1??????????????Soul Bound
1.2????????????Taking Control
1.2.1??????????An Icy Welcome
1.2.1.8????????Streamers
A large white pavilion had been erected in the space between the Speckled Dove and the river. Adventurers were rushing about enthusiastically, and Bungo was standing by the door of the tent with a clipboard in hand, welcoming newcomers and sending them off on tasks.
Bungo: “Kafana! Go right in.”
The monks surrounding her and Tomsk gave a soft bow to him and murmured “Guru” as they passed inside. Nastya was at a desk near the door with a big diagram of the plaza spread out in it, organising stewards and setup crews like she was directing a battle. Bulgaria was by a half-constructed changing area littered with equipment. He had a chart showing teams and brackets, and appeared to be explaining the rules of volleyball to a pair of athletic students wearing House Zeno’s green and gold colours. Mary-Lynn was standing in a relatively quiet area at the back by a blackboard, talking to a small group of people. She waved Kafana over.
Mary-Lynn: “Kafana, let me introduce you. This is Kino, whose live stream Kino’s Travels nets 6 million viewer hours a month. This is Hachiko, whose Hachiko and Friends nets 12 million. This is Omobono, whose Merry Music nets 20 million. We’ve agreed to pool our footage from today, so we can split up and cover more stuff, get more angles. We were just working out who’d be online when and what we most wanted to cover. So please memorise their faces. If one of them comes past the stewards and starts asking you stuff, pretend it’s me.”
Kafana giggled nervously. “This sort of snowballed on me. It started out with just wanting to make sure the orphanage didn’t get closed down. The star of today isn’t me. The one you need to talk to and interview is Nicolo. He’s one of the orphans.” she looked at Mary-Lynn “He’ll be coming, right?”
Mary-Lynn: “Sure. Alderney passed on the message, so we’ve cut down your involvement as much as possible. Bulgaria is going to be the Master of Ceremonies. Here’s what your personal schedule is looking like:”
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Briefing with Mary-Lynn
Rehearsal with Nicolo
Ride up the newly paved road with Herberto Landi
Sing a duet with Nicolo
Short speech linking Nicolo -> Orphanage -> Basso -> Gelato
Serve gelato to people for a little while
Circulate and talk to people, if you feel up to it.
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Mary-Lynn: “Is that ok?” She looked anxious, like her golden goose might be about to stop laying eggs. No, that was unfair to her.
Kafana nodded: “I’ll manage.”
[[GLOBAL ANNOUNCEMENT : “Boss” is the first player in the world to reach 1,000,000 gc net worth.]]
Hmm. That would be 10,000 platinum coins, or 100 mithril bars. More than she had.
Kafana: “Who’s Boss?”
Hachiko spoke up. He was a thin, earnest looking young man, with lively eyes and a lovely smile. He seemed to be one of those people who wear their heart on their sleeve, and try their hardest to help others and see the good in them. “He’s the head of the guild named ‘The Crew’. They specialise in the financial side of games. If you want to give up playing one game and start playing another, they can quote you an inter-game exchange rate.”
Kino added: “I met him once, in Divine Mountain. The Crew have a code of conduct. They always keep their deals, which is good, and they’ll deal with anyone who respects them and their code, which is less good. They handle transactions for a lot of rough types, and make significant arlife profits by doing so. It takes ruthless people to do that, and the Boss stays leader by being more ruthless and more dedicated to the code than any of them.”
Kafana: “Did you ever meet Eihwaz? I saw him mentioned yesterday.”
Tomsk’s face darkened. “I met him once in arlife. He was in Norway, at the time. He is scum, and as crazy as a stoat. Unfortunately it is the sort of crazy that is catching.”
Omobono was nodding. “I am from Ghana. But what has that to do with the appearance of my avatar in an online game? Nothing! And yet Eihwaz’s guild Storm Power is as racist as he is, and gang together to player kill others through weight of numbers; it seems to fulfil some fantasy for them. They are a group I do not think I will ever truly understand. Such little lives. Luckily for me, they have picked the Slavic Dominion to settle in.”
Hachiko: “So have YoDaddy. It is true they are also player killers, but they prefer to act as individuals rather than mobs, delighting most in taking down groups of players who are higher level than they are. May they have much joy of each other.”
Kino: “Now The Immortals have been kicked out of the Etruscan City States, they seem to be mostly concentrated in the Teutonic League where The Crew are based.”
Kafana: “I’m impressed by how informed you all are. Do you know what the rest of the large guilds are doing?”
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
Omobono: “It is no big thing. There are well-known sites that track these things. CraftySquId, which I belong to, have picked Torello because we wish peace in which to perfect our crafting. For this we thank you, Kafana. We stand with you.”
Kino: “I am with The Path Less Travelled. We are, by our nature, less unified than CraftySquId, but many of us were moved by your words and have also picked Torello. To us, you exemplify one who is walking her own path, rather than doing what is expected of her.”
Hachiko: “Cute Justice sent scouts out to all the regions, to tally the cuteness of their local wildlife. They’ve picked the Burgundish Benevolence, mainly on account of the unicorns I believe.”
Omobono: “In time we shall all fear the Kawaii Unicorn Cavalry, and it will be a sight to behold. Though Nevermere announced three days ago that they would be moving to Benevolence as well; they are going to be moving there en bloc tomorrow as a big role playing event. How they will integrate unicorn cavalry into their tragedies and romances, I do not know.”
Hachiko: “Cruel Vengeance picked the Benevolence right at launch. I think because of its central position. They’ll explore outwards, in every direction they can.”
Kino: “Screw Reality have mostly headed to the Iberian Palatinate. They say they like the weather. Which I guess is important, when you try to stay logged in at least 20 hours a day.”
Omobono: “Which leaves the largest and least organised guild, the Ultra Bombastic Tele Fantastics. They’ve picked the Palatinate too, because they want to be as far away from the big player killer guilds as possible.”
Hachiko: “They accept anyone who wishes to join. In Divine Mountain, after the first year it was the only guild that would accept new players. People put them down as being ‘just’ a social guild, but they are open to any playstyle that doesn’t ruin the fun of others. I hear they plan to duplicate your feat, Kafana, and persuade their local rulers to ban player killing.”
Nicolo poked his head into the tent.
Kafana waved him over: “Thank you so much for the information. I can see why you are such popular live streamers - you’re great fun to chat with. I could stay here hours, learning at your feet. Let me give you my contact details, and you can let me know if you need help with any quests. At least, when you’re not streaming. I really don’t like publicity, though it is for a good cause this time. But here’s Nicolo. Let me introduce him to you.”
{Sys, offer to add them to my contact list. Hmm, better annotate the list with guild affiliation and something to remember them by. I have a feeling it is going to grow today, and I don’t want to lose track of who’s who.}
Nicolo nodded gravely: “Suor Kafana.”
She gave him a wide smile and a hug. “Nicolo! How are you doing? I’ve been practising my locate spell, and after this kerfuffle is over, we can meet up at the Vecci camp with Olga and try our best to find Antonio. Can you find something with a close link to him, and bring it with you? Say, at 6 bells of the Dog watch?”
He gave a relieved nod: “Sure! Yes, I can do that!”
Kafana: “Nicolo, these are my new friends Kino, Hachiko and Omobono. They’re going to be doing their best to make sure all new adventurers will know about the orphanage’s gelato, and want to buy some from you. Some of them may want to have a chat with you later, so they have the facts straight and can tell the tale right when they talk to others. Shall we give them a nice surprise?”
Nicolo: “Blow their socks off?”
Kafana: “You got it.”
She produced 4 glass serving dishes filled with different flavours of gelato and gave a spoon to each of her captive audience.
Kafana: “You can look, but don’t eat. Not until I give the signal. Ok?”
Kino nodded gravely.
Hachiko asked: “Not eat yet?”
Omobono: “My friend, I think we are being challenged. She has a glint in her eyes, that wasn’t there 5 minutes ago.”
Mary-Lynn: “Huh. Well I’ve tasted your gelato before. And heard you sing. You won’t blow my socks off.” and crossed her arms.
Nicolo gave them a cocky grin, and held out his right hand to Kafana. She palmed her purple gem from her stash in her left hand, and they clasped. That was all it took. She was in his mind, as gentle as a frequent and welcome visitor, and taught him not just the tune and lyrics of the song she had in mind, but also how to phrase it, when to breathe, even the acting part and the emotions to put into it.
Nicolo: =ready=
Kafana sketched a tracery of orglife runes over the gelato, with the intention of not just enhancing the taste experience, but doing so subtly, making it fire the imagination when in combination with the music. She wanted the tastes to dance on their tongues, almost a synesthetic duet, firing pleasant touch and visual effects.
They sang the duettino On the breeze, What a gentle little Zephyr from Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. A third of the way through, when she felt their mana flow into the spell, she gave them a thumbs up and mimed eating. After they’d finished, she gave Mary-Lynn a look.
Kafana: “Well, think we’ll do?”
Mary-Lynn: “How did you do that? I’d swear you didn’t enchant me, and you didn’t buff yourself or use your astounding array of artifacts. You’re not even wearing your ring. You just can’t be that good.”
Omobono: “Never ask a magician their secrets. A good magician doesn’t tell. An evil magician doesn’t leave anyone to hear.” and he took off his shoes and removed his stocks.
He pointed down. “Well done Nicolo. You have indeed blown my socks off.”
Hachiko pointed at Kino’s dish: “You have left some. May I?” he moved his spoon towards it.
Kino displayed remarkable speed. The dish vanished and a loaded crossbow was pointed at Hachiko who raised his hands “Just asking!”
Kafana: “Hey, no fighting! There’ll be plenty more gelato available later. Now, I need to take Nicolo off and do some serious practice. If we’re going to sing for our supper in front of a big audience, they deserve our best.”
Omobono: “That was unrehearsed?”
Nicolo: “Totally.”
Omobono: “Then do not try your best. They will not survive your best. Give them about three quarters. It will allow them one day, perhaps, to gain some enjoyment from us other lesser musicians.”
Kafana: “Flatterer.”
But she had a pleased expression on her face as she led Nicolo out of the tent.