a rich man comes to your father's gate

=><= #(text-style:"bold","smear","expand")[a rich man comes to your father's gate] [[What do you know about fairy tales?]] {     (set: $fitcherWin1 to false)  (set: $fitcherWin2 to false)  (set: $fitcherLose1 to false)  (set: $fitcherLose2 to false)  (set: $witchWin to false) (set: $witchLose to false)  (set: $ironKey to false) (set: $silverKey to false) (set: $fitcherWager to false) (set: $wivesClue1 to false) (set: $wivesClue2 to false) (set: $wiveClue3 to false) (set: $wivesClue4 to false) (set: $wivesClue5 to false) (set: $wivesAnagram to false) (set: $nameIdentified1 to false) (set: $nameIdentified2 to false) (set: $nameIdentified3 to false) (set: $nameIdentified4 to false) (set: $nameIdentified5 to false) (set: $sleep1 to false) (set: $sleep2 to false) (set: $sleep3 to false) (set: $mazeClue1 to false) (set: $mazeClueGone1 to false)  (set: $mansionDay1 to false) (set: $walkLeft1 to false) (set: $bookClue1 to false) (set: $walkRight1 to false) (set: $foodClue1 to false) (set: $greatHall1 to false) (set: $secondFloor1 to false) (set: $pickBedroom1 to false) (set: $dayTired1 to false)  (set: $gardenDay1 to false) (set: $birdClue1 to false) (set: $kitchenGardens1 to false) (set: $maze1 to false) (set: $folly1 to false) (set: $bower1 to false)  (set: $statueDay1 to false)  (set: $leaveDay1 to false)  (set: $mansionDay2 to false) (set: $walkLeft2 to false) (set: $bookClue2 to false) (set: $walkRight2 to false) (set: $foodClue2 to false) (set: $greatHall2 to false) (set: $secondFloor2 to false) (set: $pickBedroom2 to false) (set: $dayTired2 to false)  (set: $gardenDay2 to false) (set: $kitchenGardens2 to false) (set: $maze2 to false) (set: $folly2 to false) (set: $bower2 to false)  (set: $statueDay2 to false)  (set: $leaveDay2 to false)  (set: $mansionDay3 to false) (set: $walkLeft3 to false) (set: $bookClue3 to false) (set: $walkRight3 to false) (set: $foodClue3 to false) (set: $greatHall3 to false) (set: $secondFloor3 to false) (set: $pickBedroom3 to false) (set: $dayTired3 to false)  (set: $gardenDay3 to false) (set: $kitchenGardens3 to false) (set: $maze3 to false) (set: $folly3 to false) (set: $bower3 to false)  (set: $statueDay3 to false)  (set: $leaveDay3 to false) }

{(if:$fitcherLose1 is true)[You know--though you don't know how you know--that you need to remember.] You grew up on fairy tales, though you hardly hear them now that your mother is gone. Not with your younger siblings to care for; not with your father, a merchant with too many lost cargos and failed endeavors.} (click:"too many lost cargos and failed endeavors.")[The only stories you hear now are of fortunes lost on storm-tossed seas and brigand-plagued roads...] (click:"storm-tossed seas and brigand-plagued roads...")[And how many mouths he is [[forced to feed.]]]

{(if:$fitcherWin2 is true)[You know this place. It's three days ago, and home once more.] (if:$fitcherWin1 is true)[But you're not supposed to be here. You won. You //got out.// And yet. You're here. Again. (click:"Again")[The story is repeating. And you're two selves, or maybe three: the you that won, the you that did not know it was a game, and...] (click:"and...")[The you that sounds like your mother's voice, whispering //remember.//] ] The rich man's name is Fitcher. He's a lord, perhaps. You don't really know. (if:($fitcherWin1 is true) or ($fitcherWin2 is true) or ($fitcherLose2 is true))[He never did tell you.] (if:$fitcherLose1 is true)[He seems familiar, though.] He calls you //my lady// even after he learns your name.} He's tall, and broad, and his dark and heavy beard shows only the smallest flash of teeth when he smiles. (if:$fitcherWin is true)[You wonder what sort of husband he would have made in a different story. One where he didn't have dead wives waiting to be found.](if:$fitcherLose2 is true)[You notice now the ring of keys that hangs from his belt loop, the key to the forbidden room among them.] He says he's come to find a bride. (if:($fitcherWin1 is true) or ($fitcherWin2 is true) or ($fitcherLose2 is true))[It's the only time he really lied. But, as before--] [[The house is cold, there is no food, and as the eldest you have the power to change the fortunes of your family.]] {     (set: $ironKey to false) (set: $silverKey to false) (set: $fitcherWager to false) (set: $wivesClue1 to false) (set: $wivesClue2 to false) (set: $wiveClue3 to false) (set: $wivesClue4 to false) (set: $wivesClue5 to false) (set: $nameIdentified1 to false) (set: $nameIdentified2 to false) (set: $nameIdentified3 to false) (set: $nameIdentified4 to false) (set: $nameIdentified5 to false) (set: $sleep1 to false) (set: $sleep2 to false) (set: $sleep3 to false) (set: $mazeClue1 to false) (set: $mazeClueGone1 to false)  (set: $mansionDay1 to false) (set: $walkLeft1 to false) (set: $bookClue1 to false) (set: $walkRight1 to false) (set: $foodClue1 to false) (set: $greatHall1 to false) (set: $secondFloor1 to false) (set: $pickBedroom1 to false) (set: $dayTired1 to false)  (set: $gardenDay1 to false) (set: $birdClue1 to false) (set: $kitchenGardens1 to false) (set: $maze1 to false) (set: $folly1 to false) (set: $bower1 to false)  (set: $statueDay1 to false)  (set: $leaveDay1 to false)  (set: $mansionDay2 to false) (set: $walkLeft2 to false) (set: $bookClue2 to false) (set: $walkRight2 to false) (set: $foodClue2 to false) (set: $greatHall2 to false) (set: $secondFloor2 to false) (set: $pickBedroom2 to false) (set: $dayTired2 to false)  (set: $gardenDay2 to false) (set: $kitchenGardens2 to false) (set: $maze2 to false) (set: $folly2 to false) (set: $bower2 to false)  (set: $statueDay2 to false)  (set: $leaveDay2 to false)  (set: $mansionDay3 to false) (set: $walkLeft3 to false) (set: $bookClue3 to false) (set: $walkRight3 to false) (set: $foodClue3 to false) (set: $greatHall3 to false) (set: $secondFloor3 to false) (set: $pickBedroom3 to false) (set: $dayTired3 to false)  (set: $gardenDay3 to false) (set: $kitchenGardens3 to false) (set: $maze3 to false) (set: $folly3 to false) (set: $bower3 to false)  (set: $statueDay3 to false)  (set: $leaveDay3 to false) }

The wedding is swift, but legal. Fitcher (your husband now, your owner) drops a bag of gold into your father's waiting palm and mounts his coal-black stallion. Your father blesses you with a branding forehead kiss and something heavy tucked in your pocket. [["Don't come back," he murmurs, too quiet for your husband to hear, "unless it's as a wealthy widow."]]

It's a long, hard ride to Fitcher's mansion. It stands cramped and hulking at the forest's edge, its outer boundary wall a belt that barely holds it back. You feel dizzy as you pass into the mansion's courtyard, the walls so high they feel as if they might collapse upon you. As Fitcher continues to the very door of the mansion, you ride past a statue of a faceless woman with [[a mirror in her hand.]]

{(set: $fitcherWager to true) Fitcher shifts in his saddle, and you can see his face again. You wonder if he might demand a farewell kiss, but he only bows his head and says as softly as a lover might, "I do beg of you, my lady $playerName... follow that one rule, no matter how tempting it might be."} And with those words and one last look, he rides back the way he came... [[...leaving you at his doorstep.|Leaving you at his doorstep.]]

Fitcher's black horse is winded, white sweat staining its coat as if Fitcher has done nothing but ride the entire time he was away. Your husband looks no better. Perhaps he's remembering the game he wanted you to play. (click:"Perhaps he's remembering the game he wanted you to play.")[Perhaps he's regretting that you've won it.] (click:"Perhaps he's regretting that you've won it.")[Perhaps he's going to punish you for that, no matter what he promised.] (click:"Perhaps he's going to punish you for that, no matter what he promised.")[You hold out the ring of keys to him anyway, the gold one bright and shining amongst the others. He reaches down [[and takes it gently from you.]]]

He gives you the bag of gold. It's in your hands. He helps you on a milk-white mare, respectful in his touches. He opens the gate. He lets you go. The road to your father's gate is long. The knife is heavy in your pocket still. [[Go home with the bag of gold, the milk-white mare, the sharp and heavy knife.|But the road is long, and your family is waiting. You turn and go.]] [[Warn your husband -- the stranger -- to be more wary of poor men's obedient daughters.|You hesitate. And you say to Fitcher, "You have to be more careful."]]

//$playerName.// It's a whisper that sounds like your dead mother's, testing out the name. You shiver in the cold air, and hope no one notices. [[Yes, that's your name.]] [[No, that's not right, you're hearing things again.|end.]]

//The house is cold, there is no food, and as the eldest you have the power to change the fortunes of your family.// That's what your father tells you, (if:($fitcherLose2 is true) or ($fitcherWin1 is true) or ($fitcherWin2 is true))[his breathing fast and shallow like a fox before the hounds.](else: )[his hands heavy on your shoulders.] //You have a choice,// he says. That's what he says. But those choices were never many. (if:$fitcherWin2 is true)[You've done it once, though. You can do it again. And maybe, this time--you'll //win.//](else-if:$fitcherWin1 is true)[You've done it once, though. You can do it again. Maybe this time, //this time,// you'll be allowed to leave.](if:($fitcherLose1 is true) or ($fitcherLose2 is true))[And there's a voice deep down, so like your mother's, that says //better gone than here.//] [[Marry the rich man.]]

{(if: $fitcherWager is true)[It takes three days to return to your father's gate, though it had only taken an hour to ride to Fitcher's mansion.] (else: )[The sun burns bright behind your husband's head--overwhelmingly so. You shut your eyes and turn your head aside. But then-- you hear your //father's// voice. You open your eyes. You're at your father's gate, a bag of gold in your hands, a milk-white mare at your side.] Your father is waiting for you, fingers drumming on his belt. (if: $fitcherWager is true)[On aching legs you drop from the milk-white mare.] [[You stumble toward him.]]}

You turn to look over your shoulder. Your husband, leaning heavily against his manor's broad stone gate, straightens up again, his eyes bright. You take the knife from your pocket, and throw it on the ground. [["My father told me to not come back unless I was a wealthy widow..."]]

The forest dissolves. The mare whinnies peacably as her bulk disappears from beneath you. The scent of warm bread and rich honey surrounds you, from a time you'd almost forgotten. You are back instide Fitcher's manor, but it's different from before. (click: "different from before.")[Where it once was cold, it now is warm.] (click: "it now is warm.")[Where it once was silent, it now is filled with sound.] (click: "filled with sound.")["$playerName! $playerName, [[is this our home now?"]]]

He turns you back to your waiting husband, who lifts you as easily as a shadow and sets you on pillion behind him. The weight of your father's gift is heavy on your thigh. As the horse starts to canter, and then to gallop, you feel the shape of the thing and pray to God or whoever else will hear you that your husband does not know you have it. [[A knife.]]

Every fairy-tale heroine has a name. (input-box:2bind $playerName,"===XXXX===",1,"What's yours?") [[Are you sure?]]

You know how so many of these stories start, $playerName. And you know that there are always trials before there can be a happy ending. (if:$fitcherLose is true)[And you know, //you know//--in a place that's very deep, and very scary, that sometimes you can't find the happy ending.] But you're not thinking of fairy tales, the day that the stories come for you. [[It starts, or ends, when the rich man comes to your father's gate.]]

He listens to every word. The horse paws the ground, restless, but your husband is patient through it all. (click: "but your husband is patient through it all.")[You tell him about the knife.] (click:"knife")[You tell him your [[suspicions.]]]

But you also, with faltering tones, thank him for his kindness. The trust he showed you. Your untouched skin. "Be more careful," you say, "when you come to a poor man's door and ask him for a bride." He smiles, more free with that expression than any you've seen till now, and [[snaps his fingers.|interstitial3]]

Down the hall comes your sister, and your brother, too, sliding on the marble floors and laughing in wonder at the glories of Fitcher's manor. And as if hearing your thought -- //Fitcher's manor// -- the man himself rounds the corner your siblings came from, smiling gently, his hands clasped carefully before him as if holding some small thing captive. [[What does he want?]]

Fitcher is dressed the same as he was when first he came to your father's gate. He stops some small distance from you; you pull your sister and your brother to your side. "Lady wife," he says, and bows his head. "You have given me a rare thing as your wedding gift. Let me give you your bride-gift in return. (click: "Let me give you your bride-gift in return.")["This house is yours.] (click: "is yours.")["All my land and riches, too.] (click: "land and riches, too.")["You may call yourself a widow now, my lady $playerName, and spend the rest of your days in leisure with your family. [[And as for your father..."]]]

At this, Fitcher's eyes grow sly, the most dangerous he's let you see him. He lifts his cupped hands and shakes them as if rolling dice. You hear -- but surely not? -- a distant cry that sounds like (but surely not, surely not) your father's. Fitcher turns from you, and as he does the door to the forbidden room opens on silent hinges as if by a servant's hand. Or as if [[it had never been locked at all.]]

The door opens wide enough for Fitcher to step through. There are no windows. There is no light. You can, barely, see long dark shapes hanging from the walls. With one last smile he steps into the dark room, his hands closed tight on whatever is within them. As the door closes silently on the forbidden room... (click: "the forbidden room...")[And the door itself disappears completely, leaving plain stone wall...] (click: "plain stone wall...")[You hear your once-husband's voice say, //You're safe from me now. If you want your story to end like this, it can.// [[You close your eyes and nod your head, ready to have your story end here.|FitchersEnd]] [[You blink and wonder what he means.|OrANewBeginning]] ]

All fairy tales end with a happily ever after. It's in their nature. (click:"their nature")[And if you wonder sometimes where the statues have gone, you don't look too hard.] (click:"look too hard.")[And if your father's men come asking if you've seen him, you have nothing you can tell them.] (click:"nothing you can tell them.")[And if your sister has nightmares sometimes, of disembodied hands and heavy gaits and a rich man coming to take her from you, you hold her tight and think of that forbidden room and you consider this [[a very happy ending after all.]] ]

//There's more,// you hear your mother's whisper say. //If you dare look for it.// "What's that?" your brother says. [[There, on the floor, is the faceless statue's mirror, turned from stone to tarnished silver.|There, on the floor, is the little silver mirror, its back engraved with foxes running.]]

Slow and measured, you bend down and pick it up. (if: $statueDay3 is true)[You stare at the fox still running in the center. The hounds look closer.](else: )[The design on the back is a raised motif of a running fox. A ring of hounds surrounds it, hiding in a floral border.] The fox looks wounded. (click:"The fox looks wounded.")["I smell bread," you say to your sister, to your brother. "Why don't you see if it's magic-made, or if there's a cook who can make us up a fine feast?" [[And off they run, dear little ones, and you know that whatever story they're in now, they're safe there.]]]

{(set: $fitcherWin2 to true) But you can't help but wonder if there's a different way this all might have gone...} And what words--or something else--might be written now. (click:"And what words--or something else--might be written now.")[So you turn the mirror over.] (click:"So you turn the mirror over.")[[[And you gasp as the world dissolves again.|interstitial1]]]

You still think about your mother's fairy tales, though. On the bad nights. When you hear your sister crying. When you hear your brother's gasping breaths. (if:$fitcherLose2 is true)[When you wake up screaming from a dream of bloody chambers.] {(if:$fitcherLose1 is true)[You think about what it means to do everything you're supposed to, and to still--[[lose.|Yes, that's your name.]]] (else-if:$fitcherLose2 is true)[You think about what it means to find the strength to break men's rules and still--[[lose everything.|Yes, that's your name.]]] (else: )[On the nights you wish everything would just-- [[end.]]]}

The back of the mirror has a design you can't quite see. And on the front there seem to be small words inscribed, but you pass [[too quickly to read them.]]

Fitcher takes you to the front door of his house -- yours now, too, or so he swore in his wedding vows. You've heard that grooms will carry their new wives over the thresholds of their homes, and you wonder if he intends the same. If he does, will he feel the knife? (click:"If he does, will he feel the knife?")[ [[And if he doesn't, where will he carry you after?]]]

Fitcher swings down from his horse and, with careful hands that feel too large, he lifts you down as well. (click:"he lifts you down as well.")[...but then remounts.] (click:"...but then remounts.")[ [[And to your surprise leans down to hand to you a ring of keys.|And leans down to hand to you a ring of keys.]]]

"$playerName," he says, "my lady wife. I must away again, and be gone three nights. You have my ring of keys to keep you entertained -- ask me, and I will tell you where they lead." There are many keys; you can see that they seem split between two kinds: iron keys, and silver. [[Ask about the iron keys.]] [[Ask about the silver keys.]]

{(set:$ironKey to true) You hold up an iron key, and Fitcher nods. "Those are the keys to the gates and gardens, and the door to our mansion too. Look for yourself."} You risk a glance behind you, and yes-- the door to Fitcher's mansion is as tall and wide as the man himself, and it bears a thick and heavy iron lock. {(if:$silverKey is true)[ But as you twist the ring of keys to check for more, you see something hidden among the others... a single //golden// key. [[Ask about the one gold key.]]] (else: )[ [[Ask about the silver keys.]]]}

You hold up the one gold key, and the stallion rolls wild eyes at you as your husband smiles softly. "That? That little thing is the key to the closet at the far end of the great hall, and from there, and only there, are you forbidden." He pauses then, and says, "I know how tempting that can be, though, so-- [[let's make a game of it."]]

Fitcher turns the horse about, and now the sun burns hot behind his head, blinding you. You cannot see your husband's eyes. "I will be gone three days and nights," he says, "and return at the dawning of the fourth. If you keep yourself from using the little gold key (click:"little gold key")[to open that small closet] (click:"that small closet")[at the farthest end] (click:"the farthest end")[of the great hall...] (click:"the great hall...")["I will give you gold enough to keep your family for a year or more and a horse to ride back to your father's gate, free from rich men with [[strange rules."]] ]

"But if you use the key to open the door to look inside the forbidden room," your husband says, "I will know, and you will never see your sister or your brother or your freedom again. Will you play this game?" [[Yes.|The wager starts]] [[No.|But the road is long, and your family is waiting. You turn and go.]]

{(if: $fitcherWager is true)["I brought us gold," you say. You can't meet your father's eyes. "Enough to keep the house warm and the children fed."] (else: )[All fairy tales have some test in them. You must've answered Fitcher's wager right -- why else would you be back here? "I brought us gold," you say. You can't meet your father's eyes. "Enough to keep the house warm and the children fed."] The pause is long before he says, "And your lordly husband?" (if: $fitcherWager is true)[ [["Dead," you say.]] [["He let me go," you say.|"Dead," you say.]] ] (else: )[ [["Dead," you say.]] [["He let me go," you say.|"Dead," you say.]] [["A fairy-tale puzzle that I solved to save us all," you say.|"Dead," you say.]]]}

Your father sighs, the breath heavy and rotting all around you. "You're lying," he says. You open your mouth to argue it, and you feel the hard slam of a fist against the side of your head. (click:"against the side of your head.")[You fall. The bag of gold drops from your hands. The milk-white mare rears back and shows its teeth. You hear its thudding gallop as it runs back toward Fitcher's mansion.] (click:"back toward Fitcher's mansion.")["Never mind," your father says, his voice distant above you. "Another rich man will come to us soon enough. Your husband, or another stranger... [[and your sister's pockets can hold a knife just as well as yours."]] ]

{(set:$fitcherLose1 to true)Fairy tales are supposed to have happy endings. Perhaps this was never a fairy tale at all.} (click:"Perhaps this was never a fairy tale at all.")[All you have now is the dark crowding up against your vision, the dusty road pressed against your cheek, and your father's heavy gait as he turns back toward the cold and hungry house, where your sister--God save and keep her, as you could not--will be told that [[she now has the power to change the fortunes of your family...]]]

(text-style:"bold","smear","expand")[The First Day] The gate to the boundary wall closes shut behind Fitcher without a servant's hand. You wonder if, like all fairy tales, you've found yourself in a magic house, seemingly alone while surrounded by invisible strangers. But you have three days to find out, you suppose, and no husband (no, nor father) here to placate. Your time is, for once, [[your own.|Day One Choices]]

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The First Day//]'' <== {(set: $mansionDay1 to true) You find the iron key that fits the lock of the front door. You step inside and find yourself in an enormous atrium with doors to either side of you, rooms upon rooms opening within them. In front of you is an arched entryway to a great hall, and on either side of that entryway are two large staircases, twisting up to the second floor and splitting to two separate wings.} [[Above you is a vast skylight made of colored glass, too delicate for a ceiling and yet, nonetheless, it's there.]]

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The First Day//]'' <== {(if: (($bookClue1 is true) and ($statueDay1 is true)) or (($foodClue1 is true) and ($statueDay1 is true)) or (($bookClue1 is true) and ($foodClue1 is true)))[You're tired. You wonder if you should find a bedroom. They're probably on the second floor. (set:$dayTired1 to true)]} =|= [ [[Climb the lefthand stair.|Second Floor-1]]] =|= (align:"=><=")[ [[Go to the Great Hall.|Great Hall-1]]] =|= (align:"==>")[ [[Climb the righthand stair.|Second Floor-1]]] |==| =|= {(if: $dayTired1 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)[//Walk left.//]] (else-if: $walkLeft1 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)[ [[Walk left.|Walk left-1]] ]] (else: ) [ [[Walk left.|Walk left-1]]]} =|= =|= {(if: $dayTired1 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)+(align:"==>")[//Walk right.//]] (else-if: $walkRight1 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)+(align:"==>")[ [[Walk right.|Walk right-1]] ]] (else: )[ (align:"==>")[[Walk right.|Walk right-1]]]} |==| =|= =|= {[(if: $dayTired1 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)+(align:"=><=")[//Go back to the courtyard.//]] (else-if: $courtyard1 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)+(align:"=><=")[ [[Go back to the courtyard.|Day One Choices]] ]] (else: ) [ (align:"=><=")[[Go back to the courtyard.|Day One Choices]]]]} =|= |==|

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The First Day//]'' <== {(set: $walkLeft1 to true) (if: $walkRight1 is true)[You turn left and, much like the righthand side, rich and beautiful rooms open before you, the wealth a match to what you saw before. So much, in fact, it starts to feel unreal around you, like it all might turn to sticks and leaves come morning. (But that is not this story.)] (else: )[You turn left and start to explore the rooms that open up to you, each more beautiful and richly furnished than the last. All contain boxes and caskets, wardrobes and trunks, and you test the silver keys against them, finding wealth beyond compare in every one.]} The very last room is a library. There are more books here than you knew existed in the world. One of them, worn and fragile, has been left out on a gold-leafed reading table. The rich blue cover reads //Les contes de fées.// //Fairy Tales.// [[Take the book.]] [[Go back.|Day 1 Mansion Choices]]

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The First Day//]'' <== {(set: $walkRight1 to true) (if: $walkLeft1 is true)[You turn right and, much like the lefthand side, rich and beautiful rooms open before you, the wealth a match to what you saw before. So much, in fact, it starts to feel unreal around you, like it all might turn to sticks and leaves come morning. (click:"turn to sticks and leaves come morning.")[(But that is not this story.)]] (else: )[You turn right and start to explore the rooms that open up to you, each more beautiful and richly furnished than the last. All contain boxes and caskets, wardrobes and trunks, and you test the silver keys against them, finding wealth beyond compare in every one.]} The very last room is an enormous dining room, its long table set with fine china and silver plate. More food than you thought existed in the world has been laid out, hot and waiting for you on dishes decorated with fine blue spirals. [[Eat the food.]] [[Go back.|Day 1 Mansion Choices]]

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The First Day//]'' <== {(set: $secondFloor1 to true) (if: $pickBedroom1 is true)[The bedroom you picked is just beside the staircase; there's a wide landing that connects the left wing of the mansion to the right and overlooks the atrium floor. You intend to get a closer look at the atrium ceiling, with it's glassy foxes running, but instead you find yourself looking down to an equally beautiful wonder. Where the ceiling is stained glass foxes, the floor is instead covered in an enormous mosaic... of hounds at the hunt, their teeth already stained with blood. You find you do not wish to linger on this landing.] (else: )[A long hall stretches the length of the mansion, connecting the two staircases. There are magnificent paintings that line the walls between each door. The one nearest you has a little silver lock, and when you use one of Fitcher's keys to open it, you find the room beyond to be a beautiful, oddly restful, bedroom.] (if: $pickBedroom1 is true)[ [[Go back to your bedroom.|Bedroom-1]]] (else: ) [ [[Go into the bedroom.|Bedroom-1]]] (if: $pickBedroom1 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)[//Go back to the atrium.//]] (else: ) [ [[Go back to the atrium.|Day 1 Mansion Choices]]]}

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The First Day//]'' <== {(if: $statueDay1 is true)[(text-colour:grey)[//Go to the courtyard statue.//]] (else: )[ [[Go to the courtyard statue.|Statue-1]]] (if: $mansionDay1 is true)[(text-colour:grey)[ [[Explore the mansion.|Mansion-1]]]] (else: )[ [[Explore the mansion.|Mansion-1]]] (if: $gardenDay1 is true)[(text-colour:grey)[//Find the gardens.//]] (else: )[ [[Find the gardens.|Gardens-1]]] (if: $leaveDay1 is true)[(text-colour:grey)[//Try to leave.//]] (else: )[ [[Try to leave.|Leave-1]]]}

==> ######{(if: $sleep2 is true)[''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Third Day//]''] (else-if: $sleep1 is true)[''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Second Day//]''] (else: )[''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The First Day//]'']} <== {(if:$walkRight3 is true)[(set: $foodClue3 to true)] (if:$walkRight2 is true)[(set: $foodClue2 to true)] (if:$walkRight1 is true)[(set: $foodClue1 to true)] (if:$kitchenGardens3 is true)[The table is laden with what you realize are not just any foods--they are your //favorites.// Your mouth waters at the sight of it; your lungs fill with the scent of every warming memory. ...Was there something you shouldn't do? You can't remember. You sit and eat your fill, and ignore the voice crying inside your head about what happens to those who eat forbidden fruit.] (else: )[Fitcher only had one rule, and it had nothing to do with food. You sit and eat your fill, drinking deeply of the dark red wine.]} {(if:$walkRight3 is true)[Across the dining room, through the open doorway leading to the kitchens, you see--a face. Old and wizened, a grinning witch. It should frighten you, but this is your third day as a woman married to a rich man, and this by law is your strange house. You rise and run across the room... (click:"You rise and run across the room...")[To find that it was not a doorway to the kitchens after all.] (click:"after all.")[Just a shadowed mirror, reflecting a portion of your own face.]] (else-if: $walkRight2 is true)[There's another open doorway, leading down to what you think might be the kitchens. It's dark, and you're almost sure it's empty, but... you can feel eyes watching you from the shadows.] (else: )[Out of the corner of your eye, you see a shadow move, but when you look there's nothing there.]} {(if:$walkRight3 is true)[ [[Go back.|Day 3 Mansion Choices]]] (else-if: $walkRight2 is true)[ [[Go back.|Day 2 Mansion Choices]]] (else: )[ [[Go back.|Day 1 Mansion Choices]]]}

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The First Day//]'' <== {(set: $gardenDay1 to true) To either side of the mansion are tall hedges that block your view of the woods and gardens beyond. A wide stone path leads to the left side of the mansion, ending at an old wood door. You find an iron key that fits the door's lock.} (click:"You find an iron key that fits the door's lock.")[You step through and find yourself on gravel, painful under your thin shoes. You're in a courtyard garden, the grass cut in sharp geometries around a stone fountain shaped like a book, water drowning its open pages.] (click:"drowning its open pages.")[ [[There are three paths out of courtyard garden, and a statue at the mouth of each.|Ominous garden description]]]

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The First Day//]'' <== {(set: $leaveDay1 to true) You go to the gate. It's unlocked. You're not sure you really want to go, but... you want to know if you have a choice.} You start walking down the dusty road, and it takes a while. Sometimes you see strange shadows darting in the woods beside you. Watching. [[Eventually the mansion disappears from view.]]

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The First Day//]'' <== {(set: $statueDay1 to true)(set: $wivesClue2 to true) In the center of the courtyard is the faceless woman with the mirror in her hand. She reminds you of someone, though you can't think of who... No one you know, though. At her base is a small brass plaque that reads //Therese.// You climb up on her plinth to try and read what her mirror says. All you can make out is the top line:} {(align:"<==")+(box:"===XXXXXXXXXX=======")[//Be bold, be bold// (text-style:"blurrier")[//Daughter daughter is that you// //Run from here, leave the story I beg of you//]]} [[Strange.|Day One Choices]]

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The First Day//]'' <== {(set: $greatHall1 to true) The great hall has tall windows, polished floors, and deep shadows. It could hold a banquet; it could hold a grand ball.} But all it has is a small, small door, all the way at the other end, with a gold lock waiting for a key. [[Unlock the door.]] [[Go back.|Day 1 Mansion Choices]]

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The First Day//]'' <== {(set: $pickBedroom1 to true)Unlike the rest of the house, with its reds and oranges and false warmth, this bedroom seems washed in cool water, blues that stretch the spectrum and calm you. It reminds you, though you don't know why, of your mother. (click:" of your mother.")[As you step inside and sit on the soft, blue bed, you feel the press of your skirt's heavy pockets against your thighs. Or, more precisely... the knife.] (click:"the knife.")[It was meant for your husband or for yourself, you know that--but you don't want to think about it. (if: $bookClue1 is true)[Your other pocket has the little book from the library, //Les contes de fées.// When you take it out, it seems to open of its own accord to a page that reads: (click: " that reads:")[(align:"<==")+(box:"===XXXXXXXXXX=======") (display:"bookWords") This doesn't look like a story.] (click:"This doesn't look like a story.")[ [[Try another page.]] [[The bed feels good. You lie down and close your eyes...|Sleep-1]] [[Go back into the hall.|Second Floor-1]]]] (else: )[[[The bed feels good. You lie down and close your eyes... |Sleep-1]] [[Go back into the hall.|Second Floor-1]]]]}

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Second Day//]'' <== {(if: (($bookClue1 is true) and ($statueDay2 is true)) or (($foodClue2 is true) and ($statueDay2 is true)) or (($bookClue1 is true) and ($foodClue2 is true)))[You're tired. You wonder if you should find a bedroom. They're probably on the second floor. (set:$dayTired2 to true)]} =|= [ [[Climb the lefthand stair.|Second Floor-2]]] =|= (align:"=><=")[ [[Go to the Great Hall.|Great Hall-2]]] =|= (align:"==>")[ [[Climb the righthand stair.|Second Floor-2]]] |==| =|= {(if: $dayTired2 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)[//Walk left.//]] (else-if: $walkLeft2 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)[ [[Walk left.|Walk left-2]] ]] (else: ) [ [[Walk left.|Walk left-2]]]} =|= =|= {(if: $dayTired2 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)+(align:"==>")[//Walk right.//]] (else-if: $walkRight2 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)+(align:"==>")[ [[Walk right.|Walk right-2]] ]] (else: )[ (align:"==>")[[Walk right.|Walk right-2]]]} |==| =|= =|= {[(if: $dayTired2 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)+(align:"=><=")[//Go back to the courtyard.//]] (else-if: $courtyard2 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)+(align:"=><=")[ [[Go back to the courtyard.|Day Two Choices]] ]] (else: ) [ (align:"=><=")[[Go back to the courtyard.|Day Two Choices]]]]} =|= |==|

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Second Day//]'' <== {(set: $secondFloor2 to true) (if: $pickBedroom1 is true)[You wander the hall, back and forth, but you don't know why you pretend otherwise--there's only one thing you want here, even if it doesn't really have the answers you seek: your blue bedroom.] (else-if:$pickBedroom2 is true)[The bedroom you picked is just beside the staircase; there's a wide landing that connects the left wing of the mansion to the right and overlooks the atrium floor. You intend to get a closer look at the atrium ceiling, with it's glassy foxes running, but instead you find yourself looking down to an equally beautiful wonder. Where the ceiling is stained glass foxes, the floor is instead covered in an enormous mosaic... of hounds at the hunt, their teeth already stained with blood. You find you do not wish to linger on this landing.] (else: )[A long hall stretches the length of the mansion, connecting the two staircases. There are magnificent paintings that line the walls between each door. The one nearest you has a little silver lock, and when you use one of Fitcher's keys to open it, you find the room beyond to be a beautiful, oddly restful, bedroom.] (if: ($pickBedroom2 is true) or ($pickBedroom1 is true))[ [[Go back to your bedroom.|Bedroom-2]]] (else: ) [ [[Go into the bedroom.|Bedroom-2]]] (if: ($pickBedroom2 is true) and ($dayTired2 is true))[ (text-colour:gray)[//Go back to the atrium.//]] (else: ) [ [[Go back to the atrium.|Day 2 Mansion Choices]]]}

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Second Day//]'' <== {(set: $greatHall2 to true) (if: $greatHall1 is true)[The great hall, you notice, is not as silent as you thought your first day in it. You hear... (click:"You hear...")[Your brother?] (click:"Your brother?")[//"$playerName! $playerName, help me!"//] (click:"help me!")[Oh God above. It's coming from behind the small, small door, with the gold lock waiting for a key.] [[Unlock the door to save your brother.|Unlock the door.]] ] (else: )[The great hall has tall windows, polished floors, and deep shadows. It could hold a banquet; it could hold a grand ball. But all it has is a small, small door, all the way at the other end, with a gold lock waiting for a key. [[Unlock the door.]] [[Go back.|Day 2 Mansion Choices]]]}

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Second Day//]'' <== {(set: $walkLeft2 to true) (if: $walkLeft1 is true)[You turn left, heading toward the library.] (else-if: $walkRight2 is true)[You turn left and, much like the righthand side, rich and beautiful rooms open before you, the wealth a match to what you saw before. So much, in fact, it starts to feel unreal around you, like it all might turn to sticks and leaves come morning. (But that is not this story.)] (else: )[You turn left and start to explore the rooms that open up to you, each more beautiful and richly furnished than the last. All contain boxes and caskets, wardrobes and trunks, and you test the silver keys against them, finding wealth beyond compare in every one.]} {(if: $bookClue1 is true)[You stay there awhile, looking for more books to read. But every book you open has only water-stained blurs where words should be.] (else: )[The very last room is a library. There are more books here than you knew existed in the world. One of them, worn and fragile, has been left out on a gold-leafed reading table. The rich blue cover reads //Les contes de fées.// //Fairy Tales.// [[Take the book.]]] [[Go back.|Day 2 Mansion Choices]]}

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Second Day//]'' <== {(set: $walkRight2 to true) (if: $walkRight1 is true)[You turn right, heading toward the dining room.] (else-if: $walkLeft2 is true)[You turn right and, much like the lefthand side, rich and beautiful rooms open before you, the wealth a match to what you saw before. So much, in fact, it starts to feel unreal around you, like it all might turn to sticks and leaves come morning. (click:"turn to sticks and leaves come morning.")[(But that is not this story.)]] (else: )[You turn right and start to explore the rooms that open up to you, each more beautiful and richly furnished than the last. All contain boxes and caskets, wardrobes and trunks, and you test the silver keys against them, finding wealth beyond compare in every one.]} {(if: $walkRight1 is true)[You weren't sure about the magic of this place, and whether the food would disapear if you turned away--but no, the table is full again. You sit at the table's corner, where your place as wife will be.] (else: )[The very last room is an enormous dining room, its long table set with fine china and silver plate. More food than you thought existed in the world has been laid out, hot and waiting for you on dishes decorated with fine blue spirals.]} [[Eat the food.]] [[Go back.|Day 2 Mansion Choices]]

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Second Day//]'' <== {(if: $statueDay2 is true)[(text-colour:grey)[//Go to the courtyard statue.//]] (else: )[ [[Go to the courtyard statue.|Statue-2]]]} {(if: $mansionDay2 is true)[(text-colour:grey)[ [[Explore the mansion.|Mansion-2]]]] (else: )[ [[Explore the mansion.|Mansion-2]]]} {(if: $gardenDay2 is true)[(text-colour:grey)[//Find the gardens.//]] (else: )[ [[Find the gardens.|Gardens-2]]]} {(if: $leaveDay2 is true)[(text-colour:grey)[//Try to leave.//]] (else: )[ [[Try to leave.|Leave-2]]]}

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Second Day//]'' <== {(set: $statueDay2 to true)(set: $wivesClue2 to true) (if: $statueDay1 is true)[You go back to the statue of the faceless woman. You still don't know why she seems so familiar.] (else: )[In the center of the courtyard is the faceless woman with the mirror in her hand. She reminds you of someone, though you can't think of who... No one you know, though. At her base is a small brass plaque that reads //Therese.//] You climb up her plinth (if:$statueDay1 is true)[again] to read what her mirror says. (if:$statueDay1 is true)[This time, though, the words have changed:] (else: )[All you can make out is the middle line:]} {(align:"<==")+(box:"===XXXXXXXXXX=======")[(text-style:"blurrier")[//Oh God, one night gone already and still safe, but//] //But not too bold// (text-style:"blurrier")[//Daughter, please, learn everything you can//]] } [[You shiver, though the day is bright.|Day Two Choices]]

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Second Day//]'' <== {(set: $gardenDay2 to true) (if: $gardenDay1 is true)[You think about your options, letting Fitcher's ring of keys jangle in your hand. But while your mind is uncertain, your feet are already taking you to the garden door.] (else: )[To either side of the mansion are tall hedges that block your view of the woods and gardens beyond. A wide stone path leads to the left side of the mansion, ending at an old wood door. You find an iron key that fits the door's lock. (click:"You find an iron key that fits the door's lock.")[You step through and find yourself on gravel, painful under your thin shoes. You're in a courtyard garden, the grass cut in sharp geometries around a stone fountain shaped like a book, water drowning its open pages. (click: " drowning its open pages.")[(if: $gardenDay2 is true)[ [[Look around.|Day 2 Garden Choices]] ] (else: )[ [[There are three paths out of courtyard garden, and a statue at the mouth of each.|Ominous garden description]] ]]]]}

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Second Day//]'' <== {(set: $leaveDay2 to true) You go to the gate. It's unlocked. (if: $leaveDay1 is true)[Maybe this time the story will let you leave.](else: )[You're not sure you really want to go, but... you want to know if you have a choice.]} You start walking down the dusty road, and it takes a while. The forest stretches out beside you. Up ahead you see a path veer off the road and dip into the woods. You feel a strange pull toward it. (click:"You feel a strange pull toward it.")[When you reach the path, you see that there's someone else on it -- a girl, you think. She's walking away from you, stumbling almost...] (click:"stumbling almost...")[...and you recognize the dress she's wearing. The color of her hair. The thin shoes that you know, //you know,// can feel every root and rock along the path. The girl-- the one who looks //just like you--// stops suddenly. ](click:"stops suddenly.")[And starts to turn around.] (click:"And starts to turn around.")[You dare not let her see your face.] (click:"You dare not let her see your face.")[ [[Run back to the courtyard.|Day Two Choices]] ]

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Second Day//]'' <== {(set: $mansionDay2 to true) (if: $mansionDay1 is true)[You use the front door's iron key again to take yourself inside the mansion. Once again the shards of red from the stained glass dome makes patterns on your skin, your dress, and the room around you. (click:"your skin, your dress, and the room around you.")[You don't like it, though. It looks like blood.]] (else: )[You find the iron key that fits the lock of the front door. You step inside and find yourself in an enormous atrium with doors to either side of you, rooms upon rooms opening within them. In front of you is an arched entryway to a great hall, and on either side of that entryway are two large staircases, twisting up to the second floor and splitting to two separate wings.]} {(if: $mansionDay2 is true)[ [[Look around.|Day 2 Mansion Choices]] ] (else: )[ [[Above you is a vast skylight made of colored glass, too delicate for a ceiling and yet, nonetheless, it's there.]] ]}

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Third Day//]'' <== {(if: $statueDay3 is true)[(text-colour:grey)[//Go to the courtyard statue.//]] (else: )[ [[Go to the courtyard statue.|Statue-3]]]} {(if: $mansionDay3 is true)[(text-colour:grey)[ [[Explore the mansion.|Mansion-3]]]] (else: )[ [[Explore the mansion.|Mansion-3]]]} {(if: $gardenDay3 is true)[(text-colour:grey)[//Find the gardens.//]] (else: )[ [[Find the gardens.|Gardens-3]]]} {(if: $leaveDay3 is true)[(text-colour:grey)[//Try to leave.//]] (else: )[ [[Try to leave.|Leave-3]]]}

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Third Day//]'' <== {(set: $statueDay3 to true)(set: $wivesClue2 to true) (if: $statueDay2 is true)[You've thought about this, and--you don't think it's the courtyard's faceless woman, Therese, that you recognize. You think it's the //mirror.// You've never seen one like it before. You've looked at the words on the mirror's stone face before, but this time you study the back of it. The design is a raised motif of a running fox. A ring of hounds surrounds it, hiding in a floral border.] (else-if: $statueDay1 is true)[You go back to the statue of the faceless woman. You still don't know why she seems so familiar.] (else: )[In the center of the courtyard is the faceless woman with the mirror in her hand. No one you know, though. At her base is a small brass plaque that reads //Therese.//] You climb up her plinth (if:$statueDay2 is true)[on this, your final day here,] (else-if:$statueDay1 is true)[again] to read what her mirror says. (if:$statueDay2 is true)[The words have changed, the blurs rearranged. ](else-if:$statueDay1 is true)[This time, though, the words have changed.] All you can make out is the last line:} {(align:"<==")+(box:"===XXXXXXXXXX=======")[(text-style:"blurrier")[//You're almost done, but God, to be married to such a man--// // Daughter, please, learn from me, you have to remember//] //Else your heart's blood shall run cold//]} [[There's something very wrong with this place.|Day Three Choices]]

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Third Day//]'' <== {(set: $mansionDay3 to true) (if: $mansionDay1 is true)[You use the front door's iron key again to take yourself inside the mansion. Once again the shards of red from the stained glass dome makes patterns on your skin, your dress, and the room around you. (click:"your skin, your dress, and the room around you.")[You don't like it, though. It looks like blood.]] (else-if: $mansionDay2 is true)[The mansion stares down at you, like a husband in a saddle might look down on a reluctant bride. You use the iron key to enter the house again. Above you, the stained glass ceiling of the atrium seems to have been leached of all colors but a deep blood red, and the lead-pane foxes have their throats ripped out.] (else: )[You find the iron key that fits the lock of the front door. You step inside and find yourself in an enormous atrium with doors to either side of you, rooms upon rooms opening within them. In front of you is an arched entryway to a great hall, and on either side of that entryway are two large staircases, twisting up to the second floor and splitting to two separate wings.]} {(if: ($mansionDay2 is true) or ($mansionDay1 is true))[ [[You don't want to stay under the atrium.|Day 3 Mansion Choices]] ] (else: )[ [[Above you is a vast skylight made of colored glass, too delicate for a ceiling and yet, nonetheless, it's there.]] ]}

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Third Day//]'' <== {(set: $gardenDay3 to true) (if: $gardenDay3 is true)[You want to go back to the gardens. You head toward the wood door, the iron key already in hand.] (else-if: $gardenDay2)[You think about your options, letting Fitcher's ring of keys jangle in your hand. But while your mind is uncertain, your feet are already taking you to the garden door.] (else: )[To either side of the mansion are tall hedges that block your view of the woods and gardens beyond. A wide stone path leads to the left side of the mansion, ending at an old wood door. You find an iron key that fits the door's lock. (click:"You find an iron key that fits the door's lock.")[You step through and find yourself on gravel, painful under your thin shoes. You're in a courtyard garden, the grass cut in sharp geometries around a stone fountain shaped like a book, water drowning its open pages.]]} {(if: ($gardenDay2 is true) or ($gardenDay3 is true))[ [[Look around.|Day 3 Garden Choices]] ] (else: )[ [[There are three paths out of courtyard garden, and a statue at the mouth of each.|Ominous garden description]] ]}

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Third Day//]'' <== {(set: $leaveDay3 to true) You go to the gate. It's unlocked. (if: $leaveDay2 is true)[You don't know if you dare try again, but... it's the third day. You have to know.](else-if: $leaveDay1 is true)[Maybe this time the story will let you leave.](else: )[You're not sure you really want to go, but... you want to know if you have a choice.]} You start walking down the dusty road, but every sound seems too loud. You've gotten used to the quiet of the mansion, its own kind of solace after the... noise. Of your father's house. (click:"Of your father's house.")[Heavy footsteps. You're used to feeling the shake of the house under those heavy footsteps, a sound so deep it sinks inside you.] (click:"it sinks inside you.")[You feel them now, except that can't be it. It can't be. Perhaps you feel a horse's hooves, your husband in the distance finally coming home. Home to your mansion, not your father's house, never your father's house again, you're far away from it, you're married to a rich man, and his mansion is-- --too far behind you, suddenly.] (click:"--too far behind you, suddenly.")[All you can feel are the heavy footsteps coming toward you.] (click:"coming toward you.")[Getting louder.] (click:"Getting louder.")[Getting closer.] (click:"Getting closer.")[You can't do this. [[Run back.|Day Three Choices]] ]

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Second Day//]'' <== {(set: $pickBedroom2 to true) (if:($pickBedroom1 is true) and ($bookClue1 is true))[You return to the blue bedroom. It calms you. The book of fairy tales is lying centered on the bed. You don't touch it, but that doesn't matter--it opens on its own: (align:"<==")+(box:"===XXXXXXXXXX=======")(display:"bookWords") [[Try another page.]] [[The bed is soft. And you're so very tired. Maybe you can just lie down to rest... |Sleep-2]] [[Go back into the hall.|Second Floor-2]]] (else-if:$pickBedroom1 is true) [You return to the blue bedroom. It usually calms you. But you can't help but feel like you're forgetting something. [[You want to lie down and try to remember... maybe you won't fall asleep this time... |Sleep-2]] [[Go back into the hall.|Second Floor-2]]] (else: ) [Unlike the rest of the house, with its reds and oranges and false warmth, this bedroom seems washed in cool water, blues that stretch the spectrum and calm you. It reminds you, though you don't know why, of your mother. (click:" of your mother.")[As you step inside and sit on the soft, blue bed, you feel the press of your skirt's heavy pockets against your thighs. Or, more precisely... the knife.] (click:"the knife.")[It was meant for your husband or for yourself, you know that--but you don't want to think about it. (if: $bookClue1 is true)[Your other pocket has the little book from the library, //Les contes de fées.// When you take it out, it seems to open of its own accord to a page that reads: (click: " that reads:")[(align:"<==")+(box:"===XXXXXXXXXX=======") (display:"bookWords") This doesn't look like a story.] (click:"This doesn't look like a story.")[ [[Try another page.]] [[The bed is soft. And you're so very tired. Maybe you can just lie down to rest...|Sleep-2]] [[Go back into the hall.|Second Floor-2]]]] (else: )[[[The bed is soft. And you're so very tired. Maybe you can just lie down to rest... |Sleep-2]] [[Go back into the hall.|Second Floor-2]]]]]}

(set:$sleep2 to true)(text-style:"bold","smear","expand")[The Third Day] In the morning, you open your eyes to find yourself again dressed and standing in the courtyard. Did you really sleep? You don't know. Nothing here feels right. {You're hungry. (if: ($foodClue1 is true) or ($foodClue2 is true))[The mansion makes you nervous but you know you can find food in the dining room.](else-if: ($kitchenGardens1 is true) or ($kitchenGardens2 is true))[You don't think it's a good idea to eat from the unnatural gardens, but if you have no choice....](else: )[You need to explore more and find something to eat. Your mind's half mad with hunger.]} [[Look at your choices.|Day Three Choices]]

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Third Day//]'' <== {(if: (($bookClue1 is true) and ($statueDay3 is true)) or (($foodClue3 is true) and ($statueDay3 is true)) or (($bookClue1 is true) and ($foodClue3 is true)))[You're tired. You wonder if you should find a bedroom. They're probably on the second floor. (set:$dayTired3 to true)]} =|= [ [[Climb the lefthand stair.|Second Floor-3]]] =|= (align:"=><=")[ [[Go to the Great Hall.|Great Hall-3]]] =|= (align:"==>")[ [[Climb the righthand stair.|Second Floor-3]]] |==| =|= {(if: $dayTired3 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)[//Walk left.//]] (else-if: $walkLeft3 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)[ [[Walk left.|Walk left-3]] ]] (else: ) [ [[Walk left.|Walk left-3]]]} =|= =|= {(if: $dayTired3 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)+(align:"==>")[//Walk right.//]] (else-if: $walkRight3 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)+(align:"==>")[ [[Walk right.|Walk right-3]] ]] (else: )[ (align:"==>")[[Walk right.|Walk right-3]]]} |==| =|= =|= {[(if: $dayTired3 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)+(align:"=><=")[//Go back to the courtyard.//]] (else-if: $courtyard3 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)+(align:"=><=")[ [[Go back to the courtyard.|Day Three Choices]] ]] (else: ) [ (align:"=><=")[[Go back to the courtyard.|Day Three Choices]]]]} =|= |==|

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Third Day//]'' <== {(set: $secondFloor3 to true) (if: ($pickBedroom1 is true) or ($pickBedroom2 is true))[You wander the hall, back and forth, but you don't know why you pretend otherwise--there's only one thing you want here, even if it doesn't really have the answers you seek: your blue bedroom.] (else-if:$pickBedroom3 is true)[The bedroom you picked is just beside the staircase; there's a wide landing that connects the left wing of the mansion to the right and overlooks the atrium floor. You intend to get a closer look at the atrium ceiling, with it's glassy foxes running, but instead you find yourself looking down to an equally beautiful wonder. Where the ceiling is stained glass foxes, the floor is instead covered in an enormous mosaic... of hounds at the hunt, their teeth already stained with blood. You find you do not wish to linger on this landing.] (else: )[A long hall stretches the length of the mansion, connecting the two staircases. There are magnificent paintings that line the walls between each door. The one nearest you has a little silver lock, and when you use one of Fitcher's keys to open it, you find the room beyond to be a beautiful, oddly restful, bedroom.] (if: ($pickBedroom1 is true) or ($pickBedroom2 is true) or ($pickBedroom3 is true))[ [[Go to your bedroom.|Bedroom-3]]] (else: ) [ [[Pick a bedroom.|Bedroom-3]]] (if: ($pickBedroom3 is true) and ($dayTired3 is true))[ (text-colour:gray)[//Go back to the atrium.//]] (else: ) [ [[Go back.|Day 3 Mansion Choices]]]}

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Third Day//]'' <== {(set: $greatHall3 to true) (if: $greatHall2 is true)[The hall is just as grand, and just as shadowed as the first day you stepped inside. But this is your third day in Fitcher's mansion. And you know many more things than you did when you began. (if: $wivesAnagram is true)[Which is why you know what it means when you hear the wails of women--oh God, so many women //just like you//--coming from behind the door. //"Is someone out there?// cries one voice. //"He brought home another wife,"// another shouts. //"Help us!"// calls a third. //"Unlock the door, we know the secret way to leave the mansion!"// [[Unlock the door to save your sister brides.|Unlock the door.]] [[No, why-- why wouldn't they have been calling you all along? This makes no sense--|Day 3 Mansion Choices]] ] (else: )[Which is why you think you know what it means when you hear the wails of women just like you coming from behind the door. [[Unlock the door to help the women.|Unlock the door.]] [[No, why-- why would there be anyone here?-- you must be hearing things again.|Day 3 Mansion Choices]] ]] (else-if: $greatHall1 is true)[The great hall, you notice, is not as silent as you thought your first day in it. You hear... (click:"You hear...")[Your brother?] (click:"Your brother?")[//"$playerName! $playerName, help me!"//] (click:"help me!")[Oh God above. It's coming from behind the small, small door, with the gold lock waiting for a key. [[Unlock the door to save your brother.|Unlock the door.]] [[No, why-- why would he be here-- you must be hearing things again.|Day 3 Mansion Choices]]] ] (else: )[The great hall has tall windows, polished floors, and deep shadows. There is an eery echo here. This room could hold a banquet; it could hold a grand ball. But all it has is a small, small door, all the way at the other end, with a gold lock waiting for a key. [[Unlock the door.]] [[Go back.|Day 3 Mansion Choices]]]}

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Third Day//]'' <== {(set: $walkLeft3 to true) (if: ($walkLeft1 is true) or ($walkLeft2 is true))[You turn left, heading toward the library.] (else-if: $walkRight3 is true)[You turn left and, much like the righthand side, rich and beautiful rooms open before you, the wealth a match to what you saw before. So much, in fact, it starts to feel unreal around you, like it all might turn to sticks and leaves come morning. (But that is not this story.)] (else: )[You turn left and start to explore the rooms that open up to you, each more beautiful and richly furnished than the last. All contain boxes and caskets, wardrobes and trunks, and you test the silver keys against them, finding wealth beyond compare in every one.]} {(if: ($bookClue1 is true))[You stay there awhile, looking for more books to read. But every book you open has only water-stained blurs where words should be.] (else: )[The very last room is a library. There are more books here than you knew existed in the world. One of them, worn and fragile, has been left out on a gold-leafed reading table. The rich blue cover reads //Les contes de fées.// //Fairy Tales.// [[Take the book.]]] [[Go back.|Day 3 Mansion Choices]]}

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Third Day//]'' <== {(set: $walkRight3 to true) (if: ($walkRight1 is true) or ($walkRight2 is true))[You turn right, heading toward the dining room though it makes you uneasy.] (else-if: $walkLeft3 is true)[You turn right and, much like the lefthand side, rich and beautiful rooms open before you, the wealth a match to what you saw before. So much, in fact, it starts to feel unreal around you, like it all might turn to sticks and leaves come morning. (click:"turn to sticks and leaves come morning.")[(But that is not this story.)]] (else: )[You turn right and start to explore the rooms that open up to you, each more beautiful and richly furnished than the last. All contain boxes and caskets, wardrobes and trunks, and you test the silver keys against them, finding wealth beyond compare in every one.]} {(if: ($walkRight1 is true) or ($walkRight2 is true))[You suspect by now that the dining room will be full of food, and you're right. With a certain bravery that you're not sure you really feel, you sit at the table's head. Your husband's place.] (else: )[The very last room is an enormous dining room, its long table set with fine china and silver plate. More food than you thought existed in the world has been laid out, hot and waiting for you on dishes decorated with fine blue spirals.]} [[Eat the food.]] [[Go back.|Day 3 Mansion Choices]]

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Third Day//]'' <== {(set: $pickBedroom3 to true) (if:(($pickBedroom1 is true) and ($bookClue1 is true)) or (($pickBedroom2 is true) and ($bookClue1 is true)))[You return to the blue bedroom. It calms you. The book of fairy tales is lying centered on the bed. You don't touch it, but that doesn't matter--it opens on its own: (align:"<==")+(box:"===XXXXXXXXXX=======")(display:"bookWords") [[Try another page.]] [[If you lie down, you know where you'll wake up, but maybe, maybe... |Sleep-3]] [[Go back into the hall.|Second Floor-3]]] (else-if:($pickBedroom1 is true) or ($pickBedroom2 is true)) [You return to the blue bedroom. It usually calms you. But you can't help but feel like you're forgetting something. [[You want to lie down and try to remember... maybe you won't fall asleep this time... |Sleep-3]] [[Go back into the hall.|Second Floor-3]]] (else: ) [Unlike the rest of the house, with its reds and oranges and false warmth, this bedroom seems washed in cool water, blues that stretch the spectrum and calm you. It reminds you, though you don't know why, of your mother. (click:" of your mother.")[As you step inside and sit on the soft, blue bed, you feel the press of your skirt's heavy pockets against your thighs. Or, more precisely... the knife.] (click:"the knife.")[It was meant for your husband or for yourself, you know that--but you don't want to think about it. (if: $bookClue1 is true)[Your other pocket has the little book from the library, //Les contes de fées.// When you take it out, it seems to open of its own accord to a page that reads: (click: " that reads:")[(align:"<==")+(box:"===XXXXXXXXXX=======") (display:"bookWords") This doesn't look like a story.] (click:"This doesn't look like a story.")[ [[Try another page.]] [[If you lie down, you know where you'll wake up, but maybe, maybe... |Sleep-3]] [[Go back into the hall.|Second Floor-3]]]] (else: )[[[If you lie down, you know where you'll wake up, but maybe, maybe... |Sleep-3]] [[Go back into the hall.|Second Floor-3]]]]]}

{(set:$sleep3 to true)(text-style:"bold","smear","expand")[Your Husband Returns]} You had no reason to think it would be any different, and it isn't. You open your eyes to find yourself again dressed and standing in the courtyard. But this time, the mansion is behind you. (click:"the mansion is behind you.")[The gate to the road is open...](click:"is open...")[ and Fitcher is riding through.] (click:"and Fitcher is riding through.")[ [[Greet your husband.]]]

==> ######{(if: $sleep2 is true)[''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Third Day//]''] (else-if: $sleep1 is true)[''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Second Day//]''] (else: )[''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The First Day//]'']} <== (set: $wivesClue1 to true)Two paths are in front of you, and the third is to your right, moving around the back of the mansion. You step carefully to each and study the statues beside them. (click:"and study the statues beside them.")[The first one, that seems to lead deep into a managed wilderness, has a statue of a woman with wide eyes, mouth open in stone surprise. There is a brass plaque screwed at her feet, and it reads //Rosalinde.//] (click:"Rosalinde.")[The second one, that goes back a little before curving behind the mansion, has a statue of a woman with long hair whipping behind her like a flag and her foot raised in a run. Her plaque, identical to Rosalinde's, reads //Agnes.//] (click:"Agnes.")[The last one, that follows the back of the mansion, has a statue of a woman with hands upraised, pushing against some invisible force. Her plaque reads //Paulette.//] {(click: "Paulette.")[(if: $gardenDay3 is true)[[[You consider your choices.|Day 3 Garden Choices]]] (else-if: $gardenDay2 is true)[[[You consider your choices.|Day 2 Garden Choices]]] (else: )[[[You consider your choices.|Day 1 Garden Choices]]]]}

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The First Day//]'' <== {(if: ($mazeClue1 is true and $statueClue1 is true) or ($birdClue1 is true and $statueClue1 is true) or ($mazeClue1 is true and $birdClue1 is true))[You're tired. You wonder if you should find somewhere to sleep. (set:$dayTired1 to true)]} =|= {(align:"==>")[(if: $dayTired1 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)[//Go down Rosalinde's path, toward the wilderness.//]] (else-if: $folly1 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)[ [[Go down Rosalinde's path, toward the wilderness.|Folly-1]] ]] (else: ) [ [[Go down Rosalinde's path, toward the wilderness.|Folly-1]]]]} =|= {(if: ($dayTired1 is true) or ($mazeClueGone1 is true))[ (text-colour:gray)[//Go down Agnes's path, toward the pleasure gardens.//]] (else-if: $maze1 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)[ [[Go down Agnes's path, toward the pleasure gardens.|Maze-1]] ]] (else: ) [ [[Go down Agnes's path, toward the pleasure gardens.|Maze-1]]]} =|= |==| =|= =|= =|= {(align:"=><=")[(if: $kitchenGardens1 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)[ [[Go down Paulette's path, following the wall of the mansion.|KitchenGardens-1]] ]] (else: ) [ [[Go down Paulette's path, following the wall of the mansion.|KitchenGardens-1]]]]} |==| =|= =|= {[(if: $dayTired1 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)+(align:"=><=")[//Go back to the courtyard.//]] (else-if: $courtyard1 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)+(align:"=><=")[ [[Go back to the courtyard.|Day One Choices]] ]] (else: ) [ (align:"=><=")[[Go back to the courtyard.|Day One Choices]]]]} =|= |==|

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The First Day//]'' <== {(set:$kitchenGardens1 to true) You walk down Paulette's path, the one that leads around the back of the mansion. The flagstones here are just as clean and weeded as those in the front, though you have yet to see any sign of servants. Through the windows set high above you, you glimpse beautiful painted ceilings and thick damask curtains.} (click:"you glimpse beautiful painted ceilings and thick damask curtains.")[You soon pass the outside edges of the pleasure gardens and managed woodland and enter into the kitchen gardens, the ones that would supply the cook and stillroom.] (click:"the ones that would supply the cook and stillroom.")[Each plotted square is heavy with ripe fruit and vegetables, though you know the season is too soon for some, too late for others. In glazed pots you see herbs at every stage of growth, from new leaf to seed, and along the outer edge are orchard trees, each full of fruit and none dropped or rotten.] (click:"rotten.")[ [[It should be miraculous. But you feel uneasy.|Bower-1]]]

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The First Day//]'' <== {(set: $folly1 to true)(set: $wivesClue4 to true)You walk down Rosalinde's path, the one that leads to the managed wilderness. The trees are even spaced, the paths are swept clean, and eventually you come upon what's called a folly -- a bit of artistry meant to look, in this case, like the ruins of an ancient temple.} (click:"the ruins of an ancient temple.")[The ruins, for all their falseness, have a captured air of ritual to them, the white marble veined deeply with some dark red stone. Beside it, as if a vestal virgin sworn to keep its fires burning, is another statue of a woman, though she seems to be missing parts. Her brass plaque reads //Eleonore.//] (click:"Eleonore.")[Unlike the others you've seen so far, her hands are fists, and her eyes are rageful. She's beautiful. [[But you want to leave.|Day 1 Garden Choices]]] (live: 15s)[(stop:)[[You see a white bird fly overhead.|birdSong]] ]

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Second Day//]'' <== {(if: ($mazeClue2 is true and $statueClue2 is true) or ($birdClue1 is true and $statueClue2 is true) or ($mazeClue2 is true and $birdClue1 is true))[You're tired. You wonder if you should find somewhere to sleep. (set:$dayTired2 to true)]} =|= {(align:"==>")[(if: $dayTired2 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)[//Go down Rosalinde's path, where the folly waits.//]] (else-if: $folly2 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)[ [[Go down Rosalinde's path, where the folly waits.|Folly-2]] ]] (else: ) [ [[Go down Rosalinde's path, where the folly waits.|Folly-2]]]]} =|= {(if: ($dayTired2 is true) or ($mazeClueGone1 is true))[ (text-colour:gray)[//Go down Agnes's path, where the labyrinth lies.//]] (else-if: $maze2 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)[ [[Go down Agnes's path, where the labyrinth lies.|Maze-2]] ]] (else: ) [ [[Go down Agnes's path, where the labyrinth lies.|Maze-2]]]} =|= {(align:"=><=")[(if: $dayTired2 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)[ [[Go down Paulette's path, where the unnatural gardens grow.|KitchenGardens-2]] ]] (else: ) [ [[Go down Paulette's path, where the unnatural gardens grow.|KitchenGardens-2]]]]} |==| =|= =|= {[(if: $dayTired2 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)+(align:"=><=")[//Go back to the courtyard.//]] (else-if: $courtyard2 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)+(align:"=><=")[ [[Go back to the courtyard.|Day Two Choices]] ]] (else: ) [ (align:"=><=")[[Go back to the courtyard.|Day Two Choices]]]]} =|= |==|

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Second Day//]'' <== {(set: $maze2 to true) (if:$mazeClue1 is true)[(set: $mazeClueGone1 to true)You walk down Agnes's path again, and enter into the labyrinth. You find yourself going faster as you make each turn, running (though you're not sure why) to reach the woman with the outstretched hands and the bloody feather. But when you find her... her hands are empty, and her eyes look strange and hunted. [[Go back.|Day 2 Garden Choices]]]} {(else: )[You walk down Agnes's path, the one that leads to the grounds behind the mansion. At the end of the path is the entrance of a circle maze, its walls tall but not impenetrable. (click: " tall but not impenetrable.")[You enter and find that as it winds about, you come across exquisite flowers and rare plants, the heady perfumes strange and rich around you. (click: " strange and rich around you.")[In the center of the labyrinth, surrounded by a tangle of wild roses, is another statue of a woman. Her brass plaque reads //Perrine.// Her hands are outstretched, beseeching, and it looks like someone's put something in them. [[Look in the statue's hands.]] [[Go back.|Day 2 Garden Choices]]]]]}

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Second Day//]'' <== {(set: $folly2 to true) (if: $wivesClue4 is true)[You walk down Rosalinde's path again, the one with the temple folly. You think maybe you misremember how angry the statue -- Eleonore -- looked, and now you feel compelled to check. When you arrive though... she's not beside it anymore. She's in the center of the ruins, her stone eyes facing you. [[You back away and leave her.|Day 2 Garden Choices]]] (else: )[You walk down Rosalinde's path, the one that leads to the managed wilderness. The trees are even spaced, the paths are swept clean, and eventually you come upon what's called a folly -- a bit of artistry meant to look, in this case, like the ruins of an ancient temple. (click:" the ruins of an ancient temple.")[The ruins, for all their falseness, have a captured air of ritual to them, the white marble veined deeply with some dark red stone. Beside it, as if a vestal virgin sworn to keep its fires burning, is another statue of a woman, though she seems to be missing parts. Her brass plaque reads //Eleonore.// (click:"Eleonore.")[Unlike the others you've seen so far, her hands are fists, and her eyes are rageful. She's beautiful. [[But you want to leave.|Day 2 Garden Choices]]]]]} (live: 15s)[(stop:)[[You see a white bird fly overhead.|birdSong]] ]

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Third Day//]'' <== {(if: ($mazeClue3 is true and $statueClue3 is true) or ($birdClue1 is true and $statueClue3 is true) or ($mazeClue3 is true and $birdClue1 is true))[You're tired. You wonder if you should find somewhere to sleep. (set:$dayTired3 to true)]} =|= {(align:"==>")[(if: $dayTired3 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)[//Choose Rosalinde's path to Eleonore's folly.//]] (else-if: $folly3 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)[ [[Choose Rosalinde's path to Eleonore's folly.|Folly-3]] ]] (else: ) [ [[Choose Rosalinde's path to Eleonore's folly.|Folly-3]]]]} =|= {(if: ($dayTired3 is true) or ($mazeClueGone1 is true))[ (text-colour:gray)[//Choose Agnes's path to Perrine's maze.//]] (else-if: $maze3 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)[ [[Choose Agnes's path to Perrine's maze.|Maze-3]] ]] (else: ) [ [[Choose Agnes's path to Perrine's maze.|Maze-3]]]} =|= {(align:"=><=")[(if: $dayTired3 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)[ [[Choose Paulette's path to Daphne's bower.|KitchenGardens-3]] ]] (else: ) [ [[Choose Paulette's path to Daphne's bower.|KitchenGardens-3]]]]} |==| =|= =|= {[(if: $dayTired3 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)+(align:"=><=")[//Go back to the courtyard.//]] (else-if: $courtyard3 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)+(align:"=><=")[ [[Go back to the courtyard.|Day Three Choices]] ]] (else: ) [ (align:"=><=")[[Go back to the courtyard.|Day Three Choices]]]]} =|= |==|

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Third Day//]'' <== {(if:$mazeClue1 is true)[(set: $mazeClueGone1 to true)You walk down Agnes's path again, and enter into the labyrinth. You find yourself going faster as you make each turn, running (though you're not sure why) to reach the woman with the outstretched hands and the bloody feather. But when you find her... her hands are empty, and her eyes look strange and hunted. [[Go back.|Day 3 Garden Choices]]]} {(else: )[You walk down Agnes's path, the one that leads to the grounds behind the mansion. At the end of the path is the entrance of a circle maze, its walls tall but not impenetrable. (click:"tall but not impenetrable.")[You enter and find that as it winds about, you come across exquisite flowers and rare plants, the heady perfumes strange and rich around you. (click:"strange and rich around you.")[In the center of the labyrinth, surrounded by a tangle of wild roses, is another statue of a woman. Her brass plaque reads //Perrine.// Her hands are outstretched, beseeching, and it looks like someone's put something in them. [[Look in the statue's hands.]] [[Go back.|Day 3 Garden Choices]]]]]}

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Third Day//]'' <== {(set: $folly3 to true) (if: $wivesClue4 is true)[You've had the memory of her angry eyes with you since the first time you saw them, but you don't want to let them scare you away again. You've survived the mansion and its strangeness for this long; you can do it again for just a single statue... or you would. If she wasn't somehow cast to the ground, her limbs shattered off her body by a rage much stronger than her own. [[It's too much. You run.|Day 3 Garden Choices]]] (else: )[You walk down Rosalinde's path, the one that leads to the managed wilderness. The trees are even spaced, the paths are swept clean, and eventually you come upon what's called a folly -- a bit of artistry meant to look, in this case, like the ruins of an ancient temple. (click:" the ruins of an ancient temple.")[The ruins, for all their falseness, have a captured air of ritual to them, the white marble veined deeply with some dark red stone. Beside it, as if a vestal virgin sworn to keep its fires burning, is another statue of a woman, though she seems to be missing parts. Her brass plaque reads //Eleonore.// (click:"Eleonore.")[Unlike the others you've seen so far, her hands are fists, and her eyes are rageful. She's beautiful. [[But you want to leave.|Day 3 Garden Choices]]]]]} (live: 15s)[(stop:)[[You see a white bird fly overhead.|birdSong]] ]

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The First Day//]'' <== {(if:$mazeClue1 is true)[(set: $mazeClueGone1 to true)You walk down Agnes's path again, and enter into the labyrinth. You find yourself going faster as you make each turn, running (though you're not sure why) to reach the woman with the outstretched hands and the bloody feather. But when you find her... her hands are empty, and her eyes look strange and hunted. [[Go back.|Day 1 Garden Choices]]]} {(else: )[(set: $maze1 to true)(set: $wivesClue3 to true)You walk down Agnes's path, the one that leads to the grounds behind the mansion. At the end of the path is the entrance of a circle maze, its walls tall but not impenetrable. (click: " tall but not impenetrable.")[You enter and find that as it winds about, you come across exquisite flowers and rare plants, the heady perfumes strange and rich around you.] (click:"strange and rich around you.")[In the center of the labyrinth, surrounded by a tangle of wild roses, is another statue of a woman. Her brass plaque reads //Perrine.// Her hands are outstretched, beseeching, and it looks like someone's put something in them. [[Look in the statue's hands.]] [[Go back.|Day 1 Garden Choices]] ]]}

//(either: "Things often happen in magic numbers: three, seven, and twelve are common, and all have meaning that the listener should take care to find.", "There is a song (in a place that is not this place, in a world that is not this world) that says: 'So we wait in the dark, until someone sets us free, and we're brought into the light, and we're back at the start... And I know things now, many valuable things, that I hadn't known before: Do not put your faith in a cape and a hood; they will not protect you the way that they should. And take extra care with strangers, even flowers have their dangers, and though scary is exciting... Nice is different than good.'", "Birds are often seen as embodiments of a dead loved one, come back to warn the innocent or punish the wicked -- the same can be said of any animal that appears ghostly white rather than a more natural color.", "If a poor, elderly person comes upon you and asks that you share your meal -- then no matter how little you have, share it, and let them repay you however they can. But beware of the generosity of strangers that ask for nothing in return; they too often seek a hidden price that you can ill afford to pay.", "If an animal speaks to you, it is most likely telling you the truth; you should listen.", "Daughter? Daughter, is that you? Oh God. I am so sorry, so sorry, so sorry, so sorry, not like this, so sorry--", "Once you are in a fairy story, you are subject to a different sort of rule: promises always have repercussions, virtues are always necessary but rarely rewarded right away, and no decision you make can ever take you directly to the best outcome--for only those who have suffered can be worthy of a happy ending.", "Do not go into the woods. They too often signal the start of the second act.", "If a rich man comes to your father's gate, ask yourself: Why does a man of such estate need to find a wife among a poor man's daughters?", "Beware of tasks that seem too easy, or punishments too vague.", "Both true names--and chosen names--have power. Remember them.", "If you leave your home, you will change. This may be either good or bad, depending on what you learn along the way.", "A path of bread crumbs will be eaten; a path of seeds will grow.", "Wishes are dangerous. They--and the sorts of things that grant them--are all too eager to teach you an important lesson about what happens if you try to cheat the natural order and try to get something out of nothing.", "Mirrors always, always mean something.", "But the 'consolation' of fairy-tales has another aspect than the imaginative satisfaction of ancient desires. Far more important is the Consolation of the Happy Ending. Almost I would venture to assert that all complete fairy-stories must have it. At least I would say that Tragedy is the true form of Drama, its highest function; but the opposite is true of Fairy-story. The consolation of fairy-stories, the joy of the happy ending: or more correctly of the good catastrophe, the sudden joyous “turn” (for there is no true end to any fairy-tale), no wait, wait, this should not be here, this doesn't belong here, these are words from somewhere else, some world outside Fitcher's mansion and beyond the touch of fathers with heavy hands, where did this come from? What is this how did it I can't I can't Mother where I need please h", "'Much Ado About Nothing’ Act I, Scene 1, where Benedick says to Claudio: ‘Like the old tale, my lord: it is not so, nor ‘twas not so; but, indeed, God forbid it should be so.'","And the scholar looked with a kind of sadness up from his books and said, 'Search for ATU 510B.'","Beware of doubles, dopplegangers, vardøgers, and the sidhe washing mirror-copies of the clothes that you are wearing. It's an ill omen to see them; it's a ''deathly'' omen to ''be'' seen by them.")//

{(set: $fitcherLose2 to true) (transition-depart: "dissolve")+(text-style:"bold","smear","expand")[[//$playerName. $playerName, daughter, ''wake up.''//|interstitial1]]}

=><= [[What do you know about fairy tales?]]

=><= (if: $fitcherWin2 is true)[(live: 2s)[(go-to: "interstitial4")]] (else: )[(live: 2s)[(go-to: "interstitial2")]]

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The First Day//]'' <== {(set: $bower1 to true)(set: $wivesClue5 to true) On the other side of the kitchen gardens, you see a raised platform on which a lady's bower has been erected. The rounded roof is glittering with beaten metal, and the walls are carved to look like curled vines. The open door leads to a summer bed of soft linens dyed so light a blue they look almost white, and you realize that there is a hidden warmth here that might let you rest all night in this secluded space.} (click:"in this secluded space.")[As you approach you're brought up short by a headless statue you see propped against one wall. Around its wrists the artist has carved what looks like delicate ribbons, tied with bows. The brass plate reads //Daphne.//] (click:"Daphne.")[ [[The bower's bed looks soft and inviting.|BowerSleep1]] (if: $dayTired1 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)[//Go back to the garden's entrance.//]](else: ) [ [[Go back to the garden's entrance.|Day 1 Garden Choices]]]]

(set:$sleep1 to true)(text-style:"bold","smear","expand")[The Second Day] You open your eyes to find yourself somehow dressed and standing in the courtyard. A watery dawn light making the world look half-unfinished, though it's getting brighter. (You notice you're swaying on your feet like you've heard your mother used to do--and you take pains to stop, as your father would have wished it.) {You're wearing the same clothes as yesterday, though they are somehow clean again. (if: $bookClue1 is true)[In your pocket is the knife and book of fairy tales, pressed tight together.](else: )[In your pocket is the knife, still too heavy for your hand.]} {You find you're very, very hungry. (if: $foodClue1 is true)[You wonder if you should go back to the dining room for breakfast.](else-if: $kitchenGardens1 is true)[You wonder if you should go back to the kitchen gardens and take an apple from the orchard.](else: )[You need to explore more and find something to eat.]} [[Look at your choices.|Day Two Choices]]

==> ######{(if: $sleep2 is true)[''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Third Day//]''] (else-if: $sleep1 is true)[''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Second Day//]''] (else: )[''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The First Day//]'']} <== {(if: $birdClue1 is true)[You don't know if the bird will sing the same song again, but it's the only living thing you've found here so far. You call out to it, asking it for help, asking it to sing its song again. But it doesn't answer. Maybe it was only ever a natural bird, and you've been hearing things again, just like your father always says you do. Here's proof again, you suppose. (if:($sleep2 is true))[ [[Go back to the garden entrance.|Day 3 Garden Choices]] ] (else-if:$sleep1 is true)[ [[Go back to the garden entrance.|Day 2 Garden Choices]]] (else: )[[[Go back to the garden entrance..|Day 1 Garden Choices]]]]} {(else: )[The white bird settles on the highest point of the temple ruins, and you think you're half asleep, somehow dreaming, when it calls down to you: //What do you know about fairy tales?// (click:"What do you know about fairy tales?")[You're used to hearing voices, but it's never been like this. You don't know how to answer it, which is answer enough it seems--the bird tilts its head and says:] (click:"the bird tilts its head and says:")[//You don't remember your mother's voice, giving lessons every bedtime? Oh, poor $playerName, [[poor doomed child.]]// ] ]}

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Second Day//]'' <== {(set: $bower2 to true)(set: $wivesClue5 to true) (if: $bower1 is true)[You finally rush your way to the bower with the summer bed and headless Daphne guarding it. Sitting in here, you feel safe. You have time to think a little. (if: ($wivesClue1 is true) and ($wivesClue2 is true) and ($wivesClue3 is true) and ($wivesClue4 is true) and ($wivesClue5 is true))[You've come across seven named statues now across the courtyard and gardens: Faceless Therese, in the courtyard. Wide-eyed Rosalinde leading to raging Eleonore. Long-haired Agnes leading to Perrine and her held-out hands. And finally Paulette, pushing at the empty air, and leading to the headless Daphne. Seven statues. Seven women. And their names... there's something about their names... but the thought is strangely hard to keep ahold of.] [[The bower bed calls to you. Lay down and close your eyes.|Sleep-2]] (if: $dayTired2 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)[//Go back to the garden's entrance.//]](else: ) [ [[Go back to the garden's entrance.|Day 2 Garden Choices]]]]} {(else: )[On the other side of the kitchen gardens, you see a raised platform on which a lady's bower has been erected. The rounded roof is glittering with beaten metal, and the walls are carved to look like curled vines. The open door leads to a summer bed of soft linens dyed so light a blue they look almost white, and you realize that there is a hidden warmth here that might let you rest all night in this secluded space. (click:"in this secluded space.")[As you approach you're brought up short by a headless statue you see propped against one wall. Around its wrists the artist has carved what looks like delicate ribbons, tied with bows. The brass plate reads //Daphne.// (click:"Daphne.")[ [[The bower's bed looks soft and inviting.|BowerSleep2]] (if: $dayTired2 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)[//Go back to the garden's entrance.//]](else: ) [ [[Go back to the garden's entrance.|Day 2 Garden Choices]]]]]]}

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Second Day//]'' <== {(set: $kitchenGardens2 to true)(if: $kitchenGardens1 is true)[You walk down Paulette's path, checking as you go to see if there is any sign of decay or even aging in the plants you pass by. There are none. The unease you feel as you walk these paths grows stronger. [ [[You continue quickly to the bower.|Bower-2]]] ]} {(else: )[You walk down Paulette's path, the one that leads around the back of the mansion. The flagstones here are just as clean and weeded as those in the front, though you have yet to see any sign of servants. Through the windows set high above you, you glimpse beautiful painted ceilings and thick damask curtains. (click: " you glimpse beautiful painted ceilings and thick damask curtains.")[You soon pass the outside edges of the pleasure gardens and managed woodland and enter into the kitchen gardens, the ones that would supply the cook and stillroom.] (click: " the ones that would supply the cook and stillroom.")[Each plotted square is heavy with ripe fruit and vegetables, though you know the season is too soon for some, too late for others. In glazed pots you see herbs at every stage of growth, from new leaf to seed, and along the outer edge are orchard trees, each full of fruit and none dropped or rotten.] (click: " rotten.")[ [[It should be miraculous. But you feel uneasy.|Bower-2]]]]}

=><= (live: 3s)[(go-to: "Story Restart")] #(transition-depart: "dissolve")+(text-style:"bold","smear","expand")[you need to remember]

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Third Day//]'' <== (set: $kitchenGardens3 to true) {(if: $kitchenGardens2 is true)[You run down Paulette's path, passing plants and trees identical to the day before. Unnatural. Have you eaten in Fitcher's home? You can't remember. You hope to God you didn't eat anything from these gardens. [ [[You continue quickly to the bower.|Bower-3]]] ] (else-if: $kitchenGardens1 is true)[You walk down Paulette's path, checking as you go to see if there is any sign of decay or even aging in the plants you pass by. There are none. The unease you feel as you walk these paths grows stronger. [ [[You continue quickly to the bower.|Bower-3]]] ] (else: )[You walk down Paulette's path, the one that leads around the back of the mansion. The flagstones here are just as clean and weeded as those in the front, though you have yet to see any sign of servants. Through the windows set high above you, you glimpse beautiful painted ceilings and thick damask curtains. (click: " you glimpse beautiful painted ceilings and thick damask curtains.")[You soon pass the outside edges of the pleasure gardens and managed woodland and enter into the kitchen gardens, the ones that would supply the cook and stillroom.] (click: " the ones that would supply the cook and stillroom.")[Each plotted square is heavy with ripe fruit and vegetables, though you know the season is too soon for some, too late for others. In glazed pots you see herbs at every stage of growth, from new leaf to seed, and along the outer edge are orchard trees, each full of fruit and none dropped or rotten.] (click: " rotten.")[ [[It should be miraculous. But you feel uneasy.|Bower-3]]]]}

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Third Day//]'' <== {(set: $bower3 to true)(set: $wivesClue5 to true)(set: $bower2 to true) (if: $bower2 is true)[You don't know why you keep coming back here. Maybe it's because it's outside. Maybe because it has no doors to creak slowly open in the middle of the night. You don't know. (if: $wivesAnagram is true)[You think a moment of the statue women. You wonder if there's some deeper meaning. Therese, Rosalinde, Eleonore, Agnes, Perrine, Paulette, Daphne. (click:"Therese, Rosalinde, Eleonore, Agnes, Perrine, Paulette, Daphne.")[''T''herese, ''R''osalinde, ''E''leonore, ''A''gnes, ''P''errine, ''P''aulette, ''D''aphne. What if...] (click:"What if...")[T, R, E, A, P, P, D ? No. That's out of order, it should read...] (click:"it should read...")[TRAPPED] (click:"TRAPPED")[Oh God. It can't be. That shouldn't-- you've been all around these grounds, the mansion. You've been everywhere... ] (click:"everywhere...")[...everywhere except the small locked room all the way in the back of the Great Hall.]] [[The bower bed calls to you, almost like it's begging.|BowerSleep3]] (if: $dayTired3 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)[//Go back to the garden's entrance.//] ] (else: ) [ [[Go back to the garden's entrance.|Day 3 Garden Choices]] ]] (else-if: $bower1 is true)[You finally rush your way to the bower with the summer bed and headless Daphne guarding it. Sitting in here, you feel safe. You have time to think a little. (if: ($wivesClue1 is true) and ($wivesClue2 is true) and ($wivesClue3 is true) and ($wivesClue4 is true) and ($wivesClue5 is true))[You've come across seven named statues now across the courtyard and gardens: Faceless Therese, in the courtyard. Wide-eyed Rosalinde leading to raging Eleonore. Long-haired Agnes leading to Perrine and her held-out hands. And finally Paulette, pushing at the empty air, and leading to the headless Daphne. Seven statues. Seven women. And their names... there's something about their names... but the thought is strangely hard to keep ahold of.] [[The bower bed calls to you, though you're not sure you want to listen.|BowerSleep3]] (if: $dayTired3 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)[//Go back to the garden's entrance.//] ] (else: ) [ [[Go back to the garden's entrance.|Day 3 Garden Choices]]]] (else: )[On the other side of the kitchen gardens, you see a raised platform on which a lady's bower has been erected. The rounded roof is glittering with beaten metal, and the walls are carved to look like curled vines. The open door leads to a summer bed of soft linens dyed so light a blue they look almost white, and you realize that there is an hidden warmth here that might let you rest all night in this secluded space. (click:" in this secluded space.")[As you approach you're brought up short by a headless statue you see propped against one wall. Around its wrists the artist has carved what looks like delicate ribbons, tied with bows. The brass plate reads //Daphne.// (click:"Daphne.")[ [[[The bower's bed looks soft and inviting.|BowerSleep3]] (if: $dayTired3 is true)[ (text-colour:gray)[//Go back to the garden's entrance.//]] (else: ) [ [[Go back to the garden's entrance.|Day 3 Garden Choices]]]]]]]}

"Well done," he says, and he looks almost sad. "I'll miss you, I think. You would have made a most obedient wife." [[Say nothing.]]

=><= ##(text-style:"smear")[a rich man comes to your father's gate] #####by #####(link:"Katherine Crighton")[(goto-url: 'http://www.katherinecrighton.com')] #####2023 #####Latest Update: 05/06/2023 9:58 AM --- [[Start the Story|title page]] Credits #####Click to see content tags and warnings. --- {(click:"Click to see content tags and warnings.")[ Depending on the story choices made, the following content could appear: Child endangerment, fairy-tale-typical peril, gore, descriptions of physical abuse, implied sexual abuse, implied child abuse, implied incest, implied domestic abuse, unreality, dead animals, blood, implied animal cruelty, dead parents.] (click:"Credits")[Story, writing, and coding by Katherine Crighton. A project originally drafted under Prof. Ben Schneider for Worcester Polytechnic Institute's (link:"Interactive Media and Game Design MFA program")[(goto-url: 'https://www.wpi.edu/academics/study/interactive-media-and-game-design-MFA')], using (link:"Harlowe 3.3.5")[(goto-url:'https://twine2.neocities.org/')] for (link:"Twine 2.6.2")[(goto-url: 'https://twinery.org/')]. Much appreciation is given to the 2023 IMGD Fundamentals class for feedback, and to multiple members of the GOAT server for continued (possibly unending) beta testing and bug reports.]}

=><= (live: 3s)[(go-to: "He snaps his fingers.")] ##(text-style:"bold","smear","expand")[oh $playerName, you've done so well]

=><= (live: 3s)[(go-to: "interstitial5")] ##(transition-depart: "dissolve")+(text-style:"bold","smear","expand")[now: remember]

{(set: $fitcherLose1 to true) (transition-depart: "dissolve")+(text-style:"bold","smear","expand")[[//$playerName. $playerName, daughter, ''wake up.''//|interstitial1]]}

{(set:$fitcherWin1 to true)[[...until you start dreaming of your mother's voice again.|interstitial1]]}

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The First Day//]'' <== You feel a sudden tiredness overcome you. And the bed does look so very, very inviting. [[You lay down atop the softest thing you've ever felt-- and close your eyes.|Sleep-1]]

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Second Day//]'' <== You feel a sudden tiredness overcome you. And the bed does look so very, very inviting. [[You lay down among those soft blue sheets-- and close your eyes.|Sleep-2]]

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The Third Day//]'' <== {(set:$sleep3)You lay down, despite today being your last day here--no more time to make choices, no more time to think about what you will do when Fitcher comes--[[and close your eyes.|Sleep-3]]}

{(set:$silverKey to true) You hold up a silver key, and Fitcher waves a hand. "Those are the keys to my boxes of gold, my caskets of jewels, my stillroom full of precious spices. Look for yourself."} You follow where he gestures and see through one of his clear glass windows many trunks and wardrobes all fitted with silver locks. {(if:$ironKey is true)[ But as you twist the ring of keys to check for more, you see something hidden among the others... a single //golden// key. [[Ask about the one gold key.]]] (else: )[ [[Ask about the iron keys.]]]}

==> ######''(text-style:"smear")+(text-colour:(hsl:339,0.6939,0.3843,0.7))[//The First Day//]'' <== ...only to reappear again in front of you, as if you had always been walking toward it. (click:"as if you had always been walking toward it.")[Oh. So the gate might not lock you in... but that doesn't mean you're free.] (click:"but that doesn't mean you're free.")[ [[Go back to the courtyard.|Day One Choices]]]

(live: 3s)[(go-to: "It starts, or ends, when the rich man comes to your father's gate.")] You open your eyes.