text: [Themes: Lovecraft, Comedy, female protagonist]
  
  > Go downwards
  The stairway spirals around the island as it descends.
  
  Lakebed Temple (Andrew Plotkin)
  You stand on a crumbling stone dais at the bottom of the dry lake. Jagged runes are engraved around the circle's perimeter.
  
  The island-peak rises to the west; basalt stairs zig-zag up its face.
  
  Far above, a bloated crimson moon hangs in a haze-swirled night sky.
  
  A scrap of leather is lying at the foot of the stairs.
  
  > look at the runes
  The runes are made of familiar jagged marks. This is a ritual bound -- although you would lay no odds what hands carved them. If
  hands carved them.
  
  > look at the leather
  This green leather once bound a journal, but it has been terribly damaged by the water... ice... heat... whatever conditions it experienced at the bottom of the lake. You can barely trace the name "Arne Cragnessum" within one fold of the cover. The pages within have long since disintegrated.
  
  > Zok
  You speak the Word of Unsealing. The dream-world flares with grey light and fades. You awaken.
  
  Workroom (Andrew Plotkin)
  You are in a circular chamber, walled in the same decaying brickwork which runs all through the manor's basement. A ritual bound of oddly-angled runes has been carved around the perimeter of the room. The only exit is west.
  
  A majestic filing cabinet stands in one corner, stuffed to overflowing with antique journals. Next to it is a full-length, badly fogged mirror.
  
  The lunar sphere on the wall is entirely red. A knob is visible underneath it.
  
  > Vulle
  You speak the Word of Trance. The basement walls, without moving, become distant and remote.
  
  Jungle Ruin (Andrew Plotkin)
  You are in a mazy jungle of towering, vine-strung tree boles. The air is thick and humid. To one side rises a crumbling stone wall.
  
  A bloated crimson moon hangs in a haze-swirled night sky.
  
  > Khion
  You intone the Word of Enlightenment. The world takes on a peculiar, hollow clarity.
  
  You suddenly perceive a pattern in the foliage.
  
  > look at the pattern
  Moldering tree trunks rise all around you.
  
  The vines form a pattern, and the pattern forms a name: "Shireen Vega was here." Okay.
  
  > look at the wall
  You stand at the foot of a ruined stone wall, perhaps the remains of some lost jungle ziggurat.
  
  > Irnath
  You chant the Word of Winter. The stifling heat fades from the air.
  
  > Irnath
  You chant the Word of Winter. A chill comes into the atmosphere, like an icy breeze that does not stir the air.
  
  Frost crackles on the vines. A tree trunk emits a thundrous crack as its sap freezes in the unnatural chill. Then another... and branches begin to crash down around you.
  
  > Maleth
  You chant the Word of Summer. The warmth rises to a suffocating, stifling heat.
  
  Steam rises up from the undergrowth, and the air fills with a hot, gasping haze. Within it, the roots and vines begin to shudder. The ground boils with life.
  
  > recall
  You have learned the following incantations:
  IA, the Word of Sealing
  ZOK, the Word of Unsealing
  KHION, the Word of Enlightenment
  IRNATH, the Word of Winter
  MALETH, the Word of Summer
  ULNUR, the Word of Invocation
  VULLE, the Word of Trance
  OGGOTH, the Word of Chaos
  ...along with the ability to repeat a word, intensifying its effect
  
  You have researched the following names: Anax Cragne, Ladoro Feraud, Francois Crane, Gretel Aschar, Morovor Krahne, Jennever Cragne, Kteh Nyare, Margreth Cragne, Ersebet Cranyi, Shireen Vega, Malford Cragne and Arne Cragnessum.
  
  > Vulle
  You speak the Word of Trance. The basement walls, without moving, become distant and remote.
  
  The Garden (Andrew Plotkin)
  You are in a tidily-trimmed garden, surrounded by topiary, flowerbeds, and orderly hedge.
  
  A bloated crimson moon hangs in a haze-swirled night sky.
  
  > Oggoth
  You chant the Word of Chaos. The walls tremble.
  
  > Vulle
  You speak the Word of Trance. The basement walls, without moving, become distant and remote.
  
  Ruined Garden (Andrew Plotkin)
  You stand in the ruins of a long-dead garden. The air simmers with a parched, breathless heat. Dry branches rise from the dust and tangle in twisted, unrecognizable shapes.
  
  To the south, the ground slopes down into the basin of a dry lake bed.
  
  A bloated crimson moon hangs in a haze-swirled night sky.
  
  > Go south
  You begin descending into the lake bed, making your way around boulders.
  
  Lake Bed (Andrew Plotkin)
  The lake bed is broken with chasms and dry stony crags. It slopes up to the north, towards shore.
  
  To the south, an unclimbable ravine cuts across the basin. You can see the island rising on the other side, but you can go no farther in that direction.
  
  Far above, a bloated crimson moon hangs in a haze-swirled night sky.
  
  > Oggoth
  You chant the Word of Chaos. The earth trembles violently.
  
  A section of the stone wall collapses with a rumble! Behind it is revealed a rune-carved stone coffin -- a long-lost tomb.
  
  > examine the coffin
  The runes on the tomb form a word... or something like a word. The syllables grind and crack against each other as you try to assemble them in your mind.
  
  After an unmeasured time, you think you have hold of it. This must be the Unnameable Name that Francois Crane and Arne Cragnessum described.
  
  > recall
  You have learned the following incantations:
  IA, the Word of Sealing
  ZOK, the Word of Unsealing
  KHION, the Word of Enlightenment
  IRNATH, the Word of Winter
  MALETH, the Word of Summer
  ULNUR, the Word of Invocation
  VULLE, the Word of Trance
  OGGOTH, the Word of Chaos
  ?͋?͜?̶?̫, the Unnameable Name
  ...along with the ability to repeat a word, intensifying its effect
  
  You have researched the following names: Anax Cragne, Ladoro Feraud, Francois Crane, Gretel Aschar, Morovor Krahne, Jennever Cragne, Kteh Nyare, Margreth Cragne, Ersebet Cranyi, Shireen Vega, Malford Cragne and Arne Cragnessum.
  
  > recall francois
  Francois Crane spent his life searching for the Gates of Slumber, which lead to the Dreamlands. "Seek the Temple of the Flame, and beneath a Blood Moon speak the Unnameable Name..." (Francois certainly did like capital letters.) He died in 1835 without ever reaching his goal. In his search, however, he uncovered the Word of Winter:
  IRNATH, which speaks of cold, clarity, precision, sterility,
  and focus.
  
  > say unnameable
  You concentrate and bring forth the Unnameable Name. Even in this dream-state, it scores your gums; you taste blood.
  
  An erythraean light flares within the boundary runes; the world outside dims. The stillness of the air gains density and texture, aching in your ears. Once again, the world waits for you to speak.
  
  > Ia
  You speak the Word of Sealing, but the ritual bound does not respond. You are, after all, already within an active ritual.
  
  > Vulle
  You speak the Word of Trance a second time.
  
  The world begins to blur.
  
  Stairway (Andrew Plotkin)
  You are partway down a long, long staircase of white marble. You can return west or descend to the east.
  
  > Go east
  You descend dreamily for a while, turning the key over in your hand.
  
  Bottom of Stairs (Andrew Plotkin)
  You are at the bottom of a marble staircase, which ascends to the west.
  
  A tall portal of some alien metal stands to the east. It is closed and locked.
  
  > look at Key
  Cryptically inscribed and ornately engraved: the Silver Key to the Gates of Slumber.
  
  > examine the portal
  A glowing energy barrier stands to the east. It is closed and locked.
  
  > unlock the portal with Key
  You unlock the portal.
  
  > open it
  You open the gate.
  
  > go to the east
  You pass through.
  
  Workroom (Andrew Plotkin)
  You have entered a circular chamber walled in neat brickwork. The door to the west is closed.
  
  The room is quite empty except for a majestic filing cabinet in one corner. The cabinet is closed.
  
  A library book is lying on the floor. You have no idea how this got down here.
  
  > examine library book
  The Seven Gaunts -- a book of Aionist fairy tales, collected by
  Henry Galtmice. How adorable!
  
  The book is brand new. Stamped in the endpaper is the insignia of the Backwater Public Library: two back-to-back crescent moons joined by an eye looking down at an open book.
  
  > read it
  The book is The Seven Gaunts, edited by Henry Galtmice. You
  flip through and glance at the story of the angel at the South Pole.
  
  > Continue
  You flip through and glance at the story of a dweller beneath the Earth who gets lost in the Sunlit World.
  
  > continue
  You flip through and glance at the story of the angel at the South Pole.
  
  > Inventory
  You are carrying:
  The Seven Gaunts
  
  > Zok
  You speak the Word of Unsealing. Your surroundings flare crimson, then fade to black.
  
  You awaken.
  
  Lakebed Temple (Andrew Plotkin)
  You stand on a crumbling stone dais at the bottom of the dry lake. Jagged runes are engraved around the circle's perimeter.
  
  The island-peak rises to the west; basalt stairs zig-zag up its face.
  
  Far above, a bloated crimson moon hangs in a haze-swirled night sky.
  
  A scrap of leather is lying at the foot of the stairs.
  
  > Go west
  (first opening the door)
  It seems to be locked.