1 Soul Bound
1.1 Finding her Feet
1.1.7 An Extreme Response
1.1.7.22 Show time
{Sys, set aura of authority to maximum.} She held The Bone Sword high over her head, and started to sing.
She was going to pull out all the stops on this one, so she started with an intense skill level buff, followed by improving physical characteristics relevant to singing such as her breath capacity and vocal control. Next a prayer to Cov in his own Sanctum, by his Guardian’s Journeyman to raise the number of simultaneous buffs she could endure. Maintain the skill buff, then invite Rudolfo’s ritual group into a performance, so she could draw upon their mana and trigger the Emerald of Harmony bonus.
For 15 straight minutes she sang, cycling through prayers, buffs, and maintenances, powering up with every trick she could think of, her skin a tracery of runes to equal Wellington’s most complicated efforts, glowing in the colours of blessings from all eight primal deities, putting on her aspect as a Power for all she could. She ignored every attempt to talk to her, trusting in Alderney to keep her safe, and every eye in the Sanctum was fixed upon her by the time she’d finished. She’d taken particular care to buff her CHA and INT as high as possible, because she guessed she’d need all the willpower she could lay her hands on once in the Abyss, but it also seemed to be increasing her audience’s attention; side effects like that she could live with.
Kafana: “I am Kafana. You may have heard of me. Three nights and two days ago, the adventurer Kullervo used this sword I am now holding to attack and kill me while I was unarmed and peaceful. He did more than that. He used a diabolic pact built into the sword to try to enslave my Questing Spirit. That spirit is still trapped, and it is my corporeal vessel who stands before you talking now.”
“Thanks to all your help, Kullervo was captured, his Vessel was freed, and his Questing Spirit is now held pending sentencing in this circle next to me, as you can see.”
“This is a powerful sword. It gives boosts to attunement to the elements, to the deities. Kullervo brought it here from another world, but instead of using it to protect Cov’s children, he has used it for evil. This has angered the deities. They have looked down with disfavour upon the actions of Kullervo and those like him, and have now warned us that they will curse those who destroy beauty, display cowardice, violate hospitality, break their word or abuse children as he and his friends did.” she gestured at Carlo’s triptych. “They even attacked a bard, a messenger and an officer of the watch. I think we can all agree that Kullervo is a bad person, who deserves the justice that Cov has in store for him.”
“But now I am advised that my best chance of avoiding permadeath is if someone with a strong enough will bonds this sword and uses it to enslave Kullervo’s spirit. Does anyone here doubt that I am strong enough?” She used her enhanced lungs to say that last question loudly enough to rattle the whole Sanctum.
“Many are encouraging me to do this. They think he deserves it. That a little slavery is a small price to pay, if you are saving the victim at the expense of the attacker.”
“I say ‘no’. Not just ‘no’ but ‘hell no’.”
“This sword is evil, and it makes anyone who uses it do evil things. The deities should never have allowed its forging in the first place. I will not use it. If I leave one last will and testament behind me, let it be that this sword be thrown into the depths of the ocean, that none ever again have to face the temptation of using it for a worthy cause.”
Metathiaxioniel: {Good, you’re learning. Use the rules but don’t rely on them.}
“Slavery is wrong. You do not make yourself freer by taking freedom away from others. So although I could enslave Kullervo here, and perhaps free myself by doing so, I choose not to.”
She turned to face Kullervo directly and addressed him: “Kullervo, if that makes me a loser, then I lose the game. Better that, than to lose my humanity. There are prices I am not willing to pay to win. That nobody can pay, and remain fully human. This is one of them.”
[WARNING: You lose 5 reputation with all NPCs present, for mentioning out of game concepts within their hearing.]
She ignored the warning, and turned back to her audience. Her role here required arrogance, craftiness and indomitable will, so that’s who she had to be, for now.
Kafana: “So I’m going to do it my way.”
She put down the sword and replaced it with her violin.
Kafana: “I’m going to take the path less travelled. I’m going to look for another option. The odds of surviving are much worse, but win or lose I’ll enjoy the fight, rather than be ashamed of my actions. And, in the end, that’s what counts. I salute you all.”
Kafana: {Metathiaxioniel, transport me as soon as I finish double tapping my chest, please.}
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She double tapped her chest, ghost body and flesh body in perfect synchrony.
A moment later and she was gone, leaving behind the jagged bone weapon pointing accusingly at her audience.
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Wang Tianqing’s car, Guokeng, Quanzhou, Fujian, China
From: “The Real Ludwig Spreckels” <[email protected]>
To: “Wang Tianqing” <[email protected]>
I need the home address of one of your players. “Kafana”.
I’m a big fan of her music.
From: “Wang Tianqing, cost management” <[email protected]>
To: “Feng Akechi, CEO” <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Hands off Kafana
Dear Mr Feng,
I am concerned about liabilities arising from the exposure of XperiSense to being sued by that user, “Kafana”, who you mentioned as suffering from issues so severe that it might impact the positioning of our public persona vis a vis the optimum profile calculated to sit well with our target demographic.
It would be helpful in calculating the extent of our exposure if I knew which legal jurisdiction she is located within. I took initiative in sending a request to user accounts, asking for her account details, but they are lacking in admirable flexibility and are claiming that it falls within their interpretation of “intervening” with her, and therefore requires your personal approval.
Please resolve this matter in my favour.
Your hardworking subordinate,
Wang Tianqing
From: “Feng Akechi, CEO” <[email protected]>
To: “Wang Tianqing, cost management” <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Hands off Kafana
Thank you for your hard work, Mr Wang. I shall relieve you of some of it.
Don’t trouble yourself further about liability from the source mentioned. I have taken personal responsibility for dealing with all issues connected with this player.
Akechi.
From: “Wang Tianqing” <[email protected]>
To: “The Real Ludwig Spreckels” <[email protected]>
Sorry, the CEO is sitting upon all information related to her, like a dog in a manger. And though he now acts the CEO, he still hacks code with the best of them. If I try to access the data without his authorisation, I will undoubtedly be caught.
I’m afraid I can’t be of direct help. But I do have a suggestion for you.
Maybe you can ask one of your own data experts to try to match her biometrics to those of known people? There’s enough live recordings of her out on the net, so I hear.
From: “Feng Akechi, CEO” <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Hands off Kafana
Well done on not giving out user information on Kafana and her party, even internally, without my explicit authorisation.
However, now the issue has been raised, I probably ought to know, just to be on the safe side. Who is Kafana? Please drop my office in person, later today, as I have a number of ideas I wish to share with you. You can let me know about her then.
Akechi.
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Arcadian Sea, near Torello
Jincan felt his stomach heave. The water was getting choppier as the trading ship, The Abbondanza, left the protection of the coastline and raised studding sails, heading for Savada and ports beyond. First he’d had to break into a jewellery store to filch an anti-surveillance artifact, and had only escaped by releasing almost every canister of poison in his inventory. Then he’d laid low in the smelliest part of the sewers for a day, where dogs wouldn’t follow, waiting for his chance to sneak aboard a ship near to departure. Now he was hiding in the bilges, half drowned; just another rat living off rotting garbage.
He wasn’t going to return. Oh no. He might not look it, but Jincan was the smart one. Yes, revenge could wait. First find somewhere nice and safe, build up more levels and unlock the rest of the legacy skills he’d brought over from the Divine Mountain. But one day, when they least expected it, when they felt safe and on top of the world - Jincan would be there, ready to tip some precarious situation against them, ruin their plans, and laugh as they fell.
They wouldn’t laugh, not once they were helpless in his power. He thought of all the things he’d like to do, and dreamed satiated dreams.