Windows CE - The Ultimate Companion/ROMMAN_CE.iso/Files/Games/Frotz CE Games/SHERBET.Z5

Z-code for Z-machine | 1996-12-18 | 175KB | 1,573 lines

Resident data ends at 63d4, program starts at 63d4, file ends at 2a874

Starting analysis pass at address 63d4

End of analysis pass, low address = 63d4, high address = 200f4


[Start of text]

S001: "The Meteor, the Stone and a Long Glass of Sherbet"
S002: "
The Interactive Memoirs of a Diplomat
Copyright (c) 1996 by Angela M. Horns
Winning entry in the 1996 Interactive Fiction Competition
(Please type "help" if you would like instructions.)
"
S003: "961216"
S004: "6/3"
S005: "a"
S006: "---"
S007: "the"
S008: "The "
S009: "the "
S010: "a "
S011: "The "
S012: "the "
S013: "an "
S014: "The "
S015: "the "
S016: "some "
S017: "The "
S018: "the "
S019: "some "
S020: "N = next subject"
S021: "P = previous"
S022: "  Q = resume game"
S023: "Q = previous menu"
S024: "RETURN = read subject"
S025: "Score: "
S026: "Moves: "
S027: "Time: "
S028: "You can't go that way."
S029: "your former self"
S030: "yourself"
S031: "Darkness"
S032: "those things"
S033: "that"
S034: " or "
S035: "nothing"
S036: " is"
S037: " are"
S038: "is "
S039: "are "
S040: "the "
S041: " and "
S042: "whom "
S043: "which "
S044: "ancient treasures"
S045: "A broad-brimmed light summer hat, ideal for shading your face from the
setting sun."
S046: "One thing about your home, the Duchy: you may not be a very powerful
realm, but you certainly are fine inventors and craftsmen. Take this ten-inch
brass "telescope", for example. Distant objects that you look at through the
telescope actually seem closer to you!"
S047: "The ancient paved road stretches for miles to the south, turning very
slowly to the northeast along a mossy stone wall. From up here on your
elephant's wickerwork basket, you're just level with the branches of the old
Imperial hunting woods inside the wall.

Having been stuck in this cushioned basket with the Lady Amilia every day for a
fortnight, you're just desperate to get away."
S048: "You can see right down to the end of the train, where the refreshments
are carried."
S049: "You are impressed by the long, organised procession of carts and
elephants, the logistics of it all. Servants and troops run here and there,
busy, busy, busy. And for what? Why, to waste your time and to stop you from
discovering anything, that's what."
S050: "From this view, it's all too clear that although the soldiers wear fine
plumed helmets and ceremonial breast-plate, they are in fact armed to the
teeth. In their eyes is a vigilance that you aren't sure you care for."
S051: "The soldiers wear fine, blue-plumed helmets, and march easily ahead of
the procession, their breast-plates gleaming in the sunset."
S052: "your"
S053: "The magnificent grey beast is wrinkled and has a wise look (but then,
after an entire day of Amilia's conversation, your average potato would have a
wise look). His two great ears flap a little up at the front sides of the
basket, his trunk curls and pokes at the air."
S054: "your elephant's"
S055: "your elephant's"
S056: "The elephant's ears have to be so big to radiate heat away, a big issue
on a day as hot as this one was."
S057: "the scandal with the new Lord Chamberlain"
S058: "that funny story concerning Lady Martia"
S059: "the rumour about the Empire's best racing donkey"
S060: "about my first school"
S061: "how I couldn't get a single pair of shoes to fit, last week"
S062: "the legend about how I'm really related to the old Flathead family"
S063: "the family story about Lady Priscilla's old christening gown"
S064: "anything about my poodle, Bozzie"
S065: "about my Daddy's new yacht, which nearly sunk"
S066: "how the harbour was all full up last week"
S067: "all about the last Court dance, what a disaster that was"
S068: "of my prize for dancing the quadrille"
S069: "how my whole dance card was filled up with gentlemen last month"
S070: "my mother's recipe for rhubarb pudding"
S071: "about the State banquet when we entertained all the generals"
S072: "how my hair goes all frizzy and I can't get it to settle down"
S073: "my fiance Roderick's brilliant career"
S074: "about the lock I'm keeping from my fiance Roderick's hair"
S075: "how my fiance Roderick proposed to me"
S076: "the story about why the Cobblingay family aren't welcome in polite
society any more"
S077: "about those scandalous goings-on at the Royal Farm"
S078: "about the bazaar I opened last week, with some big silver scissors"
S079: "all about the Admiral's Croquet Tournament and how I was crowned Queen
of it"
S080: "splendid young man"
S081: "wonderful experience for a young girl"
S082: "surprise it was too, I can tell you"
S083: "dreadful shame, all things considered"
S084: "pity, don't you agree"
S085: "time as was never seen again"
S086: "terribly exciting moment for everybody"
S087: "recent scandal, too"
S088: "charming face, that's what I say"
S089: "disappointment for all concerned, quite honestly"
S090: "foolish thing to do, even if he was a Guardsman"
S091: "horrid way to spend a Wednesday in the season"
S092: "time we had of it, I laughed fit to burst"
S093: "doesn't it just go to show"
S094: "which only means one thing"
S095: "just as my Mother always warned me"
S096: "they say problems come in threes"
S097: "a nod's as good as a wink, after all"
S098: "I expect somebody was sorry, really"
S099: "and there was really no need for all that jealousy"
S100: "what a sorry state we were in"
S101: "the best night out a girl ever had"
S102: ""Shoo!" says Amilia to the bird, fruitlessly."
S103: ""Go away!" Amilia tries to tell the bird."
S104: "Amilia bats her hands around, but doesn't discourage the bird."
S105: "No matter what Amilia tries, the bird continues to hover."
S106: "Amilia hisses at the bird, without effect."
S107: "The bird continues to win your undying sympathy as Amilia flutters her
arms at it."
S108: "the"
S109: "Amilia is wearing a simply fatuous hat, a light summer shade which would
look quite presentable if it weren't for the waxwork grapes, apples, plums,
damsons and so on around the brim."
S110: "Enormously detailed with the useless and irrelevant, the Empress gave it
to you hoping you'd waste time studying it in detail. You have vowed never to
do so, but it's still handy for passing the odd dull moment by looking up some
specific local feature."
S111: "a glass of"
S112: "An effervescent fruit syrup, much prized in these lands."
S113: "As the road passes around the corner of the woods and turns east, it
also passes a customs post. You're ten feet up, and the tasseled pennant flag
flutters down from the pole to curl around the basket in the light breeze."
S114: "The pennant of the Northland Empire."
S115: "The ancient highway stretches east as far as the eye can see, running
parallel with the mossy stone wall enclosing the hunting woods to the south.
The wall appears unbroken. To the north, vast meadowlands sweep into a lush,
cultivated valley."
S116: "The culvert bridge was only about six foot high at its tallest; it's
just an outlet under the wall of the woods, to allow a stream to escape."
S117: "The stream under the culvert flows south to north, though it's little
more than a trickle after this long hot summer.

Something definitely bothered you about this water flow... finally, in
close-up, you can see what. The stream is flowing uphill."
S118: "A bird seems to be darting about in the tree-tops, vaguely following the
procession."
S119: "Although you only get one clear glimpse of the bird, its distinctive
speckled green and blue feathers must make it one of the legendary Birds of
Paradise."
S120: "The Bird of Paradise is still worrying away at Amilia's hat, so for once
your tour guide has her eyes off you."
S121: "Somehow, though, Amilia also manages to nudge your arm so that you can't
get a clear look at the woods."
S122: "Watling Street extends to the horizon: oh, another two hours at least."
S123: "The only exit is east."
S124: "An endless line of dignified men retiring to bed and sleeping."
S125: "The room is almost filled with a four-poster bed, caparisoned gaudily as
a warhorse."
S126: "An exquisite antiquity."
S127: "A jade figurine nestles in an alcove, beneath a painting of unparalleled
beauty."
S128: "It depicts a wide cavern with a polished stone ledge on one shore of a
subterranean lake, dimly lit from above and ringed in with rock faces."
S129: "The design of a topiary garden, whose bushes and shaped hedges depict a
dragon, a unicorn, a great serpent and a huge misshapen dog. It is signed
"Leblank"."
S130: "Stairs descend to the ground floor, and one doorway leads west, into
your bedroom."
S131: "The landing turns from a staircase down into a doorway west, and that's
all."
S132: "You can't make out much from here."
S133: "The glow seems to come from some kind of dark turret or chimney raised
up on a rocky mound in the centre of the woods. You can't imagine what could
possibly be causing it, but have a hunch that something must be happening
below."
S134: "You are in the kitchen of the white-painted Customs House. The table
here looks as if it hasn't been used for the preparation of food in years. A
passage leads to the west and a dark staircase can be seen leading upward.
There is a fine, modern charcoal-stove and to the east, the front door is
closed."
S135: "The black stove being installed by a team of loafing workmen."
S136: "The stairs lead back up, and there's a doorway west."
S137: "As secure as you could ever hope for."
S138: "There's a hook in the ceiling."
S139: "A joint of cured ham hangs from a hook in the ceiling."
S140: "Like a stylish picnic-basket."
S141: "an"
S142: "a"
S143: "A finely-worked filigree gold and jewelled scarab."
S144: "You are in a stately and well-aged living room. There is a doorway to
the east, leading back into the kitchen, a trophy case, and a large oriental
rug in the center of the room."
S145: "The only exit seems to be the Kitchen, to the east."
S146: "The trophy case being stocked and restocked with riches, which are then
auctioned off over the centuries."
S147: "According to a plaque, it's a genuine early Empire trophy case, a real
antique. At that time, it was fashionable to collect precious items and display
them in one's own home, in just such a case."
S148: "A brass lantern rests on top of the trophy case."
S149: "your"
S150: "You are very relieved to see that your Ambassador's trunk is still here,
just where you left it last night."
S151: "This little trunk (one foot by one foot by six inches) is an immaculate
example of Duchy craftsmanship at its finest. The latch mechanism is so
intricate that only its owner can open it. Turning out fine products like this
is the very lifeblood of your native land.

So why do you keep suspecting that somebody has opened and searched it? Surely
only a wizard could have done so, and the days of the wizards are long gone,
back even before the foundation of the Old Underground Empire! Unless... the
rumours are true. Has magic been rediscovered here?

You'd better find out, because in a world of magic no-one's going to want
mechanisms like this any more."
S152: "your"
S153: ""To whom it may concern... granted plenipotentiary powers
notwithstanding... most excellent and serene Highness..." and so on. The froth
which covers any diplomat's life."
S154: "The stove is pulled clear of the fireplace, revealing the original
chimney, which leads down into darkness."
S155: "the"
S156: "enchanted arrows"
S157: "the"
S158: "the note from the parchment book"
S159: "the "destruction order""
S160: "At the foot of the chimney are low and grimy cellars, built of decaying
brickwork and seemingly unused for years. There are no bottles, or crates,
unless they're stored through the passage to the south."
S161: "There are no other obvious exits, only south or back up the chimney."
S162: "This is a low junction among cavities in the foundation stones of the
ancient Watling Street, which must run just overhead."
S163: "The junction's between north, south and northwest passages."
S164: "Toiling slaves cutting and facing the lintel-stone. It's an outdoor
scene, in a pit dug well into the earth."
S165: "A north-south passage narrows considerably and descends to the south
under a long lintel-stone; a side passage, northwest, is much more earthy."
S166: "This is a red-brown earthy bole, a cavity in hardened soil with but a
single crawl leading out to the southeast. The ground is covered with autumn
leaves, russet and variegated."
S167: "Deranged, kaleidoscopic visions of great force and power, signifying
nothing."
S168: "The only passage out of this earthy bole is southeast."
S169: "The leaves have the weight of many autumns, many winds, in their
delicate hue."
S170: "In the centre is a bubbling pool of spring water, glinting with shades
and flickers of green phosphoresence."
S171: "A narrow passage, running north to south under solid sandstone blocks
which must make up the base of the wall. Further south, the passage runs onto
what seems to be a ledge, and you have a sense of space opening up from below.

The Old Underground Empire awaits!"
S172: "Toiling slaves cutting and facing the lintel-stone. It's an outdoor
scene, in a pit dug well into the earth."
S173: "It has a lean and hungry look."
S174: "The ladder's no longer in place."
S175: "The ladder's no longer in place."
S176: "an"
S177: "This is a slate-littered shelf high up at the northwest eaves of a dark,
vaulted cave, from which a meadow-fresh breeze blows. The ledge broadens down a
slab "staircase" to the east but wastes away into a tight squeeze southwest.
Natural passages extend like tendrils into the rock all around this cavern, but
only one is accessible from here, back north under the lintel."
S178: "A fascinating view of the cedar's progress from seedling down to
flourishing blossom."
S179: "The only obvious ways to proceed from here are north or along the ledge,
either down to the east or into the tight squeeze to the southwest."
S180: "There seems to be a crude wooden house built into it halfway down."
S181: "A stream winds its way across the pebbly cave floor, pooling to a modest
lake."
S182: "Just where the shelf flattens at the foot of rocky steps (climbing
westward), a square-cut doorway has been hewn into the north wall. The ledge,
which begins to curve southeast, is at its broadest here, yet your feeling of
vertigo hardly abates."
S183: "A very ancient time, when the tree has not grown: the doorway is being
cut with enervating slowness."
S184: "You can see no way down from here."
S185: "This long parapet thins to nothing further on, appearing to lead nowhere
after all: the nearest other ledge being 50 feet vertically below."
S186: "The tree, sprouting confidentally downwards."
S187: "The ledge runs northwest (if anything, more north than west)."
S188: "An almost inaccessible side-chamber, which leads only a little way
northeast, giving you the feeling of being suspended in midair halfway up the
cedar cavern. It would make a splendid eyrie, but thankfully there is no sign
of eagles."
S189: "Cruelly, the tight cave comes to what every adventurer dreads: a dead
end, leaving nothing for it but to go back southwest."
S190: "An ingot of silver was, presumably, quite safely stored here up to now."
S191: "The ingot is marked in ancient runes with the word: "TOGNI". No,
actually: you were looking at it back to front."
S192: "It looks as if this low passage from the northeast peters out into a
dead end not far west, but a muddy slide-passage descends to the south."
S193: "The increasingly earthy rock blocks your way. The only viable routes are
west, south and northeast."
S194: "A flat curved stick, but one that has been well-crafted to some end."
S195: "A flat stick, curved around a right angle, rests on the ground here."
S196: "The slide is muddy and steep but looks navigable."
S197: "An earthy rockfall, soaked through with water into wet clay, makes this
passage lose all coherence. A kind of chimney-like crack leads upward, and the
crawl eases slightly to the east."
S198: "Seas of garbage rain down through the crack onto the mound, rapidly
decomposing or washing away so that the process fights itself to a standstill."
S199: "The muddy earth is too tight."
S200: "The chimney-crack becomes just too tight for you, and you sag back down,
muddier and wiser."
S201: "Roughly underneath the chimney-crack is a mound of garbage, dropped in
from above. Potato-peel, broken tools and so on seem to make up the bulk of
it."
S202: "This is only half a cave; the eastern half, to be exact. It's a dark
place full of crevices (you would have missed the slide passage back north if
you hadn't already known about it); chief among them a distinctive triangular
cavity, 1 foot or so high, and blocked by a rough quartz window."
S203: "The wall being masoned, but quite recently, by Northlands soldiers
working on the other side."
S204: "Though the cave undoubtedly extends west, the wall means you are unable
to follow it."
S205: "The quartz window in the east wall is only 1 foot high, in addition to
being apparently unbreakable."
S206: "Thanks to the wall, the slide passage is the only way out."
S207: "What divides this cave is a solid, floor-to-ceiling stone wall running
north to south, masoned with mortar and seemingly recent. You feel quite
certain that the cave continues."
S208: "The remains of a pot perhaps two feet across and two thousand years old.
(Held up to the light, it has a faint glint from having being baked with
mica.)"
S209: "A shard of pottery glints slightly in the mud floor."
S210: "The window itself, perhaps, was the work of primitive cave dwellers long
ago. Whoever they were, they seem to have cut some kind of cavity to the east,
behind the window."
S211: "Even in your vision, the Adventurer stalks, untired and yet
unsatisfied."
S212: "The pale corridor turns a right-angle from south to east."
S213: "This is a pale corridor filled with a cold, pearly light, ranging from
near-darkness at the southern end to a bright glow from the east."
S214: "You are in the almost ghostly presence of a gaunt, long-haired man, an
Adventurer who looks as if he has just stepped out of a weaving of a scene from
the old Empire."
S215: "If legends may be believed, although basically trustworthy he would do
almost anything for treasure."
S216: "The chamber lies south, the corridor back west."
S217: "A wily gentleman sighs and makes another disconsolate mark on a curious
colour-chart."
S218: "The corridor funnels out into a chamber, turning once again to the
south. Though smoother, the walls become hung with cobwebs and you have a sense
of disturbing centuries of quiet."
S219: "An ancient coffer, a chest of precious or personal papers, rests to one
side."
S220: "an"
S221: "Scratchy handwriting adorns this text, and the writing's in a dialect
almost unrecognisable today. But, like any diplomat worth his salt, you've a
way with languages: it writes of a way to tap the Philosopher's Stone, a source
of Riches by Transmutation, but which is only workable fairly near the Stone
itself... A sketch diagram suggests that the author was familiar with the route
back up to the Customs House, and may even have lived there."
S222: "This chart, very ancient though it is, gives the impression of being
work in progress rather than a finished diagram, in that different patches seem
to have been drawn in at different times. It consists of colours and symbols
rather than words:

  Red-black --> ? --> ? -->

  Copper --> Silver-white --> Bright yellow -->

  Black --> Dull silver --> Dull grey -->

  Vivid green --> Skull symbol -->

  Flame symbol --> Yellow -->

  Chalky white --> Dark silver -->"
S223: "The Adventurer was guarding the only entrance."
S224: "A wily gentleman casts a dazzling spell onto an ingot of silver, and it
becomes gold! He is enriched, but unsurprised."
S225: "The serene white illumination comes as a shock to your eyes after
following dim lamplight for so long, but this chamber is patient while you
blink; a circular room with smooth walls and concentric steps down to a shallow
well."
S226: "A yard across and a yard high, it could be any rock from any rocky
field."
S227: "The Stone itself is resting in the well: an obelisk whose irregular
facets contrast so sharply with the perfect roundness of the walls that it
almost seems alive."
S228: "A spotless scroll rests on the Stone, as immaculate as the day it was
inscribed, yet giving an impression of unfathomable maturity."
S229: "You are perched inside the dense, broad first branches down from the
cedar's roots, which splay across the rocky ceiling like buttresses on a
perpendicular gothic column. Through the dappled green cover, you can just make
out the long ledge, but it's too far up to jump across."
S230: "The trunk becomes too smooth up near the roots."
S231: "Although branches radiate in all compass directions, your first
impression is that none of them lead anywhere in particular. Certainly this one
doesn't."
S232: "The western branch expires as rapidly as the others, but you do notice
something interesting: a small cavity in the distant western face of the cave,
perhaps 1 foot across, in a distinctive triangular shape."
S233: "Confused images of furious verdant growth."
S234: "Easier said than (safely) done."
S235: "The ledge looks much as you remember it. From here, however, you can see
a cave opening below the southeastern end of the ledge, concealed from above by
the overhang. But it's a very long way from here, and you can't see anything
inside."
S236: "A tree-house has been constructed here, though it's little more than a
wooden lean-to on a log platform."
S237: "The angle is wrong, and you can't see what's within from here."
S238: "A short-bow, reasonably accurate across short distances though little
good for rapid fire. Well-balanced, if far from being state of the art."
S239: "an"
S240: "arrows"
S241: "Inside the wooden lean-to is a surprising illusion of space and comfort,
which you'd never guess is perched in an upside-down cedar. There are no
windows, but finely built wooden chairs suggest some kind of meeting-place."
S242: "An old man rocks back and forth in a chair, puffing smoke rings from a
long briar pipe."
S243: "There's nowhere to go but back out."
S244: "A golden fir-cone rolls about on one of the chairs."
S245: "Only an inch across, but beautiful and valuable."
S246: "The cedar's foliage thins out and this is the lowest point at which the
trunk will bear your weight."
S247: "The branches hardly radiate outward at all down here."
S248: "The tree isn't hollow."
S249: "Confused images of furious verdant growth."
S250: "An expanse of shingle and boulders sloping haphazardly across an
irregularly-shaped floor a hundred feet across, only smoothed out at its centre
by a stream which pools just to the north. A furrow in the rocky walls leads
southwest, alongside a scree-fall which lies roughly south; while the cave
narrows into a canyon to the east."
S251: "The cave wall is impenetrable in that direction."
S252: "But which way out?"
S253: "This is the base of the cave."
S254: "That would be straight into the pool. Try walking around it."
S255: "The cedar grows explosively down towards you, from a sapling to the
mighty tree of today."
S256: "The furrow has been burrowed and extended by primitive mine workings,
hewn chiefly by hand or at best stone tools. But the seam has been exhausted,
and the striations in the rock scraped clean of ore."
S257: "The furrow is a dead-end, opening out only to northeast."
S258: "The scree mound to the east is too steep to climb up from this side."
S259: "You see the painfully slow carving-out of the seam, by miners centuries
gone; and the anguish on their faces as the ore runs out, never to be found
again."
S260: "What looks like a small drum lies discarded here."
S261: "It resembles a tambourine without chimes. Some kind of coarse gauze is
stretched taut along the bottom of a wooden drum-frame."
S262: "The cave floor closes off into an enclosed stream-bed here, forcing you
into a stoop."
S263: "Further east, the cave roof descends until it touches the stream
water-level."
S264: "Terribly slowly, the stream erodes this channel into existence."
S265: "The cave is tighter here, and you can't squeeze any further in."
S266: "You can scale the scree no further."
S267: "That would be into the cave wall."
S268: "That would be into the cave wall."
S269: "The scree fall would be a desperate scramble down in any direction but
north."
S270: "The scree slope being built, by teams of slaves, under an overseer
terrified that the doorway would ever be revealed again, but in a desperate
hurry... constantly glancing over his shoulder at the corridor behind him...
and the slope being completed, and his final act laying the black scroll at its
apex, to stand warning down all time."
S271: "A black scroll, like a roll of remembrance, is curled around the top few
feet of scree."
S272: "The avalanche has cleared away part of the scree, leaving open behind it
a crudely arched doorway into the southern cave wall. Above the doorway, a
skull and crossbones has been carved."
S273: "An upward slope from the arched doorway to north, this is an irregular
burrow wriggled out of soft earth. Strange tracks have been dragged, making
wavy lines which meet at the distant top, where the burrow opens out."
S274: "You see the tunnel wearily burrowed out by the exhausted thorax of...
some huge but dimly-seen creature."
S275: "Hollowed out like a wasp's nest in a rotten apple, this almost-sealed
den can only be one thing."
S276: "A magnificent hornet-creature, in its death-throes, laying one final
egg."
S277: "This spherical chamber is sealed on all sides but for the burrow."
S278: "All around you is the desiccated body of the once-magnificent creature,
curled up, half-hornet, half-prawn. It looks as if it would fall to dust if you
so much as looked at it."
S279: "A glistening, pulsing egg, rocks back and forth erratically. It seems
close to hatching! A dull, humid heat radiates out from it, and you sense
effort and anger."
S280: "The stream's pool washes up almost to your feet, close to the
forbiddingly craggy and overhung northern wall of the cave, but the water does
leave room for a broad path around the periphery; and this is its northern
limb."
S281: "Green lilies proliferating in the depths of the pool."
S282: "That would be into the pool!"
S283: "It's bleak and unclimbable."
S284: "The sheer black rock blocks your way."
S285: "A single, graceful green water-lily plumes at the calm surface of the
pool."
S286: "Smothered in a suffocating red haze, half-conscious at best, your
position seems hopeless. The lily's membrane is tough as crocodile-skin and
beyond it is perhaps a thousand feet of water? The pressure seals you in as
well as any rockfall could. Indeed, only the pressure makes it possible at all
for one Ambassador and one giant hatched lizard to share a space barely six
feet in diameter."
S287: "A highly disconcerting montage of plant and animal life being digested
wholesale."
S288: "To say that you can't go that way seems an understatement."
S289: "the"
S290: "A sleek, beautiful marvel, half-insect, half-reptile. Its gauzy wings
are only undeveloped stubs and a little amniotic fluid still coats them; but
its sting, painted like a brimstone butterfly, looks deadly already."
S291: "The creature wriggles, dripping a saliva that burns to the touch, but
seems lapsed back into embryonic sleep."
S292: "
The hornet"
S293: "
The creature"
S294: "
The hatchling"
S295: "perhaps dreaming."
S296: "stirring."
S297: "talons rustling."
S298: "It certainly can't fly just yet."
S299: "The tip slightly exudes some kind of poison."
S300: "From the natural light, dim and far above, you'd guess this cave was
distinctly higher up than the cedar-cavern floor. A natural limestone cavity,
beautiful and thankfully unused, it's a chance to rest and think. A single
winding path leads vaguely north."
S301: "There are crevices everywhere, but that one peters out."
S302: "Gradual erosion of stone, moulding a cave."
S303: "A burnished lantern lies discarded in the sand."
S304: "Dead leaves float out on the water, but of the hornet there is no
trace."
S305: "A single broad leaf has washed up beside you."
S306: "One broad leaf, though, has washed up beside you."
S307: "This is only half a cave; the western half, to be exact. It's a dark
place full of crevices (you would have missed the stony passage back south if
you hadn't already known about it). Boxes, bottles and crates are stored here,
and to judge from scrape-marks are used by whoever lives through the broad
passage northwest."
S308: "Soldiers, quite recently, masoning the wall; and then an endless
succession of crates: brought in, taken out."
S309: "Though the cave undoubtedly extends east, the wall means you are unable
to follow it."
S310: "The stores piled up here are heavy and there's quite a supply, covering
half the wall: enough for a dozen men to last out for weeks."
S311: "The stub of a stock-keeper's note lies forgotten beside the stores."
S312: "Just the torn end of a tally-sheet of some kind:

    2585
   10163
   -----
Make of that what you will!"
S313: "You see nothing special about the secret door, if that isn't a
contradiction in terms."
S314: "It may be possible to go that way from further around the wheel."
S315: "The wheel corridor is flat level."
S316: "The wheel corridor is flat level."
S317: "The Wheel corridor being magically cut, by the Lady Amilia, holding a
white book in one hand and leading an old man by the other."
S318: "A circular corridor-cave, like a cartwheel's rim and unmistakably
artificial. Yet no mason of the Duchy could cut so smooth a wall! The arc hoops
around northeast and northwest, while a broad passage runs southeast back to
the stores."
S319: "A circular corridor-cave, like a cartwheel's rim and unmistakably
artificial. The arc hoops around northwest and southwest."
S320: "A white scroll, in pristine condition, rests in a niche."
S321: "A circular corridor-cave, like a cartwheel's rim and unmistakably
artificial. The arc hoops around northeast and southeast.

Through a curious arched entranceway east is the workshop at the hub of the
great wheel."
S322: "The meteor burning its fiery way into the hillock above and coming to
rest, at the foot of an irregular smoking pit, just here."
S323: "The chimney looks unclimbable, and first impressions turn out to be
quite right -- it is."
S324: "A clear funnel chimney rises vertically up, like a glass-blower's vent
or something from a furnace, lined with smooth-curving brick."
S325: "You've no idea what features to look for in a meteor. Truth to tell, it
could be any large metallic rock and you'd be hard put to tell the difference.
But the shaft above gives it away."
S326: "Beneath the chimney is a huge, irregular, metallic lodestone, presumably
a meteor fallen to earth.

A thick, viscous green beam of magical light reflects from the meteor through a
right-angle: straight upward through the chimney, to a level path east through
the archway."
S327: "Beneath the chimney is the chalk formation which the meteor has become,
and into which the beam of magical light dissipates harmlessly."
S328: "The chalk looks purer than the cliffs around the Duchy, and is
unleavened with sea-shells."
S329: "A circular corridor-cave, like a cartwheel's rim and unmistakably
artificial. The arc hoops around southwest and southeast."
S330: "On the northern wall is a wooden rack, of the kind used by bakers to
cool cakes, or painters to dry watercolours."
S331: "an"
S332: "unwritten vellum scroll"
S333: "unwritten vellum scrolls"
S334: "The presence everywhere of tools and instruments makes this place rather
homely to a Duchy-born man like yourself: it's like a smithy, but of the
colours of light, not the alloys of metal."
S335: "Blinding flashes of green light."
S336: "The ceiling is solid."
S337: "The only way in or out is through the arched entrance."
S338: "the"
S339: "It seems to be possible to put something into it."
S340: "An old man you recognise as the great Clotspinner lies on a crude wooden
cot, apparently in a deep sleep or coma."
S341: "One of the few wise men to be widely known across the continent, he is
Clotspinner, renowned for his optical experiments. They've revolutionised the
practice of lense-making in the Duchy, but the Empress was far less impressed
with such footling activities. Nothing has been known of him since his
"resignation" from the Imperial Academy -- until now, that is."
S342: "Clotspinner wanders the workshop pensively, looking over the equipment."
S343: "Clotspinner glares at you, standing by his cot."
S344: "Clotspinner wanders the workshop, with a look of low cunning on his
face."
S345: "On the floor beneath Clotspinner's outstretched hand are the fragments
of a broken glass prism, smashed by the fall. It's a tableau like a narrative
painting: you feel a curious urge to disturb nothing."
S346: "newly-written scroll"
S347: "A smooth, recent tunnel rises up to natural light."
S348: "lump of dough"
S349: "squirrel"
S350: "picket-fence"
S351: "stew"
S352: "blackberry"
S353: "A half-cave, half-overhang among the mossy damp rocks of the central
hillock in the hunting woods. It's a clear night, and a fresh cold breeze blows
across your face.

The tunnel runs downward, back into the wheel complex. But escape with your
life is what matters now!"
S354: "The rockface is in the way. The copse to the north is the only obvious
way to proceed."
S355: "The hillock isn't climbable from here, owing to the overhang."
S356: "An endless succession of the seasons, momentarily interrupted by small
rockfalls and lightning-strikes."
S357: "A break in the dense foliage, caused mainly by the shadow of the
rockface to the west, bathed by the unnatural light which fires over the
hillock. Trees are clustered in on all sides and there's no sign of the
boundary wall."
S358: "Amilia's hunting party bar that way!"
S359: "Amilia's hunting party bar that way!"
S360: "Amilia's hunting party bar that way!"
S361: "the terrifying"
S362: "Amilia stands here, akimbo."
S363: "Ravishing, if not ravaging."
S364: "Glossy coat, wet nose: you're a much better-looking dog than you ever
were a human, really. Perhaps a trifle vainer."
S365: "Running, running through the trackless woods, in search of the wall and
escape. Everywhere looks like everywhere else."
S366: "The brook runs confidently uphill, gushing up under the culvert, under
the wall to Watling Street. The pursuit seems to have been thrown off for the
moment."
S367: "The culvert runs north-south under the wall."
S368: "The meeting-point: where Watling Street crosses the culvert, through
which the brook still flows."
S369: "There's no sense running away by road - the Empire is too vast."
S370: "There's no sense running away by road - the Empire is too vast."
S371: "The wall's in the way."
S372: "The wall's in the way."
S373: "There's no real escape in that direction."
S374: "Agents of the Duchy, cloaked as all spies should be, huddle beside black
horses."
S375: "You do not recognise the agents, hardly surprisingly."
S376: "

     What kind of game is this?
     Walking from place to place
     Manipulating items
     Conversing with people
     Saving the game, making progress
     Features for experienced players
     Brief list of useful commands
     Fellow members of the Diplomatic Service
"
S377: "Instructions: How to play this game"
S378: "What kind of game is this?"
S379: "Walking from place to place"
S380: "Manipulating items"
S381: "Conversing with people"
S382: "Saving the game, making progress"
S383: "Features for experienced players"
S384: "Brief list of useful commands"
S385: "Fellow members of the Diplomatic Service"
S386: "

     The Northland Empire
     The City of Borealis
     The Old Underground Empire
     The Duchy
     Continental politics
"
S387: "Briefings: A diplomatic background"
S388: "The Northland Empire"
S389: "The City of Borealis"
S390: "The Old Underground Empire"
S391: "The Duchy"
S392: "Continental politics"
S393: "There's a two hour journey left, unless something happens."
S394: "It would have to be a drastic derailment."
S395: "The elephants are all roped together."
S396: "Indeed there is."
S397: "Did you notice some movement in the woods?"
S398: "Take a closer look at the glimpsed bird."
S399: "She will look things up for you, if you ask."
S400: "No, but..."
S401: "If only there were a way to distract her attention!"
S402: "It would have to be something as flighty as her."
S403: "You could do with a close-up view."
S404: "Look at it through the telescope."
S405: "That probably depends on what species it is."
S406: "Of course, you'd need to be an expert on the local species of birds."
S407: "Or at least to have a good book of local knowledge."
S408: "Look up "bird of paradise" in the guide book."
S409: "Try imitating its mating call."
S410: "Yes, but not while Amilia is watching."
S411: "It's possible to steer the elephant."
S412: "What part of the elephant can you reach from here?"
S413: "It's been such a hot day, and now a warm sleepy sunset."
S414: "If only you could cool him down a little..."
S415: "With something very cold, for instance."
S416: "

     Does the procession ever stop?
     Is there anything to see?
     Amilia has the guide book. I want it!
     Can I get rid of her?
     What is so odd about the culvert?
     Will the bird ever come down?
     Can I do anything with my elephant?
     My elephant has fallen asleep!
"
S417: "Hints: During the Procession"
S418: "Does the procession ever stop?"
S419: "Is there anything to see?"
S420: "Amilia has the guide book. I want it!"
S421: "Can I get rid of her?"
S422: "What is so odd about the culvert?"
S423: "Will the bird ever come down?"
S424: "Can I do anything with my elephant?"
S425: "My elephant has fallen asleep!"
S426: "He may go off duty eventually."
S427: "Perhaps, much later in the night, he'll be asleep."
S428: "It has been a very long and tiring day."
S429: "What are beds usually for?"
S430: "It's not important to the game, but you might be amused to know anyway."
S431: "They are scenes associated with the past of this building."
S432: "You might try playing Infocom's original Zork games."
S433: "The tapestry depicts the Topiary in the Zork II gardens."
S434: "You could do with a closer look."
S435: "Perhaps through the telescope, if you can find it again."
S436: "Not as a cookery device, but..."
S437: "...it does seem to be serving some purpose."
S438: "Doesn't it seem rather a new addition to this traditional kitchen?"
S439: "If it's not intended to be used, perhaps it's there to conceal
something."
S440: "It's been put there to block the old fireplace."
S441: "Can you move it?"
S442: "Much of it is delicious and may come in handy later."
S443: "One item, though, is designed to mislead the eye."
S444: "In that the thing it's on is far more important."
S445: "Yes, indeed it is useful, even though you can't reach it yourself."
S446: "Think about it in connection with something in the living room."
S447: "Something in your trunk."
S448: "Perhaps not. It's almost empty these days."
S449: "You could make use of your rope."
S450: "It would have to be well anchored to whatever you were trying to move."
S451: "Of course, friction might be a problem if you couldn't lift your burden
slightly from the floor."
S452: "To do that, you'd need to pull it up with something."
S453: "Perhaps you could make a pulley of some kind with the rope."
S454: "What's in the ceiling which might help?"
S455: "Throw the rope over the hook and tie one end to your burden."
S456: "Downwards."
S457: "There is a concealed exit somewhere on the ground floor."
S458: "In the kitchen, in fact."
S459: "Unfortunately it's concealed by something heavy."
S460: "Think about the carpet."
S461: "But that would be too obvious."
S462: "Instead, try under the bed upstairs."
S463: "A rope would be sensible."
S464: "One end would have to be tied to something not likely to pull away."
S465: "The stove, for instance."
S466: "You can either drop the other end of the rope into the chimney and climb
down..."
S467: "

     How can I escape the guard?
     What's the four-poster bed for?
     What do the tapestry and painting mean?
     Where does the green glow come from?
     Does the stove work?
     Is all this food useful?
     How about the meat hook?
     Is the trophy case still good for anything?
     How can I move something heavy?
     Which way can I leave the house?
     How do I get at the trap door?
     What safety measure is needed with the chimney?
"
S468: "The Customs House"
S469: "How can I escape the guard?"
S470: "What's the four-poster bed for?"
S471: "What do the tapestry and painting mean?"
S472: "Where does the green glow come from?"
S473: "Does the stove work?"
S474: "Is all this food useful?"
S475: "How about the meat hook?"
S476: "Is the trophy case still good for anything?"
S477: "How can I move something heavy?"
S478: "Which way can I leave the house?"
S479: "How do I get at the trap door?"
S480: "What safety measure is needed with the chimney?"
S481: "Unfortunately, yes, you soon will..."
S482: "...which is tricky if it's still tied to the stove."
S483: "It's physically impossible to free the rope."
S484: "Some people consider natural spring water a delicacy."
S485: "Yes."
S486: "Try searching something which might conceal useful items."
S487: "One way is to use magic, which is certainly a temporary solution."
S488: "Examining the oil-snake may tell you something useful."
S489: "The oil-snake is, it seems, lean and hungry."
S490: "No doubt it would appreciate a good meal."
S491: "How about giving it a bad one?"
S492: "Something which appears edible but is actually bad for you."
S493: "Have you tried eating the apple from the wickerwork hamper?"
S494: "

     Do I still need the rope?
     What should I do with the bubbling pool?
     Is anything hidden hereabouts?
     How can I deal with the oil-snake?
"
S495: "Amongst the Foundations"
S496: "Do I still need the rope?"
S497: "What should I do with the bubbling pool?"
S498: "Is anything hidden hereabouts?"
S499: "How can I deal with the oil-snake?"
S500: "Consider the iron ring."
S501: "It's for tying things to."
S502: "Indeed, and the rope cannot be extended."
S503: "Therefore, carefully lowering yourself isn't an option, and you can't
reach the cave floor..."
S504: "...but who knows what might be under the ledge?"
S505: "Try bungee-jumping."
S506: "If you were still wearing the rope, you could."
S507: "There is a way to return the rope to your grasp."
S508: "You need somehow to hit it from the far side."
S509: "You'd have to throw something, though."
S510: "Something that flies in circular arcs."
S511: "Consider the flat curved stick."
S512: "Yes."
S513: "The nearest branches are only 10 feet away."
S514: "Where might you have seen a flat stick curved through a right-angle
before, in real life?"
S515: "Perhaps it's no use at all. Better throw it away."
S516: "Of course, some sticks come back when you throw them."
S517: "This may be advantageous if you want to hit something from behind."
S518: "For instance, something you can't reach but which you want to push
towards you."
S519: "Primitive Iron Age peoples lived here long ago, to judge from their
remains and the chimney-crack."
S520: "A cavity with a distinctive triangular shape."
S521: "One which can be seen from the other side."
S522: "Where would be about on the same level and a little way east?"
S523: "(Don't look at the next few hints until you've already found both
sides.)"
S524: "The problem is that the cavity is dark."
S525: "But there is a way of getting a light source inside."
S526: "Since you can't throw from this range, you'll need to use a more serious
projectile."
S527: "Such as an arrow."
S528: "Now try to make it an arrow which is giving off light."
S529: "With the help of one of your spells."
S530: "Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire."
S531: "In this case, insects with insects."
S532: "Magic may come to your aid."
S533: "The Adventurer is corruptible..."
S534: "...and has old-fashioned tastes."
S535: "To be blunt, he suffers from avarice."
S536: "Avarice: the desire to collect treasure."
S537: "Unfortunately, he's under a geas and cannot leave here."
S538: "So you'll have to collect treasures on his behalf."
S539: "The alchemical legend of a stone with the power to transmute lead into
gold, and perform other wondrous transformations, if only it existed."
S540: "It's a log of progress, which the long-dead owner of the Customs House
drew up."
S541: "Progress in using the "ruther" spell."
S542: "The colours denote elemental substances."
S543: "The arrows indicate how they are changed."
S544: "For example, Copper to Silver to Gold. No wonder the old owner was
rich!"
S545: "Here is a full translation (you may notice that the transformations all
take place within columns of the Periodic Table of the Elements):"
S546: ""Red-black --> ? --> ? -->" means "Iron --> Rubidium --> Osmium -->""
S547: ""Copper --> Silver-white --> Bright yellow -->" means "Copper --> Silver
--> Gold -->""
S548: ""Black --> Dull silver --> Dull grey -->" means "Carbon --> Tin --> Lead
-->""
S549: ""Vivid green --> Skull symbol -->" means "Phosphorus --> Arsenic -->""
S550: ""Flame symbol --> Yellow -->" means "Oxygen --> Sulphur -->""
S551: ""Chalky white --> Dark silver -->" means "Calcium --> Magnesium -->""
S552: "

     How do I get down from the ledge?
     I'm a good 20 feet short!
     I can't get back up from the Tiny Cave.
     Can I reach the tree from the ledge?
     What use is the flat curved stick?
     What's the significance of the shard?
     What's behind the quartz window?
     Woodlice and ants are a problem.
     How do I pass the Pale Corridor?
     What is the Philosopher's Stone?
     How does the colour chart work?
"
S553: "Ledge and Surroundings"
S554: "How do I get down from the ledge?"
S555: "I'm a good 20 feet short!"
S556: "I can't get back up from the Tiny Cave."
S557: "Can I reach the tree from the ledge?"
S558: "What use is the flat curved stick?"
S559: "What's the significance of the shard?"
S560: "What's behind the quartz window?"
S561: "Woodlice and ants are a problem."
S562: "How do I pass the Pale Corridor?"
S563: "What is the Philosopher's Stone?"
S564: "How does the colour chart work?"
S565: "The means for doing so are further down."
S566: "If you had something to span across to the ledge, you'd be able to climb
back over."
S567: "Something, say, wooden and ten feet long."
S568: "It's a pity it seems to be bound up."
S569: "Held together tightly with vines, in fact."
S570: "Which must be fastened in many places."
S571: "You need a way to pull the scroll out at the same time as getting away."
S572: "So that your movement is what does the pulling."
S573: "You need, then, to be attached to the scroll."
S574: "In face, tied with the rope."
S575: "But if you go the same way as the avalanche, you can expect to be
overtaken..."
S576: "...so try to get away sideways."
S577: "Use of magic may suggest reason for this."
S578: "The arsenic poison can't be removed, as such."
S579: "But it can be altered."
S580: "Arsenic is a pure chemical element."
S581: "It's not for percussion."
S582: "Its use is related to its surroundings."
S583: "The gauze is really a sieve."
S584: "Which would pass water while retaining solid matter."
S585: "The drum is a river-mining pan..."
S586: "So it needs fast-moving water to work properly."
S587: "If the sediment seems worthless, read on..."
S588: "Panning is not an instant process."
S589: "Other than being vicious, you mean?"
S590: "Yes and no. The lily at the surface plays no very great part."
S591: "

     I can't get back up.
     The treehouse is impenetrable.
     The scree slope is too unstable!
     The arched doorway seems very dangerous.
     What's the drum for?
     Does the water-lily play a part?
"
S592: "Cedar and Cave Floor"
S593: "I can't get back up."
S594: "The treehouse is impenetrable."
S595: "The scree slope is too unstable!"
S596: "The arched doorway seems very dangerous."
S597: "What's the drum for?"
S598: "Does the water-lily play a part?"
S599: "It must be soon, but the shell is very tough."
S600: "Perhaps if the shell were given some kind of shock?"
S601: "It is curious the way the hornet-thing hollowed out a long ramp-like
corridor uphill to its egg chamber."
S602: "Perhaps the idea is that the adult hornet hatches the egg by pushing it
down the slope, to crack it."
S603: "You must find a way of immobilising it, without exploding it."
S604: "Casting a "piroo" spell would be a bad idea."
S605: "Consider if your companion may be able to assist."
S606: "Look carefully to see what it has available."
S607: "The poisoned sting would presumably upset the plant?"
S608: "So you need to get poison out of the stinger."
S609: "(Well, what do you expect?) It's wise to protect them."
S610: "The ambassador's trunk is useful in that regard."
S611: "Though it needs to be closed, of course."
S612: "Although it floats away, it is indeed washed up at a different beach."
S613: "One that's lower down in the caves."
S614: "Try re-exploring the floor of the inverted cedar cave."
S615: "If you want to, yes."
S616: "The problem is to climb up the chimney, without the rope."
S617: "What else might help?"
S618: "Something you've already used to span two height differences."
S619: "If you don't know, you're not looking in the right places."
S620: "Or perhaps that should be, in the right cavities."
S621: "Look into the triangular cavity."
S622: "

     Can the creature be revived?
     When will the egg hatch?
     Will the amniotic fluid harm my hands?
     The lily is crushing me.
     My possessions are lost!
     Can I go back to the house for something?
     What's the broad leaf for?
"
S623: "Egg Chamber and Lily"
S624: "Can the creature be revived?"
S625: "When will the egg hatch?"
S626: "Will the amniotic fluid harm my hands?"
S627: "The lily is crushing me."
S628: "My possessions are lost!"
S629: "Can I go back to the house for something?"
S630: "What's the broad leaf for?"
S631: "They're worth close study."
S632: "Modern medicine can do nothing for him."
S633: "Really ancient medicine, though..."
S634: "...such as that practiced by the local Iron Age tribe..."
S635: "...and depicted in the paintings within the dark triangular cavity..."
S636: "...will bring Clotspinner round."
S637: "Follow the process in the painting."
S638: "Fortunately, you have documents to prove your identity."
S639: "Yes, it needs to be focused."
S640: "The task used to be performed by the glass prism, but Clotspinner
dropped it."
S641: "Although the beam vapourises most things, we know that metallic rocks
can survive it (since it was reflected by the meteor)."
S642: "Something suitable can be extracted from the river in the cedar cave."
S643: "By panning."
S644: "Yes, it's a pity the ore isn't some more attractive crystal."
S645: "If only it were a different element!"
S646: "They measure the angle at which light scatters."
S647: "Though this is useful only if light is being split at the anvil."
S648: "Something nearby."
S649: "Well, it is a very heavy lump of elemental magnesium."
S650: "A sorceror in his element could change something."
S651: "Manufacture a suitable spell."
S652: "Luckily Clotspinner has already given this some thought."
S653: "He has already performed the necessary angular calculation."
S654: "You may remember that he distrusts mental arithmetic."
S655: "So his working may still be on paper somewhere."
S656: "Take a look at the apparently stock-control stub."
S657: "Could it not be a long addition instead?"
S658: "

     Are the supplies useful?
     How can I heal Clotspinner?
     He is suspicious of me.
     The beam strikes the anvil uselessly.
     The beam dissipates in the ore.
     What are the calibrations for?
     What does the swivel mounting hold?
     Is the meteor invulnerable?
     How can I leave the Wheel?
"
S659: "The Wheel and its Environs"
S660: "Are the supplies useful?"
S661: "How can I heal Clotspinner?"
S662: "He is suspicious of me."
S663: "The beam strikes the anvil uselessly."
S664: "The beam dissipates in the ore."
S665: "What are the calibrations for?"
S666: "What does the swivel mounting hold?"
S667: "Is the meteor invulnerable?"
S668: "How can I leave the Wheel?"
S669: "Perhaps that's because you're still thinking like a human."
S670: "A dog would have talents to exploit which a human could not."
S671: "Heightened senses for just such an occasion, for instance."
S672: "Remember how you acquired your magic in the first place."
S673: "It was present in the water which flows hereabouts."
S674: "And the culvert's water must be magic - it's flowing uphill."
S675: "

     I am hopelessly lost.
     The agents ignore me.
     Shall I always be a dog?
"
S676: "Running Through the Woods"
S677: "I am hopelessly lost."
S678: "The agents ignore me."
S679: "Shall I always be a dog?"
S680: "Actually, you can, because you know one spell."
S681: "Remember the word you cursed out by accident when you hit your head on
the lintel?"
S682: "The word was "jilnix"."
S683: "Actually, you can. You can either "cast" a spell "at" something..."
S684: "A spell must be in your mind before you can cast it."
S685: "You need to "learn" it, in fact."
S686: "Unfortunately, there is something magical about the binding of a spell
book, which a scroll doesn't share."
S687: "Fortunately the binding of a spell book can accommodate new material."
S688: "Potentially an infinite number, among which the following eight are of
particular utility:"
S689: ""jilnix spell: summon small plague of insects.""
S690: ""chiaro spell: cause inanimate object to radiate light.""
S691: ""piroo spell: unfasten object.""
S692: ""ruther spell: transmute pure chemical element.""
S693: ""azzev spell: view the past.""
S694: ""ploor spell: nation shall speak peace unto nation.""
S695: ""thrale spell: assist even old or wizened savant.""
S696: "

     I can't do anything with my new magic!
     I can't direct my spells.
     I can't use the spells in the book.
     I can't use a spell from a scroll.
     What spells are there in the game?
"
S697: "Hints: Casting Spells"
S698: "I can't do anything with my new magic!"
S699: "I can't direct my spells."
S700: "I can't use the spells in the book."
S701: "I can't use a spell from a scroll."
S702: "What spells are there in the game?"
S703: "1 point is awarded for each of the following..."
S704: "Obtaining each of the (5) treasure items"
S705: "Depositing each of the (5) treasure items"
S706: "Summoning the bird of paradise"
S707: "Waking up the elephant"
S708: "Derailing the procession"
S709: "Reaching the upstairs landing"
S710: "Tying the rope to the stove"
S711: "Throwing the rope over the hook"
S712: "Dislodging the stove"
S713: "Getting down into the cellar"
S714: "Finding something under the leaves"
S715: "Acquiring magical powers"
S716: "Obtaining the vellum book"
S717: "Getting into the treehouse"
S718: "Lighting the triangular cavity"
S719: "Passing the spectral Adventurer"
S720: "Stinging the lily"
S721: "Reporting to the Duchy"
S722: "Healing Clotspinner"
S723: "Manufacturing a new spell"
S724: "Granting Clotspinner asylum"
S725: "Escaping to the woods"
S726: "If you examine the trunk you may get the general idea."
S727: "There are, after all, rumours that the Magic is returning."
S728: "And the Empire has spent weeks wasting your time and trying to keep you
from finding anything out."
S729: "And that greenish glow seen through the landing window can hardly be
natural."
S730: "Since you come from the Duchy, a country of artisans and craftsmen who
make fine machines, you can't allow the Empire to be the only country to
rediscover the power of Magic."
S731: "In the modern age, nobody collects treasures."
S732: "But a throwback from the past might want them."
S733: "Perhaps a ghost."
S734: "The following is a list of treasures and locations."
S735: "The jade figurine is in the Customs House bedroom."
S736: "The jewelled scarab is (not terribly well) hidden in the trophy case."
S737: "The platinum egg nestles under some autumnal leaves."
S738: "The silver ingot is deep inside the crevice below the curved ledge."
S739: "(You may not want to read these until the game is finished - A.M.H.)"
S740: "The Northlands Empire is a might-have-been Russia, before Peter the
Great forcibly modernised it: but a Russia without strong central European
neighbours, whose centre of gravity is further west."
S741: "I envisaged the Duchy as a slightly richer Holland of the same period,
without a strong maritime rival (i.e., without an England). Relative religious
tolerance, good glass-making and the like made Holland a centre of the European
enlightenment, where the first microscopes and telescopes demolished accepted
science."
S742: "My present computer was bought from a shop in St Albans, England,
through which the Roman road called Watling Street passes."
S743: "The foundation myths of the OUE are mostly Roman."
S744: "The fireball across the sky is based on accounts of one appearing over
London one summer night in 1783: thunderous, bluish with an orange tail of
flame, its head the size of the full moon, it took thirty seconds to cross the
London sky and put the fear of God into the population. (See Peter Ackroyd's
recent biography of William Blake.)"
S745: "And the idea that shapes in the sky model earthly topography is
Egyptian: the Nile's shape happens to resemble the Milky Way's."
S746: "But I'd be fibbing if I didn't acknowledge also the Great Underground
Empire, as conceived by Marc Blank, P. David Lebling and others. The ghostly
adventurer may be an echo of the hero of "Zork", and the Customs House may even
be the white house where that masterly game begins."
S747: "The sherbet itself and the silken boy owe something to T. S. Eliot's
poem "The Journey of the Magi", itself largely a versification of a sermon by
Lancelot Andrewes, preached before James I."
S748: "The man in the "azzev" vision in the Treehouse is Professor J. R. R.
Tolkien."
S749: "The narrative painting alluded to on first sight of Clotspinner is
David's "The death of Marat"."
S750: ""Nation shall speak peace unto nation" has been the motto of the British
Broadcasting Corporation since its foundation."
S751: "Collioure is a fishing village on the Cote Vermielle, the French
coastline east of the Pyrenees, noted as the home of the fauvist movement of
impressionist painting."
S752: "The "ruther" spell is named for Ernest Rutherford, the scientist who
actually discovered the philosopher's stone. He split the atom and was able to
transform some atomic elements. Ironically, fission and fusion on the whole
make it easy to produce lead from more valuable metals, not the other way
round. This is basically why there is a lot of lead in the universe and not
much gold. (Lead is produced late in the life of any star. Gold is only
produced in a supernova explosion.)"
S753: ""chiaro" is Italian for "to light up"."
S754: "Most of the other spell names are borrowed from names of planets in the
"Lensman" space operas of E. E. "Doc" Smith, an American food chemist of the
1920s and 30s who worked on dough consistency (which perhaps explains his
writing style). The bad guys lived on Thrale, Ploor (where intergalactic
telepathy machines were invented) and ultimately Eddore. Helmuth was a gangster
whose planetary base was not, I think, ever named. Palain was a frigid world
from which the cowardly hero Nadreck hailed. Finally, Alsakan was a somewhat
enigmatic planet, reported only as being a very long way away and exporting
luxury tobacco."
S755: "(You may not want to read these until the game is finished - A.M.H.)"
S756: "That there's a Northlands superstition about sherbet?"
S757: "That there's a hidden piece of fruit (as befits a fruit cocktail)?"
S758: "That you can extract the bone from the joint of ham?"
S759: "That you can make the oil-snake swallow the drum?"
S760: "That you can revenge yourself on Amilia in the end game?"
S761: "That the game contains a prominently-displayed anagram?"
S762: "(Just a hint for one of these.)"
S763: "

     Exactly how points are scored.
     What's my secret mission, exactly?
     What are the treasures for?
     Where are the treasures?
     Notes on sources.
     Did you know...?
"
S764: "Hints: General"
S765: "Exactly how points are scored."
S766: "What's my secret mission, exactly?"
S767: "What are the treasures for?"
S768: "Where are the treasures?"
S769: "Notes on sources."
S770: "Did you know...?"
S771: "

     Instructions: How to play this game
     Briefings: A diplomatic background
     Hints: During the Procession
     The Customs House
     Amongst the Foundations
     Ledge and Surroundings
     Cedar and Cave Floor
     Egg Chamber and Lily
     The Wheel and its Environs
     Running Through the Woods
     Hints: Casting Spells
     Hints: General
"
S772: "Hints"
S773: "Instructions: How to play this game"
S774: "Briefings: A diplomatic background"
S775: "Hints: During the Procession"
S776: "The Customs House"
S777: "Amongst the Foundations"
S778: "Ledge and Surroundings"
S779: "Cedar and Cave Floor"
S780: "Egg Chamber and Lily"
S781: "The Wheel and its Environs"
S782: "Running Through the Woods"
S783: "Hints: Casting Spells"
S784: "Hints: General"
S785: "It is pitch black. You are in danger of falling into a pit if you move
around in this."
S786: "I shall be telling this with a sigh"
S787: "Somewhere ages and ages hence:"
S788: "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -"
S789: "I took the one less travelled by,"
S790: "And that has made all the difference."
S791: ""
S792: "-- Robert Frost, "The Road Not Taken""
S793: "write to"
S794: "read"
S795: "send message"
S796: "increment"
S797: "apply 'ofclass' for"
S798: "recreate"
S799: "destroy"
S800: "copy"
S801: "copy"
S802: "<unknown attribute>"
S803: "<unknown attribute>"
S804: "<unknown attribute>"
S805: "<unknown attribute>"
S806: "<unknown attribute>"
S807: "<unknown attribute>"
S808: "<unknown attribute>"
S809: "<unknown attribute>"
S810: "<unknown attribute>"
S811: "<unknown attribute>"
S812: "<unknown attribute>"
S813: "<unknown attribute>"
S814: "<unknown attribute>"
S815: "<unknown attribute>"
S816: "<unknown attribute>"
S817: "<unknown attribute>"
S818: "<unknown attribute>"
S819: "<unknown attribute>"
S820: "<unknown attribute>"
S821: "<unknown attribute>"
S822: "<unknown attribute>"
S823: "<unknown attribute>"
S824: "<unknown attribute>"
S825: "<unknown attribute>"
S826: "<unknown attribute>"
S827: "<unknown attribute>"
S828: "<unknown attribute>"
S829: "<unknown attribute>"
S830: "<unknown attribute>"
S831: "<unknown attribute>"
S832: "<unknown attribute>"
S833: "<unknown attribute>"
S834: "<unknown attribute>"
S835: "<unknown attribute>"
S836: "<unknown attribute>"
S837: "<unknown attribute>"
S838: "<unknown attribute>"
S839: "<unknown attribute>"
S840: "<unknown attribute>"
S841: "<unknown attribute>"
S842: "<unknown attribute>"
S843: "<unknown attribute>"
S844: "<unknown attribute>"
S845: "<unknown attribute>"
S846: "<unknown attribute>"
S847: "<unknown attribute>"
S848: "<unknown attribute>"
S849: "<unknown attribute>"
S850: "name"
S851: "create"
S852: "recreate"
S853: "destroy"
S854: "remaining"
S855: "copy"
S856: "call"
S857: "print"
S858: "print_to_array"
S859: "animate"
S860: "absent"
S861: "clothing"
S862: "concealed"
S863: "container"
S864: "door"
S865: "edible"
S866: "enterable"
S867: "general"
S868: "light"
S869: "lockable"
S870: "locked"
S871: "moved"
S872: "on"
S873: "open"
S874: "openable"
S875: "proper"
S876: "scenery"
S877: "scored"
S878: "static"
S879: "supporter"
S880: "switchable"
S881: "talkable"
S882: "transparent"
S883: "visited"
S884: "workflag"
S885: "worn"
S886: "male"
S887: "female"
S888: "neuter"
S889: "pluralname"
S890: "before"
S891: "after"
S892: "life"
S893: "n_to"
S894: "s_to"
S895: "e_to"
S896: "w_to"
S897: "ne_to"
S898: "se_to"
S899: "nw_to"
S900: "sw_to"
S901: "u_to"
S902: "d_to"
S903: "in_to"
S904: "out_to"
S905: "door_to"
S906: "with_key"
S907: "door_dir"
S908: "invent"
S909: "plural"
S910: "add_to_scope"
S911: "list_together"
S912: "react_before"
S913: "react_after"
S914: "grammar"
S915: "orders"
S916: "initial"
S917: "when_open"
S918: "when_closed"
S919: "when_on"
S920: "when_off"
S921: "description"
S922: "describe"
S923: "article"
S924: "cant_go"
S925: "found_in"
S926: "time_left"
S927: "number"
S928: "time_out"
S929: "daemon"
S930: "each_turn"
S931: "capacity"
S932: "short_name"
S933: "short_name_indef"
S934: "parse_name"
S935: "articles"
S936: "play"
S937: "Pronouns"
S938: "Quit"
S939: "Restart"
S940: "Restore"
S941: "Save"
S942: "Verify"
S943: "ScriptOn"
S944: "ScriptOff"
S945: "NotifyOn"
S946: "NotifyOff"
S947: "Places"
S948: "Objects"
S949: "Score"
S950: "FullScore"
S951: "Inv"
S952: "Take"
S953: "Drop"
S954: "Remove"
S955: "PutOn"
S956: "Insert"
S957: "Transfer"
S958: "EmptyT"
S959: "Give"
S960: "Show"
S961: "Enter"
S962: "GetOff"
S963: "Exit"
S964: "VagueGo"
S965: "Go"
S966: "LMode1"
S967: "LMode2"
S968: "LMode3"
S969: "Look"
S970: "Examine"
S971: "LookUnder"
S972: "Search"
S973: "Unlock"
S974: "Lock"
S975: "SwitchOn"
S976: "SwitchOff"
S977: "Open"
S978: "Close"
S979: "Disrobe"
S980: "Wear"
S981: "Eat"
S982: "Yes"
S983: "No"
S984: "Burn"
S985: "Pray"
S986: "Wake"
S987: "WakeOther"
S988: "Kiss"
S989: "Think"
S990: "Smell"
S991: "Listen"
S992: "Taste"
S993: "Touch"
S994: "Dig"
S995: "Cut"
S996: "Jump"
S997: "JumpOver"
S998: "Tie"
S999: "Drink"
S1000: "Fill"
S1001: "Sorry"
S1002: "Strong"
S1003: "Mild"
S1004: "Attack"
S1005: "Swim"
S1006: "Swing"
S1007: "Blow"
S1008: "Rub"
S1009: "Set"
S1010: "SetTo"
S1011: "WaveHands"
S1012: "Wave"
S1013: "Pull"
S1014: "Push"
S1015: "Turn"
S1016: "PushDir"
S1017: "Squeeze"
S1018: "ThrowAt"
S1019: "Tell"
S1020: "Answer"
S1021: "Ask"
S1022: "Buy"
S1023: "Sing"
S1024: "Climb"
S1025: "Wait"
S1026: "Sleep"
S1027: "Consult"
S1028: "parse_input"
S1029: "AskFor"
S1030: "GiveR"
S1031: "ShowR"
S1032: "begin_action"
S1033: "end_turn_sequence"
S1034: "historic_view"
S1035: "is_treasure"
S1036: "is_arrow"
S1037: "telescope_view"
S1038: "LookAtThrough"
S1039: "Coo"
S1040: "Chirrup"
S1041: "Untie"
S1042: "is_spell"
S1043: "known_about"
S1044: "is_scroll"
S1045: "is_spell_book"
S1046: "magic"
S1047: "unmagic"
S1048: "Learn"
S1049: "Cast"
S1050: "Count"
S1051: "Shoot"
S1052: "CastOne"
S1053: "time_here"
S1054: "time_since_poisoned"
S1055: "Grind"
S1056: "cooperative"
S1057: "TurnTo"
S1058: "ever_been_used"
S1059: "time_prowling"
S1060: "rqm"
S1061: "Bite"
S1062: "Bark"
S1063: "Version"
S1064: "Empty"
S1065: "InvTall"
S1066: "InvWide"
S1067: "GoIn"
S1068: "Help"
S1069: "LookAtThroughB"
S1070: "Shoot2"
S1071: "DontSay"
S1072: "PoisonV"
S1073: "Spells"

[End of text]

[End of file]