Stiffy Makane: Apocolocyntosis — 88 of 235

Book Three - "Agora"

Part One - "Scenery"

The Agora is north of Harbor Ruins. The description is "The Agora is by no means a thriving commercial center, although a large tent pitched on its eastern edge appears brightly gaudy and out-of-place. Gutted remnants of amphora kilns are off to the east, and the necropolis gates stand to the north."

The scenery_kilns are scenery in the Agora. Understand "amphora", "smashed", "broken", "kiln", "kilns", "remnants", "gutted", and "ruins" as the scenery_kilns. The description is "Once these kilns were used to fashion amphorae for shipping goods--oil and grain, mostly--for transit. Now they lie smashed and broken."

The scenery_tent is scenery in the Agora. The printed name is "tent". The description is "A gaudy red tent squats on the eastern edge of the Agora. A sign on its front reads 'Madame Sosostris - Famed Clairvoyante - Fortunes Told - Secrets Revealed.'" Understand "tent", "gaudy", "red", "sign", "madame", "sosostris", "famed", and "clairvoyante" as the scenery_tent. The scenery_tent can be enterable. It is enterable. Instead of entering the scenery_tent, try going east.

Instead of going inside in the Agora, try going east.

Before going east in the Agora for the first time:

say "As you approach the tent, a sailor staggers out. He is, you think, quite tall and handsome. 'Dude,' he gasps, clapping you on the shoulder. 'That's pretty fucked-up right there. Seriously: OK, so Phlebas the Phoenician is one sexy guy, but ... the hell? Do I look like a [italic type]fertility god[roman type] to you? And, seriously, a [italic type]pumpkin[roman type]? What the fuck?' Before you can react (truth be told, he [italic type]is[roman type] pretty sexy, though not divinely so), he weaves off into the crowd and is gone. Strange.[paragraph break][italic type]Pumpkin[roman type]?";

stop the action;