Receda's revenge 2 log

All screenshots courtesy of _SilentlyBroken

PREGAME

• The game will begin at 18:40 - It's time for revenge!
• The game will begin at 18:40 - It's revenging time!
• Welcome to Receda's Revenge. The game will begin in 4 minutes time. Please read the following instructions if you intend to play.
• During the game, you will have to input commands (such as moving, saying something, doing something). This system will only accept your first command. All other commands will be ignored.
• When the system is ready to accept a new command from you, it will display a prompt: >
• While you are playing, you will be able to draw at any time. However, except for specific challenges, what you draw will not impact the gameplay.
• Now, play on...

• Welcome! You are about to embark on a fantastic adventure in Ye Olde Perplex City.
• Months have passed since your last quest in the streets and catacombs of Perplex City. Life has changed little - you still attend Fanhill School, and you still live in a tiny house on Teleo Alley. This shouldn't be a surprise to you, given that you failed miserably to rescue the young, nubile Princess, regain your Kingdom, or even indeed defeat the evil Lord Flaganroth, who is still presumed to be at large.
• In fact, all that you appear to have achieved in your last quest was to collect some flowers for a barmaid who didn't even put out, and kill a bunch of people. It seemed cool at the time, but their deaths still weigh heavily on your conscience - heavily enough for you to abandon your beloved sock puppet. Who would've known that the threadbare thing could be a vicious killer of trolls? You miss it dearly, but you know that it was too dangerous for this world, and is probably much happier in its new home, scaring small children at the infant school.
• But Fate needs no invitation to thrust its deadly dagger into the stream of a person's destiny, like a really vicious fisherman. No, Fate has a story for you that is yet to be told, and it begins again... TODAY!
• You wake up, and find yourself strapped to a rack, unable to move. Where are you? You look around, but the room is too dark and the only thing you can make out is a symbol on the opposite wall.

Penh

• > Look at the symbol
  • The symbol looks familiar - it has a serpent coiling around a crown. Very tasteful. But wait! Isn't that the same sigil you saw on Lord Flaganroth's ring? He must be the person keeping you here, that dastardly dastard!

• > Examine the rack
  • There's nothing interesting with the rack. Get on with it.

• > Break loose
  • You can't move your legs, your feet, your toes, your arms or your fingers.

• > Move head
  • You can't move your legs, your feet, your toes, your arms or your fingers.

• > Move hands
  • You can't move your legs, your feet, your toes, your arms or your fingers.

• > Chew ropes
  • You can't move your legs, your feet, your arms or your fingers.

• > Chew ropes
  • You can't move your legs, your feet, your arms or your fingers.

• > Move toes
  • You use your toes to loosen the straps around your feet. You then move your feet to stretch and then break the bonds around your legs. Being unusually limber, you contort your legs around to hook a toe around to one of your arm straps. After a few seconds, you loosen it enough to free your right arm and deal with the left. But at that moment, you hear footsteps approaching and can see a light coming from the corridor. What to do now?

• > Get up
  • You get up.

• > Hide
  • You hide, but Lord Flaganroth sweeps into the room, his magnificent scarlet cloak billowing despite the absence of any wind. Two trolls come from behind him to stand by the doorway. One of them is trying to hide the copy of Troll Quarterly he's holding behind his back. Lord Flaganroth comes to a halt in front of you, a derisory smile playing across his lips. "You fool. Look at you, lying there. You might wonder why I brought you here. For the past year, I have been constructing a dastardly plot. Why in Perplex City would I allow you to roam free?"

• > Steal Troll Quarterly
  • You attempt to steal the Troll Quarterly but the troll swats you with the magazine which is unfortunately made of stone. You die.

Cassandra

• Lord Flaganroth says, "I asked you a question!"

• > Say "Let me go!" to Lord Flaganroth
  • "Don't interrupt me when I'm clearly asking a rhetorical question. I knew you were going to say that. In fact, I know more about you than you can possibly comprehend. But soon, there'll be little more to learn, because your story ends here. I'm going to have you executed tomorrow morning, in front of all the people here. You'll be an example to them - an example of what happens when you come up against Lord Flaganroth!"
  • Lord Flaganroth sweeps out of the room, his cloak doing the requisite billowing. He gives a castigating look to the troll attempting to hide his magazine, and gives a careless wave to other, who impassively follows him down the corridor.

• > Say "Untie me" to troll
  • You're not tied any more

• > Leave room
  • The troll sticks out its arm and hurls you to the ground. You've got to trick it somehow. He grunts.

• > Say to troll, "Have you seen the secret message on the last page of that same Troll Quarterly issue you're holding?"
  • The troll looks at you. Then he looks at the magazine.
  • For a long time.

• > Run out of room quickly
  • You run out of the room quickly, but only get a few metres down the corridor when you're stopped by a locked door. There appears to be a puzzle lock on it. Can you solve it?

• > Look at puzzle lock
  • You are looking at the lock, fool. Solve it!
  • By drawing, that is.

(Cassandra gets it wrong)

• • The puzzle lock explodes, killing you instantly.

Sammykat

• You can't go outside the box.
  • Draw!

(Sammykat gets it right)

• • Well done, you've solved the lock! You run through the open door.

• > Look
  • Dungeon Maze
  • You're standing in a devious labyrinth. Or is it a maze? One of them has no branches, doesn't it? Or can you follow the right hand wall to get out? Or is it the left hand wall? Are there any grues? Ah, who cares. It's a maze. Or maybe a labyrinth.
  • Whatever it is, it has thick stone walls and low ceilings. Someone has handily engraved a map on the nearby wall. Can you find your way out? Draw now!

• > Examine map
  • The map is square, and dark. You lean closer for a good look.

(Sammykat fails)

• • You run into a wall. You die.

Misroi

• • Ooh, tricky, but you're doing OK.

(Screenshot of the maze)

(Misroi succeeds)

• • Congratulations! You have successfully negotiated the maze without walking into a wall.
  • Dungeon Hallway
  • Flickering torches line this stone hallway, illuminating a series of portraits of Lord Flaganroth and his defeated foes. Curiously, one of the portraits has a couple of people who bear a passing resemblance to you...
  • Rich red carpet has been laid on the floors - clearly Flaganroth or his favored minions spend more time here. Down one end of the hallway is a archway marked 'Princess', down another is the maze, and finally to one side is a ladder heading up, towards an open hatch. You can see something that looks like sunlight from the hatch.
  • You can move to the Princess' Cell, back to the maze, or up to the hatch.

• > Head to the Princess' Cell
  • Princess' Cell
  • Apart from the steel bars that line the archway, this is a veritable palace bedroom in its lushness! Thick red carpet lines the floors, the walls are marble and a gigantic four-poster bed dominates the room. Clearly the Princess was deemed to be deserving of far superior treatment to a commoner like you. She even has a bath off to one side and a large wardrobe, but apparently no dressing area.
  • A beautiful young girl with long blonde hair, wearing a low-cut white dress is lying on a low chaise lounge, sighing sadly and prettily.

• > Call to the princess
  • "Who are you, brave adventurer?"

• > Say "I'm Misroi, I'm here to rescue you!"
  • "What kind of a daft name is that?"
  • "Are you here to rescue me from my arduous hours lying in palatial splendour?"

• > say "Oh, you're not a prisoner?"
  • The princess sighs. "Yes, I'm a prisoner. I need to be rescued by some brave adventurer."

• > Examine the bars
  • The bars are solid. You already know that.
  • "But you can hardly blame me for trying to pass the lonely hours by taking long langourous baths, can you? I mean, everyone deserves a bath every now and then."
  • "Are you going to free me then? Because if you are, get on with it."

• > Open cell
  • It's locked shut.
  • "Seriously. Are you going to free me or what? Because this is getting tedious."

• > Say "Do you know where the key is?"
  • "Yeah, sure. The key's right here. Of course I don't you idiot!"
  • She giggles, prettily.

• > Examine lock
  • The lock turns out to be electrified, and the Princess laughs as you die.

AgentLex

• • "If you want to free me, you need to collect three things for me."

• > What are they?
  • "The first is the Trophy of Amandier. You can find it at David's Quays, at the north of the city, in the Amandier Art Tournament."
  • "The second are the Ancient Lecks of the Academy, which are held in the Bell Tower."
  • "The third and last is a Pelt of a Tretretretre, which you could find in a zoo. Now go with haste! And Gyvann!"

• > Exit room
  • Dungeon Hallway
  • Flickering torches line this stone hallway, illuminating a series of portraits of Lord Flaganroth and his defeated foes. Curiously, one of the portraits has a couple of people who bear a passing resemblance to you...
  • Rich red carpet has been laid on the floors - clearly Flaganroth or his favored minions spend more time here. Down one end of the hallway is a archway marked 'Princess', down another is the maze, and finally to one side is a ladder heading up, towards an open hatch. You can see something that looks like sunlight from the hatch.
  • You can move to the Princess' Cell, back to the maze, or up to the hatch.

• > Go up the hatch
  • Gardener's Hut
  • This poky little hut, full of arcane gardening tools and pots, represents the barrier between darkness and light, between good and evil, between the terrible Lord Flaganroth's dungeons and the innocent (well, okay, mostly blameless) sprawl of Perplex City beyond it. It's not entirely clear why, or indeed how, Lord Flaganroth built his dungeon under South Camblin Park, but he managed it. Maybe it was through magic, or maybe it had to do with the mysterious disappearance of the city's entire workforce of miners two months ago - who can tell. In any case, this unassuming Gardener's Hut marks the entrance and exit for the dungeons.
  • The hut would be a little more frightening if there wasn't a poster of a scantily clad lady sitting on top of a Tretretretre from an old copy of the Vanguard, or a hilarious sign warning 'Beware of the Grue' hung on the ramshackle door leading to outside. At the other end of the hut is a hatch and ladder heading into the depths of the dungeons.
  • There is a copy of 'Perplecks Citee Almanack' here, sitting on a windowsill.
  • You can move out into South Camblin Park, or down into the Dungeons.

• > Take almanack
  • Taken

• > Read almanack
  • The Almanack was infested with deadly, venomous spiders. They bite you. You die.

Arkasha

• > Look outside
  • You can see South Camblin Park outside.

• > Go outside
  • South Camblin Park
  • You stand at the edge of the main wood in Camblin Park. There's a gardener's hut here, solidly built out of handsome oak. Some well-used gardening implements are leaning against the hut, and bees happily buzz around a clump of flowers that are in a box, no doubt intended for planting somewhere nearby.
  • Some odd sounds emanate from the hut, and you're pretty sure that the gardener isn't inside. They almost sound like screams. Which would make sense, since the hut is apparently the entrance to Lord Flaganroth's dungeon.
  • You can move into the hut, or north.

• > Move north
  • North Camblin Park
  • Camblin Park is a deceptively lush, beautifully landscaped area with impossibly healthy green grass spreading over a not-too-flat ground. Paths wind through the park, taking you to view the exotic flowers or woods, which offer convenient privacy. A small pond lies nearby, with hidden, golden shapes lazily swimming through it. There's a strange sense of unease, as if something is wrong. Maybe it's the deadened sound, or the crows watching you lazily from the trees, or perhaps it's just the fact that there's an evil dungeon lying underground. Who knows. Towards the south is a small gardener's hut that is concealed at the edge of some trees.
  • You can move south, or out of the park.

• > Leave park
  • Government Circus
  • Ah, Government Circus - the genius who came up with this name has been made an unofficial saint by the city's comedians and journalists. It doesn't look much like a circus, no lions or jugglers or monkeys with hats on - instead, it seems to have gone in a deliberately dour and serious direction, as if to neutralise its name. There are some dark statues and memorials here for wars long gone by, and the Ministry of War and Ministry of Foreign Affairs lie here.
  • The northwest corner of the impeccable Camblin Park lies here with its gates lying open. Little do the people know that the danger and darkness of Lord Flaganroth's dungeon lies inside...
  • You can move north, east, south, southwest or into the park.

• > look north
  • You can't look that far, you should be a person of action, not caution. Except when you die. Like now. Your feline doodle attacks a pack of wild dogs. They attack you. You die.

Mima

• > Move North
  • Government Lane / Apple Street / Kink Street
  • Government Lane begins here, and stretches southwards. Not a terribly imaginative name for a street, but pretty descriptive. Along this street are the innumerable departments and institutions that are responsible for keep the wheels of Perplex City moving, if not moving terribly smoothly. Apple Street heads northeast towards your school, and Kink Street heads west.
  • You can move north, south or west.

• > Move north
  • Mixture Street / Apple Street / Parancore Way
  • This is where your old school is - Fanhill School. The school is an imposing, broad edifice, taking up almost a full block of land and housing well over a thousand students. It used to be government offices but was transferred to the city education authorities some years ago, after everything of value was removed from it. You can see the window of your classroom up on the second floor, from whence you were hurled, wailing, out of the school permanently for puzzle gambling with kids in the playground. The gates to the school are closed, which suits you fine.
  • The Parancore Way begins here, one of the longest streets in the city. It joins onto Mixture Street and Apple Street.
  • You can move south or west.

• > Move west
  • Mixture Street
  • Mixture Street has a (ha ha) a mixture of shops, residential, entertainment establishments. A music hall might be right next to a church; an art gallery next to a chiropodist. It's an interesting place to be, and it usually has all sorts of fads in it, like these new 'sewers' that they're talking about. One of the more interesting places is the White Code Tavern, which is rather popular with Academicians; it has a strange sign with white symbols on a navy background, below the head of some famous scholar. It's said that in order to get in, you have to decode the symbols.
  • You can move northeast, east, or into the tavern.

• > Look at symbols
  • The code on the sign looks like it's been altered a few times. It says: "011101000011001101101000001000000111000001110101011100000111000000110 0110111010001101101001101000011010101110100001100110111001000100000011 1001000110011011101000111010101110010011011100111101000100001"
  • Someone has drawn an evil goatee on the head.

• > 13h pupp3tm45t3r r3turnz
  • "It's a quiet night, so we'll let you in even though you didn't say it right."
  • The White Code Tavern
  • It's amazing how noisy it is in this tavern - it's a wonder that anyone working inside still has eardrums that operate; no doubt some Academician trickery is employed to stop the noise from deafening people outside. The tavern is divided up into different areas by rough white walls, and populated with a motley selection of benches and stools. You can see a rather large number of Academicians in here for this time of day, alternately arguing or joking with foaming tankards of ale. Pretty waitresses circulate around the benches, replacing empty drinks and calming the Academicians down (or getting them excited, in some cases).
  • The usual busty, red-cheeked barmaid with long blonde tresses isn't here today - boyfriend trouble, apparently. There is a familiar-looking Academician here though, doodling on a paper pad.
  • You can move outside.

• > Look at doodle
  • The Academician looks at you warily. "Are you interested in drawing? Then get along to David's Quays right now, before we all get bored of your foolishness. It's northeast of here."

• > Move outside
  • Mixture Street
  • Mixture Street has a (ha ha) a mixture of shops, residential, entertainment establishments. A music hall might be right next to a church; an art gallery next to a chiropodist. It's an interesting place to be, and it usually has all sorts of fads in it, like these new 'sewers' that they're talking about. One of the more interesting places is the White Code Tavern, which is rather popular with Academicians; it has a strange sign with white symbols on a navy background, below the head of some famous scholar. It's said that in order to get in, you have to decode the symbols.
  • You can move northeast, east, or into the tavern.

• > Move northeast
  • Fanhill Road
  • This road runs behind your school, with a tall wall daubed with graffiti and covered with posters standing in your way. There are no sounds beyond the wall - either everyone's in classes, or they're all having an afternoon nap - but you can hear the noise of the crowd at the Amandier Art Tournament from the north.
  • You can move southwest or north.

• > Move north
  • David's Quays
  • David's Quays sit along the bank of the river Mazy, and there's usually a throng of people unloading goods and cargo from ships, but today everything is different. Today, the annual Amandier Speed Art Tournament has taken over the quays, and the place is crammed full of spectators and artists. The tournament is one of the biggest in the world, attracting competitors from as far as Mazyford, Silburn-Griggs and even Anjsbourg. You've never watched the tournament before, but you've heard tales of the artists wondrously quick and incisive painting skills.
  • To one side lies a stage where some people are busying themselves around what looks like the gleaming Trophy of Amandier. The normal ferry ticket booth has been turned into a registration desk for competitors.
  • There is a man sitting behind the registration desk.
  • You can move south or west.

• > Go to registration desk
  • "Welcome, brave artist! We're delighted to see you, because today we're accepting entries for the Amandier art tournament."
  • "Do you want to join?"

• > Ask "What are the rules?"
  • "The rules are simple. You have to draw a scene in less than one minute against another competitor. The best drawing or painting wins. There are several rounds."

• >Say "Sign me up!"
  • "Wonderful! Entry is free as long as you've been properly accredited by a sponsor. A member of the Academy would be a fine, upstanding sponsor for a young artist of your standing."
  • "You'll need a letter from the sponsor, of course."

• >Move south
  • "You'll also need some paint supplies - paints, canvas and a brush. You should be able to find them in any reasonable shoppe!" he calls after you
  • Fanhill Road
  • This road runs behind your school, with a tall wall daubed with graffiti and covered with posters standing in your way. There are no sounds beyond the wall - either everyone's in classes, or they're all having an afternoon nap - but you can hear the noise of the crowd at the Amandier Art Tournament from the north.
  • You can move southwest or north.

• > Move southwest
  • Mixture Street
  • Mixture Street has a (ha ha) a mixture of shops, residential, entertainment establishments. A music hall might be right next to a church; an art gallery next to a chiropodist. It's an interesting place to be, and it usually has all sorts of fads in it, like these new 'sewers' that they're talking about. One of the more interesting places is the White Code Tavern, which is rather popular with Academicians; it has a strange sign with white symbols on a navy background, below the head of some famous scholar. It's said that in order to get in, you have to decode the symbols.
  • You can move northeast, east, or into the tavern.

• > Go into tavern
  • The White Code Tavern
  • It's amazing how noisy it is in this tavern - it's a wonder that anyone working inside still has eardrums that operate; no doubt some Academician trickery is employed to stop the noise from deafening people outside. The tavern is divided up into different areas by rough white walls, and populated with a motley selection of benches and stools. You can see a rather large number of Academicians in here for this time of day, alternately arguing or joking with foaming tankards of ale. Pretty waitresses circulate around the benches, replacing empty drinks and calming the Academicians down (or getting them excited, in some cases).
  • The usual busty, red-cheeked barmaid with long blonde tresses isn't here today - boyfriend trouble, apparently. There is a familiar-looking Academician here though, doodling on a paper pad.
  • You can move outside.

• > Ask academician "Would you sponsor me to enter the Art Tournament?"
  • "I never sponsor anyone," says the Academician baldly. As the Academician is also bald, the baldness of his words is doubled. Or possibly squared.
  • "No," he continues, "I've made it my policy not to sponsor anyone since the terrible accident I had with the ummm... the er...."
  • He grinds to a halt, grinding his teeth.

• > Ask Academician "Is there anything I could do to convince you to change your mind?"
  • "Perhaps. There was a er... well, ummm.... There was an accident. With a graduate student, an anbaric chamber, a length of oiled rope and a ummmm... a errr...."
  • "A foodstuff," the academician sobs. "I can't say the name, I haven't been able to say it since that day! And the trouble is that I really enjoy eating it! I just can't say the word! Oh, if only I had a drawing of that particular foodstuff, I could show it in restaurants and be able to eat it again!"

• >Ask Academician "Could I help you, maybe if you could describe it to me I could draw it?"
  • "It's round, I believe. Why not give it a go?"

• > Ask Academician "What colour circle would look most like it?"
  • "Enough questions! Draw!!!"

(Attempt)

• • "Wanion! That doesn't look like anything, and it's wrong as well!"
  • You suffer lead poisoning from your pencil. You die. The last words you hear are the Academician shouting "No no, that's wrong, utterly wrong! Oh wanion! Wanion I say!"

MasterCheese

(Attempt)

• • "Yes, the colour looks right. It's good enough, I'll write the letter for you."
  • The Academician scribbles a note on a piece of paper and gives it to you.

• > Take note
  • Taken

• > Leave tavern
  • Mixture Street
  • Mixture Street has a (ha ha) mixture of shops, residential, entertainment establishments. A music hall might be right next to a church; an art gallery next to a chiropodist. It's an interesting place to be, and it usually has all sorts of fads in it, like these new 'sewers' that they're talking about. One of the more interesting places is the White Code Tavern, which is rather popular with Academicians; it has a strange sign with white symbols on a navy background, below the head of some famous scholar. It's said that in order to get in, you have to decode the symbols.
  • You can move northeast, east, or into the tavern.

• > Go northeast
  • Fanhill Road
  • This road runs behind your school, with a tall wall daubed with graffiti and covered with posters standing in your way. There are no sounds beyond the wall - either everyone's in classes, or they're all having an afternoon nap - but you can hear the noise of the crowd at the Amandier Art Tournament from the north.
  • You can move southwest or north.

• > Go southwest
  • Mixture Street
  • Mixture Street has a (ha ha) mixture of shops, residential, entertainment establishments. A music hall might be right next to a church; an art gallery next to a chiropodist. It's an interesting place to be, and it usually has all sorts of fads in it, like these new 'sewers' that they're talking about. One of the more interesting places is the White Code Tavern, which is rather popular with Academicians; it has a strange sign with white symbols on a navy background, below the head of some famous scholar. It's said that in order to get in, you have to decode the symbols.
  • You can move northeast, east, or into the tavern.

• > Look at shops
  • There's nothing interesting here.

• > Enter art gallery
  • You can't enter it, it's closed. Plus it's not a shop.
  • A random passer-by notices you staring at the shops. She shouts out "if you're looking for paint supplies, you might want to try Kink and Wardlock Street for this sort of thing, towards the south."

• > Go south
  • You walk through a plate galss window. You die slowly, painfully... excruciatingly... lethally

Arieh

• > East
  • Mixture Street / Apple Street / Parancore Way
  • This is where your old school is - Fanhill School. The school is an imposing, broad edifice, taking up almost a full block of land and housing well over a thousand students. It used to be government offices but was transferred to the city education authorities some years ago, after everything of value was removed from it. You can see the window of your classroom up on the second floor, from whence you were hurled, wailing, out of the school permanently for puzzle gambling with kids in the playground. The gates to the school are closed, which suits you fine.
  • The Parancore Way begins here, one of the longest streets in the city. It joins onto Mixture Street and Apple Street.
  • You can move south or west.

• > South
  • Government Lane / Apple Street / Kink Street
  • Government Lane begins here, and stretches southwards. Not a terribly imaginative name for a street, but pretty descriptive. Along this street are the innumerable departments and institutions that are responsible for keep the wheels of Perplex City moving, if not moving terribly smoothly. Apple Street heads northeast towards your school, and Kink Street heads west.
  • You can move north, south or west.

• > West
  • Kink Street / Wardlock Street
  • Since it's so close to Taversen Square, most of this area is taken up with fashionable and exclusive boutiques, restaurants and clubs, like the Capita Club, a favourite destination for Council members. An old stalwart of the street, Alric's Potions, closed down a couple of months ago after a raid from government inspectors, in the name of 'public morality'. It was interesting how they carefully carried out all the potions intact though.
  • The high street abhors a vacuum, and it's always first filled by the constituent base matter of the retail universe - the charity shop. Today, the Charity Shoppe now stands comfortably in Alric's place, displaying a delightful selection of 'Academy Annual Stickers', romance novels and other stuff no-one wants to buy.
  • You can move east, south, west or inside the Charity Shoppe.

• > Enter charity shoppe
  • The Charity Shoppe
  • Scores of bookshelves and tables are arranged here, bowed under the weight of hundreds of unwanted gifts, old clothes and books that weren't as good as the blurb on the back pretended. Piles of not-quite-completely-tasteless china with pictures of cute little rabbits and tretretretres threaten to fall over at the merest glance. A peeling poster on one wall commemorates the funeral of a king and queen in a far away land, with the little princess sitting on the carriage all alone. A box of dusty drawing and painting supplies lies propped up against a wall.
  • The decor inside the shop almost makes you recoil in fear; pastel coloured flowers. Where did they find this stuff?
  • A young girl sits by the counter, leafing through a magazine. On the counter are a piair of knitting needles and a sign proclaiming "Please give generously." You can just about see something furry behind the sign which looks a little familiar, but you can't quite place it.
  • You can move outside.

• > Examine furry thing
  • You look behind the sign carefully. It's... it's your beloved sock puppet!

• > Ask shopkeeper "How can I get the art supplies? Also, the sock puppet would be cool too."
  • "Help yourself, they're just over by the wall. As for the sock puppet, well, that depends on whether he wants to go with you."
  • The sock puppet looks at you coyly. In its eyes you can see that, although it's upset with you, it's missed you. You've missed it too - you didn't realise how much until this moment.

• > Take art supplies
  • Taken

• > Say sorry to sock puppet
  • The sock puppet acknowledges your contrition, and you take it back into your arms lovingly. It fits... just like a sock puppet, unsurprisingly.

• > Exit shoppe
  • "Oi! You can't walk out of here without paying!" The girl behind the desk throws her magazine at you and you die of 132 paper cuts.

Kalt

• >Search inventory for moneys!
  • Inventory:
    • Sock puppet
    • Perplecks Citee Almanack (spider-infested)
    • Note from Academician
    • Art supplies
    • A few leks

• > Show leks to shoppekeepere...e... "Will this be enough?"
  • "Yes, certainly young lad. Run free. Paint like you've never painted before!"

• > "Oh, I will, thank you!" Prance out of the shop... and resume normal gait upon exiting.
  • The shopkeeper admires your prancing, although it is rather metrosexual.
  • Kink Street / Wardlock Street
  • Since it's so close to Taversen Square, most of this area is taken up with fashionable and exclusive boutiques, restaurants and clubs, like the Capita Club, a favourite destination for Council members. An old stalwart of the street, Alric's Potions, closed down a couple of months ago after a raid from government inspectors, in the name of 'public morality'. It was interesting how they carefully carried out all the potions intact though.
  • The high street abhors a vacuum, and it's always first filled by the constituent base matter of the retail universe - the charity shop. Today, the Charity Shoppe now stands comfortably in Alric's place, displaying a delightful selection of 'Academy Annual Stickers', romance novels and other stuff no-one wants to buy.
  • You can move east, south or west.

• > Stride eastward
  • Government Lane / Apple Street / Kink Street
  • Government Lane begins here, and stretches southwards. Not a terribly imaginative name for a street, but pretty descriptive. Along this street are the innumerable departments and institutions that are responsible for keep the wheels of Perplex City moving, if not moving terribly smoothly. Apple Street heads northeast towards your school, and Kink Street heads west.
  • You can move north, south or west.

• > Head on north
  • Mixture Street / Apple Street / Parancore Way
  • This is where your old school is - Fanhill School. The school is an imposing, broad edifice, taking up almost a full block of land and housing well over a thousand students. It used to be government offices but was transferred to the city education authorities some years ago, after everything of value was removed from it. You can see the window of your classroom up on the second floor, from whence you were hurled, wailing, out of the school permanently for puzzle gambling with kids in the playground. The gates to the school are closed, which suits you fine.
  • The Parancore Way begins here, one of the longest streets in the city. It joins onto Mixture Street and Apple Street.
  • You can move south or west.

• > Now west
  • Mixture Street
  • Mixture Street has a (ha ha) a mixture of shops, residential, entertainment establishments. A music hall might be right next to a church; an art gallery next to a chiropodist. It's an interesting place to be, and it usually has all sorts of fads in it, like these new 'sewers' that they're talking about. One of the more interesting places is the White Code Tavern, which is rather popular with Academicians; it has a strange sign with white symbols on a navy background, below the head of some famous scholar. It's said that in order to get in, you have to decode the symbols.
  • You can move northeast, east, or into the tavern.

• > Boogie on to the northeast
  • Fanhill Road
  • This road runs behind your school, with a tall wall daubed with graffiti and covered with posters standing in your way. There are no sounds beyond the wall - either everyone's in classes, or they're all having an afternoon nap - but you can hear the noise of the crowd at the Amandier Art Tournament from the north.
  • You can move southwest or north.

• > And head north in style. Boogie on.
  • David's Quays
  • David's Quays sit along the bank of the river Mazy, and there's usually a throng of people unloading goods and cargo from ships, but today everything is different. Today, the annual Amandier Speed Art Tournament has taken over the quays, and the place is crammed full of spectators and artists. The tournament is one of the biggest in the world, attracting competitors from as far as Mazyford, Silburn-Griggs and even Anjsbourg. You've never watched the tournament before, but you've heard tales of the artists wondrously quick and incisive painting skills.
  • To one side lies a stage where some people are busying themselves around what looks like the gleaming Trophy of Amandier. The normal ferry ticket booth has been turned into a registration desk for competitors.
  • There is a man sitting behind the registration desk.
  • You can move south or west.
  • All your dancing and prancing attracts the attention of a local gang of disco bandits. They rob you. Of your life. You die.

flicb

• > Register
  • You register with the tournament, and soon enough, the first round is up. You take your seat on the stage, and await the scene you have to draw.

• > Look at scene
  • You can't look at it, you haven't drawn it yet. "The first round is an easy challenge," the announcer announces. "Draw a house."#
  • 45 seconds...
  • 15 seconds...
  • Time is up!

(Drawing)

• • Extra points for drawing a puzzle house!" says the announcer. "You win... round 1!"
  • "Round two... It's time we made things more interesting. Now, draw a fish hitting someone on the head."
  • 45 seconds...

(Drawing)

• • The ghost of Tony Hart rises from the grave and strikes you down with a palette knife. You die.

Skenmy

• • "Round two!" (again)
  • 15 seconds...
  • Time is up!

(Drawing)

• • "Congratulations! A clear winner! Excellent use of colour and composition style."
  • "Round... three! The final round! Now you must draw a beautiful maiden against the final opponent."
  • Draw!
  • Time's up!

(Drawing)

• • You gaze upon the incredible magnificence of your opponent's drawing. How by Gyvann did they draw such a thing?

(A picture of the Mona Lisa appears)

• > Call "Cheater!"
  • A crowd of angry art-lovers club you to death with your own painting for suggesting cheating in the Amandier contest. You die. Covered in paint

UselessPwn

• • The prize is awarded to your opponent, who takes the Trophy of Amandier. But you still have to get it, somehow! He's still waiting nearby with it.

• > Steal the trophy and run
  • You attempt to steal the trophy from the rightful victor. Unfortunately for you, the odor of varnish on your clothes gives you away. He gives you the evil eye, and you don't succeed.

• > Make the sock puppet attack opponent
  • The sock puppet doesn't believe in violence at the moment. It's reformed, alas.

• > Ask him very nicely to look at it
  • He smiles graciously and you take the trophy, buffing it with your sleeve. You smile and nod - then leg it off the stage.
  • You have obtained the Trophy of Amandier
  • David's Quays
  • David's Quays sit along the bank of the river Mazy, and there's usually a throng of people unloading goods and cargo from ships, but today everything is different. Today, the annual Amandier Speed Art Tournament has taken over the quays, and the place is crammed full of spectators and artists. The tournament is one of the biggest in the world, attracting competitors from as far as Mazyford, Silburn-Griggs and even Anjsbourg. You've never watched the tournament before, but you've heard tales of the artists wondrously quick and incisive painting skills.
  • To one side lies a stage where some people are busying themselves around what looks like the gleaming Trophy of Amandier. The normal ferry ticket booth has been turned into a registration desk for competitors.
  • There is a man sitting behind the registration desk.
  • You can move south or west.

• > Jaunt south
  • Fanhill Road
  • This road runs behind your school, with a tall wall daubed with graffiti and covered with posters standing in your way. There are no sounds beyond the wall - either everyone's in classes, or they're all having an afternoon nap - but you can hear the noise of the crowd at the Amandier Art Tournament from the north.
  • You can move southwest or north.

• > Wait, go back. North.
  • David's Quays
  • David's Quays sit along the bank of the river Mazy, and there's usually a throng of people unloading goods and cargo from ships, but today everything is different. Today, the annual Amandier Speed Art Tournament has taken over the quays, and the place is crammed full of spectators and artists. The tournament is one of the biggest in the world, attracting competitors from as far as Mazyford, Silburn-Griggs and even Anjsbourg. You've never watched the tournament before, but you've heard tales of the artists wondrously quick and incisive painting skills.
  • The normal ferry ticket booth has been turned into a registration desk for competitors.
  • There is a man sitting behind the registration desk.
  • You can move south or west.

• > Walk west
  • Gonville's Edge
  • This road leads from the Academy's eastern wall to the banks of the Mazy river and David's Quays. To the south of the road are some handsome little houses for Academy staff, and to the north is a bit of open grassland. It's quite quiet here, apart from some excited chattering and noise drifting over from the Amandier Art Tournament towards the east.
  • You can move east or southwest.

• > Move southwest
  • Northeast of the Academy
  • You stand below the tall eastern walls of the Academy. You can see the tall Bell Tower north of the river, and set into the wall is a small, inconspicuous gate.
  • You can move northeast or south.

• > Look at the gate
  • The gate has a puzzle lock set into it, with the words "Big Academy Brain Entrance". If you can solve it, you can enter!
  • It seems you have to draw some lines... you have a strange sense of deja vu, as well.

(Screenshot of the puzzle)

• • Big Academy Brain. Clearly, this is beyond you. The strain of logical thought is too much for your puny mind. Your brain implodes. It makes an awful mess. You die.

PMAvers

• • You think that you have to make the colours join, but they turn at every junction...
  • A couple of Academy students wander past. They laugh at your hesitation. Laugh, and laugh and laugh.

(Drawing)

• • Well done!

(Screenshot of the full solution as traced by the game)

• • The lock swivels around, completing the circuit, and the door swings open. You move inside...
  • Lower Delaney Court
  • You've gotten into the Academy!
  • You shut the door behind you, and emerge cautiously into a grand, elegant courtyard, where tall buildings with gleaming windows surround an immaculately manicured lawn. Black-robed scholars walk around, deep in thought, occasionally pausing to consult with each other on, you suppose, matters of great importance. There's a sign beside one of the buildings tells you that you're in Lower Delaney Court.
  • There's an archway on the north side of the court that turns into Delaney Bridge, which arcs over the Mazy River, linking the north and south sides of the Academy. Also in that direction, towering above all else, is the Academy's bell tower.
  • There is a pile of black robes lying in a laundry basket beside one of the walls.
  • You can move to the north, or out of the Academy.

• > Grab robes
  • Taken

• > Wear robes
  • You wear the robes. Good move.

• > Check pockets of robes
  • There's nothing inside, but you look natty. Very natty. You look like a giant bat. A clever bat.

• > Look all monk-like as I head north
  • You look suitably sedate and monk-like as you shuffle towards the...
  • Academy Great Lawn
  • The Great Lawn of the Academy lies before you, a huge expanse of impossibly green grass. Some scholars are playing very involved games of Twin-Wheel and Da-Quan on it, while tourist groups gawk in amazement as they're shepherded around. Towards the northwest of the Great Lawn, you can see a set of enormous ruins that must have been the foundation for a great building. Beyond that, to the north, is the Academy Bell Tower, a beautiful sand-coloured edifice that defies gravity. Back to the south is Delaney Bridge.
  • Some young scholars are loitering nearby, watching a game of Da-Quan.
  • You can move north or south.

• > Shuffle north
  • Bell Tower
  • The Bell Tower is well over a dozen storeys high, with a spiral staircase that hugs the walls all the way up. Intertwined in the tower's structure is a complex, constantly moving set of machinery that connects to the bells at the top. The machinery appears to be controlled by placing lecks at certain strategic points - you can see a tour guide demonstrating this to a group of starstruck foreigners.
  • There is a long queue of tourists slowly shuffling their way up the stairs towards the top, where the bells themselves and store room are. There's also a small pile of lecks lying nearby on the mechanism.
  • You can move up the stairs, or out of the tower.
  • The bell chimes as you reach the tower.

• > Take lecks
  • You take the lecks, but the machinery seizes up and as you run away shrieking, you realise that the lecks are chocolate, and even worse, they're melting in your robes! The scholars spot the chocolate and bludgeon you to death with their books, which are unfortunately for you not made of chocolate. You die.

Yembles

• > Look!
  • It's still the same, but here we go:
  • Bell Tower
  • The Bell Tower is well over a dozen storeys high, with a spiral staircase that hugs the walls all the way up. Intertwined in the tower's structure is a complex, constantly moving set of machinery that connects to the bells at the top. The machinery appears to be controlled by placing lecks at certain strategic points - you can see a tour guide demonstrating this to a group of starstruck foreigners.
  • There is a long queue of tourists slowly shuffling their way up the stairs towards the top, where the bells themselves and store room are. There's also a small pile of lecks lying nearby on the mechanism.
  • You can move up the stairs, or out of the tower.

• > Up the stairs, please :)
  • You try to push past the tourists to go up the tower, but they won't let you pass.
  • You shout at them, but none of them seem to speak English. Or Perplexian. Or whatever language it is you're speaking.
  • Dirty foreigners.
  • You're going to have to find a way to explain why you need to go up the tower without using words. Does anything occur to you...?

• > Draw an explanation!

(Drawing)

• • The tourists are vaguely offended by your somewhat phallic drawings. They can't read Perplexian, but your simple drawing still pleases them. They allow you to pass as long as you let them keep the drawing, which they begin to worship.
  • You can stop drawing now.
  • Please.
  • Bell Tower top
  • You emerge, triumphant, at the top of the Bell Tower. From here, you can see a magnificent view of the Academy grounds and, indeed, all of Perplex City itself. To the east is the fair blue sea and coast, to the west stretches the Mazy River and the farmland surrounding it. North and south hold the bustling metropolis of the greatest city in the world. The machinery of the Bell Tower terminates here, where it connects to a huge set of bronze bells. To one side is the store room.
  • You can go into the store room, or back down.

• > Into the store room!
  • Leck Store Room
  • As your eyes adjust to the gloomy darkness, you realise that this is no normal store room - this is the fabled store room of the Academy's Lecks! Piles upon piles of ancient lecks cover a huge wooden table at the end of the room, softly illuminated by shafts of dusty light.
  • You can move out of the store.

• > Check for traps
  • You can't see any traps...

• > Carefully approach and retrieve lecks
  • Walking towards the table, you realise that the crunchy stuff on the floor isn't cornflakes - they're bones! Evidently many adventurers have come here in the past, only to perish for some unclear but deadly reason. The hundreds of lecks lie enticingly on the table before you, lecks of all shapes and sizes and colours but something tells you that only one is the true leck of the Academy.
  • Should you take the red leck of the farrier, the orange leck of the carpenter, the silver leck of the merchant, or the gold leck of the nobleman?
  • Do you take the round leck of the follower, the nine-sided leck of the preacher, the seven-sided leck of the wise, or the five-sided leck of the scientist?
  • And do you take the small leck of the penitent, the medium leck of the humble, or the large leck of the proud?
  • Choose! Choose now!

• > I'll have the penitent one please. If you'd be so kind. :)
  • Draw it, please.
  • And you might have noticed that there are two other properties you need to specify.

(Drawing)

• • You close your eyes and grasp at any small leck. It isn't an effective process of elimination... except for you, whom it eliminates instantly. You vanish in a puff of death.

Kirjava

(Drawing)

• • Close, but no cigar. The money burns a hole in your pocket - and in your leg, cauterising the wound as it travels down through your femoral artery. You go into shock and die.

Daffy

(Drawing)

• • Gold, five-sided, big... jolly good.
  • You take the leck - and live!
  • You have obtained the ancient Academy lecks.

• > Exit store room
  • Bell Tower top
  • You emerge, triumphant, at the top of the Bell Tower. From here, you can see a magnificent view of the Academy grounds and, indeed, all of Perplex City itself. To the east is the fair blue sea and coast, to the west stretches the Mazy River and the farmland surrounding it. North and south hold the bustling metropolis of the greatest city in the world. The machinery of the Bell Tower terminates here, where it connects to a huge set of bronze bells. To one side is the store room.
  • You can go into the store room, or back down.
  • You reflect to yourself that the Academy fellows are not so humble...
  • There goes the bells again.

• > Go down
  • Bell Tower
  • The Bell Tower is well over a dozen storeys high, with a spiral staircase that hugs the walls all the way up. Intertwined in the tower's structure is a complex, constantly moving set of machinery that connects to the bells at the top. The machinery appears to be controlled by placing lecks at certain strategic points - you can see a tour guide demonstrating this to a group of starstruck foreigners.
  • There is a long queue of tourists slowly shuffling their way up the stairs towards the top, where the bells themselves and store room are. There's also a small pile of lecks lying nearby on the mechanism.
  • You can move up the stairs, or out of the tower.

• > Exit tower
  • Academy Great Lawn
  • The Great Lawn of the Academy lies before you, a huge expanse of impossibly green grass. Some scholars are playing very involved games of Twin-Wheel and Da-Quan on it, while tourist groups gawk in amazement as they're shepherded around. Towards the northwest of the Great Lawn, you can see a set of enormous ruins that must have been the foundation for a great building. Beyond that, to the north, is the Academy Bell Tower, a beautiful sand-coloured edifice that defies gravity. Back to the south is Delaney Bridge.
  • Some young scholars are loitering nearby, watching a game of Da-Quan.
  • You can move north or south.
  • The bell chimes as you leave the tower. It seems to be stuck on a repeating chime.

• > Approach scholars
  • You approach them slowly.

• > Ask for directions to the zoo
  • "Oh, they're all the way down southwest, where Villier Park used to be. But wait..."
  • After giving you these directions, the scholars notice that you have stolen the ancient leck of the Academy. They call the police. You are arrested and sentenced to three years in prison. The day before your release, you are killed with a shiv in the shower. Your death proves fatal.

Ixalon

• > South
  • Lower Delaney Court
  • You've gotten into the Academy!
  • You shut the door behind you, and emerge cautiously into a grand, elegant courtyard, where tall buildings with gleaming windows surround an immaculately manicured lawn. Black-robed scholars walk around, deep in thought, occasionally pausing to consult with each other on, you suppose, matters of great importance. There's a sign beside one of the buildings tells you that you're in Lower Delaney Court.
  • There's an archway on the north side of the court that turns into Delaney Bridge, which arcs over the Mazy River, linking the north and south sides of the Academy. Also in that direction, towering above all else, is the Academy's bell tower.
  • You can move to the north, or out of the Academy.

• > Leave academy
  • Northeast of the Academy
  • You stand below the tall eastern walls of the Academy.
  • You can move northeast or south.

• > South
  • Northeast Taversen Square
  • Mounted here next to the wall of the Academy is a large noticeboard and some tourist stalls, an island of commerce beyond the expanse of Taversen Square. From here, Mixture Street heads out east, and you can continue walking along a path to the north that's overlooked by the Academy's eastern wall.
  • You can see a large noticeboard here.
  • You can move north, south, southwest or west.

• > Examine noticeboard
  • The noticeboard says that tour groups are full. Good job you got in another way. Clearly this noticeboard is redundant now.

• > Breathe a sigh of relief for not being killed by said noticeboard.
  • The sigh of relief topples the noticeboard which falls on your head and kills you. Kills you dead.

Idlemichael

• > Inventory, please.
  • Inventory:
    • Sock puppet
    • Perplecks Citee Almanack (Spider-infested)
    • Note from Academician
    • Art supplies
    • Trophy of Amandier
    • Robes (Being worn)
    • Ancient Leks of the Academy

• > Southwest!
  • Taversen Square
  • You stand in the centre of Taversen Square - in the centre of Perplex City itself (well, the good parts of Perplex City, at least). The sun floats behind fluffy clouds, occasionally illuminating the grand central fountain with shafts of light, and casting brilliant reflections off the white tiling of the Square itself. A sign here says "Do not feed the pigeons." Some pigeons are mounting a protest nearby. A few important-looking people walk around, deep in conversation, ignoring you.
  • You can move northeast, northwest, southeast or southwest.
  • Random encounter!
  • Suddenly, a beefy man spots you in the Square and barrels over to you. He breathes heavily into your face for a moment, wilting your eyebrows with the overpowering miasma of that cheap Academician standby, Olde Schmaltz Liyte. "Hey, you," he manages at last. "Draw my picture." The hairs on the back of your neck prickle with fear as you realise that he has mistaken you for... a caricaturist.
  • When they look at the man:
  • If John Wayne had an illicit affair with a traffic light, this is what their offspring would look like.

(Drawing)

• • The beefy man sees your work in progress. "Green!" he shouts. "Green! I'll give you green!"

• > Say "Sorry, these are the only colours I have"

• > Apologise profusely
  • The man seems mildly pleased with your sketch. He pummels you a few times for good luck and sends you on your way with a fistful of lecks.

• > Say "Thank you" while tending to wounds.
  • The beefy man doesn't like sycophancy. He kills you for good measure. Dead.

Tally

• • You stand in silent contemplation. But something tells you it's all happening at the zoo. You do believe it. You do believe it's true. You'd better go there. Now!

• > South
  • There is no south!

• > Southwest
  • Southwest Taversen Square
  • This is the main entrance to the heart of the city and its greatest institution - Taversen Square, and the Perplex City Academy. You long ago gave up all hope of entering this place*, which your teachers approved of since it meant they'd successfully beaten all hope and ambition out of you. Now you just want to keep your head down... but maybe life has given you a second chance. Maybe you really can get the Princess! You might not be the head of the class, but you feel you somehow have a destiny to be fulfilled.
    • legitimately, as opposed to through a bunch of tunnels
  • You're standing at the end of Taversen Gate, just beyond the stone and metal archway that is the Gate itself. Taversen Square itself stretches out before you, a vast expanse of white, dotted with fountains and statues and benches, with a huge central fountain. A policeman watches you warily.
  • You can move north, east, south or into the Square.

• > South
  • Henderson Road / Taversen Gate / Marginal Lane
  • You're sure this place has a name that's more interesting than just three roads joined together, but you haven't learned it yet. It's some kind of Place or Cross or Square. Maybe not a cross, because it's not cross-shaped. Who knows? There's a statue and a fountain here, so it must be pretty important. Exactly what the fountain is for, you don't know - maybe it represents Perplex City's prowess in naval affairs, or maybe it's just for tourists to splash around in. The statue's seen better days though... it seems to have been vandalised and the general at its head has been stolen.
  • There's a city hospital here, and a coach station. Lots of busy-looking people are milling around the coach station, buying newspapers and hot snacks. To the north, along Taversen Gate, you can glimpse a wide open space and just about see the imposing buildings of the Academy.
  • You can move north, east or south.

• > South
  • Teleo Alley / Taversen Gate
  • Teleo Alley joins on to the rather more dignified Taversen Gate road here. Taversen Gate is a broad thoroughfare, with imposing, respectable businesses along both sides, like lawyers and freelance puzzle-consultants for embarrassed citizens who aren't actually any good at solving the nonsense the Academy puts out on its 'card puzzles'. Although the people and businesses here have the money to afford little flowerboxes to put on the pavement, some thoughtless thief had the gall to steal from them and spoiled it for everyone. You can't for the life of you remember who might have done that.
  • You can move north, east or south.

• • Technical error. This has been resolved and removed. Carry on.
    • Original post that was deleted: Oh, this is just a waste of time really, isn't it? I mean, traipse here, traipse there, find a leck, get a cup. It's all pointless. Quite frankly, I'm getting bored. Bored and angry.

• > Say ta
  • No problem. But get on with it.

• > East
  • Teleo Alley
  • Teleo Alley sits close to the heart of the town, and a great deal of traffic streams along the narrow, cobbled road at all times of day. Both sides of the road are packed with small shops and cramped housing. Shouts, laughter and chatter can be heard constantly, although there's a been a darker undercurrent recently. Perhaps they feel the presence of the Dark Lord Flaganroth, or alternatively they just say nasty things about you when you walk by. When you aren't being shoved around by busy passers-by, you can spot your home here - it's number 333, the small red door next to the fishmongerss.
  • You can move east, west, or inside to your home.

• > Inside
  • Home
  • This is where you live. It's a tiny house with only two rooms, for a kitchen and a living area - the bedroom was destroyed after the neighbours installed a trampoline without the necessary safety precautions. From where you are, you can see all the rooms - clean, but spare. There is an air of want throughout, reflected by your fraying clothes and the old, many-times repaired furniture. Occasionally you dream of better things, and wonder whether there is more to life than this. Then you remember you had exactly the same dreams in the last game when Flaganroth defeated you.
  • There is a dangerous-looking wardrobe and a cabinet.
  • You can move outside.
  • The wardrobe wobbles menacingly...

• > Outside
  • The wardrobe wobbles after you, precariously balancing on its corners as you sprint outside. Better not go in there again. Zoo might be a good idea.
  • Teleo Alley
  • Teleo Alley sits close to the heart of the town, and a great deal of traffic streams along the narrow, cobbled road at all times of day. Both sides of the road are packed with small shops and cramped housing. Shouts, laughter and chatter can be heard constantly, although there's a been a darker undercurrent recently. Perhaps they feel the presence of the Dark Lord Flaganroth, or alternatively they just say nasty things about you when you walk by. When you aren't being shoved around by busy passers-by, you can spot your home here - it's number 333, the small red door next to the fishmongerss.
  • You can move east, west, or inside to your home.

• > West
  • Zoo entrance
  • The broad and welcoming gates of the Perplex City Zoo stand before you, leading into a wide plaza. Beside the gates are ticket booths and stalls selling stuffed animals and trinkets to people who are too cheap to go inside. The zoo was only opened last month by its owner, Oliver Earlywine, after he'd finished turning Villier Park into a safari park and holding pens. He also 'bought' the surrounding streets from their unwilling owners and converted them into store houses and shops.
  • Earlywine held a grand procession through the streets of the city with all sorts of wonderful animals and birds that ended at these gates, which were open to everyone for the first week. Except for poor people. And foreigners. And anyone loitering with malicious intent. And the criminally inclined. Which, unfortunately, included you.
  • You can move east or south into the zoo plaza.

• > South
  • In your haste, you attempt to enter the zoo without purchasing a ticket. The zoo keeper unleashes one of his wildest penguins and it savages you savagely.
  • Of course, you die.

Dysper

• > Buy ticket
  • You get a ticket. Simple.

• > South
  • Zoo Plaza
  • The plaza is a large paved semicircle with convoluted paths leading off into the depths of the zoo, from which shrieks and hoots emanate enticingly. In the centre stands a large statue of Oliver Earlywine, surrounded by noble-looking animals. Small children roam this area either tethered to their mothers or charging around in huge packs, scrambling on the statues, with despairing teachers hot in pursuit. Just looking at the scene makes you feel tired, but then you remember you have a sacred duty towards the Princess.
  • An information booth stands against the zoo wall, manned by a terminally-bored attendant.
  • You can move north (out of the zoo), east (to the zoo stores) or into the zoo.
  • Your sock puppet seems to be reacting to animal pheromones. It sniffs the air and growls.

• > Ask attendant if there are any tretretretre pelts for sale
• > East
  • "Eh?" The attendant doesn't seem to hear very well. "I'm a little bit deaf sonny. I SAID I'm a little bit deaf!"
  • Did you see a prompt?
  • No.
  • So don't queue up commands.

• > East (And you lagged)
  • Oho.
  • You don't even deserve a good death.
  • You're so dead. You are picked apart atom by atom. It really hurts.

sjbuknewc

• > East
  • Zoo Stores
  • A long terrace of blackened brick houses, the Soliton Stores are the only remnant of the streets that once stood here before Earlywine razed the neighbourhood for his zoo. The houses were converted into vast containers for feed for the hungry chinchoas, and factories to make all of the souvenirs and trinkets that everyone entering the zoo gates is compelled to purchase.
  • The stores are all locked up at the moment, but you can see some tools and sacks sitting on an unattended delivery cart by one of the houses. Some workers from the factories lounge around nearby, smoking a cigarette and grumbling about tourists.
  • You can move west.

• > Examine tools
  • You can see some shears
  • It's really just one tool, actually

• > Ask workers if you can take shears
  • The workers don't reply. It's possible they're just painted onto the backdrop.

• > Examine sacks
  • The sacks are full of shears as well

• > Take shears
  • Taken

• > West
  • Zoo Plaza
  • The plaza is a large paved semicircle with convoluted paths leading off into the depths of the zoo, from which shrieks and hoots emanate enticingly. In the centre stands a large statue of Oliver Earlywine, surrounded by noble-looking animals. Small children roam this area either tethered to their mothers or charging around in huge packs, scrambling on the statues, with despairing teachers hot in pursuit. Just looking at the scene makes you feel tired, but then you remember you have a sacred duty towards the Princess.
  • An information booth stands against the zoo wall, manned by a terminally-bored attendant.
  • You can move north (out of the zoo), east (to the zoo stores) or into the zoo.

• > Go into zoo
  • You don't know your way through the zoo - the paths are strange and bizarre. You take a wrong turn and slip on some ice - on the edge of the polar bear pit. Their hides are soon stained with your icky, icky blood.

Josiah

• > East
  • Zoo Plaza
  • The plaza is a large paved semicircle with convoluted paths leading off into the depths of the zoo, from which shrieks and hoots emanate enticingly. In the centre stands a large statue of Oliver Earlywine, surrounded by noble-looking animals. Small children roam this area either tethered to their mothers or charging around in huge packs, scrambling on the statues, with despairing teachers hot in pursuit. Just looking at the scene makes you feel tired, but then you remember you have a sacred duty towards the Princess.
  • An information booth stands against the zoo wall, manned by a terminally-bored attendant.
  • You can move north (out of the zoo), east (to the zoo stores) or into the zoo.

• > East
  • Zoo Stores
  • A long terrace of blackened brick houses, the Soliton Stores are the only remnant of the streets that once stood here before Earlywine razed the neighbourhood for his zoo. The houses were converted into vast containers for feed for the hungry chinchoas, and factories to make all of the souvenirs and trinkets that everyone entering the zoo gates is compelled to purchase.
  • The stores are all locked up at the moment, but you can see some tools and sacks sitting on an unattended delivery cart by one of the houses. Some workers from the factories lounge around nearby, smoking a cigarette and grumbling about tourists.
  • You can move west.

• > West
  • Zoo Plaza
  • The plaza is a large paved semicircle with convoluted paths leading off into the depths of the zoo, from which shrieks and hoots emanate enticingly. In the centre stands a large statue of Oliver Earlywine, surrounded by noble-looking animals. Small children roam this area either tethered to their mothers or charging around in huge packs, scrambling on the statues, with despairing teachers hot in pursuit. Just looking at the scene makes you feel tired, but then you remember you have a sacred duty towards the Princess.
  • An information booth stands against the zoo wall, manned by a terminally-bored attendant.
  • You can move north (out of the zoo), east (to the zoo stores) or into the zoo.

• > Ask attendant for directions to tretretretre
  • The attendant is still deaf and can't hear you. He gestures towards a pad of paper in front of you.

(Writing)

• • "Did I mention I can't read either? Pictures, though - I can do them. Show me what you're looking for."

(Drawing)

• • "Not sure what is, I'm afraid. Doesn't look quite like anything."

(Drawing)

• > Gesture wildly at picture
  • The attendant examines your drawing and directs you toward the animal he thinks you were looking for. But unfortunately your drawing was wildly inaccurate. By luck, the cage of the animal you have drawn is right next to the Tretretretre pit. You should know that Tretretretres really don't look anything like that, despite what you may think of them wherever you come from.
  • Tretretretre Pen
  • You navigate the winding, treacherous and downright fatal paths that plunge through forests and tropical plants to emerge into the pen of the fabled Tretretretres. What a piece of work is a Tretretretre! How noble in bearing! How infinite in wisdom! In form, in moving, how deliberate and formidable! In action, how like a miniature, woolly, slow-moving battering ram! In apprehension, how like an expert puzzle scribe! The beauty of Perplex City! The paragon of zoo animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Tretretretres delight not me; no, only their pelts do interest me.
  • You shake your head, not knowing what came over you. The cute tretretretres mill around in their pen, eyeing you nervously behind the bars. Only one of them has a pelt worth mentioning, and it's the biggest and most irritated, probably because their food drum is empty.
  • You can move back to the plaza.

• > Put sock puppet on and climb into pen, brandishing sock puppet menacingly
  • The tretretretre is a fearsome opponent. In the wild, they eat three times their body mass every day. That's about the mass of one you. You become breakfast, lunch and dinner.

cmlobue

(No action taken)

DrinkMonsters

• > Say "Hey" to tretretretre
• > Sweet talk that thang
  • The tretretretres grumble fearsomely. They don't seem to like the sound of your voice.

• > Inventory
  • Inventory:
    • Sock puppet
    • Perplecks Citee Almanack (spider-infested)
    • Note from Academician
    • Art supplies
    • Trophy of Amandier
    • Robes (being worn)
    • Ancient Leks of the Academy
    • A zoo ticket
    • Memories of many past lives and painful deaths
    • Lots of shears

• > Throw almanack into tretretretre cage. Wait for it's iminent death.
  • You throw the venomous Almanck into the cage. The furriest tretretretre approaches and nibbles at the corner... before crumpling gently into a furry heap. It seems to be sleeping now. Sleeping the sleep of death. Time to shear that pelt.

(Screenshot of tretretretre outline)

(Drawing)

• • Shear, shear as fast as you can!
  • Faster!
  • The others are beginning to wake up...!

• > Get it!
• > Run!
  • Too late. The other tretretretres notice your attack of their wounded (dead) comrade and trample you.

ColinPigDog

• > Make the sock puppet talk
• > Sing a lullaby
  • The tretretretres don't like the sound of the sock puppet either. They murder you dead.
  • Nice song though.

eeeqz

• • Maybe you should try a thicker setting on your shears. It might help you shear quicker. You need to cut the entire of the surface.
  • Shear!

(Drawing)

• • It's sheer mayhem. (Ahem.) You flee the cage just as the other tretretretres wake up to your actions. You barely escape with your life.
  • ...But you have the pelt!
  • Zoo Plaza
  • The plaza is a large paved semicircle with convoluted paths leading off into the depths of the zoo, from which shrieks and hoots emanate enticingly. In the centre stands a large statue of Oliver Earlywine, surrounded by noble-looking animals. Small children roam this area either tethered to their mothers or charging around in huge packs, scrambling on the statues, with despairing teachers hot in pursuit. Just looking at the scene makes you feel tired, but then you remember you have a sacred duty towards the Princess.
  • An information booth stands against the zoo wall, manned by a terminally-bored attendant.
  • You can move north (out of the zoo), east (to the zoo stores) or into the zoo.

• > North please
  • Zoo entrance
  • The broad and welcoming gates of the Perplex City Zoo stand before you, leading into a wide plaza. Beside the gates are ticket booths and stalls selling stuffed animals and trinkets to people who are too cheap to go inside. The zoo was only opened last month by its owner, Oliver Earlywine, after he'd finished turning Villier Park into a safari park and holding pens. He also 'bought' the surrounding streets from their unwilling owners and converted them into store houses and shops.
  • Earlywine held a grand procession through the streets of the city with all sorts of wonderful animals and birds that ended at these gates, which were open to everyone for the first week. Except for poor people. And foreigners. And anyone loitering with malicious intent. And the criminally inclined. Which, unfortunately, included you.
  • You can move east or south into the zoo plaza.

• > East please
  • Underfire Road / Soliton Lane
  • Underfire Road used to be a slightly more downtrodden version of your own Teleo Alley, but has recently become much more respectable, like a wayward teenager who, upon his eighteenth birthday, suddenly gets a buzz cut and joins the army. Then again, it depends on your definition of 'respectable' - the street is certainly cleaner and has more well-off citizens strolling along it, but that's probably got more to do with the fact that Alric's Potions and similar 'lifestyle' shops relocated here.
  • Towards the south and west, you can see the new Perplex City Zoo. The honks of the Tretretretres and the high-pitched calls of the Chinchoas echo over the tall walls.
  • You can move northeast or west, towards the zoo entrance.

• > Northeast
  • Teleo Alley / Wardlock Street / Underfire Road
  • The junction of these three roads, once a proud independent shopping district, has now been filled with malls, department stores and chain coffeehouses. Here's how they did it: the coffeehouse chain entered the area by opening up five stores, managing to outcompete all the smaller cafes but losing money themselves. When the smaller cafes had gone out of business, the coffeehouse went and broke their owner's legs and made them work as slaves in their five stores, thus reducing costs and turning a profit. It's a clever strategy, but you prefer tea, so you tend not to hang around here much any more.
  • Your home is just a little to the west, down Teleo Alley.
  • You can move north, west or southeast.

• > North if you wouldn't mind
  • Henderson Road / Wardlock Street
  • Henderson and Wardlock meet here, in a bit of a clash of cultures. Henderson is the upper-class shopping area that sells things everyone wants and nobody needs (such as portable gramophones and the like), whereas Wardlock actually sells things that no-one wants but everyone needs (puzzle cards, boardgames, etc). As a result, there are often turf wars here between extremely opinionated people.
  • You can move north, east, south or west.

• > Look west
• > Or, um, go north
  • Your startling artwork from earlier has struck you colour-blind; why look west when you could just go there? As you walk in one direction and look in another, you miss the traffic signals and walk in front of an oncoming vehicle. It kills you and, tautologically, you die.

makomk

• > East
  • Government Circus
  • Ah, Government Circus - the genius who came up with this name has been made an unofficial saint by the city's comedians and journalists. It doesn't look much like a circus, no lions or jugglers or monkeys with hats on - instead, it seems to have gone in a deliberately dour and serious direction, as if to neutralise its name. There are some dark statues and memorials here for wars long gone by, and the Ministry of War and Ministry of Foreign Affairs lie here.
  • The northwest corner of the impeccable Camblin Park lies here with its gates lying open. Little do the people know that the danger and darkness of Lord Flaganroth's dungeon lies inside...
  • You can move north, east, south, southwest or into the park.

• > Go into the park
  • North Camblin Park
  • Camblin Park is a deceptively lush, beautifully landscaped area with impossibly healthy green grass spreading over a not-too-flat ground. Paths wind through the park, taking you to view the exotic flowers or woods, which offer convenient privacy. A small pond lies nearby, with hidden, golden shapes lazily swimming through it. There's a strange sense of unease, as if something is wrong. Maybe it's the deadened sound, or the crows watching you lazily from the trees, or perhaps it's just the fact that there's an evil dungeon lying underground. Who knows. Towards the south is a small gardener's hut that is concealed at the edge of some trees.
  • You can move south, or out of the park.

• > Go south
  • South Camblin Park
  • You stand at the edge of the main wood in Camblin Park. There's a gardener's hut here, solidly built out of handsome oak. Some well-used gardening implements are leaning against the hut, and bees happily buzz around a clump of flowers that are in a box, no doubt intended for planting somewhere nearby.
  • Some odd sounds emanate from the hut, and you're pretty sure that the gardener isn't inside. They almost sound like screams. Which would make sense, since the hut is apparently the entrance to Lord Flaganroth's dungeon.
  • You can move into the hut, or north.

• > Go into the hut
  • Gardener's Hut
  • This poky little hut, full of arcane gardening tools and pots, represents the barrier between darkness and light, between good and evil, between the terrible Lord Flaganroth's dungeons and the innocent (well, okay, mostly blameless) sprawl of Perplex City beyond it. It's not entirely clear why, or indeed how, Lord Flaganroth built his dungeon under South Camblin Park, but he managed it. Maybe it was through magic, or maybe it had to do with the mysterious disappearance of the city's entire workforce of miners two months ago - who can tell. In any case, this unassuming Gardener's Hut marks the entrance and exit for the dungeons.
  • The hut would be a little more frightening if there wasn't a poster of a scantily clad lady sitting on top of a Tretretretre from an old copy of the Vanguard, or a hilarious sign warning 'Beware of the Grue' hung on the ramshackle door leading to outside. At the other end of the hut is a hatch and ladder heading into the depths of the dungeons.
  • You can move out into South Camblin Park, or down into the Dungeons.

• > Go down
  • Dungeon Hallway
  • Flickering torches line this stone hallway, illuminating a series of portraits of Lord Flaganroth and his defeated foes. Curiously, one of the portraits has a couple of people who bear a passing resemblance to you...
  • Rich red carpet has been laid on the floors - clearly Flaganroth or his favored minions spend more time here. Down one end of the hallway is a archway marked 'Princess', down another is the maze, and finally to one side is a ladder heading up, towards an open hatch. You can see something that looks like sunlight from the hatch.
  • You can move to the Princess' Cell, back to the maze, or up to the hatch.

• > Go into the princess' cell
  • Princess' Cell
  • Apart from the steel bars that line the archway, this is a veritable Palace bedroom in its lushness! Thick red carpet lines the floors, the walls are marble and a gigantic four-poster bed dominates the room. Clearly the Princess was deemed to be deserving of much superior treatment than a commoner like you. She even has a bath off to one side and a large wardrobe, but apparently no dressing area.
  • A beautiful young girl with long blonde hair, wearing a low-cut white dress is lying on a low chaise lounge, sighing sadly and prettily.

• > inventory
  • Inventory:
    • Sock puppet
    • Note from Academician
    • Art supplies
    • Trophy of Amandier
    • Robes (being worn)
    • Ancient Leks of the Academy
    • A zoo ticket
    • Memories of many past lives and painful deaths
    • Lots of shears
    • A fluffy tretretretre pelt

• • You die of terminal indecision.

Achenar

• • "What do you want?" says the Princess.

• > tell the princess I have the items
  • "Wow," says the Princess. "Well done."
  • You prepare yourself to bask in her congratulations.
  • "I can't imagine why it took you so long. What are you, some kind of cretin?"
  • She giggles, but her voice suddenly strikes you as being strangely... masculine. You shrug off the thought for the moment - you can come back to it later once you've rescued Princess Lola.
  • Working faster than you would have thought possible, the Princess fashions a delightfully furry bikini out of the tretretretre pelt. Her fingers flash as she fastens it around her - irritatingly, she moves too fast for you to catch a glimpse of anything interesting at all. She places the trophy of Amandier upside down on her head and fastens the Ancient Lek of the Academy around her neck as a charming medallion. She looks... magnificent. You consider telling her so, but the glint in her eye implies she might deck you if you mentioned it. And she looks like that might hurt. Pretty muscular shoulders for a girl.

• > Say "What now?"
  • "Leave this to me, since you obviously have no ideas."

• > Ask the sock puppet what to do
  • The sock puppet is mute, irritated at your lack of direction.
  • The guard hears Lola's charming laughter and comes to investigate.
  • "LOL, eh, Lola?", he says.
  • "Look at my costume!" she says, "Lord Flaganroth has summoned me to dance before him! Let me go at once!"

• > Hide from guard
  • You hide around the corner
  • The guard looks at Princess Lola's costume. He nods slowly and opens the door to her cell. She's free!

• > Lead princess away from her cell
  • The guard's having none of it, and kills you very efficiently. You die.

Darkhuman

(No action taken)

askgar

• > Attack the guard with the shears
  • The guard attempts to shield himself, but your sack of shears overwhelms him and he collapses to the ground, defeated.

• > Lead the princess away from the cell
  • Just as you enter the hallway to make your escape, you hear the sound of billowing. Cloaky billowing. It could only mean one thing: Flaganroth! Looking behind you, you see the dark lord storming towards you.
  • The Princess gasps. You push her behind you and thrust forward your chest. Flaganroth looks at you - and the Princess with a trophy on her head - and laughs a familiar laugh.
  • Frankly, she's a good six inches taller than you, even without the pewter hat.

• > No, of course not
  • "How many times do I have to tell you about the rhetorical question thing?"

• > A lot
  • "Insolent fool! We will settle this like men! We shall duel, to the death!"

• > Attack with the sock puppet
  • You whip out your trusty sock puppet, who bares its teeth and makes some noises in an attempt to instill fear and cause pain.
  • And with that, Lord Flaganroth reveals a mahogany box, carved with ancient runes and emblems. Opening it, you see a black glove... or is it...?
  • The glove rears up - it is an evil sock puppet! Perhaps even: an evil twin!
  • The evil sock puppet taunts your own. Your sock puppet superiority is banished, and they growl at each other.
  • Lord Flaganroth unveils a traditional duelling set - a Connect 4 board!

(Connect 4 board appears. Screenshot)

• • Round One!
  • Your move...

(Game of Connect 4)

• • "Hah! Take that!"
  • "A novice, predictable move, fool!"

(Game continues)

• > Take this

(Game continues. Screenshot)

• • "Ah, the Carrick Defence... But it is not use against me!"

(Game continues)

• • "Your Prukov tactic is good, but it is no match for my Yun Ching style!"
• >Do you really think I'm that stupid?
  • "I think you're even more stupid than you're ugly."

(Game continues. Screenshot)

• > I win, loser.
  • "Noooooo!!!!"
  • Lord Flaganroth stumbles back in pain, his sock puppet screeching as yours viciously pulls out a thread from its chest.
  • "A cheat? You are no gentleman - and you will die like a peasant!" He orders his sock puppet to attack. It does. You die.

iammaaad

• • "Bah! A lucky attempt. This is only round one. Round two begins now!"

(Squares board appears. Screenshot)

• • "This is the traditional game of boxes and dots... if you don't know the rules, tough."

(iammaaad gets it wrong)

• • "Idiot!"

(iammaaad gets it wrong)

• • Flaganroth's sockpuppet lunges at your throat and you fall down dead.

Zeke

(Game of Squares)

• • "A bold move. Bold or foolish!"

(Game continues. Screenshot)

• • "I can smell your fear, weakling!"

(Game continues)

• • "Why do you struggle against me? You will fail. The Princess will be mine."

(Game continues. Screenshot)

• • "Your spirit does you credit, but you can never defeat me."
• Fear me, for I am Zekusmaximus

(Game continues. Screenshot)

• • "Come on, you fool..."

(Game continues, Flaganroth wins. Screenshot)

• • "Mwahahahaha!"
  • "Seven points to two! Ha! You are no match for me - told you so."
  • "The score is one all - there is only one final round left!"

Mindez

• > Bring it on.
  • "Round 3 is where the gloves go on - I see you have found yourself a sock puppet. Admirable, yet foolish. These two have been muzzled for too long. Let us have them fight!"

(Boss battle!)

• • Use your drawing tools to draw your attack!
  • Your move...
  • 60 seconds...

(Drawing of attack - Fire. Screenshot)

• • "No match for my asbestos beast!"

(The game draws its counter. Screenshot)

• • The fire is quenched by the jet of water. Your sock puppet drips, looking a bit sorry for itself.
  • Your sock puppet drops to 3 HP - Flaganroth's is at 4HP.
  • FIGHT!

(Drawing)

• > ELECTRICITY FOR THE PWN!
  • Flaganroth's sock puppet readies its response...

(The game draws: Screenshot)

• • The lightning bolt strikes home. The evil sock puppet sizzles in the dungeon hall, but it jumps over to you and you die...
  • Your sock puppet is at 3HP, Flaganroth's is at 3HP.

Misroi

• • FIGHT!
  • 10 seconds...

(Drawing)

• • Your incomprehensible attack does nothing but bamboozle the opponent. "Hail of thorns? I'll show you thorns!"

(The game draws its counter. Screenshot)

• • Your sock puppet survives the nuclear blast, but only just. It's getting a bit tatty now...
  • The nuclear attack dropped your sock puppet's health by 2HP, and of course also killed you!

Aesclepius

• • Your sock puppet is at 1HP, Flaganroth's is at 3HP...
  • FIGHT!

(Drawing)

• • The Princess hangs her head. The trophy clangs to the floor.
  • "Oops. Sorry about that."

(The game draws. Screenshot)

• • "Gegh, chuch - bleh... does the Anjsbourg Convention mean nothing to you?"
  • Flaganroth's sock puppet chokes on the fumes, and the Dark Lord himself stumbles to his knees... but pulls himself up! Both your sock puppets are at 1HP now. And the nerve gas had the unfortunate effect of killing you...

Magichal

• • FIGHT! This is the final attack...

• > Time to die!

(The game draws its attack. Screenshot)

• • Sneak attack! The evil sock puppet takes a pop and biffs yours in the eye, but your sock puppet weathers it stoically, losing absolutely no health!
  • Your move...

(Drawing)

(The game draws. Screenshot 1 Screenshot 2)

• • "Nooooooo!" Flaganroth cradles his defeated sock puppet in his arms. "Nooo! My beloved! No! This cannot be!"

• > Point and laugh at dying evil sock puppet
  • As you dance around the evil sock puppet, laughing maniacally and parading your triumphant sock puppet around the room, Flaganroth leaps to his feet, and grabs the Princess by the muscular forearm. "You may have won the battle, my young nemesis, but the war is far from over!"
  • Flaganroth places the dead sock puppet on his hand and strokes it tenderly. He holds it out toward the dungeon wall. A strange noise fills your ears, deafening you to death.

Joe

• • You are resurrected in time to see the portal which Flagnaroth has created, bending time and space with his evil powers.

(Screenshot of the portal. It is animated and swirly)

• > Enter portal
  • You cannot understand the dark powers which have been made manifest this day. Before you can reach it, Flaganroth leaps into the portal, taking Princess Lola and his sock puppet with him.
  • As a last, desperate, attempt you hurl your sock puppet into the portal, intending to follow, but it is too late! The portal closes, and your beloved sock puppet companion is gone.

ENDGAME

• • You are alone in the dungeon. Sans pelt, sans trophy, sans leck, sans puppet, sans everything.
  • Just before the portal closed, you heard a strange whisper through it...
  • Project Visor report 23 October 2006
  • Intermittent signal recorded, weak, faint.
  • Unable to determine location or direction.
  • Signal lost after 0.278 seconds.
  • Dispersal pattern suggests target located in arboreal area.
  • Report ends.
  • You wend your weary way home from the dungeon, making a mental note to sort out that wardrobe. Possibly with a shotgun.
  • You don't know how you can continue to live without your beloved sock puppet.
  • You are sustained only by the knowledge that one day you will be reunited!
  • You will have your revenge! Stay tuned for more Receda's Revenge!