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May 5, 2024 03:22
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- CaptainCaveman
- Apr 16, 2005
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Always searching for North.
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> EXAMINE INDENTATIONS
What are we looking for, here? A place to put our decoy perpetuum?
More-or-less, yes.
quote:> EXAMINE INDENTATIONS
Notches and grooves in the metal, as if made to fit with something else.
> TAKE SUNDIAL
I take the plate from the shelf - it’s heavier than it looks.
> TAKE ALL
plate sundial: I take the plate from the shelf - it’s heavier than it looks.
> EXAMINE CLOCKS
In the days before St Newton people had been ignorant of Penduluums and the Simple Approximation of the Small Sine, and were forced to use all sorts of foolish things to measure time. None of them worked, of course - water slides and marked candles and so forth. As Brother Reloh says, without a True understanding of Time, Time cannot be; just as without an understanding of Good, Good cannot.
Looking at all the things here I feel sorry for those primitive people, who must have always been waking up to find the day was over, or enduring nights that went on forever without any breakfast.
> EXAMINE DEVICES
Leave them be. Their time is finally done.
Damp trickles down the stone walls.
> EXAMINE WALLS
The walls are old stone blocks, each the size of a man.
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Feb 11, 2018 17:21
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- CaptainCaveman
- Apr 16, 2005
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Always searching for North.
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quote:> EAST
Main Chamber
The tunnel from the north opens out here into a vaulted chamber and there are four iron torches burning in each corner. East and west are arched doorways like lidded eyes. By the south wall, a missing flagstone creates an opening, further down into more darkness.
A tiny noise echoes like a howl between the walls.
> DOWN
Dark Stair
The stairs down from the landing end in midair. Everything beyond is darkness, so vast the light of my candle is lost, like a dust-mote in the Cathedral itself. If I had a hundred candles, maybe I could see something. As it is, with this candle, I cannot see - I can only be seen...
> I
I’m carrying:
a plate sundial
a decoy Perpetuum Mobile
an old iron crypt key
a candle
a wrench
a ruby key
a knife
my lucky clock key (being worn)
> DOWN
There’s nothing but space there! I’m not jumping!
> JUMP
There’s nothing but space there! I’m not jumping!
> THROW CANDLE
I can’t risk it rolling and disappearing into space.
> DROP CANDLE
I can’t risk it rolling and disappearing into space.
(South and Down from the Main Chamber take us to the same place.)
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Feb 13, 2018 02:57
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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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Can we light the candle from the torches in the last room?
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Feb 13, 2018 06:16
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- CaptainCaveman
- Apr 16, 2005
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Always searching for North.
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Can we light the candle from the torches in the last room?
We cannot, for a very good reason.
quote:> U
Main Chamber
The tunnel from the north opens out here into a vaulted chamber and there are four iron torches burning in each corner. East and west are arched doorways like lidded eyes. By the south wall, a missing flagstone creates an opening, further down into more darkness.
> LIGHT CANDLE FROM TORCH
The candle is already lit.
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Feb 16, 2018 01:58
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- CaptainCaveman
- Apr 16, 2005
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Always searching for North.
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quote:> LOOK FOR INDENTATIONS
Notches and grooves in the metal, as if made to fit with something else.
> DROP PLAQUE
I can’t see any such thing.
> I
I’m carrying:
a plate sundial
a decoy Perpetuum Mobile
an old iron crypt key
a candle
a wrench
a ruby key
a knife
my lucky clock key (being worn)
> EXAMINE SUNDIAL
The plate sundial is made of dark, lusty gold, and would probably be worth a packet if anyone could be demon-happy enough to buy it in the markets of the town. The gnomon is still precise but the underside is worn away, with a series of strange indentations.
> DROP SUNDIAL
Dropped.
Something scuttles across my foot.
> EXAMINE FOOT
The walls are old stone blocks, each the size of a man.
I don't know why it gave the same response for "examine foot" as for "examine walls."
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Feb 18, 2018 14:37
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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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Examine underside
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Feb 18, 2018 14:52
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- CaptainCaveman
- Apr 16, 2005
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Always searching for North.
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quote:> EXAMINE UNDERSIDE
Notches and grooves in the metal, as if made to fit with something else.
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Feb 19, 2018 00:39
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- CaptainCaveman
- Apr 16, 2005
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Always searching for North.
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quote:> TAKE TORCH
The torches are fixed to the wall - and if they’re fed from inside, they’d be no good removed anyway.
A trickle of dust drifts from the ceiling.
> TAKE ALL
plate sundial: Taken.
> E
Mortuary
The stone walls are cold, wet with the last breath of all the bodies that have been prepared on the large stone slab in the centre of the room. That’s where they lie down. Blown-glass tubes lead from it either side, a third at the head end. The insides of the tubes are the colour of burnt bacon.
By the arch to the west is a shelf carved out of the rock. On it are the tools of the trade: spices, cloth, oil, so forth. At least there’s no lathe or whetstone or screws.
> TAKE ALL
There are none at all available!
> EXAMINE TOOLS
The shelf is hewn from the rock itself, to hold the bandages and the oil. A rack of spices, and behind that, a stack of wooden dowels.
> TAKE DOWEL
I pick up a dowel. It’s a good length, but far too light to use as a cudgel. (And I’m too much of a wimp to use it as one, too.)
> TAKE SPICES
I don’t think Cook would like me adding those to the Abbey soup.
> TAKE CLOTH
I tear away a strip of the dry linen cloth.
A smell of dead things fills the air.
> TAKE OIL
I try lifting the bowl, only to find that it isn’t a bowl: it’s a carved part of the shelf.
> DRINK OIL
The oil is as thick as slug-slime and as black as death. Who knows what it’s made from?
Think, Wren, think! What would MacGyver do?
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Feb 22, 2018 03:49
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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 stuff!
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Feb 22, 2018 13:39
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- Delvio
- Sep 14, 2007
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I guess we could wrap the cloth around the dowel and dip it in the oil to make a torch. We already have a candle, so I am not sure how much use we would get out of it.
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Feb 23, 2018 00:16
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- CaptainCaveman
- Apr 16, 2005
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Always searching for North.
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quote:> WRAP CLOTH AROUND DOWEL
(the bone-dry linen strip around the handle)
I roll the linen around the end of the wooden handle, once, twice, until it’s tight. I’m left holding something that looks a lot like a dry torch.
> DIP TORCH IN OIL
I dip the head of the torch into the oil until it gleams.
The air tastes stale.
> LIGHT TORCH WITH CANDLE
I touch the head of the torch to the candle flame - and it catches in a second. The walls around me leap with light!
> W
Main Chamber
The tunnel from the north opens out here into a vaulted chamber and there are four iron torches burning in each corner. East and west are arched doorways like lidded eyes. By the south wall, a missing flagstone creates an opening, further down into more darkness.
> S
Dark Stair
I’m at the bottom of a staircase with nothing but the dark below.
The step before the last step is wider than the others: on the left a metal sconce is fixed to the wall. On the right is a low stone pedestal. If I started to fall I could grab onto either!
> FALL
I’d rather stay standing!
> LOOK DOWN
Endless dark.
> DOWN
There’s nothing but space there! I’m not jumping!
> EXAMINE SCONCE
It’s an iron pike with a bracket set on the wall. The bracket is wrought to look like the rays of a sun.
> EXAMINE PEDESTAL
A granite column, waist-high on a man which means chin-height to me. The surface is marked with ridges and slots in some kind of design - maybe there used to be something here, some kind of treasure that was ripped away - or a goblin - or a heretical device powered by water or the movement of ants.
> THINK
My cogs turn.
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Feb 23, 2018 03:32
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- gegi
- Aug 3, 2004
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Butterfly Girl
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I suppose a sconce needs a torch.
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Feb 23, 2018 13:13
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- Delvio
- Sep 14, 2007
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I was confused for a second there because I misread it as "scone"
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Feb 24, 2018 00:26
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- CaptainCaveman
- Apr 16, 2005
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Always searching for North.
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Mmmm, scones.
quote:> GIVE TORCH TO SCONCE
I can only do that to something animate.
> PUT TORCH IN SCONCE
I slot the torch neatly into the sconce. Light pours down over the pedestal opposite.
> EXAMINE PEDESTAL
A granite column, waist-high on a man which means chin-height to me. The surface is marked with ridges and slots in some kind of design - maybe there used to be something here, some kind of treasure that was ripped away - or a goblin - or a heretical device powered by water or the movement of ants.
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Feb 24, 2018 03:36
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- Delvio
- Sep 14, 2007
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It looks like this will be an Indiana Jones/Staff of Ra situation where we need to put something on the pedestal. If the sundial does not work, then maybe the ruby key?
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Feb 24, 2018 18:44
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- inflatablefish
- Oct 24, 2010
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Given that the torch scone is wrought to look like the rays of the sun, I'd say it's a pretty good bet that the sundial belongs there.
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Feb 24, 2018 22:14
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- CaptainCaveman
- Apr 16, 2005
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Always searching for North.
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Given that the torch scone is wrought to look like the rays of the sun, I'd say it's a pretty good bet that the sundial belongs there.
WRONG!
quote:> PUT SUNDIAL IN SCONCE
I put the plate sundial into the sconce.
> LOOK
Dark Stair
I’m at the bottom of a staircase with nothing but the dark below.
The step before the last step is wider than the others: on the left a metal sconce is fixed to the wall, holding my torch proudly. On the right is a low stone pedestal. If I started to fall I could grab onto either!
> WAIT
Tick tock.
> EXAMINE SCONCE
It’s an iron pike with a bracket set on the wall. The bracket is wrought to look like the rays of a sun.
> EXAMINE SUNDIAL
The plate sundial is made of dark, lusty gold, and would probably be worth a packet if anyone could be demon-happy enough to buy it in the markets of the town. The gnomon is still precise but the underside is worn away, with a series of strange indentations.
Oh wait, you were backing this guy up, weren't you?
It looks like this will be an Indiana Jones/Staff of Ra situation where we need to put something on the pedestal. If the sundial does not work, then maybe the ruby key?
quote:> TAKE SUNDIAL
Taken.
> PUT SUNDIAL ON PEDESTAL
The sundial fits the pedestal-top precisely, almost as if the ancients who built it were capable of engineering. But primitives had no Mechanics. It was St Newton who brought us out of the dark.
> EXAMINE PEDESTAL
The sundial sits on the granite pedestal, slotted neatly into place. The torchlight casts a needlepoint shadow: the time is four.
> EXAMINE SUNDIAL
The sundial sits on the granite pedestal, slotted neatly into place. The torchlight casts a needlepoint shadow: the time is four.
Ooh! Exciting! Now we know what Time it is, I guess.
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Feb 25, 2018 14:55
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- CaptainCaveman
- Apr 16, 2005
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Always searching for North.
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quote:> SE
The only ways to go from here are north and down.
> DOWN
There’s nothing but space there! I’m not jumping!
You're soooooooooooooooo close.
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Feb 25, 2018 23:40
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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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Turn sundial?
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Feb 26, 2018 14:40
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- CaptainCaveman
- Apr 16, 2005
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Always searching for North.
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Oh, sure, like that will do something useful.
quote:> SPIN SUNDIAL
I can’t see any such thing. quote:> TURN SUNDIAL
I grab the edges of the pedestal and heave. To my surprise, it turns without trouble, like some great weight had been quietly counterbalanced away.
The shadow moves to eight o’clock. In the dark, something whispers and mutters. quote:> PUSH SUNDIAL
I put both hands on the pedestal and drag it round.
The shadow moves to nine o’clock. Whatever’s down there in the darkness grumbles again, like it was dragging gigantic feet. quote:> TURN SUNDIAL
I haul on the pedestal.
The shadow on the face of the gnomon creeps round to midnight and after settling for a moment, the stairs underneath me start to shake, as if they were being lifted from underneath! Now you’ve done it, Wren. This whole place is going to fall!
But it doesn’t. Instead, something massive - stone, moving on ancient castors - wheels into place at the end of the stairs. A smooth stone slope, leading down. quote:> EXAMINE STAIRS
The stairs have joined to a smooth stone slope that slides downward into the dark.
> TURN SUNDIAL
I can’t get the gnomon to turn any more. Maybe the Abbot was hoping the Figure would simply run off this stair into the dark. And instead, I’ve saved him... quote:> D
I make my way, one foot after another, down the narrow slope of stone...
Gnomon
The light from above quickly disappears. I’m left in darkness, worse than before. There aren’t even any walls to hang on to. I can feel the stone underfoot getting thinner and thinner, until I’m standing on a wire...
> EXAMINE WIRE
I can’t see any such thing.. quote:> D
Another few minutes and I reach the bottom.
Henge
I’m standing at the base of the gnomon in a cavern that rivals the dome of the sky for its size. Around its perimeter are twelve stones: twelve giants, staring down at me. This is a sundial, all in shadow, with no sun to cast a time. Water drips from the ceiling. The air is cold.
> EXAMINE GIANTS
I can’t see any such thing.
> EXAMINE STONES
Between two stones is a shadow and that shadow is a door, to the west.
> EXAMINE SUNDIAL
The dial must be the work of a king, built by slaves for the worship of masses. It must have been ground level once, in full sunlight, maybe between a river and the sea. Now the whole of St Philip lies above it. Every bog, spring and screw, built on top of this: a clock that runs by the sun. All that machinery, Wren, built above a lie.
> CLIMB STONES
I don’t think much is to be achieved by that.
> EXAMINE SHADOW
A squat door of iron lies like a shadow between two stones to the west.
> EXAMINE DOOR
A squat door of iron lies like a shadow between two stones to the west.
> W
Iron Door
The iron door is closed, hung between two stones as though it was just a curtain of metal and not a door at all. On its surface is embossed the Winding Key, but it looks small and feeble compared to the great gnomon behind me.
Above the door is a head carved in brass. The Head’s eyes are watching me.
> KNOCK ON DOOR
Knock, knock!
> OPEN DOOR
I try the door. It’s locked, of course.
Then, with a terrible silence, the eyelids of the Brass Head slide open. The moment is so smooth I don’t notice until it’s already staring at me. The Head opens its mouth and speaks. “Time. Is.”
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Feb 27, 2018 05:28
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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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“Fleeting”
“Gnomon’s friend”
“The devourer”
“Afoot”
“Wasting”
“Baller”
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Feb 27, 2018 15:24
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- CaptainCaveman
- Apr 16, 2005
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Always searching for North.
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quote:> FLEETING
That’s not a verb I recognize.
> “FLEETING"
I didn’t understand that sentence.
> SAY FLEETING
(to the solid brass head)
The Head raises a single eyebrow. “No,” it intones.
The Brass Head says nothing more. It’s eyes are watching me. It’s waiting.
> SAY GNOMON’S FRIEND
(to the solid brass head)
The Head’s mouth arches down at the edges.
The Brass Head speaks again. “Time. Was.”
> SAY THE DEVOURER
(to the solid brass head)
The Head rolls dull eyes.
The Head waits again. For me to prove myself, although I can’t think how.
If this door is the vault and the Head is a lock, then the Figure must know a way through. There’s no keyhole. No mechanism to be undone. Nothing the Abbot could have given him to get by, except perhaps a word.
But what word would serve as a key to the vaults?
> SAY AFOOT
(to the solid brass head)
“No,” the Head intones.
The Brass head speaks. “Time. Past.”
> SAY WASTING
(to the solid brass head)
“No,” the Head intones.
The eyes above the door snap closed. The chamber is silent once more.
This is where it ends then, Wren: this is how far you get. To the final door, where I’ll wait, Perpetuum in hand, until the Figure finds me and kills me, down here in the dark where no-one will ever find my body. If I’m really lucky he’ll fill me up with oil and spices and leave next to Brother Wilmslow.
I’m try to think of something comforting. All the Abbot’s old phrases. Covalt’s rough manner. The Archbishop - who spoke to me, a polisher! - and told me to be calm. Patience, he’d said. Patience is the key.
So I’d better be patient. The Figure will come, soon enough.
> SAY BALLER
(to the solid brass head)
Nothing. The Head is totally lifeless. It’s not listening any more than the stones of the Henge listened to me whimpering on the way down the Gnomon. Maybe I only dreamt that it moved.
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Feb 28, 2018 01:06
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- Hermetian
- Dec 9, 2007
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Ok, just say "patient" or "patience".
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Mar 2, 2018 02:54
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- gegi
- Aug 3, 2004
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Butterfly Girl
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> wait
(it's a standard text adventure verb, right?)
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Mar 2, 2018 03:50
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- CaptainCaveman
- Apr 16, 2005
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Always searching for North.
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quote:> WAIT
It doesn’t do any good.
> WAIT
It doesn’t do any good.
> WAIT
Still nothing.
> WAIT
It doesn’t do any good.
> WAIT
Still nothing.
> WAIT
Still nothing.
> WAIT
It doesn’t do any good.
> WAIT
Still nothing.
> PATIENCE
That’s not a verb I recognize.
> SAY PATIENCE
(to the solid brass head)
Nothing. Maybe I only dreamt that it moved.
> PATIENT
That’s not a verb I recognize.
> SAY PATIENT
(to the solid brass head)
Nothing. Maybe I only dreamt that it moved.
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Mar 2, 2018 23:36
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- CaptainCaveman
- Apr 16, 2005
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Always searching for North.
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WE HAVE THE TIME!
It is midnight. Or noon. Or, perhaps, twelve o'clock.
But it seems like we may not be allowed to keep at this forever. I wonder if this would reset if we climbed up the gnomon and came back down?
You have the right idea but it's even easier than that.
quote:> OPEN DOOR
I try the door. It’s locked, of course.
The Head opens its mouth and speaks. “Time. Is.”
“Patience is the key.” The Brass Head is nothing but patient. For a crazy moment I wonder if I could somehow escape the Figure when he finds me here by pretending to be a machine, by standing as still - as patient - as the Head itself.
But it wouldn’t work. My arms are shaking. I’m tired. I’m sweating. I’m no machine. I’m just a fledgling. I don’t even know how I got here.
> SAY YOU KNOW CAPTAIN, THEY SAY THAT TIME IS THE FIRE IN WHICH WE BURN
(to the solid brass head)
“No,” the Head intones.
The Brass Head is waiting.
> SAY PATIENCE
(to the solid brass head)
The Brass Head frowns slightly, as if concentrating. “Patience,” it replies. Nothing happens.
Then the iron door swings open.
> CLOSE DOOR
Why? I need to go in. There’s no turning back, not any more.
> W
I step through into the vault, expecting sudden stinging death any second.
Inner Vault
I woke up this morning a Second Assistant Clock Polisher, who would have been on slops-duty if I’d touched any mechanisms. Now, through some kind of horrible accident - the kind that shouldn’t happen in a clockwork world - I’m here, in the Inner Vaults of the Cathedral of Time.
The door swings shut behind me. I guess now I’m a relic too.
This room is completely bare, except for a steel altar like a fallen brick. Ticking quietly to itself on top is the Perpetuum. The door is back east.
> EXAMINE ALTAR
The altar is plain metal, almost dull. On the altar is the Perpetuum.
> EXAMINE PERPETUUM
(the real one)
It’s more beautiful than I remember. The rolling bearing across its surface is like the sun on a hazing winter evening. Watching it is hypnotic.
> OPEN IT
That’s not something I can open.
> TAKE IT
I make the sign of the Winding Key - twice, for luck - then lift the Perpetuum carefully from its place. There’s a tiny hiccup in the way it moves which makes me catch my breath … but then it continues.
In its place I put down Covalt’s replica. It’s a good match, especially in this light. Then I push the switch that Covalt told me to, to set the trap. And that’s that. It’s done.
Time to get out of here. Patience can go widdershins: I need to fly!
> OPEN DOOR
That’s when I hear it. The voice of the Brass Head.
“Time. Is.”
It must be the Figure. Outside the door.
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Mar 5, 2018 01:58
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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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Hide.
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Mar 5, 2018 02:27
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- CaptainCaveman
- Apr 16, 2005
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Always searching for North.
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quote:> HIDE
Where? There’s nowhere!
> HIDE BEHIND ALTAR
Great idea - except he’ll walk straight over to it and there I’ll be. With the real Perpetuum.
The door opens and I press myself quickly behind it. Darkness enters like cold night wind through a hole in the roof. It is the Figure, moving as fast as only he can.
He wastes no time and goes straight to the altar. It’s all I can do to keep quiet while I’m watching. He picks it up - for a moment I think the trap has failed, but then I understand that Covalt has built it better than that: delaying the sting to make certain of getting the victim.
There’s a crack as the needle springs out. The Figure stops still. That’s it, I’m thinking, I’ve got him. I’ve got him!
> WATCH FIGURE
I’m frozen to the spot as, slowly, the Figure puts down the decoy. He pulls the needle curiously from his arm. From the tilt of his hood I can see he’s regarding it - firstly curiously, then with anger.
He is completely unaffected. It seems the Figure can run and jump and climb, and can’t be hurt at all. He’s perfect.
In a single movement like a cat with a rabbit he tears the decoy apart. Guts and gears spill everywhere. The Figure picks one up, turns it over - then dashes away.
At least I’ve scared him, I think. But of course, I haven’t. Covalt made the decoy well, but he made it in a hurry, using whatever parts he could find. Parts that still bear his stamp. And his name.
A moment later, I’ve got the Perpetuum under one arm and I’m racing out the door.
Chapter 12: Midnight
Please press SPACE to continue.
quote:Chapter 12: Midnight -- Clock Shop
If I’ve ever run so fast I can’t remember when. My legs are moving like the four-tooth that drives the millisecond hand. Empty streets blur beneath my feet. The silent city streets are empty except for the sound of my breathing - and the shadow of the Figure, disappearing round every corner, slipping into the gloom of every alley way, ahead at every turn moving as fast as nightfall.
And I know I can’t catch up with him. I’m tiring, getting slower, winding down...
And then the bells ring out for midnight. All over the city and all at once. A hundred voices - screeching bells, low bells that grumble the way Cook does, beautiful bells, angry bells - and all are shouting one thing: faster, Wren, faster. However fast your clock ticks, tick faster.
And with the City behind me I can. Not winding down: breaking every Law, I’m winding up, soaking energy in. By the ninth chime I’m at the top of Escapement Street. By the tenth I’m outside Covalt’s shop. The plate glass window is shattered. I dart inside.
Clock Shop
The main room of the clock shop has been turned upside down, almost literally. There is nothing but wreckage. The bedroom door is shattered.
> EXAMINE WRECKAGE
The shop is reduced to rubble. No sign of Covalt though - no arms or legs sticking out.
The eleventh chime barely covers an inhuman scream coming through the door to the south.
> SOUTH
Bedroom
The skylight is broken. The bed is in pieces. One wall is half-rubble, and that’s where Covalt is, pinned in place by a shadow. The Figure, leaning over him, with murderous intent.
I can feel my lucky clock key, cold against my chest. No-one to save you now, Wren. No clockwork making it easy for you.
The awful screaming is coming from Covalt’s ravens. They’re in their cage, tearing against it, trying to get themselves free!
The Figure seems taller again in the darkness. One gloved hand holds Covalt by the neck, a little way off the ground. “Give me the Perpetuum,” he hisses. “Be assured, I will kill you for it!”
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Mar 5, 2018 03:46
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- TheDavies
- Mar 27, 2010
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OPEN CAGE
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Mar 5, 2018 05:17
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- idonotlikepeas
- May 29, 2010
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This reasoning is possible for forums user idonotlikepeas!
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A bit late, but: the Head here is a real historical reference. (Well, a reference to a real story.)
The story goes that a monk named Roger Bacon built a brazen mechanical head in the 13th century out of clockwork, or magic, or both. It was said that the head would advise him on what to do. One day, he had his servant Miles watch the head while he slept. It said "Time is", and he did nothing. It then proceeded to say "Time was", and the servant still did nothing instead of waking up Bacon. Then it said, "Time's past" and fell to the ground, shattering itself to pieces. Bacon was never able to recreate it (which is super convenient for storytellers).
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Mar 6, 2018 01:26
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- CaptainCaveman
- Apr 16, 2005
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Always searching for North.
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Well that's pretty interesting, I completely missed that reference.
quote:> OPEN CAGE
I throw the latch on the cage and the birds explode out, filling the room with gigantic black wings. If the Figure is a shadow then these creatures are the night itself, and they’re too fast for him to catch! One keeps him busy, flailing his arms, while the other goes for his hood pulling it back.
Covalt gasps. So do I. The Figure’s head is not a head at all, but a moulding of brass like the one in the crypt, held by a thin rod from shoulders of steel.
“You’re an automaton!” Covalt cries. “I didn’t know it were possible...”
The Figure is still too busy fighting off the birds to reply. That’s when I see it: a dark crack in the back of its neck. The winding slot, where his key must go. No wonder it always wore that hood.
Covalt is struggling, but I can see the fight coming back into his eyes. The Figure is clockwork, and Covalt knows about clockwork...
> EXAMINE CRACK
A weak point in every device. A way straight in to the heart of the clockwork. The imperfection needed to jam a perfect mechanism...
“You’re a machine,” Covalt growls. “Just some two-bit machine run amok with gremlins in your gears.”
The Figure’s voice is impassive, just as it always has been. “Better a machine than a feeble man.”
But Covalt grins, and the sight makes my heart soar with pride. “Machines are fine,” he says. “Till they need repairing. That’s when they come to me. When someone’s jammed something in their winding slot and snapped their spring.”
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Mar 6, 2018 01:36
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- idonotlikepeas
- May 29, 2010
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This reasoning is possible for forums user idonotlikepeas!
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Put Chekhov's Lucky Clock Key in the crack?
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Mar 6, 2018 02:12
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- CaptainCaveman
- Apr 16, 2005
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Always searching for North.
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quote:> PUT KEY IN SLOT
The winding slot on the Figure’s neck is a thumb-width big. A tiny target, like fitting a tweezer’s head into the cracks of a mesh-system. But precision is what clockwork’s all about. I’m a novice. I’m trained. And I know that the winding slot goes all the way in. Right into the Figure’s clockwork soul.
I grab the key from around my neck and plunge it in. The Figure doesn’t notice - it can’t feel! - until I start to turn.
The spring begins to coil. The Figure jerks up, releasing Covalt, who falls back to the floor. It struggles to turn, trying to make a grab for me, but the ravens on either side are battering it back. I only need another turn or two. The spring inside the neck is getting almost impossible to move and then...
CRACK!
I can hear the spring spinning off inside the Figure’s chest. Hear the awful noise as it catches in a mechanism deep inside. I quickly make the sign of the Winding Key as the Figure crumples: first one leg, then the other. The floor shakes as it falls.
The last of its energy is enough to look up at me. “You,” it hisses through lips that don’t move as it speaks. Its voice sounds almost sad. “You know not what you do.”
And then, silence. The ravens settle, one on each of Covalt’s shoulders. The old man looks exhausted, his face the colour of bruised tomatoes.
> EXAMINE FIGURE
“That’s the most incredible piece of clockwork I ever saw,” he says slowly, furiously, his eyes glowing with anger. “And you just destroyed it.”
Can Covalt really be angry that I...
“That was well done, young Wren.” He coughs. “But I tell you, when I build something like that metal man, I’m going to give him an off-switch. Stupid to have to break such a fine machine. Whoever built that... a genius.” He strokes his beard, and gets to his feet - taking the Perpetuum from me as he does so. He’s looking back to normal already: a sour-faced moody old man. “A genius, and an idiot, too.”
“But who was it?” I demand. “Who built it?”
“That’s the question,” Covalt answers, gravely. “For every spring that’s wound on this Earth, there’s a human hand turning the key. No divine mechanics down here. We may be free of this thing -” and he lands a kick squarely in the still automaton’s chest - “but someone out there was behind it. Someone planning an army and after the Perpetuum.”
Covalt grunts, and scratches his chest with a thick finger. He seems almost to be falling asleep.
“There’s clockwork, Wren,” he says. “But then again, there’s clockmakers.”
xyzzy
And, sadly, there is the end. This was originally supposed to be part of a trilogy, but only the first game ever came out. I'd guess that Wren's family was going to somehow be involved with making the automaton (given that her key fit the keyhole on the neck), but I don't think anything about the planned story's ever been released.
It's not a perfect game, but I really like the setting and the worldfeel.
There's an interesting article/not-quite-review at https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/117293/Analysis_Story_In_The_Shadow_in_the_Cathedral.php
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Mar 6, 2018 02:59
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May 5, 2024 03:22
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- idonotlikepeas
- May 29, 2010
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This reasoning is possible for forums user idonotlikepeas!
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Yeah, that is some really interesting worldbuilding there. Oh, well.
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Mar 6, 2018 04:17
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Feb 11, 2018 10:17
