text: > Go downwards
  Caves (In the Gathering of Dead)
  The water is colder. The pressure in her ears is starting to get painful but now she can see it. The bottom is littered with bones, skulls and rib cages of all sizes that lie in droves on the sand. Pale bony hands wave at her in the unexplainable current. Grinning skulls mock her and whisper.
  "Come! Rest here with us!"
  There is a subtle movement near one wall. The bones twitch and move slightly as if pulled by a current.
  Her lungs are starting to ache. She will have to go to the surface soon!
  
  > get bone
  Lornedei looks terrified, but she moves closer to the layer of bones covering the bottom.
  Suddenly, Lornedei is grabbed by a current stronger than she can handle.
  
  She is dragged and pulled through the water, through a narrow opening in the cliff, up through a narrow well, and through wet cold darkness. She breaks the surface, spitting water, choking in her greedy quest for air.
  
  Inside an Old Stone Well (In Gurgling Water)
  The dark water swirls and gurgles in this small well. The crumbling edge of the stone cylinder is perhaps an arms length higher than the surface.
  Dim rays of light find their way down to the dark water, but help little to chase away the shadows.
  
  [Your holiness has just gone up by five.]
  
  > check your inventory
  Lornedei's magic is currently at 75.
  Lornedei is carrying:
  A brightly shining fairy lamp with a crystal spider inside
  a small gray plaque
  a leather rucksack (being worn)
  a large black beetle (Airing out its shell at the moment.)
  a handful of white berries
  a piece of cheese
  a loaf of horrid bread
  
  > Go upwards
  She grabs the slippery stones and climbs out of the old well, wet and exhausted. She sits down on the ground, leaning against the cold stones.
  
  Slowly, Lornedei looks around this dark clearing. An oppressive gray fog hangs over everything and seems to add weight to the air itself. There is a presence here. Something is waiting among the dark trees. Something sinister.
  The gray mist hides the sun from sight and there is no way to make out which direction is which.
  The clearing is almost perfectly round and thirty or so paces across. It is surrounded by the forbidden forest on all sides.
  A giant black oak stands in solitude in the middle of the clearing. Many of its roots stick out of the ground like snakes arching to suffocate their prey. Steps are cut in the oak to provide an easy way up.
  
  A stone altar stands in the shadow of the big oak. Dry grass and shrubs are still rooted in the dead soil, and more of the deformed bushes grow in a loose circle around the oak and the altar.
  
  An old stone well gurgles softly not far from a crumbling stone house. On the other side of the clearing, three paths lead into the forbidden forest.
  
  The roots under the big oak stir restlessly. The shadows beneath them seem to grow momentarily, but when Lornedei Looks at them the movement stops.
  There is a loud buzzing from the rucksack. Suddenly the Beetle comes crawling out and scrambles down to the ground. It spins around.
  
  > examine Beetle
  It's a black beetle as big as Lornedei's hand from antenna tip to end. The hard shell shimmers in shades of red and green.
  
  > ask Beetle about the tree
  The beetle actually seems to consider this for a moment. That was only wishful thinking though.
  The beetle runs off to one of the paths. It spins around once before returning to Lornedei.
  Something touches Lornedei's foot. She pulls her leg away from the grasping root with a shriek.
  
  > examine the roots
  The roots are black and scorched just like the rest of the tree, but there are patches where the crusted surface has cracked and large pieces, almost like scales, have dropped off. There in the open wounds, the surface is the colour of cheese gone hard and sweaty, but the texture is stringy instead of smooth. The bigger roots bend upwards and then down through the ground. In this way they leave hollows and shadows seeming to lead in under the oak's twisted and gnarled trunk. The deformed bushes rustle and seem to reach for her.
  
  > examine the bushes
  These bushes resemble those at the village road, but there are quite a few more of them. These look even more gnarled and deformed, as though starved of clean water and sunlight.
  These also have thorns as well as, oddly enough, plenty of purple nuts. The beetle stands still, seemingly watching the deformed bushes.
  A dry black leaf drops down on Lornedei's shoulder. With a grimace, she flicks it with a finger to get rid of it.
  
  > Heal roots
  Healing drains too much power. That would be a waste.
  Lornedei bites on a nail.
  A dry black leaf drops down on Lornedei's shoulder. With a grimace, she flicks it with a finger to get rid of it.
  
  > take the nuts
  "No thank you Master. Only a fool would try to do anything with those nuts." To emphasize her point, she gives the nearest bush a kick and a cloud of putrid dust from the leaves rises. A thorny nut falls to the ground.
  The beetle stands still, seemingly watching the deformed bushes.
  
  > reach the bushes
  Lornedei lets her mind sink into the dry twisted branches of the bushes. After just a moment she steps backwards, clasping her throat with wide, fearful eyes.
  "These trees do not feed on water and sun. Their thirst is for something else and they have not received any for so long. That is why they have died, but the nuts... I do not understand."
  
  Lornedei's magic drops by one.
  
  > take the nut
  Lornedei carefully picks up the nut. She quickly drops it in the rucksack.
  
  > examine the oak
  A giant black oak takes pride of place in the hall of severance. The shadow of the huge crown, a shadow that is nothing more than a slightly darker darkness, seems to reach beyond what it ought to be able to.
  The oak watches over the clearing. It gives the impression of a greedy old man guarding his treasures with suspiciously gleaming eyes.
  
  One of the big black branches reaches out far above Lornedei's head and seems to disappear into a cloud of black smoke. Steps are cut in the oak to provide a way up.
  
  > examine the altar
  This less than holy stone is five feet long, four feet wide and is waist high. The old stone is almost black.
  Whether it is the natural color of the stone or if the color is caused by something else is hard to tell. Lornedei will not speculate.
  
  Ancient carvings cover all visible sides. Most of them are faded and impossible to read.
  The beetle runs off to one of the paths. It spins around once before returning to Lornedei.
  
  > Exits
  She can enter the stone house, climb the oak or try one of the trails.
  
  > examine the house
  This death house was not built in your name. The forgotten ones, when they were still only humans, were chained in there. Sometimes they were chained for hours, sometimes for weeks. They all gave up their names in the end, and their spirits fled into the vast forest. The trees were still green, the soil not yet tainted beyond repair, the forest alive and well.
  
  What stands here now is a crumbling round stone building not more than perhaps six paces from opening to far wall, with a mostly sunken in roof. The opening in the gray and faltering stonework, the only opening, leads into darkness. This ragged and sorrowful eye is slightly askew and it seems to glare moodily at the altar, dead tired of the view, or perhaps relishing it. The door that must have hung there at one point is now gone. It is most likely now rotting away under a layer of dirt. Since the rituals ended, there has been no one to tend to this house of shame. The acknowledgement of its existence perhaps too painful.
  
  The acts of cruelty, so wrongly justified in the name of peace, have stopped. The screams are now silence, but the memories remain.
  
  > examine the right path
  The right trail is quite wide and as well maintained as any great castles gardens trail. Seemingly so. The forbidden forest makes it dark and menacing, contradicting what the eye can clearly see.
  The roots under the big oak stir restlessly.
  
  > look at the left path
  The trail is dark but hard packed and seemingly well traveled. Shadows line the sides even though there is no light to cast them.
  
  > look at the straight path
  This path is not so much a trail as a country road, Straight and flat, free from muddy wheel tracks or invading vegetation.
  
  Looks a bit too straight, too clean, too good to be true.
  The roots under the big oak stir restlessly.
  A dry black leaf drops down on Lornedei's shoulder. With a grimace, she flicks it with a finger to get rid of it.
  
  > Go upwards
  Hall of Severance (In the Black Oak)
  A shiver runs through the tree and the shrill song of the leaves seems to increase in volume for a moment. Lornedei folds herself over the branch and stays hanging precariously over it. She looks down. The clearing below her swims out of focus, seems to move away from her and then come rushing back at her. She clings desperately to the scorched limb, unsure if she is going to slide backwards and down on the ground, or tip over forward with the same fatal result. She shuts her eyes hard.
  
  And the world is still once more. Very carefully, she lifts one leg over the branch and then she is sitting steady. She opens her eyes and with a sigh of relief. The clearing looks as it should, all considering.
  
  Clusters of black leaves surround Lornedei. They hang from the upper branches, creating a shield that totally obscures the sky above. She can look down, as all the clusters are above and around her, but up is nothing but shimmering black. The branch reaches out over the clearing and the end of it seems to disappear in a big cloud of smoke. She can climb down to the ground or follow the branch.
  
  > examine the smoke
  The cloud of smoke seems to be spinning slowly. It shifts in black and sometimes purple. It obscures the branch and she cannot see anything in or around it. Everything seems to disappear within the smoke.
  
  > reach the smoke
  "I cannot use my powers to reach into the smoke Master. It frightens me."
  
  > follow the branch
  Lornedei follows the branch outwards towards the smoke. It seems to rise and meet her and then it surrounds her.
  
  A dark wall of smoke surrounds her. Occasionally a ragged veil of broken vapor is detached from it and dissolves in the air. There is nothing here. Even the ground is gone. Although she can feel it under her feet, she will not try to touch it.
  "I feel so strange. It is so dark here, so wrong. Everything seems to be turning. I feel something here but it is hidden from me."
  Lornedei's magic drops by one.
  
  > reach the smoke
  "I feel ill Master. It feels like I would be sick if I try. Something is draining me and there is nothing I can do. It feels like everything is spinning."
  Lornedei's magic drops by one.
  
  > Search smoke
  There is nothing hiding in the wall of smoke.
  Lornedei's magic drops by one.
  
  > Go outside
  But she's not in anything at the moment.
  Lornedei's magic drops by one.
  
  > rub lamp
  Lornedei polishes the fairy lamp some more. The light remains the same. Lornedei is waiting for your command.
  Lornedei's magic drops by one.
  
  > Heal smoke
  She cannot heal things that are not alive.
  Lornedei's magic drops by one.