text: > look around
  Centipedes and beetles scurry away across the rotten floorboards as you shine your light across the room. Over in the corner sits a hulking shape of black metal that was probably once a wood-burning furnace; aside from that, the cellar looks empty. A dark alcove, the shadows within too thick to see through, opens in the west wall, and a trap door in the ceiling leads back up to the outside.
  
  At the very edge of your light's glow, you can just make out a horribly suggestive shape lying in the shadows behind the furnace.
  
  > open the trap door
  It seems to be locked.
  
  > look at the furnace
  It's a big, pot-bellied iron furnace, blackened from years of use, with a hatch on one side and numerous twisting pipes which snake out of the top and grope their way up to the ceiling.
  
  > Go west
  This alcove used to house a stairwell leading up and down; now it contains only a few rotted boards jutting from the walls and an empty shaft dropping down out of sight. Above you hang the broken-off remains of the stairs leading up to the ground floor, the last shattered riser only a couple of tantalizing feet out of reach.
  
  > look at the riser
  It looks as though it might bear your weight; unfortunately it's just a couple of feet beyond your reach.
  
  > examine the shape
  It's the dead body of a woman. Her head has been raggedly hacked away, and her clothes above the waist are soaked through with blood. As you fight to control your rising gorge, you note that the body cannot have been here for very long; the decay, though bad, is not very far advanced. She must have been killed within the last couple of days at most.
  
  > search the body
  Gingerly, trying to avoid the worst of the blood, you lift the woman's lapel, hoping to find something -- identification, maybe. Her wallet is missing; however, you do find, tucked into the pocket of her blazer, a small, steel key.
  
  > examine it
  It looks like the kind of key that would open a desk drawer.
  
  > check what you're carrying
  You are wearing your trenchcoat, your clothes and your wedding ring; in addition, you have in your hands a small steel key, a broken padlock, a teddy bear, a tattered drawing and a broom.
  
  The pockets of your trenchcoat contain a meat hook, a newspaper, a strange metal flute, a silver locket, a gold locket, a flashlight (providing light), a keyring, on which are five keys (a small copper key, an old-fashioned brass key, an old-fashioned iron key, a key to the house and a key to the cellar), an animal's skull, Michael's faculty card, a bundle of soggy pages, a puzzle box (which is open but empty), a flask (which is closed), a letter opener, a slip of paper, a family album, a book of matches with six matches left, a torn journal, a typewritten notice, a lantern, your umbrella and a towel.
  
  > Go west
  This alcove used to house a stairwell leading up and down; now it contains only a few rotted boards jutting from the walls and an empty shaft dropping down out of sight. Above you hang the broken-off remains of the stairs leading up to the ground floor, the last shattered riser only a couple of tantalizing feet out of reach.
  
  > jump
  You take a few steps back, draw in a deep breath, and make a dash for the edge. At the last possible second you jump, sailing out over the pit as you make a desperate grab for the bottom riser...
  
  ... and catch it.
  
  Unfortunately, you lose your grip on the broom, the tattered drawing, the teddy bear, the broken padlock and the small steel key while trying to grab the riser, and they tumble it tumbles into the darkness below.
  
  The riser bends ominously under your weight but doesn't give. Panting, you haul yourself up onto the creaking stairs.
  
  The stairs stop short about seven feet shy of the basement floor, the bottom-most steps hanging suspended over an empty shaft that descends beyond sight into the shadowy depths. What's left of the structure creaks and shifts uneasily under your feet. At the top of the stairs to the north, a doorway opens onto the ground floor of the church.
  
  The creaking under your feet is getting louder.
  
  > put all in the pocket
  small steel key: You slip the small steel key into the pocket of your trenchcoat.
  broken padlock: You slip the broken padlock into the pocket of your trenchcoat.
  teddy bear: You slip the teddy bear into the pocket of your trenchcoat.
  tattered drawing: You slip the tattered drawing into the pocket of your trenchcoat.
  broom: The broom is too long to fit in your pockets, deep though they are.
  
  > throw the broom on the riser
  The bottom-most riser is just beyond your reach.
  
  > jump
  You take a few steps back, draw in a deep breath, and make a dash for the edge. At the last possible second you jump, sailing out over the pit as you make a desperate grab for the bottom riser...
  
  ... and catch it.
  
  The riser bends ominously under your weight but doesn't give. Panting, you haul yourself up onto the creaking stairs.
  
  The stairs stop short about seven feet shy of the basement floor, the bottom-most steps hanging suspended over an empty shaft that descends beyond sight into the shadowy depths. What's left of the structure creaks and shifts uneasily under your feet. At the top of the stairs to the north, a doorway opens onto the ground floor of the church.
  
  The creaking under your feet is getting louder.
  
  > go to the north
  A dim antechamber, opening onto the main chapel to the east. To the west, the main doors to the church have been solidly nailed shut, and through a shadowy doorway to the south you can see stairs leading down.
  
  Piled in one dusty corner is a heap of old cloth.
  
  > examine the door
  At least a dozen sturdy boards have been nailed across the sturdy oak doors; even with proper tools, it would take you days to pry them loose.
  
  From the stairwell behind you there is a sudden, painful shriek of nails ripping out of stone, a loud, protracted splintering, and finally a thunderous crash that seems to echo up the shaft from far below.
  
  > look at the heap
  It's a hooded robe, left in a rumpled heap on the floor.
  
  > wear it
  You'll have to take off the trenchcoat first.
  
  > look at the coat
  You bought this coat during your honeymoon in England; it's a genuine London Fog. In addition to looking very cool, it has several deep pockets in which you can fit just about anything.
  
  > examine the robe
  The robe is made of some rough, heavy material, dyed a deep, murky red, like old wine. Its voluminous folds would easily cover you head to toe.