Altars in Interactive Fiction

According to Cain (2022)

> x altar (@ Shrine to the Firstlings of the Flock)

A block of these caves’ volcanic rock has been crudely cut down to produce a coarse stone altar.

The altar in the Shrine to the Fruit of the Ground has an identical description.

Additional Tales from Castle Balderstone (2019)

> x altar (@ Temple)

A slab of mottled stone, carved with pagan icons. The only shape you recognize is a snarling, wide-eyed jaguar.

Anchorhead (1998)

> x altar (@ Burial Mound)

A single block of jet-black, featureless stone, approximately the size of a queen-sized bed. It is flanked by a pair of metal pillars.

And the Waves Choke the Wind (2000)

> x altar (@ Gigantic Cave)

A large black stone has been hewn into the form of an altar. To your horror, you notice it is encrusted with blood!

Annoyed Undead (1999)

> x altar (@ Pulpit)

It's draped in various holy symbols (all of which are giving you quite a bit of a headache) and has a bible perched atop it. Also, there is some kind of device lying alongside it.

The Apprentice (2006)

> x altar (@ A small cave)

The altar looks old and large. It is made from rock.

ASCII and the Argonauts (2003)

> x ALTAR (@ TEMPLE OF ZEUS)

DROP "TREASURES" HERE

Awakening (by Gardner) (2009)

> x altar (@ Nave)

It appears to be made of gopher wood.

Basilica de Sangre (2018)

> x altar (@ Chaper house)

A large granite table at the front of the church. Unlike most altars that you've seen, this one is bare other than a large red stain.

Bellclap (2004)

> x altar (@ Temple)

Simply a table-sized block of stone.

The Bible Retold: The Bread and the Fishes (2006)

> x altar (@ The Synagogue)

It is made of wood, but has some highly decorative features that make it the grand focal point of the building. This month, it is adorned with green hangings, the colour that denotes common time.

The Cabal (2004)

> x altar (@ The Chamber of Ra)

Now that you can see it firsthand, it's obviously not an altar but a large solar energy converter. Proof, if proof were needed, that the pyramids were really power stations for Atlantean-era cities.

Captivity (2020)

> x altar (@ Chapel)

The altar is really just a low square table draped with a white cloth. On the altar you see a cloth sack.

Carpathian Vampire (2022)

> x altar (@ Vampire's Room)

It looks like it's made from Turkish white marble. There's a coffin sitting on top of it.

Castaway (1986)

> x altar (@ Temple Roof)

why don't you go there?

> x altar (@ Altar)

it's a typical sacrifical alter.

Charming (2018)

> x circle (@ Pentacle Chamber)

The chalk circle is faded, but its power is not. With it, the entire Altar is essentially one big conjuring circle.

Cheesed Off! (2016)

> x altar (@ Church of Cheese)

It's an altar formed from various cheese tools fused together, and considered very holy by cheese lovers. It would be a good place to put something!

Color and Number (2002)

> x altar (@ Underground Shrine)

The altar consists of a glowing, curved slab of marble resting on several decadent bronze legs. The slab seems to be illuminated by some intrinsic property -- it is solid marble, not hollow. The altar stands about four feet high and a foot wide.

Cragne Manor (2018)

> x altar (@ Milkweed)

A six-foot long and three-foot high altar of pale green stone, polished smooth. The sides are humped and bulged, suggesting poreless coral. The top is flat, and bears a shallow impression in the shape of a human body, with a slightly deeper cavity at the top for the face.

> x altar (@ Tunnel Entrance)

Looks indeed like someone has built an altar here, in this godforsaken place. The recess has an extent of about 15 by 25 inches and is about 10 inches deep. The upper part is arched in symmetry with the tunnel, with seven slightly protruding bricks arranged in a semicircle rounding out the structure towards the front. The base of the altar features a candleholder with a circle of eight sockets. [if first candle in a socket]One candle is placed in the [socket].[end if] [if second candle in a socket]One candle is placed in the [socket].[end if] [if no candles in sockets]All sockets are empty.[end if] [if candles are lit]Their light illuminates the alcove and the picture of a girl. [else]The rear wall is almost completely taken up by the picture of a girl.[end if]

> x altar (@ Chapel)

The altar initially appears to be a simple long table with a tablecloth over it, but on closer inspection, you can see that underneath the tablecloth it's actually closed in on all sides.

> x altar (@ Hillside Path)

A large, roughly rectangular slab of the same black granite as the surrounding cliffs.

The Cube (2010)

> x altar (@ An Alien Temple)

There is an altar against the far wall of the temple with a sculpture set thereupon.

Domicile (2003)

> x altar (@ Stone Circle)

The altar is a block of stone, roughly carved to create a smooth surface on top. A number of symbols have been etched in the top of the altar, forming a rough crescent pattern. In order, they are: a representation of a cube or box; an eye; a mirror, with horns or wings atop it; a compass rose; a circle with two lines drawn on it, the perspective giving the illusion of a pole piercing a sphere. (Please see the accompanying image file for pictures of the symbols.)

Down, the Serpent and the Sun (2015)

> x altars (@ Atop the Pyramid)

All rituals must now be rendered impotent.

> x altar (@ Heart)

A soapstone grotesquerie sculpted with obscene tableaux wherein animals and humans, death and birth, are represented with deformed organs and visages ambiguously ecstatic or terror-stricken. The altar is soaked with spilled blood.

Dr Horror's House of Terror (2021)

> x altar (@ Above the Temple)

The square black bulk of the altar glows evilly, emitting a pulsing green light. Along its side is some kind of lettering, but it's no language that you have ever seen before..

Dragon Flies Like Labradorite (2011)

> x obsidian altar (@ Clearing)

[1st time:] It's made from a single piece of obsidian and has occult symbols and blasphemous runes and what-have-you painted round the sides with some manner of reddish pigment. Although the altar is too small to sacrifice a human (or so you imagine-- not that you have first-hand experience of such things, aside from that one incident long ago and best forgotten, which wasn't your fault in any case), it is certainly large enough to accomodate a dragonfly. And speaking of dragonflies, your sister Emma seems to be tied to it, unconscious. Above her dangles a tiny censer, giving off fumes.
[else if censer still there:] It's made from a single piece of obsidian and has occult symbols, et cetera. Your sister Emma seems to be tied to it, unconscious. Your eyes are drawn toward the tiny censer giving off unhealthy-looking fumes. The censer dangles from a chain above her.
[else if PC is still Charlie:] It's made from a single piece of obsidian and has occult symbols, et cetera. Your sister Emma seems to be tied to it, unconscious. You could be mistaken, but you believe Emma may be coming round, now that the censer is gone.
[else if PC is Emma:] You can't see much of it from this angle, but it appears to be an altar of polished obsidian, with you tied to it.

Dual Transform (2010)

> x altar (@ Church)

The altar is a simple block of smoky marble, at one end of the red carpet. [if candle untaken:]Standing upon it is a tall candle, which is lit.

Eat Me (2017)

> x altar (@ Chapel)

You wouldn't think a rodent would have such sumptuous fur, but this royal fur's better groomed than any mortal king's coiffure. It's found a higher purpose here than its skinned bearer could have given it. Now what it needs is something fitting to adorn its spread.

Eruption (2009)

> x broken altar (@ Village)

This is a little altar dedicated to Machichouti - the goddess of fire, volcanoes in general, and your island in particular. Normally, such altars are built out of light wood at the start of the year, to serve all that year, and then be ceremoniously burned at the end of it, at the fire feasts. This one, however, has been broken, from the look of it quite intentionally. You can't help but think that this is significant, somehow.

Escape from the Arboretum (2002)

> x altar (@ in an Ancient Temple)

The altar is a plain, squat, stone rectangle with no distinguishing marks or features.
While the floor around it's base shows signs of wear.

Founder's Mercy (2019)

> x altar (@ Church)

Really just a table.

Ghost Train (2003)

> x altar (@ Chapel)

A simple stone altar. Engraved on its surface is the phrase;"The Four Horsemen."

Halothane (1999)

> x altar (@ Chapel)

Though it is easily recognizable as an altar, it is merely a rough-hewn stone fixture; its covering cloth and other paraphernalia are gone.

The Holy Grail (1989)

> x altar (@ Chapel)

On its side is the text - "ACME ALTAR COMPANY."

The House of Mystery (2018)

> x altar (@ Back Dungeon)

There is nothing on the altar. A plaque can be found in front of it.
The plaque's message has changed.

How to Win at Rock Paper Scissors (2016)

> x altar (@ Southern Building Hallway)

A small altar that can support items to use in a sacred ritual.

Jacks or Better to Murder, Aces to Win (1999)

> x altar (@ Sanctuary)

There isn't much of a physical distinction between the sanctuary and the altar. The two run together in the tapestry that is this whole interior. The necessary religious separation must be more of a feel, that is, one just "knows" where the altar is. You now recall an obscure philosophical lecture on how two can be one and yet separate and now you understand (a little more, anyway.)

Last Day of Summer (2011)

> x altar (@ Chapel)

The altar stands empty along the eastern wall of the chapel.

Lydia's Heart (2007)

> x altar (@ A Meadow)

The stone block is a black cube about four feet on each side. Its surface is rough, and the edges and corners are chipped and cracked, as though it was broken off or carved out from a larger piece of stone. Or possibly it’s just incredibly ancient. Exotic-looking carvings can be discerned on one face, though they’re half-hidden from view by tall grass, and the top of the block is thinly stained with a dried, dark residue, a little of which has trickled down one side. Tufts of grass grow tall and thick around the base.

The Mage Wars: Statue (2003)

> x altar (@ Altar)

Large and square, the altar was carved from stone. Grey, perhaps once, but now the surface was stained scarlet.

The Man in the Rain (2010)

> x altar (@ Mountain - top)

The altar is hewn out of stone and is three feet long. There is a round hole in the middle of the altar's flat surface.

Only After Dark (1999)

> x altar (@ Clearing)

It smells evil; the thought of going near it makes your fur bristle.

Perdition's Flames (1993)

> x altar (@ Pyramid Chamber)

Why don't you go up there and have a look?

There is also a location called Altar.

The Quest of the Golden Banana (2004)

> x altar (@ Inside the Temple)

The altar comprises a massive stone slab, carefully carved and dressed into a smooth surface, apart from a curious banana-shaped projection at one end.

Shades of Gray: An Adventure in Black and White (1992)

> x altar (@ Plain White Room)

The table appears to be an altar of some sort. A white candle, a large drum, and a white, lacquered box rest on its smooth surface.

Starry Seeksorrow (2015)

> x altar (@ Folly)

The temple might be fake, but this altar has the unfalsifiable eerie presence of the real thing; Klaus's parents, avid antiquarians, imported it from an otherworldly dig-site. [if examined less than 3 times]Once Klaus "sacrificed" you on this altar. (And then sewed you up again, thankfully.)

Some significance of an expedition nags at your mind.[end if]

Tex Bonaventure and the Temple of the Water of Life (2013)

> x altar (@ An Extremely Dirty Chamber / An Extremely Sooty Chamber)

The altar occupies the middle of the chamber, and is plain, unadorned stone - or you assume it is, underneath the layer of [dirt or soot]. Sharp sticks surround it, and on top of it rests a sarcophagus, with pride of place.

Too Much Exercise (2006)

> x altar (@ Inside the cave)

The altar is decorated with a monitor and a coin slot.

Unity (1998)

> x altar (@ Ruined Temple)

Somehow, almost miraculously, the mirror-smooth finish of the altar top has escaped the ravages of the desert sandstorms that have reduced the rest of the temple nearly to rubble.

In the very centre of the slab there is a depression, precisely cut in the shape of an octagon.

Unscientific Fiction (2008)

> x altar (@ Temple of Mushrooms)

There is an inscription on the altar, surprisingly it's in regular modern English. It says:

The first one who succeeds in balancing the holy scales without removing the rock on the right scale will achieve ultimate happiness, ultimate knowledge and ultimate wealth. Beyond all this, you will also receive two free tickets to the zoo.

Waystation (1995)

> x altar (@ Church)

The altar is covered in dust, much like the rest of this church.

YAGWAD (2000)

> x altar (@ Monastery Hall)

The cracked stone altar features a huge eyeball, carved in bas-relief.

You Are Here (2001)

> x altar (@ Temple, by altar)

An elaborately-carved altar devoted to Athena.

Default response instances

John's Fire Witch (1995): altar @ Trophy Room.