Scroll Thief — 106 of 138

Section B - Demanding an Explanation

yonk-request-node is a closed convnode. The other-suggestions are { yes-no-suggestion }.

Response for yonk-request-node when saying yes:

say "Impressing them certainly can't hurt your situation.[p]'I found a [i]yonk[/i] scroll in the Clean Room,' you explain, 'and made a copy of it.'[p]'Sensible of you,' Frobar remarks, 'those scrolls are hard to come by.' He seems to have forgotten that you stole it.[p]'But I wanted the spell in my spell book, so I could cast it over and over,' you stammer. How are you going to explain your being in the Clean Room at all? But they don't seem to have noticed. 'And I thought, you know, if I can't gnusto it because the [i]gnusto[/i] spell isn't powerful enough, well then, what if I augmented its power?'[p]'That doesn't make sense.' Helistar interrupts. 'You can't use metamagic on [i]gnusto[/i], it's fixed in your memory before your third year of study...oh. Of course. You would probably be the first person to encounter a metamagic scroll before learning [i]gnusto[/i] by heart.'";

[setnode null-node;]

setnode blorple-node;

[the blorple node is cued in zero turns from now.]

Response for yonk-request-node when saying no:

now the prior named object is the player standin;

say "[one of]'Sorry, that's my secret.'[p]Helistar glares at you angrily. 'Haffibar, do you have a [i]setrav[/i] spell handy? We may need to compel [him] to speak honestly.'[or]'Haffibar?' Helistar repeats. The third Enchanter shakes her head as she rummages through her possessions. 'My scrolls have been scattered lately, but I don't see that one here...'[or][too many negative responses][stopping]".

To say too many negative responses:

say "'I found a copy,' Frobar interrupts. He walks over to you, holding a glossy scroll, and begins to incant the words of the spell. Nothing seems to change as he finishes. But Frobar watches you expectantly as he asks again, 'Will you tell us about this [i]yonk[/i] spell?'";

force the command "yes". [That's it, no more free will for you.]

Default response for yonk-request-node:

say "'Don't change the subject. Will you tell us how you have a [i]yonk[/i] spell in your book?'"

Node-continuation for yonk-request-node: if a random chance of 1 in 3 succeeds, say "'Well?' asks [one of]Frobar[or]Helistar[or]Haffibar[at random] impatiently. 'Will you tell us?'".

[At the time when the blorple node is cued: setnode blorple-node. [This is effectively a one-turn delay.]]