text: [Themes: Humor, Espionage, Magnetic Scrolls]
  
  > Go downwards
  Experience tells you the mine is probably riddled with lurking nasties. Training tells you there's nothing to worry about. It's dark in there. You haven't got a light. Anyway, who's looking for trouble. You return to the glade.
  Charred Glade
  This unpleasant scene is clear evidence that the hand of man has set foot here. The trees have been damaged by fire, and, on closer inspection, you notice the entrance to a mine leading down.
  
  > take the feathers
  But you are already carrying the feathers.
  
  > examine the feathers
  The feathers are the last remains of a bird.
  
  > Inventory
  You are carrying a crucible, a mould and some feathers.
  You are wearing some jeans and a herringbone overcoat.
  
  > examine the overcoat
  The herringbone overcoat smells slightly fishy, but at least it keeps out the rain.
  
  > look in the pocket
  
  > look at the jeans
  The jeans are held together by the dirt they've accumulated. A good wash and they'd fall to pieces.
  
  > look in the jeans
  The jeans are held together by the dirt they've accumulated. A good wash and they'd fall to pieces.
  
  > Wash jeans
  
  > go to the smithy
  Don't you hate the rain? Why is it raining much harder in this bit of the forest than anywhere else? Cold, grey and wet. Blurg! You can leave in any direction, but the undergrowth is too dense for you to see which way would be best.
  Outside Smithy
  Soggy leaves hang limply from the trees here, and thick clouds drift slowly overhead. A battered blacksmith's forge lies to the east, shrouded on all sides by the trees of the forest.
  Smithy
  The smithy is dark and hot. The cherry-red glow of the fire is proof that someone has been using it quite recently. Curiously, the building has no windows and there is only the one exit, opposite a tool cupboard, to the west.
  There is a cupboard and a bird cage here.
  OK. I'm here!
  
  > examine the birdcage
  
  > examine the cage
  The bird cage is made of cane or something very similar.
  It is open.
  
  > Burn cage
  With what?
  
  > Burn cage with fire
  As you hold the bird cage over the fire the intense heat makes you drop it into the flames. The bird cage burns away.
  
  > hold the cage with the tongs
  You are now holding the bird cage with the tongs.
  Out of the corner of your eye you see a movement in the doorway. It's Micky and he seems even madder than usual.
  "You," screams Micky. "You're the one who's destroyed my peace and quiet. I won't have it I tell you!" He slowly stands up and waves his fist at you. He slowly works himself into a rage. He slowly moves toward you. If you hadn't spent so much time worrying over the dreadful grammar, you might have seen him land the karate chop that broke your neck...
  Castle
  Inside, the castle is exactly what you expected - tacky and featureless with ant eggs near the top and gravel at the bottom. To anyone else, the colours sprayed randomly on the wall would just be colours sprayed randomly on the wall. To a daring inter-dimensional espionage operative like yourself, however, they are obviously used to focus communications across the dimensions. The only exit is out, back to the goldfish bowl. Your attention is drawn to a glass box resting in the middle of the room here, this looks like Panchax's work.
  A smooth warp, a jagged warp and a small warp are also clearly the boss's work.
  
  > enter the smooth warp
  The dimensions flash past as you swim through the smooth warp and slide into the host-parasite interface with consumate ease. Another human. Work, work, work!
  
  It's stopped raining here at the moment, but the clouds overhead show that it could start again any minute. If they decide to burst, the tree stump in the centre of the clearing would probably fill up with water. Paths go south, southeast and east. In all other directions the undergrowth is too tangled to make any progress. Micky Blowtorch, your ex-colleague, now a crazed warp junkie, is lounging around the stump, looking suitably bemused.
  
  > hold the cage with the tongs
  You have now got the bird cage.
  You are now holding the bird cage with the tongs.
  
  > Burn cage with fire
  The bird cage burns away.
  
  > Forge
  Are you talking to yourself again?
  
  > Inventory
  You are carrying some tongs and a mould.
  You are wearing some jeans and a herringbone overcoat.
  
  > Go upwards
  I don't understand /u
  
  > look in the tongs
  The tongs are made from overwrought iron (the blacksmith was a nervous sort of chappie). They are ideal for holding things at a distance.
  
  > Go east
  The smithy is dark and hot. The cherry-red glow of the fire is proof that someone has been using it quite recently. Curiously, the building has no windows and there is only the one exit, opposite a tool cupboard, to the west.
  There is a cupboard here.
  
  > drop all
  Tongs dropped.
  Mould dropped.
  
  > Go west
  Soggy leaves hang limply from the trees here, and thick clouds drift slowly overhead. A battered blacksmith's forge lies to the east, shrouded on all sides by the trees of the forest.
  
  > Go north
  The constant rainfall here is incredibly depressing. So depressing in fact, that if you weren't an alert inter-dimensional espionage operative with other things to think about, you'd get pretty miserable. The forest is impassable to the northeast, east and southeast, although to the north and south it seems to clear a bit.
  
  > Go west
  It's stopped raining here at the moment, but the clouds overhead show that it could start again any minute. If they decide to burst, the tree stump in the centre of the clearing would probably fill up with water. Paths go south, southeast and east. In all other directions the undergrowth is too tangled to make any progress. Micky Blowtorch, your ex-colleague, now a crazed warp junkie, is lounging around the stump, looking suitably bemused.
  
  > Xtump
  
  > examine the stump
  The first thing to catch your eye is the familiar figure sitting upon the stump. The tree stump is all that remains of an oak tree, blown down in a huge gale sometime in late 1987.
  
  > ask Micky about the stump
  Micky Blowtorch says, "It keeps the wind out. Not much use when it's raining though. I'll have to get the roof fixed."
  
  > tell Micky about us
  
  > tell Micky about agency
  
  > tell Micky that i am from the agency
  Please try re-phrasing that.
  
  > wait
  Time passes.
  
  > wait
  Time passes.
  A changed man, Micky gets off the stump. He's muttering to himself - words like 'kill', 'maim' and 'disfigure'. All in all this is an ex-inter-dimensional espionage operative who is less than gruntled with life.
  "You," screams Micky. "You're the one who's destroyed my peace and quiet. I won't have it I tell you!" He slowly stands up and waves his fist at you. He slowly works himself into a rage. He slowly moves toward you. If you hadn't spent so much time worrying over the dreadful grammar, you might have seen him land the karate chop that broke your neck...
  Castle
  Inside, the castle is exactly what you expected - tacky and featureless with ant eggs near the top and gravel at the bottom. To anyone else, the colours sprayed randomly on the wall would just be colours sprayed randomly on the wall. To a daring inter-dimensional espionage operative like yourself, however, they are obviously used to focus communications across the dimensions. The only exit is out, back to the goldfish bowl. Your attention is drawn to a glass box resting in the middle of the room here, this looks like Panchax's work.
  A smooth warp, a jagged warp and a small warp are also clearly the boss's work.
  
  > Go northwest
  Don't you hate the rain? Why is it raining much harder in this bit of the forest than anywhere else? Cold, grey and wet. Blurg! You can leave in any direction, but the undergrowth is too dense for you to see which way would be best.
  The parrot flies off over the trees.
  
  > go northwest
  It's stopped raining here at the moment, but the clouds overhead show that it could start again any minute. If they decide to burst, the tree stump in the centre of the clearing would probably fill up with water. Paths go south, southeast and east. In all other directions the undergrowth is too tangled to make any progress. Micky Blowtorch, your ex-colleague, now a crazed warp junkie, is lounging around the stump, looking suitably bemused.
  The parrot flies off over the trees.
  
  > wait
  Time passes.
  BANG! Something explodes in the distance. But, as they say, 'out of sight, out of mind', so it's probably better not to worry about it.
  
  > look at the stump
  The tree stump is all that remains of an oak tree, blown down in a huge gale sometime in late 1987.
  Micky trudges off towards the wet forest.
  
  > look in the stump
  Right at the bottom of the stump you spy a gold disc.
  Micky arrives looking worried.
  
  > get the disc
  You can't reach the gold disc from here.
  "Get off my stump pea-brain" Micky shouts pushing you aside.
  "Something suspicious is going on," he says. "The only person who'd interfere with the parrot would be someone after the mould. That means Sir Playfair has got someone else on the trail. And that means... " His words become indecipherable.
  
  > ask Micky about Playfair
  Micky Blowtorch says, "What do you know about the boss? Who's side are you on anyway?"
  
  > ask Micky about the brian
  
  > get the disc
  "Hyahhhhhh," shouts Micky, adopting a kung fu position. "You have my disc but not for long." In the time it takes to blink, he whips the disc from your grasp and flings it in the stump. He explains that five years' abstinence from sex, tobacco and alcohol have given him the ability to move with supernatural speed and precision. You decide the techniques aren't worth cultivating.
  
  > open the cage
  But the bird cage is already open.
  
  > get the Mould
  But you are already carrying the mould.
  
  > Go northwest
  It's stopped raining here at the moment, but the clouds overhead show that it could start again any minute. If they decide to burst, the tree stump in the centre of the clearing would probably fill up with water. Paths go south, southeast and east. In all other directions the undergrowth is too tangled to make any progress. Micky Blowtorch, your ex-colleague, now a crazed warp junkie, is lounging around the stump, looking suitably bemused.
  Micky snatches the mould from you. "You shouldn't have this," he tells you. "Not unless you've been interfering with that parrot."
  
  > kick Micky
  Beating people up isn't the answer.
  A changed man, Micky gets off the stump. He's muttering to himself - words like 'kill', 'maim' and 'disfigure'. All in all this is an ex-inter-dimensional espionage operative who is less than gruntled with life.
  "You," screams Micky. "You're the one who's destroyed my peace and quiet. I won't have it I tell you!" He slowly stands up and waves his fist at you. He slowly works himself into a rage. He slowly moves toward you. If you hadn't spent so much time worrying over the dreadful grammar, you might have seen him land the karate chop that broke your neck...
  Castle
  Inside, the castle is exactly what you expected - tacky and featureless with ant eggs near the top and gravel at the bottom. To anyone else, the colours sprayed randomly on the wall would just be colours sprayed randomly on the wall. To a daring inter-dimensional espionage operative like yourself, however, they are obviously used to focus communications across the dimensions. The only exit is out, back to the goldfish bowl. Your attention is drawn to a glass box resting in the middle of the room here, this looks like Panchax's work.
  A smooth warp, a jagged warp and a small warp are also clearly the boss's work.