(I like the concept of a magical deck of cards, so I played with the rules a little and came up with this...)
The stranger traded Jon the magical wishing deck for his wishing stone. They left as quietly as they had come, but not before they quietly wished that no one in Jon's family would remember the existence of the stone at all. They then wished that Jon would remember inheriting a magic deck of cards instead. The rock granted these wishes and, confident that was enough to cover their tracks, the stranger slipped out of Jon's house without another sound.
In the early hours of the morning, Jon sat on his bedroom floor shuffling his card deck.
The Wish Card lay on the floor before him. The illustration on the front was of a sleek, dark, mysterious-looking stone, sat in a pentagram surrounded by an elaborate pattern of other occult symbols. This was the card on which he made his wish after dealing his hand, and it would form the centre of the arrangement of cards he was about to deal.
The rest of the deck was, in many ways, like a Tarot deck "“ divided between a Minor Arcana of four suits and a Major Arcana of picture cards with symbolic meaning.
Jon remembered the instructions left to him along with the deck by his grandfather, and he followed them to the letter. First he dealt a single card to the right of the Wish Card. This would determine his Protection "“ a good place to start.
"The Ten of Swords," he muttered, "that should be good enough."
Protection measured how much his mind and especially his memories would be insulated from the reality-altering effects of the wish. A good card here would ensure he remembered completely the world before his wish "“ important if he wanted to reverse it later.
Next, to the left of the Wish Card and opposite Protection, he would deal a card to decide his Privilege - how strongly the minds and memories of others would be affected by the wish. While he wanted to deal high for Protection, Jon ideally wanted a low score for Privilege to prevent people from realising reality had changed "“ if that happened, things could get tricky.
Jon found his Privilege Card to be a Two of Cups. So far so good.
Next was Power "“ dictating the magical resources the spell would have, but also the range of its effect. The Power card was placed directly above the Wish Card. A wish could only be granted within the range dictated by this card, or otherwise work a compromise or fail completely. Likewise a wish that alters reality in a dramatic fashion requires more Power to work, so such a wish should be made at the shortest possible range to safeguard its success.
From his grandfather's instructions Jon knew a wish that exceeds the scope of its Power may only be partially granted, so he wanted a high numbered card. However, he also knew the number and rank on the Power Card must not exceed his Protection otherwise it would overrun it "“ and his mind would have little to no defence against the reality-altering powers of the deck.
Jon ideally wanted something that was worth less than the Ten of Swords, but what he drew was the Queen of Cups. Jon grumbled, knowing this card would change everything.
The final card to be dealt was the Price. Placed closest to Jon, beneath the Wish Card and opposite the Power. Every wish came at a price. Depending on the card he drew, Jon would have to sacrifice something of himself in order to pay for the wish.
A card from the deck's Major Arcana fell into place, "Famine", and worse still it was upside down. Jon gulped. After checking his grandfather's notes, he found that Famine symbolised loss, but upside-down meant it now represented gain. How 'gain' factored into the cost of a wish, Jon could not fathom.
Regardless, a Major Arcana card for Price was a big deal. This wish was going all wrong and he briefly considered abandoning it, although he remembered that would mean he wouldn't be allowed to make another wish for... he quietly summed the values of the cards in front of him... thirty-seven hours (since the Major Arcana always have a value of thirteen). A day and a half without wishes. The only way around that penalty would be to let someone else use the deck within that time "“ not an idea Jon relished. He decided to keep going, as the hand he'd dealt wasn't yet beyond repair.
He couldn't leave the Protection lower than the Power, especially not with a Major Arcana as the Price. He decided to draw more cards to try and improve his lot. This was allowed by the rules of the deck, so long as opposites (Protection and Privilege, Power and Price) were drawn in pairs. Jon dealt a Six of Wands for Protection. Good, he thought, that makes it worth more than Power again.
He then drew for Privilege as he was required to do so, and lamented when he drew another ten "“ the Ten of Coins "“ positively destroying any Privilege he had.
Jon reviewed his hand. Plenty of Power, and the Protection to ensure he didn't get stung by it. That much was ideal, exactly what he needed. However with the high Privilege score everyone would know something was up. This made the scope of his planned wish somewhere between risky and impossible. The Price too, was a problem. Jon would have to figure out how to match his wish to his hand, and not vice-versa.
After some quiet contemplation, Jon tapped the four surrounding cards in turn with his finger, before prodding the Wish Card. He said, "I wish...
