Script From AITG

Below is the script for AITG - written by the hugely talented Daniel Dunne. The script had a number of branches, and in the end it totalled circa 5,000 words! You can check out the game here: http://gamejolt.com/games/adventure/adventures-in-the-gutter/60477/ .

1st Chapter

Pen trigger:

Margaret Albyne wrote in the gloom of the Museum, attempting to secure something, anything, to bring to the Museum’s collection to fuel the growing popularity of Egyptology. It didn’t have to be anything special. But… she slowed down her writing, and looked across at the assortment of fragments… it had to fit here. Amidst the weathered pieces of wood, that were almost certainly tools, and the shards of pottery found all over the country, something had to unify these disparities. At least that’s what she hoped as she put pen to paper and wrote to the Theban Hills.

Postbox:

She held onto the letter awhile before she let it fall to into the post. From there it would go to a ship, traverse the Atlantic, pass through Gibraltar and the Mediterranean like an arrow to settle in Cairo. There it would begin its slow trickle down through the hands of officers, postmen, and porters to the Upper Kingdom. Even though she had done the trip herself, the unknown still loomed ahead.

Still, she let it drop from her hand. Letting the tiny flutter of the paper soar through the darkness, until a faint* tink* was heard.

She would see what fate would give her in return.

2nd Chapter

Nothing:

John hadn’t wanted to fry his brain in the Sahara, so he’d gone east to where the work was a lot easier. He snorted at that remembering the awe he had when delicately sorting necklace beads from the Late Kingdom, brush and all. Now… he looked up from the letter, his trowel haphazardly used as a paperweight… now, he didn’t know what to think of his adventure. Had his mania finally begun to die down? Had someone considered his suggestion that he be taken off for the season? John hurriedly wrote the words down, letting Molly know exactly what was out here. Nothing, the letter said, field archaeology was nothing like what he expected. Even though the days of writing desks and letter openers were long gone, he wrote, sometimes it felt as though he had swapped pushing papers for sorting rocks.

Exactly:

John had skipped around with the writings of Jonathan Swift and wondered what the world could be like, not just in other lands – but times. It was a passing fancy to him at the time, but as he had made his way through schooling, done his exams, wrote his papers, the tiny whispers of adventure had whispered through the papers every time he had read up on excavations, geological surveys and discoveries of ancient beasts. Although he had seen young lords trapsing around Europe, Africa, the Orient and the Far East, he felt as though the travel only diminished each archaeological find. Truly, he thought as pen went to paper, truly this was exactly what he’d envisaged for himself when first picking up the trowel and brush. This is what I expected from the profession. He smiled at himself as the cool wind rustled through the tent, exactly what he needed.

Adventure:

Still he wanted to revel in the excitement, show the world the dangerous allure of Egypt. The ever shifting sands, the scorpions and snakes, the mysterious locals. But even that wasn’t enough to reconcile the reality of searching for broken fragments of scrap like a child to the field. He held the pen stiffly as the thought struck him. Aha! he almost shouted as the images flowed through his mind. Like the great King Solomon’s Mines in Her: a Journey of Adventure, he too could find something of value, along the lines of the Pharonic treasure troves, or the hidden tribes of the Congo. Adventure was what he sought and adventure was what he would have – life wasn’t yet filled with adventure. But all he needed was to be pointed in the right direction.

Artefacts:

Margaret’s requirement wasn’t too tall an order at all, although he’d needed to finish off cataloguing beads from stone scarab beetles, the search for something more was easy enough to do – especially in the Theban Hills. The fact that Molly’s… Margaret’s request had specifically asked for something to tie together the current exhibit at the British Museum, meant that it couldn’t be anything already held by the Museum. No… this would require a bit more of a search, and definitely somewhere else. But where would be up to Margaret. After all it was her exhibit.

3rd Chapter

Posthole – strata human intervention

Molly thought that the pothole might raise further questions into the background of what people had lived in the area. Aside from the obvious answer of Egyptians, the inclusion of other cultures seems to have all but faded from critical discourse. Were there any indications of cross-trading, of different consistencies of clay, the remains of barley or wheat, the inclusion of bronze or other metals? She paused taking a moment to look at her other options, letting her mind’s eye visualise what could have been in each area. Almost she could see what could have been, a community, thriving on what the Nile provided, congregating here, using the hills here and here for their viewpoint of the banks. The Posthole…. It had something to do there, some importance.

Or, as she opened her eyes, it could also be nothing but a refuse pile – she brushed that thought away.

It was as good a choice as any, and it was only logical that there should be some strata caused by human intervention. Yes, Molly was quite sure she could find what she needed in N0E0.

More Pottery? Pottery

As with gold, once a sample was found, there was usually more. The old saying still struck through, even though she hadn’t used a trowel in some months. Pottery would beget pottery so where better to look for an artefact, well really any artefact than where previous sections had been found. Although it wasn’t the most exciting of finds, it still managed to strike a chord with Molly – a lot could be rediscovered through pottery. From the changing styles from Old to New Kingdom, from the composition of clay from one area to another – usually this showed signs of trade. Although Molly knew she wanted to find something, she wasn’t yet sure what. Perhaps the remnants of another time period, or group could be found if John were to excavate there. He might not find it the most exciting of places to dig, but he’d certainly earn her appreciation.

Many a would-be archaeologist disappear when confronted with the dry glamour of finding remnants. Or then again, she thought reflecting on her own fascination, be spurred on by it.

Molly wrote N1E0 with a steady hand, sure of the likelihood of a find. She just hoped John would be as well.

????????? What’s in the box

It wasn’t exactly caution to the wind, but it felt as though it was more adventurous than many of the other options. Although a prior survey had occurred around the area, in terms of excavation or thorough studies the area was unknown. Nothing beyond a few surface level fragments had been found, but these were usually too weathered and worn to accurately be identified. Molly looked through some of John’s previous site notes with a critical eye. According to the reports the site was due to start sometime in the next field season. However with the excavation of the other areas (posthole, wall and pottery areas), the likelihood of it to be looked at, at least in the next few years was slim. Nothing certain was to be gained from that location, but with the acknowledgement of that there was also a whole new realm of possibilities to be found.

Looking around the museum, Molly could recognise that there were more than a few possibilities that had been discovered by chance. Rameses II (Ozymandias), the Rosetta Stone, even the finding of a whole generation of Pharaoh’s in tombs, all of these were just patches of unknown land before someone took the trowel to them. N0E1 Could definitely be the start of something new.

Walls – Occupation level

The walls were the only reported structure still standing in John’s area. Molly shuffled the papers trying to find some indication of what they were, but she couldn’t find a single description of any carvings or indentations to the walls. From the sketch given, she peered closer, it looked as though it had been somewhat worn – though from weather or friction she could not tell. Obviously as a dwelling there were possibilities of different articles from whatever the building housed. Yet without knowing what the building was the speculation would run rampant. No, she thought to herself, here she would have to think laterally looking for what would definitely be there. Perhaps something along the foundations of the wall, pottery broken down to fill in gaps between the stone bricks, metals and alloys forgotten and trampled into the ground. There had been previous cases where fragments of sculptures had been found to build walls in the past, though destroying the wall in the hope of treasure was a bit too much fancy for her liking. Either way it was up for John to figure out how to approach the site, all Molly could do was provide suggestions – educated ones – and hope that something could be extracted. N1E1 was the only site which held some sort of structure, why could it not have more than that?

4th Chapter

Trowel:

John gripped the trowel tightly. The sun had sapped a lot of moisture from him, causing his throat to tighten and his grip to become looser. The sun usually didn’t affect him to this extent, but – he wiped sweat from his forehead - it had certainly taken its toll today. The first crack of clay didn’t register as he tried to leverage out the fragments from the compacted earth. Nor did the second, it was only when he reached to grasp the fragment and had it crack in his hand. He searched around for a nearby brush, but it was nowhere near. “Curses, damnation, and the blight of this desert!” It was a stupid mistake to have made, but to have done it and cracked fragments three times over.

“Stupid,” he muttered under his breath. Looking around again he stood from his crouched position to kick something… a brush… into the excavation site. What would Molly think of his rigour now?

…

With that thought John took a deep breath, dusted off the brush, and continued working. It wasn’t until that night that the fragments could be properly retrieved, and another week before he was satisfied he had enough to send off to Molly. Hopefully she wouldn’t notice the new breaks.

Brush:

It had been a rough dig, well harder than normal for John, with the sun beating down and the dig’s soil more tightly packed than normal. Perhaps it was clay? In either case it was only with the foresight to bring an extra canteen of water that John owed to his careful dig. Otherwise he might have missed the tightly packed fragments of pots. Carefully grabbing his brush John carefully removed each layer of dust and dirt from the fragments, teasing each section out until it could be taken back to camp. Occasionally John used his fingers to tease out fragments, and thankfully all of the pieces seemed able to take the unconventional recovery method.

Molly would be pleased, he had sent her a previous report stating his topsoil findings, the occasional worn bead, worked stones long worn from the winds, but this was something that she would definitely be interested in. At least he hoped, it hadn’t exactly been the most hospitable of places, so the letters from Molly helped put his work into perspective. He just hoped his own work gave her, and Britain, a bit of perspective too.

Uncovering the fragments took a while, but John was able to take his time, and sent the fragments a week after uncovering the first fragment.

5th Chapter

Rim Sherds

Naquada II! The words nearly burst from her lips like a Eureka as she opened her book to the rim sherd’s section. Although she had her suspicions - the fact that the patterns were a variation of those found both north and south of the dig’s location meant that this could suggest an entirely new habitation of the Naquada. Molly stopped herself there, she was getting ahead of herself. For now all that needed to happen was identification. As a Rim Sherd the pottery was easy to spot with its thicker section (intact?) to take into account way which the pots were constructed as well as additional wear and tear that rim would have to endure...

Body Sherds

Molly pulled shard after pottery shard from the straw lined boxes that John had sent. These body sherds were thinner, but sometimes more complete than their rim counterparts ... Here Molly could see paintings, geometric designs, hunting ceremonies, and indistinguishable shapes amongst the fragments.

John seemed to have outdone himself, perhaps there was actually a complete pot or two here amongst the shifting patterns and figures. Idly Molly placed pieces next to each other searching for a connecting thread.

Here the geometric patterns seemed to accompany another pot, but the thickness didn’t match.

And here! The suggestion of a hunting narrative, with spears and … wheat?

She could almost make out a pattern already…..

But! Now wasn’t the time for that - these pieces all had to be catalogued and identified.

6th Chapter

Large Geometric etched pot. Rim sherd

It had actually taken Molly weeks to sort through the fragments. The first round of cataloguing had misattributed geometric carvings for spears, and wheat strands for geometric carvings. Looking through the thickness of each pot, or working with the rim sherds had proven to be useful, but due to weathering and the incomplete nature of these rims the actual reconstruction had proven to be difficult. Here,though, Molly was certain she had a definite pot, Large geometric and etched it was the largest – and as she sorted through the body sherds – perhaps the most complete of the pots.

Hunting pot

The hunting scene pot was aesthetically pleasing, and could prove to be the most illustrative out of the three. The It was somthing that scholars and the public alike would find interesting. Perhaps it was far easier, she mused to herself, to connect emotionally with a pot that had people and animals on it than to comprehend the narrative undoubtedly held in the geometric patterns of other pots.

Geometric pot

Here Molly’s patience was tested, as the smaller geometric pot fragments seemed as though they could easily fit into anyone of the previous two. Also due to its size the pieces proved the most difficult to piece together, as the geometric pattern wasn’t as pronounced as it was on the larger pot.

Discovering that the pot had a flat bottom, might have helped in the reconstruction if she had noticed earlier, but it wasn’t something she had considered off the bat – instead, initially - somewhat foolishly, she had attributed it to a plate of some sort. It was probably only from Molly’s carefulness, honed from her time at the museum, that had made the jump between the half finished pot and the “plate.”

7th Chapter

The large geometric pot, certainly needed to be pointed out as "valuable" - whatever that meant - for the exhibition. The fact that it existed at all, and was able to be reconstructed was something that Molly still couldn’t believe had occurred – especially with the state of shipping. Although the significance of the geometric patterns is up for debate, the size alone probably meant that this pot was used for large scale storage.

Molly smiled as she placed her description in the display case with the pot. It certainly was eye catching and informative, everything the higher ups at the museum had wanted for the exhibition.

Hunting scene pot

The Hunting scene pot’s presence next to the other two geometric pots disrupted the aesthetic flow - and Molly was sorely tempted to keep it separate... Then again, Molly was forced to reconsider as she opened the case to remove the object, the finding of these pottery shards in such proximity would mean that there is some sort of relationship. With a sigh Molly closed the case’s door and looked at the two pots. There was something there, something to that thought… but what she couldn’t put her finger on

Small geometric pot

The smaller geometric pot brought a smile to Molly’s face, it had caused some problems in its reconstruction, but the fact that the piece existed, meant she was able to demonstrate the variety of forms and functions such pots took in pre-unification Egypt. Molly hoped that putting these pots on display could provide recognition for a broader scope of egyptian history - over and above what wast was found in the ever popular pharonic tombs. What John had found was nothing short of breathtaking and Molly hoped that others would be able to see that.

8th Chapter

Stelae

There still needed to be more in the exhibition. Molly wanted to say it outright, even just requesting Stelae in one short telegram to get the message to John as quickly as possible. But there was a pleasantry to uphold, and besides it would be refreshing to hear more than just a confirmation and a demand. Hopefully it might even inspire John to send more field reports, Molly mused to herself toying with the idea that already other artefacts were on their way.

Early dynastic Stelae could be the perfect counter-point to the Naquada pots- a display highlighting the progression of culture from the early clay through to the permanence of Pyramids and Mastabas that most museum goers are knowledgeable of.

At least that was the plan. Molly outlined as much in her letter, before sealing it and sending it off. John had to see the need for the Stelae.

Pharonic Sculptures

The exhibit still felt empty, although the 3 Naquada vessels were placed well within the museum, there still felt as though something was missing from it. Molly couldn’t put her finger on it, choosing instead to rearrange the pottery a number of times, before going back to the letter to write out another request to John.

Pharonic Sculptures, are needed for the success of this exhibition.

It felt cruel writing the words like that, but something had to be done to tie the pottery to the notion of Egypt as popularized in the current adventure novels. Well, at the very least it would provide something to catch the attention of the museum visitors - forcing them to pass by the Naquada pots as opposed to proceeding in the opposite direction to the mummification exhibit.

Molly outlined this several times in the letter, hoping to convince herself in the process. Eventually the point felt moot enough that she could outline all the possibilities for the exhibit’s expansion. With that she sealed the letter and sent it off.

Yet as a tick began to enter her thoughts, Molly hoped that she had sent the right request to John. Hadn’t she?

Papyrus Scrolls

The fragility of the pottery needed to be put into perspective by something else in the exhibit. Molly sat idling dropping ink splotches onto scrap paper. It sometimes helped her thoughts to run if she saw ink moving to paper. That’s when the idea struck. Papyrus was what could be used to complete the exhibit - a complimentary piece drawing on the shared themes of fragility and neccesity. Although it was perhaps a tall order for John, seeing as Papyrus was notoriously difficult to find in-situ - the opportunity might challenge him to take on bigger sites.

From the recent reports and letters Molly had received John hadn’t relished the remainder of the field season. Molly had praised John previously for the uncovering of these artefacts, but felt that with this demand, she should do more. But that would have to wait for his return...

With that thought Molly signed her name and sealed the letter.

END

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