The name of the spell on one side with the gesture, and the other side containing the spell phrase and other information. It was a relatively small tome, and taking stock of the spells, he saw that only three of each Order were listed. The book was not written by a single hand, either – it contained lots of different nib strokes from many, many quills.
Flipping back to the start, he began reading:
Fortune entails being able to change the odds in your favor. This spell type is very finnicky and it is difficult to determine if it is working or not. It seems to respond better to those of Elvish heritage.
The spells all have a set duration, and seem to work better when spoken in Elvish, so that is the language you will see below. Translations to the Standard Tongue are provided.
An important note is that these spells cannot influence anyone but the user.
Tristan flipped to the First Order spells, intent on memorizing the spells through rote repetition.
Flipper’s Favor (First)
Spell Phrase: “Onni on aina puolellani.” (Luck is always on my side).
Spell Gesture: Ball your hand into a fist, and then tuck the thumb inside the hole the other fingers make between them and the palm. Hold the fist so that the thumb’s backside is facing up. Then, as you state the spell phrase, ‘flick’ the thumb out. This is best done when flipping a coin.
Other Notes: The coin will come up whichever side you are thinking about; make sure you mark the sides! Most coinage across the Realms has some type of marking already, so this should be easy. This spell can be done with anything that can be flipped over; but works more consistently with coins. Lasts for five seconds after casting.
Lucky Instinct (First)
Spell Phrase: “Kunpa minulla olisi t?st? huono tunne.” (I wish I had a bad feeling about this).
Spell Gesture: Take your thumb and place it in the crook between your middle and ring fingers, folding those fingers over towards the palm to ‘pin’ the thumb in place. Then, stack the index finger atop the middle finger, and the pinky atop the ring finger.
Other Notes: This spell will last for an hour and will give you a weird sense of something being ‘off’ if an action you would take would result in less-than-optimal outcomes.
Near Miss (First)
Spell Phrase: “T?m? ei voi mitenk??n osua minuun.” (There's no way this is going to hit me).
Spell Gesture: Place both hands face-down at chest-height. Palms facing down, extend your thumbs so that they point at and touch each other. Pull this in just under the ribcage. Straighten all remaining fingers and point them directly forward. Then, as you speak the spell, move your hands around your midsection, keeping the thumbs flush with your body, until your shoulders have retracted as far as they can.
Other Notes: This spell will last for an hour. Anything that would cause you harm that is not guided directly by hand (e.g. a rock thrown would qualify, a stick being swung would not) has increased probability of missing you.
Tristan stopped at the First Order spells and stood up. Walking over to Obadai, he cleared his throat a little bit and the man pulled back from the eyepiece. “Do you have a coin?”
Obadai chuckled, “Going to try one of those spells?”
“Humor me. I want to see if there’s any truth to this thing about Elves being better suited for this spell type. I’d rather do that than waste time learning it if its not going to be valuable.”
The Archon reached into a hip pouch and pulled out a small copper coin. It was marked with King Arinclex’s likeness on one side, and a crown on the other side. He handed it to Tristan, “Go ahead. Do your thing.”
Tristan smiled, “Right. You call a side.” Tucking his fingers into his palm and placing the coin atop, he flicked his thumb up, spinning essence crucible and muttering the spell phrase. “Onni on aina puolellani.” (Luck is always on my side).
As the coin was mid-air, Obadai shouted out, “Crown!” Tristan focused on the opposite side, and the coin clattered to the flat boughs below…head-side up.
The Archon frowned, “Huh. Well, let’s do that a few more times.”
Tristan nodded and what followed was thirty consecutive coin flips, where the Archon would call it in the air, Tristan would think the opposite, and the coin would come up the side Tristan was thinking about. On one instance, he thought about it landing on its edge – and it did so briefly before clattering over to the Archon’s side.
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Obadai sighed, “Well…looks like it does work for Elves. But, just to compare.” He took the coin, and they repeated the test for another thirty flips, and found the distribution to be about even. “That confirms it to me,” Obadai muttered. “The spell works for you.”
Tristan smiled, “Well…what about applying it to something else?” He went to the edge of the platform and peeked over, spotting a handful of fairy dragons lazing about on a branch below. “Do we have any flat thing, like bark, that is spiky on one side?”
One of them looked up at him, turned to his fellows, and they muttered amongst each other before the initial one held up a paw, “We can get something like that!”
“Please do,” Tristan said. The fairy dragon flew off into the canopies, and a minute later came back with a circular-sized chunk of spiky wood. The fairy dragon set it down on the top bough, then returned to his companions.
Tristan knelt and used his knife to cut away the spikes on one side. “The spell has to do with flipping things, just that coins are better. But…what if I had something like this,” he cut off the spikes enough so that one side was relatively harmless, flat bark, and the other side was full of spiked points that would snag on clothes and maybe draw a little bit of blood if force was applied. “This could be a spiked shield laying on the ground.” He set it down, spun his essence crucible, feeling the cooling energy going through him, and curled his hand into the spell gesture.
Putting the tip of his boot under the edge, he muttered the spell phrase as he kicked up with his foot, willing the bark to land smooth-side down. Putting out his palm, he saw it flip a few times before landing smooth side down on his hand. “I bet if I had a shield look or something like that, I could flip it onto my arm.”
Obadai frowned even deeper than before, “That’s just not fair. Fortune never works well for me! Do you know how many games of chance I could have kept money on?”
Tristan chuckled, “We have a few more spells to try, if you don’t mind helping. I don’t think I can test Lucky Instinct, but perhaps this other one, Near Miss. Wait!” He looked down at the fairy dragons below that had grabbed the bark for him. “You lot! Want to throw some starberries at me?”
This got all of their attention, and they overlapped each other with shouts as they began gathering up a swarm of their fellows and baskets full of starberries, placing them on the edge of the platform.
Tristan walked over to the other platform at an angle away from them, so that there was a small gap between them. Spinning his essence crucible, he followed the spell gesture for Near Miss and spoke the spell phrase. “T?m? ei voi mitenk??n osua minuun.” (There's no way this is going to hit me).
“Okay! All fairy dragons? Open fire!” Tristan kept light on his feet and tried to dodge the incoming barrage of starberries. The initial onslaught was more than he could hope to dodge, and he found himself laughing as he was plastered with the berries. “Hold fire!” he shouted out.
Obadai was cackling over near the study watching the display. “Didn’t work, did it?!”
Tristan pointed up, “I want you all to try and throw up to have them come down on me. All of you at once…ready?”
Felicity flew over and grabbed handfuls of starberries, “Oh, I’m so ready!”
Tristan grinned, “Loose!”
The fairy dragons all lobbed their berries upward, and Tristan did not dodge, instead standing still. Instead of being coated, Tristan saw quite a few miss by scant inches. He was still hit by a handful that squished against his armor, but the vast majority missed. This seemed to upset the fairy dragons, who began to lob them directly at him, and Tristan tried to outrun the barrage by going along the outside edge of the platform.
To his delight and surprise, the thrown projectiles seemed to miss a bit more than they hit. Stopping and waving his hands for them to cease fire, he took in some breaths in between chuckles. “Okay…now I need to see a baseline. Felicity? Your turn.”
She went beet-red, “Me? Why?!”
“I need to see if the rest of your kin are bad shots against a moving target, or if they were actually being influenced in some way.” He pointed to the edge of the platform, “Go on! Elfanoid form, please!”
She grumbled but walked over, shifting from her fairy dragon shape into her Elfanoid one. Tristan pointed to the other fairy dragons, “Right. First off, the lobbed into the air volley. Take aim…throw!”
The fairy dragons threw the starberries up into the sky, and they came crashing down onto Felicity, absolutely soaking her through. Everyone was laughing and chuckling, with even Felicity giggling a bit as she got caught up in the whimsy of the simulated arrow barrage.
Tristan walked over next to her, “Now, lob them at me again. Go!” Another volley, and once more, the arcing projectiles came down with not nearly as much accuracy.
Felicity frowned, “No fair! You used a spell, didn’t you?”
Tristan held his finger up to his lips as if he was silencing a whisper, “I’m not telling. Okay, now for the moving target test. Felicity…run when I shout. The rest of you? Once I give the signal…unleash your fury of thrown starberries!” He got over behind the group of fifty fairy dragons who were ready with baskets running low on supplies. “Felicity, run!” As she took off, Tristan counted to three. “And fire!”
The fairy dragons’ aim was true, and they pelted her over and over. She ran over to Obadai and took refuge behind him, and the man went from chuckling to covering his face as he was caught in the crossfire while Felicity kept hiding. “Cease fire!” he shouted out – still laughing a bit but obviously also upset by the barrage.
Tristan held up his fist, and the fairy dragons all ceased fire. “Looks like Near Miss works for Elves for projectiles.”
“It was a spell!” Felicity shouted as she walked over to Tristan and scooped some of the gooped starberry from her body, throwing it at his face. He did not dodge, intending to let it hit him, but the projectile missed his face, instead hitting his shoulder. She groaned and looked down, “I’m a mess!”
The other fairy dragons all laughed riotously, and Tristan looked at the absolutely coated top boughs. “Now the not-so-fun part…cleanup,” he said. All the fairy dragons went from laughing to groaning, and Tristan set to work helping them scoop all of the starberry. “Look at the bright side,” he said as they were working as a unit to clear up the mess, “Lots of mash to ferment into starberry wine.”
This got the whole group excited, and they redoubled their efforts, cleaning up the place within minutes. The scent lingered, but the faint strawberry smell mixed with vanilla was pleasant, if anything. Tristan looked down at himself and sighed, “Now I have to clean this mess up.”
Felicity giggled and swapped to her fairy dragon form, shaking like a dog would as the starberry goop flew onto Tristan. “Lucky me, I can just do that!”
Tristan shook his head and went down the tree. Going over to the crafting area, he took off his gear and made sure to maintain and scrub it down. Felicity helped with the latter, and as the night grew longer, the two retired to the chambers below the tree.