text: > Look around
  If the rest of the casino is a place of leisure, this lair is a place of business. Shark-faced humans in formal attire loom over tables playing some incomprehensible card game, accepting both wins and
  losses with aloof detachment. Aside from a desultory appreciative or sympathetic murmur from onlookers following a particularly involved hand, the room has the quiet intensity of an art museum. Whorls of cigarette smoke drift across the glaring lights overhead.
  
  The main area of the of the casino lies to the east.
  
  The card sharp is watching the other gamblers.
  
  I can also see the gambler here.
  
  > go to the east
  This small area at the edge of the casino empties out onto a large, well-kept lawn. Decorative urns and uninspired statuary flank the casino entrance to the west, but the lawn is empty except for a few stands of bay trees. After the incessant commotion of the casino, it's remarkable in its unremarkableness. There's probably some sort of metaphor for humanity there; I just think it looks pretty.
  
  east. To the north, at the far end of the lawn, is a cluster of
  hedges.
  
  A marble bench sits near the edge of the lawn. A sword cane has been left on it.
  
  > look at the bench
  It's a ponderous bulk of white marble, with lion's heads carved into its armrests.
  
  On the marble bench is a sword cane.
  
  > look at the cane
  A weapon for people who like looking smart more than being smart. Nevertheless, I've seen them put to good use once or twice.
  
  > get it
  As a demon, I can only manipulate spiritual objects, not physical
  ones.
  
  > go north
  meticulously cut into a network of crisscrossing channels. Presumably the effect is disorienting to humans, but I have no trouble making out the open area to the north, nestled in the center of the maze. The gravel pathways snake around it, warm in the heavy evening air.
  
  The rest of the casino grounds lie to the south.
  
  A magpie perches, looking for something shiny to abscond with.
  
  > look at the magpie
  Magpies are not quite up to the level of ravens, but they're still solidly respectable corvids. They're not as evil as ravens, sadly, but they're actually a bit more acquisitive and mischievous.
  
  > TAKE
  something shiny.
  
  The magpie perches, looking for something shiny to abscond with.
  
  > get take
  I extract the take intent from the magpie.
  
  > Go north
  This small garden lies at the center of the hedge maze. Moss grows optimistically through cracks in the mosaic floor, and vines wrap around the columns ringing the open area. A fountain in the center, flowing but full of vegetation and other flotsam, breaks the summer humidity. A torturous (footnote 2) path to the south heads back into the maze.
  
  of the area, sparkling with faint spiritual energy.
  
  > Footnote 2
  (2) ...A torturous path to the south: My editor suggests that
  I meant tortuous here, but I'm a hopeless optimist.
  
  > look at the statue
  I don't know what sort of figure it's supposed to represent; it may
  not even be intended to be anyone at all. The statue is also hollow
  and sparkling with faint spiritual energy.
  
  The statue is mystically sealed, presumably to protect its contents from the opposition. The barrier is also keeping me from accessing its contents, a confidential codebook, as long as it's closed.
  
  > Go south
  meticulously cut into a network of crisscrossing channels. Presumably the effect is disorienting to humans, but I have no trouble making out the open area to the north, nestled in the center of the maze. The gravel pathways snake around it, warm in the heavy evening air.
  
  The rest of the casino grounds lie to the south.
  
  A magpie is perched here.
  
  > go south
  This small area at the edge of the casino empties out onto a large, well-kept lawn. Decorative urns and uninspired statuary flank the casino entrance to the west, but the lawn is empty except for a few stands of bay trees. After the incessant commotion of the casino, it's remarkable in its unremarkableness. There's probably some sort of metaphor for humanity there; I just think it looks pretty.
  
  east. To the north, at the far end of the lawn, is a cluster of
  hedges.
  
  A marble bench sits near the edge of the lawn. A sword cane has been left on it.
  
  > Go east
  This cobblestone trail runs from the casino to the hotel on the complex. Box trees flank the path, interspersed with a variety of colorful ornamental plants I don't recognize. The hotel it leads to is a sprawling villa of orange bricks with towers sprouting around its perimeter. A stone archway leads east into the hotel, and the trail winds to the west.
  
  A tarnished silver mirror hangs over the archway leading east.
  
  On the silver mirror is some holly.
  
  A kid stands off to one side, looking bored.
  
  > look at the kid
  One of those young humans there seem to keep being more of. I wouldn't normally expect to see one in a place like this, but perhaps away from the actual gambling humans deem it appropriate.
  
  I've never understood the point of children. My kind, and as far as I know those of my opposite number as well, are created ex nihilo for a specific purpose. We're ideally suited for that purpose, and we have all the talent and drive needed to fulfill it. I haven't always been the efficient and accomplished lawyer I am now, for example, but I've always wanted to be, and I've had millennia to hone my craft. Humans are just thrown into a world they don't understand without any explanation, and they're expected to find something meaningful to do, figure out how to do it, and find an opportunity to do it���all on their
  own, and with a time limit of less than a century. It's hardly surprising that humanity is so receptive to the influences of my organization and the Other Side.
  
  > examine the mirror
  The mirror is so badly tarnished as to be almost black. This is partially disguised by the prickly-leaved, festive, and inconvenient holly on it. It hangs over a stone archway that I'd ordinarily be able to easily pass through.
  
  > examine the holly
  A festive garland of holly in an inconvenient location. It reminds me of the salt at the casino entrance; if that was happenstance, then the holly is at least coincidence.
  
  > Inventory
  Intentions:
  the take intent
  the block intent
  the wait intent
  the explore intent
  the fold intent
  
  Other possessions:
  a detector
  an intercepted communiqu��
  
  > put the explore on kid
  I give the explore intent to the kid, who now intends to explore for somewhere fun to play.
  
  The kid wanders off to the west.
  
  > go west
  This small area at the edge of the casino empties out onto a large, well-kept lawn. Decorative urns and uninspired statuary flank the casino entrance to the west, but the lawn is empty except for a few stands of bay trees. After the incessant commotion of the casino, it's remarkable in its unremarkableness. There's probably some sort of metaphor for humanity there; I just think it looks pretty.
  
  east. To the north, at the far end of the lawn, is a cluster of
  hedges.
  
  A marble bench sits near the edge of the lawn. A sword cane has been left on it.
  
  The kid runs excitedly into the maze.
  
  > Go north
  meticulously cut into a network of crisscrossing channels. Presumably the effect is disorienting to humans, but I have no trouble making out the open area to the north, nestled in the center of the maze. The gravel pathways snake around it, warm in the heavy evening air.
  
  The rest of the casino grounds lie to the south.
  
  The kid gets completely confused and ends up running right out of the maze.
  
  A magpie is perched here.
  
  > wait a while
  Time passes.
  
  The kid runs into the maze and immediately gets turned around here.
  
  > Wait
  Time passes.
  
  The kid gets completely confused and ends up running right out of the maze.
  
  > get explore
  I extract the explore intent from the kid.