text: > Go down
  You kneel by the grave, your gorge rising. The boards crumble, staining your hands yellow, as you push them aside. As you disturb the murky rainwater it bubbles, an acrid stink wafting up; your eyes itch and water.
  
  It's easily six feet deep. You imagine the water closing over your head with a soft slurp, soaking through at once to your skin. You could drown there, clawing at the melting earth walls, your feet never scraping bottom.
  
  You sit back, gasping for air. Your skull fizzes. An earthy taste remains on your tongue, and the wind spattering your face as you get to your feet is an odd relief.
  You'll have to find another way down.
  
  > Go inside
  (first opening the crypt door)
  You push and shove, putting your back into it, but the door remains locked. The skeleton grins stupidly down at you.
  
  > Search flooded
  The water in the grave is too murky to see through.
  
  > pull the string
  The doll intones: "Guard against the trouble of graves!"
  
  > examine grave
  Mildewed and splintering boards cover the nearest grave. Beneath, gritty ocher water, thick as paint, laps the soil. The grave is open. A granite headstone looms over it, implacably blank.
  
  > pull the string
  The doll intones: "Flee the portent of the western columbarium!"
  
  > pull the string
  The doll intones: "Avoid the crypt! A door suggests passage out of life!"
  
  > pull the string
  The doll intones: "Avoid the jeopardy of the northern columbarium! What merely appears deep may be unmeasurable!"
  
  > pull the string
  The doll intones: "Guard against the flooded grave! A gritty texture represents hesitation! Water bespeaks a thirst that cannot be assuaged!"
  
  > pull the string
  The doll intones: "Avoid the trouble of the cheap trick! To think something is cheap indicates your own feelings of inadequacy!"
  
  > open the northern
  The door is shut tight. You prod and pry, the marble panel squeaking on the granite. At last it gives way. Inside, just visible in the dark, is a bronze urn.
  
  > examine the bronze
  The metal seems to absorb all light. Unfamiliar colors dance iridescent on its surface. It's greasy to the touch.
  
  > open the eastern
  You mumble an apology that the rain drowns out. The door gives way easily. Inside, gleaming in the scant light, is a silver urn.
  
  > examine the silver
  (the antique locket)
  The locket and chain are silver, surprisingly untouched by the murky depths from which they came. The front of the locket bears a tiny embossed likeness of a kraken. The initials E.C. are engraved
  on its back.
  
  > look at the silver urn
  The incised shapes nauseate you; they whirl and dance in a frenzy, contorting and bulging, spreading like a fungus. You blink once, twice, and they were never there.
  
  > open the western
  You don't want to touch it, but you grit your teeth. The mold leaves a fine yellow smooch on your hand. You see a copper urn here.
  
  > examine the copper
  The smell leaches through the metal, clinging to your skin, your hair. Your stomach rumbles. You're almost hungry.
  
  > look at the western
  The marble is blank. Mold has seeped into its pores, dyeing it a fungal yellow. You don't want to touch it.
  
  A bouquet of flowers, black with rot, lies at the foot of the columbarium.
  
  > put the silver urn in the western
  You put the silver urn into the western columbarium.
  
  > Open copper
  Greasy red liquid flows out over your hands, itching like centipede legs. Something deep in the urn is just visible, adhered to the side. It is not ashes. Tiny hands, half-reduced to corpse-liquor, fold over a tiny blackened face.
  
  > Inventory
  You are carrying:
  a copper urn (open but empty)
  a bronze urn (closed)
  some rotten flowers
  Tolerating An Asinine God
  a black business card
  a trophy for a dog race
  a half-full styrofoam coffee cup
  a glass shard
  a giant milkweed leaf (being worn as a mask)
  an antique locket (closed)
  a backpack features guide
  The Modern Girl's Divination Handbook -- Volume Three
  the diary of Phyllis Cragne
  a postcard of Big Ben
  a Jansport backpack (being worn and open)
  a hidden pocket (open but empty)
  a key pocket (open but empty)
  a book pocket (open but empty)
  a side pocket (closed)
  a trash pocket (open but empty)
  a trolley pass (being worn)
  a brass winding key
  a familiar gold wristwatch
  a glass jar containing an insect
  a pull-string doll
  a waterproof flashlight
  a dead battery
  The Dollmaker's Journal
  a repaired page
  a moldy, waterlogged journal
  a small, rectangular battery
  Twin Hearts Between the Planes
  a trolley schedule
  Peter's jacket
  a grimy rock
  a long hooked pole
  a soggy tome
  a book list
  an employee ID card
  a shard of shattered carapace
  some yellowed newspapers
  a rusty piece of metal
  loose bricks
  an aluminum key
  a pamphlet of home listings
  a hovering spark (haunting you)
  
  > Close copper
  You close the copper urn.
  
  > Open bronze
  The stench is thick enough to blind you. Gagging you fall to your knees, shapeless forms whirling behind your eyelids; colors flash, almost solid, as if they have physical presence. You see stars bursting, flesh sloughing off the delicate bones of something curled in a damp and pulsating womb, a face that is not human and not animal. You'll have nightmares tonight, if you sleep tonight.
  
  > close it
  You close the bronze urn.
  
  > open the silver urn
  You open the silver urn, revealing a key from an urn.
  
  > get key from the urn
  Which do you mean, the silver urn, the copper urn or the bronze urn?
  
  > Inventory
  You are carrying:
  a key from an urn
  a copper urn (closed)
  a bronze urn (closed)
  some rotten flowers
  Tolerating An Asinine God
  a black business card
  a trophy for a dog race
  a half-full styrofoam coffee cup
  a glass shard
  a giant milkweed leaf (being worn as a mask)
  an antique locket (closed)
  a backpack features guide
  The Modern Girl's Divination Handbook -- Volume Three
  the diary of Phyllis Cragne
  a postcard of Big Ben
  a Jansport backpack (being worn and open)
  a hidden pocket (open but empty)
  a key pocket (open but empty)
  a book pocket (open but empty)
  a side pocket (closed)
  a trash pocket (open but empty)
  a trolley pass (being worn)
  a brass winding key
  a familiar gold wristwatch
  a glass jar containing an insect
  a pull-string doll
  a waterproof flashlight
  a dead battery
  The Dollmaker's Journal
  a repaired page
  a moldy, waterlogged journal
  a small, rectangular battery
  Twin Hearts Between the Planes
  a trolley schedule
  Peter's jacket
  a grimy rock
  a long hooked pole
  a soggy tome
  a book list
  an employee ID card
  a shard of shattered carapace
  some yellowed newspapers
  a rusty piece of metal
  loose bricks
  an aluminum key
  a pamphlet of home listings
  a hovering spark (haunting you)
  
  > examine the key from an the urn
  The key is greasy with fine ash. Was it burned? Who interred this key, and why?
  
  > examine the coffee
  The clouds in your cup form a gunblade. Images of strange hybrids mean that some challenges in your current environment can be defeated with what you already possess, while others will require outside assistance.
  
  > look at flooded
  Mildewed and splintering boards cover the nearest grave. Beneath, gritty ocher water, thick as paint, laps the soil. The grave is open. A granite headstone looms over it, implacably blank.
  
  > enter flooded
  Your throat closes up at the thought of touching the water.
  You'll have to find another way down.
  
  > examine blank
  It's fresher than the others, not yet crusted with lichen. Search as you might, you can't find a name.
  
  > put the flowers in flooded
  You put the rotten flowers into the flooded grave.
  
  > get them
  You imagine reaching into the murky rainwater to retrieve the rotten flowers, and nearly vomit.
  
  > examine grave
  Mildewed and splintering boards cover the nearest grave. Beneath, gritty ocher water, thick as paint, laps the soil. The grave is open. A granite headstone looms over it, implacably blank.
  
  In the flooded grave are some rotten flowers.
  
  > Dig
  You dig at the mud with the toe of your shoe. Lukewarm water seeps in around your toes, soaking your sock.
  
  > look at the cup
  The clouds in your cup form a mermaid. Images of strange hybrids mean that some challenges in your current environment can be defeated with what you already possess, while others will require outside assistance.
  
  > Go northwest
  You make your way to the rear of the manor house toward its back garden, playfully keeping to a trail of broken flagstones leading the way. Your simple amusement fades as you turn a corner to see a distant gate with an incredible amount of overgrowth choking the forward path. Knee-high grass blankets the ground while thick, thorny bushes crowd the way. You plow ahead, fighting through the hairy grass as it grasps and wraps itself around the fabric of your jeans, making every step a struggle. The slog is made worse by the overgrown bushes which seem to lean in further to assail you with their wicked, long thorns. You finally reach the gate with torn and deeply-itchy skin. Using the momemtum you'd built charging through the overgrowth you forcefully open the gate, snapping the vines draped over it which were holding it shut. The now-broken vines dangle downward from an arch over the gate, forming a swaying curtain of thorns which you delicately part and step through.
  
  You nearly jump back at the sight of the writhing scene before you.
  
  The Cragne Manor's Back Garden (Austin Auclair)
  Vines splay across the landscape, every direction they shoot, seemingly racing to the tops of trees to pull them down. The vines wind up and around every structure, overrunning them with sheer, sinister mass. The vines grow in hypnotic tracks across the yard, almost to suggest that they were woven, braided, and arranged with care. It's both unnerving and unusually pretty. If there are windows or a door on the back of the manor house they're utterly smothered by the vines that clamber up the wall and onto the roof, and nothing less than a chainsaw could crack open that tomb.
  
  In the center of the yard is a large, vine-strangled structure that's most likely a fountain. On the left side of the garden is something with the suggested shape of a birdbath, neatly wrapped up in thorny coils. And there's one rather large, building-shaped hill of vines just in front of the southeast corner. Paths out of here lead southwest and southeast.
  
  You can see a large patch of poison ivy (in which is a pair of garden shears) here.
  
  > About yourself
  It has been a long day and the setting sun reminds you of how little you've accomplished. You've come dressed to work, however, with sturdy boots, stiff denim, a shirt you're willing to sacrifice, and a bandana wrapped around your forehead. This old mansion likely needs some love and maintenance and you're wearing the uniform for getting things done.
  
  > check what you're carrying
  You are carrying:
  a key from an urn
  a copper urn (closed)
  a bronze urn (closed)
  Tolerating An Asinine God
  a black business card
  a trophy for a dog race
  a half-full styrofoam coffee cup
  a glass shard
  a giant milkweed leaf (being worn as a mask)
  an antique locket (closed)
  a backpack features guide
  The Modern Girl's Divination Handbook -- Volume Three
  the diary of Phyllis Cragne
  a postcard of Big Ben
  a Jansport backpack (being worn and open)
  a hidden pocket (open but empty)
  a key pocket (open but empty)
  a book pocket (open but empty)
  a side pocket (closed)
  a trash pocket (open but empty)
  a trolley pass (being worn)
  a brass winding key
  a familiar gold wristwatch
  a glass jar containing an insect
  a pull-string doll
  a waterproof flashlight
  a dead battery
  The Dollmaker's Journal
  a repaired page
  a moldy, waterlogged journal
  a small, rectangular battery
  Twin Hearts Between the Planes
  a trolley schedule
  Peter's jacket
  a grimy rock
  a long hooked pole
  a soggy tome
  a book list
  an employee ID card
  a shard of shattered carapace
  some yellowed newspapers
  a rusty piece of metal
  loose bricks
  an aluminum key
  a pamphlet of home listings
  a hovering spark (haunting you)
  
  > look at the coffee
  The clouds in your cup form a row of trees. Botanical images mean that while there is much left to accomplish in the present situation, your immediate environment sustains you, and you have everything that you need.
  
  > examine the vines
  There are so very many vines in this back garden. Flowering, thorny, hairy, and vines in many hues of green and brown. You might be better off asking about the object your target vine has wrapped itself around.
  
  > look at the Fountain
  Trumpet Vine with its bright orange, conical flowers strangles what seems to be a marble fountain. Looking closer you see that the top of the fountain features a cherub giving a peace sign with one of its hands and is pointing at its feet with the other. You determine that when the water is actually flowing, the naked churub pees into the main basin. Disconcertingly, a vine has erupted from the cherub's ...ahem... and it dangles freely. You involuntarily wince.
  
  > look at the bird bath
  Morning Glory with bright, many-hued flowers has wrapped itself around what bears the shape of a birdbath.
  
  You walk over to take a closer look at the birdbath, circling it, and to the west of it, your foot immediately sinks into the vine-covered ground. Ice-cold water floods into your boot and you struggle to break the vines that have helped snare your limb in this hidden water. In a panic you brace yourself on the birdbath, pulling your foot out of the mire, knocking over the birdbath in the process.
  
  Your attention is split between the revelation that there's a pond hidden here and the flat, inscribed stone that was under the birdbath.
  
  > look at Stone
  (the grimy rock)
  A solitary rock sat in the palm of your hand.
  
  > examine inscribed Stone
  You take a closer look at the flat stone that was under the birdbath and scratched into is, "I hid the key from the vines when they weren't looking. That made them angry."
  
  > get it
  The flat stone is firmly stuck in the ground.
  
  > examine pond
  The cold water from the once-hidden pond squelches and croaks from your boot with every step you take. Now that you know it's there, you can identify the depression that forms the line of this body of water. Vines cover the surface of the water, hiding it completely. You try pulling them aside so you can peer into the water but they're too tautly strung. You'll need something stronger than your bare hands to cut them.
  
  When you push down on any portion of the vines, they undulate across the surface of the water, reminding you of the weird water bed your parents had for years. You shudder in disgust for multiple reasons.
  
  > examine the building
  From the sloping roof it's obvious that the massive pile of vines at the southeast corner of this garden is actually a shed. More Honeysuckle vine than man-made structure, it's hard to see how the shed hasn't yet been obliterated by the plants seeking to consume it. Despite the distractingly intoxicating smell of the Honeysuckle flowers, after a few minutes of poking around the structure you identify the location of the door.
  
  A stout bronze padlock (in addition to layers upon layers of vines) keeps the shed's door firmly closed. You also notice a shelf of gardening supplies just to the left of the structure, it too fully crocheted by vines.
  
  > look at the padlock
  A solid wooden door with a fairly new-looking bronze padlock keeping it closed. For extra security the vines growing on the shed also grow tightly against the door.
  
  > examine the shelf
  A wood 3-tiered shelf leans against the shed, fully ensconced in Honeysuckle. You paw through the vines to see cracked pots, broken seed trays, and a few rotted wooden stakes. The only thing of note is a jug of white vinegar.
  
  > examine the vinegar
  A gallon jug of white vinegar. The label is fairly faded but part of it reads, "Possible uses: cleaning appliances such as coffee makers, dishwashers, and washing machines, making hardboiled eggs easier to shell, deodorant, and pouring it on hard-to-pull weeds in your driveway to kill them."
  
  > look at the ivy
  All you can think about is the aphorism, "Leaves of three, leave them be" as you stare at this particularly vigorous and noxious-looking patch of poison ivy vines. Your skin crawls and your imagination runs wild with the nightmare of you falling into the poison ivy and having to scratch your skin until it turns bloody. Their hairy tendrils almost seem to drip with sticky poison.
  
  In the large patch of poison ivy is a pair of garden shears.
  
  > examine the shears
  They're long-bladed garden shears, like a giant pair of scissors. They're currently completely surrounded by vile poison ivy.
  
  > pour the vinegar on the ivy
  Taking the jug of vinegar and following the instructions on the label for dealing with troublesome weeds, you pour it on the poison ivy vines guarding the garden shears. The effect is shockingly immediate and surprisingly, the vines audibly squeal in pain as they melt into goo. The garden shears are left unprotected.
  
  > get the shears
  Now that awful poison ivy has been cleared away...
  
  Taken.
  
  > cut all the the vines
  You're going to have to be a lot more specific. There are countless varieties of vines here.
  
  > Cut pond
  Using your newly-acquired garden shears you attack the vigorous vines covering the pond. After some thorough cutting you reveal the surface of the water.
  
  > cut the shelf
  You trim some of the vines off the garden shelf and you level up your hoticulture skill.
  
  > look in pond
  After cutting away the vines sealing the pond like a thorny pool cover, you reveal most of the pond's surface. The pond is surprisingly clear, even with the early evening's sun ducking behind the horizon. The water is so clear in fact, that you can't miss the rotted skeletal remains of a person sitting down at the bottom of the pond.
  
  > Cut shed
  You trim some of the vines off the shed and particularly those that are helping to keep the door shut. The shears are nowhere near strong enough to tackle that padlock though.
  
  > look at skeleton
  The body of a person wearing gardening overalls and a rotted straw hat lies at the bottom of this once-hidden pond. Their flesh has mostly melted away, leaving a grinning skull that belies their violent end. Vines are hungrily wrapped around the gardener's skeleton and one of the person's hands still clutches at their own throat. Their other hand grasps a rusty screwdriver.
  
  > Cut skeleton
  Cutting it up would achieve little.
  
  > examine the screwdriver
  A flathead screwdriver that is rusty from being underwater for too long.
  
  > get it
  The body of the dead gardener is shallow enough in the pond that you can dip your arm into the water and pry the screwdriver from its death grip. The water is freezing cold and smells like it's been steeped in... well, dead body.
  
  Taken.
  
  > examine the screwdriver
  A flathead screwdriver that is rusty from being underwater for too long. It was underwater because it was being held in the rotting death grip of a gardener (who may have been murdered by vines) before you pried the tool from the person's gross, skeletal hand.
  
  > read flat Stone
  "I hid the key from the vines when they weren't looking. That made them angry."