> get rock
You take the jagged rock.

The beast lashes out with a clawed hand, just missing as you step away. Giving a low, gurgling growl of displeasure it continues to advance.

> kill beast with rock
You strike at the shadow with the jagged rock. The weapon meets resistance and the beast lets out a nearly human shriek. Driven by fear you strike again and again until your attacker lies still and silent at your feet. Pain shoots through your left hand. You feel disoriented. Not quite sure who you are. No idea where you are. Or why you are here.

> x creature
Looking more closely at the crumpled form, you see that it is not a beast but a human of bestial and debased appearance - heavily muscled, swarthy, hair and beard tangled masses. The dead man is dressed in filthy animal hides. Out of keeping with the dead creature's appearance is the golden ring it wears.

> get ring
You gingerly remove the gold ring from the dead creature. Unlike some of your thieving colleagues, you have never much enjoyed robbing corpses. Your left hand continues to throb.

> x left hand
An object resembling a faceted gem appears to be partially embedded in the back of your hand. It emits a pulsating glow which faintly illuminates your surroundings.

> x gem
The gem is covered with a spiderweb of cracks. It must have struck a rock when you fell. However, beneath the cracks you can make out what appears to be a red eye The eye seems to squint, angrily.

> x note
The square of parchment bears a message penned in some strange ink which gives off a faint glow:

To Whom it May Concern

This vile creature, a common thief, stole my daughter's virtue so I have placed upon him a spell of forgetfulness by means of the magic gem embedded in his hand, and set him to wander the wilderness. Should any man who finds this villain think to offer succor, know that Malevol the Wizard is watching and his vengeance will be swift and pitiless.

Sincerely,
Malevol of Heliopoli (Wizard)

P.S. I have restored my daughter's virtue, as always.

Now that the haze of the spell has evaporated you can recall your ill advised dalliance with the silken haired Marivelle with painful clarity. Apparently the magic gem Malevol used to enslave you hit a rock when you fell and was rendered ineffective. You are gripped by a desire for revenge. Of course, your first encounter with Malevol was none too successful. Returning to Heliopoli might not be the wisest course.

> search clearing
Examining the surrounding bushes, you notice what appear to be freshly broken branches to the north. Perhaps the creature which attacked you entered the clearing from that direction. You may have entered that way also. You can't remember.

> north
Pushing the broken branches aside you find yourself on a narrow weed choked path which runs north but also branches east. Walls of rank vegetation press in all around.

> east
You move east.
A dead end, abrupt as the end of an alleyway. The forest seems to tighten around you here. The path only runs west. But there is also, to the south, a slight gap in the thick bushes, maybe an animal track.

> south
You move south.
This is surely an animal track rather than a path. You can barely squeeze between the gnarled and twisted laurel on both sides. Branches close over your head. Still, it is large enough to accomodate you. The track wasn't made by a rabbit. The path runs north and south. Also, there is an opening to the east.

> east
You move east.
The path here runs north. To the south vegetation blocks any progress. A small opening, perhaps an animal track leads to the west. To the east is a cliff. In one place, the rocks form an overhang. It appears that you might be able to step down and into the shadowy space underneath. You can also make out some indentations in the cliff face.

> down
You move down.
The overhanging rock forms a sort of small cave, the opening a few steps up. Against the dripping back wall lies a skeleton.

> x skeleton
A badly decayed pile of bones. The skull and ribs have collapsed inward. Looking more closely you see that the skull hasn't actually collapsed. The back half has been hewn off. You also see something glinting underneath the bones -- a sword -- probably the weapon the man wasn't able to defend himself with.

> get sword
You take the sword. Although it is large and appears to be forged of bronze, it is oddly light.

> up
You move up.
The path here runs north. To the south vegetation blocks any progress. A small opening, perhaps an animal track leads to the west. To the east is a cliff. In one place, the rocks form an overhang. It appears that you might be able to step down and into the shadowy space underneath. You can also make out some indentations in the cliff face.

> north
You move north.
The path continues north and south along the base of the cliff which here is sheer and unclimbable. The vegetation along the path is impassable.

> north
You move north.
Here the north/south path runs through what looks to be the end of a swamp. A few tall cattails sway in some unfelt breeze. There is also a path running east and west.

> west
You move west.
Here the trees have formed a copse littered with rotting, fallen trunks. A huge boulder sits in the center of the clearing. The boulder, surrounded by weeds and green with moss, is twice your height. There seem to be openings to the east and west.

> x weeds
So far as you tell they're just weeds -- green, with leaves -- of no interest. What does interest you is the leather pouch you see lying there.

> get pouch
You take the leather pouch.

> west
You move west.
The path widens in this direction. Although it is dark, you think you can make out, to the north, an opening, where the impenetrable black of the surrounding trees and bushes gives way to the lighter darkness of the night sky. There also is an opening in the bushes to the east.

> north
You move north.
A wide highway paved with massive concrete slabs runs east and west. Although, here and there, great trees lean out over the thoroughfare, the forest has made no inroads. There is a path leading south.

> east
You move east.
Here the highway is blocked by a towering pile of deadfall which appears at first glance to be impassable. The side of the roadway is littered with rubble.

> x deadfall
On closer inspection the towering pile of enormous tree trunks and forest debris seems rather carefully constructed to be deadfall. Someone must have placed it there, as a barrier. As far as you can see -- not very far given the density of the vegetation - the obstacle extends out from the highway and into the forest. However, at one spot along the base, there seems to be an opening, like the entrance to a burrow. You might be able to go down into the opening.

> down
You squeeze yourself down into the opening and manage to crawl through a tight, narrow burrow. You are in a cramped hollow space walled by tree trunks, sticks and other forest debris. A dark patch of shadow to the south might indicate an opening. You can also go back to the west.

A small red snake fixes you with its sharp gaze.

> kill snake with sword
The sword seems to have a life of its own. It moves practically before you've made up your mind to strike. The snake springs, spitting venom, but the sword catches the creature in mid-leap, slicing it in half.

> open pouch
You open the pouch.

> get snake
You carefully pick up the dead snake. Fresh venom drips from its fangs.

> put snake in pouch
Carefully you put the dead snake into the pouch.

> south
You crawl through the narrow opening and move further into the massive pile of deadfall. This must be the lair of some carnivore. It is practically filled with a ghastly heap of remains. The sort of debris left by a cave weasel -- or worse.

> x debris
You find a scrap of cloth amid the putrefying mass.

> get cloth
You take the scrap of cloth.

> x cloth
A scrap of heavily embroidered cloth -- the sort of thing a rich man might carry in his pocket as a handkerchief.. The remains of a person most likely. The only bit the weasel or wolf, or bear, or whatever lives here, didn't eat. Maybe it found the gold thread unpalatable.

The scrap contains most of a gold rondel, filled with three elaborately worked letters: YAH. Perhaps the owner's initials.

> north
You move north.
You are in a cramped hollow space walled by tree trunks, sticks and other forest debris. A dark patch of shadow to the south might indicate an opening. You can also go back to the west.

> up
You move up.
Here the highway is blocked by a towering pile of deadfall which appears at first glance to be impassable. The side of the roadway is littered with rubble.

> west
You move west.
A wide highway paved with massive concrete slabs runs east and west. Although, here and there, great trees lean out over the thoroughfare, the forest has made no inroads. There is a path leading south.

> south
You move south.
The path widens in this direction. Although it is dark, you think you can make out, to the north, an opening, where the impenetrable black of the surrounding trees and bushes gives way to the lighter darkness of the night sky. There also is an opening in the bushes to the east.

> east
You move east.
Here the trees have formed a copse littered with rotting, fallen trunks. A huge boulder sits in the center of the clearing. The boulder, surrounded by weeds and green with moss, is twice your height. There seem to be openings to the east and west.

> east
You move east.
Here the north/south path runs through what looks to be the end of a swamp. A few tall cattails sway in some unfelt breeze. There is also a path running east and west.

> north
You move north.
The broad highway built of concrete slabs runs east and west, glimmering white, like a frozen stream, in the darkness. To the west it is blocked by an impassable wall of deadfall. A path leads south into the forest. An eroded pillar stands near the edge of the road.

> x pillar
The pillar is a road marker with a carved arrow on top. The inscription on the arrow indicates that Heliopoli lies about 15 ryds to the west. To the east, the inscription claims, the highway leads to Xycanthus.

Lost Xycanthus. Fabled Xycanthus. Doomed Xycanthus. A place of untold riches -- before the Doom. It might be easier to take revenge on Malevol if you weren't totally coinless.

> east
As you continue along the highway you hear a thin, high-pitched sound, like the faint cry of a cicada. "Fool! Go back!" it seems to be saying. Surely you must be imagining things.

> east
You move east.
The highway ends before an immense, masonry wall. Set into the wall is an equally enormous metal door which is closed.

> x door
The door is twice your height, made of some sort of dull metal you cannot readily identify but which gives an impression of impregnability -- exactly the sort of door you would expect to find on a storehouse of untold treasure. The metal's surface has been worked into an impossibly intricate, but seemingy meaningless, pattern. In the center of the door is a brass panel.

> x panel
A brass panel on which is written in raised letters:

X-Y-C-A-N-T-H-U-S

Each letter looks as if it might move if you press it.

> press y
You feel a vibration beneath your fingertips and the Y of brass begins to glow.

A nearly inaudible, insectoid voice, reaches your ears.

"No further! Remember the doom!"

The voice seems to be emanating from the gem i the back of your hand. And it sounds rather like a wasp-sized Malevol.

> press a
The A begins to glow brightly.

> press h
The H lights up and as it does the gate creaks open.

> east
You stride through the open gateway. Once this may have been a great plaza, its size and magnificence humbling those strangers who entered Xycanthus. Now there remain only bare cobbles. Whatever else was here has been swept away. There is certainly no sign of the city's fabled wealth but then treasures are not commonly stored in public squares. A wide avenue leads north, while to the east there lie charred ruins.

You hear Malevol's tiny, buzzing voice, panicked and all but incoherent. "Fool! Get out! Go Back! The Doom! The DOOM!!"

The voice fades suddenly, almost as if it is blocked by the city walls. Perhaps the inhabitants of Xycanthus imbued their city with certain safeguards against magic -- certainly nothing that was effective against the mysterious doom however.

As you enter the city, as if by some enchantment, the two moons of your world, only recently risen, appear from behind a tattered veil of clouds.

> give ring to watcher
The old man's eyes suddenly appear moist. He takes the ring with a claw-like hand.

"I am at your service. I have forgotten nearly everything I know. And what few things I remember are the familiar things of this small part of Xycanthus I traverse each day. But you may ask and I will answer as best I can."

> north
You move north.
The remains of a colonnaded thoroughfare, twice as wide as the Avenue of the Eternal Sun in Heliopoli. Now most of the bordering columns have fallen and street is littered with bits of marble and broken statues. To the south lies an expanse of bare cobbles. To the north you can see the foundation of some ruined structure. You can also see a marble bust.

> north
You move north.
Here the remains of a villa, little more than foundations, are laid out like a diagram on the ground. There is the outline of the dining hall, the courtyard, an office, a bedroom. No walls remain, only some mosaic floors. Gardens lie to the east. You can also move south. You can also see a paperweight.

> get paperweight
You take the paperweight.

> east
You move east.
This place was once an elaborate, decorative garden. Now the grass grows wild, the ornamental bushes have degenerated into stunted, twisted shapes. Still, with the rank vegetation and ruined walkways silvered with moonlight, you can almost envision how it was. The most striking feature is a marble woman. An image of Aphrodite. To the south the garden runs into darkness that not even the moonlight can penetrate. You can also move west. You can also see a gold dinner plate.

> x woman
A life sized marble statue of the love goddess one vanished civilization called Aphrodite. Only a few flecks of paint remain on her slender arms and graceful legs. The pale stone glows in the moonlight, surrounding the perfect, frozen figure in a faint nimbus. How can you not be reminded of Marivelle? Will your lips ever again touch hers?

> kiss aphrodite
You kiss the still, white lips of Aphrodite. They are cool, unyielding, and unresponsive. Then, it seems, you feel a slight tremor.

A tiny door slides open underneath one rounded breast and a key tumbles to the ground.

Suddenly you feel a warmth at your ear. Like Marivelle's breath. You are alone, yet in your mind lingers a memory of a whisper. "XYZZY"

> get key
You take the iron key.

> xyzzy
"Xyzzy." You whisper the strange combination of letters. What put them into your head?

In an instant your question is answered. Like father like daughter, it seems, because a magical vision forms before you. Marivelle is standing on a balcony. Beyond her you can discern the unmistakeable jade green waters of the Southern Sea.

So that is where Malevol sent her. Far from Heliopoli. She must have given you the spell so you would be able to find her.

> south
You move south.
This courtyard must have been colonnaded once, but now only a few stumps of columns remain around its edge. The surface is an unbroken sheet of what appears to be polished black obsidian, perfectly reflecting beneath your feet, the two moons overhead. The only structure standing here is a temple, to the east. You can also move north or south.

> x temple
The shrine is an enormous likeness of Batrachius, the obscene toad idol of ancient Xycanthus. Carved from stone the color of brackish water at midnight, the squat, bulbous abomination, with its hideously distended and distorted features, resembles more a bloated corpse which has floated to the top of a foetid pool than anything a sane person would think to worship. There is a door in the corpulent stone belly of the thing.

> unlock door
You unlock the temple door.

> east
You move east. The interior of the temple is suffused with a watery green effulgence which seems to emanate from the intricately carved walls. The floor is bare concrete, interrupted at its center by a small pool. At the back of the room, an archway opens east on a staircase.

Two small, but monstrously ugly toads block your way to both the stairs and the pool. You realize, somehow, that you will not be able to get past the creatures. Actually, to pass them you'd have to risk touching them and you don't want to do that.

> throw pouch in pool
That's it! Poison the pool from which the toads draw their very substance. You knew there had to be some reason you'd been carting around a dead snake in a venom saturated pouch!

The mucilaginous black ooze in the pool boils as it absorbs the poison. A terrible keening echos around the perversely decorated walls. The nearly invisible filaments tethering the toads to the pool crumble into nothingness and one by one the toads shrivel and implode in tiny puffs of glittering dust leaving behind no trace.

> east
You move east.
This immense staircase of black and gray striped onyx leads down into a kind of crater from the center of which rises a gargantuan dome. The stairs also go east to the temple.

> down
You move down.
A crater, an expanse of blasted, barren earth in which not even a hardy weed has chosen to grow. The ground begins to rise near the edge of the crater, first gradually, then abrupty, forming an vertical wall which is clearly impassable at every point, except where it is interrupted by the onyx stairway. Some of the taller ruins of Xycanthus can be discerned beyond the rim of the crater. None can match the massive, domed edifice at the center. You can go up the stairs or move east or south, around the dome.

> east
You move east.
The crater looks to be entirely empty, save for the towering dome in the middle. The packed earth is devoid even of dust. You can go south or west around the dome in the center of the crater.

> south
You move south.
In this dead crater, starkly lit by the light of the moons, there is nothing but packed earth, hard and unyielding as pavement. The great dome rises from the center. You can go north or west.

> x dome
At one place a fissure angles down the side of the dome, large enough to form a sort of path by which you might be able to make your way upwards. There appears to be a shadowy gap at the end of the fissure.

A small movement catches your attention. It is the malevolent eye in the gem embedded in your hand. The eye is blinking rapidly. Is is possible for a disembodied eye to look wide with terror?

> up
You move up.
This is a sort of cavity in what appears to be plain rock, more like a natural cave than a room one would expect to find within a manmade structure. The dome's shell must be of a thickness to match its monstrous size. Here and there rocky columns run from floor to ceiling. There are openings to the south and east as well as the exit leading down.

> drop all but sword
You drop the jagged rock, the note, the scrap of cloth, the iron key and the paperweight.

> east
You move east.
A wide, tubular passageway. Here and there some kind of nacreous mineral, half embedded in the curving walls, glimmers dimly. In one spot there appears to be scratchings on the wall. Exits lie to the north and west.

> north
You move north.
You can barely see in the dim light but you sense a pulsation, like a heartbeat, coming from. . .where? The walls? The passageway ahead? The exits are south and west.

> west
You move west.
There is nothing to see in the gloom but the rough conglomerate of the walls. However, clearly, the pulsating thump filling the air comes from the opening to the north. There is also an exit to the east.

> north
You move north.
This grotto looks no less natural than the cave which lies beyond the passageway to the south but unlike the cave it is filled with a lambent light originating from mineral deposits which stream along the walls in twisting, frozen rivulets of sparkling fire.

A gap in the walls leads north, but you can only guess at what treasures might lie beyond because stretched tightly across the opening is a purplish, pulsating membrane. Perhaps this beating membrane is the source of the thumping that fills the grotto and passageways all around.

> cut membrane with sword
You slash at the membrane. The bronze sword blade meets taut resistance for an instant, then the membrane tears, with an audible noise. Pulsing veins, ripped apart, dangle and wave, spurting blood wildly and the ragged, rent tissues ooze dark red ichor..

> south
You sprint out of the Grotto. You've always run well. A valuable skill for a thief.

Perhaps it is your panic that makes the passage seem darker than before. There is only the slightest glimmer of light to the east. There is a harsh chattering noise and a monstrous form, three times your height, scuttles through the bloody, membranous tatters which dangle like a torn curtain from the opening in the wall.

It appears to be a sort of gargantuan crab. You can make out the pale dome of the shell below which glisten fiery eyes and slathering mandibles.

Is this the doom that came to Xycanthus? As it moves swiftly toward you on hideously writhing tenacles, you're sorry you asked.

> east
You run.

Stygian darkness chokes the passageway and you can barely discern the exits to the south and west.

You must be opening up some distance between yourself and your pursuer.Although you don't dare pause to look behind, the giant crab's hideous chattering sounds fainter.

> south
You push yourself to run faster. Though your lungs begin to burn with the effort there's no doubt you are leaving the monstrosity behind. The scrabbling of its tentacles along the passageway has definitely faded.

You are drowning in an inky darkness. The exits to the north and west are more recalled than seen.

> west
Your legs are weak but you seem to have outrun the horror. The cavern leading out of the great dome has been transformed. In addition to the exit to the east, half the floor has fallen away taking whatever might have been there with it. Looking down through the gap you can see what appear to be the moonlit ruins of Xycanthus, moving beneath. No, it is the space you're standing in which is moving. You can also see a paperweight.

> get paperweight
You take the paperweight.

> jump
You fling yourself down through the gap in the floor. In a book, your last thought would be of the lovely Marivelle. In reality you are only wondering what the fatal impact of flesh on unyeilding stone will feel like.

To your astonisment, your fall is brief. Almost immediately you hit a hard surface, roll instinctively and come to a stop, uninjured.

You must have been passing over the Great Wall surrounding Xycanthus when you jumped because that is what you are standing on top of now. Fate has smiled on you after all. What's more, although the wall had seemed unscalable when you approached the outer gate you can see now that it has been damaged in several spots, leaving crevices and gaps which it will be simple enough to climb down. You only wish you had made off with some treasure worthy of a fabled city.

But at least you have an exceedingly heavy paperweight so your visit has not been a total loss.
v You are certainly not venturing back into the city. From your lofty vantage point you can make out a number of crab-like horrors identical to the one that pursued you, scuttling down deserted streets and across the ruined squares, their long shadows undulating behind them in the harsh moonlight.

When you turn away from the city and gaze down the highway leading to Heliopoli, the light from the moons reveals also that these crab-creatures are not the doom that came to fabled Xycanthus. They are merely children of the doom, newly spawned.

The true, unspeakable, Doom that sated itself on the city and its inhabitants so long ago, then slept, and gestated, before you woke it, is striding away on powerful tentacles.

The enormous dome of its shell, the dome you mistook for the handiwork of man, rather than that of some malign mad god, gleams dimly for a few moments before vanishing into the distance.

No wonder that the creature is moving with such terrible speed. It must be very hungry after so many centuries. And where might it find sufficient sustenance save in Heliopoli whose marble colonnaded thoroughfares are filled with a tempting marrow of bustling humanity.

Heliopoli, home of Malevol the Wizard. You glance down at the cracked but still faintly glowing gem embedded in the back of your hand. The wizard's red eye rolls wildly. You almost imagine it suddenly widens, the pupil growing huge. Then the gem flickers like a guttering candle and goes out.