text: [Themes: female protagonist, Comedy, Lovecraftian]
  
  > Look around
  Backwater Jail (Marshal Tenner Winter)
  The air is stale in this wood-paneled sheriff's office. You feel as if you've stepped back in time maybe twenty years as the office furnishings in here are simple and utilitarian. A desk, generic in style but wide enough for an outdated-looking computer, is near the window. A swivel chair is behind it and a wooden visitors chair is on the other side. Despite the meager light that creeps in the window, there's still a bleak glow from fluorescent bulbs overhead. Other furnishings include a file cabinet and, what appears to be, a locker that was literally ripped out of a high school and placed against the wall in here.
  
  Otherwise, a cheap door with a unisex bathroom sign on it is to the west and a secure door, obviously the lock-up, is to the north. The exit is south.
  
  On the desk is a clipboard holding some paperwork.
  
  > go north
  (first opening the secure door)
  It won't budge.
  
  > unlock Door
  Which do you mean, the secure door or the bathroom door?
  
  > secure Door
  What do you want to unlock the secure door with?
  
  > go west
  You peek inside the bathroom and find literally nothing beyond a toilet and sink. There's no mirror and someone even swiped the shit tickets. You close the door again.
  
  > unlock the Locker with the aluminum
  You unlock the evidence locker.
  
  > open the Locker
  You swing open the locker and are greeting by a desiccated corpse falling into you. Startled beyond rational thought, you collapse to the ground, beneath the corpse, unconscious.
  
  Padded cell (Marius Müller)
  The overhead lightbulb in its wire-mesh cage barely lights the room. Everything here seems a colorless beige - the cracked floor tiles, the thick cloth padding on the walls. A padded door leads south.
  
  A metal chest stands in a corner of the room.
  
  > check what you're carrying
  You are carrying:
  a faint chill (haunting you)
  a strait jacket (being worn)
  
  > About yourself
  You look about as you'd expect after everything that happened to you in all the other rooms.
  
  > look at the jacket
  It's a canvas strait jacket, the kind used to immobilize violent or spastic mental patients. It fastens up the back with a complex series of buckles and straps, while the sleeves cross the chest and fasten around back, making it quite impossible to escape.
  
  > look at the chest
  A metal, military looking chest with a lot of complicated snaps. The lid doesn't close fully. Through the crack you can see a giant milkweed leaf.
  No way you'll open it while stuck in this damn strait jacket.
  
  > examine the lightbulb
  Its an old-fashioned, big, glass one. You might have some use for it, if it weren't protected by a cage of wire mesh.
  
  > examine the cage
  A thin, fragile looking wire-mesh cage houses the lightbulb, presumably to keep patients from messing with it. One corner of it has been pulled outward, and the whole thing seems to hold to the ceiling only barely.
  
  > look at the tiles
  The uneven floor tiles are cracked and smeared with dirt. In your mind, you compare them to other floors you've seen in the Manor.
  
  > look at the chill
  A chill emanates from behind you, fading as you turn.
  
  > examine the padding
  Thick cloth padding covers the floors and ceiling, fastened by deep-set buttons. One of them catches your eye. Where all the others are cloth-covered, this one is brass.
  
  > pull the button
  It is fixed in place.
  
  > open jacket with the knob
  (first taking the brass button)
  You'd need your hands for that.
  
  > look
  Padded cell (Marius Müller)
  The overhead lightbulb in its wire-mesh cage barely lights the room. Everything here seems a colorless beige - the cracked floor tiles, the thick cloth padding on the walls. A padded door leads south.
  
  You've noticed a strange brass button among those that fix the padding to the wall.
  
  A metal chest stands in a corner of the room.
  
  > examine the chest
  A metal, military looking chest with a lot of complicated snaps. The lid doesn't close fully. Through the crack you can see The
  Dollmaker's Journal.
  No way you'll open it while stuck in this damn strait jacket.
  
  > look at the mesh
  A thin, fragile looking wire-mesh cage houses the lightbulb, presumably to keep patients from messing with it. One corner of it has been pulled outward, and the whole thing seems to hold to the ceiling only barely.
  
  > stand on chest
  It's surprisingly hard to do without your hands, but you manage to climb onto the chest. The metal is cold beneath your feet.
  
  > take the mesh
  The height is right, but the bulb and its housing is out of reach in the middle of the room.
  
  > get off the chest
  You get off the chest less than elegantly.
  
  Padded cell (Marius Müller)
  The overhead lightbulb in its wire-mesh cage barely lights the room. Everything here seems a colorless beige - the cracked floor tiles, the thick cloth padding on the walls. A padded door leads south.
  
  You've noticed a strange brass button among those that fix the padding to the wall.
  
  A metal chest stands in a corner of the room.
  
  > look
  Padded cell (Marius Müller) (on the metal chest)
  The overhead lightbulb in its wire-mesh cage barely lights the room. Everything here seems a colorless beige - the cracked floor tiles, the thick cloth padding on the walls. A padded door leads south.
  
  You've noticed a strange brass button among those that fix the padding to the wall.
  
  A metal chest stands in a corner of the room.
  
  > pull the mesh
  Since you don't have the use of your hands, you do a little jump and bite down on the edge of the mesh as hard as you can. You hang in the air for the fraction of a second before gravity does its work and the mesh is pulled down and you land on your shoulder awkwardly. (Here's hoping you didn't fall on your shoulder in an earlier room as well.) Even though you cut your lip a little, from where you lie on the ground you can see the solitary lightbulb, shining it's dim light, free of its cage.
  
  Padded cell (Marius Müller)
  The overhead lightbulb in its wire-mesh cage barely lights the room. Everything here seems a colorless beige - the cracked floor tiles, the thick cloth padding on the walls. A padded door leads south.
  
  You've noticed a strange brass button among those that fix the padding to the wall.
  
  A metal chest stands in a corner of the room.
  
  > examine the bulb
  Its an old-fashioned, big, glass one.
  
  > Break bulb
  You firmly plant your feet on the metal chest. It's good you did all the yoga before you came to the manor (and maybe since?), for you balance perfectly, aim your forehard at the bulb and ... headbutt it. There is a disappointingly low and short shattering sound. The light in the cell goes out, but there is enough room from the door to illuminate it in quite the same way as before. You think you've cut yourself on the face, but feel strangely sure that this wound won't bother you much once you leave this room.
  
  > look
  Padded cell (Marius Müller) (on the metal chest)
  The overhead lightbulb in its wire-mesh cage barely lights the room. Everything here seems a colorless beige - the cracked floor tiles, the thick cloth padding on the walls. A padded door leads south.
  
  A big shard of glass lies here, in a pool of his useless smaller brothers.
  
  You've noticed a strange brass button among those that fix the padding to the wall.
  
  A metal chest stands in a corner of the room.
  
  > Cut jacket
  Even with your nimbleness (yoga), you can't quite hold the shard in a way that would allow you to cut the straitjacket (which is made of thick cotton). Maybe you could find something else to hold it for you?
  
  > put the shard in the chest
  You'd need your hands to open the chest, but there is a small
  crack where the lid doesn't fully close.
  
  > put the shard in the crack
  You gently push the shard into the crack (with your foot) and it fits snugly, with the sharp end pointing outwards conveniently.
  
  > Cut jacket
  You kneel and begin to rub the back of the straitjacket, where the arms are tied behind your back, against the shard of glass. It's slow, dull, throbbing work. After endless minutes you feel the jacket giving some room in your shoulders, and with some more cutting and wriggling the fabric finally gives. You rub your arms for a good minute, willing feeling back into them. Finally, you can feel your aching fingers again. Okay, time to get out of here. Somehow.
  
  > Open chest
  You open the metal chest, revealing an aluminum key, loose bricks, a rusty piece of metal, some yellowed newspapers, a shard of shattered carapace, an employee ID card, a book list, a soggy tome, a long hooked pole, a grimy rock, Peter's jacket, a trolley schedule, Twin Hearts Between the Planes, a pamphlet of home listings, a small, rectangular battery, a moldy, waterlogged journal, a repaired page, The Dollmaker's Journal, a dead battery, a waterproof
  flashlight, a pull-string doll, a glass jar containing an insect, a half-full styrofoam coffee cup, a familiar gold wristwatch, a brass winding key, a trolley pass, a Jansport backpack, an antique locket and a giant milkweed leaf.
  
  > take all
  pamphlet of home listings: Taken.
  
  metal chest: Oof. Too heavy, even when you lift with your knees. aluminum key: Taken.
  
  loose bricks: Taken.
  
  rusty piece of metal: Taken.
  
  yellowed newspapers: Taken.
  
  shard of shattered carapace: Taken.
  
  employee ID card: Taken.
  
  book list: Taken.
  
  soggy tome: Taken.
  
  long hooked pole: Taken.
  
  grimy rock: Taken.
  
  Peter's jacket: Taken.
  
  trolley schedule: Taken.
  
  Twin Hearts Between the Planes: Taken.
  
  small, rectangular battery: Taken.
  
  moldy, waterlogged journal: Taken.
  
  repaired page: Taken.
  
  The Dollmaker's Journal: Taken.
  dead battery: Taken.
  
  waterproof flashlight: Taken.
  
  pull-string doll: Taken.
  
  glass jar containing an insect: Taken.
  
  familiar gold wristwatch: Taken.
  
  brass winding key: Taken.
  
  trolley pass: Taken.
  
  Jansport backpack: Taken.
  
  postcard of Big Ben: Taken.
  
  diary of Phyllis Cragne: Taken.
  
  The Modern Girl's Divination Handbook -- Volume Three: Taken.
  
  backpack features guide: Taken.
  
  antique locket: Taken.
  
  giant milkweed leaf: Taken.
  
  glass shard: Taken.
  
  half-full styrofoam coffee cup: Taken.
  
  > examine the leaf
  A giant milkweed leaf, curled in such a way that it could cling to your face like a mask. It even has two milk-ringed holes for your eyes.
  
  > wear it
  You put on the giant milkweed leaf.
  
  > wear the backpack
  You put on the Jansport backpack.
  
  > check what you're carrying
  You are carrying:
  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
  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 faint chill (haunting you)
  
  > examine the coffee
  The clouds 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.
  
  > turn the knob
  You turn the brass button and this whole section of the padded wall swings open, revealing a small secret compartment with a switch inside. A dusty trophy tumbles out of it and to the floor.
  
  > look at the trophy
  It's a trophy, depicting of a greyhound in mid-jump. The plague reads: To  "Jonathan B. Cragne, Puce Alderman of the Variegated Court, for winning the Cragne Village Dog Race with Bloodfang."
  
  > examine Door
  It's a thick, padded door.
  
  > examine 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.