  
 
The idea behind ClubFloyd is that each week at a pre-arranged time, a group of people meet online to cooperatively play a game of interactive fiction. Below is a transcript of Queen of Swords, written by Jessica Knoch and Snowblind Aces, written by C.E.J. Pacian. Queen of Swords was originally released as part of the 2003 IF Art Show, where it took Best of Show. You can learn more about the game, including how to download it, by visiting the ifWiki. Snowblind Aces was originally released as part of the TIGSource IF Competition called Text the Halls, where it took first place. You can learn more about the game, including how to download it, by visiting the ifWiki. WARNING! Below you will find a transcript of people playing these games, and it goes without saying that the transcript is full of spoilers. So, if you've never played these games, and think you might like to at some point, I do not recommend reading any further. Instead, you might want to return to the interactive fiction page. |
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| inky asks, "should we get started then?" | ||||
| DavidW says, "yeah, I can use up some of that new drive." | ||||
| inky says, "ha ha" | ||||
| inky says, "I guess it is more or less just us today, but that seems to be the way it goes" | ||||
| Gunther arrives, full of neither funk nor fun. | ||||
| dhakajack arrives, ready to play with the toys. | ||||
| Bert asks, "For RPG's, didn't we have some special mode for spoilish interludes?" | ||||
| Bert asks, "Does the script Jacq uses for these do that?" | ||||
| inky says, "well, she took a version of lpsmith's, so I assume so" | ||||
| Taleslinger arrives, full of fun, but no funk. | ||||
| Bert asks (of inky), "Didn't he have to do something special to indicate when to do that and for which channels?" | ||||
| Bert says, "Since A) not all interludes were spoilish and B) he presumably wouldn't have known to include #cfspoilers anyway." | ||||
| inky says, "yeah, in the script it has a list of what channels do what" | ||||
| DavidW says, "Where's Lucea? How can we be triumphant without our triumpherant? (ooh, that can't be spelt right)" | ||||
| inky says, "but I assume she made those changes in it" | ||||
| inky says, "hmm, given that she's not logged in I assume she's not logging in" | DavidW says, "Anyway. Perry's logging. We can wait a bit or start anytime." | |||
| inky says, "ok, let's go" | ||||
| inky asks, "queen of swords first?" | ||||
| DavidW says, "sure" | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "load queen" | ||||
Floyd | Welcome to the Cheap Glk Implementation, library version 0.9.0. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | [pausing to show unread error message] | ||||
| inky pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | THE QUEEN OF SWORDS Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | [Please press SPACE to begin.] | ||||
| inky pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Each week, you spend four hours round-trip in a car to take a Floyd | beginner's fencing class at the Virginia Academy of Fencing in Floyd | Springfield. It's fun, you tell yourself, and it never hurts to be more Floyd | active. David, on the other hand, wants to compete. Your husband wants Floyd | to join the U.S. Fencing Association and begin competing in regional Floyd | tournaments after only eight weeks of classes, when they tell people to Floyd | take lessons for a whole year before competing. However, David will Floyd | want what David will want, and you love your husband dearly, so... Floyd | Floyd | There's a tournament in Glen Falls this weekend, and you're going. On Floyd | your last trip to VAF you spent over $900 on electric fencing Floyd | equipment. The real problem is going to figure out how to use all of Floyd | it: what plugs into where, which piece you need to put on first, and Floyd | how to fence with a floor cord holding you back. That's why you and Floyd | David are going to use tonight, while you have the room at the local Floyd | library reserved, to practice gearing up for electric. Floyd | Floyd | David gets a good parking spot downtown, and the two of you haul the Floyd | bags of equipment out of the trunk and into the library. The librarians Floyd | wave at you as you pass, already used to seeing you, and the two of you Floyd | make your way to one of the larger meeting rooms upstairs to set up the Floyd | electric strip. Floyd | Floyd | David drops his equipment bag near the door and smiles at you. "I'll Floyd | put the strip up," he says. "Why don't you go ahead and get your stuff Floyd | on?" You look at your bag uncertainly. "I'm not sure I know where Floyd | everything goes," you say. He grins. "Me neither," he says. "If you Floyd | have trouble, let me know, and I'll try to help." He takes the bag with Floyd | the scoring box and floor reels and goes to set up a table. You survey Floyd | the room. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | The Queen of Swords Floyd | An Interactive Fencing Lesson Floyd | Copyright (c) 2003 by Jessica Knoch Floyd | Floyd | Players may wish to type ABOUT. Floyd | Release 1 / Serial number 030426 / Inform v6.21 Library 6/10 Floyd | Floyd | McIntire Meeting Room, Downtown Library Floyd | A large, open room, with plenty of room for a few fencers to practice. Floyd | Of course, tonight it's just you and David. A row of tall windows line Floyd | the western wall, and stacks of chairs are at either end of the long Floyd | north-south room. The door to the hallway is east. An industrial-type Floyd | carpet in garish red covers the floor. Floyd | Floyd | The open windows let in a welcome breeze. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "about" | ||||
Floyd | "The Queen of Swords" was written as an entry in the Event Division of Floyd | the 2003 Interactive Fiction Art Show, organized by Marnie Parker. For Floyd | more information about fencing, and some general tips on exploring this Floyd | work, players may wish to type HELP. Experienced IF players will find Floyd | it sufficient to note that examining objects may be important; that Floyd | David is a source of help; and that the verb ATTACH can be quite Floyd | useful. The most important fencing verb is, well, FENCE. The work tries Floyd | to convey a close approximation of the preparation for fencing with Floyd | electric gear, fiddly bits and all. Floyd | Floyd | Finally, thanks to Andrew Plotkin for his answers on raif and advice on Floyd | his website. Oh, one final note: the game refers to a "lam?," but for Floyd | simplicity's sake, you may type "lame." (It's still pronounced Floyd | luh-MAY!) Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert exclaims, "Eeeagh, huge textdump!" | |||
| Nitku says, "It's not that bad, actually" | ||||
| inky says, "the short version seems to be that you're practicing getting your fencing gear on" | ||||
| Nitku says, "Compared to many others" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a fencing bag (which is closed) Floyd | Floyd | David pushes the table against the eastern wall. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "open bag" | ||||
Floyd | The bag is bulky enough to get in your way when you try. Floyd | Floyd | David notices your conflict, and says, "You could just put the bag Floyd | down, love. It'll be fine right there." Floyd | Floyd | He sets the bag of scoring equipment on the table and opens it. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "x me" | ||||
Floyd | You look just as you always have. Floyd | Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a fencing bag (which is closed) Floyd | Floyd | David is rummaging in the bag. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "put bag on table" | ||||
Floyd | You put the fencing bag on the table. Floyd | Floyd | David takes a floor reel and floor cord from the bag. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "open bag" | ||||
Floyd | You open the fencing bag, revealing a mask, a jacket, a body cord, an Floyd | electric foil, a lam?, a glove, a plastron and a chest protector. Floyd | Floyd | He walks to the north end of the room and sets down the floor reel. Floyd | Floyd | > | Taleslinger says (to bert), "It's no textdump, it's art." | |||
| inky says (to Floyd), "x david" | ||||
Floyd | Your husband is a tall man in his mid-thirties, with clear gray eyes Floyd | and a wonderfully misshapen nose. His smile lights up your day, and he Floyd | doesn't smile much except at you: but he smiles a lot at you. Floyd | Floyd | David plugs the floor cord into the floor reel. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "x david" | ||||
Floyd | Your husband is a tall man in his mid-thirties, with clear gray eyes Floyd | and a wonderfully misshapen nose. His smile lights up your day, and he Floyd | doesn't smile much except at you: but he smiles a lot at you. Floyd | Floyd | David walks back to the center of the room and looks in the bag on the Floyd | table. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "punch nose" | ||||
Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "hit david with foil" | ||||
Floyd | I only understood you as far as wanting to hit David. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "hit david" | ||||
Floyd | Violence isn't the answer to this one. Floyd | Floyd | David pulls the scoring box out of the bag and sets it on the table. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "wield foil" | ||||
Floyd | That's not a verb you need today. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "x lame" | ||||
Floyd | The lam? (pronounced "luh-MAY") is like a sleeveless, metal vest, used Floyd | in electric foil fencing to define your target area--literally, since Floyd | the opponent's blade must strike you on the lam? to complete the Floyd | correct circuit. It The lam? is made to cover your torso from neck to Floyd | waistline, with an additional section in front best described by Floyd | drawing a line from your hips to your pelvis. Yours is an Uhlmann lam?, Floyd | quite high quality, although it cost a good deal. There is a small, Floyd | metal D-ring (shaped like the letter D) sewn into the back of the lam?. Floyd | Floyd | He plugs the free end of the first floor cord into the scoring box. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "x me" | ||||
Floyd | You look just as you always have. Floyd | Floyd | You are carrying nothing. Floyd | Floyd | David takes the other floor cord out of the bag and plugs one end into Floyd | the box. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Gunther says (to Floyd), "the lam? is lame" | ||||
Floyd | That's not a verb you need today. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "x d-ring" | ||||
Floyd | The D-ring is sewn onto the back of your lam?. Its purpose is solely to Floyd | give the hook from the floor reel something to latch onto, to give the Floyd | three-prong connection a bit of slack and make your life easier. Floyd | Floyd | David takes the other reel from the bag. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "x box" | ||||
Floyd | A handy little device: this is the thing that makes it all work. The Floyd | scoring box lights up whenever a fencer (properly plugged in, of Floyd | course) scores a touch, and lets you know whether it was on-target (on Floyd | the lam?) or off-target (anywhere else) by lighting up either the Floyd | fencer's colored light (on) or white light (off). You're fencing on the Floyd | right side, so the green light is yours, and the red light is David's. Floyd | Floyd | He walks down to the south end of the room, and winks at you. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "too fast for me" | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "get box" | ||||
Floyd | There's no reason to do anything besides look at the lights. Floyd | Floyd | Setting the floor reel on the carpet, David plugs the free end of the Floyd | floor cord into it. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "x lights" | ||||
Floyd | A handy little device: this is the thing that makes it all work. The Floyd | scoring box lights up whenever a fencer (properly plugged in, of Floyd | course) scores a touch, and lets you know whether it was on-target (on Floyd | the lam?) or off-target (anywhere else) by lighting up either the Floyd | fencer's colored light (on) or white light (off). You're fencing on the Floyd | right side, so the green light is yours, and the red light is David's. Floyd | Floyd | David turns to survey his work. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "I have about five screenfuls to read." | |||
| inky says, "ok, we can pause a bit" | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "pause" | ||||
Floyd | That's not a verb you need today. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x reel" | ||||
Floyd | The floor reel is made to connect you to the floor cord. It's supposed Floyd | to sit at the end of the strip, and the floor cord plugs into it. The Floyd | hook that comes out the front attaches to the fencer's body cord, and Floyd | when released it retracts like a self-retracting tape measure. Your Floyd | floor reels are Uhlmann made, with dark blue plastic casing and rubber Floyd | feet to keep them in place. Floyd | Floyd | "Oops," David says, "I forgot to plug in the box." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "pull floor cord to floor reel" | ||||
Floyd | I only understood you as far as wanting to pull the floor cord. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "plug floor cord to floor reel" | ||||
Floyd | I didn't understand that sentence. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "plug floor cord into floor reel" | ||||
Floyd | David will plug in all of the floor cords. Just worry about your own Floyd | stuff for now. Floyd | Floyd | He walks back to the table in the center of the east wall. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "look in bag" | ||||
Floyd | In the fencing bag are a mask, a jacket, a body cord, an electric foil, Floyd | a lam?, a glove, a plastron and a chest protector. Floyd | Floyd | David peers in the bag and gets out the AC adapter for the scoring box. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "plug reel into body cord" | ||||
Floyd | You're not suited up enough to plug in yet. Floyd | Floyd | David plugs the adapter into the box. Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "I guess we just put this stuff on" | |||
| inky says (to Floyd), "x chest protector" | ||||
Floyd | The chest protector is hard plastic, molded to fit your body. Females Floyd | are required to wear them at USFA competitions, and you're just as Floyd | glad, since it really cuts down on the bruises. The elastic bands hook Floyd | behind your back like a bra. Floyd | Floyd | He plugs the free end of the adapter into the electrical outlet in the Floyd | wall. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "x plastron" | ||||
Floyd | The plastron is a thin, white, half-shirt, designed to protect the Floyd | underarm of your weapon arm from an errant hit. It has elastic bands to Floyd | secure it in place, and it is supposed to go on under everything else. Floyd | Floyd | "There!" David says, looking over the electric strip in satisfaction. Floyd | He turns to you. "Now, let's get suited up and then we can fence!" Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "get chest protector" | ||||
Floyd | Taken. Floyd | Floyd | David looks you over. "Looks like you don't quite have all your stuff. Floyd | Check in your bag--if you need help with something, show it to me." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "wear it" | ||||
Floyd | You start to pull the chest protector on, but the unfamiliar cold Floyd | plastic stops you. Ah yes, you're supposed to have the plastron on Floyd | underneath! Floyd | Floyd | Meanwhile, David gets his gear on amazingly fast. He says, "We'll Floyd | salute as soon as we're both ready." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "get plastron" | ||||
Floyd | Taken. Floyd | Floyd | David connects to the far floor reel. "I'm about ready," he says. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "wear it" | ||||
Floyd | You put on the plastron. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "I guess we wear the plastron first" | |||
| inky says (to Floyd), "wear chest" | ||||
Floyd | You put on the chest protector. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x jacket" | ||||
Floyd | Your jacket covers your torso and arms while you fence. They are Floyd | required to be white, and yours zips up the front (making it much Floyd | easier to put on by yourself). Although the FIE requires 800 Newton Floyd | resistance, you are merely fencing in the USFA, which has much more lax Floyd | requirements than its European counterpart, so yours is only rated at Floyd | 350 Newtons. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "get glove" | ||||
Floyd | Taken. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "x it" | ||||
Floyd | White, with leather on the palm for a better grip. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "wear it" | ||||
Floyd | You put on the glove. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "wear jacket" | ||||
Floyd | (first taking the jacket) Floyd | You must unzip the jacket before you can put it on. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "unzip it" | ||||
Floyd | You fumble with the zipper, but the glove is too thick to allow you to Floyd | get a good grasp. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "remove glove" | ||||
Floyd | You take off the glove. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "unzip jacket" | ||||
Floyd | You unzip the jacket. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "wear jacket" | ||||
Floyd | You slide the clean, white jacket on and tug it into place. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "zip jacket" | ||||
Floyd | You zip up the jacket, tugging the zipper up to make sure it's all the Floyd | way up. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "version" | ||||
Floyd | The Queen of Swords Floyd | An Interactive Fencing Lesson Floyd | Copyright (c) 2003 by Jessica Knoch Floyd | Floyd | Players may wish to type ABOUT. Floyd | Release 1 / Serial number 030426 / Inform v6.21 Library 6/10 Floyd | Standard interpreter 1.0 (2N) / Library serial number 991113 Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "x bag" | ||||
Floyd | Your fencing bag is a calming maroon color. It's long enough to hold a Floyd | foil, and deep enough to hold your mask, clothes, and all the other Floyd | cords and things you need for fencing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "wear glove" | ||||
Floyd | You put on the glove. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "search baf" | ||||
Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "search bag" | ||||
Floyd | In the fencing bag are a mask, a body cord, an electric foil and a Floyd | lam?. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "wear mask" | ||||
Floyd | (first taking the mask) Floyd | You put on the mask. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "wear cord" | ||||
Floyd | (the floor cord) Floyd | (first taking the floor cord) Floyd | David will plug in all of the floor cords. Just worry about your own Floyd | stuff for now. Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "baf seems to contain a wurb" | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "wear lame" | ||||
Floyd | (first taking the lam?) Floyd | The mask blocking your peripheral vision makes your task difficult. You Floyd | seem to remember it's the very last piece of equipment to go on, just Floyd | before you begin a bout. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "remove mask. wear lame" | ||||
Floyd | You take off the mask. Floyd | You must unzip the lam? before you can put it on. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "x lame" | ||||
Floyd | The lam? (pronounced "luh-MAY") is like a sleeveless, metal vest, used Floyd | in electric foil fencing to define your target area--literally, since Floyd | the opponent's blade must strike you on the lam? to complete the Floyd | correct circuit. It The lam? is made to cover your torso from neck to Floyd | waistline, with an additional section in front best described by Floyd | drawing a line from your hips to your pelvis. Yours is an Uhlmann lam?, Floyd | quite high quality, although it cost a good deal. There is a small, Floyd | metal D-ring (shaped like the letter D) sewn into the back of the lam?. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "unzip lame. wear it" | ||||
Floyd | You fumble with the zipper, but the glove is too thick to allow you to Floyd | get a good grasp. Floyd | You must unzip the lam? before you can put it on. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "remove glove" | ||||
Floyd | You take off the glove. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "unzip lame. wear it" | ||||
Floyd | You unzip the lam?. Floyd | You struggle to get your jacketed arms through the small openings in Floyd | the lam?. Finally, you get it on. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "wear gloves" | ||||
Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "wear glove" | ||||
Floyd | You put on the glove. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "search bag" | ||||
Floyd | In the fencing bag are a body cord and an electric foil. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "get body cord" | ||||
Floyd | Taken. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "x it" | ||||
Floyd | Your body cord is used in electric fencing to connect several different Floyd | circuits of electricity. On one end, the two-prong connector attaches Floyd | to your electric foil. The other end has an alligator clip, to hook to Floyd | your lam?, and a three-prong connector, to plug into the floor reel. In Floyd | between is about five feet of insulated wiring, which is supposed to Floyd | run up your sleeve and down your back. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "attach it to lame" | ||||
Floyd | That's not supposed to attach directly to the lam?. You may wish to Floyd | attach it to the D-ring, or it may not be necessary at all. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "attach it to d-ring" | ||||
| DavidW pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
| Bert pushes the green 'space' button. | inky asks, "...er?" | |||
| Bert says, "I see." | ||||
| DavidW says, "hm" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "i" | Nitku says, "It was all too lam? for Floyd" | |||
| DavidW asks, "Restart?" | ||||
| Floyd asks, "That game over already? It was just getting good. Wanna play another?" | Bert asks, "I guess it ended itself?" | |||
| inky says, "that was weird" | ||||
| inky says, "maybe we tried to attach the cord to itself" | ||||
| Bert says, "Odd that it did it when no one was even typing." | ||||
| inky says, "well, it does have that cpu limit" | ||||
| inky says, "in theory" | ||||
| Bert says (to inky), "Mmm, yeah." | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "load queen" | ||||
Floyd | Welcome to the Cheap Glk Implementation, library version 0.9.0. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | [pausing to show unread error message] | Bert says, "So it could have been spinning madly." | |||
| Bert pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | THE QUEEN OF SWORDS Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | [Please press SPACE to begin.] | DavidW says, "oh, an endless loop, eh? grr" | |||
| inky says, "I think so" | ||||
| inky says, "I looked and it was using 95% cpu" | ||||
| inky pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Each week, you spend four hours round-trip in a car to take a Floyd | beginner's fencing class at the Virginia Academy of Fencing in Floyd | Springfield. It's fun, you tell yourself, and it never hurts to be more Floyd | active. David, on the other hand, wants to compete. Your husband wants Floyd | to join the U.S. Fencing Association and begin competing in regional Floyd | tournaments after only eight weeks of classes, when they tell people to Floyd | take lessons for a whole year before competing. However, David will Floyd | want what David will want, and you love your husband dearly, so... Floyd | Floyd | There's a tournament in Glen Falls this weekend, and you're going. On Floyd | your last trip to VAF you spent over $900 on electric fencing Floyd | equipment. The real problem is going to figure out how to use all of Floyd | it: what plugs into where, which piece you need to put on first, and Floyd | how to fence with a floor cord holding you back. That's why you and Floyd | David are going to use tonight, while you have the room at the local Floyd | library reserved, to practice gearing up for electric. Floyd | Floyd | David gets a good parking spot downtown, and the two of you haul the Floyd | bags of equipment out of the trunk and into the library. The librarians Floyd | wave at you as you pass, already used to seeing you, and the two of you Floyd | make your way to one of the larger meeting rooms upstairs to set up the Floyd | electric strip. Floyd | Floyd | David drops his equipment bag near the door and smiles at you. "I'll Floyd | put the strip up," he says. "Why don't you go ahead and get your stuff Floyd | on?" You look at your bag uncertainly. "I'm not sure I know where Floyd | everything goes," you say. He grins. "Me neither," he says. "If you Floyd | have trouble, let me know, and I'll try to help." He takes the bag with Floyd | the scoring box and floor reels and goes to set up a table. You survey Floyd | the room. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | The Queen of Swords Floyd | An Interactive Fencing Lesson Floyd | Copyright (c) 2003 by Jessica Knoch Floyd | Floyd | Players may wish to type ABOUT. Floyd | Release 1 / Serial number 030426 / Inform v6.21 Library 6/10 Floyd | Floyd | McIntire Meeting Room, Downtown Library Floyd | A large, open room, with plenty of room for a few fencers to practice. Floyd | Of course, tonight it's just you and David. A row of tall windows line Floyd | the western wall, and stacks of chairs are at either end of the long Floyd | north-south room. The door to the hallway is east. An industrial-type Floyd | carpet in garish red covers the floor. Floyd | Floyd | The open windows let in a welcome breeze. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "put bag on table" | ||||
Floyd | You put the fencing bag on the table. Floyd | Floyd | David pushes the table against the eastern wall. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "open bag" | ||||
Floyd | You open the fencing bag, revealing a mask, a jacket, a body cord, an Floyd | electric foil, a lam?, a glove, a plastron and a chest protector. Floyd | Floyd | He sets the bag of scoring equipment on the table and opens it. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "plastron first" | |||
| inky says (to Floyd), "get body cord" | ||||
Floyd | Taken. Floyd | Floyd | David is rummaging in the bag. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "x it" | ||||
Floyd | Your body cord is used in electric fencing to connect several different Floyd | circuits of electricity. On one end, the two-prong connector attaches Floyd | to your electric foil. The other end has an alligator clip, to hook to Floyd | your lam?, and a three-prong connector, to plug into the floor reel. In Floyd | between is about five feet of insulated wiring, which is supposed to Floyd | run up your sleeve and down your back. Floyd | Floyd | David takes a floor reel and floor cord from the bag. Floyd | Floyd | > | Gunther says, "this is one bizarre-ass game" | |||
| olethros arrives, full of funk, but no fun. | inky asks, "does this thing about the cord running up your sleeve and down your back matter?" | |||
| DavidW says (to Gunther), "It's from IF Art Show." | ||||
| inky says, "I guess we can put on the other stuff and see" | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "get plastron then wear it" | ||||
Floyd | Taken. Floyd | Floyd | He walks to the north end of the room and sets down the floor reel. Floyd | You put on the plastron. Floyd | Floyd | David plugs the floor cord into the floor reel. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "get chest protector then wear it" | ||||
Floyd | Taken. Floyd | Floyd | David walks back to the center of the room and looks in the bag on the Floyd | table. Floyd | You put on the chest protector. Floyd | Floyd | David pulls the scoring box out of the bag and sets it on the table. Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert says, "I am curious if the tedious 'get your gear on' thing is going to turn out to be the whole game." | |||
| inky says (to Floyd), "get lame then wear it" | ||||
Floyd | Taken. Floyd | Floyd | He plugs the free end of the first floor cord into the scoring box. Floyd | You could put the lam? on, but you know it would make more sense to put Floyd | the jacket on first. Floyd | Floyd | David takes the other floor cord out of the bag and plugs one end into Floyd | the box. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "get jacket" | ||||
Floyd | Taken. Floyd | Floyd | David takes the other reel from the bag. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "Jacket was 3rd, I thought." | |||
| inky says (to Floyd), "wear jacket" | ||||
Floyd | You must unzip the jacket before you can put it on. Floyd | Floyd | He walks down to the south end of the room, and winks at you. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "unzip it" | ||||
Floyd | You unzip the jacket. Floyd | Floyd | Setting the floor reel on the carpet, David plugs the free end of the Floyd | floor cord into it. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "wear it" | ||||
Floyd | You slide the clean, white jacket on and tug it into place. Floyd | Floyd | David turns to survey his work. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "wear lame" | ||||
Floyd | You stop to think. It'd be silly to put the lam? on over your unzipped Floyd | jacket. Floyd | Floyd | "Oops," David says, "I forgot to plug in the box." Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert asks, "Oh, it's art show, not intro?" | |||
| inky says (to Floyd), "zip jacket then wear lame" | ||||
Floyd | You zip up the jacket, tugging the zipper up to make sure it's all the Floyd | way up. Floyd | Floyd | He walks back to the table in the center of the east wall. Floyd | You must unzip the lam? before you can put it on. Floyd | Floyd | David peers in the bag and gets out the AC adapter for the scoring box. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "oh" | |||
| inky says (to Floyd), "unzip lame" | ||||
Floyd | You unzip the lam?. Floyd | Floyd | David plugs the adapter into the box. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "wear lame" | ||||
Floyd | You struggle to get your jacketed arms through the small openings in Floyd | the lam?. Finally, you get it on. Floyd | Floyd | He plugs the free end of the adapter into the electrical outlet in the Floyd | wall. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "yes, art show" | |||
| inky says (to Floyd), "zip lame" | ||||
Floyd | You zip up the lam?, and adjust the Velcro at the collar to make sure Floyd | you have a proper fit. Floyd | Floyd | "There!" David says, looking over the electric strip in satisfaction. Floyd | He turns to you. "Now, let's get suited up and then we can fence!" Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "show cord to david" | ||||
Floyd | (the body cord to David) Floyd | "Hm," David says. "You need to put the two-prong connector into your Floyd | jacket sleeve. Try that." Floyd | Floyd | David looks you over. "Looks like you don't quite have all your stuff. Floyd | Check in your bag--if you need help with something, show it to me." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Duchess arrives, full of fun and funk. | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "put connector in sleeve" | ||||
Floyd | Which do you mean, the two-prong connector or the three-prong Floyd | connector? Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "put two-prong connector into jacket sleeve" | ||||
Floyd | That would be far too difficult for you to try while you're wearing the Floyd | jacket. You're just not that coordinated yet. Floyd | Floyd | Meanwhile, David gets his gear on amazingly fast. He says, "We'll Floyd | salute as soon as we're both ready." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "remove jacket" | ||||
Floyd | You'll have to take off the lam? first. Floyd | Floyd | David connects to the far floor reel. "I'm about ready," he says. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "put two-prong connector into jacket sleeve" | ||||
Floyd | That would be far too difficult for you to try while you're wearing the Floyd | jacket. You're just not that coordinated yet. Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "man oh goodness this game" | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "remove lame" | ||||
Floyd | It's almost impossible to take off a lam? while it's zipped up; you're Floyd | pretty sure about that one. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "remove jacket" | ||||
Floyd | You'll have to take off the lam? first. Floyd | Floyd | > | Gunther asks, "is this secretly Annoyotron 5?" | |||
| inky says, "hot disambig-disambig action" | ||||
| Bert says, "This seems like the sort of thing a decent game would do for you." | ||||
| Duchess asks, "unzip first, maybe?" | Bert says, "Except I'm betting the author intends all this to be the point of the game." | |||
| DavidW asks, "Is the lame outside or inside the jacket?" | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "unzip lame then remove lame then unzip jacket then remove jacket" | ||||
Floyd | You unzip the lam?. Floyd | Taking off the lam? is almost as much of a struggle as putting it on, Floyd | but somehow you manage. Floyd | Floyd | You get the thing off, eventually. Floyd | You unzip the jacket. Floyd | You pull your arms out of the slightly sweaty sleeves. It takes a bit Floyd | of flapping, but you manage to get out of the jacket. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "unzip lame. remove it. remove jacket" | ||||
Floyd | That's already open. Floyd | Taking off the lam? is almost as much of a struggle as putting it on, Floyd | but somehow you manage. Floyd | Floyd | You're not wearing that. Floyd | You're not wearing that. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "put two-prong connector into jacket sleeve" | ||||
Floyd | You slide the two-prong end of the body cord into the jacket sleeve. Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "whoops, sorry" | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "wear lame. zip it. wear jacket" | ||||
Floyd | You could put the lam? on, but you know it would make more sense to put Floyd | the jacket on first. Floyd | You zip up the lam?, and adjust the Velcro at the collar to make sure Floyd | you have a proper fit. Floyd | You pull the jacket on, trying to keep the dangling bits of the body Floyd | cord out of the way. What a pain! Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "show cord to david" | ||||
Floyd | (the floor cord to David) Floyd | (first taking the floor cord) Floyd | David will plug in all of the floor cords. Just worry about your own Floyd | stuff for now. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Lucea arrives, ready to play with the toys. | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "show body cord to david" | ||||
Floyd | (first taking the body cord) Floyd | "Hm," David says. "You need to put the two-prong connector into your Floyd | jacket sleeve. Try that." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "i did you asshole" | ||||
Floyd | I only understood you as far as wanting to inventory. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||||
Floyd | McIntire Meeting Room, Downtown Library Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | Floyd | > | * Duchess has joined the channel. | |||
| inky says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a body cord Floyd | a jacket (being worn and open but empty) Floyd | a lam? Floyd | a chest protector (being worn) Floyd | a plastron (being worn) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "unzip lame. wear it. zip it" | ||||
Floyd | You unzip the lam?. Floyd | You stop to think. It'd be silly to put the lam? on over your unzipped Floyd | jacket. Floyd | You zip up the lam?, and adjust the Velcro at the collar to make sure Floyd | you have a proper fit. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "l in bag" | ||||
Floyd | In the fencing bag are a mask, an electric foil and a glove. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "wear glove" | ||||
Floyd | (first taking the glove) Floyd | You put on the glove. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "get foil" | ||||
Floyd | Taken. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "wield it" | ||||
Floyd | That's not a verb you need today. Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "wait wait" | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "wear mask" | ||||
Floyd | (first taking the mask) Floyd | You put on the mask. Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert asks, "Wait?" | |||
| DavidW asks, "Did the cord unplug when you showed it to David?" | ||||
| inky says, "I think the body cord got pulled out back there" | ||||
| Bert says, "Oh for the love of..." | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "get naked" | ||||
Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Gunther says (to Floyd), "undress" | ||||
Floyd | That's not a verb you need today. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "remove mask, glove" | ||||
Floyd | mask: You already have that. Floyd | glove: You already have that. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a mask (being worn) Floyd | an electric foil Floyd | a glove (being worn) Floyd | a body cord Floyd | a jacket (being worn and open but empty) Floyd | a lam? Floyd | a chest protector (being worn) Floyd | a plastron (being worn) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Lucea says (to floyd), "remove all" | ||||
Floyd | AC adapter: Just let it be. Floyd | floor cord: David will plug in all of the floor cords. Just worry about Floyd | your own stuff for now. Floyd | floor reel: There's no need to move either of the reels; David will Floyd | have them just where he wants them. Floyd | David: This isn't really the time or the place, is it? Floyd | strip: That's hardly portable. Floyd | carpet: That's hardly portable. Floyd | comfy chair: That's hardly portable. Floyd | window area: That's hardly portable. Floyd | table: That's hardly portable. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "take off mask" | ||||
Floyd | You take off the mask. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "take off glove" | ||||
Floyd | You take off the glove. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Gunther says (to Floyd), "doff all" | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "unzip lame then take it off" | ||||
Floyd | You can't use multiple objects with that verb. Floyd | Floyd | > Floyd | You unzip the lam?. Floyd | What do you want to take the lam?? Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "doff lame" | ||||
Floyd | Taking off the lam? is almost as much of a struggle as putting it on, Floyd | but somehow you manage. Floyd | Floyd | You're not wearing that. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "unzip jacket then doff it" | ||||
Floyd | That's already open. Floyd | You pull your arms out of the slightly sweaty sleeves. It takes a bit Floyd | of flapping, but you manage to get out of the jacket. Floyd | Floyd | > | Gunther says, "yay doff" | |||
| Gunther says, "best word ever" | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "put two-prong connector in sleeve" | ||||
Floyd | You slide the two-prong end of the body cord into the jacket sleeve. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "wear jacket then zip it" | ||||
Floyd | You pull the jacket on, trying to keep the dangling bits of the body Floyd | cord out of the way. What a pain! Floyd | You zip up the jacket, tugging the zipper up to make sure it's all the Floyd | way up. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "wear lame then zip it" | ||||
Floyd | You struggle to get your jacketed arms through the small openings in Floyd | the lam?. Finally, you get it on. Floyd | You zip up the lam?, and adjust the Velcro at the collar to make sure Floyd | you have a proper fit. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "wear glove" | ||||
Floyd | You put on the glove. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "wear mask" | ||||
Floyd | You put on the mask. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "salute" | ||||
Floyd | First things first: you NEVER salute with a mask on. It's considered Floyd | very rude. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "remove mask" | ||||
Floyd | You take off the mask. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "salute" | ||||
Floyd | Fencers don't salute until they are completely plugged in and ready to Floyd | fence. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "plug in cord" | ||||
Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a mask Floyd | an electric foil Floyd | a glove (being worn) Floyd | a jacket (being worn and closed) Floyd | a body cord Floyd | a lam? (being worn) Floyd | a chest protector (being worn) Floyd | a plastron (being worn) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "look" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | McIntire Meeting Room, Downtown Library Floyd | A large, open room, with plenty of room for a few fencers to practice. Floyd | Of course, tonight it's just you and David. A row of tall windows line Floyd | the western wall, and stacks of chairs are at either end of the long Floyd | north-south room. The door to the hallway is east. An industrial-type Floyd | carpet in garish red covers the floor. Floyd | Floyd | On the table are a scoring box, a bag of scoring equipment (which is Floyd | empty) and a fencing bag (which is empty). Floyd | Floyd | The open windows let in a welcome breeze. Floyd | Floyd | You can also see an AC adapter, a floor cord and a floor reel here. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x foil" | ||||
Floyd | You've brought your best electric foil along for today's lesson. The Floyd | blade is 36 inches long, and the whole thing weighs just under 500 Floyd | grams. Your bell guard is still nice and shiny, thanks to a lack of Floyd | use. The grip is a pistol grip of the Visconti style, painted blue so Floyd | you can tell it apart from David's. There's also a two-prong receptacle Floyd | for your body cord to plug into. Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "oho" | |||
| Gunther asks, "maybe you need to wear the mask but flip ot open?" | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "plug body cord in receptacle" | ||||
Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "plug two-prong in foil" | ||||
Floyd | You attach the two-prong connector, which pokes out through your sleeve Floyd | next to your glove, to the foil. It clicks into place. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "plug three-prong" | ||||
Floyd | What do you want to plug the three-prong connector in? Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "scoring" | ||||
Floyd | Which do you mean, the scoring box or the bag of scoring equipment? Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "box" | ||||
Floyd | You would achieve nothing by this. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "x box" | ||||
Floyd | A handy little device: this is the thing that makes it all work. The Floyd | scoring box lights up whenever a fencer (properly plugged in, of Floyd | course) scores a touch, and lets you know whether it was on-target (on Floyd | the lam?) or off-target (anywhere else) by lighting up either the Floyd | fencer's colored light (on) or white light (off). You're fencing on the Floyd | right side, so the green light is yours, and the red light is David's. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x reel" | ||||
Floyd | The floor reel is made to connect you to the floor cord. It's supposed Floyd | to sit at the end of the strip, and the floor cord plugs into it. The Floyd | hook that comes out the front attaches to the fencer's body cord, and Floyd | when released it retracts like a self-retracting tape measure. Your Floyd | floor reels are Uhlmann made, with dark blue plastic casing and rubber Floyd | feet to keep them in place. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "x strip" | ||||
Floyd | The "strip" is the area that fencers actually fence on. In your Floyd | tournament on Saturday, the strips will be drawn out on the floor in Floyd | paint or tape: one meter wide by fourteen meters long, with warning Floyd | lines and en guarde lines and everything. Here, you and David just make Floyd | your best guess as to where the lines are. But today, you have a real Floyd | strip set up in some respects: the table in the middle of the eastern Floyd | wall holds the scoring box, which is connect via the floor cords to a Floyd | floor reel, one at either end of the strip. That's all it takes for you Floyd | and David to plug in and have a real electric bout. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "plug three-prong to reel" | ||||
Floyd | I didn't understand that sentence. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "plug three-prong into reel" | ||||
Floyd | You connect the three-prong end of the body cord with the hook out of Floyd | the floor reel. Getting close to fencing time! Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "salute" | ||||
Floyd | Fencers don't salute until they are completely plugged in and ready to Floyd | fence. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "whine" | ||||
Floyd | That's not a verb you need today. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a mask Floyd | an electric foil Floyd | a glove (being worn) Floyd | a jacket (being worn and closed) Floyd | a body cord Floyd | a lam? (being worn) Floyd | a chest protector (being worn) Floyd | a plastron (being worn) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x me" | ||||
Floyd | You look just as you always have. Floyd | Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a mask Floyd | an electric foil Floyd | a glove (being worn) Floyd | a jacket (being worn and closed) Floyd | a body cord Floyd | a lam? (being worn) Floyd | a chest protector (being worn) Floyd | a plastron (being worn) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Gunther says (to Floyd), "shoot author" | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "x foil" | ||||
Floyd | That's not a verb you need today. Floyd | Floyd | > Floyd | You've brought your best electric foil along for today's lesson. The Floyd | blade is 36 inches long, and the whole thing weighs just under 500 Floyd | grams. Your bell guard is still nice and shiny, thanks to a lack of Floyd | use. The grip is a pistol grip of the Visconti style, painted blue so Floyd | you can tell it apart from David's. There's also a two-prong receptacle Floyd | for your body cord to plug into. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "show it to david" | ||||
Floyd | David looks your foil over. "Looks like it's in working condition," he Floyd | says. "Just hang on to it until we're ready to fence. You'll need it Floyd | for the salute!" His eyes twinkle at you. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "x glove" | ||||
Floyd | White, with leather on the palm for a better grip. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "show it to david" | ||||
Floyd | "Not much I can do to help with that," David says. "You'll just have to Floyd | put it on." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "wear foil" | ||||
Floyd | You can't wear that! Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "wear glove" | ||||
Floyd | You're already wearing that! Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "wear mask" | ||||
Floyd | You put on the mask. Floyd | Floyd | > | olethros asks, "the cord is not worn is it?" | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "x jacket" | ||||
Floyd | Your jacket covers your torso and arms while you fence. They are Floyd | required to be white, and yours zips up the front (making it much Floyd | easier to put on by yourself). Although the FIE requires 800 Newton Floyd | resistance, you are merely fencing in the USFA, which has much more lax Floyd | requirements than its European counterpart, so yours is only rated at Floyd | 350 Newtons. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "show jacket to david" | ||||
Floyd | David takes the jacket from you and holds it so you can slip your arms Floyd | in easier. "Here," he says. Floyd | Floyd | "Oh, wait a sec," David says. "Let me unzip it first." He tugs the Floyd | zipper down and opens the jacket. "Okay, go ahead." Floyd | Floyd | The mask blocking your peripheral vision makes your task difficult. You Floyd | seem to remember it's the very last piece of equipment to go on, just Floyd | before you begin a bout. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||||
Floyd | McIntire Meeting Room, Downtown Library Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "remove mask" | ||||
Floyd | You take off the mask. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "show jacket to david" | ||||
Floyd | David takes the jacket from you and holds it so you can slip your arms Floyd | in easier. "Here," he says. Floyd | Floyd | "Oh, wait a sec," David says. "Let me unzip it first." He tugs the Floyd | zipper down and opens the jacket. "Okay, go ahead." Floyd | Floyd | You're already wearing that! Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "geez" | |||
| olethros says (to Floyd), "wear cord" | ||||
Floyd | (the floor cord) Floyd | (first taking the floor cord) Floyd | David will plug in all of the floor cords. Just worry about your own Floyd | stuff for now. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||||
Floyd | McIntire Meeting Room, Downtown Library Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | Floyd | > | Gunther says, "yay bugs" | |||
| Bert asks, "Maybe wearing the jacket without his help unplugs the cord?" | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "x body cord" | ||||
Floyd | Your body cord is used in electric fencing to connect several different Floyd | circuits of electricity. On one end, the two-prong connector attaches Floyd | to your electric foil. The other end has an alligator clip, to hook to Floyd | your lam?, and a three-prong connector, to plug into the floor reel. In Floyd | between is about five feet of insulated wiring, which is supposed to Floyd | run up your sleeve and down your back. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| olethros says (to Floyd), "wear body cord" | ||||
Floyd | (first taking the body cord) Floyd | You can't wear that! Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert says (to olethros), "There's a difference between the floor cord and the body cord." | |||
| inky says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a body cord Floyd | a mask Floyd | an electric foil Floyd | a glove (being worn) Floyd | a jacket (being worn and open but empty) Floyd | a lam? (being worn) Floyd | a chest protector (being worn) Floyd | a plastron (being worn) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| olethros says (to Floyd), "plug in body cord" | ||||
Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| olethros says (to Floyd), "put body cord in jacket" | Bert says, "Naturally, if you don't specify, the game assumes you mean the floor cord, since that's the one you never need to interact with." | |||
Floyd | That would be far too difficult for you to try while you're wearing the Floyd | jacket. You're just not that coordinated yet. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| olethros says (to Floyd), "remove jacket" | ||||
Floyd | You'll have to take off the lam? first. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "It's all messed up again." | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "x two=prong" | ||||
Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "x two-prong" | ||||
Floyd | The two-prong end attaches to your electric foil. The blue plastic Floyd | casing is marked with a stylized "U" for "Uhlmann," the company in Floyd | Germany that made it. Floyd | Floyd | > | olethros asks, "how they fuck did this happen?" | |||
| DavidW says, "We were almost ready" | ||||
| dhakajack says (to Floyd), "attach alligator clip to lame" | ||||
Floyd | You attach the alligator clip directly to the metal vest, remembering Floyd | to put it on the weapon arm side of your body as the rules require. Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says (to dhaka), "oho" | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "plug two-prong into foil" | ||||
Floyd | You attach the two-prong connector, which pokes out through your sleeve Floyd | next to your glove, to the foil. It clicks into place. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "salute" | ||||
Floyd | Fencers don't salute until they are completely plugged in and ready to Floyd | fence. Floyd | Floyd | > | inky asks, "so, uh, where did that come from?" | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "x two-prong" | ||||
Floyd | The two-prong end attaches to your electric foil. The blue plastic Floyd | casing is marked with a stylized "U" for "Uhlmann," the company in Floyd | Germany that made it. Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "we've got ot remove our jacket and put the body cord bacj in" | |||
| olethros says, "examine the cord" | ||||
| inky says, "man, my typing" | ||||
| Bert says, "Nice that examining the connectors doesn't tell you if they're connected to anything." | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "x jacket" | ||||
Floyd | Your jacket covers your torso and arms while you fence. They are Floyd | required to be white, and yours zips up the front (making it much Floyd | easier to put on by yourself). Although the FIE requires 800 Newton Floyd | resistance, you are merely fencing in the USFA, which has much more lax Floyd | requirements than its European counterpart, so yours is only rated at Floyd | 350 Newtons. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a body cord Floyd | a mask Floyd | an electric foil Floyd | a glove (being worn) Floyd | a jacket (being worn and open but empty) Floyd | a lam? (being worn) Floyd | a chest protector (being worn) Floyd | a plastron (being worn) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "x body cord" | ||||
Floyd | Your body cord is used in electric fencing to connect several different Floyd | circuits of electricity. On one end, the two-prong connector attaches Floyd | to your electric foil. The other end has an alligator clip, to hook to Floyd | your lam?, and a three-prong connector, to plug into the floor reel. In Floyd | between is about five feet of insulated wiring, which is supposed to Floyd | run up your sleeve and down your back. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "remove jackety" | ||||
Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | olethros says, "you have to put the alligoator to the lami, the three prong to the reel and the two-prong to the foil" | |||
| two-star arrives, full of fun, but no funk. | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "remove jacket" | DavidW says (to Bert), "That's a big problem, yeah" | |||
Floyd | You'll have to take off the lam? first. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "doff glove then unzip lame then doff lame then unzip jacket then doff jacket" | ||||
Floyd | You take off the glove. Floyd | You unzip the lam?. Floyd | Taking off the lam? is almost as much of a struggle as putting it on, Floyd | but somehow you manage. Floyd | Floyd | You get the thing off, eventually. Floyd | That's already open. Floyd | You pull your arms out of the slightly sweaty sleeves. It takes a bit Floyd | of flapping, but you manage to get out of the jacket. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "put body cord in jacket" | ||||
Floyd | You slide the two-prong end of the body cord into the jacket sleeve. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "show jacket to david" | ||||
Floyd | David takes the jacket from you and holds it so you can slip your arms Floyd | in easier. "Here," he says. Floyd | Floyd | You pull the jacket on, trying to keep the dangling bits of the body Floyd | cord out of the way. What a pain! Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "wear jacket then zip jacket then wear lame then zip lame" | ||||
Floyd | You're already wearing that! Floyd | You zip up the jacket, tugging the zipper up to make sure it's all the Floyd | way up. Floyd | You struggle to get your jacketed arms through the small openings in Floyd | the lam?. Finally, you get it on. Floyd | You zip up the lam?, and adjust the Velcro at the collar to make sure Floyd | you have a proper fit. Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert asks, "So did it work?" | |||
| inky says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a mask Floyd | an electric foil Floyd | a glove Floyd | a jacket (being worn and closed) Floyd | a body cord Floyd | a lam? (being worn) Floyd | a chest protector (being worn) Floyd | a plastron (being worn) Floyd | Floyd | > | Gunther says, "the only amusement I'm getting from this game is imagining this in real life" | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "plug two-prong into foil" | ||||
Floyd | You attach the two-prong connector, which pokes out through your sleeve Floyd | next to your glove, to the foil. It clicks into place. Floyd | Floyd | > | olethros says, "yeah" | |||
| inky says (to Floyd), "attach clip to lame" | ||||
Floyd | You attach the alligator clip directly to the metal vest, remembering Floyd | to put it on the weapon arm side of your body as the rules require. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "salute" | ||||
Floyd | Fencers don't salute until they are completely plugged in and ready to Floyd | fence. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "plug three-prong" | olethros says, "the ground" | |||
Floyd | What do you want to plug the three-prong connector in? Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "reel" | ||||
Floyd | You connect the three-prong end of the body cord with the hook out of Floyd | the floor reel. Getting close to fencing time! Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "wear glove" | ||||
Floyd | You put on the glove. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "salute" | ||||
Floyd | Fencers don't salute until they are completely plugged in and ready to Floyd | fence. Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "hrm" | |||
| Lucea says, "I'm fairly lost too" | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a mask Floyd | an electric foil Floyd | a glove (being worn) Floyd | a jacket (being worn and closed) Floyd | a body cord Floyd | a lam? (being worn) Floyd | a chest protector (being worn) Floyd | a plastron (being worn) Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "I thought we were ready now" | |||
| olethros says (to Floyd), "hold foil" | ||||
Floyd | You already have that. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "wear mask" | ||||
Floyd | You put on the mask. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "salute" | ||||
Floyd | First things first: you NEVER salute with a mask on. It's considered Floyd | very rude. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "remove mask" | ||||
Floyd | You take off the mask. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Gunther says (to Floyd), "open mask" | ||||
Floyd | You fumble with the zipper, but the glove is too thick to allow you to Floyd | get a good grasp. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| olethros says (to Floyd), "x foil" | ||||
Floyd | You've brought your best electric foil along for today's lesson. The Floyd | blade is 36 inches long, and the whole thing weighs just under 500 Floyd | grams. Your bell guard is still nice and shiny, thanks to a lack of Floyd | use. The grip is a pistol grip of the Visconti style, painted blue so Floyd | you can tell it apart from David's. There's also a two-prong receptacle Floyd | for your body cord to plug into. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "If they ever revive I Love Lucy, we'll suggest a fencing show." | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask david about foil" | ||||
Floyd | "I don't know, love," David says. "Can it wait until later?" Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Gunther says (to Floyd), "wear mask" | ||||
Floyd | You put on the mask. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Gunther says (to Floyd), "open mask" | ||||
Floyd | You fumble with the zipper, but the glove is too thick to allow you to Floyd | get a good grasp. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "show foil to david" | olethros says, "foil is not connected" | |||
Floyd | David looks your foil over. "Looks like it's in working condition," he Floyd | says. "Just hang on to it until we're ready to fence. You'll need it Floyd | for the salute!" His eyes twinkle at you. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Gunther says (to Floyd), "remove glove then open mask" | ||||
Floyd | You take off the glove. Floyd | That's not something you can open. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "show lame to david" | ||||
Floyd | "Oh, these things are a pain," David says. David unzips the lam? on the Floyd | sly, so as not to draw your attention to the fact that he's doing it. Floyd | He holds the lam? up for you to put one jacketed arm through, then Floyd | helps guide your other arm into the small hole. He turns you around to Floyd | face him, and straightens the lam? for you. "There you are," he says, Floyd | and kisses your cheek. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Gunther says (to Floyd), "idiot game" | ||||
Floyd | That's not a verb you need today. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Gunther says (to Floyd), "wear glove" | ||||
Floyd | The mask blocking your peripheral vision makes your task difficult. You Floyd | seem to remember it's the very last piece of equipment to go on, just Floyd | before you begin a bout. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a mask (being worn) Floyd | an electric foil Floyd | a glove Floyd | a jacket (being worn and closed) Floyd | a body cord Floyd | a lam? (being worn) Floyd | a chest protector (being worn) Floyd | a plastron (being worn) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Gunther says (to Floyd), "doff mask then wear glove then wear mask" | ||||
Floyd | You take off the mask. Floyd | You put on the glove. Floyd | You put on the mask. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| olethros says (to Floyd), "x cord" | ||||
Floyd | (the floor cord) Floyd | The floor cords are nothing more than long, insulated wires that carry Floyd | electrical current between the floor reels and the scoring box. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "show protector to david" | ||||
Floyd | David smiles at you. He holds the chest protector out for you, and you Floyd | slip your arms under the straps. The mask blocking your peripheral Floyd | vision makes your task difficult. You seem to remember it's the very Floyd | last piece of equipment to go on, just before you begin a bout. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| olethros says (to Floyd), "x body cord" | ||||
Floyd | Your body cord is used in electric fencing to connect several different Floyd | circuits of electricity. On one end, the two-prong connector attaches Floyd | to your electric foil. The other end has an alligator clip, to hook to Floyd | your lam?, and a three-prong connector, to plug into the floor reel. In Floyd | between is about five feet of insulated wiring, which is supposed to Floyd | run up your sleeve and down your back. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| olethros says (to Floyd), "x three" | ||||
Floyd | This end is about two inches wide, with three metal prongs protruding Floyd | from blue plastic casing. The plastic is marked with a stylized "U." Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert asks, "Wait, the chest protector is last?" | |||
| Bert asks, "And so is the glove?" | ||||
| Gunther says, "no the mask" | ||||
| olethros says, "the mask is last" | ||||
| DavidW says, "The mask is lastest" | ||||
| Bert says, "OK, let me say it again:" | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "show protector to david" | ||||
Floyd | David smiles at you. He holds the chest protector out for you, and you Floyd | slip your arms under the straps. The mask blocking your peripheral Floyd | vision makes your task difficult. You seem to remember it's the very Floyd | last piece of equipment to go on, just before you begin a bout. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Taleslinger has to return some videotapes. | ||||
| olethros says (to Floyd), "remove mask" | ||||
Floyd | You take off the mask. Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "it = the mask here" | |||
| Bert says, "Oh." | ||||
| olethros says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a mask Floyd | an electric foil Floyd | a glove (being worn) Floyd | a jacket (being worn and closed) Floyd | a body cord Floyd | a lam? (being worn) Floyd | a chest protector (being worn) Floyd | a plastron (being worn) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "remove mask" | ||||
Floyd | You're not wearing that. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Gunther says (to Floyd), "salute" | ||||
Floyd | Fencers don't salute until they are completely plugged in and ready to Floyd | fence. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "show protector to david" | ||||
Floyd | David smiles at you. He holds the chest protector out for you, and you Floyd | slip your arms under the straps. You're already wearing that! Floyd | Floyd | > | olethros says, "I just removed it" | |||
| Gunther says, "it's still broken" | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "show plastron to david" | ||||
Floyd | David takes the plastron from you and holds it out. You work your arm Floyd | in, and let David make the connections to keep it on. Floyd | Floyd | > | olethros asks, "why are you showing the 'protector' to david?" | |||
| inky says, "I dunno, I'm pretty stumped" | ||||
| olethros says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a mask Floyd | an electric foil Floyd | a glove (being worn) Floyd | a jacket (being worn and closed) Floyd | a body cord Floyd | a lam? (being worn) Floyd | a chest protector (being worn) Floyd | a plastron (being worn) Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert says (to olethros), "Because the game said to show him things to find out what they are for or how they work." | |||
| Gunther says (to Floyd), "show codpiece to david" | inky says, "we have the cord in the jacket, the cord is plugged in in three places" | |||
Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW asks, "How is David removing underlayers things?" | |||
| olethros asks, "is it really?" | ||||
| DavidW says, "er, underlayered" | ||||
| Bert says, "By the power of poor programming." | ||||
| inky says, "he's our husband, he's got practice" | ||||
| Gunther says (to Floyd), "salute" | ||||
Floyd | Fencers don't salute until they are completely plugged in and ready to Floyd | fence. Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert says (to olethros), "I dunno, there doesn't seem to be any way to check." | |||
| olethros says (to Floyd), "x body cord" | ||||
Floyd | Your body cord is used in electric fencing to connect several different Floyd | circuits of electricity. On one end, the two-prong connector attaches Floyd | to your electric foil. The other end has an alligator clip, to hook to Floyd | your lam?, and a three-prong connector, to plug into the floor reel. In Floyd | between is about five feet of insulated wiring, which is supposed to Floyd | run up your sleeve and down your back. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "kill david" | ||||
Floyd | Violence isn't the answer to this one. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Duchess has disconnected. | ||||
| Duchess runs through the jungle with the wind in her hair and the sand at her feet. | ||||
| olethros says (to Floyd), "plug three prong to floor" | ||||
Floyd | I didn't understand that sentence. Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert asks, "Look, it's swordfighting. How is violence not the answer?" | |||
| inky says (to Floyd), "plug three-prong in reel" | ||||
Floyd | You connect the three-prong end of the body cord with the hook out of Floyd | the floor reel. Getting close to fencing time! Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "plug three-prong in reel" | ||||
Floyd | You connect the three-prong end of the body cord with the hook out of Floyd | the floor reel. Getting close to fencing time! Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Gunther says (to Floyd), "taser david with foil" | ||||
Floyd | That's not a verb you need today. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "plug two-prong in sword" | DavidW says, "ha" | |||
Floyd | You attach the two-prong connector, which pokes out through your sleeve Floyd | next to your glove, to the foil. It clicks into place. Floyd | Floyd | > | olethros says, "oh" | |||
| inky says (to Floyd), "attach clip to lame" | ||||
Floyd | You attach the alligator clip directly to the metal vest, remembering Floyd | to put it on the weapon arm side of your body as the rules require. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "talk to david" | ||||
Floyd | That's not a verb you need today. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| olethros says (to Floyd), "salute" | ||||
Floyd | Fencers don't salute until they are completely plugged in and ready to Floyd | fence. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "x me" | ||||
Floyd | You look just as you always have. Floyd | Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a mask Floyd | an electric foil Floyd | a glove (being worn) Floyd | a jacket (being worn and closed) Floyd | a body cord | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "help" | ||||
Floyd | a lam? (being worn) Floyd | a chest protector (being worn) Floyd | a plastron (being worn) Floyd | Floyd | > Floyd | Quick tip: to see if you're hooked up yet, you can always try SALUTE or Floyd | FENCE. Floyd | Floyd | Fencing is, to various degrees and various people, a sport and a hobby. Floyd | Today's Olympic-style sport is derived from the older, classical style Floyd | of swordplay developed in Europe over the last several hundred years. Floyd | In this work, as in the USFA (www.usfencing.org), the modern rules and Floyd | styles are used. Floyd | Floyd | What that means to you is that the director (person who scores the Floyd | match, or referee) is aided by electrical equipment: each fencer wears Floyd | a metal vest called a lam? and plugs their foil (the weapon used in our Floyd | game) into a box with lights. When the plunger on the tip of your foil Floyd | is depressed (usually against the opponent), one of the lights on the Floyd | box will light up. If *your* foil contacted *my* lam?, your colored Floyd | light (either red or green, depending on which side you're on) will Floyd | light up, indicating a touch on a valid target (which could score a Floyd | point or "touch"). If your foil contacted anything else (my arm or leg, Floyd | your shoe, the floor, the director), then the white light (we both have Floyd | one colored and one white) will light up. The director watches the Floyd | action, watches the box, and decides who, if anyone, gets a point each Floyd | time he or she stops the action. Floyd | Floyd | It gets a bit more complicated when both fencers score a valid hit, but Floyd | suffice it to say that the director must decide which of the two had Floyd | priority, or right-of-way, to attack. That person is awarded the touch. Floyd | Floyd | Anyway, the important thing for you to figure out is just how to set up Floyd | the electric circuits in the first place. The different circuits allow Floyd | the box to distinguish between on-target and off-target hits; that is Floyd | why your lam? must be connected to the circuit somehow. Obviously your Floyd | foil has to be connected, so that the box will register when your foil Floyd | tip is depressed. And all of it has to be reported back to the box over Floyd | an electric circuit. Floyd | Floyd | For more hints as to what needs to be connected where, be sure to Floyd | examine everything, maybe even the things David sets up. Floyd | > | DavidW says, "This game even won its year. man." | |||
| Bert asks, "Really?" | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "fence" | ||||
Floyd | You don't have all your gear on yet (not counting the mask, of course). Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| olethros says (to Floyd), "become darth vader" | ||||
Floyd | That's not a verb you need today. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Gunther says (to Floyd), "push tip" | ||||
Floyd | Nothing obvious happens. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "I believe so, yeah" | |||
| Bert says, "I guess I'm glad I don't play IF Art Show games, then." | ||||
| olethros says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a mask Floyd | an electric foil Floyd | a glove (being worn) Floyd | a jacket (being worn and closed) Floyd | a body cord Floyd | a lam? (being worn) Floyd | a chest protector (being worn) Floyd | a plastron (being worn) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "x d-ring" | ||||
Floyd | The D-ring is sewn onto the back of your lam?. Its purpose is solely to Floyd | give the hook from the floor reel something to latch onto, to give the Floyd | three-prong connection a bit of slack and make your life easier. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| olethros says (to Floyd), "wear foil" | ||||
Floyd | You can't wear that! Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW asks (of Bert), "Galatea?" | |||
| inky says (to Floyd), "attach d-ring to lame" | ||||
Floyd | That's not supposed to attach directly to the lam?. You may wish to Floyd | attach it to the D-ring, or it may not be necessary at all. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "attach hook to d-ring" | ||||
Floyd | You're not suited up enough to plug in yet. Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "hmm" | |||
| Gunther says (to Floyd), "put cord in d-ring" | ||||
Floyd | (the floor cord in the D-ring) Floyd | David will plug in all of the floor cords. Just worry about your own Floyd | stuff for now. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "wear glove" | ||||
Floyd | You're already wearing that! Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a mask Floyd | an electric foil Floyd | a glove (being worn) Floyd | a jacket (being worn and closed) Floyd | a body cord Floyd | a lam? (being worn) Floyd | a chest protector (being worn) Floyd | a plastron (being worn) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Gunther says (to Floyd), "put body cord in d-ring" | ||||
Floyd | You need to be holding the body cord before you can put it into Floyd | something else. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "hold foil" | ||||
Floyd | You already have that. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Gunther says (to Floyd), "fuck you" | ||||
Floyd | That's not like you. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Gunther says (to Floyd), "sure it is" | ||||
Floyd | That's not a verb you need today. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "I think the d-ring connects to the reel" | |||
| olethros says, "I sah goodbye" | ||||
| olethros has had his fill of playing for now, and goes back to the Lounge. | Bert says (to W), "Right, exactly. I didn't need to play the IF Art Show games to find out about Galatea." | |||
| dhakajack says (to Floyd), "x cord" | ||||
Floyd | (the floor cord) Floyd | The floor cords are nothing more than long, insulated wires that carry Floyd | electrical current between the floor reels and the scoring box. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| dhakajack says (to Floyd), "x reels" | ||||
Floyd | The floor reel is made to connect you to the floor cord. It's supposed Floyd | to sit at the end of the strip, and the floor cord plugs into it. The Floyd | hook that comes out the front attaches to the fencer's body cord, and Floyd | when released it retracts like a self-retracting tape measure. Your Floyd | floor reels are Uhlmann made, with dark blue plastic casing and rubber Floyd | feet to keep them in place. Floyd | Floyd | > | Gunther says (to Bert), "but thumper and I wrote a z4 and z7 game, respectively, for the Art Show!" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "attach alligator clip to lame" | ||||
Floyd | You attach the alligator clip directly to the metal vest, remembering Floyd | to put it on the weapon arm side of your body as the rules require. Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert says, "So if anything decent does show up there, that's evidence that I'll end up getting to play it anyway, even if I ignore the Art Show completely." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "salute" | ||||
Floyd | Fencers don't salute until they are completely plugged in and ready to Floyd | fence. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| dhakajack says (to Floyd), "attach hook to cord" | ||||
Floyd | (the floor cord) Floyd | You would achieve nothing by this. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "x d-ring" | ||||
Floyd | The D-ring is sewn onto the back of your lam?. Its purpose is solely to Floyd | give the hook from the floor reel something to latch onto, to give the Floyd | three-prong connection a bit of slack and make your life easier. Floyd | Floyd | > | Gunther says, "ok, tell me when you're starting the next game" | |||
| Gunther has had his fill of playing for now, and goes back to the Lounge. | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "x hook" | ||||
Floyd | The hook has a receptacle for the three-prong connector of the body Floyd | cord, and it also attaches to the fencer's D-ring to prevent Floyd | unnecessary pulling on the body cord. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "attach hook to d-ring" | ||||
Floyd | You're not suited up enough to plug in yet. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "x david" | ||||
Floyd | Your husband is a tall man in his mid-thirties, with clear gray eyes Floyd | and a wonderfully misshapen nose. His smile lights up your day, and he Floyd | doesn't smile much except at you: but he smiles a lot at you. Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert says, "Man, I have never ever done any fencing at all, and I already hate the sport." | |||
| inky says, "so I dunno, it seems like we are kind of confused here" | ||||
| inky asks, "should I try to dig up some help?" | ||||
| Bert asks, "Kind of?" | ||||
| DavidW says, "I'm confused." | ||||
| dhakajack says, "this is why guns replaced swords" | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "david's foil" | ||||
Floyd | That's not a verb you need today. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "I can't follow what's happened or tell the current status." | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "salute with middle finger" | ||||
Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert says, "Yeah." | |||
| inky says, "ha ha" | ||||
| Gunther says, "later, gunswords replaced both guns and swords, and then gigantic robotic exosuits replaced those" | ||||
| Bert says, "A game about putting on a giant robotic exosuit would be so much cooler than this." | ||||
| dhakajack says (to Floyd), "don exosuit" | ||||
Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert asks, "Also, this is the future?" | |||
| inky says (to Bert), "no" | ||||
| inky says, "ok, anyway, I dunno, guys" | ||||
| inky says, "I can't find a walkthrough or anything" | ||||
| inky asks, "should we call it quits and go onto the other one?" | ||||
| DavidW says, "I thought we were really close, but it's difficult when we're all trying stuff." | ||||
| Nitku says (to Inky), "Yea" | ||||
| DavidW says, "We end up undoing each other's progress." | ||||
| Bert asks, "Do you want to try one solo run?" | ||||
| dhakajack says, "maybe from the top (e.g., restart?)" | ||||
| inky says, "yeah, how about if you restart and we'll just watch and offer suggestions if we see anything" | ||||
| Gunther says, "if you do, do it in your own frotz :)" | ||||
| Bert says, "A proper RESTART might also help, just in case there's anything the game doesn't properly undo when you try to undo everything." | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "restart" | ||||
Floyd | Are you sure you want to restart? | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "y" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | THE QUEEN OF SWORDS Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | [Please press SPACE to begin.] | DavidW says, "I haven't tested if my own frotz works yet." | |||
| Bert says (to W), "OK, go for it." | ||||
| Gunther says, "it might help if you make david dress you" | ||||
| DavidW pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Each week, you spend four hours round-trip in a car to take a Floyd | beginner's fencing class at the Virginia Academy of Fencing in Floyd | Springfield. It's fun, you tell yourself, and it never hurts to be more Floyd | active. David, on the other hand, wants to compete. Your husband wants Floyd | to join the U.S. Fencing Association and begin competing in regional Floyd | tournaments after only eight weeks of classes, when they tell people to Floyd | take lessons for a whole year before competing. However, David will Floyd | want what David will want, and you love your husband dearly, so... Floyd | Floyd | There's a tournament in Glen Falls this weekend, and you're going. On Floyd | your last trip to VAF you spent over $900 on electric fencing Floyd | equipment. The real problem is going to figure out how to use all of Floyd | it: what plugs into where, which piece you need to put on first, and Floyd | how to fence with a floor cord holding you back. That's why you and Floyd | David are going to use tonight, while you have the room at the local Floyd | library reserved, to practice gearing up for electric. Floyd | Floyd | David gets a good parking spot downtown, and the two of you haul the Floyd | bags of equipment out of the trunk and into the library. The librarians Floyd | wave at you as you pass, already used to seeing you, and the two of you Floyd | make your way to one of the larger meeting rooms upstairs to set up the Floyd | electric strip. Floyd | Floyd | David drops his equipment bag near the door and smiles at you. "I'll Floyd | put the strip up," he says. "Why don't you go ahead and get your stuff Floyd | on?" You look at your bag uncertainly. "I'm not sure I know where Floyd | everything goes," you say. He grins. "Me neither," he says. "If you Floyd | have trouble, let me know, and I'll try to help." He takes the bag with Floyd | the scoring box and floor reels and goes to set up a table. You survey Floyd | the room. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | The Queen of Swords Floyd | An Interactive Fencing Lesson Floyd | Copyright (c) 2003 by Jessica Knoch Floyd | Floyd | Players may wish to type ABOUT. Floyd | Release 1 / Serial number 030426 / Inform v6.21 Library 6/10 Floyd | Floyd | McIntire Meeting Room, Downtown Library Floyd | A large, open room, with plenty of room for a few fencers to practice. Floyd | Of course, tonight it's just you and David. A row of tall windows line Floyd | the western wall, and stacks of chairs are at either end of the long Floyd | north-south room. The door to the hallway is east. An industrial-type Floyd | carpet in garish red covers the floor. Floyd | Floyd | The open windows let in a welcome breeze. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "drop bag" | Bert exclaims (at Gunther), "I just told him to!" | |||
Floyd | You set the bag down, out of the way against a wall. Floyd | Floyd | David pushes the table against the eastern wall. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "open it" | ||||
Floyd | You open the fencing bag, revealing a mask, a jacket, a body cord, an Floyd | electric foil, a lam?, a glove, a plastron and a chest protector. Floyd | Floyd | He sets the bag of scoring equipment on the table and opens it. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take plastron" | ||||
Floyd | Taken. Floyd | Floyd | David is rummaging in the bag. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "wear it" | ||||
Floyd | You put on the plastron. Floyd | Floyd | David takes a floor reel and floor cord from the bag. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take lame" | ||||
Floyd | Taken. Floyd | Floyd | He walks to the north end of the room and sets down the floor reel. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x lame" | ||||
Floyd | The lam? (pronounced "luh-MAY") is like a sleeveless, metal vest, used Floyd | in electric foil fencing to define your target area--literally, since Floyd | the opponent's blade must strike you on the lam? to complete the Floyd | correct circuit. It The lam? is made to cover your torso from neck to Floyd | waistline, with an additional section in front best described by Floyd | drawing a line from your hips to your pelvis. Yours is an Uhlmann lam?, Floyd | quite high quality, although it cost a good deal. There is a small, Floyd | metal D-ring (shaped like the letter D) sewn into the back of the lam?. Floyd | Floyd | David plugs the floor cord into the floor reel. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Taleslinger arrives, full of fun, but no funk. | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take body cord" | ||||
Floyd | Taken. Floyd | Floyd | David walks back to the center of the room and looks in the bag on the Floyd | table. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take jacket" | ||||
Floyd | Taken. Floyd | Floyd | David pulls the scoring box out of the bag and sets it on the table. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "unzip lame" | ||||
Floyd | You unzip the lam?. Floyd | Floyd | He plugs the free end of the first floor cord into the scoring box. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "unzip jacket" | ||||
Floyd | You unzip the jacket. Floyd | Floyd | David takes the other floor cord out of the bag and plugs one end into Floyd | the box. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x jacket" | ||||
Floyd | Your jacket covers your torso and arms while you fence. They are Floyd | required to be white, and yours zips up the front (making it much Floyd | easier to put on by yourself). Although the FIE requires 800 Newton Floyd | resistance, you are merely fencing in the USFA, which has much more lax Floyd | requirements than its European counterpart, so yours is only rated at Floyd | 350 Newtons. Floyd | Floyd | David takes the other reel from the bag. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "attach body cord to jacket" | ||||
Floyd | You would achieve nothing by this. Floyd | Floyd | He walks down to the south end of the room, and winks at you. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x sleeve" | ||||
Floyd | Your jacket covers your torso and arms while you fence. They are Floyd | required to be white, and yours zips up the front (making it much Floyd | easier to put on by yourself). Although the FIE requires 800 Newton Floyd | resistance, you are merely fencing in the USFA, which has much more lax Floyd | requirements than its European counterpart, so yours is only rated at Floyd | 350 Newtons. Floyd | Floyd | Setting the floor reel on the carpet, David plugs the free end of the Floyd | floor cord into it. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x body cord" | ||||
Floyd | Your body cord is used in electric fencing to connect several different Floyd | circuits of electricity. On one end, the two-prong connector attaches Floyd | to your electric foil. The other end has an alligator clip, to hook to Floyd | your lam?, and a three-prong connector, to plug into the floor reel. In Floyd | between is about five feet of insulated wiring, which is supposed to Floyd | run up your sleeve and down your back. Floyd | Floyd | David turns to survey his work. Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert asks, "Maybe put it in the sleeve?" | |||
| inky says, "I wonder if anyone ever gets stabbed to death in the US because it has laxer regulations on the protectors" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "put body cord in sleeve" | ||||
Floyd | You slide the two-prong end of the body cord into the jacket sleeve. Floyd | Floyd | "Oops," David says, "I forgot to plug in the box." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "wear jacket" | ||||
Floyd | You start to pull the jacket on, but something feels funny. Your front Floyd | seems very... unprotected. Maybe there's another piece you're supposed Floyd | to wear first. Floyd | Floyd | He walks back to the table in the center of the east wall. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "wear chest protector" | ||||
Floyd | (first taking the chest protector) Floyd | You put on the chest protector. Floyd | Floyd | David peers in the bag and gets out the AC adapter for the scoring box. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "wear jacket" | ||||
Floyd | You pull the jacket on, trying to keep the dangling bits of the body Floyd | cord out of the way. What a pain! Floyd | Floyd | David plugs the adapter into the box. Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert asks (of inky), "Does the lower resistance force mean that you hit harder or lighter?" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "zip jacket" | ||||
Floyd | You zip up the jacket, tugging the zipper up to make sure it's all the Floyd | way up. Floyd | Floyd | He plugs the free end of the adapter into the electrical outlet in the Floyd | wall. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "wear lame" | ||||
Floyd | You struggle to get your jacketed arms through the small openings in Floyd | the lam?. Finally, you get it on. Floyd | Floyd | "There!" David says, looking over the electric strip in satisfaction. Floyd | He turns to you. "Now, let's get suited up and then we can fence!" Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert says (to inky), "I would have thought it meant that you only had to hit with 350N of force to trigger a 'hit'." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "zip lame" | ||||
Floyd | You zip up the lam?, and adjust the Velcro at the collar to make sure Floyd | you have a proper fit. Floyd | Floyd | David looks you over. "Looks like you don't quite have all your stuff. Floyd | Check in your bag--if you need help with something, show it to me." Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "oh, hunh" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "attach alligator clip to lame" | ||||
Floyd | You attach the alligator clip directly to the metal vest, remembering Floyd | to put it on the weapon arm side of your body as the rules require. Floyd | Floyd | Meanwhile, David gets his gear on amazingly fast. He says, "We'll Floyd | salute as soon as we're both ready." Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "my read was that it was supposed to resist that much force" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "attach two-prong to foil" | ||||
Floyd | You attach the two-prong connector, which pokes out through your sleeve Floyd | next to your glove, to the foil. It clicks into place. Floyd | Floyd | David connects to the far floor reel. "I'm about ready," he says. Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "but I guess yours makes more sense" | |||
| Bert says, "I dunno." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take foil" | ||||
Floyd | Taken. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x cord" | ||||
Floyd | (the floor cord) Floyd | The floor cords are nothing more than long, insulated wires that carry Floyd | electrical current between the floor reels and the scoring box. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x body cord" | ||||
Floyd | Your body cord is used in electric fencing to connect several different Floyd | circuits of electricity. On one end, the two-prong connector attaches Floyd | to your electric foil. The other end has an alligator clip, to hook to Floyd | your lam?, and a three-prong connector, to plug into the floor reel. In Floyd | between is about five feet of insulated wiring, which is supposed to Floyd | run up your sleeve and down your back. Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert says, "Actually, since it's the jacket rather than the lame, I think yours does." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "put reel in d-ring" | ||||
Floyd | There's no need to move either of the reels; David will have them just Floyd | where he wants them. Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert says, "Since it looks like the jacket is armor, while the lame is what registers hits." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "attach reel to d-ring" | inky says, "hmm yeah" | |||
Floyd | You're not suited up enough to plug in yet. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "attach three-prong to reel" | ||||
Floyd | You connect the three-prong end of the body cord with the hook out of Floyd | the floor reel. Getting close to fencing time! Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "attach reel to d-ring" | ||||
Floyd | You're not suited up enough to plug in yet. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "wear glove" | ||||
Floyd | (first taking the glove) Floyd | You put on the glove. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "attach reel to d-ring" | ||||
Floyd | You're not suited up enough to plug in yet. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "plug reel to d-ring" | ||||
Floyd | I didn't understand that sentence. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a glove (being worn) Floyd | an electric foil Floyd | a chest protector (being worn) Floyd | a jacket (being worn and closed) Floyd | a body cord Floyd | a lam? (being worn) Floyd | a plastron (being worn) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "salute" | ||||
Floyd | Fencers don't salute until they are completely plugged in and ready to Floyd | fence. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ask david about reel" | ||||
Floyd | "I don't know, love," David says. "Can it wait until later?" Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ask david about d-ring" | ||||
Floyd | "I don't know, love," David says. "Can it wait until later?" Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x d-ring" | ||||
Floyd | The D-ring is sewn onto the back of your lam?. Its purpose is solely to Floyd | give the hook from the floor reel something to latch onto, to give the Floyd | three-prong connection a bit of slack and make your life easier. Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert says, "That's what I think SHOW is for." | |||
| Bert says, "Rather than ASK." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "hook reel to d-ring" | ||||
Floyd | You're not suited up enough to plug in yet. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a glove (being worn) Floyd | an electric foil Floyd | a chest protector (being worn) Floyd | a jacket (being worn and closed) Floyd | a body cord Floyd | a lam? (being worn) Floyd | a plastron (being worn) Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "there was some comment in the .. jacket's? description about how maybe you attach to the d-ring and maybe you don't" | |||
| dhakajack says, "it might want the ATTACH verb" | ||||
| inky says, "so I guess we could try it either way" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "attach reel to d-ring" | ||||
Floyd | You're not suited up enough to plug in yet. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "wierd foil" | ||||
Floyd | That's not a verb you need today. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "wield foil" | ||||
Floyd | That's not a verb you need today. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "wear mask" | ||||
Floyd | (first taking the mask) Floyd | You put on the mask. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "attach reel to d-ring" | ||||
Floyd | You attach the hook from the floor reel to the D-ring on your lam?. One Floyd | step closer to fencing! Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "salute" | ||||
Floyd | First things first: you NEVER salute with a mask on. It's considered Floyd | very rude. Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "oho!" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "remove mask" | ||||
Floyd | You take off the mask. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "salute" | ||||
Floyd | You raise your foil in a traditional salute towards David. He smiles at Floyd | you, and you sweep the blade downward to finish the salute. You are now Floyd | (almost) ready to fence! Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "wear mask" | ||||
Floyd | You put on the mask. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "fence" | ||||
Floyd | You drop into your en guarde position, pleased to see David doing the Floyd | same. You have fenced him often enough to know that you need to hang Floyd | back, wait, and try to parry (or block) his attack, and riposte (or Floyd | attack immediately after parrying). You take a few cautious steps Floyd | forward (advances) and back (retreats), while waiting for him to make Floyd | the first move. The floor cord tugs gently at you, through the hook-up Floyd | on the D-ring, but after a few moments you don't notice it at all. Floyd | Floyd | David makes a few feints, which you ignore, and then suddenly he is Floyd | attacking! You try to parry, but it comes too late, and a loud buzz Floyd | emanates from the scoring box. You look at the box, and see David's red Floyd | light glowing, indicating that he scored a valid touch. You knew that Floyd | much; you can still feel the spot on your chest where he landed. But to Floyd | see it on the box is so exciting! Floyd | Floyd | "One," you say to David, holding up a finger to indicate that he scored Floyd | a touch. He nods, and backs up to his en guarde line. You both pause, Floyd | and then begin fencing again. This time, you think, maybe it isn't such Floyd | a good idea to try to defend, since he is so much faster than I am! Floyd | With that in mind, you spring forward, tapping David's blade aside as Floyd | you lunge (a "beat attack"). But David is fast, and he recovers from Floyd | the beat in time to parry your attack. His riposte comes for you, and Floyd | you do your best to parry it, but the buzzing of the score box can't be Floyd | denied. Floyd | Floyd | This time, there are two lights: David's red on-target light, and your Floyd | white off-target light. You must have hit him off-target somewhere in Floyd | there. Since the two of you are pretty new to the sport, and you have Floyd | no director or referee to oversee your bout, you both shrug. Floyd | Right-of-way, or "priority," can be hard to call, so you decide to Floyd | throw it out. Floyd | Floyd | ..... Floyd | Floyd | You and David spend the next hour practicing with your electric Floyd | equipment, preparing for Saturday's tournament in Glen Falls. You don't Floyd | expect to win any bouts in the tournament, and maybe not even to score Floyd | any touches, but you feel confident you will at least know how to hook Floyd | up. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | *** You have won *** Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game or QUIT? Floyd | > | dhakajack exclaims, "yay!" | |||
| inky says, "hooray" | ||||
| DavidW says, "whew" | ||||
| inky asks, "so what were we forgetting? attaching the d-ring to the reel?" | ||||
| DavidW says, "We had to wear the mask before attaching it, then remove the mask for the salute." | ||||
| dhakajack exclaims, "that's one heck of a cut scene!" | ||||
| Bert says, "What the #@(*$." | ||||
| Bert says, "So we couldn't salute until we were attached, we couldn't attach until we had the mask on, but we weren't supposed to wear the mask until we'd saluted." | ||||
| Bert says, "And then our reward for finally getting through this tedious thing that should ahve been mostly automated anyway was to get another big textdump and then have the game end." | ||||
| DavidW says, "Wear mask. Attach. Remove mask. Salute. Wear mask. Fence. ... yeah." | ||||
| inky says, "well, it's an art show piece" | ||||
| inky says, "so the experience is supposed to be the reward" | ||||
| Bert says, "Art sucks." | ||||
| inky says, "hee hee" | ||||
| DavidW says, "ha ha" | ||||
| Bert exclaims, "The experience was the un-fun part!" | ||||
| inky asks, "ok, anyway, should we charge onto the next one, or do people want five minutes?" | ||||
| Bert exclaims, "The only part of the game that would have been enjoyable would be the bit where we get to actually fence, and that part we weren't allowed to do!" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Gunther), "We finished Queen; we're about to start the next one." | ||||
| Gunther arrives, full of fun, but no funk. | DavidW says (to inky), "I say charge on." | |||
| Gunther says, "thanks" | ||||
| dhakajack says, "could be worse. We could have had the text dump followed by a half hour of undressing again." | ||||
| Gunther says, "I gather from recap it wasn't worth i t" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "quit" | ||||
Floyd | | ||||
| Floyd asks, "That game over already? It was just getting good. Wanna play another?" | Bert says, "I guess art isn't supposed to be fun. It's supposed to, um. Communicate a feeling or a deep truth or to connect with the viewer in a deep and meaningful way or to express something about the universe." | |||
| inky hollers, "next game starting (Snowblind Aces)" | ||||
| Gunther says (to Floyd), "no it was not" | ||||
| Floyd says (to Gunther), "Floyd doesn't know that trick." | Bert says, "In which case, this piece successfully made me feel something, and expressed a deep truth about why I never want to take up fencing." | |||
| Lucea says, "I mean, I enjoyed Galatea, a lot" | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "load snowaces" | ||||
Floyd | Welcome to the Cheap Glk Implementation, library version 0.9.0. Floyd | Floyd | It only takes a moment of inattention. The snowstorm draws thicker and Floyd | the faint grey silhouette of the reconnaissance plane fades away Floyd | completely. You bank hard, yanking on the control column with mild Floyd | panic, but it's too late. Your paths have diverged, unlikely to cross Floyd | again as long as this lethal weather continues. Floyd | Floyd | The lumbering two-seater plane you were supposed to be escorting is Floyd | alone and unprotected. And she is out there: lightning fast, deadly Floyd | accurate and cold as ice. You'd consider turning back to the airbase Floyd | right away. Floyd | Floyd | If, that is, you even knew where you were. Floyd | Floyd | Snowblind Aces Floyd | An adventure/romance in the snow by C.E.J. Pacian Floyd | Version 5 - Developed with TADS 3 Floyd | Floyd | [Type 'About' if this is your first time playing. Floyd | Type 'Credits' to learn who's responsible for this drivel.] Floyd | Floyd | Biplane Cockpit (sitting in the pilot's seat) Floyd | You're seated in the cockpit of your Swordfish biplane, exposed to the Floyd | elements. The small windscreen ahead does little to keep the harsh, Floyd | icy wind from cutting right through you, and you're surrounded on all Floyd | sides by blinding white mist. Floyd | Floyd | The plane's control column juts up in front of you. Floyd | Floyd | > | Lucea says, "from lurking this seemed like a big fiddle-with-the-machine puzzle" | |||
| inky says, "so my recollection about this game is that it was written for a TIGSource comp or something" | ||||
| inky says, "so semi-outside the community" | ||||
| inky says, "and I believe it won there" | ||||
| DavidW says, "That's right. Text the Halls." | ||||
| inky says, "also, this guy wrote some other thing I don't remember" | ||||
| inky says, "so he's very memorable!" | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "about" | ||||
Floyd | Snowblind Aces is a short, highly replayable adventure/romance, written Floyd | in two weeks for the TIGSource Text the Halls competition. This is Floyd | intended to be a puzzle-less game, but if you do get stuck, type HINTS Floyd | to read some relevant pointers. Floyd | Floyd | Some notes about conversations: converse using 'ASK/TELL [character] Floyd | ABOUT [subject]'. Type 'TOPICS' to see a list of subjects that your Floyd | character thinks are currently relevant. Floyd | Floyd | From time to time you'll see some more unusual responses suggested in Floyd | brackets, for example '(You could remind Leonard who you are, or Floyd | pretend not to know him)'. Sometimes you can simply change the subject Floyd | to something else, but often you'll have to choose one of the suggested Floyd | actions (although typing REMIND or PRETEND should suffice). Floyd | Floyd | If your interpreter is spiffy enough, conversations will feature blue, Floyd | underlined hyperlinks that you can click on to follow the flow of the Floyd | dialogue. Floyd | Floyd | Finally, note that the path through this game is short and Floyd | straightforward. You can spend a lot of time talking with the other Floyd | character, but you don't have to if you don't want. Floyd | Floyd | Hugses, Floyd | Pacian Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "The author later wrote Gun Mute." | |||
| inky says, "there we go" | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "pretend" | ||||
Floyd | The word "pretend" is not necessary in this story. Floyd | Floyd | (If this was an accidental misspelling, you can correct it by typing Floyd | OOPS followed by the corrected word now. Any time the story points out Floyd | an unknown word, you can correct a misspelling using OOPS as your next Floyd | command.) Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW asks, "oh. puzzleless?" | |||
| Bert says, "Um." | ||||
| inky says, "I think it's mostly conversational" | ||||
| Gunther asks, ""hugses"?" | ||||
| Bert says, "Yeah. But weird." | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "x column" | ||||
Floyd | Your Swordfish's trusty joystick features a tempting red button on the Floyd | top. Pushing or pulling the column will adjust your pitch. Floyd | Floyd | You suppress a shiver. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "push column" | ||||
Floyd | You grip the control column tightly and push it forward, hoping to sink Floyd | within sight of the ground. Floyd | Floyd | Almost before you can react, a huge shape swoops out of the white void Floyd | below: a scarlet triplane, close enough that you can see its pilot, and Floyd | the surprised expression on her face. You pull on the control column Floyd | hard and punch the throttle, feeling your plane strain to rise higher. Floyd | For an instant you think you've avoided disaster. Floyd | Floyd | And then the whole fuselage lurches, the sound of metal on metal Floyd | scraping right into your brain as you collide glancingly with the other Floyd | plane. You look over your shoulder just in time to see the scarlet Floyd | triplane disappear into the clouds, trailing thick black smoke. Floyd | Turning back to your controls you immediately notice the epileptic Floyd | motion of the rapidly spinning altimeter. Floyd | Floyd | It would seem that you have a problem. Floyd | Floyd | (Your score has just increased by one point.) Floyd | (If you'd prefer not to be notified about score changes in the future, Floyd | type NOTIFY OFF.) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "push button" | ||||
Floyd | You press the button and your plane's twin machineguns strafe the murk Floyd | ahead in a display of bright muzzle flash and loud, mechanical Floyd | rattling. Floyd | Floyd | Pointless, but satisfying all the same. Floyd | Floyd | The engine stalls for a second before lurching back to life, something Floyd | loose and metallic grating inside it. | inky says, "it is funny that we got a point for that" | |||
Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "good work blowing up your plane!" | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "verbose" | ||||
Floyd | VERBOSE mode is now selected. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky asks, "once 50 Cent's preferred ride", really?" | DavidW says, "I think we need to land, or parachute." | |||
| inky says, "(er, whoops)" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "land plane" | ||||
Floyd | The word "land" is not necessary in this story. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "pull joystick" | ||||
Floyd | The control column moves loosely, clearly having no effect on the Floyd | plane's ailerons. Floyd | Floyd | The control column twitches spasmodically. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | You are carrying a revolver, and you're wearing a pair of goggles, a Floyd | parachute pack, a white scarf, a fur-lined jacket, some breeches, and Floyd | some sheepskin boots. Floyd | Floyd | The propeller flickers in its motion, struggling to keep turning. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "I'm guessing: parachute" | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "shoot me" | ||||
Floyd | You miss. Floyd | Floyd | You glance over your shoulder in time to see something go flying Floyd | backwards from beneath the plane. Hopefully nothing too important... Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert says, "Ha." | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||||
Floyd | Taking back one turn: "shoot me". Floyd | Floyd | Biplane Cockpit (sitting in the pilot's seat) Floyd | You're seated in the cockpit of your Swordfish biplane, exposed to the Floyd | elements. The small windscreen ahead does little to keep the harsh, Floyd | icy wind from cutting right through you, and you're surrounded on all Floyd | sides by blinding white mist. Floyd | Floyd | The plane's control column juts up in front of you. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "x column" | ||||
Floyd | Your Swordfish's trusty joystick features a tempting red button on the Floyd | top. Pushing or pulling the column will adjust your pitch. Floyd | Floyd | You glance over your shoulder in time to see something go flying Floyd | backwards from beneath the plane. Hopefully nothing too important... Floyd | Floyd | > | Nitku says, "That's some bad aim there." | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||||
Floyd | Taking back one turn: "x column". Floyd | Floyd | Biplane Cockpit (sitting in the pilot's seat) Floyd | You're seated in the cockpit of your Swordfish biplane, exposed to the Floyd | elements. The small windscreen ahead does little to keep the harsh, Floyd | icy wind from cutting right through you, and you're surrounded on all Floyd | sides by blinding white mist. Floyd | Floyd | The plane's control column juts up in front of you. Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert asks, "Is that the entire set of controls?" | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "x seat" | ||||
Floyd | You are sitting in the pilot's seat. Floyd | Floyd | You glance over your shoulder in time to see something go flying Floyd | backwards from beneath the plane. Hopefully nothing too important... Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "I dunno, given that the guns are on the outside, I would say that is realistic simulation" | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "stand" | ||||
Floyd | You check your parachute and climb up onto your seat. After you throw Floyd | your leg over the side, it's surprisingly easy to push yourself away Floyd | from the plane and leap into the mist. Floyd | Floyd | Not quite as aerodynamic as your Swordfish, you drop like a stone, Floyd | plummeting into the murky white void below. Ice and fog crowd close Floyd | around you, obscuring every direction. The only reason you know you're Floyd | falling is because of the way your stomach seems to still be a hundred Floyd | metres above you somewhere. Remembering the single parachute jump you Floyd | performed in basic training, you fumble with the chord and yank hard, Floyd | the harness suddenly seeming to pull you upwards. Floyd | Floyd | Falling Floyd | You're hanging from a parachute, descending slowly into a blank white Floyd | void. Without the sound of your plane's engine, everything seems Floyd | shockingly silent. Floyd | Floyd | (Your score has just increased by one point.) Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert says (to inky), "We're holding a revolver." | |||
| inky says, "oh, whoops" | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "SAVE" | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "cf8" | ||||
Floyd | Please select a file in which to save the current position > Floyd | Saved. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky clears the save counter. | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "SAVE" | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "cf1" | ||||
Floyd | Please select a file in which to save the current position > Floyd | Saved. Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert says, "(Possibly it would have been wiser to save *before* jumping from an airplane.)" | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "z" | ||||
Floyd | Time passes... Floyd | Floyd | Your plane will have hit the ground by now, shattering into pieces, Floyd | bursting into flames. Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "heehee" | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "z" | ||||
Floyd | Time passes... Floyd | Floyd | But you're okay. You made it. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "z" | ||||
Floyd | Time passes... Floyd | Floyd | The hard part is over. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "z" | ||||
Floyd | Time passes... Floyd | Floyd | The mist beneath you parts. Below you are thick, evergreen trees, Floyd | garnished with snow, clinging to sharp black rocks. Floyd | Floyd | Now you have a frame of reference, you realise just how fast you're Floyd | falling. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | You open your eyes. You feel remarkably well given the circumstances. Floyd | The air is fresh and invigorating, the sound of birdsong and rustling Floyd | leaves is like soothing music. Time to get moving - for all you know, Floyd | you might be behind enemy lines. Floyd | Floyd | Forest Clearing (lying on the ground) Floyd | Snow-coated evergreen trees surround you on all sides, their roots Floyd | tangling into rugged black rocks. Snow falls from the bright white sky Floyd | above. Floyd | Floyd | The canopy of your parachute is suspended in the branches of a tree, Floyd | like a giant, tattered spider's web. Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert exclaims, "Hey! I intentionally didn't open the chute!" | |||
| DavidW asks, "I wonder if we'll get to smooch with the most beautiful bald girl spy in the orient?" | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||||
Floyd | Taking back one turn: "z". Floyd | Floyd | Falling Floyd | You're hanging from a parachute, descending slowly into a blank white Floyd | void. Without the sound of your plane's engine, everything seems Floyd | shockingly silent. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "remove chute" | ||||
Floyd | You just cheated death. If you wanted to commit suicide, you missed Floyd | your chance. Floyd | Floyd | The mist beneath you parts. Below you are thick, evergreen trees, Floyd | garnished with snow, clinging to sharp black rocks. Floyd | Floyd | Now you have a frame of reference, you realise just how fast you're Floyd | falling. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | You open your eyes. You feel remarkably well given the circumstances. Floyd | The air is fresh and invigorating, the sound of birdsong and rustling Floyd | leaves is like soothing music. Time to get moving - for all you know, Floyd | you might be behind enemy lines. Floyd | Floyd | Forest Clearing (lying on the ground) Floyd | Snow-coated evergreen trees surround you on all sides, their roots Floyd | tangling into rugged black rocks. Snow falls from the bright white sky Floyd | above. Floyd | Floyd | The canopy of your parachute is suspended in the branches of a tree, Floyd | like a giant, tattered spider's web. Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert asks, "Also, I forget: do we know which side we're on?" | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "x web" | ||||
Floyd | It doesn't look like this parachute will be saving any further lives. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "get cute" | ||||
Floyd | The word "cute" is not necessary in this story. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "get chute" | ||||
Floyd | You are already carrying the parachute pack. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | You are carrying a revolver, and you're wearing a pair of goggles, a Floyd | parachute pack, a white scarf, a fur-lined jacket, some breeches, and Floyd | some sheepskin boots. Floyd | Floyd | An icy breeze passes through the clearing, the soft rustling of leaves Floyd | following in its wake. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "x trees" | inky asks, "do we know what war this is?" | |||
Floyd | The trees seem unperturbed by the cold. You envy them. Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "also, we saw a red plane, so I assume we are snoopy" | |||
| Bert says, "It's always WWII." | ||||
| DavidW asks, "I dunno. I suppose it said at the beginning?" | ||||
| dhakajack says, "bi- and tri-planes would place it in WWI" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x jacket" | ||||
Floyd | The best protection against the northern weather short of setting Floyd | yourself on fire. Floyd | Floyd | > | Nitku asks, "Were biplanes used in any other war than WWI?" | |||
| Bert | The Fairey Swordfish was a torpedo bomber built by the Fairey Aviation Company and used by the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy during World War II. | ||||
| DavidW says, "no insignia" | ||||
| dhakajack says, "ok, comment retracted." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x forest" | ||||
Floyd | The word "forest" is not necessary in this story. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "l" | ||||
Floyd | Forest Clearing (lying on the ground) Floyd | Snow-coated evergreen trees surround you on all sides, their roots Floyd | tangling into rugged black rocks. Snow falls from the bright white sky Floyd | above. Floyd | Floyd | The canopy of your parachute is suspended in the branches of a tree, Floyd | like a giant, tattered spider's web. Floyd | Floyd | A bird chirrups melodically. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "stand" | ||||
Floyd | You sit up, feeling a lot weaker than you thought you were. As you Floyd | start to shift your legs, something inside your left calf moves. White Floyd | lightning bolts of pain jolt across your vision and you collapse back Floyd | with a scream of pain. Floyd | Floyd | You've broken your leg. You're lying in the freezing snow, and you're Floyd | not going anywhere. Floyd | Floyd | > | Nitku says, "huh." | |||
| Bert says, "We had torpedoes? Dang, what a wasted opportunity..." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take stick" | ||||
Floyd | You see no stick here. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "x tree" | ||||
Floyd | The trees seem unperturbed by the cold. You envy them. Floyd | Floyd | You hear something rustling among the trees. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "x roots" | ||||
Floyd | The word "roots" is not necessary in this story. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "shoot tree" | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "x leg" | ||||
Floyd | It doesn't look like that would achieve much. Floyd | Floyd | A feral icekin blunders into the clearing, looking around with its Floyd | empty black eyes. Probably attracted by your scream of pain. Nice Floyd | going, Lucas. Floyd | Floyd | > Floyd | Your left leg looks normal enough, but something feels very wrong Floyd | inside it. The slightest movement is agony. Floyd | Floyd | The icekin looks around, breathing heavily through its sharp, uneven Floyd | teeth. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| two-star says (to floyd), "listen" | ||||
Floyd | You hear the icekin's rasping breaths. Floyd | Floyd | The icekin fixes its lifeless black eyes on you, emitting a low growl. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "x icekin" | ||||
Floyd | A lumbering, bipedal creature, its shaggy white coat stained with Floyd | blood. It clutches a long, rusted blade. Floyd | Floyd | The icekin lumbers towards you. Floyd | Floyd | > | inky asks, "wait, *what*?" | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "shoot icekin" | ||||
Floyd | You level your revolver at the icekin and squeeze the trigger. It Floyd | grunts, and takes a few shuffling steps towards you, as if it hasn't Floyd | even noticed what's happened. Floyd | Floyd | After the third step, blood begins to drip from its mouth, and it Floyd | collapses face-down into the snow. Floyd | Floyd | A dark figure strides into the clearing, a flare gun in her hand. She Floyd | slips it into her belt and rests a hand on her hip, surveying you with Floyd | her one good eye. "I heard a scream," she says wryly, "But it seems Floyd | you can handle yourself." She looks disapprovingly at your gun."You Floyd | don't need to point that thing at me, Lucas. They pay us to shoot Floyd | planes and we're both grounded after our little airborne contretemps, Floyd | aren't we?" Floyd | Floyd | You smile in spite of the pain. "The Scarlet Baroness." Floyd | Floyd | She allows herself a carnivorous grin. "Yes. The two great aces, face Floyd | to face at last." Floyd | Floyd | (Your score has just increased by one point.) Floyd | Floyd | (You could tell her it feels like you already know her, or play it Floyd | cool.) Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "I was trying to get a branch to make a splint." | |||
| olethros says, "fencing... with a poisoned torpedo" | ||||
| Fang arrives, full of fun, but no funk. | inky says, "yeah, I am just weirded out by the genre" | |||
| inky says (to Floyd), "x baroness" | ||||
Floyd | The Scarlet Baroness is a tall, imposing woman with long, fiery red Floyd | hair and an eyepatch. She's clad in black leather and a thick fur Floyd | coat. You have her full attention. Floyd | Floyd | An awkward silence hangs between the two of you. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "tell her it feels like I already know her" | ||||
Floyd | "Yes," you say. "It doesn't feel like an introduction. You and I, we Floyd | know one another better than many friends. Than many lovers, even." Floyd | Floyd | "Exactly," she says with a crooked grin. "I know I've consumed every Floyd | snippet of information that might give me an advantage over you, I've Floyd | learnt your flying style, your weaknesses and quirks. I expect no less Floyd | from you. And we're certainly dance partners of the most intimate Floyd | kind. There's no-one else I'd be happier to have shoot me out of the Floyd | sky." Floyd | Floyd | Your eyes meet. Her's is icy green, studying you in a way you find Floyd | difficult to fathom - catlike, perhaps, or aloof. Floyd | Floyd | "Imelda," she says suddenly. "Maybe you just know me as the Scarlet Floyd | Baroness, but my name's Imelda von Strassenbach." Floyd | Floyd | "Come on," she adds, "I think it's going to really get snowing soon. Floyd | We need to get to shelter." Floyd | Floyd | > | Fang asks, "Did we just start the second game?" | |||
| Bert asks, "...'Scarlet Baroness'...?" | ||||
| Bert says, "Cheese factor ++" | ||||
| inky says (to Fang), "yeah" | ||||
| inky says, "we're a WWII flying ace and our plane crashed" | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "l" | ||||
Floyd | Forest Clearing (lying on the ground) Floyd | Snow-coated evergreen trees surround you on all sides, their roots Floyd | tangling into rugged black rocks. Snow falls from the bright white sky Floyd | above. Floyd | Floyd | The canopy of your parachute is suspended in the branches of a tree, Floyd | like a giant, tattered spider's web. Floyd | Floyd | A dead icekin lies in the snow, steam rising from its pooling blood. Floyd | Floyd | Imelda watches you intently. Floyd | Floyd | Imelda looks down at your leg. "Are you okay? Can you walk?" Floyd | Floyd | "I think it's broken." Floyd | Floyd | She kneels down by your side. "Let me take a look." Floyd | Floyd | "Be sure to look twice as long," you advise her, "since you just have Floyd | the one eye." Floyd | Floyd | She purses her lips. "You're right. I'll do that." Floyd | Floyd | "Ow!" Floyd | Floyd | "Yeah, it's broken alright." Floyd | Floyd | "Thanks, doctor." Floyd | Floyd | "I'll have to see about making a splint. And then I guess you'll have Floyd | to lean on me, if you don't mind." Floyd | Floyd | "Anything to help you feel useful." Floyd | Floyd | Downed Triplane (lying on the ground) Floyd | A scarlet triplane lies half-buried in the snow, leaning to one side. Floyd | You're huddled beneath its slanting wing, mostly sheltered from the Floyd | freezing wind and falling snow. Floyd | Floyd | Imelda is huddled close by your side. Floyd | Floyd | "It's getting dark," Imelda says. "We'll have to stay here at least Floyd | for tonight, and then move on tomorrow morning if the weather lets up." Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "and then our opponent's plane crashed two and she's a girl so I assume there weill be smooches eventually" | |||
| inky says, "er, crashed too" | ||||
| olethros asks, "do we have to fix it through the use of a cumbersome parser and a buggy implementation?" | ||||
| DavidW says, "I was *trying* to make a splint, lady." | ||||
| inky says, "I guess maybe we could be a girl too" | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "x me" | ||||
Floyd | You're Lucas Thane: daredevil fighter ace, knight of the air. Floyd | Floyd | "By the way," Imelda says, "why exactly did you feel the need to fly Floyd | into me?" Floyd | Floyd | "That's funny," you reply. "I thought that you were the one who flew Floyd | into me." Floyd | Floyd | The triplane rocks slightly in the wind. Floyd | Floyd | > | Fang says, "smoochies, yep" | |||
| two-star says (to floyd), "kiss imelda" | ||||
Floyd | You're not about to kiss the enemy without at least a hint that she'd Floyd | like you to. Floyd | Floyd | Imelda sighs, her breath hanging in front of her like a delicate cloud. Floyd | Floyd | > | Fang says, "haha" | |||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "preposition Imelda" | ||||
Floyd | The word "preposition" is not necessary in this story. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "smell cloud" | ||||
Floyd | You are not aware of any cloud here. Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert asks (of Fang), "'With'? Maybe 'Between'?" | |||
| DavidW says, "You won't cross the enemy's borders that easily, I guess." | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about splint" | ||||
Floyd | You meet Imelda's eye and she looks at you expectantly. Floyd | Floyd | You chat briefly with Imelda, but find out nothing important. Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "hmm" | |||
| inky says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about leg" | ||||
Floyd | "Is my leg going to be okay, do you think?" Floyd | Floyd | Imelda affects nervousness. "Well, I was trying not to let you know, Floyd | but I think it's going to be fatal. If you have any last minute Floyd | confessions of love to tell to someone, you should probably do it Floyd | sooner rather than later." Floyd | Floyd | You shrug. "No, nothing like that." Floyd | Floyd | She folds her arms. "Oh. I see." Floyd | Floyd | Your breath leaves little clouds in the air. Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert asks (of Fang), "Or how about 'underneath'?" | |||
| inky says, "ha ha" | ||||
| inky says, "see, she'd like us to" | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about love" | ||||
Floyd | You clear your throat. "So, Imelda, how are things with the men in Floyd | your life?" Floyd | Floyd | "Do you mean my male friends among the Sky Mercenaries? Or are you Floyd | sneakily trying to ask about us?" Floyd | Floyd | Snow continues to drift down from above. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "topics" | ||||
Floyd | You could ask her about herself, your predicament, the Swordfish Floyd | biplane, the Thunderbolt triplane, the feral icekin, the Sky Floyd | Mercenaries, us, friends, or her eyepatch. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "confess love" | ||||
Floyd | The word "confess" is not necessary in this story. Floyd | Floyd | > | two-star says, "A Gentleman never ends a sentence with a preposition." | |||
| inky says, "man, sky mercenaries" | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about us" | ||||
Floyd | "Imelda, about us..." Floyd | Floyd | She looks down at her feet. "What about us?" Floyd | Floyd | "Well, what's your take on it? Why do we keep circling around one Floyd | another? In the air or otherwise." Floyd | Floyd | Still without looking at you, she says, "I can't really remember how we Floyd | first met, except that I suddenly realised this plane from the 5th Floyd | Imperial Air Squadron kept seeking me out to duel with me, probably Floyd | because I'm an obvious target in my scarlet plane. I usually brought Floyd | down every enemy plane I came across, but you always managed to escape. Floyd | I only shot you down that once. I started to research you, found out Floyd | who you were, started to learn your flying style, had a chance to kill Floyd | you, but didn't take it, and then flew into you in the middle of a Floyd | snowstorm. And now here we are." Floyd | Floyd | There's a pause, and then she adds, "But that's not what you asked, Floyd | really, is it? That's just the story of us - I didn't mention my Floyd | feelings at all." She smiles apologetically. Floyd | Floyd | A chill wind passes under the wing, making you both shiver. Floyd | Floyd | > | Fang says, "I'm sure this isn't WWII" | |||
| Fang asks, "what's an icekin?" | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about feelings" | ||||
Floyd | "So what are your feelings for me?" Floyd | Floyd | Imelda remains strangely silent, just looks at you with an ambiguous Floyd | expression. If you want to press the matter, perhaps you should tell Floyd | her about your feelings. Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "it is a two-legged yeti dude who tried to kill us when we crashed" | |||
| inky says (to Floyd), "tell imelda about my feelings" | ||||
Floyd | You cough. "Imelda, I just wanted to say that..." Floyd | Floyd | (You could tell her you're in love with her, or tell her she's like Floyd | your best friend.) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "tell imelda about feelings" | ||||
Floyd | You cough. "Imelda, I just wanted to say that..." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "tell imelda about feelings" | ||||
Floyd | You cough. "Imelda, I just wanted to say that..." Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "hmm, choices" | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "tell imelda about love" | ||||
Floyd | You chat briefly with Imelda, but find out nothing important. Floyd | Floyd | You rub your hands together to try to keep them warm. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "tell imelda i'm in love" | ||||
Floyd | The story doesn't understand that command. Please use ASK ACTOR ABOUT Floyd | TOPIC (or just A TOPIC). Floyd | Floyd | "By the way," Imelda says, "you're not really dying." Floyd | Floyd | "I know," you reply. Floyd | Floyd | "Just thought I'd check." Floyd | Floyd | A chill wind passes under the wing, making you both shiver. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "tell imelda I'm in love with her" | ||||
Floyd | The story doesn't understand that command. Please use ASK ACTOR ABOUT Floyd | TOPIC (or just A TOPIC). Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "tell imelda i'm in love with her" | ||||
Floyd | The story doesn't understand that command. Please use ASK ACTOR ABOUT Floyd | TOPIC (or just A TOPIC). Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "whoops" | |||
| DavidW says, "This is TADS 3. You can do those elaborate tells it suggests." | ||||
| Lucea says (to floyd), "ask imelda about love" | ||||
Floyd | You clear your throat. "So, Imelda, how are things with the men in Floyd | your life?" Floyd | Floyd | "Do you mean my male friends among the Sky Mercenaries? Or are you Floyd | sneakily trying to ask about us?" Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "tell imelda about my feelings" | ||||
Floyd | You cough. "Imelda, I just wanted to say that..." Floyd | Floyd | The triplane rocks slightly in the wind. Floyd | Floyd | (You could tell her you're in love with her, or tell her she's like Floyd | your best friend.) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "tell imelda you're in love with her" | ||||
Floyd | The story doesn't understand that command. Please use ASK ACTOR ABOUT Floyd | TOPIC (or just A TOPIC). Floyd | Floyd | You rub your hands together to try to keep them warm. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "tell imelda I'm in love with her" | ||||
Floyd | The story doesn't understand that command. Please use ASK ACTOR ABOUT Floyd | TOPIC (or just A TOPIC). Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Lucea says (to floyd), "tell imelda I'm in love" | ||||
Floyd | The story doesn't understand that command. Please use ASK ACTOR ABOUT Floyd | TOPIC (or just A TOPIC). Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "hmmmm" | |||
| Bert asks (of W), "You can, can you?" | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about icekin" | ||||
Floyd | "You know, I'd never seen an icekin up close before today." Floyd | Floyd | Imelda laughs. "Count yourself lucky. Icekin come in all shapes and Floyd | sizes, but they all have pointy teeth and empty stomachs. Just be glad Floyd | this was a feral with a blunt knife. It'd gut you and eat you, and Floyd | that's it. The Ice Queen's trained icekin soldiers, on the other hand, Floyd | now you really don't want them to take you prisoner." Floyd | Floyd | Your breath leaves little clouds in the air. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Lucea says (to floyd), "imelda, I love you" | ||||
Floyd | The story doesn't understand that command. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "tell imelda about feelings" | ||||
Floyd | You cough. "Imelda, I just wanted to say that..." Floyd | Floyd | (You could tell her you're in love with her, or tell her she's like Floyd | your best friend.) Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "I can't read, though, it's all a blur of pixels." | |||
| Lucea says (to floyd), "tell imelda about love" | ||||
Floyd | You chat briefly with Imelda, but find out nothing important. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "tell her i'm in love with her" | ||||
Floyd | The story doesn't understand that command. Please use ASK ACTOR ABOUT Floyd | TOPIC (or just A TOPIC). Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "ha ha" | |||
| DavidW says, "So I don't know what it suggested." | ||||
| Nitku says, "Maybe it expects "tell her YOU'RE in love with her"" | ||||
| inky says, "everyone hold off and let Jota do the two commands in sequence" | ||||
| Lucea says, "(You could tell her you're in love with her, or tell her she's like your best friend.)" | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "tell imelda about feelings" | ||||
Floyd | You cough. "Imelda, I just wanted to say that..." Floyd | Floyd | (You could tell her you're in love with her, or tell her she's like Floyd | your best friend.) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "tell her i'm in love with her" | ||||
Floyd | You decide to just say it. You don't even look at her. "Imelda, I'm Floyd | in love with you." Floyd | Floyd | She refrains from looking at you either. "I'm in love with you too," Floyd | she states, matter-of-factly. "It makes perfect sense, I think. We're Floyd | young, we're forced to deal with one another repeatedly in intense, Floyd | passionate, but graceful and playful circumstances, we understand the Floyd | stresses, the fears we each experience, we both love flying... and so Floyd | we grow attracted to one another." Floyd | Floyd | The two of you lean closer as she speaks, your lips brushing together. Floyd | "My lips are numb," you complain. Floyd | Floyd | She shushes you. "Let me warm them up." Floyd | Floyd | After a while, you lean back, faces flushed, sitting perhaps a little Floyd | closer than before. Floyd | Floyd | Imelda straightens her hair and exhales slowly. "That was almost as Floyd | satisfying as shooting you down." Floyd | Floyd | (Your score has just increased by one point.) Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert exclaims, "Finally!" | |||
| inky says, "ha ha" | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "score" | ||||
Floyd | In 52 moves, you have scored 4 of a possible 7 points. This makes you Floyd | a wing commander. Floyd | Floyd | (To see a detailed accounting of your score, type FULL SCORE.) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "copulate with imelda" | ||||
Floyd | The word "copulate" is not necessary in this story. Floyd | Floyd | > | Fang says, "heh, wing commander" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "full score" | ||||
Floyd | In 52 moves, you have scored 4 of a possible 7 points. This makes you Floyd | a wing commander. Your score consists of: Floyd | 1 point for aerobatics Floyd | 1 point for knowing when to quit Floyd | 1 point for suriving a feral icekin Floyd | 1 point for telling Imelda how you feel about her Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "shoot imelda up" | ||||
Floyd | You see no imelda up here. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "kiss imelda" | ||||
Floyd | You lean over to Imelda and kiss her on the lips. She kisses you back, Floyd | forcefully. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "undress" | ||||
Floyd | The word "undress" is not necessary in this story. Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "we're a wing commander because we don't need a wing man" | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | You are carrying a revolver, and you're wearing a pair of goggles, a Floyd | white scarf, a fur-lined jacket, some breeches, some sheepskin boots, Floyd | and a makeshift splint. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "remove jacket" | ||||
Floyd | The risk of hypothermia is too great. Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "I don't think this is actually AIF" | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "remove breeches" | ||||
Floyd | It's extremely cold. You don't really have much to show off right now. Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert asks, "So?" | |||
| inky says, "just smoochiecomp" | ||||
| Bert exclaims, "That shouldn't keep us from trying!" | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "screw imelda" | ||||
Floyd | You see no way to screw Imelda. Floyd | Floyd | Imelda's attention drifts away from you. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Lucea says (to floyd), "shoot jacket" | ||||
Floyd | It doesn't look like that would achieve much. Floyd | Floyd | Imelda meets your eye briefly. Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "so beneath your pants is a smooth patch" | |||
| Bert says, "Removing trousers is a standard IF tactic." | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about eyepatch" | ||||
Floyd | You meet Imelda's eye and she looks at you expectantly. Floyd | Floyd | You meet Imelda's single eye. "Um..." you say, "so how did you...?" Floyd | Floyd | "How did I what, Lucas?" she replies innocently. Floyd | Floyd | You clear your throat. "You know... the eye patch..." Floyd | Floyd | "What about it, Lucas?" Floyd | Floyd | "Well, I was just wondering what happened to your eye." Floyd | Floyd | "I was shot," she says simply. "It's an occupational hazard when Floyd | you're around planes with machineguns strapped to them." Floyd | Floyd | "Yes, I've noticed." Floyd | Floyd | > | Lucea says, "I wonder if I can shoot things" | |||
| inky says, "ha ha" | ||||
| Lucea says (to floyd), "remove eyepatch" | ||||
Floyd | You're not wearing that. Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert says, "It worked in I-0. It worked in Lost Pig. It probably worked in other games, but I can't remember them right now." | |||
| inky says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about snow queen" | ||||
Floyd | You chat briefly with Imelda, but find out nothing important. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about ice queen" | ||||
Floyd | "So, as the Ice Queen's pet fighter pilot I bet you've had tea with her Floyd | and everything?" Floyd | Floyd | Imelda raises her chin. "She did personally present a medal to me. Floyd | Her hands were really cold... But I'm hardly her pet. The Sky Floyd | Mercenaries always retain full autonomy. We're merely under contract Floyd | to her and the Northern Territories." Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "You could try rocking the plane, I suppose." | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "topics" | ||||
Floyd | You could ask her about herself, your predicament, the Swordfish Floyd | biplane, the Thunderbolt triplane, the Northern Territories, the Sky Floyd | Mercenaries, us, yourself, how you first met, shooting you down, the Floyd | chance to kill you, duelling, or friends. Floyd | Floyd | > | Lucea says, "I-0 and Lost Pig is one hell of a crossover" | |||
| inky says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about sky mercenaries" | ||||
Floyd | "What exactly are you Sky Pirates all about then?" Floyd | Floyd | Imelda looks at you with her good eye and sighs theatrically. Floyd | Floyd | "Sky Mercenaries," you correct yourself, "whatever." Floyd | Floyd | "We're the children of Aerocity, born in the skies, at home there, Floyd | understanding wind, gravity and inertia the way most people understand Floyd | walking." Floyd | Floyd | "You're not afraid of heights then?" Floyd | Floyd | She smiles. "No, Lucas, not really." After a moment she adds, "Look, Floyd | I know we get a bad rap in the southern newspapers, but we're people Floyd | just like anyone else. I couldn't wish for better friends than those I Floyd | have on the zeppelin." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about predicament" | ||||
Floyd | "This is quite a situation we're in," you say. Floyd | Floyd | "Yep," Imelda agrees. Floyd | Floyd | "Any idea what to do?" Floyd | Floyd | Imelda tips her head to one side. "Maybe." Floyd | Floyd | "Care to share?" Floyd | Floyd | "Well, as I see it, we have two main problems. We need to get to Floyd | safety tomorrow, and we need to keep warm." Floyd | Floyd | Snow continues to drift down from above. Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert says (to Lucea), "Ha ha." | |||
| inky says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about zeppelin" | ||||
Floyd | "So you guys are based on a zeppelin?" you ask Imelda. Floyd | Floyd | "Of course," she says smugly. "There's no quicker way to get your Floyd | planes in the air than to have them in the air already." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "get eyepatch" | ||||
Floyd | Taken. Floyd | Floyd | > | Nitku says, "haha what" | |||
| DavidW says, "I can never follow conversation games at this speed." | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about safety" | ||||
Floyd | "I was thinking," you tell Imelda. Floyd | Floyd | "Did it hurt?" she asks. Floyd | Floyd | "A little. Mostly it was just an unfamiliar sensation. What I was Floyd | thinking was that we should head south from here. We'll probably reach Floyd | the Imperial lines in no time. After that, a hot bath, some steaming Floyd | soup..." Floyd | Floyd | Imelda seems unconvinced. "Or we could head north. We'll probably Floyd | reach the Northern lines in no time, after which etcetera, etcetera." Floyd | Floyd | "Hang on," you say, "Weren't you telling me I didn't ever want to end Floyd | up a prisoner of the Ice Queen's icekin soldiers?" Floyd | Floyd | "You won't be a prisoner of the icekin soldiers. You'll be my Floyd | prisoner." Floyd | Floyd | "Sounds a bit kinky for my tastes." Floyd | Floyd | Imelda smiles slyly. "You have no idea." Floyd | Floyd | "Maybe we should just split up," you suggest. "I bet we could both Floyd | make it by ourselves. Then no-one has to be anyone's prisoner." Floyd | Floyd | Imelda shrugs. "Look, I'm heading north. I'd love it if you'd come Floyd | with me, but..." Floyd | Floyd | (You could agree to go north with her, ask her to go south with you, Floyd | tell her you should split up, or tell her you can't decide.) Floyd | Floyd | > | inky asks, "Grunk car get in crash. Grunk not able to get home. Maybe Grunk able to use sex appeal to hitch ride?" | |||
| olethros arrives, full of neither funk nor fun. | ||||
| dhakajack says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about warmth" | ||||
Floyd | You chat briefly with Imelda, but find out nothing important. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "wear eyepatch" | ||||
Floyd | Okay, you're now wearing the eye patch. Floyd | Floyd | You rub your hands together to try to keep them warm. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about ice queen" | inky says, "ha ha!" | |||
Floyd | "So, as the Ice Queen's pet fighter pilot I bet you've had tea with her Floyd | and everything?" Floyd | Floyd | Imelda raises her chin. "She did personally present a medal to me. Floyd | Her hands were really cold... But I'm hardly her pet. The Sky Floyd | Mercenaries always retain full autonomy. We're merely under contract Floyd | to her and the Northern Territories." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| dhakajack says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about keeping warm" | ||||
Floyd | "I've got an idea to keep us warm," you tell Imelda. Floyd | Floyd | She takes a break from breathing into her hands. "Sounds great to me. Floyd | What is it?" Floyd | Floyd | (You could suggest thinking warm thoughts, suggest sharing body heat, Floyd | or suggest making a fire.) Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "ha ha" | |||
| Fang says, "SHARE" | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "suggest thinking warm thoughts" | ||||
Floyd | "Well," you begin uncertainly, "we could think warm thoughts." Floyd | Floyd | Imelda offers you a very condescending look. "So even as our bodies Floyd | freeze to death, we'll be warm in our minds?" Floyd | Floyd | "Exactly. We just need to picture ourselves sitting in front of a Floyd | roaring fire, or lying on a sunny beach, or... uh, inside the stomach Floyd | of a feral icekin..." Floyd | Floyd | Imelda pats you on your unbroken leg. "It's a good thing you have Floyd | looks," is all she says. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "share body heat" | ||||
Floyd | The word "share" is not necessary in this story. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "suggest sharing body heat" | ||||
Floyd | That command can't be used right now. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "drat" | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about keeping warm" | ||||
Floyd | "I've got an idea to keep us warm," you tell Imelda. Floyd | Floyd | She takes a break from breathing into her hands. "Sounds great to me. Floyd | What is it?" Floyd | Floyd | (You could suggest thinking warm thoughts, suggest sharing body heat, Floyd | or suggest making a fire.) Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "fools" | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "suggest sharing body heat" | ||||
Floyd | "I was just thinking how we're both so cold, and yet we're both full of Floyd | red hot blood..." Floyd | Floyd | Imelda raises an eyebrow. "Cannibalism?" Floyd | Floyd | You grimace. "Hugging?" Floyd | Floyd | Imelda smiles evilly. "Oh, I see. Can't bear to keep your hands to Floyd | yourself for much longer?" Floyd | Floyd | "It would take an iron will." Floyd | Floyd | She slips her arms around your waist and presses herself against you. Floyd | "Still, it's a small price to pay to avoid freezing to death." Floyd | Floyd | You wrap your arms around her in turn. "Yes," you say austerely, "we Floyd | must be brave." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about keeping warm" | ||||
Floyd | "I've got an idea to keep us warm," you tell Imelda. Floyd | Floyd | She takes a break from breathing into her hands. "Sounds great to me. Floyd | What is it?" Floyd | Floyd | The triplane rocks slightly in the wind. Floyd | Floyd | (You could suggest thinking warm thoughts, suggest sharing body heat, Floyd | or suggest making a fire.) Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert says, "Hmm." | |||
| Fang says, "perhaps we should persuade her to the side of freedom" | ||||
| Bert says, "You'd think the previous interaction would have altered this one." | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda to go south" | ||||
Floyd | Imelda refuses your request. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about safety" | ||||
Floyd | "About where we're headed..." you begin. Floyd | Floyd | "Have you reached a decision yet?" Imelda asks you. Floyd | Floyd | (You could agree to go north with her, ask her to go south with you, Floyd | tell her you should split up, or tell her you can't decide.) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda to go south" | ||||
Floyd | Imelda refuses your request. Floyd | Floyd | > | dhakajack asks, "is this where we cuddle in the Ton-Ton for warmth?" | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "agree to go north" | ||||
Floyd | "Okay," you say. "I'll go north with you." | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "tell imedla about empire" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Imelda squeezes you around the waist. "I'm glad. And... I know what Floyd | a sacrifice this must be for you. Thank you." Floyd | Floyd | (Your score has just increased by one point.) Floyd | Floyd | > Floyd | The word "imedla" is not necessary in this story. Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert says, "s/Ton-Ton/icekin/" | |||
| inky asks (of dhakajack), "are you saying we should cut open her belly?" | ||||
| inky says, "oh" | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "tell imelda about empire" | ||||
Floyd | You chat briefly with Imelda, but find out nothing important. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "topics" | ||||
Floyd | You could ask her about your predicament, herself, Aerocity, keeping Floyd | warm, getting to safety, the Swordfish biplane, the Thunderbolt Floyd | triplane, the Northern Territories, newspapers, us, yourself, how you Floyd | first met, shooting you down, the chance to kill you, duelling, or Floyd | friends. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about newspapers" | ||||
Floyd | "Have you read any newspapers recently?" you ask Imelda. Floyd | Floyd | "You mean like the Northern Financial Times?" Floyd | Floyd | "I mean like the Weekly Mirror or the Mail News." Floyd | Floyd | "I thought as much. A shocking amount of those papers is about us, Floyd | isn't it? According to one, I'm irresponsible for continuing to fly Floyd | into combat while blatantly pregnant with your love child." Floyd | Floyd | "I wonder what they'd make of all this..." You wave your hand around Floyd | at your cosy little love nest in the freezing snow. Floyd | Floyd | "If we don't make it," Imelda says, "they'll turn it into our lovers' Floyd | suicide pact." Floyd | Floyd | "Headline: They couldn't bring themselves to fight any more!" Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Lucea says (to floyd), "l" | ||||
Floyd | Downed Triplane (lying on the ground) Floyd | A scarlet triplane lies half-buried in the snow, leaning to one side. Floyd | You're huddled beneath its slanting wing, mostly sheltered from the Floyd | freezing wind and falling snow. Floyd | Floyd | Imelda is huddled close by your side, watching you intently. Floyd | Floyd | A chill wind passes under the wing, making you both shiver. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "tell imelda about aerocity" | ||||
Floyd | You chat briefly with Imelda, but find out nothing important. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about safety" | ||||
Floyd | "About where we're headed..." you begin. Floyd | Floyd | "Have you changed your mind?" Imelda asks you. "We were both going to Floyd | head north." Floyd | Floyd | (You could ask her to go south with you, tell her you should split up, Floyd | or tell her you haven't changed your mind.) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about aerocity" | ||||
Floyd | "I've heard of Aerocity, but I'm not sure I believe in it. It's Floyd | supposed to be a city suspended from balloons?" Floyd | Floyd | Imelda bursts out with laughter. It's nice to see her be so familiar Floyd | with you, but you can't help but feel a bit embarrassed. "That's a Floyd | good one, I'll have to remember that. No, Lucas, Aerocity is not a Floyd | city suspended from balloons, but it is high up in a mountain range. Floyd | We're quite familiar with the concept of falling, and our efforts to Floyd | avoid it have made us the best in the world at flying." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "n" | ||||
Floyd | The slanting triplane wing is in the way. Floyd | Floyd | Imelda laughs suddenly. "A city suspended from balloons. That's Floyd | brilliant." Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert asks, "So how do we do this whole 'going north' thing?" | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "enter triplane" | ||||
Floyd | That is not something you can enter. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "x plane" | ||||
Floyd | A plane with three wings, one on top of the other. Bit extravagant, Floyd | really. Floyd | Floyd | > | Fang says, "tomorrow" | |||
| Bert says, "Ah." | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about northern territories" | ||||
Floyd | You look around at the thick snowfall. "The climate's nice in the Floyd | Northern Territories this year." Floyd | Floyd | "I guess this is why they call her the Ice Queen." Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "yeah, I don't think any of this is going to resolve until the end of the game" | |||
| DavidW says, "So first the smoochies, sleep, then travel, I guess." | ||||
| inky asks, "did we try making a fire?" | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about herself" | ||||
Floyd | "So..." you begin, "why not tell me a little about yourself, Imelda?" Floyd | Floyd | Imelda looks thoughtful. "I suppose... it's a bit of a broad topic. Floyd | Tell you what, why don't we start with you telling me about myself." Floyd | Floyd | "You want me to tell you about yourself?" you repeat. "Don't you Floyd | already know yourself quite well?" Floyd | Floyd | "I'm interested to know what you think of me. Come on, tell me." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "tell imelda about herself" | ||||
Floyd | You take a deep breath. "Okay. You're the notorious ace Sky Mercenary Floyd | known as the Scarlet Baroness, real name Imelda von Strassa- von Floyd | Strassenba-" Floyd | Floyd | "Von Strassenbach." Floyd | Floyd | "Who's telling this story? Imelda von Strassenbach. A fiery redhead Floyd | with an ice cold temperament." Floyd | Floyd | "More than my temperament is ice cold at the moment." Floyd | Floyd | "You've racked up over seventy confirmed kills-" Floyd | Floyd | "Seventy-six." Floyd | Floyd | "You're an outstanding pilot, who can best even the most elite southern Floyd | pilots, and you're hopelessly in love, according to the scandal sheets, Floyd | with one Lucas Thane, the Benevolent Empire's ace of aces." Floyd | Floyd | Imelda seems happy with your little report. "Is that so," she purrs. Floyd | "Although: hopelessly in love, pursuing in a predatory fashion... it's Floyd | a thin line, I think." Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "We haven't tried a fire yet." | |||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about benevolent empire" | ||||
Floyd | "You're surely a fan of the Benevolent Empire and its attempts to Floyd | civilise the world?" Floyd | Floyd | Imelda scoffs. "It's hard to consider an empire benevolent when it Floyd | thinks that rearranging the world to suit its own economic needs is Floyd | 'civilising' it." Floyd | Floyd | "You don't think the people of the Northern Territories would benefit Floyd | from giving us all their noxious petroleum?" Floyd | Floyd | "I think they've benefited best by giving it to us Sky Mercenaries." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about warmth" | ||||
Floyd | You chat briefly with Imelda, but find out nothing important. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about me" | ||||
Floyd | "Do you know much about me?" you ask Imelda. Floyd | Floyd | "All the important stuff," she says. "Your flying style, your Floyd | weaknesses." Floyd | Floyd | You study her carefully. "My weaknesses?" Floyd | Floyd | "You always underestimate your ability to fly in a crosswind, you're Floyd | too afraid of stalling, and you've balked at two separate opportunities Floyd | to shoot me down because the bullets would probably have passed through Floyd | my body." Floyd | Floyd | "I see." Floyd | Floyd | Snow continues to drift down from above. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about keeping warm" | ||||
Floyd | "I've got an idea to keep us warm," you tell Imelda. Floyd | Floyd | She takes a break from breathing into her hands. "Sounds great to me. Floyd | What is it?" Floyd | Floyd | (You could suggest thinking warm thoughts, suggest sharing body heat, Floyd | or suggest making a fire.) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "suggest making a fire" | ||||
Floyd | You look around. "I think we could build a fire. If we put it right Floyd | there it should be close enough to warm us up, but the wind will blow Floyd | the smoke away from us." Floyd | Floyd | Imelda crawls out from under the wing and stands up, snow crunching Floyd | beneath her feet. "Okay, I'll go find some wood, or anything else that Floyd | looks like it'll burn. Give me your gun. I'd hate to have to face Floyd | down a feral icekin with nothing but a couple of pine branches." Floyd | Floyd | "Don't you still have that flare gun?" you ask her. Floyd | Floyd | "Yeah, but I'd rather save its one shot for summoning help. Come on, Floyd | hand it over." Floyd | Floyd | (You could agree, or politely refuse.) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda for flare gun" | ||||
Floyd | "We can talk after I get back," Imelda says. "In the meantime, just Floyd | tell me: are you going to give me your gun?" Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "trade" | ||||
Floyd | The word "trade" is not necessary in this story. Floyd | Floyd | > | olethros says, "I love the agree refuse gimmick" | |||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "agree" | ||||
Floyd | You hand your gun to Imelda, handle first. "You've not managed to Floyd | shoot me yet," you tell her, "and it's hardly for lack of trying. I Floyd | think you must like me too much." Floyd | Floyd | She purses her lips and tucks the revolver into her belt. "It's Floyd | certainly not that you're a difficult target to hit." Floyd | Floyd | She turns around and stomps off into the snow. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Time passes slowly while Imelda is gone. You feel yourself growing Floyd | sleepy, and the feeling leaves your hands and feet. Only the dull pain Floyd | in your broken leg keeps you awake. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | You snap back to reality as something approaches, trudging quickly Floyd | through the frost. Before you have time to consider what to do if it Floyd | turns out to be a dangerous creature, Imelda appears in front of you Floyd | and dumps an armful of branches and sticks into the snow. Floyd | Floyd | "Gods it's cold," she announces, throwing herself onto all fours and Floyd | crawling back under the wing. She curls up right next to you, Floyd | shivering, and you obligingly wrap your arms around her to help warm Floyd | her up. Not entirely a selfless act, as you're pretty cold yourself. Floyd | Floyd | "Okay," Imelda says after a while. "Got to try and turn this ugly heap Floyd | of sticks into a nice fire..." Floyd | Floyd | (Your score has just increased by one point.) Floyd | Floyd | (You could let her get on with it, or tell her you can do better.) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "SAVE" | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "cf2" | ||||
Floyd | Please select a file in which to save the current position > Floyd | Saved. Floyd | Floyd | > | Fang asks, "whoops?" | |||
| Fang asks, "or yay?" | ||||
| Bert shrugs. | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "score" | ||||
Floyd | In 98 moves, you have scored 6 of a possible 7 points. This makes you Floyd | a world-famous ace. Floyd | Floyd | > | Fang says, "heh" | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "tell her i can do better" | ||||
Floyd | The story doesn't understand that command. Please use ASK ACTOR ABOUT Floyd | TOPIC (or just A TOPIC). Floyd | Floyd | Imelda rearranges the piles of sticks slightly. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "tell her you can do better" | ||||
Floyd | You shift your broken leg so that you can grab a couple of sticks from Floyd | the pile. "I think the Boy Scouts need to take over here," you tell Floyd | Imelda. Floyd | Floyd | She gives you a very doubtful look. "Excuse me? The Sky Guides are Floyd | more than capable of rubbing two sticks together. Unless you can think Floyd | of a way an all-male group might have gained extra practice in that Floyd | regard?" Floyd | Floyd | "Clearly you don't have enough confidence in your abilities to just get Floyd | on with it." Floyd | Floyd | "I'm just trying to get you to save your energy." Floyd | Floyd | You both tend to the sticks in intense silence from then on. But the Floyd | fire doesn't suddenly spark to life, it forms slowly from a wisp of Floyd | smoke, and it's hard to tell which of you is more responsible for it. Floyd | When it's crackling away nicely, you both sit back, Floyd | shoulder-to-shoulder. Floyd | Floyd | "I told you to save your energy," Imelda says. "That was clearly my Floyd | spark that lit it." Floyd | Floyd | You shake your head. "My sparks were much more vibrant. You could Floyd | tell they had the Lucas Thane never-give-up attitude." Floyd | Floyd | "Fine, keep lying to yourself. We both know the truth." Floyd | Floyd | "I agree that one of us is in denial, but I don't think it's me." Floyd | Floyd | Imelda holds out her hands to the fire. "It's nice that we got it Floyd | done, though." Floyd | Floyd | You hold out your own hands. "I don't dispute that." Floyd | Floyd | (Your score has just increased by one point.) Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert asks, "Why am I addressing the game in the second person?" | |||
| inky says, "ok, this dialogue is pretty good" | ||||
| inky says, "I'm not sure it's good as an IF game as opposed to static fiction, but" | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about child" | ||||
Floyd | You chat briefly with Imelda, but find out nothing important. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "score" | ||||
Floyd | In 101 moves, you have scored 7 of a possible 7 points. This makes you Floyd | the southern Ace of Aces. Floyd | Floyd | > | Fang asks, "wasn't something about a lovechild?" | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "win game" | ||||
Floyd | The word "win" is not necessary in this story. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about lovechild" | ||||
Floyd | You chat briefly with Imelda, but find out nothing important. Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert says, "That was one of the rumors the tabloids printed about her." | |||
| Bert says, "And us." | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about newspaper" | ||||
Floyd | "Have you read any newspapers recently?" you ask Imelda. Floyd | Floyd | "You mean like the Northern Financial Times?" Floyd | Floyd | "I mean like the Weekly Mirror or the Mail News." Floyd | Floyd | "I thought as much. A shocking amount of those papers is about us, Floyd | isn't it? According to one, I'm irresponsible for continuing to fly Floyd | into combat while blatantly pregnant with your love child." Floyd | Floyd | "I wonder what they'd make of all this..." You wave your hand around Floyd | at your cosy little love nest in the freezing snow. Floyd | Floyd | "If we don't make it," Imelda says, "they'll turn it into our lovers' Floyd | suicide pact." Floyd | Floyd | "Headline: They couldn't bring themselves to fight any more!" Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about northern territories" | ||||
Floyd | You look around at the thick snowfall. "The climate's nice in the Floyd | Northern Territories this year." Floyd | Floyd | "I guess this is why they call her the Ice Queen." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "topics" | ||||
Floyd | You could ask her about your predicament, getting to safety, the Floyd | Swordfish biplane, the Thunderbolt triplane, falling, herself, flying, Floyd | us, how you first met, shooting you down, the chance to kill you, Floyd | duelling, friends, ace of aces, her kill count, or her hair. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about hair" | ||||
Floyd | "Your hair is the most striking colour," you tell Imelda. Floyd | Floyd | She runs her fingers through her curls. "Thank you." Floyd | Floyd | "Is it natural?" Floyd | Floyd | She suddenly glares at you. "You might maintain the most fleeting hope Floyd | of one day finding out for sure." Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "ouch" | |||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "ask her about dueling" | ||||
Floyd | You chat briefly with Imelda, but find out nothing important. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "ask her about the chance to kill me" | ||||
Floyd | "That one time you came out of the sun..." you begin. "It was perfect. Floyd | You had me." Floyd | Floyd | "Yes," Imelda says. "I had you. Not just your plane, but you. I Floyd | couldn't take the shot. You've done the same yourself." Floyd | Floyd | You lightly touch her arm. "Well, we're the only ones who know." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about kill count" | ||||
Floyd | "What was that number again?" Floyd | Floyd | "I've downed seventy six aircraft," she says. Floyd | Floyd | You sniff. "A lot of balloons and two-seaters, though..." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "hug her" | ||||
Floyd | You wrap your arms around Imelda and squeeze her tightly. Floyd | Floyd | "Why Lucas," she says wryly, hugging you back, "you must contain your Floyd | obvious desire for me." Floyd | Floyd | "I'm just trying to keep warm," you reply. Floyd | Floyd | "Yes, keep telling yourself that." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about ace of aces" | ||||
Floyd | You look around the snowy environs. "It's interesting when you think Floyd | about it... here we both are, two aces of aces..." Floyd | Floyd | "Aces of aces? There's the ace of aces, which is myself. And then Floyd | there are a few regional titles like southern ace of aces, like this Floyd | fellow who's all looks and no brains. You'd like him. But it's not Floyd | really a concept that makes sense when you pluralise it." Floyd | Floyd | "Sure it does," you insist. "There's room for more than one at the Floyd | top." Floyd | Floyd | "Not much room. It'd be pretty cramped." Floyd | Floyd | "You have some sort of objection to being physically close to me?" Floyd | Floyd | She reaches over to toussle your hair. "Only in the abstract." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "sleep" | ||||
Floyd | You let your head rest on Imelda's shoulder, and sleep descends like a Floyd | dark blanket. Floyd | Floyd | The night is cold, and the two of you cling to one another for warmth, Floyd | but the snow has finally stopped falling and the fire burns until Floyd | morning. Floyd | Floyd | Then the two of you struggle to your feet, Imelda just contending with Floyd | aches and cramps while you have to worry about your broken leg. Floyd | Looking around at the pristine forest, everything covered in thick Floyd | sheets of snow, you begin to make your way north, Imelda encouraging Floyd | you to lean on her as much as you can. Eventually, the bright scarlet Floyd | wingtip of her triplane has disappeared from view. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Not long after that... Floyd | Floyd | You sit by the window, looking down on the clouds, feeling the Floyd | throbbing of the zeppelin's engine. The door opens and Imelda enters. Floyd | Floyd | "Is this a conjugal visit?" you ask her. Floyd | Floyd | She looks puzzled. "Have I ever made any other kind of visit?" Floyd | Floyd | She walks across your improbably luxurious cabin - not that you're Floyd | allowed to leave it - and sits on the window sill next to you. Floyd | Floyd | "Are you okay?" she asks. "I thought they'd be a little more lenient Floyd | with you, but it seems you're going to be in here til the war ends." Floyd | Floyd | You shrug. "The view's nice. The company's great. I've caught up on Floyd | my reading." Floyd | Floyd | "Wouldn't you be more comfortable lying on the bed?" she asks. Floyd | Floyd | You look at her with mock naivety. "Why do you ask?" Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Years later... Floyd | Floyd | Imelda rolls off of you and sparks up a cigarette, the sheets around Floyd | her hips. You study her silhouette in the twilight. Floyd | Floyd | "The air race tomorrow," she says. Floyd | Floyd | "Everyone will be there," you say proudly. "Everyone wants to see the Floyd | world's most famous aces competing against one another." Floyd | Floyd | She takes a deep drag and lets the smoke curl slowly from her lips Floyd | before speaking. "I just want to make sure you know I won't hold back, Floyd | just because it's you." Floyd | Floyd | You laugh. "You're not going to get a chance to. You'll have to be Floyd | flat out just to be able to spot me on the horizon." Floyd | Floyd | She holds out her hand and you take it. "May the best woman win," she Floyd | says. Floyd | Floyd | "May she come second, after me," you counter. Floyd | Floyd | There's a moment's pause. The quiet sounds of evening drift in through Floyd | an open window. Floyd | Floyd | "Lucas..." Imelda takes a deep breath. "There's something I need to Floyd | ask you. After the race, what... what's going to happen?" Floyd | Floyd | "Easy," you say. "I go where you go. As always." Floyd | Floyd | She smiles. "That's going to be difficult. I'll be going where you're Floyd | going. We'll be chasing one another in circles." Floyd | Floyd | "Like dogfighting all over again." Floyd | Floyd | She kisses the corner of your mouth. "I love you." Floyd | Floyd | You kiss her back, passionately. "I love you too." Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Many years later... Floyd | Floyd | The champagne cork pops explosively and you both jump. Floyd | Floyd | "Careful," Imelda says, "you'll have someone's eye out." Floyd | Floyd | You pour out two glasses. "Yes, you have to be careful in that Floyd | regard." Floyd | Floyd | "Thank you," Imelda says, taking a glass and bringing it to her lips. Floyd | Floyd | "Hold on, we haven't had a toast yet." Floyd | Floyd | "That's easy," she says, raising her glass. "To us. And another Floyd | twenty years of fucking, flying and friendship." Floyd | Floyd | "To the three 'F's," you agree, tapping your glass against hers. Floyd | Floyd | "The three 'F's." Floyd | Floyd | You take a deep breath of mountain air. The precarious buildings of Floyd | Aerocity surround you, glistening with frost. "It's quite a view," you Floyd | say, looking across the world from up high. Floyd | Floyd | "As good as flying," Imelda says. "Almost as good as love." Floyd | Floyd | You lean together and kiss, the setting sun glinting on snow-topped Floyd | mountains. Floyd | Floyd | *** THE END *** Floyd | Floyd | In 111 moves, you have scored 7 of a possible 7 points. This makes you Floyd | the southern Ace of Aces. Floyd | Floyd | Would you like to RESTORE a saved position, RESTART the story, UNDO the Floyd | last move, see your FULL SCORE, see some AMUSING things to try, read Floyd | some NOTES on the game, find out a little more about the ENDINGS, or Floyd | QUIT? Floyd | Floyd | > | Fang says, "holy crap" | |||
| Bert says (to Fang), "You left off the preposition." | ||||
| inky says, "wow" | ||||
| inky says, "I guess we can see the endings" | ||||
| Lucea says (to floyd), "endings" | ||||
Floyd | Well, you finished Snowblind Aces. But perhaps you were surprised by Floyd | the way it turned out? Floyd | Floyd | Throughout the game you've made a number of decisions which have Floyd | affected the way Lucas and Imelda will treat one another for the rest Floyd | of their lives. There are eight decisions in total, five of which Floyd | you'll be forced to make in order to complete the game, and three more Floyd | which you discover by talking to Imelda. I've tried to make the game Floyd | as simple to play through as possible, so hopefully your next action Floyd | will be to type 'restart' and try doing things a little differently... Floyd | Floyd | Would you like to RESTORE a saved position, RESTART the story, UNDO the Floyd | last move, see your FULL SCORE, see some AMUSING things to try, read Floyd | some NOTES on the game, find out a little more about the ENDINGS, or Floyd | QUIT? Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "wow, eight decisions" | |||
| inky says, "I didn't notice any other than which way you persuade her to go and whether you give her the gun" | ||||
| Bert says, "The gun is presumably one." | ||||
| Bert says, "And so is ab-- that." | ||||
| inky says, "and I guess whether you're nice or a jerk" | ||||
| Fang says, "there's probably an ending with the sharing body heat" | ||||
| inky says, "apparently we picked all nice" | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "amusing" | ||||
Floyd | Have you tried: Floyd | Floyd | Eating your breeches? Floyd | Examining your parachute pack after discovering you've broken your leg? Floyd | Typing 'xyzzy'? Floyd | Asking Imelda about tiger sauce? Floyd | Shooting yourself? Floyd | Shooting Imelda? Floyd | Sleeping at the controls of your plane (before the collision)? Floyd | Floyd | Would you like to RESTORE a saved position, RESTART the story, UNDO the Floyd | last move, see your FULL SCORE, see some AMUSING things to try, read Floyd | some NOTES on the game, find out a little more about the ENDINGS, or Floyd | QUIT? Floyd | Floyd | > | Fang says, "and tell her you love her" | |||
| inky says, "hmm" | ||||
| Bert says (to inky), "Nice and doormat." | ||||
| inky says, "good point" | ||||
| inky says, "I assume we could have just said "let's build a fire and sleep on separate sides with a sword between us"" | ||||
| Bert says, "Yeah, you can also tell her you're friends." | ||||
| Bert asks, "Also, tiger sauce?" | ||||
| Fang says, "or you could shoot her" | ||||
| inky says, "you'll just have to restart and find out" | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "restart" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | It only takes a moment of inattention. The snowstorm draws thicker and Floyd | the faint grey silhouette of the reconnaissance plane fades away Floyd | completely. You bank hard, yanking on the control column with mild Floyd | panic, but it's too late. Your paths have diverged, unlikely to cross Floyd | again as long as this lethal weather continues. Floyd | Floyd | The lumbering two-seater plane you were supposed to be escorting is Floyd | alone and unprotected. And she is out there: lightning fast, deadly Floyd | accurate and cold as ice. You'd consider turning back to the airbase Floyd | right away. Floyd | Floyd | If, that is, you even knew where you were. Floyd | Floyd | Snowblind Aces Floyd | An adventure/romance in the snow by C.E.J. Pacian Floyd | Version 5 - Developed with TADS 3 Floyd | Floyd | [Type 'About' if this is your first time playing. Floyd | Type 'Credits' to learn who's responsible for this drivel.] Floyd | Floyd | Biplane Cockpit (sitting in the pilot's seat) Floyd | You're seated in the cockpit of your Swordfish biplane, exposed to the Floyd | elements. The small windscreen ahead does little to keep the harsh, Floyd | icy wind from cutting right through you, and you're surrounded on all Floyd | sides by blinding white mist. Floyd | Floyd | The plane's control column juts up in front of you. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "y" | ||||
Floyd | The word "y" is not necessary in this story. Floyd | Floyd | (If this was an accidental misspelling, you can correct it by typing Floyd | OOPS followed by the corrected word now. Any time the story points out Floyd | an unknown word, you can correct a misspelling using OOPS as your next Floyd | command.) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "xyzzy" | ||||
Floyd | The word "xyzzy" is not necessary in this story. Honest. Floyd | Floyd | You suppress a shiver. Floyd | Floyd | (Your score has just decreased by one point.) Floyd | (If you'd prefer not to be notified about score changes in the future, Floyd | type NOTIFY OFF.) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "sleep" | ||||
Floyd | Paragon of irresponsibility, you decide to rest your weary eyes while Floyd | at the controls of your plane. You never find out just what it was Floyd | that you hit in mid-air, in the midst of this intense snowstorm, but by Floyd | the time you hit the ground you're wide awake. Floyd | Floyd | *** YOU HAVE DIED *** Floyd | Floyd | In 2 moves, you have scored -1 of a possible 7 points. This makes you Floyd | a plague bearer. Floyd | Floyd | Would you like to RESTORE a saved position, RESTART the story, UNDO the Floyd | last move, see your FULL SCORE, or QUIT? Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "sleep" | ||||
Floyd | That isn't one of the options. Floyd | Floyd | Would you like to RESTORE a saved position, RESTART the story, UNDO the Floyd | last move, see your FULL SCORE, or QUIT? Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||||
Floyd | Taking back one turn: "sleep". Floyd | Floyd | Biplane Cockpit (sitting in the pilot's seat) Floyd | You're seated in the cockpit of your Swordfish biplane, exposed to the Floyd | elements. The small windscreen ahead does little to keep the harsh, Floyd | icy wind from cutting right through you, and you're surrounded on all Floyd | sides by blinding white mist. Floyd | Floyd | The plane's control column juts up in front of you. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "xyzzy" | ||||
Floyd | The word "xyzzy" is not necessary in this story. Honest. Floyd | Floyd | The propeller catches and restarts. Floyd | Floyd | (Your score has just decreased by one point.) Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "hee hee" | |||
| olethros says, "hey nice little game" | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "remove parachute" | ||||
Floyd | Not that you expect to bail out, but you never know... Floyd | Floyd | The engine judders briefly. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | You are carrying a revolver, and you're wearing a pair of goggles, a Floyd | parachute pack, a white scarf, a fur-lined jacket, some breeches, and Floyd | some sheepskin boots. Floyd | Floyd | The engine wheezes mechanically. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Taleslinger disappears through an invisible gap in the MUD. You think you may have heard the sounds of chatting before the gap closed again. | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "remove breeches" | ||||
Floyd | It's extremely cold. You don't really have much to show off right now. Floyd | Floyd | A strong gust of wind rocks the plane. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "eat them" | ||||
Floyd | Lucas not chew on pants. Lucas officer and gentleman, not hungry orc. Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert says, "Yay." | |||
| inky says, "ha ha ha" | ||||
| DavidW says, "ha ha" | ||||
| inky says, "when did -- man" | ||||
| Fang says, "heh" | ||||
| inky says, "I didn't realize this was that recent" | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "version" | ||||
Floyd | Snowblind Aces version 5 Floyd | Floyd | TADS 3 Library version 3.0.12 Floyd | T3 VM (mjr-T3) version 3.0.12 Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "though I guess lost pig is a year old by now" | |||
| Bert says, "Darn TADS." | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "notes" | ||||
Floyd | The word "notes" is not necessary in this story. Floyd | Floyd | > | Lucea says, "heh" | |||
| inky says (to Floyd), "x goggles" | ||||
Floyd | The goggles allow you to keep your eyes open when travelling at high Floyd | speed through subzero skies. Floyd | Floyd | You feel the buffeting of the wind against your plane subtly changing Floyd | its heading. Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert says (to inky), "Feels like two." | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "jump" | ||||
Floyd | You're not going to abandon a perfectly good plane in mid-air! Floyd | Floyd | A faint shadow flickers in the corner of your eye, but when you look, Floyd | there's nothing in that direction but mist. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "push button" | ||||
Floyd | You press the button and your plane's twin machineguns strafe the murk Floyd | ahead in a display of bright muzzle flash and loud, mechanical Floyd | rattling. Floyd | Floyd | Pointless, but satisfying all the same. Floyd | Floyd | You pause to wipe a build-up of frost from your goggles. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| olethros says (to Floyd), "dive" | ||||
Floyd | The word "dive" is not necessary in this story. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "pull controls" | ||||
Floyd | The word "controls" is not necessary in this story. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| olethros says (to Floyd), "push stick" | ||||
Floyd | You grip the control column tightly and push it forward, hoping to sink Floyd | within sight of the ground. Floyd | Floyd | Almost before you can react, a huge shape swoops out of the white void Floyd | below: a scarlet triplane, close enough that you can see its pilot, and Floyd | the surprised expression on her face. You pull on the control column Floyd | hard and punch the throttle, feeling your plane strain to rise higher. Floyd | For an instant you think you've avoided disaster. Floyd | Floyd | And then the whole fuselage lurches, the sound of metal on metal Floyd | scraping right into your brain as you collide glancingly with the other Floyd | plane. You look over your shoulder just in time to see the scarlet Floyd | triplane disappear into the clouds, trailing thick black smoke. Floyd | Turning back to your controls you immediately notice the epileptic Floyd | motion of the rapidly spinning altimeter. Floyd | Floyd | It would seem that you have a problem. Floyd | Floyd | (Your score has just increased by one point.) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "l" | ||||
Floyd | Biplane Cockpit (sitting in the pilot's seat) Floyd | You're seated in the cockpit of your Swordfish biplane, exposed to the Floyd | elements. The small windscreen ahead does little to keep the harsh, Floyd | icy wind from cutting right through you, and you're surrounded on all Floyd | sides by blinding white mist. Floyd | Floyd | The plane's control column juts up in front of you. Floyd | Floyd | The engine stalls for a second before lurching back to life, something Floyd | loose and metallic grating inside it. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "pull stick" | ||||
Floyd | The control column moves loosely, clearly having no effect on the Floyd | plane's ailerons. Floyd | Floyd | The control column twitches spasmodically. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "SAVE" | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "cf3" | ||||
Floyd | Please select a file in which to save the current position > Floyd | Saved. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "z.z.z.z." | ||||
Floyd | Time passes... Floyd | Floyd | The propeller flickers in its motion, struggling to keep turning. Floyd | Floyd | Time passes... Floyd | Floyd | You glance over your shoulder in time to see something go flying Floyd | backwards from beneath the plane. Hopefully nothing too important... Floyd | Floyd | Time passes... Floyd | Floyd | The engine finally gives out, spluttering to a halt. Floyd | Floyd | Time passes... Floyd | Floyd | Thick black smoke begins to rise from the engine. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "z.z.z.z" | ||||
Floyd | Time passes... Floyd | Floyd | You feel the plane's nose dropping as your airspeed slows. Floyd | Floyd | Time passes... Floyd | Floyd | Your altimeter reads 200m. You should seriously consider bailing out. Floyd | Floyd | Time passes... Floyd | Floyd | Your altimeter reads 100m. You should seriously consider bailing out. Floyd | Floyd | Time passes... Floyd | Floyd | The mists below part, and you see the ground for the first time in Floyd | hours, sharp black rocks breaking through the snow. Thankfully, you Floyd | don't even feel it when you hit. Floyd | Floyd | *** YOU HAVE DIED *** Floyd | Floyd | In 20 moves, you have scored -1 of a possible 7 points. This makes you Floyd | a plague bearer. Floyd | Floyd | Would you like to RESTORE a saved position, RESTART the story, UNDO the Floyd | last move, see your FULL SCORE, or QUIT? Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||||
Floyd | Taking back one turn: "z". Floyd | Floyd | Biplane Cockpit (sitting in the pilot's seat) Floyd | You're seated in the cockpit of your Swordfish biplane, exposed to the Floyd | elements. The small windscreen ahead does little to keep the harsh, Floyd | icy wind from cutting right through you, and you're surrounded on all Floyd | sides by blinding white mist. Floyd | Floyd | The plane's control column juts up in front of you. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "jump" | ||||
Floyd | You check your parachute and climb up onto your seat. After you throw Floyd | your leg over the side, it's surprisingly easy to push yourself away Floyd | from the plane and leap into the mist. Floyd | Floyd | Not quite as aerodynamic as your Swordfish, you drop like a stone, Floyd | plummeting into the murky white void below. Ice and fog crowd close Floyd | around you, obscuring every direction. The only reason you know you're Floyd | falling is because of the way your stomach seems to still be a hundred Floyd | metres above you somewhere. Remembering the single parachute jump you Floyd | performed in basic training, you fumble with the chord and yank hard, Floyd | the harness suddenly seeming to pull you upwards. Floyd | Floyd | Falling Floyd | You're hanging from a parachute, descending slowly into a blank white Floyd | void. Without the sound of your plane's engine, everything seems Floyd | shockingly silent. Floyd | Floyd | (Your score has just increased by one point.) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Lucea says (to floyd), "xyzzy" | ||||
Floyd | The word "xyzzy" is not necessary in this story. Honest. Floyd | Floyd | Your plane will have hit the ground by now, shattering into pieces, Floyd | bursting into flames. Floyd | Floyd | (Your score has just decreased by one point.) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "shoot me" | ||||
Floyd | You miss. Floyd | Floyd | But you're okay. You made it. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Lucea says (to floyd), "undo" | ||||
Floyd | Taking back one turn: "shoot me". Floyd | Floyd | Falling Floyd | You're hanging from a parachute, descending slowly into a blank white Floyd | void. Without the sound of your plane's engine, everything seems Floyd | shockingly silent. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Lucea says (to floyd), "undo" | ||||
Floyd | Taking back one turn: "xyzzy". Floyd | Floyd | Falling Floyd | You're hanging from a parachute, descending slowly into a blank white Floyd | void. Without the sound of your plane's engine, everything seems Floyd | shockingly silent. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "sleep" | ||||
Floyd | You don't think it would be a good idea to sleep right now. Floyd | Floyd | Your plane will have hit the ground by now, shattering into pieces, Floyd | bursting into flames. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "sing" | ||||
Floyd | The word "sing" is not necessary in this story. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "dance" | ||||
Floyd | The word "dance" is not necessary in this story. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "jump" | ||||
Floyd | Just as soon as you're standing on the ground. Floyd | Floyd | But you're okay. You made it. Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert says, "Nice response." | |||
| DavidW says (to Bert), "heh. Nice one." | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "shoot me" | ||||
Floyd | You miss. Floyd | Floyd | The hard part is over. Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert says, "Considering that it can apply throughout the whole game." | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "open chute" | ||||
Floyd | Which chute do you mean, the parachute pack, or the parachute canopy? Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "canopy" | ||||
Floyd | The parachute canopy is too far away. Floyd | Floyd | The mist beneath you parts. Below you are thick, evergreen trees, Floyd | garnished with snow, clinging to sharp black rocks. Floyd | Floyd | Now you have a frame of reference, you realise just how fast you're Floyd | falling. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | You open your eyes. You feel remarkably well given the circumstances. Floyd | The air is fresh and invigorating, the sound of birdsong and rustling Floyd | leaves is like soothing music. Time to get moving - for all you know, Floyd | you might be behind enemy lines. Floyd | Floyd | Forest Clearing (lying on the ground) Floyd | Snow-coated evergreen trees surround you on all sides, their roots Floyd | tangling into rugged black rocks. Snow falls from the bright white sky Floyd | above. Floyd | Floyd | The canopy of your parachute is suspended in the branches of a tree, Floyd | like a giant, tattered spider's web. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "x pack" | ||||
Floyd | A bulky backpack that will let you descend gracefully to the ground. Floyd | Floyd | A bird chirrups melodically. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "search it" | ||||
Floyd | There's nothing unusual in the parachute pack. Floyd | Floyd | You hear snow crunching nearby. Probably nothing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "open it" | ||||
Floyd | That is not something you can open. Floyd | Floyd | An icy breeze passes through the clearing, the soft rustling of leaves Floyd | following in its wake. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "remove it" | ||||
Floyd | Okay, you're no longer wearing the parachute pack. Floyd | Floyd | You hear snow crunching nearby. Probably nothing. Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "whoopsies" | |||
| Taleslinger arrives, full of neither funk nor fun. | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "x me" | ||||
Floyd | You're Lucas Thane: daredevil fighter ace, knight of the air. Floyd | Floyd | An icy breeze passes through the clearing, the soft rustling of leaves Floyd | following in its wake. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "x leg" | ||||
Floyd | Yep, one functional left leg. Good for standing on and walking with. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "right leg" | ||||
Floyd | The word "right" is not necessary in this story. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "broken leg" | ||||
Floyd | The word "broken" is not necessary in this story. Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert says, "I guess we have to walk to find out." | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "jump" | ||||
Floyd | Just as soon as you're standing on the ground. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "x right leg" | ||||
Floyd | The word "right" is not necessary in this story. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "stand" | ||||
Floyd | You sit up, feeling a lot weaker than you thought you were. As you Floyd | start to shift your legs, something inside your left calf moves. White Floyd | lightning bolts of pain jolt across your vision and you collapse back Floyd | with a scream of pain. Floyd | Floyd | You've broken your leg. You're lying in the freezing snow, and you're Floyd | not going anywhere. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "x pack" | ||||
Floyd | A worthless piece of crap that couldn't slow down a feather in an Floyd | updraft. Floyd | Floyd | You hear something rustling among the trees. Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert says, "Ha." | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "shoot me" | ||||
Floyd | You miss. Floyd | Floyd | A feral icekin blunders into the clearing, looking around with its Floyd | empty black eyes. Probably attracted by your scream of pain. Nice Floyd | going, Lucas. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "SAVE" | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "cf4" | ||||
Floyd | Please select a file in which to save the current position > Floyd | Saved. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "z.z.z" | ||||
Floyd | Time passes... Floyd | Floyd | The icekin looks around, breathing heavily through its sharp, uneven Floyd | teeth. Floyd | Floyd | Time passes... Floyd | Floyd | The icekin fixes its lifeless black eyes on you, emitting a low growl. Floyd | Floyd | Time passes... Floyd | Floyd | The icekin lumbers towards you. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "z" | ||||
Floyd | Time passes... Floyd | Floyd | The icekin raises its furry white paw. The jagged edge of the rusty Floyd | blade is brought into sharp relief against the white mists above. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "z" | ||||
Floyd | Time passes... Floyd | Floyd | A loud report shatters the quiet, resounding through the forest. Floyd | Flocks of black birds rise in flurries from the trees. The icekin Floyd | sways slightly on the spot, its blank expression shifting to one of Floyd | vague confusion. And then it slumps to the ground, almost as if Floyd | falling suddenly asleep. Floyd | Floyd | A dark figure strides into the clearing, a smoking flare gun in her Floyd | hand. She lets it fall to the snow and rests a hand on her hip, Floyd | surveying you with her one good eye. "So," she says. "It's you. I Floyd | imagine your plane fared as badly as mine." Floyd | Floyd | You smile in spite of the pain. "And it's you. Aiding and abetting Floyd | the enemy. What a poor example of patriotism." Floyd | Floyd | "I'm a mercenary, Lucas, and you're not really one to talk yourself, Floyd | are you?" She pauses and sighs. "After all this time," she says Floyd | softly, "here we are. Face to face on the ground. It's..." She Floyd | trails off. Floyd | Floyd | (Your score has just increased by one point.) Floyd | Floyd | (You could tell her it feels like you already know her, or play it Floyd | cool.) Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert says, "That was probably a decision." | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "shoot imelda" | ||||
Floyd | You could never! Well, if you were both in planes, certainly. Quite Floyd | frequently in fact. But not face to face! Floyd | Floyd | An awkward silence hangs between the two of you. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "play it cool" | ||||
Floyd | You offer her a cordial smiles. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Floyd | Baroness." Floyd | Floyd | She laughs. "Imelda. Just call me Imelda. Come on, we need to get to Floyd | shelter." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about shelter" | ||||
Floyd | Imelda looks around apprehensively. "Actually, I think we should get Floyd | moving rather than hang around chatting. The snowfall's getting Floyd | thicker all the time." Floyd | Floyd | "I'm not going anywhere," you say. "I think my leg's broken." Floyd | Floyd | She kneels down by your side. "Let me take a look." Floyd | Floyd | "Be sure to look twice as long," you advise her, "since you just have Floyd | the one eye." Floyd | Floyd | She purses her lips. "You're right. I'll do that." Floyd | Floyd | "Ow!" Floyd | Floyd | "Yeah, it's broken alright." Floyd | Floyd | "Thanks, doctor." Floyd | Floyd | "I'll have to see about making a splint. And then I guess you'll have Floyd | to lean on me, if you don't mind." Floyd | Floyd | "Anything to help you feel useful." Floyd | Floyd | Downed Triplane (lying on the ground) Floyd | A scarlet triplane lies half-buried in the snow, leaning to one side. Floyd | You're huddled beneath its slanting wing, mostly sheltered from the Floyd | freezing wind and falling snow. Floyd | Floyd | Imelda is huddled close by your side. Floyd | Floyd | "It's getting dark," Imelda says. "We'll have to stay here at least Floyd | for tonight, and then move on tomorrow morning if the weather lets up." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about fire" | ||||
Floyd | You meet Imelda's eye and she looks at you expectantly. Floyd | Floyd | You chat briefly with Imelda, but find out nothing important. Floyd | Floyd | Your breath leaves little clouds in the air. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about warmth" | ||||
Floyd | You chat briefly with Imelda, but find out nothing important. Floyd | Floyd | You rub your hands together to try to keep them warm. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about keeping warm" | ||||
Floyd | You chat briefly with Imelda, but find out nothing important. Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "the crack about looking twice as long because she only has one eye is kind of in bad taste" | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about imelda" | ||||
Floyd | "So..." you begin, "why not tell me a little about yourself, Imelda?" Floyd | Floyd | Imelda looks thoughtful. "I suppose... it's a bit of a broad topic. Floyd | Tell you what, why don't we start with you telling me about myself." Floyd | Floyd | "You want me to tell you about yourself?" you repeat. "Don't you Floyd | already know yourself quite well?" Floyd | Floyd | "I'm interested to know what you think of me. Come on, tell me." Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert says, "Yeah, she seemed to feel that way as well." | |||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "I think you suck" | ||||
Floyd | The word "think" is not necessary in this story. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "tell imelda about imelda" | ||||
Floyd | You take a deep breath. "Okay. You're the notorious ace Sky Mercenary Floyd | known as the Scarlet Baroness, real name Imelda von Strassa- von Floyd | Strassenba-" Floyd | Floyd | "Von Strassenbach." Floyd | Floyd | "Who's telling this story? Imelda von Strassenbach. A fiery redhead Floyd | with an ice cold temperament." Floyd | Floyd | "More than my temperament is ice cold at the moment." Floyd | Floyd | "You've racked up over seventy confirmed kills-" Floyd | Floyd | "Seventy-six." Floyd | Floyd | "You're an outstanding pilot, who can best even the most elite southern Floyd | pilots, and you're hopelessly in love, according to the scandal sheets, Floyd | with one Lucas Thane, the Benevolent Empire's ace of aces." Floyd | Floyd | Imelda seems happy with your little report. "Is that so," she purrs. Floyd | "Although: hopelessly in love, pursuing in a predatory fashion... it's Floyd | a thin line, I think." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "topics" | ||||
Floyd | You could ask her about your predicament, the Swordfish biplane, the Floyd | Thunderbolt triplane, the feral icekin, the Benevolent Empire, herself, Floyd | newspapers, ace of aces, her eyepatch, her kill count, or her hair. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about thunderbolt" | ||||
Floyd | You look over your shoulder at the fuselage of Imelda's plane. "So, Floyd | you think you're too good for just two wings, then?" Floyd | Floyd | "Rate of climb," she says assuredly. "Gaining and losing height will Floyd | win and lose dogfights for you. Three wings give you the capability to Floyd | climb at an incredible rate. And when you roll, that translates to Floyd | maneuvrability in any direction. I know there's pilots who like Floyd | durability or speed, but to me, nothing beats being able to turn to Floyd | constantly keep your guns on an opponent, especially if they're also Floyd | struggling to keep their nose up." Floyd | Floyd | You make an ambiguous noise. "Sounds like it might be alright for Floyd | some, I suppose." Floyd | Floyd | Imelda looks at you, fixedly. "After the war, I'll put you in the Floyd | pilot's seat of one of these things, and you'll see just what I mean." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about swordfish" | ||||
Floyd | "I hear the Swordfish has a pretty good reputation on the other side of Floyd | the lines." Floyd | Floyd | Imelda suppresses a smile. "It kick-started development of the Floyd | Thunderbolt triplane, I'll give it credit for that." Floyd | Floyd | > | Fang asks, "what are we doing? Trying to get the bad ending?" | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about predicament" | ||||
Floyd | "This is quite a situation we're in," you say. Floyd | Floyd | "Yep," Imelda agrees. Floyd | Floyd | "Any idea what to do?" Floyd | Floyd | Imelda tips her head to one side. "Maybe." Floyd | Floyd | "Care to share?" Floyd | Floyd | "Well, as I see it, we have two main problems. We need to get to Floyd | safety tomorrow, and we need to keep warm." Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert says, "No, a different ending." | |||
| Bert says, "One where we're not her boytoy." | ||||
| Bert asks, "Perhaps one where we're even equals?" | ||||
| inky says, "ha ha" | ||||
| inky says, "ha ha more" | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about safety" | ||||
Floyd | "I was thinking," you tell Imelda. Floyd | Floyd | "Did it hurt?" she asks. Floyd | Floyd | "A little. Mostly it was just an unfamiliar sensation. What I was Floyd | thinking was that we should head south from here. We'll probably reach Floyd | the Imperial lines in no time. After that, a hot bath, some steaming Floyd | soup..." Floyd | Floyd | Imelda seems unconvinced. "Or we could head north. We'll probably Floyd | reach the Northern lines in no time, after which etcetera, etcetera." Floyd | Floyd | You draw a breath through your teeth. "I'm not sure I want to end up a Floyd | prisoner of those icekin soldiers." Floyd | Floyd | "You won't be a prisoner of the icekin soldiers. You'll be my Floyd | prisoner." Floyd | Floyd | "Sounds a bit kinky for my tastes." Floyd | Floyd | Imelda smiles slyly. "You have no idea." Floyd | Floyd | "Maybe we should just split up," you suggest. "I bet we could both Floyd | make it by ourselves. Then no-one has to be anyone's prisoner." Floyd | Floyd | Imelda bites her lip. "I think we should stay together. At the least Floyd | you need someone to lean on. If you aggravate your broken leg you Floyd | might end up severing an artery or something..." Floyd | Floyd | (You could agree to go north with her, ask her to go south with you, Floyd | tell her you should split up, or tell her you can't decide.) Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "we're not her boytoy in the previous ending!" | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda to go south" | ||||
Floyd | Imelda refuses your request. Floyd | Floyd | Snow continues to drift down from above. Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "we are a POW, though" | |||
| Lucea says, "have we shot her yet/" | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about benevolent empire" | ||||
Floyd | "You're surely a fan of the Benevolent Empire and its attempts to Floyd | civilise the world?" Floyd | Floyd | Imelda scoffs. "It's hard to consider an empire benevolent when it Floyd | thinks that rearranging the world to suit its own economic needs is Floyd | 'civilising' it." Floyd | Floyd | "You don't think the people of the Northern Territories would benefit Floyd | from giving us all their noxious petroleum?" Floyd | Floyd | "I think they've benefited best by giving it to us Sky Mercenaries." Floyd | Floyd | A chill wind passes under the wing, making you both shiver. Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "I think if you want to get equals you'll have to split up here, or convince her to come with you" | |||
| Bert says, "But the dialog for years later is all about how we follow her everywhere." | ||||
| Bert says, "So we're her puppy dog." | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about benevolent empire" | ||||
Floyd | "You're surely a fan of the Benevolent Empire and its attempts to Floyd | civilise the world?" Floyd | Floyd | Imelda scoffs. "It's hard to consider an empire benevolent when it Floyd | thinks that rearranging the world to suit its own economic needs is Floyd | 'civilising' it." Floyd | Floyd | "You don't think the people of the Northern Territories would benefit Floyd | from giving us all their noxious petroleum?" Floyd | Floyd | "I think they've benefited best by giving it to us Sky Mercenaries." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about benevolent empire" | ||||
Floyd | "You're surely a fan of the Benevolent Empire and its attempts to Floyd | civilise the world?" Floyd | Floyd | Imelda scoffs. "It's hard to consider an empire benevolent when it Floyd | thinks that rearranging the world to suit its own economic needs is Floyd | 'civilising' it." Floyd | Floyd | "You don't think the people of the Northern Territories would benefit Floyd | from giving us all their noxious petroleum?" Floyd | Floyd | "I think they've benefited best by giving it to us Sky Mercenaries." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "tell her we should split up" | ||||
Floyd | The story doesn't understand that command. Please use ASK ACTOR ABOUT Floyd | TOPIC (or just A TOPIC). Floyd | Floyd | "By the way," Imelda says, "why exactly did you feel the need to fly Floyd | into me?" Floyd | Floyd | "That's funny," you reply. "I thought that you were the one who flew Floyd | into me." Floyd | Floyd | The triplane rocks slightly in the wind. Floyd | Floyd | > | Fang says, "oops" | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about safety" | ||||
Floyd | "About where we're headed..." you begin. Floyd | Floyd | "Have you reached a decision yet?" Imelda asks you. Floyd | Floyd | A chill wind passes under the wing, making you both shiver. Floyd | Floyd | (You could agree to go north with her, ask her to go south with you, Floyd | tell her you should split up, or tell her you can't decide.) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "tell her we should split up" | ||||
Floyd | The story doesn't understand that command. Please use ASK ACTOR ABOUT Floyd | TOPIC (or just A TOPIC). Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "tell her you should split up" | ||||
Floyd | "We're still technically enemies," you say. "We'll just have to go our Floyd | separate ways." Floyd | Floyd | Imelda shakes her head. "No, I can't leave you limping through the Floyd | snow on a broken leg. Look, if you really want me to, I'll go south Floyd | with you. But I'd much rather you came north with me." Floyd | Floyd | (You could agree to go north with her, ask her to go south with you, Floyd | tell her you should split up, or tell her you can't decide.) Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "if this triplane's a rockin', don't come a knockin'" | |||
| Bert says, "Stupid pronouns." | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda to go south" | ||||
Floyd | Imelda refuses your request. Floyd | Floyd | Your breath leaves little clouds in the air. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| dhakajack says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about tiger sauce" | ||||
Floyd | "Have you ever had Tiger Sauce?" you ask. Floyd | Floyd | Imelda looks puzzled. "You mean sauce made from tigers?" Floyd | Floyd | "I think it's tiger milk, actually." Floyd | Floyd | She turns her nose up. "No thanks." Floyd | Floyd | "Oh, you'd be surprised." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda to go south with you" | ||||
Floyd | The story doesn't understand that command. Please use ASK ACTOR ABOUT Floyd | TOPIC (or just A TOPIC). Floyd | Floyd | Snow continues to drift down from above. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "suggest splitting up" | ||||
Floyd | The word "splitting" is not necessary in this story. Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert says, "Hrm. I think I can't get the syntax right." | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about safety" | ||||
Floyd | "About where we're headed..." you begin. Floyd | Floyd | "Have you reached a decision yet?" Imelda asks you. Floyd | Floyd | (You could agree to go north with her, ask her to go south with you, Floyd | tell her you should split up, or tell her you can't decide.) Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "Looks like it's possible to get her to go south." | |||
| olethros asks, "arent we already her toyboy?" | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "tell her you should split up" | ||||
Floyd | "We're still technically enemies," you say. "We'll just have to go our Floyd | separate ways." Floyd | Floyd | Imelda shakes her head. "No, I can't leave you limping through the Floyd | snow on a broken leg. Look, if you really want me to, I'll go south Floyd | with you. But I'd much rather you came north with me." Floyd | Floyd | (You could agree to go north with her, ask her to go south with you, Floyd | tell her you should split up, or tell her you can't decide.) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask her to go south with you" | ||||
Floyd | "I think you should come south with me," you say. "The Benevolent Floyd | Empire always treats its prisoners well, and I have plenty of clout. Floyd | We'd be able to spend quite a bit of time together." Floyd | Floyd | Imelda looks a bit conflicted for a moment. And then she nods. "Okay. Floyd | I've looked after you for a while, now maybe it's your turn. I won't Floyd | be sorry to leave the war behind, either. So, yes, let's go south." Floyd | Floyd | The triplane rocks slightly in the wind. Floyd | Floyd | (Your score has just increased by one point.) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| olethros has disconnected. | ||||
| olethros was too old and infirm for your purpose. | Bert says, "There we go. The exact order of commands seems really important in this game." | |||
| Fang says, "yay" | ||||
| Bert says, "Getting an extra command in between messes up the sequence." | ||||
| olethros arrives, full of fun, but no funk. | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "SAVE" | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "cf5" | ||||
Floyd | Please select a file in which to save the current position > Floyd | Saved. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "That's a T3 problem." | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about keeping warm" | ||||
Floyd | "I've got an idea to keep us warm," you tell Imelda. Floyd | Floyd | She takes a break from breathing into her hands. "Sounds great to me. Floyd | What is it?" Floyd | Floyd | (You could suggest thinking warm thoughts, suggest sharing body heat, Floyd | or suggest making a fire.) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "suggest making a fire" | ||||
Floyd | You look around. "I think we could build a fire. If we put it right Floyd | there it should be close enough to warm us up, but the wind will blow Floyd | the smoke away from us." Floyd | Floyd | Imelda crawls out from under the wing and stands up, snow crunching Floyd | beneath her feet. "Okay, I'll go find some wood, or anything else that Floyd | looks like it'll burn. Give me your gun. I'd hate to have to face Floyd | down a feral icekin with nothing but a couple of pine branches." Floyd | Floyd | (You could agree, or politely refuse.) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "refuse" | ||||
Floyd | "I'm sorry," you tell her, "it's not that I don't trust you, it's Floyd | just..." Floyd | Floyd | Imelda nods. "It's just that we're both, technically, enemies. I Floyd | understand." Floyd | Floyd | You go to say more, but she turns around and scampers off, her Floyd | footsteps crunching in the snow. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Time passes slowly while Imelda is gone. You feel yourself growing Floyd | sleepy, and the feeling leaves your hands and feet. Only the dull pain Floyd | in your broken leg keeps you awake. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | You snap back to reality as something approaches, trudging quickly Floyd | through the frost. Before you have time to consider what to do if it Floyd | turns out to be a dangerous creature, Imelda appears in front of you Floyd | and dumps an armful of branches and sticks into the snow. Floyd | Floyd | "Gods it's cold," she announces, throwing herself onto all fours and Floyd | crawling back under the wing. She curls up right next to you, Floyd | shivering, and you obligingly wrap your arms around her to help warm Floyd | her up. Not entirely a selfless act, as you're pretty cold yourself. Floyd | Floyd | "Okay," Imelda says after a while. "Got to try and turn this ugly heap Floyd | of sticks into a nice fire..." Floyd | Floyd | You rub your hands together to try to keep them warm. Floyd | Floyd | (Your score has just increased by one point.) Floyd | Floyd | (You could let her get on with it, or tell her you can do better.) Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "man, you are just cutting off all your chances for smoochies" | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "tell her you can do better" | ||||
Floyd | You shift your broken leg so that you can grab a couple of sticks from Floyd | the pile. "I think the Boy Scouts need to take over here," you tell Floyd | Imelda. Floyd | Floyd | She gives you a very doubtful look. "Excuse me? The Sky Guides are Floyd | more than capable of rubbing two sticks together. Unless you can think Floyd | of a way an all-male group might have gained extra practice in that Floyd | regard?" Floyd | Floyd | "Clearly you don't have enough confidence in your abilities to just get Floyd | on with it." Floyd | Floyd | "I'm just trying to get you to save your energy." Floyd | Floyd | You both tend to the sticks in intense silence from then on. But the Floyd | fire doesn't suddenly spark to life, it forms slowly from a wisp of Floyd | smoke, and it's hard to tell which of you is more responsible for it. Floyd | When it's crackling away nicely, you both sit back, Floyd | shoulder-to-shoulder. Floyd | Floyd | "I told you to save your energy," Imelda says. "That was clearly my Floyd | spark that lit it." Floyd | Floyd | You shake your head. "My sparks were much more vibrant. You could Floyd | tell they had the Lucas Thane never-give-up attitude." Floyd | Floyd | "Fine, keep lying to yourself. We both know the truth." Floyd | Floyd | "I agree that one of us is in denial, but I don't think it's me." Floyd | Floyd | Imelda holds out her hands to the fire. "It's nice that we got it Floyd | done, though." Floyd | Floyd | You hold out your own hands. "I don't dispute that." Floyd | Floyd | (Your score has just increased by one point.) Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert exclaims, "I just wanted to establish dominance first!" | |||
| inky says, "pssht" | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "kiss imelda" | ||||
Floyd | You're not about to kiss the enemy without at least a hint that she'd Floyd | like you to. Floyd | Floyd | Snow continues to drift down from above. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about love" | ||||
Floyd | You clear your throat. "So, Imelda, how are things with the men in Floyd | your life?" Floyd | Floyd | "Do you mean my male friends among the Sky Mercenaries? Or are you Floyd | sneakily trying to ask about us?" Floyd | Floyd | You rub your hands together to try to keep them warm. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about us" | ||||
Floyd | "Imelda, about us..." Floyd | Floyd | She looks down at her feet. "What about us?" Floyd | Floyd | "Well, what's your take on it? Why do we keep circling around one Floyd | another? In the air or otherwise." Floyd | Floyd | Still without looking at you, she says, "I can't really remember how we Floyd | first met, except that I suddenly realised this plane from the 5th Floyd | Imperial Air Squadron kept seeking me out to duel with me, probably Floyd | because I'm an obvious target in my scarlet plane. I usually brought Floyd | down every enemy plane I came across, but you always managed to escape. Floyd | I only shot you down that once. I started to research you, found out Floyd | who you were, started to learn your flying style, had a chance to kill Floyd | you, but didn't take it, and then flew into you in the middle of a Floyd | snowstorm. And now here we are." Floyd | Floyd | There's a pause, and then she adds, "But that's not what you asked, Floyd | really, is it? That's just the story of us - I didn't mention my Floyd | feelings at all." She smiles apologetically. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about feelings" | ||||
Floyd | "So what are your feelings for me?" Floyd | Floyd | Imelda remains strangely silent, just looks at you with an ambiguous Floyd | expression. If you want to press the matter, perhaps you should tell Floyd | her about your feelings. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "tell imelda about your feelings" | ||||
Floyd | You cough. "Imelda, I just wanted to say that..." Floyd | Floyd | (You could tell her you're in love with her, or tell her she's like Floyd | your best friend.) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "tell imelda you're in love with her" | ||||
Floyd | The story doesn't understand that command. Please use ASK ACTOR ABOUT Floyd | TOPIC (or just A TOPIC). Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "tell her you're in love with her" | ||||
Floyd | You decide to just say it. You don't even look at her. "Imelda, I'm Floyd | in love with you." Floyd | Floyd | She refrains from looking at you either. "I'm in love with you too," Floyd | she states, matter-of-factly. "It makes perfect sense, I think. We're Floyd | young, we're forced to deal with one another repeatedly in intense, Floyd | passionate, but graceful and playful circumstances, we understand the Floyd | stresses, the fears we each experience, we both love flying... and so Floyd | we grow attracted to one another." Floyd | Floyd | The two of you lean closer as she speaks, your lips brushing together. Floyd | "My lips are numb," you complain. Floyd | Floyd | She shushes you. "Let me warm them up." Floyd | Floyd | After a while, you lean back, faces flushed, sitting perhaps a little Floyd | closer than before. Floyd | Floyd | Imelda straightens her hair and exhales slowly. "That was almost as Floyd | satisfying as shooting you down." Floyd | Floyd | (Your score has just increased by one point.) Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "I'm. I'm in love" | |||
| Bert says, "No, we're 'you', not 'I'." | ||||
| DavidW says, "oh. okay." | ||||
| Bert says, "We need to match what it says word-for-word, apparently." | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "hug imelda" | ||||
Floyd | You wrap your arms around Imelda and squeeze her tightly. Floyd | Floyd | "Why Lucas," she says wryly, hugging you back, "you must contain your Floyd | obvious desire for me." Floyd | Floyd | "I'm just trying to keep warm," you reply. Floyd | Floyd | "Yes, keep telling yourself that." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about keeping warm" | ||||
Floyd | You hold your hands out to the fire. "This is nice." Floyd | Floyd | "Yes," Imelda agrees, "my fingers don't feel quite ready to snap off Floyd | anymore." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "hug imelda" | ||||
Floyd | You wrap your arms around Imelda and squeeze her tightly. Floyd | Floyd | "Why Lucas," she says wryly, hugging you back, "you must contain your Floyd | obvious desire for me." Floyd | Floyd | "I'm just trying to keep warm," you reply. Floyd | Floyd | "Yes, keep telling yourself that." Floyd | Floyd | A chill wind passes under the wing, making you both shiver. Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert asks (of inky), "Is that better?" | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "kiss imelda" | ||||
Floyd | You lean over to Imelda and kiss her on the lips. She kisses you back, Floyd | forcefully. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "tell her about desire" | ||||
Floyd | You chat briefly with Imelda, but find out nothing important. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "topics" | ||||
Floyd | You could ask her about your predicament, getting to safety, the feral Floyd | icekin, the Northern Territories, the Sky Mercenaries, herself, Floyd | newspapers, us, yourself, how you first met, shooting you down, the Floyd | chance to kill you, duelling, friends, ace of aces, her eyepatch, what Floyd | she's doing after the war, her kill count, or her hair. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "score" | ||||
Floyd | In 81 moves, you have scored 5 of a possible 7 points. This makes you Floyd | a group captain. Floyd | Floyd | (To see a detailed accounting of your score, type FULL SCORE.) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about duelling" | ||||
Floyd | "It's a strange past-time, really, trying to shoot one another out of Floyd | the air." Floyd | Floyd | "Yes," Imelda agrees, "we should take up chess or ballroom dancing Floyd | instead." Floyd | Floyd | The triplane rocks slightly in the wind. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about what she's doing after the war" | ||||
Floyd | "Aside from sticking me in a triplane, you got any plans for after this Floyd | all blows over?" Floyd | Floyd | Imelda scratches her ear. "I don't know. I really don't know. I went Floyd | straight from aristocracy to being a fighter pilot. This is Floyd | preferable, believe it or not. But you'd have to be insane to want to Floyd | do this forever. Or maybe I am insane, I don't know. I just don't Floyd | know." Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert says, "'So, what time do you get off work?'" | |||
| inky says, "hee hee" | ||||
| inky says, "well, you're not going to get as smoochie an ending, I'm guessing" | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "propose to imelda" | ||||
Floyd | The word "propose" is not necessary in this story. Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "though only marginally" | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "marry imelda" | ||||
Floyd | The word "marry" is not necessary in this story. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "score" | ||||
Floyd | In 83 moves, you have scored 5 of a possible 7 points. This makes you Floyd | a group captain. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about marriage" | ||||
Floyd | You chat briefly with Imelda, but find out nothing important. Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "hunh" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about ballroom dancing" | ||||
Floyd | "Do you dance?" you ask. Floyd | Floyd | "Not when I'm this cold," Imelda says. "But I learnt ballroom dancing Floyd | when I was young. I can be as graceful on my feet as in the air." Floyd | Floyd | "We'll have to dance some time," you suggest. Floyd | Floyd | "Certainly," she says mischievously, "but I warn you, my hands have Floyd | been known to wander." Floyd | Floyd | "I'll keep a careful eye on you, don't worry." Floyd | Floyd | > | inky asks, "what are we missing?" | |||
| inky says (to Floyd), "ask imelda about chess" | ||||
Floyd | "Do you play chess?" you ask. Floyd | Floyd | "More than that," Imelda says. "I win at chess." Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert says, "I don't remember." | |||
| inky says, "ha ha" | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "full score" | ||||
Floyd | In 86 moves, you have scored 5 of a possible 7 points. This makes you Floyd | a group captain. Your score consists of: Floyd | -2 points for perpetuating a meme Floyd | 1 point for aerobatics Floyd | 1 point for knowing when to quit Floyd | 1 point for suriving a feral icekin Floyd | 1 point for planning ahead Floyd | 1 point for diplomacy Floyd | 1 point for keeping warm Floyd | 1 point for telling Imelda how you feel about her Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "play chess" | ||||
Floyd | The story doesn't understand that command. Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "ha!" | |||
| olethros asks, "oooh?" | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "tell imedla about chess" | ||||
Floyd | The word "imedla" is not necessary in this story. Floyd | Floyd | > | olethros asks, "what was the meme?" | |||
| Alex says (to olethros), "Awwwk! Word on the street is that meme is an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture. Furthermore, BrenBarn is a meme." | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "tell imelda about chess" | ||||
Floyd | You chat briefly with Imelda, but find out nothing important. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "xyzzy" | |||
| olethros says, "aha, I see" | ||||
| inky asks, "oh, it wasn't tiger sauce?" | ||||
| Fang asks, "can we sleep now?" | ||||
| olethros says, "sleep with tiger!" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Fang), "I think so." | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "sleep with her" | ||||
Floyd | The story doesn't understand that command. Floyd | Floyd | > | Fang says, "alas" | |||
| DavidW asks, "just 'sleep', no?" | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "sleep" | ||||
Floyd | You let your head rest on Imelda's shoulder, and sleep descends like a Floyd | dark blanket. Floyd | Floyd | The night is cold, and the two of you cling to one another for warmth, Floyd | but the snow has finally stopped falling and the fire burns until Floyd | morning. Floyd | Floyd | Then the two of you struggle to your feet, Imelda just contending with Floyd | aches and cramps while you have to worry about your broken leg. Floyd | Looking around at the pristine forest, everything covered in thick Floyd | sheets of snow, you begin to make your way south, Imelda encouraging Floyd | you to lean on her as much as you can. Eventually, the bright scarlet Floyd | wingtip of her triplane has disappeared from view. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Not long after that... Floyd | Floyd | The guard shoots you a black look, but you show him your authorisation Floyd | and he unlocks the door. Inside, Imelda sits at a table, looking Floyd | thoroughly bored. Floyd | Floyd | "Lucas," she sighs. "Things are looking up." Floyd | Floyd | "I'm really sorry for this," you tell her. "It seems the intelligence Floyd | services can do what they want and there's nothing we can do about it. Floyd | They treated you well, at least?" Floyd | Floyd | "They accepted it when I refused to answer their questions, yes. The Floyd | northern ace of aces is out of action, if they beat me up, their own Floyd | ace of aces will probably follow suit. I don't think they're really Floyd | that interested in getting information out of me, to be honest. It Floyd | seemed like a formality. A boring, boring formality." Floyd | Floyd | You take a deep breath and then say, "They're prepared to put you under Floyd | house arrest in a nice little town not too far south of here." Floyd | Floyd | "And how often will I see you?" Floyd | Floyd | "As often as I can make the journey." Floyd | Floyd | "Will you..." She clears her throat. "Will you be able to stay the Floyd | night?" Floyd | Floyd | "If I bribe the right guard, I should think so." Floyd | Floyd | She grins carnivorously. "Well, that's the important thing." Floyd | Floyd | "I'm sorry for this." Floyd | Floyd | She smiles. "It's okay, I know it's not your fault." Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Years later... Floyd | Floyd | Imelda rolls off of you and sparks up a cigarette, the sheets around Floyd | her hips. You study her silhouette in the twilight. Floyd | Floyd | "The air race tomorrow," she says. Floyd | Floyd | "Everyone will be there," you say proudly. "Everyone wants to see the Floyd | world's most famous aces competing against one another." Floyd | Floyd | She takes a deep drag and lets the smoke curl slowly from her lips Floyd | before speaking. "I don't like the way you take so many risks to try Floyd | and beat me. You could die." Floyd | Floyd | You laugh. "You just want to make sure you win." Floyd | Floyd | She shoots you a fierce look. "I'm not joking." Floyd | Floyd | "Okay, I know, Mel, I know." Floyd | Floyd | You rest your hand reassuringly on her leg. "Maybe we should pack in Floyd | the daredevil flying anyway. It's for the young and carefree, people Floyd | with nothing to lose. Whereas we're..." Floyd | Floyd | She places her hand on top of yours."We have one another." Floyd | Floyd | You nod. "But still, the race tomorrow..." Floyd | Floyd | Imelda laughs. "You're going to do great," she says. "You'll be Floyd | finishing second. Right after me." Floyd | Floyd | "We'll see." Floyd | Floyd | There's a moment's pause. The quiet sounds of evening drift in through Floyd | an open window. Floyd | Floyd | "Lucas..." Imelda takes a deep breath. "There's something I need to Floyd | ask you. After the race, what... what's going to happen?" Floyd | Floyd | "I..." You shake your head. Floyd | Floyd | She looks at you sadly. "Yeah, you never did let that barrier drop. I Floyd | guess it's too much to imagine that people who've tried to kill one Floyd | another could ever end up being too close." Floyd | Floyd | "I will miss you," you tell her. Floyd | Floyd | She kisses the corner of your mouth. Floyd | Floyd | You slip your arm around her and kiss her back. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Many years later... Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | "Oh my god, Lucas Thane it is you" Floyd | Floyd | You spin around and find yourself facing a strangely familiar redheaded Floyd | woman. "Imelda? Is that you? You look so different!" Floyd | Floyd | She touches her fingers to her cheeks. "It's the glass eye. No-one Floyd | from back then recognises me anymore." Floyd | Floyd | "That's terrible," you say, "I thought the eye patch really suited Floyd | you." Floyd | Floyd | "Well, it doesn't help much to look like a pirate when you're designing Floyd | planes." Floyd | Floyd | "Monoplanes, eh? Who'd have thought it?" Floyd | Floyd | "I know! Look, you've got to come round some time, reminisce about old Floyd | times." Floyd | Floyd | "Sounds like a plan." Floyd | Floyd | "Are you still the dashing bachelor of legend?" Floyd | Floyd | You look thoughtfully at the sky. "Oh, you know how it is. You meet a Floyd | lot of people, but they never match up to the one that got away." Floyd | Floyd | She looks at you thoughfully. "You're a stupid bastard, Lucas Thane," Floyd | she says softly. Floyd | Floyd | You just stare at her. Floyd | Floyd | She points a thumb over her shoulder. "My place is this way. Come Floyd | on." Floyd | Floyd | Uncertain what to expect, you take her hand. Floyd | Floyd | *** THE END *** Floyd | Floyd | In 88 moves, you have scored 5 of a possible 7 points. This makes you Floyd | a group captain. Floyd | Floyd | Would you like to RESTORE a saved position, RESTART the story, UNDO the Floyd | last move, see your FULL SCORE, see some AMUSING things to try, read Floyd | some NOTES on the game, find out a little more about the ENDINGS, or Floyd | QUIT? Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "ok, that was pretty sweet also" | |||
| inky says (to Floyd), "notes" | ||||
Floyd | "It was the practice of German aces to visit the site of their Floyd | opponent's crash in order to confirm their combat report and only the Floyd | final question concerned [Oswald] Boelcke - would his own death be Floyd | 'fercht oder getrocknet' (literally 'wet or dry', that is burned or Floyd | mutilated to death)." Alan Clark, Aces High Floyd | Floyd | The idea of a notorious fighter ace called the Scarlet Baroness is Floyd | obviously inspired by the Red Baron of the First World War - Manfred Floyd | von Richthofen, an aristocratic hunter turned fighter pilot. Floyd | Richthofen is an interesting character in his own right, clocking up 80 Floyd | confirmed kills (perhaps dispproportionately of vulnerable two-seater Floyd | planes), he was often depicted (either flatteringly or unflatteringly) Floyd | as a callous and cold man who considered shooting down enemy planes to Floyd | be no different from hunting animals. Floyd | Floyd | Although there may well have been such an aspect to him, like most of Floyd | the fighter pilots of that era he had a great respect and understanding Floyd | for enemy pilots. In the common practice of landing by downed planes Floyd | to confirm the kill (or in Richthofen's case, to collect a trophy), Floyd | pilots from opposite sides might well end up conversing. Captured Floyd | enemy pilots, whether dead or alive, would always be treated with Floyd | respect and courtesy by their opposing squadrons. (It was whilst Floyd | talking to one captured allied pilot that Richthofen learnt of the Floyd | rumour that he (the ace in the red plane) was a woman.) Floyd | Floyd | And yet, despite the common depiction of WWI fighter aces as being the Floyd | knights of the air, their affinity for one another was probably most Floyd | inspired by a common understanding of the brutality of their conflict. Floyd | Pilots were given almost no training. New members of the Royal Flying Floyd | Corps were called 'twenty minuters' with respect to their expected Floyd | lifespan. Senseless waste of lives was as common in the air as in the Floyd | trenches. Unlike in the world of Snowblind Aces, pilots were never Floyd | issued parachutes - it was considered that this would merely enable Floyd | cowardice. Floyd | Floyd | Lucas Thane, depending on how you play him, is a mixture of two of the Floyd | top three French aces. Charles Nungesser was the quintessential Floyd | daredevil ace, who would crawl into his plane after a night out Floyd | drinking and partying, perform death defying stunts, crash, break all Floyd | his bones, and still crawl into the plane again the next day. After Floyd | the war, he continued to risk his life in the air, and disappeared Floyd | during an attempted transatlantic crossing. Floyd | Floyd | Georges Guynemer, on the other hand, managed to become a pilot inspite Floyd | of his youth and ill health. He was relatively shy and unassuming, Floyd | prone to truly anachronistic acts of chivalry towards the enemy. As Floyd | the war dragged on, Guynemer's physical and mental health began to Floyd | deteriorate. A national hero, Guynemer was expected by his superiors Floyd | and the public to continue to risk his life in combat. He refused to Floyd | retire, afraid of what would be said of him, and was eventually Floyd | presumed killed in an ambush one overcast morning - though his body was Floyd | never found. Floyd | Floyd | Despite Imelda's insistence to the contrary, the triplane was - in our Floyd | universe, anyway - by and large a failed experiment. The British Floyd | Sopwith Triplane and German Fokker Dr1. were both hugely successful, Floyd | living up to the intended 'increased maneuvrability, reduced speed' of Floyd | the design, but a plethora of other triplanes have justifiably Floyd | disappeared into the mists of history, remembered only as peculiar Floyd | mutants. Floyd | Floyd | As a final note, if you find yourself in the Northern Territories these Floyd | days and are attacked by a feral icekin, please remember that they are Floyd | endangered, so you should probably let it eat you. Floyd | Floyd | Would you like to RESTORE a saved position, RESTART the story, UNDO the Floyd | last move, see your FULL SCORE, see some AMUSING things to try, read Floyd | some NOTES on the game, find out a little more about the ENDINGS, or Floyd | QUIT? Floyd | Floyd | > | Fang says, "hah" | |||
| Bert says, "I guess we should ahve shot the icekin, for one thing." | ||||
| Bert says, "Also, we should have figured out that last point." | ||||
| inky says, "we should have given her the gun instead of refusing" | ||||
| Korodzik arrives, ready to play with the toys. | Fang says, "did we tell her we loved her" | |||
| Fang asks, "?" | ||||
| inky says, "I don't think the icekin thing mattered much" | ||||
| Korodzik says, "hello" | ||||
| inky says, "though maybe it affected the danger of the race later on" | ||||
| inky says, "but the gun was obviously a trust issue" | ||||
| dhakajack says, "maybe there is an alternate ending where you marry the icekin and have icekindling" | ||||
| inky says, "ha ha ha" | ||||
| Korodzik says, "well, I've got no time for playing, so I'll just leave a permament trace in the transcript" | ||||
| inky says (to Korodzik), "hee hee" | ||||
| inky says, "we're almost done anyway" | ||||
| inky asks (of Bert), "is there a way to get more than 7 points?" | ||||
| DavidW says, "I think the points just plot how far into the story you are." | ||||
| olethros says (to Floyd), "score" | ||||
Floyd | That isn't one of the options. Floyd | Floyd | Would you like to RESTORE a saved position, RESTART the story, UNDO the Floyd | last move, see your FULL SCORE, see some AMUSING things to try, read Floyd | some NOTES on the game, find out a little more about the ENDINGS, or Floyd | QUIT? Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| olethros says (to Floyd), "full score" | ||||
Floyd | In 88 moves, you have scored 5 of a possible 7 points. This makes you Floyd | a group captain. Your score consists of: Floyd | -2 points for perpetuating a meme Floyd | 1 point for aerobatics Floyd | 1 point for knowing when to quit Floyd | 1 point for suriving a feral icekin Floyd | 1 point for planning ahead Floyd | 1 point for diplomacy Floyd | 1 point for keeping warm Floyd | 1 point for telling Imelda how you feel about her Floyd | Floyd | Would you like to RESTORE a saved position, RESTART the story, UNDO the Floyd | last move, see your FULL SCORE, see some AMUSING things to try, read Floyd | some NOTES on the game, find out a little more about the ENDINGS, or Floyd | QUIT? Floyd | Floyd | > | Bert says (to inky), "I dunno, but I'm sure we could get more than five." | |||
| olethros says, "we have -2 for the xyzzy thing" | ||||
| Korodzik says, "farewell fellow interactivefictionlings" | ||||
| inky says, "yeah, we just got a joke penalty" | ||||
| Bert says, "Perpetuating a meme... oh." | ||||
| Lucea says, "that would be my fault" | ||||
| Bert says, "Never mind." | ||||
| Korodzik goes home. | ||||
| Taleslinger says (to Floyd), "amusing" | ||||
Floyd | Have you tried: Floyd | Floyd | Eating your breeches? Floyd | Examining your parachute pack after discovering you've broken your leg? Floyd | Typing 'xyzzy'? Floyd | Asking Imelda about tiger sauce? Floyd | Shooting yourself? Floyd | Shooting Imelda? Floyd | Sleeping at the controls of your plane (before the collision)? Floyd | Floyd | Would you like to RESTORE a saved position, RESTART the story, UNDO the Floyd | last move, see your FULL SCORE, see some AMUSING things to try, read Floyd | some NOTES on the game, find out a little more about the ENDINGS, or Floyd | QUIT? Floyd | Floyd | > | inky says, "hmm, I guess we tried those" | |||
| inky says, "you know, a lot of these war games have switched to the theme that the two sides are pretty much indistinguishablely bad" | ||||
| WeirdBeard arrives, full of neither funk nor fun. | inky says, "but there aren't many that have the idea that one side is better but the other side still has understandable motivations" | |||
| Bert says, "There's your niche." | ||||
| inky says, "hmm" | ||||
| inky says, "I guess that is in fact yet another thing in the thing I'm working on" | ||||
| Lucea asks, "didn't war literature do that, though, long ago?" | ||||
| inky says, "although it's not a war game" | ||||
| Bert says, "I guess you could play that either way. You're on the good side, but later discover that the bad side isn't *all* bad..." | ||||
| Bert says, "...or you start out trying to pursue your understandable motivation, and only later realize that your side's means may not justify the ends you're pursuing." | ||||
| inky says, "the t3 special dialogue in this one seemed like a mixed success" | ||||
| inky says, "I'm not sure you could do it in a straight ask/tell system" | ||||
| dhakajack says, "the dialogue system seemed a lot more natural to me than one which waits for #1 #2 or #3 prompts" | ||||
| Lucea says, "I'm not really a fan of topic prompts to be honest" | ||||
| dhakajack says, "true, that is constraining" | ||||
| inky asks (of Lucea), "the "you can tell her you love her or punch her in the nose" thing?" | ||||
| Lucea says, "they always seem like conversation menus trying not to be conversation menus" | ||||
| Lucea says, "yeah, that" | ||||
| inky says, "well, it's not technically constraining in the sense that you can ask her about other stuff" | ||||
| inky says, "but it may feel constraining" | ||||
| inky says, "which is just as bad" | ||||
| Bert says, "I had a lot of trouble with the restricted command ordering thing." | ||||
| Bert says (to inky), "It's also constraining in the syntax." | ||||
| Bert says, "We had a lot of cases where we entered one of those commands slightly wrong, and it rejected it." | ||||
| Bert says, "Because it doesn't use normal command processing." | ||||
| inky says, "yeah, though that's an implementation issue" | ||||
| DavidW says, "If the special commands weren't when-to-use dependent, I'd like them a little better." | ||||
| inky says, "that's true" | ||||
| inky says, "I guess I should say it's partly an implementation issue" | ||||
| Bert says, "So 'tell her <blah blah>' and 'tell imelda <blah blah>' weren't the same, because it wanted a specific string." | ||||
| inky says, "it's true that if you allow non-standard commands then there's no standard phrasing format" | ||||
| inky says, "(but for any specific issue you could code it to allow that)" | ||||
| Bert says, "Yeah, I think the ADRIFT folks say the same thing." | ||||
| inky says, "heh" | ||||
| Bert exclaims, "For any command that doesn't work, we can just add another special case to handle that one!" | ||||
| Gunther has had his fill of playing for now, and goes back to the Lounge. | inky says, "I mean, the problem is if you ditch all the special-case commands then you pretty lose the ability to express any special-case ideas" | |||
| Bert asks, "Why's that?" | ||||
| inky asks, "I dunno, how would the player phrase them?" | ||||
| Lucea says, "that's back to the old parser, where you type >TELL IMELDA ABOUT LOVE and assume from context that you're telling her you love her, not that love is a crock" | ||||
| Bert asks, "Why couldn't it be implemented to allow 'tell <npc> <arbitrary string>' as one command and 'suggest <arbitrary string>' as another command and 'ask <npc> to <arbitrary string>' as another?" | ||||
| Bert asks, "Or whatever?" | ||||
| inky says, "I guess if you keep the topic list idea but still the player just asks >ASK X ABOUT TOPIC PHRASE" | ||||
| Bert asks, "So that normal parsing could apply to the <npc> part for those commands where it should apply?" | ||||
| Lucea says, "partly that'd depend on the PC's characterization" | ||||
| inky says (to Bert), "yeah, I suppose" | ||||
| inky says, "I mean, for that specific example it seems like people will just as likely say "what, I was supposed to type 'suggest blah blah' instead of 'tell blah blah'?"" | ||||
| dhakajack says, "Always using ASK X ABOUT Y puts you in the mode of always asking questions -- it makes you seem passive/reactive" | ||||
| inky says (to dhakajack), "that is an interesting way to put it" | ||||
| Bert asks, "I mean, isn't it just generally accepted without argument that requiring players to enter exact specific syntaxes is *not* good design?" | ||||
| inky says, "(personally I'm switching to >TALK ABOUT X as the default)" | ||||
| Bert says (to inky), "That's what I did in LP, and it seemed to work fine." | ||||
| inky says, "heh" | ||||
| Bert says, "But that was that sort of game." | ||||
| inky says, "I guess the characterization there didn't matter so much" | ||||
| inky asks, "so were ask and tell indistinguishable there?" | ||||
| Bert says, "In this game, I'm not saying that the things where it said 'suggest blah blah blah' should have allowed you to type 'ask about blah' instead." | ||||
| Lucea asks, "just curious: how bad was the code for that?" | ||||
| Lucea says, "I mean, not *bad*, but extensive" | ||||
| Lucea says, "that could have been phrased better" | ||||
| Bert says, "I'm saying that the things where it said stuff like 'suggest blah her blah you' should have allowed 'suggest blah imelda blah me'." | ||||
| inky says, "oh, sure" | ||||
| inky says, "I am 100% in agreement there" | ||||
| Bert says (to Lucea), "For LP? The parsing code was extensive but only moderately complicated." | ||||
| Bert says, "(Assuming you meant LP, since no one here knows what the code for Snowblind Aces looks like.)" | ||||
| inky says, "but what I'm wondering is if the idea as a whole is unworkable" | ||||
| Bert says, "LP actually cheated a *lot* with those kinds of topic things." | ||||
| inky says, "and if conversation has to be parsed by the same parser as any other command" | ||||
| Lucea says, "yeah, I meant LP" | ||||
| Bert says, "Most commands whose response resembled dialogue with an NPC were actually just TALK TO X ABOUT Y under the hood." | ||||
| Lucea says, "hrm." | ||||
| inky asks, "including 'yes' and 'no' and stuff?" | ||||
| inky says, "er, assuming there were any questions" | ||||
| Bert says, "Oh yes." | ||||
| inky asks, "so what did you do? record the current question somewhere, and check it when they say yes/no?" | ||||
| Bert says, "(Well, except for the bits where you could end the game early, but that was just a before rule catching the 'yes' before it got handled normally.)" | ||||
| inky asks, "and then clear it after a while if they don't respond to it?" | ||||
| Bert says (to inky), "There weren't actually any NPC questions that Grunk needed to answer." | ||||
| inky says, "oh, heh" | ||||
| Bert says, "But if there were, yeah, I'd have probably just set a flag somewhere and then tested the flag inside the yesTopic when it executed." | ||||
| Bert says, "(And then cleared the flag automatically when it was no longer a going concern.)" | ||||
| inky asks, "how much tracking of the state of the current conversation did you do?" | ||||
| Bert says, "But, like, SHOW X TO Y is actually equivalent to TELL Y ABOUT X if you have the appropriate object in your inventory." | ||||
| inky says, "excellent" | ||||
| inky asks, "like are there cases where you can ask about something twice in a row to get more info?" | ||||
| Bert says (to inky), "I kept track of what topics Grunk knew about (i.e. what you were allowed to ask about) and what topics Grunk had in mind for that NPC (i.e. the ones that were suggested in the TOPICS list)." | ||||
| inky says, "right, that makes sense" | ||||
| Bert says, "And yeah, there are a couple topics where the routine for it will test the game state to see what answer to give, and at least one or two where the routine will set the appropriate state to indicate 'answer 1 already given; give answer 2 next time'." | ||||
| Bert says, "In particular, the PIG topic has about a dozen different possible answers." | ||||
| Fang has had his fill of playing for now, and goes back to the Lounge. | inky says, "ha ha" | |||
| Bert says, "So pigTopic has stuff like 'else if ((self.number >= 4) && (someOtherFlagIsSet)) { self.number = 5; blahBlahBlah... }" | ||||
| Nitku has had his fill of playing for now, and goes back to the Lounge. | Lucea asks, "LP didn't have Grunk's dialogue, right?" | |||
| Bert says, "Right." | ||||
| inky says, "that makes a number of things easier" | ||||
| Bert says, "It does have things like '"<spoilers redacted>?" gnome ask. Grunk tell gnome Yes. Pig <spoilers redacted>! Gnome smile at Grunk. "That's excellent!" him say.'" | ||||
| Bert says, "Er, except lower case 'yes', not capital." | ||||
| Bert says, "So it does have Grunk's side of the conversation, but not in the form of direct quotes." | ||||
| Lucea says, "that does make things a lot easier" | ||||
| Lucea says, "I mean, in a good way; I thought the conversation system there worked quite well" | ||||
| Bert says, "It helped that the narrator *was* the speaker." | ||||
| Lucea says, "all the asking didn't bother me, possibly because it made sense; the gnome knows a lot more than you" | ||||
| Bert says, "So it doesn't feel like you're missing the protagonist's PoV in the conversation if the protagonist is the one who is doing the summarizing." | ||||
| inky says, "hmm yeah" | ||||
| inky says (to DavidW), "I guess you can close the log whenever if you haven't" | ||||
| DavidW says, "okay" | ||||
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