The Enigma of the Old Manor House — 21 of 28

Part Behavior

To do the wild haunt:

if the location of the ghost is the location of the player:

let the escape be a random ghost-viable door;

if the escape is nothing:

say "You feel a swirl of air around you as if something is trying to escape! After a very frightening minute it seems to settle down again. Watching and waiting for something.";

now the ghost is wary;

stop;

else:

say "You feel a sudden gust of air rush past you, out through [the escape].";

silently try the ghost entering the escape;

now the ghost is noticed;

otherwise:

let N be the number of ghost-viable doors;

if N is zero:

do nothing;

[Trapped!]

otherwise if N is one:

if a random chance of 3 in 4 succeeds:

let the passage be a random ghost-viable door;

silently try the ghost entering the passage;

else: [stay still]

stop;

otherwise if N is two:

let X be a random number between 1 and 6;

if X is 1 or X is 2:

if the last used door of the ghost is a ghost-viable door:

silently try the ghost entering the last used door of the ghost;

otherwise:

silently try the ghost entering a random ghost-viable door;

else if X is 3 or X is 4 or X is 5:

silently try the ghost entering a random ghost-viable not-last-used door;

else: [stay still]

stop;

describe the haunting of the location of the ghost.

To do the wary haunt:

if the location of the ghost is not the location, stop;

if the ghost is in a closed container:

say "There's a furious scrabbling and scratching at the inside of [the holder of the ghost] as it tries to tear itself free! For a moment it seems like it might actually escape and take its revenge[--]then it goes quieter.[p]From [the holder of the ghost] you hear a faint but definite 'mrow?'.";

now the ghost is tame;

otherwise if there is a ghost-viable door (called the escape):

say "Seeing [the escape], the swirl of air vanishes through it.";

try the ghost entering the escape;

now the ghost is wild;

otherwise if the ghost is in a container:

say "The air swirls back out of [the holder of the ghost].";

move the ghost to the location of the holder of the ghost;

otherwise if there is a ghost-usable container (called the item):

say "The air swirls around [the item], then into it, examining [the random thing in the item].";

move the ghost to the item;

otherwise:

say "You hear no sound from the ghost. It's silent now. Waiting. Watching."

To do the tame haunt:

if the location of the ghost is not the location, stop;

if the ghost is in a closed container:

say "There's a faint, plaintive meowing and scratching from inside [the holder of the ghost].";

otherwise if the ghost is in an open container:

say "A faint swirl of air slinks out of [the holder of the ghost] and stalks around the room.";

move the ghost to the location of the holder of the ghost;

otherwise:

say "A cat-like form slinks around your ankles, then vanishes again.".

To do the friendly haunt:

move the ghost to the location;

say "You can feel the ghost of the cat slinking around you playfully. It seems you've made a friend."

Every turn:

[say "Ghost start [holder of the ghost].";]

if the ghost is wild:

do the wild haunt;

else if the ghost is wary:

do the wary haunt;

else if the ghost is tame:

do the tame haunt;

else if the ghost is friendly:

do the friendly haunt;

[say "Ghost end [holder of the ghost].";

say "Condition: [ferocity of the ghost].";]