text: [Themes: Lovecraftian, Lovecraft]
  
  > look around
  Narthex (Hanon Ondricek)
  The narthex extends the width of the church. Despite the
  gloominess, it's not that unwelcoming except for the eye-watering pattern of industrial linoleum floor tiles. They checkerboard underfoot in grayish green and grayish white squares with dark speckles, stopping only at the margin marked by a wall border at waist level.
  
  leads out of the building.
  
  Two side by side openings lead in to restrooms.
  
  Shattered glass and broken pieces of picture frames cover the floor of the narthex around the edges near the walls.
  
  > examine the Glass
  (the glass jar containing an insect (smelling faintly of mildew))
  A clear glass jar containing a hideous green insect. It's either dead or doing a very good job of playing dead and you have no desire to find out which. The number of legs and eyes appear to change every time you look at it.
  
  It currently has five legs and two eyes.
  
  A faint smell of mildew emanates from it.
  
  > examine the frames
  Every single photo lies destroyed in pieces near the baseboards.
  
  > go to the west
  Chapel (s. hammack)
  You are in the main worship area of the church. Whom or what this chapel is used to worship is not immediately apparent. The accommodations are fairly modest: several rows of pews face toward the west end of the room, where a pulpit stands in front of an altar. In the corner of the room is a cheap-looking electric organ. The one lavish decoration is an elaborate stained glass window taking up most of the wall behind the altar.
  
  The vestibule is to the east. On the southern wall is a wooden door, which is closed.
  
  On the altar are a collection plate (in which are some assorted teeth), a lockbox (closed), a box of Nilla Wafers (in which are some Nilla wafers) and a wine bottle (empty).
  
  > look at the coffee
  The swirls in your cup form a sturdy oak. Botanical images mean that while there is much left to accomplish in the present situation, your immediate environment sustains you, and you have everything that you need.
  
  A faint smell of mildew emanates from it.
  
  > go to the south
  (first opening the nondescript door)
  
  Church Office (Llew Mason)
  The church office is a tiny windowless room. Stark whitewashed brick walls close in on all sides beneath a low vaulted ceiling. There is something fundamentally wrong with the architecture in here. Lines that should be parallel or perpendicular seem ever so slightly off, making you feel distinctly uneasy.
  
  An enormous desk overflowing with stacked papers takes up most of one side of the room. Stairs lead down, and the church itself is accessible through the door at the north end of the room.
  
  > Go upward
  Church Office (Llew Mason)
  The church office is a tiny windowless room. Stark whitewashed brick walls close in on all sides beneath a low vaulted ceiling. There is something fundamentally wrong with the architecture in here. Lines that should be parallel or perpendicular seem ever so slightly off, making you feel distinctly uneasy.
  
  An enormous desk overflowing with stacked papers takes up most of one side of the room. Stairs lead down, and the church itself is accessible through the door at the north end of the room.
  
  > go north
  Chapel (s. hammack)
  You are in the main worship area of the church. Whom or what this chapel is used to worship is not immediately apparent. The accommodations are fairly modest: several rows of pews face toward the west end of the room, where a pulpit stands in front of an altar. In the corner of the room is a cheap-looking electric organ. The one lavish decoration is an elaborate stained glass window taking up most of the wall behind the altar.
  
  The vestibule is to the east. On the southern wall is a wooden door, which is open.
  
  On the altar are a collection plate (in which are some assorted teeth), a lockbox (closed), a box of Nilla Wafers (in which are some Nilla wafers) and a wine bottle (empty).
  
  > put wooden Key in the kp
  You unzip the key pocket, deposit the long wooden key (smelling faintly of mildew), then zip the key pocket back up again.
  
  > look at the pews
  Simply constructed wooden pews built to support the posteriors of the church's parishioners. The back of each pew has a space to hold books, hymns, etc., in which you can see a small pencil.
  
  > look at the pencil
  A stubby number 2 pencil, presumably used for doodling in holy texts.
  
  > get it
  Taken.
  
  > look at the pulpit
  A pulpit constructed of dark mahogany.
  
  On the pulpit is Limerickus Dirtius.
  
  > read it
  (first taking Limerickus Dirtius)
  As you pick up the book, you feel power coursing through your veins.
  
  "There once was a rabbi named Keith"...
  
  The rest is too filthy to reprint here.
  
  > examine the altar
  The altar initially appears to be a simple long table with a tablecloth over it, but on closer inspection, you can see that underneath the tablecloth it's actually closed in on all sides.
  
  On the altar are a collection plate (in which are some assorted teeth), a lockbox (closed), a box of Nilla Wafers (in which are some Nilla wafers) and a wine bottle (empty).
  
  > get the tablecloth
  You find yourself unable to remove the tablecloth from the altar. Rather than the cloth simply being draped over the altar as it initially appeared, it seems that the collection plate and the lockbox are in fact connected to the altar through holes in the tablecloth.
  
  > look at the plate
  (the brass nameplate (smelling faintly of mildew))
  "Charles Cragne, Owner"
  
  A faint smell of mildew emanates from it.
  
  > examine the collection plate
  A shiny silver plate for taking the parishioners' money. Taped to it is a note reading "CASH ONLY! (please no more teeth)"
  
  In the collection plate are some assorted teeth.
  
  > examine the teeth
  In the collection plate are a small assortment of teeth, some of which appear to be human in origin. Some look as though they came from small mammals, reptiles, and even sharks; the rest, you can't even hazard a guess.
  
  > examine the lockbox
  A wooden box about a foot long. The lid has a drawing engraved on it depicting several cloaked figures kneeling in front of a dollar sign. Underneath the engraving is a caption. A few of the letters have worn away, but it appers to read: "The Al-ighty -ollar."
  
  > examine Wafers
  Small, crispy, light brown, round biscuits.
  
  > put the wad on collection plate
  You put the wad of cash (smelling faintly of mildew) into the collection plate.
  
  > get the teeth
  You hear a click from the direction of the lockbox.
  
  > open lockbox
  You open the lockbox, revealing a crooked dagger.
  
  > look at the dagger
  The dagger has a glossy black blade made of a material you can't identify, with a serrated edge. The blade curves upward, but in a strangely non-uniform way that suggests the equation used to described the curve would be quite complicated. You can see your own face reflected in it, distorted by the blade's odd shape, but you can't make out your eyes; you see only dark emptiness where they should be.
  
  Also, you have no nose -- not even holes.
  
  > get the dagger
  As you pick up the dagger, you suddenly find yourself on a hilltop surrounded by open countryside for miles around. There is no sign of civilization. It is late afternoon and the sky looks as though a hurricane is brewing, though there is no rain.
  
  Standing before you on the hilltop is a single dead tree, with something unidentifiable wrapped in cloth hanging from its branches by a noose. It looks like a vaguely humanoid shape, but something about the way it squirms as it dangles makes you less than certain that a human could move that way.
  
  Before you know what's happening, you find yourself instinctively taking the dagger and plunging it into the squirming shape. You hear an unearthly shriek as you stab it over and over again, but the shriek isn't coming from the shape; it seems to come from all around you. There is no blood, but through the holes you put in the cloth, you see a strange yellow light.
  
  As quickly as it started, your vision ends, and you're back in the chapel, holding the dagger.
  
  > examine the organ
  A modest substitute for a proper pipe organ. The design of this instrument is straight out of the '70s, with beige casing and lots of chunky rainbow-colored buttons to adjust the sound.
  
  > play the organ
  You play a few bars of "In-a-Gadda-da-Vida."
  
  > play the organ
  You play a few bars of "Fur Elise."
  
  > play the organ
  You play a few bars of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."
  
  > play the organ
  You play a few bars of "Locomotive Breath."
  
  > examine the window
  The window is made up of hundreds of small shards of glass, stained with an impressive variety of colors. Although the effect is striking, though it's difficult to tell exactly what is the image that's meant to be depicted here -- whenever you look away and back, it seems as though the colors have changed to produce different shapes. At the moment, it most resembles a fractal of the Mandelbrot set.
  
  > get all
  wad of cash (smelling faintly of mildew): Taken.
  
  box of Nilla Wafers: Taken.
  
  Nilla wafers: Taken.
  
  wine bottle: Taken.
  
  > go upwards
  You mount the ladder, making sure your feet catch each rung, and climb to the ceiling don't look down! through the square opening...
  
  Steeple (Michael D. Hilborn)
  (First-time players should type ABOUT!)
  
  Disjointed and decaying pillars of wood form the arches that make up the walls of the church's steeple. The arches, open to the sky, tower over you, ending in a webwork of thick rafters which support the belfry above and ultimately the church's spire. A series of ropes slither down from those rafters, centered over a square hole in the floor that leads down into the bowels of the church.
  
  Teetering on the edge of the hole is a nasty-looking key.
  
  A misshapen mass slumps in one corner of the steeple.
  
  > About yourself
  A lady of stature, at least in this neck of the woods. Thanks to your marriage to Peter, you're part of the eminent Cragne family now.
  
  > look at the coffee
  The swirls in your cup form a blooming rose. Botanical images mean that while there is much left to accomplish in the present situation, your immediate environment sustains you, and you have everything that you need.
  
  A faint smell of mildew emanates from it.
  
  > get Key
  (the nasty-looking key)
  You gingerly pluck the key from the edge of the hole.
  
  > look at the mass
  As you approach the misshapen mass, your gut wrenches as you realize it is, of course, a corpse. . . a hideously deformed corpse.
  
  So misshapen is this poor figure that it's difficult to tell where its head ends and its torso begins. Its back is horrendously humped, its face an amorphous mass of tumors with sunken holes for eyes. What appears to be its mouth is open in a silent scream.
  
  Hard to say how long the corpse has been here in the steeple, but it seems ancient, skin and clothes desiccated and thin like parchment, somehow mummified. It's slouched--or sitting?--on the floor in one corner of the steeple.
  
  On the corpse's lap rests an open tome. Another book lies near the corpse: A worn, leather-bound journal.
  
  Hanging around the corpse's oversized neck is a leather cord and pendant.
  
  > look at the ropes
  Four ropes slither down from the shadows of the rafters. One rope is woven of copper strands, another silver, and yet another gold. The fourth: a weave of solid iron.
  
  > look at Journal
  Which do you mean, the worn, leather-bound journal, the small blue journal (which you know is a journal because it says "Mein
  Journal" on the front) (smelling faintly of mildew) or the
  Journal of Edwin Cragne (smelling faintly of mildew)?
  
  > examine worn Journal
  About the size of your hand. The binding is cracked and torn, the pages yellow with age.
  
  > get it
  As you lift the journal, a moan emits from the vicinity of the corpse--or the corpse itself?--and a wind rises, upon which you hear a sinister whisper. The journal burns red hot and you quickly drop it back from where it came. The wind settles and although the corpse does not move, it seems to settle as well.
  
  > read it
  Being as cautious as you can with the journal, you flip to the first page that has legible handwriting in it:
  
  "To be hidden here, by my Ma and Da, in this steeple, in this special place, under the two moons. To be safe here, they say, in this strange land, safe from the others, who do not understand. To think I am special, my Ma and Da do, but the others, they say, do not. To name me grotesque, to call me hideous, to say I am a monster! To chase me with pitchforks and torches!"
  
  There are more pages to read.
  
  > Keep going
  Being as cautious as you can with the journal, you flip to the next page that has legible handwriting in it:
  
  "To visit me, my Ma and Da do, to bring me food and water, to talk with me, to wash me, to bring new robes to wear, to bring books. To say I should never leave the steeple. To not go down the stairs. To danger they lead. To the others who wait in the village below.
  
  "And to not ring the bells. To summon things, the bells do, evil things."
  
  There are more pages to read.
  
  > Continue
  Being as cautious as you can with the journal, you flip to the next page that has legible handwriting in it:
  
  "To watch the moons. To count and study the stars. To write in this journal. To read books. To wonder about the shadows in the clouds. To not ring the bells. To be all that I do, hour after hour, day after day, if time mean anything here. To always be the moons and the stars and the clouds, and sometimes the wind. To never see a sun. To not remember the sun very well.
  
  "To be lonely. . ."
  
  There are more pages to read.
  
  > Keep going
  Being as cautious as you can with the journal, you flip to the next page that has legible handwriting in it:
  
  "To want to go down the stairs. To want to leave this place, to explore what used to be home, to see my village, to be with people. But Ma and Da scold me. To warn me of the others.
  
  To entertain me, they tell stories of our family, the Cragne's, of their Aunt and her teachings. To speak of the two moons, their Aunt did, and this strange place, a realm of the Old Ones. To be the one who discovered a way to this place. To share her secret only with Ma and Da, her favorite niece and nephew."
  
  There are more pages to read.
  
  > Continue
  Being as cautious as you can with the journal, you flip to the next page that has legible handwriting in it:
  
  "To be visited by a strange, elderly woman, but not know where she came from. To name herself Esther and to be kind to me. To say I can one day go down the stairs if I listen to her, but to not to speak of this to anyone, not even Ma and Da. To agree, I say, but what must I do?
  
  "To ring the bells for me, she says, for I do not have the strength. But bells bring evil, I say. To be safe from the evil with this, she says, and gives me a pendant. Now, ring the bells.
  
  "To ring the bells, I do, in the way she teaches me. To like to hear them sing. To bring the winds, they do, but not to bring evil. To be soothing."
  
  There are more pages to read.
  
  > Keep going
  Being as cautious as you can with the journal, you flip to the next page that has legible handwriting in it:
  
  "To see Ma and Da. To look older, they do, much older than when I first come here. To ask if I look older. No, they say, to look the same age as always.
  
  "To be visited by Esther when Ma and Da not around. To ask when I can go down the stairs. To be soon, she says, soon. Ring the bells, she says."
  
  There are more pages to read.
  
  > Continue
  Being as cautious as you can with the journal, you flip to the next page that has legible handwriting in it:
  
  "To hear things on the wind now when I ring the bells. Names. Horrid names. Ialdabaoloth. Vaadignephod. To not speak them out loud. To be fearful. But to continue to ring the bells. To do as Esther says: To want to leave this place; to go back home."
  
  There are more pages to read.
  
  > continue
  Being as cautious as you can with the journal, you flip to the next page that has legible handwriting in it:
  
  "Must ring the bells. . . ring the bells. . . Ialdabaoloth. Vaadignephod. To want to go home to the village. To leave!"
  
  There are more pages to read.
  
  > examine the pendant
  (the broken silver amulet (smelling faintly of mildew))
  It's a tarnished silver pendant, about the size of your thumb, on a leather cord. The pendant is shaped like an open hand. It's been damaged - a deep groove, like a chisel mark, cuts across the palm, nearly breaking the pendant in half.
  
  A faint smell of mildew emanates from it.
  
  > put the pendant in the sp
  (the broken silver amulet (smelling faintly of mildew) in the side pocket)
  You unzip the side pocket, deposit the broken silver amulet (smelling faintly of mildew), then zip the side pocket back up again.
  
  > examine the pendant
  A leather cord hangs around the corpse's oversized neck, its ends held together by a triangular pendant. Etched in the pendant is an eye.
  
  > examine Eye
  Which do you mean, the leather cord and pendant, the runic script or the library insignia?
  
  > Script
  > SCRIPTAttempt to begin transcript failed.
  
  > get the pendant
  You carefully remove the leather cord and pendant from the corpse.
  
  > wear it
  You put on the leather cord and pendant.
  
  > look at the arches
  Six arches, separated by six pillars of decaying wood, loom over you, supporting the rafters above. Although forming a perfect hexagonal enclosure, the arches and pillars seem to lean in disjointed directions. Through them, you can see the sky and surrounding landscape. . . neither of which are familiar to you.
  
  > look at Sky
  Wherever this steeple resides, it's not beneath the celestial dome with which you are familiar. . .
  
  There are stars up there, but like the two moons, they are completely unfamiliar to you. And the light of those heavenly bodies--a pale green--is dull, lifeless, as if you view everything through a murky veil.
  
  > examine the landscape
  The steeple must rise higher than you think, for it penetrates a cloud bank that stretches to the horizon, and most likely beyond. As calm as the sea on a breezeless day, the clouds ripple with a hazy, pale green glow. Occasionally, part of the surface erupts in a silent flash of light.
  
  Not far from the church, the hump of. . . something. . . briefly breaks the surface, then submerges.
  
  > look at Belfry
  Hard to discern how many bells hang up there in the shadows of the belfry, but they are large, very large, and you're not certain, but something. . . else. . . is up there. . . a lot of something else. . . It takes your eyes a moment to adjust: shadowy forms cling to the ceiling. As you stare, one of the forms moves, briefly spreading a pair of wings.
  
  > examine the forms
  There must be dozens--hundreds?--up there, clinging to the ceiling of the belfry. Probably bats though their forms are mostly indistinguishable from the shadows. Whatever they are, they're quiet, save for an occasional chirp or flutter of wings.
  
  > examine the spire
  You can't see the spire from here; it rests atop the steeple.
  
  > examine the rafters
  A web of shadowy beams criss-crossing at random angles. At one time, they must have supported the floor of the belfry, but those floorboards seem to have broken away: high above the rafters hang the shapes of several bells.
  
  > examine Hole
  Cut into the middle of the floor, the hole opens upon a set of rickety stairs which lead down into the bowels of the church.
  
  > look at Sky
  There are stars up there, but like the two moons, they are completely unfamiliar to you. And the light of those heavenly bodies--a pale green--is dull, lifeless, as if you view everything through a murky veil.
  
  > look at moons
  (the two moons)
  Two crescents, one waning, one waxing--if earthly phases of the moon have any meaning here--and grotesquely large.
  
  > examine the pattern
  Filtered by both the perforations in the ceiling and the disjointed rafters, the light from the stars and moons streams down into the steeple in an unusual pattern:
  
  *  *  *
  *
  *
  *        *
  
  > pull the silver
  Which do you mean, the rope of silver strands, the silver and ivory key, the silver urn (smelling faintly of mildew) or the antique locket (smelling faintly of mildew)?
  
  > look at the pattern
  Filtered by both the perforations in the ceiling and the disjointed rafters, the light from the stars and moons streams down into the steeple in an unusual pattern:
  
  *        *
  *
  *  *
  *     *