text: [Themes: Fantasy, France, physical simulation, fantasy, male protagonist, Historical, strong NPCs]
  
  > Describe the surroundings
  A long, cross-beamed room, originally washed with white, though smoke has tinged the walls above the massive fireplace in which roasts are prepared. In addition, there are thick high tables that run the length of the room.
  
  To the east is the kitchen garden through which you entered; west is the corridor that connects with the main house. To the north there is the little scullery, and upstairs is the attic where the servants sleep.
  
  On the kitchen tables are a loaf of stale bread and a delicate contraption (which is empty).
  
  > Go west
  Originally a salon for the receiving of guests; but in recent years the Count has become increasingly interested in his own projects, and has taken over the entire room for the storage of books. Bookshelves line the walls, reaching above your head, leaving exits only east and south.
  
  A clockwork model of the universe stands in one corner.
  
  On one wall is an enormous portrait of the Count's father, from the hand of Hyacinthe Rigaud.
  
  > link handkerchief to the hangings
  Bending your will, you form the link between the yellow handkerchief and the yellow hangings.
  
  The cuckoo clock ticks sullenly.
  
  > Burn handkerchief
  You don't have a candle or any flint.
  
  The cuckoo clock ticks sullenly.
  
  > Tie handkerchief
  You tie the handkerchief into a tight little knot.
  
  The yellow hangings writhe and twist, but the attempt to tie themselves into an enormous knot goes badly. They tear along the middle with a tremendous unnatural ripping noise, and fall from the hooks that held them in place, leaving only a heap of brocade on the floor. The wall itself is bared, and the door in the wall.
  
  The cuckoo clock ticks sullenly.
  
  > look at the heap
  Huddled and ripped on the ground.
  
  The cuckoo clock ticks sullenly.
  
  > put the rug under the door
  (first taking the rug)
  The gothic door is flush against the stone threshhold, so much so that it is difficult even to see light between the two.
  
  The cuckoo clock ticks sullenly.
  
  > examine the door
  A wooden, pointed door in a very old style; this part of the building dates to a previous version of the house, from which only the chapel and a few other rooms survive.
  
  There is a conspicuous keyhole plate in the door.
  
  The cuckoo clock ticks sullenly.
  
  > look at the keyhole
  A keyhole in a fitted brass plate. There is an ornate key in the keyhole, pushed in from the other side.
  
  The cuckoo clock ticks sullenly.
  
  > look at the ornate key
  It's not exactly easy to get a good look.
  
  The cuckoo clock ticks sullenly.
  
  > look at the plate
  Which do you mean, the keyhole or the painted metal plate?
  
  > link the ornate key to the silver key
  The keys resist linking, almost as though they were made to do so.
  
  The cuckoo clock ticks sullenly.
  
  > check what you're carrying
  You are carrying:
  a rug
  a Tea Recipe
  a yellow handkerchief (tied in a sopping knot)
  a cup
  not very much onion dye (which leaves some room in the cup)
  a rope ladder
  a butcher knife
  a sack (which is open)
  two metal dishes:
  a plate
  a hinge-lidded teapot (which is open but empty)
  an Andouillettes Recipe
  a dark wooden box (which is open)
  an mirror inset inside the box (reflecting white light from the sunlight)
  a pearl necklace
  an old letter
  a sword
  a cork
  a green glass jar (which is open)
  a celestial bauble (providing green light)
  a goat cheese
  four pieces of silverware:
  a table knife
  a spoon
  a fork
  a silver-plated corkscrew
  a red glass jar (which is open but empty)
  a navy cloak
  some documents
  a blue glass jar (which is open but empty)
  a round metal tin (which is open but empty)
  a small portrait
  a jeweled pin
  a stone block
  a snuffbox (which is open)
  a quantity of snuff
  a swordstick
  two keys:
  a silver key (which opens the red door leading west)
  an iron key (which opens the russet door leading east)
  four books:
  On Vegetable Dyes
  The Lavori d'Aracne
  Guide to Assorted Wines
  The World Is Hollow (which is open but empty)
  eight food items:
  some cooked andouillettes
  a wedge of brie
  a salers
  some apples
  a bay leaf
  a sprig of parsley
  a sprig of mint
  a clove of garlic
  three bottles of wine:
  a blue bottle
  a bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape (which is closed)
  a bottle of mead (which is closed)
  a dashing hat (being worn)
  
  The cuckoo clock ticks sullenly.
  
  In your hunger, you dream of dark squares of prepared chocolate.
  
  > link the keyhole to the corkscrew
  You valiantly try to link the two objects, but they seem as though they will never go together.
  
  Just on the quarter-hour the cuckoo clock opens up its door and a mechanical bird flies forward. It sings a brief warbling tune, then withdraws into its little door.
  
  > look at the pin
  Decorated with fine-chip diamonds, and formed into the shape of a complicated bow of several strands, for a lady's use. The clasp is currently open.
  
  The cuckoo clock clicks closed.
  
  > link the pin to the butcher knife
  You valiantly try to link the two objects, but they are just too dissimilar.
  
  The cuckoo clock ticks sullenly.
  
  > look at the mead
  Aside from the contents, an entirely ordinary bottle. The cork is still wedged firmly in place.
  
  The cuckoo clock ticks sullenly.
  
  > read the Guide
  (first taking Guide to Assorted Wines)
  
  (putting the butcher knife into the sack to make room)
  Taken.
  
  ...some dry wine such as Sauvignon Blanc...
  
  The cuckoo clock ticks sullenly.
  
  > read the Guide
  ... from the region of Avignon, in the territories that belonged
  to the Pope, comes the peppery red Chateauneuf du Pape...
  
  The cuckoo clock ticks sullenly.
  
  > read the Guide
  ...mead, a wine made of honey and very sweet...
  
  The cuckoo clock ticks sullenly.
  
  > open the mead
  Opening a container of mead while it is in the sack seems like an invitation to disaster.
  
  The cuckoo clock ticks sullenly.
  
  > take the mead
  (putting the rope ladder into the sack to make room)
  Taken.
  
  The cuckoo clock ticks sullenly.
  
  > open the mead
  (first taking the corkscrew)
  (putting the yellow handkerchief into the sack to make room)
  Taken.
  
  Delicately you extract the cork and then remove it from the corkscrew.
  
  The cuckoo clock ticks sullenly.
  
  > examine the Clock
  It consists of the face, a pendulum and pair of weights, and a little door above the face that opens when the hour is struck. It is currently on and ticking. The clock shows the time to be 12:00.
  
  In the mechanical clock is a cuckoo.
  
  The cuckoo clock clicks closed.
  
  > go to the north
  This was the countess' favorite room, and it is more richly decorated than any other in the house, betraying her taste for the brightly-colored and the jewel-like. The count brought her some things from his travels, and made others for her. Most of the contents seem to be gone -- the chairs and sofas, and the wall hangings -- but some bits remain.
  
  Against one wall is a glass case full of rare and valuable clockwork figures.
  
  > look at the case
  The case is specially made of glass and wood. Inscribed into the surface of the glass with a fine cutting tool are the words: "CAREFUL! DO NOT BREAK!"
  
  Inside are mechanical dancers and a clockwork bee.
  
  > look at the bee
  A life-sized golden bee, its wings made of planed gems. It is, unfortunately, equipped with an ingenious equivalent of a sting -- a tail endowed with blades that will cut into any sensitive thing it settles on. And these have been tipped with a vicious poison.
  
  > open the book
  (Guide to Assorted Wines)
  That's not something you can open.
  
  > pour mead in Hollow
  (first taking The World Is Hollow)
  (putting the Tea Recipe into the sack to make room)
  Taken.
  
  the pages.
  
  > look at the cup
  A cup, glossed in white and decorated with the crest of the family, just as though it belonged to the family china pattern.
  
  In the cup is not very much onion dye.
  
  > Empty cup
  onion dye: (putting the rug into the sack to make room)
  You pour the onion dye out onto the ground.
  
  > pour the mead in the cup
  You put some mead in the cup. This fills the cup to the brim.
  
  > Open case
  That's not something you can open.
  
  In your hunger, you hallucinate poached turbot on a platter and hedged around with lightly seared summer vegetables.
  
  > examine the cup
  A cup, glossed in white and decorated with the crest of the family, just as though it belonged to the family china pattern.
  
  In the cup is some mead.
  
  In your hunger, you dream of onion soup.
  
  > Empty teapot
  The hinge-lidded teapot is empty already.
  
  > pour the cup into the teapot
  (first taking the hinge-lidded teapot)
  (putting Guide to Assorted Wines into the sack to make room)
  Taken.
  
  You put some mead in the hinge-lidded teapot, exhausting the supply in the cup. This fills the hinge-lidded teapot to the brim.
  
  > Break glass
  (the glass case)
  With your bare hands? That could be uncomfortable.
  
  > break the glass with the stone
  (the glass case with the stone block)
  (first taking the stone block)
  (putting the cup into the sack to make room)
  The stone block smacks the glass case. The glass case breaks, spilling the clockwork bee and the mechanical human dancers.
  
  The clockwork bee buzzes faintly, spreading its jeweled wings.
  
  > wear the cloak
  (first taking the navy cloak)
  (putting the silver-plated corkscrew into the sack to make room)
  You put on the navy cloak.
  
  The clockwork bee, detecting your presence, stirs angrily to life. You make a few noble efforts to bat it away, but all to no avail. With deadly accuracy it finds your skin; there is a sharp sting, then a gradual dulling...
  
  > throw the cloak at the bee
  (first taking the navy cloak)
  (putting the silver-plated corkscrew into the sack to make room)
  You'd have to practice a long time before you had any hope of hitting a target that size.
  
  The clockwork bee, detecting your presence, stirs angrily to life. You make a few noble efforts to bat it away, but all to no avail. With deadly accuracy it finds your skin; there is a sharp sting, then a gradual dulling...
  
  > open the mead
  (first taking the corkscrew)
  (putting the yellow handkerchief into the sack to make room)
  Taken.
  
  Delicately you extract the cork and then remove it from the corkscrew.
  
  > pour the mead in the teapot
  (first taking the hinge-lidded teapot)
  (putting the Tea Recipe into the sack to make room)
  Taken.
  
  You put some mead in the hinge-lidded teapot. This fills the hinge-lidded teapot to the brim.
  
  > drop teapot
  Dropped.
  
  In your hunger, you hallucinate curls of toasted bread, dripping with butter.
  
  > look at the teapot
  A hinge-lidded teapot, glossed in white and decorated with the crest of the family, just as though it belonged to the family china pattern. The lid is attached with a hinge, and there is a long and delicate spout.
  
  In the hinge-lidded teapot is some mead.
  
  > break the glass with the stone
  (the glass case with the stone block)
  (first taking the stone block)
  (putting the rug into the sack to make room)
  The stone block smacks the glass case. The glass case cracks dramatically, spilling the clockwork bee and the mechanical human dancers.
  
  The clockwork bee buzzes faintly, spreading its jeweled wings.
  
  > Go south
  (treading gingerly around the glass bits)
  
  A long empty room with shined wooden floors, perfect for sliding in stocking-feet. West is the top of the staircase, and rooms open to the north and east.
  
  The door east is closed.
  
  > Go north
  This was the countess' favorite room, and it is more richly decorated than any other in the house, betraying her taste for the brightly-colored and the jewel-like. The count brought her some things from his travels, and made others for her. Most of the contents seem to be gone -- the chairs and sofas, and the wall hangings -- but some bits remain.
  
  You can see some glass shards, some mechanical human dancers and a hinge-lidded teapot (in which are a clockwork bee and some mead) here.
  
  The bee buzzes around the mead.
  
  > take the dancers
  (putting Guide to Assorted Wines into the sack to make room)
  Taken.
  
  > link the dancers to the letter
  Bending your will, you form the link between the mechanical human dancers and the old letter.
  
  > Unlink dancers
  You succeed in unlinking the mechanical human dancers from the old letter.
  
  > take the teapot
  (putting the silver-plated corkscrew into the sack to make room) Taken.
  
  > open it
  You open the hinge-lidded teapot, revealing a clockwork bee and some mead.
  
  The clockwork bee, detecting your presence, stirs angrily to life. You make a few noble efforts to bat it away, but all to no avail. With deadly accuracy it finds your skin; there is a sharp sting, then a gradual dulling...