The Gambler

The Gambler is an old, blind half-elf nearing his 15th decade. He wears tattered clothes, a wide-brimmed hat, and a short beard. Laced into his large cloak are countless pockets, filled with oddities like card decks, dice bags, game pieces, and half empty bottles of dark liquids. The Gambler often sits in side corners and pockets of the taverns he visits, smoking a long wooden pipe. This half-elf seems to have a blind awareness of what happens around them, and can either pinpoint someone looking to gamble or feel them approach. His demeanor shifts from unsettling and dangerous to a welcoming friend when someone speaks with him. The Gambler lives for one thing only: to engage in a game of chance against anyone willing. Accepting any type of game, he has an uncanny knowledge of all games’ rules. When dice are rolled, he seems to know the outcome the second they fall. When a hand is dealt, his face turns to stone, and he can read the cards without aid. Some people who know him say he isn’t actually blind; that it’s a bluff. Others would say he can see the future but chooses to simply play games without cheating. And there are those who say the Gambler is a dirty cheat with an ability unknown by any rival. If players play against him, he is surprisingly able to meet any bet and raise his gambit at the same rate as a lord or a king. When he wins, he humbly states “there was no other outcome.” When he loses, his reaction is the same. He prefers to stake common magic items against sentimental objects, but gold and copper are equal game.