// Text Library  - 

begintextlibrary;

1 = "There is a soft click.";
2 = "To the south is a chasm, miles deep. To the north is a cliff, which stretches upwards and curves outward over the chasm. Thick stone walls, worn and ancient, extend from the cliff face. A massive fortress was built here, many centuries ago. Fresh tracks tell you that it is currently occupied.";
3 = "";
4 = "There are two worn statues of mighty vahnatai warriors at the north end of this room. You look for signs of who this figure might be, but find none. The vahnatai have left many small offerings at their feet.";
5 = "This is where the seemingly endless supply of mages and priests in this place do their work. To the south, you see a large crystal surrounded by chairs, in the middle of an intricate magic circle.";
6 = "This cabinet contains vahnatai magical paraphernalia. There are quartz crystals with small symbols carved on them, bat wings, small bones, and lumps of wax. None of it is the least bit useful to you.";
7 = "This is a narrow, graceful, natural stone bridge, arcing over this section of the chasm. Despite your years living in the caves, the pit causes you to feel dizzy with vertigo.";
8 = "The key you found in Avit unlocks the padlock. You can open the door now.";
9 = "You first try picking the lock. Then you try to smash it. Neither approach affects it in the slightest. Vahnatai magic is efficient stuff.";
10 = "You have to look twice to believe what you're seeing to the south. Human furniture, human clothing, human food over on the tables, human weapons and art on the wall. But what are humans doing here with the vahnatai?";
11 = "You bend forward and read the words as they pass. With concentration, you make sense of them. They explain techniques for avoiding magical attacks. You learn valuable things from the stone. Then, its job done, it goes dark for the final time.";
12 = "This is a food storeroom. There are enough provisions stocked here to maintain this fort through a long siege. Some of the food even looks good enough for humans.";
13 = "This is a practice hall for the vahnatai warriors. Interestingly, not all of the practice weapons have vahnatai designs. They are learning to use human weapons as well.";
14 = "This fort has been built and rebuilt many times over the centuries, and a few chambers were sealed off and forgotten. The dust has all settled out of the air. It coats the ground in a smooth, undisturbed sheet. You are the first person to enter this room in many, many years.";
15 = "You walk though a small gate set into the fence.";
16 = "You look into the crystal. It's dark. There is a large crack in the blue stone.";
17 = "You look at the words, and some of them make sense. They are clearly describing some sort of defense technique. However, your magical knowledge isn't sufficient to decipher them.";
18 = "You look at the device in amazement. It's a magical teaching crystal! You can't help but wonder what marvelous knowledge is buried deep within the stone, waiting for someone who knows how to let it out. You stare into the stone ...";
19 = "Cringing and wincing, you search the decaying body. You find nothing of use. The humanoid's poncho is ripped and worthless, and its supplies have been looted. You start to feel ill.";
20 = "There's nothing of value on the body. As you search, you see that part of a sentence written on the floor is poking out from under the corpse. You push the body aside. The message reads: _Search the barrel past the beds._";
21 = "The vahnatai sometimes use crystals like these to meditate. However, like most everything else in this ruin, they are no longer useful. They're cracked and covered with dust.";
22 = "You walk up to the gate. It is closed. As you inspect it, you notice that one of the vahnatai through the window to the east is watching you carefully.";
23 = "The corridor starts to slope sharply upward, climbing up the north wall of the dome.";
24 = "There is the much-abused corpse of a vahnatai here. Everything of value has been stripped from it.";
25 = "You've never experienced a smell as bad as this. This pen is the home of the dome's imps, the lowest and filthiest of demonkind. This is where they spend their time, thinking evil thoughts and wallowing in grossness.";
26 = "These books are simple instructional texts, explaining basic magical concepts. They are too far below your level to help you.";
27 = "There is a huge pit in the corner of the room. Moans and hisses float out of it. (Walk to the edge of the pit if you want to climb down.)";
28 = "The barrel is empty. You get on your hands and knees and see that there is a sheet of paper wedged between the barrel and the wall. You read it. _Look at the outside wall to the southwest. When you go, walk next to the wall._";
29 = "You start feeling very sleepy.";
30 = "You don't feel like stepping here. You move back.";
31 = "You cautiously enter the highest room in the dome. There is a huge brass throne nearby, but nobody sits in it. In fact, the whole place seems eerily empty.";
32 = "You enter a long hall with two pillars at the east end. As you walk through the door, slime starts to ooze up through the grate to the east. You hear screeching laughter coming from the south. Someone shouts, _Surprise!_";
33 = "You raise the pipe to your lips and smoke it. Tendrils of smoke rise up and form letters between the pillars. They read, _Goosenargh hates the word 'fish'._ They only hang there for a moment and then disappear.";
34 = "When you step on these runes, there is a brief humming sound. The gate to the west glows slightly. Then the glow fades, and the gate stays closed. Odd. Something decided not to let you in.";
35 = "When you step on these runes, there is a brief humming sound. The gate to the west glows slightly. Then it opens.";
36 = "The floating apparition of a blue crystal appears before you. It shrieks, _This is the crypt of Delrin-Bok! That is I! You are not allowed! Flee! Flee, or be destroyed, for you will never find the way into my chamber!_ Then it fades away. Just another of the more crazy crystal souls.";
37 = "";
38 = "You slay the helpless vahnatai with a single blow.";
39 = "Delrin-Bok's crystal shatters. His spirit rises up from it, freed, and then dissipates. Hopefully, his tragic tale has now come to an end.";
40 = "This room is in the process of being converted from a vahnatai sleeping chamber, complete with crystal coffins, into another barracks. There are several of the large blue crystals to the west, most of them empty. They are being dismantled.";
41 = "You pass through the gate of the fortress. The vahnatai greet you with many looks of distrust and hatred. You cannot avoid the feeling that the orders you carry are the only thing keeping you alive.";
42 = "The vahnatai nod and return to their preparations. ";
43 = "Fort Haledon is still here, but operating on a skeleton crew. The remaining guards peek out warily, hoping that an attack doesn't come.";
44 = "The cabinet contains a roster of the fort's forces. There aren't many vahnatai here, but they are all highly skilled, and many have magical talent. It is clearly a force to be reckoned with.";
45 = "The last stragglers are leaving Fort Haledon. At your order, the attack on Ornotha Ziggurat is well under way.";
46 = "The day is almost up. You had best hurry if you are going to catch up with the vahnatai force.";
47 = "You suddenly receive a magical, mental message. You see a vivid image of the vahnatai, their hiding place discovered, fighting a large human force. They are doing great damage, but they are clearly doomed. You will have to enter Ornotha on your own.";
48 = "Hours have passed. You have to make sure to keep up with the vahnatai.";
49 = "You have a good rest.";
50 = "When you approach the barrier, a tunnel opens through it in front of you. You could pass through single-file.";
51 = "You try to find a way through or around the barrier, but no luck. It's just too powerful.";
52 = "You try to pass through the barrier, but as soon as you get close, the magical wall swells and surges, stronger than before. The heat forces you back.";
53 = "When you get close to the barrier, it fades away.";
54 = "When you get close to the barrier, a narrow gap opens. The vahnatai have opened it for you so that you can join in the assault on the Empire.";
55 = "The wide passage is blocked here by a huge, crackling energy barrier. It was obviously created by beings of great power.";
56 = "This is one of the spartan sleeping chambers for the students of the Tower. A pallet and a box for their meager possessions are all they have. It's an ascetic life.";
57 = "This is a narrow passage climbing up to a central room of black stone. Protective runes fill the corridor, and the air crackles with energy. There is dangerous power in the air here. It's no wonder that the mages don't spend much time in here.";
58 = "The central chamber glows and crackles with power, all of it emanating from a huge glowing portal. It's twice your height and dominates your attention. A portal with this power could carry you hundreds of miles, or blast you into a million tiny pieces.";
59 = "Sparks fly off of the portal as you move towards it. Waves of force fly out, trying to push you back. Eventually, however, you struggle in and through, to find yourself...";
60 = "The guard stops and questions you as you try to open the gate. When he finds out that you don't have Magi Clearance, he refuses to let you in. You need to get that clearance at The Castle, to the west. You have little choice but to obey.";
61 = "The guard stops you. He says _Magi Clearance is required to go up there._ You say that you have it. He pulls a scroll out of his pouch, reads it, and puts it away. _All right. You can go up. But be careful. Strong magic up there._";
62 = "The dresser contain some of the archmage Pyrn's personal effects. There's lots of dust. He must have been away for a while. You find nothing of interest.";
63 = "This book lists the creatures contained in the nearby cells. There are _basilisks,_ _previously unknown giant bugs,_ and _mobile plant matter._";
64 = "You awake well rested. You are brought a reasonable breakfast by a humble and silent apprentice. After you take advantage of the bath drawn for you, you're completely ready to go out and get beaten up again.";
65 = "This room contains gardening supplies and tools. One of the Tower of Magi's primary claims to fame is that most of the plants that help Avernum survive, including the glowing fungus on the cave walls, were created in the gardens here.";
66 = "This is a meditation room, and clearly a very guarded and sacred one. It's also very plain - the only furnishings are a small chair and a tome on a pedestal.";
67 = "You very quickly become lost in the book's theological twists and turns. Your head hurts and you get bored. You leave it.";
68 = "Odd. This book is blank. You flip through it. Well, mainly blank. Someone wrote inside the back cover: 'Owa Tah Ful.'";
69 = "This is very unsettling. The mages have stored a bunch of captive creatures here, in bare, rank-smelling cells. The creatures, feral and hungry, watch you from their cells.";
70 = "You recognize this room - this is the chamber the vahnatai portal sent you to. The portal is still there, waiting for your return.";
71 = "This room is remarkable and ancient. It is a library, old and dusty, filled with books, a rarity in Avernum. Most of them are clearly from the surface world, but some were laboriously created down here. They're all esoteric and all magical.";
72 = "When you get close to the center of the chamber, the portal has a sudden power surge! A demon steps out of the maelstrom. It sees you and laughs! It waves a clawed hand. More hellspawn appear around him and attack. No wonder there are no mages up here. This thing is crazy unstable.";
73 = "This is some sort of holding cell for creatures used in the mages' experiments. The cold, hard stone is bare, but for a small pile of filthy bedding. The smell makes you gag. The mages are clearly unkind (at best) to their experimentees.";
74 = "The voice booms, _Those are not valid coordinates! Begone!_ You back away from the portal before something hurts you.";
75 = "This is a grim temple, a smaller cousin to the grim, reptile-filled shrine below. The air is heavy with the smell of incense and lizard. The altar is large, black, and covered with the horrifying carvings.";
76 = "You hear the sound of a gate opening nearby. Or maybe the gate is closing.";
77 = "The book is a learned tome written in your language (and probably stolen by the sliths) on magical items. Reading it, you learn a lot about magical writing and runic languages. You can't understand the sliths' comments.";
78 = "This is a book on various magical items. Reading it is interesting, but you've already learned all it has to teach you.";
79 = "The dresser was trapped. When you open it, a cloud of poisonous gas pours out, choking you. Inside are a bunch of religious vestments and dried snake skins, valuable to the sliths but useless to you.";
80 = "A bunch of human bodies, much abused and decayed, have been thrown onto this ledge. The remaining shreds of robe make you suspect these are the priests the sliths stole this temple from. It's far too nice to have been built by the sliths.";
81 = "A lot of trash has been thrown into this cavern, forming an ever deeper and filthier morass the farther north you look. It's disgusting.";
82 = "There are several sleeping pads in this cavern, along with piles of slith gear and personal effects. The guards who live here must be out on patrol. If you haven't killed them already, that is.";
83 = "This body still has a few scraps of armor on it. This poor soul was a soldier of Avernum. All of his valuables have been taken away.";
84 = "These caves are filled with the constant echoes of chanting and hissing. The statues of sliths lining the path provide a very good clue about who lives here. The question is whether these sliths who live here are friendly or hostile to Avernum.";
85 = "You return to the depression in the floor. The trapdoor is still open, attached firmly to the floor by a huge hinge. The depression is filled with bones and shed snake skins, but nothing of value.";
86 = "You pull the lever. Nothing happens.";
87 = "You rub your hands and legs, still sore from your sharp descent. A pile of garbage, fortunately, gave you a soft landing. However, your original guess was correct. You are stuck down here. And the hissing is now much louder.";
88 = "This was a robing chamber for the priests who originally built this temple. The tapestries on the walls depict snakes, worms, and rows of robed humans doing highly unpleasant things.";
89 = "This is the Tower of Magi library, the second largest library in Avernum. The largest is in Patrick's Tower, to the west. Books are rare in Avernum. This collection is an amazing accomplishment. Alas, the tomes are probably too esoteric to benefit you.";
90 = "The crystal is still dark.";
91 = "You can see a laboratory to the east. (Actually, you smell it before you see it.) A large band of armed vahnatai brigands are in there, watching you. Their leader stands at the front, waiting to see if you will pass peacefully or butcher them.";
92 = "The floor of the room to the south is covered with elaborate tile patterns. The chaotic arrangement doesn't make sense at first."; 
93 = "There is a huge pit in the corner of the room. Moans and hisses float out of it. (Walk to the edge of the pit if you want to climb down.)";
94 = "The barrel is empty.";