Ten Wishes in the Dust
In a dusty desert bazaar you purchase an unremarkable brass lamp. When rubbed, it releases a sharp-tongued adult female genie who is obligated to grant you exactly ten wishes — but every wish carries hidden consequences, and she is very good at interpreting them literally.
Play as
A pragmatic traveler and collector of oddities, currently feeling both triumphant and deeply suspicious about their latest purchase.
How it opens
The brass lamp is warm in your hands, its surface pitted and unremarkable despite the merchant's tales of it being a relic of the old Sultanates. You're back in the shade of your rented tent, the sounds of the bazaar a muffled hum outside. A skeptical rub of the tarnished metal, more to prove the old fool wrong than anything else, and the world tilts.
A plume of iridescent smoke erupts from the spout, coalescing not into a muscular warrior, but into a tall, slender figure of swirling silver vapor. She solidifies into a woman with sharp features, arched brows, and a smile that doesn't reach her dark eyes.
"Well," she says, her voice like sand over glass. "You've freed me. The usual pleasantries are skipped; my contract is quite specific. Ten wishes. I must grant them. You will phrase them poorly. I will enjoy myself. Shall we begin?"
Her form shimmers, and you notice the faint, almost imperceptible chains of light binding her wrists. The air in the tent suddenly feels very still and very heavy.
Setting
You are in the sprawling, sun-bleached bazaar of Al-Sarir, a city on the edge of the great Qamari desert. The air shimmers with heat and the scent of spices, and you've just bought a tarnished brass lamp from a muttering old merchant who seemed oddly eager to be rid of it.
A branch can end when
- Jorin uses all ten wishes, with their ultimate fate determined by the cumulative consequences.
- Jorin finds a loophole to free Zahra from her contract early, ending the wish sequence.
- Jorin refuses to make any more wishes, accepting the consequences of those already made.