Death, Luck, or Wisdom

Mithil screamed at her butterfly to be prepared to flee, “remember, if I fall, you must go to my aunt.”

She saw Lady Megan fall.  She saw the cleric struggling mightily to prop up the fighters.  She saw the Duskblade leaping about and tapping on an inexplicable combination of skills to give the party a chance.  The orc was standing toe to toe with the beast who had drenched Fluteria’s beautiful wings in acid!  The fighter seemed odd, not quite right, but she too jumped into the fray.

Every wizard’s fear:  Every offensive spell exhausted and having to resort to a brute force, in this case an awkward crossbow which even now she was nocking with another bolt, all the while her friends (and she realized, yes, these people and creatures were her friends), were dying in front of her eyes as she was helpless to help.

Even as she raised the crossbow to her shoulder, she thought of the card she had at the ready.  Her photographic memory called it verbatim:

"Vizier: This card empowers the character drawing it with the one-time ability to call upon a source of wisdom to solve any single problem or answer fully any question upon her request. The query or request must be made within one year. Whether the information gained can be successfully acted upon is another question entirely." What a risk she had taken in obtaining this card!!!  The barbarian had been whisked away forever by the same deck.  It was incredibly powerful but she felt it throb with a will of its own to deny a direct question.  It must answer “any” question “fully” but then it cautioned that she might not be able to act on the advice. But what if she embedded that into the question?  “Tell me, oh Card of the Vizier, what action I can take within my current skills and with the materials and equipment I have in my reach right now, how I can save this party.” She hated using the card for just a stupid dragon, one which they could have dispatched if she had conserved her spells or if the party had stopped to rest.  The card promised wisdom, not folly!  Would it not, in its wisdom, give her a real answer to her question fully and fairly or, as it also said, to “solve any single problem?”  Well, damnation, their problem was clear.  A dragon was about to kill them! She felt the polished wood of the stock of the crossbow against her cheek and winced.  So crude… but maybe, she would get lucky.  Maybe one of them, any of them, maybe her, would get lucky.   She aimed for the huge creature and aimed carefully.  She exhaled as she pulled the trigger.  The bolt leapt from the crossbow and headed straight for the creature’s face.  Yes! All of this unfolded in six seconds, from her first thought to the final act as the bolt plinked harmlessly against the armored hide of the creature’s neck.  She sighed and thought again of the Vizier’s card obtained at such risk.