The Reliques of Tolti-Aph — 56 of 57

Section N(c) - Rescuing!

Mutatis Mutandis is a room. "Here in the ashen grate of the world, you find what must, hundreds of years ago, have been the Sanctuary of another magic-user. The spell must long have decayed, after the death of its caster, or you would not have been able to get in. Through the faded, blackened walls, you can vaguely see the Robing Rolls, but it is as unreal as a nightmare." Before going outside from Mutatis Mutandis, say "You feel a surge of vitality."

A pungently red scroll is a scroll in Mutatis Mutandis. The inscribed spell of the pungently red scroll is ironbones.

Instead of sleeping in Mutatis Mutandis for the first time:

let the depletion be the strength of the player;

let the depletion be the depletion divided by 2;

unless the depletion is 0, decrease the strength of the player by the depletion;

remove the skeleton from play;

increase the score by 150;

say "Your sleep is uneasy. A strange parade of memories of another life, long, long ago. You become her, graduating as a magic-user, celebrating in the echoey cloisters of the Collegium, buying provisions in the market, setting out with a half-dozen friends into the wilderness, fighting off the beasts of the forest - as it goes on, and on, you sink deeper into her identity and your own strength is sapped. By the time her story ends, running out of strength in the middle of the old lane, much of your own power has seeped across to her, those many years ago.

You sit bolt upright, your pose suddenly an echo of her skeleton's. You are awake. And yet you have a tenuous memory, or vision, of her rising, walking away, leaving the city - so many hundreds of years ago. This makes no sense, and yet you feel fulfilled."

The blackened outlines of an old sanctuary are fixed in place. "Through the infravision lenses, you see the blackened outlines of an old sanctuary spell." Instead of entering the blackened outlines: move the player to Mutatis Mutandis. Understand "black" as the blackened outlines.

Every turn:

if the player is wearing the infravision spectacles:

move the blackened outlines to the Robing Room;

change the outside exit of Mutatis Mutandis to the Robing Room;

otherwise:

now the blackened outlines are nowhere.