a_study_in_porpentine

They finally allow you access to the computer at [[Library|Journey]]. (set: $words to 0) (set: $energy to 4)

You ride the beam of light across space and time, past worlds and universes toward the source. An *instant*. An *eternity*. And alas - Black and forbidding stands the structure of Library. The door opens. [[Enter|Main]]

(if: $complete is 0)[The [[book shelves]] are here. [[Computer|computer]] is at the centre.] A [[beam of light]] waits at the window above. Your [[room]] is downstairs. Out the grand door sits the [[garden]]. A [[lake]] is nearby. Further away, beyond the bushes of hallucinatory roses, [[wilderness]].

Book spines stare at you from oaken shelves. You have $words words. [[Read]] [[Leave|Main]]

The computer is a metallic monkey lit by imagination. *"Recite,"* it commands. You have $words words. A (if: $words >= 100)[ [[bone]] ](else:)[bone] of game for 100 words. A (if: $words >= 150)[ [[flesh]] ](else:)[flesh] of game for 150 words. (if: $bone > 0 and $flesh > 0)[A (if: $words >= 900)[ [[skull]] ](else:)[skull] of game for 900 words. ] [[Leave|Main]]

(if: $complete is 0)[The beam of light leaves only when the game is completed. [[Return|Main]] [[Quit]] ](if: $complete is 1)[The beam of light is [[waiting]] for you.]

A [[chest]] is in the corner. A [[painting]] of unmoving wave hangs on the wall. (if: $complete is 0)[The bed is inviting. [[Sleep]] ](if: $complete is 1)[You feel like going home.] [[Leave|Main]]

You walk to the garden of trees and flowers. [[Sit and listen]] [[Return|Main]]

(if: $energy > 0)[A clear lake with iridescent slime glittering at the bottom. You watch strange fishes swimming in the liquid light. (if: $lake >= 3)[ You feel like [[swimming]].]](if: $energy <= 0)[You feel very drowsy.] [[Return|Main]] (set: $energy to $energy - 1) (set: $lake to $lake + 1)

(if: $energy <= 0)[Too tired. [[Return|Main]]](else:)[(if: $forest < 1)[(goto: "mist")](if: $forest is 1)[(goto: "visible")]]

{(set: $swallow to (random: 2,8)) (set: $words to $words + $swallow) (set: $energy to $energy - 1) (if: $energy <= 0)[(goto: "too tired to read")] }You read about Porpentine. $words words swallowed. [[Read]] [[Leave|Main]]

Too tired to read. [[Leave|Main]]

You recite and receive a piece of bone. [[Back|computer]] (set: $words to $words - 100) (set: $bone to $bone + 1) (set: $dream to 100)

You recite and receive a slice of flesh. [[Back|computer]] (set: $words to $words - 150) (set: $flesh to $flesh + 1) (set: $dream to 150)

(if: $dream is 0)[(display: "dreamless")](if: $dream is 10)[(goto: "hair dream")](if: $dream is 20)[(goto: "skin dream")](if: $dream is 150)[(goto: "flesh dream")](if: $dream is 100)[(goto: "bone dream")](if: $dream is 900)[(goto: "skull dream")] [[Get up|Main]] (set: $energy to 4) (set: $forest to (random: 0, 1))

(if: $complete is 0)[Game parts you have: $hair (if: $hair > 1)[strands](else:)[strand] of hair $skin (if: $skin > 1)[patches](else:)[patch] of skin $flesh (if: $flesh > 1)[slices](else:)[slice] of flesh $bone (if: $bone > 1)[pieces](else:)[piece] of bone $skull (if: $skull > 1)[skulls](else:)[skull] (set: $parts to $hair + $skin + $flesh + $bone + $skull) [[Back|room]] (if: $parts > 1)[ [[Entwine]] ](else:)[] ](if: $complete is 1)[You have a complete game. [[Back|room]] ]

(if: $complete is 0)[It turns into a mirror and reflects an image of your face. (if: $forest < 2 and $energy > 0)[ [[Stare]] ] [[Back|room]] ](if: $complete is 1)[It turns into an image of home. [[Back|room]] ]

(if: $energy >= 2)[(display: (either: "bird", "leaves", "stream", "cricket", "clouds", "silence", "breathing", "heartbeat", "phone", "laughing"))](if: $energy is 1)[(goto: "singing")](if: $energy <= 0)[(goto: "too tired to listen")] [[Sit and listen]] [[Return|Main]]

You hear the chirp of a bird and the flapping of its wings. (Set: $energy to $energy - 1)

You hear the sound of leaves rustling in the wind. (Set: $energy to $energy - 1)

You hear the trickling of a stream faraway. (Set: $energy to $energy - 1)

You hear the shrill of crickets somewhere in the garden. (Set: $energy to $energy - 1)

You hear the whisper of secret clouds gliding above you. (Set: $energy to $energy - 1)

(if: $singing is 0)[(display: "finger")](if: $singing is 1)[(display: "red")](if: $singing is 2)[(display: "illusion")](if: $singing is 3)[(display: "why")](if: $singing > 3)[(display: "whistling")] [[Sit and listen]] [[Return|Main]] (set: $energy to 0) (set: $singing to $singing + 1)

Too sleepy now. [[Return|Main]]

You hear the blind librarian singing: *The finger that points to the moon Is not the moon Don't look at the finger Look at the moon* You gain 20 words. (set: $words to $words + 20)

You hear the blind librarian singing: *Born without sight Yet longing colours I've asked the world To explain what is red - No one can answer me* You gain 20 words. (set: $words to $words + 20)

You hear the blind librarian singing: *All perception but illusions of the world And words - illusions of illusions What can I trust?* You gain 16 words. (set: $words to $words + 16)

You hear the blind librarian singing: *Why imitate when you can dance your own Why copy when you have them yourself Knowledge is without But wisdom is within* You gain 22 words. (set: $words to $words + 22)

You hear the blind librarian whistling a haunting tune. There are no words. (set: $whistling to 1)

You hear nothing. There is only silence. (Set: $energy to $energy - 1)

You hear only your own breathing. (set: $energy to $energy - 1)

You hear the heartbeat of the planet. (Set: $energy to $energy - 1)

A familiar [[hyper-IF game]] forms. There is rhythm. There are lyrics. You try to dance to the manifestation. But it feels wrong. [[Close the chest|room]] (set: $energy to 4)

(goto-url: "http://www.chintokkong.com/weblog/2016/05/04/a-study-in-porpentine-mutated-mimicry-of-skulljhabit/")

Curled up against the cold of the air. You stir groggily. Can't remember any dreams. And for a while, you are not sure where you are.

*(live: 1.5s)[She is spinning and swirling her hair to the wind and to the night. As the spiders whirl their net faster and faster... [[Whirl|Sleep]]]* (set: $dream to 0)

*(live: 1.5s)[She is lying in the garden under the field of stars. Paintings flicker across her bare skin like shadows of colour... [[Dance|Sleep]]]* (set: $dream to 0)

*(live: 1.5s)[She sits opposite you wearing a kimono of smoke. 10 bowls of rice each with a slice of flesh on top. (display: (either: "Eat", "Don't eat"))]*

*(live: 1.5s)[She laughs and beats the drum. Repeatedly. Slowly. The army of skeletons march forward, step by step... [[Join|Sleep]]]* (set: $dream to 0)

A patch of wet ***skin*** written with code. [[Return|Main]] (set: $skin to $skin + 1) (set: $dream to 20) (set: $energy to 0)

(set: $lakeskin to (random: 1, 3))(if: $lakeskin > 1)[It's a good swim. (set: $energy to 0) [[Return|Main]] ](if: $lakeskin is 1)[You find [[something]].]

*[[Eat|Sleep]]* (set: $dream to 0)

*[[Don't eat|Sleep]]* (set: $dream to 0)

You hear the phone ringing in your house. (set: $energy to $energy - 1)

You hear someone laughing inside your ear. (set: $energy to $energy - 1)

A layer of mist shrouds the forest. [[Into the wilderness|thickens]] [[Return to Library|Main]]

The mist thickens and [[smothers]] your face.

(live: 1.5s)[(goto: "Sleep")]

Paths of black earth is visible in the forest. [[Into the wilderness]] [[Return to Library|Main]]

Dappled light shifting to the breeze of red leaves, but shadowy movements - an illusion. The stream of consciousness curls and leaps up the mountain. [[Follow the stream]] [[Back|visible]]

Facing the mountain, a dry [[ravine]] cracks the left. The stream runs separate on the right but [[higher]] up. Sinking in the rock, a [[cave]] looms ahead. [[Descend|Main]]

The ravine narrows until you can barely fit. Flashes of doves and pigeons streak overhead above the rock walls. [[Deeper]] [[Leave ravine|Follow the stream]]

The cave [[deepens]] to the right. Some [[light]] to the left. [[Leave cave|Follow the stream]]

Along yet against the water current. Past mossy rocks and fallen logs. You ascend toward the [[source|rumbling]].

The ravine bends and suddenly opens up to a wide [[open plain]]. In the other direction, it slopes back up to the [[mountain trail|ravine]].

An [[alien rocketship]] stands tall in the middle. Birds are circling it. (if: $singing > 0)[Past the grass field lurks a [[stone formation]] familiar but strange.] Explore or [[leave|ravine]]?

Dead end. Some words are scratched on the rock, too worn away to read. [[Return|cave]]

Huge luminous spiders scuttling along webs of long black hair, not noticing you. [[Search]] [[Return|cave]]

(if: $spiders is 0)[(goto: "nothing")](if: $spiders is 1)[(display: (either: "hair", "nothing"))]

Groping the ground, you find a coded strand of ***hair***. [[Stand up|spiders]] (set: $hair to $hair + 1) (set: $dream to 10)

Groping the ground, you find nothing. [[Stand up|spiders]]

The spiders are staring at you. [[Run]] (set: $spiders to 1)

A sting on your back, you trip and [[fall|Sleep]].

Dove and pigeon droppings cover the rocketship. A human-made padlock secures the entrance door. [[Smash the lock with stone]] (if: $lock > 3)[(goto: "Open door")]

You [[venture]] into the stone formation. It's a labyrinth. Swarms of birds blot out the sun.

More birds fill the sky. World shifting gloomy grey. The path [[forward]] is unclear. [[Leave|open plain]]

World is black. Pitch black. The blanket of birds shriek your name. [[Walk]]

You trail your fingers against the walls [[feeling]] your way around.

The wind is cold and strong. The walls feel rougher, like the sides of a cave. A sudden opening. You can turn [[left|feel face]] or [[right|statue]].

Your face smacks into solid rock. Blood spurts from your nose. Stars fill the blackness, then [[fade away]].

You give up and [[sit]] on the ground. (set: $stoneformation to 1)

You sit quietly - a sense of deja vu. [[Listen|Sit and listen]]

You feel a [[face]]. The birds are silent.

An [[alien]] shape yet human-like.

Wait. You hear something. A howling in the distance. [[Search for the sound]]

Stumbling over rocks in the darkness, knees skinned and bloody. The howling flees in a certain [[direction]].

Penetrating through the swarm of birds, light illuminates cliff. Wet soil beneath your feet. The howling wind jumps across into empty space. You steady yourself. [[Look]]

You can see the forbidding structure of Library below. There's the garden of trees and flowers. There's the lake. [[Return|slip]]

You slip and fall. Extreme shock, falling, flying, then [[nothing|Sleep]].

(if: $energy > 0)[The stone broke. You did some damage to the lock. (set: $lock to $lock + 1) [[Smash the lock with another stone]]](if: $energy is 0)[You are exhausted. [[Leave|open plain]]]

(if: $lock > 3)[The lock breaks. [[Open door]]](if: $lock <= 3)[You are exhausted. (set: $energy to 0) [[Leave|open plain]]]

Curving honeycomb wall that stretches around. Many birds perching in the gold hexagonal cells. They are eyeing your every movement. Rungs of ladder lead up to the [[next level]]. [[Exit|open plain]]

Sleek white surface at this level. A lone dove cooes and flies away from the reclining chair. A [[black helmet]] on the floor. The chute above you is sealed. [[Descend|Open door]]

You put on the helmet, sit on the chair and recline. Nothing is seen. A [[buzzing sound]] near your ears.

The buzz soon clarifies into a [[voice]] talking.

The voice keeps talking and filling you with words. Your skull's about to burst! (live:0.5s)[(set: $words to $words + 17)$words words injected. (display: (either: "left stop", "centre stop", "right stop")) (if: $words > 1000)[(goto: "scream")]]

==> [[Stop!]]

=><= [[Stop!]]

<== [[Stop!]]

You collapse onto the floor. The detached helmet rolls around. Perspiration. Clammy skin. You feel like vomiting. [[Descend|climb down]]

You scream until your mind goes [[blank|Sleep]]... (set: $words to 0)

You climb down the ladder in a daze. [[Exit|walk out]]

You walk out. Walk about. In a [[daze]].

A giddy dizzy [[daze]]. [[Slap yourself|ravine]]

Vertical column of water falling through the air. Beneath the crashing, a [[deep pool]]. Further up, there's a long winding [[path]], or you can climb the [[steep cliff]] straight to the top. [[Back|Follow the stream]]

You dive in and swim your way behind the waterfall. [[Surface]]

The holds are slippery and wet. A white cockroach lands on your hand. You are getting tired. [[Continue]] [[Descend|waterfall]]

You lose your concentration momentarily, and [[slip|thrash]].

Thrashing and flailing, [[nothing|...]] to grab on to!

[[... ...|Sleep]]

Solid rock walls all around trapping the echoes. A roaring madness. [[Head back|waterfall]]

The trees are more bare nearer the [[summit]].

A giant old tree. Empty branches. (if: $revelation is 0)[Ageless bald man meditating. His aura is colourless. [[Observe]] [[Sit|time]] [[Leave|disappointment]] ](if: $revelation is 1)[The bald man is [[gone|disappointment]].]

He doesn't move. But a thousand questions rise to your mouth. [[Ask]]

You ask and you ask. About the game you are writing. About life's meaning. About death. He doesn't respond. Perhaps there are other forms of communication you have not realised yet. [[Stop asking|summit]] (set: $ask to 1)

Loud rumbling [[noises|waterfall]].

You walk the [[path|waterfall]] down in disappointment.

Time passes. [[Sit|time]] [[Stand|summit]] (set: $meditate to $meditate + 1) (if: $hair > 0 and $skin > 0 and $flesh > 0 and $bone > 0 and $skull > 0 and $ask > 0 and $meditate > 3 and $whistling is 1)[(goto: "kundalini")]

A strange energy surges up your abdomen, past your chest, to your mouth. Your lips contort. You begin to [[whistle]].

The bald man is looking at you. "Again," he smiles. [[Whistle|again]]

You quickly stand up. Facing the still mountains and the moving clouds, you let out a spontaneous tune of long whistling. When the tune ended, the bald man has returned to his meditation. [[Leave|excited and lost]]

You walk the [[path|revelation]] back down, feeling excited, but also a little lost and confused.

A [[miracle]] happens midway. (set: $revelation to 1)

Sky opens up in strange song: wordless: like the ancient fluting sound of a universe's birth. Mountains and valleys vibrate. Holes and crevices resonate. The caves hum. The tunnels sigh. The unimaginable music fills an entire wilderness. [[Listen|answers]]

It is the bald man's whistle answering all your questions. [[Listen|enlightenment]]

You listen until the whistling (link: "ceases")[ceases. Then you rush back to the [[Library|alt main]]].

You recite and receive a skull. [[Back|computer]] (set: $words to $words - 900) (set: $skull to $skull + 1) (set: $dream to 900)

The book shelves are here. [[Computer|complete game]] is at the centre. A beam of light waits at the window above. Your room is downstairs. Out the grand door sits the garden. A lake is nearby. Further away, beyond the bushes of hallucinatory roses, wilderness.

*(live: 1.5s)[A mountain of bare white skulls chanting in her voice: "Find the bald man, find the bald man..." [[Chant|Sleep]]]* (set: $dream to 0)

The computer is a metallic monkey lit by imagination. "[[Recite]]," it commands. You have **one** word which is **no** word which is **infinite**.

You recite and receive a complete game. [[Back|Main]] (set: $complete to 1) (set: $energy to 0)

You ride the beam of light across space and time, into philome.la and reddit.com and ifdb.tads.org. The game is uploaded in an *instant*. The game stays in the Internet an *eternity*. You are [[home]].

You stare at the screen for a moment. Gather your thoughts. And [[write]].

It's done. [[Read|review]]

(goto-url: "http://www.chintokkong.com/weblog/2016/05/04/a-study-in-porpentine-mutated-mimicry-of-skulljhabit/")

A [[napsack|hyper-IF game]] is in the corner. A [[calendar|hyper-IF game]] hangs from the ceiling on a piece of cord. A [[folklore book|hyper-IF game]] leans against the wall. A [[black book|hyper-IF game]] lies on the floor. A cuckoo clock is fixed to the wall. A fine shovel covered in dirt-luck runes leans near the door. A ticket lies on the shelf. You have 10 coins. (set: $energy to $energy - 1)

(if: $energy > 0)[(display: (either: "skull room", "skull pit", "napsack", "cave mouth", "skull wilderness", "cave light", "trailing fingers", "skull ravine", "skull statue", "skull main", "folklore", "black book", "skull town", "censor"))](else:)[Can't focus attention.] --- [[Close the chest|room]]

A massive hill of skulls next to a pit. The skull pit has 666 skulls. [[Shovel Skulls|hyper-IF game]] (set: $energy to $energy - 1)

The napsack contains a [[letter|hyper-IF game]] and a [[figurine|hyper-IF game]]. (set: $energy to $energy - 1)

A smooth, human-carved tunnel. Equally spaced holes in the rock on either side, like doorways. They open into [[dark rooms|hyper-IF game]]. Some of them are closed up with brick and mortar. The tunnel [[continues|hyper-IF game]], or you can [[leave|hyper-IF game]]. (set: $energy to $energy - 1)

Crumbling ridges above a sea of sulphurous miasma, leading to the towering inner recesses of the mountain. Orange-white lichen clusters on the rocks like a skin disease. [[Climb higher|hyper-IF game]] [[Descend|hyper-IF game]] (set: $energy to $energy - 1)

Light pours through the ceiling, a patch of faint sun glistening on damp rock glittering with minerals. [[Sit|hyper-IF game]] (set: $energy to $energy - 1)

Trailing your fingers against the walls you feel more [[cells|hyper-IF game]]. The corridor ends in mortared brick. (set: $energy to $energy - 1)

The ravine narrows until you can barely fit. The silver sky looks like a jag of lightning between the rock walls. [[Deeper|hyper-IF game]] (set: $energy to $energy - 1)

You feel a [[face|hyper-IF game]]. Unmoving. Hard. Cool to the [[touch|hyper-IF game]]. Some kind of statue. The features are hard to make out with your hands. You're not sure if the sculptor is unskilled or if the anatomy is unfamiliar. (set: $energy to $energy - 1)

[[The skull pit|hyper-IF game]] is here. The [[village square|hyper-IF game]] is at the center of town. A [[well|hyper-IF game]] is nearby. Your [[hut|hyper-IF game]] is down that alley. The [[shop|hyper-IF game]] is at the start of the northern road. The [[train station|hyper-IF game]] is at the end of the road. Further away, past the ruins of the southern walls, the [[outskirts|hyper-IF game]]. (set: $energy to $energy - 1)

Folklore of the Border Regions The book is heavily water-damaged. Only a few pages retain any trace of legibility. [[Flip|hyper-IF game]] (set: $energy to $energy - 1)

The room is god, because it describes and shapes the limits of thought. It is the skull of god. God is a brain that grows to fit the room. If the room is the heavens, the result is a just and good earth. If the room is limited or proscribed in some way, the god will find limitation as the greatest good, or the greatest evil, and the result will be a supreme enforcement or destruction of limitation, either of which the terrestrial intellect cannot sustain, that is to say, we who affectedly designate this container of flesh and bone with the term "human". [[Flip|hyper-IF game]] (set: $energy to $energy - 1)

The forest encloses many tall, narrow wooden houses. There is a patch of barren land like a bald spot where a skull derrick groans. The [[vortex|hyper-IF game]] hums in its enclosure. The [[library|hyper-IF game]] is over there. Plank steps lead up to your [[house|hyper-IF game]]. (set: $energy to $energy - 1)

You sit at your desk. There is a red stamp and a green stamp, along with a heap of books. Secret Berries, Annotated. Black binding. Heat damage. [[Censor|hyper-IF game]] | [[Permit|hyper-IF game]] (set: $energy to $energy - 1)

(if: $stoneformation is 1)[You stare into the reflection and see yourself standing in the open plain. The [[stone formation]] is behind.](else:)[You stare at your face. Your eyes ache.] [[Back|room]]

In your room, open and welcoming glows the [[laptop]].