Part 16: Day Two- Page 16 and 1/2

I was wondering who picked up my hint. Or maybe you're just clever.

First let's check under the master bed.

>n
Upstairs Hall

There is a cord dangling in mid-air here, right about level with your face.
>w
Upstairs Landing
>n

Master Bedroom

Michael's pants are draped across the foot of the bed.

>look under bed
You find nothing of interest.

You can hear Michael splashing around, noisily enjoying his shower.

No monsters here, so that's something.

>s
Upstairs Landing
>e
Upstairs Hall

There is a cord dangling in mid-air here, right about level with your face.
>s
Children's Bedroom

>look under crib
You find nothing of interest.

>look under bed
You notice some odd scratches in the floor around the legs of the bed frame -- marks about six inches long, scored into the wood. Otherwise, nothing but shadows and dust under the bed.

Huh. What's that about?

>look at scratches
It looks as though the bed has been pulled away from the wall and then pushed back again, probably several times.

It's probably nothing.


Alright, let's finish this floor off.

>n
Upstairs Hall

There is a cord dangling in mid-air here, right about level with your face.

>North

Library
Whatever else their faults may have been, the Verlacs were evidently not ones to shun the printed word. Books line the walls from floor to ceiling in this dark-paneled, green-carpeted room, interrupted only by doorways to the east and south. A rich, brown leather armchair sits in stately repose near the window, with a polished brass pipe stand nearby completing the picture of some blue-blooded country squire's literary refuge. Once again, you are struck by how easily this place could have been the perfect home.

A beautiful pair of mahogany sliding doors stand closed to the east.

Resting on the pipe stand is a sizable volume decorated with a gilded pentagram on its cover.

You pause as the shower shuts off, and you hear Michael moving around in the next room. His footsteps thump loudly on the hardwood floor as he comes down the hall, and then are muffled again as he steps onto the deep green carpet of the library.

"Good morning," he says, smiling and kissing you lightly on the cheek. He looks around at the crowded rows of books. "Neat, huh? I may go through some of them this morning. Since the fogies don't need me to start work until tomorrow, I thought I'd stay home and try to get some writing done."

As he steps through the sliding doors into the study, he turns and says, "I'll be in here for a while, okay? Oh, and if you go out today, see if you can find a newspaper somewhere." He smiles as he slides the doors shut.

Miranda remembers one point when she set the fire alarm off baking. Black smoke filled the house and Michael hadn't noticed. He was too busy writing.
Best we leave him be for now.

>look at pipe stand
It's a beautiful piece of work, although at the moment, sadly, it contains no pipe.

Well, there goes Miranda's Sherlock Holmes costume.

>look at volume
(The Compleat Manual of Wardes and Seales)
It's an old medieval tome dated in the early 1300s, written by one Galarian Academius desChamps.

You can hear Michael in the next room, typing away.

>take volume
(The Compleat Manual of Wardes and Seales)
Taken.

You can hear Michael in the next room, typing away.

>Sit
The leather creaks softly as you settle in. It smells strongly of pipe smoke.

Comfy.

>read volume
Which do you mean, the bookshelves or The Compleat Manual of Wardes and Seales?

>The Compleat manual of Wards and Seals
You can't use multiple objects with that verb.

Oh, come on, Game. Now you're just being facetious.


>Read Manual
Essentially, it's a textbook on the theory and practice of magickal wards and seals, mystic symbols inscribed on doors and containers in order to keep people and spirits out -- or in. It's all very deliberately vague and arcane (in addition to being written in medieval French and translated into Middle English, making it nearly impossible to understand), the kind of thing that likely got many a scholar burned at the stake in those days.

You are surprised to find that a page in this old and probably quite valuable book has been folded down, as though to mark the place. The section marked discusses various methods of opening doors that have been sealed with the image of a pagan god. Speaking aloud the deity's true name will usually do the trick, apparently.

You can hear Michael in the next room, typing away.

Looks like something Michael would be into.

>Put manual in coat
You slip The Compleat Manual of Wardes and Seales into the pocket of your trenchcoat.

>Get up
Reluctantly, you do so.

You can hear Michael in the next room, typing away.

>look at doors
Each door is carved from a single piece of mahogany, and polished to a deep, rich shine. The doors are closed.

>look at chair
It's the kind of furniture that you always drool over in catalogs, and it looks about as comfortable as an armchair ever gets without an added shot of heroin.

And just in case...

>look under chair
You find nothing of interest.

>look at shelves
Literally hundreds of books stuff the shelves, many of them thick, cracked, leather-bound tomes with ribbon place-holders and titles lettered in raised gold leaf. It would take you years to peruse them all. However, one interesting title does catch your eye. An authentic first printing of Edgar Allen Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination, shelved incongruously between volumes "G" and "H" of the Encyclopedia Americana.

You can hear Michael in the next room, typing away.

>look at poe
It's a beautifully bound book in near-perfect condition, and probably extremely valuable -- if it really is authentic. Michael will go nuts when he sees this.

Oh, that reminds me!

>s
Upstairs Hall

There is a cord dangling in mid-air here, right about level with your face.
>w
Upstairs Landing
>n
Master Bedroom
>w

Bathroom

Michael's bath towel lies crumpled in the corner, next to the tub.

You can also see your umbrella and a styrofoam cup (in which is some cold, murky coffee) here.

There you are, loose items! You cannot escape from Miranda carter!

>take all
towel: You pick up the towel. It's still a little damp from Michael's shower, but otherwise it's a perfectly ordinary bath towel.
umbrella: Taken.
styrofoam cup: Taken.

>put umbrella in coat
You slip the umbrella into the pocket of your trenchcoat.

>put towel in coat
You slip the towel into the pocket of your trenchcoat.

>e
Master Bedroom
>s
Upstairs Landing

>

Alright, where to next?
Keep put'n them suggestions in Bold.

Fake-Edit: Woops. Forgot to draw the locket on her. Next time, then.

Items