text: [Themes: Fantasy, metaphysics, platonic solids]
  
  > E,D,S,W
  Tower, Mid-level
  A midpoint in the tower, with doorways east and west, lit from above. The south wall is occupied by a deep niche, in which is a statue of a young man in the Greek mode.
  
  The walls have been sheathed with a variety of fine materials, all exceptionally costly: sheets of beaten gold, squares of lapis lazuli, placards of ruby and adamant.
  
  Tower, Bottom
  You stand at the bottom of a stone tower. Doorways open in each of the cardinal directions, except for the north; there, a spacious niche contains the statue of a woman, skillfully executed in white marble.
  
  The center of the room is occupied by a spiral staircase, but one made of such slender and delicate supports that it obscures neither light nor view.
  
  The silvery door to the south stands open.
  
  A straight white light comes through the hole in the ceiling, but it is soon after twisted and bent: mirrors cast it from angle to angle; crystal divides it; glass stains it.
  
  East and west, low corridors lead into shadow.
  
  The silvery door to the north stands open.
  
  A long, vaulted room, lined with cages of filigree and jewels. All of the animals are motionless and still, perhaps through the art of a taxidermist. In one cage is an elephant, so short that he reaches only to your knee; you easily could lift him under one arm and carry him away. In another cage, a giant mouse lies, curled as though slumbering, his paws folded in the semblance of prayer.
  
  Mounted on a swivel on the wall is what looks like an irregular hourglass, one bulb larger than the other. There is no sand within -- nor could there be, since the contraption is open at each end. At the moment the smaller end is uppermost.
  
  > put tube in the hourglass
  You put the tube into the contraption; predictably, it squinches down, passes through the narrow neck, and emerges from the other end smaller than it was when it went in.
  
  > ask E,  to go east
  A straight white light comes through the hole in the ceiling, but it is soon after twisted and bent: mirrors cast it from angle to angle; crystal divides it; glass stains it.
  
  East and west, low corridors lead into shadow.
  
  The silvery door to the north stands open.
  
  An orchard of glass trees: trunks slender and orderly as the columns of the Alhambra, foliage iridescent and frail. No wind stirs, and yet, from time to time, a leaf casts free of its branch and drifts to the ground. The whole floor of the cavern is deep with them.
  
  At the center of this is a clearing where a monstrous furnace stands -- shaped like a coiled dragon.
  
  > put tube in the furnace
  You put the tube into the furnace.
  
  > put the rock in the furnace
  You put the rock into the furnace.
  
  > ask W,  to go to the west
  A straight white light comes through the hole in the ceiling, but it is soon after twisted and bent: mirrors cast it from angle to angle; crystal divides it; glass stains it.
  
  East and west, low corridors lead into shadow.
  
  The silvery door to the north stands open.
  
  A long, vaulted room, lined with cages of filigree and jewels. All of the animals are motionless and still, perhaps through the art of a taxidermist. In one cage is an elephant, so short that he reaches only to your knee; you easily could lift him under one arm and carry him away. In another cage, a giant mouse lies, curled as though slumbering, his paws folded in the semblance of prayer.
  
  Mounted on a swivel on the wall is what looks like an irregular hourglass, one bulb larger than the other. There is no sand within -- nor could there be, since the contraption is open at each end. At the moment the larger end is uppermost.
  
  > put the burl in hourglass
  You put the rough burl into the contraption; predictably, it squinches down, passes through the narrow neck, and emerges from the other end larger than it was when it went in.
  
  > Inventory
  You are carrying:
  a rough burl (enlarged; originally a rock)
  a tube (enlarged and made of metal)
  a ball of yarn
  a vellum scroll
  a delicate key (enlarged and made of metal) (which opens the
  silvered door)
  a workbox
  a needle
  a ring (being worn)
  some slippers (being worn)
  
  > N,U,W
  Tower, Bottom
  You stand at the bottom of a stone tower. Doorways open in each of the cardinal directions, except for the north; there, a spacious niche contains the statue of a woman, skillfully executed in white marble.
  
  The center of the room is occupied by a spiral staircase, but one made of such slender and delicate supports that it obscures neither light nor view.
  
  The silvery door to the south stands open.
  
  Tower, Mid-level
  A midpoint in the tower, with doorways east and west, lit from above. The south wall is occupied by a deep niche, in which is a statue of a young man in the Greek mode.
  
  The walls have been sheathed with a variety of fine materials, all exceptionally costly: sheets of beaten gold, squares of lapis lazuli, placards of ruby and adamant.
  
  You stand in the center of a dim room, lit from above by a piercing light. Evidently there is another room above you, but the brilliance of its illumination makes it impossible for you to perceive anything up there.
  
  The center of the room is occupied by a bulky expandable staircase.
  
  > put the burl in the oven
  Under the bright spot of the magnifying glass, the rough burl begins to smolder and then to burn. After a few minutes, the water boils. There is a hiss and clank from within the machine, and the button in front begins to glow.
  
  > About yourself
  Some essential restlessness is gone from you; you tremble less than you used to; your hand, relaxed, remains still.
  
  An upright triangle scars the back of your left hand, the symbol of earth.
  
  > Up
  All the time that you were climbing the stairs, you could barely look forward, so overwhelming was the light that came from this room; but now that you have arrived, you see that it too is lit from somewhere further on and far away.
  
  A flawless metal tetrahedron lies nearby.
  
  > look at the tetrahedron
  A four-sided solid figure with triangular faces, made of a coppery metal. On the faces are inscribed all sorts of interlocked and writhing figures, of salamanders, and a phoenix in flight.
  
  > Shake tetrahedron
  Nothing much results of this.
  
  > take it
  You reach for the tetrahedron.
  
  > Inventory
  Flame licks over you, so fierce it seems you must die.
  
  ("Purification of the spirit," he mutters in your ear. "You'll survive. You'll survive." And of course you do; you always survive.)
  
  When you get up again, autumn has arrived. Your legs are weaker than you remember. Your breath catches when you try to run. But you're able to undertake his other errands, in unworldly places.