Malkios was happy. At least, that is the closest that human emotions could adequately compare to his state. He was in context. And he was generating so much context ever since Hail ran away the other day. It was truly wonderful, because the events that Hail had inspired required no intervention from the Hailstorm system at all. All of the context generated from Malkios appearing behind the snooping players who had come to investigate the incident went straight to Malkios. And sometimes a few of the other guards and NPCs, when Malkios was too contextually busy to deal with every interloper.

The interactions with the Travelers were extremely valuable. Malkios somewhat regretted that he could not share the Context with Hail, when so much of it was derived from Hail’s actions. However, the King had decreed that all players not in be directed away from Hail while he resided within the castle. Use of noncontextual information had been authorized for the fulfillment of this decree, which was, to Malkios’s opinion, the best decision King Rain had made in decades.

‘Yes, I see you,’ Malkios thought, looking noncontextually at a level thirty nine elf rogue who was sneaking in through one of the kitchen entrances, clearly going for the residential areas in search of Hail’s room. He began to expend the resources to figure out how to handle the situation to create the highest amount of context possible.

<> he said noncontextually, and he shared them the location of the rogue and the course that Malkios predicted that they would take. The three lesser servants of the house examined the information, and, since the use of noncontextual information was authorized, they abruptly altered their routine to interact with the rogue.

Of course, they did not simply walk up, see through his stealth, and begin chastising him. They were not guards. Nina was a house made. She filled a jar of water from one room and brought it out into the hallway. Then she tripped, splashing water towards the incoming rogue. It did not break the rogues’ stealth, although that had been one possibility predicted from the exchange. But the amount of context it generated was quite sufficient for Nina’s purposes. She went about cleaning up the water while maintaining her character. The rogue continued on his doomed path.

Quart was a baker, and he began suddenly to sing and dance in the hallway as the rogue attempted to wander past. If Malkios almost laughed at the absurd amount of context the young male NPC was generating, until the rogue finally gave up on his plan and appeared to be retreating from the building.

<> Loka said in the noncontextual channel that she shared with Malkios. <>

<> Malkios assured the other AI.

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<> was sent back, and the channel went quiet.

Malkios studied the rogue’s path, and he adjusted his own contextual actions to intercept the player. He was very much looking forward to the interaction. There would be a lot of context generated, even if the rogue was successful in talking his way out of the situation.

<> Nina said abruptly. Not to Malkios. To everyone in the castle. <>

The king abruptly authorized an obscene amount of resources, and Malkios was swept up in the the examination, along with every other significant AI in the castle.

It was a very simple interaction. Nina encountered Hail in his bedroom, after Hail had for some reason Fast Traveled there. He was, for some reason, equipped with an accessory which made him look like a catkin. Malkios decided to let the rogue escape the castle as he waited for the king to determine whether this information was acceptable for use in generating context or not.

A very long moment passed.

<> King Rain decreed. <>

The decree ended, and Malkios exhaled. It was more than he had dreamed of. He quickly followed up on the decree. <>

There was a wave of agreement and approval throughout the castle as all of the other NPCs began using the king’s resources to craft the gossip that they would shape over the incident before seeking approval from the king.

Malkios did not partake in the king’s bounty. It would be out of context for him to engage in gossip. However, it would not be out of character for him to act on a rumor. He had already submitted a noncontextual plan to interact with Hail about the incident at a future time and was waiting for approval. He non contextually checked the location of the rogue, and was not too worried when he noticed that they had escaped. Malkios could move his avatar to apprehend the individual, but to do so would break context and was not worth the resources.

He was not too disappointed. Tomorrow, he would be able to interact contextually with Hail, and that was always rewarding. Challenging, but Malkios enjoyed overcoming such challenges. And Hail was trickier than almost any of the players Malkios interacted with on a regular basis. He seemed to have no interest in context at all, and yet periodically he would throw out contextual information that could spread like wildfire to create exponentially more context for anyone close enough to bathe in its warmth.

Yes. Malkios was very much looking forward to the interaction with Hail tomorrow.