Sheep Crossing — 16 of 18

Section - Counterproductive Actions

Sinking is an action applying to one thing.

Instead of sinking something (called the victim):

if the victim is the boat:

try attacking the boat;

otherwise if the victim is the player and the player is in the boat:

say "You leap overboard, hoping for a quick demise. But apparently you float, and your instincts won't let you keep your face underwater; so you eventually resign yourself to drifting for the next few hours. The end, when it finally comes, involves a surprising number of crocodiles.";

end the story saying "You have been eaten :(";

otherwise if the victim is the player and the player is carrying the sheep:

say "The sheep weighs you down as you approach the river. The mud is no help either, and soon you lose the battle to keep your balance. As you fall, the sheep hits the water in front of you in a spray of river scum, panicked bleats, and hooves. You didn't expect the hooves.";

end the story saying "You have been kicked to death by a drowning sheep.";

otherwise if the victim is the player and the bear is in the opposite bank of the location:

say "The water chills your toes as you wade into the current. The bear watches blankly from the opposite shore. You wonder if it understands what will happen to you, or that it will need to find its own way to Grandmother's house.[paragraph break](press any key) > ";

wait for any key;

say "[paragraph break]Reaching the deeper areas, where the current is stronger, you feel a tugging sensation as if something is stuck to your ankle. A downward glance shows you more leeches than you've ever seen before. You make a panicked dash back to the shore and pluck them all off, but the bleeding isn't stopping. And you're still so very cold... maybe you'll just sit under this tree to rest a bit...";

end the story saying "You have been exsanguinated by leeches.";

otherwise if the victim is the player:

say "As you begin wading into the river, you slip on the mud underfoot. Your first breath of water reignites your will to live, and somehow you manage to claw your way back to a standing position. When you finally clear your eyes and look down, you see leeches all over your legs. In your frantic efforts to tear them all off, you don't notice the bear approaching...";

end the story saying "You have been eaten :(";

otherwise if the victim is an animal:

try putting the victim on the water.

Before inserting or putting something (called the victim) on the water:

if the victim is an animal and the player is not carrying the victim:

carry out the implicitly taking activity with the victim;

if the player is not carrying the victim, stop the action.

Instead of inserting or putting the sheep on the water:

say "With a great heave, you launch the sheep into the middle of the river. As the current carries the struggling sheep away, you wonder if Grandmother can hear the bleating recede into the distance. Probably not.";

end the story saying "Grandmother will mourn the loss of your sheep."

Instead of inserting or putting the cabbage on the water:

say "You toss the cabbage into the river. It takes a surprisingly long time to surface; and when it finally emerges a long way downstream, it's much dirtier than before. You wonder why Grandmother bothers washing her vegetables.";

end the story saying "Grandmother will mourn the loss of your cabbage."

Instead of inserting or putting the bear on the water:

say "You attempt to hurl the bear into the middle of the river. With its great weight, all you succeed in doing is dropping the bear into the shallows, where it lands with a great splash. You've barely turned back towards drier land when you're knocked off your feet by a heavy paw and sent tumbling into the water.[paragraph break](press any key) > ";

wait for any key;

say "[paragraph break]You sit up and clear your eyes to see the bear lolloping toward you. Is it angry, or just playing? The wind is knocked out of you a second time; and as you lie with your face in the mud and a crushing weight on your back, your last thought is that maybe the bear's intentions don't matter anyway.";

end the story saying "You have been sat on by a bear."

Understand "sink [thing]" or "drown [thing]" as sinking.

Understand the commands "kill", "murder", and "destroy" as something new.

Understand the commands "kill", "murder", and "destroy" as "sink".