In the Dark

(if:$mindWiped is true)[You wake up from a vision of three female characters throwing hot water at you. Or was it a dream? The day starts about like it's always been.] (if:$bidri is true)[Bowls can now be made of zinc and copper.] You are a hardworking young pottery maker in a land where computer and technology is sparse. Labor by hand is considered to be a high form. A village borders a lush forest. The other side is avoided territory occupied with a mix of humans and animals considered uncharted. The manager left a quota of chores to be done by days end. When crafting a bowl, a child stares at you. Customers avoid him. Do you [[give him a bowl]], so he goes away or [[keep working]]? (if:$expertise > 10)[[look at work so far]] (set: $mindWiped to false)

The boy got what he wanted and left. Stinky brat. You keep working on your craft diligently and there is not enough clay. Then a monk asks you for one too. Unlike the boy you gave one to, she had change. Do you [[make another one]] or [[mind your bowl making]]?(set: $boy to true)

You keep working on your craft diligently, regardless of losing customers, and there is not enough clay. Then a monk asks you for one too. Unlike the boy, she had change. Do you [[make another one]] or [[mind your bowl making]]? (set: $boy to false)

You made a bowl out of mithril, gave it to the monk who smiled graciously, then proceeded somewhere else. The manager wanted at least fifteen bowls made and you're at eight. Do you [[take a break]] or [[continue]]?(set: $monk to true)

The monk showed her gratitude anyway and you both wish each other well. (set: $monk to false) Management wants at least fifteen bowls made and you're at eight. They are not around. Do you [[take a break]] or [[continue]]?

You went to your room laid down for thirty minutes, because this is where you sleep too. You come out of your room and customers are bargaining. Do you [[give in]] or [[stick to the price]]?(set: $break to true)

You reached your quota and can attend to other crafts and errands. Last minute customers bargain for a set of bowls. Do you [[give in]] or [[stick to the price]]? (set: $break to false)

You gave in and the customers left happy and so entranced with your art that they called off their work. They did not light the streets. (if:$boy is false and $monk is true)[The boy sits in the dark with your mithril bowl filled with steaming vegetables. It is the one sold to the monk. She cooked for the lost that day.](else-if:$monk is false)[A silhouette resembling a child can be heard breaking pottery and killing animals.][[Ending]]

You held firm in the presence of bargaining. When closing the shop, they left to their night job lighting the streets. (if:$boy is false)[The boy from earlier seems happy basked in lights playing with animals.](if:$break is false)[You sleep uninterested with nightly events. It feels good after an honest day's work.](if:$boy is true)[You see three witches brewing a pot of boy remains by the forest. That bowl you gave to the boy earlier made him so happy, he ran away from adult supervision.] [[Ending]]

(set: $expertise to it + 1) Morning after night, you wake up and ready your wagon for mining. Two soldier arrest and escort you to the city chancellor; you are not sure why. They are impressed with your talent and pay large sums to craft with rare planet metals in their citadel. [[accept]] [[decline]]

(if:$animal is not "")[Inquisitor: I knew yer come to yer senses. Happy hunting!] You are lead craftsman for the colonizing empire learning the ropes, even if it takes years to understand. Metal cuffs, chasse frames, engine starters are included in the list the chancellor hands you. There are blueprints and a list of metals they want you to use. This material is malleable and cools very fast. There are hundreds of symbols and boxes they want you to work with and no way to escape. I was not kidding, years to understand. You'll have to work until the inquisidor puts his guard down for some freedom. (if:$animal is not "")[The $animal will keep him distracted.] [[make the escape]] [[to the laboratory]]

Chancellor leaves you in the room locked with the inquisitor. Three witches appear with a kettle pot steaming with liquid. You magically dunk into the boiling liquid and blank out from trauma. (set: $mindWiped to true) Start over [[day start]]

When given the opportunity, you open the latch in the bathroom window and clumsily fell into the bushes. The wilderness is wide open to possibilities uncharted in your small sense of the world. Far away from colonizers, you can craft tools to navigate towards smoke, an indication of society. [[Trek towards smoke]]

The perks of working here are nice. Smooth water, clean clothes, and stoves where melted metals cool into shapes are given to you in this workshop. The chancellor lays out plans for equipment he wants you to make. Customers don't stink the place nor do people come in and bargain. It's sad that you did not get a chance to say goodbye, but comfortable enough to not think about going back. [[put on gloves and get to work]] (if:$animal is not "")[[look at animal]]

The item melded resembles cuffs to capture animals. You don't think much about it and keep making them. There's not much to see of the world in these walls. Maybe once a while, you can look from the roof. This must be what colonizers see. Evergreen trees resemble the flow of nitrogen through soil and air, orange yellow sulfur canyons bake like cheese, and people the size of ants dance like atoms of a molecule. The colonizers build structures and capture animals. It's a respite knowing they are not killed and you get back to work. It seems like work will take forever without workers. Laborers are rounded up just like you when you first came in and you can teach them what you have been taught here. There is much work to be done. [[back to work]] [[see inquisitor for rounding job]]

(set: $language to it + 1) A pottery was offered as a token of worth to the banner holder. You gather tools to do your trade by the banner holder. The banner doesn't do anything, but means very much to this person. Language has increased by 1. [[give pottery to flute player]]

This pottery is a token of worth to the flute player. Animals come to the flute player, so they play inside the pottery. This is a nice piece of art and a home. You learn that musicians and artists serve nature. Plants grow from the ground and animals are free to roam. From a distance, cobras protect an infant when adults are not around. People mount elephants that migrate in herds every season. The ecosystem seems to be in homeostasis. (if:$animal is "horse")[The flute player notices the horse and gave it an apple.] [[give pottery to banner holder]] The flute player invites you to meet other guild members that evening. [[go along]]

The technology appears out of your time. You are able to melt your signature patterns onto them like you do with pottery making. However, because there is much involved, you refrain from putting your best concentration into it. Once materials are where they are supposed to be, machines do work. [[to the laboratory]] [[vitrification]] [[look away]]

Cuffs for capturing animals and humans were laid out in front of the inquisitor. He trains you for capturing people. The colonizer's actions are questionable still. You think it would be a good idea for natives to adapt and you don't think you'll be stripping any dignity from them by doing this. Or maybe you do and get [[back to work]] [[interact with inquisitor]] (if:$language > 3)[[tell inquisitor you are ready]]

The inquisitor shoves you back. This makes you realize your place and you cry a little from rejection. I laughed a little. Don't do that again. (if:visits is 3)[The inquisitor punches you. (set: $expertise to it - 3) Expertise has decreased by 3.] [[see inquisitor for rounding job]]

The colonizers sent you to different projects across time. You've learned sautering and how electricity and language flows into them through complex light screens. The crafted items are entered to a small metal fortress which smoothes their surfaces. None of your signatures remain after the factory process. You've left scratches trying to mold metal back, but it does not have malleable properties. It's how you practice the language for now. (set: $language to it + 1)Language increases by 1. The items you left scratched were eventually found by security and forced to be redone. It was your last learning error, but you remember the process. [[back to work]]

The tavern is warm with beer and games. A rug maker makes rugs. A shield maker makes shields. A shoe maker makes shoes. Maybe trading can obtain these items. [[go to rug maker]] [[trade for shields]] [[trade for shoes]]

Rugs fabricate space. By contributing some of your wares, you can lie down by the story teller. [[go along]] [[listen to story]]

These can defend against wild animals or colonizers. It seems the trader does not want your wares. You can move on somewhere else or watch them craft. [[go along]] [[watch them craft]]

These are a comfy pair of shoes. Roaming the world should be easier now. [[go along]] [[leave premises]]

The materials include a 16:1 ratio of zinc and copper, silver and bronze wires, soil with a hint of ammonium chloride, copper sulfate, and chiseling tools. First they heat the zinc and copper. [[enter items in stove]]

Then prepare a hollow mold of the shield made of resin and oil. This mold has designs of language and art. Molten metals are poured over the crevices of this mold. [[pour metals]]

They are given a chance to cool. Then the mold is shed. In the grooves, silver or bronze wires are etched on. [[apply silver]] [[apply bronze]]

This will give the shield silver lines. [[hammer]]

This will give the shield red lines. [[hammer]]

These wires are chiseled and hammered into the design of the shield. It is sanded down using rough paper. The merchant explains that soil is salty because of ammonium chloride. It must be this way to give items a dark color. He presses soil onto the shield with feet. [[press soil onto shield]]

This gives its base a black color. If you try hard enough, you might apprentice this master. [[apprentice]] [[go along]]

That's a nice piece of metal they have there. For watching patiently, they give you the role of molding objects with clay, resin and castor oil. (set: $bidri to true) [[day start]]

Exposition [[day start]] Wayward [[go along]] Control yourself and [[to the laboratory]] (set: $expertise to 0) (set: $language to 0) (set: $animal to "")

The process of heating metals beyond temperatures of pottery making. It requires nuclear fission. This is beyond your comprehension but you learn as you see what happens. An entire lifetime could be spent here. Your mold patterns melt in the machine fortress. [[lathe machine]]

Lab members break, burn, and salvage pieces of your art. It's hard to maintain impartial, and you do your best to keep to yourself. You can read with enough language; right now it is at $expertise. [[back to work]] (if:$language >= 1)[It doesn't faze you to see your work get destroyed after watching it happen so many times. Since you are curious, you can learn from what they are doing by [[reading]] procedures]

X-ray diffraction classifies an object by its elemental components. Elements consist more than fire, wind, water, and earth. Elemental composition can make stone lighter, malleable, shiny, and fragile. Integrating different elements give materials their properties. This cane be done with proportionally increasing heat and pressure, but beware of the explosive point. Pottery making uses staligmites and metals found in soil. The commercialization of this diminishes business with colonizer land. By the chancellor's orders, use natives to bring business back to the empire. If you can make 1,000 cerulean tiles, we'll promote you. [[lathe machine]] (if:$language >= 2)[[read more]]

A long time ago, people used machines. Technology got out of hand and caused civilization to destroy and corrode. Resources were kept to an elite few as large sums of money were spent on mechanized armor suits, porn, and non-usable forms. Homo sapiens selfishly imbalanced themselves. When natural disaster struck, many were left defenseless in the wild. We must atone for our sins by forging a new path. Through tangible arts and craft, we work on ourselves and the natural world. Let's celebrate a hard day's work in the dark together! Oooom baaaaa saaaaaaa~ [[go along]] (if:$expertise > 6)[[sleep]]

Every branch of the story is reflexed through curves of mold. You learn about the world by creating one with your fingers. The crafting cycle zones away outside forces and you can work on yourself. When you've written a book about your trade, let me buy one. Thanks for playing! [[to the laboratory]]

That was awesome. [[Trek towards smoke]]

He understands your words and you go for a trip to capture animals. In the vehicle, there are metal cages and an expired smell. Animals are lured into the traps. After getting one animal, their family is easier to attract. Sometimes they will come back for the child or parent. Other times, they run off. Animals eat each other in the wild. When there is bait, they will come for it. [[look at chick]] [[look at shovel]] [[look at projectile]]

This chick attracts snakes. He or she can attract them by chirping. If the trap works correctly, twines will catch an incoming snake by the neck. [[look at projectile]] [[look at shovel]]

This is used to dig pitfalls. Nets can be placed and branches can hide the net over a dug pitfall. Shovels can also dig sand to catch crabs that wash ashore. [[look at chick]] [[look at projectile]]

This tranquilizes big threats like bears, lions, and cheetahs. This does not match your trade at all. The inquisitor insists we'll catch one to bring to the chancellor. [[watch inquisitor do work]] [[shoot lion]] [[shoot tiger]] [[shoot bear]] (if:$language > 5)[[entertain the animal]]

(set: $animal to "deer") San- I mean chancellor is going to be happy about this! [[put in cage]]

(set: $animal to "lion") You do this with a click of a mouse. [[put in cage]]

(set: $animal to "tiger") You do this with a click of a mouse. [[put in cage]]

(set: $animal to "bear") You do this with a click of a mouse. [[put in cage]]

Inquisitor: Let's go back before it gets dark. We can use this $animal to herd plant eaters. [[accept]] [[refuse]]

(if:$animal is "bear")[The $animal is so cute. Don't touch it.](if:$animal is "lion")[The $animal is getting louder by the second.](if:$animal is "deer")[The $animal is so cute.](if:$animal is "tiger")[This $animal is angry.] [[to the laboratory]]

Inquisitor: You don't like this one? Well then get yer own. [[look at projectile]]

The animal understood that you are working for the inquisitor. The pain and joy in your voice moved the animal so much it caught the inquisitor off guard. (set: $animal to "horse") [[Trek towards smoke]] Go back to pottery making [[day start]]

Lions hunt deer. Lions hunt elephants. Bears eat fish. Homeostasis occurs near the art guild by humans. Without their interaction, nature is chaos. It's safer to [[go along]] with the tribe. Explore the [[Ending]]s of the world.

Electrical engineering can maintain vitrification from a distance. When subjects are too close, it can damage their cells over time. Natural disasters can leak chemicals in the water and make animals sick, so we choose people who can manipulate the elements to do this work. 3 language points allow you to speak with the inquisitor. 5 language points allow you to speak with animals. [[lathe machine]] (if:$language >= 3)[[read more.]]

Wood and air can make noises of different timbres and pitches. Maybe we should hire more laborers of this trade to work with animals. Pick up the feces and grow our gardens. [[lathe machine]] (if:$language >= 4)[[read more..]]

Em khoé không? Mói việt của tù điên mây tính. [[lathe machine]]

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