The Ascendant Stars - Michael Cobley [123]
The ‘Black Throne’ sagaverse was a hugely popular story braid comprising scores of major plotlines and hundreds of minor ones in addition to the thousands of side quests, as well as those conspiracies and intrigues set in motion by the players themselves. The setting was a vast pseudo-medieval domain populated by a staggering array of fantastical creatures and species and fleshed out with detailed histories, customs, rivalries and superstitions.
Most of which Julia disregarded as they hurried through the character-induction process which they’d both set to Random-Fast … and ended up with exters whose story roles were diametrically opposed. After a few unsettling incidents they left Kadyni, the hill-town they started at, and headed for the mountains. Where they ran into a band of masked horsemen who said not a thing, just attacked them on sight. After Julia had flown them both away, an exhausting task, Harry was sure that they were only a preset bunch of encounter mooks but she felt there was something more to them.
‘Do you know anything about this Nicodemus?’ she said.
‘A little – he’s supposed to be the greatest living netmole, aka the Trapdoorman, aka the Karpetkrawler, aka Obscuriel.’ Harry laughed. ‘Moles do like their akas. Well, if anyone can help us get the Farag report to our Sino pals it’ll be him.’
‘Assuming that he comes for us,’ Julia said, glancing at the dimming sky. ‘And now it’s getting dark … what’s wrong?’
Harry was standing and peering back the way they had come. ‘It seems that our horse-riding friends have caught up with us … ’ He paused as the leathery sound of flapping wings came down from above.
Looking up, Julia saw three winged, lizardlike creatures circling overhead, icy blue eyes staring down. Their wingspans were nothing like her own but together they could be effective against even a Great Drake. But only if she actually decided to stick around and get involved.
‘Harry, this is a waste of time,’ she said as she laboriously got onto her clawed feet. ‘We should leave and try one of the other sagaverses. Perhaps this Nicodemus will find it easier to find us elsewhere.’
He grinned. ‘I detect a certain determination.’
‘I just feel that I’ve seen enough.’ She paused, recalling the exact trigger phrase given to her at the induction stage, then said, ‘Angel Boxer Campus.’
At once a big red button appeared and she leaned forward to nudge it with her dragonish snout as the masked horsemen came charging up from the mountain path …
The scene before her quivered, blurred, dissolved and resolved into the bright extravagance of a huge, horseshoe-shaped foyer lined with player portals. Light from glowing orreries lit up the busy crowds that streamed to and fro across a glass floor inlaid with lacy white patterns, or came and went on the helical slides that spiralled down to the level below. The foyer to ‘The Chronicles of the Black Throne’ sagaverse had over two dozen entryway levels to cater for the throngs eager to sample its fantastic domains, and that was just at the Medafrique multiportal. Julia saw numerous adbanners floating around, some claiming that the average daily player numbers were equal to the population of one of the larger South American nations …
‘Ah, there you are,’ said Harry, who was back in his gaudy Tiger-Duke exter, as provided by the drone Reski Emantes. Julia’s was similar, Lioness-Lady, a marvel of golden velvet, amber satin and black lace highlights.