1????????Soul Bound
1.1??????Finding her Feet
1.1.2????An Immersive Experience
1.1.2.7??Rockin'' the tutorial
The storeroom turned out to be a whole wing of the Villa, opening out onto its own courtyard containing the stables, carriage house, grain storage, tack shed, forge, armoury and crafting areas. Alderney was putting the finishing touches to a longsword, under the approving eye of Dante, a short muscular Teuton with a restless energy nearly matching Alderney’s own. They were getting on like a house on fire.
The maid carrying the clothes turned up, and passed the message to Dante that whatever Madame Kafana wanted, Madame Kafana should receive, before hurrying off with a deep curtsey to her, which, playing her role as a diva to the max, Kafana received as her just due with a gracious wave and proud stance. Then Tomsk and Wellington entered the courtyard, and she decided to let rip with a slow Billie Holiday number, putting some real skid into her voice as she made eye contact with each member of the audience. Her audience.
She concentrated on a yearning emotion, and visualised every eye in the place being transfixed upon her. They both stumbled to a halt, as did the retreating maid, as did every worker in the area. When she finished, for about 10 seconds you could have heard a pin drop.
*ding* [Your party’s reputation with Dante has increased by 10.]
[Skill “Fascination Debuff” acquired.]
The trance was broken by Alderney accidentally grazing herself on the polishing wheel she’d been using. “Kafana! Be careful when you do that. Ow, Cov damnit, that hurts.”
They gathered together in a crafting room and closed the door so they could talk freely. Kafana passed out the clothes she’d acquired for them, and gave Alderney the pile of fresh rabbit pelts. “Alderney, these any use to you? And can you handle altering the clothes to fit? Don’t worry about my gown, the maids in the house are handling that one. Though once we set out for the city I’m going to need something more suited to outdoors travel and combat, I think.”
Alderney handed Tomsk the sword and gave the clothes a once-over. “No, sure, these look great, I love the pelts, would you like a fur-lined cloak, and I can trim a scabbard for Tomsk with fur for fast drawing, though you’ll have to clean your sword before sheathing each time else ‘eww’, and you got me gloves, fantastic, would you like ear muffs, I could make them shaped like kitten ears, and this is white so I could dye it pink, or would another colour be better, what’s your gown like?”
Tomsk flourished the sword and gave Alderney a scritch behind the ears. “Clever girl! You got the balance just right for me, and the weight suits this character’s current strength too. Wellington, I’m training a bunch of fighters to use spears and shields right now. Give me another half hour and I’ll have them ready to hunt wild boar in groups of 6, and then you should see some experience coming in. Alderney, when you’re done crafting, would you like to come get a bow and join in? I remember you’re pretty good at aiming stuff.”
Wellington nodded “As soon as Alderney adjusts some clothes for me, I’ll start recruiting. How many fighters can you make use of Tomsk? And Kafana, sounds like you’ve got the hang of using singing to buff. Have you tried healing yet? In theory buffing should be a combination of water and order, while healing should be a combination of water and light. It might take a slightly different music style or visualisation. I suggest experimenting. I’ve copied down the runes for you onto parchment, in case you want to try using them in cooking or for visualisation. When you get levels, don’t allocate any points; I think we’re going to want to be very careful how we do them, because they can’t be changed.”
He added “You’re the key to the feast quest. What would help you most?”
“Lady Sienna has a sweet tooth. I’m going to be spending a bit of time in the kitchen seeing what I can come up with. If you can find one or two adventurers with a decent amount of arlife cooking experience, that would be useful. But don’t send me amateurs, they’ll be more bother than use. Mainly, though, I’d like a few musicians if you can scrounge up instruments for them, and as many clowns, acrobats, fire swallowers, etc as Tomsk thinks he can handle. I’d love a violin, but I’m not holding out hopes in a place as small as this. When we get to the city, perhaps.”
She added: “Let’s try healing now. Alderney, can you show me your hand and hold very still?”
{System, can you put an orglife frame over Alderney, and let me use my fingertip to draw a virtual design?}
In answer a silver polygon mesh appeared over Alderney’s arm like a glove. Kafana held the parchment showing runes in her left hand and, with her right, focused her intent on drawing the Mor and Zer runes. The results were so shaky as to be scarcely recognisable.
{Undo. System, inscribe ‘Mor’ and ‘Zer’, interlinked, upon Alderney’s injury.}
Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
There, that looked much better. She cautiously used the runes as a focus for her will, visualising a full health bar hovering over a healthy looking version of the arm, then started to sing.
This time, instead of blues songs with words, she went with pure notes in an upwards spiralling descant, inspired by religious oratorios and spiritual music from a hundred traditions. She felt power build and then, when it released in a flow outwards from her, she let the last note gradually resolve and fade.
[Title “Healer” acquired.]
[Skill “Cure light wounds” acquired.]
“Wow” said Alderney, softly, for once short on words. Her graze was gone.
{System, in combat or when I’m casting, please display my own health and mana bars where I can see them.}
Her mana showed 80/100 and slowly ticked upwards at a rate of about 1 point per minute.
She gave Alderney a hug and then left her getting Tomsk fitted, as she headed back to the kitchens.
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
TODO
ALL
1 Ensure Lady Sienna is delighted with the feast (2hrs 20mins left)
2 Aid other party members with their tasks
3 Raise skill levels, don’t spend unallocated points
TOMSK
2 Audition and organise circus performers for feast
3 Lead boar killing parties to gain experience
9 Find a disorganised country, and make Kafana its Queen.
ALDERNEY
2 Customise clothing for the feast
3 Learn archery and join in the boar hunt
4 Prepare money and items for trip to city
KAFANA
2 Audition and organise musicians
2 Try cooking sweet desserts for the feast
2 Retrieve gown for the feast from the upstairs maids
3 Experiment with the cooking buff system
3 Provide the boar hunters with cooked rabbit snacks
WELLINGTON
2 Recruit up to 2 competent cooks
2 Recruit up to 8 musicians
2 Acquire musical instruments
2 Recruit up to 20 people with circus skills
3 Send excess people to Cesare or Camillo
4 Learn magic
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Hmm, had time really passed that fast? {Wellington, how does time work here?}
{Nights pass 6 times faster than normal. Days pass 2 times faster than normal. So every 8 hours in arlife is 24 hours in velife. But it is a bit more complex than that, because conversations and combat encounters take place at closer to 1:1 speed, and they play with your time sense to make that seem natural, while effectively putting the time you spend on travelling or repetitive stuff on fast forwards.}
Oh well, whatever. Time to get cooking!
<hr>