Stiffy Makane: Apocolocyntosis — 187 of 235

Chapter Two - "Phlebas, late of Carthage"

Zombie_Phlebas is a man in the Northern_riverbank. The printed name is "[if Zombie_Phlebas is not handled]the shambling undead monstrosity[otherwise]Phlebas the Phoenician". The description of zombie_Phlebas is "Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead[57 as a reference]. He is dressed in tatters; his eye sockets gape, a pearl sparkling within each one; he clutches a moldy wineskin to the ruin of his chest. Worms crawl horribly among his bones." Understand "Phlebas", "Phoenician", "sailor", "undead", "drowned", "zombie", "shambling", "undead", "monster", "monstrosity", "corpse", "pitiful", "neck", "chest", "worm-raddled", "bones", "man", "rotting", "rotten", and "Carthaginian" as zombie_Phlebas. Rule for deciding the concealed possessions of zombie_Phlebas: no. He is unspeakable. The default reply of zombie_Phlebas is "The corpse regards you with sorrowful sockets and the glint of pearl."

Some pearls are part of zombie_Phlebas. They are ambiguously plural. Understand "socket", "sockets", "pearl", "pearls", "eye", and "eyes" as the pearls. The description is "Those are pearls that were his eyes[59 as a reference][60 as a reference]." Check taking the pearls: instead say "Robbing the dead is pretty low. Robbing them while they're still shambling around? Unbelievable. No."

Some phlebas_worms are part of zombie_Phlebas. They are ambiguously plural. Understand "worm", "writhe", "writhing", "pink", "purple", "hideous", "worm", "worms", and "horrible" as phlebas_worms. The description is "Writhing, hideous pink and purple worms slither horribly through what remains of Phlebas's body."

The wineskin is held by zombie_Phlebas. The description is "It's moldering but nearly full wineskin." Understand "moldering", "moldy", "nasty", "rotgut", "mildewed", and "wine" as the wineskin. The wineskin can be drinkable. It is drinkable.

Before drinking the wineskin for the first time, instead say "Ugh. One swallow is enough to convince you you don't want any more. It's not turned to vinegar, or gotten mildewed, or anything: it's just nasty rotgut wine.";

Before drinking the wineskin, instead say "You'd really rather not."

Instead of touching, rubbing, sucking, fucking, blowing, kissing, or wanking off zombie_Phlebas:

if the stiffycock is not visible, instead say "You are not undressed for the occasion.";

if the mummified corpse is warned_about, instead say "If you learned anything during your sojourn on Earth, it was that fooling around with the dead can give you unpleasant papercuts.";

say "Necrophilia isn't really your thing."

Instead of smelling or tasting zombie_Phlebas, say "Merely considering the thought makes you gag."

Before doing anything with zombie_Phlebas:

if zombie_Phlebas is not handled

begin;

say "With mounting horror, you realize that you know this man: Phlebas, the Phoenician sailor whom you met outside Madame Sosostris's tent in Carthage. Once as handsome and tall as you[58 as a reference], he is now reduced to a pitiful, shambling, undead corpse.";

now zombie_Phlebas is handled;

end if.