text: > Go downwards
  A tall round chamber, the reception room for The Confessor's personal wing of the house. The north door leads off into other wings of the mansion where other members of the Destine clan live and work. A long slope curves up round the chamber, looping several times. An open bone white door leads west and an open red door east.
  
  Along the walls are three paintings, framed in silver, bronze and
  iron.
  
  The Confessor's guard slumbers in her ornate iron armour by the door leading north to the rest of the mansion.
  
  > Go west
  Confessor Destine has little taste in either selection or arrangement. The open bone door leads east.
  
  Unfortunately, most of the 'menagerie' is made up of stuffed exhibits.
  
  First the visitor is greeted by a pile of hay in an empty stall, where the pellucid llama once lived.
  
  Then they see a worried looking bird mumbling to itself in a cage.
  
  Finally, at the back of the room, they see a glass chamber swarming with shiny black beetles.
  
  > examine the llama
  (the empty stall)
  The stall is full of hay and is about the right size to keep a large ungulate. This must be where the Confessor keeps his prized pellucid llama, one of his greatest bragging points.
  
  > put vax in the refresher
  You put the vax into the refresher.
  
  > turn on the refresher
  The light flashes, signalling that the vax within has aged three days. Looking inside, you see the vax.
  
  > turn on the refresher
  The light flashes, signalling that the vax within has aged, despite
  the uncontained dial setting, only three days. Looking inside, you see the vax.
  
  > take vax
  (first opening the refresher)
  Taken.
  
  > look at vax
  a tiny plain without atmosphere that intersects its insides. From the transparent tube, you can see it currently has some ashes inside it, which could easily be emptied if you so desired.
  
  > Close refresher
  You close the refresher.
  
  > turn on the refresher
  The light flashes, signalling that the ashes within has aged, despite the uncontained dial setting, only three days. Looking inside, you see a parchment.
  
  > take the parchment
  (first opening the refresher)
  You take the parchment. The parchment, perfectly reformed as it was precisely three days before, is a letter which reads:
  
  Grey news, Confessor. I caught Assenter Cur sniffing around Beningnell's old office in the Holy Chambers. He asked if I had a copy of the Strictures of Forgetting. I think he knows, or at least suspects, what we have done. Send advice soon.
  
  The Confessor is definitely hiding something here, but what? The name "Beningnell" sounds familiar but you can't quite place it. This bears further investigation.
  
  > Up
  walkway juts out, a long drop on either side. On its western end, a closed purple door leads into the master bedroom, and on its eastern end an open orange door leads into the library.
  
  A stone plinth in the shape of a down-turned dagger is the only furniture here, and the ceiling mural is the only decoration.
  
  > Go east
  The library is a cramped room cluttered with bookcases that barely leave room for the armchair and the fireplace. Distant city light streams through the open curtains. The open orange door leads west, opposite the closed window on the east side of the room.
  
  You can see a pile of dust here.
  
  > look at the bookcases
  The bookcases have been shoved together precariously, leaning on one another for support. Each bookcase is labelled in a script comprised
  of interwoven azure flowers and thorny stalks. The labels are the
  seven eternal categories: damp, forgotten, implausible, pejorative, exhaustive, unsettling and beseeching.
  
  > look at 4
  The spine reads, Strictures of Forgetting by a forgotten
  writer.
  
  > read 4
  (first taking Strictures of Forgetting)
  You open up Strictures of Forgetting.
  
  The Strictures of Forgetting is a ritual that can be performed by two determined individuals. The effect of this ritual is to uncanonise someone or something targeted by the ritual. Once uncanonised the target is considered not only to no longer exist but also to have
  never existed. This technique is forbidden except by a majority decision in the Holy Chamber.
  
  A cold shiver runs through you: the Confessor must have used the Strictures of Forgetting with the accomplice that wrote to him to uncanonise someone... but who, and why?
  
  > go to the west
  (first opening the purple door)
  
  The master bedroom of the Destine mansion is smaller than you'd expected: it only has twelve chandeliers. In the centre of the
  polished wooden floor is a round bed on which is the sleeping figure
  of Confessor Destine himself.
  
  Tucked beside the bed is an unseemly bedside table. Opposite the open door east to the corridor is an open watercloset.
  
  > look at Confessor
  Confessor Destine is a tall thickset male human. He is solely responsible for holding the secrets of every believer in Sinua, including his own. He is currently fast asleep buried in the silks, wearing his ceremonial pyjamas and a dagger belt. He's lying on his stomach, breathing slowly.
  
  > wake up confessor
  You imagine the shock on his face were you to wake him... it'd be
  worth a lot but not seventeen years of planning.
  
  > examine the pyjamas
  The pyjamas are finely woven, plush, and thankfully all-encompassing. You imagine they're buttoned up, but it's impossible to tell while the Confessor is lying on his front.
  
  > look at the belt
  It's a simple cloth sheath attached to a belt. The part that holds his dagger is trapped under his sleeping form.
  
  > look at the dagger
  For reasons unapparent, the dagger is made of solid gold and as such appears neither sharp nor valuable. Etched into the blade are the
  words "Confessor Destine".
  
  > look
  In the centre of the polished wooden floor is a round bed on which is the sleeping figure of Confessor Destine himself.
  
  Tucked beside the bed is an unseemly bedside table. Opposite the open door east to the corridor is an open watercloset.
  
  > examine table
  The table beside The Confessor's sleeping couch is shaped like a fist clutched around a larynx. Your throat tightens reflexively just
  looking at the table.
  
  Sitting on the table is a bowl.
  
  > examine the bowl
  It's a bowl made from a twice-fused skull of an emutant. Aside from being tactless and ugly, it is smeared with unidentified grey remains of a second dinner.
  
  Inside the bowl is a substance scanner.
  
  > look at the scanner
  The substance scanner is a slim brass wand. A display made from liquid crystals is embedded in one side.
  
  > take the scanner
  You get the substance scanner.
  
  > scan yourself
  (with the substance scanner)
  You run the substance scanner over yourself but the scanner doesn't pick anything up of note.
  
  > Scan confessor
  (with the substance scanner)
  You run the substance scanner over Confessor Destine but the scanner doesn't pick anything up of note.
  
  > examine display
  which light up to make letters when illuminated from inside.
  
  > Scan bowl
  (with the substance scanner)
  The scanner picks up nothing more untoward than OATS and MOLASSES.
  
  > Go east
  walkway juts out, a long drop on either side. On its western end, an open purple door leads into the master bedroom, and on its eastern end an open orange door leads into the library.
  
  A stone plinth in the shape of a down-turned dagger is the only furniture here, and the ceiling mural is the only decoration.
  
  > Go east
  The library is a cramped room cluttered with bookcases that barely leave room for the armchair and the fireplace. Distant city light streams through the open curtains. The open orange door leads west, opposite the closed window on the east side of the room.
  
  You can see a pile of dust here.
  
  > Scan dust
  (with the substance scanner)
  You run the substance scanner over the pile of dust but the scanner doesn't pick anything up of note.
  
  > examine the bed
  It's a huge round bed covered in layers of silk and velvet. Confessor Destine slumbers alone in its centre.
  
  > examine the watercloset
  The open closet appears to be made of sickly chrome alloy, squatting jaundiced in an alcove of the room.
  
  The closet is full of inscrutable holes and nozzles for human functions. You were given to believe that it is usually polite to
  leave a watercloset closed, unfortunately such a minor flaw doesn't count as a secret to hold against the Confessor.
  
  > Scan closet
  (with the substance scanner)
  You run the substance scanner over the watercloset but the scanner doesn't pick anything up of note.
  
  > Inventory
  You are wearing:
  your llama-suit
  
  You are carrying:
  a substance scanner
  Strictures of Forgetting
  a parchment
  the vax
  Tome & The Clan
  Milking
  the somnuliser
  the attuning set
  a Winkerchief
  
  > return books
  Firstly Strictures of Forgetting: (first closing Strictures of Forgetting)
  You slot the book back on the shelf where it belongs.
  Then Tome & The Clan: (first closing Tome & The Clan)
  You slot the book back on the shelf where it belongs.
  And finally Milking: (first closing Milking)
  You slot the book back on the shelf where it belongs.
  
  > Inventory
  You are wearing:
  your llama-suit
  
  You are carrying:
  a substance scanner
  a parchment
  the vax
  the somnuliser
  the attuning set
  a Winkerchief
  
  > go east
  (first opening the window)
  
  You struggle through the window onto Greenhouse roof, mentally making
  a note to close it up with the curtains before you escape back through the intersection. As you enter into the cool night air, something
  about the Confessor strikes you. As odious as the man is, as a Confessor he is without fault: he has not left a single trace of
  anyone else's secrets but his own.
  
  You stand on the apex of the perfectly reflective dome embedded in the side of the Destine mansion. The blue rose garden lies below you to
  the east. If you squint at the night, you can just about make out the intersection that leads back to the Mambling Plains.
  
  To your west is the open window to the Confessor's library, through which you can see the open curtains.
  
  > look at the dome
  The dome itself is formed of smooth tooth-glass and it reflects the distant lights of the cities in the void above. On the western edge, the dome merges into the solid rock wall of the Destine mansion.
  
  > Sing
  The time for singing will be when the Confessor is undone.
  
  > go west
  The library is a cramped room cluttered with bookcases that barely leave room for the armchair and the fireplace. Distant city light streams through the open curtains. The open orange door leads west and the open window reveals the greenhouse roof to the east.
  
  > Close window
  You close the window.
  
  > close the curtains
  You close the curtains.
  
  > Go north
  The door leading to the rest of the mansion is blocked off by the guard, even if you wanted to go that way.
  
  > Attune
  (the bone door)
  (with your attuning set)
  You run the attuning set lightly over the bone door but the lead rods barely even shimmer; it doesn't need attuning to you.
  
  > attune bird
  (with your attuning set)
  The cage isn't open.
  
  > open the cage
  If you could open it, the quailer would most likely escape.
  
  > Attune beetles
  (with your attuning set)
  The beetle chamber isn't open.
  
  > Open Chamber
  You heft open the chamber, revealing a scrap of paper stuck to the bottom of the lid.
  
  > examine paper
  A scrap of paper from a book is caught in the lid, its fellow pages presumably eaten by the beetles. It reads:
  
  pressure applied uniformly.
  mewhat dynamic, would not
  so caution in aquatic climes
  
  > Close Chamber
  You close the beetle chamber.
  
  > Go east
  The library is a cramped room cluttered with bookcases that barely leave room for the armchair and the fireplace. Dim city light filters through the crack in the curtains. The open orange door leads west, opposite the closed window on the east side of the room.
  
  > read 7
  (first taking Advanced Fluid Dynamics)
  You open up Advanced Fluid Dynamics.
  
  The blurb promised to offer up the knowledge of fluid interactions,
  but is instead completely hollowed out and inside is a small bottle.
  
  > examine bottle
  The small glass bottle is unmarked and filled with a reddish liquid that has crusted about the lid.
  
  > Scan bottle
  (with the substance scanner)
  You run the scanner over the mouth of the small bottle. You expect
  some kind of spirit, though drinking is not forbidden to a Confessor. The scanner flickers up PORT. Nothing unusual there. And then, moments later, it flickers LEAD. Only the Doge is permitted to so potent a draught as lead-sweetened port. This will be awkward for the Confessor to explain in the Holy Chamber.
  
  > go west
  walkway juts out, a long drop on either side. On its western end, an open purple door leads into the master bedroom, and on its eastern end an open orange door leads into the library.
  
  A stone plinth in the shape of a down-turned dagger is the only furniture here, and the ceiling mural is the only decoration.
  
  > scan mince
  (with the substance scanner)
  You scan the mince. The crystal display flickers and then settles on four letters PORK... that's impossible! You can hardly believe it, could it be fluke? A problem with the scanner?
  
  > Continue
  (with the substance scanner)
  You scan the mince again. The display settles more quickly, it says PORK again. The Confessor could have no more horrific a secret than
  the fact he consumes the flesh of swines. This alone would remove him from his position, but of course it wouldn't hurt to find more dirt on him.