Blue Lacuna — 214 of 467

Section - Following the Bees

[Since following the bees is an important puzzle, we want to respond to any possible attempts to follow them. The swarm is off-stage when the bees are not "at" a certain location; in this case, if the player is not near the Hive, we can simply move them one room towards it. The behavior is identical if the swarm is on-stage and the player is in its location. If the swarm is on-stage and we're near the hive, we also move one room towards their location, but after that we can only print a message like "You can't tell where the bees went from here." (Since otherwise they could just follow the swarm straight to the Egg without having to solve the puzzle.) If the player tries to follow bees when none of the above conditions are true (maybe because of the ambient message about a swarm of bees passing overhead, gently refuse. ]

[

Who are we following?

Near hive & swarm onstage: swarm.

Near Hive & swarm offstage: hive bees.

Near swarm & swarm onstage: hive bees.

Near neither and swarm onstage: "not sure."

Near neither and swarm offstage: hive bees.

]

Does the player mean following swarm of bees: it is likely. Instead of following hive bees, try following swarm of bees.

First check following swarm of bees:

let target be UnRoom;

if swarm of bees is off-stage:

if location is Hive Interior or location is Hive Room, say "The bees seem to have climbed inside the hive." instead;

if location is not regionally in Lacuna, say "You're not sure where they went." instead;

now target is Hive Room;

else:

if location is Hive Interior:

say "(first getting off the beehive)[command clarification break]";

move player to Hive Room, without printing a room description;

if location is Hive Room:

say "You head off in the direction the bees went[if location of swarm of bees is not adjacent to Hive Room], but you've already lost sight of them[end if].";

now target is location of swarm of bees;

else if location is location of swarm of bees:

say "You head off in the direction the bees flew[if location of swarm of bees is not adjacent to Hive Room], but you've already lost sight of them[end if].";

now target is Hive Room;

else:

say "You're not sure where the bees went from here." instead;

if target is UnRoom, say "You're not sure where the bees went from here." instead;

let way be the best route from location to target;

if way is a direction, try going way instead;

else say "You're not sure how to get there from here." instead.