43àKOooooooaaahhheeeeaaaaiiii knew a farmer and I knew 'm well, and 'e had a...'...some kind of animinimal, I think....7...or possibly it was a humourously-shaped vegetable...NAnd I showed her....the...the...the... ...possibly a parsnip, or a cucumber... Oook? oook?)Um - I dunno. I can't remember the words.They were really...really..."Now I can't remember that, either-9What's that word for something that's clever and short...3Um - damn - it's like what you make helmets out of!Ook? Nah, not tin.LI can't say that a phrase of mine was tinny! Ironic, maybe... hahahahahahahaOok ook?7Yes! Pithy! That's the word. The song was really pithy!Oook??Um - I dunno which song - what're you going on about songs for?Hey, what was that?Oook?$Over there. In the donkey cart park.Oook!'No, it was something. Let's go and see. Oook oook!ONo, it's not dangerous. It's the start of the game. They can't kill us off yet.Come on. Trust me.Ooooook.All I'm gonna do is look.6This is a pretty poor job. I think I can dismantle it.OOOOK!EEEEK!Nearly a *cat*astrophe, huh?BDon't sweat it pal, we've got nine minutes and seven seconds left.AYou know what we could do. We could drive this thing out of here. Oook oook!,Ahh damn, no donkey. Ooh, you could pull it.OOOOK!You're right, you're right.;Looks like we're gonna have to do it the old fashioned way.Ooook?DBlah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah... couldn't be simpler.,I'm thinking we should turn the green flask.Oook!What, you think maybe the red? Oook oook! Let's turn the green flask then.Oook?Oh it's just a hunch.dRemember the time in the High Energy Facility when I turned the yellow flask and blew everything up?Ooook!)Right, so I'm turning the red flask then.Ooook oook ooook!What? Oook oook!Did I say green?Oook.Well I mean't red. Oook oook?$Look we can do it your way if you...OOOOK!Look I'm sure ok Oook oook. You ready?jAren't you gonna miss all this stuff when they stop making these games? Aren't you just gonna miss it all?43 I'm turning the flask.There. You see.Oh oh!Ooook? Grab the cat! Gang way! Take cover!Ooops.Oook.0Well, the animation budget's increased at least!Oook?#Well of course that's a good thing!8It means they haven't spent as much on plot, doesn't it.IThey've probably halved the number of insane object puzzles, for a start.CAhem. Sorry. I mean 'clever lateral thinking exercises', of course.Ook?7Trust me - I've been through this sort of thing before.5*cough* Colleagues - gentlemen and fellow wizards...!Here's looking at your bottom! Up your eye!5Pull the other one, it's got strange knobbly bits on!Happy Hog's watch day! Thank you!€ŠColleagues - we are gathered here today, for the 'final departure' party of our dear soon-to-be-departed comrade, the Wizard Windle Poons!Hooray!Good old Windle!%Don't forget to ghost-write! *wheeze*Umm? Eh? What?How long's he got now?There's one whole minute yet!BAnd don't think any of you are moving into my room until I'm gone!3I've seen through you lot, you young spell bodgers!‚t*cough* Yes - in any case, as is the time honoured tradition amongst those of us in the thaumaturgical line of work,eold Windle here has been nicely informed by Death of the exact amount of his remaining allotted span. There's forty five seconds left!0Get off - I haven't done my farewell speech yet!-Mmmmm - did he say he's got a peach as a pet?'What? What's peaches got to do with it?Can't stand the damn things!I always chokes on the stones!They're the pits.(Will everyone shut up right now, please.?Well, I was merely pointing out that peach stones are in fact--AThere's no time for daft misunderstandings, the time's nearly up!THREE!TWO!ONE! ZEEEE-ROOOOO!OOK!OOK!OOOK!OOOOOK!What?%Nothing. That's it! . . . I hope...]Right everybody - funeral at two thirty, then drinks and ham rolls in the main hall at three.3Here - what's happening? Call this service, do you?I'm dead, I am!Death's gone, and we need to summon him back - so here you go!(We need to perform the rites of AshkEnte Oh goody.[I suppose you have a list of mysterious ingredients that I now have to run off and collect.What?How did you know that? I just had a dreadful suspicion.(All right - so what have we got to find?9Well, it's a rush job, so just the bare minimums will do!FWe need three equal-sized sticks of wood, and 4 cc's of mouse's blood..It shouldn't take you more than a few minutes. Bets anyone?Um...?What is it now?BLet's just say that, ah ... we needed more than the bare minimums./Not to say that I'm questioning your judgement./I'm just, ah - planning for the future, is all.*Well the rest is all just flash and style.43P) This is a death rite, after all!You know the routines -Ta bit of sparkle and glitter in the air, vile charnel stench erupting from the tomb.And lovely dribbly candles.That sort of thing."None of which we will need at all. That's right!$Just the wood and the mouse's blood.VThere never seems to be any way of getting a decent moment's rest around this place...:Um... you're sure you really want me to do this job, then?&I mean, there's no one you'd rather... Rather what?Hmmm. Not strictly necessary, but I suppose they'll look nice.BThere you go. Bet you thought a mouse didn't hold that much blood.EHow exactly... No, no, never mind. Some things are best left unknown.!Right! Well that's it then! phew!]That's three sticks of wood, four cc's of mouse blood, glitter, stench and dribbly candles...Really? What for?For the rite of AshkEnte!AYou - you said we needed it! I spent ages getting the rite stuff!Oh... I don't think so....KFor that one you need to open the book, light the bell and ring the candle.QOr was it light the book, open the bell and ring the candle? Something like that.0Off you go! We need a candle, a book and a bell!You're not serious, are you?Of course not.CI just love watching the pathos crossing your helpless little face._Come on - let's get these sticks and dribbly candles and do this AshkEnte thing then, shall we?Busy?Oook?0So do you have any ideas about what I should do? Oook! Oook!+I don't know if I want to just sleep on it.KEvery time I stop moving for a while, these flies start buzzing everywhere.Still - could be worse.\Sometimes this zooming star field just seems to start whooshing straight towards my eyes...!Ooook!Sorry.0You know, I think I need to get my eyes seen to.#Um - I don't suppose you've ever...Ook?No - no, it's silly really. Forget it.Ook?Well it's just...>You look to me like the sort of person a friend could rely on.€†Turn to in times of trouble... or even, for instance, ask to (starts speaking very fast) wear the front end of a pantomime horse suit. Ook! Oook!You do?Well why didn't you say so!I'd have got you one long ago./It's about time our sort came out of the trunk!"Look - um - we're comrades, right?)I mean - we'd... stand up for each other.HThrough thick and thin, damn the press, backs to the wall kind of thing? Oooooooook?So wear a unicorn suit with me?Oook! Ook ook!No, I want to go the front bit!It was my idea!'Well, I suppose he works for peanuts.../Now there's the sort of fellow you can rely on.Faithful, Intelligent, Arboreal...43d=;Still - there must be some good in him. I wonder which bit?DEI - OHDEI - OHDEI - OHDEI-OHDEI-OH"DAYLIGHT COME AND I WANNA GO HOME!,Come mister tally man, come tally me banana!"Daylight come and I wanna go home!;We gonna summon Death here, then have jelly for our afters!"Daylight come and I wanna go home!#Knee bone, leg bone, head bone HUP!"Daylight come and I wanna go home!Oh, good grief!-Er, didn't quite come out as planned, did it?Who started us off on this?Oook?0Look - I worked long and hard to get this stuff!ACan we at least treat this ceremony with a little bit of... of...,Damn it - I've lost me train of thought now!OWhat's that word I was looking for - the one used for describing distinction...$um.... differentiation of treatment. Repression?+No, it's not going to be repression, is it!5We can't treat a ceremony with a sense of repression!%Er - dictatorship of the proletariat?What?$The dictatorship of the proletariat.:That results as an inevitable reaction against repression.PLook, look - I think this would work better if everyone just got back on track..It's time we acted with a little bit of class.Class! That was it!The word was class! What word?Um - I don't know.But I'm sure it was important. WHAT WAS?"How long have you been here, then?SINCE THE BANANA.eWILL THIS TAKE LONG? I'M ON HOLIDAY. IT'S GOOD HERE. SUN, SHEEP, SAND, HATS WITH CORKS, NO WORRIES...+I'M SUPPOSED TO HAVE A CHUNDER IN A MINUTE.A chunder. What's a chunder?2YOU KNOW, I'M NOT SURE. BUT IT SOUNDS INTERESTING.*Now look here, you! This city is in chaos!VHow dare you go swanning off to foreign lands while we're up to our armpits in undead!7Now you - you get right back here and get back to work.WORK?I DON'T REMEMBER ANY WORK..WALL I REMEMBER IS A GREAT BIG BANG, AND THEN AN ETERNITY OF BEER. AND NO WORRIES, MATE.Lucky blighter!"Now I've had about enough of this!BYou get off that thingummy, get those corks out of your hat and..."What? Now just you come back here!I have a plan.Oh no.Rincewind, lad!mHow wonderful to see you looking so - so well - so very sprightly, so very... shall we say... so very mobile?2You want me to go find out where Death has gone...gOnly if you don't want to spend the rest of your life staring out across a pond at all the other toads.Frogs...If you prefer.TIf we had a proper union like the alchemists do, I'd have a few harsh words for you."Uh - like - dictatorship of the... Oh shut up!43ÈLAh - hello there!Er. Yeah. Right. Yeah.Y...essss. Absolutely. And you are?Skazz.That's a name I have. Yeah. Right. Oh lovely.7Well that's this conversation off to a good start then. What - are - you - doing - here?Doing?Er.Just answer the question!3I'm, you know, trying to get it together, you know.qI mean, what are, like, you know, any of us really like, you know, actually doing, from a cosmic point of view...Yes?What? What are you doing in this room?€·Oh. Right, yeah. Well, working, you know, on this new, magical engine for working things out. It works things out, you know. By working them out. It crunches numbers into little bits.Amazing. What's it called?We, uh, right, call it HEXWhy?mWell, 'cos in the 'working-things-out-engine' business everything has got to have, like, a three letter name.2Is that because you can't understand longer words?What?PSomehow, when I look at you I feel that a *three* letter name just isn't enough.What? I don't understand...)Really? That's astonishing, it really is.JWhat are all these leggy little objects you have running around the place?#Oh those, oh you know, the're ants.Ants!€¬Yeah. Ants. They got legs and sticking-out bits on their heads. You get them in sandwiches at picnics, ants. That's what they're, like, you know, that's what the're called.-I'm perfectly aware of the existence of ants.lWhat I want to know is why you have them running freely about the innards of a complex mathematical machine.FAh! There, in fact, is the essence of my, you know, very cunning plan.€¬You see, when we were designing HEX, like we worked out that what with it all being so new and everything, we were bound to end with, you know, a lot of bugs in the system.€·And that'd mean people'd be complaining the whole, like, time. Every time it wouldn't work properly they'd call us and tell us there was you know, a bug in the machine, kind of thing.)So why have you put an... anthill inside?€Ah! right. Well, the cunning bit is, we thought what we'd do, is put all the bugs in right at the start so they'd be no room for them later on. Smart, eh?$Amazing! And somehow so.. prophetic!ERight. But, we don't call them bugs any more. We call them creatures.^Then if a problem occurs we can say "No, it's not a bug - it's just an undocumented creature".€„And the whole system relies on them now! They race about inside there, opening up little gates - closing them, opening them again...€ŒRunning about in little wheels, you know, dragging bits of information from one storage bin into another... It's working really, like, well.:I'm not so sure about that. How do the ants feel about it?sThey seem to like it. We found the machine works if you put living things in, see. We put in a mouse the other day.SAnd it worked really fast when we put some ram in, until they butted their way out.2Do you ever, how should I put this, lose any ants?\It's funny you mentioned that. It was only like, yesterday when I lost a hundred of my best.@It was awful. The machine was like totally debugged for a while.5So this is where all the grant money goes these days!9There's no point getting all, you know, uncool and heavy.lAnyway, I don't deal with the money. It's all Kevin's doing. He knows how to talk to the University council.Kevin? Who's Kevin?One of my research assistants.*He's a, you know, invertebrate politician.IYou mean inveterate politician. I think there's a misprint in the script.No, Invertebrate.=He's an ant. Currently he lives in that test tube over there._Now go, you know, go like, away because I can't stand around here all day - it's too difficult.€€Hmmmmm - you know, much as I'm convinced that there must be a reason behind all this rot, perhaps it's safer just to never know.dMaybe I'll just rob the place of every little object that might be of use and just leave it at that.VPick Up Bird, Open Door, Throw Axe at Dwarf -- it was so much simpler in the old days.43°XOh! Like, wow!)I see - I see like, a totally new world!ZIt's - it's a view into possibilities that might or might not be! Cosmic uncertainty, man!DKinda like you've got an animal inside this box - only it's a cat...The box is a cat?'Yeah - but sometimes it's, like - dead!NOh, man - you just have to climb in this thing for yourself and go for a ride!What have you been doing?/It's like a - a manifestation of cosmic energy.$Looks like a giant centrifuge to me.,Yeah, but it's, like, spiritually purifying.2It removes the extraneous elements... of the soul.Really?So what did you lose?oI lost, right - all the unneeded creamed corn and diced carrots that had burdened my psyche, like, for so long.>It's incredible, right! I never even knew I had them in there! Oh fine... Oh lovely!%So you're a research fellow, are you?VFree housing, a wage and medical benefits, and this is what we get for all our outlay?It's not such a good job.)I'd leave it if it weren't for the perks.What perks are these.OThank goodness this robe is washable. You, on the other hand, appear not to be. Why don't you have another ride?vOne wonders if the public knows that their valuable taxes are being spent on the creation of a giant merry go round...7Still - there might be some sort of use come out of it.YYou could charge kids ten groats a go and watch them spew candy floss all over the walls.6At least it would give the ants something for lunch...+So - um - what is all this in aid of, then?Thaums.-Billions and Billions and Billions of Thaums.LPardon me while I just edge closer to an appropriate escape route, will you?BPlease don't let me disturb your meditation on world domination...So what is a 'Thaum', actually?8A Thaum? You want to know exactly what a Thaum might be?%Good heavens, no! That's why I asked!(Oh yes, I can tell you all about Thaums.Well?Aren't you going to say please?+All right - please tell me what a Thaum is.@A Thaum is a magical particle. The quintessence of magic itself.`Inside this Thaum accelerator, I can take magic, and whirr it up to a massively increased speed.PImagine! High powered magic! Spells a thousand times more efficient than before!6With this power in my hand, I could - I could...! I...Give your creature life?Be the envy of your friends?Get girls through hypnotism? Make ooooooo In Your Spare Time?"Oh yes - yes all that - and more!8Hfrrrr! Hfrrrr! Zoing! Errrr - come in starbase nine...!1Look - you're a busy man, or at least humanoid...HWould you like to see a brief documentary clickie display about my work?No thank you...€›We have a guidebook, complete with an interview of me and a series of diagrams charting my incredible progress in finding out what makes the universe tick!No no - that's all right!SI know what makes *me* tick. I'm tick when I accidentally put tugar on my tausages. Oh lovely.A giant drink mixing machine.Drink mixer!?!FYou call the greatest magical breakthrough of the age a drink mixer!?!Yes.3Well all right. Maybe it is a giant centrifuge now! But one day!43\gOne day!Pow! Whizzzz! Bing! Kablooey!{We have the power! We're unencumbered by outmoded ideas! And it's quite untrue that thaumic research damages the ... brain!9We are the young generation and we have something to say!UWe'll split the thaum and usher in an age of cheap clean power... a new-clear future!.We've been getting nowhere fast, haven't we...hThere's no truth at all that splitting thaums causes the brain to - woof - melt! No truth at all! Haaah!vEvery day and in every way, I'm getting better and better and better! They laughed at me and said I was mad, you know!cHave a nice day! Have a nice day- have a real, real, real nice night - no day! Ha ha ha ha ha !!!!!You're a loony!Loony?Loony, eh? *Bark*Well - we'll see about that.%They called Mad Dog McAxeman a loony!kWell, that could be because he used to dress up like a crayfish and go running up and down the high street.That wasn't him!It was another one No it wasn't.FHe was the idiot who accidentally ate his own feet, for heaven's sake.MYes yes yes - well, people always scoff at what they don't understand! *Bark*+Well, I understood he scoffed his own feet.6I don't see this as being a new age in magical energy.)Still - might be a few arts grants in it.NI could try gargling lager and curry, then take a ride with a piece of canvas. No, no, no!)Don't you know it's wrong to mix spirits?Oh Chucky Chucky Chucky Chucky!(Oooooh Chucky Chucky Chucky Chucky Ch...Oh woe.Oh woe, woe again!$Oh, heavy. What a, you know, downer.5Ah - now don't tell me - something's wrong, isn't it?9Oh, you know, it's like, well like - woe! you know - woe!€¦We've run out of... ants! And HEX only works if there's enough bugs, and, like, there isn't enough bugs, so my wonderful machine for working things out... won't work.$So why don't you just get more ants?1It's him! Kevin! The ant leader - he's revolting!YHe's got the rest of the anthill striking for better pay and, you know like - conditions!Well can't you negotiate?#No, he's brought in the big muscle.@He's got grasshoppers and crickets protecting his placard gangs.It's a cricket picket.+Well why don't you just put your foot down?I um... I did.That's why I need more ants.€‡So in effect, you're saying that what you'd really like me to do is go out on a dangerous quest to fetch you a whole bunch of new ants.Oh, great! Will you?I'll consider it.wRight after I have my severed limbs stuffed into a thaum accelerator... but we know better, don't we, boys and girls...€’You know, as I stand and gaze at this sort of scientific achievement, it makes - ooooh - it just makes goosebumps shiver all up and down my spine!Hey! - Don't scratch it!It's probably some of my antsFSo tell me, what wonderful solutions has HEX provided us with of late.iWell, now that you like mention it, HEX hasn't done a great deal since I last saw you. It's like, broken.~That's not to say that with the right ants, it couldn't like calculate PI or even the Archchancellor's inside leg measurement.BSay! Can I perhaps beg the use of your working-things-out-machine?=That is, if a sufficiently noble and just cause should arise?qOh, I would surely think so - seeing as the purpose of HEX is, you know, to relieve man of a number of his woes -ƒR..and I must point out that failure of the machinery to work, in whole or in part,Lis not the fault of the manufacturer, who can in no way be held responsible,rbut will in fact ensure that you, the purchaser, are clearly at fault for buying the product in the first place...But can I use your machine?Well no. Not now.It's not working!bUm - I don't suppose you'd be interested in sharing a pantomime horse suit with me, by any chance?Oh yes.5But only if I can, like, you know, bring all my ants.430teAh. Um - maybe another time, then. I'm under doctor's orders to avoid any more eerie little rashes...@Hmmmm - a giant thinking engine, a thriving community of ants...`Surely an intrepid wizard can find some way to bend these pathetic little tools to greater ends?+Perhaps I should wait until one turns up...Right - so the ants are in?Yes, that is correct.OOooh look - they're all running around. They're, you know, keen to get started./Yes - anyway, so we are now ready to get going..I mean, I can ask this machine a question now?*Yes. Quite right. Ask, you know, ask away.$What do you call this machine again?qHEX. A three-letter name. And it's not because it's, you know, useless, no matter what you might hear people say.‚ Heh, heh heh, Heh, heh heh.HEX How lovely.(See anything wrong with the name at all?ANo. My research assistants seem to think it's very appropriate...@All right, all right - let's just get on with it then, shall we?CRight - HEX, I want you to tell me the answer to the question: Why?Well?_Ah - well of course, a certain amount of working time is required for any problem of this type.Yeah? How long?CAccording to my estimate, we should have your answer... in a jiffy.A jiffy?dAh - that is the abbreviation of the Klatchian word "jiffasitra", meaning aeon, or age of the world.!Probably about two million years.1Would you like a cup of something while you wait?Hemlock?2Oh - I don't know if we have any of that in stock.KLook - there's no point in getting uptight. You'll just have to be patient.HI mean, it's not as if you can just run off and somehow accelerate time!Oh yeah? Well I'm a wizard!_A bona fide, pointy-hatted skirt-wearing magic tosser, although perhaps I should rephrase that.I can do anything I like!;I'll accelerate time anywhere I want to, any when, any how!ƒJI'm going to accelerate time for those little six legged idiots in there -Zlet them develop a civilisation, new philosophies and entire galaxies of new perceptions -:and then I'm going to jump up and down on the lot of them!HHey, I'm really getting the hang of this 'science' business, aren't I...,Right - let's give it another shot shall we? Certainly, if that is your wish.CRight - HEX, I want you to tell me the answer to the question: Why?PThere! Now that wasn't so bad. You see what just a little bit of patience can...&Shut up and tell me the damned answer!Ah. Now let me see...hmm.Well?Oh!It says: "BECAUSE."Is that all? 'Because'?!Well, it also says:‚€"Blip blip blip, Out of Cheese Error... blip blip blip, Cannot Find Drive Z... blip blip blip, Unrecoverable Application Error...\blip blip blip, Please Reboot Universe. blip blip blip, Year of the Sloth... blip blip blip" Oh, blip!Waaaaaah wa-ha wa-haaaaaa!€ŠThe idea that high energy magic affects the brain is quite absurd! Aa-hoo.... put a lead on me! My eyeballs have always revolved this way!What are you doing?Nothing.Nothing at all.%Why - what did you think I was doing?%Oh err - absolutely nothing at all...eOooooik! Oooooooik! Nooooooo - nooooooo! Aaah! Aaaah! Aaaaah! Don't make me run the National, please!@Look - there aren't any eerie after-effects to Thaum exposure... are there?What?Nurgh! Nurgh! Nauww woo woo!%How dare you sir! I'm as well as a...Neeeeek! Neeeek neeek!43Ð~Never felt better in my...)Ha - fowwwwww... Neeah... neeah... neeah!$Oh gods - what are you up to now...?What am I up to?You ask me, what am I up to !!!Yeah - that's right.&What are you doing to that poor ghost?*Do you realize what this ghost represents?The resources it can provide?"An inexhaustible supply of phlegm?LExactly! Ha-ha-ha! Troot-tootoo-too-too-too-tooo! Well, ectoplasm, actually.%Bucket and buckets and buckets of it!sAn inexhaustible natural resource! Oooh! I'm exhausted No you're not - you're inexhaustable HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!With which you'll do.... what?Do?DErm, oh, er - p-p-possible uses as... as... an industrial lubricant?5Remind me not to waste time ordering your prospectus.Hum, so - as I see it:You mean you want to fight for the right to lose your freedom? Right on!1Don't you want to know what I'm protesting about?,I was half hoping to avoid it, but do go on.TI'm protesting for the right to have female members of the Fools and Jesters' Guild!"And - I - will - not - be - moved!:Why are you protesting about it over here in the cemetary?/Why don't you do it outside the Jesters' Guild?JThey never have anything worth tying yourself to over at that end of town.OI like this, though! Quite a nice little stake, if you don't mind my saying so.43`´7Not an absolute prime choice, mind - but getting there!Then by all means be my guest.DExcuse me - I think it's probably time for me to take my medicine...Aaaah! Aaah, another one!(Go find your own grave, you rotten fool! Windle!?!FWindle? Gad - that's my private name. Aaaah - you still remember, lad.*Aaah - great days they were, great days...€ÃLife? You don't know what life is until you're dead! It was great, all that breathing and walking around in the fresh air, oh, I tell you, if I had my time all over again I wouldn't reincarnate..So how are you adjusting then?6Ooooooh I'll never get used to this grave, I tell you!_The walls are so thin, all you can do here is lie around and listen to what the neighbours say!So... what's it like.Being dead, I mean.pOoooh - I've had enough of it! The hours are too long for a start! Here - keep the wretched dead and alive hole!,Wait! What am I supposed to do with a grave? Use it as a small swimming pool! I can't swim!2I never said you had to fill it with water, did I?Yoiks and away!8Right - well, it looks like I have a real mission, then.ƒ-I either restore Death to his rightful place,[or else we'll be up to our armpits in gaunt, dark-eyed young Gothic girls dressed in black,3all pretending that they can quote romantic poetry.1Actually, that doesn't sound bad at-- no! Onward!Bring out yer living dead!Bring out yer living dead!€™Dead collected, corpses transported! Guaranteed disposal to far off climes - the dear departed stay departed, they like it so much they never comes back!Highly recommended service -pWell - obviously the transportees themselves won't recommend us, but complaints are never ever received, either!Bring out yer living dead! Dead sir?-Dead? Of course I'm not dead? Do I look dead?/Oooooh - hard to tell sometimes these days sir.‚I get non-invited to all the best functions in the city, I do!What do you mean, non-invited?wOh, you know, they sends me the address and,eugh, pays me money not to turn up. Can't understand why, meself... Eeeugh!Aaww - oh sorry about that guv!OOh nah, nah, naaah - don't rub it off - it only works it deeper into the cloth. Now look...!;*Cough Splutter Cough* (Violent phlegm attack) Aaww Gawd... Never mind...dI'd probably have more to say, but I'm afraid I keep being distracted by this bloody dreadful smell.8Buggrit! Aaaah! Snap for a pumice stone, see if I don't!.The buns! I told 'em! All over the.... Aaaaah! He said buns, huh huh huh huh...%Yeah, huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh7You young... Spiders! Spiders! Aaaah! Aaaah get'em-off!Eeeergh!Millennium hand and shrimp!'You mark my, you you you just mark 'em!Hello...VHello? Hello, is it? When there's flies walking on sticky paper and taking up politicsZFlies? I wouldn't give you a cheese handcart for a glass hammer or my name's not Victoria!,Look - you've got a lot to do, I see that...VEmbrace the cuttlefish! I told 'em! Stuff that in your parsnip, and would they listen?#He said parsnip, huh huh huh huh...%Yeah, huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh*Now - you seem to be a fine, upstanding...9Aaaaargh! I shot an albatross and it didn't half get mad!aAh - yes, anyway - I was wondering if you might consent to join me inside a pantomime horse suit?JBecause I am clearly even more insane than you. If that could be possible.It's about time!#I've been waiting for just such a -1Waaaaargh! Gettem - gettem off! Right - in we go!7*Cough* Wait! *Splutter* I've - I've got a better idea!CYou just stay here - and I'll go hack my own head off with a spoon.4Spare half the kingdom, sir! Just half the kingdom -5or maybe the hand of a fair princess - I'm not fussy.Still trying, eh?*I still feel this strategy has merit, sir!LYou never know when some sort of Prince-in-mufti is just going to stroll by.yImagine my chagrin if I were to only ask for a gold piece, when he was in the mood to dispense out half of all his realm!xMmmmm - yes. On the other hand, imagine the long nights of starvation if he's only a wizard without a penny to his name./No - I still prefer to risk the long view, sir! Oh stop it!(And go and do something about that duck! What duck?[I don't know how to broach this subject tactfully, so I shall try it as simply as possible.2Are you aware that there is a duck upon your head?)Oh, oh yeah, heh, heh... Very witty, sir!!Now look - I'm perfectly serious!%You have a duck on top of your skull!A Duck? What do you mean?A duck! A duck!‚A mallard. Waterfowl.+A flat-beaked, paddle-footed aquatic avian!Oh! Very witty sir! Very witty!43ÔåsYou just want me to go running off to find a pond or something so I can peer down into it and then look ridiculous!#Very good sir - full points to you!,Look - is this just a begging scam, or what? What, sir?/That bird on your head! It's got duck feathers!Look - duck down!Why - what's coming?Oh, I've had enough of this!nWith my luck, I'll only be gone for ten minutes and he'll end up marrying the most beautiful lady in the city.\Mind you, if he'd seen the most beautiful lady in the city, he might not be quite so keen...Oh please - not again!Eeeergh! Sorry guv!6Eurgh! That's a... that's a dental problem's that is!I*Cough* You don't get phlegm that colour without dental problems! *Snort*!Can't you get that cough seen to?"*Wheeze* Yer! Yer, mate! whuuur...>*Snort* A doctor, a doctor seen it last week dinn't he. *Nurr*So what'd he say?LDunno, mate - they're still waitin' for him to come around, sir.. Eeeughh...,Eeeergh - Eeeergh - Eeeergh... oh sorry guv! Now look...!Eeeergh, cough, cough. Never mind...ZNope - I'm afraid the censors blanked out anything useful that I had to say at this point. Hello there!Ha! A likely story!NThat's just the sort of attitude I've come to expect from you living Fascists!What? I never said a word!,Words - yeah, right! That's where it starts.CDead common - Dead boring! You've used 'em - don't say you haven't!I'm not prejudiced.I'm dead set against it!See! There you go!`If there's ever going to be any justice for us undead, then we have to start at the grass roots."Oh, a bit lower than that, surely?9Don't you try to dictate our level of activity - "Livey"!!Dead rights! That's what we want!&So if you're not dead, then drop dead!gThis club's for the children of the night - so if you want to live it up, huh, right, you go elsewhere!DOh - so you are dead, then! I should have guessed from the fashions.$All right - in you come, brother...? Rincewind.Brother Rince-Thing!(In you pop! The meeting's just starting.Hey there, sir! Hey there!What can I cook for you?TWe gots meals for one and all - fixed price menu, and everything come with a pickle.What's on the menu?7Oh - mice, sir. Mostly mice. Ethnic dwarf cuisine, sir.=I got 'em baked, I got 'em glazed. I even got 'em onna stick.*Mice? You mean you're dishing out rodents?*Not just any old mice, sir - big fat ones!?Prime squeakers sir. Good pink noses. No finer in Ankh-Morpork.What makes you say that?oOperation of the jaw, tongue and vocal chords, sir. Then the words just fly out. Oh, sorry, you meant the food.9Very select rodentia, sir. And hygenically prepared, sir!#Rodents hygienically prepared? How?0I always wash my hands after touching them, sir.(Fair enough. Can't say fairer than that.OThis may sound a daft question, but don't you have anything that isn't rodents?Mmmmmm - we do have rocks.Rocks.iYeah - granite, quartz - some prime cuts of obsidian, fresh today from the quarry for my troll customers. Even some candy rock for afters!43òMI know it's not mice, but - well, it seemed wise to spread my clientele, sir.,Go for the troll dollar, that sort of thing.Trolling for more customers?That's the one!:Candy rock, that's right sir. It's like toffee for trolls.MWell - very chewy toffee for trolls. It might have a bit too much mica in it.SThe only problem is that it can make their teeth fall out. Bad for 'em you see sir.jBut I tell a lie, 'cos we're out of it at the moment. Someone ate all the wheels off the delivery vehicle.AHappens about once a week, that does. Must be our a'la cart menu.A rodent bar. How lovely.SPrime eatin', sir. Vole-au-vents and rat-tatouille. Fresh caught at the table, sir.And do you cook them?#Cook? eh? - and ruin the flavour!?!Raw mice au naturelle.6Why is it I have such a sense of foreboding and dread?3All right then; *gulp* one extra rare mouse burger.FRight, sir! Hey! - I think I can hear one of the little squeakers now!There you are sir. Extra rare.New specials, sir! Today only!6Better book a table early - it's going to get crowded.DCrowded? How? Do you mean the demand for rodent burgers has gone up? Oh yes, sir! We're the hottest place in town!&I keep having to turn the crowds away!JFor some reason, rats and mice seem to be the only thing that die anymore! Well - I think I might know why.‚@For some reason people prefer to eat food that's actually dead -;unless I can interest you in another rare mouseburger, sir?8Um - I'm not sure... - I've puked once today already....EBarkeeper? I'll have a pint of Winkles' Extra Flatulent, my good man! Duuuuh - huh?$Down here! Oi! I said I'll have a...Oi - come back here!Don't you know who I am?^I am Casanunda - the second-greatest lover who ever lived and ladder salesman extra-ordinaire! Come back!And you are...?I am Casanunda!*Ladder salesman and lover extra-ordinaire!BI don't know if there's anything particularly ordinary about that.Oooooooh, how we danced!*How we daaaaaanced through the niiiiiight!5We danced, and we danced, till our socks were alight.ASo what does the world's second- greatest lover do with his time?1Oh, I'm always looking for fresh challenges, sir.fI look at it as my duty to bring romance and stepladders into the lives of beautiful women everywhere..So you're the world's greatest lover, are you?Second greatest, really.]But the way I look at it, if people think you're number two then they know you'll try harder.This ladder of yours...HAh! The finest ladder in all the Disc! The old equaliser, you might say!iIt allows the lover of reduced altitude the opportunity to kiss his lady on the cheek instead of on the--%THAT'S...That's quite enough of that./Now look - I need a ladder. Can you get me one?>No! I only have one, and I need it for my romantic adventures.€ƒIntroduce me to a beautiful woman closer to the ground - a wild woman, a fair and beauteous flower - and the ladder shall be yours. I hope it comes wash and wear...'I've found your perfect woman, I think.BOr, to put it more accurately, I've found your greatest challenge.She's over in the mortuary.You mean she's dead?She doesn't seem to think so.Hey! That's good enough for me!HFind some woman comatose enough to listen to that lot without screaming?That's a laugh for a start!43ÿDuuuuuh what'll it be lady?Greetings to you, my good man!And who might you be? Duuuuuuh who?&You! I'm asking you what your name is.Who - are - you?I'm fine thank you.Amazing, isn't it.(In any other city, he'd be mayor by now.ƒ,Just tell me what alcohol you have to drink;{and by that, I mean something which neither eats through the glass bottle, serves as host to a colony of sentient protozoa,Yor ends me up in any obscure, farcical little problems with chaos theory and butterflies.+Duuuuh - oh. Dat's all we've got. Protozoa.They're only little protozoa.Ciliate or non-ciliate?)Duuuuh - I think they're mostly rotifers.GBrilliant. He can't tie his shoes, but he can classify micro organisms.%There's one for the education system.NAll right - give me one very alcoholic drink, complete with sentient rotifers.NYew want I should make it look pretty with a coupla little amoebas on a stick?All right. Whatever. *sigh*8And they say the art of cocktail mixing is long dead....Oh goody. It's you.Duuuuh - shhhhh!FI've got some new parameciums brewing in the beer. Don't wake them up!ULook - why is it that you keep breeding unicellular life forms inside your beverages.>Where do you get the damned creatures from in the first place?2Duuuuh the University guys keep throwin' them out.)I canaye just let the little fellers die!,All right - but where do they get them from?)They scrape them out of the cooking pans.JHmmmm - and people wonder why we seem to be having so many plagues lately.ƒQAren't there any complaints from your customers - you know, outraged relatives...Brampaging in through the doors seeking revenge for the deceased...that sort of thing?I serve other things too!8Anyone who don't like the booze, kin have water instead!Water from the River Ankh?Yeah! 's nice an' khool!Want I should cut yew a slice? No no - that won't be necessary.=I'm a young man with his whole life still to live, thank you. Hum... Nope.iI still can't think of any constructive reason to stay inside this protozoa breeding pit a moment longer!Ohhh, Blood blood blood! I'm sorry?6Nothing. Just trying to get into the role, that's all.So you're a vampire, then?Indeed.6Child of darkness, hell brethren - that sort of thing.(Well it's a job. Someone's got to do it.SSo what do you do? I mean - I've often wondered just how a vampire spends its time.Well, I am the night, you see.No. No, not really...Well that's just my point!*How is anybody supposed to be "the night"?.It's not much of a job description, now is it?gIt's not as if you're even asked. Just one night you're walking home and "whoomph!" - you're a vampire!=Is it that bad, though? I mean - think of all the advantages!What advantages? You tell me!\Ooooooh - lower food bills... low cost housing... and black goes with everything, of course.5Yeah, but it's this whole "night" thing that gets me!GI never stayed out beyond eight PM in the old days, and now look at me!1It's like the black-hole of Djelibeybi out there!RI keep falling over. Being undead doesn't mean I've got eyes like a cat, you know.€ªI mean, I wish I had, but I haven't! So if I want to do any really good stalking, I have to carry a lantern - which pretty much defeats the whole business - I look silly!2Well - is there some way other than just stalking?Well, I tried advertising.43G"Wanted: victims to be drained of their lifeblood by a hungry vampire".5You'd be astonished at how little response there was.Quite.‚=And when I thought about it, the whole business seemed wrong,yso I decided to give up the whole blood thing a miss and start sucking something else. So I started up on strawberry jam. Did it work?4Well it tastes better, but now look what's happened!EShee? I rotted my teef! Who effer heard of a vampire viff false teef?‚qI'd sympathize with you more if I didn't have this awful foreboding that I'm going to have to use you later on...1as part of some over-complicated little scheme...RSo this is it - you're just going to sit in here and avoid being a vampire at all?BHaven't you got somewhere better to go to than a seedy little bar?Where should I go?@You ought to see my home, my friend - a coffin at the graveyard.'You call that comfort? - 'coz I don't!:I'll creep into the crypt at dawn and not a moment before!You're not a vampire!@I am! Look - I've got the cloak, I've even got the frilly shirt!2Think I'd be seen wearing this lot if I was alive?5Look at theeshe! Thatsh for draining blood, that ish!Yeah! Terrified now, eh?Frozen by my powers!7Hypnotised by the terror that strikes out of the night?%*Sigh* Gothic horror is dead at last.!I wonder if anybody will miss it?CA toothless old vampire drinking a bloody Mary - without much Mary.;Can life or undeath offer any deeper degradation than this?+If it does, I'm sure we'll soon find out...Hello.Dead!2Why come in, sir - come in and decompose yourself!&I'm not dead, I was just being polite.Not even a little bit dead?Not fading away?oNo nagging little cough or unexplained twinge or tiny touch of fever? Come now, surely you can make the effort!No.No. No, I suppose not.4All the fun's going out of this business these days. What is it that you do, exactly?]Well, I issue all the death certificates - make sure they're really dead, that sort of thing.2We can't have people being buried alive, you know!I should certainly say not!€¨Yes! There'd be hell to pay at the graveyard. All the undead would be on me like a shot! Live bodies in a dead-only area, wrongful zoning of designated areas - the lot!Very touchy lot, the undead.&What have they got to be snobby about?_Been there a long time, you see. They're getting very touchy with this epidemic and everything.€‰When you got yourself a nice grave, good view, patio and barbecue pit, well, you get a bit iffy when a lot of newcomers suddenly turn up.Only to be expected.)Can't you see that this woman isn't dead?0Oh? You think you're qualified to judge, do you?%But she isn't dead! Just look at her!ƒ!Oh, I see. Look at Mister Expert?"That's your expert opinion, is it?&An expert in being alive then, are we? Well... yes.‚*Sigh* I suppose everyone is.HThat's the problem with this job. There's no way of gaining any respect.‚*Well, at least they're cheap and thorough.UAnytime I feel myself coming over dead, I think I'll just nip in here for a lie down.1How does one get to be declared dead around here? Simple, sir!Just lay down on that slab.ƒ7When a cold mirror won't cloud with your body's breath, and there's no detectable pulse,Bthen we can safely declare the individual to have 'passed beyond'.*Even if they're still walking and talking?&I've had to relax those criteria, sir.DIn the current situation it pays to be flexible in your definitions.‚All right - um, look -VI'm feeling a little bit dead, and so I thought I'd better just pop along and see you.4Right! A very wise decision, if I might say so, sir!)Now we'll do a few little standard tests.@Firstly I'll check your breath. See if it clouds up this mirror.43 *Okay, now I'll check your arm for a pulse.‚2Hmmm, looking good so far sir. Just one last test.Your body temperature.(No wait. Perhaps we can talk about this.YEEEOOOWWWW!!!‚Bad news, I'm afraid sir./You still seem to be in the land of the living. Are you sure?ƒ'Fraid so, sir.I can't really offer any hope..You might go on like this for years and years..Well - I suppose I'll just have to go on then.‚Never mind, sir!)You never know what tomorrow might bring!9Chin up - for all you know, you might be dead in no time!#Wonderful news sir! Wonderful news!Yes? Am I dead?:As a doornail sir! Finally - a satisfied customer at last!€™Now then - here's a death certificate, which also entitles you to cut price headstone carving, embalming, and free drinks at the yearly morticians' ball.4Morticians' ball? Doesn't sound like much fun to me.‚?Oh, you know, sir, once the old embalming fluid starts flowing.9Of course, it kills you in the end, but what doesn't, eh?nWell, have a nice death, and please, don't hesitate to call around again if there's anything I can do for you! Hello again.‚[Look - I'm virtually sure this time; I've been feeling a little bit dead most of the night,Dbut I definitely felt myself pop my clogs a few minutes ago outside.*Would you care to just take a little look?0Aaaaah hello again, sir! How goes the afterlife?Very well, thank you. Oooooooooh!?That's the way, sir! See? You caught the hang of it in no time!+Oh, IIIIIIIIII'm in the moooooood for love!(Love is the thing I've been thinking of!‚MLove is what is on my mind right now, and also romance is on my mind as well,tbut mainly love, and let's not fail to add stuff about bluuuebirds and hearts and flowers and whiskers on kittens...eBebop be-bebop bo-bo bo do do baiyhh ohh... Sha-da shad-da Sha-da Shada-lee baiyhhhh... - Ah, Ah, Ah!-For the last time, go away! I'm just restin'!=Why don't you leave this poor silver-bearded old woman alone?‚@Never! I am Casanunda, the second greatest lover who ever lived,)and this woman's beauty, she sings to me!iWell at least until my next challenge. I am now ready for more women. Hey, I'll take them all on at once. Oh dear...Right!8Well I'll just leave you to your hopeless task, shall I?9Still, it seems a shame to see you wasting yourself on...Wasting?FWell, a man like you shouldn't be content with second best, should he?NFor instance, I met a few women just recently - dark, mysterious, energetic... Where? Where?Would you believe Djelibeybi?‚0Clearly I am dealing with inferior intellects...#which are hard to find, believe me. Excuse me...?WHAT?/I said "EXCUSE ME"! - Damn - I just want to....Shut up please!TELL HIM TO SHUT UP!8OTHERWISE HE'S GOING TO BE SWIMMING AROUND IN A JAM JAR! I'M TRYING!WHAT? NEVER MIND!)Thank heaven's that stupid dwarf is gone.:Thank you, young man. I just can't imagine what he wanted.Now, what can I do for you?;Tell me - elves; are they in your area of expertise at all?‚(Oh, yes. You've come to the right woman.sElves? I wouldn't trust those magic wielding back-stabbers any further than I could throw a very large heavy thing!1And the elf Queen is the worst; glamour, you see.3She can hold a man captive without uttering a word!*Ah, I see. The evil spell of her eyes, eh?DHmph! Can't say anyone's ever looked high enough to notice her eyes.GYou can find the entrance to their world in a stone circle near Lancre.…But don't walk in!PThey spot anything that hain't unnatural - anything that aint an elf, a unicorn,Eor an ogre without at least three heads and a major dental problem --eand they'll have you sucking on your toes and singing "tra-la-la-lally" quicker than spit in yer eye!They'll do that, too!kKnowing all about elves as you do - you wouldn't happen to know what the elf Queen's pet is, by any chance?-Oh, it'll be a unicorn. Always is with elves.43d(UNow your pixie - that'll usually have a bumble bee, or a stick insect - maybe a frog.=But for your bona fide Elven Queen, the unicorn is de rigeur.,So um - what can you tell me about unicorns.Know much about them?BOh, yes. They tend to follow me around, you know. Can't think why.‚;Anyway - the thing to remember about unicorns, is the horn.#That's its stock in trade, you see.1Get the horn right, and all the rest will follow.&What are you doing here in the morgue? Practising.SI didn't think it needed much practice. I thought it just... just sort of happened.`Oh no! You have to work at it. Good grief, it certainly doesn't just happen. It needs work, man!‚8And you have to practice if you're going to do it right.ZThere's your technique, your projection, and then of course there's control and endurance.Very important, endurance... Endurance?:But it lasts forever! That's the point of the whole thing!‚What - mind projection?fI only ever have the energy to do it for two or three hours and I'm pretty damn good, let me tell you!Mind projection?‚*Yes. Into ravens and rabbits and suchlike.-Very important witch talent, mind projection.-Why - what did you think I was talking about?1Nothing. Never mind - just forget I mentioned it.‚?My word, I wouldn't like to get on the wrong side of that lady.&Maybe there isn't even a *right* side.Ooooooooooh! Oooooooooooh!3I call upon the spirits of ages present, ages past!nOoooooooh! Yes, the winner of the lottery will have more eyes than noses and at least one vowel in their name.BWho says we mystic mediums aren't prepared to stick our necks out?Ergh! Who did that?wIf the ghost who did that doesn't own up right now you'll all be made to stay in your own dimension tonight! I mean it!Quite well thank you.Well go on - ask it!QI get a migraine if you don't ask the right questions once the answers have come!Hello Mrs Cake - how are you?That's better.‚Is it?Ooh, I haven't been outside.Hello there! Nice day!Eh?‚What? How dare you?Hello there! Nice day!"Oh damn it, we're back here again!Eh?0Oh, sorry! I forgot to turn my precognition off.*There we are - that should be much easier!EI just don't believe the hash you're making of a simple conversation!How are you managing to do it?Oooooh! Yes, that's what I am.Why? Does it show?;Look - I believe you're fouling up this whole conversation!!What do you mean, how do I do it?;She's talking like she already knows what I'm going to say.Is she a clairvoyant?'Well it's nice to start all over again.BI'm sorry about all that, sometimes I forget I've left it on, you.%Well now you're just talking rubbish!Order your thoughts, young man!Thank heavens that's all over!(I'm so very sorry about that, young man.I'll forget my own head next.Now - how may I help you? I am too!You're not really a psychic!I will! Prove it!Alright! Ask them.I know - answer my questions!Blue!43d6Describe my favourite colour!A rash!$Describe what I got for my birthday!&Fat, toothless and covered with sauce!Describe my breakfast!Frilly underwear!;Nope - I just can't remember what I meant to ask just then.>I do, and you ought to wash out your mind with soap and water.‚2Now why don't you just go off about your business,Kor I'll tell all the nice audience about what you keep in your sock drawer.'Where does ectoplasm come from, anyway??Oooooh - you can wring it out of spirits, if you can catch 'em.,Squish it out of them like wringing laundry!CMight I borrow that genie bottle you have up on the shelf up there?\I tell you what - you can have the bottle, but only if you get me some nice fresh ectoplasm.Eugh, ectoplasm!=What - that stuff that drips down walls? Sort of ghostly goo?That's the stuff.Nice and slippery!#Won't the wallpaper get all sticky?‚.That's what the punters want these days, dear.]They don't think you're a proper psychic unless there's ectoplasm sloshing all over t' place.‚A psychic, eh?Well who'd have thought it?,You did, dear. About three minutes from now.cDo you really get away with all this? Just pretending to read other people's thoughts for a living?+Well it's not as if I'm making money at it.eAsk most people to cross your palm with silver, and they look at you like you're some sort of beggar.4The only fringe benefit these days is the ectoplasm. Ectoplasm?What do you use that for?Never you mind.1Is there much of a commercial call for ectoplasm?Gives you pause for thought.#Stapling machine! Stapling machine! Nooop! Noop!=Wind force five, with light showers later in the afternoon... Mrs Cake? MRS CAKE!WOooooh - oooh that's much better, young man - thank you! Sorry, it's the channelling...„ Vroooooow!Taka-taka-taka-taka!$Look out - there's one on your tail! Waaaaaaaah!5Oh how those long winter evenings must just fly by...‚^Can't you use your skills to look into the future and tell me what I would be doing if...if...,...well if you had given me a good hint now?;I see you riding the crest of a wave... but you're stuck..._I see numbers, yes numbers of destruction... heavy mathematics, that's it, heavy mathematics...iI see you have questions about your life... Be patient, you're only a few sandwiches short of a picnic...JI see your problem... Those that take comedy in vain should be punished...Greetings, brothers! And sisters!Oh, sorry - and sisters.(Allow me to introduce our newest member. Rincewind. Rinse Wipe!Rincewind! Wind!+Aaaah, that's just a touch of gas, brother.Happens to the best of us. Poltergust.What?‚&Is... is... is... is he a poltergust?&Wot - him... him being a wind and all.Yeah, probably.gAnyroad, brethren and er, bretherwomen - let us now all join, in singing our "Fresh Start Club" anthem.A-one and a-two...xAnkh-Morpork! Ankh-Morpork! A name that stirs the blood! Its streets, its towers, its palaces, Its strangely sticky mud!zLet not some wicked foreigner Thy noble mud besmirch! And we will fight with tooth and nails While we can stand and lurch!4My friends - we don't have to take death lying down.‚HI see a land where the dead will take their place alongside the living -Ualbeit most of them propped up or sewn back together, but still - beside the living--„bA place where ghosts can throw off their chains and help contribute to a better, more just societyLwhere a man can throw up his head in pride, then tuck it back under his arm,8raise his right hand if he can remember where he put it,Jand say - YES, I'M AS DEAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANY MORE!43ŒDƒ(And now I believe our resident Banshee -who has finally found a voice -wishes to witness for us.Brother Banshee?,Uhuh, uhuh, yeah, yeah, uhuh, thank you Reg.CAnd I think that what I mean to say by 'thank you' is a 'thank us'!MA thank you addressed to all of us, in that we are all part of the same body.€”Well - not exactly the same physical body, but the same spiritual body - even though we are all actually inside bodies which are in fact, spiritual.I think what I'm trying to encapsulate here is a sense of 'out of body' experience that is an inner body experience for us all!Right on, brother!0Yes! Yes, exactly! Right on! Right on... and in!`Seeing as the death within is also without, and exterior being is reflecting external processes.-I think what we have here is very, very real!I ask you - is this anyway to treat a walking, talking corpse?MIn my day, we knew how to show respect to a cadaver in need of a bit of cash!&What - they want to make you pay dues?‚It's all Reg's fault.HHe wants to pre-print coffin lids with membership details on the inside.(What - and that's going to be expensive?/Well coffin lids don't grow on trees, you know.9Well - not on any trees I've seen when I'm sober, anyway.,What do you mean, you can't hold down a job?:I mean, it's not as if you're rushing off anywhere, is it.6It's not as if you're going to have any sick days off.1Oh yes! Well you try telling that to an employer!@I mean, the advantages of a dead employee are obvious to anyone.(No lunch hours - no night shift worries.GI mean, you'd think anyone could see it's in all of our best interests.4So what happened? Did they complain about the smell?$No, it's all wossname - bureaucracy.GJust try filling in a tax form when you're officially dead. You'll see!""Place of Residence?" - Graveyard!1"Current occupation?" - Decomposition specialist.2I mean - it's an uphill struggle from the word go!:No wonder people spend so much time trying to avoid death.(The paperwork complication are enormous!Poor old Windle!From youth to academic.From academic to the grave.3From the grave - whoomp! Right onto the dole queue!!That's the welfare state for you.Hello...5You're not - you're not... frightened of me, are you?No, Why?=Oh. I just don't seem to frighten anybody anymore these days.Oh - well, sorry...All right - look, I'm scared.Really scared.T...terrified.#Is that making you feel any better?43RYou're not really scared.I am!*Well, why aren't you running around, then?"Ah. Um - because I'm scared stiff.Yes. That's it.mI've been scared into that strange, lucid state of unreality, and just don't seem to be able to move my legs.!Rooted to the spot in terror, me.Really?;Gosh, yes. If I was any more scared my ears would drop off.Trust me on this.-Do you come to a lot of these meetings, then? Not really..I'm not actually dead, you see. Just *un*dead.OBut the membership card gives you lots of lovely discounts at the local stores.ƒCheap headstones -cut rate coffins -that kind of thing.ƒ/Yes - but if you're not actually going to die -2I mean, drop dead and actually require interment -then why do you need them?Um...Well they make great gifts!‚`What - 'Happy Birthday - now here's a headstone in the sincere hope you find a use for it soon',that sort of thing?Got many friends, have you?3You don't need to answer that if you don't want to.!I thought we cured you last time!What happened to your old door?0Someone kept putting letters under the doorstop.SI finally had to give the thing away or drown beneath a flood of second class mail.JI think the worst thing was the smell of all those perfume sample sachets.@They've all got this stuff called ambergris in them, apparently.‚YAfter a few weeks, it all starts going off, and you're up to your eyeballs in decaying...,Where does ambergris come from, in any case?CI think a whale is sick somewhere, and it gets turned into perfume.‚~Strange but true. And who was the first man to look at a pile of whale vomit and think, "Aw, that'll make a splendid perfume!"Makes you wonder, dunnit?"Humm, the world's shyest Bogeyman.`You know, I'd have been really intrigued and astonished if this had been a better kind of day...Hello. So we're undead, are we?%Don't say it with such superior airs!-Ve're the dark children of the night, ve are!Dark children?@You're pale as... um... as a... well, you're quite pale, anyway!‚ Well - he is.,Yours is sort of more... more talcum powder.*sigh* It's makeup.‚0I'm a vampire, and she's my bride of darkness...;Well - actually, she used to be the bride of a greengrocer.0That was us - fruit and vegetable import/export.)And then one night - boom! I'm a vampire.%Nothing so much as a 'by your leave'.5A quick nip in the neck, and "you're a vampire, pal!"LSo if you're a vampire, and she's not, then why is she dressed up like that?1A wife should always share her husband's hobbies!.Besides, you get to wear interesting costumes.So why are you two here?/Well, it beats sitting in the coffin all day...%You just listen to the meeting, dear!?We think it's very important to raise our undead consciousness.EIt's a disgrace the way dead people are treated out there these days!^For all the attention the dead get, you might as well just stick them in a hole in the ground.Right.3Anyway - we're here to see what we can do about it.‚Reg is right, you know!AThere's a dead person inside all of us, just waiting to come out!?Let me get this straight - you're both urban vampires, are you?:Dread lords of the night's abyss - all that sort of thing. That's right!TAnd you also, as I recall, run a successful grocery business down in Treacle Street.Used to.*Cor, it was a smashing business, that was.kWe didn't truck with the usual fruit and veg. We had the direct distributorship of Klatchian giant peaches.4The only place you could get them in the whole city!43Ì]Giant peaches?6Yeah - six foot high and weighing five hundred pounds.Cor they were beautiful...GWho in the name of Offler's teeth would eat a five hundred pound peach?‚ Well no one.You hunt them for the fur.sAnyway, once my husband was elevated to a nobler plane of existence, I decided the time had come for us to move on.€—I mean - when someone is confronted by the lord of the night, the last thing he wants is to wake up with two holes in his neck and smelling of peaches.4The fruit business just had to go, didn't it, Count? Yes dear.A vampiric greengrocer, eh?AI think I shall never eat a cabbage ever again as long as I live. Excuse me!Shush!Shhhh!(Oh - hello! What are you doing in there?2Apart from being a quest item, I strongly suspect.OBaaaaah! baah! baaaaah! baaah! Ba! baah baah! Baaaah! Baaah! baaaah! baaaaaaah! Well I can see your point there.0Actually, I'd get that seen to, if I were you.../Why exactly are you hiding here in this closet? Mmmm-baaaah!Really?Baah Baah baaaaaaah!%Tch tch tch tch tch. Mmmm - so I see.SWell, I just don't see that there's much call for undead sheep in the career world.lI mean - I know you'd like to expand your boundaries, but I'm just not sure how I can help you achieve fame.6Tell you what, though, I'll keep my ear to the ground.Baaaah.Oh no - you're quite welcome.dI was just wondering whether a career in the clickies might be just exactly what you're looking for?@Baaaaaah baaaaah. Baah baah. Baaah baaah baaah baaah ba-baaaaah! Oh, I see.aThe local actor's league won't let you in until you have proof that your family is from overseas?Bloody cheek of some people!yHmmmmm - I tell you what - I'll have a look around and see what I can find to help prove your case for sheep in the arts.PI'll get some evidence that proves that your ancestors came from distant climes.‚ Here you are.=Some evidence that your ancestors came from the land of XXXX.Now you can be a stunt sheep!Baaaaaah baaaaah. Baah baah.No no. Don't thank me.!So! hiding out in the closet, eh?0What the matter - are you taking it on the lamm?RTaking it on the lamb! You get it? (*The sheep firmly slams the closet door shut).Um, skeleton in the closet?A black sheep?8Nope - I don't think I'll press any further on this one.%Oooooooh Chucky Chucky Chucky Chucky!'Boo! Aaaaaah ha ha ha ha Chucky Chucky!Gottle of geer! Gottle of geer!Great gods! You two again!Ooooooh Chucky Chucky Chucky!But you're dead!)You've quit life's stage! You're resting!/Chucky wants to be the ghost of all jokes past.1Being dead is grand. Look - we even gets flowers!Ooooh Chucky Chucky Chucky![Why is it everyone else toddles off to heaven or hell, and you two get to hang around here?'Chucky Chucky Chucky-Chuck-Chuck-Chuck! I'm stuck, stuck, stuck, stucky!You can't leave?9I mean, you're dead but not gone before? You're haunting??No, Death hasn't come for us yet. Left us floating here he did.4Chucky can't leave the Guild hall stones and mortar.Not even for s'yours!43ìhS'yours? What's s'yours?2Oh, a pint of lager and roast boar crisps thanks -Oh Chucky Chucky Chucky Chucky!/You're right. You *are* the ghost of old jokes. Now look! Knock knock! Who's there?Cohen! Cohen who?Cohen answer the door!7Oh Chucky Chucky Chucky Chuck- Chuck-Chuck-Chuck-Chuck.]Oh, no.. If we had to have a character from the past, what happened to that nice Amazon lady?LMaybe I can throw his haunted rocks into the middle of a sewer or something.!Let's see him laugh that one off!Now pay attention!Attention - yes.CYou said that you have to haunt the stones and mortar of the Guild. Guild - yes.3Well is there any reason why you have to stay here?>I mean - if the stones are moved, then you can move with them.ZYou could just hop into one of the rocks, and I could take you somewhere more interesting.Interesting - yes.Are you listening to me?(No. Ooooooh Chucky Chucky Chucky Chucky!Just get into the damned stone!Oooooh Chucky Chucky Chucky! Mmmmmmph!Call this death, do you?BIn my day, people knew how to die properly! Tunnels, white lights!$Booming voices, the choir invisible!NRight! That is it - if a job's worth doing, then it's worth doing yourself in.Hoik!Nice day for it? Drop dead!;Aaaaaaar! Yoiks, aye, avast there matey-o! Ha, ha, harrrrr!€“Oh, t'is a fair sharp hub-wind as blows past the skudding sails, or else there ain't no heave ho in the sea-biscuit, me blighty-oh! Huurro, harrra! I'm sorry?7Oh - I'm sorry about that - I though you were a sailor.A sailor? Why's that?7It's the jolly cut of your nautical bell-bottomed robe.^Me? I get sick on a wet pavement! I can't even tell the difference between port and starboard!*Oh, I wouldn't know, I've only drunk port.HAll salty sea phrases aside - do you actually sail anywhere interesting?Oh aye lad! aye!‚(We go to the sunny continent of "XXXX" -Lsun, surf, sand, sun, surf... prawns, sand, sun, more surf, lots more sun...<...and rather persistent jokes about sheep, for some reason.5Yes, well let's forget about the sheep jokes for now.I wish I could. Believe me. Good grief...)Look, Can I get passage aboard your ship?pCan't be done, my old want-to-be shipmate. I'm only taking the living dead this trip. Special civic arrangement.€„Arrrrr, but be a good lad and sit on Uncle Bushbeard's knee, and I'll tell 'e many a tale of the rolling sheep-- damn! I meant deep!No no - that's all right.BYou just go off somewhere and have a nice long drink of starboard.Nope. I'm stumped on this one.+Hmmmm - a ship to far off foreign climes...6That's what I need - but how on earth to get on board?Aaaaar! Yo ho ho me matey!&Shiver your timber! Avast improvement! Stop that!+Oh please! It's genuine nautical gibberish.No. I've told you about that.SI'm only doing business with you if you stop all that ridiculous Yo Ho Ho business.It's... demeaning.43u But it's establishing character!+No, it's establishing that you are a loony.\This is supposed to be a sea voyage, not Captain Seadog's Little Shipmates Holiday Fun Club.tLook - if we're going to sea, then we ought to establish ourselves as acceptable stereotypes of seagoing characters.It all stands to reason!MNow you can't hold me responsible for the paradigms which grip our customers.uThey expect this sort of thing - they don't think you're real without all that 'AVAST THE MAINBRACE - ARRR' business.AWord of mouth advertising can make or break a business like mine!Word of mouth!?! They're dead!Oh... oh, all right!5Just bring 'em onboard and we'll forget all about it.€«Arrrrr! so, errr, Timbers, Arrrrr! Shiver, Arrrr, errr, Hoist, Hoist, hurum, herr, Oh Locker, Davy... herrr, herrr, Oh Wooden, Wooden oh, errrr, Main..... Stop it, stop itWhat?+Nothing! Just, hurump, clearing me throat!'There's something very odd about you...)As I were a walkin' down Paradise Street,!singing hey-ho blow the man down,1A saucy young cuttlefish I chanced there to meet!-Oh give me some time to blow the sheep up... Damn!7I say - any chance of a cup of tea, my nautical hearty? Arrrrrrr!JIt's the ghost of Captain Lavender Beard, back from Davey Jones' Bathroom!6Run fer yer lives - women and fearless sea dogs first!QYou know, I seem to meet more crazy people than sheer coincidence should allow...%Anyway looks like I'm in control now.Popcorn!Do-it yerself popcorn!„Just add heat - and butter -and maybe a frying pan...@also serves as catapult ammunition or excellent fishing sinkers!*Come and get it while it's still in stock!Only one previous owner!OI'm letting it go for less than marked price, and that's cuttin' me own throat! Popcorn!...#Is this all your life has to offer??I thought you might have... well, you know - improved yourself.Reached for higher goals! I'm reachin', gov! I'm reaching!)Matter of fact - I'm going into clickies!Oh no...5Don't knock me back until you've seen the goods, sir!MSmashing stuff - fine popping grains lovingly swept from the warehouse floor!8Why's it got little rat's hairs mixed up all through it?(Ah... Just keeping the grains warm, sir!+An added extra, and - no additional charge./Oh, all right then. Anything to keep you quiet.CWhat are you doing here, apart that is from being a disease vector?GScouting, mate! Here incognito looking for the next great clickie star!'Heard about clickies? The latest thing!=Just think, mate - a fortune could be just around the corner.tAll it takes is my know-how, the right actors, and a few dozen obscure objects from ludicrously scattered locations.?Ha! And just how would you go about collecting all these items?BOh dear oh dear oh dear. I can't imagine, can you, boys and girls?,Clickies. Just what Ankh-Morpork needed, eh?Exactly!;Yes. For you 'irony' means 'sort of like iron', doesn't it.*Sigh*WSo we're into clickies now, are we? At last the monkey has found the banana plantation?Yep - movin' pictures.Here - have a read of this!.Clickies! Aaaah - now there's romance for you.‚ Hot dogs, popcorn, drink stands,4the merry rumble of candy rolling down the aisles...And the shows.,Don't forget the actual clickies themselves!43t€ What? Oh!-Oh yeah, I mean, the shows go without saying!NChocolate dipped ice-cream, novelty drinking cups, collectable lobby cards....I don't believe this!YYou mean to tell me that art has to take a second place to cheap licensing and marketing?6Well I can tell you that I'm above that sort of thing!FCatch me being involved in some damned licensing scam? Ha! Fat chance.€ºThe last thing I'd ever do is allow myself to become involved in a shabby marketing ploy designed to used a famous name to sell a product which is in itself utterly devoid of any real... Um - Right!0Well good luck with the career, and I'll be off!MDid we mention the range of pewter figurines and exciting T-shirts this time?Shhhhh!gI suppose if I ever need a devious, slimy, utterly shameless clickie director, I'll know where to come.*Gosh - now that HAS to be a nested hint...Boop-boopie doop!Boop boop bee doo?]Boo-boo de-boop boo-boo de-boop bo-do-be-doo, Boo-boo de-boop boo-boo de-boop bo-do-be-doo...;Be-boo de-boo be-boo-de-boo, Be-boo de-boo be-boo-de-boo...,Oh, no - I just don't think this is working.UOh a bar-barienne can be eaten up... by ermines Deep sea divers always get the bends.QBut none of these things are gonna help determin' Why diamonds are a... girl's... Um...Best...Best.... Uh...%Best choice for long term investment?Damn! I always miss that line!5By the great beard of someone unusually well-bearded!What happened to you?I thought you were a milkmaid!5I was a dairy products distribution agent, thank you!)All that's behind me now. I'm a thespian. I'm sorry? An actress!A star of stage and screen.=I'm starring in a new clickie called "Trolls Prefer Blondes"!%Oh? And why do trolls prefer blondes?Well apparently I'm a... a..,Damn, what's that word for generic pop idol.An icon?No, icons grow on trees!Those are acorns!"Really? I'm sure it wasn't acorns.4Oh well then - maybe it was coconuts or melons then?+I'm sure I heard it mentioned somewhere....&I think I'm beginning to get the idea.&Anyway - I'm now a famous pop coconut.It's ever so exciting!What a lovely dress.&Very, very glittery, wouldn't you say?-Not that I'm hinting about clues or anything.2Glitter's what all this clickie business is about.&So you're a clickie star now, are you?Yes! Isn't it fun!BThey said my assets and experience perfectly suited me to the job.'Experience! you were a bloody milkmaid!So?OI fail to see what milk production has to do with qualities of screen charisma!Ah - well, forget I said that.(Cor! Yet another empty headed character.Nice glittery dress though.SQUEAL!My mistake! I'm terribly sorry.sI've no idea how I managed to accidentally hook these bellows up to this grate and furiously pump them up and down.Miss? Um - are you alright?Should I stop now?434Ž%No no! Keep it going a little longer.,My agent always said I needed more exposure.A clickie, you say?=Something to make a legendary figure more personally popular?^That's a challenge and a half, that is - but nothing modern marketing techniques can't handle.!You just leave it to old Dibbler!+All right, but I want it to have integrity!Just make it.... nice.Nice? Of course it'll be nice.]I tell you what - I'll splice you in for half the take - but mind, I'm cutting me own throat!-Now, tell me what talent you've got lined up!5This "lead" of yours - nice... upper balcony has she?Um - no.!Oh. Well - a skinny one then, eh?Long and lean, eh? Cor!Well, quite lean, yes....I've got it then!I've got the angle.ƒ0Works as a shipwright by day over at the docks -?sweat sweat sweat, wood shavings and torn, tight little shirt -7and then - dances in an exotic nightclub every evening!9We clap a soundtrack on it, and we've got a hit for sure!)A shipwright who dances in a topless bar?,What the hell do you take our audiences for?%For about three groat a ticket - why?$What's wrong? The formula's perfect.XI'm just not so sure my principal lead is going to make a very convincing exotic dancer!I mean - sex-wise and all...You mean they're a man?Well I suppose he's a man.It's hard to tell, really.*You have to look at the pelvis, don't you?CThey keep you wizards indoors too long - that's your problem, mate.ZLook - I tell you what; we can sell anything, just as long as we have the right marketing.6You know the product, so I'll leave all that with you.tWe need three things to make this a success. You've been waiting for this bit, haven't you, just *waiting* for it...JFirst and foremost, a gorgeous babe - that's just pro-forma for the press.MNext, you need a really catchy jingle - a song we can clap into a soundtrack.VFinally, we need the gimmicks - the novelty merchandise that actually creams the cake.?Get me those three things, and I'll have a film out in no time!/Collect a babe, a jingle and some novelties....8I don't suppose you'd consider collecting them yourself?€™No mate! What sort of fool would waste his valuable leisure time voluntarily going off on annoying little quests set by stupid and ungrateful people, eh??Ha Ha Ha. Yes. He'd have to be some sort of idiot, wouldn't he?+Oh well - see you in a little while then...‚(Hah, Take Axe, Open Door, Kill Dragon...1Why wasn't I born in the days of text adventures?oWell welcome to our audience, and welcome to DEATH, the latest star to rise and shine in the land of Holy Wood!:DEATH - how do you feel about your up and coming premiere?I DON'T FEEL. I AM DEATH.LWhat he means is that he's confident that the product will speak for itself!‚BThat we've got something really astounding, really new, really.... really....WHAT??Look - just try to appear less skeletal or something, will you?fYes, well perhaps you might explain to us just why you feel DEATH is the sex symbol for today's world?TWell, Trish, we've always known that the height of style is pure, elegant restraint.PAnd of course, when it comes to wearing black, he's always been the trendsetter.Fabulous, fantastic4Well, that's it from outside the Odium here tonight!TThis is Trish Looksgood inviting one and all to join me here tonight and get reaped!SQUEAK! Oh shut up!'It seemed like a good idea at the time!FHow was I to know the spectre of death was going to become a pop icon?1Now he says he doesn't want his old day job back!SQUEAK SQUEAK!Now he's a style setter!43È›„YNow millions of girls are cramming themselves into undersized, tight black lace costumes,4with lots of black lace, all dying their hair black,Nwearing black lace and black nail polish and deep plum lipstick and black lace,and being pale and very, very interesting...(*Sigh* God, I hate wearing this dress...SQUEAK SQUEAK!$What do you mean, it's all my fault?SQUEAK!=Well of course I saw the game's opening credits! I was there!SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK.1Well no, I don't think that's a good idea at all.!No - it's just not my cup of tea!-SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK, SQUEAKA SQUEAKA SQUEAK! You mean I have to become DEATH?4Hmm. Well, I suppose it'll help me make new friends.What was that?Nothing dear. Nothing at all.=Hey there your Highness! And aren't you a pretty little girl!=I'm not a little girl, I'm a powerful and dignified magician.+Why are you dressed up as a princess, then?I most certainly am not!BYou've got a tall pointy hat. All princess' have tall pointy hats!Look, it's not... And a dress!=A tall pointy hat and a dress - that's a princess in my book!-So how do you explain the beard then, eh? Eh?qI thought that was just probably your peasant blood, dear. A lot of men find a bit of hair sultry and attractive.I wish a lot of women did..Look - all joking apart, what are you selling?5Well, your Highness - this here is an adventure shop.ƒ]It has all the marvellous things people need when they decide that their main calling in life`is to find a hole in the ground, collect some friends, and then go delving into the underground,Yarmed only with swords, rope, ten-foot-poles, halberds, six torches and a flask of oil...Good gracious!0And is there actually much of a demand for this?7Noooo! - it's all collectible trading cards these days."Dim-wick, the Smothering".+It's taken all the fun out of the business.'I can't even shift magic items anymore. Magic items?GWhat - elven cloaks, magic swords, boots of speed - that kind of thing?That's the stuff.1We don't really stock the boots any more, though.QWe did have boots of domination - but a female barbarian already bought up those.WAnyway - do have a browse, your Highness, and let me know if there's anything you want.Candles! You do candles?.Yes, your royal Highness! I make them by hand.ZWell - I would make 'em by hand, but everyone just uses continual light spells these days.%I don't really stock candles anymore.2Those are just display models made out of plaster.1But you could make me some if you had the chance? Oh yes, love!.I just need you to bring me the raw materials.6Now your grade A candle, that's made from dead whales.cWe used to use their nasal hairs, but these days a true, pure-white candle is made from spermaceti.Where does that come from?I've never dared ask, love.'Anyway, the next best thing is beeswax.Beeswax - right.:We used to have a lovely bee-milking parlour out the back!:The bees insisted it was the only way to get the job done.€”Every evening we'd round up the bees and settle them down in little chairs, give them all a newspaper and let them wax away to their hearts content.fThen someone pointed out that all we had to do was open up the hive and scoop out all the wax we want.3The little buzzers had been having us on all along!$You just can't trust a bee, can you!3That's just what I always say, your royal Highness. Oh stop it!II really can't see that this shop serves any valid social purpose at all.-It all seems like a total waste of resources.43|§)Well that's nice, coming from a princess!-Look - for the last time! I am not a princessOkay, your Highness.KWell here we are, fresh beeswax. Could you please make me some candles now?Certainly dear.&There we are - candles, your Highness!+Oh - well they're - they're very er. neat./Can't you make them more... well, more dribbly?,Oh, so its for sinister arcane magics, then?LFoul, mind twisting blasphemies from beyond the outermost edge of nightmare?Um. Well yes - a bit.'Oooooh well you should have said, dear!'No, bees' wax isn't suitable for those.vYou're either going to have to go out there and hunt down a whale and...and...and...do whatever you have to do, or....Or what?WWell, you could get the bees to make the special poor dribbly wax by making them sweat.OYou've got to encourage the bees to drink a lot. Are you making a note of this?SHere's some nice sweaty and dribbly beeswax. Could you make me some candles please?Certainly my dear.€‰There we are - dribbly candles, just suitable for consorting with loathsome horrors from beyond the shrieking nightmares of mortal man...'Here, what you planning, your Highness?IYou're not trying to put one across on your husband or something, I hope?.Look, I keep telling you, I am not a princess!BAnd I am not engaged in... in summoning evil entities from beyond.\We've got plenty of demons running around the University in any case. Mostly they study law. Law? Why law? It's the wizards' fault, really.>Everyone keeps saying that they want a demon to do their will.7Hmm, too much set up and not enough joke there, I feel.$Excuse me - I think I have to leave.That looks nice.Can I have it then? Certainly!What - no mumbo jumbo?>No sudden insistence that I go on a special quest or anything?You ask him if he's ever seen a greater sage than Uri Djeller! A mystic, eh?:Mock not the powers that your tiny mind cannot understand!/Watch now as you face the wrath of Uri Djeller!!Straiin! Straaaiiin! Straaaaaain!&So much for the mystics of the desert.qA mad spoon-straightener, a flock of hooting Biddies, and some tall stone pointy things that you can't even wear.,I say - can you maybe do me a little favour?4I have some things here that need straightening out.No problems, my good man!Strain! Straaaaiiin! Straiin!"Uh - my nose has started to bleed!KNow look at what you've made me do! All down the front of dad's good shirt!XHere, little spotted sage - cast your eyes on this and tell me what you can do about it. Ooooh ta!+Looks hard at hourglass - hears no ticking.wAfter a long and hard examination of this timepiece, I can now give you the heady-type words of the desert herbal sage!Yes?+It is an hourglass for the keeping of time!I know what it is!,I want to know how to fill it back up again!*Then I shall work my magic powers of mind!#Straiiiin! Straiiiiin! Straiiiiiin!3Oooh! I've gone all giddy! I do not like this game!'Are you going to fix this thing or not?&Why do you keep bothering me about it!7Go fill it at the fountain of youth if you're so smart.Popping hummus?9Genuine popping hummus - take it home and do it yourself!WI'll let it go at half price, even though I'm cutting my own hand off! Off, Off, Off...Or relics? Relics, offendi?$Brand new relics, only half a dinar! New relics?How can you have 'new' relics?,Through the magic of pyramid power, offendi!‚cThrough the effects of time distortion, we now can bring you all the prestige of ancient artifacts,Kwithout the annoyance of having broken old rubbish cluttering up the house. Greetings, oh pointy-hatted one!IAre you perhaps interested in owning a very perfect and beautiful bridge?FTen thousand dinars - and I'm cutting my own faruk at twice the price! A bridge?In the middle of the desert?\If the need should ever come, offendi, you will be just that much further ahead of the rush!I don't believe this!-So what's all this about pyramid power, then?WAaaaah my esteemed dress-bedecked one - the pyramids are mystic centres of great power..Within them, time is slowed, or time is sped -Cand they also sharpen hamburger and keep razor blades fresh! Ah Ha!$Four functions for the price of one!!Yours for a desert song, offendi.7A thousand dinar, and Hey! I'm cutting my own hand off!*No thank you - I'm trying to give them up.I so love foreign travel.‚WIt lets you see that all the foreigners are just like the people you've left at home --/a bunch of self-obsessed, ungrateful layabouts.?Oh well - it seems I now know how to see a man about a pyramid.!It should come in handy someday -NIt'd be terrible, needing a pyramid in a hurry and finding all the shops shut.43ÜÉ Stone, sir? You what?Stone sir? For the executions?)Good solid stone, guaranteed streamlined.YOr we've got light weight models here designed for those caught at the back of the crowd.7I'm sorry - I seem to have this awful sense of deja vu.IShould I mention the fact that women aren't allowed at the stonings, sir?5It's amazing -- I think I've had this deja vu before.;You know there's something familiar about this whole scene.‚5And you, there's something familiar about your voice.VYeah, yeah, yeah - the graphics may have changed but the voice is definitely the same.*I don't know what you're referring to sir. Now can I interest you in rocks?(No no. Not just at the moment thank you.+You're a rather rock-loving sort of fellow.Do you have any candy rock?2What, like trolls eat and lose all their teeth on?%Yep - there's a slab of it just here.It's terrifically popular.Arrrrhhhh. Aw, My tooth! Aw, aw naw, my tooo, oh no, my tooth!FAw, it hurts! Aw, It hurts me.. I want my mummy.. I want my mummy now!*Okay okay. Don't cry limescale everywhere..I'll see what I can do to pull it out for you.-Here, let me try something. This should work.%There you are, friend! There you are!@Now remember - a jingle, a set of novelties and a gorgeous babe!43¼TI might be able to do it for you with less - but even now I'm cutting me own throat!MRemember - for a jingle, you'll need the words, and a band to sing the thing.%You gotta get a song and the singers!UM, LOOK, LOOK - CAN WE JUST DISCUSS THIS SCRIPT FOR A MOMENT? Roll 'em!MAKEUP!ANOW IS THE THE WIN.. WINTER OF OUR, OF OUR TENTS, OUR DISCONTENT!>MADE ALL THE MORE DRIZZLY BY THE, BY THE LACK, LACK OF DEATH.DOOOOOOH! TO BE, OR- OR NOT-NOT TO BE! THAT-THAT-THAT IS THE ANSWER.SUM... WHETHER TO BE EXTREMELY COLD, REACHING THE HEIGHTS OF FASHION AND SNIFFING...IOR-OR TO KEEP DRAWING BREATH AND LOSE ALL FASHION SENSE FOREVER MORE..... OK, everyone!$The "being smashed by a safe" scene.And... roll em!NOW-NOW-NOW-NOW-NOW LOOK HERE!MAKEUP!Now, mister Dibbler? Now?WHAT?WHAT'S HE TALKING ABOUT?Nothing, love! Nothing!8Now look - I've told you before! It'll be far too messy!HELP!I WANT TO SEE MY AGENT!AAll right - now DEATH, stand by for Julian's extra special scene! And... cue!HERE-HERE, WAIT A MINUTE!,WH-WH-WHAT'S ALL THIS ABOUT A SPECIAL SCENE?Read your script, love!8Here, Julian - explain how this next bit goes, will you?It goes - Whoooosh!Blam!Stuff flying everywhere!43Ð*Ah....ADid you not tell our boy that there were special scenes involved?I'M NOT DOING IT! Oh all right! I'll go and find a stunt double!aHonestly - you get some people in front of a camera, and they think they're the Queen of the May.!A skeleton's stunt double indeed!%Haven't you found a stunt double yet.Well it isn't easy you know.DCome on. All we need is a skeleton that doesn't mind being blown up.Can't be all that hard.Fine, everyone!CUT and PAINT!Aaaah!This is more of a lark.(Watching someone else work for a change.)That was beautiful, baby! Just beautiful!WAIT A MINUTE!"FEATHERS? IT WAS JUST -- FEATHERS?!What? Didn't you read the script?It's Julian's special scene!Aaaah show biz!&Fame and fortune - I hear you calling!0Death old chap! We are going to make you a STAR!And don't come back!HYou set foot here again and you'll be taking your ears home in your hat.DWe are fey creatures of the twilight, pal, not little Tooth Fairies.PThe difference is we take *all* your teeth and put your *head* under the pillow!;'Hey! By the way - isn't it time the Queen's pet came back?It's been gone a long time.$Oh, they always find their way home.What the hell was that.&Who cares. Can I borrow your eyeliner?Be my guest, dear. All hail me!What?Come on - all hail me!FIt's been ten minutes since anyone said how fearsomely beautiful I am!Oh - um - right.QWell... you're dangerously attractive, ummm... er, maddeningly gorgeous, ummmm...Yes?‚IUm - you're wonderful, you can torture small animals in a very regal way,5um - er.. you can do amazing things with your hair...Well? what about you!‚Why haven't you said anything -Guards, off with his head!3Er.. Er, wait! I - I meant to say something, but... But what?2B-b-b-b-but I... I was struck dumb by your beauty!That's it! *whew*Mmmmmmm - all right.^Slightly crawly, but you can keep all your bits if you stand over there and croak like a frog.Ribbit! Ribbit!/Absolute power! Who can say it isn't wonderful?Keep it going!HYou still got plenty of little bits that could be chopped off, you know.Sorry! Ribbit! Ribbit-ribbit!Errrr!0Someone's been performing surgery on my unicorn!$I didn't even get a chance to watch!There's something inside it!*Uck! It's been eating something revolting!*Guards - off with anything they have left!Not you!Ribbit!You!436 There you are! Bone idle, I see.=Come on - get up and get back to work. It's chaos back there!NO. I LIKE IT HERE.2IT IS A LAND OF OPPORTUNITY, SUN, SURF AND PRAWNS.,I can see the sun's given you a nice bleach.Come on - we're going home!NO. I'M NOT GOING BACK.>I WORKED MY FINGERS TO THE BONE FOR THEM BUT THEY ALL HATE ME. Hate you?$What does that matter? You're Death!*You're not supposed to worry about things!You just -- just happen!WELL I WANT MORE FROM LIFE.=A LITTLE BIT OF POPULARITY - IT'S NOT TOO MUCH TO ASK, IS IT.GI WORK HARD FOR EVERYBODY. DOES ANYONE EVER SAY THANK YOU? I THINK NOT.Thank you? For *dying?*[Er...look, if I promise you that I'll find a way of making you popular, will you come back?"PEOPLE WILL LIKE ME - YOU PROMISE?BCross my heart and hope to meet you in your professional capacity.Now is it a deal? HMMMMMM....0ALL RIGHT - BUT ONLY IF YOU MAKE ME FEEL WANTED.^I have just the thing to bring the message into the people's hearts and minds, my fear fellow.CTell me... have you ever heard of something called... the clickies? Grubs, mate? You what?Grubs.Witchetty grubs. A bonza feed.6Mmmmmm! You can just smell them on the barbie now, eh?WCome on - the cost's only three bits - and at that price, I'm cuttin' me own digeridoo!ANo - look, I don't want to eat any insect larva today, thank you.@Could be the mistake of your life, mate! MMMMMM - they're yummy! Errr! Grubs?Ugh...they smell awful...RYou'd be really grateful for a feed of these if you were lost in the desert, mate.'A good advert for buying a map, I feel.>Are you sure you live here? You seem awfully familiar to me...+Sure as a platypus is an egg-laying mammal!ANow can I interest youse in any quality dinkum merchandise, mate??Picnic hampers, hats with corks - hows about a nice bent stick? I've got a lovely line in those!1No! Now look, why don't you sell anything useful!Useful? It's all useful!See?VHere - best thing for that! Take a couple of raw insect larvae - cure's it like magic! Like magic?'Well - if it cure's it, it'll be magic.)Come on, mate - two for the price of one!I'm cutting me own bludger!Go away!BThis picnic hamper - it's not filled with bugs or anything, is it?+Naaaah mate! I'd charge extra for the bugs.UIt's a bargain! I'll give you the handle for free - but I'm cutting me own billabong.5Stop saying that - I'm sure it doesn't mean anything.-Ah...sorry. You've worked that out, have you?:Yes, we only talk like that when there's foreigners about.5The tourist board insists that we maintain the image.pIn real life none of us would dream of drinking or swearing or make offensive remarks about women, I assure you."Now then, where was I...ah, yes...:G'day dinkum chunder, strewth I'm worried about Darleen...Yes yes - ve-very bonza!0Now go and be "colloquial" over there, will you?Stone the flaming crows!$Aargh, now you've got *me* doing it!43p@MIf you locals are so smart, how come there's no bottles attached to that hat?9There were, but the flies have already been and took 'em.Aaaaah Bonedie!‡Sun,surf,sun,sand,surf,heat,flies...Rand a strange, indescribable smell just hovering somewhere at the back of my nose.-Just the place where the dead can enjoy life.=Odd - there's something strangely hypnotic about those waves!yMust be fun, dipping in and out of the surf - dodging the broken bottles and old fish hooks, swerving between the sharks.*Sigh*ASounds like jolly good fun... I wonder how one would go about it?I'll be seeing you then.Yeah, see ya later mate.Hello! Who're you?What d'ye want?SQUEAK! SQUEAKA-SQUEAKA-SQUEAK!‚!Yes, that's right - look, ummm...I'm here to become Death. You what?6You know... Death, The pale horseman. TALKS LIKE THIS.1Very big in the hourglass and scythes department.You?Oh, not for long.mJust until Himself gets back I just have to fill in for a while - get the backlog moving, that sort of thing.-Got the faintest idea how to do it, have you?Um - well, I suppose so.%We got standards to maintain, mister.We takes a pride in our work.)I ain't havin' you lettin' the side down!:Listen, you got to be up to snuff before you can be Death!Now do you mean?WWell, you got to be able to ride the pale horse, and you got to wear the right clothes.9Death wouldn't be seen dead in anything but a black robe.‚Yeah, you'll need a scythe -3and a capital letter voice - something... chilling. Is that all?You want more?Get on with it!Oh, goodie. Another quest.$I'm just flotsam on the sea of life.(Yeh! Stop snivelling and get on with it!OThere we are - one robe, comma, black, comma, spectres of death for the use of!Call that black?It *is* black! No it ain't!@Not your "light falling into it, never to escape" kind of black.'It's not the kind of black Death'd wear6You not making any friends here, I hope you know that.0All right, blacker than black it is! Here we go!Having fun, are we?%Look - what was it I was after again?I can't imagine, mister.(Advanced psychological treatment, maybe?+Just tell me what I'm supposed to be doing!YA black cloak, a scythe, a deep, booming voice, and a demonstration of your horsemanship./Surely even someone like you can remember that? There we go!PLight not only simply falls into it, but it doesn't even get a chance to scream. Mmmmm - yes."Well, the cut could be better.....Albert!3Oh very well - I suppose beggars can't be choosers..Yeah! There we are - read it and reap, Albert!See - a scythe!$Oh, we *are* Mr Clever, aren't we...3I suppose you've got some idea about how to use it?43œK"Well of course I can use a scythe!You just sort of - um...,Yes, well I'm sure I'll get the swing of it!"It'll just take a bit of practice.)Not inside where you'll scar my woodwork!#Take it outside and reap the field.UWhen that's done, then perhaps you might have enough skill to go and reap some souls.KYou know, if I end up in charge your job is definitely one for down-sizing.#Ha! an entire field of corn reaped!CYeah - I've got you trembling now, eh? I'm apocalypse material now!Oh, indeed, Sir.JYou're going to strike fear and tremblin' into blades of grass everywhere.;HEELLLLOOOO... ANNNYYYYBOOOODDDDYYYYY HOOOOOMMMMMEEEEEEE...Hmmm, must be mice.;HEELLLLOOOO... ANNNYYYYBOOOODDDDYYYYY HOOOOOMMMMMEEEEEEE...8Looks like you just can't keep a good screen saver down. ALBERT! ALBERT, IT IS I - DEATH!Hmmm, must be those mice again. ALBERT! ALBERT! IT IS I - DEATH! Really, Sir?Nice to have you back, sir.DNow we can get rid of that little pratt in the pointy hat and dress.3Well at least I've proved that I can use the voice.Right!JI've ridden the horse, got the clothes, the voice, the scythe, the moves -Nah! nah! Hold on!-Being Death isn't like delivering the papers!]No no no - I can't let you go out hacking and slaying wholesale until you've had a trial run.Start small, mister.WCollect 100 souls first, and then maybe you'll be ready to get out there and slay them.A hundred souls. Right now?Yep.One of the autobiographies from the hall of records should do.Something to laugh at.Laugh?9Those are people's life stories we're talking about here!CReal tragedies - hopes, you know, dreams, triumphs and aspirations!'How can you possibly find them amusing?0I was thinking of yours. That should be a laugh.(Just bring it here once you've found it."Let me guess - Death's handmaiden?#No, actually I'm his granddaughter.[In a universe of infinite possibilities, I suppose that hairstyle had to come up somewhere.There!)My ongoing life story! Are you satisfied?6Oh look - an autobiography with join-the-dot pictures.DThat's a catalogue of all my hopes and dreams - all my achievements!;You treat it with just a little bit of respect, young lady!*Oh look - here's your thought for the day!Ah! What does it say?Actually, the line is blank. Give it back!5Some people just don't appreciate quality literature.5Now just tell me something else you'll take in trade!"Anything but the story of my life! All right.2Go get me one of the really old biographies, then. One of those ones with pictures.4They're kept in a locked dark room somewhere inside.There!Are you satisfied?-Perfectly. This one's much better than yours.Here's the cart to play with.&Let me know when you turn up in court.I did it! See?I can ride! I can ride!43D`Yippie-ki-yi-yay, sir.But I did it! See?I passed the test.Yeah, so I see7Shall I prize the saddle from your flesh now, or later?:The trouble with you, Albert, is you have no sense of fun.>I'll laugh when I'm prising you out of that saddle, my friend.#And now - undead from Ankh-Morpork!RWelcome to the show once voted most likely to reap a harvest of thrown vegetables!5And now, the person I guess we're *all* waiting for--Herrrrrrre's DEATH!WOOO - YEAH, ALL RIGHT.OTHANK YOU LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, YOU'RE A BEAUTIFUL AUDIENCE IF SOMEWHAT STUPID.>AAH, IT'S SO GOOD TO SEE PEOPLE WHO ARE UPRIGHT AND BREATHING.‚7OF COURSE, YOU KNOW WHY MY OLD JOB WAS ALWAYS SO HARD -I ONLY HAD A SKELETON STAFF.‚/LET'S JUST SAY A BIG HELLO TO OUR BAND LEADER - BONE IDLE! KNOCK KNOCK Who's there?DEATH Death who? DEATH - ACK!"THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU...OH - YOU'VE HEARD THAT ONE, EH?&ALAS POOR DEATH - I KNEW HIM, HORATIO.A MAN OF INFINITE JEST....Well - not exactly infinite.(I DIDN'T THINK I WAS DOING TOO BADLY....EUm - maybe it's best not to quibble at this point in the proceedings.This is ridiculous!How can Death die?6THE MORE LIKE ME YOU BECAME, THE MORE MORTAL I BECAME.5SOD IT - I WAS JUST STARTING TO GET THE HANG OF THIS!'OH DEAR - I REALLY DO THINK I'M FADING.DMAYBE TAKING TIME OFF FROM MY JOB WASN'T SUCH A GOOD IDEA AFTER ALL.NAH WELL - I SUPPOSE IT'S IN GOOD HANDS. TA-TA! HAVE FUN BEING THE GRIM REAPER! Grim Reaper?What do you mean Grim Reaper?(WELL IF I'M GONE, THEN THE JOB'S YOURS -THROUGH ALL ETERNITY.But I can't be the grim reaper!>I get queasy just squishing caterpillars on the baby lettuces! No - stop it!+I don't want to be left holding the scythe!NOPE. I'M SLIPPING, I'M AFRAID.MY TIME IS RUNNING OUT.OI WISH I'D HAD A MOTHER, BECAUSE IF I'D HAD A MOTHER, I COULD CRY OUT 'MOTHER!' BUT I DIDN'T, SO I CAN'T. BLAST.4OTHER FAMOUS LAST WORDS ARE "DON'T POINT THAT AT ME"%AND "WHY IS THAT RED LIGHT FLASHING?"JAND "HOW DOES DIBBLER MAKE A PROFIT ON THIS STUFF AT FIVE GROATS A BOTTLE"I KNOW THEM ALL./NOW... WHICH ONE SHALL I USE. LET ME SEE NOW...GAll right - just stay there and I'll try to get you on your feet again!'Here - it's from the fountain of youth!This ought to fix you up.&COUGH COUGH! IT'S - IT'S GETTING DARK!BUT - BUT WAIT - THERE'S LIGHT!THERE... NO, DOESN'T QUITE WORK, DOES IT?HOW ABOUT, ER..."KISS ME, RINCEWIND". NO... OR..."I'LL BE BACK!"NO, I GUESS I WON'T BE BACK.43hlOh for Offler's sake!iI suppose all water of youth is going to do to a skeleton is make him get covered in smelly bits of skin."I'M MELTING.""WHAT A WORLD! WHAT A WORLD!",Just hang in there. I'll try something else. "AUNTIE EM?""TOTO?""IS THAT YOU?"OOOOH - I'M GOING! I'M GOING....OOOOOOOH - HERE I GO.I'M STILL GOING, YOU KNOW....'Scuse me, do they have those chocolate-coated icecreams here?-The ones with the little bits of nut on them?#They only had insect larva flavour.Insect larva!?!=Mmmmmm. Some new innovation imported from XXXX, apparently...#When's this clickie starting, then?Yes! Hurry up!/Some of us have to get back to bed before dawn!Rubbish!I say! Zis is appalling!!Err - I like the rat droppings...Rat droppings? They're raisins+It's all the same with a chocolate coating.LUgh! I haven't seen anything this awful since I saw the Dean in the showers!#Well - that didn't cut the mustard!43$z!No no no. I thought it was awful!€€Well in its awfulness, it had a certain beauty - just as in beauty, we sometimes see awfulness pressing through from underneath.€„I mean - sure! sure! We all look at it, and say "Well this presentation eats its own young", but I mean - is this a fair assessment?wCan we really judge an art piece as being awful simply because it exhibits no attractive or interesting aspects at all?‚HActually, I felt that in many aspects, the film proved to be a very apt,very direct communication. Oh? Of what?IWell...a communication of just how untalented some clickie makers can be.Yeah, right! Get off! OFFFF!It's wretched! Really awful!'Things like this give death a bad name!Oh Gods - not again!This is wanton depravity!"Eeeeer!I dunno, I kind of like it.That *proves* it's bad!!Ohhh my. I do say. How marvelous.Beautiful. Simply beautiful.%I wish my smell could have seen that.*That was better than being alive ever was.&Now, that's what I call real charisma.#He'll go far, he will. A real star. Well I thought it was very nice!I didn't understand the ending. Well I never!Oh I say - that is good!AThe special effects on these things are getting better every day!Run you fools!It's for real!BArgle! Snap it for a ragman's trumpet! Millennium hand and shrimp!#Yes, it is very romantic, isn't it.I just hope they had time to go to the lavatory first, though.Animal bladders.That's right, squire!As toys for children.Wonderful idea, eh?qLook - do you really think this is an appropriate part of an animal's offal to be touting about as a child's toy?!Well I suppose you're right, sir.VBut the stomach gets used for haggis, and the intestines get used for sausage skins...^Wait! Brilliant! There's one bit no one ever uses. I can get hold of a pile of them right now!/NO! Stop right there! This has gone far enough.‚!Bladders I can almost understand,Obut I will not allow you to run about giving children toys made out of... of...$Skulls, sir? What's wrong with that?&I could make little drums - castanets.Little money boxes....Skulls?*Sigh*&Oh good. Right - well, that's OK then.1You just go and sell some animal skulls later on.It'll have to be later, squire.PI'm still trying to shift all those animal-colon footstools I made up yesterday.Now that's free enterprise!1You see that - that's what makes this city great.€€A man's free to re-use the internal organs of dangerous fauna in any way he sees fit, no matter what the health department says!DI'm not sure whether they spent enough on the script for this movie.(It seems to be all just special effects!Mmmmmm? Is it intermission yet?6I was hoping for something nice and sticky on a stick.1The only thing sticky around here is this finale.Get on with it!)Hello there young man. Having a good day?(This is clearly some attempt at sarcasm.*Are you sure this is where you want to be?&I mean - it's not exactly safe, is it.Try as hard as I could, I doubt that I could break an arm off.,I doubt whether that would have much impact. PetticoatA petticoat. Ooooh! Silky!$But at least you can see through it.If you want to. For any reason.Closet5A closet! Just the place for the odd skeleton or two. Ironing board+An ironing board? I never use them, myself. Crystal ball-One crystal ball, complete with test pattern.-Just snow. Guess I don't know how to work it.JarsaA good assortment of jars, containing all manner of the latest accessories for the modern medium.&I don't really have any use for these.Scissors'Hmmm, a dress maker's pair of scissors.Skull#Sort of a sense of foreboding here.No, I don't think so.II have a nasty feeling that this skull motif will come up a lot later on.DoorTHmmm, looks like the door to some secret society or my name isn't Brother Rincewind.Dead Collector"So this is the Dead Collector, eh?5When I was a lad, I just used to collect butterflies.+I suppose it's just a matter of scaling up.0It has to be declared dead before he'll take it.Cart!Oh lovely. A cartload of corpses.JStill, I suppose its nice to get out for a bit of a ride in the fresh air.Hey you, leave them alone.2If you want to join 'em you need to be dead first. Foul Ole Ron'So this is the infamous "Foul Ole Ron"?ƒ=You know, there are some personalities so stunningly horrid -!so utterly breathtakingly awful -^that they actually transcend the mere physical frame of their owners and stand out as an icon!1A banner of meaning with a life all of their own.pThen again, there's also hundreds of grubby old street people like this bloke, who just make me want to scratch."I'm not in that charitable a mood. Vile Smell A vile smell?An ambulatory vile smell?1Yes! Well - that's brought some life into my day!)Even though his odour seems solid enough.,I doubt that I could catch it with my hands.=Well, at least I know that he likes the smell of these boots.They'd make good bait.0You know, I think I may be on to something here.-If only he had a reason to go in this bottle."Great, I've just captured a smell..I wonder if I'll ever be able to shake it off. Henry CoffinMHenry Coffin, famous beggar and the man of a thousand nasty coughs and spits.=He can hit a spittoon at twenty paces and I wish he'd try to.DuckmanThe Duckman, I presume.RI just don't know how anybody can live with a duck on their head, and not know it!Can A coffee pot..Well, I say coffee, if you could call it that.KWhatever it is, if you drink it you'll at least be dead, if not dead sober.QYou have to be kidding. Any more sober and we bring down the rating of this game.1It'd have to be drunk before I'd put it in there.43 PotAn old clay pot. I wonder what that was used for. Trolls HeaduWell, the one saving grace is that the loss of the poor fellow's cranium probably didn't interfere with his thinking./What! Walk around here carrying a troll's head?Cart1Well THIS vehicle has certainly seen better days.6Possibly during the Jurassic period - maybe Neolithic.3The cart's dead - like everything else around here.PosterLDo you suppose any of this stuff has a use, or is it just background colour?/Stop trying to play with the background colour.Bird"One seafaring, fish-eating bird...9I hope he's not looking for his dinner in the river Ankh.'At least not without a pick and shovel!I don't think I can reach him.Sorry, not long enough!(I don't think he would want to eat that!CaptainlWell, splice my timbers if it isn't a nautical seafaring matelot, with a yo-ho-ho and a deep, resigned sigh.7What do I need that for? Show it to the Dead Collector.Ship-One ship; probable weight, four hundred tons. Probable top speed, three knots.KThe trouble with this sinking ship is that all the rats have stayed aboard.1Looks like I have to deal with the captain first.Water+Mmmmm - I wouldn't go closer if I were you.`It's only called WATER because of the position it occupies between the river bottom and the sky.:Try and dive onto that and you'll dent more than your hat!=I'm not swimming in that... or walking on it for that matter.,What would I do with a slice of toxic waste?Hammerhead SharkrA hammerheaded shark. They're called hammerhead sharks, you know, because their head is shaped like a hammer. See?ENow you can say you have used your computer for educational purposes.It's stuck inside the net.FishA good assortment of fish.#I wonder if they're all undead too.They're all stuck in the net.NetOHmmm! Either this is a net or the moth problem around here has got out of hand.)I don't think that I can undo it by hand.)They're not strong enough to cut the net.HookAaaaar Jim lad!KIf I want to do anything with the hook, I'll have to get the net off first.HookAaaaar Jim lad!(Just the thing for hanging something on.CDespite what you may want I can't really hang myself off this hook.2It wouldn't make sense to hang that from the hook.Weight5Looks like a wrecker's ball - but is it heavy enough?+Can you believe it? It needs to be heavier.That won't make it any heavier.WeightgNow that's the ticket - the wrecking ball to end all wrecking balls. Actually what is a wrecker's ball?And why am I never invited?WallVery knock-downable, that wall.Chilli powder - compliments of the High Energy Magic Facility.2Just being in the same scene as it makes me sweat.TableUEither these are stains on the table or the food is flatter than is usually the case.Menu*Ah! A menu. I wonder what they serve here.Let's see what we have here....ƒ>Rodent in a bun - rodent in a bag - live rodent en brochette -=and stunned rodent cordon bleu prepared in a white wine sauce+with shallots, truffles and small potatoes.9Oh damn - they only serve that one on alternate Tuesdays.Cafe@I wonder if this is that Cafe Ole everyone keeps going on about?Umbrella7Ahhh. The latest trend. A sidewalk cafe with umbrellas.7Next thing you know the waiters will be wanting tips...I could sure give them a few.I don't need an umbrella.Count5Count Notfaroutoe: A vampire with social pretensions.GAmazing how vampires always have to be wearing evening dress, isn't it.HI mean, it's not as if many people are likely to invite them to parties.Countess$The Countess Notfaroutoe, I presume.#I'm glad she's a bride of darkness.,I'd hate to see her if the lights were on...Reg Shoe#Reg Shoe - a zombie with a mission.SI'd shake hands with him, but I might end up with more fingers than I started with. Windle PoonsGood old Windle!]Still not quite getting the hang of being dead - but I admire a man who can just keep trying!43ˆBogeymanThe world's shiest bogeyman.‚FOh well - if you're going to have an embodiment of childhood neuroses,`at least it can be one that you don't mind inviting over for tea and biscuits from time to time.Ixolite7A male banshee? Oh well, it takes all kinds, I suppose.$I wish it didn't, but there you are.Closet