Soul Bound

1            Soul Bound

1.1          Finding her Feet

1.1.4        An Intriguing City

1.1.4.18     Efficient leverage

Isabella didn’t just rouse Massimo. She marshalled a whole bevy of priests to gather things, purify things, chop stuff and do as much as she could possibly outsource. Over the next 60 minutes they created 12 Golden potions and 48 Purples. Isabella insisted these be split 50:50, and Wellington requested that 10 of their purples be exchanged for an ongoing supply of low levels potions (pale reds that mended just 1600 hp each, and pale blues that did the same for mana, which the Sanctum had whole rooms full of), and that they be allowed to sell one of their 6 Goldens to the Sanctum so they had money available before the auction. Isabella readily agreed, and added in access to the Sanctum guard’s armoury to borrow better armour until such time as they got their own custom made. They left the jewelry with her, and she promised to have it ready for them the following morning. She looked excessively pleased with herself, as she rolled up her sleeves and they left poor Massimo to the mercy of her determination to wring every possible minute’s use out of them.

“Wellington, I feel sorry for the traders in Mercato. They won’t know what hit them, once you get some starting capital under your belt.”

Wellington looked satisfied. “It’s just maths, Kafana. Patterns and probability. I reviewed your session with Isabella this morning and calculated the likely relationship between effective skill level and crit chance at different difficulty levels.”

She gave him a hug. “You done good.”

He smiled. “The best part is, Alderney’s going to love wearing that +5 tomorrow when we craft.”

Bungo: “I acquired some skills when helping out. I think I know how to improve ingredient quality now. I’ve also got a complete list of the ingredients they used for all the potions, so we know what to look for when gathering.”

Time to write some letters.

She sat down in the cell she’d woken up in, with a borrowed sewing kit and the mittens. She started out by trying to embroider a kitten. She found she’d put a thimble on without realising, and was leaving neat stitches without having to think about how she was doing it. She let the others know, then started to compose her own letter.

Dear Vessel Kafana,

Well, if things go according to Wellington's plan, the next few days should have lots of new stuff. Crafting, combat, cooking, sports, performances, auctions and more.

I met some kids today that I really want to help. I'm highlighting that bit for you.

I met many people, some kind, some magnificent, some strange; all memorable.

I don't recommend going out yet. There are unfriendly eyes upon us, and we don't yet know who they are. Alderney is going to make you a disguise. And I think she's making some hair ornaments for her vessel as a surprise, so project 'hair braiding' is a go. I look forward to seeing the result, just please don't cut or dye it.

We've arranged for some trainers to visit this evening. A strange one named Carlo the Hand, who can teach you how to hide, and other stuff. He's good at drawing. A scary one named Gregorio the Skull Crusher, who can teach you how to dodge, and other stuff. Apparently he's nice to women, but not necessarily nice to men, so you may need to stand up to him in order to protect the male vessels. You can do it!

If you can learn how to keep singing when dodging about, that would be amazingly useful. I've also got a whole load of books in storage about magic and religion. You can sit and read them or whatever you like. Entirely up to you. Just stay safe!

I have started the mitten. In case it isn't clear, that's meant to be a cat's face.

Love,

Spirit Kafana

She stored it on an inventory box shelf and lay on her back on the bunk, content.

*flip*

Olympus, (the private forum of The Immortals guild).

Eistla: “I’ve received a report back from Mazarin about what that group in Torello have been up to.”

Nirrti: “Let me guess. Playing around on a flying boat?”

Eistla: “More or less, yes. They seem to be concentrating on gaining reputation with lots of NPCs, rather than on levelling up.”

Nirrti: “They put out another short clip, of the blue haired chick jumping out of a boat and falling on her face. Watchable, but it won’t go viral.”

Jinzha: “Our strategy guys saw that too. They’ve subscribed to anything to do with that group, I think, and are competing to come up with the best analysis. She may have fallen face first, but they’re still not sure how she got her DEX that high at her character level. Guesses include a soul bound dexterity boosting skill, artifacts, or being buffed by the two Grand Master mages on the flying boat. If you can find out, maybe I can get them back to coming up with tactics to crush the ‘Storm Power’ guild the next time we clash with them in Divine Mountain.”

Tlaloc: “Have you considered sending them friend requests and asking them? Their character names are all known, now: Bungo, Alderney, Kafana, Tomsk, Wellington and Bulgaria. Apparently most of those names share a theme, so this is a pre-existing group. On the main forums, people are using the tag #SoulWombles to refer to them.”

Eistla: “I sent the report to Malzeth. His reply was just two words: TEST THEM.”

Tlaloc: “What, as in ‘test to destruction’ ?”

Eistla: “How new are you, Tlaloc? Are you here because you are an arlife acquaintance of Malzeth? Because you sound like you care more about them, than you do about becoming a deity. Mission first. Always remember to put the mission first.”

Jinzha: “It means ‘find out what they’re made of’. Are they the right stuff for joining The Immortals? Or are they dross?”

Nirrti: “Eistla, have you decided yet which method you’re going to use, to find out if they are willing to put long-term self-advancement ahead of everything else? Because if those Wombles are aiming for money from live streaming, they’ll have to act like they’re good guys. The standard test of seeing if they’ll sacrifice others won’t tell us anything.”

Eistla: “I’m more of a pragmatist. If they are worth recruiting, we can do that when they are level 70. That’s not the pressing question. The question I asked Malzeth was whether it was worth our while spending time and resources now to crush them early, when it is easy to do so. It is only worth it if they are becoming stronger fast and if they are likely to use that strength to go against us. Keeping track of their levels is easy. They are currently level 15, which is about 150 on-level kills away from level 20. Once they stop coasting and messing around with reputation, we’ll be able to spot if they gain levels faster than expected.”

Eistla: “What needs testing is whether they’re likely to use their strength to try to thwart us, when doing so doesn’t gain them levels or publicity. I’ve sent Mazarin his orders: work out some possible tests, keep an eye on them, and take an opportunity when a good one arises.”

Tlaloc: “What happens if they fail the test? Suppose we have someone ‘leak’ to them news about a scheme that they’ll find sleazy, and they go out of their way to try to stop it?”

Nirrti: “Then we get to have some fun. Paralyse them and steal their artifacts, blacken their names with the NPCs, frame them for crimes with the city watch, and put them on the list of people our patrols PK any time they try to do quests outside the city. Nothing personal. Just efficient leveraging of our resources to protect dominant market share.”