Starry Seeksorrow
by Caleb Wilson (as Ayla Rose) (2015)
Genres: Fantasy

Inspired by "The Violet Hour" by Dolls Come to Life.

action: %
response: You wake up. That's not good. You are one of Klaus's dolls. Klaus must be in danger.

A narrow, secluded spot in which Klaus is fond of reading. The ground is covered by beds of lacegrass. The sky is a crescent of deep blue above interlocking squirrel puzzle trees. Archways under bowed trunks open north and east.

Klaus is lying on his back in the grass.

A starry seeksorrow grows near Klaus's head.

A heavy edition of Archibault's 1,001 Knights of Slee has
fallen at Klaus's side.

A paper doll stands here, shivering slightly in the breeze.
action: About you
response: You are Bonnie Blithe, an eighteen-inch high doll with ceramic hands, feet, and head, and a cloth body. Klaus's parents, who are skilled magicians, enchanted you to come to life in case he comes under
threat.
action: You look at Klaus
response: Klaus is lying flat on his back. His skin is dotted with sweat. He appears comatose, though his eyes are open, the pupils glimmering yellow, pink, and green.

Klaus is the only child of two skilled magicians. He is perhaps too curious for his own good, which is why his parents enchanted his dolls to protect him in case of a magical attack.
action: You examine starry
response: A peculiar and worrisome orchid with green-black petals, dappled in yellow and pink.
action: You look at the doll
response: The paper doll is about six inches high and cut from cardstock.
Klaus's parents have enchanted it to obey your commands. The doll is equipped with a paper dragon face, paper thigh boots, and a paper fringed dress.

[Command the doll with the syntax >DOLL, GO EAST or >DOLL, TAKE THE BOOK.]
action: Examine book
response: Klaus lugs this heavy reference manual of otherworldly knights everywhere. The book's paper dust jacket is illustrated with a drawing of a shield and sword.
action: You read it
response: Flipping randomly through the book of knights, you find an anecdote in which Swa Wortilda narrowly defeated Plulph.
action: You take starry
response: The starry seeksorrow is still attached to the stem. You will have to cut it first.
action: You look at what you're carrying with you
response: You are carrying:
a long white dress (being worn)
action: You look at the dress
response: (the long white dress)
Klaus sewed the dress for you, after cutting the cloth from the curtains in his parents' parlor. It is very much like a shapeless sack with a fringe of lace at the bottom.
action: You go to the east
response: A sunny green bank. Paths leads north, northwest, and west to the hidden lawn.

The paned glass wall of a greenhouse rises to the east. High above
your head a reflection of the sun gleams.

Growing inside the greenhouse you see a sweet maskelyne, a galen's glory, a ligerlily, and a watchflower.

Laid in the greenhouse floor is a drainage trough. At the east end is
a faucet, and at the west end, a pipe, through which water can be flushed out of the trough onto the lawn.

A six-foot high tangle of zephyrwort whirls and dances over the grass.
action: You examine the zephyrwort
response: A living storm of leaves and tendrils, moving under its own power.
action: You look at sweet
response: A flower with glossy black petals like a tail coat and top hat, and a yellow pistil like a magic wand.

The sweet maskelyne seems to doff its top hat.
action: You look at the ligerlily
response: A flower whose petals, striped black and yellow, form the face of a snarling, maned cat.
action: You examine the watchflower
response: The petals, arranged in the form of a small globe, are red-veined white, with a central grey ring and black dot. The flower looks very much like an eye staring back at you.
action: Go east
response: The glass wall is intact; there's no way inside.
action: You examine the trough
response: A tiled trough in the greenhouse floor. It looks intended to collect and then drain water.
action: You examine the pipe
response: The pipe allows water in the trough to flush out of the greenhouse.
action: You examine the faucet
response: Small and made of metal. It's etched with the illegible calligraphy of a spell.
action: You go northwest
response: Patterns of green and gold play around a structure of mossy stones built to look like a ruined temple. Its walls are overgrown with creeping diamondbane. Paths lead east, south to the hidden lawn, and southeast to the greenhouse.

A single diamondbane flower grows low enough for you to reach.

Inside the temple is a grooved marble altar.

On the altar are a pair of clippers and a guide book.
action: You look at the guide book
response: Cowell's Guide to Arcane Flowers, Trees, and Shrubs is a
standard reference for magical gardening. Klaus loves to pore over it whenever he gets the chance. There's an index at the back, allowing
you to consult the book on particular plants.

[Consult the guide book with the syntax >LOOK UP X IN BOOK or >CONSULT BOOK ON X.]
action: You take the book
response: Taken.
action: You look at the altar
response: The temple might be fake, but this altar has the unfalsifiable eerie presence of the real thing; Klaus's parents, avid antiquarians, imported it from an otherworldly dig-site. Once Klaus "sacrificed" you on this altar. (And then sewed you up again, thankfully.)

Some significance of an expedition nags at your mind.

On the altar is a pair of clippers.
action: You think about the expedition
response: [You don't need to do that. Just >EXAMINE things that are mentioned in the text.]
action: You examine the expedition
response: The memory writhes like something alive. It's like a fat snake woven into a tapestry of dry and dusty threads.

Klaus's parents, Victor and Alva Lindworm, acquired the altar fifteen years ago. They had heard news of a secret expedition to the ruins of Slee, the ancient otherwordly city which is the source of all magic. The expedition was headed by their old tutor from Blackbow, Percival Vitus Peck; Victor and Alva, who had just moved into their estate at Nightshade, young and full of mischief before they had a young Klaus
to worry over, decided it would be a legendary lark to infiltrate Percival's expedition and reassign the ownership of some of his finds. So they donned preposterous disguises, feathers, false beards, dark glasses, long robes and longswords, and blustered their way into the dig site, where they stole this altar out from under Percival's nose.

Further significances nag at your mind: a personal relationship, and a tragedy.
action: You examine the relationship
response: The memory stands out like a misshapen leaf in an otherwise flawless hedge.

Alva and Victor had no particular reason to dislike Percival Vitus Peck, beyond the generalized and impersonal disdain engendered by any unexceptional teacher in the breast of his students. Until they heard news of his expedition to Slee, neither had even thought of him in several years.
action: You examine the tragedy
response: jungle growth.

In order to infiltrate the dig site, Victor and Alva had to disable a warning spell set in place by Percival. It was easy to delete the spell--Percival's magic was dull and obvious, no match for the casual genius of the two brilliant Blackbow alumni, fired as they were by the low-stakes villainy of what they doing. The warning spell vanished as they wriggled their fingers like spiders; they did not realize they were deleting a warding spell along with the warning spell. Once they had flown away into the sky with the stolen altar obediently floating behind them, the missing warding spell was noticed, but not by Percival. A Rotted Leps emerged from the necrotic, abysmal depths of Slee and carried off Percival's infant son Charlie from his cradle in the command tent, and Percival was sent insane by grief and rage.
action: You examine the clippers
response: A standard pair of gardening clippers.
action: You take it
response: Taken.
action: Consult book on seeksorrow
response: The starry seeksorrow orchid is the most dangerous and alluring of arcane flowers. Its scent, like a combination of hot metal, burnt sugar, blood, sweet pine sap, vinegar, bones, violets, rotten silk, peat, earthworms, overripe pears, apple juice, roses, and many other fleeting notes, is so complex as to induce catatonia in anyone unfortunate enough to smell it. The starry seeksorrow does not have a natural habitat, and grows only under the influence of a magician's curse.
action: You examine the diamondbane
response: (the diamondbane flower)
A spiny flower with hundreds of short, stiff, dark blue petals.
action: Consult book on diamondbane
response: The diamondbane is a flower with dubious magical qualities, which
grows on a creeping vine. It is seldom grown in or near greenhouses
due to the bloom's damaging effect on glass.
action: You consult the book on the watchflower
response: it unusually flexible rotation while seeking the sun, though it is sometimes said that it just looks around because it is curious.
action: You cut the diamondbane with the clippers
response: (the diamondbane flower with the pair of clippers)
You cut the diamondbane flower free from its stem. It flutters to the ground.
action: You consult the book on sweet
response: The sweet maskelyne is a rare and magical flower, though it is
possible that its apparent magic is all just illusions.
action: You consult the book on the ligerlily
response: its own power. Since it is known to fiercely defend itself against all natural pollinators, it must be pollinated (carefully) by hand.
action: Go southeast
response: A sunny green bank. Paths leads north, northwest to the folly, and
west to the hidden lawn.

The paned glass wall of a greenhouse rises to the east. High above
your head a reflection of the sun gleams.

Growing inside the greenhouse you see a sweet maskelyne, a galen's glory, a ligerlily, and a watchflower.

Laid in the greenhouse floor is a drainage trough. At the east end is
a faucet, and at the west end, a pipe, through which water can be flushed out of the trough onto the lawn.

A six-foot high tangle of zephyrwort whirls and dances over the grass.
action: Consult book about galen'S
response: The galen's glory, known since antiquity to cure all manner of
maladies and complaints both magical and mundane, is a useful addition to any garden.
action: You look at the galen'S
response: A flower with broad petals of red, yellow, white, and black; the
colors of the four humours.
action: You throw the diamondbane at the glass
response: You throw the diamondbane flower at the greenhouse wall. A pane of glass cracks at the impact and the flower explodes in a puff of
petals.
action: You go to the east
response: There is a crack in the glass, but, as it's only paper-thin, you're
too large to fit through.
action: Go west
response: A narrow, secluded spot in which Klaus is fond of reading. The ground is covered by beds of lacegrass. The sky is a crescent of deep blue above interlocking squirrel puzzle trees. Archways under bowed trunks open north, to the folly, and east, to the greenhouse.

Klaus is lying on his back in the grass.

A starry seeksorrow grows near Klaus's head.

A heavy edition of Archibault's 1,001 Knights of Slee has
fallen at Klaus's side.

A paper doll stands here, shivering slightly in the breeze.
action: You ask Doll,  to go to the east
response: It might be useful to ask the paper doll to do something, but you
don't have a working mouth.
action: Go east
response: A sunny green bank. Paths leads north, northwest to the folly, and
west to the hidden lawn.

The paned glass wall of a greenhouse rises to the east. High above
your head a reflection of the sun gleams.

A narrow crack stretches a foot vertically across a single grass-level pane in the greenhouse wall.

Growing inside the greenhouse you see a sweet maskelyne, a galen's glory, a ligerlily, and a watchflower.

Laid in the greenhouse floor is a drainage trough. At the east end is
a faucet, and at the west end, a pipe, through which water can be flushed out of the trough onto the lawn.

A six-foot high tangle of zephyrwort whirls and dances over the grass.
action: You go to the north
response: The hummocky ground is shaded by large fruit trees. Paths leads south to the greenhouse, west to the folly, and northeast.

A coffintree grows here. High in its branches sprouts an immature gall the size of a baby's casket; close to the ground its massive mature gall has split open, ready for use.

A chimecherry tree is covered with fruit. Most of the cherries are unripe, but one bunch hanging six feet up, bright red and glossy,
looks ready to chime.

A clump of needlevine is entangled with the bunch of ripe chimecherries. One spiny tendril dangles down almost to the ground.

vegetation.

The zephyrwort whirls excitedly around the bunch of chimecherries, but the needlevine has tangled them up so they don't make a sound.
action: You consult the book about the zephyrwort
response: Zephyrwort is a mobile, semi-intelligent weed. The zephyrwort
plant has a playful manner, seemingly enjoying following and even pestering people it comes across, though fortunately it is easily distracted. Since it does not permanently root, instead resting at night to take sustenance from pools of water or from the dew, the zephrywort rarely grows larger than human-height, though travelers
have reported finding vast monocultures of zephyrwort, thrashing jungles in which the playful teasing of the plant, magnified to the scale of a landscape, can quickly become deadly.

The zephyrwort whirls excitedly around the bunch of chimecherries, but the needlevine has tangled them up so they don't make a sound.
action: You examine the cherries
response: Klaus's favorite fruit.

Once he ate a quart of them in one afternoon, which he much regretted later that evening.

The zephyrwort whirls excitedly around the bunch of chimecherries, but the needlevine has tangled them up so they don't make a sound.
action: You look at the needlevine
response: A vine with mottled, red-brown leaves, covered with needle-like
thorns.

The zephyrwort whirls excitedly around the bunch of chimecherries, but the needlevine has tangled them up so they don't make a sound.
action: Consult book about cherries
response: You check the index, but see no entry for cherries.

The zephyrwort whirls excitedly around the bunch of chimecherries, but the needlevine has tangled them up so they don't make a sound.
action: You consult the book about the chimecherries
response: The sweet and tart fruit of the chimecherry tree contains, instead
of a pit, a tiny metal bell. When ripe, the fruit splits, allowing the bunches of cherries to ring like a windchime. Because of its lack of seeds, the chimecherry does not grow naturally and must be magically propagated.

The zephyrwort whirls excitedly around the bunch of chimecherries, but the needlevine has tangled them up so they don't make a sound.
action: Consult book about needlevine
response: Needlevine, an epiphytic parasite, is a common weed in magical
gardens. It has no roots, instead subsisting directly on the magical energy of other arcane plants, leeched through a prehensile
haustorium. The needlevine is equipped with sharp thorns, which it is quick to brandish at anyone who disturbs it, making its eradication quite difficult.

The zephyrwort whirls excitedly around the bunch of chimecherries, but the needlevine has tangled them up so they don't make a sound.
action: You pull the needlevine
response: The vine spasms at your touch, and dozens of needles stab into your body. Fortunately your body is made of cloth.

The zephyrwort whirls excitedly around the bunch of chimecherries, but the needlevine has tangled them up so they don't make a sound.
action: You look at the coffintree
response: A tall tree with long, straight branches at the top. Several galls
grow from it.

The zephyrwort whirls excitedly around the bunch of chimecherries, but the needlevine has tangled them up so they don't make a sound.
action: You examine the gall
response: Which do you mean, the immature gall or the mature gall?
action: Immature
response: It looks like a large, angular nut.

The zephyrwort whirls excitedly around the bunch of chimecherries, but the needlevine has tangled them up so they don't make a sound.
action: You look at mature
response: It looks like a huge, angular nut with an open seam running around its rim. The inside of the gall is etched with the spectronym the
erstwhile gall ghost gave itself: Revilecto.

mind.

The zephyrwort whirls excitedly around the bunch of chimecherries, but the needlevine has tangled them up so they don't make a sound.
action: You look at the history
response: The memory glitters like a diamond in a heap of shattered glass.

The gall first formed on the bark of the coffintree six months ago; since then, when the most recent gall ghost spore first arrived, the gall grew to maturity and split open, releasing the ghost to wander
the garden.

A further significance nags at your mind: the question of an intruder.

The zephyrwort whirls excitedly around the bunch of chimecherries, but the needlevine has tangled them up so they don't make a sound.
action: You look at the intruder
response: The memory stands out like a discolored spine in a vast library of otherwise identical volumes.

A conversation between Victor and Alva several years ago concerned the security of their magic garden. It seemed they were worried about the possibility of a revenger. The garden was sealed tight with a hundred warding spells; there was no way anyone who wished Alva and Victor or their child Klaus harm could get inside. Of course, one loophole had
to be left; without such a loophole, gall ghosts would be unable to enter the garden to fertilize the coffintree. And a magical garden
with no ghost-inhabited coffintree is no magical garden at all...

What if someone who wished ill against the Lindworms found a way to infiltrate the warded garden? What if such a person stipulated that when they died, they be buried in a coffin gall, knowing that they would subsequently become a gall ghost which could freely enter
through the garden's wards?

The zephyrwort whirls excitedly around the bunch of chimecherries, but the needlevine has tangled them up so they don't make a sound.
action: You consult the book about the coffintree
response: induces the growth of large, hollow galls which resemble, and are occasionally used as, coffins. A corpse buried in such a coffin gall will become, in turn, a coffintree ghost, and float in the form of an invisible spore until it finds an unfertilized coffintree to
inhabit.

The zephyrwort whirls excitedly around the bunch of chimecherries, but the needlevine has tangled them up so they don't make a sound.
action: You take the zephyrwort
response: The zephyrwort, seeming to enjoy this game, cheerfully evades you.

The zephyrwort whirls excitedly around the bunch of chimecherries, but the needlevine has tangled them up so they don't make a sound.
action: You go northeast
response: The red brick wall which bounds the northeast corner of the garden is broken here by a wrought-iron gate. The bricks are overgrown with mime's-mouth. A path leads southwest, to the orchard; far beyond the gate to the northeast is the pink stone bulk of Nightshade, Klaus's parents' house.

One mime's-mouth flower droops down within reach on a long tendril.

A red-brown statue of a dogjaw, with its tail curled under its body, stands here on a granite plinth.
action: You examine the mimethe 'S
response: A tiny flower whose two red petals are parted like lips.
action: Consult book about mime'S
response: The mime's-mouth is a useful flower which grows on a climbing, deciduous vine. Shaped like a pair of human lips, the mime's-mouth can be worn in emergencies to provide a voice for those who have
none.
action: You cut the mimethe 's with the clippers
response: You cut the mime's-mouth flower free from its stem. It flutters to the ground.
action: You wear the mimethe 'S
response: (first taking the mime's-mouth flower)
You attach the mime's-mouth flower to your face.
action: You examine gate
response: A heavy gate, beyond which you can see an avenue of mundane oak trees, a field sloping down to a slow river, and, almost at the outer extent of your magical vision, the eclectic towers, wings, and windows of Nightshade.
action: You examine the Nightshade
response: Nightshade is a whimsical maze of a magical manor house. Under the whimsy, if you know where to look for it, are deep foundations of madness and horror. But that's the world of magic in general; you
would know, being nothing more than a magical collection of memories and motivations brought to life to help Klaus in case of emergency.

at your memory.
action: You examine the history
response: The memory shines like a polished star on a wall of tarnished silver.

Nightshade has a long and frankly bewildering history; your magically implanted memory includes most of it, at least in abbreviated form. What seems important just now is something that happened shortly after Alva inherited the place, when she and her new husband spent a weekend expelling all the ghosts that had accumulated at the estate over the years like barnacles on an old hull.

A further significances nag at your mind: the memory of a ghost hunt.
action: You look at the hunt
response: The memory rattles like an impervious bumble bee trapped inside a closed book.

Some of the ghosts were strong enough to be met with blades--the young couple had great fun chasing the ghosts with swords in their right hands and blue-flaming candles in their left--but many were weaker,
and paradoxically these weaker ghosts were the greater hazard. Weak ghosts often inhabit statues and sculptures, of which there is (or was then) no shortage at Nightshade, and once inhabiting a statue, like a hermit crab inside a shell, the ghost can only be shaken loose and expelled with the proper magic formula: the magic word, followed by
the given name it bore in life, followed by its hidden spectronym.
Alva and Victor spent a weekend trading duties: one would research the given names and spectronyms of the offending ghosts, and the other would roam looking for eerie, moving statues and shouting out the formula: "Susohabor Beatrice Huskloom! Susohabor Henry Osteorn! Susohabor Reginald Gravesile!"
action: You look at dogjaw
response: A statue of a prehistoric psuedomammal, a cynodont, carved from an unusually large piece of petrified wood. Its body is bulky and powerful, with a barrel-like torso, short, sturdy, clawed legs, and a huge toothy mouth. It's red-brown, with stripes along its flank like a young boar.
action: Go southwest
response: The hummocky ground is shaded by large fruit trees. Paths leads south to the greenhouse, west to the folly, and northeast to the gate.

tree trunks.

A coffintree grows here. High in its branches sprouts an immature gall the size of a baby's casket; close to the ground its massive mature gall has split open, ready for use. Some significance of the history
of a ghost nags at your mind.

A chimecherry tree is covered with fruit. Most of the cherries are unripe, but one bunch hanging six feet up, bright red and glossy,
looks ready to chime.

A clump of needlevine is entangled with the bunch of ripe chimecherries. One spiny tendril dangles down almost to the ground.

The zephyrwort whirls excitedly around the bunch of chimecherries, but the needlevine has tangled them up so they don't make a sound.
action: You look at mature
response: It looks like a huge, angular nut with an open seam running around its rim. The inside of the gall is etched with the spectronym the
erstwhile gall ghost gave itself: Revilecto.

The zephyrwort whirls excitedly around the bunch of chimecherries, but the needlevine has tangled them up so they don't make a sound.
action: Go northeast
response: The red brick wall which bounds the northeast corner of the garden is broken here by a wrought-iron gate. The bricks are overgrown with mime's-mouth. A path leads southwest, to the orchard; far beyond the gate to the northeast is the pink stone bulk of Nightshade, Klaus's parents' house. Something significant about the recent history of Nightshade nags at your memory.

A red-brown statue of a dogjaw, with its tail curled loosely under its body, stands here on a granite plinth.
action: Susohabor percival revilecto
response: The statue of the dogjaw shatters and a squirm of otherworldly translucency arises from the fragments: the ghost known as Percival Revilecto.

The ghost shrieks with rage. "You bloody stupid toy! Have you any idea what hells I endured to avenge myself on those who fully deserved my revenge--"

But the invisible hooks of the magic word are already dragging it backwards into oblivion. Its complaint is silenced as the ghost vanishes into a crack of air.
action: Look around
response: The red brick wall which bounds the northeast corner of the garden is broken here by a wrought-iron gate. The bricks are overgrown with mime's-mouth. A path leads southwest, to the orchard; far beyond the gate to the northeast is the pink stone bulk of Nightshade, Klaus's parents' house. Something significant about the recent history of Nightshade nags at your memory.

Fragments of a broken statue litter the ground.
action: You examine the fragments
response: The red-brown fragments of a shattered statue.
action: Go south
response: A sunny green bank. Paths leads north to the orchard, northwest to the folly, and west to the hidden lawn.

The paned glass wall of a greenhouse rises to the east. High above
your head a reflection of the sun gleams.

A narrow crack stretches a foot vertically across a single grass-level pane in the greenhouse wall.

Growing inside the greenhouse you see a sweet maskelyne, a galen's glory, a ligerlily, and a watchflower.

Laid in the greenhouse floor is a drainage trough. At the east end is
a faucet, and at the west end, a pipe, through which water can be flushed out of the trough onto the lawn.

vegetation.
action: Go west
response: A narrow, secluded spot in which Klaus is fond of reading. The ground is covered by beds of lacegrass. The sky is a crescent of deep blue above interlocking squirrel puzzle trees. Archways under bowed trunks open north, to the folly, and east, to the greenhouse.

Klaus is lying on his back in the grass.

A starry seeksorrow grows near Klaus's head.

A heavy edition of Archibault's 1,001 Knights of Slee has
fallen at Klaus's side.

A paper doll stands here, shivering slightly in the breeze.
action: Cut seeksorrow with clippers
response: You cut the starry seeksorrow free from its stem. It flutters to the ground.
action: You ask Doll,  to go to the east
response: The paper doll goes east.

You hear a great rush of wind and leaves from elsewhere in the garden.

The paper doll blows in from the northeast.
action: Go east
response: A sunny green bank. Paths leads north to the orchard, northwest to the folly, and west to the hidden lawn.

A six-foot high tangle of zephyrwort whirls and dances over the grass.

The paned glass wall of a greenhouse rises to the east. High above
your head a reflection of the sun gleams.

A narrow crack stretches a foot vertically across a single grass-level pane in the greenhouse wall.

Growing inside the greenhouse you see a sweet maskelyne, a galen's glory, a ligerlily, and a watchflower.

Laid in the greenhouse floor is a drainage trough. At the east end is
a faucet, and at the west end, a pipe, through which water can be flushed out of the trough onto the lawn.
action: Go north
response: The hummocky ground is shaded by large fruit trees. Paths leads south to the greenhouse, west to the folly, and northeast to the gate.

A coffintree grows here. High in its branches sprouts an immature gall the size of a baby's casket; close to the ground its massive mature gall has split open, ready for use. Some significance of the history
of a ghost nags at your mind.

A chimecherry tree is covered with fruit. Most of the cherries are unripe, but one bunch hanging six feet up, bright red and glossy,
looks ready to chime.

A clump of needlevine is entangled with the bunch of ripe chimecherries. One spiny tendril dangles down almost to the ground.

vegetation.

The zephyrwort whirls excitedly around the bunch of chimecherries, but the needlevine has tangled them up so they don't make a sound.
action: You cut the needlevine with the clippers
response: The needlevine spasms, then draws itself higher up into the
chimecherry and out of sight.
action: You look at the chimecherries
response: (the bunch of chimecherries)
Klaus's favorite fruit.

The zephyrwort whirls about the bunch of chimecherries, setting them jingling like bells.
action: Go south
response: A sunny green bank. Paths leads north to the orchard, northwest to the folly, and west to the hidden lawn.

The paned glass wall of a greenhouse rises to the east. High above
your head a reflection of the sun gleams.

A narrow crack stretches a foot vertically across a single grass-level pane in the greenhouse wall.

Growing inside the greenhouse you see a sweet maskelyne, a galen's glory, a ligerlily, and a watchflower.

Laid in the greenhouse floor is a drainage trough. At the east end is
a faucet, and at the west end, a pipe, through which water can be flushed out of the trough onto the lawn.
action: You go to the west
response: A narrow, secluded spot in which Klaus is fond of reading. The ground is covered by beds of lacegrass. The sky is a crescent of deep blue above interlocking squirrel puzzle trees. Archways under bowed trunks open north, to the folly, and east, to the greenhouse.

A paper doll stands here, shivering slightly in the breeze.

Klaus is lying on his back in the grass.

A heavy edition of Archibault's 1,001 Knights of Slee has
fallen at Klaus's side.
action: You ask Doll,  to go to the east
response: The paper doll goes east.

You hear a metallic jingling sound from somewhere else in the garden.
action: You go east
response: A sunny green bank. Paths leads north to the orchard, northwest to the folly, and west to the hidden lawn.

A paper doll stands here, shivering slightly in the breeze.

The paned glass wall of a greenhouse rises to the east. High above
your head a reflection of the sun gleams.

A narrow crack stretches a foot vertically across a single grass-level pane in the greenhouse wall.

Growing inside the greenhouse you see a sweet maskelyne, a galen's glory, a ligerlily, and a watchflower.

Laid in the greenhouse floor is a drainage trough. At the east end is
a faucet, and at the west end, a pipe, through which water can be flushed out of the trough onto the lawn.
action: You ask Doll,  to go to the east
response: The doll slips through the crack into the greenhouse.

The ligerlily roars and snaps at the paper doll; with no way to defend itself, the paper doll is knocked back into the drainage trough.

The sweet maskelyne bobs in excitement.

The faucet, enchanted by a spell, turns on. The trough fills with water, flushing the paper doll through the pipe and out of the greenhouse. The faucet turns off and the trough runs empty.
action: You examine doll
response: The paper doll is about six inches high and cut from cardstock.
Klaus's parents have enchanted it to obey your commands. The doll is equipped with a paper dragon face, paper thigh boots, and a paper fringed dress.
action: You look at the paper dragon
response: A scaly green dragon face with a curling, thorned tongue.
action: You give the clippers to the doll
response: The paper doll takes the pair of clippers, but it is too heavy and the doll bends under the strain.

The paper doll puts down the pair of clippers.
action: You check what you're carrying
response: You are carrying:
a pair of clippers
a starry seeksorrow
a mime's-mouth flower (being worn)
a guide book
a long white dress (being worn)
action: You give seeksorrow to the doll
response: You give the starry seeksorrow to the paper doll.
action: You ask Doll,  to go east
response: The doll can't fit through the crack while it is carrying the starry seeksorrow.

The doll hunts for a way to the east but finds none.
action: You take seeksorrow
response: The paper doll gives the starry seeksorrow to you.
action: You go west
response: A narrow, secluded spot in which Klaus is fond of reading. The ground is covered by beds of lacegrass. The sky is a crescent of deep blue above interlocking squirrel puzzle trees. Archways under bowed trunks open north, to the folly, and east, to the greenhouse.

Klaus is lying on his back in the grass.

A heavy edition of Archibault's 1,001 Knights of Slee has
fallen at Klaus's side.
action: You examine the knights
response: Klaus lugs this heavy reference manual of otherworldly knights everywhere. The book's paper dust jacket is illustrated with a drawing of a shield and sword.
action: You cut the sword with the clippers
response: Working carefully, you cut the paper sword out from the book's dust jacket.

You hear a metallic jingling sound from somewhere else in the garden.
action: You cut the shield with the clippers
response: Working carefully, yourself cut the paper shield out from the book's dust jacket.
action: You take sword and the shield
response: paper sword: You already have that.
paper shield: You already have that.
action: You go east
response: A sunny green bank. Paths leads north to the orchard, northwest to the folly, and west to the hidden lawn.

A paper doll stands here, shivering slightly in the breeze.

The paned glass wall of a greenhouse rises to the east. High above
your head a reflection of the sun gleams.

A narrow crack stretches a foot vertically across a single grass-level pane in the greenhouse wall.

Growing inside the greenhouse you see a sweet maskelyne, a galen's glory, a ligerlily, and a watchflower.

Laid in the greenhouse floor is a drainage trough. At the east end is
a faucet, and at the west end, a pipe, through which water can be flushed out of the trough onto the lawn.
action: You give the shield to doll
response: The doll takes the paper shield and bows its thanks.
action: You ask Doll,  to go east
response: The doll slips through the crack into the greenhouse.

The ligerlily roars and snaps at the paper doll; the doll, fending off the attack with its paper shield, stands its ground.

The watchflower watches with interest.
action: You take the galen'S
response: The paper doll pulls ineffectually at the the galen's glory, which is still attached to its stem.

The ligerlily roars and snaps at the paper doll; the doll, fending off the attack with its paper shield, stands its ground.

The watchflower watches with interest.
action: You cut the galen's with sword
response: The paper doll cuts the galen's glory free from its stem. It flutters to the ground.

The ligerlily roars and snaps at the paper doll; the doll, fending off the attack with its paper shield, stands its ground.

The watchflower watches with interest.
action: You take the galen'S
response: The paper doll picks up the galen's glory.

The ligerlily roars and snaps at the paper doll; the doll, fending off the attack with its paper shield, stands its ground.

The watchflower watches with interest.
action: You enter the trough
response: The paper doll gets into the trough.

The faucet, enchanted by a spell, turns on. The trough fills with water, flushing the paper doll through the pipe and out of the greenhouse. The faucet turns off and the trough runs empty.
action: You take the galen'S
response: The paper doll gives the galen's glory to you.
action: You go north
response: The hummocky ground is shaded by large fruit trees. Paths leads south to the greenhouse, west to the folly, and northeast to the gate.

tree trunks.

A coffintree grows here. High in its branches sprouts an immature gall the size of a baby's casket; close to the ground its massive mature gall has split open, ready for use. Some significance of the history
of a ghost nags at your mind.

A chimecherry tree is covered with fruit. Most of the cherries are unripe, but one bunch hanging six feet up, bright red and glossy,
looks ready to chime.
action: Go west
response: Patterns of green and gold play around a structure of mossy stones built to look like a ruined temple. Its walls are overgrown with creeping diamondbane. Paths lead east to the orchard, south to the hidden lawn, and southeast to the greenhouse.

Inside the temple is a grooved marble altar. Some significance of the history of an expedition nags at your mind.
action: You put seeksorrow on the altar
response: You put the starry seeksorrow on the altar.
action: Go south
response: A narrow, secluded spot in which Klaus is fond of reading. The ground is covered by beds of lacegrass. The sky is a crescent of deep blue above interlocking squirrel puzzle trees. Archways under bowed trunks open north, to the folly, and east, to the greenhouse.

Klaus is lying on his back in the grass.

A heavy edition of Archibault's 1,001 Knights of Slee has
fallen at Klaus's side.
action: You go to the east
response: A sunny green bank. Paths leads north to the orchard, northwest to the folly, and west to the hidden lawn.

A paper doll stands here, shivering slightly in the breeze.

The paned glass wall of a greenhouse rises to the east. High above
your head a reflection of the sun gleams.

A narrow crack stretches a foot vertically across a single grass-level pane in the greenhouse wall.

Growing inside the greenhouse you see a sweet maskelyne, a ligerlily, and a watchflower.

Laid in the greenhouse floor is a drainage trough. At the east end is
a faucet, and at the west end, a pipe, through which water can be flushed out of the trough onto the lawn.
action: You take the paper dragon
response: The paper doll gives the paper dragon face to you.
action: You wear it
response: You can't wear that!

You hear a metallic jingling sound from somewhere else in the garden.
action: You give paper dragon to the doll
response: The doll takes the paper dragon face and bows its thanks.
action: You go to the northwest
response: Patterns of green and gold play around a structure of mossy stones built to look like a ruined temple. Its walls are overgrown with creeping diamondbane. Paths lead east to the orchard, south to the hidden lawn, and southeast to the greenhouse.

Inside the temple is a grooved marble altar. Some significance of the history of an expedition nags at your mind.

On the altar is a starry seeksorrow.
action: Burn seeksorrow
response: The paper doll is unable to do that.
action: You cut sweet
response: (with the paper sword)
The paper doll cuts the sweet maskelyne free from its stem. It
flutters to the ground.

The ligerlily roars and snaps at the paper doll; the doll, fending off the attack with its paper shield, stands its ground.

The watchflower watches with interest.
action: You take sweet
response: The paper doll picks up the sweet maskelyne.

The ligerlily roars and snaps at the paper doll; the doll, fending off the attack with its paper shield, stands its ground.

The watchflower watches with interest.
action: You cut the ligerlily
response: (with the paper sword)
The paper doll cuts the ligerlily free from its stem. It flutters to the ground.
action: You take the ligerlily
response: The paper doll picks up the ligerlily.
action: You cut the watchflower
response: (with the paper sword)
The paper doll cuts the watchflower free from its stem. It flutters to the ground.
action: You take the watchflower
response: The paper doll picks up the watchflower.
action: You examine sweet
response: A flower with glossy black petals like a tailcoat and top hat, and a yellow pistil like a magic wand.
action: Wave sweet
response: The paper doll waves the sweet maskelyne.
action: You take the wand
response: The paper doll gives the sweet maskelyne to you.

You hear a metallic jingling sound from somewhere else in the garden.
action: Wave wand
response: You wave the sweet maskelyne.
action: You take the ligerlily
response: The paper doll gives the ligerlily to you.
action: You feed seeksorrow to ligerlily
response: You can only do that to something animate.
action: Wave ligerlily
response: You wave the ligerlily.

You hear a metallic jingling sound from somewhere else in the garden.
action: You go northwest
response: Patterns of green and gold play around a structure of mossy stones built to look like a ruined temple. Its walls are overgrown with creeping diamondbane. Paths lead east to the orchard, south to the hidden lawn, and southeast to the greenhouse.

Inside the temple is a grooved marble altar. Some significance of the history of an expedition nags at your mind.
action: You give the galen's to Klaus
response: The galen's glory settles down over Klaus's nose and mouth. For a few moments, nothing happens -- then he takes a deep, involuntary breath. After a few more breaths his eyes clear. He coughs and sits up suddenly, and the galen's glory falls from his face.

As his consciousness returns, yours fades.
action: Epilogue
response: Somewhere in a magic garden a notorious flower decomposes...

...over the autum it shrivels...

...over the winter it liquefies and turns to slime...

...and in the spring this most devious of all flowers reseeds itself. Its root system grows invisibly beneath a bed of lacegrass. It is careful not to extend a tendril and bud a new bloom until the time is right...

Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, QUIT, UNDO the last command, or read the EPILOGUE?