text: [Themes: Cave crawl, Zorkian, alchemy, spells, zorkian]
  
  > Look around
  Just where the shelf flattens at the foot of rocky steps (climbing
  westward), a square-cut doorway has been hewn into the north wall. The
  ledge, which begins to curve southeast, is at its broadest here, yet
  your feeling of vertigo hardly abates.
  
  southwest, 30 feet away.
  
  A watchful oil-snake coils and uncoils itself restlessly, occupying
  its territory but making no move towards you as yet.
  
  You can also see a small wickerwork hamper (in which are some
  provisions - a joint of cured ham, an apple and a hunk of cheese)
  here.
  
  > examine lantern
  The brass lantern is currently switched on.
  
  > consult Guide abouthe oil-snake
  The oil snake infests the foundations of many Northland houses. It is
  said to bring bad luck, presumably because its bite is deadly poison.
  
  > look
  Just where the shelf flattens at the foot of rocky steps (climbing
  westward), a square-cut doorway has been hewn into the north wall. The
  ledge, which begins to curve southeast, is at its broadest here, yet
  your feeling of vertigo hardly abates.
  
  southwest, 30 feet away.
  
  A watchful oil-snake coils and uncoils itself restlessly, occupying
  its territory but making no move towards you as yet.
  
  > Go west
  This is a slate-littered shelf high up at the northwest eaves of a
  dark, vaulted cave, from which a meadow-fresh breeze blows. The ledge
  broadens down a slab "staircase" to the east but wastes away into a
  tight squeeze southwest. Natural passages extend like tendrils into
  the rock all around this cavern, but only one is accessible from here,
  back north under the lintel.
  
  Hanging down toward the dim, distant cave floor is a flourishing,
  inverted cedar, its roots grappling the roof, its nearest outflung
  branch a good 10 feet across the abyss from here.
  
  An improvised ladder of sticks, lashed together with vines and
  creepers, spans the abyss down to the cedar branches.
  
  > Go southeast
  This long parapet thins to nothing further on, appearing to lead
  nowhere after all: the nearest other ledge being 50 feet vertically
  below.
  
  the inverted cedar, giving you a magnificent view of this botanic
  marvel.
  
  There's an iron ring fixed to the wall, the kind used to tie up
  horses, though how anyone could possibly get a horse up here you can't imagine.
  
  > tie the rope to ring
  You make a secure little knot. One end is tied to the ring, the other
  hangs down from the ledge.
  
  > Down
  short, you decide against carefully lowering yourself down.
  
  > go to the north-west
  Just where the shelf flattens at the foot of rocky steps (climbing
  westward), a square-cut doorway has been hewn into the north wall. The
  ledge, which begins to curve southeast, is at its broadest here, yet
  your feeling of vertigo hardly abates.
  
  southwest, 30 feet away.
  
  A watchful oil-snake coils and uncoils itself restlessly, occupying
  its territory but making no move towards you as yet.
  
  > Go southeast
  This long parapet thins to nothing further on, appearing to lead
  nowhere after all: the nearest other ledge being 50 feet vertically
  below.
  
  the inverted cedar, giving you a magnificent view of this botanic
  marvel.
  
  There's an iron ring fixed to the wall, the kind used to tie up
  horses, though how anyone could possibly get a horse up here you can't imagine.
  
  Your length of rope is here. One end is tied to the ring, the other
  hangs down from the ledge.
  
  > tie the rope to the ladder
  The rope's already tied to the iron ring.
  
  > untie the rope
  You untie the rope.
  
  > look at what you're carrying with you
  You are carrying:
  an improvised ladder
  a small wickerwork hamper (which is open)
  some provisions - a joint of cured ham, an apple and a hunk of
  cheese
  four arrows
  a boomerang
  a clove of garlic
  a drum (which is empty)
  a bow
  the "destruction order"
  Experimental Spell Book #5
  a shard of pottery (providing light)
  your Ambassador's trunk (which is closed)
  a brass lantern (providing light)
  The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
  Provinces
  four ancient treasures:
  a golden fir-cone
  a platinum egg
  a jewelled scarab
  a jade figurine
  
  > open the trunk
  Expertly sliding your fingers along the sequence of hidden catches,
  you trigger the mechanism and the trunk-lid gracefully raises.
  
  credentials.
  
  > examine the telescope
  One thing about your home, the Duchy: you may not be a very powerful
  realm, but you certainly are fine inventors and craftsmen. Take this
  ten-inch brass "telescope", for example. Distant objects that you look
  at through the telescope actually seem closer to you!
  
  > look in the drum
  The drum is empty.
  
  > Spells
  The jilnix spell is indelibly etched on your memory. Other than that,
  you have the chiaro spell memorised.
  
  > Chiaro boomerang
  There is an almost blinding flash as the boomerang takes on a glow!
  Not for a long moment is the light level tolerable.
  
  > throw the boomerang
  You throw the boomerang out into the vast air of the cave, where it
  quickly spins out of sight.
  
  > look
  This long parapet thins to nothing further on, appearing to lead
  nowhere after all: the nearest other ledge being 50 feet vertically
  below.
  
  the inverted cedar, giving you a magnificent view of this botanic
  marvel.
  
  There's an iron ring fixed to the wall, the kind used to tie up
  horses, though how anyone could possibly get a horse up here you can't imagine.
  
  Your length of rope is here.
  
  > Wait
  Time passes.
  
  Suddenly and without warning, the boomerang spins back in from the
  cave and gives you a nasty bruise on the head.
  
  > read Book
  Which do you mean, Experimental Spell Book #5 or The Guide For
  Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding Provinces?
  
  > Spell
  The chiaro spell (cause inanimate object to radiate light).
  The jilnix spell (summon small plague of insects).
  The piroo spell (unfasten object).
  
  > memorize the chiaro
  You commit the chiaro spell to memory.
  
  > break wall
  (the masoned wall)
  Violence isn't the answer to this one.
  
  > Go south
  Thanks to the wall, the slide passage is the only way out.
  
  > go west
  Though the cave undoubtedly extends west, the wall means you are
  unable to follow it.