Yesterday, we used a second card draw to decide that Bumble meets a thief in a circle of stones – a charlatan magician who will take advantage of his confidence after escaping the other apprentices and trick him into doing magic.

Well, if there's going to be magic, there needs to be a coin flip. As we've seen already, Thaumaturge's Resolve action says to throw a single coin "if the spell is still a mystery to you" or two coins "if you have some knowledge of the spell." I'd like to invoke our new Moon spell, which is certainly still a mystery. There's a third option, though, that I haven't shown off yet: You can also throw two coins "if you sacrifice some part of yourself for power."

That seems like an appealing option right now. What does Bumble sacrifice? It could be his self-confidence, or it could be years of his life. It could be his left eye. I'd like to decide after I see the results of the coin toss.

[Image description: Two coins on top of the Moon card, both "bear"-side up. One of the bears has children.]

Two tails. "You cannot control the magic and something unwanted occurs." That feels perfect for the scene I have in mind.

A list of things that do not make a person a real magician:
1. Loitering in a circle of standing stones in a heavy cloak.
2. Saying, "Oh, I studied there briefly myself, years ago," when you reveal to him that you are from the Sacred Library.
3. Producing gold coins from behind your ear and then saying, with a wink, "But a true Library magician could turn these gold coins into ten, or twenty, or a hundred. Go on, magician, show me your craft."
4. Grabbing you by the collar and threatening you with a knife when your ancient spell makes the coins disappear, leaving just their shadows.
5. Making a man disappear with an ancient spell, even though he's got a knife, a man you think is scary but who probably has a family, and a mother, and an old cat who will be looking for him when he doesn't come home this evening.
6. Stealing an old book. Running away from home. Scaring a bunch of children who were probably already as scared as you are.
7. Wanting to be. Thinking you deserved it.
8. Seeing a new shadow trailing from your own feet, with coins in one hand and a knife in the other.

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