Gnu in the Zoo — 27 of 30

Section 2 - North End

The Aviary North is a room with printed name "Aviary (North)". "This room is very dark, so much of the visual detail is lost on you, but a faint fed glow illuminates an open doorway to the south. You are separated from a section of the room by a wooden rail; from the other side comes the strong smell of bird droppings and mouse fur, and the sound of rustling feathers." It is covered.

The wooden rail north is an object in the Aviary North with printed name "wooden rail". "The rail is smooth − varnished, in fact − and very sturdy. The ends jut up flush to the walls to the north and south." It is scenery.

Instead of jumping over the wooden rail north:

say "There’s not enough room in here for that."

Miron the Condor is a bird. "You can make out a vague silhouette of a bird of prey on a pole." The description of Miron the Condor is "Through very careful olfactory analysis, you recognize the bird as Miron the Condor. He is well known for his raised metabolism − you know, lots of food in, lots of the other stuff out − and the smell in here confirms it." He is on the pole.

Understand "silhouette" as Miron the Condor.

The pole is a supporter in the Aviary North. "As you can’t reach the pole to touch it or smell it, and it’s too dark to get a good look, all you can tell about the pole is that it stands about four foot high." It is scenery.

[We count the number of successful throws rather than attempts.]

The number of mironic shakes is a number that varies.

After throwing something at the pole:

increment the number of mironic shakes;

if a random chance of 1 in 3 succeeds:

say "[The noun] glance[if the noun is singular-named]s[end if] off the pole and [if the noun is singular-named]is[otherwise]are[end if] lost in the shadows.[run paragraph on]";

if the noun is a lump of coal and there are no lumps of coal in the coal sack:

move the noun to the coal sack;

otherwise if the noun is the keyring:

say "Oops. You try to recall if you have used all the keys.";

remove the keyring from play;

loseKeyring;

otherwise:

remove the noun from play;

otherwise:

say "[The noun] rebound[if the noun is singular-named]s[end if] off the pole onto the floor in front of you.[run paragraph on]";

now the noun is in the Aviary North;

if the noun is the keyring:

dropKeyring;

say " [if we have examined Miron the Condor]Miron[otherwise]The bird[end if], disturbed by the vibrations, flutters briefly into the air before settling back down on the pole."

Instead of throwing something at the pole when the number of mironic shakes is 2:

say "As fun as this is, you don’t seem to be having much luck here. Perhaps you should move on."

The aviary door is a door. "[If the location is the front side of the aviary door]The building to the west is decorated with pictures of birds. Its door[otherwise]The door to the aviary[end if] lies [if open]open[otherwise]closed[end if][if the location is the back side of the aviary door] to the [direction of the aviary door from the location][end if]." The description of the door is "The door is primarily glass, with a selection of birds of prey engraved on it. The blind behind it is drawn." It is openable, closed, lockable and locked. It is west of the Main Concourse and east of the Aviary North. The brown key unlocks the aviary door. Understand "engravings" as the aviary door.

The blind is backdrop with description "If it wasn’t for blinds such as this one, it would be curtains for all of us." The blind is in the Main Concourse and the Aviary North.

Instead of attacking the aviary door:

say "There must be a less dangerous way of opening the door."

[The door needs to be listed last]

Rule for choosing notable locale objects for the Aviary North:

repeat with item running through things in the Aviary North:

if the item is a door:

set the locale priority of the item to 6;

otherwise:

set the locale priority of the item to 5.

After going east from the Aviary North:

increase the time of day by two minutes;

continue the action.

Instead of going nowhere in the Aviary North when the noun is outside:

try going east.