Blue Lacuna — 246 of 467

Chapter - Top of Cave

The prose name of Top of Cave is "the top of the underwater cave". The description of Top of Cave is "[topcavedesc].". To say topcavedesc: say "A small pool of seawater marks the bottom of this irregular shaft, rising haphazardly [up] towards a circle of [if night]stars[otherwise]sky[end if] high above. Twisted tree [o]roots[x], some thick, others just tips, break through the walls everywhere, even reaching to the edge of the pool [down] by your feet". The exits text of Top of Cave is "The pool lies [down] beneath your feet, while [up] above rises the shaft".

TopOfCave-stuff is stuff in Top of Cave. Understand "shaft/circle/edge" as TopOfCave-stuff when location is Top of Cave.

Instead of sleeping in Top of Cave, say "It's too cramped and bumpy here to lie down, much less fall asleep.[sleepsuggest]".

Some tree roots are a setpiece in Top of Cave. Understand "twisted" as tree roots. The description is "The roots are [if night]black, only vague shadows in the dimness[otherwise if dawn or twilight]grey ghosts in the faint light that trickles down from above[otherwise]pale white and smooth, twisting strange contortions through the air before plunging into the rocky soil of the shaft's walls once again.". Instead of climbing or entering the tree roots, try going up. Instead of touching tree roots, say "You feel a faint, almost electrical tingling, but nothing more.". The dream-text of tree roots is "shadowy snarls of huge twisted tree roots".

The small pool of seawater is a setpiece in Top of Cave. The description is "[if rising uptide or falling uptide]The water sloshes rhythmically against the tree roots, rising and falling sometimes several feet at a time[otherwise if high tide]The surface of the pool is a frothy maelstrom, sometimes sucked more than a body length down before exploding upwards to splash you with seawater[otherwise]The surface of the pool is calm, and undisturbed; below, you can see the subsurface cave you swam in through[end if].". Instead of vague swimming in Top of Cave: try going down. Instead of swimming in or entering small pool of seawater, try going down.

Instead of going down in Top of Cave when tidein, say "Judging by the way the surface of the pool is moving, the tide must be in and the cave below must be a roiling mess of strong currents and tidal forces. You'll have to find another way out.". Instead of going down in Top of Cave when current episode is Earthquake or current episode is Water Works: say "The water is doing strange things; you could drown or be smashed to pieces. Better not.".

Report going from Top of Cave to Saddle: say "The roots provide easy handholds and footholds for your ascent, though you must sometimes twist your body awkwardly in the small space to get past them. You climb easily to the top of the shaft and emerge [if night]into the silvery night[otherwise]blinking into light[end if].[if Saddle is unvisited][section break][end if]". Report going from Top of Cave to Water Cave: say "Contorting awkwardly in the small space, you dive into the pool of seawater and kick your way down to the watery cave below.".