text: [Themes: Fantasy, fairy tale, mirrors, ghosts, slavery, female protagonist]
  
  > go downward
  Though a dim light filters down from the law library, you can see almost nothing of the contents of your current location. You find yourself concentrating all the more alertly on your hearing, as though the slightest echo might offer a clue.
  
  You hear your own steady breathing, and some dry sifting from the north.
  
  > Go up
  Many books of precedent line these walls, containing every kind of contract that can be made to bind every kind of soul.
  
  A hole in the floor descends to the other, less savory portion of this place.
  
  > Go north
  You walk far enough in to get a view of sand falling in a huge hourglass. Though it is only a thin stream, it sounds louder than it should: the noise, magnified by your helmet, becomes too much to bear, and you retreat.
  
  > remove the helmet
  You lift the helmet from your head, and the sudden quiet feels like going deaf.
  
  > Go north
  In this very tall room, like a silo, is a glass of running sand: not an hourglass, or even a dayglass, but a timer whose duration you do not know. A whole Sahara has poured into its lower chamber, but the trickle from above continues, very fine.
  
  Around the outside of this contraption ascends a wooden staircase.
  
  > Go upwards
  In the upper chamber, you find, there is almost as much sand as there is below; indeed for all you can tell the flow might be eternal.
  
  Nearby an ivory door leads southwest.
  
  > go southwest
  (first opening the ivory door)
  (first unlocking the ivory door)
  You lack a key that fits the ivory door.
  
  > go east
  Natural light from the south -- coming in from the courtyard, you suppose, though you are too short to see out -- illuminates a series of still life paintings on the north wall: one showing the Wedding Treasure when Lucrezia arrived from Medici-Credenza, the other rather fancifully entitled Supper with M.
  
  Nearby a heavy door leads east.
  
  And here Beast lies, sprawled on the ground as if he'd fallen.
  
  "Nothing bad will happen for the first seven days," he said, when you left.
  
  And yet here he is, looking very nearly dead.
  
  > examine Beast
  He looks starved, unwell, near death, in fact. He will need to be given food before he will properly revive -- and who knows what else...
  
  It baffles you to find him in this condition, when he could easily have gotten whatever he needed in the kitchen.
  
  > Kiss Beast
  You press your mouth to his cold one, and catch the strange scent of night woods, cinnamon, and blood copper.
  
  He does not stir.
  
  > search Beast
  He sleeps, or inhabits some state deeper than sleep.
  
  > go to the parlor
  You head west to the upper bulb. Then down to the lower bulb. Then east to the state rotunda. Then south to the central courtyard. Then east to the ground floor helical staircase. Then up to the upstairs helical staircase. And finally east to the private parlor.
  
  A sitting room of the family, in old times, and familiar territory to you now as well. Your bedroom is just south; other bedrooms, mostly smaller, in other directions.
  
  Nearby an open heavy door leads north.
  
  You can also see a bentwood table (on which is a jigsaw puzzle) here.
  
  > Go north
  You get far enough to glimpse an open heavy door before being overcome: you reel back from a smell of roses and death, so powerful that you can't go forward. Until there's a breeze through here, you won't be able to stand being in the place.
  
  A sitting room of the family, in old times, and familiar territory to you now as well. Your bedroom is just south; other bedrooms, mostly smaller, in other directions.
  
  Nearby an open heavy door leads north.
  
  You can also see a bentwood table (on which is a jigsaw puzzle) here.
  
  > go to the dining hall
  You head west to the upstairs helical staircase. Then down to the ground floor helical staircase. Then west to the central courtyard. Then south to the entrance hall. And finally west to the great dining hall.
  
  Such a long hall that the soup might get cold between one end and the other. You and he used only the far west end, nearest the kitchen. Once you took to dining together at all, that is; the first few months he brought trays to your room, while you hid.
  
  But then you took to eating here; and at the end of every meal he would stand up formally and ask his question.
  
  > Go north
  Many books of precedent line these walls, containing every kind of contract that can be made to bind every kind of soul.
  
  A hole in the floor descends to the other, less savory portion of this place.
  
  > think about the bell
  The Beast's collection of bells lives upstairs in the bell room, and provides him more or less whatever he needs, by summoning the servants indentured to his house. You have yet to discover any task, however menial or obscure, for which there is not some slave or other recorded.
  
  > think about the breeze
  Rooms with a strong smell will sometimes air out when doors at both sides are opened, allowing a breeze to go through.
  
  > go to still life
  You head north to the lower bulb. Then up to the upper bulb. And finally east to the gallery of still life.
  
  Natural light from the south -- coming in from the courtyard, you suppose, though you are too short to see out -- illuminates a series of still life paintings on the north wall: one showing the Wedding Treasure when Lucrezia arrived from Medici-Credenza, the other rather fancifully entitled Supper with M.
  
  Nearby a heavy door leads east.
  
  And here Beast lies, sprawled on the ground as if he'd fallen.
  
  > open the heavy door
  You open the heavy door.
  
  With both doors open, a breeze begins to blow through the smelly area.
  
  > examine the paintings
  Which do you mean, Wedding Treasure or Supper with M?
  
  > examine Wedding Treasure
  A table tastefully laid with possessions of power or personal worth, brought by Lucrezia as gifts from her father: an inkpot, a helmet, a green girdle stitched with vines, a curious pair of cloven shoes.
  
  The worst of rose stink has mostly gone, now.
  
  > look at the Supper
  A table nicely laid out with white linen and napkins, bread and fruit; and a spoon with a very, very long handle.
  
  > go east
  Of more recent construction than many another portion of the castle, and therefore light and airy, and a pleasant place to spend a few hours.
  
  Nearby an open heavy door leads west to the gallery of still life.
  
  Placed where it will have the most light on the board for the longest time is a mechanical chessplayer.
  
  > examine the chessplayer
  The chessplayer wears a turban, and in its wooden fingers grasps the head of the black bishop. Whatever move it contemplates has yet to occur.
  
  The Beast brought it out for you to play against, when other entertainment palled. You lost consistently until he came and roared at it; and afterwards began to win. The suspicion that it was throwing games made you a bit reluctant to make use of it, in the end.
  
  The mechanical chessplayer is currently switched off.
  
  > think about food
  The beast seems to be suffering extreme hunger.
  
  > go to the east
  Kept, conveniently, close to where the masters of the house would once have slept. There are bells large and small, clappers, tambourines, and gongs. Most of these you have never seen used at all.
  
  Roses from the garden below have crept up to grow around the north window, lending a sickly smell to the place.
  
  Nearby an open heavy door leads south to the private parlor.
  
  Catching your eye among many other unfamiliar items are some iron windchimes, a little gold dinner bell, and a silver bell.
  
  > take the dinner bell
  You acquire the little gold dinner bell, and assess it curiously.
  
  It is the dinner summons, and particularly familiar to you.
  
  > take all
  iron windchimes: You acquire the iron windchimes.
  silver bell: You acquire the silver bell, and assess it curiously.
  
  It bears the stamp of a lamplighter.
  
  > go to the dining hall
  You head west to the white gallery. Then west to the gallery of still life. Then west to the upper bulb. Then down to the lower bulb. Then south to the law library. And finally south to the great dining hall.
  
  Such a long hall that the soup might get cold between one end and the other. You and he used only the far west end, nearest the kitchen. Once you took to dining together at all, that is; the first few months he brought trays to your room, while you hid.
  
  But then you took to eating here; and at the end of every meal he would stand up formally and ask his question.
  
  > ring the dinner bell
  You ring the bell hopefully, but apparently it only works in the Kitchen itself.
  
  > go to Kitchen
  You head west to the enormous kitchen.
  
  Haunted with the spirits of chefs past, generations and generations of culinary geniuses; one can never predict its whimsies.
  
  > ring the dinner bell
  The little gold dinner bell tinkles gaily: as in automatic response, your stomach rumbles. There will be a feast, now, waiting for you in the dining hall.
  
  As for the gold bell, it returns to its place.
  
  > go to the dining hall
  You head east to the great dining hall.
  
  Such a long hall that the soup might get cold between one end and the other. You and he used only the far west end, nearest the kitchen. Once you took to dining together at all, that is; the first few months he brought trays to your room, while you hid.
  
  But then you took to eating here; and at the end of every meal he would stand up formally and ask his question.
  
  A considerable feast is set out on a platter as big as a shield.
  
  > take the food
  You acquire the feast, and assess it curiously.
  
  A platter heaped with -- why, you must this time have woken the chefs of King Yggdram the Piscine: it is pickled whitefish and wilted greens, hot soup made from leviathan's bones, and other dishes you do not recognize, made of things that have not grown in this vicinity for many a year.
  
  Perhaps he will feel better when he has eaten, you reflect. He has always had a large appetite -- the result of his change in form, he tells you.
  
  He used to mock your dainty eating, and sit at table long after your plate was empty; and make a game of guessing foods that might tempt you to eat even a little more; vanishing into the kitchen to instruct the staff, and returning a little later; saying roguishly, "This, I think you will like..."
  
  In your defense, you never had sugared violets at home.
  
  > go to Beast
  You head north to the law library. Then north to the lower bulb. Then up to the upper bulb. And finally east to the gallery of still life.
  
  Natural light from the south -- coming in from the courtyard, you suppose, though you are too short to see out -- illuminates a series of still life paintings on the north wall: one showing the Wedding Treasure when Lucrezia arrived from Medici-Credenza, the other rather fancifully entitled Supper with M.
  
  Nearby an open heavy door leads east to the white gallery.
  
  And here Beast lies, sprawled on the ground as if he'd fallen.
  
  > feed the Beast
  (the feast)
  With great care, you feed the soup to the Beast. So much spills that you doubt whether you are making any progress; then he swallows.
  
  "You are ornery," he says. "I guaranteed your return -- you know what that means?"
  
  "That if I had not come back, you would have died," you reply.
  
  "That is only a small part of what would have happened. The other contracts would have unraveled, the servant souls freed."
  
  You frown at him. "I've been trying to use you to this purpose for years," he says, touching your cheek. "But you wouldn't go.
  I'm touched that you came back for me -- really, I can't tell you how much -- but you've ruined the plan."
  
  "Is there a way to set them free that doesn't kill you?" you ask.
  
  He looks startled. "Not for me," he says. "There's a room in the basement below the rose garden I can't get into. Lucrezia's room. You'll need to get in, search the crypt, find a way to destroy the contracts book... there are places in the castle I cannot enter, because she sealed them against all her descendants. But you are not one of her descendants, so--" He chuckles weakly at some joke, but he hands you an iron key. "You'll need the shoes."
  
  "Would that lift the curse on you, too, do you think?" you ask.
  
  "Unlikely. That is another matter. Less happy." After a moment he begins to sleep again.
  
  > check your inventory
  You are carrying:
  an iron key
  a silver bell
  some iron windchimes
  a great contract book
  a small key (which opens the iron windchimes and the small door)
  a shackle
  some discarded embroidery materials
  a helmet
  
  > go to the treasure room
  You head west to the upper bulb. Then down to the lower bulb. Then east to the state rotunda. Then south to the central courtyard. Then south to the entrance hall. Then east to the scarlet gallery. And finally northeast to the treasure room.
  
  Locked in an iron cage are the house treasures not in use: the collection consists of a sceptre, a puzzle piece, and a pair of cloven shoes, at present -- he showed them to you one rainy day, telling you their many histories.
  
  Nearby an open small door leads east to the scrying room.
  
  > open the cage
  (first unlocking the iron cage)
  (with the iron key)
  You open the iron cage.
  
  > take all
  sceptre: You acquire the sceptre.
  puzzle piece: You acquire the puzzle piece.
  pair of cloven shoes: You acquire the pair of cloven shoes.
  
  > examine the bell
  It bears the stamp of a lamplighter.
  
  > go to the parlor
  You head southwest to the scarlet gallery. Then west to the entrance hall. Then north to the central courtyard. Then east to the ground floor helical staircase. Then up to the upstairs helical staircase. And finally east to the private parlor.
  
  A sitting room of the family, in old times, and familiar territory to you now as well. Your bedroom is just south; other bedrooms, mostly smaller, in other directions.
  
  Nearby an open heavy door leads north to the bellroom.
  
  You can also see a bentwood table (on which is a jigsaw puzzle) here.
  
  > put the puzzle piece in the jigsaw puzzle
  You snap the final piece into place.
  
  Nothing tremendous happens, but the picture is complete.
  
  The table is set for two: a robed king, and the devil. Between the two of them is a quill pen, jet black, and a huge book. The dialogue of these two characters is written on tiny gilt scrolls that spool out of their mouths, and this is what you could not read before the jagged piece was found: the devil is saying, "TIME IS ON MY SIDE," to which the king replies, "BUT NOT FOR LONG."
  
  > look at the puzzle
  The table is set for two: a robed king, and the devil. Between the two of them is a quill pen, jet black, and a huge book. The dialogue of these two characters is written on tiny gilt scrolls that spool out of their mouths, and this is what you could not read before the jagged piece was found: the devil is saying, "TIME IS ON MY SIDE," to which the king replies, "BUT NOT FOR LONG."
  
  > go to the rose garden
  You head west to the upstairs helical staircase. Then down to the ground floor helical staircase. Then west to the central courtyard. Then south to the entrance hall. Then east to the scarlet gallery. Then northeast to the treasure room. Then east to the scrying room. Then north to walk's end. And finally northwest to rose garden.
  
  Only one kind of rose grows here, a pink only just distinct from white. This strain creeps over the ground and climbs the walls of the cloister.
  
  In the middle of the garden a way slopes into the ground, reminding you of the entrance to a burial mound.
  
  You can see a stool here.
  
  > ring bell
  The sound echoes; if you had to guess, you would say that a larger space lies somewhere to the southwest.
  
  > wear the shoes
  They emphatically do not fit. You will have to find someone to adjust them, evidently.
  
  > go to the mosaic
  You head uncertainly in what feels like the right direction, based on dimly apprehended light, and the movements of air
  
  A mosaic floor of black and white, like that of cathedrals, as protection against the spite of the undead: which protection might often have been needed, by those that dwelt here in former times. The way down is at the center of the maze.
  
  > go to quarters
  You head west to the gallery of historical paintings. Then west to the scarlet gallery. Then west to the entrance hall. Then west to the great dining hall. Then west to the enormous kitchen. And finally north to the servant quarters.
  
  Not a room friendly to visitors, it has the air of resentful, martyred suffering. Even His most unpleasant ancestors would not have grudged this place more paint, surely, and more straw for the beds.
  
  A decaying ladder leads down.
  
  > go to the lamp
  There is a room here where you might be able to acquire light, but you haven't reached it yet. Try exploring further.
  
  > examine the scepter
  Studded with measly turquoises and semi-precious stones.
  
  > go to the rotunda
  You head down to the apprentice's workshop. And finally northeast to the state rotunda.
  
  Built for the bureaucratic offices of the palace. Inlaid in the floor is the map of all the lands that once this palace commanded; and from the stains and driblets of wax, it is clear to you that someone at some time thought it useful to set a candle at the map's center, and observe the result.
  
  > Go east
  Despite its grand name, this is one of the smaller chambers of the castle, because the kings were never inclined to brook too much advice. On each side of the room are two neat oak benches, seating for perhaps thirty men -- and, more rarely, women, and a few characters who could not be called by either term.
  
  > go east
  A pleasant cloister overlooking the rose garden to the north. You have walked it many times, seeking to waste the excesses of time at your disposal.
  
  > Go north
  Only one kind of rose grows here, a pink only just distinct from white. This strain creeps over the ground and climbs the walls of the cloister.
  
  In the middle of the garden a way slopes into the ground, reminding you of the entrance to a burial mound.
  
  > go to the upper bulb
  You head south to cloister walk. Then west to the parliamentary chambers. Then west to the state rotunda. Then west to the lower bulb. And finally up to the upper bulb.
  
  In the upper chamber, you find, there is almost as much sand as there is below; indeed for all you can tell the flow might be eternal.
  
  Nearby an ivory door leads southwest.
  
  > go southwest
  (first opening the ivory door)
  (first unlocking the ivory door)
  You lack a key that fits the ivory door.
  
  > go to the bell room
  You head east to the gallery of still life. Then east to the white gallery. And finally east to the bellroom.
  
  Kept, conveniently, close to where the masters of the house would once have slept. There are bells large and small, clappers, tambourines, and gongs. Most of these you have never seen used at all.
  
  Roses from the garden below have crept up to grow around the north window, lending a sickly smell to the place.
  
  Nearby an open heavy door leads south to the private parlor.
  
  Catching your eye among many other unfamiliar items is a little gold dinner bell.
  
  > ring bell
  (the silver bell)
  You ring the bell, but those who might hear and heed it are not close enough.
  
  > go to the east
  Furnished with a long countertop and the equipment of an apothecary; sketches from physicians; anatomical drawings of creatures similar to the Beast, bears and lions being especially prominent; also poison reference books, primarily the work of Italian and (earlier) Persian experts. The room has an unused air, and you do not remember ever coming in before, or seeing the Beast go in. It must have been a hobby that interested him before your arrival.
  
  Roses from the garden below have crept up to grow around the north window, lending a sickly smell to the place.
  
  > look at the sketches
  They concentrate on weak points and the functioning of the digestive tract.
  
  > Examine book
  (the great contract book)
  The runes are unfamiliar to you, but you know what the book is: a record of all the contracts of all the souls enslaved to the king of this castle.
  
  > examine the poison
  Assorted disturbing recipes for ways to make your enemies die quickly, or to dispatch them slowly in great pain. The pages most discolored by use and splashed ingredients are those pertaining to swift and pleasant execution.
  
  > go to the upper bulb
  You head west to the bellroom. Then west to the white gallery. Then west to the gallery of still life. And finally west to the upper bulb.
  
  In the upper chamber, you find, there is almost as much sand as there is below; indeed for all you can tell the flow might be eternal.
  
  Nearby an ivory door leads southwest.
  
  > look at the ivory door
  It is closed and locked.
  
  > examine papers
  Neatly filed: he told you he'd spent twenty years or so on them, having no other way to occupy his time. Anything you wanted to look up, you should be able to discover easily.
  
  > look up Lucrezia
  What do you want to look up in?
  
  > look up Lucrezia in the papers
  You quickly skim the unpleasant history of Lucrezia of Medici-Credenza, how she brought odd magical treasures with her, introduced new methods of binding and contracting that were previously unknown even to this castle, and maintained a room for her studies in the basement below the rose garden. From this room everyone including her husband was banned.
  
  There are some suggestions that she was the daughter of the Devil himself, sent to the castle to tempt the kings into further folly and destruction. But who knows?
  
  > look up Devil in the papers
  A very old scroll narrates how King Athanasius, first of his line, entered a wager with Mephistopheles, and won the pen that the Devil used to sign contracts for men's souls.
  
  The King retired to this castle, overjoyed with his success, but the Devil flew away laughing.
  
  > look up Elzibad in the papers
  An entertaining story tells how Elzibad, worse than all the other kings of this palace that had previously been seen, was defeated by one of his own demons in elephant form, when someone who was not contracted to him gained command of the demon. Command of his slaves then passed to his son.
  
  From that day on the castle was so built that no one could even enter into it without becoming contracted to its king, for the protection of the royal family.
  
  > look up the gargoyle in the papers
  Among the records there is a large section on the various failed romantic business of the kings and queens and their brothers and sisters, so that you might almost suspect this to be part of the castle's curse.
  
  In this collection, you find the history of Duke Cantherius: married at 59 to a lissome wife of 17, he "urgently desired to enjoy her company", but found himself unable. He consulted a young Parisian doctor, who contracted that through his services the Duchess would be delivered of a child within the year.
  
  Alas, medicine brought no relief; not even that most reliable method, an ointment of honey, crow's egg, and the gall of an electric eel. The Duchess began to hint that she meant to have the marriage annulled; the Duke grew abusive. Seeing no solution through medical arts, the doctor was compelled by his contract to seduce the Duchess.
  
  When the young woman was delivered of triplets, the Duke kept two of the boys and raised them as his own; the third he strangled, together with the doctor himself, as a punishment to his erring wife.
  
  Whereupon the ugly gargoyle appeared on the stair, and could never be budged.
  
  > look up myself in the papers
  You are the merest interloper here.
  
  > go to lower bulb
  You head east to the upper bulb. And finally down to the lower bulb.
  
  In the lower chamber, you find, there is almost as much sand as there is above; it must have been flowing a very long time.
  
  Around the outside of this contraption ascends a wooden staircase.
  
  > go east
  Built for the bureaucratic offices of the palace. Inlaid in the floor is the map of all the lands that once this palace commanded; and from the stains and driblets of wax, it is clear to you that someone at some time thought it useful to set a candle at the map's center, and observe the result.
  
  > Go west
  In the lower chamber, you find, there is almost as much sand as there is above; it must have been flowing a very long time.
  
  Around the outside of this contraption ascends a wooden staircase.
  
  > Go west
  Endowed with a deep power that dissolves into ready vernacular even the most ancient and secret scripts of the Law Library.
  
  Usually blazing with the captured light of many thousands of candles, but it has been let to go out, and everything is dim.
  
  You can see an ordinary quill pen here.
  
  > ring bell
  The silver bell rings once in triumph, and the room springs to brilliant light.
  
  The bell itself fades back to its usual place.