text: [Themes: Lovecraftian, Comedy, Lovecraft]
  
  > Look around
  Foyer (Greg Frost)
  Standing in the narrow entry hall is like being at the mouth of a cave. The only light comes in through tall windows on either side of the door and a half-round window above. All of the furniture has been removed from the foyer, leaving tracks in the heavy dust.
  
  Morning light slants across the floor. Hallways lead west and east into other parts of the house. A doorway leads north; the front door is to the south.
  
  > put the brass key in the key pocket
  You unzip the key pocket, deposit the large brass key, then zip the key pocket back up again.
  
  > examine the coffee
  The swirls in your cup form concentric circles. Lack of a symbolic image means that you have accomplished everything you must in your current environment and should move on to find new challenges in order to grow as a person.
  
  A faint smell of mildew emanates from it.
  
  > go to the south
  Mudroom (Matt Weiner)
  The porch is a mudroom, a place for taking off coats and muddy shoes. The marble front wall seems like a sheer cliff face, the porch like a flimsy shelter built onto it. The front door leads inside to the north.
  
  In one corner of the porch a strangely shaped hook is fastened to the wall. A calfskin coat hangs beside it.
  
  In the other corner of the porch is a small wooden table.
  
  A slightly muddy welcome mat lies in front of the door.
  
  Against the front wall are a pair of blue cloth slippers and a single brown leather boot.
  
  > pull the string
  The doll intones: "Guard against the hallway! The floor symbolises your sense of security! It is narrower than it may seem!"
  
  > pull string
  The doll intones: "Flee the moulding! White is the hue of a dead dove!"
  
  > examine the moulding
  The white moulding along the bottom of the wall and over the doors has numerous scratches and dings. It looks like the furniture was moved out quickly and without much care.
  
  > Inventory
  You are carrying:
  a teapot
  a dull machete
  an ornate metallic box (open but empty)
  a tiny leather journal
  Daniel Baker's note
  an old paperback book
  an old newspaper (smelling faintly of mildew)
  a metal flask
  a half-full styrofoam coffee cup (smelling faintly of mildew)
  a familiar gold wristwatch
  a glass jar containing an insect
  a pull-string doll (smelling faintly of mildew)
  The Modern Girl's Divination Handbook -- Volume Three
  a postcard of Big Ben (smelling faintly of mildew)
  the diary of Phyllis Cragne (smelling faintly of mildew)
  The Dollmaker's Journal (smelling faintly of mildew)
  a repaired page (smelling faintly of mildew)
  a wad of cash
  an antique locket (closed)
  a moldy, waterlogged journal
  Twin Hearts Between the Planes
  a trolley schedule (smelling faintly of mildew)
  a backpack features guide
  a grimy rock (smelling faintly of mildew)
  a long hooked pole
  a soggy tome
  an employee ID card (smelling faintly of mildew)
  a shard of shattered carapace (smelling faintly of mildew)
  some yellowed newspapers
  a rusty piece of metal
  Tolerating An Asinine God (smelling faintly of mildew)
  loose bricks (smelling faintly of mildew)
  a black business card (smelling faintly of mildew)
  a glass shard (smelling faintly of mildew)
  a trophy for a dog race (smelling faintly of mildew)
  a rusty flathead screwdriver
  a pair of garden shears (smelling faintly of mildew)
  a gallon jug of white vinegar (smelling faintly of mildew)
  some mildewed leather gloves
  a key from an urn
  a bronze urn (closed)
  a copper urn (smelling faintly of mildew) (closed)
  a spray bottle that used to contain fungicide
  a waterproof flashlight (smelling faintly of mildew)
  a pamphlet of home listings (smelling faintly of mildew)
  a mallet
  a gold jacket (being worn)
  a filthy rug
  a hovering spark (haunting you) (smelling faintly of mildew)
  a giant milkweed leaf (being worn as a mask)
  a Jansport backpack (being worn and open)
  a hidden pocket (open but empty)
  a key pocket (closed)
  a book pocket (open but empty)
  a side pocket (closed)
  a trash pocket (closed)
  a trolley pass (being worn)
  
  > examine the hallway
  The hardwood floor and wallpaper continue down a narrow hallway to the next room, which is dark. Aren't there any other windows in this house?
  
  > Xyzzy
  Nothing happens.
  
  > pull the string
  The doll intones: "Beware the dust! Dust suggests that certain aspects of yourself have been neglected! The floor suggests your sense of security!"
  
  > look at the dust
  Dust covers most surfaces in the foyer. Tracks on the floor show where people have been more recently; the dust is deeper along the walls. Near the west wall there is a dark line.
  
  > look at the dark Line
  There is a small object under the dust. You lean over to look at it, trying not to sneeze. It's a tarnished silver pendant, about the size of your thumb, on a leather cord. It must have been dropped behind some piece of furniture and forgotten.
  
  > get it
  You take the pendant and sneeze as dust gets in your face. The charm is a silver hand, tarnished and dented. You hold the pendant at arm's length and shake the dust off.
  
  > examine the pendant
  It's a tarnished silver pendant, about the size of your thumb, on a leather cord. The pendant is shaped like an open hand. It's been damaged - a deep groove, like a chisel mark, cuts across the palm, nearly breaking the pendant in half.
  
  > Break pendant
  It's broken already.
  
  > eat the pendant
  For a second you have a crazy impulse to put the pendant in your mouth. It passes.
  
  > go to the west
  Court (Ryan Veeder)
  Walls paneled with elaborate boiseries curl slowly around this ovular hall. The western vertex of the ellipse is dominated by an enormous window; at the opposite end, a low archway leads east to the foyer. A glass display case is set into the north wall.
  
  In the center of the room, an irregular circle of twelve pedestals surrounds a black monolith.
  
  A white key lies on the floor.
  
  Rain rattles impatiently against the stained glass.
  
  > About yourself
  This room makes you feel very small.
  
  A flash of lightning illuminates the stained glass: You catch a glimpse of a figure wearing a dark cloak.
  
  > examine the coffee
  The contents of your coffee cup startle you so much that you almost drop it. Instead of organic liquid curves and swirls, the cream forms a weblike pattern of jagged geometric lines that radiate out from the
  
  > examine the case
  center at irregular intervals like bolts of lightning.
  
  According to the book you read, images like this occur when your fate depends on so many separate actions and courses of destiny that it can no longer be adequately divined by a leftover cup of now-cold muck water.
  
  A faint smell of mildew emanates from it.
  
  Thunder rolls overhead, increasing in intensity, going on so long and becoming so loud that it must be a jet engine—it stops.
  
  The case is built into the curved wall, so its glass door has been crafted with a subtle but noticeable curve of its own.
  
  The case contains seventeen figurines: a wolverine, a crow, an eel, a rat, a cat, a sheep, a kraken, a duck, a peregrine falcon, a Pontiac Firebird, a tarantula, a white antelope, a mole, a silverfish, a weasel, a Venus flytrap and a greyhound.
  
  Outside, the wind whistles along the manor walls.
  
  > look at the case
  The case is built into the curved wall, so its glass door has been crafted with a subtle but noticeable curve of its own.
  
  The case contains seventeen figurines: a cat, a Pontiac Firebird, a Venus flytrap, a peregrine falcon, a white antelope, an eel, a kraken, a tarantula, a weasel, a wolverine, a greyhound, a crow, a silverfish, a mole, a duck, a rat and a sheep.
  
  An explosion of thunder rattles the house.
  
  > look at the figure
  (the stained glass window)
  The sky outside is dark, and all you can discern in the window is a formless web of lead tracery.
  
  The rain falls harder, louder, slamming into the window.
  
  > listen
  You hear nothing unexpected.
  
  Another flash of lightning: In the stained glass, above the dark figure, a jagged shape looms.
  
  > look at the pedestals
  Each pedestal is a different color (although several are barely-distinguishable shades of yellow): fuscous, griseous, puce, xanthic, croceate, niveous, icterine, fulvous, eburnean, rufous, cesious and mazarine.
  
  Several loud peals of thunder ring out almost rhythmically, as if something were knocking on a gargantuan door.
  
  > look at the monolith
  It's a prism-like column of some black material, its angles forming an asymmetrical pyramid at the top.
  
  The stained glass lights up again, and you see the figure raising something to its lips.
  
  > examine the leather journal
  It's a tiny leather book. It's plain except for an unusual and quite striking design that has been embossed on the cover. Although discolored by age, the initial pages are quite legible. Unfortunately, many of the later pages have suffered heavily due to the silverfish and are covered with a patchwork of irregular, notched holes - only fragments of the once clear handwriting remain.
  
  > Go east
  Foyer (Greg Frost)
  
  > examine the design
  The outline of an animal has been embossed on the cover. If you'd seen this a month ago you'd have only been able to identify it as some sort of bear-like mammal with a long bushy tail. However, your recent trip to the zoo apparently had some educational value. The animal depicted on the cover is clearly a wolverine.
  
  > Go east
  A long and narrow room, with a satin wallcovering in rich, patterned green above the creamy wainscot paneling. The room is overcrowded with paintings and furniture. The door behind you exits to the west, and a door at the end of the gallery on the left wall leads to the north.
  
  This gallery is quite narrow for displaying large paintings; perhaps the width of two people laid end to end. Its narrowness and clutter only feel more claustrophobic when set against the high ceilings. The slim path through the room's center makes you apprehensive about walking through. There are at least three large paintings and an abstract photograph that particularly catch your attention.
  
  Various hulking pieces of furniture are pressed into four dark corners and distributed sporadically along the walls. Tacky bric-a-brac crowds every flat surface. Someone may have hoarded these misfit objects here to keep them from fouling the rest of the house.
  
  An oversized mirror in a heavy wooden frame is casually propped against the door to the north, and you don't see another way through.
  
  > About yourself
  You look fine. You were even having a good hair day earlier. You could probably check your reflection in that mirror at the end of the gallery.
  
  > look at the coffee
  The swirls in your cup form a single cherry. 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.
  
  A faint smell of mildew emanates from it.
  
  > examine the paneling
  The walls are covered in rich, patterned green satin above the creamy wainscot paneling.
  
  > examine the paintings
  Which do you mean, the painting of birds, the painting of meat, the painting of a child or elaborate painted panels?
  
  > put the box in the side pocket
  You unzip the side pocket, deposit the ornate metallic box, then zip the side pocket back up again.
  
  > examine the paintings
  Which do you mean, the painting of birds, the painting of meat or the painting of a child?
  
  > Birds
  This painting is unusually realistic. You can see that looking at it one time won't reveal its full meaning.
  
  Paintings of birds often focus on flight to evoke feelings of freedom, hope, and escape. This one feels like gravity extending its hold with physical hands. A label in the center of the stained green wooden frame reads
  
  -or-
  The Triumph of Nature
  
  > look at the birds
  The cowbird chick sits heavy and obvious on its adopted siblings. They must only be a few days old given their lack of feathers, but the cowbird is easily five times as large as the three other struggling chicks. The smaller chicks' closed eyes are black orbs encased in thin skin. Their eyes will never open to the light. Their mouths open in different directions, with wide, pink gapes frozen in permanent, begging hunger.
  
  > look at the birds
  The oversized cowbird is using one foot to steady itself on the edge of the grass nest, distorting the dry grass with its weight. A cracked eggshell is visible next to the cowbird chick, and the remains of a dried sparrow embryo and its yolk have dripped down the side of the nest and dried where the cowbird rests its claws.
  
  > look at the birds
  The stare of this huge cowbird chick is crisp and blank. Unlike portraits whose eyes seemingly follow you around the room, the cowbird chick seems to stare some distance directly behind you. The heavy-edged flanges of its mouth and the wispy eyebrow feathers common to baby birds give it an air of seriousness, like that of an old general.
  
  > examine the meat
  This painting is unusually realistic. You can see that looking at it one time won't reveal its depth.
  
  An oversized painting in an elaborate gold-tinged wood frame. The painting depicts a large and haphazardly piled group of undercooked meats. In the center is a jumble of pinkish hams with crisped skins, darkened in thick lines where they have touched hot metal bars. The hams are freshly cut, exposing flesh dripping with juices traced through with blood. The liquids have congealed into a pool of white grease, surrounding the velvety black figs and turgid cornichons carefully placed around the meaty heap.
  
  > look at the meat
  A label in the bottom center of the frame reads, simply, 'ſteamed meats.' And they called these ſteamed meats despite the fact they are obviously grilled.
  
  > look at Child
  This painting is unusually realistic. You can see that looking at it one time won't reveal its full mystery.
  
  The painting of the child faces the doorway to the west. Ah yes, you have seen this one before. Thomas Cooper Gotch, The Child
  Enthroned. A wise child sits on a wooden chair against a deep
  green background. The child herself is encased in sumptuous robes of blue and black velvet edged with wide gold lace. Her patterned red satin dress with a bright green sash speaks of opulence and taste. A halo, like the moon, rises from the child's head. Although her neutral expression gives you no clue to her thoughts, this only invites you to imagine some emotion for her.
  
  > examine Child
  On further examination, you notice that this is very much not the marble-skinned darling with delicate, square features and gold tresses from the original Gotch. This child clearly resembles you.
  
  > look at Child
  Your mind races. This child is certainly your spitting image.