and a sinister shape swirls within as a hound and wolf stand shoulder to shoulder with their eyes up toward the heavens. Or rather, down.

The Moon, Reversed
You feel a disquiet in your heart fade at the sight, but nothing more happens.​

Rook

What hangs heavy between, She asks? The Moon, great mother, wide eye, and quiet whispers. Reversed, she falls from ill waters into open sky. Fear and insecurity have dogged the distance, but the path must change. Will change. It requires faith to be found.

The next card is drawn and an unfortunate scene awaits you. A struggle, a desperate fight as a young man clings to a thorned branch as if to pry himself from the shadows around his waist. In the dark of the waters you see glints of coins fall away into darkness.

Five of Pentacles
Nothing happens.​

Rook

Is it Her fault? What so has she done to tip the scale? So many of the fifths are adversity in the all of living, but the coin speaks of wealth come and gone. This sings different, less gold more glory. A sense of self-worth gone, live was unkind and so alone this one stood. Did you do it yourself? Did you fell the tree or did the storms? We wonder if you'll suffer the cost to climb back out.

Rook smiles faintly, humming lowly as they pull the final card. This card is brighter in tone and in depiction. Eight wands, some pristine and others rough from use, curve through a clear sky. A gentle river through a wide plane lines the bottom.

Eight of Wands
Nothing happens.​

Rook

What of the world towers between them? Stands within their way or sours the space between? The eight are free to move, to carry on without help or hindrance. Your way is clear, the troubles falling behind. Find the iron to strike while it simmers, ready to bend. Now is the time, before you find the valley's end and the hard climb once more.

 

Well. This was interesting. Ashiore looked up at the tent, contemplating whether or not she should go in. She didn't really have any pressing questions she wanted answers to. No major decisions coming up, no major worries about the future. In fact, most of her major worries were already past, though...

But even just a general question wouldn't hurt, right? She was really trying to make any excuse for coming up with a question that she could; she recalled the excitement of her youth whenever she got to check her horoscope, or when a classmate claimed that she could read palm lines. Those were fun times.

Entering, she made her way to the booth and gave a polite smile to the faerin sitting there. "Ah, thank you," she said, paying for a Three Card Spread. "I just want to know whether things will be okay in the future? Here, I mean, with Falderen and Astorea and Yladia, and all that."

 

Fortune telling, huh? Though in real life, such booths had always either been a scam or a joke, perhaps in the magic-drenched world of Terrasphere, the power to see future fates had greater weight than dreary old ‘real life’. Or maybe it was just virtual witchcraft, the musings of this dark skinned seer converted into reality by binary code and scripted events. Changing the future was easy, after all, if one could tap into the source code. But that, perhaps, drained away all the ‘fun’ parts of playing such things.

To keep what made him happy and discard what sounded unpleasant. To ride off a placebo effect generated by the smooth words of a con artist in gypsy clothing. With a shrug, a smile, and more gold in his pocket than he knew what to do with, Cain pushed apart the spider silk sheets and strode in, passing by a familiar face. A nod of acknowledgement between the two, and he seated himself, placing 50 golden ‘suns’ upon the table.

What did he want? To ask about the trials ahead? To ask about the words of the dead? To…

The midnight haired muse smiled, pitch black, tossing a meaningless, meaningful query at the shuffling demon.

"Tell me, Seer of the Far Shore, will my prospects of companionship and romance bloosom? Or wither?"

 

@Ashiore Evretto​

Rook welcomes you in with a half-hearted wave to sit and reorders the deck with each word. They laugh for a moment but give no reason why as they pull the first card. The picture is that of a figure draped in black, only a confident grin of bared fangs visible past the dark of their clothing and the blinding gleam of five stolen swords, two left abandoned in their escape. In the far distance, eyes watch the unaware figure.

Seven of Swords
Nothing happens.​

Rook

For the future foretold, what of the matters of nations? A deception dawns, a betrayal. They will think themselves safe and scour for their enemies from on high. Perhaps victory heralds on the horns, like our thief, but someone knows. Eyes always see and no matter their morals... a king snake is still a snake.

A great figure towers to one side, meeting the eyes of a woman as it looms above a man. While the mortal man only has eyes for her, their fingers entwined, she stares ever upwards. The expressions are difficult to make sense of, considering the card is upside-down.

The Lovers, Reversed
Actions have consequences, you lose 1 Rep with Yladia.​

Rook

All world is greater than kings and flagstaff icons, what of the peoples? There are sharks in waters deep, dangers in places you do not belong. Many do not belong. Yet they reap from a world and throw in imbalance their future. There was disharmony and so shall it remain, perhaps it shall grow? How the many peoples meddle. They do not care.

For just a moment their fingers linger on the face of the dark figure, wings like night stretched over The Lovers. And then they flick a hand, magic shuffling the cards before a singular one splits away and floats gently to the table. A woman sits, a pleased expression on her reversed face, with a row of nine gleaming chalices behind her.

Nine of Cups, Reversed
Nothing happens.​

Rook

For the one that comes asking, comes calling... what all do We see? Something is missing and it devours, that nothingness. Did you think it wouldn't? Did you not see a hole grow or is it but a pinhole? They say you'll find nothing but emptiness. We suggest you find a way to change your coarse. Misery is a bore.

 

As Sean noticed the fortune-telling stall, he immediately wondered if it was truly legitimate or not. There's no way this can be real, He pondered to himself. After eventually making up his mind that the booth was probably legit, he walked over to it and took out 10g. "Hey, could I get a Single Card Draw? I'd like to ask: Will I survive the next battle? I've never actually been in an actual battle with anything other than woodland creatures before, so I'm mighty worried."

 

Alpha slapped her money onto the counter.

"A three card spread, please!"

 

@Cain Darlite​

The faint purple glow of Arcanamancy only grows brighter as the two empty-eyed, fake-smiled faces reflect one another. With a single finger, they bid a card to fall. A man atop a rocky peak, a staff in hand as he fights back six more with a confident smirk. When the Faerin speaks, their voice is flat and uninterested in the particular query and its answer.

Seven of Swords
Nothing happens.​

Rook

What embraces will welcome The Bard in Wedding White? Charisma leads the pack, hoists the flag, cuts clear through the competition. So sweet is a victory well-fought for, the bite better for each denied a taste. Surely so slick a tongue can win their way where they please with time and effort?

Their expression changes to something more alive at the next part of their fortune. A card slips away from the others and lays flat. A reversed card shows a man, arms wrapped tight around a bundle of staves. He seems weary, but hands reach out toward him to lift his burden

Ten of Wands, Reversed
Nothing happens.​

Rook

Companionship! Loyalties to friend and to faction. What temper do they take in coming times for you? You bear too much, have or are, but it must be put down. A burden too great sits heavy on your shoulders, Bard. The time comes to let it lie, for at least a time.

The last is heralded by a venomous look in the fortuneteller's eyes as they lean forward with a bright smile. The third card flies from the shifting deck and lands with finality before the muse-user. The moment of cruelty is gone and replace with a more gentle look. A man is bound on the card, eight swords hovering around him and keeping him at bay. His clear path lies just out of reach, but upside-down it feels as if at any moment his blindfold will slip away.

Eight of Swords, Reversed
Nothing happens.​

Rook

Withering? What has withered? That weight before so great, what future for you lies bared? An ill has happened. Oh how it wounds, how it hurts, but it is done. You are bound, a victim, by nothing but clouded sight. Reflect on now. Leave then behind.

 

In her own world, Solaria didn't really believe in things like 'fate' or 'chance'. Sure, half her spells involved it in name, but that was because she stole the names from her best friend's usual methods. Unlike her, Aylen happened to have some spirituality in her. Solaria was about as spiritual in reality as a bug. If they even had spirits.

Still, there were times her 'family' had used spiritual practices to ease her mind, even if it was just the bizarre teas and the like they taught her to swallow down and deal with. All her teas, all her moments of being calmed- they usually came from her friend's grandmother, a Shaman of an old tribe in Chile.

"It's weird to ask someone else but grandma Machi for help like this..."

Shaking her head as she approached the fortune teller's booth with an innate curiosity, she took her seat and put 10g in the little bowl, smiling meekly to the stranger on the other side.

"I'd like a single card..." But what was it she wanted to ask? To hell if she was going to do something like ask if she had a crush on someone for real. There had to be a workaround- something she could say to hinder her anxiety from piquing unless the cards made her admit it

Another sigh and she gave in. "Screw it, hiding isn't gonna help matters... I want to know what to do about this crush of mine. I don't really want to know if he feels the same, but I really need some guidance on what to do about my own feelings in general...Does that make sense?"

 

@Sean Poteitoku​

The figure leans back some with a mild expression, but shrugs and pulls a card from the seventy-eight hovering around them in a circle. Rook flicks their fingers and it drifts lightly to the table, despite the weight of a question of mortality.

Nine of Pentacles, Reversed
Nothing happens.​

Rook

Does death come knocking, tolling, reaping? This investment is too great, your concern needless. Let your focus waver. Live. Fight. Death is impermanent until it is not. Do not die before through fool doubt.

 

@Alphabet Chocolate​

The Faerin smiles lightly, but blandly. They do not move to draw a card, but likewise, make no move to return your offered gold. You did not ask a question.

Rook

If you do not ask. We do not tell. Child, leave the way The Rose Garden came, The Many will not waste their breath.

 

Alpha stared blankly. A question? She didn't have much to question about until she'd heard the words rose garden. Oh...oh! She gave the weird fairy person a wink and a pair of finger guns. "Oh, you're telling me to go visit Vermy...oh my God it's been forever since I've seen her! You're a genius!" she grinned, shaking the seer by their shoulders. "Off I go!"

 

@Solaria​

Rook nods a welcome as you sit and listens, head resting on curled fingers. They hum slightly at the question, but give no further response. A hand reaches out to tap the back of a floating card, the rest of the deck freezing in place. They pull it away from the frozen whirlwind of paper and place it before you. A woman sits proud atop a steed, an adoring crowd her skirts and her face lit in a smile. Six staves, the greatest of them in her own hand, stand tall above their heads.

Six of Wands
Nothing happens.​

Rook

What ways should she stand, shoulders set, words writ in air? Her feelings as they are, what should they be? There is confidence in belief, in strong foundations and in victory over the self. Your achievements, your strengths, your heart are your own. Embrace them, show them. Those that matter will care for them as you do. Acknowledge. Harness. Reap your rewards due.

 

It was all superstition. But, it hardly mattered. No reason not to get involved in the atmosphere, and it wasn't like it was any worse than what was going on in... certain other places of the festival. The air reeked of alcohol.

Anyway. Claire settled into the booth, dropping the 50 gold for a drawing. People had to make money, after all, and she didn't mind paying a bit for some entertainment.

"Is there any luck about my article in my future?"