Tale #109: To Stroke A Hedgehog

A noblewoman of some renown liked to stroke the animals of the court and countryside. Cats and dogs; cows and horses; sheep and goats; the King’s crows and the Queen’s swans; the noblewoman petted them all, and took great delight in doing so.

One spring, a hedgehog took up residence in the bushes of her garden. Each night, she put out food for the creature, and over the long months of summer she slowly gained its favour. One night, she sat in the garden in her nightgown, the bowl of food in her lap. The hedgehog climbed up onto her, and while it ate, she reached down, and gently, ever so gently, stroked the hedgehog’s back.

Over the coming days, many asked her to describe how it felt to stroke a hedgehog, but she could not find the words to describe the sensation, and so she stayed silent, no matter the clamour they made for her to impart her wisdom.

Before autumn turned to winter, the noblewoman went mad and died, and her knowledge was lost to the world.

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Notes:

1. Written April 1st, 2019
2. Part of my ongoing “To…” series
3. All of which utilise the same ending formulation
4. The series began with To Follow A Cat
5. And includes To Lose Your Faith, To Follow A Child, and To Ponder Infinity
6. But, confusingly, not To Be Kept Safe

Fifteen Monsters All In A Row

A couple of years ago, my niece (then 5) and my nephew (who was 2), wanted to design a computer game, so we designed a computer game. Then I spent so long getting round to actually making it that now she’s 7, and he’s 4. But at least it got made, so I’m not that terrible after all. Just quite slow.

So here’s Fifteen Monsters All In A Row (It’s made in TWINE so should work in pretty much any web browser).

Now Fifteen Monsters All In A Row is a game about fifteen monsters, all in a row. Can you make your way past them and reach the end? And more importantly, will you do it nicely, or horribly? It is, I suppose, up to you.

This game contains 15 monsters (all in a row), several secret monsters (occasionally in a row), multiple solutions to every problem (almost), some exciting stories (occasionally), at least two jokes, and even a super secret special ending.

And also a mystery mon.

Estimated Playthrough Time: 10 minutes
Estimated Replayability Factor: Infinite

Fifteen Monsters All In A Row (an adventure game by Florence, Patrick and David)


CREDITS

Fifteen Monsters All In A Row

A game about monsters.

Game Design by Florence and David
Game Programming by David
Monster Designs And Descriptions by David, Florence, Patrick, and Julie
Stories by Florence and David

(This exciting monster isn’t in the game, but is standing on a list of secrets, or maybe spoilers, from the game. So that’s why he’s here.)

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Notes:

1. This was designed in 2018, and made in 2019, and then bugfixed in 2020
2. No one knows who the mystery mon is
3. Or how it got there
4. Or what it’s doing there
5. But it is there
6. Somewhere