1 Soul Bound
1.2 Taking Control
1.2.2 An Awakening Epiphany
1.2.2.9 Morelato strikes a bargain
Ah, that’s why she’d felt increasingly drained. The others were all up and armed. She couldn’t see Alderney. Two of the craftsmen were crying, the rest looked scared or angry.
[You have taken 100 bleeding damage. You have 1,300/10,000 hp remaining.]
She stood, awkwardly holding a double handful of gems and rings, and tried to replenish her mana from Nafaro’s ring. She couldn’t.
[You have taken 100 bleeding damage. You have 1,200/10,000 hp remaining.]
Kafana: {Tomsk, is it safe for me to put my gems away long enough to dress properly and heal myself?}
[You have taken 100 bleeding damage. You have 1,100/10,000 hp remaining.]
Alderney: {The assassin is retreating. Do it.}
[You have taken 100 bleeding damage. You have 1,000/10,000 hp remaining.]
She put her gems back in her stash, picked out her two rings and put them both on properly.
[You have taken 100 bleeding damage. You have 900/10,000 hp remaining.]
She carefully put some relevant gems back in her left hand and used her right hand to hold her pendant.
[You have taken 100 bleeding damage. You have 800/10,000 hp remaining.]
Draw everyone into a group performance, including the workmen if they accepted the soft harmonious touch from her magic.
Kafana: “Gentle crafters, please allow me to share Cov’s healing with you.”
They paid immediate attention to her. Yay for charisma.
[You have taken 100 bleeding damage. You have 700/10,000 hp remaining.]
Kafana started to sing, ordered notes for Cov, high floating airy ones for Lun, bright dancing ones for Zer, mixed together in a wordless harmonious whole. She poured her feelings of gratitude for still being alive into the prayer and visualised everyone being not only healed, but bleeding stopped, fingers unmaimed, even exhaustion gone and clothing set aright. She sent mana directly from the ring, and lost herself in the prayer, eyes closed, her life in the hands of the deities.
A thought appeared in her head. =You offered yourself up to help enact our justice. If thanks are needed, it is we who thank you. You have done well, Kafana.=
[Skill “Mind Magic” has reached level 15.]
[Skill “Perform While Multitasking” has reached level 12.]
[Skill “Cure Wounds” has reached level 11.]
[Skill “Restoration” has reached level 6.]
[Skill “Restoration” has reached level 7.]
[Skill “Enhanced Willpower” has reached level 6.]
[Skill “Stun debuff” acquired.]
[Skill “Stun debuff” has reached level 1.]
[Skill “Sonic Magic” has reached level 6.]
[Skill “Prayer” has reached level 12.]
[Skill “Prayer” upgraded to "Holy Prayer" - sometimes the deities will talk back to you.]
[Skill “Guardian” has reached level 14.]
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Wow, she felt positively glowing with praise. She opened her eyes. Ah, that explains it. She was glowing. Every inch of her skin. Bright enough to cast shadows on the walls of the building, despite the afternoon sun.
[You have received a Divine Blessing.]
[Your Aura Of Power is on, your titles are unhidden.]
What? She didn’t ask for her aura. This was the will of the deities?
The other party members were arrayed beside her, standing in harmony with her, sharing their senses. Everything looked sharper and clearer than normal, like she’d needed glasses for years, but had only just put on a pair with the right prescription for her. 12 crafters were down on one knee in front of them, looking up at her with awe. They were sparkling clean, and looked younger than they had before. She could see chisels, hammers, mallets, shears, pliers, trowels and many others, even a set square, all offered up like the swords of knights swearing service.
Kafana: {Sys, what’s going on? This feels like a cut scene.}
System: [Friend Kafana, on low and dangerously decreasing hit points you offered yourself up, with no thought for your own survival, to be used as a tool of the deities, while wearing a gem that gives you luck in proportion to the purity of your intentions. Relax, no harm will come to you.]
What could she do? She gave a mental shrug, and went with the flow. This was a new role for her. She hoped her Self would enjoy dreaming this.
The man who’d stabbed her and who was now holding out the bloody chisel to her, handle first, spoke up quite formally, in measured words.
“Blessed Kafana, Twice-Born Bard, Saviour of Basso, you, who would have been justified in slaying us all, have instead restored lost youth to us. I, High Master Carpenter Morelato, do hereby offer you 10 years of my service, as just compensation.”
Kafana: “1 month.” she said on instinct, trying to bargain him down.
Morelato shook his head: “8 years, and I supply my own tools.”
Kafana: “2 months, and I pay for all supplies.”
“6 years, and I bring my journeymen and apprentices with me.” Morelato insisted.
Kafana: “4 months, and I provide food and lodgings for you all.”
Morelato, getting into it: “4 years, and I’ll provide training too.”
Kafana: “8 months, and I’ll pay your dependants the wage appropriate to their skills, with bonuses for exceptional work and project completion, so they know they are valued.”
Morelato held up a hand: “3 years, and that’s final. Any less and my honour will be insulted.”
Hmm, how had Lord Landi put it?
Kafana: “Done, then. We shall clothe and cherish you. We will avenge injury done to you with blood and steel. We accept your service, High Master Carpenter Morelato. Arise and stand with us.”
She touched his chisel and then his forehead, and felt something flow from her hand into him, forming a link.
[You have acquired a follower. A new screen is available via your user interface.]
One by one, the remaining 11 swore themselves to her, and none would account their honour as being of less worth than Morelato’s. The terms of the agreements were identical.
Bungo: {Well, that was unusual. The only time I experienced that sort of scripted scene before was when I won the Pill Tower tournament.}
Alderney: {We can move now?}
A moment later Alderney was giving Tomsk a big hug. {Thanks bro! I thought I was dead for sure. I was bleeding out 800 hp a second.}
Kafana: {Wellington, can I hand the crafters over to you to put onto the Basso Renewal project? I need to go de-curse Vittoria and hopefully find Antonio for Nicolo.}
Wellington: {Sure. I think Seeing is going to be Bungo’s thing. As useful as it might be for a trader, I’ve got my hands full with Runic magic, and after accepting a journeymanship with Grand Master Mage Johannes, I’ve got a lot of things I want to try.}
Tomsk: {Your reactions, and willingness to pass on your athame saved us, Wellington. I don’t think that assassin will be back today. I’ll ask Kafana to hang onto her mind healing gem just in case, though.}
Kafana looked down at the pile of gems in her hand. {We really need to come up with a better solution. I can’t soul bond them all, I can’t hold them all, I can’t keep them in my stash because we get ambushed, and I can’t keep them out because we get robbed.}
Alderney: {If they were a gestalt like Verdre, you could bond them as a single item.}
Bungo: {Yeah, put them into something like the crown Harlequin loaned you.}
Bulgaria: {Because if people see them as being a single object, then they are a single object. Like the set of forger’s tools someone brought over from Divine Mountain.}
Wellington: {I know how to do it in theory now. You just need to create a higher dimensional rune diagram which when projected into a lower dimension in one way is the starting state, and when projected a different way is your desired end state. Then ‘rotate’ it. But it is going to take quite a few tests before I’ll feel confident about applying the theory to something important.}
Alderney: {And I can ask Rodolfo, Harlequin and Gustav about the physical side. This is going to be awesomely awesome.}
Kafana: {Don’t I get a say in this?}
Tomsk, Bungo, Alderney, Wellington, Bulgaria: {No!}
That was weird. Ah, yes, the party was still in harmony. She was about to break the link, when she realised they were nearly at the Vecci encampment, and she could hear a drumming dance beat. Hmm, dancing? She had an idea for a much better revenge for their railroading her yet again.