text: [Themes: Fantasy, gender choice]
  
  > Look around
  You are near the banks of the east-flowing river that starts from
  the nearby waterfall. The ground is covered with large numbers of scattered rocks, all shapes and sizes. Not much grass grows here. The cliff is impassible to the west (unless you want to climb it), but the other directions are all possible.
  
  > examine the rocks
  The same basic sorts of rocks and scree and such that you see all over this place. The only difference in this area is that there's lots and lots of the rocks, enough to force you to follow the twisted paths in between them when they're too big to climb over.
  
  > Go south
  You walk forwards, and again feel the sensation of the ground vanishing. A blast of sweltering heat welcomes you to the desert one more time.
  
  you gasp for water. The sun beats down all around with no hope of shade or any other respite, and there are no land-marks in sight in any direction.
  
  > Go east
  You stagger on ahead, baking in the sun. Finally, you must stop to breathe. Taking a look behind yourself, it is hard to tell that you have moved at all. Already, the hot desert breeze is erasing the signs of your passage.
  
  Born by the wind, a single whispered word touches your ears: Phoenix.
  
  > Go south
  You stagger on ahead, baking in the sun. Finally, you must stop to breathe. Taking a look behind yourself, it is hard to tell that you have moved at all. Already, the hot desert breeze is erasing the signs of your passage.
  
  Abruptly, the desert air seems to swirl around you. You blink your eyes, and when they open again, you're back where you came here from: At base of cliff
  You are near the banks of the east-flowing river that starts from
  the nearby waterfall. The ground is covered with large numbers of scattered rocks, all shapes and sizes. Not much grass grows here. The cliff is impassible to the west (unless you want to climb it), but the other directions are all possible.
  
  > examine the grass
  Only a few sparse tufts of yellow-brown grass grow between the rocks.
  
  > Go west
  The cliff is in the way, silly.
  
  > go to the south
  You stagger on ahead, baking in the sun. Finally, you must stop to breathe. Taking a look behind yourself, it is hard to tell that you have moved at all. Already, the hot desert breeze is erasing the signs of your passage.
  
  A voice speaks from behind a dune. "This is not the place for you. Go back until you are ready."
  
  > check your inventory
  You have a music box, a glass bottle, a small fly, a sun-bleached skull, an apple, and a hang-glider. The glass bottle seems to contain a small black magnet and a piece of paper.
  
  Abruptly, the desert air seems to swirl around you. You blink your eyes, and when they open again, you're back where you came here from: At base of cliff
  You are near the banks of the east-flowing river that starts from
  the nearby waterfall. The ground is covered with large numbers of scattered rocks, all shapes and sizes. Not much grass grows here. The cliff is impassible to the west (unless you want to climb it), but the other directions are all possible.
  
  > go east
  You walk eastwards. The river leads into a grove of technicolor mushrooms.
  
  On either bank of the river, stretching high into the sky, are giant mushrooms. Giant technicolored mushrooms. Red and blue and yellow and green and purple, and most are splotched with splashes of other colors. The mushrooms tower at least a dozen feet above you, perhaps more, and their outstretched caps block out most of the sun. You can see there is a split in the now-sluggish stream here, one branch going south and the main branch running east-west. Between two dusky red mushrooms, a large silver spiderweb has been spun.
  
  > give the fly to the spider
  Don't want to get that close - better throw it.
  
  I don't know how to give anything to the brown spider.
  
  > throw the fly
  What do you want to throw it at?
  
  > throw fly at the web
  The small fly sticks in the web, caught on a thread. The spider scuttles over to investigate the interesting-looking arrival.
  
  > take the mushroom
  Stealthily, not wanting to alert the spider, you reach out and grab the mushroom. Then you see the spider scurrying over on spindly legs, going angrily towards your hand. Things seem to be slowing. You see it leaping towards you, fangs extended, you pull your hand away but it is too late, far too late. The spider's fangs graze your finger for a moment before you throw it off into the bushes. You sigh, examining the mushroom and wondering if it was worth it. Then the scratch mark on your hand starts to throb.
  
  > check your inventory
  You have a music box, a glass bottle, a small fly, a sun-bleached skull, an apple, and a hang-glider. The glass bottle seems to contain a small black magnet and a piece of paper.
  
  > go to the east
  Eventually the mushroom patch ends, and the river widens.
  
  This is a clearing in the middle of a forest. Tall trees grow all around, moss hangs from their branches, and there are scattered flowers. A stream runs through the forest here. It is wide but shallow, allowing you to see the granite ground below it. Small bits of quartz are embedded everywhere in the granite, and they sparkle and glimmer as the sunlight shines on the moving water. But occasionally, you see other bright flashes in the water that don't seem to be caused by the sunlight. The stream passes into the forest to the east, and is quickly lost amongst the trees.
  
  > examine the water
  The river is filled with glitters and sparkles, some from the sunlight on the quartz. But others don't seem to be caused by that, since sometimes you notice a faint glow in the shadows.
  
  > examine the glow
  The light rippling across the wavelets of the river certainly does look a bit unusual.
  
  > examine the trees
  The trees are tall, and mossy. If they had any low branches, you could climb them, but since they don't, you can't.
  
  > look at the sun
  The sun is high in the sky, as usual. It doesn't seem to be moving, though.
  
  > look at the quartz
  The granite stream bed has been almost polished by all the water running over it. Small bits of quartz are exposed in the bare rock, and they sparkle as the sunlight touches them.
  
  > open the bottle
  It's already open!
  
  > take all from the bottle
  piece of paper: Taken.
  
  > look at the river
  The river is filled with glitters and sparkles, some from the sunlight on the quartz. But others don't seem to be caused by that, since sometimes you notice a faint glow in the shadows.
  
  > put the magnet in the river
  The small black magnet sinks to the bottom of the wide stream.
  
  > examine the river
  The river is filled with glitters and sparkles, some from the sunlight on the quartz. But others don't seem to be caused by that, since sometimes you notice a faint glow in the shadows. At the bottom of the wide stream you can see a small black magnet.
  
  > look at bottle
  The bottle is made of glass, but seems fairly sturdy. It has a snap-top allowing it to be firmly closed and sealed, but it isn't at the moment. The glass bottle is open. The glass bottle is full of water.
  
  > enter the river
  You would be quite unhappy if you got all wet.
  
  > go east
  You walk for a minute or two, only to feel the ground beginning to slip away. You take a hasty step backwards.