text: [Themes: Fantasy]
  
  > Go downwards
  Arthur slinks after you.
  
  A tiny circular room, almost a closet, that is used for astrology and meditation. The ceiling and walls are painted dark blue with gold stars mapped into intricate constellations, giving the sensation that you have been swallowed by the night sky. The door back to the Pentacle Chamber stands ajar in the western wall. In the center of the room is a bare wooden pedestal.
  
  A slender spiraling silver staircase winds up toward the domed ceiling.
  
  Encompassing the room is a faint chalk circle drawn on the floor.
  
  You can also see Arthur here.
  
  > Go west
  Arthur slinks after you.
  
  The magic practice room on the top floor of the Library Arcana. Normally it's crammed with students practicing, studying, or listening to a teacher's lecture, but tonight it is just you and your familiar Arthur, facing the disaster you have wrought.
  
  A workbench that bows under the weight of a huge cauldron stands in one corner beneath an unassuming wooden shelf and next to a battered-looking potions cabinet. A bookcase towers over the rest of the room from another corner, and faded chalk circle drawn on the floor marks the room as essentially one big conjuring circle.. Set into the eastern wall is the altar door. Set into the western wall is the door that leads downstairs to the rest of the Library Arcana.
  
  Fine, white sand spills over the floor.
  
  Several bottles of potion have fallen from their shelf and shattered all over the floor into a sticky mess.
  
  On the bookcase is the crystal ball's stand.
  
  A number of spell books have fallen to the floor in an accusatory heap.
  
  There is a shimmering puddle on the floor.
  
  You can also see Arthur here.
  
  Arthur sniffs at a patch of floor.
  
  > Spells
  You have learned 9 out of 12 possible spells:
  
  Agua: A spell which produces water.
  
  Ventus: A spell which produces wind.
  
  Terra: A spell which produces earth.
  
  Igni: A spell which produces fire.
  
  Magna: A spell which enlarges.
  
  Minui: A spell which diminishes.
  
  Tempesta: A spell which produces static.
  
  Ligo: A spell which binds.
  
  Renodo: A spell which unbinds.
  
  (Cast a spell with CAST spell AT something.)
  
  > cast Ligo at the sand
  The sand comes together in the shape a miniature Goddess statue for a moment, then falls to pieces again. Evidently, you've destroyed the bind for good.
  
  Arthur bats at a shadow on the wall.
  
  > consult charming about index
  Looking up its index in Charming, you see:
  
  You can CONSULT it ABOUT the following topics of interest: its introduction, its index, Agua, Igni, Terra, Ventus, Tempesta, Magna, Minui, Ligo, Renodo, a spell for levitating, breath-of-life, living flame, animated lightning, witchwater, terre vivant, witches' candles, celestial lights, magical education, protecting spellbooks, blood magic, love spells, spell balance, spell diagrams, gibberish spells.
  
  > consult charming about levitating
  Looking up a spell for levitating in Charming, you see:
  
  A spell for levitating objects.
  
  You've never gotten anything to do more than shiver apprehensively with it.
  
  > consult charming about the breath-of-the life
  Looking up breath-of-life in Charming, you see:
  
  clay and to revive an unconscious person. In blood magic, a perversion of this incantation--known as corpse's sigh and produced by conjuring air with a summoning candle--is used to craft a blood idol or to briefly re-animate the dead. The breath-of-life may be summoned by conjuring a wind under Firelight.
  
  > consult charming about the living flame
  Looking up living flame in Charming, you see:
  
  A living flame is one of the best ways to remove impurities in a substance. To produce a living flame, conjure fire in Sunlight or set everwax (a kind of wax produced by melting ordinary witches' wax with a living flame) aflame. Be very cautious in the use of living flame and everwax; it is much more lively than ordinary flame and can easily get out of control if too much is produced.
  
  > consult the Charming about the animated lightning
  Looking up animated lightning in Charming, you see:
  
  Animated lightning is static conjured in Starlight. It gained widespread fame in 1792 after Dr. Victor Frankenstein used it--along with a considerable amount of blood magic--to animate the creature who would call himself Adam.
  
  Arthur bats at a shadow on the wall.
  
  > consult the Charming about the witchwater
  Looking up witchwater in Charming, you see:
  
  Witchwater is water conjured in Moonlight.
  
  > consult charming about terre vivant
  Looking up terre vivant in Charming, you see:
  
  Terre vivant, or living earth, is earth conjured in Sunlight.
  
  > consult charming about the candles
  Looking up witches' candles in Charming, you see:
  
  Witches' candles are indispensable in practical magic. A candle of everwax produces a living flame, a summoning candle is indispensable in summoning, and other candles reproduce various lighting conditions, such as those of the celestial lights. Witches' candles can be purchased from supply shops or homemade.*
  
  *Only a very experienced practitioner should attempt to make
  witches' candles, as a mistake of a single degree can be extremely dangerous.
  
  > consult charming about the index
  Looking up its index in Charming, you see:
  
  You can CONSULT it ABOUT the following topics of interest: its introduction, its index, Agua, Igni, Terra, Ventus, Tempesta, Magna, Minui, Ligo, Renodo, Volere, breath-of-life, living flame, animated lightning, witchwater, terre vivant, witches' candles, celestial lights, magical education, protecting spellbooks, blood magic, love spells, spell balance, spell diagrams, gibberish spells.
  
  > consult charming about the lights
  Looking up celestial lights in Charming, you see:
  
  The three celestial lights are Sunlight, Starlight, and Moonlight. Eclipse light--that produced during a total solar eclipse--is sometimes considered as a fourth celestial light, but it is only used in summoning and banishing. Spells requiring a celestial light are best performed with the appropriate candle. It is very difficult to achieve the correct lighting conditions otherwise.
  
  > consult charming about the spellbooks
  Looking up protecting spellbooks in Charming, you see:
  
  Keeping a spellbook has always been a risk, as some spells in the wrong hands or performed incorrectly can be dangerous, even deadly. To reduce the risk, most witches have some form of guard on their books. Some rely on physical locks and keys, but more often a magical lock is employed. Still greater security is enjoyed when the books themselves are enchanted. Some books are simply "tethered" to a particular location; the disadvantage of this method is that they may still be copied by anyone who manages to secure enough time in the witch's dwelling. Other books are enchanted so that they may only be read by the enchanter or their coven; unauthorized readers see only gibberish. Another very common method of spellbook protection, which is employed instead of or in tandem with other methods, is that of making a spellbook render itself illegible in the case of damage. This prevents the disastrous consequences of attempting to perform a spell with missing instructions, making it particularly suited to magical classrooms.
  
  > consult charming about the blood
  Looking up blood magic in Charming, you see:
  
  Blood magic is magic which is evil and soul-blemishing in nature.
  This discussion, therefore, is intended as a purely theoretical examination of blood magic. It is hoped that by understanding it better, we can better fight those who would use it to gain power for themselves.
  
  ...
  
  To aid her in her dark arts, a blood witch often makes for herself
  a blood idol, a semi-alive statue that contributes extra power to dark enchantments. Making such a creature requires an animated clay of earth and the mortal draught, which must then be given corpse's breath--a wind summoned from beyond the aether with the aid of a summoning candle. Anyone who has seen either prepared would say with a chill that it is not an art of love; several formerly good witches who have created blood idols purely as an exercise in study, intending to destroy them after research, have gone mad with power and turned evil from the blood energy that seems to seep out of the idol's stone.
  
  Arthur bats at a shadow on the wall.
  
  > consult the Charming about the love
  Looking up love spells in Charming, you see:
  
  A love spell is any incantation with the purpose of inducing affection, obsession, or love.* Love spells are classified as blood magic by most magical societies worldwide, including The Witches' Association of North America, La Societe de Sorcellerie d'Europe, the World Confederation of Witchcraft, and the Australian Enchanters' Guild. Their use is not endorsed by the authors of
  this text.
  
  *It should be noted that genuine love and affection has
  never been successfully produced with magic.
  
  > consult charming about the balance
  Looking up spell balance in Charming, you see:
  
  To preserve the balance of a complicated spell, certain conditions must be met. Some qualities that can affect the quality of your incantation include lighting conditions, humidity, and the movement of the planets. Where balancing instructions are included with an incantation, it is very important that they be
  followed, as the consequences of unbalanced magic are unpredictable and often disastrous.
  
  Arthur grooms himself.
  
  > consult charming about the gibberish
  Looking up gibberish spells in Charming, you see:
  
  Gibberish, Broken, and Made-Up Spells
  
  There is no shortage of gibberish, broken, and made-up spells.
  Take any word or phrase (from a real language or not), and put a dash of Magical intention behind it, and you'll have a gibberish spell. With a little more intention, you could even develop it into
  a real (minor) charm. Mostly such experiments are harmless, but nevertheless we caution you to exercise extreme
  caution--on more than one occasion a young witch has been
  seriously injured or even killed after a poorly judged attempt at inventing a new spell.
  
  charm, which was designed by Abraxas Hodge in 1682 to do nothing at all as part of a bet with Xylli Zzyllious to see who could come up with the most useless spell. Xylli's entry was the Xyzzy charm, which imbues its target with a faint scent of peppermint. That Yule and at every Yule following while the two sorcerers lived, they debated who won the bet, with Xylli contending that a spell which does nothing isn't really a spell and Abraxas countering that the Magical
  intention and predictability of it mean that it is. It became
  such a holiday tradition that now every Yule in Ealderley when the Wizener Waritchers' Consulate (of which Abraxas and Xylli were both members) meets for their annual game of Hex Hoax!, two delegates are nominated to carry on the Great Debate. At the end of the session, votes are taken, with the winner (the formal rules of the competition specify that the win is only for the duration of the current
  calendar year, and should not be taken as a conclusion to the
  debate) receiving the dubious honor of buying or making the Whisky Fairy Cake the following year. It's rumoured that the spirits of Xylli and Abraxas sometimes, when provoked, contact contestants with particularly stinging jabs at the opposing party's argument. Much doubt has been cast on contestants' claiming such contact, though, by the fact that they usually make such claims after being accused of Unsportsmanlike Conduct (which is punishable by a forced abstinence of Whisky Fairy Cake). Nevertheless, rule 87 of the competition states that if one is contacted by either of the original debatees,
  they are required to put forth whatever argument they were given, no matter how pugnacious.
  
  > consult charming about the index
  Looking up its index in Charming, you see:
  
  You can CONSULT it ABOUT the following topics of interest: its introduction, its index, Agua, Igni, Terra, Ventus, Tempesta, Magna, Minui, Ligo, Renodo, Volere, breath-of-life, living flame, animated lightning, witchwater, terre vivant, witches' candles, celestial lights, magical education, protecting spellbooks, blood magic, love spells, spell balance, spell diagrams, gibberish spells.
  
  Arthur sniffs at a patch of floor.
  
  > consult charming about the diagrams
  Looking up spell diagrams in Charming, you see:
  
  lot of moving parts. They keep everything connected in the vision and therefore the mind of the enchanter. Experienced practitioners sometimes can hold everything focused in their minds' eye and don't require diagrams, but this requires absolute concentration to avoid the spell fizzling out and therefore shouldn't be attempted by novices.
  
  Some common diagrams:
  
  Conjuring Circles: Most witches' first diagrams are conjuring (or summoning) circles, which are used to define the scope of magic. Most conjuring circles are not simply for mental focus; they are also enchanted to prevent any magic from leaving the bounds of the circle. This both prevents the expenditure of energy to extend a spell further than necessary and prevents those outside the circle from experiencing the spells' effects. In magical practice chambers, summoning circles are especially important, as young witches' efforts often have destructive consequences.
  
  Triangles: Triangles are used in spells that require
  triple-focusing, usually for a subject, an object, and an observer or stabilizer.
  
  Pentacles: Pentacles are used in spells with a lot of moving parts that need to be carefully kept in balance. Though the classic model is of a five-pointed star within a circle, any circle with points that connect to all other points on the circle is referred to as a pentacle by witches.*
  
  *Mathematically speaking, of course, only the
  five-pointed model qualifies.
  
  > Todo
  The following tasks remain:
  
  (DONE) Repair the torn spellbooks.
  (NEW) Return the spellbooks to the bookcase.
  Replace the broken statue.
  (NEW) Repair the crystal ball.
  Separate the spilled potions.
  Repair the potions bottles.
  (NEW) Repair the astrological clock.
  
  > take the shards
  They're covered in potions--that could be dangerous.
  
  > cast Renodo on the bottles
  "Ren--" you begin.
  
  "Stop!" Arthur interrupts, "Do you want Enchantress Igmenta to come back to the glass shards in smithereens?"
  
  You reflect on it. Arthur is right.
  
  > cast Renodo on the mess
  The sticky mess separates into three distinct potions: one a very pale pink, one a stormy grey, and one an intense black. There are also three labels that must go on the bottles.
  The shards of glass neatly fall into their own pile with a gentle chinking.
  
  > look at the labels
  You see a round label, a square label, and a torn label.
  
  > look at the round
  A round sticky potions bottle label. Loopy electric green handwriting identifies the potions maker as "Annette March," and below that, Enchantress Igmenta's spiky black handwriting reads:
  
  Scent: 7/10 -- Tea brewed too long.
  
  Colour: 9/10
  
  Clarity:9/10
  
  Potency: 8/10
  
  > examine the square label
  A square sticky potions bottle label. Tiny dark blue handwriting identifies the potions maker as "Stephen Underwell," and below that, Enchantress Igmenta's spiky black handwriting reads:
  
  Scent: 5/10 -- You have burnt your witch hazel.
  
  Colour: 10/10
  
  Clarity: 10/10
  
  Potency: 4/10
  
  > look at the torn label
  A potions bottle label, torn so that you can't read the name of the potions maker. Enchantress Igmenta's spiky black handwriting reads:
  
  Scent: 3/10 -- The unconventional addition of cinnamon
  somewhat makes up for the strong scent of mildew that results
  from stirring incorrectly--I told you to ignore the book and stir counter-clockwise every 7th turn!
  
  Colour: 10/10
  
  Clarity: 10/10
  
  Potency: 10/10 -- Very potent, though its effects are likely to be
  the opposite of the intended.