text: [Themes: Fantasy]
  
  > Look around
  The front hall is just a tiny little room you come into after going through the front door (leading out). You see a low doorway to the east which leads into the kitchen. There's a sort of trap door in the ceiling.
  
  You can see a cupboard (empty) here.
  
  > Go outside
  (first opening the front door)
  
  You are in front of the house. The garden continues east.
  
  > wear the guard
  You put on the leather arm guard.
  
  > shoot bow
  Leave the fighting business to those who know how to do it. An archer, perhaps. Do you know any?
  
  > go to the east
  This is a rather nice garden actually. The front of the house is west of here.
  
  Propped up against one of the apple treese there's a short wooden ladder.
  
  > take the ladder
  Taken.
  
  > Go west
  You are in front of the house. The garden continues east.
  
  > go inside
  The front hall is just a tiny little room you come into after going through the front door (leading out). You see a low doorway to the east which leads into the kitchen. There's a sort of trap door in the ceiling.
  
  You can see a cupboard (empty) here.
  
  > drop the ladder
  You raise the ladder so you can reach the trap door.
  
  > go east
  The kitchen is old, not antique and quaint, just old. A low doorway leads west to the front hall, another leads north to the bedroom.
  
  On the window sill is an earthenware jug.
  
  > examine jug
  It is brown and cool to the touch. It has a round wooden lid attached with a hinge.
  
  > open the jug
  You open the earthenware jug, revealing an iron key.
  
  > go north
  This is the only bedroom. Obviously it contains a bed, but also some bookshelves and an antique writing desk. The only exit is south.
  
  You can see a bed and an antique writing desk here.
  
  > look at the desk
  It's a huge, heavy wooden desk. It has one drawer.
  
  > open the drawer
  You open the drawer, revealing a bismuth crystal and a journal page.
  
  > read the page
  The journal entry is for Oct. 25th, it doesn't say which year. It says: "I have assembled the metopticon, following the instructions I read in the Grimoire, and as per the instructions I am looking through the metopticon at the crystal city. I feel the tugging, and once or twice I almost imagined myself going, but I cannot seem to leave this mortal shell. In the accursed cryptic writings of N.G. it says, "you must be the bard, the warrior, the mage, not all but only one at a time". But how?!"
  
  > look at the crystal
  It is a crystal, the size of your fist. The peculiar crystal formations form little cubes and lines that almost look architectural. You know, it looks a bit like a city.
  
  > take all
  bismuth crystal: Taken.
  journal page: Taken.
  
  > look at the bookshelves
  Lines of bookshelves, stacked with old strange books.
  (Here's how to get a book from the bookshelf if you know the name: type "fetch Bible")
  
  > fetch Bible
  The Holy Bible, yes, it's there. You look for bible in the bookshelf but you can't find it.
  
  > fetch Grimoire
  After searching almost all the books, you find it! The Grimoire!
  
  > read Grimoire
  This dusty old leatherbound tome bears an inscription on the back that says "Grimoire. Von Katz. The book has a ribbon bound into its spine, to be used as a bookmark. As you open the book, it opens at the page where the bookmark is. That page seems to contain a schematic woodcut drawing of a device. Above the drawing is a heading that reads "metopticon". The rest of the text is in latin, so you can't really read it, but you could probably manage to assemble the device from that drawing, if only you had the parts: a sort of tube, two triangular blocks and a sphere.
  You have learned how to assemble the metopticon. Whatever it is.
  
  > go to the south
  The kitchen is old, not antique and quaint, just old. A low doorway leads west to the front hall, another leads north to the bedroom.
  
  > Go west
  The front hall is just a tiny little room you come into after going through the front door (leading out). You see a low doorway to the east which leads into the kitchen. There's a sort of trap door in the ceiling.
  
  You can see a ladder and a cupboard (empty) here.
  
  > Up
  (first opening the trap door)
  (first unlocking the trap door)
  (with the iron key)
  
  You can see a chest (closed) here.
  
  > Open chest
  You open the chest, revealing a small crystal ball, a pink prism, a blue prism and a tube.
  
  > take all
  chest: Taken.
  small crystal ball: Taken.
  pink prism: Taken.
  blue prism: Taken.
  tube: Taken.
  
  > look at the tube
  It is kind of shaped like a tube, but inside there are all sorts of compartments and at least one mirror. you have a definite feeling it needs to be assembled with other pieces.
  
  > put the prism in tube
  Which do you mean, the blue prism or the pink prism?
  
  > Blue
  Remembering what you read in the grimoire you manage to fit the blue prism properly.
  
  > put the pink prism in the tube
  Remembering what you read in the grimoire you manage to fit the pink prism properly.
  
  > put the ball in the tube
  You gently push the ball into the wide end of the tube. It fits!
  You have assembled the entire metopticon!
  
  > examine the metopticon
  It looks like some sort of viewing device. You could try to look at something through it.
  
  In the metopticon are a small crystal ball, a pink prism and a blue prism.
  
  > look at crystal through the metopticon
  (the bismuth crystal through the metopticon)
  You feel dizzy, strange, fractured. Something with your clothing is not right.
  
  > About yourself
  Ladies and gentlemen, behold David Claré; age 38, slightly unshaven. Not fat, a litte soft around the waists perhaps. All things consider, you're a regular Joe. A regular David, actually.
  
  > Inventory
  You are carrying:
  a metopticon
  a small crystal ball
  a pink prism
  a blue prism
  a chest (open but empty)
  a grimoire
  a bible
  a journal page
  a bismuth crystal
  an iron key
  an earthenware jug (open but empty)
  a wooden bow
  a leather arm guard (being worn)
  a bowtie (being worn)
  a top hat (being worn)
  
  > remove the guard
  You take off the leather arm guard.
  
  > drop the guard
  Dropped.
  
  > remove the hat
  You take off the top hat.
  
  > drop the bowtie
  (first taking the bowtie off)
  Dropped.
  
  > check what you're carrying
  You are carrying:
  a metopticon
  a small crystal ball
  a pink prism
  a blue prism
  a chest (open but empty)
  a grimoire
  a bible
  a journal page
  a bismuth crystal
  an iron key
  an earthenware jug (open but empty)
  a wooden bow
  
  > wear the bowtie
  (first taking the bowtie)
  You put on the bowtie.
  
  > wear the guard
  (first taking the leather arm guard)
  You put on the leather arm guard.
  
  > look at crystal through the metopticon
  (the bismuth crystal through the metopticon)
  you are a warrior!
  
  You are on a large terrace, paved with stones and ending with an ornate balustrade. From here you have a splendid view. To one side you see the city, so filled with towers and peaked roofs that it might look like a Disney fantasy, unless you know, without a doubt, that this is the real thing, this is a real magical city where anything can happen. To the other side you look out over the wild, endless plains and forest stretching all the way to the distant mountains.
  A winding path leads down from here.
  
  You can see a magic circle (empty) here.
  
  > examine the circle
  The magic circle is empty.
  
  > About yourself
  Look at you - an archer, with perhaps a drop of elven blood pumping through those slender limbs. But you are also David Claré, a software engineer from Kent. Very strange.