text: [Themes: Afterlife, riddle, Mythology]
  
  > Look around
  Your innermost coffin is fashioned of solid gold. Not bad!
  
  In the Solid Gold Coffin you can see your body.
  
  > examine scroll
  It is a Book of the Dead, a richly illustrated grimoire, teaching spell-songs reputed to be of aid to the newly deceased in their eldritch travels. This one is dedicated to you and titled The Book of Songs of Getting Through The Day.
  
  What could that mean?
  
  > check your inventory
  You are carrying:
  a Book of Songs of Getting Through the Day
  
  > read the scroll
  The Book of Songs of Getting Through the Day is a richly illustrated scroll on virgin papyrus; its chapters are spell-songs prepared to help you survive this most unusual day. As you read, you sense the power behind these ancient verses...
  
  Twin moons
  Light the way.
  Black cat's eyes
  Reveal runes;
  Turn night to day.
  
  West of west
  From every tomb,
  Each soul marches
  To its rest
  Or to its doom!
  
  Of a holy shrine
  Requires respect.
  He who just ate
  And drank much wine
  The doors reject.
  
  Star-gems flow
  In your brazier;
  What a grand
  Skill you know,
  Master Glazier!
  
  slips through a wood
  bathed in golden light
  Up or down a slope
  any way is good
  feet as fleet as flight
  
  I closed myself
  Out of my own.
  Before myself
  I beg myself:
  Leave myself alone.
  
  Sand of the Nile
  Hardens to stone;
  Time the betrayer
  Held in denial:
  Hardness is gone
  
  Days of your youth,
  Times you regret,
  Don't like to face
  Unpleasant truth,
  So you forget.
  
  Deep underground
  Mining for gold
  Dig ore with bare hands
  Speak without sound
  Ten thousand years old
  
  > sing gold digger
  Voicelessly you voice Gold Digger.
  
  Gold seems like such a yielding material....
  
  > Open Coffin
  Your hands pass through the Solid Gold Coffin, meeting no resistance.
  
  The mood of Gold Digger fades.
  
  > go outside
  You get out of the Solid Gold Coffin.
  
  A dazzling inlaid mosaic of glass and gems covers the middle coffin.
  
  In the Glass Mosaic Coffin you can see a Solid Gold Coffin.
  
  The mood of Gold Digger fades.
  
  > examine Glass
  A dazzling inlaid mosaic of glass and gems covers the middle coffin.
  
  > sing master glazier
  Voicelessly you voice Master Glazier.
  
  You sense how glass can flow like water.
  
  > Go outside
  You get out of the Glass Mosaic Coffin.
  
  The outer coffin is gold leaf over wood, richly embossed.
  
  In the Gilt Cypress Coffin you can see a Glass Mosaic Coffin.
  
  The mood of Master Glazier fades.
  
  > examine the cypress
  The outer coffin is gold leaf over wood, richly embossed.
  
  > sing the golden forest runner
  Voicelessly you voice Golden Forest Runner.
  
  You feel nimble, like an antelope slipping through a wood bathed in golden light.
  
  > Go outside
  You get out of the Gilt Cypress Coffin.
  
  A heavy block of quartzite carved into a burial vessel. The heavy, close-fitting lid seals out time.
  
  In the Quartzite Sarcophagus you can see a Gilt Cypress Coffin.
  
  The mood of Golden Forest Runner fades.
  
  > sing letting myself come through
  Voicelessly you voice Letting Myself Come Through.
  
  You feel a strange sympathetic awareness from somewhere nearby.
  
  > sing the sandstone sifter
  Voicelessly you voice Sandstone Sifter.
  
  Sandstone - even quartzite - feels just like loose sand to you.
  
  The mood of Letting Myself Come Through fades.
  
  > Go outside
  You get out of the Quartzite Sarcophagus.
  
  A sturdy vault to guard your body and its royal adornments from thieves and drafts.
  
  In the First Burial Shrine you can see a Quartzite Sarcophagus.
  
  The mood of Sandstone Sifter fades.
  
  > Examine vault
  A sturdy vault to guard your body and its royal adornments from thieves and drafts.
  
  > sing silent supplicant
  Voicelessly you voice Silent Supplicant.
  
  You feel fit to pass the threshold of a shrine.
  
  > Go outside
  You get out of the First Burial Shrine.
  
  A sturdy vault to guard your body and its royal adornments from thieves and drafts.
  
  In the Second Burial Shrine you can see a First Burial Shrine.
  
  The haunting melody of Silent Supplicant lingers in your mind.
  
  > Leave
  You get out of the Second Burial Shrine.
  
  A sturdy vault to guard your body and its royal adornments from thieves and drafts.
  
  In the Third Burial Shrine you can see a Second Burial Shrine.
  
  The haunting melody of Silent Supplicant lingers in your mind.
  
  > Go outside
  You get out of the Third Burial Shrine.
  
  A sturdy vault to guard your body and its royal adornments from thieves and drafts.
  
  In the Fourth Burial Shrine you can see a Third Burial Shrine.
  
  The haunting melody of Silent Supplicant lingers in your mind.
  
  > exit
  You get out of the Fourth Burial Shrine.
  
  This small stone chamber is nearly filled by your nested Burial Shrines. The walls are richly (if hastily) painted with scenes of your recent funeral. A wide gap in the stone leads east; a passage to the south is narrow and guarded by two stern stone statues of yourself. The west wall is carved with a false door: a shallow bas-relief simulation of an inviting archway leading to the perils and rewards of the afterlife.
  
  The mood of Silent Supplicant fades.
  
  > look at the paintings
  The scenes are all too familiar: the body anointed and wrapped; the priest opening the mouth; the Ka rising, walking, taking up its true regalia, and departing the tomb at last: through the False Door that leads past challenges undreamed toward a promise of eternal rest.
  
  Seeing it in rich earth tones and bright gold brings back, somehow, corpse-memories of your embalming: The Grand Vizier wearing the Jackal-head himself to preside over your immortalization...then taking up the crook and flail, and declaring himself your heir and immediate successor to the throne! Typical! You feel a slow wave of anger...no, of envy: an itch to wield those royal implements again yourself.
  
  > examine the statue
  Two stone statues, in your own image, guard the narrow passage that separates your private chambers from the more public spaces of your tomb.
  
  > examine false Door
  An inviting arch leading to the lands west of life...but it is merely carved stone.
  
  > Go south
  The twin statues stoically bar your way.
  
  > sing letting myself come through
  Voicelessly you voice Letting Myself Come Through.
  
  The statues guarding the door to the south turn their expressionless faces toward you.
  
  > go south
  The statues gravely let you pass.
  
  This chamber is smooth bare stone. Two stone statues guard the narrow passage to the north; rough rectangular holes in the stone lead east and west.
  
  Your Coronation Crook lies abandoned in the dust.
  
  The mood of Letting Myself Come Through fades.
  The statues no longer seem aware of you.
  
  > take Crook
  Taken.
  
  > examine it
  This is the royal crook you used at your coronation.
  
  Why was it taken from its case? Why was it cast aside in the outer tomb? Such disrespect for a god-king's symbol of authority seems unthinkable.
  
  > check your inventory
  You are carrying:
  your Coronation Crook
  a Book of Songs of Getting Through the Day
  
  > go east
  This crude corridor leads west into your tomb - which already feels like home. To the east, the stairs that led here from the world of the living are sealed off above by thick stone.
  
  > Go west
  This chamber is smooth bare stone. Two stone statues guard the narrow passage to the north; rough rectangular holes in the stone lead east and west.
  
  > go west
  This crude hollow holds more of your worldly goods. None seems to matter much now. The only break in the walls leads east.
  
  > examine the goods
  These things seem to have been disturbed, then hastily straightened. You sense that items are missing that ought to be here. Rage takes you for a moment, but it flows slowly, like cold mud, not the familiar hot fire of living anger. Has my grave, then, been robbed by the very men hand-picked to seal it? What use are amulets? what use are tombs? a cat may look at us, but where is safety in the world, when an undertaker may rob a king?
  
  > examine the stone
  Yesterday those stairs led here from the living world. Now they lead nowhere.
  
  > Sing Sandstone
  Voicelessly you voice Sandstone Sifter.
  
  Sandstone - even quartzite - feels just like loose sand to you.
  
  > go upwards
  You can't go that way.
  
  The mood of Sandstone Sifter fades.
  
  > sing the lost Memories
  Voicelessly you voice Lost Memories.
  
  The song evokes a mood of long ago, but nothing you see here sparks a particular memory.
  
  > Go west
  This chamber is smooth bare stone. Two stone statues guard the narrow passage to the north; rough rectangular holes in the stone lead east and west.
  
  > go west
  This crude hollow holds more of your worldly goods. None seems to matter much now. The only break in the walls leads east.
  
  > sing letting myself
  Voicelessly you voice Letting Myself Come Through.
  
  The statues guarding the door to the north turn their expressionless faces toward you.
  
  > Go north
  The statues gravely let you pass.
  
  This small stone chamber is nearly filled by your nested Burial Shrines. The walls are richly (if hastily) painted with scenes of your recent funeral. A wide gap in the stone leads east; a passage to the south is narrow and guarded by two stern stone statues of yourself. The west wall is carved with a false door: a shallow bas-relief simulation of an inviting archway leading to the perils and rewards of the afterlife.
  
  The mood of Letting Myself Come Through fades.
  The statues no longer seem aware of you.
  
  > sing the lost Memories
  Voicelessly you voice Lost Memories.
  
  The song evokes a mood of long ago. But you find yourself staring at the painted walls, reminded of something more recent....
  
  The scenes are all too familiar: the body anointed and wrapped; the priest opening the mouth; the Ka rising, walking, taking up its true regalia, and departing the tomb at last: through the False Door that leads past challenges undreamed toward a promise of eternal rest.
  
  Seeing it in rich earth tones and bright gold brings back, somehow, corpse-memories of your embalming: The Grand Vizier wearing the Jackal-head himself to preside over your immortalization...then taking up the crook and flail, and declaring himself your heir and immediate successor to the throne! Typical! You feel a slow wave of anger...no, of envy: an itch to wield those royal implements again yourself.
  
  > go to the east
  This chamber is dominated by a grim statue of Anubis, judge of the newly dead, in jackal form. Around it are arrayed a decade's worth of kingly gifts. Little of it seems to matter much now. On the other hand, your Canopic Shrine and Sceptre Case are here, too. A wide gap in the west wall is the only exit.
  
  > Open Case
  You open your Sceptre Case, revealing your replacement Coronation Flail, an Impolitic Spare Crook, a Large Paternal Crook, and a Large Paternal Flail.
  
  > examine Anubis
  The statue's grim visage seems to reserve judgment.
  
  > examine Shrine
  A sturdy vault for your most fragile internal organs. External, now.
  
  > examine the coronation flail
  This royal Flail looks just like the one you were given for your coronation...almost. But no: it lacks your cartouche. It is a replica, a fake! Now - now that you're dead - somehow you can't remember what that could mean, but it makes you uneasy.
  
  > look at paternal
  Which do you mean, the Large Paternal Crook, or the Large Paternal Flail?
  
  > Flail
  This is your father's best ceremonial flail: now your prized heirloom.
  
  > examine paternal Crook
  This is your father's best ceremonial crook: now your cherished heirloom.
  
  > examine impolitic Crook
  This is a spare ceremonial crook you have never used. It was a gift from an unpopular functionary whose favor you dared not acknowledge.
  
  > take all
  your replacement Coronation Flail: Taken.
  Impolitic Spare Crook: Taken.
  Large Paternal Crook: Taken.
  Large Paternal Flail: Taken.
  kingly gifts: None of these things interests you anymore.
  
  > open the jar
  Your viscera are probably safest where they are.
  
  > sing the lost Memories
  Voicelessly you voice Lost Memories.
  
  The song evokes a mood of long ago. Your glance catches on that subtly, naggingly inauthentic Coronation Flail, and suddenly a clear memory rushes back...
  
  ...Your coronation. You were only nine...of course you were nervous. But god-kings are infallible, your father-friend warned you, and then had to explain his words: admit no mistakes today!
  
  You prayed you would simply make no mistakes, but of course disaster struck almost immediately. During your solemn investiture ceremony, the Royal Flail, in your young, infallible hand, brushed against a nearby man, a faithful attendant.
  
  A trivial accident, caused by the slight shaking of your own nervous hand. But tradition says it is an offense against the gods for an attendant to touch a royal sceptre during such a ceremony, and the penalty is death....
  
  The throne room where you've spent so much of your life this past decade...but as it looked to you the first time you saw it, as a child: rich and strange and big.
  
  The blameless attendant is watching you, wide-eyed with fear.
  
  Everyone else is watching you both with concern, wondering if you will indeed condemn this faithful servant to death as your first official act.
  
  I must save this blameless man from my mistake, you remember thinking then, without taking the blame myself. But how?
  
  > condemn yourself
  My fault, you want to say, an accident! But a god-king can say no such thing.
  
  > check your inventory
  You are carrying:
  your Royal Crook
  your Royal Flail
  
  > look at the man
  The man watches you in terror; he was not at fault, but his brief contact with your sceptre is a death sentence only you can rescind.
  
  > examine Flail
  The Royal Flail represents your responsibility to separate the wheat from the chaff among your subjects. Too literally, today.
  
  > look at Crook
  The royal Crook represents your responsibility to keep your flock from straying.
  
  > touch the man with Crook
  He shies back in horror.
  
  > Condemn man
  You feel a sudden pridefulness, and your fist grips the flail's handle. Let him die, then, and thereby prove my power! But you sense that this is not kingly wisdom, and suppress the confirming gesture.
  
  > forgive man
  Nervously, you favor the blameless attendant with the only gesture of royal forgiveness you can recall, though it is intended for less serious matters.
  
  The tension in the room diminishes slightly. Your gesture helped, but it seems not to be enough.
  
  > Hug man
  The tension in the room diminishes slightly. Your gesture helped, but it seems not to be enough.