The Prince & the Promise - Chapter 3: Rootless
A short story written by Matt Gardner with PlotWeaver: Cards of Creation, a storytelling game made by Mod Hob Cooperative.
This story uses a Circular Plot Pattern, written in 15-minute timed acts with all story cards drawn at random. For more information, visit www.plotweavergame.com
Act 1: History & Routines
(Story Element Cards: The Tempter, The Great Heist, and Cyberpunk Alley)
Nivek had always believed the city rewarded those who paid attention.
Living in the narrow void between systems. Existing out of sight of security cameras and thriving in the shadows, between encrypted code and lazy oversight, between wealth and its shadow. The alley behind the data exchange hub was one of his regular haunts, neon reflecting in puddles of oil-slick rainwater.
He was there when it happened.
A barefoot man in strange clothing appeared out of thin air and collapsed beside a dumpster.
Nivek nearly dropped his tablet.
The man staggered upright, eyes wide, scanning the skyline as if it had personally offended him. Then he ran.
Nivek followed.
Not closely. Not foolishly. Just enough.
The stranger reached a small park wedged between towers of glass and concrete. There, beneath a stubborn oak that split the pavement with its roots, something shimmered.
A mushroom bloom clung to the bark.
The man climbed. Whispered something Nivek couldn’t hear… and vanished.
No flash. No explosion. Just gone.
Nivek approached slowly, pulse steady despite witnessing the impossible. He reached for the bloom.
It was warm and strange to him; most of his life, he had been surrounded by manufactured structures and concrete.
He plucked it and then noticed that the mushroom blackened in his hand, before breaking apart.
The air shifted.
“You see what others miss,” a voice said from the alley behind him.
Nivek turned.
The man who stood there wore shadow like a tailored coat. His smile fractured the light.
“I offer you something greater than the meagre existence you call life,” the stranger continued. “Not abundance, nor status... Influence.”
Nivek smirked. “You’re recruiting?”
“I am reclaiming.”
The Tempter stepped forward.
“The network you merely touched, it spans beyond these realms. It once answered to me. Help me return to its heart, and I will make you indispensable.”
Nivek hesitated.
“What’s the job?”
The Tempter’s smile deepened.
“Where can I find more mushroom blooms?”
“Well, there is this greenhouse. But it is seriously secured by the MegaCity Corp,” replied Nivek
The Tempter’s eyes lit up.
A fortified bio-dome owned by corporate interests?
This was his way back to the Enclave’s power.
