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The card flipped over and Oliver cursed.
"Damn. Lost again."
"Why don't you give up that stupid game, Oliver?" asked Galen, "You never win anyway."
"I can't. Not until I beat it," replied Oliver.
"How long is that going to take? You've been at it for two hours now and supper's ready."
"Okay, okay. One more game and then I'll eat."
**2 hours later**
"Damn, damn."
"Okay, That's it. I'm taking those cards away from you and I'm going to burn them if you don't eat. Now."
"Fine, fine. I'll just deal them out and then eat while I consider my strategy."
"Strategy? Are you telling me that you can apply some kind of strategy to completely random items?"
"Well...once I see the cards, facing me, I'll know better what I'm up against."
"Where did you get those cards anyway?"
"Oh, I got them off one of the slavers in the stockade."
"Just eat and I'll give them back," Galen replied, picking up the deck.
"Hey, I was going to deal a hand."
***
Oliver was sitting by the fire, scrubbing the last bits of food out of his tin plate with a bread crust as he looked at his new obsession. In the flickering light of the campfire the knave on top of the pile seemed to move and shift shapes. He shook his head, trying to clear his vision. "I've been playing with these things way too much. They're starting to look pretty lifelike."
Cedric shot a glance at Oliver over the parchment he was reading, "Are you okay, Oliver?"
"Yeah, just talking to myself."
"Ah. Try to keep it at a minimum or I may have to use St. Cuthbert's healing touch on you," playfully shaking his mace.
They both grinned and looked up at Isaac, who entered the ring of light carrying a string of game over his shoulder. His bow was slung over his quiver of black fletched arrows. "Good hunting out here...", began Isaac.
"More pheasant?" interrupted Galen, "I'm sick of that bird."
Darcius only looked up from his axe and then continued sharpening the blade.
Isaac threw down the birds and countered, "You want something else, you go out and catch it. Hey Oliver, when you going to use all those skills you claimed to have learned from Adamane and let me stay by the fire and play cards?"
Oliver made an obscene gesture and rinsed his plate off. "About the same time you make me one of those bows you keep bragging you can make." He picked up the deck of cards and shuffled them again, deftly cutting the deck and splitting it carefully.
"Where'd you learn all these card games anyway, Oliver? Last I checked, games of chance aren't very popular back home.", inquired Galen.
"I don't know, I just figure out new games to play and then play them. Only I already know all the rules I want to have in them."
Galen looked a little quizzically at that, but went back to writing his newest work, an epic of Delcouth and the exploits of all there.The only sound for the next few minutes was the rhythmic noise made by Darcius sharpening his axe and daggers. The silence was broken, "Damn again. Stupid game."
All the noise stopped around the fire and every eye turned to Oliver, who was staring down at the cards arrayed in front of him. Oliver stared a moment longer then looked up at the extended silence. "What? Okay, I'll stop." He packed the cards away in the beat up wooden case he'd found them in, and put it away in his pack. He pulled out his whetstone and silently mimicked Darcius, sharpening his dagger.
Galen pulled out his mandolin, strummed the strings for a moment, tuned it a bit and started playing quietly to fill the silence. Everyone slowed what they were doing and listened as Galen sang a song about the Keoland Light Brigade. It was a slow song, most likely meant as a song to be played on the trail, and it filled the silence admirably. Before long, everyone followed the usual routine, and watches began. Oliver took first watch and everybody else settled into their bedrolls.
As he normally did on watch, Oliver moved into a nearby thicket and began to whittle to pass the time. His thoughts drifted back to his time spent with Adamane, and the training he'd done, which invariably led to the good deeds he'd one in the bandit camp as his own form of recompense, which led directly to finding the deck of cards. He reflected briefly, he'd found the cards shoved into the pocket of one of the slavers that Isaac had cut down. The man had been speared through the chest, his hand clutching the wooden case to his heart. He wasn't even wielding a weapon, and Oliver had taken note of it for a moment. Further searching had revealed very little else, and he'd found something worth keeping. The cards had proved a welcome distraction at first, the games had been simple and diverting. Over the next couple of days, he'd worked out more elaborate games, the rules seemingly coming into his head from nowhere. He'd tried to involve Galen or Darcius in games but they weren't as interested as he was, and they didn't know the rules. It was fun for a while, but Oliver desired more competition now and some people who knew the rules of the games.
He was debating whether it might be worth going back to his pack when he was surprised by a tap on his shoulder. Whirling and drawing his blade, he came face to face with Isaac, who had come to relieve him for the next watch. He'd been daydreaming for the last two hours. Isaac looked sideways at the surprised look on Oliver's face and gave him a nudge. Oliver picked up his jaw and stood quickly. "Nothing happening out there tonight, really quiet."
"Good, sleep well. See you in the morning."
Oliver headed back to the camp, identified only by the low flames and embers of the campfire. He threw a few more sticks on the fire to give him some light and pulled the case out of his pack. Looking around at the sleeping forms of his mates, he dealt himself another round of cards.
***
Breakfast was served and Oliver rolled out of his blankets in time to get the last helping of porridge. "Sleeping beauty finally rises.", joked Galen.
Oliver grinned and sleepily rubbed his eyes. "Had some trouble sleeping last night, but I finally got over it."
Cedric peered at Oliver closely, "This wouldn't have anything to do with your cards, now would it?"
Oliver followed Cedric's line of sight and noticed the cards spread in his bedroll. He looked quickly from side to side and noticed everyone looking his way. The cards were under the blanket and it looked as though he'd slept on them where they'd been dealt out. His gaze returned to the hard stare of Cedric who stood and moved closer. He made to catch Oliver's head in his hands and Oliver flinched back momentarily. Cedric seemed to be expecting it and adjusted his grab to latch on with both hands to Oliver's temples.
"St. Cuthbert grant me the power to divine whatever may ail this brave soldier of good."
Oliver felt the palms grasping his head warm and noticed that a blue flame appeared to be dancing in Cedric's eyes. Cedric held the pose for a moment and released Oliver. Both fell apart from each other and the rest of the party looked on, wondering what had happened. Galen was the first to break the silence, "What? What is it?" He looked concerned for his friend.
Darcius also spoke up,"Well, what is it? What's wrong?"
Cedric massaged the bridge of his nose and looked around the clearing. "Our friend has been affected by a minor curse, or a geas. He appears to have picked it up when he came in contact with that deck of cards. Without further investigation, I would say that it is unlikely it will cause any immediate damage to him, and I'd like to take some time to research this further. Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to meditate upon this and ask St. Cuthbert for guidance."
Oliver stood now, his eyes wide, "What do you mean, a curse? I don't feel cursed, just annoyed. I mean, shouldn't I feel sick, or nervous, well I do feel nervous, but who wouldn't when they were told they were cursed? I can do anything I want, I'm not cursed, I should know if I'm cursed, right? Damn it, why are you all looking at me like that?"
"Because your babbling Oliver.", said Isaac, "Maybe you need to just relax and try and think logically."
"Yeah, did you notice anythng about the deck of cards when you picked it up?" asked Darcius.
"Better question is: Are we sure it's the deck of cards? Did you pick up anything else recently?" asked Isaac.
"Not that I know of, let me see." Oliver dumped out his pack on his bedroll and sorted through the assorted junk. He tossed aside coins, a gem and a feather before holding up a bag of caltrops. "I picked these up after using them."
"Unlikely," muttered Cedric. "Keep looking."
He picked through the rest of his gear, holding up random items, but were all dismissed as likely candidates. All attention eventually focused on the deck of cards. Isaac examined the case and cards carefully and hit upon the very thing that had bothered Oliver the night before. "Hey, this card has changed. It used to be holding a wand and you could only see one eye. Now it holds a cup and both eyes are facing out."
Cedric came over and looked carefully. I don't know, let's test this. He flipped the card over and then back to face him. "It has moved, though it still is a king."
"I think we've determined that this deck of cards has properties beyond what you can expect from a normal deck of cards. Now what?"
Well, perhaps some divine guidance will give us our answer." Cedric closed his eyes and muttered a quiet prayer over the deck waving his hand slowly. He reopened his eyes and looked around the clearing, meeting everyone's eyes, "It is an enchanted item, though it is not evil in nature. Just a geas that makes him want to play cards. It won't affect anyone else touching the cards until the owner dies, then the geas is transferred to the next person to touch them. Unfortunately, I can see no other wasy to break the geas without killing Oliver."
"Uh, I don't like that solution.", piped up Oliver.
"Yes, that solution is out of the question. However you will have to exercise some restraint, the compulsion will cause a few problems, possibly at the worst times. I also think it best that we let Oliver hang onto the deck until we can find a remedy for the geas."
***
The rest of the day was spent watching Oliver, who fiddled with the cards momentarily only to look around with a guilty start. "I wish you guys would stop looking at me cross-eyed every time I move."
Isaac was the first to break the stalemate, "I'm going to try my hand at hunting, if you guys want to sit here and stare at that mopey bastard, enjoy yourselves." He stood, grabbed his bow and left the clearing.
Galen picked up his mandolin and pretended to tune it, but couldn't resist any longer. "Oliver, instead of just sitting there, let's play a game."
Cedric frowned but said nothing. He soon went back to his meditations. Oliver grinned quickly and snatched up the deck of cards. He shuffled rapidly and dealt out two hands. Darcius looked over and signalled that he was in for the next round.
"Damn! I lost again." , muttered Oliver as Galen chuckled under his breath. "Okay, Kings or better, let's go."
Darcius moved over to the other two and soon they were involved in a spirited game of cards. The winning was spread out and voices were raised in equal measures of curse and cheer. Isaac returned in a few hours with a brace of birds over his shoulder.
"I could hear you guys about 200 yards away, maybe you'll want to keep it down, before some big forest nasties come along, hear you and decide you'll make a nice light snack."