Counterfeit Monkey — 101 of 292

Section 2 - Staircase

The Monumental Staircase is east of Park Center and north of Heritage Corner [and south of Outdoor Cafe]. "Once, the [central hillock] of the city was a fortified enclave, protected from the harbor and the peasant town by great walls. Now, however, the walls are mostly gone, except for a little spur that runs north from here. The walkways and tower are open to the public.

Meanwhile a staircase as wide as a street [if the former direction is west]ascends into this town square, with the fountain playing at the cen[ter][otherwise]descends east from the town square toward the harbor[end if]."

Sanity-check going southeast from the Monumental Staircase:

try going east instead.

Check waving the letter-remover at staircase-close-view when the current setting of the letter-remover is "i":

say "The device buzzes, puzzled. Sadly it lacks the verve to understand a 'monumental starcase' as a poetic reference to the universe as a whole." instead.

Rule for distantly describing the Monumental Staircase:

say "Off in that direction is the monumental staircase [if the location is High Street]that leads [up] to the town square, and [you] can just make out the tops of the heads of people standing near it[otherwise]that leads down towards the marina area of town[end if]."

After going to the Monumental Staircase from High Street:

let N be the number of entries in the described motion of the player;

if N is greater than 1:

say "[path-walked so far]";

otherwise:

clear path-walked for player;

if path description count is greater than 0:

say "From there [you] have";

otherwise:

say "[one of][You] have[or]It's[at random]";

increase path description count by 1;

say " [one of]an invigorating[or]a healthy[or]a tiring[or]another wearying[or]yet another exhausting[stopping] climb up[unless N is greater than 1] the Monumental Staircase[end if], with the view of the sea getting better and better as [you] go[one of] (but of course looking requires stopping to gaze back over our shoulder)[or][stopping].[paragraph break]";

continue the action.

The staircase-close-view is scenery in Monumental Staircase. The printed name is "monumental staircase". Understand "monumental" or "staircase" as staircase-close-view. The description of staircase-close-view is "[You] are standing on one of the upper steps right now, but the staircase descends (if shallowly) for another story or more towards high street." Instead of climbing the staircase-close-view, try going east.

Instead of going down in Monumental Staircase, try going east.

A poster is fixed in place in Monumental Staircase. "An enormous blue and orange warning [poster] covers the wall alongside the staircase." The description is "'WARNING: Have you seen these dangerous individuals? If so, avoid contact and report all interactions to the Bureau of Orthography.' Below, there's a picture of several people. One of them is you, before your face got shuffled with mine.[one of] It's funny that when we met, you mentioned you were a user of illegally modified language-tools, but you didn't emphas[ize] the grand larceny side so much.

Not to worry. I won't turn you in. I can hardly afford to, can I?[or][stopping]". Understand "blue" or "orange" or "enormous" or "huge" or "warning" as the poster.

A dangerous destruction rule for the poster:

now the poster is not fixed in place;

now the initial appearance of the poster is "The blue and orange warning [poster] is rolled up on the ground nearby."

Instead of taking or attacking the poster when the poster is in Monumental Staircase:

if the poser is seen:

make no decision;

say "Defacing official property is illegal [--] like many other things [you][']ve done recently, I suppose [--] but more than usually likely to attract attention."

Fair is southwest of Monumental Staircase. [Postcard Stalls is northwest of Monumental Staircase.]

The central hillock is scenery in Monumental Staircase. The description is "A square park stretches east, with official buildings beyond, occupying what was once the fortified heart of town.

A little of the original fortification does exist immediately north and curving around to the northwest, but it is in very bad shape here, and the top of the walls cannot be walked on at this point." Understand "city" or "fortified" or "walls" or "great" or "enclave" as the hillock.

The harbor-view is a distant backdrop. The printed name is "harbor". It is in Old Hexagonal Turret, Old City Walls, Crumbling Wall Face, Outdoor Cafe, and Monumental Staircase. It screens east and northeast. Understand "port" or "harbor" or "docks" or "dock" as harbor-view. The description is "A harbor swarming with small and medium-sized tourist boats; most of the major shipping comes in via another route." The introduction is "That is where [you] [are] trying to get to [--] or rather, get through."

The fish-market-view is a distant backdrop. The printed name is "fish market". It is in Old Hexagonal Turret, Old City Walls, Crumbling Wall Face, Outdoor Cafe, and Monumental Staircase. Understand "market" or "fish market" as the fish-market-view. The description is "From this angle and distance, all you can see is the open space and a few awnings. It's not the best time of day for this kind of thing anyway."

Instead of going down in the Staircase, try going east. Instead of going up in the Staircase, try going west.

The Open-Air is a region. The Fair, Church Forecourt, Midway, Heritage Corner, [Outdoor Cafe, ] Monumental Staircase, Park Center[, Postcard Stalls, and Food Corner] are in the Open-Air.