text: [Themes: Fan fiction, Harry Potter]
  
  > Look around
  The walls and ceiling are painted a violent shade of purple. The floor seems to have turned green with envy. A gargoyle of curious mien stands on one wall, and on another hangs a portrait of a fat lady in a pink dress. A squirming staircase leads down; a narrow passage leads northwest; an ordinary door leads south; and a feather-strewn archway leads northeast.
  
  > go to the northeast
  You must be in the top of a tall tower; the room is circular, cold, and echoing. Owls swoop in and out of the many unglassed windows. Four perches jut from the walls, high above your head, in each cardinal direction. An owl-parrot seems to have made himself a nest of feathers on the floor. You can also head southwest through a feather-strewn archway. Lots of feathers all over. Wow. Apparently wizards have a thing for birds.
  
  You haven't seen an owl since Grandma died--her house was always ground zero for owls. Day or night, there were always one or two around. She even kept a few mice on hand to feed them, like a normal person would keep birdseed. Kind of bloodthirsty, for an old lady, now that you think about it.
  
  As you enter, the owl-parrot turns his enormous head to look at you. "Awk. Here for the medallion?" he asks. "Ah--yes?" you respond. "CALL the owls," he says. "Owls are very polite. Owls like names. Four pieces. Four owls. Four names. Four names! CALL the names, CALL the owls!"
  
  > call the alex
  Nothing happens; you must have got something wrong.
  
  > talk tthe owl-parrot
  "Hello, kakapo?" you inquire. He looks up expectantly. (He seems so intelligent that it's hard not to address him like a person.)
  
  > 1
  "First owl!" the owl-parrot squawks in his birdy little voice. "500 begins it. 500 ends it. 5 in the middle is seen. First of all figures and first of all letters take their stations between." He cocks his head at you, as if judging you."
  
  > call David
  An elf owl flutters through one of the lowest windows. It's David, though you didn't expect he'd be so small. He's flying so low because the red piece of wood he carries weighs him down; he lands on your hands for a moment, sides heaving with the effort, before leaving you the piece of wood and flying up to the easternmost perch.
  
  > examine the red wood
  An intricately carved little piece of wood, painted red.
  
  > 2
  "Third owl. One thousand one times two. Enigmatic!" "How did a kakapo learn the word 'enigmatic'?" you ask. He doesn't deign to answer.
  
  > call Mimi
  An eagle owl flies in through one of the high windows; this must be Mimi. She regards you briefly, then offers you a black piece of wood. When you take it, she flies up to the western perch.
  
  > examine the black wood
  An intricately carved little piece of wood, painted black.
  
  > 3
  You try to engage the owl-parrot in conversation, thinking that perhaps he'll let something slip about the names. "How does it feel to be so special? A talking kakapo and all," you say. But he seems to take it as a reflection on his species' endangered status, and he huffs and turns away. Whoops.
  
  > talk to the parrot
  "Hello, kakapo?" you inquire. He looks up expectantly.
  
  > 1
  "Second owl!" he proclaims. "Cut off her head, she's male. Cut off her tail, she's a fruit. Cut off both, she's part of you." He makes a strange, deep sort of noise in his throat, then remarks, "She's really an owl, though."
  
  > call Pearl
  A Lapland owl seems to come out of nowhere and plops herself down, ungracefully, on your shoulder. "Pearl?" you ask. She turns her head and responds "tuwhit-tuwhoo"--it sounds encouraging. She delicately offers you a yellow piece of wood, using one claw; when you take it, she flies off to sit on the south perch.
  
  > 1
  You could swear the bird's smiling at you. "A villain with a common heart. Ten is his end, but he's fifty to start." He ruffles his feathers. "No cheating!"
  
  > call Lex
  A spotted owl lands on the sill of one of the windows, then--with great dignity--glides over to the north perch. As he goes, he drops a white piece of wood into your waiting hands. Well, he doesn't look a lot like Lex Luthor, but this is undoubtedly Lex.
  
  You weigh the four pieces of wood in your hands for a moment--and then it strikes you. Fitting them together just so, you make a little wooden medallion--a circle around some Celtic knotwork. It's the same shape as one of the symbols in Dumbledore's office.
  
  > call Lex
  Lex has already alit. You don't need to shout.
  
  > talk tthe owl-parrot
  He's perfectly happy ignoring you, sitting on his nest. He apparently feels that he's done his job.
  
  > Go southwest
  The walls and ceiling are painted a violent shade of purple. The floor seems to have turned green with envy. A gargoyle of curious mien stands on one wall, and on another hangs a portrait of a fat lady in a pink dress. A squirming staircase leads down; a narrow passage leads northwest; an ordinary door leads south; and a feather-strewn archway leads northeast.
  
  > go to the northwest
  An extremely tiny landing with a brass plaque affixed to the low ceiling. A narrow passageway leads southeast, and a silver ladder leads up through a trapdoor.
  
  > look at the plaque
  A very shiny plaque.
  
  You read: SIBYLL TRELAWNEY, DIVINATION TEACHER.
  
  > examine the ladder
  A slight silver ladder leading down through a trapdoor.
  
  > go upward
  This room doesn't look like a classroom at all; it's more like an unholy cross between an old-fashioned tea-shop and someone's attic. The air is stiflingly warm and scented with a heavy, sickening perfume. Various items necessary for divination are fitted into nooks in the circular walls. One high shelf runs around the walls, about a foot and a half from the ceiling. A fat little pouf and an ugly chintz armchair nestle around a low table. A silver ladder leads down.
  
  On the high shelf are a tourmaline ball and a china doll.
  
  > examine the chair
  Professor Trelawney must never have heard that the 1980s were over. The armchair is covered in some of the ugliest floral patterned cloth you can possibly imagine. Its dimensions are off, too--much too tall and narrow.
  
  > look under cloth
  Most IF separates space into a series of locations, each containing a set of objects. If you can see an object, you can usually interact with it without worrying about positioning. Try a command like EXAMINE TOURMALINE BALL for a closer look, LOOK to get a new description of this location, or a compass direction like (for example) DOWN or D to move to a different location.
  
  > examine the BALL
  A perfectly round ball of schorl tourmaline. It is blue-black, and you can imagine a wizard scrying in it, drawing images up from its depths. It must be the one you're looking for.
  
  The china doll stirs to life and pulls the ball towards her body with one perfectly molded hand. She seems protective of it.
  
  > examine doll
  A large doll, her body made of cloth and her head and shoulders of glazed porcelain. She's clothed in a lovely white dress covered in eyelet lace. As you examine her delicate patent leather shoes, she seems to notice that you're staring. She turns to face you--moving her whole body, as her head cannot turn on her neck. She stares back at you, her immobile face pure and blank, for a long moment. Then she returns to her original posture.
  
  > talk to Doll
  You feel a little silly addressing a children's toy, but then, twenty-four hours ago you thought magic was all bullshit. "Excuse me, Doll," you begin. She seems to perk up. "Could you possibly throw me that tourmaline ball that you've got there? I really need it."
  
  You've clearly piqued the doll's interest; she awkwardly examines the ball, then inches towards the edge of the shelf and peers over. It must seem very far, even though she is a large doll. She begins to writhe. It takes you a moment to realise that she's trying to shake her head "no." To be fair, if you were made of porcelain, you'd probably be sensitive about the risk of smashing too.
  
  > look in the BALL
  The tourmaline ball is too high to reach.
  
  > take the ladder
  That's fixed in place.
  
  > examine the pouf
  The pouf is made of velvet. It seems to be slowly cycling through different shades of red: amaranth, auburn, burgundy, carmine, carnelian, cerise, chestnut, coral, crimson, fuschia, magenta, maroon, mauve, raspberry, rose, ruby, rufous, rust, scarlet, sinopia, and vermilion. It looks squashy and rather uncomfortable.
  
  > get the pouf
  That's too heavy to lift without magic.
  
  > talk to Doll
  "Are you ready to help me now?" you ask. No immediate reply.
  
  > stand on the table
  You get onto the low table.
  
  > get the BALL
  The tourmaline ball is too high to reach.
  
  > get off
  You get off the low table.
  
  This room doesn't look like a classroom at all; it's more like an unholy cross between an old-fashioned tea-shop and someone's attic. The air is stiflingly warm and scented with a heavy, sickening perfume. Various items necessary for divination are fitted into nooks in the circular walls. One high shelf runs around the walls, about a foot and a half from the ceiling. A fat little pouf and an ugly chintz armchair nestle around a low table. A silver ladder leads down.
  
  On the high shelf are a tourmaline ball and a china doll.
  
  > look at the nooks
  Weird and wonderful things, some familiar and others strange, all incomprehensible to you.
  
  > search the nooks
  SEARCH doesn't work that way. You can SEARCH DESK, for instance-but you can't SEARCH ROOM, because that would ruin the fun of exploration.
  
  > examine the shelf
  An extremely high shelf of unpainted wood.
  
  On the high shelf are a tourmaline ball and a china doll.
  
  > move the chair
  It is fixed in place.