text: [Themes: mystery, garden]
  
  > Go downward
  With a quick intake of breath you quickly shimmy down the bone ladder.
  
  Three brick walls of the wine cellar are lined with racks, burgeoned with bottles. The western wall is bare. The bone ladder leads back up to the kitchen.
  
  > attune brick
  (with your attuning set)
  You run the attuning set lightly over the brick wall but the lead rods barely even shimmer; it doesn't need attuning to you.
  
  > press a the brick
  You push in Brick A.
  
  B   |   C   |   D   |   E   |
  
  |   F   |   G   |   H   |   I   |   J   | 
  |   K   |   L   |   M   |   N   |   O   | 
  |   P   |   Q   |   R   |   S   |   T   | 
  
  You've pushed in: A.
  
  > press a the Brick
  You've already pushed Brick A.
  
  > look
  Three brick walls of the wine cellar are lined with racks, burgeoned with bottles. The western wall is bare. The bone ladder leads back up to the kitchen.
  
  > Up
  the vaulted cellar at your back pressing in its emptiness.
  
  Confessor Destine's personal kitchen is small: certainly less than
  half an acre of countertops. In the centre, by the refresher, is a heating stove and a cooling slab. An open blue door leads into the greenhouse to the east, whilst a closed leathery red door bars the way west into the rest of the house.
  
  Clashing with the kitchen's decor is an ugly square rug, peeled back
  to reveal the space below.
  
  > Inventory
  You are wearing:
  your llama-suit
  
  You are carrying:
  the somnuliser
  the attuning set
  a Winkerchief
  
  > look at somnuliser
  The somnuliser works as a small bomb. If thrown, it emits spores of untraceable potentiality, making it praeternaturally likely that
  anyone coming into contact with the spores will fall asleep with the firm belief that their sleepiness is natural and unnotable. It has but one use, but once activated its spores should propagate through halls throughout the entire house, slowed only as it seeps under the doors.
  
  > go east
  The greenhouse of the Destine mansion is a tooth-glass dome. The glass reflects back the light and heat of a microscopic sun that slowly orbits a huge grosvair tree. A variety of plants grow, bloom and die
  on a long plant bed.
  
  On the east of the greenhouse an open sliding door leads back out to the rose garden. An open blue door leads west into the house.
  
  The hayberry bush is laden with bright red round berries. The banberry shrub is a small sapling. The spindleweed is in thin yellow strands.
  
  > throw somnuliser
  You throw the somnuliser softly at the ground and it clicks open, silently loosing invisible sleeping spores. Best make haste!
  
  The hayberry bush is dead, rotting on the soil. Large white flowers blossom on the banberry shrub. Tiny sprouts of spindleweed are
  growing.
  
  > look at the tree
  In the centre of the round greenhouse is a great grosvair tree, its shaggy fur hanging in rugose strips from the calcified trunk.
  
  The hayberry bush is dead, rotting on the soil. Large white flowers blossom on the banberry shrub. Tiny sprouts of spindleweed are
  growing.
  
  > examine hayberry
  The plants in the greenhouse grow and die in a rapid cycle, proceeding through all possible stages of their life endlessly due to the lead enriched soil.
  
  The hayberry bush is bare, its leaves small and its branches stubby. Hard red berries hang like droplets from the banberry shrub. The spindleweed leaves are long and thin.
  
  > examine the berries
  The plants in the greenhouse grow and die in a rapid cycle, proceeding through all possible stages of their life endlessly due to the lead enriched soil.
  
  Small yellow flowers blossom across the hayberry bush. The banberry shrub is covered in dozens of black obloid berries. The spindleweed stalks have grown higher and the leaves broader.
  
  > Examine leaves
  The plants in the greenhouse grow and die in a rapid cycle, proceeding through all possible stages of their life endlessly due to the lead enriched soil.
  
  Hard green fruit bodies hang from the hayberry bush. The banberry
  shrub is crinkled and grey with mould. The plant bed is thick with spindleweed.
  
  > Up
  If you climbed the tree, you would have nowhere to go from there.
  
  The hayberry bush is laden with bright red round berries. The banberry shrub is a small sapling. The spindleweed is in thin yellow strands.
  
  > go east
  The Blue Rose Garden is comprised of a single rose bush grown to magnificent proportions. Its offshoots form a prickled boundary, enclosing the garden. At precise intervals, blue roses grow. From a rockery in the centre of the garden, from which all the offshoots
  stem, is the core bush and from it grows a pristine bouquet.
  
  The Destine mansion rises up to the west. A maze of flowers are reflected in the tooth-glass dome of the greenhouse, its sliding door almost completely flush with the unpanelled pane.
  
  > throw somnuliser east
  (first ignoring unnecessary text "east")
  No, if you throw it out here it'll just disperse out harmlessly.
  
  > Go west
  The greenhouse of the Destine mansion is a tooth-glass dome. The glass reflects back the light and heat of a microscopic sun that slowly orbits a huge grosvair tree. A variety of plants grow, bloom and die
  on a long plant bed.
  
  On the east of the greenhouse an open sliding door leads back out to the rose garden. An open blue door leads west into the house.
  
  Small yellow flowers blossom across the hayberry bush. The banberry shrub is covered in dozens of black obloid berries. The spindleweed stalks have grown higher and the leaves broader.
  
  > Go west
  Confessor Destine's personal kitchen is small: certainly less than
  half an acre of countertops. In the centre, by the refresher, is a heating stove and a cooling slab. An open blue door leads into the greenhouse to the east, whilst a closed leathery red door bars the way west into the rest of the house.
  
  Clashing with the kitchen's decor is an ugly square rug, peeled back
  to reveal the space below.
  
  > go to the east
  You know that the spread of the spores from the somnuliser must be gaining on you quickly: at this rate you doubt you could make it
  across the greenhouse.
  
  The greenhouse of the Destine mansion is a tooth-glass dome. The glass reflects back the light and heat of a microscopic sun that slowly orbits a huge grosvair tree. A variety of plants grow, bloom and die
  on a long plant bed.
  
  On the east of the greenhouse an open sliding door leads back out to the rose garden. An open blue door leads west into the house.
  
  The hayberry bush is dead, rotting on the soil. Large white flowers blossom on the banberry shrub. Tiny sprouts of spindleweed are
  growing.
  
  > Go east
  You've nearly reached the sliding door when you feel a gentle soothing spreading through your limbs. Too late, you think dimly as
  you stifle a yawn.
  
  You gently lower yourself to the ground, involuntarily but as if it were the most natural thing in the world, to be found by Confessor Destine's guards the next morning.
  
  > take somnuliser
  You get the somnuliser.
  
  > put somnuliser in the cooling slab
  The gourd fills the slab, leaving little room for other things.
  
  > look at the dial
  The refresher dial has two settings, contained and uncontained. It is currently set to uncontained.
  
  > look at the bomb
  The somnuliser works as a small bomb. If thrown, it emits spores of untraceable potentiality, making it praeternaturally likely that
  anyone coming into contact with the spores will fall asleep with the firm belief that their sleepiness is natural and unnotable. It has but one use, but once activated its spores should propagate through halls throughout the entire house, slowed only as it seeps under the doors.
  
  > examine the lead
  There's a closed hatch under the panel.
  
  > open hatch
  You open the lead compartment, revealing a power rod.
  
  > examine the blue door
  An open blue door stands between the kitchen and the greenhouse. The wood is slightly tainted by the decades of greasy fumes.
  
  > examine red door
  The door is formed of a single rigid strip of red leather,
  unmistakably from a letter-beast. The door is currently shut.
  
  > open the blue door
  That's already open.
  
  > examine the blue door
  An open blue door stands between the kitchen and the greenhouse. The wood is slightly tainted by the decades of greasy fumes. On closer inspection you note that the blue colour of the door is made up of thousands of tiny interlocking painted blue roses, each slightly different from all the rest.
  
  > examine the blue roses
  An open blue door stands between the kitchen and the greenhouse. The wood is slightly tainted by the decades of greasy fumes. Staring further at the tiny roses, you note that each tiny rose is made up of
  a number of small lines.
  
  > examine the small lines
  An open blue door stands between the kitchen and the greenhouse. The wood is slightly tainted by the decades of greasy fumes. On even
  closer inspection the tiny lines that make up each tiny rose are themselves small roses, each different from the rest.
  
  > examine the small roses
  An open blue door stands between the kitchen and the greenhouse. The wood is slightly tainted by the decades of greasy fumes. All this staring at the blue door is giving you a headache.
  
  > examine the power rod
  The power rod of the refresher takes up half of its compartment and it hums slightly with the potent power of lead.
  
  > take the rod
  The internal lead rod is partially fused with the refresher itself and cannot be removed. The space around the rod is empty, perhaps to leave room to install additional rods.
  
  > look at the dial
  The refresher dial has two settings, contained and uncontained. It is currently set to uncontained.
  
  > turn the dial
  The refresher ceases its vibrating as you turn the dial back to contained.
  
  > examine the refresher
  The refresher is a small transparent box that sits on the counter and hums constantly. It's a common sight in kitchens, used for
  rejuvenating food that has turned bad. When activated, it can
  restore food to whatever state it was in three days prior to use. It's currently closed.
  
  Inside the refresher is the somnuliser.
  
  There's a panel at the back for finer calibrations.
  
  > examine the panel
  On the back of the refresher there's a compartment for the lead rod that powers the device, a small dial for changing the time setting and an activation switch to activate the device. Imprinted on the panel
  are the words "CONSULT MANUAL FOR DIAL CONFIGURATIONS".
  
  > Activate refresher
  (first closing the lead compartment)
  You turn the refresher on and there's a brief flash of light which
  must come from the particles which clang to the somnuliser. Looking inside, you see the somnuliser.
  
  > wait
  You wait a few moments.
  
  > go west
  The greenhouse of the Destine mansion is a tooth-glass dome. The glass reflects back the light and heat of a microscopic sun that slowly orbits a huge grosvair tree. A variety of plants grow, bloom and die
  on a long plant bed.
  
  On the east of the greenhouse an open sliding door leads back out to the rose garden. An open blue door leads west into the house.
  
  Hard green fruit bodies hang from the hayberry bush. The banberry
  shrub is crinkled and grey with mould. The plant bed is thick with spindleweed.
  
  > Go west
  Confessor Destine's personal kitchen is small: certainly less than
  half an acre of countertops. In the centre, by the refresher, is a heating stove and a cooling slab. An open blue door leads into the greenhouse to the east, whilst a closed leathery red door bars the way west into the rest of the house.
  
  Clashing with the kitchen's decor is an ugly square rug, peeled back
  to reveal the space below.
  
  > examine the refresher
  The refresher is a small transparent box that sits on the counter and hums constantly. It's a common sight in kitchens, used for
  rejuvenating food that has turned bad. When activated, it can
  restore food to whatever state it was in three days prior to use. It's currently closed.
  
  Inside the refresher is the somnuliser.
  
  There's a panel at the back for finer calibrations.
  
  > go west
  The greenhouse of the Destine mansion is a tooth-glass dome. The glass reflects back the light and heat of a microscopic sun that slowly orbits a huge grosvair tree. A variety of plants grow, bloom and die
  on a long plant bed.
  
  On the east of the greenhouse an open sliding door leads back out to the rose garden. An open blue door leads west into the house.
  
  The hayberry bush is bare, its leaves small and its branches stubby. Hard red berries hang like droplets from the banberry shrub. The spindleweed leaves are long and thin.
  
  > Go west
  Confessor Destine's personal kitchen is small: certainly less than
  half an acre of countertops. In the centre, by the refresher, is a heating stove and a cooling slab. An open blue door leads into the greenhouse to the east, whilst a closed leathery red door bars the way west into the rest of the house.
  
  Clashing with the kitchen's decor is an ugly square rug, peeled back
  to reveal the space below.
  
  > Go east
  You know that the spread of the spores from the somnuliser must be gaining on you quickly: at this rate you doubt you could make it
  across the greenhouse.
  
  The greenhouse of the Destine mansion is a tooth-glass dome. The glass reflects back the light and heat of a microscopic sun that slowly orbits a huge grosvair tree. A variety of plants grow, bloom and die
  on a long plant bed.
  
  On the east of the greenhouse an open sliding door leads back out to the rose garden. An open blue door leads west into the house.
  
  The hayberry bush is bare, its leaves small and its branches stubby. Hard red berries hang like droplets from the banberry shrub. The spindleweed leaves are long and thin.
  
  > shut the blue door
  You quickly slam the blue door shut.
  
  Small yellow flowers blossom across the hayberry bush. The banberry shrub is covered in dozens of black obloid berries. The spindleweed stalks have grown higher and the leaves broader.
  
  > go east
  You slip out of the door as the sleep spores spread invisibly in the greenhouse behind you.
  
  The Blue Rose Garden is comprised of a single rose bush grown to magnificent proportions. Its offshoots form a prickled boundary, enclosing the garden. At precise intervals, blue roses grow. From a rockery in the centre of the garden, from which all the offshoots
  stem, is the core bush and from it grows a pristine bouquet.
  
  The Destine mansion rises up to the west. A maze of flowers are reflected in the tooth-glass dome of the greenhouse, its sliding door almost completely flush with the unpanelled pane.
  
  By now the spores should be spreading out into the hallway.
  
  > wait
  You wait a few moments.
  
  The spores will be spreading to the upper floor and enslumbering the guard.
  
  > wait
  You wait a few moments.
  
  The spores will be seeping under the doorway into the Confessor's bedroom.
  
  > wait
  You wait a few moments.
  
  The Confessor will be inhaling the spores, sending him into a deeper sleep.
  
  > wait
  You wait a few moments.
  
  The spores will be dispersing almost to a safe level by now.
  
  > wait
  You wait a few moments.
  
  You count down from ten: it should be safe to re-enter the house now.
  
  > Go west
  The greenhouse of the Destine mansion is a tooth-glass dome. The glass reflects back the light and heat of a microscopic sun that slowly orbits a huge grosvair tree. A variety of plants grow, bloom and die
  on a long plant bed.
  
  On the east of the greenhouse an open sliding door leads back out to the rose garden. A closed blue door leads west into the house.
  
  The hayberry bush is laden with bright red round berries. The banberry shrub is a small sapling. The spindleweed is in thin yellow strands.
  
  > go to the west
  (first opening the blue door)
  
  Confessor Destine's personal kitchen is small: certainly less than
  half an acre of countertops. In the centre, by the refresher, is a heating stove and a cooling slab. An open blue door leads into the greenhouse to the east, whilst a closed leathery red door bars the way west into the rest of the house.
  
  Clashing with the kitchen's decor is an ugly square rug, peeled back
  to reveal the space below.
  
  You can also see the somnuliser here.
  
  > examine the somnulizer
  It is a spent hull, but a potent reminder that something may be amiss.
  
  > close the refresher then turn it on
  You close the refresher.
  
  As soon as you activate the refresher, it immediately shuts off. Seems the Knights Linear were smart enough to not let the somnuliser be used more than once.
  
  > get somnuliser
  (first opening the refresher)
  You get the somnuliser.
  
  > Go west
  (first opening the red door)
  
  A tall round chamber, the reception room for The Confessor's personal wing of the house. The north door leads off into other wings of the mansion where other members of the Destine clan live and work. In the Banquet Hall the last revellers are taking ether and barely-enfranchised cousins are plotting in a distant drawing room.
  But here this wing is quiet. A long slope curves up round the chamber, looping several times. A closed bone white door leads west and an open red door east.
  
  Along the walls are three paintings, framed in silver, bronze and
  iron.
  
  The Confessor's guard slumbers in her ornate iron armour by the door leading north to the rest of the mansion.
  
  > examine silver
  This is a painting of a young woman with a distinctive smile. She is dressed for the Hex wars, with a swine-net and a mace. The title underneath the portrait reads: Confidante Destine.
  
  You've never heard of this Confidante Destine, though with hundreds of the Destine clan in just the other wings of the mansion, this is perhaps no great surprise.
  
  > look at the iron
  In the painting, the Confessor himself is standing regally in his purple cloak. On one shoulder, eating out of a raised palm, is a young quailer.
  
  > look at the bronze
  Framed by bronze leaf is a diorama of the Chief Destine, founder of
  his clan. In the painting he is a wearing a purple cloak and wielding an ornate dagger that is touched up against an egg of purest lead. In the background is a surprised looking goose.
  
  > look
  A tall round chamber, the reception room for The Confessor's personal wing of the house. The north door leads off into other wings of the mansion where other members of the Destine clan live and work. A long slope curves up round the chamber, looping several times. A closed
  bone white door leads west and an open red door east.
  
  Along the walls are three paintings, framed in silver, bronze and
  iron.
  
  The Confessor's guard slumbers in her ornate iron armour by the door leading north to the rest of the mansion.
  
  > look at the guard
  She sleeps against the door, drooling only mildly. Her suit of armour is so long and heavy it actually appears to be propping her upright.
  
  > open the white door
  You open the bone door.
  
  > examine the bone door
  The open door to Confessors Destine's menagerie appears to be made of bone but on closer inspection of its organic cracks, it's obviously made from thick panels of calcified grosvair wood.
  
  > Go west
  There are many great menageries in the plains: the Swinery, the Pleasure Gardens of Leaguer Mel, Eyefort Maze... this is not one of them. Confessor Destine has little taste in either selection or arrangement. The open bone door leads east.
  
  Unfortunately, most of the 'menagerie' is made up of stuffed exhibits. You get the impression that the Confessor liked the idea of having a menagerie more than he liked the idea of actually owning and caring
  for live animals.
  
  First the visitor is greeted by a pile of hay in an empty stall, where the pellucid llama once lived.
  
  Then they see a worried looking bird mumbling to itself in a cage.
  
  Finally, at the back of the room, they see a glass chamber swarming with shiny black beetles.
  
  > look at the hay
  A large pile of loose hay, fairly fresh, sits in a stall. Pellucid-llamas greatly prefer eating nuts and berries to grass, but will eat it if there's truly nothing else.
  
  > search the hay
  You root through the hay, but you can't find anything. You have to spend a few moments placing strands of hay back on the pile lest you leave them littered through the house.
  
  > examine the bird
  The quailer is a nervous looking brown bird that shivers every few moments as it talks endlessly to itself. Every few moments it pecks fruitlessly at the banberry stones that litter its cage.
  
  > take the banberry stone
  (first ignoring unnecessary text "banberry stone")
  What do you want to take?
  
  > look at the beetles
  On closer inspection, the beetles are more like very dark blue and
  they flit across the chamber disinterestedly.
  
  > take the beetle
  (the beetle chamber)
  The chamber is much too big for you to lug around.
  
  > go to the east
  A tall round chamber, the reception room for The Confessor's personal wing of the house. The north door leads off into other wings of the mansion where other members of the Destine clan live and work. A long slope curves up round the chamber, looping several times. An open bone white door leads west and an open red door east.
  
  Along the walls are three paintings, framed in silver, bronze and
  iron.
  
  The Confessor's guard slumbers in her ornate iron armour by the door leading north to the rest of the mansion.
  
  > go east
  Confessor Destine's personal kitchen is small: certainly less than
  half an acre of countertops. In the centre, by the refresher, is a heating stove and a cooling slab. An open blue door leads into the greenhouse to the east, whilst a leathery red door opens the way west into the rest of the house.
  
  Clashing with the kitchen's decor is an ugly square rug, peeled back
  to reveal the space below.
  
  > go to the east
  The greenhouse of the Destine mansion is a tooth-glass dome. The glass reflects back the light and heat of a microscopic sun that slowly orbits a huge grosvair tree. A variety of plants grow, bloom and die
  on a long plant bed.
  
  On the east of the greenhouse an open sliding door leads back out to the rose garden. An open blue door leads west into the house.
  
  The hayberry bush is dead, rotting on the soil. Large white flowers blossom on the banberry shrub. Tiny sprouts of spindleweed are
  growing.
  
  > examine the banberry
  The plants in the greenhouse grow and die in a rapid cycle, proceeding through all possible stages of their life endlessly due to the lead enriched soil.
  
  The hayberry bush is bare, its leaves small and its branches stubby. Hard red berries hang like droplets from the banberry shrub. The spindleweed leaves are long and thin.
  
  > take the banberries
  You pluck one of the berries from the banberry shrub as they sprout before you.
  
  Small yellow flowers blossom across the hayberry bush. The banberry shrub is covered in dozens of black obloid berries. The spindleweed stalks have grown higher and the leaves broader.
  
  > go west
  Confessor Destine has little taste in either selection or arrangement. The open bone door leads east.
  
  Unfortunately, most of the 'menagerie' is made up of stuffed exhibits, not all of which are zoologically plausible.
  
  First the visitor is greeted by a pile of hay in an empty stall, where the pellucid llama once lived.
  
  Then they see a worried looking bird mumbling to itself in a cage.
  
  Finally, at the back of the room, they see a glass chamber swarming with shiny black beetles.
  
  > give the banberry to the bird
  (first taking the banberry stones)
  You are unable to slide your appendages through the bars of the cage.
  
  > check your inventory
  You are wearing:
  your llama-suit
  
  You are carrying:
  an obloid red berry
  the somnuliser
  the attuning set
  a Winkerchief
  
  > give berry to the bird
  You pop the berry into the quailer's mouth and it gulps it straight down before starting a different litany.
  
  "Oh come on," says the quailer in the deep voice of the Confessor, "don't give me that look, it's not that unripe."
  
  > take the banberry
  You pluck one of the berries from the banberry shrub as it ripens before you.
  
  Hard green fruit bodies hang from the hayberry bush. The banberry
  shrub is crinkled and grey with mould. The plant bed is thick with spindleweed.
  
  > Continue
  Before you can pluck a berry, the plant wilts in front of you.
  
  The hayberry bush is laden with bright red round berries. The banberry shrub is a small sapling. The spindleweed is in thin yellow strands.
  
  > Go west
  Confessor Destine has little taste in either selection or arrangement. The open bone door leads east.
  
  Unfortunately, most of the 'menagerie' is made up of stuffed exhibits.
  
  First the visitor is greeted by a pile of hay in an empty stall, where the pellucid llama once lived.
  
  Then they see a worried looking bird mumbling to itself in a cage.
  
  Finally, at the back of the room, they see a glass chamber swarming with shiny black beetles.
  
  > give berry to the bird
  You pop the berry into the quailer's mouth and it gulps it straight down before starting a different litany.
  
  The quailer sings an ugly song:
  
  sealing our secrets
  and taking our tears.
  
  It sings in the voice of the Confessor himself.
  
  > listen
  The quailer sings again its ugly song:
  
  sealing our secrets
  and taking our tears.
  
  The song is so clunky, it's difficult to say why the Confessor would sing it.
  
  > examine stuffed
  All around the room are various stuffed beasts, all in a state of advanced dishevelment.
  
  > Up
  As you arrive at the top of the slope, you reflect that a secret is only a secret if someone is invested in keeping it one. If the Confessor is a man who becomes more comfortable in his position, you would expect him to have fewer secrets as the years go on. But perhaps he is a man for whom past indiscretions, explainable at the time, become hardened into the unspeakable as the years make his past
  motives less explicable.
  
  walkway juts out, a long drop on either side. On its western end, a closed purple door leads into the master bedroom, and on its eastern end a closed orange door leads into the library.
  
  A stone plinth in the shape of a down-turned dagger is the only furniture here, and the ceiling mural is the only decoration.
  
  > examine the mural
  Across the ceiling is a diorama depicting the procession of the plains through the different ages. The Golden Age of plenty when gods walked the plains. The Silver Age of long childhood summers and bitter
  heresy. The Bronze Age of monsters and heroes. The Iron Age of technological wonder and endless strife. And now, the Age of Lead, where all that has come will come again and all that might be will be. In the centre is the symbol of the Sinuan Theocracy, whose reason for being is to prevent the cycle of the Ages from recommencing.
  
  > examine the plinth
  On the top of the stone plinth is an indent in the shape of a dagger. It's empty. On the edge of the hilt is what appears to be a coat hook.
  
  Looking at the plinth close up, you notice set into it is a small closed cupboard.
  
  > examine cupboard
  The cupboard is set into the plinth, tastefully out of sight. It's currently closed.
  
  > open the cupboard
  You open the cupboard, revealing the vax.
  
  > examine the vax
  a tiny plain without atmosphere that intersects its insides. From the transparent tube, you can see it currently has a pile of dust inside it, which could easily be emptied if you so desired.
  
  > take the vax
  You get the vax.
  
  > examine the dust
  The dust is floating in the vacuum like fuzzy round cow.
  
  > What is the cow
  No question words are needed in commands. If you are stuck, try saying "help".