text: [Themes: Surreal, Horror, Egypt]
  
  > Look around
  This spacious room is comfortably if sparsely furnished. A plush sofa and two matching armchairs are arranged around a low wooden tea-table. Curtains hang over the long windows on the south wall, keeping the warmth from the old electric fireplace in; a clock hangs over the mantelpiece. The overall effect might even be cosy, were it not for the stark white glare of the unshielded bulb dangling from the ceiling.
  
  A simple wooden staircase on the west wall leads up to the first floor; underneath the stairs is an utility closet. The kitchen can be seen through the empty doorway to the east.
  
  The front door is reassuringly and securely locked.
  
  On the kitchen doorway is a can of white paint.
  
  You can also see a pair of gloves and an ornamental plate here.
  
  > get all
  gloves: Taken.
  ornamental plate: Taken.
  sofa: That's hardly portable.
  chairs: That's hardly portable.
  light bulb: That's hardly portable.
  table: That's hardly portable.
  front door: That's fixed in place.
  utility closet: That's hardly portable.
  kitchen doorway: That's hardly portable.
  
  > open the closet
  It's already open.
  
  > go to the east
  A large bookcase occupies the north wall of this brightly lit room. Next to the dull green curtains of the window stands a wooden desk.
  
  Somewhere nearby, you hear the burble of the hot water pipes.
  
  > hit the drawer
  Frustrated, you aim a kick at the drawer and hear a satisfying crack. You cringe as the broken drawer crashes noisily to the floor, spilling out its contents.
  
  > get all from the satchel
  catapult: Removed.
  net: Removed.
  length of sewing thread: Removed.
  squash ball: Removed.
  
  > tie the ball to thread
  You tie the squash ball to the length of sewing thread.
  
  > Shoot ball at rafter
  Taking careful aim, you let fly with the squash ball, which flies just over the beam on which the duck sits in a graceful arc... and hits the huge portrait on the north wall. Your heart sinks as you hear the glass shatter, and your only thought is to flee...
  
  You open your eyes in front of the fireplace, feeling rather dizzy all of a sudden. Surely things aren't supposed to happen this way.
  
  This spacious room is comfortably if sparsely furnished. A plush sofa and two matching armchairs are arranged around a low wooden tea-table. Curtains hang over the long windows on the south wall, keeping the warmth from the old electric fireplace in; a clock hangs over the mantelpiece. The overall effect might even be cosy, were it not for the stark white glare of the unshielded bulb dangling from the ceiling.
  
  A simple wooden staircase on the west wall leads up to the first floor; underneath the stairs is an utility closet. The kitchen can be seen through the empty doorway to the east.
  
  The front door is reassuringly and securely locked.
  
  On the kitchen doorway is a can of white paint.
  
  You can also see a college photograph, a pair of gloves and an ornamental plate here.
  1
  
  > get all
  duck: If only your arms were thirty feet long.
  portraits: That's hardly portable.
  skylight: That's hardly portable.
  table: It weighs more than you do.
  length of rope: Taken.
  rafters: Don't be silly.
  
  > drop all
  catapult: Dropped.
  
  > climb the rope
  You give the rope a few experimental tugs, and it seems to support your weight. You've always been scared of heights, but it would be such a waste to turn back now. Gingerly, you ascend the rope.
  
  Great Hall (in the rafters)
  You are clinging to one of the lower beams of the rafters, trying not to look down. The beam's surface is covered with years of dust. Your rope is the only way back down.
  
  The infamous duck perches here.
  
  > Clean
  What do you want to clean?
  
  > Dust
  What do you want to dust?
  
  > climb the rope
  You give the rope a few experimental tugs, and it seems to support your weight. You've always been scared of heights, but it would be such a waste to turn back now. Gingerly, you ascend the rope.
  
  Great Hall (in the rafters)
  You are clinging to one of the lower beams of the rafters, trying not to look down. The beam's surface is covered with years of dust. Your rope is the only way back down.
  
  > Examine beam
  Looking from your perch towards the screens at the other end of the hall, the rafters take on the appearance of a shadowy tunnel.
  
  > untie the rope
  You untie the length of rope from the length of string.
  You untie the length of rope from the table.
  
  > get all
  table: It weighs more than you do.
  portrait: That's hardly portable.
  length of sewing thread: Taken.
  length of string: Taken.
  catapult: Taken.
  rafters: Don't be silly.
  
  > go south
  The doors are locked.
  
  > climb the screen
  Your quest successful, you clamber over the screens and stealthily away, smiling as you think of the admiration you'll receive from your fellow students for this feat of daring.
  
  It is a terrible shock when the duck writhes in your hands, flattening into a mere photograph, but at least one thing from this dream has remained with you...
  
  [You are no longer afraid of heights.]
  
  This spacious room is comfortably if sparsely furnished. A plush sofa and two matching armchairs are arranged around a low wooden tea-table. Curtains hang over the long windows on the south wall, keeping the warmth from the old electric fireplace in; a clock hangs over the mantelpiece. The overall effect might even be cosy, were it not for the stark white glare of the unshielded bulb dangling from the ceiling.
  
  A simple wooden staircase on the west wall leads up to the first floor; underneath the stairs is an utility closet. The kitchen can be seen through the empty doorway to the east.
  
  The front door is reassuringly and securely locked.
  
  On the kitchen doorway is a can of white paint.
  
  You can also see a pair of gloves and an ornamental plate here.
  
  > get all
  kitchen doorway: That's hardly portable.
  utility closet: That's hardly portable.
  front door: That's fixed in place.
  table: That's hardly portable.
  light bulb: That's hardly portable.
  chairs: That's hardly portable.
  sofa: That's hardly portable.
  ornamental plate: Taken.
  gloves: Taken.
  
  In the distance, you hear the wail of an approaching siren.
  
  > go to the east
  This room retains a faint smell of paint. Cupboards containing kitchen utensils and tinned food leer at you from the walls. The only exit is back west to the living room.
  
  The sink is filled with broken glass.
  
  The siren is getting closer, and you can now make out the throb of an engine.
  
  > Go up
  You are in the western half of a plain whitewashed east-west corridor lit by a lamp hanging next to the stairs, which lead down to the ground floor. The carpeted wooden floor creaks annoyingly under your feet.
  
  The bathroom lies to the north; a ladder hangs from an opening in the ceiling to the east.
  
  The siren is getting closer, and you can now make out the throb of an engine.
  
  > go east
  Upstairs Corridor (by ladder)
  A ladder hangs down from a dark square hole in the high ceiling of this unadorned corridor. Identical doors to the north, east and south lead to various rooms. To the west, hanging over the stairs, a bright electric lamp provides illumination.
  
  The siren abruptly stops, and you hear the squeal of mistreated tyres.
  
  > Go upwards
  The ladder groans, but supports your weight easily.
  
  Fumbling in the dark a bit, you discover the light switch and flip it, illuminating the attic.
  
  Dust covers the floorboards of this dim attic, lit by a weak ceiling lamp, and the air makes you sneeze. Some old chairs are piled unceremoniously in one corner. There is no sign of the missing keys.
  
  The growling, steam-breathing monster crouching by the north wall, upon closer inspection, turns out to be a leaky boiler, pipes raising its main tank slightly off the floor.
  
  The car comes to a halt just outside your house. You feel a sudden chill. They are coming for you!
  
  > wear gloves
  You put on the gloves.
  
  You hear vehicle doors being flung open, and cannot suppress the urge to scream.
  
  > Scream
  Your scream only causes the men outside to redouble their efforts.
  
  Heavy feet pound on the pavement as the car doors are slammed shut again.
  
  > examine the boiler
  Pipes hold the main boiler tank a few inches off the floor. Near the top of the boiler, a somewhat loose pipe lets out the odd puff of steam.
  
  Heavy feet pound on the pavement as the car doors are slammed shut again.
  
  > look under the boiler
  Looking underneath the boiler, you spy the lost keyring wedged between the tank and the floorboards. Grasping it in your gloved hands, you work it free.
  
  (You now have the keyring.)
  
  The knocking and shouting continues outside, and dread rises in you from a bottomless well. What have you done?