Tindalos Barometer

(unless: (track: 'Attic', 'isplaying'))[(masteraudio: 'stopall')(track: 'Attic', 'loop', true)(track: 'Attic', 'play')](if:$cable is 2)[(set:$cable to 3)You continue to unspool the extension cord behind you as you climb the stairs. ]Your attic is a dusty, unfurnished A-frame. It’s barren of boxes, antiques or belongings. The only occupant besides yourself is [[your life’s work.|E-2]](if:$water is 2)[ The glass of water you brought yourself still sits besides it.] The [[stairs back|8-1]] are opposite.

The great machine, a god’s sledgehammer to bludgeon the drywall of reality. A miracle no Newton nor Einstein ever thought possible, or would ever give their blessing. It’s barely bigger than a typewriter, and sits beneath the room's single window at the far end from [[the stairs.|8-1]](click: "The great machine")[(if:$cable < 10 and $ticket < 10 and $breaker < 10)[(transition: "dissolve")[(if:$machineitems>2)[(goto:"E-3")](if:$machineitems<3)[ (if:$cable is >= 3 and $cable < 5)[You plug the other end of the cord into the device,(if:$breaker is 0)[ but if you throw the switch now it'd blow a fuse.](if:$breaker > 0)[ and it's ready to recieve power.](set:$cable = 5)](else:)[Today it is ready.] You(if:$water is 1)[ set down your drink on the table besides it and] run your fingers over its circular key-tips(if:$water is 1)[.(set:$water = 2)](else:)[ and your heart pounds.] It only needs (if:$machineitems < 2)[a few](else:)[one] (if:$cable > 0 or $ticket > 0 or $breaker > 0)[more] (if:$machineitems < 2)[finishing touches](else:)[finishing touch];(if:$breaker is 0)[ the breaker in the basement must be bypassed](if:$machineitems is 1 and $breaker is 0)[, and](else:)[(if:$machineitems is 2 and $breaker is 0)[.](if:$machineitems<2 and $breaker is 0)[,]](if:$ticket is 0)[ a punch-card from the library is needed](if:$machineitems is 0)[, and](if:$machineitem<3 and $cable>0 and $ticket<1)[.](if:$breaker>0 and $ticket<1 and $cable<1)[, and](if:$cable is 0)[ a cable must be brought from the storage closet.] [[You should get to that.|E-1]]]]]]

(unless: (track: 'House', 'isplaying'))[(masteraudio: 'stopall')(track: 'House', 'loop', true)(track: 'House', 'play')](if:$cable is 3)[(set:$cable to 4)You leave the cable behind you as you come back down from the attic. ]Upstairs is an empty room, completely undecorated and unused. Its only occupants are the cobwebs, and its only lighting is from the windows and wall sconces. It’s not a bad room, you just never had any good use for it. (if:$cable is 1)[(set:$cable to 2) You plug one end of the cable into a wall outlet and trail it behind you.] There are a few connecting rooms from here. Your [[bedroom|9-1]] is off to one side, and up a set of drop-down stairs is the [[attic|E-1]] above you. Behind you is the [[stairwell back down.|0-1]]

Your bedroom, fairly spartan but it’s all you need. There’s nothing too shocking here; your massive-framed bed sits dead center, and to its side a small table and lamp, and farther still is an oversized wooden dresser. There’s a connecting door to a [[bathroom|D-1]], and behind you the exit back to the [[barren second floor.|8-1]]

You step into the main hall of your home. A long, narrow passageway with clean beige walls. The passage is decorated with old hand-me-down paintings and a dry houseplant. It’s all you really need. You have no shortage of options here, with doorways to the [[living room,|3-1]] the[[ washroom,|C-1]] the [[kitchen,|10-1]] the [[closet,|1-1]] the [[guest bedroom,|A-1]] and the [[stairs up.|8-1]]

(unless: (track: 'House', 'isplaying'))[(masteraudio: 'stopall')(track: 'House', 'loop', true)(track: 'House', 'play')](align:"=><=")+(box:"X")[(text-rotate-x:17)+(text-rotate-y:6)+(text-rotate-z:3)[End of Demo.] Background art generated with DALL-E and owned in full. Music used: LEMMiNO - Cipher https://youtu.be/xdwWCl_5x2s Ordinary Vanity - Akira Yamaoka https://youtu.be/9YxUh4rHDUo Vague Voices - Kelly Bailey https://youtu.be/8KxNBtMjSlk Nepal Monastery - Kelly Bailey https://youtu.be/Zy0mdIS04sw ]

The master bedroom’s private bathroom. A little cramped, but it has a tub and sink and medicine cabinet. You don’t require much else. You should probably clean it. Not that you have anyone to impress, but if you can count the rings in the tub your hygene must be something foul. You'll get to it later, probably. The only way out is the [[same way you got in.|9-1]]

(track: 'House', 'loop', true)(track: 'House', 'playwhenpossible')You are in your office. The pride of your home. Your polished wood desk is almost hidden beneath a slurry of note-paper and sat between ceiling-tall bookshelves. Lamps scattered about the room unevenly work to compensate for the building's inadequate lighting, casting abstract shadows across the room. (if:$ticket is 0)[ There's a punch card, one of many, sticking out from one of the shelves. You left it that way to remind yourself.(click: "a punch card")[(set:$ticket to 1)(set:$machineitems to $machineitems + 1) (transition: "dissolve")[ You pull the card from the shelf, yanking out the other tickers to either side and sending them fluttering to the floor. With a sigh, you decide to leave them for now.]]] The [[way out|3-1]] is on the other end of a little maze of pointless armchairs(if:$ticket > 0)[ (transition:"dissolve")[ and a dusting of punch cards]].

(unless: (track: 'House', 'isplaying'))[(masteraudio: 'stopall')(track: 'House', 'loop', true)(track: 'House', 'play')]The entryway to your home. It's simple, which suits you just fine. You don't need to go outside right now. Behind you is your [[living room,|3-1]] and a [[set of stairs|5-1]] off to the side lead down to the basement.

(unless: (track: 'Basement', 'isplaying'))[(masteraudio: 'stopall')(track: 'Basement', 'loop', true)(track: 'Basement', 'play')]The stairs lead down to a small landing, where a door leads to the [[basement.|6-1]] The top of the stairs emerges right next to the [[front door of your home.|4-1]]

The basement is an absolute mess; Half-disassembled furniture lies scattered about the floor, scattered around a maze of freestanding shelves. The single light hanging from the ceiling cast long shadows into the corners of the room, hiding bits of trash and rats' nests. Feeling over one of the concrete walls, you manage to locate the house's fuse box. (if:$breaker is 0)[ The breaker for the attic looks to be functioning as intended.(click: "The breaker")[(set:$breaker to 1)(set:$machineitems to $machineitems + 1)(transition: "dissolve")[ That won't do. You pull it out and drop it to the floor. In its place you knit together the electrical contacts, letting the power flow uninhibited.]]](if:$breaker > 0)[The breaker to the attic is still bypassed. What a bodge.] The only way out leads back to the [[stairwell.|5-1]]

The storage closet. Anything that doesn't have its own little spot gets flung in here. If it's lucky it'll be pushed into an unsorted drawer in a filing cabinet. If it's not it's getting added to a pile on a shelf. Depends on your mood, really.(if:$cable is 0)[ The flickering dome-light reveals an extension cord jammed in one of the drawers, bent to a concerning angle. It's probably safe to use.(click: "an extension cord")[(set:$cable to 1)(set:$machineitems to $machineitems + 1)(transition: "dissolve")[ With some effort you yank the cord out of the cabinet and wrap it into a coil around your shoulder. You choose to ignore the frayed insulation.]]] The only way out is the [[way you came in.|0-1]]

The guest room. Probably the nicest room in the house. A bigger bed, better lights, and it's certainly cleaner. The sheets are so untouched they're getting dusty. It'd be worrying if you actually made a habit of having guests. You don't. There are exits to the [[guest bathroom,|B-1]] and [[back out into the hallway.|0-1]]

The guest bathroom. So untouched it still smells like lavender air freshener. The tub is bone-dry, as is the sink, and the finely laundered towel hung neatly over its rack. Even an untouched bar of soap. It'd all be posh if it wasn't a bit sad. No way out but [[back.|A-1]]

Your humble kitchen, with everything you could need take care of yourself. Pots and pans shoved into cabinets below rows of spices and sealed cans. A sink, an oven, a toaster, all the little amenities. It's a little unkempt, but you suppose that's the cost of cooking.(if:$water is 0)[(click: "A sink,")[(set:$water to 1)(transition: "dissolve")[ You take a glass from the cabinet and fill it with water. ]]] The only doorway is back into the [[hallway.|0-1]]

The hallway bathroom is pretty cramped. A sink, a toilet, everything a restroom needs. It's not well taken care of; an outline of grime creeps out from behind the mirror and a ring of off-color scum has stained into the toilet bowl. (if:$bleach is 0)[ In the cabinet beneath the sink is a bottle of bleach, among pipes and and some spare toilet paper.(click: "a bottle of bleach")[(set:$bleach to 1)(transition: "dissolve")[ You take it.]]] The door leads [[back to the hallway,|0-1]] naturally.

You're on the verge of greatness. Your dreams are restless with an imagination grasping at a sub-reality jammed between this and the next like a wedge with no shape. Just barely close enough to touch, if you know how to reach for it. You believe you do. [[You don't deserve what comes next.|F-1]](set:$water to 0)(set:$cable to 0)(set:$bleach to 0)(set:$ticket to 0)(set:$breaker to 0)(set:$machineitems to 0)

The living room is pleasant. Plenty of places to sit, plenty of table space. The walls are speckled with framed photographs, the real artsy sort. The flowers in the corner really pull it all together. You note they're looking a little parched, but you decide not to worry about it. The living room connects to both [[your office|F-1]] and the [[central hall.|0-1]] The [[entrance|4-1]] is just a few feet away.

House: https://artschoollandfill.neocities.org/Encounters.mp3 Attic: https://artschoollandfill.neocities.org/VagueVoices.mp3 Basement: https://artschoollandfill.neocities.org/OrdinaryVanity.mp3 Alien: https://artschoollandfill.neocities.org/NepalMonastery.mp3

(unless: (track: 'Alien', 'isplaying'))[(masteraudio: 'stopall')(track: 'Alien', 'loop', true)(track: 'Alien', 'play')]Finally, it is ready. Your heard beats in your throat while your trembling keys reach for the fingers. It sputters to life, clattering and clicking until it begins to hum. (click:"hum.")[It's a deep, resonant noise. the kind that seems to reverberate throughout your whole body. You feel nauseous, You wretch, then throw your head forward as you feel the overwhelming urge to [[vomit.|E-4]]]

As your bile hits for the floor you only have your peripheral vision warn you as the walls grow jagged and polygonal. Perfect square angles form out of their flat surfaces like salt crystals. Then they crumble away, abandoning you as dust carried by wind you can't feel. (click: "abandoning you")[Beyond them is beauty and filth not meant for your mind. The soot and soil of dead worlds coat endless plains of jagged, polygonal rock. Sulfuric clouds wander across a sky your terrestrial eyes can only percieve as a deep magenta. (click:"eyes")[Tears well in your eyes. The air stings them, but your tears are only of joy. [[You've finally made it.|Credits]]]]