9. The crest of the hill; Icarus the tortoise; the chewed scroll (lines 889-991)
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Browsing Balances.inf
0889 Place Up_Road "Crest of Hill"
0890 with description
0891 "The road crosses the top of a ridge here, sloping downwards to
0892 the south and the northwest. A track diverges to east.",
0893 nw_to Cave_Mouth, s_to Edge, d_to Edge, e_to Track;
0894
0895 Object -> tortoise "tortoise"
0896 with name "tortoise" "turtle",
0897 initial "A tortoise ambles along the road, extremely slowly.",
0898 life
0899 [; "The tortoise (slowly) turns its neck to look at you (stupidly).";
0900 ],
0901 before
0902 [; Cast: switch(the_spell_was)
0903 { urbzig_spell:
0904 "Just how safe do you want your surroundings to be?";
0905 bozbar_spell:
0906 move chewed_scroll to parent(self); remove self;
0907 StartDaemon(self); score=score+5;
0908 "The tortoise seems to be incapable of expressing
0909 surprise, but is now soaring away high in the sky.
0910 Something rather grubby is left behind.";
0911 yomin_spell:
0912 "For a moment you think there is nothing there, as you
0913 chew absentmindedly on a leaf. But somewhere inside
0914 the tortoise is a sense of wonder at the amazing blue
0915 canopy of the sky.";
0916 }
0917 Take, Remove:
0918 "Your parents always warned you not to pick up casual
0919 acquaintances met on the road.";
0920 ],
0921 daemon
0922 [ i; if (location ~= Up_Road or Track || random(6)~=1) rfalse;
0923 if (random(4)==1 && self hasnt general)
0924 { move feather to location; give self general;
0925 "^A tortoise-feather flutters to the ground before you!";
0926 }
0927 i=random(3);
0928 switch(i)
0929 { 1: print "^High in the sky,";
0930 2: print "^Far above you,";
0931 3: print "^Tiny in the blue sky,";
0932 }
0933 " a tortoise flaps across the sun.";
0934 ],
0935 has animate;
0936
0937 Scroll torn_scroll "torn scroll"
0938 with name "torn";
0939
0940 Spell -> lobal_spell
0941 with name "lobal",
0942 purpose "sharpen hearing",
0943 magic
0944 [; if (second==0 || second hasnt animate)
0945 "There is a loud bang in your ear, but no other effect.";
0946 if (second==player)
0947 { if (hearing_good) "There is no further effect.";
0948 hearing_good=1; StartTimer(self, 5);
0949 "Nothing happens, possibly because those butterflies on the
0950 other side of the hill keep distracting you.";
0951 }
0952 print_ret (The) second,
0953 " is no doubt grateful for the gift of sharper hearing.";
0954 ],
0955 unmagic
0956 [; if (second==0 || second hasnt animate)
0957 "There is a brief silence, but no other effect.";
0958 if (second==player) { StopTimer(self); hearing_good=0; "Pardon?"; }
0959 print_ret (The) second,
0960 " is no doubt grateful not to have to listen to you.";
0961 ],
0962 time_left 0,
0963 time_out
0964 [; if (hearing_good)
0965 { hearing_good = false;
0966 "^Those wretched butterflies finally shut up.";
0967 }
0968 ];
0969
0970 Scroll chewed_scroll "chewed scroll"
0971 with initial "It looks as if the tortoise was eating something - once
0972 it might have been a scroll, but now it lies there,
0973 chewed up like a lettuce leaf.",
0974 before
0975 [; Cast: if (the_spell_was == caskly_spell)
0976 { move torn_scroll to parent(self);
0977 remove self; score=score+5;
0978 "Before your eyes, the scroll begins to repair itself,
0979 failing only at the very last tear. Not quite perfect
0980 perhaps, but certainly a readable, if torn scroll.";
0981 }
0982 Eat: "~Eating your words~ is notoriously dangerous for a wizard.
0983 Rearranged in the stomach, a spell might do anything!";
0984 ],
0985 with name "chewed";
0986
0987 Object feather "tortoise feather"
0988 with name "tortoise" "feather",
0989 description
0990 "Possibly your rarest, and also least valuable, possession.";
0991
Last updated 23 June 2004.
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