Guild Hall of Virtue current

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<<if $screenReader>> <<link "Play audio effect">><<audio ":all" stop>><<playlist "thump_scream" stop>><<playlist "thump_scream" play>><</link>> <<else>> <<if $screamAudio && visited()==1>><<audio ":all" stop>><<playlist "thump_scream" stop>><<playlist "thump_scream" play>><</if>> <</if>> <<set $count=0>> The hall echoes with the resonant thump of a body hitting the floor, followed by Carmen's piercing scream. You race into the central atrium on your psionic skateboard. Captain Prodigious is lying in a heap on the marble floor, his cape tangled around his legs. Carmen Prodigious is on her knees, cradling her husband's limp frame. This is the Guildhall of Virtue, home to the greatest team of superheroes ever assembled. You are <<linkreplace "Brainioid">>Brainioid<<replace "#output2">><<include "Brainioid">><</replace>><</linkreplace>>, the smartest of the gang. What will you do? <<linkreplace " Call out to see if Captain Prodigious is still alert ">> <<replace "#output">><<include "EMS1">><</replace>> <<replace "#output2">><</replace>> <</linkreplace>> <<linkreplace " Check to see if Captain Prodigious is still breathing ">> <<replace "#output">><<include "EMS2">><</replace>> <<replace "#output2">><</replace>> <</linkreplace>> <<linkreplace " Check to see if Captain Prodigious has a pulse or heartbeat ">> <<replace "#output">><<include "EMS3">><</replace>> <<replace "#output2">><</replace>> <</linkreplace>> <<linkreplace " Find a phone and call the emergency ambulance service. ">> <<replace "#output">><<include "EMS4">><</replace>> <<replace "#output2">><</replace>> <</linkreplace>> <<linkreplace " Administer emergency resuscitation ">> <<replace "#output">><<include "EMS5">><</replace>> <<replace "#output2">><</replace>> <</linkreplace>> /* sound test <<link "thump">><<audio "thump" play>><</link>> <<link "scream">><<audio "scream" play>><</link>> <<link "bell">><<audio "bell" play>><</link>> <<link "dive">><<audio "diving" play>><</link>> <<link "underwater">><<audio "underwater" play>><</link>> <<link "thumpscream">><<playlist "thump_scream" play>><</link>> */

<<set $savename="Introduction">> <<set $nohints=false>> <<set $blinkingEffect=true>> <<set $crtEffect=true>> <<set $goldEffect=true>> <<set $mapScaled=true>> <<set $screamAudio=true>> <<set $bellAudio=true>> <<set $aquaticAudio=true>> <<set $screenReader=false>> <<script>> const cachedImage = new Image(); cachedImage.src = "GuildhallMap3.PNG"; <</script>> /*this code above ensures that the image is preloaded before being displayed a bit later.*/ <<cacheaudio "intro_track" "GuildHall.mp3">> <<cacheaudio "victory_track" "Guild Hall Victory.mp3">> <<cacheaudio "thump" "739009__bewareoftheelmo__limp-mass-hit-floor.mp3">> <<cacheaudio "scream" "66949__robinhood76__00733-girl-folk-scream-3.mp3">> <<cacheaudio "bell" "546505__voicemaker__door_bell_campanello-porta_by-wikingo-voicemaker.mp3">> <<cacheaudio "diving" "816985__luisa_sanchez__diving.mp3">> <<cacheaudio "underwater" "329915__carmsie__underwater-sounds-loopable.mp3">> <<waitforaudio>> <<set $vol to 5>> <<set $volStr to "5">> /% the string value helps us out a bit later on %/ /% or whatever you want your default audio level to be (between 0(off) and 10 (loudest)) %/ <<set $audioswitch to 1>> /% for the mute button (more on that later), leave this line out if you don't want/need the mute button %/ <<createplaylist "thump_scream">> <<track "thump">> <<track "scream">> <</createplaylist>> /*beta punch list $inthead is defined (set) by interrogate, and unset by summate, for the purpose of removing the header during reportonetopic, but only when it is called by summate. I know this is hacky, but it was a necessary bug fix late in the design process. */ <<set $interogee="cp">> <<set $lastloc= "atrium">> <<set $summloc="unchanged">> <<include "TopicSetup">> <<set $lasttopic="Tinitial">> /* GState=0 to start 1 Carmen says Raul had no vulnerabilities 2 Burt says she knows he did 3 Mrs P has sent Brainioid to interview the Wanda Twins 4 Wanda Twins prepare to offer their gift 5 allows push 6 Mermanx has been called 7 Mermanx is moving toward the body 8 The body has moved into the bedroom. 9 Mermanx is back in the tank. Now bell is ringing 10 now the door has been opened bell can be off 19 gum on the wall. 20 allows pull 22 change Burt's Beer to Burt or Chloe's beer 24 change Burt or Chloe to Chloe, and and send player looking for the test strip 25 Now test strip is found 26 test strip returned to book 27 now test strip becomes Kale assay strip 28 now kale assay strip becomes kale toxin assay strip 30 now kale toxin assay strip becomes round vial of toxin assay strips 32 now beer becomes Chloes poison beer 34 now Chloes poison beer becomes Chloe or Burt's poison beer 36 now beer becomes Burt's poison beer (although maybe by this time it will probably just be removed from inventory) 50 convene summation 52 sum1 Produce evidence that Chloe’s initial alibi was false: sum2 Produce evidence that Chloe was being blackmailed. sum3 <<Produce evidence that Carmen was at the meeting.>> sum4 <<produce evidence that Carmen was being blackmailed also.>> sum5 <<produce evidence that Burt was being blackmailed also.>> sum6 <<Provide evidence Joe was in the guildhall on October 6>> sum7 <<provide evidence that Joe was being blackmailed also.>> sum8 name the blackmailer sum9 Brainioid has met all the requirements for the LPW (luxury psionic wheelchair) 64 has completed summative gathering 80 has aquired the LPW 81 has entered the pool 85 has acquired the key 87 Mermanx has closed the drain cover 91 Brainioid meets Burt in the Foyer in endgame 92 The real library is now accessible 95 All the guests have been logged. ($Tfinal==447) 100 endgame battle 101 enemies on mark */ <<set $GState=0>> <<set $SState=0>> <<set $CState={ m:0, cp:0, c:0, j:0, b:0, s:0, rp:0 }>> <<set $heldItem="">> <<set $CycleFunction=null>> <<set $CycleCount=0>> <<set $charlocs={ m:"underwater", cp:"Prodigious room", c:"Chloe corner", j:"Joe corner", b:"Burt's room", s:"nowhere", rp:"nowhere" } >>

<<set $interogee="cp">>Mrs Prodigious is about forty, medium height. She has brunette hair with threads of gray. Carmen wears a form fitting green spandex body suit with a large yellow letter “P” sewn across her chest. The costume accentuates her beauty and fitness. <<return>>

Captain P is in his early forties. A dramatic shock of black hair swept across his forehead hides his otherwise receding hairline. A form fitting green body suit with the letter P stitched to the front shows he is still keeping fit. <<if $GState<7>>Right now he is splayed out on the floor.<<else>>Right now he is on the bed, comatose.<</if>> Captain P is the lifetime president of the Guildhall of Virtue. In his alter ego, he sits on the mayor’s committee for crime prevention. I’ve heard say it was his proposal to install the Crime Fighter’s Beacon on the roof of city hall. The beacon is a powerful lamp which casts the letter “P” against the clouds whenever there is a civil emergency. In a city the size of Hippopopolis, there is always //some// civil emergency. <<return>>

<<set $interogee="m">>Mermanx is naked, as he always is, since a fabric costume would just interfere with his super-swimming ability. Don’t worry about the censors, though. The animators draw him carefully without any evidence of privates. Breathing through his gills while he is out of the water produces a sickly asthmatic gurgling. He can’t stay out of water for long. <<return>>

<<set $interogee="c">> <<if $GState gte 5>> Right now Chloe is in the form of a space monkey, an alien chimpanzee-like creature with antennae growing out of her forehead. <<else>> Right now Chloe is in the form of an anthropomorphized goat, with coarse white fur, horns, and human arms. Her eyes drip with mucus, goat tears shed for the loss of Captain P. <</if>> Chloe and her twin brother were still just teenagers when they arrived on planet Earth from a distant galaxy for the inexplicable purpose of being “trained as super heroes.” Like so many gen Zers they overstayed their internship and are now in their late twenties. When she’s not transformed as an animal, Chloe and her brother play in a seventies variety show cover band act, which you suppose would count as their alter egos. <<return>>

<<set $interogee="j">> <<if $GState gte 5>> Right now Joe is in the form of an OSHA approved stepladder; a stepladder made entirely of ice. Evidently OSHA never considered the potential hazards of an ice ladder when they drafted their regulations. <<else>> Right now Joe is in the form of a bowl of chicken soup, steaming full of chopped carrots and short grained rice, but still entirely anthropomorphized with a face and arms. <</if>> Joe and his twin sister were still just teenagers when they arrived on planet Earth from a distant galaxy for the inexplicable purpose of being “trained as super heroes.” Like so many gen Zers they overstayed their internship and are now in their late twenties. When he’s not transformed as a form of water, Joe and his sister play in a seventies variety show cover band act, which you suppose would count as their alter egos. <<return>>

<<set $interogee="b">>Burt dresses in street clothes, even when he’s inside the guildhall. You’ve almost expected to see him fly to the scene of a disaster without removing the mild-mannered fedora and cheap non-prescription plastic glasses. Then again, that's hardly much of a costume. How has he managed to hide himself from the public all these years? <<return>>

<<set _intro=" You ask <<name $interogee>>@@.br;Did Captain Prodigious have any weaknesses or vulnerabilities, that you know about?@@ ">> <<set _m0="@@.m;Not any I would share with you if I knew them. I don’t feel like I can trust anyone right now.@@", _m1="@@.m;I've already answered your question. I might know more about that, but I don't trust you right now.@@", _cp0="Xvulnerability_cp", _cp1="@@.cp;I already shared with you all his weaknesses as a husband and father. If you want to know about his heroic vulnerabilities, he had none.@@", _c0="@@.c;I don’t think he has any vulnerabilities. He’s not like other superheroes. He’s the superhero’s superhero.@@", _c1="@@.c;I assure you, Captain P is invincible.@@", _j0="@@.j;If Captain P has a weakness, it's not anything I know about.@@", _j1="@@.j;I already told you, I've never heard that Captain P has any vulnerabilities.@@", _b0="Xvulnerability_b", _b1="@@.b;I gave you my hypothesis. I think Dad may be allergic to cats.@@", _s0="Xvulnerability_s", _s1="@@.s;I told you already, Captain Prodigious is vulnerable to kale. I can't reveal my sources.@@" >> <<set setup.Ovulnerability={ "m":{"0": _m0, "1":_m1}, "cp":{"0":_cp0, "1":_cp1}, "c": {"0":_c0, "1":_c1}, "j":{"0":_j0, "1":_j1}, "b":{"0":_b0, "1":_b1}, "s":{"0":_s0, "1":_s1} } >>

You ask <<name $interogee>>@@.br;What happened at the October sixth meeting?"@@ <<set _m0="@@.m;@@", _m1="@@.m;@@", _cp0="@@.cp;@@", _cp1="@@.cp;@@", _c0="@@.c;@@", _c1="@@.c;@@", _j0="@@.j;@@", _j1="@@.j;@@", _b0="@@.b;@@", _b1="@@.b;@@", _s0="@@.s;@@", _s1="@@.s;@@" >> <<set _Tcurrent=$Tlastmeeting>> <<include "unpacking variables">> <<set Tlastmeeting=_Tcurrent>>

The domed ceiling curves high over the marble floor of the central atrium in the guildhall of virtue. Exits lead [[west toward the grand entrance foyer|Foyer]], and [[east toward the aquarium|East atrium]]. Mr and Mrs Prodigious keep [[their apartment to the north|Prodigious room]]. Their child [[Burt has a bedroom to the south|Burt's room]]. <<if $GState<7>> [[Captain Prodigious]] lies splayed out on the floor, his cape twisted around his legs. <</if>> <<if $GState gte 20 and !visited('Burt and Chloe come clean')>> <<link " Wait for others to pass through" "atrium">> <<for _i to 0; _i lt 39; _i++>> <<include 'SecondCycle'>> <<if setup.howManyHere()>><<set $CycleCount-=1>><<break>><</if>> <</for>> <</link>> <</if>> <<if !visited("Examine magazine") and $GState>=91>> Carmen dropped a thin book here earlier. [[Examine it|Examine magazine]]. <</if>>

Burt has clothing and books scattered all over the floor with no apparent order. There is hardly a place to step. A hatrack stands in the corner, next to a [[chiffarobe]]. An [[unmade bed]] is pushed not quite parallel to the wall. If you squeeze between the pair of massive sub-woofer speakers you might make it safely back to the [[atrium]] without a pile of empty pizza boxes collapsing on top of you.

<<if $GState==91>> Carmen blocks you from entering her room. @@.cp;I've asked you to guard the foyer. We must prevent Mermanx's escape.@@ The guildhall [[atrium]] is south. <<else>> Mr and Mrs Prodigious have the largest apartment in the Guildhall of Virtue. The bed is a king sized bed with silk sheets and a canopy over the top. A delicate [[night table]] sits on Carmen's side of the bed. This room also has direct access to the guildhall [[library]]. The library is west and the guildhall [[atrium]] is south. <<if $GState gte 8>> [[Captain Prodigious]] has been arranged comfortably on the bed. <</if>> <</if>>

The east atrium is an annex directly connected to the main atrium. This annex shares the same domed ceiling as the main atrium, but as this room is the bottom perimeter of the curve, the ceiling here is much lower. The [[aquarium|Aquarium]] is immediately east of here, the [[main atrium|atrium]] is west. The Wanda twins share an [[apartment|Wanda room]] south of here, and you have [[your bedroom|Brainioids room]] to the north. There is a slotted drain cover in the floor here. Any water on the floor can drain back into the underground aquarium. The marble floor gets slippery when Mermanx drips through here.

<<if $GState<91>> The library is accessed with an old-fashioned bronze key. There are limited copies of that key. Mermanx has one. Raul and Carmen share one which Raul usually keeps on his person. It would be improper for you to rifle through his pockets just now, or ask Carmen to do so. You had your own copy of the library key prior to the catastrophic events of episode 9475, when your psionic wheelchair sank to the bottom of the aquarium and you lost everything. It seems likely that Mermanx would have found your key somewhere in his domain since then, but he hasn’t bothered to get it back to you. <<if $lastloc=="Prodigious room" or $lastloc=="Foyer">> The library is locked right now. The lock has a mechanical pin tumbler mechanism, not trivial to pick. You have no reason (or means) to force the door either. Maybe later. <<else>> In any case, the library can only be accessed by a door off the foyer, and another out of Raul and Carmen's bedroom suite. You're too far away to examine the lock more closely. <</if>> <<else>> /*in this case, the game state is 91 or greater*/ <<if $lastloc=="Prodigious room">> Carmen says, @@.cp;You shouldn't be going into the library through this room. That wasn't our plan. I'll wait here and prevent Mermanx from escaping the same way he went in, but you need to run over to the foyer and block him from escaping out that way.@@ <<elseif $lastloc=="Foyer">> Burt says, @@.b;You shouldn't be going into the Library just yet. Analyze the remaining clues, then tell me what you really expect to find behind these doors.@@ <<else>> The library can only be accessed by a door off the foyer, and another out of Raul and Carmen's bedroom suite. You have a key now, but you need to be in one of those two locations to use it. <</if>> <</if>> <<link "Continue" $lastloc>><</link>>

<<if tags().includes('loc')>> <<set $lastloc=passage()>> <<if $CycleFunction != null>><<include $CycleFunction>> <</if>> <<if def $CycleFunction2>><<include $CycleFunction2>><</if>> <<if def $CycleFunctionC>><<include $CycleFunctionC>><</if>> <</if>>

/* <<if tags().includes('person')>> <<link "Navigate" $lastloc>><</link>> [[Interrogate]] <</if>> */ <<if tags().includes('loc')>> <<if setup.howManyHere()>> <</if>> <<for _char range Object.keys($charlocs)>> <<if $charlocs[_char] === $lastloc>> <<capture _char>> <<set _thisChar=setup.name(_char)>> <<link _thisChar "Interrogate">><<set $interogee=_char>><</link>> <<charDesc _char $CState[_char]>> <</capture>> <</if>> <</for>> <<if $GState<92>> <<include "Clickable Map">> <</if>> <<if $GState gte 19>> <<include "Self inventory">> <</if>> <</if>> <<if tags().includes('continueFoot')>> [[Continue|Interrogate]] <</if>> <<if tags().includes('continueNav')>> <<link "Continue" $lastloc>><</link>> <</if>>

<<if def $vDoor>> <<include "Wanda closet">> <</if>> <<if $GState==4>> @@.j;We’ve been meaning to save this to give you on a special occasion, but considering the urgency of your investigation…hang on a moment...@@ <<include "receive their gift">> <</if>> <<if $GState==24>> <<set $GState=25>> On the floor, near a wall in the Wanda Common room where you can barely see the seam for the Twin's secret closet, is a strip of bleached white paper. You probably would have overlooked it if Chloe hadn't directed you here. You pick it up. The paper strip is only three centimeters long and half a centimeter wide, scarcely large enough to be an effective bookmark. It looks more like a chemical test strip--but for what use? <<pushTopic "Tstrips" "Tstrips" "Show inventory: white paper strip from Chloe." "Ostrips">> <</if>> A set of mismatched cloth chairs have been arranged around a low wooden coffee table pocked with water stains. This is the Wanda common room, which the twins use for entertaining guests. To the west and east are their private quarters, [[Chloe's corner|Chloe corner]] and [[Joe's corner|Joe corner]] respectively. The north exit leads back to the [[East Atrium|East atrium]].

Chloe's dresser, [[personal writing desk|desk1]], and bed are tucked on this side of the room. The [[main part of the twin's bedroom is east|Wanda room]].

Joe's personal dresser and chair are tucked on this side of the room. The [[main part of the twin's bedroom is west|Wanda room]]. Joe's single bed is neatly made with simple cotton sheets tight enough to flip a coin from. A //First Act// brand guitar hangs from the wall. Most of the room is taken up by a large desk where Joe plays video games, or less frequently does his bookkeeping work for the guildhall. Joe's desk has the thinnest veneer of hardwood. Beneath that, it's pretty obviously inexpensive self-assembly particle board furniture. Most of the surface is taken up by a [[bulky computer console|computer]] and [[attached external card reader|card reader]]. A small, neatly stacked pile of books includes an appointment calendar and a book titled "Financial Literacy for Idiots".

<<audio "underwater" stop>> You're at the entrance of Mermanx's watery underground lair. This room is enormous, larger in surface area than the rest of the guildhall combined, and larger in volume than fifty guildhalls. Most of that space, however, is underwater, completely inaccessible to you<<if $GState>=80>> before now<</if>>. The tile floor slopes gradually, allowing Mermanx to [[walk directly into the aquarium|walk directly into aquarium]], or to emerge and visit the above ground rooms of the [[guildhall|East atrium]]. Light streams in through open grottos near the ceiling, reflecting off ripples from the crystal blue water, and casting eerie diffraction patterns against the other walls of this vast cavern. A [[glowing green call button|call Mermanx]] mounted on the wall near the entrance can sometimes be used to summon Mermanx out of his lair. <<if visited()==1 and $GState<64>> You are terrified to even be close to the water's edge. Two months ago, in episode 9475, an agent from the Alignment of Evil gang broke into the guildhouse and pushed you with your wheelchair into the salt water tank. The psionic wheelchair was everything to you. It was the equivalent of Tony Stark’s Mark armors, or Batman’s utility belt; a surrogate mechanical body which bestowed you with a physical prowess which equaled or even exceeded that of an ordinary human (this on top of your naturally superior intellect). The salt water instantly fried every electronic circuit, then rusted all the purely mechanical components within days. You've been nearly helpless since then. The psionic skateboard has been a feeble substitute. The writers have promised to make you whole again, to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of your origin story, but they've been keeping the release date of that issue under wraps. <<elseif $GState==64>> Burt, Chloe and Joe are already here waiting for you. You hear Carmen rummaging about loudly behind a wall. Does everyone but you have a secret storage closet in the bedrooms? When she returns, she's pushing a heavy box the size of your former psionic wheelchair. Oddly, it is gift-wrapped in the same type of gold fabric you found in Burt's room. There is a bow on the top. Carmen and the others invite you to open it. Opening a tightly wrapped package with your gum stuck metal pointer is an arduous challenge. You pull at a seam until it begins to tear, then push to make the opening wider. You pull in another corner to create a second fissure, and push to lift the fabric up over the top, just a little at a time. Eventually the wrapping comes open and the cardboard box falls apart to reveal the most stylishly crafted psionic wheelchair you've ever seen. The frame is a lightweight but sturdy network of brass and titanium pipes. The psionic circuitry is entirely waterproof. The drive system has a continuous gear ratio and the wheels feature a zero degree turning radius. It has propellers for aquatic travel, and wings for short bursts of flight. It comes equipped with both digital surround sound and a full theatrical lighting system. It has everything but the kitchen sink. No, wait, it has that too, delivering either still or sparkling water with a selection of flavored syrups on demand. Just looking at it, you feel choked with emotion. Carmen says, @@.cp;We pitched in and got this for you. We meant to wait for a special event to present it to you, but based on what you've discovered it seems imperative for you to have it now. You won't need to wait for Mermanx to come up for air. You can take this through the water and search him out. Then we can bring the case of my husband's betrayal to a just conclusion.@@ [[Drive the psionic chair into the water|walk directly into aquarium]] <<set $GState=80>> <<else>> You are afraid to even approach the edge, where gentle waves lap against the slick marble floor. <</if>>

This is your apartment, with a direct exit to the [[atrium|East atrium]]. Your apartment is small and essentially empty. After all, what use does a brain in a jar have for clothing or bedding? The door to your [[laboratory|Laboratory]] is west, although you've been inexplicably locked out of that room since earlier in the year.

<<if $GState>80>> Much as you enjoy relaxing in your laboratory, now is not the time. <<elseif def $carddata>> <<if $carddata==4>> Burt's ID card slides seamlessly through the magnetic card lock. The door opens. [[Enter|real laboratory]] <<else>> You wave Burt's ID card through the magnetic card lock, but the door doesn't open. You might have programmed it incorrectly. <</if>> <<else>> Your lab has always been a place of refuge. You have equipment there to analyze the chemical composition of any materials, along with a collection of scientific and legal resources deemed //too academic// for the shelves of the guildhall library. (Joe Wanda manages the meeting schedule and book collection in the guildhall library. That really tells you all you need to know. Joe stocks it mainly with back issues of serialized comic books; //Our history//, he calls it.) The laboratory is accessed with a magnetic card lock. Regrettably you lost your magnetic card during the catastrophic events of episode 9475, when your psionic wheelchair sank to the bottom of the aquarium and you lost everything. To generate a new key card, you'd need a magnetic card and a magnetic card encoder. <</if>>

<<if $GState==87>> You race into the foyer. The work on the ceiling trap has been completed. The button by the door has been reset, and the room has been swept clean as if for a special event. You are surprised to find Burt already standing guard near the library door. Burt says, @@.b;Mermanx is already behind this door waiting for you. You've got a key now, so you can let yourself in. But before you do, you should know (or perhaps you've already begun to suspect) he's not the villain we led you to believe he is. Before you unlock the door, take a moment to figure out for yourself why we've all been so secretive around you today.@@ <<set $GState=91>> <<set $charlocs={ b:"Foyer" } >> <<set $CState={ b:27 }>> <</if>> <<if $GState>=87 and !visited("paper notice")>>There is a [[paper notice]] nailed to the library entrance. <</if>> You are in the foyer, the grand entrance to your Guildhall. The walls are inlaid with exotic woods- purpleheart, rosewood, and ebony—each piece precisely cut then fit together seamlessly into lifelike mosaics. Taken together these wood inlay illustrations chronicle significant events in your gang’s history. There is Mermanx, battling the octopus-monster in the deep Pacific. There is young Burt, learning to fly for the first time. There are Joe and Chloe when they first arrived as teenagers defeating the Andromedan swarm. There are Carmen and Raul Prodigious shaking hands with the Mayor at the groundbreaking ceremony for this building itself. There is a tile mosaic on the floor. A curved line of white tiles centered at the middle of the room forms a circle with a diameter of about four meters just below the highest point of the ceiling. The rest of the mosaic is a pseudorandom pattern of brown, gray and black cobbles. The entrance is a mechanical sliding door, towering to the ceiling and wide enough that the entire team can [[exit the building|outside]] while walking abreast. There is a [[door-open button|Bfoyer]] on the wall nearby, used to welcome visitors or otherwise to prevent them from entering. The entrance button is <<if $GState==9>> glowing green. The entrance bell is ringing. There must be a visitor outside. <<elseif $GState==19>> flashing red. An elongated lump of chewing gum has been left on the call button by the Shady Figure. It continues to hang from the glowing button like a grotesque skin tag. <<elseif $GState>=100>> flashing red. <<else>> dark, unlit. <</if>> Around the perimeter of the circular foyer are doors to the [[library]], [[atrium]], and [[outside]].

You ask <<name $interogee>>@@.br;Why was nobody at the October sixth meeting?"@@ <<set _m0="XmeetA_m", _m1="@@.m;If you really want to know what goes on at meetings, don't ask me. Just start attending some of them.@@", _cp0="@@.cp;I was at a fundraising event for the Hippopopolis auxiliary club all night. Aside from that one meeting, I've always had a good attendance record.@@ Carmen flushes. That's her tell. She would never be successful at poker. <<pushStopic 'Scpexcuse' 'Scpexcuse' 'Carmen says she was out all night at an auxiliary club meeting on October sixth.' 'OScpexcuse'>>", _cp1="@@.cp;I'm upset you won't take me at face value when I tell you I was at an auxiliary club meeting. I've heard you weren't at the meeting either. I should ask you about your affairs.@@ She flushes again.", _c0="@@.c;The meeting was scheduled to start at 6pm. I was out running errands that night. I was back at the guildhall by 8pm and dropped into the library. Captain P and Mermanx were the only ones there. They told me the business meeting had ended.@@", _c1="@@.c;I told you, I didn't return to the guildhall until 8pm and by that time the meeting was over.@@", _j0="@@.j;I had an opportunity to book a stage for an entire season of performances at a popular motel lounge. I figured this would be a big break for Chloe and me and our duo music career. I met with the manager the night of October sixth to sign the contract. Since the weather was stormy that night, I didn't want to drive back to the Guildhall. The manager offered to comp me a room, so I stayed there and checked out the next morning. That's why I was absent from the scheduled guildhall meeting.@@ @@.br;Was Chloe with you?@@ @@.j;No.@@ @@.br;Did anyone else join you?@@ @@.j;I'd rather not say.@@ <<pushStopic 'Sjexcuse' 'Sjexcuse' 'Joe says he stayed overnight at the Illicit Rendezvous Motel on October sixth until the seventh.' 'OSjexcuse'>>", _j1="@@.j;I told you, I was out reserving a concert venue on Oct 6. If you need evidence for that, the manager at the venue will confirm that I rented a room, and didn't check out until the next morning.@@", _b0="@@.b;I was out with my mates that night.@@ @@.br;Out where?@@ @@.b;Just driving about. Do you have to know everything?@@", _b1="@@.b;That was three weeks ago. You can call my mates for an alibi, but even they won't remember all the places we visited. What could that possible have to do with my dad?@@", _s0="@@.s;You're asking me why I wasn't at your guildhall meeting? If anyone from my gang could get an invitation to your private guildhall meetings, we wouldn't need to plant electronic surveillance devices all over your place.@@", _s1="@@.s;Like I said already, I was never invited to your private guildhall meeting. Shame about that.@@" >> <<set setup.OmeetA={ "m":{"0": _m0, "1":_m1}, "cp":{"0":_cp0, "1":_cp1}, "c": {"0":_c0, "1":_c1}, "j":{"0":_j0, "1":_j1}, "b":{"0":_b0, "1":_b1}, "s":{"0":_s0, "1":_s1} } >>

<<if not tags().includes('noheader')>> <div class='parent inline-flex-parent'> <div class='child inline-flex-child'> <<if tags().includes('loc')>> <<link "Pass one turn" $lastloc>><</link>> <<else>> <<link "Navigate" $lastloc>><</link>> <</if>> </div> <div class='child inline-flex-child'> <<link "Interrogate" Interrogate>><</link>> </div> </div> <<if tags().includes('loc')>> <<if def $vDoor>> <<if not(($lastloc is "Joe corner") or ($lastloc is "Chloe corner") or ($lastloc is "Wanda room"))>> From elsewhere in the guildhall you hear the faint whir of a motor followed by a mechanical sliding noise. <<unset $vDoor>> <</if>> <</if>> <</if>> <</if>> <<if $GState==9 or $GState==19>> A doorbell is ringing in the foyer. <<if $screenReader>> <<link "Play audio effect">><<audio ":all" stop>><<audio "bell" play>><</link>> <<else>> <<if $bellAudio>><<audio "bell" play>><</if>> <</if>> <</if>> <<if tags().includes("CRT")>> <<include "CRTContainer">> <</if>>

<<set $inthead=true>> <<set _pplArray=[]>> <<for _char range Object.keys($charlocs)>> <<if $charlocs[_char] === $lastloc>> <<run _pplArray.push(_char)>> <</if>> <</for>> <<if $GS>3>><<set _pplArray.push("s")>><</if>> <<if _pplArray.length==0>> <<if $GState gte 20 and $GState lt 60>> <<set $interogee="s">> Interrogate: @@.interrogee;<<print setup.name($interogee)>>@@ (contacting him by phone, while no one else is around to observe.) <<elseif $GState >=60>> You attempt to contact Shady Figure by phone, but he is not answering. <<set $interogee=null>> <<else>> There is nobody present to interrogate. <<set $interogee=null>> <</if>> <<elseif _pplArray.includes($interogee)>> Interrogate: @@.interrogee; <<print setup.name($interogee)>>@@ <<link "(character description)" setup.name($interogee)>><</link>> <<run _pplArray.delete($interogee)>> <<else>> <<set $interogee=_pplArray[0]>> Interrogate: @@.interrogee; <<print setup.name($interogee)>>@@ <<link "(character description)" setup.name($interogee)>><</link>> <<run _pplArray.delete($interogee)>> <</if>> <<if _pplArray.length != 0>> Or select a different character: <<for _i to 0; _i lt _pplArray.length; _i++>> <<capture _i>> <<set _temp=setup.name(_pplArray[_i])>> <<if _i lt _pplArray.length-1>><<set _temp+=",">><</if>> <<link _temp "Interrogate">><<set $interogee=_pplArray[_i]>><</link>> <</capture>> <</for>> <</if>> <<button "Drag topics or click this bar to draglessly transfer current topic">> <<run setup.draglessSwap($lasttopic)>> <</button>> <<run setup.setBubbleColor($interogee)>> <div class='parent interrogate-win'> <div id="interrogate-win-child1" class="win-child" ondrop="window.drop1(event)" ondragover="window.allowDrop(event)" ondragend="window.ondragend1"> <<for _i to 0;_i<$TopicArray.length;_i++>> <<set _thisPage=$TopicArray[_i].page>> <<if $TopicArray[_i].isOpen(null)>> <<capture _i>> <<set _thisID=$TopicArray[_i].handle>> <div @id="_thisID" class="draggable-item" draggable="true" ondragstart="window.drag1(event)" onclick="window.focustopic(event)" touchend="window.focustopic(event)" dragend="window.focustopic(event)"> ⇒ <<link $TopicArray[_i].shortDesc>> <<set _topicObj=$TopicArray[_i]>> <<if $interogee !=null>> <<replace "#outputarea">><<intOutput $interogee _topicObj>><</replace>> <<else>> <<replace "#outputarea">>There is no one present in this location to interrogate. Select "Navigate" to move to a new location.<</replace>> <</if>> <</link>> </div> <</capture>> <</if>> <</for>> </div> <div id="interrogate-win-child2" class="win-child" ondrop="window.drop2(event)" ondragover="window.allowDrop(event)" ondragend="window.ondragend2" > <div id="buttonarea">Click topics to interrogate. Drag topics into this field to review past interviews or make connections</div> <div id="inputarea" ></div> <div id="outputarea" ></div> </div> </div> <<if $GState>=64>> /*print nothing*/ <<elseif $SummArray.length==0>> /*also nothing*/ <<elseif $GState<50>> [[Review summative evidence|summative entry]] <<else>> [[Resume summative gathering|Summate]] <</if>> /* <<link "End interrogation" $lastloc>> <</link>> */

The receipt is from Handy's Swill and Spirits, a popular liquor store known as a hangout for members of the Alignment of Evil gang. Below the address of the seedy joint is a cancelled charge for a bottle of premium Scotch: almost two hundred dollars, rung up then cancelled. Below that, is a charge for a six pack of Flub's Red Ribbon beer, rung up then paid; five dollars for a six pack, that's cheaper than premium bottled water. The time stamp on the receipt is October 6, 6:00 pm. <<newTopic "Treceipt" "Has Chloe been in contact with an Alignment of Evil Member?">> You use the sticky end of your poker to collect the receipt as possible evidence. [[Continue|Chloe corner]]

Chloe keeps her desk a bit of a mess: <<linkreplace "snack chips">>snack chips labeled //gluten-free//<</linkreplace>>, <<linkreplace "songbooks">>songbooks from the 1970s<</linkreplace>>, <<if $GState<25>> <<link "a thin paperback" "bookPLandJ">><</link>>, <</if>> and a <<linkreplace "worn pair of rainbow socks">>worn pair of rainbow socks with holes in the toes<</linkreplace>> all clutter the surface.

You describe to <<name $interogee>> the receipt for //Handy's Swill and Spirits// you found on Chloe's desk @@.br;What do you know about it?@@ <<set _m0="Mermanx turns the receipt over in his hands. You say, @@.br; I found this in Chloe's desk. Know anything about it?@@ @@.m;He answers, @@.m;Sounds like something that belongs to Chloe. Why are you going through her stuff?@@", _m1="@@.m;I don't know more than I already told you.@@", _cp0="@@.cp;Oh dear. I hope no one from the Guild Hall is buying alcohol from that Alignment of Evil establishment.@@", _cp1="@@.cp;You already showed that to me. I don't know anyone in our guildhall who would patronize that evil liquor store.@@", _c0="@@.c;Is that the receipt I was using to bookmark my //Pink Ladies and Jeff// anthology? I hope you didn't lose my place in the book. Joe and I are hoping to cover some of their songs at our next live performance. But yeah, I bought some beer from Handy's Swill and Spirits on October sixth.@@ @@.br;Why is there a cancelled charge for an expensive bottle of premium scotch above that?@@ @@.c;Must have been a simple cashier's error. I don't remember that happening.@@<<if $GState==22>> [[Present evidence she bought the beer for Burt|Chloe beer]]<</if>>", _c1="@@.c;So I like to drink low end beer sometimes. You know as well as the rest of us; this superhero work doesn't pay real well.@@ Chloe still seems annoyed that you lost her place in the book.<<if $GState==22>> [[Present evidence that she purchased the beer you found in Burt's room.|Chloe beer]]<</if>>", _j0="@@.j;Handy's Swill and Spirits is an Alignment of Evil joint. I don't go near there.@@", _j1="@@.j;I told you, I don't go near that liquor store.@@", _b0="@@.b;Where did you find that?@@ Burt stammers. @@.br;On Chloe's desk@@ Burt seems relieved. @@.b;Then it must be hers.@@", _b1="@@.b;That's the receipt you found on Chloe's desk. What about it?@@", _s0="@@.s;Flub's Beer?? Heh, heh, nothing wrong with that brand. I'm drinking some right now. //Handy's Swill and Spirit's//, though, that's an Alignment of Evil joint. I've seen your boy Burt Prodigious in there.@@ Is Shady Figure giving you reliable intel? Has Burt //really// been visiting a dangerous Alignment of Evil joint? It would be worrisome to know he was visiting //any// liquor store at his age, but especially that one. You'll need to find some other means to confirm Shady Figure's intel without revealing to the other guild members that your source is a mole from the Alignment of Evil.", _s1="@@.s;You asked me about that already. I told you I've seen your boy Burt Prodigious hanging out at that Alignment owned liquor joint.@@" >> <<set setup.Oreceipt={ "m":{"0": _m0, "1":_m1}, "cp":{"0":_cp0, "1":_cp1}, "c": {"0":_c0, "1":_c1}, "j":{"0":_j0, "1":_j1}, "b":{"0":_b0, "1":_b1}, "s":{"0":_s0, "1":_s1}, name:"liquor store receipt", desc:"Dreceipt" } >>

Shady Figure says, "Never mind, I’m just going to wait out here. Your Guildhall gives me the creeps." He continues, "I am a member of the Alignment of Evil gang. You must be Brainioid. I’ve heard a lot of good things about you. In fact, I serve a similar role in my own gang. I’m the brainy but underappreciated supervillain. I’m smart enough that just to give myself more of an intellectual challenge, I've decided to become a double agent. Now I play both sides of the court. You should try it some time yourself." [[I am much smarter than you are. I will never betray my friends.]] [[Become a turncoat against my own organization? That sounds intriguing.]]

You ask, "Who is the traitor in our Guildhall, and what is your evidence?" "Sorry, your friend is keeping their relationship with the Alignment of Evil on the down-low right now. Only upper management knows who it is. I don’t, yet. My sources indicate they intend to poison your leader, Captain Prodigious. Or maybe that has already happened." <<include "end conversation SF">>

You say, "I'll root out the traitor myself, just give me time." “Good luck with that. The double agent from your guildhall is keeping their relationship with the Alignment of Evil on the down-low. My sources indicate they intend to poison your leader, Captain Prodigious. Or maybe that has already happened." <<include "end conversation SF">>

You say, "Actually I don't even believe you're telling the truth about a traitor in our midst." "Believe what you will. My sources indicate they intend to poison your leader, Captain Prodigious. Or maybe that has already happened." <<include "end conversation SF">>

<<if $GState<5>> You can't reach the button without additional accessories to your psionic skateboard. This is one of the drawbacks of being a brain in a jar. [[Continue|Foyer]] <<elseif $GState==9>> The button is green. The doorbell is ringing [[Push the green button][$GState=10]] [[Just let it ring|Foyer]] <<elseif $GState==19>> The button is red and flashing. There is a slug of wet chewing gum stuck to it, drooping off like a grotesque skin tag. <<link "Push the flashing red button." "set off the mouse trap">><<set $GState=20>><</link>> <<link "Use your mechanical pointer to wipe the gum away from the flashing button." "set off the mouse trap">><<set $GState=20>><</link>> [[Just let it flash|Foyer]] <<else>> The button is a security measure to open and close the door for welcomed guests and to keep enemies out. There is nobody outside the door right now, and you have no reason to exit the guildhall yourself. [[Continue|Foyer]] <</if>>

The massive steel door slides open. Outside on the stoop is a shady looking visitor wearing a black fedora, pencil thin moustache, and black leather trench coat. He is surprisingly short for a supervillain (which you are certain he must be) standing barely taller than you are on your skateboard. "May I come in? I’ll be perfectly blunt; due to my situation I am unable to step across your threshold without an invitation." The shady figure speaks in a gravely low voice. His articulation is poor because he has such a large wad of nicotine gum in his mouth. [[Are you a vampire?]] [[Are you a member of the Alignment of Evil Gang?]] [[Sure, come on in.|meet the Shady Figure]]

The wad of chewing gum comes cleanly off the button, but remains stuck to the tip of your mechanical pointer. You can now use the permanently adhesive pointer to pull as well as to push and perhaps even to take small objects. Somewhat too late, you remember what the flashing red button was designed to do. High up in the ceiling, a pair of geared plastic wheels arranged at right angles to one another begin to rotate. Just as the second interlocking wheel has completed a three quarter rotation, it pushes against a red lever, which releases a swinging pendulum with a green boot mounted at the bottom. The green boot kicks a bucket, which releases a ball bearing onto a ramp. The ball bearing falls through the hairpin turns of the ramp, then onto another ramp of a different color, ultimately landing at the base of a second tower. This action lifts a pole which pushes up on a somewhat larger bearing balanced at the top of that tower. When that bearing falls off the tower onto a lever, its momentum is transferred through the lever to a human statue balanced on the other side of the fulcrum. The human statue is thrown into a large cup, which changes positions, upsetting a wire net cage which (up to now) had been delicately balanced in the rafters Now you are trapped under a wire net cage in the middle of the foyer. The embarrassing bit is that you knew this would happen, and yet are helpless to replay this scene multiple times, because the writers have deemed this to be "comic relief". The trap is your own design, constructed by other members of the guildhall under your supervision. The irony is that although the trap is intended for building security, to be triggered only when a villain enters your sanctum, it has yet to be successfully activated against anyone but your own friends and allies. The other guildhall members arrive quickly to release you. They make their plans to reconstruct this absurd device (so it can be set off again next episode, you imagine). The rebuilding process will likely take many hours, completed over multiple shifts. Burt and Carmen return to their rooms. Joe and Chloe stay a bit longer to survey the damage. [[Continue|Foyer]]<> <<set $GState=20>> <<set $CycleFunction="SecondCycle">> <<set $CycleCount=0>><> <<set $savename="A Feast of Red Herrings">>

You ask, "Are you a member of the Alignment of Evil gang?" "Sort of. I’m a double agent actually. If I were a true villain, I could just barge right in as I wished. But I am a friend, so protocol requires I be invited in." [[Invite him in|meet the Shady Figure]] [[This seems really fishy. Insist he stay out in the cold.|meet the Shady Figure]]

You ask, "Are you a vampire?" "No, not a vampire," he chuckles. "I am a double agent from the Alignment of Evil gang. If I were a true villain, I could just barge right in as I wished. But I am a friend, so protocol requires I be invited in." [[Invite him in|meet the Shady Figure]] [[This seems really fishy. Insist he stay out in the cold.|meet the Shady Figure]]

[[Who is the traitor in our Guildhall, and what is your evidence?]] [[I’ll root out the traitor myself, just give me time.]] [[Actually, I don’t even believe you’re telling the truth about a traitor in our midst.]]

You say, "I am much smarter than you are. I will never betray my friends." He replies, "Hmmf. You’re a true believer, eh? Not that it matters. One of your friends has already begun consorting with the Alignment of Evil gang. I’m not sure our gang has the resources to handle more than one defector at a time." <<include "continue conversation SF">>

You say, "Become a turncoat against my own organization? That sounds intriguing." He replies, "Unfortunately, you’re already too late to join us. One of your friends has already begun consorting with the Alignment of Evil gang. I’m not sure our gang has the resources to handle more than one defector at a time." <<include "continue conversation SF">>

You ask <<name $interogee>>,@@.br;Where were when you when Captain Prodigious died?"@@ <<set _m0="Xinitial_m", _m1="@@.m;I've already given you my statement. I was in my tank when Raul hit the floor. I'm disappointed you don't attend our Guild Hall meetings regularly.@@", _cp0="@@.cp;Three hours ago we were having breakfast together, like we always do. Raul was called away for an emergency, like he always is. This time it was a cat that needed rescuing out of a tree. We kissed goodbye and then he left. I spent most of the morning in Joe's room, filing reports on the guildhall computer. When I heard Raul return a few hours later, I sensed something wasn't right so I came out to check on him. I found him in the atrium, gasping for breath. He said \'Cat got out of the tree on its own.\' Then he collapsed. Those were his last words to me.@@ @@.cp;I was the only one with him when he collapsed. You were the first to show up when I called out. I appreciate you for that.@@", _cp1="@@.cp;We discussed this already. Early today Raul and I were having breakfast together. Everything seemed normal. He left in the middle of his meal to take care of some cat emergency. When I heard him return to the guildhall several hours later, something seemed wrong. I came out to check on him. He collapsed in my arms.@@", _c0="@@.c;Joe and I were in our suite practicing transmutations when we heard noise in the atrium. Then Mrs P screamed. Joe and I raced out together and found Captain P unconscious on the floor. Burt came out of his room at about the same time.@@", _c1="@@.c;I already told you, Joe and I were in our rooms when Mr P collapsed on the floor. We arrived at about the same time as Burt.@@", _j0="Joe says, @@.j;Chloe and I were in our rooms all morning, practicing our transmutations. I used to think there were only three states of matter. Then I saw an educational video that said there are at least eight more crystalline forms of water, each with their own density and other unique properties. I’ve been working to master all states of matter. Chloe and I came out of our rooms when we heard Mrs Prodigious scream.@@ Being Brainioid, you already knew that water has multiple crystal states. You resist telling Joe that it actually has more than eighteen, each relatively stable over its own narrow band of the pressure temperature domain. You don’t want to intimidate the young man. Let him discover it on his own through another TikTok video. @@", _j1="@@.j;Chloe and I were in our rooms. I already told you, I was practicing to be ice nine at the time.@@", _b0="Xinitial_b", _b1="@@.b;I told you what happened. I'm torn up about it.@@", _s0="@@.s;I was hanging out back at the Alignment of Evil lair, playing some Foosball with my mates. We've got inside connections to your Guildhall, so news of Captain Prodigious's demise reached us almost immediately. The Alignment gang members were ecstatic. They've been trying to terminate Captain Prodigious for decades. The party is still going on over here. You can probably hear the Boogie Down music in the background.@@", _s1="@@.s;I already told you, I was at the Alignment of Evil lair when he died. You can't pin this on me. I'm a double agent. I'm only pretending to celebrate.@@ Shady Figure's voice again, only this time turned away from the phone and muffled: @@.s;Turn down the music, you animals, show some respect. Hey, Louie, bring me another MaiTai.@@" >> <<set setup.Oinitial={ "m":{"0": _m0, "1":_m1}, "cp":{"0":_cp0, "1":_cp1}, "c": {"0":_c0, "1":_c1}, "j":{"0":_j0, "1":_j1}, "b":{"0":_b0, "1":_b1}, "s":{"0":_s0, "1":_s1} } >>

<<widget intOutput>>  <<set _char=_args[0]>> <<set _topicObj=_args[1]>> <<set _hasQueried=_topicObj.isOpen(_char)>> <<set _flag= _hasQueried ? "1" : "0">>  <<set _page=_topicObj.page>> <<set _output=setup[_page][_char][_flag]>> <<if _output.first()!="X">> <<print _output>> <<else>> <<goto _output>> <</if>> <<run _topicObj.setOpen(_char)>> <</widget>>

<<widget "popup">> <<script>> var title = State.temporary.args[0] || ""; var passage = State.temporary.args[1] || ""; Dialog.setup(title); Dialog.wiki(Story.get(passage).processText()); Dialog.open(); <</script>> <</widget>> <<widget "name">> <<switch _args[0]>> <<case "m">><<set _name="Mermanx">> <<case "b">><<set _name="Burt">> <<case "cp">><<set _name="Carmen Prodigious">> <<case "j">><<set _name="Joe">> <<case "c">><<set _name="Chloe">> <<case "s">><<set _name="Shady Figure">> <<case "rp">><<set _name="Raul Prodigious">> <</switch>> <<set _myColor= setup.getCharColor(_args[0])>> _name <</widget>> /*The newTopic widget can be called if the player makes a discovery which would lead to a new topic being displayed in the topic list. A topic can only be discovered once (by setting the X bit) but can turned on or off once it is discovered by setting the first bit*/ <<widget newTopic>> <<set _topicID=_args[0]>> <<set _topicObj=setup.fetchTopicObj(_topicID)>> <<if _args.length > 1>> <<set _shortDesc = _args[1]>> <<else>> <<set _shortDesc = _topicObj.shortDesc>> <</if>> <<if not _topicObj.isOpen("x")>>  <div class="text-wrapper"> New interrogation topic added→ _shortDesc </div> <<run _topicObj.setOpen(null)>> <<run _topicObj.setOpen("x")>> <</if>> <</widget>> <<widget removeSTopic>> <<set _topicID=_args[0]>> <<set _topicObj=setup.getSTopic(_topicID)>> <<if _args.length > 1>> <<set _shortDesc = _args[1]>> <<else>> <<set _shortDesc = _topicObj.shortDesc>> <</if>> <div class="text-wrapper"> Topic removed→ _shortDesc </div> <<run _topicObj.setClose(null)>> <</widget>> <<widget removeTopic>> <<set _topicID=_args[0]>> <<set _topicObj=setup.fetchTopicObj(_topicID)>> <<if _args.length > 1>> <<set _shortDesc = _args[1]>> <<else>> <<set _shortDesc = _topicObj.shortDesc>> <</if>> <div class="text-wrapper"> Topic removed→ _shortDesc </div> <<run _topicObj.setClose(null)>> <</widget>> /*The reviewTopic widget will print a history of all conversations on a given topic. The topicObj is received by _arg[0]*/ <<widget reviewTopic>> <<set _topicObj=_args[0]>> <<set _page=_topicObj.page>> <<set _pplArray=[]>> ''<<print _topicObj.shortDesc>>'' <<for _char range Object.keys($charlocs)>> <<set _hasQueried=_topicObj.isOpen(_char)>> <<set _flag= _hasQueried ? "1" : "0">>  <<if !setup[_page].hasOwnProperty(_char)>> /*do nothing if the topicObject.page has no property for the character*/ <<elseif _char=="s" and $GState<19>> /*do nothing if shady figure hasn't been introduced yet*/ <<elseif _hasQueried==false>> @@.interrogee;<<name _char>>@@ has not been interviewed on this topic. <<else>> Recalling your interview with <<name _char>> <<set _output=setup[_page][_char][0]>> <<if _output.first()!="X">> <<print _output>> <<else>> <<include _output>> <</if>> <</if>> <</for>> <</widget>>

[[East Atrium]]

[[East Atrium]] [[Burt's Room]] [[Prodigious Bedroom]] [[Main Entrance]]

[[Aquarium Entrance]] [[Atrium]] [[Brainioid's Room]] [[Wandas' Room]]

[[East Atrium]] [[Lab]]

[[Brainioid's Room]]

[[East Atrium]] [[Joe's Corner]] [[Chloe's Corner]]

[[Wandas' Room]]

[[Atrium]]

[[Atrium]] [[Library]]

[[Main Entrance]] [[Prodigious Bedroom]]

<<widget "charDesc">> <<switch _args[0]>> <<case "c", "cp">><<set _its='her'>> <<default>><<set _its='his'>> <</switch>> <<switch _args[1]>> <<case 0>> <<switch _args[0]>> <<case "b">> is on his bed, listening to loud music. <<case "cp">> is on her bed, crying. <<case "j">> is at his desk, playing video games. <<case "c">> is at her desk, reading. <<default>> is in the room. <</switch>> <<case 1>> enters this room on <<print _its>> way toward the foyer. <<case 2>> exits this room on <<print _its>> way toward the foyer. <<case 3>> enters this room on the way to <<print _its>> private chambers. <<case 4>> exits this room on the way to <<print _its>> private chambers. <<case 5>> enters <<print _its>> private chambers. <<case 6>> enters the foyer. <<case 7>> is working industriously to reassemble the absurdly complex security trap suspended above you. <<case 8>> <<switch _args[0]>> <<case "b">> is listening to loud music. <<case "cp">> is seated near the bed, holding her husband's hand, still holding hope that he's not really dead after all. <<case "j">> is at his desk, playing video games. <<case "c">> is at her desk, reading. <<default>> is in the room. <</switch>> <<case 9>> appears unsurprised at your arrival, almost as if he was already anticipating your question. <<include "ask about summoning">> <<case 10>> appears unsurprised at your arrival, almost as if she was already anticipating your question. <<include "ask about summoning">> <<case 11>> admires your new pointer. <<case 12>> <<switch _args[0]>> <<case "b">>, is on his bed, listening to loud music. <<case "cp">> is on her bed, crying. <<case "j">> is at his chair, practicing transmutations. <<case "c">> is at her chair, practicing transmutations. <<default>> is in the room. <</switch>> <<case 13>> exits this room. <<case 14>> arrives in this room. <<case 15>> whispers something in Chloe's ear. She nods in agreement. <<case 16>> enters his tank. In contrast with his clumsy steps on dry land, Mermanx glides effortlessly to the center of the lake. The water seems to open for him when he dives under its surface. Then it closes again. When the ripples settle, he is once again hidden from the world. <<case 17>> <<switch _args[0]>> <<case "m">> leads the rest of the gang in forming a circle around Captain Prodigious. The team works together to lift him off the floor and move him toward his bedroom. Wait now, did Captain P just open his eyes and wink at you? Did anyone else see that? Probably not, or they'd all be talking about it. Maybe the Captain //is// still alive. Best to keep this information to yourself right now. Don't raise false hopes among the others. But this will be motivation for you to find out exactly what happened so that the team can nurse him back to health without another incident. <<case "b">> supports the left shoulder. <<case "cp">> supports the right shoulder. <<case "j">> supports the left leg. <<case "c">> supports the right leg. <<default>> is in the room. <</switch>> <<case 18>> <<switch _args[0]>> <<case "m">> provides leadership for the team as they work together to set Captain Prodigious comfortably in his own bed. <<case "b">> supports the left shoulder. <<case "cp">> supports the right shoulder. <<case "j">> supports the left leg. <<case "c">> supports the right leg. <<default>> is in the room. <</switch>> <<case 19>> is in the room. <<case 20>> <<switch _args[0]>> <<case "b">> is standing near the body, masking his emotions. <<case "cp">> is crouched beside her husband's body, touching his hand. <<default>> is in the room. <</switch>> <<case 21>> opens Chloe's desk and drops something into it. A piece of paper, maybe. You can't read it from here. He closes the drawer immediately. <<case 22>> turns toward his door. <<case 23>> enters his private chambers and turns on his computer. He types in a user name: "carmenp" (all lower case) then a password "iloveburt" (all lower case, no spaces). Then he starts playing a video game. <<if !setup.getTopic("Tpassword").isOpen(null)>>Something is wrong here. Why is Joe logging in with Carmen's password? <<newTopic Tpassword>><</if>> <<case 24>> very deliberately logs out of his account and turns off his computer before leaving the room. <<case 25>><<print either("is eating cake.", "is dancing.", "is admiring the decorations.","is mingling")>> <<case 26>><<print either("is admiring your wheelchair.", "is encouraging you to test the new chair in the water.","is congratulating you for your powers of deduction.", "is scanning the aquarium's surface for signs of Mermanx.")>> <<case 27>> <<switch _args[0]>> <<case "b">> is standing guard by the library, waiting to hear your revised theory of the day's events. <<case "cp">> is guarding the library entrance, looking anxious that you haven't followed her instruction to stand guard by the grand entrance foyer. <</switch>> <<case 28>><<print either("tries not to look guilty.", "is looking away.", "is watching you with rapt attention.","is shifting <<print _its>> weight from foot to foot.","is keeping <<print _its>> eyes on the other suspects.")>> <<case 29>><<print either("is pounding his keyboard rapidly, engaged in a virtual rap battle.", "is guiding his virtual character through a maze.", "is at the computer.", "is collecting gold coins onscreen from his virtual side gig selling concert merch.","is playing a virtual guitar solo onscreen")>> <<default>> is in the room. <</switch>> <</widget>>

<<set _countMax=39>> <<switch $CycleCount>> <<case 0>> //Herein Carmen leaves her room, while Joe and Chloe leave the Foyer <<set $charlocs["cp"]="Prodigious room", $CState["cp"]=2>> <<set $charlocs["c"]="Foyer", $CState["c"]=4>> <<case 1>> <<set $charlocs["cp"]="atrium", $CState["cp"]=1>> <<set $charlocs["c"]="atrium", $CState["c"]=3>> <<set $charlocs["j"]="Foyer", $CState["j"]=4>> <<case 2>> <<set $charlocs["cp"]="atrium", $CState["cp"]=2>> <<set $charlocs["c"]="atrium", $CState["c"]=4>> <<set $charlocs["j"]="atrium", $CState["j"]=3>> <<case 3>> <<set $charlocs["cp"]="Foyer", $CState["cp"]=6>> <<set $charlocs["c"]="East atrium", $CState["c"]=3>> <<set $charlocs["j"]="atrium", $CState["j"]=4>> <<case 4>> <<set $charlocs["cp"]="Foyer", $CState["cp"]=7>> <<set $charlocs["c"]="East atrium", $CState["c"]=4>> <<set $charlocs["j"]="East atrium", $CState["j"]=3>> <<case 5>> <<set $charlocs["c"]="Wanda room", $CState["c"]=3>> <<set $charlocs["j"]="East atrium", $CState["j"]=4>> <<case 6>> <<set $charlocs["c"]="Wanda room", $CState["c"]=4>> <<set $charlocs["j"]="Wanda room", $CState["j"]=3>> <<case 7>> <<set $charlocs["c"]="Chloe corner", $CState["c"]=5>> <<set $charlocs["j"]="Wanda room", $CState["j"]=4>> <<case 8>> <<set $charlocs["c"]="Chloe corner", $CState["c"]=8>> <<set $charlocs["j"]="Joe corner", $CState["j"]=23>> <<case 9>> <<set $charlocs["j"]="Joe corner", $CState["j"]=29>> <<case 10 11 12 13>> //Herein Carmen leaves the foyer while Burt leaves his room. <<case 14>> <<set $charlocs["cp"]="Foyer", $CState["cp"]=4>> <<set $charlocs["b"]="Burt's room", $CState["b"]=2>> <<case 15>> <<set $charlocs["cp"]="atrium", $CState["cp"]=3>> <<set $charlocs["b"]="atrium", $CState["b"]=1>> <<case 16>> <<set $charlocs["cp"]="atrium", $CState["cp"]=4>> <<set $charlocs["b"]="atrium", $CState["b"]=2>> <<case 17>> <<set $charlocs["cp"]="Prodigious room", $CState["cp"]=5>> <<set $charlocs["b"]="Foyer", $CState["b"]=6>> <<case 18>> <<set $charlocs["cp"]="Prodigious room", $CState["cp"]=8>> <<set $charlocs["b"]="Foyer", $CState["b"]=7>> <<case 18 19 20 21 22 >> <<case 23>> <<set $charlocs["j"]="Joe corner", $CState["j"]=24>> <<case 24>> <<set $charlocs["c"]="Chloe corner", $CState["c"]=2>> <<set $charlocs["j"]="Wanda room", $CState["j"]=1>> <<case 25>> <<set $charlocs["c"]="Wanda room", $CState["c"]=1>> <<set $charlocs["j"]="Wanda room", $CState["j"]=2>> <<case 26>> <<set $charlocs["c"]="Wanda room", $CState["c"]=2>> <<set $charlocs["j"]="East atrium", $CState["j"]=1>> <<case 27>> <<set $charlocs["c"]="East atrium", $CState["c"]=1>> <<set $charlocs["j"]="East atrium", $CState["j"]=2>> //herein Burt leaves the Foyer, while Joe and Chloe leave their rooms. <<set $charlocs["b"]="Foyer", $CState["b"]=4>> <<set $charlocs["c"]="East atrium", $CState["c"]=2>> <<set $charlocs["j"]="atrium", $CState["j"]=1>> <<case 28>> <<set $charlocs["b"]="atrium", $CState["b"]=3>> <<set $charlocs["c"]="atrium", $CState["c"]=1>> <<set $charlocs["j"]="atrium", $CState["j"]=2>> <<case 29>> <<set $charlocs["b"]="atrium", $CState["b"]=4>> <<set $charlocs["c"]="atrium", $CState["c"]=2>> <<set $charlocs["j"]="Foyer", $CState["j"]=6>> <<case 30>> <<set $charlocs["b"]="Burt's room", $CState["b"]=5>> <<set $charlocs["c"]="Foyer", $CState["c"]=6>> <<set $charlocs["j"]="Foyer", $CState["j"]=7>> <<case 31>> <<set $charlocs["b"]="Burt's room", $CState["b"]=8>> <<set $charlocs["c"]="Foyer", $CState["c"]=7>> <<case 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39>> <</switch>> <<set $CycleCount+=1>> <<if $CycleCount>_countMax>><<set $CycleCount=0>><</if>>

<<script>>UIBar.show();<</script>><<audio ":all" stop>><<audio "victory_track" play>><div style="text-align: center; font-size: 200%;">[[Begin|Introduction]]      <<link "About">> <<script>> Dialog.setup("Notes and Credits"); Dialog.wiki(Story.get("Notes").processText()); Dialog.open(); <</script>><</link>></div> <div style="text-align: center; ">@@.superfont;Deceit in the Guildhall of Virtue@@ By: Doug Egan <<link "Review audio settings">> <<script>> Dialog.setup("Audio Settings"); Dialog.wiki(Story.get("Audio Settings").processText()) Dialog.open(); <</script>> <</link>></div>/* <<link "Start audio!">> <<audio "disco_track" play>> <</link>> beta testing jump points [[final endgame entry|temp test entry into library]] <<link "Game State 80" "end game entry">> <<set $GState=80>> <<set _myTopic to setup.fetchTopicObj("Tinitial")>> <<run _myTopic.setOpen("cp")>> <<run _myTopic.setOpen("b")>> <<set _myTopic to setup.fetchTopicObj("Tvulnerability")>> <<run _myTopic.setOpen("cp")>> <<run _myTopic.setOpen("b")>> <<set _myTopic to setup.fetchTopicObj("Tmarriage")>> <<run _myTopic.setOpen("cp")>> <<run _myTopic.setOpen("b")>> <</link>> <img src="ACMwide2.jpg">Death in the Guildhall of Virtuosity <<link "Game State 20" "atrium">> <<script>> State.expired.push("Xmarriage_b"); State.expired.push("Xvulnerability_cp"); <</script>> <<set _myTopic to setup.fetchTopicObj("Tinitial")>> <<run _myTopic.setOpen("cp")>> <<run _myTopic.setOpen("b")>> <<set _myTopic to setup.fetchTopicObj("Tvulnerability")>> <<run _myTopic.setOpen("cp")>> <<run _myTopic.setOpen("b")>> <<set _myTopic to setup.fetchTopicObj("Tmarriage")>> <<run _myTopic.setOpen("cp")>> <<run _myTopic.setOpen("b")>> <<set $GState=9>> <<newTopic "Tinitial">> <<newTopic "Tvulnerability">> <<newTopic "Tmarriage">> <<newTopic "TmeetA">> <<set $CycleFunction="SecondCycle">> <<set $CycleCount=0>> <<goto "Foyer">> <</link>> */

"Deceit in the Guildhall of Virtue" was written and produced by Doug Egan. Thanks to my wife and child for their love, support, and encouragement. This game is dedicated to them. Thanks to my friends Neil, Chris and Archie of Tomato Nerd Garage Jams for composing and performing the theme music for this game. Audio settings are available in the left sidebar. Beta testers: Allyson Gray, Joel Burton, Mike Russo, Emery Joyce, Daniel Stelzer. I could not have made this game without their investment, interest, and feedback. Many thanks. Thanks to CEJ Pacian and Andrew Schultz for offering feedback on the blurb and cover art. Continue reading notes and attributions, <<if $screenReader>><<back "or return to the story now.">><<else>><<link "or return to the story now.">><<run Dialog.close()>><</link>><</if>> Note to players: This game was inspired by Agatha Christie and popular children's cartoons of the 1970s. You are the detective in this superhero-themed light-comedy who-done-it. Accessibility features include light and dark screen modes, along with options for displaying animated text (or globally replacing it with static text elements). By default, the game appears in bright screen mode with text animations turned on. The game features a clickable map. By default, the map is set to rescale to fit your screen. Alternatively, the map can be set to fixed size. When playing the game on a narrow screen, a fixed size map will appear larger, but will then require scrolling to see the far edges. Alternatively, the game can be navigated using only text links. Controls for these style options are accessed by opening the yellow left side bar. These controls are available throughout the game. The game features drag and drop elements. A dragless alternative is available in all scenes which apply this mechanic. Mouse or touchscreen dragging is enabled on nearly all major platforms. The dragless alternative can be chosen by all players at any time, and is available regardless of platform. The yellow sidebar also gives access to an optional "hints" function. This game features short context dependent hints. You will never be given more information than you need to advance through the immediate situation. Hints can also be irreversibly disabled, for players who wish to remove the temptation of an in-game hints function. Note to parents of young children or other sensitive readers: This game is intended for general audiences, but may be best for ages twelve and up due to potential audio jump scares, scenes of cartoon mayhem, implied marital infidelity and implied recreational alcohol use by a minor. Asset credits and fair use notices: The story and any game art (including the cover art) belongs to the author and are protected by copyright. These should not be reproduced except for the purpose of promoting this game. This game was written with Twine version 2.10.0.0, Sugarcube 2.37.3. Thanks to Chris Klimas and other developers for making these tools available. Graphic Assets: All special fonts and graphics used in this game meet the terms for use described by their source: https://www.1001fonts.com/ Arsenale White (Joe's font) by Authors: Jonathan Calugi, Francesco Canovaro, Cosimo Lorenzo Pancini, Andrea Mi, Debora Manetti, Katiuscia Mari. Purely Woman (Carmen's Font) by Sronstudio bangers.regular.ttf (Superhero Font) by Vernon Adams The title page and document background art is "cartoon-speech-bubble-blast-vintage-background-design-vector.png" by Starline https://www.freepik.com/author/starline#uuid=55df8411-fce4-44ba-b733-170fbef4bc58 Map image was created by this author (Doug Egan) using the author's purchased (licensed) copy of RPG-maker-MZ. https://rmmz.neocities.org/02 Map interaction macros (image-map-macro) written and shared by Malifacious Games https://github.com/MalifaciousGames/Mali-s-Macros/tree/main/image-map-macro Cover art was created by this author (Doug Egan) using a 3-D printed toy which was also designed by the author, but using freeware components adapted from the following creators: Brain adapted from "Articulated Brain" by Javier Almeida https://makerworld.com/en/models/2602496-articulated-brain#profileId-2871699 Skateboard adapted from "Print in Place Mini Skateboard (Tech Deck)" by An1lo https://makerworld.com/en/models/1196578-print-in-place-mini-skateboard-tech-deck?from=search#profileId-1288415 Both digital 3D models are used in compliance with creative commons licenses, linked through the listed websites. Image post-processing done by the author with photopea https://www.photopea.com/ and sketchpad io https://sketch.io/sketchpad/ CSS for the rocker switches on the settings page are credited to bandirevanth, at https://getcssscan.com/?ref=beautifulcheckboxes_header A large chunk of the CSS is borrowed (and adapted) from "Winter Over" by Emery Joyce and N. Cormier. A study of their code helped me to understand how to implement light and dark screen themes, as well as programming for cross-system compatibility. If you come across stylistic choices which don't look quite right for this game because I overlooked them when I modified the code to fit my themes, blame me. It all looked great in "Winter Over" Audio Assets: The intro theme music and ending theme music are both original compositions written and performed for this game by Tomato Nerd Garage Jams. Other sound assets came from freesounds.org. These include: Underwater sounds - loopable by carmsie -- https://freesound.org/s/329915/ -- License: Attribution 3.0 diving by Luisa_Sanchez -- https://freesound.org/s/816985/ -- License: Creative Commons 0 Door_Bell_campanello-porta_by-Wikingo-Voicemaker.wav by VoiceMaker -- https://freesound.org/s/546505/ -- License: Creative Commons 0 Limp Mass Hit Floor by BewareOfTheElmo -- https://freesound.org/s/739009/ -- License: Attribution 4.0 00733 girl folk scream 3.wav by Robinhood76 -- https://freesound.org/s/66949/ -- License: Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 Audio volume slider controls by ChapelR and SjoerdHekking https://github.com/SjoerdHekking/volume-slider-for-sugarcube2/tree/master?tab=readme-ov-file Author info and additional thanks The author's website is http://dougegan2.blogspot.com/ The author's email is dougegan2@gmail.com Search for other interactive fiction at https://ifdb.tads.org/ Please reach out to me (the author) with constructive feedback or to tell me about your experience with this game. Thanks to the denizens of all the related Twine and IF forums for helping me to learn this software. Thanks to the Scenery Stack community. The game you are playing now does not make use of the Scenery Stack libraries, however my past involvement with that community has helped me learn javascript. Scenery Stack is known more commonly as the javascript and typescript libraries used to create phet brand educational applications. https://phet.colorado.edu/ Development history: This game is based on ideas that have been percolating in my head since my last major competition entry in 2023. I've always wanted to write a mystery, but struggled with inspiration and planning. My inspiration crystalized around a first round seedcomp entry I wrote (also in 2023). I finally succeeded at planning when I recognized the importance of backward design. How does the mystery end? What skeletons did each of the major characters have to hide to serve as red herrings on the way to the correct ending? I was inspired by "Color the Truth" by Mathbrush for the interrogation engine. I studied the Inform code of that game carefully, but ultimately decided to write in Twine Sugarcube instead, a coding language with which I'm more familiar. Began writing: October 2025. First complete beta version: March 23, 2026. First public version published for IF Competition 2026 in September 2026. <<if $screenReader>><<back "Return to the story.">><<else>><<link "Close popup and return to the story.">><<run Dialog.close()>><</link>><</if>>

<<if tags().includes('loc') or tags().includes('safeReturn') or !$screenReader >> <<if $screenReader>> [[Notes and Credits|Notes]] <<else>> <<link "Notes and Credits">> <<script>> Dialog.setup("Notes and Credits"); Dialog.wiki(Story.get("Notes").processText()); Dialog.open(); <</script>> <</link>> <</if>> <<if $screenReader>> <<if tags().includes('loc') or tags().includes('safeReturn')>> [[Style Settings|Settings SR]] <</if>> <<else>> <<link "🎨Style Settings">> <<script>> Dialog.setup("🎨Style Settings"); Dialog.wiki(Story.get("Settings").processText()); Dialog.open(); <</script>> <</link>> <</if>> <<if $screenReader>> <<if tags().includes('loc') or tags().includes('safeReturn')>> [[Audio Settings|Audio Settings]] <</if>> <<else>> <<link "🔉Audio Settings">> <<script>> Dialog.setup("🔉Audio Settings"); Dialog.wiki(Story.get("Audio Settings").processText()); Dialog.open(); <</script>> <</link>> <</if>> <<if !$nohints>> <<if $screenReader>> [[Hints|HintMenu]] <<else>> <<link "Hints">> <<script>> Dialog.setup("Hints"); Dialog.wiki(Story.get("HintMenu").processText()); Dialog.open(); <</script>> <</link>> <</if>> <</if>> <</if>> <<if passage()!="reportONEtopic">><<link "🌓Toggle Dark Mode">> <<set $dark = ! $dark>> <<run Engine.show()>> <</link>><</if>>

@@.sidetitle;Deceit in the Guildhall of Virtue@@

@@.br;Did Captain Prodigious have a weakness?@@ Carmen Prodigious looks startled. @@.cp;You want to know if he was perfect? What an odd moment for you to ask that. My husband was full of imperfections. He struggled to connect emotionally with other people. He said yes to everything. Mermanx asked him to be the Guildhall President for life. He said yes. The police asked him to chair a crime fighting task force. He said yes. The mayor asked him to be on call twenty-four-seven with the Crime Fighter’s beacon, which casts a giant illuminated letter P against the clouds themselves. Yes. That was ages before he got his first cell phone. Now with the cell phone on all the time, my husband literally never sleeps. That’s his weakness. He's a workaholic. He doesn’t ever make time for his family. And now maybe he'll never have an opportunity to redeem himself for those weaknesses.@@ This is awkward. @@.br;I meant did he have any heroic vulnerabilities; some weakness his enemies might have used to defeat him. I didn't intend to pry about his shortcomings as a soulmate.@@ She blows her nose then wipes her eyes with a handkerchief which matches the green of her spandex then tries to compose herself. @@.cp;You want to know if there was some poison that could threaten his superpowers? Well there isn't. You'd best come up with some other theory to explain his collapse. Raul Prodigious is invincible. That’s what attracted me to him in the first place. We were married for eighteen years. Nobody is perfect for eighteen years. But our marriage was a good one, and this is the wrong moment for you to be asking around about his weaknesses.@@ The lady doth protest too much. Perhaps you should interview others about the solvency of their marriage. <<if visited() is 1>> <<newTopic "Tmarriage">> <</if>>

<<set _m0="@@.m;Raul and Carmen's private affairs are their private affairs. I would not be in the position I'm in as Raul's most trusted advisor if I were to trade gossip so casually.@@", _m1="@@.m;I already told you, their relationship is none of your concern.@@", _cp0="@@.cp;We were married for eighteen years. Of course there were occasional conflicts. None that we couldn't navigate.@@ @@.br;What did you fight about?@@ @@.cp;Mostly the amount of time he spent out in the field, compared to the time he spent at home with us. Raul was a workaholic. I'm sure you've noticed that about him yourself.@@", _cp1="@@.cp;You already asked me about this. The only source of conflict between us was the amount of time he spent away from home.@@", _c0="@@.c;When Joe and I arrived from our home planet as teenagers, we would hear Mr and Mrs P arguing a lot. That was almost fifteen years ago. Lately, she spends more time working with Joe on Guildhall business than she spends with Mr P. For the past year, Mr and Mrs P haven't been in the same room together often enough to fight.@@ @@.br;Do you know what the subject of their arguments were, back when you were teenagers?@@ @@.c;Joe and I tried not to listen in.@@", _c1="@@.c;You already asked me about this. They don't spend enough time together to be fighting with one another.@@", _j0="@@.j;Mr P is away a lot. Mrs P turns to the rest of our gang for her emotional support. I've never noticed it as a source of friction between them, though. They have a pretty independent relationship. He does his thing. She does hers.@@", _j1="@@.j;You already asked me about this. They each let the other do their own thing. They have too much independence from one another to feel any conflicts.@@", _b0="Xmarriage_b", _b1="@@.b;You already asked me about that. When I was younger, Mom was jealous that he wouldn't share his heroic vulnerabilities with her.@@", _s0="@@.s;Mr and Mrs Prodigious, trouble in paradise, eh? Our spies have recently spotted her canoodling with another man. Someone wearing a white jumpsuit. Take some time searching through the personal effects in her bedroom if you need evidence.@@", _s1="@@.s;I told you already, she's been seen canoodling with another fellow about town. I'm hardly surprised. Mrs Prodigious is a //fine// looking woman, but her husband hardly notices her. Search her bedroom if you need more evidence of the affair.@@" >> <<set setup.Omarriage={ "m":{"0": _m0, "1":_m1}, "cp":{"0":_cp0, "1":_cp1}, "c": {"0":_c0, "1":_c1}, "j":{"0":_j0, "1":_j1}, "b":{"0":_b0, "1":_b1}, "s":{"0":_s0, "1":_s1} } >>

<<set $SummArray=[]>> <<include OSreceipt>> <<include OScexcuse>> <<include OSfakestrips>> <<include OSfakelogon>> <<include OScpreturn >> <<include OScpexcuse>> <<include OSinvoice>> <<include OSpamphlet>> <<include OSid>> <<include OSfakegold>> <<include OSbootmatch>> <<include OSjexcuse>> <<include OSfraud>> <<include OSbill>> <<include "Oboot">> <<include "Ofinal">> <<include Oreservation>> <<include Oparty>> <<include Ocake>> <<include Ocomic>> <<include Oreceipt2>> <<include Okalecrate>> <<include "Ovulnerability">> <<set $Tmarriage=0>> <<include "Omarriage">> <<include "Oinitial">> <<set $TmeetA=0>> <<include "OmeetA">> <<set $Treceipt=0>> <<include "Oreceipt">> <<set $Tbeer=0>> <<include "Obeer">> <<set $Tgold>> <<include "Ogold">> <<set $Tbrochure>> <<include Obrochure>> <<set $Tstrips>> <<include Ostrips>> <<set $Tassay>> <<include Oassay>> <<set $Tkale>> <<include Okale>> <<set $Tkalebeer>> <<include Okalebeer>> <<set $Tpassword>> <<include Opassword>> <<set $Trendezvous>> <<include Orendezvous>> <<include Ophone>> <<set $TopicArray=[]>> <<script>> class TopicArray extends Array { constructor() { super(); }; }; let makeTopicArray= function() { let myArray= []; myArray.push(new setup.TopicClass("Tvulnerability","Tvulnerability","Did Captain P have any vulnerabilities?","Ovulnerability")); myArray.push(new setup.TopicClass("Tinitial","Tinitial","Where were you all morning, before Captain Prodigious collapsed?","Oinitial")); myArray.push(new setup.TopicClass("Tmarriage","Tmarriage","Did Mr and Mrs P ever have disagreements?","Omarriage")); myArray.push(new setup.TopicClass("TmeetA","TmeetA","What happened at the October sixth meeting?","OmeetA")); myArray.push(new setup.TopicClass("Tbeer","Tbeer","Show inventory: beer can from under Burt's bed.","Obeer")); myArray.push(new setup.TopicClass("Treceipt","Treceipt","Show inventory: liquor store receipt you found on Chloe's desk.","Oreceipt")); myArray.push(new setup.TopicClass("Tgold","Tgold","Show inventory: gold fabric from the Burt's closet.","Ogold")); myArray.push(new setup.TopicClass("Tbrochure","Tbrochure","Show inventory: //Illicit Rendezvous Motel// brochure.", "Obrochure")); myArray.push(new setup.TopicClass("Tassay","Tassay","Show inventory: crucifer assay strips from Chloe.","Oassay")); myArray.push(new setup.TopicClass("Tkale","Tkale","Would you believe, Captain Prodigious is allergic to kale?","Okale")); myArray.push(new setup.TopicClass("Tpassword","Tpassword","Why does Joe log on with Carmen's password (carmenp, iloveburt)?","Opassword")); myArray.push(new setup.TopicClass("Tkalebeer","Tkalebeer","Show inventory: kale spiked beer","Okalebeer")); myArray.push(new setup.TopicClass("Trendezvous","Trendezvous","Why were Joe and Carmen hooking up at a motel on October sixth?","Orendezvous")); return myArray; }; State.variables.TopicArray=makeTopicArray(); <</script>>

/*this page should not be reached without a defined $topicObj1, which should be erased at the passage end.*/ <<if def $inthead>> <div class='parent inline-flex-parent'> <div class='child inline-flex-child'> <<link "Navigate (or wait here)" $lastloc>><</link>> </div> <div class='child inline-flex-child'> <<link "Interrogate" Interrogate>><</link>> </div> </div> <</if>> <<set _nomsg=true>> <<if $topicObj2 == null>> <<if Story.has($topicObj1.handle)>> <<include $topicObj1.handle>> <<else>> Reviewing the history of responses to a question can bring your attention to suspects you've overlooked, or might in some cases open new lines of inquiry. <</if>> <<reviewTopic $topicObj1>> <<if ndef $inthead>> <<back>> <</if>> <<else>> <<set _combineTopics12=$topicObj1.handle+$topicObj2.handle>> <<set _combineTopics21=$topicObj2.handle+$topicObj1.handle>> <<set _combineTopics1W=$topicObj1.handle+"Wild">> <<set _combineTopics2W=$topicObj2.handle+"Wild">> <<if Story.has(_combineTopics12)>> <<include _combineTopics12>> <<elseif Story.has(_combineTopics21)>> <<include _combineTopics21>> <<elseif Story.has(_combineTopics1W)>> <<include _combineTopics1W>> <<elseif Story.has(_combineTopics2W)>> <<include _combineTopics2W>> <<else>> If there are connections or contradictions between these suspect testimonies, they are not obvious. You may need to complete more interviews, or add a second topic to your deductive analysis. <<if $GState<80 and $GState>50>> [[Return to summative gathering|Summate]] <</if>> <</if>> <</if>> <<set $topicObj2=null>> <<set $topicObj1=null>> /*delete both topic objects to prevent them from persisting in some future call.*/ /* <<reviewTopic $topicObj1>> <<reviewTopic $topicObj2>> */

Who among this team of virtue believed that Captain P could ever die? The closest he ever came was episode 158, published back in the nineteen sixties, when he was run over by a speeding locomotive. In the following episode it was revealed that he had remained on his back unscathed, elevating each train car directly above him, just a little as it passed, blowing constantly upward with his super powerful halitositic breath. Already you suspect foul play--an assassin within your own guildhall--but who and why? [[Burt Prodigious|Burt]] stands away from the body, hiding his emotions under the brim of a vintage fedora and behind his clunky black plastic glasses. Burt is Raul and Carmen's only child. The Wanda twins ([[Chloe]] and [[Joe]]) hold hands fraternally. Right now they are transformed into the shape of a mourning goat, and a bowl of hot chicken soup. You admire the creativity of the illustrators, that even transformed into soup and a goat they still have anthropomorphic hands to console one another. [[Mermanx]] is an enigma. He was the Captain's best friend and chief enforcer, but right now he is literally a fish out of water. @@.cp;He's not dead. He can't be.@@ [[Carmen|Carmen Prodigious]] announces resolutely. Mermanx attempts to comfort her by placing a wet fore-fin on her shoulder. She shivers at his touch. Joe and Chloe murmur their hopes that she is right. You remain stuck on the philosophical paradox of the situation. What does one call the incapacitation of an invincible man? Only Burt, not yet sixteen, acknowledges the likely truth of the matter, "Are you all daft? He's dead. My father is dead." [[Continue|cold open2]]

@@.br;Captain, can you hear me! Are you awake?@@ He does not respond. <<include 'count attempts'>>

You circle around his body to a better viewing location. The tight spandex he always wears should make it easy to watch for the rhythmic rise and fall of the chest. You detect no signs of breath. <<include 'count attempts'>>

Checking for pulse is tricky, since you're an animated brain in a jar with no hands. You instruct Carmen on how to take a pulse, which she does. Through tears she tells you, @@.cp;There is no pulse.@@ <<include 'count attempts'>>

The Guildhall of Virtue is in a secret location, inhabited by the most powerful superheroes on the planet. Captain Prodigious, and most of the rest of you, have alien anatomies which would just confuse the ambulance team. For both practical and security reasons, it just doesn't make sense to call civilian mortals for emergency medicine or for the detective work that will inevitably follow. You're on your own here, Brainioid. <<include 'count attempts'>>

You wish you could administer emergency resuscitation. You've read every medical textbook ever published, and know the latest best practices for performing CPR as it was taught by the Red Cross two weeks ago. But as a brain in a jar who moves around on a psionic skateboard, your physical ability to perform CPR is restricted. Plus, in the last two weeks, the Red Cross has likely already changed its recommended best practices. <<include 'count attempts'>>

The complex grooves and folds of your cranial matter increase surface area, endowing you with superior intellect. Brain scientists call these features gyri, but the animators are not brain scientists and often write you into story lines as a helpless intellect who needs rescue by a more physically powerful hero. Less often (but these are the stories you most enjoy) you'll be featured as the central detective character in a light mystery, often a morality play where the other guildhall members have gone to preposterous lengths to keep secrets from one another. When that all backfires, the gang calls on you to sort out their deceptions and bring a positive resolution to the caper. When you're in your superhero persona, like right now, the animators draw you with a cute mouth and eyes, moving around on a psionically powered vehicle. Recently that vehicle has been a skateboard. Your alter ego is a brain in a jar without a mouth, eyes or skateboard. By removing a single transparent cel from the top of the cel overlay, even a junior cartoonist can take you instantly out of costume. Lamest alter-ego costume ever.

The moment of solemnity doesn't last long before the various guildhall members begin bickering. Mermanx boasts, @@.m;I'm the chief of security. I'll take charge of the funeral arrangements, and assume my role as the new commander of our crime fighting team. I'm leading the murder investigation with my theory that Raul was served a poisoned beverage. You all don't mind that I call the Captain by his first name? Raul was closer to me than he was to any of the rest of you.@@ Chloe says, @@.c;Joe and I should handle the funeral arrangements. We're the youngest and most fit.@@ Burt argues, @@.b;I'm the youngest! You and Joe are practically middle aged. Do you think I'm too young to handle my father's funeral arrangements?@@ Joe says, @@.j;Twenty seven is not middle aged.@@ Mermanx blusters, @@.m;Greenland sharks live to be four hundred years old. All of you are mere guppies and fingerlings compared against my kind.@@ You bite your tongue not to reveal how much you despise Mermanx. Surely everyone must realize that you would be the more capable de facto leader? Carmen says, @@.cp;I'm his wife. It's my role to run the guildhall while he's incapacitated. And it's really the wrong time for all of you to be talking about funeral arrangements for a man who isn't certifiably dead yet.@@ It would be dangerous to allow any of these members to seize control before this mystery is resolved. You speak to the group, @@.br;Captain P was an important figure to all of us: friend, mentor, husband, father, leader. Whatever you call this state he is in now, death or not death, it was unexpected and it weighs heavily on our minds. Allow yourselves time to grieve before we commit to decisions or say anything we might regret later. Disperse to your rooms. Then after an appropriate interval we should meet back in this room to move the Captain's body.@@ [[Continue|cold open3]]

@@.b;Earlier this morning everything was normal. Dad came in and yelled at me to clean up my room. I told him to mind his own business and leave me alone. That's what I mean by normal. Then I heard him talking to Mom out in the atrium. He was leaving to chase a cat out of a tree. Any one of us could have taken care of that. It didn't have to be him. Three hours later I still hadn't cleaned my room. I was listening to headbanger music on the stereo. The volume was too loud to hear Dad come into the guildhall, but I heard Mom scream. When I arrived in the atrium he was already collapsed on the floor. The rest of the gang, except for Mermanx, were gathered around him. Mermanx arrived shortly after. I felt angry at my dad that the last thing he said to me was to clean my room. Then I felt angry at myself that I felt that way. You know what I think it was? Dad had some kind of vulnerability. Every superhero has one: kryptonite, or loud sounds, or yellow light. It's always something perfectly normal and environmental. If you could figure out Dad's vulnerability, we could nail the person who did this to him.@@ <<if visited() is 1>> <<newTopic "Tvulnerability">> <</if>>

@@.b;Does my father have a vulnerability? Every Superhero has a vulnerability. What kind of lame story would it be if we didn’t have vulnerabilities? Joe and Chloe have no power without the other. Mermanx dries out like a smoked salmon if he leaves the water for too long. People treat me like I’m just a kid. Mom blushes at the drop of pin, which makes it difficult for her to keep secrets from our enemies. You’re a brain in a jar. Sorry, no offense intended. None of these are disabilities. They are essential features which humanize us and make our superpowers that much more special.@@ @@.br;So what is your dad's vulnerability, exactly? What form of poison could bring him to his knees like we saw, in his own Guildhall?@@ @@.b;You know what I think it was-- Cat allergies. Makes perfect sense, right? He left to rescue a cat out of a tree. When he returned he was out of breath. This has never affected him in the past, but maybe it was a recent development. The writers thought he had become too powerful and wanted to bring more excitement to the series. Also, the head writer has always hated cats, ever notice that?@@

<<if (!visited("Xmarriage_b")) or (!visited("Xvulnerability_cp"))>> If there is any connection between these topics, you haven't discovered it yet. You'll need to complete more interviews. When the testimonies of different suspects seem to contradict one another, analyze the contradiction more carefully by combining those topics on the interrogation screen. [[Continue|Interrogate]] <<elseif ($GState<3) and ($charlocs["cp"] != $lastloc)>> Mrs Prodigious insists that her husband has no vulnerabilities. Burt remembers when he was young his parents used to argue over his Dad's secrecy around this matter. Carmen may not know precisely what her husband's vulnerabilities are, but she certainly knows more than she's telling you right now. Analyze these two pieces of information when Carmen Prodigious is present, and she may be willing to share more with you. [[Continue|Interrogate]] <<elseif ($GState<3) and ($charlocs["cp"] == $lastloc)>> @@.br;You told me your husband didn't have any vulnerabilities. But I know that you know that he did. Burt remembers when he was a young child, you and your husband would argue about his secrecy around this matter. You were upset that he wouldn't share this with you. Maybe you were even a little jealous that he would share his cryptic vulnerabilities with other confidants, but not with you.@@ Mrs Prodigious turns beet red, her lies exposed. @@.cp;I had no idea Burt knew that. I admit, I was aware my husband had a life threatening chemical sensitivity, much like other known superheroes have to kryptonite, or light with a wavelength of 580 nanometers. It was something organic, a food product maybe. Whatever it is has been poison to him for his whole life. He and Mermanx have worked together throughout their hero careers to keep it a secret from everyone else-- to protect Raul and to protect the guildhall. Maybe I was a little jealous of their relationship. But I swear to you I don’t know any more than that. Only Mermanx knows the details. Ask him.@@ @@.br;I can’t call Mermanx out of his aquarium. Without arms, I have no means to push the call button.@@ Mrs Prodigious blushes once more. @@.cp;I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but the Wanda Twins may have something to help you with pushing the aquarium call button. See them.@@ Mrs Prodigious stands and exits to the atrium. <<set $GState=3>> <<set $CState["j"]=9>> <<set $CState["c"]=10>> <<set $charlocs["cp"]="atrium">><<set $CState["cp"]=20>> <<link "Continue" $lastloc>><</link>> <<else>> You've already leveraged this combination of topics to force Carmen Prodigious to admit that she had always known her husband was not completely invulnerable. However, throughout their marriage Raul had always guarded against her discovery of the exact nature of his weaknesses. According to Carmen, only Mermanx knows the details. During this conversation, Carmen also revealed that the Wanda twins could provide something that would be useful in your quest for the truth. [[Continue|Interrogate]] <</if>>

<<if $GState<80>> No one but Mermanx has ever visited the bottom of his tank. According to architectural plans you've studied, this tank curves back under the rest of the building so that the atrium is actually located above the deepest region of the tank. The aquarium contains enough water to flood the entire city, which was a topic of concern in episode 5322 when the Alignment of Evil gang threatened to pull the drain plug. You are terrified to even be close to the water's edge. Two months ago, in episode 9475, an agent from the Alignment of Evil gang broke into the guildhouse and pushed you with your wheelchair into the salt water tank. The psionic wheelchair was everything to you. It was the equivalent of Iron Man’s mechanical suit, or Batman’s utility belt, a surrogate mechanical body which bestowed you with a physical prowess which equaled or even exceeded that of an ordinary human (this on top of your naturally superior intellect). The salt water instantly fried every electronic circuit, then rusted all the purely mechanical components within days. You've been nearly helpless since then. The psionic skateboard has been a feeble substitute. The writers have promised to make you whole again, to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of your origin story, but they've been keeping the release date of that issue under wraps. [[Continue|Aquarium]] <<elseif $GState>=85>> You've already achieved everything you needed to in the tank. You're happy now to remain on dry ground. [[Continue|Aquarium]] <<else>> <<include "end game entry">> <</if>>

The glowing green call button invites a gentle push. <<if $GState<5>> But right now you are unable. Your psionic wheelchair came equipped with devices for pushing call buttons, taking small objects, and even playing hopscotch. When the wheelchair fell in the water and rusted, you lost those powers. <<elseif $GState == 5>> Using your newly acquired pointer, you press the button once. It stops flashing, then nothing. You wait patiently. The water begins to stir. Then it parts. Mermanx rises toward you from the briny depths. <<set $GState=6>> <<set $charlocs["m"]="Aquarium">> <<elseif $GState>5 and $charlocs["m"]=="Aquarium">> @@.m;Leave my call button alone. I'm already here.@@ Mermanx scolds you. <<else>> You push and push, but nothing happens. Either Mermanx is out of the pool, or he isn't receiving guests right now. <</if>> [[Continue|Aquarium]]

@@.b;When I was a kid, they used to fight a lot. Not so much recently.@@ @@.br;What was the subject of their disagreements?@@ @@.b;They would have these whispering arguments with each other after I'd been put to bed when they thought I'd gone to sleep. But I could still hear them, and even at that age I could tell they were upset with each other. Dad was keeping secrets from her. Some of these were secrets he was willing to share with Mermanx, but not with her. She wanted to know what his vulnerability was. He wouldn't tell her.@@ @@.br;Your mom says he doesn't have any heroic vulnerabilities.@@ @@.b;Of course he does. What kind of lame story would it be if a superhero doesn't have vulnerabilities? Whatever toxin is affecting him right now could be something entirely new, but he's always had some kind of cryptic vulnerability. Mom knows it.@@ <<if !visited("Burt exit")>> [[Burt's attention is distracted by something on the floor near his bed|Burt exit]] <</if>>

Joe and Chloe hold hands. @@.c;Form of a space monkey.@@ @@.j;Shape of an ice ladder.@@ With a clap of thunder, Chloe becomes a chimpanzee with a pair of insect-like antennae growing out of her forehead. Joe is now an OSHA approved step ladder. Chloe opens a previously invisible wall closet, scrambles up the ladder to the top shelf, and retrieves a retractable pointing device. Back on the ground, she installs the mechanical device on your psionic skateboard. The closet shuts automatically, vanishing once again into the wall. @@.c;There, now you can push buttons,@@ Chloe says. @@.br;Thank you.@@ A tear of happiness wells in the corner of your enlarged cartoon eye. @@.c;Good luck,@@ they tell you before preparing to leave back to the atrium. <<set $GState=5>> <<if ndef $CyclecountC>> <<set $CycleCountC=0>><<set $CycleFunctionC="ChloeCycle">> <</if>>

The children of mere mortals cover their beds with sheets celebrating the most powerful superheroes. Burt would probably sooner die than sleep on bedsheets with pictures of his own family. His bedsheets have pictures of ordinary puppies and kittens. From the smell of it, they haven't been laundered in some time. <<if setup.getTopic("Tbeer").isOpen(null)>> There are probably more beer cans under the bed, and lord knows what other kinds of filth. You don't feel a need for that kind of fishing expedition. <<else>> Deep under the bed, between a pair of old sweat socks and a half eaten sandwich is a shiny cylindrical object which may warrant further investigation. <<if setup.isCharHere("b")>> Burt laughs, @@.b;You look like Inspector Poirot, snooping around under other people's beds looking for clues. Just kidding. Seriously, if you want to come back and clean my room, you're welcome to. Just wait until I'm not here.@@ <<elseif $GState<5>> There is a shiny cylindrical object under the bed, but you have no means to push it out. <<elseif $GState gte 5 and $GState < 20>> With your mechanical pointer, you push the sandwich aside (pastrami on rye, maybe), but when you poke at the cylindrical object it just rolls deeper under the bed. It feels like an empty aluminum can. If only you had some means to pull it out. <<elseif $GState gte 22 and $GState < 80>> There are probably more beer cans under the bed, and lord knows what other kinds of filth. You don't feel a need for that kind of fishing expedition. <<elseif $GState gte 80>> Burt has told you he would be happy to have you clean his room, but this is not the time. <<elseif $GState gte 20>> You use the mechanical pointer to push the sandwich aside (pastrami on rye, maybe). Then poke at the aluminum can. The can sticks to the chewing gum on the end of your pointer and you extract it from under the bed. It's a beer can: Flub's Red Ribbon, open, dented, mostly empty. There remain a few drops of amber liquid clinging to the bottom, sticky with the backwash of Burt’s saliva. You assume it was from Burt, although when Burt saw you snooping here earlier he insinuated that Chloe or the Captain may have drunk this. You aren't naïve. You know how common it is for teenagers to try alcohol before they are legally allowed to buy it. But his parents would be so upset if they knew. You hang on to the dented can, parking it on the end of your skateboard as evidence of Burt's youthful indiscretion. You also feel a hunch it may bear some connection to your present investigation, though it is not yet obvious what that connection will be. <<newTopic "Tbeer">> <</if>> <</if>> [[Continue|Burt's room]]

<<set _countMax=10>> <<switch $CycleCount>> <<case 0>> <<set $charlocs["b"]="Burt's room">><<set $CState["b"]=22>> <<case 1>> <<set $charlocs["b"]="atrium">><<set $CState["b"]=13>> <<case 2>> <<set $charlocs["b"]="East atrium">><<set $CState["b"]=13>> <<case 3>> <<set $charlocs["b"]="Wanda room">><<set $CState["b"]=13>> <<case 4>> <<set $charlocs["b"]="Chloe corner">><<set $CState["b"]=14>> <<case 5>> <<set $charlocs["b"]="Chloe corner">><<set $CState["b"]=21>> <<case 6>> <<set $charlocs["b"]="Chloe corner">><<set $CState["b"]=4>> <<case 7>> <<set $charlocs["b"]="Wanda room">><<set $CState["b"]=4>> <<case 8>> <<set $charlocs["b"]="East atrium">><<set $CState["b"]=4>> <<case 9>> <<set $charlocs["b"]="atrium">><<set $CState["b"]=3>> <<case 10>> <<set $charlocs["b"]="atrium">><<set $CState["b"]=20>> <</switch>> <<if ($charlocs["c"]==$charlocs["b"]) and ($CycleCount<5)>> <<set $CState["b"]=15>> <</if>> <<set $CycleCount+=1>> <<if $CycleCount>_countMax>> <<set $CycleFunction=null>> <<set $CycleCount=0>> <</if>>

You ask, @@.br;Where were you when Captain P collapsed?@@ @@.m;I’ve been in my aquarium all morning. I was tending the oyster beds when I heard a thump on the floor above. I figured out later that what I heard was Raul hitting the ground. Then I heard Carmen scream. Everyone else had already gathered by the time I arrived. I think it was the first time in months that the entire gang was together in one room and we weren’t all arguing with one another@@ You ask, @@.br;What do you mean by that?@@ @@.m;You'd know what I mean if you ever showed up at important Guildhall meetings. You've missed nearly every meeting since before September; that's two months of meetings.There've been several critical developments which place the security of our Guildhall in jeopardy.@@ You say, @@.br;I've heard the rumors. People are saying there is a mole from the Alignment of Evil gang in our guildhall.@@ @@.m;And do you believe those rumors?@@ You ask, @@.br;Do you care what I believe? You deliberately exclude me from meetings by scheduling them on days you know I have other commitments, even locking me out of the library, which I've been blocked from entering since before September.@@ Mermanx responds, @@.m;There will always be rumors. You weren't even in the guildhall the night of the October sixth meeting. To be fair, many others were also inexcusably absent that night. But they trickled in one by one for hours after the meeting was scheduled to end. So much drama that night. I'm not the one who locked you out of the library.@@ You refute, @@.br;You control the scheduling. It's your fault I'm never available to attend. You have my library key. It's at the bottom of your fish tank. I want it back.@@ @@.m;I never found your key. It must be lost in the corals somewhere. You should have had Raul print you a new one...while he was still able.@@ <<newTopic "TmeetA">>

You ask <<name $interogee>>@@.br;What do you know about the beer can under Burt's bed?@@ <<set _m0="@@.m;@@", _m1="@@.m;@@", _cp0="@@.cp;You found beer in Burt's room? As if I don't already have enough to worry about as a mother, and my teenage son is drinking beer. I may still have my collection of old VHS tapes with middle-aged men in superhero costumes delivering //Just Say No// messages to kids. Do you think that might help?@@", _cp1="@@.cp;Please stop reminding me of that. I'll sit down with Burt when I have a chance and tell him that I'm disappointed by his choices. @@", _c0="Xbeer_c", _c1="<<include 'Xbeer_c'>>", _j0="@@.j;Flub's Red Ribbon? My sister drinks that. Personally, I don't like beer. I prefer //PT hard sodas//. Do you want to see one of their advertisements?@@Joe misses your non-verbal signals that you don't want to rewatch one of these ubiquitous commercials, and pushes his phone in front of you anyway. //You've worked hard all day, creating internet content in your parent's basement (images of a young adult model wiping sweat off their brow). Now you deserve a cold one. It's PT time! (images of several young adults doing belly flops off a diving board in a public swimming area) Enjoy a PT hard soda in original hot honey apple flavor, or new avocado strawberry. PT malt beverages are manufactured by Participation Trophy Incorporated. Please Drink Responsibly.// @@.j;I don't know why that beer can would be in Burt's room. He's really too young to try alcohol.@@", _j1="@@.j;Like I said before, Chloe drinks that brand. I don't, and it surprises me that Burt would either. He's too young.@@", _b0="Burt laughs, @@.b;Ah, Inspector Poirot, you found a beer can under my bed. Chloe comes into my room sometimes and has a drink. She must have left it there.@@<<if $GState<22>><<set $GState=22>><</if>>", _b1="@@.b;I already told you, the beer can isn't mine. Ask Chloe about it @@", _s0="@@.s;Flub's Red Ribbon is a cheap low quality beer, but it's good to keep on tap at parties when your guests aren't very discerning. Wait-I hope you're not implying that I might have been the one littering Burt's room with empty beer cans. No. I haven't been inside your guildhall. Trust me on that.@@", _s1="@@.s;I'd rather drink piss-water from a urinal than drink Flub's beer in Burt's room. I haven't been inside your guildhall.@@" >> <<set setup.Obeer={ "m":{"0": _m0, "1":_m1}, "cp":{"0":_cp0, "1":_cp1}, "c": {"0":_c0, "1":_c1}, "j":{"0":_j0, "1":_j1}, "b":{"0":_b0, "1":_b1}, "s":{"0":_s0, "1":_s1}, name: "<<include 'beername'>>", desc: "Dbeer" } >>

<<set _countMax=8>> <<switch $CycleCount2>> <<case 0>> //Herein Mermanx leaves the room to go move the body <<set $charlocs["m"]="Aquarium", $CState["m"]=13>> <<case 1>> <<set $charlocs["m"]="East atrium", $CState["m"]=14>> <<case 2>> <<set $charlocs["m"]="East atrium", $CState["m"]=13>> <<case 3>> <<set $charlocs["m"]="atrium", $CState["m"]=14>> <<default>> <<set $charlocs["m"]="atrium", $CState["m"]=0>> <</switch>> <<if ($lastloc=="atrium") and ($charlocs["m"] == "atrium") and ($charlocs["c"] == "atrium") and ($charlocs["b"] == "atrium") and($charlocs["cp"] == "atrium") and ($CycleFunction!="FirstCycle")>> <<set $CycleFunction2="MermanxCycle2">><<set $CycleCount2=0>> <<else>> <<set $CycleCount2+=1>> <</if>>

<<set _countMax=5>> <<switch $CycleCount2>> <<case 0>> <<set $charlocs["m"]="atrium">><<set $CState["m"]=17>> <<set $charlocs["cp"]="atrium">><<set $CState["cp"]=17>> <<set $charlocs["c"]="atrium">><<set $CState["c"]=17>> <<set $charlocs["j"]="atrium">><<set $CState["j"]=17>> <<set $charlocs["b"]="atrium">><<set $CState["b"]=17>> <<set $GState=7>> <<case 1>> <<set $charlocs["m"]="Prodigious room">><<set $CState["m"]=18>> <<set $charlocs["cp"]="Prodigious room">><<set $CState["cp"]=18>> <<set $charlocs["c"]="Prodigious room">><<set $CState["c"]=18>> <<set $charlocs["j"]="Prodigious room">><<set $CState["j"]=18>> <<set $charlocs["b"]="Prodigious room">><<set $CState["b"]=18>> <<case 2>> <<set $charlocs["m"]="Prodigious room">><<set $CState["m"]=4>> <<set $charlocs["cp"]="Prodigious room">><<set $CState["cp"]=20>> <<set $charlocs["c"]="Prodigious room">><<set $CState["c"]=20>> <<set $charlocs["j"]="Prodigious room">><<set $CState["j"]=20>> <<set $charlocs["b"]="Prodigious room">><<set $CState["b"]=20>> <<set $GState=8>> <<case 3>> <<set $charlocs["m"]="atrium">><<set $CState["m"]=4>> <<case 4>> <<set $charlocs["m"]="East atrium">><<set $CState["m"]=4>> <<case 5>> <<set $charlocs["m"]="Aquarium">><<set $CState["m"]=16>> <<default>> <<set $charlocs["m"]="out of play">> <<unset $CycleFunction2 >><<unset $CycleCount2>> <<set $GState=9>> <</switch>> <<if def $CycleCount2>> <<set $CycleCount2+=1>> <</if>>

<<set _countMax=12>> <<switch $CycleCountC>> <<case 0>> <<set $charlocs["c"]="Wanda room">><<set $CState["c"]=2>> <<set $charlocs["j"]="Wanda room">><<set $CState["j"]=2>> <<case 1>> <<set $charlocs["c"]="East atrium">><<set $CState["c"]=1>> <<set $charlocs["j"]="East atrium">><<set $CState["j"]=1>> <<case 2>> <<set $charlocs["c"]="East atrium">><<set $CState["c"]=2>> <<set $charlocs["j"]="East atrium">><<set $CState["j"]=2>> <<case 3>> <<set $charlocs["c"]="atrium">><<set $CState["c"]=19>> <<set $charlocs["j"]="atrium">><<set $CState["j"]=19>> <</switch>> <<set $CycleCountC+=1>> <<if $CyclecountC>3>> <<unset $CycleCountC>><<unset $CycleFunctionC>> <</if>>

<<set _gen = "he">><<set _char = "Joe">><<set _sib = "Chloe">> <<if $lastloc=="Chloe corner">> <<set _gen = "she">><<set _char = "Chloe">><<set _sib = "Joe">> <</if>> @@.br;Mrs P said you had something for me that I could use to summon Mermanx from his pool.@@ _char smiles, as if _gen had been expecting you. @@.j;Join _sib and me in our common room.@@ _char exits to the common room. <<set $CState["j"]=11>> <<set $charlocs["j"]="Wanda room">> <<set $CState["c"]=11>><<set $charlocs["c"]="Wanda room">> <<set $GState=4>>

<<if $screenReader>> <<link "Play audio effect">><<audio ":all" stop>><<audio "intro_track" play>><</link>> <<else>> <<audio ":all" stop>> <<audio "intro_track" play>> <</if>> <<set $savename="Suspect Interviews">> The gang stares at one another for a long uncomfortable moment. Varied stages of grief and anger pass between them through their shifting expressions. Burt is first to break from the group, @@.b;Brainioid is right. I need to be alone.@@ He walks back to his room. Mermanx can't stay out of the water long. He shuffles back to his aquarium. Chloe and Joe both form the sign of the cross against their chests (an earthly custom they picked up after immigrating from a faraway galaxy as teenagers). Then they too walk back to their rooms. Carmen is the last to leave. She gives her husband's hand a final squeeze then walks north to her private quarters. <<newTopic "Tinitial">> <<set $GState=1>> [[Follow Carmen|Prodigious room]] [[Follow Burt|Burt's room]] [[Follow Chloe|Chloe corner]] [[Follow Joe|Joe corner]] [[Follow Mermanx|Aquarium]]

You ask <<name $interogee>>@@.br;What's up with the gold fabric in the Wanda common room?"@@ <<set _m0="@@.m;@@", _m1="@@.m;@@", _cp0="@@.cp;What a pretty piece of fabric. Have you ever thought about adding a gold turban as part of your costume? No, I really have no idea why Burt would be secreting away scraps of gold fabric. He's like a raven sometimes, I swear.@@", _cp1="@@.cp;I told you, I know nothing about Burt's collection of fabric scraps. @@", _c0="@@.c;I saw Burt was doing something with gold cloth; a craft project, I guess- maybe it was something for a school play?@@", _c1="@@.c;I told you, Burt was using gold fabric for some craft project.@@", _j0="@@.j;Burt bought the cloth and billed it to his father's account. It really cost much less than I would have expected. The fabric store sometimes runs discount sales for superheroes; we tend to buy up a lot of flamboyant costume fabric.@@", _j1="@@.j;I told you, Burt bought the fabric on his father's account. Paid less for it than I would have expected.@@", _b0="Xgold_b", _b1="@@.b;I told you, my dad commissioned me to sew a gold cape for him, for protection. I haven't finished it yet.@@", _s0="@@.s;According to recent intel, Captain Prodigious shields himself against any form of common or supernatural toxin by wearing a solid gold article of clothing. When he is wearing it, he is truly invulnerable. When he's not wearing the gold cloth, he's only mostly invulnerable. It has to be pure gold though; no cheap polyester gold lamé knock off. If he dresses in gold lamé, not only does he lose his protection, but he also risks being mistaken for the saxophone player in a low end strip club.@@ @@.s;Historically, he wore a gold undergarment so no one would see it. Word is out that he recently commissioned another guild member to sew a solid gold cape. He must not have been wearing either during this morning's... incident.@@", _s1="@@.s;I told you what I know. Unless he wears some garment made of gold, Captain Prodigious is not truly invulnerable. @@" >> <<set setup.Ogold={ "m":{"0": _m0, "1":_m1}, "cp":{"0":_cp0, "1":_cp1}, "c": {"0":_c0, "1":_c1}, "j":{"0":_j0, "1":_j1}, "b":{"0":_b0, "1":_b1}, "s":{"0":_s0, "1":_s1}, name: "snippings of gold fabric", desc: "Dgold", anly: "The gold fabric is completely bogus. It is composed of gold lamé interlaced with bronze threads to give it increased density. <<pushStopic 'Sfakegold' 'Sfakegold' 'The cloth Burt was using to sew a protective cape for his Dad was nothing but cheap polyester lamé' 'OSfakegold'>>" } >>

The chiffarobe is a heavy freestanding closet with space enough for both clothes on hangers or drawers for folded apparel. Why Burt needs one, you're not sure, since all the clothing he owns has been flung across the floor. <<if setup.isCharHere("b")>> @@.b;Isn't that a great piece of furniture? If you wait until I'm no longer in the room, I'll let you go in there and wash my laundry for me.@@ <<elseif $GState<5>> You have no means to open the chiffarobe to see if there are any clothes left inside. <<elseif $GState gte 5 and $GState < 20>> The drawers and doors of the chiffarobe all open outward. Pushing against them with your poker just makes them fit even more tightly into the frame. <<elseif $GState gte 80>> Burt has told you he would be happy to have you clean his room, but this is not the time. <<else>> Using the sticky end of your poker you are able to pull the drawers away from the frame. Nested on the lowest shelf is a bolt of gold fabric, thirty meters or more from the look of it. The roll of fabric is much too heavy for you to move, <<if setup.getTopic("Tgold").isOpen(null)>> but you've already gathered some of the smaller scraps to show around. <<else>> but there are also several scraps that have been cut out in odd shapes which you could carry around to show to others. <<newTopic "Tgold">> <</if>> <</if>> [[Continue|Burt's room]]

You ask <<name $interogee>>@@.br;What are these paper strips I found in Chloe's room?"@@ <<set _m0="@@.m;@@", _m1="@@.m;@@", _cp0="@@.cp;Those look like pregnancy test strips. Oh, dear: Chloe is certainly old enough, but she's from another galaxy. If she wants to start a family with a nice young man on this planet, they should meet with a qualified genetic counselor first.@@", _cp1="@@.cp;You showed me those already. I thought they were pregnancy test strips.@@", _c0="Xstrips_c", _c1="@@.c;I already told you, they’re test strips for detecting cruciferous superfoods.@@", _j0="@@.j;Those look like sobriety test strips. Not that I’ve ever seen one before.@@", _j1="@@.j;I told you, they look to me like sobriety test strips. They’re an alternative to electronic breathalyzers. Not that I would know about that either.@@", _b0="@@.b;That looks like a COVID test strip. Or whatever other virus is pandemic at the moment.@@", _b1="@@.b;You showed that to me. I said it looked like a medical diagnostic test strip.@@", _s0="@@.s;From the way you’re describing the paper strips, they sound like chemical test strips. Maybe Mermanx uses them to check for urine contamination in his pool.@@", _s1="@@.s;You told me about those already. My guess is they are test strips for the water quality in the aquarium.@@" >> <<set setup.Ostrips={ "m":{"0": _m0, "1":_m1}, "cp":{"0":_cp0, "1":_cp1}, "c": {"0":_c0, "1":_c1}, "j":{"0":_j0, "1":_j1}, "b":{"0":_b0, "1":_b1}, "s":{"0":_s0, "1":_s1}, name:"<<include 'stripname'>>", desc:"Dstrips" } >>

<<set _push = (visited('Joes homescreen')) ? 'Joes homescreen' : 'computer screen'>> Joe's computer is not the newest model by any means, but it is sufficiently modern to manage the guild hall accounts. <<if setup.isCharHere("j")>> @@.b;Brainioid, you're welcome to use the computer whenever I'm not here. But I'm busy doing important work right now.@@ You peek at his screen. He's playing Rockstar Superheroes, a massively multiplayer online game. His character is a slender young adult superhero who wears a rhinestone studded jumpsuit and sings country-western ballads. In other words, he's roleplaying himself. <<elseif $GState<5>> At present, you have no means to turn on the computer which is button activated. <<elseif $GState>80>> This is not the time for playing on the computer. <<else>> Using your poker, you <<link "push the button" _push>><</link>> on the back of the CPU cabinet. <</if>>

The card reader is a metal box roughly the height of an external CD player and square on top. However the slot in front is too narrow for a standard CD. The slot could only accommodate something which is flat and less than three inches across. Beneath the slot is a pair of green LEDs. A single black cable snakes out from the back and connects with the computer's CPU cabinet. <<if setup.isCharHere("j")>> @@.b;Brainioid, you're welcome to use the magnetic card reader whenever I'm not here. But I'm busy doing important work right now.@@ You peek at his screen. He's playing Rockstar Superheroes, a massively multiplayer online game. His character is a slender young adult superhero who wears a rhinestone studded jumpsuit and sings country-western ballads. In other words, he's roleplaying himself. <<else>> <<if def $idInSlot>> (First removing Burt's fake id card from the card reader. The LED bulbs flash briefly, then go back to their original state.) <<set _topic= setup.getSTopic("Sid")>> <<set _topic.setOpen(null)>> <<unset $idInSlot>> <</if>> <<if $heldItem=="">> You have nothing to insert in the card reader. <<else>> <<set _page=setup[$heldItem]>> <<set _link="Slide "+setup[$heldItem].name+" into the card reader.">> <<if (setup[$heldItem].name) == "Burt's fake ID">> <<link _link "card ready">><</link>> <<else>> <<link _link>> <<set _page=setup[$heldItem]>> <<replace "#output">>The object you are holding (<<print _page.name>>) would damage the electronics. <</replace>> <</link>> <</if>><</if>> <<if $heldItem!="">> <<include "Self inventory">> <</if>> <</if>>

The night table is a delicate piece of furniture with four spindly legs and a small wooden drawer. Carmen is the only one who ever touches it. <<if setup.isCharHere("cp")>> @@.b;Brainioid, that night table is very fragile. It will break if you keep running up against it as you are.@@ <<elseif $GState<5>> You have no means to open the night table drawer to search inside.. <<elseif $GState gte 5 and $GState < 20>> The night table pulls outward with delicate pearl handled knobs. Pushing against it with your poker just risks knocking the whole table over on its side.. <<else>> Using the sticky end of your mechanical pointer you gently pull the drawer out from the frame. <<if visited("take brochure")>> The drawer is completely empty. You cover your tracks by pushing it back into place. <<else>> Inside is a yellowed paper advertising brochure from a lodge on the outskirts of town: //Enjoy discretion and hospitality at the Illicit Rendezvous Motel//. [[Take the brochure|take brochure]] <</if>> <</if>> [[Continue|Prodigious room]]

The door is closed right now. The [[Bfoyer<-button]] on the wall beside the door can be used to open it. [[Continue|Foyer]]

Shady Figure says, "But that’s not why I came here. I can only give you what information I have. I've heard rumors of an illicit affair between Mrs Prodigious and one of the other members of the guildhall. You can probably find evidence of it in her bed side table." He fastens an electronic messaging device to the front of your skateboard. “In case you need to reach me again. I can’t stay here any longer. If any of the members of my gang see me talking to you, I’m toast. If the double agent in your guildhall sees us talking, we’re both toast.” You say, "I'm not sure I can get into her bedside table." The Shady Figure pulls his chewing gum out of his mouth, reaches one arm into the sanctum of the Guild Hall, and presses the wad of gum against the door button where it continues to hang like a shriveled skin tag. Shady Figure pulls his arm back outside just as the door is closing onto him. "Something for you to remember me by. Good luck." The door has closed between you and the Shady Figure, preventing further conversation. [[Continue|Foyer]] <<set $GState=19>>

@@.c;I might as well tell you, Captain P commissioned me to develop test strips to detect cruciferous vegetables. Why? I have no idea. These test strips turn red when they come in contact with extracts of broccoli, cabbage, kale, you know, crucifers. These things just light up when you dip them in borscht. You know what borscht is, right?@@ You're Brainioid. You know what borscht is: beet and cabbage soup. Of course these strips would turn red when you dipped them in beet broth. You're feeling put out that Captain P didn't invite you to develop the test strips in your own lab. So you ask. @@.br;What, exactly, are your qualifications for fabricating test strips for vegetable extracts?@@ @@.c;I took one semester of general chemistry at community college, before Joe and I dropped out to pursue our careers as a singing duo. That, and I have a Tik Tok channel with over a million subscribers about improving gut health. I'm a wellness influencer. Crucifers are the new superfood. They turn ordinary people into heroes. That's probably why Captain Prodigious wanted these strips: to increase his intake of superfoods. If you can think of any reason this might be related to the case you're investigating, come back and tell me about it. I might give you more.@@ <<if $GState<27>> <<set $GState=27>> <</if>>

You ask <<name $interogee>>@@.br;Did you know that Mr Prodigious is vulnerable to Kale and kale products?"@@ <<set _m0="@@.m;@@", _m1="@@.m;@@", _cp0="@@.cp;Vulnerable to kale? I did not know that; but it is consistent with what I had suspected based on overheard conversations between my husband and his sidekick Mermanx. I've never eaten kale myself. Before now I thought it was a kind of plastic. I certainly hope there is none around the Guildhall.@@", _cp1="@@.cp;I already told you, Raul's vulnerability to kale is news to me. I certainly hope there is none of it around the Guild Hall.@@", _c0="@@.c;No. I had no idea.@@ Chloe pales when she says this. She may be holding back some related information.", _c1="@@.c;I told you, no. I did not know that Captain Prodigious was vulnerable to anything.@@", _j0="@@.j;No. I didn't think Captain Prodigious was vulnerable to anything. Kale? Somewhere I read about that recently-oh, never mind. There is no kale in this place. We live in the Guildhall of virtue, not some last century Pizza Hut salad bar.@@ Joe appears to be hiding some information.", _j1="Joe refuses to entertain any more of your questions about kale. It seems to be a sensitive topic for him.", _b0="@@.b;Kale, huh? No, I really thought he was allergic to cats. But at the same time...it makes a lot of sense narratively. Kale is an ordinary vegetable which nobody would eat before it became popularized as a superfood. It is something my father's enemies could easily get their hands on, but would go unnoticed by his allies if it were half hidden on a salad plate beneath a wet slice of canned pear.@@", _b1="@@.b;You already asked me about kale. Your theory that my father's vulnerability was kale is intriguing.@@", _s0="@@.s;Captain Prodigious is vulnerable to kale. I know, right? Like who even knew that stuff was edible? Before fifteen years ago, it was only ever used as a bulk salad bar garnish. Telling people to eat it was like telling some chump in a tiki bar to eat the paper umbrella out of his cocktail. Then suddenly it took off as a superfood. Super flatulence- that's been our experience with it over here in the Alignment of Evil mess hall.@@", _s1="@@.s;I'm the one who filled you in originally about Captain Prodigious's vulnerability to kale. If I hear any more, I'll let you know.@@" >> <<set setup.Okale={ "m":{"0": _m0, "1":_m1}, "cp":{"0":_cp0, "1":_cp1}, "c": {"0":_c0, "1":_c1}, "j":{"0":_j0, "1":_j1}, "b":{"0":_b0, "1":_b1}, "s":{"0":_s0, "1":_s1} } >>

@@.b;When did you find that? Never mind, you must have picked it up when you were helping to tidy my room. I might as well tell you. My Dad commissioned me to sew him a solid gold cape. I figured he was just being vain; maybe he wanted to look like a professional luchador (since they're always dressing up to look like us). But he explained to me that he needed a gold cape to protect him against- against something. He wouldn't tell me what. He just said he would be vulnerable to some particular thing without the cape. He emphasized that the cape would only protect him if it was real gold.@@ @@.b;I bought some gold cloth, charged it to the guildhall budget, and started designing a cape. I haven't completed it yet. Obviously he must not have been wearing any gold garments this morning when he died.@@

<<if (!visited("Xstrips_c")) or (!visited("Xvulnerability_s"))>> If there is any connection between these topics, you haven't discovered it yet. You'll need to complete more interviews. <<else>> The test strips you found in Chloe's room are intended to test for trace amounts of cruciferous vegetables. Chloe was commissioned by Captain Prodigious to fabricate these test strips for him. Why Captain Prodigious selected Chloe instead of you for this scientific challenge is beyond even your Brainioid level of understanding, but no matter. Continuing the deductive process, Captain Prodigious knew he was vulnerable to trace amounts of kale. Kale is a cruciferous vegetable. Captain P commissioned Chloe to design these test strips to protect himself against potential kale exposure. You can now use these test strips yourself to assay for potential sources of kale contamination on materials in your inventory. <<removeTopic Tstrips>> <<newTopic Tassay>> <<set $GState=28>> <</if>>

@@.s;What were Captain Prodigous's vulnerabilities? If the Alignment of Evil gang could answer that question for certain, we would have dispatched him a long time ago. Except that recently we actually have been getting some promising intelligence. Your Captain may be vulnerable to something organic, possibly vegetative, possibly a food product, something green, Maybe arugula? Or what about that nasty stuff they pile on as garnish around the salad bar at low rent steakhouses. What do they call that stuff--kale? Is that actually edible? So yeah, he's probably vulnerable to kale. That's my intel.@@ <<if visited() is 1>> <<removeTopic "Tvulnerability">> <<newTopic "Tkale">> <</if>>

You consider the possible connection between these paper strips and Captain P's vulnerability. <<if !visited("Xstrips_c")>> The paper strips from Chloe's desk look to you like chemical test strips, though why does Chloe have them and what are they meant to test for? Or do they have some other purpose entirely? <<else>> Chloe confirmed that she designed these strips to assay for cruciferous vegetables. She was commissioned to manufacture them by Captain P himself, though her explanation for why he wanted these just doesn't hold water. Honestly, what the hell is a //superfood//? Then there is the even bigger mystery: why didn't Captain P just ask you to design the test strips. Surely you're more qualified in science than someone who took one semester of chemistry at community college before dropping out. <</if>> <<if $GState gte 3>> Even before speaking to Mrs Prodigious earlier, you suspected the Captain had a heroic vulnerability, because what else could explain his sudden collapse? Under the pressure of your interrogation, Mrs P eventually confessed she knew he'd been afflicted by a life-long vulnerability but she could provide no other details. <<if !visited("Xvulnerability_s")>> Without knowing the specific nature of Captain P's vulnerability, there isn't anything you can do to test for it. <<else>> **this message was reached in error. report error12** <</if>> If there is any connection between these topics, you haven't discovered it yet. You'll need to complete more interviews <</if>>

<<set $charlocs={ m:"", cp:"", c:"", j:"", b:"", s:"", rp:"" } >> <<set $SummArray=[]>> <<if $GState==80>> Carmen collects your smaller physical inventory for safe keeping. All your friends wish you safety and cheer you forward. Driving your shiny new psionic wheelchair down the slope at the water's edge is both exhilarating and terrifying. Will the chair actually survive the water as advertised, or will it sink to the bottom and rust like the last one? <<set $GState=81>> /*the following should close all known topics*/ <<for _i to 0;_i<$TopicArray.length;_i++>> <<set _topicObj= $TopicArray[_i]>> <<run _topicObj.setClose(null)>> <<run _topicObj.setOpen("x")>> <</for>> <</if>> <<if $screenReader>> <<link "Play audio effect">><<audio ":all" stop>><<audio "diving" play>><</link>> <<else>> <<if $aquaticAudio>><<audio ":all" stop>><<audio "diving" play>><</if>> <</if>> Through your thoughts alone you command the powerful motors which propel the chair. The water rises first to the axle, then to the top of the wheels, and finally the cold water closes around you entirely. Yet the wheelchair still pushes forward, its motors and psionic circuits undamaged by the saline. More miraculous than that, you find you can breathe underwater. Gauges on the compressed oxygen tanks indicate that you should have enough time to complete your mission; barring any unexpected circumstance. Suddenly the floor drops out and the chair pitches forward. You've driven past the aquarium's facsimile of a continental shelf. [[This is it, you think. You're done for.|Kelp garden]] <<set $savename="Chasing Mermanx">>

<<if previous()=="walk directly into aquarium">> <<if $screenReader>> <<link "Play audio effect">><<audio ":all" stop>><<audio "underwater" play>><</link>> <<else>> <<if $aquaticAudio>><<audio ":all" stop>><<audio "underwater" loop play>><</if>> <</if>> A bank of propellers mounted around the sides and bottom of the chair kick into gear. The chair wobbles a moment then rights itself, the angle of each propeller adjusting automatically to slow your descent and guide you to a safe landing site. The chair comes to rest inside an open (and fortunately unoccupied) giant clam shell within a lush underwater landscape. <</if>> You are surrounded by thick gardens of kale, their frilly leaves undulating in the gentle seafloor current. Not kale. Gardens of kelp. Your imagination is getting ahead of your logic. Your sleuthing must remain grounded in evidence. [[The kelp bed thins to the west.|coralgarden]] [[Or you could ascend back to the surface.|back to surface]]

/* 80 has aquired the LPW 81 has entered the pool 85 has acquired the key 87 Mermanx has closed the drain cover */ <<print either("A shark", "An octopus", "A clown fish", "A dolphin", "A sea turtle", "A squid", "A cuttlefish", "A tetra", "An albacore", "A seabass", "A skipjack tuna" )>> <<print either("swims","darts","dives")>> past your field of view. <<if $GState<85>> <<if previous()=="coralgarden">>As you move into the deepest pocket of the aquarium, the water clears and the spherical floats you saw from the middle room resolve themselves into eight large balloons, each a different color. <</if>> This area must be directly below the east atrium: A beam of light shines in through the atrium drain, which from this perspective is located high above on the ceiling. Each balloon is tethered by a hemp cord to a single large crate buried in the kelp. The crate is wooden and measures three meters by three meters on top. It is buried too deep in the kelp for you to judge its height. As large as the crate appears, the combined volume of the balloons is even larger and the ropes strain to lift it out of the muck toward the surface. The forces are in equilibrium right now, but just the smallest shift and the whole system is likely to start floating upward. A shiny [[metallic object|bronze key]] located near the base of the crate catches your eye. <<elseif $GState==85>> Mermanx has succeeded in removing the massive crate of kale from the aquarium. You can feel and hear a clank reverberating through the water from directly above as Mermanx replaces the atrium drain cover and disappears from your line of sight. <<set $GState=87>> <<else>> The water around you is much cloudier now, the silt having been stirred up when the crate was lifted out of the kelp bed. The drain cover is once more in position high above you, only now hardly any light gets through at all. <</if>> [[Wait in place|tankbottom]] [[Rise to the surface.|tanktop]] [[Go east to the coral garden.|coralgarden]]

<<if $GState==85>>You can hear and feel a clank reverberating through the water from the west as Mermanx reseals the atrium drain cover <<set $GState=87>><</if>> <<if visited("coralgarden")==1>> The aquarium's central area is a dark arena covered by a vaulted ceiling. The ceiling must be strong enough to support the floor of the aquarium entrance, which must be directly above. Dim reflections can be seen at the far east and west ends of the expanse, where small openings in the ceiling allow in at least some light. But this middle area is dark enough to feel like a crypt. A photometer on the arm of the psionic wheelchair clicks twice, then a pole extends up from the back. An arc lamp searchlight mounted on the top of the pole ignites, brightening the vast space around you. <<else>> Your automatic searchlight ignites once again. <</if>> You are treated to a dazzling rainbow of coral colors and shapes. Schools of vibrantly colored fish dart between the corals. An octopus swims past, but she is startled by your searchlight and quickly disappears. A [[debris pile|wreck]] has collected at the side of a particularly stunning red coral. <<if previous()=="Kelp garden">> The floor slopes gently down in the direction you are travelling, toward the west, the deepest end of the tank. <<elseif previous()=="tankbottom">> The floor slopes gently up in the direction you are travelling, toward the east, near the aquarium exit. <<else>> The floor slopes gently downward from east to west. <</if>> Even with the searchlight you can’t see much detail at the far distant ends. To the east is the kelp bed, where you originally landed. <<if $GState==81>> To the west you can just make out an odd collection of spherical floats, tethered to some unseen object on the seafloor bottom. These tethers prevent the floats from rising any higher, for now. <<else>> To the west you can just make out a rectangular depression in the seafloor silt where the Mermanx's half buried crate of kale left its impression. <</if>> The water is too cloudy to see more detail from here. [[Explore the lowest part of the tank, to the west.|tankbottom]] [[Return to the kelp garden, to the east.|Kelp garden]]

/* 80 has aquired the LPW 81 has entered the pool 85 has acquired the key 87 Mermanx has closed the drain cover */ <<if $GState<85>> The chair's bank of propellers lifts you gently to the surface. You can see through the slotted drain cover into the atrium above, but you can not enter from here. The water is clear. There is not much else you can do here right now. <<elseif $GState==85>> At your psionic command the entire bank of propellers engage simultaneously. The chair accelerates upward fast enough that you may be at risk for decompression sickness. This is still not fast enough to catch up with the rising crate. By the time you reach the surface, Mermanx is already lifting the crate out of the water. You struggle to claw your way onto the ladder. Even with a luxury psionic wheelchair, this pool exit is not ADA compliant. Mermanx has finished removing the heavy crate and all of its attached balloons from the tank. He easily shakes the ladder away from your grip then removes that from the pool and replaces the drain cover. With the slotted drain now back in place, exit directly to the atrium from this location will not just be a physical challenge, but likely impossible. <<set $GState=87>> <<else>> The chair's bank of propellers lifts the chair gently to the surface. Mermanx is gone now, having taken the temporary ladder with him. The drain cover is back in place blocking access to the atrium from this direction. The water is cloudy from all the muck that got stirred up when the crate was pulled off the bottom. The seafloor is invisible from here <</if>> <<if $GState>81>>[[Find a way out the top|opendrain]] <</if>> [[Sink back to the bottom|tankbottom]]

<<switch visited()>> <<case 1>> The slots in the drain cover are only a finger width wide; you won't be able to pass through. You'll have to push it out of the way. You poke at it with your old mechanical pointer. It doesn't budge. You pull at it with your newfound claws, and manage to pull yourself a short way out of the water. Then you fall back in with a splash. <<case 2>> You try again. This time you push up against the drain grate with your mechanical claws. The grate is several feet above the water surface, so the mechanical arms barely reach. When you push against the grate, the rest of the wheelchair is pushed underwater. The upward force of the propellers is unable to compensate. When you release the grate, the wheelchair bobs on the surface. <<case 3>> Try again. You try another angle to pull on the grate above you. Your claws aren’t designed for this kind of work, and your brand new metal appendages are already getting scratched and worn. Better try something else. <<default>> The grate above you is closed and sealed. You're going to damage your new psionic wheelchair if you continue to bang at it with your claws. This exit strategy is hopeless. <</switch>> [[Keep trying|opendrain]] [[Think of something else|tanktop]]

Scattered amongst the coral are pieces of metal debris which must have washed over to this area from the crash site of your previous wheelchair. The only piece with any salvage value is your old laboratory key card, now covered in algae. But you've already got a replacement for that, so no need to bother taking this one. [[Return|coralgarden]]

You activate the propellers embedded around your chair and aim them to drive you back up to the surface. There is a rush of water pushed aside by your rapid ascent, creating visible eddy currents on the sides of your glass bell jar. Once back on solid flooring you drive the chair forward, up the ramp and back on dry ground <<if $GState!=87>> <<include "Aquarium">> <<else>> <<include "EG Aquarium">> <</if>> <<audio "underwater" stop>>

The shiny metal object is your old bronze library key! It must have drifted down here after the crash. [[Take the key.|Take the key]] [[Leave it be.|tankbottom]]

<<set $GState=85>> The key is stuck deep in the muck, and one end of it trapped beneath the bulk of the large crate. You would have no chance to pull it out if you were limited to your old metal pointer and chewing gum. However, the new psionic wheelchair comes equipped with a pair of bionic pincers. Using one of these to tip the crate upward, you grab the key with the other pincer. The crate, now tipped upward, doesn't fall back down again. In fact, under the buoyant force of the balloons, it begins to rise out of the kelp bed, now out of your control. The crate, it turns out, is at least as tall as it is wide, and as it rises you can read some stencil print on the side. The box rises quickly. The murky waters swirl around it making the sans-serif stencil block font even more difficult to read. The central word is four letters. The waters swirl, confusing your eyes and making it difficult to be sure what you've seen. You catch sight of a "K". Ambiguous letter, "A", ambiguous letter, "E". 0.100 Megagrams of KALE. Acme Corporation. <<pushTopic "Tkalecrate" "Tkalecrate" "Mermanx has been hiding a 0.100 Megagram crate of kale at the bottom of his aquarium." "Okalecrate">> A change in the lighting above you draws your attention back to the opening in the ceiling. The drain cover has been removed. Mermanx is hanging off a temporary pool ladder, pulling at the crate with his own hemp cable. Buoyed by the floats and assisted by Mermanx's strong lifting force, the crate rises quite rapidly. Seeing that he's got your attention, Mermanx waves. His lips curl in a cryptic grin. You aren't sure exactly what evil Mermanx has planned. But you know that crate contains enough kale to wipe out an entire army of Prodigii. You must do something. You must stop him. [[Rise to the surface and confront Mermanx right now.|tanktop]] [[Go east to the coral garden.|coralgarden]] [[Wait and observe.|tankbottom]]

You race into the East atrium. The drainage grating is back in its place as if it had never been moved. A pair of wet, web-shaped footprints lead west. [[Race back to the Aquarium|EG Aquarium]] [[Race into the main atrium|EG atrium]] There are also north and south exits into your room and the Wandas' common room respectively, neither of which seem important right now.

You're at the entrance of Mermanx's watery underground lair. This room is enormous, larger in surface area than the rest of the guildhall combined, and larger in volume than fifty guildhalls. Most of that space, however, is underwater, completely inaccessible to you<<if $GState>=80>> before now<</if>>. A pair of wet, web-shaped footprints lead west. [[Race into the atrium. You must catch Mermanx|EG East Atrium]]

In Carmen's haste to pursue Mermanx into the library, she dropped a rare comic book she'd been carrying. You pick it up to examine it. This magazine Carmen dropped is an original, unopened edition of the 1970s comic book which introduced your character to the series. Your origin story. It is dated fifty years ago, October 27. Still sealed in the original cellophane wrapper, this book must be priceless! The inner wrapper is itself encased in a more modern ziplock wrapper, to protect the cellophane itself from devaluation by oily fingerprints. <<pushTopic "Tcomic" "Tcomic" "What was Carmen doing with a fifty year old comic book?" "Ocomic">> <<if !visited("Examine the receipt")>> Taped to the ziplock bag is a receipt, and though the ziplock bag could be easily replaced (while wearing gloves), the application of an adhesive to even the outer packaging feels like a careless mishandling of this collector's item. [[Examine the receipt]] <</if>>

The receipt appears unrelated to the comic book, though perhaps both acquired by the same person on the same day. The receipt is from the ACME bakery, for one 0.100 Megagram Cake. That's spelled c‑a‑k‑e, not k‑a‑l‑e, for the price of $169.95. You remove the receipt from the ziplock bag, and do your best to wipe off the glue residue from the surface of the precious zip lock bag. <<pushTopic "Treceipt2" "Treceipt2" "Why would anyone buy such a large cake?" "Oreceipt2">> [[Look again at the magazine|Examine magazine]]

You're back in the guildhall's majestic main atrium. <<if visited()==1>> Carmen Prodigious is here. She waves frantically @@.cp;Mermanx just ran past me. He's headed through our bedroom into the Library. I'll chase him in from this direction, but you ought to run over to the other library entrance by the foyer to prevent him from escaping out that way. Hurry!@@ Carmen follows a trail of wet, web-shaped footprints into her bedroom to the north. In her haste she drops something: a thin book, perhaps. <</if>> [[Examine the thin book.|Examine fake magazine]] [[Race back to the east atrium.|EG East Atrium]] [[Race into the foyer.|Foyer]] <<set $savename="Revelation">>

You ask <<name $interogee>>@@.br;What do you know about this vintage comic?"@@ <<set _cp0="Carmen blushes a little @@.cp;I bought that from a vendor at Comic-Con, when Raul and I were there signing autographs last week. I must have dropped it when I was chasing Mermanx into the library. I'm glad you found it. I bought it for you. I hope you like it.@@", _cp1="You show the comic to Carmen once again. She makes a gesture of pushing it back in your direction. @@.cp;That's for you to keep.@@", _b0="Burt turns the wrapped magazine over in his hands, @@.b;Wow, Brainioid, this is your origin story. It even has the original advertisement on the back cover for X-ray glasses. //Now even ordinary mortals can see through walls, just like Captain Prodigious//. Here's another ad for Sea-Monkeys. I've seen scanned copies online before, but they never include the back cover ad. An original like this one must be worth a fortune.@@", _b1="@@.b;Mom bought that at Comic-Con. She and dad were there last week signing autographs. She wanted you to find it. You should keep that in a safe place and treasure it.@@" >> <<set setup.Ocomic={ "cp":{"0":_cp0, "1":_cp1}, "b":{"0":_b0, "1":_b1}, name:"rare comic edition", desc:"Dcomic" } >>

You ask <<name $interogee>>@@.br;Why did someone buy such a large cake?"@@ <<set _cp0="@@.cp;Oh dear, that must have been stuck to the comic book I dropped. That was on there when I bought the comic. Must have been from someone else.@@", _cp1="@@.cp;Shouldn't you be in the foyer, preventing Mermanx's escape?@@", _b0="@@.b;You tell me what this receipt means.@@", _b1="@@.b;Talk to me again when you have a revised theory of today's events.@@" >> <<set setup.Oreceipt2={ "cp":{"0":_cp0, "1":_cp1}, "b":{"0":_b0, "1":_b1}, name:"ACME bakery receipt", desc:"Dreceipt2" } >>

You ask <<name $interogee>>@@.br;Did you know that Mermanx has been storing a 0.100 Megagram crate of kale at the bottom of his tank?"@@ <<set _cp0="@@.cp;That's what you expected to find in his tank. That's why we sent you down there, right?@@", _cp1="@@.cp;Run to the foyer and look for Mermanx.@@", _b0="@@.b;It's almost as if you were meant to find that.@@", _b1="@@.b;You tell me what this discovery means. Talk to me again when you have a revised theory of today's events.@@" >> <<set setup.Okalecrate={ "cp":{"0":_cp0, "1":_cp1}, "b":{"0":_b0, "1":_b1} } >>

You ask <<name $interogee>>@@.br;Why did Captain Prodigious reserve the library for today?"@@ <<set _cp0="@@.cp;Burt reserved the library for some event he started planning three weeks ago. Under the circumstances, I expect it will be rescheduled.@@", _cp1="@@.cp; Shouldn't you be in the foyer, preventing Mermanx's escape?@@", _b0="@@.b;I expect you'll surmise the answer to that soon enough.@@", _b1="@@.b;Talk to me again when you have a revised theory of today's events.@@" >> <<set setup.Oreservation={ "cp":{"0":_cp0, "1":_cp1}, "b":{"0":_b0, "1":_b1} } >>

The comic book has the same date as the Library room reservation, exactly fifty years apart. The Library must have been reserved to celebrate the anniversary of this issue. <<removeTopic Tcomic>> <<removeTopic Treservation>> <<pushTopic "Tparty" "Tparty" "The library is reserved for a party to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of your origin story" "Oparty" "50th anniversary party">> <<if !visited("Examine the receipt")>> The receipt on the front cover of the comic is worth another look. [[Examine it.|Examine the receipt]] <<else>> [[Continue|Interrogate]] <</if>>

Throughout the day you've been chasing down evidence of a conspiracy to bring 0.100 Megagrams of kale into the guildhall. You even witnessed Mermanx lifting a crate with that label up out of the aquarium. Although now on reflection you realize that every fragment of evidence supporting that conclusion was either smudged, blurred or garbled. The receipt you found taped to the packaging around the comic dropped by Carmen in the atrium is from the ACME bakery, for one 0.100 megagram cake. What if you've been misreading the evidence? What if it was a cake all along? <<removeTopic Treceipt2>> <<removeTopic Tkalecrate>> <<pushTopic "Tcake" "Tcake" "Your friends have conspired to import a 100 kg cake into the guildhall" "Ocake" "That's CaKe not KaLe!">> [[Continue|Interrogate]]

You ask <<name $interogee>>@@.br;Is there an anniversary party being set up in the library?"@@ <<set _cp0="@@.cp;That's a rather wild conclusion!@@Carmen exclaims, her cheeks reddening.", _cp1="@@.cp;Go back to the foyer.@@", _b0="@@.b;Interesting theory. Talk to me again when you have more.@@", _b1="@@.b;Talk to me again when you have more.@@" >> <<set setup.Oparty={ "cp":{"0":_cp0, "1":_cp1}, "b":{"0":_b0, "1":_b1} } >>

You ask <<name $interogee>>@@.br;Has someone recently ordered a very large cake?"@@ <<set _cp0="@@.cp;Someone ordered a 0.100 Megagram cake? That's a hundred kilograms; an absurd size for a cake. I don't believe it.@@", _cp1="@@.cp;Go back to the foyer.@@", _b0="@@.b;That's for you to figure out.@@", _b1="@@.b;I'm not giving you any hints. Keep looking for evidence and making connections.@@" >> <<set setup.Ocake={ "cp":{"0":_cp0, "1":_cp1}, "b":{"0":_b0, "1":_b1} } >>

What really happened on October sixth? <<set setup.Ocomic={ "cp":{"0":_cp0, "1":_cp1}, "b":{"0":_b0, "1":_b1} } >>

The library has been reserved for a party to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of your origin story. Several of your friends have conspired to bring a //very// large cake into the guildhall. Your friends have planned a surprise party for you, and are waiting for you in the library! <<removeTopic Tparty>> <<removeTopic Tcake>> <<pushTopic "Tfinal" "Tfinal" "I love a surprise party! Is this what you were actually discussing on the night of October sixth?" "Ofinal" "Your friends bought you a fiftieth birthday cake!" >> [[Continue|Interrogate]]

You ask <<name $interogee>>@@.br;What do you know about these test strips?"@@ <<set _m0="@@.m;@@", _m1="@@.m;@@", _cp0="@@.cp;Now you have a way to test for the toxin that disabled my husband! Chloe is a genius for making these. And Brainioid, you deserve some credit also.@@", _cp1="@@.cp;You showed me those already. I’m so thrilled you’re making progress on this case.@@", _c0="@@.c;Interesting theory you’ve got, that Captain P wanted these to protect him against poison, and not because crucifers are such an important superfood. If it helps with your investigation, I'll give you this full vial for free. Combine them with other materials to test for crucifers.@@ @@.c;You can thank me later that I've given you such a discount for your first vial. Please don't tell my social media subscribers about your theory. It would hurt my reputation as a gut health influencer if word got out that Captain Prodigious was poisoned by Kale.@@<<if $GState<30>><<set $GState=30>><</if>>", _c1="@@.c;I’m glad you’re finding my test strips useful. Have you discovered any trace crucifers around the guild hall yet?@@", _j0="@@.j;Wow. Chloe made test strips to assay for chemicals that might hurt the Captain. I never realized she was so smart. Can you explain to me again what //assay// means? Use simple words this time.@@", _j1="@@.j;Chloe is so smart, isn’t she? And since the last time you asked, I looked up the word //assay// on the internet. It means a chemical test for something. Why didn’t you just say that?@@", _b0="@@.b;So you’re telling me that Captain Prodigious had Chloe make test strips to protect him from poisoning by Kale. That’s weird. Why didn’t he just ask you to make them? You’re the smartest one in the guildhall.@@", _b1="@@.b;You told me about those already. Have you used them to advance your investigation of my father’s death?@@", _s0="@@.s;Test strips for crucifers. Brilliant! I need some of those to protect me against brussel sprouts. Those little buggers can get into your bacon and onions to completely ruin the flavor of the bacon and onions.@@", _s1="@@.s;You told me about those test strips. Sounds like you’re making real progress on this case. I wish I could help more, but I’m getting a massage right now.@@" >> <<set setup.Oassay={ "m":{"0": _m0, "1":_m1}, "cp":{"0":_cp0, "1":_cp1}, "c": {"0":_c0, "1":_c1}, "j":{"0":_j0, "1":_j1}, "b":{"0":_b0, "1":_b1}, "s":{"0":_s0, "1":_s1}, name:"<<include 'assayname'>>", desc:"Dassay", anly:"The test strips are completely bogus. They turn red or remain white almost at random, when tested against a set of known standards. They are entirely worthless for detecting the presence of kale. You're not surprised, really. But the question remains: was Chloe being malevolent when she fabricated these for Captain Prodigious, or is she merely incompetent? <<pushStopic 'Sfakestrips' 'Sfakestrips' 'The protective test strips Chloe provided to Captain Prodigious are worthless fakes.' 'OSfakestrips'>>" } >>

<<if $GState<30>> You only have one assay strip right now. Go ask Chloe to give you more. <<else>> You dip the test strip in the residue of amber liquor clinging to the bottom of the dented beer can. Almost immediately the test strip turns red- a positive result. The beer contains kale or another cruciferous vegetable. This may well have been the method used to poison Captain Prodigious <<removeTopic Tbeer>> <<newTopic Tkalebeer>> <<set $GState=32>> <<if setup.isCharHere("c") and setup.isCharHere("b")>> With Chloe and Burt both in the room together, you repeat the test strip assay on the beer residue for them. You hope this performance works, because the test strip has absorbed the last remaining liquid from the can. The can is now dry and will no longer be a valuable source of evidence to you. [[Burt and Chloe come clean]] <<elseif setup.isCharHere("c") >> <<include "Xkalebeer_c">> <<elseif setup.isCharHere("b")>> <<include "Xkalebeer_b">> <<else>> <<link "Continue" $lastloc>><</link>>. <</if>> <</if>>

<<if visited("Burt and Chloe come clean")>1>> You've already learned about Burt's fake ID, and Chloe's clumsy efforts to cover for him by claiming the receipt belonged to her. <<else>> <<removeTopic Tbeer>> <<removeTopic Tkalebeer>> @@.br;Do you both understand what these test results mean?@@ Both of them nod. Both of them are visibly terrified. Just to be sure of their understanding, you spell out the trail of evidence. @@.br;I found these beer cans in Burt’s room today. They were nearly empty, but these test strips Chloe provided reveal they contain an extract of kale or some other cruciferous vegetable which would be poisonous to Captain Prodigious. The Flub’s Red Ribbon brewing company does not use kale in any of its products. The kale must have been added by the person who opened and served it, which was likely also the person who bought it. I want to know who bought it.@@ Burt explodes with nervous energy @@.b;I didn’t buy that beer. Chloe did. Chloe came into my room to drink then left the can under my bed. Chloe and I are friends.@@ Chloe says, @@.c;Burt, listen to yourself. This game has gone on long enough. If you don’t tell the truth, I’m going to be arrested for the murder of Captain Prodigious. Just tell Brainioid the truth.@@ Burt has always been so stoic. You've never seen him cry, but in this moment he breaks. Tears flow from his eyes. @@.b;Chloe is right. I bought the beer. I opened it. I drank it. But I swear to you, I have no idea how the kale got in there and I didn’t serve any of it to my father. He would kill me first if he knew I was drinking underage. I’m sorry Chloe. I’m sorry I lied. I shouldn’t have asked you to lie for me.@@ You remain skeptical. @@.br;How could you buy beer? You’re a minor.@@ @@.b;I have a fake ID.@@ @@.br;You just hit puberty a year and a half ago. You don’t look old enough to approach a liquor store. They’d throw you out.@@ @@.b;Not Handy’s Swill and Sprits. They’ll sell to anyone with a library card as an ID. Mine is more convincing than that. You can have it now. I’m ashamed of what I’ve done and I don’t want to use it ever again.@@ <<pushStopic "Sreceipt" "Sreceipt" "Burt purchased beer on October sixth" "OSreceipt">> Burt offers you his fake ID, which you take. It really is an impressive fake. His photo has been digitally altered to look just old enough. The false identity is printed in official institutional sans serif, The card is laminated and has a magnetic stripe down the back. Chloe says, “Thank you Burt for supporting me by telling the truth. I’m sorry too, sorry that I’ve told so many lies myself and slowed down Brainioid’s investigation. Brainioid, I have no idea how kale got into that beer, but you have to believe that neither Burt nor I had anything to do with it. We both love Captain Prodigious.” <<pushStopic "Sid" "Sid" "Burt used a fake ID to buy alcohol from an Alignment of Evil affiliated liquor store." "OSid">> <</if>>

<<if setup.isCharHere("c") and $GState<24>> <<include "Chloe beer">> <<elseif $GState<24>> <<set $GState=22>> It seems likely that Chloe bought the beer for Burt. Burt has said as much when you found his stash of empties, and then you also found this receipt for the same brand in Chloe's room. If you combine these pieces of evidence when Chloe is present, she might confess. <<elseif $GState>=24>> Chloe has already admitted to buying the beer and giving it to Burt, or perhaps drinking it herself then kicking it under his bed depending on which of them you believe. You'll need to find additional evidence you can use to leverage the full truth out of one of them. <</if>>

<<if $GState>=24>> Chloe has already said she purchased the beer. You suspect there is a lot more she isn't telling you. <<elseif !visited("receipt")>> Chloe looks at you blankly @@.c;You found that in Burt's room. It doesn't belong to me.@@ Burt has said that she brought the beer into his room. Perhaps you should look for a receipt which ties this to one or the other of them. <<elseif $GState==22>> <<include "Chloe beer">> <<else>> <<if visited()==1>> @@.c;So you found some beer in Burt's room. Give the kid a break. He keeps up his grades. Let him have some fun.@@ <<else>> Chloe has said she doesn't see any problem with Burt having beer. <</if>> You're dismayed by Chloe's attitude toward teen alcohol use, but she's only a few years older than that herself. You also know that Burt's claim contradicts hers. Burt says Chloe brought the beer into his room, a situation which would offer little more comfort to Burt's parents than if Burt was drinking alone. Either of them could be lying. <<if !setup.getTopic("Treceipt").isOpen(null)>> You haven't yet collected enough evidence to resolve this question <<else>> You haven't yet made the connection between the two relevant pieces of evidence which could resolve this question. <</if>> <</if>>

You ask, @@.br;Bring me up to date. What happened at this epochal October sixth meeting?@@ @@.m;The meeting was scheduled to begin at 6:00 pm sharp and last two hours, just as always. Raul and I were the only ones in the library by six. As far as we knew, we were the only ones in the building at the time. We kept expecting others to show up. But since they didn't, nothing got done.@@ You say, @@.br;You're not making it sound interesting.@@ @@.m;The meeting didn’t end at eight. Other members returned to the guildhall, one by one, cycling in and out of the library like it had a revolving door. Every one of them confided with us recent breaches of judgement and personal character. Any one of those transgressions we heard confessed that night had the potential to destroy our organization if they were discovered by outsiders. Raul and I were stuck in the library until well after midnight, figuring out how to address and minimize impact from these revelations. Yet even that wasn’t the end of the drama taking place that night.@@ @@.br;Go on.@@ @@.m;About a week later, while Raul was conducting a routine audit, he discovered that the Guildhall financial system had been hacked. Sometime during our long meeting of October sixth, four thousand one hundred and twenty seven dollars disappeared from the guildhall endowment account. The funds just vanished overnight. We use the interest from that fund to pay our utility bills and daily expenses. I suspect that this embezzlement is somehow related to Raul’s death. If you find the person who stole the money, you’ll also discover an assassin among us.@@ You ask, @@.br;How? I mean how was the money stolen. The transfers are all electronic. Just look at the computer and see who was logged in at the time. Follow the money.@@ @@.m;I don’t know. Raul wouldn’t share details with me. I can’t go into the computer myself, because my wet flippers would damage the keyboard. But you can hack into the financial accounts and look up those records. Or maybe you already have.@@ You respond, @@.br;I don’t have hands either, dumbass. Actually, do you know what I think? You and Captain P alone together for how many hours the night the theft took place; you must have left the room at some point, to spritz your gills with water, or just to use the bathroom. Four grand disappears while no one but you and the Captain were in the building. Then three weeks later he collapses on the floor of the guildhall. Did you keep transcripts of that meeting? Because right now you're my prime suspect.@@ Mermanx blusters, @@.m;Don't be a fool. I've been Raul's friend and chief protector for all the decades I've known him.@@ You ask, @@.br;What, specifically, were the transgressions that the other members brought to your attention? What was the timeline of their arrival? How did you respond to their concerns?@@ Mermanx says, @@.m;You're too much. I'm the guildhall's chief security officer, not your personal secretary. You should have been at the meeting yourself taking notes.@@ @@.br;A fish as our chief of security. That's some comedy gold. No wonder the Alignment of Evil gang manages to break into the guildhall at the climax of every serial.@@ Mermanx says, @@.m;I'm done with you. Ask the others what happened on October sixth.@@ Mermanx turns away from you, headed toward the atrium. <<if $GState<7>> <<set $CycleFunction2="MermanxCycle">> <<set $CycleCount2=0>> <<set $GState=7>> <</if>>

<<if setup.getTopic("TmeetA").isOpen("j") and setup.getTopic("Tbrochure").isOpen("s")>> Shady Figure told you that his legion of spies saw Carmen Prodigious checking into the //Illicit Rendezvous Motel// on the night of October sixth, with a man dressed up like a 1970s pop troubadour. Joe says he was also checked into a motel that night, which was his excuse for missing the October sixth guildhall meeting. <<set _flag=true>> <<elseif setup.getTopic("Tbrochure").isOpen("c") and setup.getTopic("Tbrochure").isOpen("s")>> Shady Figure told you that his legion of spies saw Carmen Prodigious checking into the //Illicit Rendezvous Motel// on the night of October sixth, with a man dressed up like a 1970s pop troubadour. Chloe told you that Joe wanted to sign a contract at that motel, and that it's his handwriting on the back of the brochure. <<set _flag=true>> <<elseif setup.getTopic("Tbrochure").isOpen("cp") and setup.getTopic("Tbrochure").isOpen("c")>> Carmen told you she sometimes visits the //Illicit Rendezvous Motel// with her husband. But the man she was with at the motel on October sixth was not her husband. Chloe told you that Joe wanted to sign a contract at that motel, and that it's his handwriting on the back of the brochure. <<set _flag=true>> <<elseif setup.getTopic("TmeetA").isOpen("j") and setup.getTopic("Tbrochure").isOpen("b")>> Joe says he missed the October sixth guildhall meeting because he was visiting a motel to sign a music contract.The message written on the //Illicit Rendezvous Motel// brochure proposes a meeting between two people at that motel on the same night. Burt says that one of the messages on the brochure matches his mother's handwriting. <<set _flag=true>> <<elseif setup.getTopic("Tbrochure").isOpen("c") and setup.getTopic("Tbrochure").isOpen("b")>> Chloe has identified one of the handwriting samples on the motel brochure as belonging to Joe. She says he wanted to book a nine month performance contract at the motel lounge, but she told him no. She speculated that he may have gone there with someone else. Burt has identified the other handwriting on the brochure as belonging to his mother. <<set _flag=true>> <<elseif setup.getTopic("TmeetA").isOpen("j") or setup.getTopic("Tbrochure").isOpen("c")>> You found some evidence that Joe might have been at the //Illicit Rendezvous Motel// recently, but who was he with? <<elseif setup.getTopic("Tbrochure").isOpen("b") or setup.getTopic("Tbrochure").isOpen("s") or setup.getTopic("Tbrochure").isOpen("cp")>> You've found some evidence that Carmen might have checked into the //Illicit Rendezvous Motel// recently, but who was she with? <<else>> It is certainly provocative that the date of a recent guildhall meeting matches the date of a scheduled rendezvous written on the back of this brochure. You'll need to conduct additional interviews to confirm with certainty the authorship of these messages.. <</if>> <<if def _flag>> Is it possible Joe and Carmen met up together at the //Illicit Rendezvous Motel//? That would be consistent with Mermanx's report that they were both absent at the start of the scheduled guildhall meeting that night. <<removeTopic "Tbrochure">> <<newTopic "Trendezvous">> <</if>>

You ask <<name $interogee>>@@.br;Why were Carmen Prodigious and Joe Wanda shacking up at the //Illicit Rendezvous Motel// on October sixth?"@@ <<set _m0="@@.m;@@", _m1="@@.m;@@", _cp0="Xrendezvous_cp", _cp1="@@.cp;I told you, I joined him at the motel to provide emotional support, while he signed a long term performance contract.@@", _c0="@@.c;Ewww. You make it sound like my brother and Mrs Prodigious were at the motel shagging each other! My brother was at the motel investigating an opportunity for a long term performance contract. We didn't have enough money in savings to do it. He must have gone ahead with the meeting anyway.@@", _c1="@@.c;I told you, my brother was there on business. I knew we didn't have enough money to go ahead with the contract, so I made other plans.@@", _j0="Xrendezvous_j", _j1="@@.j;Like I said before, I was only there to sign a performance contract, which I did. It was raining out, so I checked into a room, and didn't arrive back at the guildhall until the next day.@@", _b0="@@.b;I know my mom was back to the guildhall before I got home, which was about one the next morning. So if they got a room together, they must not have stayed overnight. Joe and Mom are just friends. I don't want to think about it too much.@@", _b1="@@.b;Like I said, Joe and my mom are friends. They go places together. Sorry I can't give you more information.@@", _s0="@@.s;Joe Wanda and Carmen Prodigious doing their thang at the //Illicit Rendezvous Motel//. Now that is some juicy gossip the Alignment of Evil Gang could leverage for blackmail.@@", _s1="@@.s;Carmen Prodigious and Joe Wanda spending the night at the //Illicit Rendezvous Motel//. Did I not already thank you for sharing such delicious gossip?@@" >> <<set setup.Orendezvous={ "m":{"0": _m0, "1":_m1}, "cp":{"0":_cp0, "1":_cp1}, "c": {"0":_c0, "1":_c1}, "j":{"0":_j0, "1":_j1}, "b":{"0":_b0, "1":_b1}, "s":{"0":_s0, "1":_s1}, name:"evidence of Joe and Carmen's illicit rendezvous", desc:"Drendezvous" } >>

Carmen asks, @@.cp;How did you ever figure that out? I thought we were being so discrete. Joe met me at the hotel wearing a very convincing disguise. I could hardly recognize him myself!@@ You ask, @@.br;Were you having an affair?@@ Carmen answers, @@.cp;Mercy, no. Is that what you think? Our relationship has received a stamp of approval from the comics code authority. We are not characters in a steamy Mickey Spillane novel.@@ @@.br;Then why were you with him at that seedy motel and renting a room together?@@ Carmen says, @@.cp;Joe and I are friends. My husband isn't always available to socialize, so I rely on Joe for companionship. Platonic. Don't you already know that Joe is gay? Anyway, he and Chloe are aspiring performers. They've never gotten much support from Raul toward that ambition, but I've always been their number one fan. Joe saw an opportunity to book a long term contract in the lounge at the //Illicit Rendezvous Motel//. It was a lot of money to book up front, but he knew they could earn it back with weekly performances, and develop a loyal following in the process. He and Chloe have been saving money for years for just this kind of opportunity. Chloe said she was feeling ill that night, so Joe asked me to join him to provide emotional support. By the time he signed the contract, it had started to rain really hard. Instead of driving back in the rain, we rented rooms. Separate rooms.@@ You ask, @@.br;So Raul knew you were out with Joe that night?@@ @@.cp;I told him as soon as I got back.@@ You ask, @@.br;If you weren't keeping secrets from your husband, then why all the secrecy and costumes while you were there?@@ @@.cp;Paparazzi. We didn't want to be photographed by paparazzi while we were there. Superman may have worked in a newsroom as his side job, but the rest of our kind struggle to stay out of the tabloids.@@ <<pushStopic "Spamphlet" "Spamphlet" "Carmen was afraid of being photographed by paparazzi while she was out with Joe." "OSpamphlet">>

Joe asks, @@.cp;How did you figure that out? Mrs Prodigious and I came in separate cars and I was wearing my Donny Osmond costume. I could hardly recognize myself!@@ You ask, @@.br;Did you invite Carmen Prodigious because you were hoping to sleep with her?@@ Joe says, @@.j;Gross, no. First, she's a married woman. Second, she's years older than me. Third, she's like my mother. Fourth, we're characters in a family-friendly cartoon series. Fifth, I'm gay. Sixth, I'm from another galaxy so, like, she and I aren't even the same species. How would that even work, anatomically I mean? Do I need to go on?@@ @@.br;You've said enough. So what business did you have at the motel?@@ Joe says, @@.j;The //Illicit Rendezvous Motel// may not look like much from the outside, but they've got a kick'n lounge area with a full bar and performance stage and a banger sound system. Chloe and I have played there before and we loved it. I went there to sign a nine month contract. This could really jump start our performance career. While signing the contract, it started to rain heavily. Rather than driving back in the rain, we rented a pair of rooms--separate rooms.@@ You ask, @@.br;Then you both stayed overnight?@@ @@.j;I stayed overnight. The innkeeper will confirm that I checked out after breakfast. Carmen only stayed until the rain subsided, about 10pm. I was asleep by then, but the same innkeeper will confirm that’s when he saw her car pull out.@@ <<pushStopic "Scpreturn" "Scpreturn" "Carmen spent the evening of October sixth at a motel with Joe, but returned by ten o'clock." "OScpreturn">>

<<if visited()==1>> <<if $screenReader>> <<link "Play audio effect">><<audio ":all" stop>><<audio "victory_track" play>><</link>> <<else>> <<audio ":all" stop>> <<audio "victory_track" play>> <</if>><</if>> <<set $GState=100>> <<if def $response>><<print $response>> <</if>> <<if visited('final scene')==1>> Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Hippopopolis, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. <</if>> The Guildhall of Virtue gang is <<print either("attacking","defending")>> from <<print either("the front entrance side of the foyer","the library side of the foyer","the atrium side of the foyer")>>. The Alignment of Evil gang is <<print either("attacking","defending")>> from <<print ["within the white circle at the center of the round foyer<<set $GState=101>>","the front entrance side of the foyer", "the library side of the foyer", "the atrium side of the foyer","outside the south edge of the white tile circle"][visited("final scene")%5]>>. <<set _m="Mermanx", _rp="Captain Prodigious",_cp="Carmen Prodigious",_c="Chloe",_j="Joe",_b="Burt">> <<for _item range [_m,_rp,_cp,_c,_j,_b].shuffle()>> <<print _item+" ">> <<print either("jabs","defends","kicks","jumps","swings","punches","guards","ducks","spins","shouts orders","grunts","dives","weaves","stands up","has been thrown down")>>. <</for>> Brainioid, do something! Only you can save the day! <<switch random(0, 2)>> <<case 0>><<response "Jab" "You poke one of the opponents with your mechanical arm. They tumble over like a bowling pin, then bounce back up.">> <<case 1>><<response "Uppercut" "With your mechanical claw, you deliver a powerful uppercut to one of your opponents. Their body is lifted a few feet off the ground like a ragdoll, before landing safely a short distance away where they reenter the melee.">> <<case 2>><<response "Roundhouse punch" "Your mechanical arm swings in a wide circular arc, landing squarely against the side of your opponent's face and flattening it. Their face vibrates like an animated bowl of jello before settling back to its ground state symmetry.">> <</switch>> <<switch random(2)>> <<case 0>><<response "Duck" "Your psionic wheelchair instantly drops two feet, powered by gravity and the sudden release of a pair of pneumatic tubes. Once you've evaded the incoming attack, the wheelchair rises again.">> <<case 1>><<response "Weave" "You engage the psionic chair's 4-wheel steering system to crabwalk sideways, weaving back and forth to evade your opponent's strikes">> <<case 2>><<response "Jump" "You engage the psionic chair's short distance rocket engines to rise off the ground, landing a few feet away and reentering the melee.">> <</switch>> <<switch random(2)>> <<case 0>><<response "Grunt" "You growl with a low pig-like snort, frightening the nearby opponents.">> <<case 1>><<response "Shout" "You shout words of encouragement to your team: \"Rally friends, fight on.\"">> <<case 2>><<response "Spin" "Engaging the psionic chair's 360^^o^^ turn radius, you spin in place whipping out cyclone-like wind shear against your adversaries.">> <</switch>> <<if visited('final scene')==1>> You are too preoccupied by the task of guildhall defense to pay attention to the inlaid wooden mural around the walls, but the floor tile art still catches your eye. The circle of white stones at the center of the room have been polished by the recent heavy foot traffic of your friends shuffling through here all afternoon repairing your contraption (and probably sneaking into the library to set up the party when you weren't watching). <</if>> The lighted <<if $GState==101>> [[button|The End]] <<else>> [[button|final button]] <</if>> near the sliding entrance door is flashing red.

<<widget response>> <<link _args[0] "final scene">> <<set $response=_args[1]>> <</link>> <</widget>>

The book is titled //A Complete Guide to Pink Lady and Jeff//. <<if !setup.getTopic("Treceipt").isOpen(null)>> A torn paper strip, about the dimensions of a cash register receipt, is being used to mark a place three quarter of the pages in. <</if>> <<if setup.isCharHere("c")>> Chloe is seated at her desk. You won't have a chance to take a closer look until she's out of the way.@@ <<elseif $GState<5>> You have no means to open the book at present. <<elseif $GState gte 5 and $GState < 20>> You push on the book with your mechanical poker, sliding it around the desk. You lack the dexterity to turn pages by this method. <<else>> Using the sticky end of your poker you are able to turn each page and apply your masterful skills as a speed-reader. Singers Kei and Mie (collectively, Pink Lady) were a successful Japanese pop duo before joining American comic Jeff Altman to headline this 1980 American TV variety show. <<if !setup.getTopic("Treceipt").isOpen(null)>> The book itself (an episode by episode guide to their series) is less interesting than the [[receipt]] which was being used as a bookmark. The receipt (time stamped 6:00 pm, October 6) falls out as you flip through the synopsis of penultimate episode number four. That episode included visits from guest stars: Sid Caesar, Florence Henderson, Lorne Greene, Blondie and Boomer the dog. The series was cancelled after only five episodes.This is a very thin book indeed. <<else>> You already read this book earlier, when you filched the receipt.This isn't the sort of literature which provides fresh insight on a second read. <</if>> <</if>>

You're contacting Shady Figure by a pictureless flip-phone, so you can't see him right now. You remember him from your first meeting at the guildhall front entrance. Shady figure wears a black fedora, pencil thin moustache, and black leather trench coat. He is surprisingly short for a supervillain, standing barely taller than you are on your skateboard.

<<newTopic "Tbrochure">> <<include "Dbrochure">> [[Continue|Prodigious room]]

You ask <<name $interogee>>@@.br;What happened at the October sixth meeting?"@@ <<set _m0="@@.m;@@", _m1="@@.m;@@", _cp0="Carmen blushes, @@.cp;Oh, that thing. My husband and I went there recently to celebrate our wedding anniversary.@@ @@.br;Why would you celebrate your anniversary in a place like that?@@ @@.cp;We like to roleplay in our marriage. You can tell that from the handwritten messages we left each other on the back of this brochure. We put on the costumes of other superheroes, and pretend to be them while we’re making love. Roleplaying.@@ You don’t believe a single word of what she’s telling you, but you’re now sufficiently embarrassed to avoid further exploration of this topic; for now.@@", _cp1="You’d rather not hear Carmen share any more details about marital //roleplaying//. Come back when you have evidence that might cause a change in her story.", _c0="Chloe studies the brochure. @@.c;Joe and I have done a couple of shows at that place. We have an act where we cover Donnie and Marie Osmond songs. We do a pitch perfect tribute to their early variety show numbers. Anyway, Joe started talking about renting the lounge at the //Illicit Rendezvous Motel// for the entire next season, a full nine months of weekly performances. That would have been an expensive up front investment. I thought we could get a better deal, maybe some place that wouldn't charge us at all, then split the revenue after. Also we just didn't have enough money in savings to do it, so I told him no. That //is// Joe’s handwriting on the back of the brochure. Maybe he went with someone else.@@", _c1="@@.c;Like I said before, Joe and I have done some shows at that place. I think it's Joe's handwriting on the back.@@", _j0="Joe studies the brochure. @@.j;Chloe and I have played gigs at that motel. They have a nice lounge. Much nicer than it shows in the photo. I don't know whose handwriting that is on the back page, or what it means.@@", _j1="@@.j;Like I said before, Chloe and I have played gigs at that place. I have no idea what these handwritten messages on the back could mean.@@", _b0="@@.b;Yeah, I know that place. What a dive. Some of my school mates have snuck over the fence on the weekends to go skinny dipping in the outdoor pool at night. I've never gone with them. I'd be afraid of catching hepatitis. Wait, I think that second line on the back is my mom's handwriting. Why would she be setting up a meeting with anyone at that place?@@", _b1="@@.b;Like I said, I think that's my mom's handwriting on the back. I don't have any idea why she would have gone there.@@", _s0="You describe the brochure to Shady Figure. He clucks his tongue, @@.s;//Illicit Rendezvous Motel//. Yeah, I know that place. The Alignment of Evil gang used to be part owners but it was never profitable, so we sold it. Regarding your gang: my spies in the sky tell me that on the night of October sixth Mrs Prodigious checked in with a man wearing a rhinestone crusted white jumpsuit, like he was a 1970s disco lounge performer. I’m guessing they used it as their little shag shack. Mr Prodigious wasn’t Prodigious enough for his Missus, if you know what I mean.@@", _s1="@@.s;Like I said, Mrs Prodigious was in there about two weeks ago with some guy who looked more like Donny Osmond than her husband.@@" >> <<set setup.Obrochure={ "m":{"0": _m0, "1":_m1}, "cp":{"0":_cp0, "1":_cp1}, "c": {"0":_c0, "1":_c1}, "j":{"0":_j0, "1":_j1}, "b":{"0":_b0, "1":_b1}, "s":{"0":_s0, "1":_s1}, name:"motel brochure", desc:"Dbrochure" } >>

You lay out the chain of evidence for Chloe. @@.br;The receipt I found in your room is for the same brand of beer I found in Burt's room. Burt says the beer is yours, and you would have had a much easier time buying it than he would. Please just tell the truth.@@ Chloe's posture slumps. @@.c;OK. I bought Burt the beer. I bought it several weeks ago, the night of October 6, which is why I missed the meeting that night. I know I shouldn't be buying for a minor. It was really stupid of me. Please don't tell Mrs Prodigious I did that. She'd never forgive me.@@ <<pushStopic "Scexcuse" "Scexcuse" "Chloe provided a beer receipt as her October sixth alibi" "OScexcuse">> Chloe's confession should feel like a victory; a triumph of reasoning and interrogation. But it doesn't. There is so much off about her testimony. Did Chloe buy the beer for herself, or did she buy it for Burt? And why buy it from Handy's Swill and Spirits? Chloe is old enough to walk into any supermarket and buy a pint. And why is there a cancelled charge for a two hundred dollar bottle of premium scotch at the top of the receipt? Neither Burt nor Chloe would have a taste for something like that. That's more your own favorite libation. Mermanx proposed a theory that Captain Prodigious's death might be related to consumption of a poison beverage. Do Burt and Chloe know more about that than they're telling you? You'll need to find some leverage to get one of them to break and tell the whole truth. Before you can walk off, Chloe calls you back, @@.c;Since you took the bookmark out of my Pink Lady and Jeff bio, would you mind replacing it? I left one in the common room. Maybe you can find it.@@ <<set $GState=24>>

<<set _invArray=[]>> <<for _i to 0;_i<$TopicArray.length;_i++>> <<if $TopicArray[_i].isOpen(null)>> <<capture _i>> <<set _page=$TopicArray[_i].page>> <<if Object.hasOwn(setup[_page],"name")>> <<run _invArray.push(_page)>> <</if>> <</capture>> <</if>> <</for>> <<for _j to 0;_j<$SummArray.length;_j++>> <<if $SummArray[_j].isOpen(null)>> <<capture _j>> <<set _page=$SummArray[_j].page>> <<if Object.hasOwn(setup[_page],"name")>> <<run _invArray.push(_page)>> <</if>> <</capture>> <</if>> <</for>> <<if $GState<81>> <<run _invArray.push('Ophone')>> <</if>> <<if _invArray.length==0>>You carry nothing in inventory.<<set $heldItem="">> <<else>> <<if !_invArray.includes($heldItem)>><<set $heldItem=_invArray[0]>><</if>> <<set _invArray.delete($heldItem)>> Held item: <<link setup[$heldItem].name setup[$heldItem].desc>><</link>> <<if _invArray.length!=0>> <<set _thisPassage=passage()>> You also carry: <<if _invArray.length==1>> <<link setup[_invArray[0]].name _thisPassage>><<set $heldItem=_invArray[0]>> <</link>> <<else>> <<for _i to 0;_i<(_invArray.length-1);_i++>> <<capture _i>> <<link setup[_invArray[_i]].name _thisPassage>><<set $heldItem=_invArray[_i]>> <</link>>, <</capture>> <</for>> and <<link setup[_invArray[_invArray.length-1]].name _thisPassage>><<set $heldItem=_invArray[_invArray.length-1]>> <</link>> <</if>> <</if>> <</if>>

You're looking at a $heldItem <<link "Drop item" $lastloc>> $heldItem <</link>>

The cover image of this brochure is a yellowed photo of the vintage motel sign. Neon pipes mounted against an irregularly angled rusty metal chevron spell out //Illicit Rendezvous Motel//. At the center of the brochure are photos of the rooms. It’s hard to tell from the angle how large or small they are, but you can see a lot of dusty wood paneling and reproductions of clown art. You’d guess people don’t go to a place like this to enjoy the art. According to the text, amenities include rooms by the hour, vibrating beds, and clean sheets twice a week. On the back of the brochure are photos of the lounge: //five dollar cocktails and live music//. Inset at the corner of that is an even smaller photo of a kidney shaped depression at the edge of the parking lot, buried in leaves: //Pool open 24 hours.// A series of handwritten messages have been scrawled into the only available whitespace, an address block on the bottom of the back page. @@.joefont;What do you think of this place?@@ @@.momfont;I think it will be perfect. I’ll hook up with you there on October sixth, 6pm. Will you be in costume?@@ @@.joefont;Of course. I'm so excited you've agreed to go there with me.@@ The handwriting is almost illegible, but the intent is clear: two people planned an illicit rendezvous at this motel on October 6th, one of them disguised in costume.

You've taken several of the identical white paper strips you found in a sealed plastic tube in Chloe's desk. Each one is about half a centimeter wide and three centimeters long. They look to you like chemical test strips, and may eventually prove valuable to your investigation once you learn more about them.

This is a can of Flub's Red Ribbon beer, open, dented, mostly empty. There remain a few drops of amber liquid clinging to the bottom, glued there like amber by the backwash of Burt’s saliva. At least you're working on the assumption that it contains some of Burt's saliva. You found it under his bed. /* <<if $GState<22>> Burt's <<elseif $Gstate==24>> Burt or Chloe's <<else>> Chloe's <</if>> */

These are several odd shaped scraps of gold fabric which you found in Burt's closet. The full bolt of fabric, which you also found in the closet, was large enough that it could have been sewn into costumes for a whole league of superheroes. The full bolt would have been too heavy for you to carry around.

<<if $GState<=28>> You have only a single kale assay strip. It is a nondescript strip of white paper, about three centimeters long and half a centimeter wide. You need to find more before you can put them to good use. <<else>> A full tube of kale assay strips. Each one is about half a centimeter wide and three centimeters long. You have established their value as chemical test strips for kale and other cruciferous vegetables. They should turn red when placed in contact with even trace amounts of crucifers. Now that you know what these strips are used for, you can combine them with other inventory items to identify materials which might have been used to poison Captain Prodigious. <</if>>

You've determined that Joe and Carmen exchanged this brochure to set up their rendezvous on October sixth at the aptly named //Illicit Rendezvous Motel// <<include "Dbrochure">>

<<set _m0="@@.m;Listen to yourself, gossiping about Joe's violation of security protocol. You're equally guilty of accessing the computer using Carmen's credentials. I'm guessing you've figured out a way to explore alternate timelines and steal passwords from there.@@", _m1="@@.m;Animated brains who live in glass bell jars shouldn't throw stones. You must have accessed the guildhall computer the same way.@@", _cp0="Carmen appears shocked, @@.cp;Joe is using my password? Oh dear. Do you think I need to change my password?@@", _cp1="@@.cp;I'll change my password when I get a chance. Do you think the word //password// might be a better password?@@", _c0="Xpassword_c", _c1="@@.c;You asked me about that. I'm shocked Joe would do that.@@", _j0="Joe stammers, @@.j;I use Mrs P’s log on credentials to play video games. That’s all. I’ve been doing it ever since Captain Prodigious shut down my own access to the gaming sites. I got Carmen’s password by looking over her shoulder while she was typing it in. I’m sure she wouldn’t care I was using it for something so benign.@@", _j1="@@.j;I only use Mrs P's logon credentials for gaming. Nothing else, I swear.@@", _b0="Xpassword_b", _b1="@@.b;As I said, everyone uses Mom's password. We have no internet access without it.@@", _s0="@@.s;I didn’t know those were Carmen’s logon credentials. Sounds like Joe uses them to log on to video games he can’t access otherwise. I assure you, now that we know, the tech support here at Alignment of Evil will put her account to much better use.@@", _s1="@@.s;Thanks again for giving me Carmen's password and logon info.@@" >> <<set setup.Opassword={ "m":{"0": _m0, "1":_m1}, "cp":{"0":_cp0, "1":_cp1}, "c": {"0":_c0, "1":_c1}, "j":{"0":_j0, "1":_j1}, "b":{"0":_b0, "1":_b1}, "s":{"0":_s0, "1":_s1}} >>

<<if setup.getTopic("Tbrochure").isOpen("c") and setup.getTopic("Tbrochure").isOpen("b")>> <<include "TmeetATbrochure">> <</if>>

<<if $GState<30>> You only have one assay strip right now. Go ask Chloe to give you more. <<else>> The assay comes up negative. The paper remains bleached white. No kale or other crucifers in evidence here. <</if>>

<<if visited("Xstrips_c")>> You only have one test strip right now, better not squander it. Chloe told you that the strips test for cruciferous vegetables. Once you've figured out why Captain Prodigious wanted these strips manufactured, you might convince Chloe to give you a few more. <<else>> You suspect this may be a chemical assay strip, but you haven't yet established what they are used to test for, or why such a test might be of importance. <</if>>

<<if setup.isCharHere("c") and setup.isCharHere("b")>> With Chloe and Burt both in the room together, you repeat the test strip assay on the beer residue one more time. You hope this performance works, because the test strip has absorbed the last remaining liquid from the can. The can is now dry and will no longer be a valuable source of evidence to you. [[Burt and Chloe come clean]] <<elseif setup.isCharHere("b")>> Burt says, @@.b;I didn't do it. Chloe bought that beer.. I had no motive to lace the beer can with kale. Dad may have been hard on me, but he was hard on everyone. I loved him and he loved me too.@@ <<elseif setup.isCharHere("c")>>/*only chloe is present*/ <<include "Chloe denial">> <<else>> The beer is laced with kale, a toxin for Captain Prodigious. Both Burt and Chloe are suspects. Combining this evidence when the two of them are in the same room together.might generate some real fireworks. <</if>>

You ask <<name $interogee>>@@.br;What do you know about the beer can under Burt's bed?@@ <<set _cp0="You drag the test strip through the remains of the beer to demonstrate the result for Mrs Prodigious. She says, @@.c;You've shown me that the beer is laced with kale, which we now know was my husband's heroic weakness. Also, you've told me that you found this can under my son's bed. Brainioid, I may not have your deductive superpowers, but I understand the conclusion you're trying to lead me to. I just can't accept it. Burt didn't poison his father- and Chloe didn't poison him either. There must be another explanation.@@", _cp1="@@.cp;I've seen your assay results. I just don't believe that anyone in this guildhall could have hurt my husband that way.@@", _c0="Xkalebeer_c", _c1="Xkalebeer_c", _j0="Joe's eyes widen when the paper strip turns bright red after being dragged across the wet inside of the Flub's beer can. @@.j;Oooh, that's pretty. You must be a wizard.@@ @@.br;It's chemistry, not magic. The test strip turns red because there is kale present in the beer.@@ @@.j;Was it red kale?@@ @@.br;It doesn't matter what color the kale. The chemicals are in the paper. The strip changes from white to red in the presence of any crucifer.@@ Joe claps gleefully, @@.j;Then you really //are// a wizard. Do it again. Do it again.@@ You turn your back on him. You've concluded that Joe is too dull witted to have poisoned Captain Prodigious this way.", _j1="@@.j;Are you here to show me more magic tricks? You left so quickly last time.@@", _b0="Xkalebeer_b", _b1="Xkalebeer_b", _s0="@@.s;So your current theory is: Someone slipped a piece of kale in the Captain's drink. Brilliant if that's what it was, but I'm skeptical. Flub's is a brand you might use to poison an Alignment of Evil goon, not a beer snob like Captain Prodigious@@", _s1="@@.s;I'm skeptical. Do you have any way to confirm your assay results?@@", _m0="@@.m;@@", _m1="@@.m;@@" >> <<set setup.Okalebeer={ "m":{"0": _m0, "1":_m1}, "cp":{"0":_cp0, "1":_cp1}, "c": {"0":_c0, "1":_c1}, "j":{"0":_j0, "1":_j1}, "b":{"0":_b0, "1":_b1}, "s":{"0":_s0, "1":_s1}, name: "poisoned kale beer", desc: "Dbeer" } >>

<<if setup.isCharHere("c") and setup.isCharHere("b")>> With Chloe and Burt both in the room together, you repeat the test strip assay on the beer residue one more time. You hope this performance works, because the test strip has absorbed the last remaining liquid from the can. The can is now dry and will no longer be a valuable source of evidence to you. [[Burt and Chloe come clean]] <<else>> Chloe's eyes widen when you lower the test strip into the beer can then show her the positive result. @@.c;Whoa, you say the kale in the beer was what poisoned the Captain? I know what you're thinking. Burt poisoned his father. I don't believe it. There must be some other explanation.@@ @@.br;Actually, with your earlier confession that you purchased the beer, you're my prime suspect. Burt maintains that you brought the cans to his room and that he never touched them.@@ @@.c;Burt is a rat! Show him the assay results when I'm around. I'll make him tell the truth.@@ <<link "Continue" $lastloc>><</link>> <</if>>

<<if setup.isCharHere("c") and setup.isCharHere("b")>> With Chloe and Burt both in the room together, you repeat the test strip assay on the beer residue one more time. You hope this performance works, because the test strip has absorbed the last remaining liquid from the can. The can is now dry and will no longer be a valuable source of evidence to you. [[Burt and Chloe come clean]] <<else>> Burt says, @@.b;I didn't do it. Chloe bought that beer. You can find the receipt on her desk to prove it. She brought the beer to my room and left the empty cans under my bed. I never touched them. I had no motive to lace the beer can with kale. Dad may have been hard on me, but he was hard on everyone. I loved him and he loved me too.@@ <<link "Continue" $lastloc>><</link>> <</if>>

<div style="display: inline-block">Logon ID: <<textbox "_logon" "" >></div> <div style="display: inline-block"> Password: <<textbox "_password" "">></div> <div class="button-container"> <<button "Enter">> <<set _logon to _logon.replace(/\s/g, "")>> <<set _password to _password.replace(/\s/g, "")>> <<if ["carmenp", "carmen", "carmenprodigious"].includes(_logon.toLowerCase()) and ["iloveburt"].includes(_password.toLowerCase())>> <<replace "#output">>[[Welcome back, carmenp! (continue to homescreen)|Joes homescreen]]<</replace>> <<elseif ["mermanx", "raul", "raulp", "raulprodigious", "captain", "captainprodigious"].includes(_logon.toLowerCase())>> <<replace "#output">> Invalid user password>><</replace>> <<elseif ["joe", "mermanx", "raul", "chloe", "brainioid", "burt"].includes(_logon.toLowerCase())>> <<replace "#output">> This user's account was deactivated by the sys admin on October 6. No other information is available.<</replace>> <<elseif ["iloveburt"].includes(_password.toLowerCase())>> <<replace "#output">> Invalid user Logon ID<</replace>> <<else>> <<replace "#output">> Invalid user password<</replace>> <</if>> <</button>> <<button "Logout" "Logout">><</button>> </div> <<if visited("Joes homescreen")>>[[Enter Carmen's logon ID and password|Joes homescreen]]<</if>>

<<if def $serverError>>Rockstar Superhero server error. Cotton72 user session has timed out. <<unset $serverError>><</if>> Welcome back, carmenp! Select application: <div class="button-container"> <<button "Rockstar Superhero" "RSlogon">> <</button>> <<button "Card Reader" "Card Reader App">> <</button>> <<button "Accounting" "Finance1">> <</button>> <<button "Logout" "Logout">> <</button>> </div> <pre>>_</pre>

The financial records are ordered in reverse chronological order. The most recent is a blurred image file <div class="button-container"> @@filter:blur(3px);0.100 Megagrams crate of @@@@filter:blur(4px);?@@@@filter:blur(1px);a@@@@filter:blur(4px);?@@@@filter:blur(2px);e@@ </div> @@filter:blur(2px);Delivered by the Acme corporation.@@ @@filter:blur(3px);Received by @@@@.blurredjoefont;&emsp;&emsp;Joe Wanda@@ The image appears to be a receipt for delivery for a 0.100 Megagrams crate of something (maybe kale?) from the Acme corporation. Both the specific content of the crate, and the person inside the guild hall who received it, are illegible. Even without being able to decipher it, the scrawl looks rather like Joe's handwriting. <<button "OLDER FILES>>>" "Finance2">><</button>>

<<if visited()==1>> After a short sequence of chirps and bells while the computer's primitive modem connects to the server, the CRT green screen is replaced by an immersive modern full color, three dimensional, first-person virtual reality. <</if>> You've inhabited Joe's avatar, a character by the name of Cotton Eye'd Joe. He looks like a cartoon version of Joe. Come to think of it, the real Joe is just an animated character himself, so you actually now look exactly like Joe. You're not just a brain in a jar anymore. You have a fully functioning body. From the information in the status bar, you're at full health and as rich as Croesus. You begin to understand how people get so sucked into these simulations. You're in a virtual room, which is the same as Joe's room in general dimensions and furnishings. Like Joe's room, this one also has a computer, a magnetic card reader, a desk, a chair, and [[a west exit into the twins' common room|virtualcommons]]. Where this room differs is in the decorative details. Virtual Joe's interior designer has embraced the game's rock star theme. At least a dozen guitars hang from pegs mounted across the wall. The guitars vary in color, shape, and the grain patterns of their exotic woods. One is left-handed . Two are four-string bass instruments. Several are electro-acoustic. All are virtual. Real Joe could never afford this collection. There is a [[note taped to the front of the computer]] here.

<<if ndef $idInSlot>> No media detected. <<else>> <<if ndef $carddata>> <<set $carddata=0>> <</if>> Reading Card... <<set _include="carddata"+$carddata>> <<include _include>> ****************** Cardreader 3000 system message <div style="display: inline-block"> Would you like to erase and overwrite this data with new software? <<button "CONFIRM" "writeover">> <</button>> </div> ****************** <</if>> <div class="button-container"> <<button "Homescreen" "Joes homescreen">><</button>> <<button "Logout" "Logout">><</button>> </div>

The computer's flickering green screen shrinks to a central bright point then vanishes with an electronic snap. <<if visited("Joes homescreen")>>You can't let on to the others that you've used Carmen's credentials to hack into the guildhall computer. That would be an obvious security violation. You won't be able to apply the information you found here during direct interrogation. However, you may be able to use some of the information gathered from this machine in your summative meeting. <<newTopic Tpassword>> <</if>> <<if visited("Finance2")>><<pushStopic "Sinvoice" "Sinvoice" "Carmen placed a phone order for a massive amount of kale to be delivered to the guildhall." "OSinvoice">> <</if>> <<if visited("Finance1")>> <<pushStopic "Sbill" "Sbill" "Joe received a massive crate of kale into the guildhall" "OSbill">> <</if>> <<if visited("note taped to the front of the computer")>> <<pushStopic "Sfraud" "Sfraud" "Money has been laundered from the guildhall into a Rockstar Superhero account." "OSfraud">> <</if>> <<if def $chloeexposed>><<unset $chloeexposed>> <<pushStopic "Sfakelogon" "Sfakelogon" "Chloe was using Carmen's logon credentials to run her internet business, but was embarrassed to admit this." "OSfakelogon">> <</if>> <<if def $idInSlot>> After logging out, you snatch Burt's fake id card from the card reader. The LED bulbs flash briefly, then go back to their original state. <<unset $idInSlot>> <</if>> [[Back to Joe's room|Joe corner]]

Welcome to Rockstar Superhero. The game where you can be a Rockstar-- and a Superhero. <div style="display: inline-block">Player Name: <<textbox "_playername" "" >></div> <div class="button-container"> <<button "Start Game">> <<switch _playername.toLowerCase()>> <<case "cotton" "cotton72" "cotton 72">> <<replace "#output">>[[Welcome back Cotton72! (Launch game).|Rockstar Superhero]]<</replace>> <<default>> <<replace "#output">>Invalid Player Name<</replace>> <</switch>> <</button>> <<button "Homescreen" "Joes homescreen">> <</button>> </div> <<if visited("Rockstar Superhero")>>[[Welcome back Cotton Eye'd Joe!|Rockstar Superhero]]<</if>>

<<widget "searchByAcct">> <<set _acctNum=_args[0]>> <<switch _acctnum.toLowerCase()>> <<case "r27">> Account title: Wanda savings account Accessible by: Chloe Wanda, Joe Wanda Recent activity  ($10,000.00) paid to Independent Chemistry Associates for research and development.  ($4,000.00) paid to Independent Chemistry Associates for test strip production (1st batch)  ($1,000.00) paid to Independent Chemistry Associates for test strip production (2nd batch) Current balance: $1.65 <<case "j52">> Account title: Guildhall endowment account Accessible by: Raul Prodigious Recent activity  ($4,127.00) paid on delivery: one bolt of gold fabric Current balance: $93,725.00 <<case "b95">> Account title: Burt's personal account Accessible by: Burt Prodigious  ($27.00) paid on delivery: one bolt of gold lame fabric Current balance: $72.09 <<case "k19">> Account linked to "Rockstar Superhero" player account "Cotton72" Accessible by: Cotton72  $4,127.00 transferred from refund for gold cloth Current balance: Unavailable SECURITY WARNING: THIS ACCOUNT HAS NOT BEEN AUTHORIZED BY SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION <<case "q04">> Account title: Petty cash Accessible by: All guild members Recent activity  ($5.00) paid to Handy's Swill and Spirits Current balance: $176.00 <<default>> Account <<print _acctNum>> does not exist <</switch>> <</widget>>

<<widget "searchByItem">> <<set _itemname=_args[0]>> <<switch _itemname.toLowerCase()>> <<case "gold" "fabric" "cape" "lame" "lamé" "gold lame" "gold lamé" "gold fabric" "gold cape" "lame fabric" "lame cape" "lamé fabric" "lamé cape">>($4,127.00) paid from account number J52 for one bolt of gold fabric $4,127.00 transferred into account number K19 upon sale of gold fabric. ($4127.00) paid from account number K19 for cancellation of sale of gold fabric and refund to buyer. ($27.00) paid from account number K19 for one bolt of gold lame, from JoAnn fabrics ($27.00) paid from account number B95 for one bolt of gold lame, from JoAnn fabrics. <<case "motel" "illicit" "rendezvous" "illicit rendezvous motel" "pamphlet">>Recent bills related to an overnight stay at the Illicit Rendezvous Motel were covered by the motel owner. <<case "beer" "can" "spirits" "spirit">>($5.00) paid from account Q04 to Handy's Swill and Spirits. <<case "strips" "test strips" "strip" "test strip" "assay" "assay strip" "kale assay strip" "vial">> ($10,000.00) paid from account R27 to Independent Chemistry Associates for research and development. ($4,000.00) paid from account R27 to Independent Chemistry Associates for test strip production (1st batch) ($1,000.00) paid from account R27 to Independent Chemistry Associates for test strip production (2nd batch) <<set $chloeexposed=true>> <<default>>No related records can be found on this system. <</switch>> <</widget>>

The second file is an audio-recording of a phone order for 0.100 Megagram crate of something, also from acme, probably the stuff that was received by anonymous one day later, but the quality of the recording is abysmal. Who is the voice, and what are they ordering? 0.100 Megagrams of Cane? Cape? Kale? The voice on the seller's end asks if they want it in green or red or another color. The verbal answer given from the guildhall side of the conversation is indistinct, but perhaps Carmen's voice? <div class="button-container"> <<button "<<<RECENT FILES" "Finance1">><</button>> <<button "OLDER FILES>>>" "Finance3">><</button>> </div>

Search past financial archives: <div style="display: inline-block"> <<button "Search by Item">> <<replace '#itemspan'>><<searchByItem _itemname>><</replace>> <</button>> <<textbox "_itemname" "">> </div> <div style="display: inline-block"> <<button "Search by Account">> <<replace '#acctspan'>><<searchByAcct _acctnum>><</replace>> <</button>> <<textbox "_acctnum" "">> </div> <div class="button-container"> <<button "<<<RECENT FILES" "Finance2">><</button>> <<button "Home screen" "Joes homescreen">><</button>> <<button "Logout" "Logout">><</button>> </div>

CRT Screen <div class="old-monitor"> <div class="monitor-screen"> Select function: <div class="button-container"> <<button "Rockstar Superhero" "RSlogon">> <</button>><<button "Card Reader" "Card Reader App">> <</button>> <<button "Accounting" "Finance1">> <</button>> <<button "Logout" "Logout">> <</button>> </div> <pre>>_</pre> </div> </div>

<<set _motelAcct="($10,000.00) paid from account number R27 for research and development on test strips ($4,000.00) paid from account number R27 for production of chemical test strips (batch 1) ($1,000.00) paid from account number R27 for production of chemical test strips (batch 2)">> <<set _stripAcct="Recent bills related to an overnight stay at the Illicit Rendezvous Motel were covered by the motel owner.">> <<set _beerAcct="($4,127.00) paid from account number J52 for one bolt of gold fabric $4127.00 transferred into account number K19 upon sale of gold fabric ($4127.00) paid from account number K19 for cancellation of sale of gold fabric and refund to buyer">> <<set _goldAcct="($5.00) paid from account Q04 to Handy's Swill and Spirits">> <<set _invArray=[]>> <<for _i to 0;_i<$TopicArray.length;_i++>> <<if $TopicArray[_i].isOpen(null)>> <<capture _i>> <<set _page=$TopicArray[_i].page>> <<if Object.hasOwn(setup[_page],"acct")>> <<run _invArray.push(_page)>> <</if>> <</capture>> <</if>> <</for>> <<if _invArray.length==0>>You can think of nothing to search for. <<else>> You also carry: <<if _invArray.length==1>> <<link setup[_invArray[0]].name $lastloc>><<set $heldItem=_invArray[0]>> <</link>> <<else>> <<for _i to 0;_i<(_invArray.length-1);_i++>> <<capture _i>> <<link setup[_invArray[_i]].name $lastloc>><<set $heldItem=_invArray[_i]>> <</link>>, <</capture>> <</for>> and <<link setup[_invArray[_invArray.length-1]].name $lastloc>><<set $heldItem=_invArray[_invArray.length-1]>> <</link>> <</if>> <</if>>

You've entered Cotton Eye'd Joe's and Cotton Eye'd Chloe's virtual common room. A pair of narrow beds spaced only a few feet apart are each tightly sheeted. On the sides of the room where you expect exits to Chloe's corner and to the main atrium are hollow circles crackling with electrical blue light. The east exit back to Joe's corner is still passable. Film and concert promotional posters are plastered to every open wall space, except for one tiny spot where you see a <<if ndef $vDoor>>softly glowing green button.<<else>>flashing red button.<</if>> <<link "Push the button.">><<replace '#doordesc'>> <<if def $vDoor>> <<include "closevirtual">> <<unset $vDoor>> <<else>> <<include "openvirtual">> <<set $vDoor=true>> <</if>> <</replace>><</link>> <<link "Enter virtual atrium." "Joes homescreen">><<set $serverError=true>><</link>> <<link "Enter virtual Chloe's corner." "Joes homescreen">><<set $serverError=true>><</link>> [[Enter virtual Joe's corner.|Rockstar Superhero]]

a green button. When you push the button, you hear a door somewhere far away sliding shut. The button is once again glowing green.

flashing red button. When you push the button, it begins flashing red. Nothing else obvious happens in this room, but you do hear the faint whir of a motor followed by a mechanical sliding noise from somewhere else. The sound is so faint, it could not be from any adjacent space. It emanates from the other side of a veil across a parallel plane of existence.

The ID is the size of a standard driver's license, 5.4 x 8.6 cm, and looks authentic on the front. Burt wore a white shirt and tie for the ID photo to make himself look a bit older. The license says it was issued from the state of Hawaii to a fellow named McLovin born 06/03/1981. Burt doesn't look that old! On the back of the card is a horizontal magnetic strip and the address of a local public library.

<<set _toggle=0, _maxtoggle=4>> ****************** Cardreader 3000 system message: The current media has limited storage capacity. You can only install one application at a time. Toggle to cycle through the available applications, then press Confirm to install. <div class="button-container"> <<button "Toggle">> <<set _toggle +=1>> <<if _toggle>_maxtoggle>> <<set _toggle=0>> <</if>> <<replace "#output">> <<switch _toggle>> <<case 0>>Burt's library card <<case 1>>Aquarium water quality data <<case 2>>Guildhall climate control <<case 3>>Guildhall petty cash account <<case 4>>Guildhall door access codes <</switch>> <</replace>> <</button>> <<switch _toggle>> <<case 0>>Burt's library card <<case 1>>Aquarium water quality data <<case 2>>Guildhall climate control <<case 3>>Guildhall petty cash account <<case 4>>Guildhall door access codes <</switch>> <<button "Confirm" "Card Reader App">> <<set $carddata=_toggle>> <</button>> </div> ****************** <div class="button-container"> <<button "Card Reader" "Card Reader App">><</button>> <<button "Logout" "Logout">><</button>> </div>

Property of Hippopopolis Public Library Cardholder name: Burt Prodigious Books on Loan: L'Engle, Madeleine. (2007) //A Wrinkle in Time.// Square Fish. (Original work published 1962) due date: November 16 Collins, S. (2009). //Catching Fire.// Scholastic Press. due date: November 16 Stevenson, R. L. (2016). //Treasure Island.// Puffin Classics. (Original work published 1883) due date: November 4 Porter, M. (2013) //Spandex Simplified: Sewing for Superheroes.// Celebration Generation due date: October 25. ''PAST DUE''

Aquarium Water quality report: Temperature: 78 ^^o^^C Salinity: 35 ppt (specific gravity=1.026) pH: 8.2 ammonia and nitrite: 0 ppm nitrate: 5 ppm

<div class="button-container"> Temperature control: <<button "Increase">><<replace "#output">>The hall feels a bit warmer now.<</replace>><</button>> <<button "Decrease">><<replace "#output">>The hall feels a bit colder now.<</replace>><</button>> </div>

The card can now be used to pay for transactions out of the petty cash account. (for modest purchases only, at participating retailers)

This card is now loaded with the essential access codes to open magnetic door locks throughout the building.

<<if visited("real laboratory")==1>> Now that you have access to your laboratory equipment, you feel confident that you have the resources you need to convene a summative gathering. Don’t worry if you still aren’t sure exactly what happened. Even the greatest detectives figure it out as they go along. It is OK, wise even, to interrupt a summation in progress when new facts are revealed. [[Initiate summative gathering.|summative entry]] You can also choose to convene the meeting at a later time by clicking the link beneath the interrogation screen. <</if>> Arriving back in your laboratory for the first time in months feels like you’ve come home again. Your lab room is a center for scholarship, an intellectual retreat, a playground. With generous grants from the Hippopopolis Science Foundation, you’ve equipped your lab with research equipment which would rival the world’s finest universities. Along one wall are shelves of handblown glassware and cabinets filled with chemicals, sorted by compatibility. In another corner are incubators, centrifuges, thermocyclers, and electrophoresis equipment, arranged for an efficient genetic engineering workflow. In a third corner is a table-top particle accelerator and a tokamak fusion reactor. The centerpiece of your collection is a state of the art material analyzer. Plastering the sides of the analyzer are various radiation warning stickers and caution labels. There is a door on the front of the cabinet. [[Open the matter analyzer.|open analyzer]] [[Read the caution labels.|read analyzer]] [[Exit to your own room.|Brainioids room]]

Chloe's eyes widen when you lower the test strip into the beer can, then show her the positive result. @@.c;Whoa, you say the kale in the beer was what poisoned the Captain? I know what you're thinking. You and Burt are going to try to pin this thing on me. I didn't do it. I may have told you before that I purchased the beer for Burt, but I was lying. He purchased it himself.@@ @@.br;How could he purchase it himself? He's only fifteen. He looks like he's twelve.@@ @@.c;He bought it from Handy's Swill and Spirits. They're an Alignment of Evil joint. They'd sell alcohol to anyone without batting an eye.@@ @@.br;Why would you lie for him?@@ @@.c;Because he asked me to. Because he's my friend. At least I thought he was my friend. Then he planted the receipt in my desk, where you found it, which is going to make it even more difficult for me now to convince you of the truth.@@ @@.br;Why do you think he asked you to lie for him.@@ @@.c;After you discovered the beer can, he was afraid his parents might discover he's a drinker. He's not a partier or alcoholic. He just sometimes has a beer before he goes to bed. I've known about it for a long time. I even sometimes go into his room and have a beer with him. He asked me to buy for him, but I never would. He always purchased his own from the disreputable liquor store. I swear I never bought for him. But when he asked me to lie and say I bought for him, I couldn't see any harm in that. How could there be harm in that? Why would I even imagine that he had used the beer to poison his own father!@@ @@.c;Just please trust me. I love Captain Prodigious. I would never do anything to hurt him. Go share the test strip results on the beer with Burt. See what he says.@@ @@.br;Burt still insists you're the one who bought the beer on the night of October sixth.@@ @@.c;Burt is a rat! Show him the assay results when I'm around. I'll make him tell the truth.@@

The stickers are mostly ANSI and ISO warning labels: pictographs and safety codes presented in a color palette of red, yellow, white and black. These warnings remind you of the immense power of the matter analyzer, which can generate and detect radiation from all regions of the natural spectrum, or even divine into the spiritual realm. [[Continue|real laboratory]]

Behind the matter analyzer door is a cabinet large enough to accommodate any object of a size you could reasonably hold or carry into the lab room. A matter analyzer is a tool for identifying the true nature of any object. It is a spiritual device as much as a scientific one: a cross between a multi-channel spectrometer and a scrying mirror. You can put any held object into the cabinet, and the analyzer will return a full report of the object’s true nature within minutes. <<set _link="Analyze "+setup[$heldItem].name>> <<link _link "analyze">><</link>> <<include "Self inventory">>

The cabinet door closes. The machine hums and clicks while it scans across the full range of the electromagnetic spectrum. A minute later the door reopens. A bank of LEDs blink and change colors, spelling out the analysis report: <<if Object.hasOwn(setup[$heldItem],"anly")>> <<if Story.has(setup[$heldItem].anly)>> <<include setup[$heldItem].anly>> <<else>> <<print setup[$heldItem].anly>> <</if>> <<else>> The <<print setup[$heldItem].name>> is just as it appears. <<include setup[$heldItem].desc>> <</if>> You restore the item to your held inventory and close the machine. [[Continue|open analyzer]]

A secret closet has opened on the south wall of the Wanda Twins common room. The closet is empty except for a pair of muddy shoeprints on the floor; or rather a pattern of muddy shoeprints. Prints from the same shoe pair repeat themselves all over the closet floor. A mortal detective might conclude simply that the same careless person had thrown their shoes in this closet repeatedly. But you are Brainioid, and you see the pattern for what it is. All the prints were made on the same day about three weeks ago, on October 6, the date of the last rainstorm. The person who made them had been tramping through soil composed of equal parts clay, silt and sand. The prints have since dried out and remained mostly undisturbed. The shoe owner was a sleight to midsize adult who actually walked into the closet then remained here, shifting their weight from foot to foot, for what must have been an uncomfortable length of time before finally exiting. But why? Was the person being kept prisoner? Hiding out? Inadvertently trapped? And who? These questions can not be answered without further investigation. <<if $heldItem !="">> <<set _compare="Compare shoeprints with "+setup[$heldItem].name>> <<link _compare>> <<replace "#output">> <<if $heldItem=="Oboot">> The boot heel is a perfect match for the footprints inside the closet. <<pushStopic 'Sbootmatch' 'Sbootmatch' 'Bootprint evidence indicates that Joe spent part of the night on October sixth hiding in Wanda Twin\'s secret closet.' 'OSbootmatch'>> <<else>> The object you are testing (<<print setup[$heldItem].name>>) is the wrong shape to have made these shoeprints. <</if>> <</replace>> <</link>> <</if>>

This clunky wooden heel was left behind by the costumed man whom Burt alleges ran directly into him when Burt was returning to the Guildhall late on the night of October sixth. The white lacquered heel looks like it came from the backend of a platform boot which would add an extra three inches to a man's height.

<<include "convene summation">> The suspects have gathered in the <<print $lastloc>>. Carmen has her head down, wiping tears from her eyes with a green handkerchief. Joe shifts his weight nervously from one foot to the other. Chloe looks like a deer in the headlights. Burt scans the room focusing on each of the other suspects in turn, trying to read their thoughts. He’s a bright lad. He may already have theories of his own. Will they match the conclusions you are about to present? @@.br;Where is Mermanx?@@ you ask. The silence which follows is awkward. Finally Carmen says, @@.cp;He called and said he couldn’t make it to the summation. He sends his condolences.@@ @@.br;Then I guess we’ll have to start this without him. This morning we witnessed the unimaginable: the defeat of Captain Prodigious. Throughout the afternoon I have investigated the case, and reached this conclusion: the defeat of Captain Prodigious is the consequence of a gradual but steady accretion of deceits by each of you, all tracing back to the fateful guildhall meeting on October sixth.@@ Joe gasps, @@.j;But none of us were in the guildhall that night. Hadn’t that meeting been cancelled for lack of attendance?@@ @@.br;All four of you initially claimed you were away from the hall that night. You all gave alibis. But they were all lies, fabrications. You were all present in the guildhall at some time before midnight, and several of you actually joined Mermanx and our Captain in the library. This is consistent with Mermanx’s account. Since Mermanx has chosen not to grace us with his presence, I shall quote him, from my audiographic memory:@@ @@.m;The meeting didn’t end at eight. Other members returned to the guildhall, one by one, cycling in and out of the library like it had a revolving door. Every one of them confided with us recent breaches of judgement and personal character. Any one of those transgressions we heard confessed that night had the potential to destroy our organization if they were discovered by outsiders. Raul and I were stuck in the library until well after midnight, figuring out how to address and minimize impact from these revelations. Yet even that wasn’t the end of the drama taking place that night.@@ You continue the summation in your own words, “To make sense of what really happened on October sixth, we shall recreate the events of that evening in chronological order." [[Continue|Summate]] <<set $SState=1>> <<set $GState=52>>

<<if $SState<1>> Reserve this combination of evidence for a moment when you need to prove that Chloe's initial alibi for October sixth was false. <<back>> <<elseif $SState>1>> You've already used this evidence in your summation, earlier, to prove that Chloe's initial alibi was false. <<else>> <<set $SState=2>> <<set $GState=56>> <<removeSTopic "Sreceipt">> <<removeSTopic "Scexcuse">> You lay out the evidence, @@.br;Earlier today, Chloe provided a liquor store receipt as her alibi for missing the October sixth meeting. Later she admitted the liquor store receipt actually belonged to Burt. Where were you //really// that night?@@ Chloe explains, @@.c;Contrary to what I told you before, about being out at the liquor store, I never left the guildhall that night. I logged on to Joe’s computer and played Superhero Rockstar. That’s the massively multiplayer game Joe plays constantly. I wanted to see what it was all about.@@ @@.br;What was your impression of the game?@@ @@.c;Sort of stupid, actually. Rockstar Superheros? That’s what Joe and I are in real life. Then he wants to play the virtual version of himself for eight hours a day? That’s like an ordinary mortal getting addicted to the Second Life game, or whatever. Yet while I was playing it, the game became very immersive for me also. I lost track of time. When my attention was pulled back to reality by a noise in the common room, I looked at the clock on the computer and realized two hours had already passed.@@ @@.br;Who was in the other room?@@ @@.c;I went out and found Mermanx. He was looking for me. He was angry that I had missed the guildhall business meeting. Really angry.@@ @@.br;Did you log out of the game?@@ @@.c;I didn’t expect to be away from the screen for that long. But Mermanx demanded that I proceed directly to the library to answer a few questions. When I got there, Captain Prodigious was the only one in the room. He seemed angry also. Mermanx followed in a few minutes later. The three of us talked in the library for much longer than I expected or would have liked. Then I went back to Joe’s room and logged out. I’d been away from the screen for long enough to realize what a stupid waste of time it was.@@ @@.br;But the game was in the same state as you’d left it?@@ @@.c;Pretty much.@@ @@.br;What does that mean?@@ @@.c;The characters in the game have their own autonomy when the player is away from the screen for an extended time. They follow scripts that the player has set up in advance. I had my character programmed to wander around a virtual subway terminal busking for coins. That’s what they were still doing when I got back.@@ @@.br;What were the topics of your meeting with Mermanx and the Captain?@@ [[Chloe describes the scene]] <</if>>

<<if $SState<2>> Reserve this combination of evidence for a moment when you need to prove that Chloe was being blackmailed. <<back>> <<elseif $SState>2>> You've already used this evidence in your summation, earlier, to prove that Chloe was being blackmailed. <<else>> <<set $SState=3>> <<removeSTopic "Sfakestrips">> <<removeSTopic "Sfakelogon">> You lay out the facts: @@.br;Chloe produced two sets of test strips. One for her online client base, which were legit assay strips which did what they promised, and a different batch for Captain Prodigious. The assay strips made for Captain Prodigious, the ones I was experimenting with all afternoon, were completely bogus.@@ @@.cp;But why!@@ gasps Carmen. @@.br;She was being blackmailed into providing fake strips for the Captain. Blackmailed by someone who knew she was frequently logging into the computer system with Carmen’s password and account.@@ @@.b;We all did that,@@ scoffs Burt. @@.b;My Dad put such severe restrictions on our personal accounts that we couldn’t use the computer for anything without hacking in through Mom’s account.@@ His mom reacts to this with an arched brow. You explain, @@.br;I learned Carmen’s password by looking over Joe’s shoulder while he was typing it in. Chloe probably learned it the same way. We may have all shared Carmen’s account, but only Chloe felt guilty about it. She depended on computer access to run her internet business. When a person experiences secretive guilt, regardless of the significance of their indiscretion or even whether they’ve done anything wrong at all, they lay themselves open to manipulation by anyone who discovers the secret.@@ Burt asks. @@.b;Chloe, is that true?@@ @@.c;No comment.@@ Carmen says, @@.cp;It’s OK, honey. When Raul cut off computer access to the rest of you, I gave Joe my password. I knew how much enjoyment he got out of that silly game.@@ Chloe repeats, @@.c;No comment@@ You say, @@.br;Chloe didn’t know about the Captain’s heroic allergy to kale, so when her blackmailer told her to provide him with fake assay strips, she didn’t realize what harm it might cause. It wasn’t until today that she realized that her actions would cause harm to a man she regards as a father figure; and that realization has caused her to sink even deeper into guilt and self denial.@@ Chloe begins to cry. @@.c;It’s true. I used Carmen's password to get into the computer to run my business, then I used Joe's player name and avatar, //cotton72//, to play Rockstar Superhero.@@ The other three wrap their arms around her to console her. As she regains her composure, you say, @@.br;Chloe, you don’t need to say any more. Because you weren’t the only one at the meeting that night, and you weren’t the only one being blackmailed.@@ [[Continue|Summate]] <</if>>

<<if $SState<3>> Reserve this combination of evidence for a moment when you need to prove that Carmen's initial alibi for October sixth was false. <<back>> <<elseif $SState>3>> You've already used this evidence in your summation, earlier, to prove that Carmen's initial October sixth alibi was false. <<else>> <<removeSTopic "Scpreturn">> <<removeSTopic "Scpexcuse">> <<set $SState=4>> You lay out the evidence, @@.br;Carmen went to the Illicit Rendezvous Inn with Joe on the night of October 6. That’s why she was late for the guildhall meeting. They were compelled by a sudden rainstorm to stay at the motel longer than planned. But she didn’t stay overnight. The innkeeper will confirm that.@@ Carmen confesses, @@.cp;I left during a lull in the storm. I arrived back at the guildhall at ten pm. I was indeed the person Chloe heard entering. I’m fortunate I arrived home safely. The storm began picking up again soon as I took my seat in the library.@@ @@.br;What happened during your portion of the meeting?@@ Carmen sets the scene: One of the bulbs in the Tiffany lamp on the library table is burned out. A single candle mounted in a silver cup has been brought in to replace it. Raul's end of the table is littered with used drinking glasses and disordered papers. Mermanx sits at his right hand, spritzing himself with a water bottle to avoid drying out. Carmen’s throne has been pitched onto its side. Without asking for explanation, she picks up the throne, and moves it back in place. @@.rp;Where have you been?@@ Raul asks. @@.cp;I was out with Joe at the Illicit Rendezvous Motel.@@ Mermanx looks at her sideways, @@.m;Isn’t that place owned by the Alignment of Evil?@@ Raul says, @@.rp;The alignment gang hasn’t had their claws in that place for years. They weren’t making enough profit off it.” Then turning back to Carmen he asks “ What were you doing there, Darling? Did you forget we had a meeting scheduled here tonight?@@ @@.cp;Joe booked a long term performance contract in their lounge. I tagged along for support. I wish you’d been there with us also, Raul. I really do. It’s a sweet little inn with lovely clown paintings in each room. We could have had a good time.@@ @@.rp;Damn it! I just finished telling Chloe to stop pursuing that kind of nonsense. Now I have to speak to her brother also?@@ @@.cp;I think you should let up on them a little. The twins are adults now. It’s time to cut the chain. Remember that Kahlil Gibran poem we studied in college: If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours. If they don't, they never were?@@ @@.rp;We have no time to discuss poetry and art here. This thing of ours is all that stands between the world and anarchy.@@ Carmen replies with another line of poetry: @@.cp;If a man devotes himself to art, much evil is avoided that happens otherwise if one is idle – Albrecht Dürer@@ @@.rp;Mermanx, what’s on the agenda which might draw my wife’s attention back to the affairs of the guildhall?@@ Mermanx says, @@.m;We still don’t have a quorum. Even if we pull Chloe back into the room.@@ Raul asks, @@.rp;Where is Brainioid? Including him we’d have the quorum.@@ Carmen answers, @@.m;He’s at a Mensa gathering with the other smart people.@@ @@.rp;Mensa? That’s so beneath him.@@ @@.m;He’s insecure.@@ [[Interrupt Carmen’s testimony. This is getting sort of embarrassing.|summate4a]] <</if>>

<<if $SState<4>> Reserve this combination of evidence for a moment when you need to prove that Carmen was being blackmailed. <<back>> <<elseif $SState>4>> You've already used this evidence in your summation, earlier, to prove that Carmen was being blackmailed. <<else>> <<set $SState=5>> <<removeSTopic "Sinvoice">> <<removeSTopic "Spamphlet">> You lay out the evidence, @@.br;When I was studying the digital account records this morning, I found a receipt for a 0.100 megagram crate of kale, with Carmen’s signature. It makes no sense that she would buy such a large amount and have it shipped to the guildhall. She did not learn before today about her husband’s heroic allergy. But she would have observed his assiduous avoidance of kale throughout his life, and she told me earlier that she hoped there was not any around the guildhouse, though she knew there must be.@@ Carmen bursts into tears, @@.cp;I did not receive any kale or bring it into the hall. I only ordered it. And when I did, I didn’t know the impact of what I was doing.@@ Chloe has connected the dots by now. @@.c;Your blackmailer applied the same techniques as mine. There was nothing unseemly about your relationship with Joe. It’s completely normal for married people to be seen about town alone with other friends. Yet because you were afraid of how the tabloids might portray you, you thought of it as an indiscretion. Your sense of shame made you an easy target for blackmail. When you were asked to order a large amount of kale in exchange for your privacy, it seemed like nothing. Later, when you understood the true impact of what you’d done, you were paralyzed by shame. The thing you’d done to keep your secrets hidden felt infinitely more terrible than the secrets themselves.@@ The other three wrap their arms around Carmen to console her. As she regains her composure, you say, @@.br;Carmen, you don’t need to say any more. Because there was at least one more person who exposed themselves to the blackmailer that night.@@ Joe blurts out, @@.j;I wasn’t being blackmailed!@@ You assert @@.br;Joe, it’s not your turn yet. Burt was the next person who returned to the guildhall that night.@@ Chloe preemptively jumps to Burt's defense. @@.c;The assay strips I prepared for the Captain were bunk. You already proved that. The assay you ran earlier on the beer can didn’t prove anything. Burt didn’t poison his father.@@ @@.br;No, he didn’t. The beer was never tainted. But Burt played another unwitting role in Captain’s defeat.@@ [[Continue|Summate]] <</if>>

<<if $SState<5>> Reserve this combination of evidence for a moment when you need to prove that Burt was being blackmailed. <<back>> <<elseif $SState>5>> You've already used this evidence in your summation, earlier, to prove that Burt was being blackmailed. <<else>> <<set $SState=6>> <<removeSTopic "Sid">> <<removeSTopic "Sfakegold">> You lay out the evidence, @@.br;Raul commissioned Burt to sew a fancy gold cape, as an accessory to his existing costume. Burt didn’t realize that the cape would protect his father from kale, rendering him truly invincible, and not just mostly invincible. Burt assumed the cape was a mere vanity, but agreed to the project anyway. Someone else who knew the true purpose of the cape, and who also knew that Burt had been shopping for alcohol with a fake ID, compelled Burt to replace the solid gold fabric he’d originally purchased from his father’s budget with a cheap gold lamé he bought from his own pocket.@@ Burt seems relieved to be exposed for his mistakes; relaxed, even. He tells his story: @@.b;I didn’t get back to Guild morning until hours after the meeting had ended. It was almost one o’clock in the morning on October 7 before I arrived. It was still raining out, lighter than it had been earlier, but I’d been out on the streets all night and I was drenched.@@ @@.b;As I approached the entrance, I saw the weirdest thing: a smallish man running in the other direction (away from the guildhall). He was dressed in a white jumpsuit adorned with purple rhinestones and a flowing white cape. As he jumped off the entrance step, the wooden platform heel broke off from their knee high white vinyl boots. Hobbling on one heel didn’t slow them down any, and they almost knocked me down when they ran into me.@@ @@.b;My first assumption was that Dad had added a new superhero to his retinue. Who else but one of our kind would run around in the rain after midnight wearing such a ridiculous costume. But the caped figure kept running as fast as they could away from the guildhall. Then I assumed it was one of the opposing team who was trying to break into our guildhall, and was repelled by the entrance security.@@ @@.b;Anyway, I continued into the guildhall, where I was met by my dad, Mom, and Mermanx. They invited me to warm up in the library, where even though it was one in the morning, they still hadn’t cleaned up from their earlier meeting. Here, you can have the one heel that the strange man dropped near the entrance.@@ Burt gives you a clunky wooden boot heel. <<pushTopic 'Tboot' 'Tboot' 'Show inventory: boot heel dropped outside the guildhall on October 6' 'Oboot' 'Acquired: clunky platform boot heel'>> Chloe shouts, @@.c;Hey that looks like one of Joe’s costume boots! Didn’t you lose one of your heels, about three weeks ago?@@ Joe stammers, @@.j;D-D-Don’t be silly. I was at the motel all night. The innkeeper will c-c-confirm I was there all night.@@ [[Continue|Summate]] <</if>>

Carmen concludes, @@.cp;When I quoted Kahlil Gibran, I was applying it to Raul’s relationship with Joe and Chloe. Now on reflection, I think it also applies to my relationship with Raul. I wanted him, but he cared more about being a public figure.@@ You say, @@.br;What surprises me is how non-plussed he was when you told him you were at a motel with Joe. He only got angry when you reminded him that the Twins wanted a release from the guildhall.@@ @@.cp;Raul knew all about my close relationship with Joe. I think it relieved him that I could spend meaningful time with Joe, so that he wouldn’t have to, so he could be swallowed whole by his own work.@@ @@.br;If Raul was already on board with your relationship-then why all the secrecy and discretion?@@ @@.cp;We weren’t hiding ourselves from Raul. We were hiding from the paparazzi. We are all public figures with reputations to protect. You already know what your first thought was when you learned Joe and I visited a motel together. Imagine the spin the tabloids would put on that. That’s why we took separate cars, wore costumes, and came back separately. When you asked earlier about my alibi for October 6, I can’t explain why I wasn’t forthright with you immediately.@@ [[Continue|Summate]]

<<if $SState<6>> Reserve this combination of evidence for a moment when you need to prove that Joe's initial alibi for October sixth was false. <<back>> <<elseif $SState>6>> You've already used this evidence in your summation, earlier, to prove that Joe's initial October sixth alibi was false. <<else>> <<set $SState=7>> <<removeSTopic "Sbootmatch">> <<removeSTopic "Sjexcuse">> Joe begins his confession, or a partial confession, at least. @@.j;OK, so I came back to the guildhall. I got back here before Carmen ever left. I needed to do some business on the computer, some money transfers I would need to complete our singing contract. But when I got back here, Chloe was at the computer, logged in with her own character.@@ @@.j;I hid myself in the common room closet. I have a door opener switch on my key fob, which is a more convenient way of opening the secret closet than the method Brainioid discovered. I went in, and waited.@@ @@.j;Chloe was called away at about 7:00, but she was still logged into her account. If I disturbed the computer white her game was still active, she would have known. So I went back to the closet and waited some more. I was stuck in that closet for almost five hours. I needed to pee so badly. Finally, I heard her walking back out of the computer room and into the common room. Then I had to wait for her to fall asleep. I came out of the closet and finished my computer transactions.@@ @@.br;Why was it so important for you to stay hidden? Why not just come out and tell Chloe to get off the computer? It’s your desk.@@ @@.j;I don’t know, really. I guess I was just afraid that if I exposed myself, I would get called into the library to be part of that six hour business meeting like the rest of you. It just felt more comfortable to be trapped in a closet without a potty for all that time.@@ [[Continue|Summate]] <</if>>

<<if $SState<7>> Reserve this combination of evidence for a moment when you need to prove that Joe was being blackmailed. <<back>> <<elseif $SState>7>> You've already used this evidence in your summation, earlier, to prove that Joe was being blackmailed. <<else>> <<set $SState=8>> <<removeSTopic "Sfraud">> <<removeSTopic "Sbill">> Joe says, @@.j;When I saw that the motel lounge was available for a performance contract, I got really excited. This was the break Chloe and I had been waiting for. I knew we had enough money, because we’d been saving our money for years. But when I approached Chloe about the opportunity, she wasn’t interested.@@ Chloe says, @@.c;Joe, what I told you was that it was a foolish investment. We need to find a place that will pay us to perform, not the other way around; or split the cover with us; or worst case give us tickets that we can sell ourselves. Professional musicians don’t pay their venue. Reputable venues pay their musicians.@@ Joe continues, @@.j;What Chloe didn’t tell me was that we had run out of savings in our personal account. She spent it all on her internet wellness business without telling me. That’s the real reason she wouldn’t join me that night, and I had to invite Carmen instead.@@ Chloe says, @@.c;Joe, my internet business is legitimate. The assay strips I sold to Captain Prodigious may have been bogus. I was being blackmailed and I didn’t know any better. But the assay strips I sell online are tested, they really work, and my subscribers are eager to buy them. I will multiply our savings three times by the end of the calendar year, and we’ll have enough money to set up in Vegas by the Spring. Your business plan, on the other hand, we’ll be lucky to break even, we’ll be locked into performances at a motel lounge for the next nine months, and stuck living in the guildhall while we do.@@ Joe says, @@.j;You should have just told me. I didn’t realize the account was empty until I’d already written the check. But then I had an idea. I saw the innkeeper logging into Rock Star Superhero on the hotel check-in computer. I asked him to rip up my check. I told him I would transfer money to him through the game. I rushed to get back to the guildhall, hid in the closet until Chloe got off her computer. I came out of the closet while Chloe was in her meeting, but when I saw she was still logged in as her character, I realized I couldn’t log out without her realizing I’d been there. So I went back into the closet, and waited until she was off the game.@@ Chloe asks, @@.c;Where did the money come from?@@ Burt says, @@.b;I bet I know. When I swapped out the real gold fabric my father bought me for polyester lamé fabric I bought myself, I was surprised that the two fabrics looked exactly alike: same density, same color, same silky texture, same sheen. That’s because Joe had already swapped the real gold fabric for polyester lamé before I ever received it. Joe laundered the money my father paid for a protective gold cape into his own Rock Star Superhero account, then transferred the money to some dive motel!@@ Joe lowers his head in shame, back against the wall. The others circle around, gaping at him with condemnation, closing in. You step between them, @@.br;Whoa now, wait, remember the parable about glass houses and stones. You’ve all made mistakes. Joe tried to atone for his… but then he got caught in the same web of blackmail as the rest of you.@@ @@.c;You did?@@ asks Chloe. @@.j;I was,@@ Joe explains. @@.j;Immediately after I got back to the motel, after midnight, I realized what an awful thing I’d done. I didn’t yet understand why Captain Prodigious needed an authentic gold cape, but I knew I was guilty of fraud and embezzlement. I also knew it had been wrong of me to make a business decision without consulting my sister first.@@ Chloe embraces him, @@.c;Oh, Joe, it was wrong of me also. I should have included you in decisions about my online business.@@ Joe continues, @@.j;The innkeeper was very understanding, and allowed me to void the contract we’d just signed, all money returned. He even refused to take payment for the rooms we were staying in through the storm, which he’d already comped for the night. He said he was a fan of our music and wished us well.@@ [[Continue|summation 8]] <</if>>

You resume your summation, @@.br;But Joe’s atonement came too late. Back at the guildhall, his financial mismanagement had already been detected. Joe became the target of blackmail just like the rest of you. He was manipulated into receiving the large shipment of kale which Carmen had previously ordered.@@ Joe says, @@.br;I didn't understand the danger of kale when I signed for it.@@ @@.br;Nor did any of us before today. A mere gram would be enough to poison our Captain Prodigious. The crate you received was a hundred thousand times that amount, enough to wipe out an entire army of Prodigii. That kale must still be in the guildhall, secreted away in the lair of the double agent who betrayed you all.@@ <div style="display: inline-block"> Name the blackmailer: <<textbox "_name" "">> <<button "Enter">> <<replace '#span'>> <<switch _name.toLowerCase()>> <<case "burt">>Burt was a victim of the blackmail, not a perpetrator. He felt guilty about using a fake ID and patronizing an Alignment of Evil run liquor store. Someone who knew about this manipulated him into replacing Captain P's real gold cape with fake gold. <<case "carmen","carmenp","mrs prodigious","mrs. prodigious", "mrs p","mrs. p" >>Carmen was a victim of the blackmail, not a perpetrator. She was afraid the paparazzi would publish stories about her visit to the Illicit Rendezvous Motel with Joe. Someone who knew about this manipulated her into placing an order for 0.100 megagrams of kale. <<case "prodigious">>Which Prodigious, Carmen, Burt or Raul? <<case "chloe", "chloe wanda">>Chloe was a victim of the blackmail, not a perpetrator. She felt guilty about using Mrs P's computer credentials to operate her own on-line business. Someone who knew about this manipulated her to provide Captain P with fake test strips. <<case "wanda", "twin", "twins", "wanda twins">>Which of the Wanda twins, Chloe or Joe? <<case "joe", "joe wanda">>Joe was a victim of the blackmail, not a perpetrator. He felt embarrassed about his own poor judgement and mismanagement of guildhall finances. Someone who knew about this manipulated him to receive 0.100 megagrams of kale into the guildhall." <<case "captain", "captain prodigious", "captain p", "raul", "raul prodigious", "mr p", "mr. p", "mr prodigious", "mr. prodigious">>Captain Prodigious is dead or near death, a victim of all this mayhem. It's not reasonable to think he blackmailed anyone for the purpose of hurting himself. <<case "shady", "shady figure", "figure">>It is unlikely that Shady Figure has ever set foot in your guildhall, and he would not have had the inside knowledge required for all the blackmails you've exposed today. <<case "mermanx">>[[Of course it is! (continue the summation)|summation 9]] <<case xyzzy>> Did you mean to type Mxyzptlk? <<case "mxyzptlk">> Mr Mxyzptlk is a DC Comic supervillain. It seems unlikely he would have crossed over into your universe. <<case "">>Type a suspect's name in the textbox, then press enter. <<default>> <<print _name>> is not a suspect. <</switch>> <</replace>> <</button>> </div>

<<set $SState=9>> Of course it was Mermanx. He was privy to the indiscretions of all the other guildhall members, and the only member who hadn’t been blackmailed themself. The gathered suspects nod, impressed by your deductive acumen and also relieved that you have released them from the bondage of their own secrets. Carmen says, @@.cp;I am not surprised; not at all. Mermanx has always been jealous of my husband's power and position. If he is responsible for Raul's current condition, then you must seek him out and deliver justice.@@ The rest of the gang does a soft clap at this plan. You demur, @@.br;But I can't go back into the aquarium. Remember what happened last time: I lost my wheelchair; I almost drowned.@@ Carmen says, @@.cp;I have a device that will protect you while you're in the tank. Go to the aquarium entrance. I'll meet you there.@@ Carmen exits to fetch the device. The rest of the gang heads toward the aquarium, urging you to follow. <<set $charlocs={ m:"", cp:"Aquarium", c:"Aquarium", j:"Aquarium", b:"Aquarium", s:"", rp:"" } >> <<set $CState={ cp:26, c:26, j:26, b:26 }>> <<set $GState=64>> <<include "Clickable Map">>

The button sets off the ridiculous sequence of action and reaction it was designed to trigger, beginning with the rotation of the geared plastic wheels, the red lever, the swinging pendulum, the green boot-- For a moment, it looks like the Alignment of Evil gang might push their way out from the white circle. <<linkreplace "Push them back into the circle!">> The team works together, pushing them back into the center. The ball bearing begins to roll, then raises a pole, which releases a somewhat larger bearing, which falls on a lever-- Again, your opponents are fighting to gain advantage. <<linkreplace "Fight to keep them within the circle!">> Your team works collectively to push them back. The large bearing transfers its momentum to a human statue, which unbalances a wire cage, which falls out of the ceiling directly onto your trespassing opponents. They are captured. The device worked exactly like it was designed to. Battle ended. [[continue|End2End]] <</linkreplace>> <</linkreplace>>

<<unset $inthead>> <div align="center" style="font-size: 200%;"> Summative Gathering </div> The suspects have gathered. They wait anxiously to hear your exposition. /* <div class='parent inline-flex-parent'> <div class='child inline-flex-child'> <<link "Navigate" "disrupt">><</link>> </div> <div class='child inline-flex-child'> [[Exit Summation|Interrogate]] </div> </div> */ Provide evidence to prove that <<switch $SState>> <<case 1>>Chloe's initial alibi for October sixth was false. <<case 2>>Chloe was being blackmailed. <<case 3>>Carmen's initial alibi for October sixth was false. <<case 4>>Carmen was being blackmailed. <<case 5>>Burt was being blackmailed. <<case 6>>Joe's initial October sixth alibi was false. <<case 7>>Joe was being blackmailed. <<case 8>>Name the blackmailer. <</switch>> <<button "Drag topics or click this bar to draglessly transfer current topic">> <<run setup.draglessSwap($lasttopic)>> <</button>> <<run setup.setBubbleColor($interogee)>> <div class='parent interrogate-win'> <div id="interrogate-win-child1" class="win-child" ondrop="window.drop1(event)" ondragover="window.allowDrop(event)" ondragend="window.ondragend1"> <<for _i to 0;_i<$SummArray.length;_i++>> <<set _page=$SummArray[_i].page>> <<if Object.hasOwn(setup[_page],"summ") and $SummArray[_i].isOpen(null)>> <<capture _i>> <<set _thisID=$SummArray[_i].handle>> <div @id="_thisID" class="draggable-item" draggable="true" ondragstart="window.drag1(event)" onclick="window.focustopic(event)" touchend="window.focustopic(event)" dragend="window.focustopic(event)"> ⇒<<link $SummArray[_i].shortDesc>> <<set _page=$SummArray[_i].page>> <<set _output=setup[_page].summ>> <<replace "#outputarea">><<print _output>><</replace>> <</link>> </div> <</capture>> <</if>> <</for>> </div> <div id="interrogate-win-child2" class="win-child" ondrop="window.drop2(event)" ondragover="window.allowDrop(event)" ondragend="window.ondragend2" > <div id="buttonarea">Drag summative evidence into this field to substantiate your claims.</div> <div id="inputarea"></div> <div id="outputarea"></div> </div> </div> <<link "Briefly pause the summative exposition to gather more evidence" $lastloc>> <</link>>

The library is a long room, with a grand wooden meeting table down the center. A set of Tiffany desk lamps provide light. Book shelves climb floor to ceiling up every wall. One needs a rolling ladder to reach the periodicals on the highest shelves. Raul sits at a leather recliner at one end of the table, papers and single drinking glass arranged in front of him. Mermanx sits at his right hand. A modest throne on the other end is where Carmen would sit, if she were present. The rest of the seats (all unoccupied) are comfortable but basic wooden library chairs. An anniversary clock under a glass dome on a high shelf marks time with the silent back and forth rotation of its suspended brass armature. This clock design, known for its optimized conservation of power, was installed in the guildhall exactly fifty years ago, and has only needed rewinding forty nine times since. The filigree hands of the clock report 8 pm. Technically, the meeting should have already ended. Chloe has just entered the room, but is not yet seated. Raul calls the meeting to order, then asks Chloe, @@.rp;Where is your brother?@@ @@.c;I don’t know. I’m a little worried he’s gone out tonight and done something foolish.@@ Raul follows up, @@.rp;I want to know more about that. Mermanx, add it to the agenda.@@ Mermanx responds, @@.m;With all due respect, Captain, we still don’t have quorum.@@ Raul asks, @@.c;Chloe, where is Burt?@@ Chloe shifts on her feet uncomfortably. Raul barks another order, @@.rp;Chloe, sit down. I give you permission to sit in my wife’s chair. Get up quickly if you hear her coming back into the building. Where is Burt?@@ @@.c;I don’t know,@@ she says, lowering herself into Carmen’s throne. She’s never sat here before. It isn’t as comfortable as she would have imagined. Raul asks, @@.rp;Why are you so tardy to our meeting? We meet the same day every month.@@ @@.c;I thought since everyone else was away, the meeting would be cancelled… May I be frank?@@ @@.rp;Permission granted.@@ @@.c;I really don’t enjoy these meetings anymore. Joe and I truly appreciate that you adopted us as teenagers, and trained us to be superheroes. But we’re in our late twenties now. We want freedom and independence. We want to move out.@@ @@.rp;What would you do? How would you survive without the benevolence of this Guildhall?@@ @@.c;I want to be a social media influencer. Joe wants to be a rockstar.@@ Mermanx looks aside from his notes. @@.m;She has a point, they’re young adults now. We should let them do what they want. We could find new interns to take their place.@@ Raul barks, @@.rp;Do you know what it would cost to train new interns? Absolutely not. You’re both an integral part of this team. You and Joe have plenty of free time to pursue your little hobbies when you’re not needed by the guildhall for the critical task of crushing our enemies. I can’t let you go.@@ [[Resume to the summation.|summation 1b]]

You ask, @@.br;Is that all that was discussed while you were in the meeting?@@ She says, @@.c;No. I had said what I wanted to say, and Captain Prodigious made the decision that he made. I knew he wasn’t going to change his mind, and I didn’t have the will to fight with him. He’s been like a father to us since we arrived on this planet. I understand his point. Singing and being a wellness influencer could never be as important as crushing the Captain’s enemies.@@ @@.br;Then what was next on the meeting agenda?@@ @@.c;That’s when Captain Prodigious commissioned me to develop test strips to detect cruciferous vegetables. He wouldn’t explain why, but he made it clear that it was related to our mission of defeating evil. Naturally I said yes. The project would allow me to fight evil and promote gut health. It lifted my spirits to know that the Captain would trust me with such an important project, and it carried me through the rest of the meeting, which was an interminably dull presentation by Mermanx on repairs to the aquarium purification system.@@ @@.br;How long did that last?@@ @@.c;At around ten o’clock we heard someone else come in through the guildhall main entrance.@@ @@.br;Do you know who that was?@@ @@.c;I assumed it was Mrs P. I jumped off her throne faster than a cat out of a sack then ran back to Joe’s room to reopen my game. I’d gotten bored with it by then, so I logged out and went to bed. I woke up once more, just before midnight. I thought maybe Joe had come back. But when I checked the common room, I saw no one.@@ Joe interrupts, @@.j;Brainioid, I thought you said the events of October 6 were related to the Captain’s defeat. I don’t see how though?@@ [[Continue|Summate]]

<<set _topicObj=setup.fetchTopicObj("Tfinal")>> <<if _topicObj.flags==447>> <<set $charlocs={ m:"", cp:"", c:"", j:"", b:"", rp:"", s:"" }>> The party is interrupted suddenly by an alarm from the foyer. Intruders have entered the building. The guildhall is under attack! The rest of the gang rushes out of the library, leaving you by yourself. [[Follow them into the foyer.|final scene]] <<else>> The library has been transformed into a celebration hall. The anniversary clock has been rewound and is keeping good time. All the lightbulbs have been replaced.The floor is swept. The table is covered and skirted (in real gold fabric). Gift boxes are stacked floor to ceiling, these too wrapped in gold, addressed by readers and fans from every corner of the globe. At the center of it all is a silver serving cart, buckling under the weight of a one hundred kilogram cake, twelve layers tall, plastered in white icing with gold and green flowers. Rows of large colored party balloons (just like the ones you saw underwater) float on the ceiling. <<if visited()==1>> “Surprise!” shout your friends from the guildhall (including Captain Prodigious, once more standing tall). You are overwhelmed by emotion, and by the love which must have poured into the planning of this celebration. The surprise on your face is authentic, not a deceit, and not in any way dampened by having guessed at some of this five minutes ago. You'll work out the rest of the details by mingling at the party. <<set $GState=92>> <</if>> <</if>>

What really happened on October sixth? You ask <<name $interogee>>@@.br;What happened at the October sixth meeting?"@@ <<set _m0="Xfinal_m", _m1="@@.m;I've told as much of the story as I know. Talk to the others also.@@", _cp0="Xfinal_cp", _cp1="@@.cp;I just followed Raul's plan. You should talk to him for the details.@@", _c0="@@.c;I’m sorry I told so many lies to you today. I was deceived also: by Mermanx, by my brother…even by Captain Prodigious. I don’t feel bad about giving him fake test strips now that I understand it was all part of his larger plan. In fact, I think this will all work out for the best. Captain Prodigious has agreed to support us in our decision to move out and start our own careers. Joe and I are super excited about that.@@", _c1="@@.c;Joe might know more than I do.@@", _j0="@@.j;It was all pretty much the way I said it happened. I did a dishonest thing, stealing money from the guildhall and laundering it through my personal accounts. I regret that now. Chloe and I are talking again, and from here forth we’re working together on our financial planning. Mermanx and Captain Prodigious have begun to support our plan to move on with our lives, so I’m not upset about the way it all turned out.@@", _j1="@@.j;Mrs P might know more than I do.@@", _b0="Xfinal_b", _b1="@@.b;Chloe might be worth talking with also.@@", _rp0="@@.rp;Three weeks ago, at the October sixth meeting, Carmen persuaded me that my authoritarian leadership style was no longer working. Chloe and Joe were unhappy living here and wanted to move on with their lives. I'd stopped paying attention to the needs of my own family. My son was entering adolescence and making the sorts of impulsive choices that go with that. By the time I realized my mistakes, they were already impacting the security of our guildhall: a computer security breach, exposure by the paparazzi, and an enemy shakedown of my own son. Mermanx and I conceived a plan to address all of these. He would infiltrate the Alignment of Evil gang by posing as a double agent. He would feed them fake information about my weaknesses, and they would be lulled into a false sense of superiority. Mermanx can fill you in on the details of that plan. What’s really important is that I’ve learned a valuable lesson from this. I’ve given the Wanda Twins my blessing to leave the guildhall and start their lives. I've even granted them a modest cash gift to help them get started. Burt will want to move out in a few years also. I intend to spend more quality time with my wife and son before he reaches that age.@@", _rp1="@@.rp;Mermanx can tell you everything.@@" >> <<set setup.Ofinal={ "m":{"0": _m0, "1":_m1}, "cp":{"0":_cp0, "1":_cp1}, "c": {"0":_c0, "1":_c1}, "j":{"0":_j0, "1":_j1}, "b":{"0":_b0, "1":_b1}, "rp":{"0":_rp0, "1":_rp1} } >>

Everything I told you already was true; mostly true… partly… no, perhaps not at all. I stayed in the library with Raul and Mermanx late into the night, arguing on behalf of Joe and Chloe, explaining to Raul why he needed to loosen the reins on the younger members. After three hours, he was finally starting to relent. Then Burt returned, out of the rain, telling us he was being shaken down by the Alignment of Evil. I presume he’s already told you that part of the story. Suddenly it felt like my whole world was crumbling around me. Burt left the library some time after one in the morning, with instructions to plan a surprise party for you. Raul reassured him that he was safe from the Alignment of Evil. I remained behind with Raul and Mermanx. I asked my husband @@.cp;Raul, what is your plan? Will Burt really be safe?@@ Raul kissed me on the forehead, @@.rp;Carmen, my dear, you can’t know the details either. Only Mermanx will. I have a role to play. I’m going to pretend to die. You have a role to play also. You pretend you don’t know I’m still alive. You can also help Burt plan the surprise party. Go now. Mermanx and I will discuss his role.@@ I was reluctant to leave, but I had complete faith in Raul to take care of this situation. I understood that whatever he was planning might put Mermanx in jeopardy if the rest of us knew the details. So I left them alone to plan. I’ve been involved in planning your surprise party from the beginning. We knew we could never keep it a secret from you, unless we gave you an elaborate mystery to distract you while we were preparing. Raul told me later that Mermanx had infiltrated the Alignment of Evil, and fed them information about Raul's fictitious kale allergy. That must have been where you picked up that ridiculous idea. But once you started asking around about a kale allergy, it proved to be an effective cover story to prevent you from discovering the cake I had ordered for you.

@@.br;I was in the library from the dinner hour until long after midnight on October sixth. I'm sure the others have already filled you in on most of those details. Carmen arrived at ten, and stayed almost until the end. Burt came back after midnight, soaking wet and filled with fear. He was being shaken down by the Alignment of Evil for using a fake ID. Yet Burt is a young man of character and had the courage to come clean with his parents. Raul had a plan to take care of the matter. Raul told Burt and Carmen their roles in the plan, then sent them away.@@ After they both left, I asked, @@.m;So what’s my role, Captain?@@ @@.rp;You’re to infiltrate the Alignment of Evil gang. You’re to play the role of a double agent. You’re to invite them into our Guildhall on the day of the Brainioid’s fiftieth anniversary party. On that day we will finally defeat the Alignment of Evil.@@ @@.m;Me? I’m the last person they would believe as a double agent. I can’t survive outside my aquarium for more than an hour.@@ @@.rp;That’s what makes you a believable turncoat. You feel imperfect. You feel underappreciated.@@ @@.m;I think most of us feel that way.@@ @@.rp;Once we defeat the Alignment of Evil gang you won't feel that way anymore.@@ @@.m;I hope you know what you’re doing.@@

@@.br;I think I've figured it out. This //mystery// I've been investigating all afternoon has all been a ruse to prevent me from discovering the surprise party I'm about to walk into. Your Dad was never in any danger. The rest of you are innocent of the indiscretions you confessed to earlier.@@ @@.b;Not quite. We're all superheroes. But some part of each of us is also mortal and we've each made bad choices. My mom may be the only honorable one among us. She and Mermanx have been working tirelessly to protect the rest of us from the consequences of our mistakes. Let yourself into the library now and talk to the others to learn their perspectives. Just act surprised when you enter the room. It will mean a lot to the others who helped plan this.@@ <<if !visited("Burts story")>> [[Unlock the library|Burts story]] <</if>>

/*pushTopic is the widget designed to replace the newTopic widget. in contrast with the original newTopic widget, pushTopic actually creates new Topics and pushes them directly to the $TopicArray global variable*/ <<widget pushTopic>> <<if $TopicArray.find(item => item.handle === _args[0])>> /*topic already exists, return without creating a second topic*/ <<else>> <<set _thisT=new setup.TopicClass(_args[0], _args[1],_args[2],_args[3] )>> <<set $TopicArray.push(_thisT)>> <<set _topicObj=$TopicArray.last()>> <<set State.variables[_args[1]]=_topicObj.flags>> <<if _args.length > 4>> <<set _shortDesc = _args[4]>> <<else>> <<set _shortDesc = _topicObj.shortDesc>> <</if>> <div class="text-wrapper"> New interrogation topic added→ _shortDesc </div> <<run _topicObj.setOpen(null)>> <<run _topicObj.setOpen("x")>> <</if>> <</widget>> <<widget pushStopic>> <<if $SummArray.find(item => item.handle === _args[0])>> /*topic already exists, return without creating a second topic*/ <<else>> <<set _thisT=new setup.TopicClass(_args[0], _args[1],_args[2],_args[3] )>> <<set $SummArray.push(_thisT)>> <<set _topicObj=$SummArray.last()>> <<set State.variables[_args[1]]=_topicObj.flags>> <<if _args.length > 4>> <<set _shortDesc = _args[4]>> <<else>> <<set _shortDesc = _topicObj.shortDesc>> <</if>> <div class="text-wrapper" style="background-color: #522020;"> Summative evidence added→ _shortDesc </div> <<run _topicObj.setOpen(null)>> <<run _topicObj.setOpen("x")>> <</if>> <</widget>>

<<pushTopic "Tfinal" "Tfinal" "I love a surprise party! Is this what you were actually discussing on the night of October sixth?" "Ofinal" "Your friends bought you a cake!" >> <<set _topic = setup.getTopic("Tfinal")>> <<set _topic.setOpen("b")>> <<set $charlocs={ m:"real library", cp:"real library", c:"real library", j:"real library", b:"real library", rp:"real library", } >> <<set $CState={ m:25, cp:25, c:25, j:25, b:25, s:25, rp:25 }>> [[enter|real library]]

The party is interrupted suddenly by an alarm from the foyer. The guildhall is under attack! The rest of the gang rushes out of the library, leaving you by yourself. [[Follow them into the foyer.|final scene]]

<<set _topicObj=setup.fetchTopicObj("Tfinal")>> <<print _topicObj.flags>> <<if _topicObj.flags==447>> <<set $lastloc="under attack">> <</if>>

<<set $interogee="rp">>Raul Prodigious is in his early forties. A dramatic shock of black hair swept across his forehead hides his otherwise receding hairline. A form fitting green body suit with the gold letter P stitched to the front shows he is still keeping fit. <<return>>

<<pushTopic "Tcomic" "Tcomic" "Ocomic" "Ocomic">> <<pushTopic "Treservation" "Treservation" "Oreservation" "Oreservation">> <<pushTopic "Treceipt2" "Treceipt2" "Oreceipt2" "Oreceipt2">> <<pushTopic "Tkalecrate" "Tkalecrate" "Okalecrate" "Okalecrate">> <<set $lastloc="atrium">> <<set $GState=90>> <<set $charlocs={ cp:"Prodigious room", b:"Foyer", } >> <<set $CState={ cp:26, b:26 }>> [[enter|atrium]]

<<set setup.OSreceipt={ "summ": "Although you first discovered the beer receipt in Chloe's room, it actually belonged to Burt. Burt made the purchase recorded on the receipt. He finally admitted this after a dramatic confrontation with Chloe. Burt was visiting Handy's Swill and Spirits on October sixth, not Chloe." } >>

<<set setup.OSfakestrips={ "summ": "Captain Prodigious commissioned Chloe to provide him with crucifer test strips, which he needed to guard against incidental kale exposure. However, the test strips Chloe gave him were completely bogus, placing the Captain at mortal risk." } >>

<<set setup.OScpreturn={ "summ": "Carmen was out with Joe on October sixth at the Illicit Rendezvous Motel. Joe reported that she left the motel by ten pm." } >>

<<set setup.OSinvoice={ "summ": "You heard a voice recording on the guildhall computer which indicated Carmen ordered a huge amount of kale to be delivered to the guildhall." } >>

<<set setup.OSid={ name: "Burt's fake ID", desc: "Did", "summ": "Burt used a fake ID to buy liquor, and hoped to keep it a secret from his parents." } >>

<<set setup.OSbootmatch={ "summ": "Bootprint evidence indicates that Joe spent part of the night on October sixth hiding in Wanda Twin's secret closet." } >>

<<set setup.OSfraud={ "summ": "Someone with the gamer handle //Cotton72// has been laundering money out of the guildhall treasury and into their Rockstar Superhero account, for the purpose of conducting private business through that gaming platform." } >>

<<set setup.OScexcuse={ "summ": "Chloe provided a receipt from Handy's Swill and Spirits as her October sixth alibi. The date and time on the receipt indicated that she must have been away when the meeting started." } >>

<<set setup.OSfakelogon={ "summ": "Chloe used Carmen's logon credentials to run her internet business, although she was unwilling to admit this during interrogation." } >>

<<set setup.OScpexcuse={ "summ": "Carmen's initial excuse for missing the October sixth meeting was that she was out @@.cp;All night@@ at an auxiliary Club meeting." } >>

<<set setup.OSpamphlet={ "summ": "Carmen was afraid of being photographed out with Joe by the paparazzi." } >>

<<set setup.OSfakegold={ "summ": "Captain Prodigious commissioned his son to sew him a real gold cape, to protect him from his heroic weakness. The cloth Burt was using to sew a protective cape for his Dad was nothing but cheap polyester." } >>

<<set setup.OSjexcuse={ "summ": "Joe says he stayed overnight at the Illicit Rendezvous Motel on October sixth." } >>

<<set setup.OSbill={ "summ": "According to computer financial records, Joe received a 0.100 Megagram crate of something from the ACME corp, probably kale, into the guildhall." } >>

<<pushStopic "Sreceipt" "Sreceipt" "Burt purchased beer on October sixth" "OSreceipt">> <<pushStopic "Scexcuse" "Scexcuse" "Chloe says she was at the liquor store on October 6th at 6pm" "OScexcuse">> <<pushStopic "Sfakestrips" "Sfakestrips" "The protective test strips Chloe provided to Captain Prodigious are worthless fakes." "OSfakestrips">> <<pushStopic "Sfakelogon" "Sfakelogon" "Chloe was using Carmen's logon credentials to run her internet business, but embarrassed to admit it herself." "OSfakelogon">> <<pushStopic "Scpreturn" "Scpreturn" "Carmen spent the evening of October sixth at a motel with Joe, but returned by ten o'clock." "OScpreturn">> <<pushStopic "Scpexcuse" "Scpexcuse" "Carmen claims she was out all night on October sixth, at an auxiliary Club meeting." "OScpexcuse">> <<pushStopic "Sinvoice" "Sinvoice" "Carmen placed a phone order for a massive amount of kale to be delivered to the guildhall." "OSinvoice">> <<pushStopic "Spamphlet" "Spamphlet" "Carmen was afraid of being photographed by paparazzi while she was out with Joe." "OSpamphlet">> <<pushStopic "Sid" "Sid" "Burt used a fake ID to buy alcohol from an Alignment of Evil affiliated liquor store." "OSid">> <<pushStopic "Sfakegold" "Sfakegold" "The cloth Burt was using to sew a protective cape for his Dad was nothing but cheap polyester." "OSfakegold">> <<pushStopic "Sbootmatch" "Sbootmatch" "Bootprint evidence indicates that Joe spent part of the night on October sixth hiding in Wanda Twin's secret closet." "OSbootmatch">> <<pushStopic "Sjexcuse" "Sjexcuse" "Joe says he stayed overnight at the Illicit Rendezvous Motel on October sixth until the seventh." "OSjexcuse">> <<pushStopic "Sfraud" "Sfraud" "Money has been laundered from the guildhall into a Rockstar Superhero account." "OSfraud">> <<pushStopic "Sbill" "Sbill" "Joe received a massive crate of kale into the guildhall" "OSbill">> <<set $GState=50>> <<set $SState=0>> [[summation 0]]

Carmen has dropped a comic book wrapped in a plastic sleeve. You have no time to read comic books right now. You must get to the [[foyer|Foyer]] to block Mermanx's anticipated escape route!

Notice: this library has been reserved for a special event during the evening of October 27. <<if visited()==1>> <<pushTopic "Treservation" "Treservation" "Why is the library reserved for a special event today, October twenty-seventh?" "Oreservation">> <</if>> [[Continue|Foyer]]

You say, @@.br;Before I go in, I have one more question. I just realized that earlier you never gave your account of what happened in the library on October sixth. The others gave their accounts, but you didn't. What happened after you came in from the rain? Would you tell me what //really// happened that night?@@ <<linkreplace "Listen to Burt's story">> Burt says @@.b;It was raining heavily when I got back to the Guildhall and it was so late that I had been locked out by the electronic security. I rang the bell. Mermanx answered and shepherded me into the library to meet my parents.@@ Burt continues, @@.b;The library was a shambles when I arrived: Mermanx had been out of his tank for so long that the whole room smelled like a fisherman’s wharf. Most of the tiffany lamps were flickering or burned out. A silver candle holder was empty, the surrounding table now mottled with blobs of dry wax. The anniversary clock had not required rewinding for almost a year. That night it had finally come to a stop--both hands frozen near twelve. The floor under my father’s chair was littered with papers and the shards of a broken water glass. Both my parents had been waiting up for me.@@ I told them @@.b;I’ve done something awful.@@ Mom pulled me into her arms. Dad asked, @@.rp;Burt, what happened?@@ @@.br;I bought a fake ID from the Alignment of Evil gang.@@ Mom released her hold, @@.cp;Why! Are you an alcoholic?@@ Dad said, @@.rp;Slow down now, why do you need a fake ID?@@ @@.b;I wanted to buy a bottle of premium Scotch for Brainioid. His Birthday is coming up. Did you remember? He loves fine whiskey. All I could afford after I paid for the fake ID was a six pack of Flubs Red Ribbon Beer…Lite Beer. But you’ve always told me it was the thought that counts, haven’t you?@@ Mom held me again, @@.cp;Then you’ve done nothing wrong.@@ @@.b;But I have. After I bought the ID, they started blackmailing me. They want me to pay a monthly tribute for them to keep my bad choice a secret.@@ Dad said, @@.rp;They can’t hold anything over you now that you’ve told the truth. Nobody can blackmail an honest man.@@ I began to cry. My parents might have thought I was overcome by their compassion, but Mermanx knew better. He spoke on my behalf. @@.m;They’re not blackmailing Burt to keep his mistakes a secret from us. They intend to blackmail all of us, to keep the Guildhall’s transgressions a secret from the citizens of Hippopopolis. If it is revealed that we are not morally perfect, we will be ruined. This has always been the curse of the superhero.@@ Mom broke down, “Then we have no hope.” Dad slapped the table to draw our attention, @@.rp;This situation, this criminal shakedown, is not a tragedy. It is a moment of opportunity. For more than half a century of publication we’ve been fighting to crush the Alignment of Evil gang. Now when they think we’re at our weakest we are actually at our strongest.@@ Dad continued, @@.rp;Burt, for now you must pretend this conversation never happened. I’ll give you money to continue paying tributes to the Alignment of Evil. Don’t let them know we know. You also have another responsibility. I want you to plan a surprise party for Brainioid’s fiftieth birthday. Tell everyone about that. The rest of the guildhall members will make up their own lies to keep the surprise party a secret from Brainioid. Everything else will fall into place. Trust me. Go now.@@ That’s when I left the library. I’ve pieced together the rest of my dad’s plan since then, but you’re better off asking the others about those details. Mingle with them during the party. Remember to act surprised. <<set $charlocs={ m:"real library", cp:"real library", c:"real library", j:"real library", b:"real library", rp:"real library", } >> <<set $CState={ m:25, cp:25, c:25, j:25, b:25, s:25, rp:25 }>> <<set $GState=92>> [[Join the party|real library]] <</linkreplace>>

The magazine Carmen dropped is an original, unopened edition of the 1970s comic book which introduced your character to the series. Your origin story. It is dated fifty years ago, October 27. Still sealed in the original cellophane wrapper, this book must be priceless! The inner wrapper is itself encased in a more modern ziplock wrapper, to protect the cellophane itself from devaluation by oily fingerprints. <<if !visited("Examine the receipt")>> Taped to the ziplock bag is a receipt, and though the ziplock bag could be easily replaced (while wearing gloves), the application of an adhesive to even the outer packaging feels like a careless mishandling of this collector's item. [[Examine the receipt]] <</if>>

The receipt appears unrelated to the comic book, though perhaps both acquired by the same person on the same day. The receipt is from the ACME bakery, for one 0.100 Megagram Cake. That's spelled c‑a‑k‑e, not k‑a‑l‑e, for the price of $169.95. A fragment of sticky tape is stuck to the end, which had been used to affix this receipt to the outer sleeve of the rare comic. /*This passage features unicode for non breaking hyphens*/

Three weeks ago, at the October sixth meeting, Carmen persuaded me that my authoritarian leadership style was no longer working. Chloe and Joe were unhappy living here and wanted to move on with their lives. I'd stopped paying attention to the needs of my own family. My son was entering adolescence and making the sorts of impulsive choices that go with that. By the time I realized my mistakes, they were already impacting the security of our guildhall: a computer security breach, exposure by the paparazzi, and an enemy shakedown of my own son. Mermanx and I conceived a plan to address all of these. He would infiltrate the Alignment of Evil gang by posing as a double agent. He would feed them fake information about my weaknesses, and they would be lulled into a false sense of superiority. Mermanx can fill you in on the details of that plan. What’s really important is that I’ve learned a valuable lesson from all this. Today's adventure has been a //very special episode//. I’ve accepted that it is time for the Wanda Twins to move out and get on with their lives. I've given them my blessing to do that and even granted them a modest cash gift to help them get started. Burt will want to move out in a few years also. I intend to spend more quality time with my wife and son before he reaches that age.

<<if visited("real laboratory")>> You have sufficient evidence to convene the summative gathering. Classically, summative expositions take place in the formal parlor of a large manor house. The Guildhall doesn't have a parlor, so you'll need to choose from one of these other appropriate locations to convene your gathering: <<linkreplace "Convene in the Library" >>Before the rest of the suspects can assemble, Carmen catches up with you and explains awkwardly that the library has already been reserved for an event later this afternoon, and that you’ll have to select a different location for your summation gathering. <</linkreplace>> [[Convene in the Atrium|summation 0][$summloc to "atrium"]] [[Convene in the Foyer|summation 0][$summloc to "Foyer"]] [[Convene in the Wanda common room|summation 0][$summloc to "Wanda room"]] <<else>> Not all of the discoveries you make during an investigation are appropriate topics for interrogation. Some discoveries are too sensitive, others too mundane. You don't want to compromise confidential sources, and you certainly don't want to expose your own wily methods of evidence collection. Reserve these types of evidence for when it can have the most impact: later during the summative gathering. <ul> <<for _i to 0;_i<$SummArray.length;_i++>> <<if $SummArray[_i].isOpen(null)>> <li> <<print $SummArray[_i].shortDesc >></li> <</if>> <</for>> </ul> You don't yet have sufficient evidence to convene a summative gathering. <</if>>

<<if $GState<27>> white paper strip <<else>> kale test strip <</if>>

@@.b;We all use my mom’s credentials to log on to the computer. Since my dad blocked the rest of our accounts from accessing anything useful, Mom is the only one with sufficiently high security clearance to use the computer.@@

Chloe gasps, @@.c;Joe is hacking into Mrs P's computer account. For real? I would never do that to Mrs P.@@

Cotton72, Nice to meet you in person earlier this week. Sorry you changed your mind, but I understand your partner wasn't comfortable with such a long term commitment. I have refunded your investment back in full to the account it came from. I'd be happy to renegotiate if you change your mind in the future. [[Return to Rockstar stronghold|Rockstar Superhero]]

You ask <<name $interogee>>@@.br;What do you know about the beer can under Burt's bed?@@ <<set _m0="@@.m;@@", _m1="@@.m;@@", _cp0="@@.cp;Why that's the same boot Joe was wearing when I met him at the Illicit Rendezvous Motel on October sixth!@@", _cp1="@@.cp;Yes, I'm sure. That's from Joe's boot. But where was he hiding during our October sixth meeting?@@", _c0="@@.c;Joe lost a heel just like that from his Donny Osmond costume, about three weeks ago.@@", _c1="@@.c;Yes, that looks an awful lot like Joe's boot heel. But where would he have been hiding in the guildhall on the night of October sixth? Surely someone besides Burt would have seen him.@@", _j0="@@.j;I wasn't in the guildhall on October sixth. I have a whole closet full of costume boots. So do a lot of other fellows my age. It doesn't mean I was inside the guildhall that night.@@", _j1="@@.j;Like I said, I wasn't in the guildhall on October sixth. Where would I have hidden? You've already established there were at least four other people in the hall that night who would have seen me.@@", _b0="@@.b;I'll repeat the story I told before: As I approached the guildhall, after midnight three weeks ago, I saw a smallish man running in the other direction (away from the guildhall). He was dressed in a white jumpsuit adorned with purple rhinestones and a flowing white cape. As he jumped off the entrance step, the wooden platform heel broke off from their knee high white vinyl boots. Hobbling on one heel didn’t slow them down any, and they almost knocked me down when they ran into me.@@", _b1="@@.b;I can't say for sure whether the man wearing this boot actually came from inside the guildhall, or if he'd come out of another nearby building. I also can't say for sure that it was Joe, but it might have been. Whoever it was, he sure was in a hurry to get away.@@", _s0="@@.s;@@", _s1="@@.s;@@" >> <<set setup.Oboot={ "m":{"0": _m0, "1":_m1}, "cp":{"0":_cp0, "1":_cp1}, "c": {"0":_c0, "1":_c1}, "j":{"0":_j0, "1":_j1}, "b":{"0":_b0, "1":_b1}, "s":{"0":_s0, "1":_s1}, name: "boot heel", desc: "Dboot" } >>

You aren't the first storybook detective to disrupt your own summation exposition to run off and gather more clues. You may return and resume the summative meeting at any time.

<<if $CycleFunction != null>><<set $CycleFunction=null>><</if>> <<if def $CycleFunction2>><<unset $CycleFunction2>><</if>> <<if def $CycleFunctionC>><<unset $CycleFunctionC>><</if>> <<set $lastloc=$summloc>> <<set $charlocs["cp"]=$lastloc>> <<set $charlocs["b"]=$lastloc>> <<set $charlocs["j"]=$lastloc>> <<set $charlocs["c"]=$lastloc>> <<set $CState={ cp:28, c:28, j:28, b:28, }>> <<if $GState<50>><<set $GState=50>><</if>>

<<if $GState<22>> Burt's <<elseif $Gstate<24>> Burt or Chloe's <<else>> Chloe's /*if $GState is 24 or greater*/ <</if>> can of Flub's beer

<<if $GState<=28>> one kale assay strip <<else>> a full vial of kale assay strips\ <</if>>

The id card fits perfectly in the card reader. The LED bulbs blink twice, then go back to their original state. <<set $idInSlot=true>> [[Turn on computer|computer screen]]

<<newTopic "Tbeer" >> <<newTopic "Treceipt" >> <<pushStopic "Sid" "Sid" "Burt used a fake ID to buy alcohol from an Alignment of Evil affiliated liquor store." "OSid">> [[card reader]]

<<pushTopic 'Tboot' 'Tboot' 'Show inventory: boot heel dropped outside the guildhall on October 6' 'Oboot' 'Acquired: clunky platform boot heel'>> <<set $vDoor=true>> <<set $GState=50>> <<set $heldItem="Oboot">> [[Wanda room]]

If there is any connection between these topics, you haven't discovered it yet. You'll need to complete more interviews. <<if !visited("Xvulnerability_cp")>> Carmen must have special knowledge of her husband's vulnerabilities. Interviewing her on the topic of vulnerability would be a productive step in your investigation. <<elseif !visited("Xmarriage_b")>> Burt must have a front row seat to his parent's marital issues. Interviewing him on the topic of marriage would be a productive step in your investigation. <<elseif $GState<3>> Mrs Prodigious insists that her husband has no vulnerabilities. Burt remembers when he was young his parents used to argue over his Dad's secrecy around this matter. Examine this apparent contradiction more closely by combining the topics of vulnerability and marriage. <</if>>

If there is any connection between these topics, you haven't discovered it yet. You'll need to complete more interviews. <<if (!visited("Xmarriage_b"))>> Burt must have a front row seat to his parent's marital issues. Interviewing him on the topic of marriage would be a productive step in your investigation. <<elseif $GState<3>> Mrs Prodigious insists that her husband has no vulnerabilities. Burt remembers when he was young his parents used to argue over his Dad's secrecy around this matter. Examine this apparent contradiction more closely by combining the topics of vulnerability and marriage. <</if>>

An aluminum can has rolled out from under Burt's bed. He rolls it back where it came from then stammers to explain, @@.b;Chloe was in here drinking a couple nights ago...with my dad. They kicked their empty beer cans under my bed when mom walked in.@@ You've administered polygraph tests to members of the Alignment of Evil gang, villains who know how to lie more effectively than young Burt. With Burt, you don't need the electrodermal sensors or eye motion cameras to detect his deceit. Burt exits the room abruptly without giving you a chance to ask any follow up questions. Chloe may not be involved at all. More likely one of Burt's school friends brought beer into the guildhall, then kicked it under the bed when his father walked in. You will not be able to prove this without some means to pull the can back out from its hiding place. Until then, you can press Carmen for more information about her husband's vulnerabilities by combining that topic with Burt's testimony about the arguments he overheard between them as a child. <<set $CycleFunction="FirstCycle">> <<set $CycleCount=0>> <<set $CState["b"]=22>>

The invaders are outside the white circle. You only have one shot. You'll have to time this perfectly. [[Continue|final scene]]

<<if $GState==0>> Welcome to Guildhall of Virtue. In this game you play the role of detective in a cozy mystery story. You will advance the story by clicking on links, or later when instructed by interacting with the text in other ways. To start the game from the title page, press //Begin//. Then click on the available links to navigate through the introductory passages. Since you're here, you've already discovered the hints command. This game features short context dependent hints. You will never be given more information than you need to advance through the immediate situation. Some players use hints sparingly. Some follow them like a walk through. Some prefer to turn them off. There is no wrong way to enjoy interactive fiction. <<elseif $GState<3>>Visit each of the map locations to discover where characters are stationed. Click on the interrogation option when another person is in the room. Click bulleted links to inquire about those topics. Drag topics to the right side of the screen to learn more. Drag pairs of related topics to the right side of the screen and push the button to advance the story. <<elseif $GState<=3>>Carmen has instructed you to search out Joe or Chloe (who are in their respective rooms) <<elseif $GState<=4>>Joe and Chloe have invited you to meet them in their common room for a special gift. <<elseif $GState<=5>>Now that you have a mechanical arm, you can push the call button located in the Aquarium. <<elseif $GState<7>>Cycle through all the possible interrogation topics with Mermanx. When new topics appear, pick those options also. <<elseif $GState<=7>>Report to the Atrium. Wait for the others to move the body. Follow them when they do. <<elseif $GState<9>>Follow Mermanx, or wait for him at the Aquarium and watch him return to his tank. <<elseif $GState<=9>>Go to the foyer (main entrance) and push the flashing button to answer the door. <<elseif $GState <=19>>Pull the gum off the button near the entrance. <<elseif $GState<22>>Now that you can take things, you can really begin to collect evidence. Gather all that you can from Burt's room, Chloe's room, and Carmen's room. Interview the other characters about your discoveries. <<elseif $GState<=22>>Combine the beer can (from Burt's room) with the receipt (from the book on Chloe's desk). Share this combination of evidence with Chloe. <<elseif $GState<=24>>Chloe has sent you to find a new bookmark in the Wanda common room. <<elseif $GState<27>>Ask other characters about the paper strip. Specifically, ask Chloe about the strip. <<elseif $GState<28>>Spend some time interrogating Shady Figure (you have to be in a room where no other characters are present when you do this). Ask him about Captain Prodigious's vulnerabilities. Then combine that information with the kale assay strips. <<elseif $GState<30>>Ask Chloe about the kale assay strips. Maybe she'll give you more, now that she knows what their real purpose is. <<elseif $GState<32>>Combine the kale assay strips with other interrogation topics, to see if anything comes up positive for kale. <<elseif !visited("Burt and Chloe come clean")>>The beer you found is poisoned with kale! If you run the test strip assay one more time while both Burt and Chloe are in a room together, maybe you can force a confession from one of them. Watch their patterns of motion. They pass each other in the atrium, about once every forty turns. <<elseif !visited("Joes homescreen")>>Have you noticed that Joe's computer is off when he's out of the room, but that he's always playing that game when he's in the room? Watch him carefully at the moment he turns on the computer. Once you know the password Joe uses to log in to the computer, you can log in also. <<elseif ndef $carddata>>You can program Burt's ID card with new data. Insert the ID card into the card reader on Joe's desk. Select the card reader application from Joe's home screen. <<elseif !visited("real laboratory")>>Turn Burt's ID card into a door access card. Insert the ID card into the card reader on Joe's desk. Select the card reader application from Joe's home screen. Press confirm to overwrite the card's existing data. Toggle through the card reader applications until you see "Guildhall door access codes." Press confirm to install the codes. Log off of the computer. Navigate to your laboratory which you can now enter with the activated card. <<elseif $GState<52>>You have collected enough evidence to convene a summation gathering. To do that, select "Review summative evidence" on the interrogation screen. If you've already begun a summative meeting, the link will appear as "Resume summative gathering" instead. <<elseif $GState<80>> <<switch $SState>> <<case 1>>Your current goal, during the summation gathering, is to prove Chloe's initial alibi for October sixth was false. <<if ndef setup.getSTopic("Scexcuse")>>You need to know her alibi. Combine the receipt from Chloe's book (on her desk) with the beer can from under Burt's bed. Interrogate Chloe on these topics after analyzing their connection. <<elseif ndef setup.getSTopic("Sreceipt")>>You need to prove her deceit. Combine the kale test strip with the residue from the beer can, while both Chloe and Burt are in the room. If you've made it to the summative gathering, you've already acquired this summative evidence. <<else>> Combine the evidence of Chloe's alibi for her October sixth absence with your later discovery that Burt (not Chloe) acquired the liquor store receipt that night. <</if>> <<case 2>>Your current goal, during the summation gathering, is to prove Chloe was being blackmailed. <<if ndef setup.getSTopic("Sfakelogon")>>You need to show why she was being blackmailed. Ask Burt, then Chloe about their use of Carmen's computer password. Then combine the password evidence with the paper test strips Chloe sells for her business. <<elseif ndef setup.getSTopic("Sfakestrips")>>You need to show what she was being coerced to do. You've already found Chloe's test strips, and used them to prove the beer was contaminated with kale. Now validate the test strips themselves by testing the strips in the matter analyzer in your laboratory. This will introduce new summative evidence. <<else>> Chloe used Carmen's logon credentials to run her internet business. Combine this with evidence that she was providing phony test strips to Captain Prodigious. <</if>> <<case 3>>Your current goal, during the summation gathering, is to prove Carmen's initial alibi for October sixth was false. <<if ndef setup.getSTopic("Scpexcuse")>>You need to know her alibi. During interrogation, ask Carmen herself about the October sixth meeting. <<elseif ndef setup.getSTopic("Scpreturn")>>You need to prove her deceit. If you haven't yet discovered the illicit rendezvous, acquire that evidence first. There are multiple paths to discovery; perhaps the simplest is to collect the pamphlet from Carmen's room, then bring it up to the others during interrogation. Specifically, interrogate both Chloe and Burt about the pamphlet. Then "Review all topics" to analyze the connection between their statements. Ask Joe about the newly discovered topic. <<else>> Combine the evidence of Carmen's alibi for her October sixth absence with your later discovery that she actually returned from the motel earlier than she claimed. <</if>> <<case 4>>Your current goal, during the summation gathering, is to prove Carmen was being blackmailed <<if ndef setup.getSTopic("Spamphlet")>>You need to show why she was being blackmailed. If you haven't yet discovered the illicit rendezvous, acquire that evidence first. There are multiple paths to discovery; perhaps the simplest is to collect the pamphlet from Carmen's room, then bring it up to the others during interrogation. Specifically, interrogate both Chloe and Burt about the pamphlet. Then "Review all topics" to analyze the connection between their statements. Ask Carmen about the newly discovered topic. <<elseif ndef setup.getSTopic("Sinvoice")>>You need to show what she was being coerced to do. Dig through the guildhall's financial records on the computer. There are no fewer than four critical pieces of summative evidence which can be discovered within the financial accounts. <<else>> Combine evidence that Carmen was afraid of being photographed by the paparazzi with evidence she ordered a huge shipment of kale into the guildhall. <</if>> <<case 5>>Your current goal, during the summation gathering, is to prove Burt was being blackmailed. <<if ndef setup.getSTopic("Sid")>>You need to show why he was being blackmailed. Burt was trying to hide his fake ID from his parents. If you've made it to the summative gathering, you've already acquired that evidence. <<elseif ndef setup.getSTopic("Sfakegold")>>You need to show what he was being coerced to do. Find the gold fabric in Burt's chiffarobe. Interrogate Burt about its purpose. Learn more about the gold fabric by searching for it within the computer financial records. Test the gold fabric in the matter analyzer in your lab. <<else>> Combine evidence that Burt was trying to hide his fake ID from his parents with evidence that he replaced the real gold in his father's cape with cheap polyester. <</if>> <<case 6>>Your current goal, during the summation gathering, is to prove Joe's initial October sixth alibi was false. <<if ndef setup.getSTopic("Sjexcuse")>>You need to know his alibi. Return to interrogation mode. Ask Joe about the October sixth meeting. <<elseif !visited("Rockstar Superhero")>>You need to prove his deceit. If you haven't yet played Rockstar Superhero, play that first. The logon code for Rockstar Superhero can be discovered by searching the financial records. When you search the financial records to learn more about the gold fabric, a suspicious account number comes up (K19). Do a cross reference search for that account number. It is an unauthorized account linked to the Rockstar Superhero player account "Cotton72". You can become a Rockstar Superhero yourself, by playing on that account. <<elseif ndef setup.getSTopic("Sbootmatch")>>You need to prove his deceit. If you haven't already discovered the shoeprint in the Wanda's secret closet, go back and find that. The button to open the secret closet is accessed through the Rockstar Superhero game, by entering the virtual common room and pushing the button you find there. The closet itself is located in the real world. While the door is still open, go directly to the Wanda common room and explore the closet. If you wander outside the Wanda area, the door will close. While the door is open, match the boot heel to the shoeprint. <<else>> Combine the evidence of Joe's alibi for his October sixth absence with the bootprint match evidence to prove that Joe was hiding out in the guildhall for most of the night. <</if>> <<case 7>>Your current goal, during the summation gathering, is to prove that Joe was being blackmailed. <<if ndef setup.getSTopic("Sfraud")>>You need to show why he was being blackmailed. If you've made it this far, you've already visited the Rockstar Superhero virtual world. Read the note taped to the computer screen in Joe's virtual bedroom. <<elseif ndef setup.getSTopic("Sbill")>>You need to show what he was being coerced to do. Dig through the guildhall's financial records on the computer. There are no fewer than four critical pieces of summative evidence which can be discovered within the financial accounts. <<else>> Someone with the gamer handle //Cotton72// has been laundering money out of the guildhall treasury and into their Rockstar Superhero account. Combine that with evidence that Joe signed the bill of receipt for a suspicious package from the ACME corporation. <</if>> <<case 8>>Name the blackmailer: Mermanx, of course. <<default>>Join the rest of the gang at the Aquarium. Wait there until you receive the LPW (luxury psionic wheelchair). Now you can safely enter the water. <</switch>> <<elseif $GState<91>>You can do this. You're Brainioid. Travel to the far western end of the tank. Take the key. Meet Mermanx. Go back the way you came and return to the surface. Follow Mermanx's tracks until you meet Carmen, then Burt. You're near the end. <<elseif $GState==91>>Burt presents you with one final puzzle. Collect evidence from the library door. Go back to the Atrium and collect two pieces of evidence Carmen dropped. There are only four pieces of evidence on the screen now. Analyze different combinations of evidence until you reach the real ending. Burt will let you into the library. <<elseif $GState<=95>>Chit chat with your friends in the library. After you've interviewed all of them, return to the navigation view. Follow them into the foyer. <<else>>Join the battle. Remember what the button does? This time it might actually work as it was designed. Timing is crucial. You have to wait until your adversaries are in the target zone before you hit the button. You can try other attack and defensive moves to pass the time. <</if>> <<if $screenReader>> <<back "Return to the story.">> <<else>> To irreversibly remove hints from this session of play click <<link "disable hints">><<replace "#output">><<include "closehints">><</replace>><</link>>. <<link "Otherwise close this popup and return to the story.">><<run Dialog.close()>><</link>><<set $nohints=false>> <</if>>

To irreversibly remove hints from this session of play click <<link "disable hints">><<replace "#output">><<include "closehints">><</replace>><</link>>. <<link "Otherwise close this popup and return to the story.">><<run Dialog.close()>><</link>><<set $nohints=false>><<run UI.update()>>

No future hints will be available. If you want future hints, click <<link "undo disable hints">><<replace "#output">><<include "openhints">><</replace>><</link>>. <<link "Otherwise finalize hint disable by closing this popup.">><<run Dialog.close()>><</link>><<set $nohints=true>><<run UI.update()>>

<div style="text-align: center; font-size: 100%;"> @@.superfont;Until next issue: @@ <<linkreplace"Continue">> <div style="text-align: center; font-size:xxx-large;"> @@.superfont;&emsp;The End@@</div> <<if $screenReader>> <<if tags().includes('loc') or tags().includes('safeReturn')>> [[Notes and Credits|Notes]] <</if>> <<else>> <<link "Notes and Credits">> <<script>> Dialog.setup("Notes and Credits"); Dialog.wiki(Story.get("Notes").processText()); Dialog.open(); <</script>> <</link>> <</if>> <</linkreplace>> </div>

Written by: Doug Egan

<<if visited("Xpassword_b") and visited("Xpassword_c") and visited("Xstrips_c")>> Burt says everyone in the guildhall uses Carmen's password without authorization. Chloe says she would never do that! Chloe is running a substantial internet business. Assembling all this evidence, Chloe must be using Carmen's logon credentials to run her internet business, but is ashamed to admit her computer security violation to others. <<pushStopic "Sfakelogon" "Sfakelogon" "Chloe was using Carmen's logon credentials to run her internet business, but is ashamed to admit this." "OSfakelogon">> <<elseif visited("Xstrips_c")>> Chloe must have been using the computer to run her gut health influencer business. You should continue to interview her and others to learn more about their attitudes toward guildhall computer security, then revisit this pair of topics. <<else>> You'll need to understand the purpose of these test strips before you can use them to make connections. Interview Chloe about their purpose. <</if>>

<<include 'TstripsTpassword'>>

/* <<image-map 'Guildhall Map.png' class 'myimg'>> <<image-map 'Guildhall Map.png' @class "($mapScaled ? 'myimg' : 'myimg unscaled')">> */ <<image-map 'GuildhallMap3.PNG' class 'myimg'>> <<area '523,398,917,666' data-target 'atrium' alt 'Atrium' title 'Atrium'>> <<goto 'atrium'>> <<hover>> <<overlay>> <</area>> <<area '1049,398,1448,666' data-target 'East atrium' alt 'East atrium' title 'East atrium'>> <<goto 'East atrium'>> <<hover>> <<overlay>> <</area>> <<area '1584,398,1787,666' data-target 'Aquarium' alt 'Aquarium Entrance' title 'Aquarium Entrance'>> <<goto 'Aquarium'>> <<hover>> <<overlay>> <</area>> <<area '95,398,485,666' data-target 'Foyer' alt 'Main Entrance' title 'Main Entrance'>> <<goto 'Foyer'>> <<hover>> <<overlay>> <</area>> <<area '1063,53,1445,321' data-target 'Brainioids room' alt 'Brainioid\'s Room' title 'Brainioid\'s Room'>> <<goto 'Brainioids room'>> <<hover>> <<overlay>> <</area>> <<area '814,53,1014,321' data-target 'Laboratory' alt 'Lab' title 'Lab'>> <<goto 'Laboratory'>> <<hover>> <<overlay>> <</area>> <<area '385,53,778,321' data-target 'Prodigious room' alt 'Prodigious Bedroom' title 'Prodigious Bedroom'>> <<goto 'Prodigious room'>> <<hover>> <<overlay>> <</area>> <<area '914,735,1115,1006' data-target 'Chloe corner' alt 'Chloe\'s Corner' title 'Chloe\'s Corner'>> <<goto 'Chloe corner'>> <<hover>> <<overlay>> <</area>> <<area '1391,735,1592,1006' data-target 'Joe corner' alt ''Joe Corner\'s'' title 'Joe\'s Corner'>> <<goto 'Joe corner'>> <<hover>> <<overlay>> <</area>> <<area '1153,735,1353,1006' data-target 'Wanda room' alt 'Wandas\' Common' title 'Wandas\' Common'>> <<goto 'Wanda room'>> <<hover>> <<overlay>> <</area>> <<area '87,53,336,321' data-target 'library' alt 'Library' title 'Library'>> <<goto 'library'>> <<hover>> <<overlay>> <</area>> <<area '616,735,822,1006' data-target 'Burt\'s room' alt 'Burt\'s room' title 'Burt\'s room'>> <<goto 'Burt\'s room'>> <<hover>> <<overlay>> <</area>> <<onClick>> <</image-map>> <<done>> <<if $mapScaled is false>> <<run jQuery('.myimg').addClass('unscaled')>> <</if>> <</done>>

<<if $crtEffect==true>> <<addclass "#passages" "crtON">> <<addclass ".passage" "crtON">> <<else>> <<removeclass "#passages" "crtON">> <<removeclass ".passage" "crtON">> <</if>> /* <<if $dark == true>> <<addclass "#passages" "dark">> <<addclass ".passage" "dark">> <<addclass "a" "dark">> <<else>> <<removeclass "#passages" "dark">> <<removeclass ".passage" "dark">> <<removeclass "a" "dark">> <</if>> */ <<if $dark == true>> <<run $("#passages, .passage, a").addClass("dark")>> <<run document.documentElement.style.setProperty('--text-bubble-color', 'white')>> <<else>> <<run $("#passages, .passage, a").removeClass("dark")>> <<run document.documentElement.style.setProperty('--text-bubble-color', 'black')>> <</if>> <<if tags().includes('draglist')>> <<run setup.hilightOn($lasttopic)>> <</if>> /* <<script>> $(document).ready(function() { // Get the value of the SugarCube variable $lastloc var lastLocation = State.variables.lastloc; // Find the map area with the matching data-passage attribute // and set its maphilight data to alwaysOn: true $('area[data-passage="' + lastLocation + '"]') .data('maphilight', {'alwaysOn': true, 'fillColor':'ff61cb'}) .trigger('alwaysOn.maphilight'); }); <</script>> */ <<script>> $(document).one(':passageend', function () { // 1. Get the current SugarCube variable var lastLoc = State.variables.lastloc; if (lastLoc) { // 2. Find the specific <area> that matches your target condition var $matchedArea = $('area[data-target="' + lastLoc + '"]'); if ($matchedArea.length > 0) { // 3. Find its index relative to the other areas inside the same map var areaIndex = $matchedArea.index(); // 4. Target the exact corresponding overlay div by index matching var $wrapper = $matchedArea.closest('.image-map-wrapper'); var $targetOverlay = $wrapper.find('.area-overlay').eq(areaIndex); // 5. Fill the target overlay box with your chosen color and transparency $targetOverlay.css({ 'background-color': '#ff61cb', // Change to your preferred color 'opacity': '0.5', 'display': 'block', // Ensure it's visible even when not hovered 'pointer-events': 'none' // Prevents blocking clicks to the map }); } } }); <</script>>

This game features several types of animated visual effects, which are ON by default. If you prefer to turn any of these features OFF, flip the associated switch. <label> <<checkbox "$blinkingEffect" false true autocheck>> <<run $("#doorbell-container").toggleClass("no-blink")>> Blinking effect: When CHECKED: doorbell alert text blinks. When UNCHECKED: text is static. </label> <label> <<checkbox "$goldEffect" false true autocheck>> <<run $(".gold-text").toggleClass("no-gold")>> New evidence alert: When CHECKED: new evidence messages are animated with a gold shimmer effect. When UNCHECKED: new evidence alerts are rendered in static high contrast colors. </label> <label> <<checkbox "$crtEffect" false true autocheck>> <<run $(".passage").toggleClass("crtON")>> CRT simulation: When CHECKED: Joe's computer is rendered as a simulated CRT screen. When UNCHECKED: Joe's screen is rendered in standard bright screen or dark screen mode. </label> <label> <<checkbox "$mapScaled" false true autocheck aria-describedby="map-resize-desc">> <<run $(".myimg").toggleClass("unscaled")>> Map resize. When CHECKED, The Guildhall map image automatically resizes to fit your screen. When UNCHECKED the map maintains a fixed size. When playing the game on a narrow screen, a fixed size map will appear larger, but will then require scrolling to see the far edges. </label> <<return "Close style control passage and return to the story.">>

<<if setup.getTopic("Tpassword").isOpen("c") and setup.getTopic("Tpassword").isOpen("b")>> Burt says that everyone used Carmen's computer log on credentials. Chloe was aghast at the thought. Perhaps you could combine this with other evidence to show that one of them is lying. <<elseif setup.getTopic("Tpassword").isOpen("c") >> Joe has been using Carmen's password to play his video games. You should interview others to learn about their attitudes toward guildhall computer security. Will you find any contradictions between their testimonies? <</if>>

<<widget hisher>> <<switch _args[0]>> <<case "c", "cp">>her <<default>>his <</switch>> <</widget>>

<<set $count+=1>><<if $count==5>> You've done everything you can. Captain Prodigious is...dead. Although that doesn't seem quite possible. Captain Prodigious is invincible. [[Wait for the others to arrive|checkEMS]]<<unset $count>><</if>>

<<if $screenReader==true>> <<return "Close audio control passage and return to the story.">> <</if>> This game features original theme music by Tomato Nerd Garage Jams, as well as episodic sound effects. Consider using headphones if playing in a public area. <<if setup.isMobile>> Adjust volume settings through hardware controls on your own device. Choose "mute" if you prefer to play without any music or sound effects. . <<else>> Use the controls below to adjust audio settings. <<volume>> Master volume control <</if>> /% $audioswitch just keeps track of the 'position' of the mute switch: 1 = currently unmuted 0 = currently muted %/ <<button "Mute">> <<if $audioswitch>> <<masteraudio mute>> <<set $audioswitch to 0>><<replace "#onoff">> Audio muted.<</replace>> <<else>> <<masteraudio unmute>> <<set $audioswitch to 1>><<replace "#onoff">> Audio unmuted.<</replace>> <</if>> <</button>> Global mute. By default, each theme song plays only once or twice at designated moments of action. Players may also choose to replay the themes any time they like, using the links below. Guildhall Intro Theme (4.5 minute track) <<link "play once">><<audio ":all" stop>><<audio "intro_track" play>><</link>> or <<link "loop continuously">><<audio ":all" stop>><<audio "intro_track" loop play>><</link>> Guildhall Victory Theme (2 minute track) <<link "play once">><<audio ":all" stop>><<audio ":all" stop>><<audio "victory_track" play>><</link>> or <<link "loop continuously">><<audio ":all" stop>><<audio "victory_track" loop play>><</link>> <<link "stop all current tracks">><<audio ":all" stop>><</link>> <<if $screenReader>> This play session is optimized for screen reader mode. Atmospheric sound effects will be prompted by a text link in the relevant passage, rather than playing automatically. <<else>> Players may preemptively block specific sound effects from being triggered during the game. By default, all effects are "on" <div id="check5" class="checkbox-wrapper-55"> <label class="rocker rocker-small"> <<checkbox "$screamAudio" false true autocheck>> ON OFF </label> Scream audio: When ON: a thump-scream may be heard during the opening scene. When OFF: this effect will not be triggered. </div> <div id="check6" class="checkbox-wrapper-55"> <label class="rocker rocker-small"> <<checkbox "$bellAudio" false true autocheck>> ON OFF </label> Bell audio: When ON: a doorbell ringer may play during the mid-game. When OFF: this effect will not be triggered. </div> <div id="check7" class="checkbox-wrapper-55"> <label class="rocker rocker-small"> <<checkbox "$aquaticAudio" false true autocheck>> ON OFF </label> Aquatic audio: When ON: underwater sound effects may be heard during late game. When OFF: this effect will not be triggered. </div> <</if>> <<if $screenReader==true>> <<set _previous=previous()>> <<link "Turn off screen reader optimization -- recommended if you are playing without a screen reader. (closes current menu)" _previous>><<set $screenReader=false>><<run UI.update()>><</link>> <<else>> <<set _previous=previous()>> <<link "Screen reader optimization -- only if you are using external screen reader software. (closes current menu)">><<set $screenReader=true>><<run UI.update()>><<run Dialog.close()>> <</link>> <</if>> <<if $screenReader==true>> <<return "Close audio control passage and return to the story.">> <<else>> <<link "Close audio control popup and return to the story.">><<run Dialog.close()>> <</link>> <</if>> <style> .checkbox-wrapper-55 input[type="checkbox"] { visibility: hidden; display: none; } .checkbox-wrapper-55 *, .checkbox-wrapper-55 ::after, .checkbox-wrapper-55 ::before { box-sizing: border-box; } .checkbox-wrapper-55 .rocker { display: inline-block; position: relative; /* SIZE OF SWITCH ============== All sizes are in em - therefore changing the font-size here will change the size of the switch. See .rocker-small below as example. */ font-size: 2em; font-weight: bold; text-align: center; text-transform: uppercase; color: #888; width: 7em; height: 4em; overflow: hidden; border-bottom: 0.5em solid #eee; } .checkbox-wrapper-55 .rocker-small { font-size: 0.75em; } .checkbox-wrapper-55 .rocker::before { content: ""; position: absolute; top: 0.5em; left: 0; right: 0; bottom: 0; background-color: #999; border: 0.5em solid #eee; border-bottom: 0; } .checkbox-wrapper-55 .switch-left, .checkbox-wrapper-55 .switch-right { cursor: pointer; position: absolute; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center; height: 2.5em; width: 3em; transition: 0.2s; user-select: none; } .checkbox-wrapper-55 .switch-left { height: 2.4em; width: 2.75em; left: 0.85em; bottom: 0.4em; background-color: #ddd; transform: rotate(15deg) skewX(15deg); } .checkbox-wrapper-55 .switch-right { right: 0.5em; bottom: 0; background-color: #bd5757; color: #fff; } .checkbox-wrapper-55 .switch-left::before, .checkbox-wrapper-55 .switch-right::before { content: ""; position: absolute; width: 0.4em; height: 2.45em; bottom: -0.45em; background-color: #ccc; transform: skewY(-65deg); } .checkbox-wrapper-55 .switch-left::before { left: -0.4em; } .checkbox-wrapper-55 .switch-right::before { right: -0.375em; background-color: transparent; transform: skewY(65deg); } .checkbox-wrapper-55 input:checked + .switch-left { background-color: #0084d0; color: #fff; bottom: 0px; left: 0.5em; height: 2.5em; width: 3em; transform: rotate(0deg) skewX(0deg); } .checkbox-wrapper-55 input:checked + .switch-left::before { background-color: transparent; width: 3.0833em; } .checkbox-wrapper-55 input:checked + .switch-left + .switch-right { background-color: #ddd; color: #888; bottom: 0.4em; right: 0.8em; height: 2.4em; width: 2.75em; transform: rotate(-15deg) skewX(-15deg); } .checkbox-wrapper-55 input:checked + .switch-left + .switch-right::before { background-color: #ccc; } /* Keyboard Users */ .checkbox-wrapper-55 input:focus + .switch-left { color: #333; } .checkbox-wrapper-55 input:checked:focus + .switch-left { color: #fff; } .checkbox-wrapper-55 input:focus + .switch-left + .switch-right { color: #fff; } .checkbox-wrapper-55 input:checked:focus + .switch-left + .switch-right { color: #333; } </style>

<div style="text-align: center; font-size: 200%;">[[Begin|Introduction]]      [[About|Notes]]</div> <div style="text-align: center; ">@@.superfont;Deceit in the Guildhall of Virtue@@ Presented by: Doug Egan (Audio effects launch on "Begin". <<link "Review audio settings">> <<script>> Dialog.setup("Audio Settings"); Dialog.wiki(Story.get("Audio Settings").processText()) Dialog.open(); <</script>> <</link>>.)</div>/* <<link "Start audio!">> <<audio "disco_track" play>> <</link>> beta testing jump points [[final endgame entry|temp test entry into library]] <<link "Game State 80" "end game entry">> <<set $GState=80>> <<set _myTopic to setup.fetchTopicObj("Tinitial")>> <<run _myTopic.setOpen("cp")>> <<run _myTopic.setOpen("b")>> <<set _myTopic to setup.fetchTopicObj("Tvulnerability")>> <<run _myTopic.setOpen("cp")>> <<run _myTopic.setOpen("b")>> <<set _myTopic to setup.fetchTopicObj("Tmarriage")>> <<run _myTopic.setOpen("cp")>> <<run _myTopic.setOpen("b")>> <</link>> <img src="ACMwide2.jpg">Death in the Guildhall of Virtuosity <<link "Game State 20" "atrium">> <<script>> State.expired.push("Xmarriage_b"); State.expired.push("Xvulnerability_cp"); <</script>> <<set _myTopic to setup.fetchTopicObj("Tinitial")>> <<run _myTopic.setOpen("cp")>> <<run _myTopic.setOpen("b")>> <<set _myTopic to setup.fetchTopicObj("Tvulnerability")>> <<run _myTopic.setOpen("cp")>> <<run _myTopic.setOpen("b")>> <<set _myTopic to setup.fetchTopicObj("Tmarriage")>> <<run _myTopic.setOpen("cp")>> <<run _myTopic.setOpen("b")>> <<set $GState=9>> <<newTopic "Tinitial">> <<newTopic "Tvulnerability">> <<newTopic "Tmarriage">> <<newTopic "TmeetA">> <<set $CycleFunction="SecondCycle">> <<set $CycleCount=0>> <<goto "Foyer">> <</link>> */

<<script>>UIBar.hide();<</script>> <<link "Start Game With Audio" "Splash Screen">> <<script>>UIBar.show();<</script>> <</link>> <<link "Review Audio Settings">> <<script>> Dialog.setup("Audio Settings"); Dialog.wiki(Story.get("Audio Settings").processText()); Dialog.open(); <</script>> <</link>> <<link "Screen Reader Accessibility" "Optimize for screenreaders">><<set $screenReader=true>><</link>>

The important guildhall meeting was on October 6, the same night as a suspicious rendezvous between Carmen and Joe. You make a note of this, feeling certain that any discrepancies between the suspect testimonies will come up again when you convene your summative gathering.

The important guildhall meeting was on October 6, the same as the time stamp on the receipt from Chloe's room. You make a note of this, feeling certain that any discrepancies between the suspect testimonies will come up again when you convene your summative gathering.

This compact portable phone was given to you by Shady Figure. Best keep it a secret from your fellow guildhall members, but you can use it to interrogate Shady Figure when no one else is in the room.

<<set setup.Ophone={ name: "secret phone", desc: "Dphone", } >>

"You've saved the day, Brainioid." your friends cheer. Captain Prodigious gives a personal high five to every member of the team, starting with you. Carmen steps back to the Library, only briefly, then returns pushing the steel cart with the cake. Your celebration continues in the foyer. <<linkreplace "Continue">> Mermanx pulls you aside, “I apologize for not searching the seabed more carefully for your possessions after your tragic near drowning in issue 9475. That was petty and selfish of me. I appreciate your many contributions to the guildhall.” “Apology accepted” you say. There is no point in holding a grudge. You and Mermanx may be the only two members remaining after the younger ones leave to chase their own dreams. <<linkreplace "Continue">> Raul, Carmen and Burt are all together on the opposite side of the room, holding each other close and discussing a Caribbean vacation they hope to take together next month. Raul and Carmen have never been to the tropics (except for business), and Burt has never been on a family vacation of any sort. <<linkreplace "Continue">> Joe and Chloe load their plates with cake, then take turns passing it through the bars of the cage to feed their subdued opponents. The hungry villains welcome these offerings, eating out of their hands then gently licking their fingers afterwards. <<linkreplace "Continue">> You are pleased that Shady Figure was absent from today's ambush. He isn't among the captured villains. Perhaps he knew in advance that his team would be defeated in this attack. You’ve come to respect Shady Figure as the most honorable of rogues. You even regard him as a friend who is a true match for your guile and intellect. You hope to rejoin him in a future issue, whether once again as a collaborator, or perhaps next time as an adversary. [[Continue|Final]] <</linkreplace>> <</linkreplace>> <</linkreplace>> <</linkreplace>>

<<script>>UIBar.hide();<</script>> <<set $screenReader=true>> <<link "Test audio: \"Victory Theme\" ">><<audio ":all" stop>><<audio "victory_track" play>> <<replace '#span'>> <<if setup.isMobile>> Adjust volume settings through hardware controls on your own device. . <<else>> Use the controls below to adjust audio settings. <<volume>> Master volume control <</if>> <<link "Stop audio track">><<audio ":all" stop>><<replace '#span'>><</replace>><</link>> <</replace>> <</link>> The screen reader optimization setting is designed for players using NVDA, ChromeVox or related accessibility tools. This setting replaces autoplay with user-prompted sound effects, and modifies some visual displays to improve screen reader compatibility. Depending on your software and system, the game may already be compatible without this feature. <<link "Begin the game with screen reader optimization." "Introduction">><<set $screenReader=true>><<script>>UIBar.show();<</script>><<audio ":all" stop>><</link>> <<link "Begin the game in standard mode (recommended if you are playing without an external screen reader)." "Splash Screen">><<set $screenReader=false>><</link>> Screen reader optimization can also be set or unset in the audio settings menu, which will appear in the left side bar once the game begins.

This game features several types of animated visual effects, which are ON by default. If you prefer to turn any of these features OFF, flip the associated switch. <div id="check1" class="checkbox-wrapper-55"> <label class="rocker rocker-small"> <<checkbox "$blinkingEffect" false true autocheck aria-describedby="map-resize-desc">> ON OFF <<run $("#doorbell-container").toggleClass("no-blink")>> </label> Blinking effect: When ON: doorbell alert text blinks. When OFF: text is static. </div> <div id="check2" class="checkbox-wrapper-55"> <label class="rocker rocker-small"> <<checkbox "$goldEffect" false true autocheck>> ON OFF <<run $(".gold-text").toggleClass("no-gold")>> </label> New evidence alert: When ON: new evidence messages are animated with a gold shimmer effect. When OFF: new evidence alerts are rendered in static high contrast colors. </div> <div id="check3" class="checkbox-wrapper-55"> <label class="rocker rocker-small"> <<checkbox "$crtEffect" false true autocheck>> ON OFF <<run $(".passage").toggleClass("crtON")>> </label> CRT simulation: When ON: Joe's computer is rendered as a simulated CRT screen. When OFF: Joe's screen is rendered in standard bright screen or dark screen mode. </div> <div id="check4" class="checkbox-wrapper-55"> <label class="rocker rocker-small"> <<checkbox "$mapScaled" false true autocheck>> ON OFF <<run $(".myimg").toggleClass("unscaled")>> </label>Map resize. When ON, The Guildhall map image automatically resizes to fit your screen. When OFF the map maintains a fixed size. When playing the game on a narrow screen, a fixed size map will appear larger, but will then require scrolling to see the far edges. </div> <<link "Close style control popup and return to the story.">><<run Dialog.close()>><</link>> <style> .checkbox-wrapper-55 input[type="checkbox"] { visibility: hidden; display: none; } .checkbox-wrapper-55 *, .checkbox-wrapper-55 ::after, .checkbox-wrapper-55 ::before { box-sizing: border-box; } .checkbox-wrapper-55 .rocker { display: inline-block; position: relative; /* SIZE OF SWITCH ============== All sizes are in em - therefore changing the font-size here will change the size of the switch. See .rocker-small below as example. */ font-size: 2em; font-weight: bold; text-align: center; text-transform: uppercase; color: #888; width: 7em; height: 4em; overflow: hidden; border-bottom: 0.5em solid #eee; } .checkbox-wrapper-55 .rocker-small { font-size: 0.75em; } .checkbox-wrapper-55 .rocker::before { content: ""; position: absolute; top: 0.5em; left: 0; right: 0; bottom: 0; background-color: #999; border: 0.5em solid #eee; border-bottom: 0; } .checkbox-wrapper-55 .switch-left, .checkbox-wrapper-55 .switch-right { cursor: pointer; position: absolute; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center; height: 2.5em; width: 3em; transition: 0.2s; user-select: none; } .checkbox-wrapper-55 .switch-left { height: 2.4em; width: 2.75em; left: 0.85em; bottom: 0.4em; background-color: #ddd; transform: rotate(15deg) skewX(15deg); } .checkbox-wrapper-55 .switch-right { right: 0.5em; bottom: 0; background-color: #bd5757; color: #fff; } .checkbox-wrapper-55 .switch-left::before, .checkbox-wrapper-55 .switch-right::before { content: ""; position: absolute; width: 0.4em; height: 2.45em; bottom: -0.45em; background-color: #ccc; transform: skewY(-65deg); } .checkbox-wrapper-55 .switch-left::before { left: -0.4em; } .checkbox-wrapper-55 .switch-right::before { right: -0.375em; background-color: transparent; transform: skewY(65deg); } .checkbox-wrapper-55 input:checked + .switch-left { background-color: #0084d0; color: #fff; bottom: 0px; left: 0.5em; height: 2.5em; width: 3em; transform: rotate(0deg) skewX(0deg); } .checkbox-wrapper-55 input:checked + .switch-left::before { background-color: transparent; width: 3.0833em; } .checkbox-wrapper-55 input:checked + .switch-left + .switch-right { background-color: #ddd; color: #888; bottom: 0.4em; right: 0.8em; height: 2.4em; width: 2.75em; transform: rotate(-15deg) skewX(-15deg); } .checkbox-wrapper-55 input:checked + .switch-left + .switch-right::before { background-color: #ccc; } /* Keyboard Users */ .checkbox-wrapper-55 input:focus + .switch-left { color: #333; } .checkbox-wrapper-55 input:checked:focus + .switch-left { color: #fff; } .checkbox-wrapper-55 input:focus + .switch-left + .switch-right { color: #fff; } .checkbox-wrapper-55 input:checked:focus + .switch-left + .switch-right { color: #333; } </style>