Five Gods Exiled — 129 of 191

Chapter 1 - Death-Related

To call a death-related transitional event:

say "Calling a death-related transitional event.)";

now the current person is the victim;

if the age of the victim < 10:

say "Someone walking through the [locale type of the location] calls out, '[one of]Hey there, m[or]Hi, there, m[or][apostrophe]Scuse me, m[or]M[at random][if the player is male]ister[otherwise]s.[end if] [surname of the player], but where's your [gr of the current person] gotten off to?'[paragraph break]'Oh, [given name of the victim][apostrophe]s just fine, [zhe]'s...'[paragraph break]But you stop, because memory [one of]rips[or]slashes[or]tears[or]stabs[at random] through you and stops your voice. You remember [zher] [given name of the victim][apostrophe]s [eye color of the current person] eyes and [zher] [hair reference] and [physical impression of the current person] little smile, and you remember the grip of [zher] [skin tone of the current person] on yours, but [zhe] won't ever be back. You remember that your [age of the victim in words]-year-old [gr of the current person] is dead.[paragraph break]";

otherwise:

let M be a random number between 1 and 2;

say "A [if M is 1]man[otherwise]woman[end if] walking [one of]down[or]through[or]past[at random] the [locale type of the location] pauses and calls out, ";

if a random chance of 1 in 2 succeeds:

say "'[one of]Hey there, M[or]Hi, there, M[or][apostrophe]Scuse me, M[or]M[at random][if the player is male]ister[otherwise]s.[run paragraph on][end if] [surname of the player], ";

otherwise:

say "'[one of]Hey,[or]Scuse me,[or]Pardon,[at random] [given name of the player], ";

say "I've got a message for you. ' When you raise your eyebrows, the [if M is 1]man[otherwise]woman[end if] smiles at you and says, '[given name of the victim] is looking for you. Best catch up!'[paragraph break]You start to say 'Thank you' automatically, but the words die on your lips as memory suddenly [one of]curses[or]floods into[or]opens up inside[or]gapes open within[at random] you. [given name of the victim] [surname of the victim] - your [gr of the current person] - you remember [zhim]. You remember [zher] [eye color of the current person] eyes and [zher] [hair reference] and [zher] [physical impression of the current person] smile when [zhe] thought no one was looking, and you remember the grip of [zher] [skin tone of the current person] hand on yours, but [zhe] can't possibly be looking for you. [given name of the victim] is dead.[paragraph break]You start forward, calling to the [if M is 1]man[otherwise]woman[end if], but [if M is 1]he[otherwise]she[end if] has already vanished into the [one of]seething[or]streaming[or]shimmering[or]twisting[or]shifting[or]churning[at random], only half-real crowd.[paragraph break]".