pro·voke ( P ) Pronunciation Key (pr-vk)
tr.v. pro·voked, pro·vok·ing, pro·vokes

1. To incite to anger or resentment.
2. To stir to action or feeling.
3. To give rise to; evoke: provoke laughter.
4. To bring about deliberately; induce: provoke a fight.

play along

Cooperate or pretend to cooperate, as in They decided to play along with the robbers, at least for a while [Colloquial; 1920s]

And that's terrible.