// TOWN TEXT DATA
//    Town 52: Empire Archives


begintextlibrary;

20 = "There is a big pot here, filled with stew. You lift some out with a nearby spoon, only to watch as the pot refills before your eyes.";
21 = "The stuff is disgusting. It smells awful, and the meat produced looks like it came from an unpleasant part of the animal. However, magical or not, food is food.";
22 = "";
23 = "The statues around you suddenly start to move! In slow unison, their heads turn to face you. One of them says, _Intruder. Speak the pass-phrase! Prove your authorization!_";
24 = "Sadly, you don't know the pass-phrase. There is a long pause. It's super-awkward. The statues step off of their platforms and lumber towards you.";
25 = "";
26 = "You stand at the edge of a platform without a railing. Below you, you can see the floor, over thirty feet below and solid stone. There's no obvious way down.";
27 = "However, there are several words inscribed at the edge of the ledge: _Leap of Faith._";
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30 = "In addition to mundane supplies, the desk contains an ivory key.";
31 = "";
32 = "The pedestal is covered with maps. Following the directions you found in the index, you find the map you're looking for: _ACCESS PATH TO TELEPORTATION AUGMENTER: CAVES NXB143S, NXB144S, MXB144T._";
33 = "You peruse it for a while, matching it up to what you know and where you are, and you come up with coherent directions. From here, take your boat and go west from the Northern Sea. You will pass two narrow channels watched by guard towers.";
34 = "You will then be on a river, which you must take to the west, and then to the south. When you find a ledge covered with swamp, land at it. A secret passage conceals the beginning of the path.";
35 = "Interestingly, one spot on the hidden path is marked with a fort symbol and the words _Obstruction: Augmented wall. See Hall of Rituals in lower level for instructions._ The pathway may have some special defenses.";
36 = "";
37 = "You step inside this remote fortress and are immediately struck with a wave of cold. It is freezing in here.";
38 = "You can easily see why. The water is kept unnaturally cold by some powerful Empire magic. It shimmers eerily, and a thin shell of ice covers the surface. Thin enough that you could, with effort, force a boat through it.";
39 = "You wonder why anyone would create a fort like this out here, and why they would go to such amazing efforts to keep it cold.";
40 = "";
41 = "Inside the entry hall, there is a strange smell in the air. It's rare stuff in the underworld, so it takes a moment to recognize it. It's paper.";
42 = "The Empire is a bureaucracy. What's more, it has an almost fanatical devotion to maintaining information. They never let go of a fact, because they believe that every bit of knowledge will be useful eventually.";
43 = "They're usually right.";
44 = "You've heard of archives like this one, kept icy cold to preserve the documents within, but you've never actually been inside one. You know one thing about them, though. They're always very well guarded.";
45 = "";
46 = "You find a steel gate. The bars are an inch thick. There's no way you could smash this massive barrier down. You notice that the keyhole is made of ivory, but you don't have a key that fits.";
47 = "";
48 = "You find a steel gate. The bars are an inch thick. There's no way you could smash this massive barrier down. You notice that the keyhole is made of ivory. Fortunately, your ivory key unlocks it.";
49 = "";
50 = "The wheel controls the gate to the north. You open up your escape route. Then you break the mechanism, so that nobody can close the gate behind you.";
51 = "";
52 = "Apparently, knowledge of some sort of ritual is necessary to reach the portal. It must be somewhere in the Empire Archives. You'll need to find it before you depart.";
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