Soul Bound

1        Soul Bound

1.1      Finding her Feet

1.1.2    An Immersive Experience

1.1.2.3  Opening scene

As she broke through the clouds, she could mostly see thick forest below her. A distance away there was a city, next to a shining sea with tiny sailing ships upon it. Her descent slowed, and a background sound of voices started to become audible, as she drifted down towards one isolated country villa whose square towers and courtyards huddled inside a ring of fields and gardens. Looking at her body, she seemed transparent and insubstantial, like a ghost. She flinched as her spirit was drawn through the tiled roof of one tower, but felt nothing. She could hear the voices clearly now:

“Hear us, questing spirit, hear us. Few dare to set out for a new world, because such voyages tend to be long and filled with danger. But you, one of those able to hear our voices, are arriving as an honoured guest; a safe place has been prepared for you, and you have been guided here by the will of this worlds prime deity, Cov, in whose sanctum we stand and call to you. Hear and draw near."

The voices stopped repeating the chant as she floated towards the floor of a dome-like room, and a single voice took over.

"Visitor, you arrive here as vulnerable as a new born babe, without a cup of water or a body whose arm you could use to lift it; without good reputation or skills demonstrated; without the knowledge needed to stay alive and dependant upon the charity of others. But fear not! So greatly did He aid your voyage, it has left a visible sign upon your spirit marking you as His guest. It is our belief that you gave Cov a solemn vow to take on the responsibilities of a questing sprit and that Cov has deemed you worthy of being trusted to keep your word to Him. All those you see here are true followers of Cov, the embodiment of order and hospitality; to us, protecting the safety of a guest is sacred duty. Visitor, spirit, guest - appear now and be welcome!"

Kafana hadn't spent years performing on a stage without learning to recognise her cue. She came to rest, standing in the centre of a runic circle deeply inscribed on the stone floor of the room, and willed her form to appear as solid as possible. To one side a man wearing monk-like robes bearing a large stylised ear of wheat she recognised as the rune of order associated with the Cov. In front of her, just outside the circle, a group of women knelt down facing her, and chanted a final response in unison.

“Be welcome.”

The man bowed gravely towards Kafana and introduced the candidates one by one, before addressing her directly:

"All normal living people, like these Covadan women before you, have both a body and a spirit. The body interacts physically with the world. If it takes too much damage then the person die, leaving their body as a corpse. This spirit is non-physical and contains a copy of the person's mind and memories. A person's spirit may be damaged by a death, but usually enough survives to permit priest of Cov to resurrect the person. These candidates have each volunteered to make an extraordinary gift to you - the one you pick will merge with your spirit to become a new type of person - an adventurer with one body and two spirits. The candidate's body will become your corporeal vessel, which you will control whenever your spirit is active and, during those times the candidate's spirit will be aware of your thoughts and actions only as if in a dream - as defenceless and vulnerable to your choices as your now are yourself."

The priest eyed her thoughtfully for a moment, letting it sink into her mind just how much trust and courage the candidates were showing. She looked at them and nodded slowly, before returning her attention back to him as he continued.

“When the questing spirit is not active, the corporeal spirit resumes control. They may choose to take actions that support what the questing spirit had been doing. Or they may choose not to. To be effective as an adventurer, both spirits will have to learn to respect and trust each other. Now, it is time to pick a candidate. Move forward and when you touch a hand, I will complete the ritual and the bonding will happen. Choose wisely!”

How? Should she pick someone ambitious who could help her? Someone piteous who looked most in need of a new start in life? She shook her head and, on impulse, tried singing a few lines from a Betty Newsome song. Most of the candidates looked puzzled, or even afraid. But one of them smiled in delight at hearing something new and, when Kafana reached out a phantom hand towards her, she spoke with enthusiasm:

“Me, be your corporeal vessel? Yes. Yes, let’s see the world together!”

Their hands touched and, like a candle flame flickering in a sudden breeze, Kafana disappeared.

Disorientation hit her, as suddenly a full set of bodily senses engulfed her. She could smell jasmine on the warm breeze from outside, feel the cool stone beneath her feet, the rough texture of the plain white shift on her body, and even hear her own breathing. She found herself on all fours, gasping, for several seconds, then managed to raise her head and open her eyes.

“My name is Fra Mattheus” said the man, helping steady her as she got to her feet. “If you tell Brusco the Steward I sent you, he’ll find someone to answer any questions you have, and help you get settled in. I’m so sorry that I’m terribly busy right now - there’s lots more spirits waiting, apparently. But do drop by before you leave the villa; I’ll have a gift for you. If you really can’t reach an understanding with your corporeal spirit, I may be able to help you switch to a different vessel, but I’m sure that won’t happen. I have a good feeling about you. Cov’s blessings be upon you.”

And, with that, he ushered her outside and led another group of candidates in, closing the door firmly behind her.

Kafana stood to the side and paused to take stock. She should probably use the shortcut tattoos on the palm of her left hand to go through all the system menu options that Tomsk had told her about, until the objects around her were surrounded by a rainbow of status bars showing everything from stamina points to debuff timers. Instead she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, revelling in the sensation of warm sun upon her skin, and the lack of aches or pains in her body.

So this was Covob? It really felt more like being in a new country, than being inside a game. No, not a country; she had a whole world to explore. Not to mention a steward to find. Brusco, wasn’t it? She could hear people nearby and opened her eyes, then looked about until she spotted an archway that seemed to be the source of all the noise.

It turned out that through the archway was a scene of inspired chaos. Alderney was running full pelt after a chicken, which dodged her with ease. Tomsk was trying to lift an empty barrel to trap the chicken under, and failing. Wellington was standing there, his head cocked to one side, as though trying to determine the algorithm the errant bird used to pick whether to dodge left or right.

Kafana picked up a handful of grain from a nearby sack, waited until Alderney was well away from the bird, and then scattered the grain making encouraging sounds. The chicken calmed down, with a last disparaging cluck at the fallen Alderney, and started feeding. Kafana reached down, picked it up and turned with a raised eyebrow:

“Where did you want it?”

Wellington nodded. “Through that door and give it to Matteo, if you would be so kind.”

She deposited the chicken with the grateful cook’s assistant and heard a *ding* sound and a quick sensation of pleasant warmth flow through her. Making a mental note to return and pick up some cooking skills and equipment if she could, she went back outside. Tomsk had succeeded in brushing Alderney down, and Alderney was thumbing her nose at the rest of the chickens, who ignored her. She took the opportunity to study their avatars.

Alderney had gone for an androgynous look. Gothic pale skin and ice platinum hair cut in a short pixie style. Wide sapphire eyes, strong eyebrows, minimal hips and breasts, height so short she could be mistaken for a teenager.

Tomsk was also much altered. He still had a very athletic build, but he was just of normal height. He’d picked a Burgundish background, with flowing dark brown locks, cute dimples and a noble nose. He looked rather like the actor who played D'Artagnan in Tomsk’s favourite version of the film.

Wellington appeared much older than he had in orglife. His hair was greying, and his features gave the impression of being a respectable merchant. He had a small, well trimmed beard. His skin tone was the same as the native Etruscii NPCs of the region.

Wellington noticed her and she went over to speak to him:

“Was that ok? Did you get the experience? Should I have been in a party with you first, or accepted a quest or something?”

Wellington replied, “No, that was fine, or I would have warned you. The system is pretty smart at figuring out when people are cooperating towards a goal, and it makes good decisions on how to split the experience. The only thing to watch out for is that if you accept help from someone of a higher level, the experience you get is greatly reduced. It is to prevent people from being speed boosted past half the game by high level characters. That’s why we should try to stick together and all help out on each other’s quests, rather than split up. We want to stay in step, for maximum efficiency. But yes, let’s set up a formal party now. It will help the system, and will deal with tedious things like loot allocation for us.”

[You have received a party invite from Wellington. Would you like to accept?]

“Yes.”

Wellington’s voice appeared softly in her ear: {You don’t have to say that aloud. If you tap your cog tatt it brings up an interface. But if you just hold it, then anything you say is heard only by the system. After a while, the system will learn to recognise when you are addressing it directly, and you won’t even need to make the hand gesture. Hold down both the cog and the letter at the same time, and anything you say goes out on whatever chat channel you are currently set to, which at the moment is now our party chat. I’m talking to you on it now. We should use it for anything out-of-character, so we don’t lose reputation by being overheard by nearby NPCs. But still stick to Womble names. Just because it isn’t heard by NPCs, that doesn’t make it secure from the company running the game.}

She tried it: {Testing, testing, can you hear me Tomsk and Alderney?}

Out aloud she said: “Tomsk, my darling, do you know where I can find respected Elder Brusco?”

Tomsk replied privately: {“my darling” is it? Brace yourself!}

She felt herself being lifted up and swung around into a great hug. It felt real, and she didn’t realise how much she’d missed physical contact with her friends until that moment. She hugged back.

{Group hug!} squeaked Alderney, and joined in, wrapping her arms around both of them.

Wellington was polite enough to give them all 30 seconds, before chipping in: “Follow me!”

Arms still around each other’s shoulders, Alderney between them hugging their waists, they followed, chuckling.