Soul Bound

1        Soul Bound

1.3      Making a Splash

1.3.1    An Obligated Noble

1.3.1.16 Political sausages

Claudio Landi: “Suor Kafana, my thanks to you and your companions for alerting us to these issues, and dealing so patiently with our questions. Dare I hope that you also have thoughts upon potential solutions to share with us?”

Kafana nodded slowly, trying to project a dignified gravity.

Kafana: “In part, perhaps. On visiting the part of Basso known as Spettro, I was struck not just by the poverty and lack of commerce, but also by the number of abandoned properties that were falling into ruin through lack of maintenance. I think it would benefit not just the locals, but also Torello as a whole, to see that area redeveloped. To that end, I am investing in improving the roads and building new housing, with the hope that others will join me in this project and that new employment opportunities will be created.”

Marco: “It will take more than houses to attract businesses to that area.”

Kafana: “One of the buildings I plan to construct will be a hall where adventurers can meet, to exchange information about quests, sell items and learn new skills. I think they will be interested in safe accommodation for their vessels, and the money that they have to spend will attract those with goods and services of interest to adventurers. For example, Lord Pantalone, perhaps the Goldsmiths Guild would be interested in opening a branch office there?”

Pantalone: “With the number of adventurers you predict, that sounds both sensible and profitable. But how does it help with stability?”

Marco: “If we look back in history, the markets were also destabilised when Lord Domatore Landi first revealed his ability to gain information from Pentapolis more quickly than any competitor. But they soon regained their stability, once he announced a standard and predictable way in which new information would be released. The instability comes not from the speed of communication, but from uncertainty over uneven access to it.”

Wellington: “Exactly. If adventurers became formally organised, if we could create not just a building for them to meet in, but a guild with rules and membership that is recognised as such by the other guilds in Torello, then under its auspices the financially relevant information adventurers receive from far off lands could be pooled and released in a predictable fashion.”

Bungo: “Hey, I remember seeing lots of traders reading that daily broadsheet, The Gazzetta. What if they hired an adventurer to write a double-page insert, and the Adventurers Guild banned members from sharing or acting upon information that had not yet appeared in the financial pages?”

Wellington: “It would require legal backing for the Guild to enforce such a rule, or adventuring groups like The Crew would ignore it. But yes, if the printers could guarantee delivery to all the exchanges half an hour before the 3rd bell of the Forenoon watch when trading commences each day, that should suffice.”

Pantalone: “A new guild, hmm? You’d be willing to work within the system, to support it?”

Kafana: “Absolutely.”

Kafana: {Wellington, have you received a response from XperiSense, to the suggestion you submitted for an API allowing facilities like an Adventurers Guild to automate the transfer of certain categories of information between the game and places like The Burrow?}

The Burrow was the name Bulgaria had given to the virtual reality based forum that Wellington had created for the Wombles to discuss things outside the game. He’d designed it to be decentralised and hard for governments to snoop upon. Then Alderney had promoted it in her broadcasts of their experiences playing the game, causing the number of people using the site to rocket; it had reached the point where Kafana could no longer read every single reply posted there, even were she to spend her entire time doing nothing else. Not that she’d want to - some of Tomsk’s fans had posted disturbingly detailed stories, and she hadn’t even dared read the titles of the posts about herself.

Wellington: {Yes. XperiSense had a few suggested alterations, and are on board with our running a beta test in Torello, so they can check how it works in practice before deciding whether to fully adopt it. They’ve put a provisional implementation in place, and whitelisted The Burrow to access it. I’ll be ready when you are.}

Pantalone: “What about the speed of levelling and change brought on by new ideas? Would your Adventurers Guild take on responsibility for controlling that, like the way the Mages Guild guards us against large scale problems caused by their members?”

Bulgaria intercepted before Kafana could respond, in a rich compelling voice.

Bulgaria: “It does seem strange, does it not? Why has Cov sent adventurers to Covob now rather than next year? Why has he blessed adventurers with the capability to become powerful in months rather than in years? Have you wondered what he sees happening in the near future, that you do not yet see?”

Claudio looked perturbed.

Claudio Landi: “According to the diaries of my ancestors, every one hundred years the seals holding Seth in perpetual slumber start to weaken, and an archmage must travel to the great tower at the heart of Chindiei, in central Transylvania, to renew the spell. Seth, the immortal; Seth, the child of Rac and Bel; Seth, the Emperor of Transylvania and prophesied Nemesis of our world.”

Bungo: “What happens if renewing the spell is delayed?”

Claudio Landi: “Calamity. Seth had four queens who served him, his wife and three daughters, and during the chaos of the Aeon Exitium he granted them immortality by turning them into liches anchored with his limitless power. They became monsters, creators of atrocities, and as Seth struggles towards consciousness they too become active; one at a time, always in the same order, from weakest to strongest. Five times this has happened, that I know of. Five times, a terrible price was paid because of the delay. Five times, the world itself was fractured, as wide swathes of civilised lands full of farms and cities were wiped out and replaced.”

Pantalone: “You’re talking about the incursions. When The Ruination appeared, it severed the Iberian Palatinate from the rest of the mainland. When the Pirate Isles rose from the sea, half of Sassari drowned. You seriously think something like that might happen again? Soon?”

Claudio Landi: “The seals were last renewed in the year A2F1500 by the Archmage Elymas, one hundred years ago. We have no Archmage. And the Red Death our city has been facing - does that not indicate to you that the weakest of the Lich Queens is already stretching out her hands? Queen Mualeleth, known as the Mother of Diseases?”

Pantalone looked at Claudio, looked at Kafana, sitting wreathed in the glow of a blessing from the Deities, and then looked back at Claudio.

Pantalone whispered: “Cov save us all.”

9:00 am, Saturday June 10th, 2045

2 bells of the dog watch

Zerday full, 14th day of the month of KrevinBelember, A2F1600

That wasn’t the end but, finally, after two and a half gruelling hours, they were able to stagger out of the room clutching a memorandum of understanding that sketched out a joint strategy for dealing with the issues and what each party intended to do in support of that strategy. It wasn’t a legally binding document, but it had been signed by everyone present and endorsed the Basso Renewal project and the creation of an Adventurers Guild.

After Pantalone took his leave of them, already snapping orders to his private secretary about messages that must be sent, Claudio dropped his neutral facade and rubbed his hands together, looking positively gleeful.

Claudio Landi: “Well done, oh well done. We played him like a fish.”

Bungo groaned.

Bungo: “Did you have to play with him? Couldn’t you just have held him at sword point, or something? It went on for hours! I thought I’d have to gnaw my own leg off, in order to have an excuse to escape.”

Claudio Landi looked serious. “When it comes to meetings with Pantalone, that was a short one. Oh, I could have ordered him to cooperate, and he’d have put in a token effort, but he’d need to be watched every minute. No, I couldn’t appear too eager. This way he feels it is something he has decided upon, and he’ll use his not inconsiderable influence to demolish anyone who disagrees with him.”

Bulgaria: “Then the meal?”

Claudio Landi: “Was timed to perfection. I had a servant discretely signal me when Pantalone’s pacing was sufficiently furious. If we’d turned up on time, he might have been composed enough to realise I was taking it seriously rather than just indulging a guest.”

Kafana gave him a disapproving look. Claudio might be more suave about it, but he was clearly just as mischievous as Herberto or Virgil. He grinned back, unrepentantly.

A few minutes later, both Tomsk and Sienna Landi arrived, having been informed that the meeting was over.

Bungo: {Tomsk, you lucky rotter. You’ve been having it easy, while we went through hell.}

Tomsk: {I don’t know about that. Tori was showing me some formations, and I’m black and blue from dueling her. She’s amazing. Maybe I could beat her using Scaramouche’s weightless sword, but I simply couldn’t move Nothung fast enough.}

Alderney: {Now we’re level 40, it has another enchantment slot. Are you sure you want ‘weightless’? It would be like a foil that couldn’t parry. Wouldn’t it leave your damage too dependent upon Nothung’s ‘glacial’ enchantment?}

Tomsk: {It would. But I need something, and not just for dex-based human builds. I’ve been talking to hunters, and there are plenty of small agile swarms that can slow or stun you with just a touch.}

After a bit more discussion, the party split. Tomsk joined Alderney and Wellington to go visit the Vault with Herberto, hoping to try out some of the magic weapons stored there.

Sienna invited the rest of them up to the solarium for a ‘restorative tea’ while they waited for Wellington to be available for the lesson in reality magic from Camillo. There were still a few things Kafana hoped to talk with Claudio about but he declined his wife’s invitation by pleading a need to set a few things in motion and left after promising that he’d set aside an hour for Kafana before they departed the Palazzo.

What she really wanted was a bit of peace and quiet to think about what she’d heard so far, and make some plans, but short of feigning illness she couldn’t see any graceful choice except accepting Sienna’s hospitality.

She just hoped it wouldn’t turn into an ambush, like her previous meeting with Sienna, and that she could leave most of the talking to Bungo and Bulgaria.,

Kafana: {Bulgaria, I’m feeling a bit mentally drained. Can I ask you and Bungo to carry the conversation, and not leave me alone with her?}

Bulgaria: {Of course. You’re our social superior in this situation, so it will be acceptable for you to seem withdrawn and delegate discussing details to us. Recognise the power you have.}

She was relieved to discover that Bulgaria was correct, as usual. Lady Pia was also present, and the official from The Azioni gave her a summary of the meeting that was both witty, and mercifully brief. Then the conversation turned to timetables for announcing the Basso Redevelopment Project, strategies for making the funding for the second phase open to additional investors in ways that would bring Lord Pazzi on board, and specific members on the city’s council whose support would need to be wooed in order to win a vote upon a motion of ennoblement for Kafana.

Bungo handled the redevelopment questions while Bulgaria handled the political ones. Kafana was free to relax in a comfortable sun-lit chair, sipping her tea, and letting her mind wander. Bulgaria had always been politically astute, and this wasn’t the first time he’d spoken about power. She cast her memory back...