text: [Themes: spells, magic, Lovecraftian, gender-neutral protagonist]
  
  across campus, you finally return to...
  
  Apparently your roommate moved out today. The room looks pretty bare with only your stuff left in it - not that you had much to begin with. The only decorations that remain are a few of your posters hanging on the walls.
  
  You hear loud noises coming from the hallway to the south. It sounds like your hallmates have begun celebrating the end of the academic year.
  
  You can see your bed and your desk (on which are a medicine bottle and a note) here.
  
  > read the note
  It's from your roommate. "Good luck on your final! I've left you the last of my study pills. I promise you they are perfectly safe, all-natural, and organic - although they may not work exactly like you expect."
  
  > Y.
  cheapglulxe quit with exit status: 0
  
  —manage to foul things up again this time, which is a distinct possibility...
  
  The Lurking Horror II: The Lurkening
  An MIT Mystery Hunt Puzzle by Ryan Veeder, with apologies to Dave Lebling
  
  Your vision clears, and you're back in the basement of the Alchemy building.
  
  This is one of your favorite haunts on the G.U.E. campus. It's a great place to curl up with a book—but you really don't have time for that right now.
  
  There's a stairway here that leads up to the Department of Alchemy lobby, and a well-lit tunnel leads north.
  
  You'd better start moving if you're going to get anything done this time.
  
  > Go upwards
  The Alchemy building feels small and defenseless in the face of the wild thunderstorm outside. Rain and howling wind pound at the doors to the north and east. A stairway leads down to the basement (and the tunnels).
  
  This lobby is especially creepy because there's an informative poster depicting an Elder Horror hanging on the wall.
  
  > look at the poster
  Above the picture of the Elder Horror are the words "IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY RAENFIDHRE." Smaller text below explains: "Elder Horrors are a nuisance—but you don't have to let them inconvenience you. The incantation 'Raenfidhre' sends Elder Horrors right back where they came from. (Don't ask!) When you run into an Elder Horror, just say 'Raenfidhre' and watch it disappear."
  
  For years, students of the arcane arts struggled to find some logic or significance in the forms of these incantations. Eventually the experts reached the consensus that they're just random stupid words.
  
  > go north
  Torrents of rain lash at the earth in blind fury.
  
  This is the future site of the Gentry Antiquarian Center. Right now it's a rectangular pit with concrete walls.
  
  The Alchemy building is south. Another building—a despicable building—is further north.
  
  > examine the pit
  The cyclopean walls of the unfinished Gentry Center are slick with rain, and its muddy basement floor is pockmarked with oily puddles.
  
  Floating in one puddle is a manila envelope.
  
  > look at the envelope
  Hard to tell from way over here, but it looks like campus mail.
  
  > enter the pit
  The slick concrete walls of the pit offer no safe way down.
  
  Then it happens. You hear something huge rousing itself from cosmic sleep. The thing groans, and the entire campus shakes. Ynf-Okh-Omm has awoken. Shortly it will consume G.U.E. Tech—and then the universe.
  
  *** You have failed. ***
  
  If you RESTART, you might be able to fix this, unless you—
  
  > Go north
  The forboding building to the east houses the Department of Sorcery, which frequently competes with the Alchemy department for funding and is always reserving the best classrooms before Alchemy can get a chance. The rest of the campus is south from here.
  
  Thunder rumbles nearby.
  
  Then it happens. You hear something huge rousing itself from cosmic sleep. The thing groans, and the entire campus shakes. Ynf-Okh-Omm has awoken. Shortly it will consume G.U.E. Tech—and then the universe.
  
  *** You have failed. ***
  
  If you RESTART, you might be able to fix this, unless you—
  
  > go to the north
  The forboding building to the east houses the Department of Sorcery, which frequently competes with the Alchemy department for funding and is always reserving the best classrooms before Alchemy can get a chance. The rest of the campus is south from here.
  
  Thunder rumbles nearby.
  
  > Go east
  You break out in gooseflesh as you contemplate the eldritch experiments performed within these walls on a daily basis. You don't like visiting this place unless you have to. It even smells pretentious.
  
  The department head's office is down the hall to the east. The way back outside is west.
  
  The only person here tonight is a grad student whom you kind of know.
  
  > examine student
  He's a sorcery student you've seen around campus, usually sitting down in a secluded study space you were hoping to use.
  
  He squints at you. "What are you doing here?"
  
  "None of your beeswax," you snap back. "What are you doing
  here?"
  
  He curls his lip into an odious sneer. "The department head asked me to help with some research, so I'm on my way to his office."
  
  "Well, great for you," you respond, facetiously.
  
  > Go east
  You try to walk past the sorcery student, but he blocks your path: "The department head doesn't need another research assistant—especially not from the Department of Alchemy. He asked for me specifically."
  
  You stare at each other like a pair of housecats that have just been introduced.
  
  > Hit student
  Really? Resorting to brute force already?
  
  > Yes
  That was a rhetorical question.
  
  Then it happens. You hear something huge rousing itself from cosmic sleep. The thing groans, and the entire campus shakes. Ynf-Okh-Omm has awoken. Shortly it will consume G.U.E. Tech—and then the universe.
  
  *** You have failed. ***
  
  If you RESTART, you might be able to fix this, unless you—
  
  > go to the north
  Before you enrolled at G.U.E. Tech, you had this romantic idea that the tunnels would all be dingy, claustrophobic, and dangerous. But these tunnels—the tunnels that most people see—are really more like hallways with pipes.
  
  This hallway and its pipes lead north and south.
  
  > Go north
  You've reached a bend in the tunnel where the lights don't quite reach. You can continue east or south.
  
  But you can't just stand around, because an Elder Horror is flitting through the shadows here, gibbering in little shrieks.
  
  > Raenfidhre
  You utter the incantation, the eldritch puissance of its awful phonemes flowing with hideous sweetness over your tongue. The Elder Horror howls in response, as if to drown out your spell with its ululating tongues—but it is no use.
  
  A hole opens in space, and the Elder Horror is dragged by unknown forces back to its native dimension.
  
  Whatever the thing was holding falls to your feet: Looks like somebody's lecture notes.
  
  You hear a hissing noise as a portion of the ambient atmosphere is sucked away before the aperture closes itself.
  
  You can use the abbreviation "R" the next time you want to cast this spell. But not if you travel back in time again. That's how time travel works.
  
  > read the notes
  A few pages of sparsely annotated Powerpoint slides. Is there anything good in here?
  
  The annotator has indicated one slide with a series of exclamation marks: It alludes to the incantation "Jilxube," and describes its applications as "gross."
  
  > Go east
  In the middle of this east-west strip of tunnel is an open grate. In the grate is a ladder. The ladder leads down to the sub-basement level.
  
  > Go east
  The passage from the west turns here, at the top of a gentle slope leading south. This would be a great place to race office chairs, if other concerns weren't taking precedence.
  
  A hacker is leaning against the wall here, taking a break from hacking.
  
  > look at the hacker
  You can tell she's an accomplished hacker from the unrealistically heavy key ring hanging from her belt loop. Anyone who has that many keys isn't supposed to have all of them.
  
  You wave to each other, and are about to exchange pleasantries when a massive peal of thunder from above shakes the tunnels. The lights go out.
  
  The lights come back on. The two of you grimace.
  
  "Hey," says the hacker. "If the lights ever go out for real, I know a spell that for seeing in the dark. It's 'kulehrif.' You say it just like that."
  
  You nod. "Thanks. I probably should have known that already."
  
  "It's okay. At least you only have to learn something for the first time once."
  
  "That is so true," you say.
  
  > ask the hacker about the keys
  Use >TALK TO to interact with entities.
  
  Then it happens. You hear something huge rousing itself from cosmic sleep. The thing groans, and the entire campus shakes. Ynf-Okh-Omm has awoken. Shortly it will consume G.U.E. Tech—and then the universe.
  
  *** You have failed. ***
  
  If you RESTART, you might be able to fix this, unless you—
  
  > J.
  You utter the incantation again. More slime appears. This place is getting more and more disgusting every moment.
  
  > look at the slime
  It is a translucent pudding-like substance of unearthly color. It is disgusting.
  
  Then it happens. You hear something huge rousing itself from cosmic sleep. The thing groans, and the entire campus shakes. Ynf-Okh-Omm has awoken. Shortly it will consume G.U.E. Tech—and then the universe.
  
  *** You have failed. ***
  
  If you RESTART, you might be able to fix this, unless you—
  
  > go to the north
  Before you enrolled at G.U.E. Tech, you had this romantic idea that the tunnels would all be dingy, claustrophobic, and dangerous. But these tunnels—the tunnels that most people see—are really more like hallways with pipes.
  
  This hallway and its pipes lead north and south.
  
  > Go north
  You've reached a bend in the tunnel where the lights don't quite reach. You can continue east or south.
  
  But you can't just stand around, because an Elder Horror is flitting through the shadows here, gibbering in little shrieks.
  
  > go south
  At this intersection, the tunnels go north, south—and west, to the chamber of your ill-advised project.
  
  An old graffito is on the east wall.
  
  > read the graffito
  The names of the vandals are lost to campus history. All that we know is: Someone wrote something on a wall; then, before the message could be summarily painted over, someone else prepended an additional word. Now, and since time immemorial, the wall reads:
  
  UP
  
  > Go west
  It groans sluggishly. It shrugs its unthinkable head—No. That is not
  a
  head.
  
  The whitish, loathsome, incomprehensible thing that oozes before you is Ynf-Okh-Omm, the Eldest Horror. It is sleeping, for now. Soon (very soon), it will awaken, and this helpless universe will suffer the consequences.
  
  The way out is east.
  
  > Raenfidhre
  You utter the incantation, the eldritch puissance of its awful phonemes flowing with hideous sweetness over your tongue.
  
  A crackle of eldritch power washes over the sleeping hulk, and your spell falls flat. How did it do that? Where is it getting this energy?
  
  Ynf-Okh-Omm stirs. The Eldest Horror rolls over. Some hideous aspect of its body—an eye?—a mouth?—opens, and you are the first to be devoured.
  
  *** You have failed. ***
  
  If you RESTART, you might be able to fix this, unless you—
  
  > Go south
  The tunnel turns from north to west here, but the passage to the west is too dark to see where it goes.
  
  You take another step and slip on a piece of paper.
  
  > examine paper
  The paper has disappeared—but you know you slipped on
  something.
  
  > Kulehrif
  You mutter the incantation, and a greenish haze swims in front of your eyes. Your knees buckle, and for a giddy moment you feel as though you may barf.
  
  But when you regain your faculties, you notice your vision has improved, and you can see easily what lurks in dark corners. You don't notice anything new right here, though.
  
  You can use the abbreviation "K" the next time you want to cast this spell. But not if you travel back in time again. That's how time travel works.
  
  Then it happens. You hear something huge rousing itself from cosmic sleep. The thing groans, and the entire campus shakes. Ynf-Okh-Omm has awoken. Shortly it will consume G.U.E. Tech—and then the universe.
  
  *** You have failed. ***
  
  If you RESTART, you might be able to fix this, unless you—
  
  > give up
  (I really think you ought to RESTART.)
  
  If you RESTART, you might be able to fix this, unless you—
  
  > Kulehrif
  You mutter the incantation, and a greenish haze swims in front of your eyes. Your knees buckle, and for a giddy moment you feel as though you may barf.
  
  But when you regain your faculties, you notice your vision has improved, and you can see easily what lurks in dark corners. You don't notice anything new right here, though.
  
  You can use the abbreviation "K" the next time you want to cast this spell. But not if you travel back in time again. That's how time travel works.
  
  > go to the north
  Before you enrolled at G.U.E. Tech, you had this romantic idea that the tunnels would all be dingy, claustrophobic, and dangerous. But these tunnels—the tunnels that most people see—are really more like hallways with pipes.
  
  This hallway and its pipes lead north and south.
  
  > go to the south
  The tunnel turns from north to west here.
  
  You take another step and slip on a piece of paper.
  
  > examine paper
  The paper has disappeared—but you know you slipped on
  something.
  
  Then it happens. You hear something huge rousing itself from cosmic sleep. The thing groans, and the entire campus shakes. Ynf-Okh-Omm has awoken. Shortly it will consume G.U.E. Tech—and then the universe.
  
  *** You have failed. ***
  
  If you RESTART, you might be able to fix this, unless you—
  
  > go to the north
  (I really think you ought to RESTART.)
  
  If you RESTART, you might be able to fix this, unless you—
  
  > examine the pipes
  The pipes don't even lead to or from anywhere in particular. They're all the same, all along this level of the tunnels.
  
  > Go north
  You've reached a bend in the tunnel where the lights don't quite reach. You can continue east or south.
  
  But you can't just stand around, because an Elder Horror is flitting through the shadows here, gibbering in little shrieks.