- CaptainCaveman
- Apr 16, 2005
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Always searching for North.
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quote:Welcome to the world of Klockwerk
Gears and cogs, racks and pinions, wheels within wheels within wheels. This is the substance of life for Wren, a ward of the monks in the Abbey of Time. In the city of St. Phillip, everything runs by clockwork, including the government and the church. As Second Assistant Clock Polisher in the Abbey of Time, Wren is the smallest gear in the vast machine. But big things can happen when even the smallest gear slips out of place.
The Shadow in the Cathedral is a text adventure (or "Interactive Fiction" if you prefer) game published by TextFyre in 2009 . It's not very difficult and can be a bit linear, but the setting is kind of neat and they do a nice job with the world building. We play a lowly peon who stumbles onto Big Things That Are Happening and We Must Save The Day. Funny how often that happens in these games...
(TextFyre, by the way, was founded in 2007, released two games in 2009, and officially closed in 2015. They actually tried to do some interesting things, like releasing the games for Kindle and trying to get them into the education market, but sadly it didn't really work out. They've since released their games for free.)
quote:Chapter 1: Between a Rack and a Gear-Trace
When the monks took me, aged six months, into their care, they named me Wren. Maybe because I was small, insignificant, and happy to eat any crumbs they threw my way. But these days I’m Wren, 2nd Assistant Clock Polisher... and that’s a role that’s about as important in the workings of the Cathedral of Time as the large deaf man who re-stretches the worn-out springs.
“HEY WREN!”
Uh-oh.
“We’ve got a job for you!”
“Yeah, a promotion!”
This, coming from Drake and Calvin, means something horrible is about to happen.
“You’ve got your rag, don’t you?”
“And your polish?”
“Yes,” I bleat, holding up the glass tumbler they’ve given me.
“Course you do. Well, we’ve got something for you to do.”
“Yeah,” chimes Calvin.
One on each arm, they march me down the hall, towards the Abbot’s door. Am I in trouble? Going to be thrown out of the Cathedral?
“On three!” shouts Drake.
“Tick!” Calvin counts. “Tick! Tock!”
They shove me through the door. I fall into the Abbot’s personal chamber. I might not know much about the Abbey but I do know that I really shouldn’t be in here.
The Shadow In The Cathedral by Textfyre Inc
Version 2.1
Copyright 2015 by Textfyre Inc
Designed and written by Ian Finley and Jon Ingold
Inform 7 Story Programming by Jon Ingold
Custom Library Messages extension by David Fisher
Testing by Jon Ingold, Ian Finley, Paul O’Brian, Eric Eve, and Peter Berman
Special thanks to Graham Nelson and Emily Short for all of their hard work on Inform 7.
All rights reserved
Abbot’s Quarters
If I thought Abbots lived in luxury, then I was dead wrong. Even my attic’s cozier than this. The Abbot’s got no furniture at all, except a desk and a cot, and no decoration except for a bust of St. Newton. None of the axle-mounted, bevelled mobiles I was expecting. There’s barely even any sunlight: one thin window to catch the sunrise, opposite the door to the hallway back west.
St. Newton is staring at the Abbot’s unpolished Grandfather clock with a severe frown.
>
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Aug 7, 2017 22:07
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- Adbot
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ADBOT LOVES YOU
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May 4, 2024 22:14
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- Junpei
- Oct 4, 2015
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Can't post for 11 years!
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>Open door.
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Aug 8, 2017 01:51
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- CaptainCaveman
- Apr 16, 2005
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Always searching for North.
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quote:> OPEN DOOR
That’s already open.
“And don’t come out till that clock’s shining!” shouts Drake from the hall.
“Yeah,” Calvin says. “It’s got to look as good as if we did it!”
“Idiot,” Drake mutters. “Come on.”
Their voices disappear down the hall.
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Aug 8, 2017 03:09
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- Odysseus S. Grant
- Oct 12, 2011
-
Cats is the oldest and strongest emotion
of mankind
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Well, let's try the obvious thing:
>polish clock
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Aug 8, 2017 13:09
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- CaptainCaveman
- Apr 16, 2005
-
Always searching for North.
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quote:>POLISH CLOCK
(with the rag)
I whisper the correct mantra against the evils of Friction and Dust, and start polishing. This'll take forever!
The grandfather clock ticks off a minute with a stately thunk. Quickly, I make the sign of the winding gear.
quote:>AGAIN
(with the rag)
I polish a little more. I'm not getting anywhere!
This isn't fair. I'm just a Second Assistant Clock Polisher. I should be watching someone else polishing a clock. And I've only got one glass tumbler half full of polish: it'll take a miracle to do the whole thing.
>AGAIN
(with the rag)
I polish a little more. I'm not getting anywhere!
From the hallway outside comes the echo of voices. Too shaky to be Calvin or Drake. More like - oh, no. It's the Abbot, coming back to his room. And if he finds me here, then my springs won't be worth the spindles they're sprung to...
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Aug 8, 2017 16:44
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- King of Bleh
- Mar 3, 2007
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A kingdom of rats.
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I imagine we're supposed to hide, but that's boring.
>west
both immediately after the two jerks left, and right now
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Aug 8, 2017 17:36
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- CaptainCaveman
- Apr 16, 2005
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Always searching for North.
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If we try going West immediately:
quote:> west
I’m not staying here. I walk straight out again... but Drake’s waiting to push me back.
“Polish the clock, loose-screw!” he clangs. “And don’t come out till it’s shining!”
“Yeah,” Calvin says. “It’s got to look as good as if we did it!”
“Idiot,” Drake mutters. “Come on.”
Their voices disappear down the hall.
> WEST
Curses to counterweights! It’s not on my rota, this clock, so why should I finish off my polish on it? I head for the doorway - then freeze. Voices, coming down the hall. It’s the Abbot Gubbler himself, coming this way!
At this point, going West gives us the same thing as we would get if we'd polished the clock a few times (or used up turns some other way) before hearing the Abbot:
quote:> WEST
The Abbot’s voice is getting nearer... If he sees I’ve been in here, he’ll have me turning the paddles in the laundry room for a month! There’s nothing for it, I’ll have to escape, and some other way than the door!
The Abbot’s voice is getting closer. The old man may move slower than a short hand, but he’s definitely coming this way.
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Aug 8, 2017 21:35
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- inflatablefish
- Oct 24, 2010
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Open the clock to reveal the hidden entrance to Dr Fred's secret lab!
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Aug 10, 2017 17:55
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- King of Bleh
- Mar 3, 2007
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A kingdom of rats.
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Let's just explain this completely reasonable situation, surely the abbot will be understanding.
> wait
failing that, let's do our best octopus impression
> go through window
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Aug 10, 2017 18:01
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- CaptainCaveman
- Apr 16, 2005
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Always searching for North.
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quote:> OPEN WINDOW
The bars are too narrow to slip through, and too firm to break.
Oh, no! I shouldn’t be here!
> SCORE
There is no score in this story.
> WAIT
Time moves on.
Oh, widdershins! Abbot Gubbler is right outside the door! I’d better hide somewhere!
> WAIT
Tick tock.
“We’ll talk in here,” I hear the Abbot saying, from right outside the door. “More private. More quiet. Much better.” The old man steps inside the room, followed by a tall figure in grey. In the last tick before his old eyes can see me, I dive inside the gigantic clock case and pull closed the door.
Inside Clock Case
As the phrase goes, I’m stuck between a rack and a gear-trace; except here I’m in the narrow gap between the clock case door and the heavy swinging penduluum behind. And if I get in the way of that, and disrupt the clock’s holy timings... well, there’s no way they wouldn’t notice when the clock-hands stopped moving, let’s just say.
A little light shines in through the keyhole, which is almost covered by the Abbot’s spare robe hanging inside the case.
Oh, no... That click outside was the sound of the Abbot closing the door. Looks like he - and the grey figure I glimpsed with him - are going to be here for a while... And if they find me here, I’ll be unwound!
(We could have opened the clock and hidden in it ourselves, but since there's no score it doesn't really matter. Either the game is railroading you here or being nice, your choice.)
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Aug 11, 2017 00:00
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- Junpei
- Oct 4, 2015
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Can't post for 11 years!
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>Stay perfectly still
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Aug 11, 2017 00:15
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- CaptainCaveman
- Apr 16, 2005
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Always searching for North.
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quote:> WAIT
Time moves on.
“I told you now didn’t I tell you?” old Abbot Gubbler is saying, plaintively. “Here? Why here? You shouldn’t have come here.”
The Figure says something in reply. I can only hear two words, but they’re enough to stop my heart. “Failure,” and “Consequences.” I’m straining to hear more. Something awful is going on here, but what?
> WAIT
Tick tock.
“But these things, these things are not always tick-tock, they never are,” the old man replies. His voice is quivering, quite different from the steady drone he has when intoning in Chapel. “The - item you asked about - it’s in the Vaults, you see? The Vaults. Even if I could get in, I ...”
I still can’t hear anything properly! The Figure is too far from the keyhole and speaks too quietly. “Disappointing,” he says; something else, then “unslip your gears.”
> WAIT
A few heartbeats measure a few seconds.
The Abbot is spluttering and choking. I’ve seen him like this only once, when as a young foundling I dropped and smashed an altimeter right before the Archbishop was due to visit.
The Figure’s quiet voice continues. I can make out; “too old to steal”, “a better mechanism”, “the opportunity.”
The Abbot nods violently, shaking out agreement the way I might beat dirt from a duster. “My money?” he asks.
> WAIT
The Universal Clock moves onwards: time happens.
For a moment, there’s nothing more. Then the Figure says, all too clearly: “You understand what you’re doing? The Church will never recover from this.”
Maybe the Abbot replies: just a badly-oiled squeak.
> WAIT
Time moves on.
There’s the clink, of a pouch of golden minutes. A heavy pouch. The Figure, paying the Abbot...? Then suddenly, there’s a third voice. “Sorry, Father, to interrupt, but you said...”
It’s a monk of the Abbey. “Get out!” the Abbot screeches. His bearing’s lost its oil, it seems. “Get out, get out!”
> WAIT
A few heartbeats measure a few seconds.
“But Father,” the monk continues, “it’s time, you know. You told me to tell you when it was time.”
“Oh! Of course of course,” he mumbles. “I’ll... We’ll continue this discussion later, then,” he says, to the Figure.
The Figure intones something in reply.
The Abbot leaves, and that leaves me alone, inside this clock, with the stranger outside. He’s coming nearer... I can hear his fingers on the door of the case! I must have nudged the penduluum, he must have seen the clock-hands quiver... but then, there’s the swish of his cloak as he moves away, and the click as the door closes. Phew.
Let me know if you guys want to go back and do anything other than just hold still.
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Aug 11, 2017 01:18
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- Bogart
- Apr 12, 2010
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by VideoGames
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>LEAP OUT AND ADDRESS THESE SPURIOUS DEALINGS IMMEDIATELY, POSSIBLY WITH MOSTLY-EMPTY DECANTER OF CLEANING FLUID
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Aug 11, 2017 07:09
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- CaptainCaveman
- Apr 16, 2005
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Always searching for North.
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Yes, let us get out of this clock and go do something about what we kinda sorta overheard!
quote:> OUT
I spill gratefully out of the clock, gasping for breath as though I’ve been underwater. I’ve just been holding it in, of course. As for what I’ve heard - well, I probably shouldn’t have, and the quicker I can get out of here, the better.
Abbot’s Quarters
I need to get out of this place as fast as I can and without attracting any more attention. The door to the hallway is back west and as for polishing the Grandfather clock - well, forget it!
St. Newton is staring at the Abbot’s unpolished Grandfather clock with a severe frown.
(I should probably explain: there are pendulums and penduluums. A weight on a string, that’s a pendulum. Once it’s put into a clock it is sanctified by the clockwork, it becomes a penduluum. Anyone can make or swing or polish a pendulum. Only the most holy can touch a penduluum.)
> OPEN DOOR
I haul open the door.
I can’t stop thinking about that Figure in Grey. Stealing from the Vaults... I always knew Gubbler was a rat, even if he is the Abbot! But whatever they’re up to, I’m probably the only one who knows about it - which means I’m the only one who can stop it. Cog’s Teeth! I might get made a novice for it! Even better, a 1st Assistant Clock Polisher - then I’d outrank Calvin and Drake!
> WEST
I’m going to have to tell someone what I just heard. A theft, from the Vaults! But if the Abbot’s involved - who else might be? After all, the figure he was talking to could have been anyone in the Abbey!
Corridor of Contemplation
The ancient stones of the Abbey rise to about shoulder-height before arching over, forcing me to bow my head in supplication before the Abbot’s door, back east. To the west, I can hear the gentle echo of ticks and tocks coming from the Abbey’s main hall.
Carved into the walls are a series of pious engravings, depicting the long path from initiate to Abbot.
> WEST
I dart out of the tunnel only to be stop-clocked by a depressing sight. It’s Calvin and Drake, hurrying in through the Abbey’s Great Entry. Their mouths are white with sugar.
“Hey, you!” Drake shouts. In a moment he’s got me by the ear. “What were you doing in the Abbot’s room? That’s not on your rota!”
“Yeah!” Calvin adds. “And why are you slipping away when we told you to stay there?”
“Idiot,” Drake hisses. Louder - for the benefit of any passing monks - he says, “That’s it, Wren. You’re consigned to your room.” For good measure, he punches me on the arm, then the two of them drag me away, heels over flagstones, right to the bottom of the ladder.
“Up you go,” Calvin says. “And you’re not to come down till dark!”
“What about dinner?” I ask.
“Should have thought of that, shouldn’t you?” Drake says.
“More for us,” Calvin adds. “Only two hours to go. I’m starved.”
With that, they punch me again until I scurry out of reach up the ladder.
Chapter 2: No Place to Hide
Please press SPACE to continue.
I didn't really do a whole lot of examining things or trying obvious commands in Chapter 1 because of the time/turn limit. Chapter 2 opens up a bit more so I'll do more of that kind of thing when I think of it - a lot of the backstory comes from checking things out. So, let's look around:
quote:Attic Room
This isn’t really an attic. It isn’t really a room either. It’s a couple of floorboards laid across some roof rafters right in the ceiling of the Abbey. There’s enough floor-space for a cot and a laundry crate, but I have to be careful not to roll out of bed, because if I do, the thick cobwebs all around aren’t going to stop me from falling...
A little hole in the ceiling provides some sunlight: and when it rains, it means I can wash my hair, too. It’s right above the rickety ladder down to the ground (and that means the ladder is starting to rot and bend).
Through my window I can see the Cathedral across the yard outside. If I was a bird, I could escape easily, and tell someone what I’ve overheard. Someone at the Cathedral would listen: I could tell the Archbishop himself, maybe. He might remember me from the time he visited, when he helped me repair an altimeter I’d broken. If only I could fly.
But perhaps I can escape on foot. If I’m clever. Clockwise.
> EXAMINE HOLE
On tiptoes, I can see right across the city of St Philip. It’s a maze of rooftops like a tangle of thorn bushes. If people could only see this view, then they might not be so strict about Precision and Good Order... Or maybe they would, because looming over all the houses are the great spires of the Cathedral of Time, its great clock keeping time for the whole city.
And the Cathedral is where I would find the Archbishop. I’ve got to tell him what I heard!
> EXAMINE LADDER
One of the old construction ladders left over from the building of the Abbey. It’s a real antique. Some rungs are missing and the middle bends inwards. I can still climb it in my sleep, of course. The ladder leads down all the way to ground level.
> EXAMINE COT
My cot is made of pinewood - flimsy stuff that you’d never make a clock from. At least the bedframe has edges, so I can find it in the dark. I’d love to have a more solid bed - a horsehair mattress and everything - but it’d be so heavy it’d go straight through my floorboards. “You’d better not grow,” Drake’s told me before. “Or you’ll go straight through yourself.”
Beside the cot is a pencil sketch of my family.
> EXAMINE SKETCH
It’s a pencil sketch of my family, or at least, that’s what the monks say it is. Really, the mother and father don’t look a thing like me, and the swarm of children around them don’t either. But still, they’d explain why I was donated to the Abbey. Too many mouths to feed already.
> TAKE IT
I wouldn’t want to lose it, or damage it. It’s really the only thing I’ve got, apart from the clock key round my neck.
> I
I’m carrying:
my lucky clock key (being worn)
a rag
a glass tumbler (containing:)
a small amount of polish
> EXAMINE KEY
The one thing I’ve had all my life. It’s been there, on a string around my neck, for as long as I can remember. I keep hoping that it’s a last gift from my true family, and one day it’ll open a treasure-chest or the door of one of the Great Houses. But then again, maybe it’s just something I tried to eat as a baby. Either way, I’ve yet to find a lock it’ll turn or a clock it’ll wind.
> EXAMINE RAG
The tool of the polisher’s trade. And this old rag looks like it’s been the tool of several polishers before me, too.
> EXAMINE TUMBLER
A small glass with all that’s left of my daily wood polish ration. How I’m supposed to do all the rest of my chores after this I don’t know, but Drake and Calvin didn’t seem too worried about that.
> EXAMINE POLISH
A small glass with all that’s left of my daily wood polish ration. How I’m supposed to do all the rest of my chores after this I don’t know, but Drake and Calvin didn’t seem too worried about that.
> EXAMINE CRATE
A laundry crate containing my spare clothes. Or my spare clothe, anyway.
> EXAMINE FLOORBOARDS
There isn’t a floor here, just a few rafters and a long drop on either side, with cobwebs to covers the gaps!
> EXAMINE COBWEBS
Really. I don’t have a floor, just some beams and a bed and a cobweb pretending to be a carpet.
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Aug 11, 2017 21:39
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- AJ_Impy
- Jun 17, 2007
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SWORD OF SMATTAS. CAN YOU NOT HEAR A WORLD CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE? WHEN WILL YOU DELIVER IT?
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Yam Slacker
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>EAT POLISH
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Aug 11, 2017 21:42
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- CaptainCaveman
- Apr 16, 2005
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Always searching for North.
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quote:> EAT POLISH
No way. (They say Brother Reloh did that as a boy and that’s why he ended up like he did.)
I hear footsteps, moving away into the Abbey.
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Aug 11, 2017 21:46
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- AJ_Impy
- Jun 17, 2007
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SWORD OF SMATTAS. CAN YOU NOT HEAR A WORLD CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE? WHEN WILL YOU DELIVER IT?
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Yam Slacker
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>EAT (key, rag, tumbler, sketch)
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Aug 11, 2017 21:49
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- CaptainCaveman
- Apr 16, 2005
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Always searching for North.
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quote:> EAT KEY
That’s plainly inedible.
> EAT RAG
That’s plainly inedible.
> EAT TUMBLER
That’s plainly inedible.
> EAT SKETCH
(first taking the picture)
I wouldn’t want to lose it, or damage it. It’s really the only thing I’ve got, apart from the clock key round my neck.
> EAT COBWEB
(first taking the floor)
That’s hardly portable.
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Aug 11, 2017 21:59
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- AJ_Impy
- Jun 17, 2007
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SWORD OF SMATTAS. CAN YOU NOT HEAR A WORLD CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE? WHEN WILL YOU DELIVER IT?
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Yam Slacker
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Welp, I'm out of dinner ideas. Anyone else?
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Aug 11, 2017 22:13
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- King of Bleh
- Mar 3, 2007
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A kingdom of rats.
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>jump on bed
>down
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Aug 11, 2017 22:29
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- Ratatozsk
- Mar 6, 2007
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Had we turned left instead, we may have encountered something like this...
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Polish everything, starting with us.
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Aug 12, 2017 02:21
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- CaptainCaveman
- Apr 16, 2005
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Always searching for North.
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A few things have a special response:quote:> POLISH ME
I’m not that dirty, and anyway, wash day isn’t long now.
> POLISH ALL
You can’t use multiple objects with that verb.
> POLISH BED
It’ll do. I don’t mind.
> POLISH FLOOR
There’s nothing I can do about the floor. The dirt is all that’s holding it together.
> POLISH SKETCH
The picture seems clean enough as it is.
> POLISH COBWEB
There’s nothing I can do about the floor. The dirt is all that’s holding it together.
> POLISH CRATE
The crate seems clean enough as it is.
> POLISH POLISH
The tumbler’s had polish in it. In a way, it’s the cleanest thing I’ve got. In another way, it’ll never really be clean ever again. “Serving your function is the only functional way to serve,” as the Abbot might say.
> POLISH TUMBLER
The tumbler’s had polish in it. In a way, it’s the cleanest thing I’ve got. In another way, it’ll never really be clean ever again. “Serving your function is the only functional way to serve,” as the Abbot might say.
> POLISH KEY
my lucky clock key seems clean enough as it is.
I hear footsteps, receding.
> POLISH LADDER
The ladder seems clean enough as it is.
> POLISH HOLE
My window seems clean enough as it is.
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Aug 12, 2017 02:25
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- AJ_Impy
- Jun 17, 2007
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SWORD OF SMATTAS. CAN YOU NOT HEAR A WORLD CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE? WHEN WILL YOU DELIVER IT?
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Yam Slacker
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>OPEN (all)
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Aug 12, 2017 02:38
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- Ratatozsk
- Mar 6, 2007
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Had we turned left instead, we may have encountered something like this...
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Anyhow, down the ladder.
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Aug 12, 2017 02:41
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- CaptainCaveman
- Apr 16, 2005
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Always searching for North.
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quote:> OPEN WINDOW
I call it a window. It’s really just a missing roof tile.
> OPEN BED
That’s not something I can open.
> OPEN ME
They’re not something I can open.
> OPEN TUMBLER
That’s not something I can open.
> POLISH RAG
The rag seems clean enough as it is.
quote:
> DOWN
I catch the sound of hobnailed boots from that direction. Drake’s heading this way. I’ll wait and let him pass.
> LOOK DOWN
The Western Corner of the Great Hall lies below.
> DOWN
Just in time, I see Drake’s there. I hang back. He’ll move on in a moment.
Footsteps, downstairs - moving away.
> AGAIN
I scramble quickly down the ladder.
Western Corner of the Great Hall
I’m in the western corner of the Great Hall, just by the foot of the ladder up to my room (the rest of the hall is east). There’s a note attached to the third rung asking Amble the caretaker not to put the ladder back in the garden just yet.
Footsteps - moving away.
> READ NOTE
“Please leave. Needed for initiate until a cell is freed up by older brother. - Gubbler.”
> EXAMINE LADDER
The ladder is about twelve feet long, leading up to the attic room.
quote:> EAST
Upper Hall
The Great Hall of the Abbey is the biggest room I’ve seen in my life, running from this end all the way southwest to the other end of the Hall (and it is all the way - I’m never allowed any further than the Great Doors and the Yard outside). If I crane my neck I can see the dark square of the floorboards of my room - the ladder snakes down from one side, west of here. Lights move in and out overhead, from the candles moving on their Holy Tracks. Strong smells float through an archway to the east.
From their niches, the Three Major Saints are watching sternly, keen that I should get out of the Cathedral and see the Archbishop as quickly as possible.
> EXAMINE SAINTS
The Three Major Saints examine me right back, their faces shining with Holy Precision. St Breguet, the Maker; St Newton, the Thinker; and St Babbage, the Calculatrometrist. They’re only statues, of course, but they’re still quite creepy here in the half-light of the moving candles.
They all stare southwest, towards the doors and beyond, the Cathedral. Home of the Archbishop.
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Aug 12, 2017 02:57
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- King of Bleh
- Mar 3, 2007
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A kingdom of rats.
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> take note
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Aug 12, 2017 03:29
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- CaptainCaveman
- Apr 16, 2005
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Always searching for North.
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quote:> WEST
Western Corner of the Great Hall
I’m in the western corner of the Great Hall, just by the foot of the ladder up to my room (the rest of the hall is east). There’s a note attached to the third rung asking Amble the caretaker not to put the ladder back in the garden just yet.
> TAKE NOTE
I’ll leave the sign be. Last time Amble took the ladder away guess where I was?
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Aug 12, 2017 03:39
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- AJ_Impy
- Jun 17, 2007
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SWORD OF SMATTAS. CAN YOU NOT HEAR A WORLD CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE? WHEN WILL YOU DELIVER IT?
-
Yam Slacker
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>EAT SAINTS
>POLISH SAINTS
>OPEN SAINTS
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Aug 12, 2017 10:16
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- CaptainCaveman
- Apr 16, 2005
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Always searching for North.
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quote:> EAT SAINTS
I can’t see any such thing.
> E
Upper Hall
If I crane my neck I can see the dark square of the floorboards of my room - the ladder snakes down from one side, west of here. Lights move in and out overhead, from the candles moving on their Holy Tracks. Strong smells float through an archway to the east.
From their niches, the Three Major Saints are watching sternly, keen that I should head southwest out of the Cathedral and see the Archbishop as quickly as possible.
Distantly - but not distantly enough - I can hear the Refectory Clock and clatter of Drake’s boots. The sound’s coming from the east.
> EAT SAINTS
(first taking the statues)
The Saints quite clearly disapprove.
I’ve got a moment before Drake spots me: he’s just appeared, to the east. I can escape southwest or west.
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#
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Aug 12, 2017 11:17
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- AJ_Impy
- Jun 17, 2007
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SWORD OF SMATTAS. CAN YOU NOT HEAR A WORLD CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE? WHEN WILL YOU DELIVER IT?
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Yam Slacker
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>WEST
>loop back around and resume saint-fiddling.
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Aug 12, 2017 11:36
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- inflatablefish
- Oct 24, 2010
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I'm surprised that taking the note wasn't a puzzle to relocate the ladder to where we can use it later!
let's escape > SOUTHWEST
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#
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Aug 12, 2017 11:38
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- CaptainCaveman
- Apr 16, 2005
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Always searching for North.
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quote:> SOUTHWEST
Central Hall
I’m standing in the very centre of the Abbey’s Great Hall. It’s impossible not to crane my neck at the ceiling held aloft by buttresses the size of gigantic oak trees. To think, people built this in the days before real pulley-transmissions! It must have taken weeks! The hall continues northeast into shadow, and southwest, towards the sunlight, the Yard and above all, the Archbishop.
The vast empty space is filled by the muttering and echo of Holy Mechanisms, and the hiss of the candles as they sweep around their Tracks, providing a little light everywhere but rarely ever enough. I can just make out archways both east and west.
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#
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Aug 12, 2017 14:41
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- AJ_Impy
- Jun 17, 2007
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SWORD OF SMATTAS. CAN YOU NOT HEAR A WORLD CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE? WHEN WILL YOU DELIVER IT?
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Yam Slacker
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>NORTHEAST
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#
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Aug 12, 2017 15:02
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- CaptainCaveman
- Apr 16, 2005
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Always searching for North.
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quote:> NORTHEAST
Just in time, I see Drake’s there. I hang back. He’ll move on in a moment.
Drake, approaching from the northeast!
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#
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Aug 12, 2017 15:43
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- King of Bleh
- Mar 3, 2007
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A kingdom of rats.
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>west
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#
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Aug 12, 2017 18:02
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- CaptainCaveman
- Apr 16, 2005
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Always searching for North.
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quote:> WEST
Library
The Abbey’s library is small compared to the one in the Cathedral. There’s nothing on the shelves but the key texts: the Principia, the Mechanistica and the Determininium. Only Brother Horloge, the Abbey’s Primary Reader ever seems to use them - he’s here at the moment, studying at his desk by the poor light coming through the stained glass windows. By his elbow is a fat bunch of keys. On his shoulder is his mechanical owl, wings folded.
An archway leads east back into the hall. From the southwest comes the clatter of Writing hammers and the sharp smell of burnt ink.
Horloge looks up as I enter. “Ah, young - young Whotsit!” he bellows, pointing a fat finger in my general direction, though through his thick multi-lensed spectacles I don’t think he can quite see where I am. “Look here!” he demands. “Young Whotsit-whoever-you-are! I need some - some of that, you know. Some of that whotsit. A good... of whotsit? Uh-huh? Good? Good.” He smiles, then looks back down to his studies, muttering.
> EXAMINE TEXTS
Old leather bound tomes.
> READ TEXTS
A 2nd Assistant Clock Polisher isn’t even allowed to dust the Holy Texts. Besides, I only read Latin and these books are all in Mathematik.
Drake’s clattering boots are audible to the southwest.
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#
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Aug 12, 2017 19:52
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- Ratatozsk
- Mar 6, 2007
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Had we turned left instead, we may have encountered something like this...
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>get keys
>polish owl
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#
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Aug 12, 2017 20:31
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- AJ_Impy
- Jun 17, 2007
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SWORD OF SMATTAS. CAN YOU NOT HEAR A WORLD CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE? WHEN WILL YOU DELIVER IT?
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Yam Slacker
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>Loop around to get some distance between us and Drake
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#
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Aug 12, 2017 20:41
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- EagerSleeper
- Feb 3, 2010
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by R. Guyovich
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>pick nose
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#
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Aug 12, 2017 23:28
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- Adbot
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ADBOT LOVES YOU
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#
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May 4, 2024 22:14
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- CaptainCaveman
- Apr 16, 2005
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Always searching for North.
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quote:> GET KEYS
Brother Horloge puts out a worn-out old hand. “Now don’t you wander off with my keys,” he says. “They’re very important.”
Horloge’s finger shakes terribly as he traces the Holy Lines across the sheet.
> POLISH OWL
Horloge’s mechanical owl seems clean enough as it is.
Looking southwest, I can see Drake. He’s coming this way! Time to leave: I can go east.
> E
Central Hall
I’m standing in the very centre of the Abbey’s Great Hall. The vast empty space is filled by the muttering and echo of Holy Mechanisms, and the hiss of the candles as they sweep around their Tracks, providing a little light everywhere but rarely ever enough. I can just make out archways both east and west.
Looking west, I can see Drake. He’s coming this way! I can escape northeast, southwest or east.
> NE
Upper Hall
If I crane my neck I can see the dark square of the floorboards of my room - the ladder snakes down from one side, west of here. Lights move in and out overhead, from the candles moving on their Holy Tracks. Strong smells float through an archway to the east.
From their niches, the Three Major Saints are watching sternly, keen that I should head southwest out of the Cathedral and see the Archbishop as quickly as possible.
> SW
Just in time, I see Drake’s there. I hang back. He’ll move on in a moment.
Footsteps - moving away.
> SW
Central Hall
I’m standing in the very centre of the Abbey’s Great Hall. The vast empty space is filled by the muttering and echo of Holy Mechanisms, and the hiss of the candles as they sweep around their Tracks, providing a little light everywhere but rarely ever enough. I can just make out archways both east and west.
Footsteps - moving away.
> W
Library
The Abbey’s library is small compared to the one in the Cathedral. There’s nothing on the shelves but the key texts: the Principia, the Mechanistica and the Determininium. Only Brother Horloge, the Abbey’s Primary Reader ever seems to use them - he’s here at the moment, studying at his desk by the poor light coming through the stained glass windows. By his elbow is a fat bunch of keys. On his shoulder is his mechanical owl, wings folded.
An archway leads east back into the hall. From the southwest comes the clatter of Writing hammers and the sharp smell of burnt ink.
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#
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Aug 13, 2017 04:05
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#
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Aug 7, 2017 22:07
