Soul Bound

In the previous episode...

1.1.3 An Eventful Journey

Lord Claudio Landi grants some boons before the Wombles set off on the dangerous journey to the nearest city. Wellington gets a knife that protect his thoughts from being spied upon, Tomsk gets a sword, Alderney gets a pair of bouncy boots, and Kafana (who Claudio has declare to be a personal friend of his) gets a surprisingly powerful ring that boost her ability to heal and cast buff spells. They are joined on the journey by Bulgaria and another Womble, Bungo, who has experience of playing an earlier version of the game.

When they encounter bandits Kafana manages to redeem some of them by praying to Cov, and they also rescue a captive. But mostly they catch up with what each of them has been doing over the last decade, and discuss the consequences of Kafana gaining a lot of attention because one of the players she’d helped, Mary-Lynn, turned out to be a live streamer whose recording of Kafana singing had gone viral.

They decide to make use of the attention to achieve something positive, just as they’d done back at university, and decide upon a motto: Free the minds and you change the world!

...now read on!

1        Soul Bound

1.1      Finding her Feet

1.1.4    An Intriguing City

1.1.4.1  Approaching a character

It was fascinating to watch. The ex-bandits seemed to be creating a cult from scratch, discussing how to convert other bandit bands and trying to sing hymns of praise to Cov (badly out of tune).

After a few minutes of this, Wellington held up a hand and said, urgently “Everyone be quiet!”

Bulgaria: {What’s up?}

Wellington: {Talk delays us. We need the game to switch into night mode speed, so we can reach the city before some of us have to log out.}

Kafana: {Seems hard on them. Look at their worried expressions, like scolded children.}

Bungo: {Tell them it is the time for silent meditation and inner prayer. Who knows, it might even have an effect. In Divine Mountain, meditating near sources of magic energy was part of increasing certain skills. They had a sort of inner-self mini-game. I played it for hours.}

Tomsk: {Go ahead. We can spare five minutes while you sell them on the joys of self-improvement, if it will make Kafana happy. Perhaps she can teach them Gregorian chants or something, later.}

Kafana: {Thank you. If we’re going to treat these expert systems as people, then we have to do it properly, and treat with respect those deserving of respect, not just things to manipulate. But not Gregorian, I think. Something simpler.}

“People of Cov, please listen carefully. I have something to teach you.”

“Dino, stand in front of me. Yes, that’s correct. Now, you two, stand behind him, your left hands on each of his shoulders. Now you three, put your left hands there, there and there.” She pointed, arranging them into a wedge formation.

“Dino, I want you to copy what I sing, I’ll go first then, when I say, we’ll sing together.”

om mani padme huuum

om mani padme hum

om mani padme huuum

om mani padme hum

She did a simple version that used only 4 notes, and changed only on the huuum. It still took about 10 runs through together before he could do it by himself. Not perfect, but he’d improve with time.

“Ok, this is something called ‘meditation’. I hope, if you do it right, it will strengthen and purify you. It is a peaceful time to let your mind temporarily empty of thoughts and worries, to provide space for Cov’s guidance to fill you. The same way you might go quiet if you were straining to hear a faint noise. Let Dino lead you, and join in softly, when you are confident enough of the tune and the words. Remember, you don’t need outer volume. It is inner volume that counts. In fact, in a bit I might even ask you to try doing it entirely silently, just thinking it, feeling it, feeling the togetherness. We’ll practice until we reach the city. Now, hold your pendant lightly in your right hand, Dino, let’s start.” She led them off, pendants glowing and the party followed.

Kafana: {Wellington, can you track whether we switch into night mode? I picked something repetitive and timeless, so the game shouldn’t count it as an event. But, if it does, I’ll ask them to do it silently.}

Wellington: {I’ll track it.}

Some time later he reported: {It works, night mode achieved. Good job.}

Bulgaria: {I’ve been examining them. I think you might have turned them into spell singers. They have a buff icon on them now, and the listed caster is Dino. It gives mana regen. I wonder what it will do if they level it up?}

Bungo: {Monks! I should teach them how to use a staff, and give them wide bamboo hats.}

Tomsk: {If they don’t all get killed when we reach the city. Don’t get too attached to them. They did bad things.}

And on that rather glum note, they too stopped talking much. They passed from forest to cultivated fields and joined a bigger road that ran parallel to a river running East towards the sea. There were carts full of farm produce destined for the city’s market, messengers on horses with caparisons showing guild or house allegiances, one train of 8 wagons, led by a merchant in a coach and guarded by two heavily armoured mercenaries, a military patrol led by a fat sergeant, which eyed them in passing but didn’t bother with them, and increasing numbers of very varied foot travellers.

And then the city came into view. According to the map they’d been given by Brusco, the steward back at Villa Landi, they’d be entering by the Gate of Sorrows.

{System, please display an orglife overlay of the city, based upon the steward’s maps.}

She studied it a bit, trying to commit it to memory. There were six districts. The river Tunita ran to the Arcadian sea that lay to the east of the city. On an island in the river was the Libri district with several mage towers and a university. Across the river to the north, rising up to a hill with a castle on top of it, was the Alto district. Across the river to the south were Centrale which had the main sanctum and watch tower, Arsenal which lined the coast, Mercato (sandwiched between Centrale and Arsenal) where Lord Claudio Landi had his palazzo, and finally the Basso district which was by far the largest and sprawled away to the south. The Gate of Sorrows was just south of the river, so if they kept to the road they’d pass through a little bit of the Basso district before entering Mercato.

Alderney, still in scouting mode, spoke up: {Guys, there’s a long queue to get through the gate. Everybody has to show their pass. It could take hours. I’m going to grab us an escort. Prepare an explanation.} and bounced ahead down the road.