text: [Themes: Fantasy, metaphysics, physical simulation, telescopic descriptions, transformation, female protagonist]
  
  > go down
  There is an exit east, and a stairway leading up.
  
  > U,E,D,S,W
  This is the rim of a great cistern, which is built of bricks and lined with plaster, and must be very old. Along the inside of the cistern, a spiral stair descends towards the surface of the water, more than a full story below you.
  
  The walls themselves are painted with images of the vast unsociable ocean: of the broad empty water, the clustering clouds, the thin and distant crust that is the beginning of the New World.
  
  Tower, Bottom
  You stand at the bottom of a stone tower. Doorways open in each of the cardinal directions, except for the north; there, a spacious niche contains the statue of a woman, skillfully executed in white marble.
  
  The center of the room is occupied by a spiral staircase, but one made of such slender and delicate supports that it obscures neither light nor view.
  
  The silvery door to the south stands open.
  Stairs lead up, and doorways open south, east and west.
  
  A straight white light comes through the hole in the ceiling, but it is soon after twisted and bent: mirrors cast it from angle to angle; crystal divides it; glass stains it.
  
  East and west, low corridors lead into shadow.
  
  The silvery door to the north stands open.
  
  A long, vaulted room, lined with cages of filigree and jewels. All of the animals are motionless and still, perhaps through the art of a taxidermist. In one cage is an elephant, so short that he reaches only to your knee; you easily could lift him under one arm and carry him away. In another cage, a giant mouse lies, curled as though slumbering, his paws folded in the semblance of prayer.
  
  Mounted on a swivel on the wall is what looks like an irregular hourglass, one bulb larger than the other. There is no sand within -- nor could there be, since the contraption is open at each end. At the moment the smaller end is uppermost.
  
  > examine the key
  A delicate key of silvery metal, with precisely-cut teeth.
  
  At the moment, the delicate key is a somewhat enlarged version of itself.
  
  > put the yarn in the hourglass
  You put the ball of yarn into the contraption; predictably, it squinches down, passes through the narrow neck, and emerges from the other end larger than it was when it went in.
  
  > check your inventory
  You are carrying:
  a ball of yarn (enlarged)
  some slippers (made of stone)
  a needle
  a magnifying glass
  a tube (enlarged and made of metal)
  a delicate key (enlarged and made of metal) (which opens the
  silvered door)
  a workbox
  a ring (being worn)
  
  > untangle the yarn
  You are unable to do so.
  
  > tie the yarn to the slippers
  It's much too tangled.
  
  > put needle in the hourglass
  You put the needle into the contraption; predictably, it squinches down, passes through the narrow neck, and emerges from the other end larger than it was when it went in.
  
  > check your inventory
  You are carrying:
  a needle (enlarged)
  a ball of yarn (enlarged)
  some slippers (made of stone)
  a magnifying glass
  a tube (enlarged and made of metal)
  a delicate key (enlarged and made of metal) (which opens the
  silvered door)
  a workbox
  a ring (being worn)
  
  > examine the yarn
  A ball of navy wool bigger than your head.
  
  > ask W,  to go west
  A straight white light comes through the hole in the ceiling, but it is soon after twisted and bent: mirrors cast it from angle to angle; crystal divides it; glass stains it.
  
  East and west, low corridors lead into shadow.
  
  The silvery door to the north stands open.
  
  A long, vaulted room, lined with cages of filigree and jewels. All of the animals are motionless and still, perhaps through the art of a taxidermist. In one cage is an elephant, so short that he reaches only to your knee; you easily could lift him under one arm and carry him away. In another cage, a giant mouse lies, curled as though slumbering, his paws folded in the semblance of prayer.
  
  Mounted on a swivel on the wall is what looks like an irregular hourglass, one bulb larger than the other. There is no sand within -- nor could there be, since the contraption is open at each end. At the moment the smaller end is uppermost.
  
  > take the needle
  Ordinarily you'd find something like this a bit of a task to lift, but the rules are different here. Not that it's any less heavy; just that your capacity for endurance is more.
  
  > W,N,U,W,D
  A straight white light comes through the hole in the ceiling, but it is soon after twisted and bent: mirrors cast it from angle to angle; crystal divides it; glass stains it.
  
  East and west, low corridors lead into shadow.
  
  The silvery door to the north stands open.
  
  Tower, Bottom
  You stand at the bottom of a stone tower. Doorways open in each of the cardinal directions, except for the north; there, a spacious niche contains the statue of a woman, skillfully executed in white marble.
  
  The center of the room is occupied by a spiral staircase, but one made of such slender and delicate supports that it obscures neither light nor view.
  
  The silvery door to the south stands open.
  
  Tower, Mid-level
  A midpoint in the tower, with doorways east and west, lit from above. The south wall is occupied by a deep niche, in which is a statue of a young man in the Greek mode.
  
  The walls have been sheathed with a variety of fine materials, all exceptionally costly: sheets of beaten gold, squares of lapis lazuli, placards of ruby and adamant.
  
  You stand in the center of a dim room, lit from above by a piercing light. Evidently there is another room above you, but the brilliance of its illumination makes it impossible for you to perceive anything up there.
  
  The center of the room is occupied by a bulky expandable staircase. There is an exit east, and a stairway leading up.
  
  > E,D,W
  Tower, Mid-level
  A midpoint in the tower, with doorways east and west, lit from above. The south wall is occupied by a deep niche, in which is a statue of a young man in the Greek mode.
  
  The walls have been sheathed with a variety of fine materials, all exceptionally costly: sheets of beaten gold, squares of lapis lazuli, placards of ruby and adamant.
  
  Tower, Bottom
  You stand at the bottom of a stone tower. Doorways open in each of the cardinal directions, except for the north; there, a spacious niche contains the statue of a woman, skillfully executed in white marble.
  
  The center of the room is occupied by a spiral staircase, but one made of such slender and delicate supports that it obscures neither light nor view.
  
  The silvery door to the south stands open.
  
  This is the rim of a great cistern, which is built of bricks and lined with plaster, and must be very old. Along the inside of the cistern, a spiral stair descends towards the surface of the water, more than a full story below you.
  
  The walls themselves are painted with images of the vast unsociable ocean: of the broad empty water, the clustering clouds, the thin and distant crust that is the beginning of the New World.