Counterfeit Monkey — 126 of 292

Section 2 - The Antiques Dealership

After going to Arbot Maps & Antiques:

if Arbot Maps & Antiques is visited:

make no decision;

if the player carries the appointment card:

say "We show the appointment card, and are let in.";

now Kate carries the appointment card;

otherwise:

say "The woman watching over the store stops you. 'I'm sorry,' she says. 'We are only open to those who have made previous visiting arrangements.' And we're shooed back out.";

move the player to Long Street South, without printing a room description.

Arbot Maps & Antiques is west of Long Street South. It is indoors. Understand "shop" or "store" or "antique" as Arbot Maps & Antiques.

Instead of smelling Arbot Antiques:

say "The place smells of fresh coffee and old paper."

The maps collection is a thing in Arbot Maps & Antiques. Understand "large" or "collection" or "of" or "antique" or "under glass" or "street maps" or "maiana" or "navigation" or "distant places" or "charts" or "island" or "topography" as the maps collection. It is fixed in place. The printed name is "[if looking]collection[otherwise]maps collection[end if]". "There is a large [maps collection] of vintage and antique maps under glass [--] the island of Atlantis as a whole, street maps of here and of Maiana, navigation maps of the harb[our], and then maps of more distant places as well."

The description of the maps collection is "[You] pore over a map of [one of]the Old City when the walls were still intact, as reconstructed from archaeological surveys[or]forbidden dig zones in Atlantis[or]bus routes between here and Maiana ca. 1973[or]island topography as measured in 1910[or]1880 shipping lines between Atlantis, Gibraltar, and points east[at random]."

Instead of examining the maps collection when the Slangovia map is unseen:

move the Slangovia map to the location;

say "[You] study the maps. One in the collection stands out: a [Slangovia map], framed like all the others but of suspiciously recent vintage."

The Slangovia map is a thing. The printed name is "map of Slangovia". Understand "of Slangovia" as the Slangovia map. The description is "It's a detailed street map pretending to correspond to some remote South African town called Slangovia. Cryptic icons dot the surface. There is a [fake-legend] in the lower right corner that appears to be a separate piece glued on."

The fake-legend is part of Slangovia map. The printed name of the fake-legend is "legend". The description of the fake-legend is "This legend tells of Iphis and Ianthe: Iphis, a girl raised in disguise as a boy, falls in love with her playmate Ianthe. She prays to the goddess Isis, who takes pity and transforms Iphis into a man, able to marry Ianthe after all." Understand "legend" as the fake-legend.

The introduction of the fake-legend is "It bears no obvious relation to the map of Slangovia."

The mannequin is a supporter in Arbot Maps & Antiques. The description is "A head and torso only, and abstractly rendered. The vaguely masculine shape is covered in coarse white linen." Understand "head" and "torso" and "masculine" and "shape" and "coarse" and "white" and "linen" as the mannequin.

Rule for writing a topic sentence about the mannequin:

if something is on the mannequin:

say "A stylish [mannequin] near the front sports [a list of things on the mannequin]. ";

otherwise:

say "The [mannequin] at the front of the shop is currently denuded of wares. "

Instead of putting something on the mannequin:

say "The shop owners would presumably not welcome your refurbishing their displays."

The Britishizing goggles are on the mannequin. The indefinite article of the Britishizing goggles is "a pair of". Understand "pair" or "pair of" as the Britishizing goggles.

The Britishizing goggles cover the face-area.

Kate is an alert woman in Arbot Maps & Antiques. "Overseeing all this is a woman named [Kate]." The description is "Something about her clothes and bearing suggest that she's not simply here to run the cash register, but that she has some expertise. She has, however, spilled something on her shirt."

Kate wears a stained shirt. The description of the stained shirt is "It looks very handsome, save for the brown stain on the front. Coffee mishap, presumably."

Check waving the letter-remover at stained shirt when the current setting of the letter-remover is "r":

say "That would be a grotesque thing to do to the poor woman." instead.

Rule for writing a topic sentence about Kate when the map-customer is in the location:

say "Kate is keeping an eye both on us and on [the map-customer]. [run paragraph on]".

[And with no disrespect to Kate, but because we want her to be mentioned last:]

A ranking rule for Kate:

decrease the description-rank of Kate by 30.

A ranking rule for the map-customer:

decrease the description-rank of map-customer by 40.

The map-customer is a woman. The printed name of the map-customer is "customer". Understand "tall" or "thin" or "man" or "woman" or "fellow" or "skeletal" or "young" or "old" or "grandmotherly" or "teenager" or "lady" or "gentleman" as the map-customer. The map-customer has some text called the idle.

To shuffle map-customer:

choose a random row in the Table of Customers;

change the printed name of the map-customer to the appearance entry;

change the description of the map-customer to the description entry;

change the idle of the map-customer to the idle entry.

A description-concealing rule when the stained shirt is marked for listing:

now the stained shirt is not marked for listing.

Table of Customers