Gnu in the Zoo — 30 of 30

Chapter 9 - Way out

The Front Entrance is a room. "You are in a small, brick-paved courtyard. High walls tower over you to the north and south."

The front entrance walls are objects in the Front Entrance. "Tall. Brick. Nothing special, to be honest." They are scenery.

The archway is a door. "[If the location is the back side of the archway]The eastern range of buildings is interrupted by a wide open archway, atop which a clock tower has been set[otherwise]To the west, a wide open archway interrupts a row of buildings atop which a clock tower has been set[end if]." The description of the archway is "The archway is tall and wide; you could probably get two elephants through side-by-side, but a giraffe would have to stoop." It is west of the Front Entrance and east of the Main Concourse. It is open and not openable.

The front gates are a door with indefinite article "the". "To the east are what must be the front gates to the zoo." The description of the front gates is "These are seriously strong-looking gates. They are a mass of chunky steel rails, with reinforced hinges and locks. Could anything short of a stampede break them down?" They are east of the Front Entrance. They are not openable.

The Ticket Booth is a container in the Front Entrance. "To the side of the gates is a ticket booth, shuttered and boarded up for the night." The description of the Ticket Booth is "The booth is a small building. On this side there is tall, narrow window, shuttered and boarded, and a fearsomely secure-looking door." It is opaque, closed, locked and fixed in place.

The tall narrow window is an object. It is part of the Ticket Booth. It is scenery.

The secure-looking door is an object. It is part of the Ticket Booth. It is scenery.

After deciding the scope of the player:

if the location is the Front Entrance, place the clock tower in scope.

Instead of opening the front gates:

if the list of followers is empty:

say "You lower your head. Tense your muscles. Take a deep breath. And then, in a blur of movement, launch yourself as hard as you can at the gates.[paragraph break]Sadly, the gates do not budge, and all you have to show for your efforts is a headache and a dizzy spell. This is clearly not a job for a single gnu. If only you had a herd of them following you around; you are sure that between you, you could batter your way through.";

otherwise if the number of entries in the list of followers is one:

say "You line yourself up with the left-hand gate, and while your companion takes the right. You both lower your heads. Tense your muscles. Take a deep breath. And then, in a blur of movement, launch yourselves as hard as you can at the gate.[paragraph break]The gates shift slightly, but are otherwise unharmed: all you have to show for your efforts are a couple of throbbing heads. You will need some more help with this.";

otherwise if the number of entries in the list of followers is less than five:

say "You and your herd get into formation, facing the gate. You all lower your heads. Tense your muscles. Take a deep breath. And then, in a blur of movement, launch yourselves as hard as you can at the gates.[paragraph break]The gates wobble gratifyingly, but still hold. They are clearly well made. But you suspect that only a slightly larger herd could break them.";

otherwise:

say "You and your herd get into formation, facing the gate. You all lower your heads. Tense your muscles. Take a deep breath. And then, in a blur of movement, launch yourselves as hard as you can at the gates.[paragraph break]With a sudden screech of tearing metal, the gates burst from their hinges and clatter to the ground beneath your hooves. A long, winding driveway lies before you and your herd, leading out into the wide, wide world.";

if Night-Time is happening:

increase the score by 1; [bonus point for speed]

end the story finally saying "You have achieved freedom!"

After going west from the Front Entrance:

say "You proceed through the archway.";

increase the time of day by two minutes;

continue the action.

Instead of going nowhere in the Front Entrance when the noun is outside:

try going east.