1          Soul Bound

1.2        Taking Control

1.2.4      An Artful Carnivale

1.2.4.32   Going deep

Tomsk: {I think, more than anything, she’s why I got involved with Bulgaria. He gave me hope that we can all do things to change the system, non-violent things, smart things that don’t get you killed or arrested.}

Kafana: {That reminds me. There’s something I wanted to ask you. I had a chat with Bulgaria the other day, and he wants me to take on more of a leadership role, in the arlife struggle as well as here in velife. I said I’d think about it, but I’d need to talk to you guys, see how you felt, and which arlife change you’d like to see be made a priority.}

Tomsk: {On the downside, leading a global movement, or a large organisation of any sort, isn’t something you’re experienced at. You’re female, which will mislead some into thinking you are weak and flighty. You’ve not made vast amounts of money or published books, which is going to leave others questioning the worth of your opinions. You’ve no visibility in existing protest movements, risking your life year after year, which will make rebels say you’ve not paid your dues, you’ve not proven yourself. Why should they follow your lead?}

Kafana: {All true. Does that wall look different to you?}

They were in one of the older vaults, judging by the wear upon the floor and the condition of the skulls. Not only were there skulls filling the walls, the ceiling was made up of layers upon layers of crossed bones; it reminded her of a chapel she’d seen in Czermna, Poland. Tomsk tried tapping against the wall at different points while he talked.

Tomsk: {On the upside, no matter what others think, you don’t have to be a genius to be a great leader, as long as you’re willing to listen to those who are. Sense, determination and being a good judge of character are more important. In modern times, a leader needs to be able to communicate a message, through words or actions, not just to a core of activists, but also to the population they’re trying to win over. They need to be someone that population will listen to and trust the sincerity of. Not just initially, but also after your opponents have dragged your every past deed into the light of public scrutiny and done their best to trash your reputation.}

Kafana joined in, turning on her Truesight and minutely examining the skulls and bones for traces left by generations of assassins. She tried touching a few items then looking at her own marks, attempting to train the sight to recognise the concept of a “fingerprint”.

Tomsk started ticking off items on his fingers: {Let’s look at the possibilities. Wellington would be a good choice if he could remain anonymous and have all public-facing messages written and delivered for him by a spokesperson. But there’d be a trust issue with the population - they’d always wonder about the motives of who was ‘really’ behind the movement. He’d be the first to point out that it would work better with the spokesperson being the actual leader and him being an advisor.}

Tomsk: {Alderney is bright, capable and dedicated. She’s proven her abilities with real world successes, she’s got experience at project management, and people enjoy watching her - she’s not afraid of talking to crowds. But her ideas tend to be a bit ‘off the wall’. And as a wealthy member of the Northern European Union, many will see her as one of the elite, not as “one of us”. She’d find winning trust nearly as hard as Wellington would.}

Tomsk: {Bulgaria can obviously manage the role, but it sounds like he doesn’t want to. Did he say why?}

Kafana: {He’s always been prone to depression and I think it got worse since UCL. He says that the emotions he has available to project aren’t going to inspire others towards hope.}

Tomsk nodded. {Makes sense. Back when all you needed to do was act and speak words, he was brilliant. But now we have tiaras. This is a whole different battlefield, though few realise that yet.}

Kafana nodded.

Tomsk: {And to cover the last two; I and Bungo both have dodgy pasts, that wouldn’t hold up well under public scrutiny. We’re too easy to paint in a bad light. To summarise: our arlife leader needs to be a true believer who projects sincerity, who people around the globe will listen to, and who has no skeletons in her closet.}

Kafana: {Well, when you put it that way…}

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She smiled in satisfaction as she managed to get her own traces highlighted by shadows of dark Rac-aligned mana and, a moment later, she spotted a femur in the ceiling with the marks of a gripping hand upon it. She reached up and gave it a tug, resulting in a previously invisible door swinging silently open. Tomsk’s jaw dropped.

She peered around him to look through the doorway.

System: [You have been hit with a debuff: "Stunned".]

The mana blazing in her Truesight was nearly blinding, like she’d stood next to one of the big accumulators down at the Triple. She ought to take more care visualising safety parameters when invoking that skill, perhaps make it logarithmic. She turned down the intensity, and stood there soaking in view until the debuff duration finished.

In every direction, as far as she could see in the gloom, were vast pillars holding platforms piled high with bones. And not just upwards; the vaults were suspended in the centre of a space that extended downwards too. There weren’t thousands; there were millions - skeletons uncounted and uncountable. And tying them together were braids of shadow and order mana, with touches of air and water too.

Tomsk: {What the hell is this? It can’t be the result of a single battle or plague. There’s just too many. This whole mound is bone, covered in a shell of rock only a few meters thick.}

Kafana: {It’s more than an ossuary. Those bones are tightly bound with a great magic I can’t begin to understand. It must predate the Ruffiana’s necropolis, maybe even date back to the Hellenic Empire.}

Torello: {So the whole population of Torello, for more than a thousand years, was being interred down here? What does the magic do?}

Kafana: {Air and Order is mind, and those strands seem to be tied through the walls of the vaults into the skulls themselves. Hang on, let me try something.}

She looked around the chapel for any skull that seemed to be central and well cared for, then placed the palm of her hand lightly upon her chosen candidate and invoked her Necromancy skill.

Nothing.

Come to think of it, she’d only ever been able to do things with it when grouped with someone else. Her own shadow attunement was only 5.

She drew Tomsk into a gestalt and tried again, adding in a prayer to Rac and buffs to her luck and learning.

Still nothing.

Finally, in desperation, she tried reaching her mana out to the spectre above, crying aloud in as formal language as she could manage, interweaving her emotion into the call.

Kafana: “Ulpian, Rac’s Guardian, I, Kafana Sincero, send this summons unto you: join us, an’ it pleaseth thee so to do.”

The Spectre swooped through the ceiling mere seconds later, as swift as the diving hawk she’d seen earlier. He restricted the chill of his presence to merely that of a bracing winter morning.

Ulpian: “Kafana Sincero, Guardian chosen of all deities, it does indeed please me to answer thy summons, for this is now my role: to aid, guide and instruct those worthy of it. How may I help you?”

Tomsk: “We’re a little lost. Which way do we go, to cross under the canal?”

Kafana: “Also, I noticed the mind magic upon the skulls. Did it serve a special function?”

Ulpian: “This is the Charnel. In times gone by, any scholar with the right gift could touch a skull and, by uttering an invocation, view some memories of the person’s life, preserved in their bones by magic after their spirit had departed. This was the original Library of Rac. The building above was only constructed after the invocation was lost and bodies stopped being added as they could no longer be proofed against necromancers.”

[Quest available: “Reopen the library” - make the memories stored in the Charnel of Torello available to Rac’s Guardian. Difficulty rank S. Penalty for failure: death.]

Kafana: {Sys, let’s not accept that one. Remind me in a few months, or when I reach grandmaster level.}

Ulpian: “As to the way onwards, if you return to the Well of Departure, there’s a passage off it, part way up. The assassins never come down here - to try entering the vaults with ill intent is to die.”

She was extremely glad they hadn’t broken anything in their search.

Tomsk: {Oops.}

Kafana: {I don’t think Alderney has anything to fear from us when it comes to scouting.}

Kafana: “Thank you, Lord Ulpian. You will, I think, be extremely good at your new role. I hope it brings you satisfaction.”

Ulpian: “I do believe it might. Fare you well.”

[Skill “Necromancy” has reached level 6.]

[Skill “A way with words” has reached level 4.]