The Crystal Palace
by Peter Orme (2011)
Genres: Fantasy

Your decision to spend a quiet weekend in the cabin that belonged to your second cousin (now gone missing) was not so strange. The strange things only started afterwards, when you started poking around the cabin. Nobody could have guessed what you would discover...

action: %
response: You've decided to spend the weekend in the family country cabin. Well, you say family, but it actually belongs to one particular member of your family: your second cousin Rebecca. You haven't seen her for a while. Nobody has. She's been missing for over a year now, disappeared without a trace.

A fantasy within a mystery within a quiet holiday. by Peter Orme 

The front hall is just a tiny little room you come into after going through the front door (leading out). You see a low doorway to the east which leads into the kitchen. There's a sort of trap door in the ceiling.

You can see a cupboard (closed) here.

Ladies and gentlemen, behold David Claré; age 38, slightly unshaven. Not fat, a litte soft around the waists perhaps. All things consider, you're a regular Joe. A regular David, actually.
action: You open the cupboard
response: You open the cupboard, revealing a top hat, a bowtie, a leather arm guard and a wooden bow.
action: You get all from the cupboard
response: top hat: Taken.
bowtie: Taken.
leather arm guard: Taken.
wooden bow: Taken.
action: You wear the hat
response: You put on the top hat.
action: You wear the bowtie
response: You put on the bowtie.
action: You take a the bow
response: You already have that.
action: Go upward
response: (first opening the trap door)
(first unlocking the trap door)
You can't reach the trap door from down here.
action: Look around
response: The front hall is just a tiny little room you come into after going through the front door (leading out). You see a low doorway to the east which leads into the kitchen. There's a sort of trap door in the ceiling.

You can see a cupboard (empty) here.
action: Go outside
response: (first opening the front door)

You are in front of the house. The garden continues east.
action: You wear the guard
response: You put on the leather arm guard.
action: You shoot bow
response: Leave the fighting business to those who know how to do it. An archer, perhaps. Do you know any?
action: You go to the east
response: This is a rather nice garden actually. The front of the house is west of here.

Propped up against one of the apple treese there's a short wooden ladder.
action: You take the ladder
response: Taken.
action: Go west
response: You are in front of the house. The garden continues east.
action: You go inside
response: The front hall is just a tiny little room you come into after going through the front door (leading out). You see a low doorway to the east which leads into the kitchen. There's a sort of trap door in the ceiling.

You can see a cupboard (empty) here.
action: You drop the ladder
response: You raise the ladder so you can reach the trap door.
action: You go east
response: The kitchen is old, not antique and quaint, just old. A low doorway leads west to the front hall, another leads north to the bedroom.

On the window sill is an earthenware jug.
action: You examine jug
response: It is brown and cool to the touch. It has a round wooden lid attached with a hinge.
action: You open the jug
response: You open the earthenware jug, revealing an iron key.
action: You go north
response: This is the only bedroom. Obviously it contains a bed, but also some bookshelves and an antique writing desk. The only exit is south.

You can see a bed and an antique writing desk here.
action: You look at the desk
response: It's a huge, heavy wooden desk. It has one drawer.
action: You open the drawer
response: You open the drawer, revealing a bismuth crystal and a journal page.
action: You read the page
response: The journal entry is for Oct. 25th, it doesn't say which year. It says: "I have assembled the metopticon, following the instructions I read in the Grimoire, and as per the instructions I am looking through the metopticon at the crystal city. I feel the tugging, and once or twice I almost imagined myself going, but I cannot seem to leave this mortal shell. In the accursed cryptic writings of N.G. it says, "you must be the bard, the warrior, the mage, not all but only one at a time". But how?!"
action: You look at the crystal
response: It is a crystal, the size of your fist. The peculiar crystal formations form little cubes and lines that almost look architectural. You know, it looks a bit like a city.
action: You take all
response: bismuth crystal: Taken.
journal page: Taken.
action: You look at the bookshelves
response: Lines of bookshelves, stacked with old strange books.
(Here's how to get a book from the bookshelf if you know the name: type "fetch Bible")
action: You fetch Bible
response: The Holy Bible, yes, it's there. You look for bible in the bookshelf but you can't find it.
action: You fetch Grimoire
response: After searching almost all the books, you find it! The Grimoire!
action: You read Grimoire
response: This dusty old leatherbound tome bears an inscription on the back that says "Grimoire. Von Katz. The book has a ribbon bound into its spine, to be used as a bookmark. As you open the book, it opens at the page where the bookmark is. That page seems to contain a schematic woodcut drawing of a device. Above the drawing is a heading that reads "metopticon". The rest of the text is in latin, so you can't really read it, but you could probably manage to assemble the device from that drawing, if only you had the parts: a sort of tube, two triangular blocks and a sphere.
You have learned how to assemble the metopticon. Whatever it is.
action: You go to the south
response: The kitchen is old, not antique and quaint, just old. A low doorway leads west to the front hall, another leads north to the bedroom.
action: Go west
response: The front hall is just a tiny little room you come into after going through the front door (leading out). You see a low doorway to the east which leads into the kitchen. There's a sort of trap door in the ceiling.

You can see a ladder and a cupboard (empty) here.
action: Up
response: (first opening the trap door)
(first unlocking the trap door)
(with the iron key)

You can see a chest (closed) here.
action: Open chest
response: You open the chest, revealing a small crystal ball, a pink prism, a blue prism and a tube.
action: You take all
response: chest: Taken.
small crystal ball: Taken.
pink prism: Taken.
blue prism: Taken.
tube: Taken.
action: You look at the tube
response: It is kind of shaped like a tube, but inside there are all sorts of compartments and at least one mirror. you have a definite feeling it needs to be assembled with other pieces.
action: You put the prism in tube
response: Which do you mean, the blue prism or the pink prism?
action: Blue
response: Remembering what you read in the grimoire you manage to fit the blue prism properly.
action: You put the pink prism in the tube
response: Remembering what you read in the grimoire you manage to fit the pink prism properly.
action: You put the ball in the tube
response: You gently push the ball into the wide end of the tube. It fits!
You have assembled the entire metopticon!
action: You examine the metopticon
response: It looks like some sort of viewing device. You could try to look at something through it.

In the metopticon are a small crystal ball, a pink prism and a blue prism.
action: You look at crystal through the metopticon
response: (the bismuth crystal through the metopticon)
You feel dizzy, strange, fractured. Something with your clothing is not right.
action: About yourself
response: Ladies and gentlemen, behold David Claré; age 38, slightly unshaven. Not fat, a litte soft around the waists perhaps. All things consider, you're a regular Joe. A regular David, actually.
action: Inventory
response: You are carrying:
a metopticon
a small crystal ball
a pink prism
a blue prism
a chest (open but empty)
a grimoire
a bible
a journal page
a bismuth crystal
an iron key
an earthenware jug (open but empty)
a wooden bow
a leather arm guard (being worn)
a bowtie (being worn)
a top hat (being worn)
action: You remove the guard
response: You take off the leather arm guard.
action: You drop the guard
response: Dropped.
action: You remove the hat
response: You take off the top hat.
action: You drop the bowtie
response: (first taking the bowtie off)
Dropped.
action: You check what you're carrying
response: You are carrying:
a metopticon
a small crystal ball
a pink prism
a blue prism
a chest (open but empty)
a grimoire
a bible
a journal page
a bismuth crystal
an iron key
an earthenware jug (open but empty)
a wooden bow
action: You wear the bowtie
response: (first taking the bowtie)
You put on the bowtie.
action: You wear the guard
response: (first taking the leather arm guard)
You put on the leather arm guard.
action: You look at crystal through the metopticon
response: (the bismuth crystal through the metopticon)
you are a warrior!

You are on a large terrace, paved with stones and ending with an ornate balustrade. From here you have a splendid view. To one side you see the city, so filled with towers and peaked roofs that it might look like a Disney fantasy, unless you know, without a doubt, that this is the real thing, this is a real magical city where anything can happen. To the other side you look out over the wild, endless plains and forest stretching all the way to the distant mountains.
A winding path leads down from here.

You can see a magic circle (empty) here.
action: You examine the circle
response: The magic circle is empty.
action: About yourself
response: Look at you - an archer, with perhaps a drop of elven blood pumping through those slender limbs. But you are also David Claré, a software engineer from Kent. Very strange.
action: Go downwards
response: The city gate is a huge opening in the city walls. (Too large... what on Earth could possible warrant a gate that size? The answer comes to you as you think it: nothing. Nothing on Earth.) Inside the gates you see the city in all its glory, high peaked houses and smaller wooden houses with gambrel roofs. Outside - south of here - is the wild. A steep path leads up to the terrace.
action: You examine the city
response: Absolutely lovely, you'd love to stay and look at those amazing buildings... but for now, adventure awaits you south of the city.
action: You go south
response: A stinking, putrid, dark swamp, where mists roll between the dark trees. Back north is the city. The path turns west, deeper in among the trees, into a clearing where you can see some sort of wooden house.

Lurking in the shadows, somebody - something! - is watching you. Lacking a proper classification scheme for these things, you decide to call it a troll.
action: You look at the troll
response: Heavens! What fiendish trickery of nature is this? (Hang on, when did you start thinking like that?). It really is an ugly monster, bipedal, most of the time, and hairy, with a foul head adorned with fangs, tusks, and horns.
action: You shoot troll
response: OK, you shoot the troll.
action: Look around
response: A stinking, putrid, dark swamp, where mists roll between the dark trees. Back north is the city. The path turns west, deeper in among the trees, into a clearing where you can see some sort of wooden house.

The troll (or whatever it was) is dead, on its back.
action: You go west
response: This house looks ready to fall down. The wood is not painted, the roof is laid with moss and the windows are just open holes. A plank door will take you inside. The swamp is back east and a mountain is south of here.
action: You enter
response: Inside the hut it's just a mess. That troll creature must have moved in here, probably after dining on the original inhabitants.

You can see a crate (on which is a leather pouch (closed)) here.
action: You open the pouch
response: You open the leather pouch, revealing a scroll.
action: You examine the scroll
response: It's a scroll, made of parchment perhaps? You're new certain about that.
action: You look at your surroundings
response: Inside the hut it's just a mess. That troll creature must have moved in here, probably after dining on the original inhabitants.

You can see a crate here.
action: Go outside
response: This house looks ready to fall down. The wood is not painted, the roof is laid with moss and the windows are just open holes. A plank door will take you inside. The swamp is back east and a mountain is south of here.
action: You go to the south
response: The air is fresh here on the mountain, nicer than down in that swamp (the hut is north of here). The cave is up from here.
action: Up
response: A huge cave, large enough to house a very large snakey dragon. Deeper inside the cave you see something shiny and glittering.

You can see a dragon here.
action: You shoot the dragon
response: Your arrows will only hurt the dragon enough to get mad, and mad dragons are not what you want. You need a blessing on that bow of yours.
action: You turn troll
response: That would be less than courteous.
action: Go inside
response: You walk in a large circle around the dead body of the dragonsnake.

You walk into the inner cave. There are all sorts of shiny objects (some of which are gold and silver, others just shiny stones) all over the floor. In a pile, still recovering from the shock of being released from the dragonsnake's magic hold, is a woman. At first you think of maidens and princesses, but then you realize you know her. Rebecca?
action: Sing
response: Your singing is abominable.
action: Attack dragon
response: Your arrows will only hurt the dragon enough to get mad, and mad dragons are not what you want. You need a blessing on that bow of yours.
action: You check your inventory
response: You are carrying:
a leather pouch (open but empty)
a scroll
an archer's bow
an archer's armguard (being worn)
a battle outfit (being worn)
action: You remove the guard
response: You take off the archer's armguard.
action: You wear the guard
response: You put on the archer's armguard.
action: Down
response: The air is fresh here on the mountain, nicer than down in that swamp (the hut is north of here). The cave is up from here.
action: You go to the north
response: The city gate is a huge opening in the city walls. Inside the gates you see the city in all its glory, high peaked houses and smaller wooden houses with gambrel roofs. Outside - south of here - is the wild. A steep path leads up to the terrace.
action: Up
response: You are on a large terrace, paved with stones and ending with an ornate balustrade. From here you have a splendid view. To one side you see the city, so filled with towers and peaked roofs that it might look like a Disney fantasy, unless you know, without a doubt, that this is the real thing, this is a real magical city where anything can happen. To the other side you look out over the wild, endless plains and forest stretching all the way to the distant mountains.
A winding path leads down from here.

You can see a magic circle (empty) here.
action: You enter the circle
response: You can see a bowtie and a top hat here.
action: You check what you're carrying
response: You are carrying:
a leather arm guard (being worn)
a grimoire
a bible
a journal page
a bismuth crystal
a metopticon
a small crystal ball
a pink prism
a blue prism
a chest (open but empty)
an iron key
an earthenware jug (open but empty)
a wooden bow
action: Guard
response: wooden bow: Dropped.
leather arm guard: (first taking the leather arm guard off)
Dropped.
action: You wear the hat
response: (first taking the top hat)
You put on the top hat.
action: You look through the metopticon at crystal
response: (the bismuth crystal)
You feel dizzy, strange, fractured. Something with your clothing is not right.
action: You get all
response: leather arm guard: Taken.
wooden bow: Taken.
bowtie: Taken.
small crystal ball: Better leave the small crystal ball where it is. pink prism: Better leave the pink prism where it is. blue prism: Better leave the blue prism where it is.
action: Go downward
response: The front hall is just a tiny little room you come into after going through the front door (leading out). You see a low doorway to the east which leads into the kitchen. There's a sort of trap door in the ceiling.

You can see a ladder and a cupboard (empty) here.
action: Go east
response: The kitchen is old, not antique and quaint, just old. A low doorway leads west to the front hall, another leads north to the bedroom.
action: You go north
response: This is the only bedroom. Obviously it contains a bed, but also some bookshelves and an antique writing desk. The only exit is south.

You can see a bed and an antique writing desk here.
action: You look at the desk
response: It's a huge, heavy wooden desk. It has one drawer.
action: You examine the drawer
response: It is open.
action: You take the drawer
response: That seems to be a part of the antique writing desk.
action: You open the drawer
response: That's already open.
action: You read bible
response: It's just a bible.
action: You go to the south
response: The kitchen is old, not antique and quaint, just old. A low doorway leads west to the front hall, another leads north to the bedroom.
action: Go west
response: The front hall is just a tiny little room you come into after going through the front door (leading out). You see a low doorway to the east which leads into the kitchen. There's a sort of trap door in the ceiling.

You can see a ladder and a cupboard (empty) here.
action: You leave
response: You are in front of the house. The garden continues east.
action: You go east
response: This is a rather nice garden actually. The front of the house is west of here.
action: You check your inventory
response: You are carrying:
a bowtie
a wooden bow
a leather arm guard
a top hat (being worn)
a grimoire
a bible
a journal page
a bismuth crystal
a metopticon
a small crystal ball
a pink prism
a blue prism
a chest (open but empty)
an iron key
an earthenware jug (open but empty)
action: You remove the hat
response: You take off the top hat.
action: Inventory
response: You are carrying:
a bowtie
a wooden bow
a leather arm guard
a top hat
a grimoire
a bible
a journal page
a bismuth crystal
a metopticon
a small crystal ball
a pink prism
a blue prism
a chest (open but empty)
an iron key
an earthenware jug (open but empty)
action: Wave bible
response: You look ridiculous waving the bible.
action: Inventory
response: You are carrying:
a bowtie
a wooden bow
a leather arm guard (being worn)
a top hat
a grimoire
a bible
a journal page
a bismuth crystal
a metopticon
a small crystal ball
a pink prism
a blue prism
a chest (open but empty)
an iron key
an earthenware jug (open but empty)
action: You look at crystal through the metopticon
response: (the bismuth crystal through the metopticon)
you are a warrior!

You are on a large terrace, paved with stones and ending with an ornate balustrade. From here you have a splendid view. To one side you see the city, so filled with towers and peaked roofs that it might look like a Disney fantasy, unless you know, without a doubt, that this is the real thing, this is a real magical city where anything can happen. To the other side you look out over the wild, endless plains and forest stretching all the way to the distant mountains.
A winding path leads down from here.

You can see a scroll, a leather pouch (empty) and a magic circle (empty) here.
action: You check what you're carrying
response: You are carrying:
a scroll
an archer's bow
an archer's armguard (being worn)
a battle outfit (being worn)
action: You drop all
response: grimoire: Dropped.
bible: Dropped.
journal page: Dropped.
bismuth crystal: Dropped.
metopticon: Dropped.
chest: Dropped.
iron key: Dropped.
earthenware jug: Dropped.
wooden bow: Dropped.
bowtie: Dropped.
top hat: Dropped.
action: You take crystal
response: (the bismuth crystal)
Taken.
action: You drop the hat
response: (first taking the top hat off)
Dropped.
action: You wear the bowtie
response: You're already wearing that!
action: Inventory
response: You are carrying:
a wooden bow
a metopticon
a small crystal ball
a pink prism
a blue prism
a bismuth crystal
a leather arm guard (being worn)
action: You drop the guard
response: (first taking the leather arm guard off)
Dropped.
action: You wear the bowtie
response: (first taking the bowtie)
You put on the bowtie.
action: You look at your surroundings
response: The front hall is just a tiny little room you come into after going through the front door (leading out). You see a low doorway to the east which leads into the kitchen. There's a sort of trap door in the ceiling.

You can see a top hat, a leather arm guard, an earthenware jug, an iron key, a chest (empty), a journal page, a bible, a grimoire, a ladder and a cupboard (empty) here.
action: You take the bed
response: That's fixed in place.
action: You get all
response: small crystal ball: Better leave the small crystal ball where it is. pink prism: Better leave the pink prism where it is. blue prism: Better leave the blue prism where it is.
action: You put bible on bow
response: (first taking the bible)

Putting things on the wooden bow would achieve nothing.
action: You shoot bible
response: Leave the fighting business to those who know how to do it. An archer, perhaps. Do you know any?
action: You check what you're carrying
response: You are carrying:
a bible
a bowtie (being worn)
a wooden bow
a metopticon
a small crystal ball
a pink prism
a blue prism
a bismuth crystal
action: Look around
response: The front hall is just a tiny little room you come into after going through the front door (leading out). You see a low doorway to the east which leads into the kitchen. There's a sort of trap door in the ceiling.

You can see a top hat, a leather arm guard, an earthenware jug, an iron key, a chest (empty), a journal page, a grimoire, a ladder and a cupboard (empty) here.
action: You burn bible
response: This dangerous act would achieve little.