Candle flames in windless air
by Teaspoon (2016)
Genres: Adaptation

So you've spent the last fortnight hitchhiking around rugged bits of the Nevada desert, and while it's been fun and all, you'd rather like your time machine back now. Text adventure remix of "Heaven Sent", with new twists and turns along the way...

action: %
response: So you've spent the last fortnight hitchhiking around rugged bits of the Nevada desert, and while it's been fun and all, you'd rather like your time machine back now.

The place seems familiar; you're sure you've visited it a couple of hundred years ago in your personal timeline. Tacky Elvis portrait, red vinyl seating, chalked menu, the lot. As absurd and retro-nostalgic as it is, this is vividly someone's idea of a good time and the idea of that is very appealing right now.

You can see a Confession Dial (it's yours, but you'd rather not think about it), and a Waitress here.
action: You look at Dial
response: You wouldn't trust anyone else with it. Even Missy. Especially Missy, now you know how the blasted thing works.
action: You examine waitress
response: She has a friendly enough face and an apparent willingness to listen. You've had worse audiences. And besides, she's English.
action: You examine Elvis
response: You fear it may be black velvet.
action: You talk to Waitress
response: That's a touch vague. Do you want to ask her about something?
action: You ask Waitress about the diner
response: "There's really nothing to do around here. You might as well take your things and go."
action: You look at the menu
response: The day's specials are listed on it. Banana-bacon sandwiches, avocado omelettes, fish sticks with cream sauce and set dressing.
action: You take Dial
response: Taken.

Right. The Confession Dial is a one-way teleport; you'll have to find another way out of here.

Gallifreyan, of course. Even the transparent crystal cylinder in which you materialise has a certain heaviness of touch about it. An outre array of gear-work is embedded in the walls, behind glass. The room is softly lit through an embrasure.

You can see a dark portal, sand, a skull, controls, a Veil and a Set1 here.
action: You look at the set1
response: A curious application of Panoptican observation; you yourself are perpetually being displayed in television monitors for your own observation. This one is marked Set3.
action: You go to the north
response: So what's going on?
> Where are all the hints?
Why scoring?
They've been implemented through an awkward but slightly more flavourful in-game text dump; just type "imagine" and examine the blackboard (questions have been coded as "ask ghost about X", due to the inelegance of the programmer), then "concentrate" to get back again. Non-fans may wish to start there to get (some of) the horribly involved and spoilery backstory, or may prefer to just skip that part and go straight to "get CD" for the game proper. It's been tricky boiling down years of plotlines into an even-halfway coherent "what does the character know at the start of play", to be honest.

So what's going on?
> Where are all the hints?
Why scoring?
action: Go north
response: So what's going on?
Where are all the hints?
> Why scoring?
Consider it nonsensical.

So what's going on?
Where are all the hints?
> Why scoring?
action: You look at the portal
response: It's half-open. You can just see how the Circular Corridor encloses
the Teleport Room, even though there's a window showing daylight *inside*...how does that even work?
action: You enter the portal
response: (first opening the dark portal)

This is the centre tower of a sweeping castle, the location where everything links up with everything else. Wide corridors range north, south, east and west, crossing a sickening height over a fetid moat. You can see through the arrow loops that they're walkways to an outer ring.

You can see a dark portal, a spade and a Set2 here.

The Veil arrives from the inside.
action: You examine the spade
response: A perfectly ordinary garden spade, with traces of fresh soil.
action: You look at the Veil
response: Basically, this is a big greoccurredy creature made out of loads of flies pretending to be a person in a veil. It would be comical if it wasn't also trying to inflict fates worse than death on you.
action: Examine set2
response: A curious application of Panoptican observation; you yourself are perpetually being displayed in television monitors for your own observation. This one is marked Set2.
action: Go north
response: You have arbitrarily decided that this corridor is north, because why not. A heart-shaped arrow-slit lights your way; you can just glimpse the terrifying drop to the moat below.

You can see a Set3 here.

The Veil arrives from the south.
action: Go south
response: This is the centre tower of a sweeping castle, the location where everything links up with everything else. Wide corridors range north, south, east and west, crossing a sickening height over a fetid moat. You can see through the arrow loops that they're walkways to an outer ring.

You can see a dark portal, a spade and a Set2 here.

The Veil arrives from the north.
action: Go south
response: You have arbitrarily decided that this corridor is south, because you fancy it. A cross-shaped arrow-slit lights your way; you can just glimpse the terrifying drop to the moat below.

You can see a Set4 here.

The Veil arrives from the north.
action: You talk to Veil
response: Ordinary conversation won't work with this creature; it's confess or nothing. You would prefer to avoid that if possible.
action: You confess
response: (to the Veil)
Right. You're going to have to confess something to it eventually or risk its murderous wrath, and the only thing you can think of right
now is how much you'd rather not die. So you confess that.

Oddly, this works; the creature floats away temporarily mollified, and something new happens. A grinding of gears and cogs fills the air with cacophony, and through the windows you can see the whole castle rotating itself, shifting into a brand new configuration. More of it must be accessible now.
action: You confess
response: (to the Veil)
You muster your nerves and calmly natter on the Veil about how maybe you know one or two things about this Hybrid, and also you're
petrified of having this scary fly monster stalking you everywhere. This persuades the blasted thing to go away and stop bothering you for a while, and even causes the castle to rotate again. Fortunately it's not bright enough to have realised that your ostensible confession is exactly the same as it was last time, although you suspect you won't
be able to pull off that trick again.
action: You go to the south
response: Plain and very much smacking of a cheap motel.

You can see a fireplace, a mantel, a painting, a writing desk, a
stool, an orchid (in which is a petal), a window and a Set7 here.

The Veil arrives from the north.
action: You look at the fireplace
response: It's a fake. One of those electrically powered operations. Just as well, you suppose, or you'd doubtless have to bank it yourself.
action: You get all
response: fireplace: Taken.
painting: Taken.
writing desk: Taken.
stool: Taken.
orchid: Taken.
window: Taken.
Set7: Taken.
petal: Taken.
action: You look at set7
response: A curious application of Panoptican observation; you yourself are perpetually being displayed in television monitors for your own observation. This one is marked Set7.
action: You look at the desk
response: So it's like a raven. Nothing to see here.
action: You examine the painting
response: Now that's the rub. It's a painting of Clara.

Do you remember Clara?
action: Yes
response: You remember her now...

You know this Tardis configuration rather better than the back of your hand, having lived with it considerably longer. None of that is at all interesting right now; you just want to talk to the woman who you
spent a large chunk of the universe's timespan trying to save.

You can see Clara here.

You notice a weird shadow and briefly attempt a calculation as to whether the sun here really is different or not before realising it's just the Veil taking up all the light again.
action: You imagine
response: Right, you're home.

Well, she looks about the same as when you left her. However long ago that was.

You can see a Ghost, a console and a blackboard marked Topics of Conversation: Hints and spoilers here.
action: You examine Ghost
response: She is entirely devoid of all characteristics.
action: You examine the console
response: with the space-time element and the conceptual geometer into the knee bone, but this is all a mental image anyway.
action: You concentrate
response: Back to reality.

Gallifreyan, of course. Even the transparent crystal cylinder in which you materialise has a certain heaviness of touch about it. An outre array of gear-work is embedded in the walls, behind glass. The room is softly lit through an embrasure.

You can see a dark portal, sand, a skull, controls and a Set1 here.

Veils are an irritatingly common fashion choice these days.
action: You examine the sand
response: You can see the faint outline of a word in the grains - "Bird"; and that is all.
action: You examine the controls
response: You idly speculate about using it to hack yourself back into the real universe, but the thing's only built for one-way use. It would take an absurd amount of power to make it function again.

The Veil arrives from the outside.
action: You take the sand
response: It scatters at your touch.
action: You look at the skull
response: It has a very curious feel to it, as though someone with a temporal hacksaw had carefully sliced off all hint of its past or future and left merely an eternally present memento mori. Trying to identify it any other way just reminds you that you've been meaning to brush up on archeology for several regenerations now.
action: You examine the controls
response: You idly speculate about using it to hack yourself back into the real universe, but the thing's only built for one-way use. It would take an absurd amount of power to make it function again.
action: You look at the portal
response: It's half-open. You can just see how the Circular Corridor encloses
the Teleport Room, even though there's a window showing daylight *inside*...how does that even work?

Veils are an irritatingly common fashion choice these days.
action: Inventory
response: You are carrying:
a petal
a Set7
a window
an orchid
a stool
a writing desk
a painting
a fireplace
a coat (being worn)
sonic glasses (being worn)
action: Look around
response: Gallifreyan, of course. Even the transparent crystal cylinder in which you materialise has a certain heaviness of touch about it. An outre array of gear-work is embedded in the walls, behind glass. The room is softly lit through an embrasure.

You can see a Veil, a dark portal, sand, a skull, controls and a Set1 here.
action: You enter the portal
response: This is the centre tower of a sweeping castle, the location where everything links up with everything else. Wide corridors range north, south, east and west, crossing a sickening height over a fetid moat. You can see through the arrow loops that they're walkways to an outer ring.

You can see a dark portal, a spade and a Set2 here.

The Veil arrives from the inside.
action: Go east
response: You have arbitrarily decided that this corridor is east, because you like bananas. A trefoil-shaped arrow-slit lights your way; you can
just glimpse the terrifying drop to the moat below.

You can see a Set6 here.

In a fit of recklessness, you sneak up on the Veil from behind and try to tickle it. This doesn't work.

The Veil arrives from the west.
action: You go to the west
response: This is the centre tower of a sweeping castle, the location where everything links up with everything else. Wide corridors range north, south, east and west, crossing a sickening height over a fetid moat. You can see through the arrow loops that they're walkways to an outer ring.

You can see a dark portal, a spade and a Set2 here.

The Veil arrives from the east.
action: You go west
response: You have arbitrarily decided that this corridor is west, because it's Thursday. A diamond-shaped arrow-slit lights your way; you can just glimpse the terrifying drop to the moat below.

You can see a Set5 here.

The Veil arrives from the east.
action: Go east
response: This is the centre tower of a sweeping castle, the location where everything links up with everything else. Wide corridors range north, south, east and west, crossing a sickening height over a fetid moat. You can see through the arrow loops that they're walkways to an outer ring.

You can see a dark portal, a spade and a Set2 here.

The Veil arrives from the west.
action: Go north
response: You have arbitrarily decided that this corridor is north, because why not. A heart-shaped arrow-slit lights your way; you can just glimpse the terrifying drop to the moat below.

You can see a Set3 here.

The Veil arrives from the south.
action: Go south
response: This is the centre tower of a sweeping castle, the location where everything links up with everything else. Wide corridors range north, south, east and west, crossing a sickening height over a fetid moat. You can see through the arrow loops that they're walkways to an outer ring.

You can see a dark portal, a spade and a Set2 here.

The Veil arrives from the north.
action: You go to the south
response: You have arbitrarily decided that this corridor is south, because you fancy it. A cross-shaped arrow-slit lights your way; you can just glimpse the terrifying drop to the moat below.

You can see a Set4 here.

Your antics fail to amuse the Veil, which is beginning to creep up on you in an unpleasantly personal sort of way. You're starting to worry about it. In a professional sort of way.

The Veil arrives from the north.
action: You confess
response: (to the Veil)
Well, that's the rub. While you have no end of interesting confessions on a history-spanning array of topics, including leaving knitwear in inappropriate archeological digs, playing trumpet for the Beatles, and introducing the word "dude" to the English language several centuries before being coined, none of the interesting stuff is what your
captors actually want to hear. The one they want to hear, you can't give them, because you don't actually know who the Hybrid is.

You may have given yourself a neural block on the topic.
action: Look around
response: You have arbitrarily decided that this corridor is south, because you fancy it. A cross-shaped arrow-slit lights your way; you can just glimpse the terrifying drop to the moat below.

You can see a Veil and a Set4 here.
action: Inventory
response: You are carrying:
a guitar
sonic glasses (being worn)
a dark suit (being worn)
action: You examine the glasses
response: Like a screwdriver you can wear on your face.

That may have sounded better when you came up with the idea. Anyhow when you're wearing them you can sonic electronics.
action: Sonic Dial
response: It's leaking temporal energy all over the map. You'll have to figure out some way of dealing with it.
Zzzt!
action: You examine the guitar
response: A Yamaha SGV Samurai, to be precise. Clara thinks it's the sign of a mid-life crises, even though you've already had several of those.
action: Sonic guitar
response: You plug your glasses into the guitar and create a . The waitress
looks at you, impressed.
Zzzt!
action: You examine the suit
response: It's actually rather hot and uncomfortable in the desert heat.
Burgundy velvet might be nicer.
action: You ask Waitress about Dial
response: "That one there? Definitely not mine."
action: You look at the menu
response: The day's specials are listed on it. Banana-bacon sandwiches, avocado omelettes, fish sticks with cream sauce and set dressing.
action: Sonic Waitress
response: Zzzt!
action: You look at Dial
response: You wouldn't trust anyone else with it. Even Missy. Especially Missy, now you know how the blasted thing works.
action: You get Dial
response: Taken.

Right. The Confession Dial is a one-way teleport; you'll have to find another way out of here.

Gallifreyan, of course. Even the transparent crystal cylinder in which you materialise has a certain heaviness of touch about it. An outre array of gear-work is embedded in the walls, behind glass. The room is softly lit through an embrasure.

You can see a dark portal, sand, a skull, controls, a Veil and a Set1 here.
action: Sonic controls
response: That's not especially useful, unless you want to disassemble it with the sonic.
Zzzt!
action: You look at the skull
response: It has a very curious feel to it, as though someone with a temporal hacksaw had carefully sliced off all hint of its past or future and left merely an eternally present memento mori. Trying to identify it any other way just reminds you that you've been meaning to brush up on archeology for several regenerations now.
action: Sonic Set1
response: Liquid crystalline. If you opened it the internals would just leak away.
Zzzt!
action: You look at the spade
response: A perfectly ordinary garden spade, with traces of fresh soil.

Your antics fail to amuse the Veil, which is beginning to creep up on you in an unpleasantly personal sort of way. You're starting to worry about it. In a professional sort of way.
action: You get the spade
response: Taken.
action: Play
response: What do you want to play?
action: Inventory
response: You are carrying:
a spade
a coat (being worn)
sonic glasses (being worn)

Veils are an irritatingly common fashion choice these days.
action: You jump
response: You jump on the spot.
action: Sonic set3
response: Liquid crystalline. If you opened it the internals would just leak away.
Zzzt!
action: Go south
response: This is the centre tower of a sweeping castle, the location where everything links up with everything else. Wide corridors range north, south, east and west, crossing a sickening height over a fetid moat. You can see through the arrow loops that they're walkways to an outer ring.

You can see a dark portal and a Set2 here.

The Veil arrives from the north.
action: Go south
response: You have arbitrarily decided that this corridor is south, because you fancy it. A cross-shaped arrow-slit lights your way; you can just glimpse the terrifying drop to the moat below.

You can see a Set4 here.

The Veil arrives from the north.
action: You confess
response: (to the Veil)
Ordinary conversation won't work with this creature; it's confess or nothing. You would prefer to avoid that if possible.
action: You confess to Veil
response: Right. You're going to have to confess something to it eventually or risk its murderous wrath, and the only thing you can think of right
now is how much you'd rather not die. So you confess that.

Oddly, this works; the creature floats away temporarily mollified, and something new happens. A grinding of gears and cogs fills the air with cacophony, and through the windows you can see the whole castle rotating itself, shifting into a brand new configuration. More of it must be accessible now.
action: Look around
response: You have arbitrarily decided that this corridor is south, because you fancy it. A cross-shaped arrow-slit lights your way; you can just glimpse the terrifying drop to the moat below.

You can see a Veil and a Set4 here.
action: Go north
response: This is the centre tower of a sweeping castle, the location where everything links up with everything else. Wide corridors range north, south, east and west, crossing a sickening height over a fetid moat. You can see through the arrow loops that they're walkways to an outer ring.

You can see a dark portal and a Set2 here.

The Veil arrives from the south.
action: You look at the orchid
response: In the orchid is a petal.
action: You look at the petal
response: Pale, shining pinkness
action: You get the orchid
response: Taken.
action: You look at the fireplace
response: It's a fake. One of those electrically powered operations. Just as well, you suppose, or you'd doubtless have to bank it yourself.
action: Sonic fireplace
response: Zzzt!
action: You examine the mantel
response: Covered in thick choking dust. You catch a glimmering there.

You try to politely ask the Veil to go away. It appears unmoved.
action: Clean mantel
response: You rub the mantel.
action: Dust mantel
response: You rub the mantel.

In a fit of recklessness, you sneak up on the Veil from behind and try to tickle it. This doesn't work.
action: You search mantel
response: You rummage in the dust and find a tiny jeweller's eyeglass.
action: You take all
response: fireplace: Taken.
painting: Taken.
writing desk: Taken.
stool: Taken.
window: Taken.
Set7: Taken.
eyeglass: Taken.
petal: Taken.
action: You examine the window
response: Diamond-leaded double glazing, no less. Finally, a proper window!
action: You get the stool
response: You already have that.
action: You look at the stool
response: Too small for comfortable sitting.
action: You throw the stool at the window
response: Futile.
action: You drop the window
response: Dropped.
action: You break the window
response: You shatter it into fragments. Now the window's broken, you have a way out of this castle! All the way down. Maybe.
Violence is still not your style, though.
action: Go downwards
response: Smelly and full of more old bones.

The Veil arrives from above.
action: Go upwards
response: You would need a ladder. There is no ladder.
action: You examine the bones
response: They are all slimy. You don't wish to encumber yourself with them.
action: You go to the east
response: Even More Moat.
"Would you care for a drink?"

The Veil arrives from the west.
action: You go west
response: Smelly and full of more old bones.

The Veil arrives from the east.
action: Go south
response: Why? Why is there an open passageway prepared for someone wading out
of a skull-laden moat?

Well, there's a glimpse of larder to the east and a warm fire to the west. There is a Set18 here.

The Veil arrives from the north.
action: Go east
response: Fully-stocked. Wine and bread don't compromise the most interesting of diets, whatever Omar Khayyám may have to say on the matter, but at least you won't starve. The kitchen is to the east.

You can see wine and bread here.

There's the Veil again. At least it's quieter than most monsters.

The Veil arrives from the west.
action: Go east
response: If there was an army around here, they'd have a place to cook, it's that big. Lots of cupboards and a table. Also there's an alarming hole in the ceiling. Also an absence in the paving. The larder is back to the east, and there's a curved corridor to the north.

You can see a chair here.

The Veil arrives from the west.
action: Y.
response: cheapglulxe quit with exit status: 0