1 Soul Bound
1.2 Taking Control
1.2.3 An Enchanting Original
1.2.3.18 Truesight
Kafana: “I bet if we’d talked to them, we’d have been given a quest to resolve the disagreement.”
Bungo: “Probably, but we’ve already got loads of quests. How about we mark it on the map and mention it in The Burrow?”
Kafana: “Oooh, and then we could add a request to let us know the true story if anyone discovers it.”
Kafana: {Balthazar, new item for my coding project wishlist. It would be nice if people could register an interest in finding out how a quest is doing, even if they don’t want to do it themselves. Perhaps tie it in with putting together groups with the right skill mix and size to tackle particular quests, let people earn some burrow points for being helpful to others by contributing information or other stuff that helps solve the quest. Ask Robin if anyone else is doing something similar and if Wellington has views on how it should fit in with people doing projects together in arlife. And, um, talk with Dinah and any of the rest of our expert system family who might have ideas to contribute?}
Balthazar didn’t quite sigh, but there was a hint of it in his voice: [Clear as always, Nadine. I’ll do my best, and get your okay on the design before moving onto implementing anything. Project name “thingamejig”.]
Kafana: {Hey!}
He didn’t respond, but she heard a chuckle from him, and a minute later the only sounds were distant birds, the breeze rustling the bushes as it blew up little clouds of dry dust from the parched soil, and the water in the stream tumbling over rounded rocks heated by the afternoon sun.
Bungo: “You mentioned you had an idea on how to develop new sight skills, that involved singing?”
Kafana: “Oh, yes. Thank you. Those two master idiots blew it straight out of my mind. I was thinking that the key last time turned out to be using a pattern of runes appropriate to the type of sight being gained. Rather than experiment around, I wondered whether I could just pray to the deities for guidance on which runes to use? There are loads of songs about that sort of thing, from blues to dance by way of ballads. Want to give it a go? What do you feel in the mood for?”
She got out her violin, and warmed up her fingers with a few runs.
Bungo: “You know me. No taste, and a voice like a rusty bucket.”
Kafana: “Bungo, you don’t need to put yourself down so much when you’re around me. You’ve changed over the last 15 years, and I’ve noticed. I’m not going to accuse you of being brash and arrogant.”
Bungo raised his head a bit. “Thank you. I got in a habit, back then, of putting on a front to cover things up, and when some people accepted the front I projected, rather than seeing someone friendless and scared, I did it more. It sort of took over, and it wasn’t until I started working for Aura Psyence that I realised how many people saw through the front and didn’t want to be around me. So I over-reacted, went in the opposite direction, and that became a habit too. It’s been an ongoing struggle to find my balance. I’m a bit of a mess, I’m afraid.”
Kafana: “Nobody gets through life without scars. What we do, we do despite them. Now, tell me what you really think about which sort of song I should sing. Everybody has preferences, that’s just natural. Look at Alderney - she likes shatter rock, and she’s never expressed shame that she prefers it to Mozart, nor should she.”
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Bungo winced at the mention of Alderney’s name, but gave the question some thought before responding:
“Why not play all of them? If one doesn’t work, just move onto the next? It might take one song per type of sight, because we’ll need to visualise the effects differently. Didn’t you say different deities had different tastes in music? Storms are water and chaos, so you might need to appeal to both Mor and Bel. ”
Kafana: “See? Good thinking. Tell you what, I’ll start with some buffs to help us both with singing, dancing and learning new stuff, and you can join in or not as you choose.”
After buffing them both as they walked, she put on her blue ceremonial stole. She started with an emotion laden blues version of Webb and Carrabba’s “Open My Eyes”, accompanying herself on the violin. After a few verses, not rushing things, she started visualising the deities reaching down and patterns of linked runes falling gently into place in her mind.
Halfway through song she hadn't received any system announcements or felt her sight change. But she had noticed Bungo’s feet moving to the beat as they climbed and that was a start. She visualised the two of them acting in harmony, with each of them being in resonance with the aspects of nature they wanted to sense directly: streams of moisture laden air at different temperatures for herself and streams of subterranean mana of different colours for Bungo.
There, she felt something, a connection - someone or someones, standing ready to answer her call. They needed something more from her. What?
She stopped calculating, just threw herself into their hands, following her instincts and trusting them. She poured in mana as she sang Dreaming With My Eyes Open, like she were Sydney Noelle Haik.
As words poured out of her, entwined with a emotions flowing just as freely, she could sense herself drawing on Bungo’s mana too. She pushed harder; opened herself wider - her throat, her heart, her mental barriers and reservations, but it wasn't quite enough. She launched herself across the remaining gap like a blindfolded trapeze artist, trusting a hand would be there to catch her safely.
Contact!
Her world exploded, and she fell over, nearly smashing her violin against a rock.
[You have been hit with a debuff: "Stunned".]
[You have been hit with a debuff: "Disoriented".]
[Skill “Mage sight” has reached level 10.]
[Your Holy Prayer has been answered.]
[Skill upgrade successful. All sight skills now merged into a single skill “Truesight” level 14. You are starting to see the true nature of reality. You will find it easier to acquire new aspects of sight. Your resistance to deceptions, illusions and mind affecting magic has been increased.]
She kept her eyes tight shut until she felt the debuffs wear off, then cautiously opened one eye. She could see Bungo, his social status, level, titles, the mana moving around his slightly translucent body, the damaged area where he’d bruised himself falling, his ties to her and, more distantly, the other party members, the temperature of the breath leaving his body and its chemical composition, the scent of his skin, the tracks his feet had left in the ground, his dual nature as an adventurer and the buffs upon him, even the items he was wearing and the materials they were made of. She had the distinct feeling that if he lied to her, she’d know it, whether or not she was wearing her diadem. He appeared worried.
Kafana: “All cats have three legs.”
Bungo: “Kafana, are you ok? Did you hit your head? You just sort of fell over and lay there.”
Kafana: “My mage sight went up one level, which took it to level 10 and the deities took a hand in what to evolve it into. They merged in several of my other skills, and the combined effect is a bit overwhelming. Should be useful, though, once I get the hang of it. I’ll need to practice.”
Bungo: “My mage sight had three specialisations, in physics, chemistry and biology, but the highest is chemistry at level 7. I’ve now acquired a new specialisation, mana structures, which seems to cover stores of mana, flows of mana and patterns as such runes and buffs. It’s funky. Thank you.”
They carried on walking up the same path, avoiding the occasional donkey dropping as it merged with a slightly wider track winding up from below. Kafana scarcely recognised it. It had come alive - as shockingly vivid as that moment in The Wizard of Oz where the director moves from using black-and-white film to full on technicolour. Even the droppings revealed rich strata of chemical analyses if she focused upon them. She'd entered a land of wonders.