text: [Themes: library, nonhuman protagonist]
  
  > go down
  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 has swung ajar. The bone ladder leads back up to the kitchen.
  
  > press ahlt
  With the wall wide open, pushing the bricks does nothing.
  
  With the wall wide open, pushing the bricks does nothing.
  
  With the wall wide open, pushing the bricks does nothing.
  
  With the wall wide open, pushing the bricks does nothing.
  
  > look
  You find yourself in a damp cavern strewn with aged trash that extends out into darkness. You know it's a dungeon by all the dangling manacles. The opening in the brick wall leads back east to the wine cellar.
  
  You can see a sack of gold coins and a skull here.
  
  > Go east
  Three brick walls of the wine cellar are lined with racks, burgeoned with bottles. The western wall has swung ajar. The bone ladder leads back up to the kitchen.
  
  > close the wall
  You place two appendages against the rough brick wall and push. At first it doesn't budge. The fear of leaving a trace rises. But with a little more force it slides shut.
  
  > Inventory
  You are wearing:
  your llama-suit
  
  You are carrying:
  a button
  a parchment
  the somnuliser
  the attuning set
  a Winkerchief
  
  > put parchment on the stove
  You put the parchment on the stove.
  
  > turn on the stove
  The letter wrinkles up and quickly turns to ash as heat pours out from the stove.
  
  > turn off the stove
  You turn off the stove and the heat quickly dissipates.
  
  > take the ashes
  Taking hold of the ashes would be impossible, it'd run through your fingers or cling to your suit.
  
  > Empty vax
  (first opening the vax)
  You empty the vax carefully onto the upper walkway floor.
  
  > Up
  walkway juts out, a long drop on either side. On its western end, an open purple door leads into the master bedroom, and on its eastern end an open 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.
  
  You can also see a pile of dust here.
  
  > attach the button to the pyjamas
  You tie the button back on to the loose thread of the confessor's pyjamas.
  
  > hang the pole on the curtains
  Putting things on the curtains would achieve very little of use.
  
  > Close Refresher
  That's already closed.
  
  > close the red door
  You close the red door.
  
  > close the blue door
  You close the blue door.
  
  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
  (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, lying flat by your feet.
  
  > 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. 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.
  
  > close the purple door
  You close the purple door.
  
  > close the orange door
  You close the orange door.
  
  > close the bone door
  You close the bone door.
  
  > go to the west
  (first opening the bone door)
  
  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: the housing for a pellucid llama.
  
  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 what you're carrying with you
  You are wearing:
  your llama-suit
  
  You are carrying:
  the somnuliser
  the attuning set
  a Winkerchief
  
  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
  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.
  
  > close sliding door
  The door scrapes shut, its jam lock jamming it shut once again.
  
  > Review
  Most of the Confessor's secrets are bound to be in his wing of the mansion: you've got to find a way in.
  
  -> You have discovered that the Confessor Destine no longer has a pellucid llama: his most valuable possession is not in his possession. -> You have learnt that Confessor Destine usurped his title by causing Confessor Beningnell to be uncanonised, removing him from veridical existence.
  -> You have discovered that the famous blue rose of the Destine clan
  is caused by the rose drinking water dyed subsea blue.
  -> You have seen the Confessor's tattoo proclaiming him a member, at one time or other, of the Lemniscaters.
  -> You have unveiled the Confessor's secret stash of lead-sweetened port, a strictly forbidden substance.
  -> You have discovered the Confessor has consumed the flesh of swines. -> You have found out that the scattered remains of the prior heir to the Destine Clan were in the Confessor's dungeon.
  
  You've now found all seven deceits of Confessor Destine. Now all that remains is to ensure that everything is back where you found it before leaving through the intersection.
  
  > Subrosa3
  SAVESave successful.
  
  > Go west
  (first opening the sliding door)
  On a regular night it would be bound to be jammed shut, but there's a possibility it could open in your favour.
  
  > attune the sliding door
  (with your attuning set)
  The lead rods of the set shimmer and you feel an intense feeling of rightness with the sliding door: it is attuned to you, for now.
  
  > open the sliding door
  The door slides open.
  
  > 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.
  
  > close the sliding door
  The door scrapes shut, its jam lock jamming it shut once again.
  
  The hayberry bush is dead, rotting on the soil. Large white flowers blossom on the banberry shrub. Tiny sprouts of spindleweed are
  growing.
  
  > Go 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, lying flat by your feet.
  
  > close the blue door
  You close the blue door.
  
  > 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. 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.
  
  > enter the intersection
  You step through the intersection and after a long walk through mud, you change your outfit in the next plain, and then again in the next, shedding cover identities like second skins as you move your way towards the centre of the plains: to the city of Sinua.
  
  When you arrive you are who you once were, the Orloger, a theocrat
  with an obsolete role whose absence from the Chamber was surely not missed. You declare that you will be leading the next session to Assenter Cur who doesn't appear surprised at your sudden arrival.
  
  Within the hour you are standing before the Holy Chamber, dozens of theocrats" eyes upon you, the Confessor himself sitting in the centre.
  
  "Murder, pig-eating, heresy and usurpation," you begin. "These are the charges I level at Confessor Destine."
  
  A wave of shock ripples across the theocrats. You lay before your
  peers the seven deceits of Confessor Destine, each time raising your voice above the outraged cries of the crowd. Throughout, the Confessor remains silent, coldly assessing you.
  
  "But do not take my word," you say, "search the Destine mansion and there all the evidence you will find.
  
  "Search all you like, you will find nothing of the sort," the
  Confessor says with a slither of a smile. You suspect he discovered
  his home was broken into and took steps to conceal what might have
  been discovered.
  
  And right enough, no evidence of serious ill-doing was found although he had no time to procure a new llama and the rose cuttings taken turned white when grown elsewhere. While still the Confessor, all
  trust in Destine had eroded and a faction installed his absent grandfather the Doge as head of the clan.
  
  And as for you? Your position in the Theocracy is no longer tenable, sneakthieves are not untrusted no matter their motives. As they drive you out the chamber you cast your eyes across Sinua: if it takes seventeen more years, you will be back and back for good.
  
  > Reveal
  During your visit to Confessor Destine's Mansion, the following things were left out of place.
  
  The pair of eyes was left in the beetle chamber.
  The gourd was left open.
  The quailer was left singing the wrong tune.
  
  Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, QUIT, UNDO the last command or REVEAL the items that were not left as they were found?
  
  > go west
  (first opening the window)
  The window can only be opened from inside the library.
  
  > 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 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.
  
  > close the sliding door
  The door scrapes shut, its jam lock jamming it shut once again.
  
  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.
  
  > 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.
  
  > take the banberry
  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.
  
  > close the sliding door
  That's already closed.
  
  The hayberry bush is dead, rotting on the soil. Large white flowers blossom on the banberry shrub. Tiny sprouts of spindleweed are
  growing.
  
  > Go 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, lying flat by your feet.
  
  > 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. 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.
  
  > go to the west
  (first opening the bone door)
  
  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: the housing for a pellucid llama.
  
  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.
  
  > take the eyes
  You take the pair of eyes. These eyes are mottled chrome yellow. In
  the right hands, everything these eyes ever saw could be known.
  
  > Close Chamber
  You close the beetle chamber.
  
  > feed 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 again its ugly song:
  
  sealing our secrets
  and taking our tears.
  
  Each of the 4 lines of this song has 5 syllables in it.
  .
  
  > enter the intersection
  Telling someone's secret always reveals two people. To speak these deceits in front of an assembly of theocrats would be to reveal yourself as a sneakthief. It would be your own undoing as well as the Confessor's.
  
  Confident that Destine would be none the wiser about your break in,
  you take a few months planting seeds of doubt through proxies. You leave dossiers on the desks of rival family members and leak libellous details to pamphleteers in Sinua. You are in the chamber dressed as an Orloger, your first skin. Beningnell's illicit uncanonising has just been discovered through forensic continuity rituals and Cecil Destine has confessed to his part in it in exchange for banishing to the Hex lands. The Confessor's face is haggard, worn down by the burden of the last few months.
  
  "All in favour of appointing a new Confessor?" calls Boar Bore 44. The chamber is unanimous.
  
  "I veto!" shouts the Confessor.
  
  "Veto this!" cries the Bore, goring him with his left tusk, rending
  him unfit to practice. The Confessor grasps his side as he is dragged screaming from the chamber.
  
  In the fallout none are blameless and all suspect all of conspiring with Destine. None are blameless, that is, except for you who have
  been absent from the chamber all these years. Within the month you are chosen as the new Confessor, which was your goal all along...
  
  > press space
  A year later you sit in your booth, listening to a confession.
  
  "I am not Confessor Destine," says the voice behind the screen, "I no longer have that title. My clan has cast me aside, I no longer bear that name. I am nameless and I am leaving and I will stop at
  nothing to bring you down."
  
  But you leave nothing unconsidered.
  
  "You are not leaving for you never were to begin with," you say as you signal to Assenter Cur across the chamber and pull out a copy of the Strictures of Forgetting...
  
  > Reveal
  Congratulations on leaving no trace. Throughout the game there are multiple hints that the protagonist is not a human. They are in fact a giant ant with opposable digits, best known in the theocracy as the Orloger. Their role in the theocracy was to count the turning of the ages (to prevent the Lead Age from ending and a Golden Age from arising). Since the Theocracy of Sinua successfully prevents the ages from turning (by way of various rituals), the Orloger doesn't have an active role. Like any theocrat, they can submit and vote on measures
  in the Holy Chamber; but like most, there's not much expectation that they actually will (in part due to the power the Confessor has over proceedings with his power of veto). As such, they can get away with being absent for decades on end without anyone really noticing.
  
  Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, QUIT, UNDO the last command or REVEAL the full identity of the protagonist?