For a Change
Dan Schmidt
aliens built-in hints cover art gender-neutral protagonist IF Competition 1999 IFComp Game language linguistics magical realism Miss Congeniality Winner nonhuman protagonist ocean parser surreal walkthrough Xyzzy Awards 1999 XYZZY Best Writing
The sun has gone. It must be brought. You have a rock.
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The sun has gone. It must be brought. You have a rock.

For A Change, v1.02
Dan Schmidt <dfan@alum.mit.edu>

Under the High Wall (on the resting)
Sweetness fills the shade of the High Wall to your east. Under this sweetness lies a small expanse of fod. A mobile releases mildly to the west; far in that direction a tower proudly plants itself, while the ground rises more slowly to the south and relaxes to the north.

Spread on the resting is a guidebook.

Sleep gradually departs from your eyes. A small stone has been insinuated into your hand.

It is a small smooth stone, the size of a small gland, a size to roll between your fingertips, nothing more than a pebble.
About yourself
You are faded and silent.
You look at guidebook
This tattered book describes itself quietly but firmly as an indispensable guide to the plain.
You take the guidebook
Taken.
You look at the sweetness
The sweetness slowly shortens and expands.
You examine mobile
The mobile is made of dirt and twine and extends along the ground, beckoning.
You take the mobile
The mobile is to be traversed, rather than to be held.
You take the fod
The fod is, and remains, where it is.
You read guidebook
The guidebook inflates itself with numerous definitions.
You look up the fod in the the guidebook
'FOD is the substance of earth.'
You look up the mobile in the guidebook
'The MOBILE is laid for the provision of movement with additional ease.'
You look up the tower in the guidebook
'The TOWER of the plain admits a view of all that may be seen. Our standard flies proudly from its height.'
You look up SUN in the guidebook
'The fabled SUN, it is said, will rise in our lifetime to bring brightness and warmth, though to date it has remained hidden.'
You look up HIGH WALL in the guidebook
'The HIGH WALL divides the sunrise from its setting, and ensures the shade of the plain.'
You look up the guidebook in the guidebook
'This GUIDEBOOK explicates the statements of the plain. It may be consulted and carried. No finer guidebook can be found within reach.'
You go to the east
The resting must first be departed.
You examine the resting
The resting sits on five wooden legs and slopes gradually.
You depart resting
The resting sighs at your departure.
You look up resting in guidebook
'The RESTING is a device made for that selfsame purpose.'
Go west
The land increases towards your head to the south, and decreases away from your feet to the north. Mobiles lead accordingly in both directions. The High Wall may also be approached to the east. A long walk to the west is a tower, dwarfing your form, and dwarfed in turn by the wall.

It is clear, after a time, that all things are shaded, everywhere. Thus the Wall.

Inscribed on the brown grass is a toolman.
You examine the toolman
The toolman is bright and misty. Thoughts and uses hang from his shoulders like birds.
You look up the toolman in the guidebook
'The TOOLMAN is the grower and keeper of tools. He takes with a hand and likewise provides.'

The toolman smiles softly.
You examine the thoughts
The thoughts and uses of the toolman glimmer in the shade.

The toolman smiles softly.
Hello
The toolman understands.

The toolman jingles in the breeze.
You ask the toolman about the thoughts
The toolman shakes his head.
You tell you about the thoughts
The toolman expresses a soothing regret.
You look at what you're carrying with you
In hand:
a guidebook (loquacious and proud)
a small stone (humble and true)
You show the stone to the toolman
The toolman is unmoved.

The toolman jingles in the breeze.
Punch toolman
You restrain from such an action.
You go to the west
A stone tower rises high and west above you, surrounded by a ring of stamped dirt. An archway faces the wall, strangely small compared to the tower's bulk; one must almost duck to transcend it. A plaque is set above the archway, approaching its size.
You examine the dirt
It lies below, and dreams of the sky.
Go west
The inside of the tower is completely void, nothing remaining but a long spiral staircase rising through the ceiling far above. The plain awaits to the east.

A few scraps of wood lie without pride on the floor, all that remains of the original construction.
You look at the wood
Potential and kinetic energy both lost forever, these timbers look helplessly upon the heights.
You take the wood
The wood is too heavy to move from its final place.
Up
When viewed, as now, from four stories above the ground and an equal distance from the top of the tower, these stairs are the whole of the universe. Far above, they penetrate an opening in the stone ceiling.
Up
For an observation room, the view disappoints; it is provided only by four small windows, perhaps two feet by two, long bare of glass, one in each of four directions. A slight breeze is redolent of altitude. An abandoned flagpole vainly gestures outward beneath the southern opening. Stairs descend from the bare stone floor.

A glass-encased model landscape squats on the floor near the east window.
You examine model
The model is the size of a small desk. Spread across its top is the landscape you have traversed, down to the tiniest detail, including, of course, this tower. The structure is set flush against the east wall of this room so that the wall of the room functions as the High Wall. The scene is covered by a pane of glass.
You examine the glass
The pane of glass covers the landscape at a modest height.
You examine the north window
The window describes the wilds to the north, free of mobile and structure. Even there, with no elements to protect, the High Wall holds.
You look at the south window
The window describes the hills of the south. Blue with silence and age, they straddle the ground where once they sought the sky. Just below the window, a flagpole extends from the tower.
You examine the flagpole
It extends perhaps ten feet from the tower, and is long bare of any clothing.
You look at the east window
The window describes the High Wall of the east. Its bulk impresses even more from a location of altitude itself. The plain maintains itself before the High Wall, cowering beneath its span.
You look at the west window
The window describes the desert to the west. The brown is dark to the edge of your sight, covered to all directions by the shade that extends without cease.
You examine the tower
The tower is one of the few landmarks visible in the model. For all you know, you are inside it as well.
You take the model
The model is, and remains, where it is.
Break glass
The glass resists all force.
You describe your surroundings
For an observation room, the view disappoints; it is provided only by four small windows, perhaps two feet by two, long bare of glass, one in each of four directions. A slight breeze is redolent of altitude. An abandoned flagpole vainly gestures outward beneath the southern opening. Stairs descend from the bare stone floor.

A glass-encased model landscape squats on the floor near the east window.
You look at what you're carrying with you
In hand:
a guidebook (loquacious and proud)
a small stone (humble and true)
You drop all
guidebook: Dropped.
small stone: Dropped.
You go to the south
You force yourself through the small window and crawl out onto the flagpole.

On the Flagpole (clinging to the flagpole)
The whole of the land is visible from here, though you are in no position to appreciate it. The tower deepens far below you, and the High Wall looms off to the east.
Up
Movement fails in that direction.
Down
That would be suicide.
Go north
With relief, you back up through the window.

For an observation room, the view disappoints; it is provided only by four small windows, perhaps two feet by two, long bare of glass, one in each of four directions. A slight breeze is redolent of altitude. An abandoned flagpole vainly gestures outward beneath the southern opening. Stairs descend from the bare stone floor.

A glass-encased model landscape squats on the floor near the east window.

You can also see a small stone and a guidebook here.
You take all
small stone: Taken.
guidebook: Taken.
model: The model is, and remains, where it is.
You go east
The land increases towards your head to the south, and decreases away from your feet to the north. Mobiles lead accordingly in both directions. The High Wall may also be approached to the east. A long walk to the west is a tower, dwarfing your form, and dwarfed in turn by the wall.

Inscribed on the brown grass is a toolman.
You ask the toolman about the tools
The toolman beams with pride.
Go north
By the mobile south, a rounded hole, five times as wide as you are tall, deepens through the earth. Its dark is deeper than that around you. The east is also passable.
You look at the hole
The hole funnels thinly. Far below crouches a narrow pool, in which something slowly circles.
You look at the pool
It lurks far below. Moving deliberately through it is a handle.
You take the handle
The pool flattens far out of your reach.
Go downwards
The walls steepen inward; your feet have no hold.
Go east
The wall to your east continues to gain out of sight. To your north is a massive transparent cube, perhaps five of your heights on each side. Retreats lie west and south.
You look up the cube in the guidebook
'It portends poorly to extend a CUBE by other than artifical means; it must be constructed deliberately if at all.'
You examine cube
The cube is featureless in all respects. There appears to be something small on the ground inside, perhaps a manner of cup.

There is a sudden cracking high above.
You look at the cube
The cube is featureless in all respects. There appears to be something small on the ground inside, perhaps a manner of cup.

A shower of crystal clatters down on the cube and the dirt around you. Shards shoot past your face and embed themselves in the ground.
You examine the shards
The shards act as a carpet of broken glass. Even standing here is treacherous.
You examine cube
The cube is featureless in all respects. There appears to be something small on the ground inside, perhaps a manner of cup.
You examine the cup
The cup sits patiently.
You look up
You see the sky.
You look up sky in the guidebook
'The SKY covers the land. Its farthest reaches, it is said, house the sun.'
You take the shards
The glass sharpens far too acutely to retrieve safely.
Break cube
The glass resists all force.
Go south
Sweetness fills the shade of the High Wall to your east. Under this sweetness lies a small expanse of fod. A mobile releases mildly to the west; far in that direction a tower proudly plants itself, while the ground rises more slowly to the south and relaxes to the north.

Almost touching the High Wall is a resting, firm and soft.
Go south
Dun tumbles down loosely from a steep hill to the south, sliced through by the wall to the east.

A spinster flutters in the breeze.
You look at the spinster
It brightens to your approach.
You look up the spinster in the guidebook
'The SPINSTER, traditionally made of burlap and bark, predicts sunlight and likewise foretells its shade.'
You look at Dun
It rises to the sky.
You look up Dun in the guidebook
'DUN: loose fod.'
You climb dun
You slip on the loose tall earth.
You take the spinster
The spinster is, and remains, where it is.
You go to the west
The mobile from the north ends as the land's slope increases too greatly. Dirt glistens blue. To the south, amid the land, a way opens into darkness, while more ground lies to the east.
You look at the dirt
Void of even grass, the blue of the underworld pokes through.
You go south
A dark volume, curried from the surrounding stone, fills your eyes and ears. To the north a passing opens into dimness; from further inside, to the east, a slight glow weakly straggles into the room.
You examine the glow
The glow crawls in from the east and collapses on the floor.
You go to the east
This subsection of the inset brightens and flickers. The shadows belong to the air more than you do, it seems. They walk the cordstone walls; they move and excite. The shadows look to a wall, to bars in the wall, and the songlantern behind them. Further in is east, further out is west, and a slope obtains up to the south.
You examine the shadows
The shadows dance up and down the cordstone, following the brightening and dimming of the songlantern, following the rhythm of its song.
You examine the songlantern
The songlantern hums and burbles, circled by brightening words, evading the bars and piercing the silence and darkness.

The songlantern murmurs and sings.
You listen
"For a fever well or neither nor believe her..." The songlantern sings brightness; sparks hum and circle lightly. The shadows dance in three.
You take the songlantern
The bars divide any possible touch between you and the lantern.
You look at the bars
The tall bars, vertical metal and close-set, provide two faculties. First, the creation of shadows. Second, the absence of emptiness by which to pass through. Behind the bars, in a space the width of a handful and height of an arm, the songlantern sits patiently.
You look up SONGLANTERN in the guidebook
'The SONGLANTERN brightens without intervention; its tones enlighten its words, as all tones do.'
Sing
Words tumble and float from you, and brighten your eyes.
You look up the cordstone in the book
'CORDSTONE: A mass consisting of strands of rock, twisted or knotted. Sympathy to waves is thus inherent. Currying of cordstone is uncharacteristically difficult, due to its lengthy nature.'
You look up currying
(in the guidebook)
'CURRY: to consume silently and with regret.'

The songlantern murmurs and sings.
Curry cordstone
The age of currying is long past.

The songlantern murmurs and sings.
You take the bars
One bar is loose, and looser, and then free.

The songlantern murmurs and sings.
You look at the bar
(the iron bar)
An armlength of iron.
You take SONGLANTERN
The songlantern is wider than the gap.
You examine the gap
It is difficult to describe an absence.

The songlantern murmurs and sings.
About you
You glow with song.
You go south
The walls and light contract as this space leads up and westward. The light and song from the north weaken with distance.
About yourself
You are faded and silent.

Your circling utterances collapse and distune, fading.
Go west
You are surrounded by the lack of thought and light.
You go west
You are surrounded by the lack of thought and light.

The song of the lantern dances in and out of your hearing, faint with distance.
Sing
Words tumble and float from you, and brighten your eyes.

The song of the lantern dances in and out of your hearing, faint with distance.

The passage ends without foreshadowing, as if the end came without warning.

A worn anchisel rests on the roughened floor.
You take the anchisel
Taken.
You look up anchisel in the book
'An ANCHISEL may be used to curry any softer rock with precision. For larger work, a granchisel is required.'
Go east
The passage ends at a wall of water to the east. Light stumbles from the west.

Glowing words hang in the air before the water.

Your circling utterances collapse and distune, fading.
You look at the water
The water hangs in midair like a hummingbird.
You examine the words
"In this hall
Shall water stand
And gravity's grip be loose"
You go north
The land increases towards your head to the south, and decreases away from your feet to the north. Mobiles lead accordingly in both directions. The High Wall may also be approached to the east. A long walk to the west is a tower, dwarfing your form, and dwarfed in turn by the wall.

Inscribed on the brown grass is a toolman.

The toolman examines your anchisel with interest.
You give the anchisel to the toolman
The toolman smiles and accepts the anchisel with grace. Holding up one finger, he invites before you and impresses a lie opener upon your hand.

The toolman smiles softly.
You look at the lie opener
The lie opener is intentional in shape, and surmounted by a small button, shy and silent.

The toolman smiles softly.
You look up LIE OPENER in the guidebook
'The LIE OPENER is a device utilized to unstop that which is false. On the object which is true it has no effect.'

The toolman jingles in the breeze.
You go east
The passage ends at a wall of water to the east. Light stumbles from the west.

Glowing words hang in the air before the water.
You look at the water
The water hangs in midair like a hummingbird.
You press the button
As you press the button surmounting the lie opener, the hovering words falter and dim. Seconds of silence later, the water collapses upon you, falling and churning.
You examine the words
You can make out almost nothing through the torrent of water.

The water rushes down and through, covering and carrying you along.

This subsection of the inset brightens and flickers. The shadows belong to the air more than you do, it seems. They walk the cordstone walls; they move and excite. The shadows look to a wall, to bars in the wall, and the songlantern behind them. Further in is east, further out is west, and a slope obtains up to the south.

A torrent of water is rushing through the room.
You examine water
You can make out almost nothing through the torrent of water.

You surface and submerge, grabbing at nothing but water as it carries you further.

A dark volume, curried from the surrounding stone, fills your eyes and ears. To the north a passing opens into dimness; from further inside, to the east, a slight glow weakly straggles into the room.

A torrent of water is rushing through the room.
Wait
Time passes.

The water roars out into the plain, tumbling you with it.

The mobile from the north ends as the land's slope increases too greatly. Dirt glistens blue. To the south, amid the land, a way opens into darkness, while more ground lies to the east.

A torrent of water is rushing out of the cave mouth.
Wait
Time passes.

You are tossed aside onto the dirt as the water continues to rush downhill to the north.
Go north
The land increases towards your head to the south, and decreases away from your feet to the north. Mobiles lead accordingly in both directions. The High Wall may also be approached to the east. A long walk to the west is a tower, dwarfing your form, and dwarfed in turn by the wall.

A stream of water rushes swiftly to the north.

Inscribed on the brown grass is a toolman.
Go south
The mobile from the north ends as the land's slope increases too greatly. Dirt glistens blue. To the south, amid the land, a way opens into darkness, while more ground lies to the east.

A stream of water rushes swiftly to the north.
You go south
A dark volume, curried from the surrounding stone, fills your eyes and ears. To the north a passing opens into dimness; from further inside, to the east, a slight glow weakly straggles into the room.

A cold knee-deep stream rushes out to the north.
Go east
This subsection of the inset brightens and flickers. The shadows belong to the air more than you do, it seems. They walk the cordstone walls; they move and excite. The shadows look to a wall, to bars in the wall, and the songlantern behind them. Further in is east, further out is west, and a slope obtains up to the south.

A cold knee-deep stream rushes to the west.
Go east
A cylinder heightens out of sight, a steady stream of water descending it and splashing about your knees.

Gray words hang lifelessly in the air.
You examine the words
"In this hall
Shall water stand
And gravity's grip be loose"
Drink
What do you want to drink?
Drink water
The water is swift, cool and clean.
You go north
The land increases towards your head to the south, and decreases away from your feet to the north. Mobiles lead accordingly in both directions. The High Wall may also be approached to the east. A long walk to the west is a tower, dwarfing your form, and dwarfed in turn by the wall.

A stream of water rushes swiftly to the north.

Inscribed on the brown grass is a toolman.

The toolman smiles softly.
You go to the north
By the mobile south, a rounded hole, five times as wide as you are tall, deepens through the earth. Its dark is deeper than that around you. The east is also passable.

A stream of water flows in from the south, filling the hole with a pool.
You look at the pool
The water waves gently. A handle slowly circles it round.
You take the handle with the bar
Reaching out, you hook the handle, and the fish attached.
You look at the fish
The handlefish blinks impassively.
You look up the handlefish in the guidebook
'The HANDLEFISH has adapted to the water of the shade so perfectly that it is liable to violently discorporate when exposed to the water of the sun.'
You check your inventory
In hand:
a handlefish (stoic and taciturn)
a lie opener (merry and vigorous)
an iron bar (forthright and content)
a guidebook (loquacious and proud)
a small stone (humble and true)
Up
For an observation room, the view disappoints; it is provided only by four small windows, perhaps two feet by two, long bare of glass, one in each of four directions. A slight breeze is redolent of altitude. An abandoned flagpole vainly gestures outward beneath the southern opening. Stairs descend from the bare stone floor.

A glass-encased model landscape squats on the floor near the east window.

Something seems to have cracked the model's glass cover.
You look at the crack
It is too small even to fit a finger through.
You check your inventory
In hand:
a handlefish (stoic and taciturn)
a lie opener (merry and vigorous)
an iron bar (forthright and content)
a guidebook (loquacious and proud)
a small stone (humble and true)
You put the stone in the crack
The stone barely fits through the crack in the glass. It drops to the landscape below, shattering a small crystal structure.

Through the east window, in the distance, a dark object flashes downwards and disappears.

Something thuds in the distance, and the tower shudders.
You look at the model
The model is the size of a small desk. Spread across its top is the landscape you have traversed, down to the tiniest detail, including, of course, this tower, as well as the stream you recently created. The structure is set flush against the east wall of this room so that the wall of the room functions as the High Wall, against which the pebble you dropped is visible. The scene is covered by a pane of glass.
You examine the tower
The tower is one of the few landmarks visible in the model. For all you know, you are inside it as well.
You descend
When viewed, as now, from four stories above the ground and an equal distance from the top of the tower, these stairs are the whole of the universe. Far above, they penetrate an opening in the stone ceiling.
Go down
The inside of the tower is completely void, nothing remaining but a long spiral staircase rising through the ceiling far above. The plain awaits to the east.

A few scraps of wood lie without pride on the floor, all that remains of the original construction.
Go east
You now see what fell outside the window; a boulder has smashed through much of the cube.

The wall to your east continues to gain out of sight. To your north is what remains of a massive transparent cube, perhaps five of your heights on each side.

A large boulder squats on one corner of the cube's remains.

The ground is covered with glass dust and shards, threatening your footing.
You look at the boulder
Twice your height, the boulder buries itself in the dirt.
You take the cup
The cup is inside, and you are out.
Go north
The land, free of its former boundaries, is bare, save for the perfect square of grass, untrod for years until now, formerly within the constraints of its walls.

A wooden cup broods upon the grass.
You look at cup
In the cup is a lie establisher.
You take cup
The cup is fastened to the earth.
You take the establisher
The cup reluctantly yields the lie establisher.
You look up LIE ESTABLISHER in the guidebook
'The LIE ESTABLISHER is a device utilized to enhance and fix the untrue. When squeezed, it sustains all immediate lies.'
You look at LIE ESTABLISHER
It is remarkably like a lemon in every respect.
Go south
The wall to your east continues to gain out of sight. To your north is what remains of a massive transparent cube, perhaps five of your heights on each side.

A large boulder squats on one corner of the cube's remains.

The ground is covered with glass dust and shards, threatening your footing.
Go south
Sweetness fills the shade of the High Wall to your east. Under this sweetness lies a small expanse of fod. A mobile releases mildly to the west; far in that direction a tower proudly plants itself, while the ground rises more slowly to the south and relaxes to the north.

Almost touching the High Wall is a resting, firm and soft.
Go south
Dun tumbles down loosely from a steep hill to the south, sliced through by the wall to the east.

A spinster flutters in the breeze.
You squeeze lemon
You squeeze the lie enhancer. The dim words slowly waken and glow. For one moment the water is still. Then it heeds the words and floods up the tube, taking you with it.

Bouncing upon a spume of water, you can make out little of the scene around you. A hollow cylinder rises immensely far, a pinprick of light staring from its end.
You wait for a while
Time passes.

You are buffeted upward for an eternity, rising at an unimaginable speed toward a spot of light at the top of the cylinder. You lose consciousness and regain it after an unknown delay.

You bob at the top of a hollow cylindrical column with walls of fitted stone, filled almost to the top with water, clean and cold. A ladder ascends from the water's height to a bright opening perhaps twenty feet directly overhead. Below water level is fastened a narrow opening in the east wall.
Up
You hoist yourself up onto the ladder and climb up to the open air.

As you ascend, the sunlight strikes you fully for the first time with almost physical force. You are stunned by warmth and light.

The surface of the wall is as wide as you are tall, and unimaginably high above the land to the west. The stones themselves fit each other perfectly, with no mortar between. It is unclear how they barricade the vast ocean to the east, an easy dive of perhaps twenty feet.

The handlefish blinks in alarm.

The handlefish is in obvious pain.

The handlefish gulps with dismay.

That is no subject.

'The HANDLEFISH has adapted to the water of the shade so perfectly that it is liable to violently discorporate when exposed to the water of the sun.'

The handlefish glances desperately to and fro.
Look around
The surface of the wall is as wide as you are tall, and unimaginably high above the land to the west. The stones themselves fit each other perfectly, with no mortar between. It is unclear how they barricade the vast ocean to the east, an easy dive of perhaps twenty feet.

The handlefish blinks in alarm.
You examine ocean
The water extends infinitely in all directions but west.

The handlefish gulps with dismay.
You look at SUN
The sun beams with unparalleled warmth and glory.

The handlefish glances desperately to and fro.
You throw the fish in the ocean
The handlefish protests silently as you toss it into the vast ocean. As it submerges, a plume of water extends towards the sun and relapses. Then there is a moment of loudness and shock.

There is a short trembling, as if the ground becomes slightly unsteady for a moment, but it passes.

Looking down, you spy a trickle of water emerging from the west side of the wall.
You look at the trickle
The trickle of water is steadily growing.

A violent shock throws you to your knees. You clutch at the broad stones as best you can, releasing your possessions.

The wall is falling.
Go down
Gravity is taking care of that.

The entire wall slides down towards the land to the west. Water soaks you from behind. Ancient chunks of rock fly past you in all directions.

Some great mass hits you in the back, knocking you into the rush of water.

The world is a mad mixture of rocks, water, and too little air. Waves and stone madly buffet you about, as you periodically go under and resurface.

During a brief period above the surface, you catch sight of a rock just by your head.
You take the rock
You clamber up out of the water onto the rock.

Rocks and water thunder down on the plain, you atop them. Soon they will overtake the observation tower now looming in front of you.
You examine the tower
The tower rushes at you from below.

The roiling mass of stone and water overwhelms the tower. Its flagpole is just in front of you.
You grab Flagpole
You reach out with one hand and barely grasp the flagpole, then manage to pull yourself up.

On the Flagpole (clinging to the flagpole)
Amidst the chaos around you, this flagpole and the tower to its north are the two things stationary. Just underneath you, huge chunks of stone whip past, unleashing a lifetime of energy.
You go north
You crawl through the window.

For an observation room, the view disappoints; it is provided only by four small windows, perhaps two feet by two, long bare of glass, one in each of four directions. A slight breeze is redolent of altitude. An abandoned flagpole vainly gestures outward beneath the southern opening. Stairs descend from the bare stone floor.

The model landscape lies on the ground, slightly askew and quickly filling with water.

Water rushes in through the open window and up through the stairway.
You examine model
The model has been dislodged. Its cover has disappeared, and water and sand stream in from a chink in the east wall.

Water rushes in through the open window and up through the stairway. It's now up to your knees.
You take the model
Stretching your arms to their limit, you groan and lift the model just off the floor.

The ground shakes.

Water rushes in through the open window and up through the stairway.
Empty model
You strain to upset the model and the flood therein. In response to your desperate lift, the entire tower in which you stand begins to tilt as well, ages of stone and rock sliding through the air with a sickening lack of reluctance. You slip across the newly displaced floor, its angle yawing further with each moment, barely retaining your grip. Water pours in without cease, all denial useless, from all portals, whether windows or stairs. Flung against a wall suddenly turned floor, you flicker, your world narrowing to nothing but your fingers, their hold on the model, on the world, as you meet the wall with a crack that engulfs your consciousness. Water rushes past you and the sky.

When you come to, it is gone.
You look at your surroundings
For an observation room, the view disappoints; it is provided only by four small windows, perhaps two feet by two, long bare of glass, one in each of four directions. A slight breeze is redolent of altitude. An abandoned flagpole vainly gestures outward beneath the southern opening. Stairs descend from the bare stone floor.

You can see a model here.
About yourself
You are faded and silent.
Go downwards
The inside of the tower is completely void, nothing remaining but a long spiral staircase rising through the ceiling far above. The plain awaits to the east.

The scraps of wood once here have fled.
Go east
You step out into the sunlight, and a newly lit land.