text: > look around
  Before it became the seat of local government, this castle was an actively defended fortress, built and run to protect the town of Blackacre. It was designed for defense rather than comfort, and the castle still retains its original vertiginous spiral staircases, cavernous galleries, and piles of crumbling stonework. Nevertheless, people expect a certain reassuring level of conspicuous wealth in their public buildings, and the town council has obligingly added little bits of opulence to this audience hall. An array of dainty chandeliers hanging from the ceiling barely warms or brightens the room. Portraits of jowly merchants line the stone walls, looking down onto the clerks and audience-seekers below with imperturbable disdain. The entrance to the council chambers to the north and the exit from the hall to the south are both flanked by extravagantly woven but thin tapestries.
  
  Well-dressed men and women sit in ornate chairs lined across one wall of the gallery, presumably also waiting for an audience with the council. The town's clerk, Trelawney, watches over them irritably from his desk.
  
  > look at the tapestries
  The tapestries show Blackacre's founder, depicted as a victorious blond knight in spotless armor, slaying some sort of monstrous serpent. According to town legend, he defeated a monster that had been threatening the area and made it safe again for human habitation; in gratitude, the struggling settlers then declared him their mayor. In reality, Blackacre was founded by a consortium of herring merchants looking for a port closer to their shoals to cut down on transportation costs, and the founding comprised filing a proposal with the deputy undersecretary of the Royal Ministry of Fisheries. The artist chose the story that's easier to weave into a tapestry.
  
  > look at the portraits
  The portraits show long-deceased merchants from the past centuries of Blackacre's history. Some of their business practices were indisputably underhanded and occasionally completely illegal, but their considerable donations to the town have apparently succeeded in whitewashing their pasts. The painters did their best to present their dissipated, corpulent subjects in a favorable light (literally, in the case of the chiaroscuros), but the rows of faces look blank and unremarkable even as they sneer down at you.
  
  > talk to Wattman
  Against your better judgment, you strike up a conversation with Mr. Wattman.
  
  0) (Leave.)
  1) Nervous at all?
  2) How's the Guild?
  
  > 2
  Choose a response (0-2) > 2
  
  "How are you doing in the Guild?"
  "Mr. Puncher and I have moved up in the world. We're management now," he says proudly. "We run the loss prevention group in the Guild." "Isn't that against the entire point of the Guild?"
  "Preventing the loss of people, not things. We're looking at the bigger picture now. You see, occasionally some guild members forget their loyalty to the guild and try to do some things they shouldn't: quit the guild, join a rival guild, or even run tattling to the town watch."
  "You don't think I---"
  "Oh, don't worry. You left the Guild on mutual and perfectly amicable terms. Besides, we have bigger fish to fry."
  "In burning oil," puts in Mr. Puncher.
  "For example. Our job is to find those poor, wayward souls who might be tempted to leave the Guild and put the fear of God, as well as several knives, into them."
  
  1) That's great!
  2) That's awful!
  
  > 1
  Choose a response (1-2) > 1
  
  "That's great!" you say a bit too loudly.
  "Glad to see you're on our side. Like I keep telling people, you're a good kid. I know a few members of the Guild think you're a traitor, but I want you to know that I merely think you're incompetent."
  
  As he leans forward to pat you on the shoulder in what he presumably thinks is a reassuring manner, you notice a small rock tied to his belt.
  
  0) (Leave.)
  1) Nervous about your interview?
  2) How's the Guild?
  3) What's that rock?
  
  > 3
  Choose a response (0-3) > 3
  
  "What's that?" you ask, pointing toward the rock hung from his belt?"Oh, that?" He shifts his tunic in an unsuccessful attempt to hide it. "There's a mission later on, and--- well, I'd tell you, but..."
  
  0) (Leave.)
  1) Nervous about your interview?
  2) How's the Guild?
  3) What's that rock?
  
  > 1
  Choose a response (0-3) > 1
  
  "Are you nervous about your interview?"
  "Not at all," he says enthusiastically. "This is actually the second one; Mr. Puncher and I met with the council last week. I showed off some of my knife tricks, which will come in handy for fighting a dragon. Some of the council members were concerned that I didn't have much experience with the finer points of diplomacy and negotiation, but I said I could take a wild stab in the dark at them. When they're walking home at night, for example."
  
  0) (Leave.)
  1) Nervous about your interview?
  2) How's the Guild?
  3) What's that rock?
  
  > 2
  Choose a response (0-3) > 2
  
  "How are you doing in the Guild?"
  "Mr. Puncher and I have moved up in the world. We're management now," he says proudly. "We run the loss prevention group in the Guild." "Isn't that against the entire point of the Guild?"
  "Preventing the loss of people, not things. We're looking at the bigger picture now. You see, occasionally some guild members forget their loyalty to the guild and try to do some things they shouldn't: quit the guild, join a rival guild, or even run tattling to the town watch."
  "You don't think I---"
  "Oh, don't worry. You left the Guild on mutual and perfectly amicable terms. Besides, we have bigger fish to fry."
  "In burning oil," puts in Mr. Puncher.
  "For example. Our job is to find those poor, wayward souls who might be tempted to leave the Guild and put the fear of God, as well as several knives, into them."
  
  1) That's great!
  2) That's awful!
  
  > 2
  Choose a response (1-2) > 2
  
  "That's terrible!"
  "No, it's actually very profitable."
  "I mean that it's morally wrong."
  "Well, maybe it is, and maybe it isn't. If we always stopped to worry about what's 'right' or wrong'," he says, making quotation marks with his fingers, "then nothing would ever get done.
  "You have to keep in mind what's really important," he continues, giving you what he apparently thinks is a smile. "Does the Guild pay me a literally and metaphorically criminal sum for my work? Certainly. Am I successful? Of course. But I'm rich because I have a lot of friends." He clears his throat. "Excuse me, I misspoke. I'm rich because I have a lot of money."
  
  You notice idly that when he lifted his arms and his tunic rode up slightly, he had a small rock tied to his belt.
  
  0) (Leave.)
  1) Nervous about your interview?
  2) How's the Guild?
  3) What's that rock?
  
  > 0
  Choose a response (0-3) > 0
  
  > talk to Puncher
  You approach the massive thief.
  
  0) (Leave.)
  1) Anxious about the interview?
  2) How's the Guild?
  
  > 1
  Choose a topic (0-2) > 1
  
  "Are you anxious about your interview with the council?"
  "No," he says simply.
  "Really? Not at all?"
  "No."
  "All right, then."
  
  0) (Leave.)
  1) Anxious about the interview?
  2) How's the Guild?
  
  > 2
  Choose a topic (0-2) > 2
  
  "Are you still working with Mr. Wattman in the Guild?"
  "Yes," he replies.
  "And that's enjoyable?"
  "It's good exercise." Having run out of things to say after such a long sentence, he falls silent.
  
  0) (Leave.)
  1) Anxious about the interview?
  2) How's the Guild?
  
  > 0
  Choose a topic (0-2) > 0
  
  Trelawney swats at a passing fly irritably. "Rotten things, insects," he grumbles.
  
  > Inventory
  You are carrying:
  a spellbook
  a set of lockpicks
  
  > examine the lockpicks
  Your trusty set of lockpicks are undoubtedly your most treasured possession, far beyond the literal treasure you've possessed. Even though the Guild politely suggested that you return the other accoutrements and clever devices you carried, it would have been unthinkable to suggest or offer to relinquish your lockpicks.