[Spinning Coin] Sharking the cards (OPEN)

by **Nyahna Sasin** on April 20th, 2010, 4:00 am

"A pleasure to meet you Murdoch. I'm Sasin." He said. He liked this man already. He nodded to the Vantha. "I do hope you won't clear me out too quickly. I'd hate to have to leave too soon."

He pulled out a pouch of silver coins. "Hopefully this will last a while."

"I've played portraits before, but never for money. Any difference?"

by **Talhar** on April 20th, 2010, 4:39 am

Talhar sat down and greeted the newcomer, although Talhar was just as new as he was, with a sincere greeting and handshake.

" Hey mate and don't worry, I'll do my best not to. " He said smiling, he had little confidence he would leave the table with any winnings to show for it, but he had to at least give the impression that he was confident in his abilities.

" And sure I have, back in my homeland Avanthal I played it quite often but it's been a while so I'm probably a bit rusty. " Talhar responded genuinely, foolish but genuine.

" Ok gents, let's get this party started? " Talhar asked.

by **Murdoch** on April 20th, 2010, 5:58 pm

"All right then, Sasin, Snowball," he said, pointing first at Sasin and next at Talhar. If the man refused to give a name, well, that we absolutely his business. But Doc needed something to call him. The dealer just rolled his eyes and grabbed the cards as if he were used to that particular look in Murdoch's eyes - and well he should be, since the man had been coming to the Spinning Coin for over a decade.

"The game is Portraits! We play with a Syliran deck," he said, and Yuli fanned out the cards across the table, revealing the the Tree was highest (whereas the Queen was highest in most Avanthal decks), followed by the Knight, the Queen, and then the Page. Suits were comprised of Swords, Spears, Shields, and Arrows as was only proper in the citadel of Stormhold.

"Stand is 17, goal is 21, bust is 22," he added, just in case they didn't really know the game as well as they said. "And the rest is just a matter of knowing when to get the hell away from the table," he laughed, looking around until he caught sight of one of the waitresses and waved to her. She came over and ruffled Murdoch's hair, a sultry smile on her lips, then turned to the other two men and asked what they'd like to drink.

by **Talhar** on April 20th, 2010, 8:05 pm

" Snowball ? " Talhar laughed but then he stopped for a moment and appeared to be seeing a ghost as he was momentarily caught in thought with his mouth open.

" Ooohh that's right, I haven't mentioned my name yet. It's Talhar, pleased to meet y'all. "

And in response to the waitress Talhar merely smiled and held his Long Rosebud up to show her he's already been waited on.

" Aahh I see, we're using a different kind of deck than I'm used to. Give me a moment to memorize the portraits so I don't have to hold up the game once it starts. "

Talhar's eyes followed his finger as he pointed at the Tree, the Knight, the Queen and the Paige in respective order. The suits were of no importance to him since they were playing Portraits at the moment but he quickly tried to memorize them aswell. He mumbled " Swords, Spears, Shields and Arrows... Gotcha! "

by **Nyahna Sasin** on April 20th, 2010, 9:05 pm

Flashing a smile at the nickname given to the Vantha, Sasin eyed the cards. Not all that different than what he remembered playing.

He shook his head at the waitress. The message was clear. No.

He spoke up as he remembered something. "I'm assuming we're using just the one deck." He had known people who played with two, or even three.

by **Murdoch** on April 20th, 2010, 11:37 pm

"Just one deck," the dealer grunted, expertly sweeping the cards back into his hands and shuffling them with an alacrity that spoke of years spent at these tables. "Ante up, gentlemen, 5 silvers each. Minimum bet's 5, ante doubles every fifth hand."

Murdoch was barely paying attention, happily stacking his coins until he had ten little columns of ten silvers each. "You gents look new in town - you just passing through, or lookin' to stay?" he asked as the waitress returned with a glass of whiskey for him. He tossed his five silver in the center and smiled to his new friends.

by **Nyahna Sasin** on April 21st, 2010, 1:45 am

He shrugged, carefully stacking his coins into fives, then stacking those stacks into a pyramid.

"Define new. I've been here for about a season or so. I'm living here semi-permanently in the Traveler's row. Currently in between jobs." He replied. "Seem's like you've been here quite a few times." An understatement. He seemed intimately familiar with this place.

"As a matter of curiosity, what do you do?" He asked. "I can't imagine you spend all your time here."

He took one of the stack's, and set it on the table.

by **Talhar** on April 22nd, 2010, 12:55 pm

Talhar stood there uncomfy with his gold Miza coins in his pouch so he discreetly asked where he could change his coins into silver Miza, swiftly walked to the pointed direction, changed his coins and came back to the Portraits table.

He did the routine of stacking his silver Miza coins in stacks of 5 'till he had 6 stacks. Then he pulled out 2 more silver Miza and started to play with them on the table. Laying them down next to eachother and trying to put them on top of eachother using a sliding motion with 1 hand. He repeated the same motion over and over again, just for the heck of it. It failed nearly every time but Talhar found it relaxing somehow so he kept doing it.

by **Murdoch** on April 25th, 2010, 1:49 am

Murdoch chuckled a little to himself as he watched Snowball play with the coins, and wondered if he was actually that bad at sleight-of-hand or if it was merely a show to throw them off. He didn't put it past him - the gods knew he'd done it before.

"Well, I don't spend all my time here, no," he laughed. "I spend some of it at the Dragon, too. But no, this isn't what I do for a living. Can't depend on paying your rent from the gambling house," he chuckled. "No, I'm a carpenter. I do some work for the Knights now and again and it gets me by. What little I have extra I use to enjoy myself in proper fashion," he said with a wink. Yea, gambling and pleasure girls was a fine way to spend your pay.

Of course it was all lies, but it was a lie that he'd been telling for years, and he was fairly proficient in it by now.

The dealer passed out the cards, and bets were made all around. Doc played it loose, wanting to give the other two men a taste for winning. At the end of it, both Sasin and Murdoch busted while Talhar pushed the dealer and got half the pot in reward. "Well done there," Murdoch said, his voice a little begrudging.

by **Nyahna Sasin** on April 25th, 2010, 5:30 am

Sasin grinned at the sight of Sno-, no, Talhar playing with the coins. Terrible sleigh of hand, but he kept quiet. He had managed to stack his coins into a perfect triangular based pyramid, with exactly 10 stacks of five Silver each. He had brought more, but didn't feel the need to take it out yet.

He raised an eyebrow. A carpenter? Interesting.

Cards were passed, bets made, and he busted. Ended up with a two, a ten, and a queen. "Shoot." He muttered, a slight smirk on his lips.

This would be a fun night.