“A simple green card, with a large orange question mark adorning both sides.” the bard states, taking a sip of his ale. “I’ve heard of it, though no one’s ever been able to tell me for sure where it came from. Some say that it was made from some gambling wizard, others say some illusionist gnome made it to give to some casino owner, in exchange for a small fortune. Anyways, the story goes that it travels from hand to hand, from gambler to gambler, and you can never be sure how long you’ll have it.

“Way I heard it told, the owner need only shuffle The Wild Card into a deck.” The bard takes a bite of chicken, his payment for this tale. “The Card takes the appearance and back of the rest of the deck, except for its front which stays green and keeps its question mark. Then, all that he has to do is pick what cards are coming out. He can give himself any hand he wants, and control what exactly his opponent gets, just by whispering the cards as they’re dealt. Most gamblers know about it, though it’s usually used as a joke. “Hey, you’re getting pretty good hands tonight, did you slip The Wild Card in there?” Always good for a laugh, but occasionally you get someone who believes in it, and knows it true value.

“Problem is, in an evening of drinking, gambling and the gods only know what else, things tend to get misplaced. Now, dropping a copper, no problem, you won’t miss that. Spilling your ale, who cares? But if, say, you get so drunk and so deep into your winnings that, just for an example, you manage to somehow forget about the card, then you’ve got a much larger problem. Because, whatever card shark happened to own that deck needn’t worry much about the money he just lost, he’s got a handy little enchanted item that’ll let him make it back in an evening. Strange thing is, these sorts of things tend to happen far more often with The Wild Card than with more common things. They say that the card finds itself to be part of the gamble, you get to pick your hands for a night, but in exchange you risk losing it. And whoever ends up with the card just so happened to be lucky, and because fate dealt him The Wild Card, he can use it now. At least until he manages to misplace his little treasure. Of course, this is all if you believe in legends probably made around a card table, by some drunk young pup who was this close to being caught cheating.”

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