*comment ñáéç Part I: Choice of Romance A high-pitched shriek splits the sweltering summer air: "Help! Oh, help, help!" Your youngest sister Clara skids to a stop in front of you. "Francisco and I were playing in the barn!" she sobs. "He was showing me spells, and he set the hay on fire, and now–" A breath of wind springs up, and the acrid scent of smoke reaches your nostrils. The barn is some ways away from your parents' villa and the vineyards–there's that. But it is full of hay for feeding the horses, and hay catches fire so fast–it would be so easy for the wooden barn to burn to the ground– The smell of smoke grows stronger the closer you get. By the time you reach the barnyard, your throat and eyes are stinging. You can't see flames from the yard, but as you approach the door, you can feel their heat. Out of the corner of your eye, you see the grooms running towards you. Then you reach the barn door and look inside. Your seven-year-old brother Francisco, face white with terror, is backed up against the barn's far wall, surrounded by leaping flames. *label no_save What are you going to do? *temp FirstChoice *check_purchase intrigues tildeath *choice #I don't know! There's nothing I can do! *set FirstChoice "WaitForRescue" There, there. There's no shame in being frightened. As you stand there paralyzed, you hear feet pounding on the ground behind you. You can't tear your eyes away from the flames to look, but the feet run past you, and then you see one of the grooms. The smell of smoke must have reached as far as the stables. He stumbles to a stop at the barn door, looking inside with horror. The head groom is shouting instructions, and you see that all three of them carry buckets. The head groom reaches you, grabs your shoulders, and shakes you. Before you realize what has happened, you are part of a line that stretches from the water pump to the barn, passing heavy buckets and slopping water on the ground. The fire is almost out by the time your family arrives. Heedless of the remaining danger, your father rushes inside and returns with Francisco. He spends quite a while thereafter alternately praising the head groom for his quick thinking and berating your brother for his stupidity. Eventually, the entire family returns to the house. *goto StartupQuestions #I rush into the barn to grab Francisco. *set FirstChoice "MoreBraveThanSmart" You rip off your shirt–not very modest, but now is hardly the time for modesty–soak it in the water trough, and run into the barn. It's like running into an oven. The flames are higher and hotter every second as they gobble down the stacks of hay. You use the wet shirt to beat aside the fire for just long enough to reach Francisco. Then you grab his hand and run, pulling him after you. Flames hiss in your ears and lick at your shoes, and both his clothing and yours is on fire when you stagger into the barnyard. The grooms are there by then; they grab Francisco and you and push you down into the dirt, smothering out the flames. *goto FamilyArrives #I shout to the grooms to bring buckets of water. The best way to save Francisco is to put out the fire. *set FirstChoice "CoolHead" The head groom stops in his tracks, and then turns to relay your orders to the others. There are only three of them in total–never have you so regretted your family's inability to afford a proper number of servants–but you help as well, and soon the four of you form a line, passing heavy water buckets from hand to hand between the well and the barn. *goto FamilyArrives #Like Francisco, I know some magic. Maybe there's a way to use magic to get him out. *set FirstChoice "UseMagic" Your family, like most noble families of Iberia, has magical talent. Unfortunately, you are Death Mages. Death Magic is very useful in combat, but it tends towards firebolts and so forth–in other words, it is better at starting fires than at putting them out. Francisco almost certainly started this one with a firebolt gone wrong. But then an idea occurs to you. You run around to the back of the barn, and, summoning all your concentration, throw a firebolt at the back of it. A hole explodes in the wood. You run towards the hole, and it is like running towards an oven. The fire within is hotter and higher every second. But you've provided Francisco with an escape route, and he stumbles towards it just as you get there. You grab him and pull him to safety. The grooms have arrived by then, and you hear the head groom shouting orders at the other two. They start carrying water from the well nearby to put out the fire. *goto FamilyArrives *if choice_purchase_supported and not(choice_is_steam and choice_is_trial) #Skip ahead to Part II: Choice of Intrigues instead. Would you like to restore a saved game, or start a new game at the beginning of Part II? *choice #Restore a saved game. *label restore *restore_game *goto no_save #Start a new game in Part II. *check_purchase intrigues *if (choice_purchased_intrigues) *label intrigues *goto_scene SceneADirect *else Choice of Intrigues continues the story begun in Choice of Romance as you match wits with the schemers of the Iberian Court and try to keep your position as the monarch's paramour. *purchase intrigues $1.99 intrigues *page_break No, Thanks *goto no_save #Skip ahead to Part III: 'Til Death Do Us Part instead. Would you like to restore a saved game, or start a new game at the beginning of Part III? *choice #Restore a saved game. *goto restore #Start a new game in Part III. *check_purchase tildeath *if (choice_purchased_tildeath) *label tildeath *goto_scene MendosaRecapDirect *else Part III: 'Til Death Do Us Part is the climactic conclusion to the [i]Affairs of the Court[/i] trilogy, a story of clandestine love affairs, revolution, and betrayal. Who will seize the throne when the monarch is dead? *purchase tildeath $1.99 tildeath *page_break No, Thanks *goto no_save *elseif not(choice_is_trial) #Resume a saved game instead. *goto restore *label FamilyArrives *page_break You hear shouting. It seems that Clara succeeded in waking the household, and here they all are–your mother and father and siblings and most of the servants. Your father takes charge of the situation, and under his management, the fire is quickly put out. Your mother cries, alternately praising you *if FirstChoice = "CoolHead" for keeping calm and berating Francisco for stupidity. *goto ExcitementOver *elseif FirstChoice = "UseMagic" for your clever use of magic and berating Francisco for stupidity. *goto ExcitementOver *elseif FirstChoice = "MoreBraveThanSmart" for saving Francisco and berating you and Francisco both for stupidity. *goto ExcitementOver *label ExcitementOver When the excitement is over, the entire family returns to the house. *page_break *goto StartupQuestions *label StartupQuestions You walk through the vineyards, through the courtyard, and towards your family's somewhat shabby villa. The villa is old and well-constructed, but not as well kept as it might be. Underneath the trellis of bright flowers, for instance, the lintel could really use painting. But the family simply does not have the money to keep up appearances as they should be kept…. Your great-grandfather was a Conde, and your great-aunt was a Condesa, and you have a second cousin or something who is a Condesa now. But your father is only an hidalgo–a younger member of a noble house. He has the title Don for courtesy, and he has a fine house in the country, but he doesn't have anything else. Not much money, and no power. Just the house and the family name. And so you don't have anything else, either, as you approach your sixteenth birthday–when you officially come of age. Far away in the capital city of Orovilla, things are happening. There Life Mages and Death Mages study to advance their art; there young men and women enjoy masques and balls and hunts and jousts; there wise and devious advisors lurk at the edges of the monarch's glittering Court. Perhaps it is not quite true that nothing ever happens here. Now that something has, are you feeling glad that life here is usually calm and kind of dull? *fake_choice #Yes, actually. One of the best things about your family's pastoral existence is that it is calm. We will see whether your life continues to be calm, however. #No, not at all! I'd like more excitement on a fairly regular basis. I rather suspect more excitement is waiting in your future. Oh, before we go any further: you are your parents' eldest child, but are you an eldest daughter or an eldest son? *choice #Daughter. *set sex "female" *set gown "gown" *set don "Doña" *set mateo "Magdalena" *set he "she" *set his "her" *set him "her" *set brother "sister" *set nephew "niece" *set gentleman "lady" *set gentlemen "ladies" *set girl "girl" *set men "women" *set man "woman" *set man_opp "man" *set men_opp "men" *set widow "widow" *set bow "curtsy" *set lord "lady" *set wife "wife" *set conde "condesa" *set duque "duquesa" *set lad "girl" *set bride "bride" *set queen_same "Queen Consort" *goto GivenName #Son. *set sex "male" *set gown "coat" *set don "Don" *set mateo "Mateo" *set he "he" *set his "his" *set him "him" *set brother "brother" *set nephew "nephew" *set gentleman "gentleman" *set gentlemen "gentlemen" *set girl "boy" *set men "men" *set man "man" *set man_opp "woman" *set men_opp "women" *set widow "widower" *set bow "bow" *set lord "lord" *set wife "husband" *set conde "conde" *set duque "duque" *set lad "boy" *set bride "groom" *set queen_same "King Consort" *goto GivenName *label GivenName Very well. And what is your given name? *if (sex = "female") *choice #Ana *set given_name "Ana" *goto Surname #Catalina *set given_name "Catalina" *goto Surname #Isabel *set given_name "Isabel" *goto Surname #María *set given_name "María" *goto Surname #Violeta *set given_name "Violeta" *goto Surname #Something else. What is your given name? *input_text given_name *goto Surname *else *choice #Cristóbal *set given_name "Cristóbal" *goto Surname #Diego *set given_name "Diego" *goto Surname #Felipe *set given_name "Felipe" *goto Surname #Lorenzo *set given_name "Lorenzo" *goto Surname #Miguel *set given_name "Miguel" *goto Surname #Something else. What is your given name? *input_text given_name *goto Surname *label Surname *set given ((don & " ") & given_name) And your family name, ${given}? *choice #de Peña *set surname "de Peña" *goto Skills1 #de Castillo *set Surname "de Castillo" *goto Skills1 #de Flores *set Surname "de Flores" *goto Skills1 #de Rivera *set Surname "de Rivera" *goto Skills1 *label Skills1 And what sorts of things are you good at, ${given}? Like all young people of your class, you've been well-trained in the social graces: you can dance, and make polite conversation, and play a little music, and ride in a hunt. And you have at least a basic understanding of magic. The ancient noble houses of Iberia are all mage houses. Members of a Life Mage family are born with the ability to make plants grow, to heal the sick and injured, to calm those who are agitated. Members of a Death Mage family are born with the ability to throw firebolts at enemies in battle, to kindle flame and to heat metal. But like anything else, much study and practice is required if the mage wishes to excel. You know at least a little magic…whether or not you studied it seriously is up to you. Tell us about yourself, ${given}. What sort of person are you? What did you spend your spare hours studying, when you were younger? *choice #I spent every moment of my free time in the library. I am well-read in history, literature, mathematics, and foreign languages. Your mother calls you the family scholar, with considerable pride. *set booksmart 80 *goto Skills2 #I studied magery with my father every moment I could spare. I am unusually skilled at it for my age. With a flick of your wand and a chant under your breath, you can light fire in the hearth or cause a burst of it to explode in the air. You are learning more complex spells now. *set magic 80 *goto Skills2 #I learned how to read the people around me, and how to get what I wanted from them with minimum possible effort. Very wise of you. Some would call that manipulation, but manipulation is such a horrid word, isn't it? It's simply easier to get what you want if you are careful than if you make a great fuss. *set subtle 80 *goto Skills2 #Studying? I did as little of that as possible. I spent most of my free time daydreaming. I am quite lovely to look at, though. And I am a very graceful dancer, and very charming when entertaining guests. Everyone says so. *set charm 80 *set booksmart 25 *set subtle 25 *set magic 25 You are indeed the best-looking ${girl} to be found for miles in any direction. You've gotten by so well on your natural charm that you've never had to put much time into studying. You couldn't have escaped your education without learning a little something, though. Which of the following would you say you are…um, least bad at? *choice #I did like reading stories, and through them I have learned quite a bit about history. I can read a little in some foreign languages. *set booksmart 50 *goto Butterfly #I found the study of magic to be fun–more fun than practicing archery or reading moldy old books in the library, anyway. I'm really quite good at the basic spells. *set magic 50 *goto Butterfly #I learned how to read the people around me, and how to get what I wanted from them with minimum possible effort. Very wise of you. Some would call that manipulation, but manipulation is such a horrid word, isn't it? It's simply easier to get what you want if you are careful than if you make a great fuss. *set subtle 70 *goto Butterfly *label Skills2 And what would you say is your second most notable quality? *choice *if booksmart < 70 #Reading my mother's collection of books in the library. I am reasonably well-read in history, literature, mathematics, and foreign languages. *set booksmart 70 *goto Skills3 *if magic < 70 #I studied magery with my father, and he says I have mastered the basic spells very well. Shortly we will start working on more complex ones. *set magic 70 *goto Skills3 *if subtle < 70 #I have learned how to read the people around me, and how to get what I wanted from them with minimum possible effort. Very wise of you. Some would call that manipulation, but manipulation is such a horrid word, isn't it? It's simply easier to get what you want if you are careful than if you make a great fuss. *set subtle 70 *goto Skills3 #It's not exactly a skill, but people comment on how sweet I am and how lovely to be around. How charming, in short. *set charm 70 *goto Skills3 *label Skills3 That tells us what you're good at, but you can't be perfect. What would you say is your greatest weakness? *choice *if booksmart < 60 #I could never be bothered studying my lessons. I can never keep straight all the names of foreign countries and all the Kings and Queens we've had in Iberia, and I'm terrible at languages and mathematics. But that's not really important, is it? *set booksmart 25 *goto Butterfly *if magic < 60 #I have only the barest scraping of magical talent. I can handle the very basics, but not any more than that. But that's not really important, is it? *set magic 25 *goto Butterfly *if subtle < 60 #I am the least subtle person in Iberia. I always blurt out what I think, and I'm really not good at all at reading people's faces to tell what they are thinking. But that's not really important, is it? *set subtle 25 *goto Butterfly *if charm < 60 #I am not terribly good-looking, and socially somewhat awkward, despite my upbringing. I'm not what you would call charming. But that's not really important, is it? *set charm 25 *goto Butterfly *label Butterfly As you are about to enter the house, a bright purple butterfly flits right across your path. Red and blue and yellow ones are common, but purple ones are rare. They bring good luck, so the saying goes. And since it crossed your path, it can only be good luck for you. The butterfly will go and grant you a wish if you wish quickly–so what are you wishing for? *fake_choice #A windfall! Enough money to go to Court and enjoy the season. #The chance to do something splendid, something that will change the world. #An adventure! Anything to enliven dull life in the country. (Maybe one that is less destructive than the barn catching fire, though.) #True love. Isn't that what everyone wishes for, really? I hope the butterfly grants your wish! *finish