An Escape To Remember

An interactive fiction by the IF Whispers Team (2006) - the Inform 7 source text

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Complete text		Chapter 10.2 - The head

The enormous hovering stone head is a person. The description is "It's about three times your height and carved into a furious
open-mouthed scowl, kind of like the enormous hovering stone head in Zardoz. It's also blocking the track to the north."

Table of Stone Head Replies
topic   reply
"train/trains/track/tracks/rail/rails/railway"   "'Trains k[unicode
246]nnen nicht through here fahren! Why? Because ich sagte so!'"
"sand"   "'Sand ist gut! Es reminds mich of meine old sandstone
Mutter.'[paragraph break]For a moment you hear unintelligible voices in the distance."
"desert/dry/drei"   "'Ich kam zur desert because it is so dry hier. Moisture ist nicht f[unicode 252]r meine complexion gut. Erosion, you know.'"
"fear/vier"   "'Ja! Fear me!'"
"nine/nein"   "'Ja, nein!'"
"german/germany/language/languages/accent"   "'Ich study many languages. Deutsch ist mein favorite f[unicode 252]r shouting in!'"
"gift/box"   "'Ein Gift?' It's a little hard to tell, what with the
immovable facial features, but seems a little nervous about this."
"pushcart/cart"   "OK, so das ist nicht ein train. It's still verboten."
"head/stone/itself/himself"   "'Ich bin der Steinkopf! Die desert ist mein home now. So nice, so warm, so dry, so much sand.'"
"warm"   "'Because ich sagte so!'"

The replies of the stone head is Table of Stone Head Replies.

Report asking head about something: say "'Unimportant!'" instead.

Table of Stone Head Outbursts
event
"The head shouts 'Achtung!' for no apparent reason."
"The head shouts 'Fear me!', and for a moment you think you can see three more heads clustered around it."
"'Das Desert ist MEIN!'"
"The head digs itself into the sand with its mouth until only its eyes are visible, then bursts out again, scattering sand in all directions. 'Hah! So fun.'"
"The head solemnly intones a German phrasebook entry that you wouldn't have thought a bodiless stone head would have any need for."

Every turn while the player can see the stone head and a random chance of 1 in 4 succeeds:
choose a random row in Table of Stone Head outbursts;
say "[event entry][paragraph break]";

Instead of throwing something at the head:
say "You cleanly toss [the noun] into its enormous stone mouth. The head gags and shakes for a moment before spewing it back onto the plaform.";
now the noun is in Great Underground Desert.

Instead of giving something to the head, try throwing the noun at the head.
Instead of showing something to the head, try throwing the noun at the head.

Instead of going north from Great Underground Desert for the first time:
now the stone head is in Great Underground Desert; say "Before you can go any farther, an enormous stone head erupts from the sands and hovers over the tracks.

'HALT!' it shouts, in an atrocious fake German accent. 'Fahren on
railway ist verboten!'"

Instead of going north from Great Underground Desert while enormous hovering stone head is in Great Underground Desert: say "The stone head blocks your way. 'Nein! NEIN!' it bellows, and for a moment you see eight more heads clustered around it."