All this for a map of Paris? Let's play Curses!

The other use I was thinking for oil was way back when we read the hieroglyphics in the pyramid, and that was anointment. So, let's head back to the oil room and anoint ourselves!

>w

The Birdcage of the Muses

There is a pigeonhole mounted on one wall.

A messenger-boy in a plain white tunic slips into the library and places a couple of tubes in the pigeonhole. So resentful is he of missing the party outside that he fails to notice you, and runs back out again at once.

>s

Oil Room

>anoint me
You smear some oil on your head, making a mental note to wash your hair in the morning. It is the least sacred sacred ritual you have ever taken part in.

Where to from here?

Try to interact with those tubes that were just mentioned.

Sounds like a good idea.

>n

The Birdcage of the Muses

There is a pigeonhole mounted on one wall.

>look in pigeonhole
In the pigeonhole are a tube with a kappa on and a tube with an alpha on.

Time to steal some mail!

>get kappa
Taken.

>get alpha
(putting the Rod of Husbandry into the canvas rucksack to make room)
Taken.

And now, to see what could be inside.

>look in kappa
In the tube with a kappa on is a scroll bearing a short poem.

>look in alpha
In the tube with an alpha on is a scroll bearing an epic poem.

Maybe reading these poems would offer some insight into them.

>get short poem then read it
(putting the bird whistle into the canvas rucksack to make room)
Taken.

All Greek to you, alas. Only a dozen lines or so, though.

>get epic poem then read it
(putting the tube with a kappa on into the canvas rucksack to make room)
Taken.

All Greek to you, alas, and running on for 1000 lines or more.

Guess not. But from this, can you figure out what to do with these poems? Keep in mind that we might not have found all the clues for this puzzle, but they should be somewhere in the library.

Since I mentioned it in the last post, might as well explore the rest of the library.

>se

Geography Room
The rather neglected hall for the accurate study of geography: as opposed to the lurid travellers' tales preferred by most writers in this slapdash century. Nobody is working here, and one can only file back northwest.

Protruding from a broken globe of the Earth (marked with very tentative and approximate maps) is the spindle, the only thing holding it together.

I have a feeling that I know what to do here, but there's another room left to explore. So...

>nw

The Birdcage of the Muses

There is a pigeonhole mounted on one wall.

>e

Reading Corridor

The expert in question being Callimachus, who is brooding over a scroll, and hardly aware of your presence.

>s

Librarian's Office
A tiny office adjoining the colonnades north, this is home to Apollonius the head Librarian, whose writing implements, table and sand-wells are scattered untidily about.

Apollonius paces about self-importantly in a purple sash, perusing documents on his desk.

And, since Callimachus was in the dictionary, let's look up this guy.

>consult dictionary about apollonius
Librarian, mathematician, epic poet, politician.

Based on what you know about Apollonius, Callimachus, and their respective tastes in poetry, can you figure out what to do with the two tubes? Until next time.

Give alpha to Apollonius and kappa to Callimachus?

Well, that seems a bit obvious, but let's give it a try anyway.

>give alpha to apollonius
Apollonius takes the tube and looks inside to see a scroll, which he pulls out eagerly.

"Ahhhh..." he says (untranslatably) as he reads. But soon he finishes, puts the scroll back into the tube with the habit of a trained librarian, and drops it absentmindedly on the floor.

>n

Reading Corridor

The expert in question being Callimachus, who is brooding over a scroll, and hardly aware of your presence.

>give kappa to callimachus
Callimachus takes the tube and looks inside to see a scroll, which he pulls out eagerly.

"Ahhhh..." he says (untranslatably) as he reads. But soon he finishes, puts the scroll back into the tube with the habit of a trained librarian, and drops it absentmindedly on the floor.


That didn't do much, but you were close with your answer. If no one has figured it out by tomorrow, I'll show the correct solution. Until next time!

Give kappa to Apollonius and alpha to Callimachus?

Or switch the tubes?

Callimachus must be a REALLY quick reader, or maybe he has a short attention span.

Well, Mogri has figured out the solution to the puzzle, which is to switch the tubes around. So...

>take epic
(putting the bird whistle into the canvas rucksack to make room)
Taken.

>take short
(putting the tube with a kappa on into the canvas rucksack to make room)
Taken.

>get kappa
(putting the tube with an alpha on into the canvas rucksack to make room)
Taken.

>put epic in kappa
You put the scroll bearing an epic poem into the tube with a kappa on.

>take alpha
Taken.

>put short in alpha
You put the scroll bearing a short poem into the tube with an alpha on.

And now, for the greatest prank in history.

>give alpha to apollonius
Apollonius takes the tube and looks inside to see a scroll, which he pulls out eagerly.

"Arrghhhieee!" he says (untranslatably), boiling over with rage. He then curses repeatedly, but the only word you can make out is "Callimachus". He pushes you out of his way and stomps off.

>n

Reading Corridor

Apollonius and Callimachus are having a furious, heated, endless argument about something. They seem well practised at this occupation.

>give kappa to callimachus
Callimachus takes the tube and looks inside to see a scroll, which he pulls out eagerly.

One look is enough. He throws a vicious punch, and the librarians begin a savage bare-knuckled fist fight.

This, shall we say, rather petty practical joke of yours does seem to have had one interesting consequence, though.

[Your score has just gone up by seven points.]

"Interesting consequence," eh? Let's look and see what it might have been.

>look

Reading Corridor
A spacious, densely colonnaded corridor, its walls lined with inset shelves on which are scrolls beyond count, ribboned, dusty, disintegrating, badly catalogued so that only an expert can find what he wants.

Apollonius and Callimachus are now engaged in a furious, ugly brawl, from which it seems unlikely they will emerge for some considerable time.

Apollonius seems to have dropped a mystic scroll in the scuffle.

And Callimachus' purple shoulder-sash has come off.

Now to reap the rewards of stoking the flames of the first inter-fandom conflict in history.

>get scroll, sash
Which do you mean, the mystic scroll or the dusty scrolls?

>mystic
mystic scroll: Taken.
purple sash: Taken.

Since we've got some new reading material, might as well read it.

>read mystic scroll
It tells that even the greatest mortal must choose of the three High [and the next word is illegible], for once and all, but that for each there is a way. The usual mystic nonsense.

Finally, there's one thing left to do in the library involving something in the last room, but can you figure out what that might be?

Inventory:
a purple sash
a mystic scroll
a tube with a kappa on (which is empty)
a cloak of many colours (being worn, has grey lining)
the Rod of Husbandry (charged)
a daisy chain (around your neck, made from yellow daisies and causes certain objects to turn into featureless mahogany rods when waved)
a canvas rucksack (which is open, actually a bag of holding)

• a bird whistle
• a gleaming amber gem
• the Pan pipes
• a photographer's flash (which is closed, equipped with a timer mechanism)
• a glowing golden orb (misted over, but has images of some sort of crazy chess world)
• a papyrus fragment
• a smooth round stone
• a Tarot box (which is open but empty)
• a croquet mallet
• an antique jewellery box (which is open but empty)
• a cracked medicine bottle (which is open but empty)
• a model golden sceptre
• a bunch of nuts
• a steel wrench
• a silk handkerchief
• a marble rose
• a spade
• a hard wooden ball
• the Rods of Sacrifice, Returning, Luck, Fire, Bronze, Infinity and Stalking
• seven Tarot cards: the Star, Maiden, Castle, Fool, Drowned Sailor, Ace of Cups and Grim Reaper
• a long wrought iron key
• a delicate gold key (unlocks the jewellery box)
• a gothic-looking iron key
• a small brass key (unlocks the door from Dark Passage to Garden Stream and the trapdoor in Priest's Hole)
• a postcard of the Champs-Elysees
• Hobson's classical dictionary
• the History of the Meldrews (vol. II)

an electric torch (providing light and closed)
some old gardeners' gloves (being worn)

Score:
It is some time in the winter of 275 B.C., the reign of Ptolemy II, and you are in ancient Alexandria. You have so far scored 305 out of a possible 550, in 1366 turns, giving you the rank of Explorer.

Maps
Meldrew Hall, attic:
a=Attic (down to game over)
b=Old Winery
c=Aunt Jemima's Lair (wireless)
d=Servant's Room (scarf)
e=Potting Room (Aunt Jemima)
f=Old Furniture (wrapping paper)
g=Over the East Wing
h=Storage Room (wheel with handle, dumbwaiter leading to Cellar)
i=Disused Observatory (glass ball on telescope stand, smoke detector)
j=Airing Cupboard
k=Dark Room
l=East Annexe
m=Dead End (down/east to Beside the Drive)
n=Library Storage
o=Souvenirs Room (slide projector [contains The Castle], ship in a bottle)
p=Inside Cupboard (big iron fireplace, open skylight with crank handle, up to Roof)
q=Chimney (down to Priest's Hole)
r=Alison's Writing Room (bed)
s=Tiny Balcony
X=game over

Meldrew Hall, cellar:
a=Cellars (dumbwaiter to Dark Shaft)
b=Wine Cellars
c=Cellar West (locked door leading northwest, down to Hellish Place)
d=Cellars South (robot mouse, hole in wall)

Meldrew Hall, gardens and shaft area:
a=Garden Stream
b=Family Tree (plane tree, up to Up the Plane Tree)
c=Beside the Wall (potted shrub, one-way path down to Wine Cellar)
d=Lawn Ornaments (dark well too small to enter, miniature, weed killer bottle, prayer book, romantic novel, green branch, gas mask)
e=Mosaic [can be lagach-ed]
f=Clearing
g=Garage (garden roller)
h=Vegetable Garden (runner bean plant)
i=Maze
j=Viewpoint Ledge (plaque)
k=Dark Shaft (dumbwaiter to Storage Room)
l=Dark Passage
m=Patio in Maze (down to Crypt)
n=Sandstone Passage
o=The Octagon (window vent, gilded coffin used to identify rods, scroll)
p=White Hallway (painting of Mad Isaac Meldrewe [can be lagach-ed], elephant's foot umbrella stand)
q=Bricked Path
r=Halfway up the Stairs (up to Servant's Room)
s=Hedgery
t=Croquet Lawn (colored peg, wickets)
u=Summer House (gold watch which is visible but unattainable)

Catacombs below the gardens:
a=Crypt (bronze mural [can be lagach-ed], up to Patio in Maze)
b=Jagged Passage
c=Catacombs (down to Universe Maintenance Room)
d=Contraption Room (sheet of dull amber-colored metal forming north wall, iron panel with 3x5 grid, see-saw of leather baskets, metal hand)
e=Charnel Passage
f=Sarcophagus
g=Contraption Reflection (same as in Contraption Room)

Meldrew Hall, roof:
a=Roof (down to Inside Cupboard)
b=Battlements

Meldrew Hall, ???:
a=Priest's Hole (one-way path down to Cellar West)

Northeast of the House:
a=Beside the Drive (up/west to Dead End)
b=Public Footpath (down to Hollow)
c=Stone Cross (Old Evans with his lucky mascot)

Northeast of the House, Hollow:
a=Hollow (up to Public Footpath, one-way northwest path to Mosaic)

Unreal City:
a=Unreal City
b=Shadowy Hallway (up to Consulting Room)
c=Bohemia (mural [can be lagach-ed])
d=Down by River
e=Near Ring Road (down to Chatelet-les-Halles)
f=Chatelet-les-Halles (map salesman)
g=Consulting Room (down to Shadowy Hallway)
h=On board the Phlebas (saying "time" will take the protagonist to Garden Stream)

Tarot box:
a=Cups and Glasses (model ship)
b=Aboard Ship (examine model ship; up to Up the Mast)
c=Prow of the Lady Magdalena
d=Stern
e=Ruined Castle Cafe
f=Sea Shore (Andromeda, up to Cliffs)
g=Cliffs (down to Sea Shore)
h=Clifftop Walk
i=Outside Taverna (fig tree)
j=Eraina Taverna (bartender)
k=Wall of Thorns
l=Cave Mouth (obsidian altar, flaming bronze urn)
m=Sacred Earth (south to death by divine wrath)
n=Temple of Zeus
o=East Cloister
p=Inner Sanctum (Homer)
q=down to Cross Centre
r=Cross Centre (down to Oubliette)
s=up to Inner Sanctum
t=Southwest Cross (statue of Dionysus)
u=Northwest Cross (statue of Demeter)
v=Northeast Cross (statue of Poseidon)
w=Southeast Cross (statue of Ares)
x=Oubliette (crushing wall trap; up to Cross Centre)
y=Lighthouse

Alexandria:
a=Causeway
b=Island of Pharos (grating, rusty iron key behind grating)
c=Crossroads
d=A Tower (door)
e=Necropolis (tombstone with empty socket and word "GALITA")
f=XIIth Dynasty Pyramid (writings [can be lagach-ed])
g=Outside the Royal Museum
h=The Birdcage of the Muses (pigeonhole)
i=Oil Room (trough of oil)
j=Reading Corridor (you are here)
k=Geography Room (broken globe)
l=Librarian's Office

Hamburg by night:
a=Museum of Arcana
b=Revolving Door
c=Hall of Exhibits (still life [can be lagach-ed])
d=Cabinet Room
e=Dark Staircase (down/south to...?)
f=Coven Cell (goat)

Deaths
Missed the point entirely: 5 (irritated Aunt Jemima by trying to steal her gardening gloves, gave up on the search, broke a pipe and had to call a plumber, lectured by Aunt Jemima for four hours, burned down most of the attic)
Spooked: 1 (haunted by the ghost of Sir Joshua Meldrewe)
Died: 7 (jumped off the mast of the Lady Magdalena without a parachute, spontaneous combustion, brutally sacrificed by a druidic coven, blown to bits by a time bomb, incinerated myself with the Rod of Fire, electrocuted by the wrath of Zeus, crushed into a pancake)
Disembodied the entire universe: 1 (meddled with the Planck constant)
Total: 14

Since there haven't been any responses, I'm going to finish off the library right now. The room I hinted at earlier was the Geography Room, which contained a broken globe. Let's get a better look at it, shall we?

>w

The Birdcage of the Muses

There is a pigeonhole mounted on one wall.

>se

Geography Room

Protruding from a broken globe of the Earth (marked with very tentative and approximate maps) is the spindle, the only thing holding it together.

>examine globe
Perhaps the best work of cartography likely for the next two thousand years, though it seems unlikely to last the next two hours.

Suggesting that it's in pretty bad shape. So let's put it out of its misery.

>get spindle
(putting the tube with a kappa on into the canvas rucksack to make room)
As you pull out its polar axis, the spindle, the Earth collapses altogether in a possibly symbolic, certainly dusty shambles.

And with that, the Library of Alexandria is done and dusted. Where to from here? Should I explore one of the paths outside the library, or should I put the amber gem in the tombstone back in the necropolis?

Puzzles:
Getting the mascot from old Evans.
A key behind a grating that looks like it may fit the grating.

Unexplored paths:
North from Outside the Royal Museum.
Northeast from Outside the Royal Museum.

Inventory:
a spindle from the globe
a purple sash
a mystic scroll
a cloak of many colours (being worn, has grey lining)
a daisy chain (around your neck, made from yellow daisies and causes certain objects to turn into featureless mahogany rods when waved)
a canvas rucksack (which is open, actually a bag of holding)

• a tube with a kappa on (which is empty)
• a bird whistle
• a gleaming amber gem
• the Pan pipes
• a photographer's flash (which is closed, equipped with a timer mechanism)
• a glowing golden orb (misted over, but has images of some sort of crazy chess world)
• a papyrus fragment
• a smooth round stone
• a Tarot box (which is open but empty)
• a croquet mallet
• an antique jewellery box (which is open but empty)
• a cracked medicine bottle (which is open but empty)
• a model golden sceptre
• a bunch of nuts
• a steel wrench
• a silk handkerchief
• a marble rose
• a spade
• a hard wooden ball
• the Rods of Husbandry (charged), Sacrifice, Returning, Luck, Fire, Bronze, Infinity and Stalking
• seven Tarot cards: the Star, Maiden, Castle, Fool, Drowned Sailor, Ace of Cups and Grim Reaper
• a long wrought iron key
• a delicate gold key (unlocks the jewellery box)
• a gothic-looking iron key
• a small brass key (unlocks the door from Dark Passage to Garden Stream and the trapdoor in Priest's Hole)
• a postcard of the Champs-Elysees
• Hobson's classical dictionary
• the History of the Meldrews (vol. II)

an electric torch (providing light and closed)
some old gardeners' gloves (being worn)

Score:
It is some time in the winter of 275 B.C., the reign of Ptolemy II, and you are in ancient Alexandria. You have so far scored 305 out of a possible 550, in 1370 turns, giving you the rank of Explorer.

Maps
Meldrew Hall, attic:
a=Attic (down to game over)
b=Old Winery
c=Aunt Jemima's Lair (wireless)
d=Servant's Room (scarf)
e=Potting Room (Aunt Jemima)
f=Old Furniture (wrapping paper)
g=Over the East Wing
h=Storage Room (wheel with handle, dumbwaiter leading to Cellar)
i=Disused Observatory (glass ball on telescope stand, smoke detector)
j=Airing Cupboard
k=Dark Room
l=East Annexe
m=Dead End (down/east to Beside the Drive)
n=Library Storage
o=Souvenirs Room (slide projector [contains The Castle], ship in a bottle)
p=Inside Cupboard (big iron fireplace, open skylight with crank handle, up to Roof)
q=Chimney (down to Priest's Hole)
r=Alison's Writing Room (bed)
s=Tiny Balcony
X=game over

Meldrew Hall, cellar:
a=Cellars (dumbwaiter to Dark Shaft)
b=Wine Cellars
c=Cellar West (locked door leading northwest, down to Hellish Place)
d=Cellars South (robot mouse, hole in wall)

Meldrew Hall, gardens and shaft area:
a=Garden Stream
b=Family Tree (plane tree, up to Up the Plane Tree)
c=Beside the Wall (potted shrub, one-way path down to Wine Cellar)
d=Lawn Ornaments (dark well too small to enter, miniature, weed killer bottle, prayer book, romantic novel, green branch, gas mask)
e=Mosaic [can be lagach-ed]
f=Clearing
g=Garage (garden roller)
h=Vegetable Garden (runner bean plant)
i=Maze
j=Viewpoint Ledge (plaque)
k=Dark Shaft (dumbwaiter to Storage Room)
l=Dark Passage
m=Patio in Maze (down to Crypt)
n=Sandstone Passage
o=The Octagon (window vent, gilded coffin used to identify rods, scroll)
p=White Hallway (painting of Mad Isaac Meldrewe [can be lagach-ed], elephant's foot umbrella stand)
q=Bricked Path
r=Halfway up the Stairs (up to Servant's Room)
s=Hedgery
t=Croquet Lawn (colored peg, wickets)
u=Summer House (gold watch which is visible but unattainable)

Catacombs below the gardens:
a=Crypt (bronze mural [can be lagach-ed], up to Patio in Maze)
b=Jagged Passage
c=Catacombs (down to Universe Maintenance Room)
d=Contraption Room (sheet of dull amber-colored metal forming north wall, iron panel with 3x5 grid, see-saw of leather baskets, metal hand)
e=Charnel Passage
f=Sarcophagus
g=Contraption Reflection (same as in Contraption Room)

Meldrew Hall, roof:
a=Roof (down to Inside Cupboard)
b=Battlements

Meldrew Hall, ???:
a=Priest's Hole (one-way path down to Cellar West)

Northeast of the House:
a=Beside the Drive (up/west to Dead End)
b=Public Footpath (down to Hollow)
c=Stone Cross (Old Evans with his lucky mascot)

Northeast of the House, Hollow:
a=Hollow (up to Public Footpath, one-way northwest path to Mosaic)

Unreal City:
a=Unreal City
b=Shadowy Hallway (up to Consulting Room)
c=Bohemia (mural [can be lagach-ed])
d=Down by River
e=Near Ring Road (down to Chatelet-les-Halles)
f=Chatelet-les-Halles (map salesman)
g=Consulting Room (down to Shadowy Hallway)
h=On board the Phlebas (saying "time" will take the protagonist to Garden Stream)

Tarot box:
a=Cups and Glasses (model ship)
b=Aboard Ship (examine model ship; up to Up the Mast)
c=Prow of the Lady Magdalena
d=Stern
e=Ruined Castle Cafe
f=Sea Shore (Andromeda, up to Cliffs)
g=Cliffs (down to Sea Shore)
h=Clifftop Walk
i=Outside Taverna (fig tree)
j=Eraina Taverna (bartender)
k=Wall of Thorns
l=Cave Mouth (obsidian altar, flaming bronze urn)
m=Sacred Earth (south to death by divine wrath)
n=Temple of Zeus
o=East Cloister
p=Inner Sanctum (Homer)
q=down to Cross Centre
r=Cross Centre (down to Oubliette)
s=up to Inner Sanctum
t=Southwest Cross (statue of Dionysus)
u=Northwest Cross (statue of Demeter)
v=Northeast Cross (statue of Poseidon)
w=Southeast Cross (statue of Ares)
x=Oubliette (crushing wall trap; up to Cross Centre)
y=Lighthouse

Alexandria:
a=Causeway
b=Island of Pharos (grating, rusty iron key behind grating)
c=Crossroads
d=A Tower (door)
e=Necropolis (tombstone with empty socket and word "GALITA")
f=XIIth Dynasty Pyramid (writings [can be lagach-ed])
g=Outside the Royal Museum
h=The Birdcage of the Muses (pigeonhole)
i=Oil Room (trough of oil)
j=Reading Corridor
k=Geography Room (you are here)
l=Librarian's Office

Hamburg by night:
a=Museum of Arcana
b=Revolving Door
c=Hall of Exhibits (still life [can be lagach-ed])
d=Cabinet Room
e=Dark Staircase (down/south to...?)
f=Coven Cell (goat)

Deaths
Missed the point entirely: 5 (irritated Aunt Jemima by trying to steal her gardening gloves, gave up on the search, broke a pipe and had to call a plumber, lectured by Aunt Jemima for four hours, burned down most of the attic)
Spooked: 1 (haunted by the ghost of Sir Joshua Meldrewe)
Died: 7 (jumped off the mast of the Lady Magdalena without a parachute, spontaneous combustion, brutally sacrificed by a druidic coven, blown to bits by a time bomb, incinerated myself with the Rod of Fire, electrocuted by the wrath of Zeus, crushed into a pancake)
Disembodied the entire universe: 1 (meddled with the Planck constant)
Total: 14

Amber gem why not.

Amber gem it is.

>nw

The Birdcage of the Muses

There is a pigeonhole mounted on one wall.

>nw

Outside the Royal Museum

A lively, very noisy procession pushes through here, and some spectacular floats are approaching fast.

>sw

Crossroads

A lively, very noisy procession pushes through here, and some spectacular floats are approaching fast.

>sw

Necropolis

You stand near the tombstone to which the birds of prey were so inexplicably drawn.

Birds of prey circle high in the night sky, their talons glinting in the moonlight.

>get gem
(putting the mystic scroll into the canvas rucksack to make room)
Taken.

Quote:

Quickly now the amber Takes the fly with knees deranged To be buried unseen, unfound And irrevocably changed. --Dean Waynflete, "Substance"

>put it in socket
The amber fits perfectly into the mouth of the stone face, and there is a heaving from beneath your feet... you topple over backward, flailing wildly. When you get up you can see a short flight of steps leading down. You have opened the tomb!

Since we've opened the tomb, might as well check it out...

>d

The Height of Fashion
A perfectly-cut room of rose-coloured granite, twelve feet across, painted in yellows and browns to simulate alabaster panelling. This is the latest in modern funerary apartments.

There's a couch for visitors, a table, a flight of steps up and a doorway to the west, flanked by two stone sphinxes.

The sphinxes seem to stare balefully at you.

[Your score has just gone up by five points.]

And this seems like a good place to stop for now. Next time, should we check out the rest of the tomb, explore more of the city, or try and figure out some of the stuff back at Meldrew Hall?

Puzzles:
Getting the mascot from old Evans.
A key behind a grating that looks like it may fit the grating.
Getting into Madame Sorostris' tower.

Unexplored paths:
North from Outside the Royal Museum.
Northeast from Outside the Royal Museum.
West from The Height of Fashion.

Inventory:
a spindle from the globe
a purple sash
a cloak of many colours (being worn, has grey lining)
a daisy chain (which rustles as if with a magical wind*, made from yellow daisies and causes certain objects to turn into featureless mahogany rods when waved)
a canvas rucksack (which is open, actually a bag of holding)

• a mystic scroll
• a tube with a kappa on (which is empty)
• a bird whistle
• the Pan pipes
• a photographer's flash (which is closed, equipped with a timer mechanism)
• a glowing golden orb (misted over, but has images of some sort of crazy chess world)
• a papyrus fragment
• a smooth round stone
• a Tarot box (which is open but empty)
• a croquet mallet
• an antique jewellery box (which is open but empty)
• a cracked medicine bottle (which is open but empty)
• a model golden sceptre
• a bunch of nuts
• a steel wrench
• a silk handkerchief
• a marble rose
• a spade
• a hard wooden ball
• the Rods of Husbandry (charged), Sacrifice, Returning, Luck, Fire, Bronze, Infinity and Stalking
• seven Tarot cards: the Star, Maiden, Castle, Fool, Drowned Sailor, Ace of Cups and Grim Reaper
• a long wrought iron key
• a delicate gold key (unlocks the jewellery box)
• a gothic-looking iron key
• a small brass key (unlocks the door from Dark Passage to Garden Stream and the trapdoor in Priest's Hole)
• a postcard of the Champs-Elysees
• Hobson's classical dictionary
• the History of the Meldrews (vol. II)

an electric torch (providing light and closed)
some old gardeners' gloves (being worn)

*- This means that something I'm carrying is a rod, if you're wondering.

Score:
It is some time in the winter of 275 B.C., the reign of Ptolemy II, and you are in ancient Alexandria. You have so far scored 310 out of a possible 550, in 1377 turns, giving you the rank of Voyager.

Maps
Meldrew Hall, attic:
a=Attic (down to game over)
b=Old Winery
c=Aunt Jemima's Lair (wireless)
d=Servant's Room (scarf)
e=Potting Room (Aunt Jemima)
f=Old Furniture (wrapping paper)
g=Over the East Wing
h=Storage Room (wheel with handle, dumbwaiter leading to Cellar)
i=Disused Observatory (glass ball on telescope stand, smoke detector)
j=Airing Cupboard
k=Dark Room
l=East Annexe
m=Dead End (down/east to Beside the Drive)
n=Library Storage
o=Souvenirs Room (slide projector [contains The Castle], ship in a bottle)
p=Inside Cupboard (big iron fireplace, open skylight with crank handle, up to Roof)
q=Chimney (down to Priest's Hole)
r=Alison's Writing Room (bed)
s=Tiny Balcony
X=game over

Meldrew Hall, cellar:
a=Cellars (dumbwaiter to Dark Shaft)
b=Wine Cellars
c=Cellar West (locked door leading northwest, down to Hellish Place)
d=Cellars South (robot mouse, hole in wall)

Meldrew Hall, gardens and shaft area:
a=Garden Stream
b=Family Tree (plane tree, up to Up the Plane Tree)
c=Beside the Wall (potted shrub, one-way path down to Wine Cellar)
d=Lawn Ornaments (dark well too small to enter, miniature, weed killer bottle, prayer book, romantic novel, green branch, gas mask)
e=Mosaic [can be lagach-ed]
f=Clearing
g=Garage (garden roller)
h=Vegetable Garden (runner bean plant)
i=Maze
j=Viewpoint Ledge (plaque)
k=Dark Shaft (dumbwaiter to Storage Room)
l=Dark Passage
m=Patio in Maze (down to Crypt)
n=Sandstone Passage
o=The Octagon (window vent, gilded coffin used to identify rods, scroll)
p=White Hallway (painting of Mad Isaac Meldrewe [can be lagach-ed], elephant's foot umbrella stand)
q=Bricked Path
r=Halfway up the Stairs (up to Servant's Room)
s=Hedgery
t=Croquet Lawn (colored peg, wickets)
u=Summer House (gold watch which is visible but unattainable)

Catacombs below the gardens:
a=Crypt (bronze mural [can be lagach-ed], up to Patio in Maze)
b=Jagged Passage
c=Catacombs (down to Universe Maintenance Room)
d=Contraption Room (sheet of dull amber-colored metal forming north wall, iron panel with 3x5 grid, see-saw of leather baskets, metal hand)
e=Charnel Passage
f=Sarcophagus
g=Contraption Reflection (same as in Contraption Room)

Meldrew Hall, roof:
a=Roof (down to Inside Cupboard)
b=Battlements

Meldrew Hall, ???:
a=Priest's Hole (one-way path down to Cellar West)

Northeast of the House:
a=Beside the Drive (up/west to Dead End)
b=Public Footpath (down to Hollow)
c=Stone Cross (Old Evans with his lucky mascot)

Northeast of the House, Hollow:
a=Hollow (up to Public Footpath, one-way northwest path to Mosaic)

Unreal City:
a=Unreal City
b=Shadowy Hallway (up to Consulting Room)
c=Bohemia (mural [can be lagach-ed])
d=Down by River
e=Near Ring Road (down to Chatelet-les-Halles)
f=Chatelet-les-Halles (map salesman)
g=Consulting Room (down to Shadowy Hallway)
h=On board the Phlebas (saying "time" will take the protagonist to Garden Stream)

Tarot box:
a=Cups and Glasses (model ship)
b=Aboard Ship (examine model ship; up to Up the Mast)
c=Prow of the Lady Magdalena
d=Stern
e=Ruined Castle Cafe
f=Sea Shore (Andromeda, up to Cliffs)
g=Cliffs (down to Sea Shore)
h=Clifftop Walk
i=Outside Taverna (fig tree)
j=Eraina Taverna (bartender)
k=Wall of Thorns
l=Cave Mouth (obsidian altar, flaming bronze urn)
m=Sacred Earth (south to death by divine wrath)
n=Temple of Zeus
o=East Cloister
p=Inner Sanctum (Homer)
q=down to Cross Centre
r=Cross Centre (down to Oubliette)
s=up to Inner Sanctum
t=Southwest Cross (statue of Dionysus)
u=Northwest Cross (statue of Demeter)
v=Northeast Cross (statue of Poseidon)
w=Southeast Cross (statue of Ares)
x=Oubliette (crushing wall trap; up to Cross Centre)
y=Lighthouse

Alexandria:
a=Causeway
b=Island of Pharos (grating, rusty iron key behind grating)
c=Crossroads
d=A Tower (door)
e=Necropolis (tombstone with empty socket and word "GALITA", down to The Height of Fashion)
f=XIIth Dynasty Pyramid (writings [can be lagach-ed])
g=Outside the Royal Museum
h=The Birdcage of the Muses (pigeonhole)
i=Oil Room (trough of oil)
j=Reading Corridor
k=Geography Room
l=Librarian's Office

Alexandria, tomb:
a=The Height of Fashion (you are here; up to Necropolis)

Hamburg by night:
a=Museum of Arcana
b=Revolving Door
c=Hall of Exhibits (still life [can be lagach-ed])
d=Cabinet Room
e=Dark Staircase (down/south to...?)
f=Coven Cell (goat)

Deaths
Missed the point entirely: 5 (irritated Aunt Jemima by trying to steal her gardening gloves, gave up on the search, broke a pipe and had to call a plumber, lectured by Aunt Jemima for four hours, burned down most of the attic)
Spooked: 1 (haunted by the ghost of Sir Joshua Meldrewe)
Died: 7 (jumped off the mast of the Lady Magdalena without a parachute, spontaneous combustion, brutally sacrificed by a druidic coven, blown to bits by a time bomb, incinerated myself with the Rod of Fire, electrocuted by the wrath of Zeus, crushed into a pancake)
Disembodied the entire universe: 1 (meddled with the Planck constant)
Total: 14[/QUOTE]

I vote we explore more of the tomb.

I concur with this.

As do I.

>w
Slightly to your surprise, the sphinxes make no effort to stop you.

This Is The Death
The passage, descending from the east down to the west, is cut from marble, lined with painted scenes from the fashionable comedies of Menander, decorated with Alexandrian coloured glass ornaments.

The expression "You can't take it with you" doesn't seem to be popular hereabouts.

Despite the tasteful decor, the most hideously ugly model animal you have ever seen sits on a little shelf here.

Unfortunately, the passage slants down only into a solid marble wall.

Well, darn. Looks like this is the end of the line. But let's take a look at that model.

>examine model
(the model of an animal so ugly you can't bear to look at it)
You simply can't bear to look. It might be a monkey... at least it has a tail... No. No, you have to look away.

We can't look at it, but can we take it?

>get model
(the model of an animal so ugly you can't bear to look at it)
Taken.

Quite a feat, I must say. Where to from here? Exploring the rest of the city, or heading back to the present and possibly sussing out the Oracle's riddle?

Due to the dearth of suggestions as to what to do next, I'm going to explore the remaining two paths from outside the museum.

>e

The Height of Fashion

The sphinxes seem to stare balefully at you.

>u

Necropolis

You stand near the tombstone, which has become rather more interesting now that a flight of steps downward has appeared.

Birds of prey circle high in the night sky, their talons glinting in the moonlight.

>ne

Crossroads

The procession looks like running on forever.

>ne
The procession happily accommodates another crazily-dressed loon.

Outside the Royal Museum

A lively, very noisy procession pushes through here, and some spectacular floats are approaching fast.

>n

Outside the Theatre
Tragically, the Theatre is closed tonight, but roads lead past the great stepped bowl: north toward the Palace, south to the Museum and west to the harbour-front.

>s

Outside the Royal Museum

A lively, very noisy procession pushes through here, and some spectacular floats are approaching fast.

>ne

Stadium
The great Stadium of Alexandria, with capacity enough to hold the whole population of the city: and it looks full. Olympic openings in the age of television have nothing on these people. The procession surges continually in, around the track and then out again, and amid the bustle you cannot push through.

A lively, very noisy procession pushes through here, and some spectacular floats are approaching fast.

Well, that's a couple of new passages revealed, if nothing else. Where to from here?

Puzzles:
Getting the mascot from old Evans.
A key behind a grating that looks like it may fit the grating.
Getting into Madame Sorostris' tower.

Unexplored paths:
North from Outside the Theatre.
West from Outside the Theatre.

Inventory:
a model of an animal so ugly you can't bear to look at it
a spindle from the globe
a purple sash
a cloak of many colours (being worn, has grey lining)
a daisy chain (which rustles as if with a magical wind*, made from yellow daisies and causes certain objects to turn into featureless mahogany rods when waved)
a canvas rucksack (which is open, actually a bag of holding)

• a mystic scroll
• a tube with a kappa on (which is empty)
• a bird whistle
• the Pan pipes
• a photographer's flash (which is closed, equipped with a timer mechanism)
• a glowing golden orb (misted over, but has images of some sort of crazy chess world)
• a papyrus fragment
• a smooth round stone
• a Tarot box (which is open but empty)
• a croquet mallet
• an antique jewellery box (which is open but empty)
• a cracked medicine bottle (which is open but empty)
• a model golden sceptre
• a bunch of nuts
• a steel wrench
• a silk handkerchief
• a marble rose
• a spade
• a hard wooden ball
• the Rods of Husbandry (charged), Sacrifice, Returning, Luck, Fire, Bronze, Infinity and Stalking
• seven Tarot cards: the Star, Maiden, Castle, Fool, Drowned Sailor, Ace of Cups and Grim Reaper
• a long wrought iron key
• a delicate gold key (unlocks the jewellery box)
• a gothic-looking iron key
• a small brass key (unlocks the door from Dark Passage to Garden Stream and the trapdoor in Priest's Hole)
• a postcard of the Champs-Elysees
• Hobson's classical dictionary
• the History of the Meldrews (vol. II)

an electric torch (providing light and closed)
some old gardeners' gloves (being worn)

*- This means that something I'm carrying is a rod, if you're wondering.

Score:
It is some time in the winter of 275 B.C., the reign of Ptolemy II, and you are in ancient Alexandria. You have so far scored 310 out of a possible 550, in 1387 turns, giving you the rank of Voyager.

Maps
Meldrew Hall, attic:
a=Attic (down to game over)
b=Old Winery
c=Aunt Jemima's Lair (wireless)
d=Servant's Room (scarf)
e=Potting Room (Aunt Jemima)
f=Old Furniture (wrapping paper)
g=Over the East Wing
h=Storage Room (wheel with handle, dumbwaiter leading to Cellar)
i=Disused Observatory (glass ball on telescope stand, smoke detector)
j=Airing Cupboard
k=Dark Room
l=East Annexe
m=Dead End (down/east to Beside the Drive)
n=Library Storage
o=Souvenirs Room (slide projector [contains The Castle], ship in a bottle)
p=Inside Cupboard (big iron fireplace, open skylight with crank handle, up to Roof)
q=Chimney (down to Priest's Hole)
r=Alison's Writing Room (bed)
s=Tiny Balcony
X=game over

Meldrew Hall, cellar:
a=Cellars (dumbwaiter to Dark Shaft)
b=Wine Cellars
c=Cellar West (locked door leading northwest, down to Hellish Place)
d=Cellars South (robot mouse, hole in wall)

Meldrew Hall, gardens and shaft area:
a=Garden Stream
b=Family Tree (plane tree, up to Up the Plane Tree)
c=Beside the Wall (potted shrub, one-way path down to Wine Cellar)
d=Lawn Ornaments (dark well too small to enter, miniature, weed killer bottle, prayer book, romantic novel, green branch, gas mask)
e=Mosaic [can be lagach-ed]
f=Clearing
g=Garage (garden roller)
h=Vegetable Garden (runner bean plant)
i=Maze
j=Viewpoint Ledge (plaque)
k=Dark Shaft (dumbwaiter to Storage Room)
l=Dark Passage
m=Patio in Maze (down to Crypt)
n=Sandstone Passage
o=The Octagon (window vent, gilded coffin used to identify rods, scroll)
p=White Hallway (painting of Mad Isaac Meldrewe [can be lagach-ed], elephant's foot umbrella stand)
q=Bricked Path
r=Halfway up the Stairs (up to Servant's Room)
s=Hedgery
t=Croquet Lawn (colored peg, wickets)
u=Summer House (gold watch which is visible but unattainable)

Catacombs below the gardens:
a=Crypt (bronze mural [can be lagach-ed], up to Patio in Maze)
b=Jagged Passage
c=Catacombs (down to Universe Maintenance Room)
d=Contraption Room (sheet of dull amber-colored metal forming north wall, iron panel with 3x5 grid, see-saw of leather baskets, metal hand)
e=Charnel Passage
f=Sarcophagus
g=Contraption Reflection (same as in Contraption Room)

Meldrew Hall, roof:
a=Roof (down to Inside Cupboard)
b=Battlements

Meldrew Hall, ???:
a=Priest's Hole (one-way path down to Cellar West)

Northeast of the House:
a=Beside the Drive (up/west to Dead End)
b=Public Footpath (down to Hollow)
c=Stone Cross (Old Evans with his lucky mascot)

Northeast of the House, Hollow:
a=Hollow (up to Public Footpath, one-way northwest path to Mosaic)

Unreal City:
a=Unreal City
b=Shadowy Hallway (up to Consulting Room)
c=Bohemia (mural [can be lagach-ed])
d=Down by River
e=Near Ring Road (down to Chatelet-les-Halles)
f=Chatelet-les-Halles (map salesman)
g=Consulting Room (down to Shadowy Hallway)
h=On board the Phlebas (saying "time" will take the protagonist to Garden Stream)

Tarot box:
a=Cups and Glasses (model ship)
b=Aboard Ship (examine model ship; up to Up the Mast)
c=Prow of the Lady Magdalena
d=Stern
e=Ruined Castle Cafe
f=Sea Shore (Andromeda, up to Cliffs)
g=Cliffs (down to Sea Shore)
h=Clifftop Walk
i=Outside Taverna (fig tree)
j=Eraina Taverna (bartender)
k=Wall of Thorns
l=Cave Mouth (obsidian altar, flaming bronze urn)
m=Sacred Earth (south to death by divine wrath)
n=Temple of Zeus
o=East Cloister
p=Inner Sanctum (Homer)
q=down to Cross Centre
r=Cross Centre (down to Oubliette)
s=up to Inner Sanctum
t=Southwest Cross (statue of Dionysus)
u=Northwest Cross (statue of Demeter)
v=Northeast Cross (statue of Poseidon)
w=Southeast Cross (statue of Ares)
x=Oubliette (crushing wall trap; up to Cross Centre)
y=Lighthouse

Alexandria:
a=Causeway
b=Island of Pharos (grating, rusty iron key behind grating)
c=Crossroads
d=A Tower (door)
e=Necropolis (tombstone with empty socket and word "GALITA", down to The Height of Fashion)
f=XIIth Dynasty Pyramid (writings [can be lagach-ed])
g=Outside the Royal Museum
h=The Birdcage of the Muses (pigeonhole)
i=Oil Room (trough of oil)
j=Reading Corridor
k=Geography Room
l=Librarian's Office
m=Outside the Theatre
n=Stadium (you are here)

Alexandria, tomb:
a=The Height of Fashion (up to Necropolis)
b=This Is The Death (blocked slope to the west)

Hamburg by night:
a=Museum of Arcana
b=Revolving Door
c=Hall of Exhibits (still life [can be lagach-ed])
d=Cabinet Room
e=Dark Staircase (down/south to...?)
f=Coven Cell (goat)

Deaths
Missed the point entirely: 5 (irritated Aunt Jemima by trying to steal her gardening gloves, gave up on the search, broke a pipe and had to call a plumber, lectured by Aunt Jemima for four hours, burned down most of the attic)
Spooked: 1 (haunted by the ghost of Sir Joshua Meldrewe)
Died: 7 (jumped off the mast of the Lady Magdalena without a parachute, spontaneous combustion, brutally sacrificed by a druidic coven, blown to bits by a time bomb, incinerated myself with the Rod of Fire, electrocuted by the wrath of Zeus, crushed into a pancake)
Disembodied the entire universe: 1 (meddled with the Planck constant)
Total: 14

How about north from outside the Theatre?

The globe spindle's got to be a rod, right? (Do you need it for anything else first?)

Yep.

Nope. I was just waiting for someone to figure it out. So...

>wave spindle
Light pulses around the daisy chain, then leaps out to engulf the spindle from the globe which melts into a featureless mahogany rod!

A lively, very noisy procession pushes through here, and some spectacular floats are approaching fast.

[Your score has just gone up by six points.]

And now, to explore north of the Theater.

>sw

Outside the Royal Museum

The Morning Star leads an enormous procession for the festival of Dionysus, which throngs with officials dressed as satyrs, actors and townswomen.

>n

Outside the Theatre

>n

Outside the Royal Palace of Alexander
A hugely impressive edifice, and everything you might expect from the man who conquered the whole of Asia Minor at an age when most people are starting to think about getting a mortgage.

There are of course guards, but they're trying to catch the procession, so if you're careful not to draw attention to yourself you could probably sneak in to the north.

Sounds just crazy enough to work. Let's give it a try.

>n
Or you could just saunter up to them wearing a cloak of many colours. Have it your own way.


*** You have died ***

Right...*without* drawing attention to myself. Generally, cloaks of many colours do tend to draw a lot of attention to the wearer. Oh, well. What to do next time?

Puzzles:
Getting the mascot from old Evans.
A key behind a grating that looks like it may fit the grating.
Getting into Madame Sorostris' tower.
Getting into the palace without being killed.

Unexplored paths:
West from Outside the Theatre.

Inventory:
a featureless mahogany rod
a model of an animal so ugly you can't bear to look at it
a purple sash
a cloak of many colours (being worn, has grey lining)
a daisy chain (around your neck, made from yellow daisies and causes certain objects to turn into featureless mahogany rods when waved)
a canvas rucksack (which is open, actually a bag of holding)

• a mystic scroll
• a tube with a kappa on (which is empty)
• a bird whistle
• the Pan pipes
• a photographer's flash (which is closed, equipped with a timer mechanism)
• a glowing golden orb (misted over, but has images of some sort of crazy chess world)
• a papyrus fragment
• a smooth round stone
• a Tarot box (which is open but empty)
• a croquet mallet
• an antique jewellery box (which is open but empty)
• a cracked medicine bottle (which is open but empty)
• a model golden sceptre
• a bunch of nuts
• a steel wrench
• a silk handkerchief
• a marble rose
• a spade
• a hard wooden ball
• the Rods of Husbandry (charged), Sacrifice, Returning, Luck, Fire, Bronze, Infinity and Stalking
• seven Tarot cards: the Star, Maiden, Castle, Fool, Drowned Sailor, Ace of Cups and Grim Reaper
• a long wrought iron key
• a delicate gold key (unlocks the jewellery box)
• a gothic-looking iron key
• a small brass key (unlocks the door from Dark Passage to Garden Stream and the trapdoor in Priest's Hole)
• a postcard of the Champs-Elysees
• Hobson's classical dictionary
• the History of the Meldrews (vol. II)

an electric torch (providing light and closed)
some old gardeners' gloves (being worn)


Score:
It is some time in the winter of 275 B.C., the reign of Ptolemy II, and you are in ancient Alexandria. You have so far scored 316 out of a possible 550, in 1391 turns, giving you the rank of Voyager.

Maps
Meldrew Hall, attic:
a=Attic (down to game over)
b=Old Winery
c=Aunt Jemima's Lair (wireless)
d=Servant's Room (scarf)
e=Potting Room (Aunt Jemima)
f=Old Furniture (wrapping paper)
g=Over the East Wing
h=Storage Room (wheel with handle, dumbwaiter leading to Cellar)
i=Disused Observatory (glass ball on telescope stand, smoke detector)
j=Airing Cupboard
k=Dark Room
l=East Annexe
m=Dead End (down/east to Beside the Drive)
n=Library Storage
o=Souvenirs Room (slide projector [contains The Castle], ship in a bottle)
p=Inside Cupboard (big iron fireplace, open skylight with crank handle, up to Roof)
q=Chimney (down to Priest's Hole)
r=Alison's Writing Room (bed)
s=Tiny Balcony
X=game over

Meldrew Hall, cellar:
a=Cellars (dumbwaiter to Dark Shaft)
b=Wine Cellars
c=Cellar West (locked door leading northwest, down to Hellish Place)
d=Cellars South (robot mouse, hole in wall)

Meldrew Hall, gardens and shaft area:
a=Garden Stream
b=Family Tree (plane tree, up to Up the Plane Tree)
c=Beside the Wall (potted shrub, one-way path down to Wine Cellar)
d=Lawn Ornaments (dark well too small to enter, miniature, weed killer bottle, prayer book, romantic novel, green branch, gas mask)
e=Mosaic [can be lagach-ed]
f=Clearing
g=Garage (garden roller)
h=Vegetable Garden (runner bean plant)
i=Maze
j=Viewpoint Ledge (plaque)
k=Dark Shaft (dumbwaiter to Storage Room)
l=Dark Passage
m=Patio in Maze (down to Crypt)
n=Sandstone Passage
o=The Octagon (window vent, gilded coffin used to identify rods, scroll)
p=White Hallway (painting of Mad Isaac Meldrewe [can be lagach-ed], elephant's foot umbrella stand)
q=Bricked Path
r=Halfway up the Stairs (up to Servant's Room)
s=Hedgery
t=Croquet Lawn (colored peg, wickets)
u=Summer House (gold watch which is visible but unattainable)

Catacombs below the gardens:
a=Crypt (bronze mural [can be lagach-ed], up to Patio in Maze)
b=Jagged Passage
c=Catacombs (down to Universe Maintenance Room)
d=Contraption Room (sheet of dull amber-colored metal forming north wall, iron panel with 3x5 grid, see-saw of leather baskets, metal hand)
e=Charnel Passage
f=Sarcophagus
g=Contraption Reflection (same as in Contraption Room)

Meldrew Hall, roof:
a=Roof (down to Inside Cupboard)
b=Battlements

Meldrew Hall, ???:
a=Priest's Hole (one-way path down to Cellar West)

Northeast of the House:
a=Beside the Drive (up/west to Dead End)
b=Public Footpath (down to Hollow)
c=Stone Cross (Old Evans with his lucky mascot)

Northeast of the House, Hollow:
a=Hollow (up to Public Footpath, one-way northwest path to Mosaic)

Unreal City:
a=Unreal City
b=Shadowy Hallway (up to Consulting Room)
c=Bohemia (mural [can be lagach-ed])
d=Down by River
e=Near Ring Road (down to Chatelet-les-Halles)
f=Chatelet-les-Halles (map salesman)
g=Consulting Room (down to Shadowy Hallway)
h=On board the Phlebas (saying "time" will take the protagonist to Garden Stream)

Tarot box:
a=Cups and Glasses (model ship)
b=Aboard Ship (examine model ship; up to Up the Mast)
c=Prow of the Lady Magdalena
d=Stern
e=Ruined Castle Cafe
f=Sea Shore (Andromeda, up to Cliffs)
g=Cliffs (down to Sea Shore)
h=Clifftop Walk
i=Outside Taverna (fig tree)
j=Eraina Taverna (bartender)
k=Wall of Thorns
l=Cave Mouth (obsidian altar, flaming bronze urn)
m=Sacred Earth (south to death by divine wrath)
n=Temple of Zeus
o=East Cloister
p=Inner Sanctum (Homer)
q=down to Cross Centre
r=Cross Centre (down to Oubliette)
s=up to Inner Sanctum
t=Southwest Cross (statue of Dionysus)
u=Northwest Cross (statue of Demeter)
v=Northeast Cross (statue of Poseidon)
w=Southeast Cross (statue of Ares)
x=Oubliette (crushing wall trap; up to Cross Centre)
y=Lighthouse

Alexandria:
a=Causeway
b=Island of Pharos (grating, rusty iron key behind grating)
c=Crossroads
d=A Tower (door)
e=Necropolis (tombstone with empty socket and word "GALITA", down to The Height of Fashion)
f=XIIth Dynasty Pyramid (writings [can be lagach-ed])
g=Outside the Royal Museum
h=The Birdcage of the Muses (pigeonhole)
i=Oil Room (trough of oil)
j=Reading Corridor
k=Geography Room
l=Librarian's Office
m=Outside the Theatre
n=Stadium (you are here)
o=Outside the Royal Palace of Alexander (you are here; north is death)

Alexandria, tomb:
a=The Height of Fashion (up to Necropolis)
b=This Is The Death (blocked slope to the west)

Hamburg by night:
a=Museum of Arcana
b=Revolving Door
c=Hall of Exhibits (still life [can be lagach-ed])
d=Cabinet Room
e=Dark Staircase (down/south to...?)
f=Coven Cell (goat)

Deaths
Missed the point entirely: 5 (irritated Aunt Jemima by trying to steal her gardening gloves, gave up on the search, broke a pipe and had to call a plumber, lectured by Aunt Jemima for four hours, burned down most of the attic)
Spooked: 1 (haunted by the ghost of Sir Joshua Meldrewe)
Died: 8 (jumped off the mast of the Lady Magdalena without a parachute, spontaneous combustion, brutally sacrificed by a druidic coven, blown to bits by a time bomb, incinerated myself with the Rod of Fire, electrocuted by the wrath of Zeus, crushed into a pancake, epic stealth fail)
Disembodied the entire universe: 1 (meddled with the Planck constant)
Total: 15

...Take off the cloak?

That should work. Let's give it a shot.

>remove cloak
You take off the cloak of many colours.

>n

You tiptoe into the palace, and immediately dart away from view of the many clerks and civil servants manning the machinery of government even at this late hour. Within seconds, you realise you are...

Lost inside the Palace
Scholars are divided on the origin of the "maze" legend: some hold that to a primitive culture, the Knossos palace was so complex as to seem a maze, and the king so fearsome as to seem a Minotaur.

Others say the early palaces really were labyrinths to protect sacred altars.

And you think it's because this is a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.

A slave stands impassively by one wall.

[Your score has just gone up by five points.]

Good news: Our score went up. Bad news: We're lost in a maze. For next time, I'll look up the solution like I've done for past mazes, then go through it. I will say, though, that it involves a word that appeared in a past update. Until next time!

By the way, I'm genuinely surprised as to how easy it was to get in. I thought that the purple sash was necessary, or at least reversing the cloak's lining. But meh. I'm not complaining.

Last time, we had entered another maze, and this one doesn't have a convenient map at the entrance. Fortunately, I do have a sacred document called a "walkthrough" which reveals how to get through. So, let's do it.

>ne
The slave looks you over and sees that you do not bear the mark of an accredited visitor to the Palace. You are discreetly escorted out.

Mark, eh? What could that be? I'll let you figure that one out.

It shouldn't be too hard, seeing as I did kind of spoil it in my last post. Whoops.

Put on the purple sash and try again.

It is, indeed, the purple sash. So let's try this maze again.

>wear sash
You put on the purple sash.

Quote:

In the central display case, there is a curious pottery model, either representing the Labyrinth of Minos or a water-cooling system. -- W.J. Murnane's "Guide to Ancient Egypt"

>ne

Lost inside the Palace

A slave stands impassively by one wall.

>e

Lost inside the Palace

A slave stands impassively by one wall.

>s

Lost inside the Palace

A slave stands impassively by one wall.


Now, this is where you'd either need a walkthrough or to translate the hieroglyphics scattered throughout the game.

>anoppe
The slave here, a senior adviser merely disguised as a deaf mute, reacts at once, taking you by the arm and leading you on a convoluted path through the Palace to the...

Palace Balustrade
The magnificent balcony overlooking the Royal harbour of Alexandria. In two hundred years' time, Julius Caesar will be besieged here, and will hold the palace with a tiny force of men against an entire army: and will lose his heart to Cleopatra...

For the mean time, this is a broad stone balustraded balcony. The coin-bright moon, low in the sky, reflects off the black waters far below.

An impressive astronomical mounting stands on a tripod here. But there is no telescope.

[Your score has just gone up by five points.]

And with that, another maze of twisty little passages is completed. Unfortunately, we don't have what we need to complete this area, so we'll have to restore to before doing the maze before next time. Sorry.

Puzzles:
Getting the mascot from old Evans.
A key behind a grating that looks like it may fit the grating.
Getting into Madame Sorostris' tower.
Finding something to put in the astronomical mounting in the balustrade.
The Oracle's riddle:
Inventory:
a featureless mahogany rod
a model of an animal so ugly you can't bear to look at it
a purple sash
a cloak of many colours (being worn, has grey lining)
a daisy chain (around your neck, made from yellow daisies and causes certain objects to turn into featureless mahogany rods when waved)
a canvas rucksack (which is open, actually a bag of holding)

• a mystic scroll
• a tube with a kappa on (which is empty)
• a bird whistle
• the Pan pipes
• a photographer's flash (which is closed, equipped with a timer mechanism)
• a glowing golden orb (misted over, but has images of some sort of crazy chess world)
• a papyrus fragment
• a smooth round stone
• a Tarot box (which is open but empty)
• a croquet mallet
• an antique jewellery box (which is open but empty)
• a cracked medicine bottle (which is open but empty)
• a model golden sceptre
• a bunch of nuts
• a steel wrench
• a silk handkerchief
• a marble rose
• a spade
• a hard wooden ball
• the Rods of Husbandry (charged), Sacrifice, Returning, Luck, Fire, Bronze, Infinity and Stalking
• seven Tarot cards: the Star, Maiden, Castle, Fool, Drowned Sailor, Ace of Cups and Grim Reaper
• a long wrought iron key
• a delicate gold key (unlocks the jewellery box)
• a gothic-looking iron key
• a small brass key (unlocks the door from Dark Passage to Garden Stream and the trapdoor in Priest's Hole)
• a postcard of the Champs-Elysees
• Hobson's classical dictionary
• the History of the Meldrews (vol. II)

an electric torch (providing light and closed)
some old gardeners' gloves (being worn)

Score:
It is some time in the winter of 275 B.C., the reign of Ptolemy II, and you are in ancient Alexandria. You have so far scored 326 out of a possible 550, in 1397 turns, giving you the rank of Voyager.

Maps
Meldrew Hall, attic:
a=Attic (down to game over)
b=Old Winery
c=Aunt Jemima's Lair (wireless)
d=Servant's Room (scarf)
e=Potting Room (Aunt Jemima)
f=Old Furniture (wrapping paper)
g=Over the East Wing
h=Storage Room (wheel with handle, dumbwaiter leading to Cellar)
i=Disused Observatory (glass ball on telescope stand, smoke detector)
j=Airing Cupboard
k=Dark Room
l=East Annexe
m=Dead End (down/east to Beside the Drive)
n=Library Storage
o=Souvenirs Room (slide projector [contains The Castle], ship in a bottle)
p=Inside Cupboard (big iron fireplace, open skylight with crank handle, up to Roof)
q=Chimney (down to Priest's Hole)
r=Alison's Writing Room (bed)
s=Tiny Balcony
X=game over

Meldrew Hall, cellar:
a=Cellars (dumbwaiter to Dark Shaft)
b=Wine Cellars
c=Cellar West (locked door leading northwest, down to Hellish Place)
d=Cellars South (robot mouse, hole in wall)

Meldrew Hall, gardens and shaft area:
a=Garden Stream
b=Family Tree (plane tree, up to Up the Plane Tree)
c=Beside the Wall (potted shrub, one-way path down to Wine Cellar)
d=Lawn Ornaments (dark well too small to enter, miniature, weed killer bottle, prayer book, romantic novel, green branch, gas mask)
e=Mosaic [can be lagach-ed]
f=Clearing
g=Garage (garden roller)
h=Vegetable Garden (runner bean plant)
i=Maze
j=Viewpoint Ledge (plaque)
k=Dark Shaft (dumbwaiter to Storage Room)
l=Dark Passage
m=Patio in Maze (down to Crypt)
n=Sandstone Passage
o=The Octagon (window vent, gilded coffin used to identify rods, scroll)
p=White Hallway (painting of Mad Isaac Meldrewe [can be lagach-ed], elephant's foot umbrella stand)
q=Bricked Path
r=Halfway up the Stairs (up to Servant's Room)
s=Hedgery
t=Croquet Lawn (colored peg, wickets)
u=Summer House (gold watch which is visible but unattainable)

Catacombs below the gardens:
a=Crypt (bronze mural [can be lagach-ed], up to Patio in Maze)
b=Jagged Passage
c=Catacombs (down to Universe Maintenance Room)
d=Contraption Room (sheet of dull amber-colored metal forming north wall, iron panel with 3x5 grid, see-saw of leather baskets, metal hand)
e=Charnel Passage
f=Sarcophagus
g=Contraption Reflection (same as in Contraption Room)

Meldrew Hall, roof:
a=Roof (down to Inside Cupboard)
b=Battlements

Meldrew Hall, ???:
a=Priest's Hole (one-way path down to Cellar West)

Northeast of the House:
a=Beside the Drive (up/west to Dead End)
b=Public Footpath (down to Hollow)
c=Stone Cross (Old Evans with his lucky mascot)

Northeast of the House, Hollow:
a=Hollow (up to Public Footpath, one-way northwest path to Mosaic)

Unreal City:
a=Unreal City
b=Shadowy Hallway (up to Consulting Room)
c=Bohemia (mural [can be lagach-ed])
d=Down by River
e=Near Ring Road (down to Chatelet-les-Halles)
f=Chatelet-les-Halles (map salesman)
g=Consulting Room (down to Shadowy Hallway)
h=On board the Phlebas (saying "time" will take the protagonist to Garden Stream)

Tarot box:
a=Cups and Glasses (model ship)
b=Aboard Ship (examine model ship; up to Up the Mast)
c=Prow of the Lady Magdalena
d=Stern
e=Ruined Castle Cafe
f=Sea Shore (Andromeda, up to Cliffs)
g=Cliffs (down to Sea Shore)
h=Clifftop Walk
i=Outside Taverna (fig tree)
j=Eraina Taverna (bartender)
k=Wall of Thorns
l=Cave Mouth (obsidian altar, flaming bronze urn)
m=Sacred Earth (south to death by divine wrath)
n=Temple of Zeus
o=East Cloister
p=Inner Sanctum (Homer)
q=down to Cross Centre
r=Cross Centre (down to Oubliette)
s=up to Inner Sanctum
t=Southwest Cross (statue of Dionysus)
u=Northwest Cross (statue of Demeter)
v=Northeast Cross (statue of Poseidon)
w=Southeast Cross (statue of Ares)
x=Oubliette (crushing wall trap; up to Cross Centre)
y=Lighthouse

Alexandria:
a=Causeway
b=Island of Pharos (grating, rusty iron key behind grating)
c=Crossroads
d=A Tower (door)
e=Necropolis (tombstone with empty socket and word "GALITA", down to The Height of Fashion)
f=XIIth Dynasty Pyramid (writings [can be lagach-ed])
g=Outside the Royal Museum
h=The Birdcage of the Muses (pigeonhole)
i=Oil Room (trough of oil)
j=Reading Corridor
k=Geography Room
l=Librarian's Office
m=Outside the Theatre
n=Stadium (you are here)
o=Outside the Royal Palace of Alexander (you are here)
p=Lost inside the Palace
q=Lost inside the Palace (say "anoppe" to reach the Palace Balustrade)

Alexandria, tomb:
a=The Height of Fashion (up to Necropolis)
b=This Is The Death (blocked slope to the west)

Alexandria, palace balustrade:
a=Palace Balustrade (astronomical mounting)

Hamburg by night:
a=Museum of Arcana
b=Revolving Door
c=Hall of Exhibits (still life [can be lagach-ed])
d=Cabinet Room
e=Dark Staircase (down/south to...?)
f=Coven Cell (goat)

Deaths
Missed the point entirely: 5 (irritated Aunt Jemima by trying to steal her gardening gloves, gave up on the search, broke a pipe and had to call a plumber, lectured by Aunt Jemima for four hours, burned down most of the attic)
Spooked: 1 (haunted by the ghost of Sir Joshua Meldrewe)
Died: 8 (jumped off the mast of the Lady Magdalena without a parachute, spontaneous combustion, brutally sacrificed by a druidic coven, blown to bits by a time bomb, incinerated myself with the Rod of Fire, electrocuted by the wrath of Zeus, crushed into a pancake, epic stealth fail)
Disembodied the entire universe: 1 (meddled with the Planck constant)
Total: 15

In addition, there's more to do in the tomb, based on its description. Any further hints would spoil what to do, but can you figure it out?

In the lack of any other sugestions, I've decided to show off what to do in the tomb, since it's not exactly intuitive. So, here goes.


>s

Outside the Theatre

>s

Outside the Royal Museum

The centrepiece of the procession: an enormous gold ribboned phallus, two hundred feet long and with a giant star on the end. Inexplicably, you are the only person present who feels this to be in doubtful taste.

>sw

Crossroads

The procession ends as it began, with a great Evening Star, before falling into a shambolic crowd of revellers, drunken and maudlin.

>sw

Necropolis

You stand near the tombstone, which has become rather more interesting now that a flight of steps downward has appeared.

Birds of prey circle high in the night sky, their talons glinting in the moonlight.

>d

The Height of Fashion

The sphinxes seem to stare balefully at you.

As you may or may not recall, there was a couch in the tomb. We've been on our feet for a while, so let's get some rest.

>sleep
The heavy weave mattings feel so restful that you slide into...

The Spirit World
A perfectly-cut room of rose-coloured granite, twelve feet across, painted in yellows and browns to simulate alabaster panelling, at the foot of a flight of steps which leads only to a sealed wall.

Stone sphinxes guard the west doorway, staring balefully at you.

The tomb seems older now, weighed under with centuries.

[Your score has just gone up by five points.]

Maybe sleeping in a tomb wasn't a good idea. But let's do it again!

>lie on couch
You get onto the wooden couch.

>sleep
The heavy weave mattings draw you deeper into...

The Spirit World
A perfectly-cut room of rose-coloured granite, twelve feet across, painted in yellows and browns to simulate alabaster panelling, at the foot of a flight of steps which leads only to a sealed wall.

Stone sphinxes guard the west doorway, staring balefully at you.

The tomb swelters now, a thousand years old.

Hmm, it seems like we're travelling through time. Maybe if we rest some more...

>sleep
The heavy weave mattings draw you deeper into...

The Spirit World
A perfectly-cut room of rose-coloured granite, twelve feet across, painted in yellows and browns to simulate alabaster panelling, at the foot of a flight of steps which leads only to a sealed wall.

Stone sphinxes guard the west doorway, staring balefully at you.

The tomb is beautifully well-preserved, but it seems quite ancient.

>lie on couch
You get onto the wooden couch.

>sleep
The heavy weave mattings draw you deeper into...

The Spirit World
A perfectly-cut room of rose-coloured granite, twelve feet across, painted in yellows and browns to simulate alabaster panelling, at the foot of a flight of steps which leads only to a sealed wall.

Stone sphinxes guard the west doorway, staring balefully at you.

By now the tomb might be two thousand years old.

Well, to quote Sky Render back in my Bureaucracy LP...

And so, we wait.

>z
Time passes.

The entrance to the tomb rumbles.

>z
Time passes.

The noise grows, and dust falls from cracks in the masonry.

>z
Time passes.

The entrance bursts open in a shower of plaster! Light streams in, searing your eyes. There is a great commotion. Two Napoleonic French officers stride down the stairs, lanterns in hand, looking admiringly around the court. They do not seem to see you.

I'm pretty sure this is an anachronism, actually. You entered the tomb in 275 BC and slept for 2000 years, which means that this would be 1725, meaning that Napoleon won't even be born for 44 years. But meh.

>z
Time passes.

The officers are fascinated by the way the tomb seems almost untouched, and yet the couch looks slept in.

>z
Time passes.

The officers look down the passage, finding it to be sealed.

>z
Time passes.

The officers sit next to the sphinxes, stroking their moustaches in comic perplexity. As they do so, one bangs his head on a stone nose.

>z
Time passes.

The other officer is greatly amused by this slapstick. (You really are beginning to see just how boring the living can be.)

>z
Time passes.

The first officer tweaks the nose of the sphinx in affection. Suddenly there is a great rumbling of stone from the passage below, and they rush down to investigate!

Hmmm...I have a feeling that that might be a hint. Now, to return to the present. But how, you may ask?

>w
The spirits of the sphinxes prowl across the doorway, paws raised, and then lunge towards you. Their claws rake across your skin, tearing off a layer, unwrapping you in a curiously painless way... and you wake...

The Spirit World (on the wooden couch)
A perfectly-cut room of rose-coloured granite, twelve feet across, painted in yellows and browns to simulate alabaster panelling, at the foot of a flight of steps which leads only to a sealed wall.

Stone sphinxes guard the west doorway, staring balefully at you.

The tomb is beautifully well-preserved, but it seems quite ancient.

>stand
You get off the wooden couch.

The Spirit World

Stone sphinxes guard the west doorway, staring balefully at you.

The tomb is beautifully well-preserved, but it seems quite ancient.

>w
The spirits of the sphinxes prowl across the doorway, paws raised, and then lunge towards you. Their claws rake across your skin, tearing off a layer, unwrapping you in a curiously painless way... and you wake...

The Spirit World (on the wooden couch)
A perfectly-cut room of rose-coloured granite, twelve feet across, painted in yellows and browns to simulate alabaster panelling, at the foot of a flight of steps which leads only to a sealed wall.

Stone sphinxes guard the west doorway, staring balefully at you.

The tomb swelters now, a thousand years old.

>stand
You get off the wooden couch.

The Spirit World

Stone sphinxes guard the west doorway, staring balefully at you.

The tomb swelters now, a thousand years old.

>w
The spirits of the sphinxes prowl across the doorway, paws raised, and then lunge towards you. Their claws rake across your skin, tearing off a layer, unwrapping you in a curiously painless way... and you wake...

The Spirit World (on the wooden couch)
A perfectly-cut room of rose-coloured granite, twelve feet across, painted in yellows and browns to simulate alabaster panelling, at the foot of a flight of steps which leads only to a sealed wall.

Stone sphinxes guard the west doorway, staring balefully at you.

The tomb seems older now, weighed under with centuries.

>stand
You get off the wooden couch.

The Spirit World

Stone sphinxes guard the west doorway, staring balefully at you.

The tomb seems older now, weighed under with centuries.

>w
The spirits of the sphinxes prowl across the doorway, paws raised, and then lunge towards you. Their claws rake across your skin, tearing off a layer, unwrapping you in a curiously painless way... and you wake...

The Height of Fashion (on the wooden couch)
A perfectly-cut room of rose-coloured granite, twelve feet across, painted in yellows and browns to simulate alabaster panelling. This is the latest in modern funerary apartments.

There's a couch for visitors, a table, a flight of steps up and a doorway to the west, flanked by two stone sphinxes.

One of the sphinxes does have rather a prominent nose, it must be said.

The sphinxes seem to stare balefully at you.

Being ripped apart by sphinxes=most metal form of time travel ever. But now, to try doing what the soldiers did.

>turn nose
You twist the nose, and before it springs back there is a rumbling of stone from below.

[Your score has just gone up by three points.]

What could lie below? Find out next time on "All this for a map of Paris? Let's play Curses!"


Puzzles:
Getting the mascot from old Evans.
A key behind a grating that looks like it may fit the grating.
Getting into Madame Sorostris' tower.
Finding something to put in the astronomical mounting in the balustrade.
The Oracle's riddle:

Inventory:
a featureless mahogany rod
a model of an animal so ugly you can't bear to look at it
a purple sash
a cloak of many colours (being worn, has grey lining)
a daisy chain (around your neck, made from yellow daisies and causes certain objects to turn into featureless mahogany rods when waved)
a canvas rucksack (which is open, actually a bag of holding)

• a mystic scroll
• a tube with a kappa on (which is empty)
• a bird whistle
• the Pan pipes
• a photographer's flash (which is closed, equipped with a timer mechanism)
• a glowing golden orb (misted over, but has images of some sort of crazy chess world)
• a papyrus fragment
• a smooth round stone
• a Tarot box (which is open but empty)
• a croquet mallet
• an antique jewellery box (which is open but empty)
• a cracked medicine bottle (which is open but empty)
• a model golden sceptre
• a bunch of nuts
• a steel wrench
• a silk handkerchief
• a marble rose
• a spade
• a hard wooden ball
• the Rods of Husbandry (charged), Sacrifice, Returning, Luck, Fire, Bronze, Infinity and Stalking
• seven Tarot cards: the Star, Maiden, Castle, Fool, Drowned Sailor, Ace of Cups and Grim Reaper
• a long wrought iron key
• a delicate gold key (unlocks the jewellery box)
• a gothic-looking iron key
• a small brass key (unlocks the door from Dark Passage to Garden Stream and the trapdoor in Priest's Hole)
• a postcard of the Champs-Elysees
• Hobson's classical dictionary
• the History of the Meldrews (vol. II)

an electric torch (providing light and closed)
some old gardeners' gloves (being worn)

Score:
It is some time in the winter of 275 B.C., the reign of Ptolemy II, and you are in ancient Alexandria. You have so far scored 324 out of a possible 550, in 1421 turns, giving you the rank of Voyager.

Maps
Meldrew Hall, attic:
a=Attic (down to game over)
b=Old Winery
c=Aunt Jemima's Lair (wireless)
d=Servant's Room (scarf)
e=Potting Room (Aunt Jemima)
f=Old Furniture (wrapping paper)
g=Over the East Wing
h=Storage Room (wheel with handle, dumbwaiter leading to Cellar)
i=Disused Observatory (glass ball on telescope stand, smoke detector)
j=Airing Cupboard
k=Dark Room
l=East Annexe
m=Dead End (down/east to Beside the Drive)
n=Library Storage
o=Souvenirs Room (slide projector [contains The Castle], ship in a bottle)
p=Inside Cupboard (big iron fireplace, open skylight with crank handle, up to Roof)
q=Chimney (down to Priest's Hole)
r=Alison's Writing Room (bed)
s=Tiny Balcony
X=game over

Meldrew Hall, cellar:
a=Cellars (dumbwaiter to Dark Shaft)
b=Wine Cellars
c=Cellar West (locked door leading northwest, down to Hellish Place)
d=Cellars South (robot mouse, hole in wall)

Meldrew Hall, gardens and shaft area:
a=Garden Stream
b=Family Tree (plane tree, up to Up the Plane Tree)
c=Beside the Wall (potted shrub, one-way path down to Wine Cellar)
d=Lawn Ornaments (dark well too small to enter, miniature, weed killer bottle, prayer book, romantic novel, green branch, gas mask)
e=Mosaic [can be lagach-ed]
f=Clearing
g=Garage (garden roller)
h=Vegetable Garden (runner bean plant)
i=Maze
j=Viewpoint Ledge (plaque)
k=Dark Shaft (dumbwaiter to Storage Room)
l=Dark Passage
m=Patio in Maze (down to Crypt)
n=Sandstone Passage
o=The Octagon (window vent, gilded coffin used to identify rods, scroll)
p=White Hallway (painting of Mad Isaac Meldrewe [can be lagach-ed], elephant's foot umbrella stand)
q=Bricked Path
r=Halfway up the Stairs (up to Servant's Room)
s=Hedgery
t=Croquet Lawn (colored peg, wickets)
u=Summer House (gold watch which is visible but unattainable)

Catacombs below the gardens:
a=Crypt (bronze mural [can be lagach-ed], up to Patio in Maze)
b=Jagged Passage
c=Catacombs (down to Universe Maintenance Room)
d=Contraption Room (sheet of dull amber-colored metal forming north wall, iron panel with 3x5 grid, see-saw of leather baskets, metal hand)
e=Charnel Passage
f=Sarcophagus
g=Contraption Reflection (same as in Contraption Room)

Meldrew Hall, roof:
a=Roof (down to Inside Cupboard)
b=Battlements

Meldrew Hall, ???:
a=Priest's Hole (one-way path down to Cellar West)

Northeast of the House:
a=Beside the Drive (up/west to Dead End)
b=Public Footpath (down to Hollow)
c=Stone Cross (Old Evans with his lucky mascot)

Northeast of the House, Hollow:
a=Hollow (up to Public Footpath, one-way northwest path to Mosaic)

Unreal City:
a=Unreal City
b=Shadowy Hallway (up to Consulting Room)
c=Bohemia (mural [can be lagach-ed])
d=Down by River
e=Near Ring Road (down to Chatelet-les-Halles)
f=Chatelet-les-Halles (map salesman)
g=Consulting Room (down to Shadowy Hallway)
h=On board the Phlebas (saying "time" will take the protagonist to Garden Stream)

Tarot box:
a=Cups and Glasses (model ship)
b=Aboard Ship (examine model ship; up to Up the Mast)
c=Prow of the Lady Magdalena
d=Stern
e=Ruined Castle Cafe
f=Sea Shore (Andromeda, up to Cliffs)
g=Cliffs (down to Sea Shore)
h=Clifftop Walk
i=Outside Taverna (fig tree)
j=Eraina Taverna (bartender)
k=Wall of Thorns
l=Cave Mouth (obsidian altar, flaming bronze urn)
m=Sacred Earth (south to death by divine wrath)
n=Temple of Zeus
o=East Cloister
p=Inner Sanctum (Homer)
q=down to Cross Centre
r=Cross Centre (down to Oubliette)
s=up to Inner Sanctum
t=Southwest Cross (statue of Dionysus)
u=Northwest Cross (statue of Demeter)
v=Northeast Cross (statue of Poseidon)
w=Southeast Cross (statue of Ares)
x=Oubliette (crushing wall trap; up to Cross Centre)
y=Lighthouse

Alexandria:
a=Causeway
b=Island of Pharos (grating, rusty iron key behind grating)
c=Crossroads
d=A Tower (door)
e=Necropolis (tombstone with empty socket and word "GALITA", down to The Height of Fashion)
f=XIIth Dynasty Pyramid (writings [can be lagach-ed])
g=Outside the Royal Museum
h=The Birdcage of the Muses (pigeonhole)
i=Oil Room (trough of oil)
j=Reading Corridor
k=Geography Room
l=Librarian's Office
m=Outside the Theatre
n=Stadium (you are here)
o=Outside the Royal Palace of Alexander (you are here)
p=Lost inside the Palace
q=Lost inside the Palace (say "anoppe" to reach the Palace Balustrade)

Alexandria, tomb:
a=The Height of Fashion (up to Necropolis, down to...?)
b=This Is The Death (blocked slope to the west)

Alexandria, palace balustrade:
a=Palace Balustrade (astronomical mounting)

Hamburg by night:
a=Museum of Arcana
b=Revolving Door
c=Hall of Exhibits (still life [can be lagach-ed])
d=Cabinet Room
e=Dark Staircase (down/south to...?)
f=Coven Cell (goat)

Deaths
Missed the point entirely: 5 (irritated Aunt Jemima by trying to steal her gardening gloves, gave up on the search, broke a pipe and had to call a plumber, lectured by Aunt Jemima for four hours, burned down most of the attic)
Spooked: 1 (haunted by the ghost of Sir Joshua Meldrewe)
Died: 8 (jumped off the mast of the Lady Magdalena without a parachute, spontaneous combustion, brutally sacrificed by a druidic coven, blown to bits by a time bomb, incinerated myself with the Rod of Fire, electrocuted by the wrath of Zeus, crushed into a pancake, epic stealth fail)
Disembodied the entire universe: 1 (meddled with the Planck constant)
Total: 15

I guess you can explain the slight timing discrepancy by noting that it's probably quite hard to count 2000 years exactly. It was probably only an estimate.

That makes sense, actually. Real update coming soon!

Actually, I know I said I'd explore the depths of the tomb today, but there are a lot more things I could do. For example, I think I have what I need to solve that key-in-the-grating puzzle now, and there's still an exit in the surface world that I haven't explored yet. So what would you like me to do?

Oh, at this point I'm far too bewildered to do anything but chip in with the occasional comment and come along for the ride. There's a natural limit to the complexity of a text adventure I can fit in my head, and Curses went past it months ago.

haha, yep

Have we not yet identified our featureless mahogany rod? Let's do that and then use it on that key behind the grating.

No, we have not. Let's head back to the present and get that done.

>get rod of returning
(putting the purple sash into the canvas rucksack to make room)
Taken.

>strike it
The rod charges with etherial power, drawn up from the earth through ley lines...

>point it at me
You are engulfed in a cloud of spinning white lights, like insects. When the swarm clears, you find yourself transported...

Attic
The attics, full of low beams and awkward angles, begin here in a relatively tidy area which extends north, south and east. The wooden floorboards seem fairly sound, just as well considering how heavy all these teachests are. But the old wiring went years ago, and there's no electric light.

There is a closed trapdoor in the middle of the floor.

>e

Servant's Room

A tight door stands open in the northern wall, giving onto the servants' staircase.

An old striped scarf hangs up behind the doorway.

>d

Halfway up the Stairs

>d

White Hallway

Mad Isaac's painting glares at you from the picture hook.

There's an old-fashioned elephant's foot umbrella stand beside the garden doorway.

>w
You can't go that way.

>nw

The Octagon

There is a little window-vent high in the southwest wall.

A rather morbid gilded model coffin rests open here.

Leaned against one of the eight corners is a ragged white parchment scroll.

>>put featureless rod in coffin
(the featureless mahogany rod in the gilded model coffin)
The mahogany rod fits in perfectly.

>close coffin
The coffin sparks, spitting with electricity, and begins throbbing with a life of its own!

>open coffin
You open the gilded model coffin, revealing the Rod of Ice.

Well, that'll probably be useful somewhere. But now, back to Alexandria! Fortunately, Mad isaac can get us there.

>se

White Hallway

Mad Isaac's painting glares at you from the picture hook.

There's an old-fashioned elephant's foot umbrella stand beside the garden doorway.

>painting, lagach
A swirl of wind snakes out from the painting of Mad Isaac Meldrewe and whisks you away to...

Greek Frieze
A brown-tinted frieze, depicting hunters and spear-carriers, surrounds this dark stair-well, which has no exit except for a spiral staircase leading back up.

>frieze, lagach
A swirl of wind snakes out from the Greek frieze and whisks you away to...

Mosaic
This sunken corner of the garden has been excavated and then covered over with tough perspex to protect it from visitors' shoes. It consists of a time-worn Roman mosaic, divided into four quadrants, each showing scenes of idealised Roman life. There was probably a villa on this site, but your family has never been keen on archaeologists so the excavations went no further.

>mosaic, lagach
A swirl of wind snakes out from the Roman mosaic and whisks you away to...

Crypt
A dismal crypt, disused, rainswept and strewn with leaves. Light streams in from the square hole in the roof. There are no bones or urns on show.

The mural stands slightly to one side, revealing a passage leading downward.

>mural, lagach
A swirl of wind snakes out from the bronze mural and whisks you away to...

Bohemia
Flats occupied by starving-but-noble artists can be romantic and stylish despite the squalor. This one, however, is simply a one-room hovel, caked with paint, littered with brushes and improvised easels, and you can't help standing on tiptoe here.

One whole wall is an Impressionist mural painting of nude bathers.

>mural, lagach
A swirl of wind snakes out from the Impressionist painting and whisks you away to...

Hall of Exhibits
A great square gloomy room, just south of the foyer. There are square lintelled doorways east and west. The storm is dark, and the windows are high, but there's just enough light to see by.

A long painted still life graces one wall near a corner.

>painting, lagach
A swirl of wind snakes out from the still life and whisks you away to...

XIIth Dynasty Pyramid
Ransacked, dimly-lit, cramped and empty, this rough-built and uneven burial mound is to the Great Pyramids of Giza (built just a century before) what the summerhouse in your garden is to Windsor Castle. There are only dull painted writings, an unpleasant odour and a passage out to the north.

>

Now to see if the Rod of Ice can do something about that key.

>n

Necropolis

You stand near the tombstone, which has become rather more interesting now that a flight of steps downward has appeared.

Birds of prey circle high in the night sky, their talons glinting in the moonlight.

>ne

Crossroads

A procession of women follows next, each in the national dress of an allied city state, from all over the Hellenistic world, North Africa to Sicily to Asia.

>nw

Causeway

>n

Island of Pharos
The island of the Pharos: the lighthouse after which others are named, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, blazes into the sharp moonlit sky. It is 120 metres high, a circle on an octagon on a square.

A light wind blows across the coastal defences. On this spot, seventy-two scholars first translated the Old Testament into Greek: shivering continuously if it was as chilly as this. A narrow causeway runs south across the harbour.

In one wall of the wave defences is a rusty seaweed-wreathed iron grating, closed up tight.

Interestingly, a key which looks as if it would fit the grating can be seen inside the passage beneath.

Down below, a wave splashes against the sea front, briefly washing up under the grating.

>strike rod of ice
The rod charges with etherial power, drawn up from the earth through ley lines...

>point it at key
(the rusty iron key)
Nothing obvious happens.


The Rod of Ice would probably be a valid solution in some games, but not this one. But we do have the means to get it by mundane means, rather than magical ones. Can you figure it out?

Puzzles:
Getting the mascot from old Evans.
A key behind a grating that looks like it may fit the grating.
Getting into Madame Sorostris' tower.
Finding something to put in the astronomical mounting in the balustrade.
The Oracle's riddle:

Inventory:
the Rods of Ice and Returning
a model of an animal so ugly you can't bear to look at it
a cloak of many colours (being worn, has grey lining)
a daisy chain (around your neck, made from yellow daisies and causes certain objects to turn into featureless mahogany rods when waved)
a canvas rucksack (which is open, actually a bag of holding)

• a purple sash
• a mystic scroll
• a tube with a kappa on (which is empty)
• a bird whistle
• the Pan pipes
• a photographer's flash (which is closed, equipped with a timer mechanism)
• a glowing golden orb (misted over, but has images of some sort of crazy chess world)
• a papyrus fragment
• a smooth round stone
• a Tarot box (which is open but empty)
• a croquet mallet
• an antique jewellery box (which is open but empty)
• a cracked medicine bottle (which is open but empty)
• a model golden sceptre
• a bunch of nuts
• a steel wrench
• a silk handkerchief
• a marble rose
• a spade
• a hard wooden ball
• the Rods of Husbandry (charged), Sacrifice, Luck, Fire, Bronze, Infinity and Stalking
• seven Tarot cards: the Star, Maiden, Castle, Fool, Drowned Sailor, Ace of Cups and Grim Reaper
• a long wrought iron key
• a delicate gold key (unlocks the jewellery box)
• a gothic-looking iron key
• a small brass key (unlocks the door from Dark Passage to Garden Stream and the trapdoor in Priest's Hole)
• a postcard of the Champs-Elysees
• Hobson's classical dictionary
• the History of the Meldrews (vol. II)

an electric torch (providing light and closed)
some old gardeners' gloves (being worn)

Score:
It is some time in the winter of 275 B.C., the reign of Ptolemy II, and you are in ancient Alexandria. You have so far scored 324 out of a possible 550, in 1445 turns, giving you the rank of Voyager.

Maps
Meldrew Hall, attic:
a=Attic (down to game over)
b=Old Winery
c=Aunt Jemima's Lair (wireless)
d=Servant's Room (scarf)
e=Potting Room (Aunt Jemima)
f=Old Furniture (wrapping paper)
g=Over the East Wing
h=Storage Room (wheel with handle, dumbwaiter leading to Cellar)
i=Disused Observatory (glass ball on telescope stand, smoke detector)
j=Airing Cupboard
k=Dark Room
l=East Annexe
m=Dead End (down/east to Beside the Drive)
n=Library Storage
o=Souvenirs Room (slide projector [contains The Castle], ship in a bottle)
p=Inside Cupboard (big iron fireplace, open skylight with crank handle, up to Roof)
q=Chimney (down to Priest's Hole)
r=Alison's Writing Room (bed)
s=Tiny Balcony
X=game over

Meldrew Hall, cellar:
a=Cellars (dumbwaiter to Dark Shaft)
b=Wine Cellars
c=Cellar West (locked door leading northwest, down to Hellish Place)
d=Cellars South (robot mouse, hole in wall)

Meldrew Hall, gardens and shaft area:
a=Garden Stream
b=Family Tree (plane tree, up to Up the Plane Tree)
c=Beside the Wall (potted shrub, one-way path down to Wine Cellar)
d=Lawn Ornaments (dark well too small to enter, miniature, weed killer bottle, prayer book, romantic novel, green branch, gas mask)
e=Mosaic [can be lagach-ed]
f=Clearing
g=Garage (garden roller)
h=Vegetable Garden (runner bean plant)
i=Maze
j=Viewpoint Ledge (plaque)
k=Dark Shaft (dumbwaiter to Storage Room)
l=Dark Passage
m=Patio in Maze (down to Crypt)
n=Sandstone Passage
o=The Octagon (window vent, gilded coffin used to identify rods, scroll)
p=White Hallway (painting of Mad Isaac Meldrewe [can be lagach-ed], elephant's foot umbrella stand)
q=Bricked Path
r=Halfway up the Stairs (up to Servant's Room)
s=Hedgery
t=Croquet Lawn (colored peg, wickets)
u=Summer House (gold watch which is visible but unattainable)

Catacombs below the gardens:
a=Crypt (bronze mural [can be lagach-ed], up to Patio in Maze)
b=Jagged Passage
c=Catacombs (down to Universe Maintenance Room)
d=Contraption Room (sheet of dull amber-colored metal forming north wall, iron panel with 3x5 grid, see-saw of leather baskets, metal hand)
e=Charnel Passage
f=Sarcophagus
g=Contraption Reflection (same as in Contraption Room)

Meldrew Hall, roof:
a=Roof (down to Inside Cupboard)
b=Battlements

Meldrew Hall, ???:
a=Priest's Hole (one-way path down to Cellar West)

Northeast of the House:
a=Beside the Drive (up/west to Dead End)
b=Public Footpath (down to Hollow)
c=Stone Cross (Old Evans with his lucky mascot)

Northeast of the House, Hollow:
a=Hollow (up to Public Footpath, one-way northwest path to Mosaic)

Unreal City:
a=Unreal City
b=Shadowy Hallway (up to Consulting Room)
c=Bohemia (mural [can be lagach-ed])
d=Down by River
e=Near Ring Road (down to Chatelet-les-Halles)
f=Chatelet-les-Halles (map salesman)
g=Consulting Room (down to Shadowy Hallway)
h=On board the Phlebas (saying "time" will take the protagonist to Garden Stream)

Tarot box:
a=Cups and Glasses (model ship)
b=Aboard Ship (examine model ship; up to Up the Mast)
c=Prow of the Lady Magdalena
d=Stern
e=Ruined Castle Cafe
f=Sea Shore (Andromeda, up to Cliffs)
g=Cliffs (down to Sea Shore)
h=Clifftop Walk
i=Outside Taverna (fig tree)
j=Eraina Taverna (bartender)
k=Wall of Thorns
l=Cave Mouth (obsidian altar, flaming bronze urn)
m=Sacred Earth (south to death by divine wrath)
n=Temple of Zeus
o=East Cloister
p=Inner Sanctum (Homer)
q=down to Cross Centre
r=Cross Centre (down to Oubliette)
s=up to Inner Sanctum
t=Southwest Cross (statue of Dionysus)
u=Northwest Cross (statue of Demeter)
v=Northeast Cross (statue of Poseidon)
w=Southeast Cross (statue of Ares)
x=Oubliette (crushing wall trap; up to Cross Centre)
y=Lighthouse

Alexandria:
a=Causeway
b=Island of Pharos (grating, rusty iron key behind grating; you are here)
c=Crossroads
d=A Tower (door)
e=Necropolis (tombstone with empty socket and word "GALITA", down to The Height of Fashion)
f=XIIth Dynasty Pyramid (writings [can be lagach-ed])
g=Outside the Royal Museum
h=The Birdcage of the Muses (pigeonhole)
i=Oil Room (trough of oil)
j=Reading Corridor
k=Geography Room
l=Librarian's Office
m=Outside the Theatre
n=Stadium
o=Outside the Royal Palace of Alexander
p=Lost inside the Palace
q=Lost inside the Palace (say "anoppe" to reach the Palace Balustrade)

Alexandria, tomb:
a=The Height of Fashion (up to Necropolis, down to...?)
b=This Is The Death (blocked slope to the west)

Alexandria, palace balustrade:
a=Palace Balustrade (astronomical mounting)

Hamburg by night:
a=Museum of Arcana
b=Revolving Door
c=Hall of Exhibits (still life [can be lagach-ed])
d=Cabinet Room
e=Dark Staircase (down/south to...?)
f=Coven Cell (goat)

Deaths
Missed the point entirely: 5 (irritated Aunt Jemima by trying to steal her gardening gloves, gave up on the search, broke a pipe and had to call a plumber, lectured by Aunt Jemima for four hours, burned down most of the attic)
Spooked: 1 (haunted by the ghost of Sir Joshua Meldrewe)
Died: 8 (jumped off the mast of the Lady Magdalena without a parachute, spontaneous combustion, brutally sacrificed by a druidic coven, blown to bits by a time bomb, incinerated myself with the Rod of Fire, electrocuted by the wrath of Zeus, crushed into a pancake, epic stealth fail)
Disembodied the entire universe: 1 (meddled with the Planck constant)
Total: 15