Citizen of Nowhere — 23 of 40

Luke A Jones

Release 1

Section 24 - The Tinker

The Tinker is a person in southern woodland dell. description of tinker is "A friendly looking wirily built chap in his mid-fifties, he has a bushy black beard, a battered derby hat, he's smoking a clay pipe and playing with a backgammon set. He's helped you out many times before with fixing tools, and helping to build your log cabin. You have become good friends."

Instead of giving the strange object to the tinker:

Say "'Good heavens!' exclaims the Tinker. [paragraph break] 'Where on earth did you get that? You know it's a way diviner, right?' [paragraph break] The Tinker examines the object closely, 'What a shame' he says ''It's broken, the needle is loose and needs tying to the pivot. I need something fine and very long to tie it back on in one go. [paragraph break] 'I'll hold on to it for now and take a closer look, if you can find something suitable I should be able to fix it.'";

Now strange object is nowhere.

Instead of showing the strange object to the tinker:

Say "'Good heavens!' exclaims the Tinker. [paragraph break] 'Where on earth did you get that? You know it's a way diviner, right?' [paragraph break] The Tinker examines the object closely, 'What a shame' he says ''It's broken, the needle is loose and needs tying to the pivot. I need something fine and very long to tie it back on in one go. [paragraph break] 'I'll hold on to it for now and take a closer look, if you can find something suitable I should be able to fix it.'";

Now strange object is nowhere.

Instead of giving long hair to tinker:

If strange object is nowhere:

Say "'A-ha!' says the Tinker, 'That should do the job nicely' [paragraph break]. The Tinker puts a jeweller’s lens against his eye socket and carefully sets about fixing the needle of way diviner with the mammoth hair. After a few grunts and expletives the Tinker declares, ‘There you go, good as new!’ He hands you the way diviner.";

Move mazesolver to the player;

Now long hair is nowhere;

Else:

Say "'Er, thanks but I don't have any use for that at the moment' says the Tinker."

the backgammon set is in southern woodland dell.

steps are a scenery object in southern woodland dell.

description of steps is "On the caravan steps sits the Tinker, your old friend."

Indefinite article of tinker is "The".

description of backgammon set is "A beautiful wooden backgammon set, consisting of a wooden board, two sets of 15 checkers, two pairs of dice, a doubling cube, and dice cups.".

the wooden board is part of backgammon set.

the two sets of 15 checkers are part of backgammon set.

the two pairs of dice are part of backgammon set.

the doubling cube is part of backgammon set.

the dice cups are part of backgammon set.

Description of wooden board is "A wooden backgammon board, there are 12 long triangles of alternating walnut and ash set into the board on each side of the playing area."

Description of checkers is "15 black and 15 red wooden discs, with a swirly pattern carved into their faces."

Description of two pairs of dice is "Two wooden six-sided and dotted dice."

Understand "pair of dice" as pairs of dice.

Description of doubling cube is "A small wooden six-sided cube with the numbers 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64 inscribed on its sides."

Description of dice cups is "two cylindrical black leather dice cups with red felt lining."

instead of playing backgammon for the first time:

say "You while away a pleasant half-hour playing backgammon with the Tinker, just for fun not money. For the umpteenth time The Tinker comprehensively thrashes you from pillar to post, whilst engaging you in friendly talk and tales of his travels";

rule succeeds instead.

instead of playing backgammon:

say "You'd love to sit around playing (and inevitably losing) more backgammon, and shooting the breeze, but you'll never make it to the city of Lost in time at this rate.";

rule fails instead.

instead of taking backgammon, say "You can't. It's not yours.".

Instead of talking to Tinker:

Say "'Greetings old friend!' says the Tinker.".

Instead of asking tinker about something:

Say "'I'm not sure about that, old friend.' says the Tinker."

instead of asking tinker about something when the player's command includes "backgammon":

Say "'I'm sure you'll beat me one of these days!' the Tinker says with a big grin."

instead of asking tinker about something when the player's command includes "caravan":

Say "It's been in my family for three generations now, my Grandfather built it."

instead of asking tinker about something when the player's command includes "grandfather":

Say "He was an immigrant from Somewhere, he came to Nowhere to look for work and seek a more peaceful life. He died when I was six, I can still remember his smell when I used to sit on his knee and he'd tell me stories.' A tear rolls down the Tinker's face."

Instead of asking tinker about something when the player's command includes "horse", say "'She's a beauty ain't she? Not as fast as she used to be though she's getting old.'"

Instead of asking tinker about something when the player's command includes "dobby", say "'She's a beauty ain't she? Not as fast as she used to be though she's getting old.'"

instead of telling tinker about something when the player's command includes "horse", say "'She's a beauty ain't she? Not as fast as she used to be though she's getting old.'"

instead of telling tinker about something when the player's command includes "dobby", say "'She's a beauty ain't she? Not as fast as she used to be though she's getting old.'"

instead of asking tinker about something when the player's command includes "backgammon", say "'A pleasant way to pass the time, the concentration calms my mind, more skill in the game than most folks think.'".

instead of telling tinker about something when the player's command includes "backgammon", say "'A pleasant way to pass the time, the concentration calms my mind, more skill in the game than most folks think.'".

instead of answering tinker that something when the player's command includes "backgammon", say "'A pleasant way to pass the time, the concentration calms my mind, more skill in the game than most folks think.'".