Stiffy Makane: Apocolocyntosis — 92 of 235

Book Five - "Necropolis"

The Cemetery is a room. The printed name is "Necropolis". The description is "The historic necropolis of Carthage was, shall we say, greatly expanded after the Third Punic War. It now stretches as far as you can see to the north, west, and east. To the south, the gate leads back to the agora."

Instead of going north in the Cemetery, try going east. Instead of going west in the Cemetery, try going east. Instead of going east in the Cemetery, say "You wander aimlessly for a while among the tombstones."

Some tombs are scenery in the Cemetery. Understand "mausoleum", "mausoleums", "grave", "grass", "weeds", "weed", "graves", "tombstone", and "tombstones" as the tombs. The description is "Thousands of tombs stretch as far as you can see, obscured by grass and weeds." Instead of attacking or opening the tombs, say "It would not be wise for a Roman to disturb the tombs of the Phoenician dead." The tombs have a number called times_searched. Times_searched of the tombs is 0.

Before examining the tombs:

if the shabby Greek doctor is warned_about and the times_searched of the tombs is less than five

begin;

increase the times_searched of the tombs by 1;

if the times_searched of the tombs is 2

begin;

say "A cursory examination (as opposed to a thorough search) of the tombs yields nothing more.";

stop the action;

end if;

if the times_searched of the tombs is 3

begin;

now the times_searched of the tombs is 5;

try searching the tombs;

stop the action;

end if;

end if.

The weed is a thing. The initial appearance of the weed is "A tall weed sways beside an unremarkable tomb." The description is "It's a weed with palm-shaped leaves with jagged edges." Understand "palm-shaped", "jagged", "leaf", "leaves", "bud", "kind", "sawdust", "420", "schwag", "dope", "doobie", "cannabis", "pot", "plant", "herb", "reefer", "toke", "marijuana", "mary", "jane", "skunk", "skunky", "skunkweed", "sativa", "indica", "flower", "flowers", "sticky" as weed. Instead of smelling the weed, say "It smells pretty skunky." Instead of rubbing or touching the weed, say "Sticky." Instead of eating the weed, say "The merest taste convinces you that it tastes of wet sawdust and skunk. Ugh." Instead of tasting the weed, try eating the weed. Instead of burning the weed, say "I'm not going to say that this dangerous act would accomplish little, but the facts remain that a) you're using meta-game knowledge, and b) you don't have a source of fire anyway." Does the player mean doing something with the weed: it is likely.

Instead of rolling the weed:

if the player encloses the ragged papyrus or the player encloses the jagged papyrus or the player encloses the clean piece of papyrus, say "You suspect that you have better uses for your papyrus than rolling papers.";

say "You don't have any rolling papers."

Before searching the tombs:

if the location of the weed is not a room and the stiffycock is diseased and the shabby Greek doctor is warned_about

begin;

say "You carefully search the tombs for a time, and after a while, you find a plant that seems to match the doctor's description: tall, weedy, with jagged palmate leaves.";

move the weed to the cemetery;

really have the parser notice the weed;

stop the action;

end if.