text: > Look around
  Hall of Severance (In the House of Penance)
  The many years have taken its toll on this house. The circular wall tapers slightly towards the ceiling. Above her, a framework of thick beams support several generations worth of spider webs. There is not much left of the roof now. The light from outside leaks in through the holes in the ceiling. It magnifies the presence of fine dry dust that floats lazily in the still air. Long since rotted straw and reeds cover the earthen floor.
  
  A pair of rusty manacles hangs on the wall.
  Lornedei bites on a nail.
  
  > Go upwards
  There is no way she could climb up to the ceiling. The building would most likely drop down on top of her.
  
  > Leave
  She steps out in the clearing.
  
  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 great roots under the giant oak have slid aside revealing a passage.
  
  The sleepwalker is here, spinning slowly.
  
  She can also see a large black beetle (Taking a nap at the moment.) here.
  
  > look at 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. Lornedei is waiting for your command.
  
  > 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 deformed bushes rustle and seem to reach for her.
  
  > take the nut
  Lornedei carefully picks up the nut. She quickly drops it in the rucksack.
  
  > kick bush
  No Master. Why would I do anything like that?
  
  > ask the ld about the nuts
  Lornedei shrugs.
  The roots under the big oak stir restlessly.
  
  > reach Oak
  The tree fades away before Lornedei's inner sight. For a moment, there is nothing but a shimmering mist all around her. Then three shapes appear in the distance. They are trees, that she is sure of. Giant trees. One shimmers in gold, one is shrouded in black smoke, and one is bright green. The green tree suddenly fades into the distance, leaving only a greenish mist. Once gone, the black tree grows. It reaches towards the golden tree, shades it and suffocates it. The image fades. Lornedei's magic drops by one.
  The roots under the big oak stir restlessly.
  
  > open the pouch
  She opens the small leather pouch, revealing a golden acorn.
  Lornedei frowns. She seems to be listening.
  And there truly is a sound, distant, from the forest. It sounds like someone whimpering. Someone, or something.
  
  > 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.
  
  > Sleep
  Lornedei sits down, puts her head in her hands and shuts her eyes.
  "I should not Master. But I feel so strange."
  "The air is so hard to breathe. So dark here."
  "I feel ill."
  Amidst her dream, Lornedei speaks. An insistant whispering. Spoken through her, not by her.
  
  "Wake up and be mine.
  Wake up and come to me.
  Give your blood to the seed.
  Give me a tree.
  Destroy the other one, the golden one.
  We will rule together.
  Wake and I am with you.
  
  WAKE NOW!
  The hall of severance is silent. The whispering from the forest is gone, the air seems dense.
  
  Lornedei is sitting on the stone altar with her head bent as in prayer. The long hair hides her face from you and you listen to her breathing. The dry whispers and the shrill singing from the black leaves returns as Lornedei wakes up.
  Slowly, the girl looks up. She seems surprised and her eyes glide over the clearing as if she's never seen it before.
  
  When she looks at you, her eyes are gray and a weary smile turns into a grin. Then the grin fades and her entire body tenses in fear. She turns her face away from you.
  
  Hall of Severance (on the stone altar)
  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 great roots under the giant oak have slid aside revealing a passage.
  
  The sleepwalker is here, spinning slowly.
  
  She can also see a large black beetle (Spinning around waving its antennae at the moment.) here.
  
  > stand
  She gets off the stone altar.
  
  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 great roots under the giant oak have slid aside revealing a passage.
  
  The sleepwalker is here. It has stopped spinning.
  
  She can also see a large black beetle (Fluffing up its wings at the moment.) here.
  
  A very tentative voice speaks up from the old stone well. "Girl?" Lornedei turns her head and stares at the tiny creature sitting on a blade of razor grass next to the well. She takes two fast steps toward the fly. With a screech, the fly buzzes off to sit on the stone house roof. "The same you are not Girl. I know not if you can be trusted Girl." Lornedei picks up a rock and throws it at the fly that buzzes off to sit on the stone altar. "Will you listen Girl?" Lornedei crosses her arms and glares at the fly. After a moment's indecision, she nods.
  
  The fly moves to the edge of the altar and pauses a moment. "You have met one of Raccdaha's minions I see. You must have set it free. Shame. Such shame. Do not believe him Girl! Raccdaha is not strong enough now to possess you from where he is hiding, but he lets his lesser demons do his bidding. Do not believe the messages he sends!" Lornedei takes a step forward and raises a hand to swat the fly, but the fly is already sitting in the black oak. "Oh dear, temper, temper. Me, yes, will be in this place to tell the story when your god evicts the demon that is in you Girl." The firefly disappears with a pop and a flash.
  The roots under the big oak stir restlessly.
  
  > enter the sleepwalker
  Lornedei's stare is not just hostile. It is pure poison. She has no intention of entering the sleepwalker.
  Lornedei shivers. She looks behind her. There is nothing there. Lornedei frowns. She seems to be listening.
  And there truly is a sound, distant, from the forest. It sounds like something that does not want to be heard. Careful, tentative.
  
  > take the nuts
  "No, I only need one. I have it."
  
  > wake the ld
  "Just leave me be! I have my eyes open, can you not see that?"
  The beetle runs off to one of the paths. It spins around once before returning to Lornedei.
  
  > look at the sleepwalker
  A stubby pillar of greenish fog hovers just above ground level. It spins around its own axis like a slow motion whirlwind.
  Lornedei is muttering to herself.
  The beetle runs off to one of the paths. It spins around once before returning to Lornedei.
  
  > Go upwards
  Hall of Severance (In the Black Oak)
  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.
  
  > follow the branch
  "The passage is not yet open, and I can't go through yet. What was trapped between, is now roaming the woods though."