text: [Themes: Fantasy, France, strong NPCs, Historical, physical simulation]
  
  > Go upwards
  West is the wall of the kitchen. Most of the space along the wall is planted with herbs -- bay, parsley, stalks of mint -- left of the open doorway. To its right is only a drainage ditch, catching the outflow of a pipe that comes through the wall.
  
  In one corner of the plot is the well, drilled many deep feet; in another is the antique sundial.
  
  You can see a cup (which is empty), a sack (in which are a slice of brie, On Vegetable Dyes, an old letter, some silver coins,
  some mechanical human dancers, a stone block, two corks, a rug, a yellow handkerchief, a butcher knife, a dark wooden box (which is closed), a sword, a green glass jar (which is empty), a red glass jar (which is empty), a navy cloak, some documents, a blue glass jar (which is empty), a round metal tin (which is empty), a small portrait, a jeweled pin, a snuffbox (in which is a quantity of snuff), a swordstick (which is empty), two keys (a silver key and an iron key), three books (Guide to Assorted Wines, The Lavori
  d'Aracne and The World Is Hollow (which is empty)), two
  recipe cylinders (a Tea Recipe and an Andouillettes Recipe), three bottles of wine (a blue bottle (which is empty), a blue bottle (which is empty) and a bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape (which is closed)), four pieces of silverware (a table knife, a fork, a silver-plated corkscrew and a spoon), eight food items (a wedge of brie, a goat cheese, a salers, some apples, a bay leaf, a sprig of parsley, a sprig of mint and a clove of garlic) and two metal dishes (a hinge-lidded teapot (which is closed) and a plate)) and a sticky mixture of mead, water, and onion dye here.
  
  > examine the key
  Which do you mean, the ornate key, the silver key or the iron key?
  
  > Ornate
  It's not exactly easy to get a good look.
  
  The cuckoo clock ticks sullenly.
  
  > link the ornate to the table knife
  You valiantly try to link the two objects, but they are just a little too different. Maybe if they looked more alike.
  
  The cuckoo clock ticks sullenly.
  
  > look at the sword
  A slender and flexible blade, and more decorative than useful, though there have been a few occasions when it became helpful against brigands in the street. The design at the hilt is a bit ornate, but not unpleasantly so.
  
  The cuckoo clock ticks sullenly.
  
  > link ornate to the sword
  Bending your will, you form the link between the ornate key and the sword.
  
  The cuckoo clock ticks sullenly.
  
  > twist the sword
  You rotate the sword in mid-air, but it turns too smoothly, without friction: like a key being turned outside of a lock.
  
  The cuckoo clock ticks sullenly.
  
  > put the sword in the swordstick
  (first taking the sword)
  Taken.
  
  You put the sword into the swordstick.
  
  The cuckoo clock ticks sullenly.
  
  > turn it
  You rotate the sword in its sheath. There is a clicking noise from the gothic door as the ornate key also rotates in place.
  
  The cuckoo clock ticks sullenly.
  
  > open the gothic
  You open the gothic door.
  
  The cuckoo clock ticks sullenly.
  
  > go west
  The walls in this area are unfaced stone, without the plastering, scrollwork, and wallpaper of the main building. To the west is the family's private chapel, for their devotions when they did not feel like attending the parish church.
  
  A staircase of worn stone steps leads up to the area above the chapel.
  
  The door to the foyer is back to the east.
  
  > Go west
  The old private chapel, octagonal-shaped, with tall windows of stained glass, casting a dazzling pattern of blue and green on the ground. Here the family used to hold its private worship services, keeping a form of the official religion that would no doubt have scandalized the parish curate.
  
  There's a conspicuous rat-hole where the stone floor meets the wooden beams.
  
  > examinthe rat-hole
  A dark concavity, lined with the gathered debris of past services; bits of paper curled into the shadows, and string, and gnawed grey cloth. Most notably, there are a gilded key, a wadded paper and a rat.
  
  > touch the rat
  Keep your hands to yourself!
  
  > take the key
  (the gilded key)
  The rat nips your fingers sharply, drawing blood. You squeeze the offended digits until the flow is staunched. "Bastard scion of Lucifer!" you yell at it.
  
  It stares back at you beadily.
  
  > kill the rat with the sword
  (first taking the sword)
  You draw the sword from its sheath. You stab. It dodges. The point of your sword buries itself into the wood and takes a moment to pull out again.
  
  With this kind of luck, it's going to take a lot of stabs before you get anywhere. Maybe you'd be better off with a subtler strategy.
  
  > go to the east
  The walls in this area are unfaced stone, without the plastering, scrollwork, and wallpaper of the main building. To the west is the family's private chapel, for their devotions when they did not feel like attending the parish church.
  
  A staircase of worn stone steps leads up to the area above the chapel.
  
  The door to the foyer is back to the east.
  
  > Go east
  Extremely spacious. It is its best with a half-dozen servants in livery. The floor is Italian marble.
  
  The main staircase ascends to the corridor on the second floor, and a smaller version leads down into the dim basement. Doors also open north and northeast.
  
  An old gothic door framed in stone leads west.
  
  A sad heap of used yellow brocade huddles on the floor here.
  
  On the wall is one of those mechanical clocks that pop open on the hour, allowing the ingenious internal figures out to play.
  
  The cuckoo clock ticks sullenly.
  
  > put the teapot ithe rat-hole
  (first taking the hinge-lidded teapot)
  Taken.
  
  You block the rat hole with the hinge-lidded teapot.
  
  Of course, the rat is still in there, and you don't fancy the idea of trying to starve it out.
  
  > take the teapot
  You take the hinge-lidded teapot, freeing up the hole again.
  
  > look at the wedge
  Oozing and ripe, somehow. You would expect it to be thoroughly ruined by now -- this is not a cheese that should age -- but the Count's powers were diverse, and extended to careful protections of his possessions. Of the wedge, only a couple of pieces remain.
  
  > examine the salers
  An aged, creamy yellowish cheese with an uneven grey-brown rind. It has a sharp and distinctive flavor, though it does not fall under the category of stinky cheeses.
  
  > drop the brie
  Which do you mean, the slice of brie or the wedge of brie?
  
  > Slice
  What do you want to slice the rat hole with?
  
  > drop it
  Dropped.
  
  Seeing the cheese lying tantalizingly out on the floor, the rat scurries out and takes it.
  
  > take the key
  (the gilded key)
  The rat runs along the wall to its home with unseemly haste.
  
  The rat nips your fingers sharply, drawing blood. You squeeze the offended digits until the flow is staunched. "Creature of Lucifer!" you yell at it.
  
  It stares back at you beadily.
  
  In the rat-hole, the rat eats a bit more of its dinner.
  
  > kill the rat with the sword
  You're closer this time, you can feel it -- the rat is out, exposed, and unprotected. You strike--
  
  > put the teapot in the hole
  It dodges your attack adeptly. Speed and agility are on its side.
  
  The rat scurries back into its hole.
  
  You block the rat hole with the hinge-lidded teapot.
  
  Of course, the rat is still in there, and you don't fancy the idea of trying to starve it out.
  
  > put the teapot in the hole
  Seeing you move, the rat scampers back into the rathole with unseemly haste.
  
  (first taking the hinge-lidded teapot)
  Taken.
  
  You block the rat hole with the hinge-lidded teapot.
  
  Of course, the rat is still in there, and you don't fancy the idea of trying to starve it out.
  
  > open the teapot
  Seeing you move, the rat scampers back into the rathole with unseemly haste.
  
  You open the hinge-lidded teapot, revealing a clockwork bee and some mead.
  
  The rat nibbles methodically at the slice of brie. It seems to be getting quite a bit of soft brie goo on its nose and whiskers.
  
  The bee hovers above the mead.
  
  > open it
  You open the hinge-lidded teapot, revealing a clockwork bee and some mead.
  
  The mechanical bee buzzes around the mead.
  
  > take the slice of the brie
  Taken.
  
  The mechanical bee briefly attempts a landing on the mead.
  
  > put it in the teapot
  You put the slice of brie into the hinge-lidded teapot.
  
  The rat emerges from its hole and sniffs with interest around the outside of the hinge-lidded teapot.
  
  The bee hovers above the mead.
  
  The rat makes the fatal judgement error of attempting to go after the cheese. This rouses the bee to anger; there is an agonized squeal, and then both bee and rat fall still, the one spent, the other dead.
  
  > take all from the hole
  gilded key: Removed.
  wadded paper: Removed.
  
  > read wadded
  ...can be used to view the other member of a strong link. Under
  most circumstances there is a word of some sort required to activate such viewing devices, which may be spoken to it or in its presence.
  
  Next to this in handwriting: "(Our mirror from the workshop in the Rue des Arbres.)"
  
  > read Lavori
  (first taking The Lavori d'Aracne)
  
  (putting the sword into the sack to make room)
  Taken.
  
  On the subject of mirrors: Unusual and costly mirrors of special
  power exist which enhance the workings of the lavori d'Aracne; they may be recognized by their failure to reflect in the ordinary way. Some make it easier to form a link through the mirror than through open air, allowing the magician to reverse-link items that are otherwise too dissimilar to use. Likewise, such a mirror...
  
  But then, unfortunately, it breaks off, the page apparently having been chewed out and carried away by something or other.
  
  > go to the east
  The walls in this area are unfaced stone, without the plastering, scrollwork, and wallpaper of the main building. To the west is the family's private chapel, for their devotions when they did not feel like attending the parish church.
  
  A staircase of worn stone steps leads up to the area above the chapel.
  
  The door to the foyer is back to the east.
  
  > go upward
  The worn and winding staircase is not so easy to climb, you find; it would be worse with a flickering candle in the dark. But still you manage...
  
  As a child, you were never allowed in here; it is the only part of the house that is completely unfamiliar to you, though some parts were better known than others. The room, like the chapel below it, is made of stone, unfaced; high windows, clear rather than stained glass, admit a pure light. It is also octagonal, and the ceiling ribs meet at a boss overhead, shaped like a coiled dragon.
  
  It does not have the bare appearance of most of the other rooms of the house. There is a full company of furniture -- a tall-backed ebony and ivory chair, poster bed, wardrobe, inlaid florentine table. A staircase of worn stone steps leads back down.
  
  On the inlaid table are a fanciful book and an unfinished letter.
  
  There is a trunk in the middle of the room, its lid thrown open and its contents beginning to spill out.
  
  > read the fanciful book
  (first taking the fanciful book)
  
  (putting the gilded key into the sack to make room)
  Taken.
  
  It seems to be set in Italy and to involve a number of improbable situations. There is a daring heroine who gets herself into assorted scrapes, and also a mysterious (and magic-using!) hero who appears to let her out of them again (but then always irritatingly departs without a word).
  
  > read unfinished
  Dear Father,
  
  Things have gone badly since you last wrote. I refused the hand of D'Envers, as you recommended (though I cannot say that I had any desire to wed him in any case), and, if he were a gentleman, that would have been the end of the matter. But a few days later I caught one of the maids going through my personal things, and when I questioned her it came out that D'Envers had bribed her to see if he had a rival! I turned her off immediately, but things became worse. There are men of the D'Envers livery passing by the estate on various pretenses, and I am constantly watched.
  
  I moved my things into your room -- it seems safer. I have shut
  away some of the valuables. I am about to leave as well -- I will try to get to Pierre in Paris. He will know what to do.
  
  I wish you had left me some hint of what you were doing, what you intend...
  
  > examine the chair
  Made of ebony but fitted, at the top of the back, with faces made of ivory and inset into the heavy wood; and as for the upholstery, it is done in fine silver on black.
  
  > examine the bed
  An old, slightly battered frame, massive and sheltering, with posts like the masts of a ship.
  
  > open the wardrobe
  You open the wardrobe, revealing a selection of dresses.
  
  > search the wardrobe
  In the wardrobe is a selection of dresses.
  
  > take the dresses
  No point in taking the entire armload of gowns. You'd only get them damaged, and you can hardly afford to replace them.
  
  > wear the dresses
  (first taking the selection of dresses)
  No point in taking the entire armload of gowns. You'd only get them damaged, and you can hardly afford to replace them.
  
  > examine table
  (the inlaid table)
  The top surface of the table is ornamented with inset stone in design; it looks Florentine.
  
  > examine the trunk
  The sort of trunk that someone packs things into in preparation for a journey.
  
  In the trunk are a bracelet, an ivory silk gown and a pair of shoes.
  
  > look at the bracelet
  A bracelet of onyx beads, threaded on silk and silver. It has a clasp that opens and closes.
  
  > take it
  (putting the wadded paper into the sack to make room)
  Taken.
  
  > remember the bracelet
  ...
  
  You remember buying it quite clearly, but have not seen it since you gave it to her. It is an odd trinket for a grown woman, especially one with so many other jewels at her disposal.
  
  ...
  
  > examine the gown
  An exquisite gown of ivory silk: its vast skirts are embroidered with an intricate colored pattern of birds and foliage, and the bodice is decorated with outsized bows.
  
  > take it
  (putting the clockwork bee into the sack to make room)
  Taken.
  
  > examine shoes
  (the pair of shoes)
  Ivory dress shoes for a woman with delicate feet (Marie; the Countess had larger extremities). The heels are studded with diamond chips. They're worth a small fortune.
  
  > take the shoes
  (the pair of shoes)
  (putting the rat corpse into the sack to make room)
  Taken.
  
  > wear the gown
  Even if your dignity would allow such a ludicrous gesture, you very much doubt that the gown would fit you. It looks about Marie's size.
  
  > wear the shoes
  (the pair of shoes)
  Mincing about in Marie's heeled shoes is not likely to help you much.
  
  > examine the dragon
  The boss is left over from an earlier, more primitive time, and have a certain fierceness in the carving of the dragon and claws.
  
  > drop the rug
  (first taking the rug)
  Taken.
  
  Dappled blue and green light plays over the rug.
  
  > examine it
  It's a deep, thick carpet, so comfortable that your mother would have been happy to have it for a bed. There is a peculiar pattern woven into the rug, made visible by the matching pattern of blue and green light. It looks somewhat like this:
  
  ..#...#...#..#...#..#####..####...#####.. ..#...#...#..#...#..#......#...#..#...... ..#...#...#..#####..####...####...####... ...#..#..#...#...#..#......#...#..#...... ...###.###...#...#..#####..#...#..#####.. ......................................... .....###.###....###...####...#..#####.... .....#..#..#...#...#..#...#..#..#........ ....#...#...#..#####..####...#..####..... ....#...#...#..#...#..#...#..#..#........ ....#...#...#..#...#..#...#..#..#####.... ......................................... ........#####..#####..#......#........... ........#......#......#......#........... ........####...####...#......#........... ........#......#......#......#........... ........#......#####..#####..#####.......
  
  > Unlock east
  What do you want to unlock east with?
  
  > unlock the east door with the gilded key
  (first taking the gilded key)
  You unlock the tall door.
  
  > look at the key
  (the gilded key)
  A gilded key.
  
  > Go east
  (first opening the tall door)
  You open the tall door.
  
  A large room with windows that face south, and a fireplace along the east. The place is a mess. Other rooms have looked bare, but this one-- this room has been ransacked. Furniture has not simply been removed or disarranged, it has been thrown around, in some cases even chopped up. The handsome secretaire has been turned into splinters.
  
  North is the doorway into the room that was once your bedroom.
  
  An open door leads back west into the corridor.
  
  > examine windows
  Windows framed in the old style, arched at the top with a little knot of carved flowerettes and ribbon-work.
  
  Something about the wreckage tickles your recollection.
  
  > remember the wreckage
  ...
  
  You sat on one of the chairs, legs dangling, while your father talked to the Count.
  
  "Whatever you like," the Count said. "We owe you everything... My daughter's life..." He spread his hand, and you felt awed that this man could owe your father anything.
  
  Then your father glanced at you sideways, turned the cap in his hands, and began: "My lord, we have many mouths at home."
  
  ...
  
  > look at the fireplace
  A handsome fireplace with the family crest carved in stone on the mantel.
  
  In the fireplace are some remains of papers.
  
  > read remains
  Not the sort of thing you can just read, even if they were intact.
  
  > check what you're carrying
  You are carrying:
  a gilded key (which opens the tall door)
  a pair of shoes
  an ivory silk gown
  a bracelet (being worn)
  two books:
  a fanciful book
  The Lavori d'Aracne
  a hinge-lidded teapot (which is open)
  a slice of brie
  some mead (which leaves some room in the hinge-lidded teapot)
  a sack (which is open)
  a rat corpse
  a clockwork bee
  a wadded paper
  a sword
  an old letter
  some silver coins
  some mechanical human dancers
  a stone block
  two corks
  a yellow handkerchief (tied in a sopping knot)
  a butcher knife
  a dark wooden box (which is closed)
  a green glass jar (which is open but empty)
  a red glass jar (which is open but empty)
  a navy cloak
  some documents
  a blue glass jar (which is open but empty)
  a round metal tin (which is open but empty)
  a small portrait
  a jeweled pin
  a snuffbox (which is open)
  a quantity of snuff
  a swordstick
  two keys:
  a silver key (which opens the red door leading west)
  an iron key (which opens the russet door leading east)
  two recipe cylinders:
  a Tea Recipe
  an Andouillettes Recipe
  three bottles of wine:
  a blue bottle
  a blue bottle
  a bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape (which is closed)
  four pieces of silverware:
  a table knife
  a fork
  a silver-plated corkscrew
  a spoon
  eight food items:
  a wedge of brie
  a goat cheese
  a salers
  some apples
  a bay leaf
  a sprig of parsley
  a sprig of mint
  a clove of garlic
  a plate
  three books:
  On Vegetable Dyes
  Guide to Assorted Wines
  The World Is Hollow (which is open but empty)
  a bag on a string (being worn and open)
  a celestial bauble (providing white light)
  a dashing hat (being worn)