Comment by egypturnash

You are in the Billiards Room. It's sparingly decorated, almost unfinished in its rusticness - the walls are plain, dark wooden panelling, the floor's the same. There is a billiards table here, with a few balls set out upon it. There's a bar in one corner, populated with every kind of liquor you've ever heard of, and a lot more that you haven't. The western wall has a boarded-up window. The east has a couple of framed prints next to the door. But really what draws your eyes here is the dart board, mounted on the wall of this quiet little man-cave. And what draws your nose is the faint scent of some very expensive cigar smoke, trodden into the boards of this floor by a thousand thousand footsteps your great-uncle made while circling the green field of the table with an endless succession of Men of Power.

> smell

Very expensive cigar smoke. Curiously like oranges.

> examine bar

It's a little nook in the corner of the room. Someone seems to have left a few coins there! You scoop them up and relish the jingle a few coins make in your pocket. It's scattered with the usual: a few empty glasses, a lot of bottles, three three model cars, a treatise upon the theory of panspermia written by your aunt, a statue of an elephant, and a white chess piece.

[ +5 coins! ]

> drink

Your mother made you very solemnly swear on your cherished Swim Bird plushie to not break into Great-Uncle Herbert's stash until you were married.

> drink

Your mother made you very solemnly swear on your cherished Swim Bird plushie to not break into Great-Uncle Herbert's stash until you were married. No force in the universe could compel you to break this oath.

> x chess

It's nestled among the bottles, as if trying to blend in with them. You wonder what a drink themed around a white pawn would taste like. Probably oranges. Grunkle Herbert always smelt a little like oranges, under those cigars.

> x elephant

Red jasper, the size of your fist.

> play pool

You pick up a cue and poke the balls around the baize. For a moment it's as if you're a little older, pitting your skills against Grunkle Herbert in an endless series of cozy lectures on the history of Fenn Aires, and how he made deals between its biggest players. For a moment it's as if you're him, aimlessly knocking balls around the table as he passes on his knowledge to the next generation of power. But ultimately it's just you, alone in his massive mansion, trying to piece the massive puzzle of his life back together, and wondering why you always smell oranges when you think of him.

And ultimately it was darts that he really played to win, not billiards.

> x prints

Two sparse line drawings: a raven, and a writing-desk.

> play darts

[ a dart-themed math puzzle ensues ]

----

Which parts are important? Which parts are just there to distract you? Is it important to a second-layer puzzle that this room's memories smell like oranges? Is it meaningful that there's a chess piece there? Is it meaningful that you're pretty sure this room's memories smelled like cherries yesterday?