Soul Bound

1        Soul Bound

1.1      Finding her Feet

1.1.2    An Immersive Experience

1.1.2.6  How to get fitted up

That was a hint at Wellington’s plan? Way too cryptic for her. She’d just have to wait until he had time to explain. She entered the bustling kitchen.

Several animals were being slow roasted on a long iron spit spanning the wide open fireplace. Against its edge, sauce pots and big cauldrons were suspended from tripods, tended by a fat, sweating man with a narrow moustache. Gossiping maids were standing in a scullery, overseeing adventurers scrubbing pots, helpfully pointing out any missed patches of grease. A determined young woman with her hair in a tight bun was tending a pair of large ovens next to which some fresh loaves of bread were cooling. An elderly crone was guarding an overflowing pantry whose ceiling was festooned with dried herbs, chains of onions and other items. She had a long handled spoon and looked ready to rap the knuckles of any who dared enter her domain.

In the centre of the kitchen, though, an area of calm surrounded Lelia, the chief cook, who with a competent maternal attitude moved from bench to bench, tasting, nodding with approval and advising with a quiet word, controlling an army of assistants preparing dishes like a general reviewing her troops. By the door, Kafana noticed Matteo, the long bearded assistant she’d earlier given the chicken to, and asked if he could arrange to have some rabbits skinned and gutted for her, as she had to go talk to Lelia on behalf of the steward. He agreed, and she offloaded her sack to him, impressing him greatly with the magic that let her produce it from nowhere.

Confidence. That was the ticket. She thought back to occasions when she’d been giving directions to her staff at her kafana before hosting a large wedding party.

“Sorry to trouble you at such short notice, Lelia; I’m Madame Kafana. Brusco has decided that I will be singing at the feast, and he asks if you could allocate someone to help me pick out an elegant gown from those available at the Villa, so I don’t embarrass Lady Sienna by being too unfashionable.”

She smiled at the cook, as if to share a look saying how unreasonable men were, but what can one do?

Lelia nodded, as if such whims from the steward were an everyday affair. “Not a problem. Linda, come over here dear.” she beckoned one of the gossiping maids over from the scullery. “Linda, please take Madame Kafana up to Mariella, and ask Mariella to see to her needs.”

“Thank you Lelia, that will do wonderfully. I’ll be back later, to see if I can help you out in return.”

She pumped Linda for gossip as they walked then updated Wellington and added: {Wellington, I’ve been given a carte blanche to requisition clothing. Can you fill us in on the plan yet? I need to know what the rest of you will all need.}

{There are 40 invited guests, but there’s a lot of work to be done, and there are fewer staff than normal because of volunteers becoming corporeal vessels. The new players arriving are pretty disoriented. I think if we put one of us in good clothing just outside the door of the sanctum, the players won’t know the difference between us and NPCs, and we can direct them straight onto whatever tasks need doing for the feast, just the way we recruited zombies to play an unwitting part in the protest against PfizerRoche. And if Tomsk can boost our levels a bit before the feast, we should get pretty good experience out of it, even after the helpers receive their cut.}

{I’ve also got more information about the magic system. If you use the doctrine of signatures in your cooking, and invoke runes of water and order, I think you’ll be able to produce food that makes people feel good.}

Kafana responded: {Doctrine of what?}

{Basically, ingredients that have an association with happiness, such as looking like smiling faces, or having a name with “Joy” in it, or meat from a monster with a charm skill, will tend to produce that sort of effect.} responded Wellington. {Don’t forget to keep singing for people. You need to boost that skill as much as you can.}

[Document ‘TODO’ updated.]

Mariella turned out to be a lady’s maid working directly for Lady Sienna, very prim and initially sceptical. On the pretence of demonstrating what chest and arm movements the gown would have to accommodate, she performed Yaroslavna's Lament from Borodin’s Prince Igor. She added as much emotional intent behind it as she could, and ended up with Mariella weeping on the floor.

[Skill “Sorrow Debuff” acquired.]

After that, it was “Madame Kafana this” and “Madame Kafana that”, and they couldn’t do enough for her. After some debate, the gown they picked out for her was a deep green, in a soft rich fabric that hugged her figure far more closely than any design she would have been able to carry off, back in arlife. Measurements were taken, and they promised to have it ready no later than 1 hour before the feast. She used the time to learn from them what Lady Sienna’s personality was like, and her tastes in food and music.

For Wellington she picked out a respectable suit, appropriate for a conservative merchant; for Alderney she picked a tough set of boys clothing and some fine leather gloves on the grounds that they’d be more suitable for working at a forge than the only feminine alternatives available in her size, which were lacy, with wide skirts.

Tomsk was a more difficult question, as what he really needed was armour. She sent one of the maids off to find a leather doublet and breeches and have them all sent down to Alderney at the storeroom.

{Folks, can we meet at the storeroom in 10 minutes? I have some things for you all.} she said over chat. Then went down to the kitchen to reclaim the rabbits and their pelts. She sang a quick “thank you” song to the apprentice who’d done the skinning, concentrating on giving the listeners a speed buff, then told System that she wanted to go to Alderney and set off following the trail of stars.