The Message is Urgent.
In front of you looms the oversize gates of the recipient's estate.
How had a scientist, not at all famous as far as you're aware, managed to obtain such an absurd level of wealth? The answer eludes you.
It does not matter. The long drive all the way out here from the city is finally over, and now all that needs to be done is to hand the message over. Doing so, however, has a few more steps than usual, owing to the page of instructions handed to you along with the message.
**//THE MESSAGE IS URGENT//**
, reads the top of the instructions page. Immediately following are the directions you had used to make your way here, to the entrance of the estate.
The next instruction reads:
//Do not wait for assistance at the front gates - they are not locked//
[[Exit Car->Outside, Approaching]] The dusty gravel of the driveway crunches underfoot. Before you are spiked black gates, appearing to tower even higher over you now that you've left your car. True to the instructions, they do not appear to be locked in any way.
Open them?
[[Open -> Gates]] - - [[Don't ->Outside, Waiting]] Nothing happens.
The Message is Urgent.
Open Gates?
[[Open -> Gates]] - - [[Don't ->Outside, Waiting]] The gates are very heavy and the hinges don't work very well. With unexpected effort, each gate is swung open and clicked into place. Breathing a little heavy, you trudge your way back accross the gravel to your car.
[[Enter Car ->Car, Driveway]] The gates slowly swing shut after you pass through on your way up the long, winding driveway.
Incredibly, it is a short drive before you can even see the manor. Finally cresting the hill, it comes into view, from top to bottom. Its overwhelming scale and sheer elegance immediately bring you back to wondering how in the world this scientst came to be this unreasonably wealthy. Clearly, science would've been the better occupation than delivery, you laugh quietly.
//Enter behind the manor//
, the instructions continue after the gates part,
//through the upward-facing doors built into the ground. The stairs will take you underground.//
**//DO NOT deliver to manor.//**
//It is closed off and nobody will hear you to let you in or recieve the message. The Message is Urgent. You must deliver it underground.//
The driveway circles back in front of the house. There is no way to drive around it towards the back. You park in a spot close to the front of the house.
[[Exit Car ->Front Yard]] Its a //really// fancy front yard and a //really// fancy mansion. The specific details don't really matter. There are only two routes that matter to you: the wide flight of stairs leading up to the double doors at the front of the mansion, or the cobbled footpath leading around to the back.
[[Try Front Door ->Front Door]] - - [[Head around Back ->Back Yard]] Reaching the double doors at the top of the stairs, you bang the brass lions-head knocker against them.
Nothing happens.
You try again, harder.
Still nothing.
You shout, attempting to get anyone's attention.
No response.
The Message is Urgent.
It is time to go around back.
[[Head around Back ->Back Yard]] The back yard is somehow more ostentatious than the front. Acres and acres of lawn sprawl far off into the distance, divided only by neat rows of short hedges. There are more statues, and fountains as in the circle at the front of the house.
Again, none of this matters.
The upward-facing doors to go "undergorund" are here.
They are not elegant.
They are not fancy.
They are ancient, weather beaten, and warped.
A rusted iron latch lays accross the top of both doors, barring the doors shut from the outside.
[[Call For Anybody]] - - [[Open The Doors]]Your voice echos off into the distance.
Nothing happens.
The Message is Urgent.
[[Call Again ->Call For Anybody]] - - [[Open The Doors]] The latch sticks from rust, but you manage to force it from its place. It swings up, allowing the doors to be pulled open.
You do so.
The doors no longer swing wide enough to stay open by themselves, forcing you to hold them up while you peer down into the darkness beneath.
Stone steps descend underground.
//The Message is Urgent. You must deliver it underground.//
[[I **will** deliver ->Basement Stairs]] - - [[Coward<-Nope]] The Message is Urgent.
Coward.
[[I **will** deliver ->Basement Stairs]] - - [[Coward<-Nope]]As you walk slowly down the steps, the doors descend with you, leaving you with less and less light until they finally rest shut above you. There is hardly any light down here. You press on, outstreched arms pushing against the walls to hold you in place, legs extending down searching for the next step.
Serching for the next step.
Searching for the next step.
After only a short time, although having felt like an eternity, you find you can see a faint light shining from down below. You let out a sudden sign of relief, and thats when the creaking starts.
The latch, behind you, is creaking.
Too late, you realise the latch is falling, back accross the doors.
You whip around and stumble back up the stairs, but not in time.
The latch locks in place just out of reach of your outstreched arm, sealing you down here.
You cannot come back this way.
Your only hope is to find another person or way out of here.
The instructions better be right that the message's recipient will be down here too.
Otherwise...
You walk back down to the bottom.
(set: $elevator to false)
(set: $boxes to false)
[[Enter Basement ->Basement Entry]] Shelves line the walls of this room. On them are strange objects and containers. These are extremely old and have decayed significantly, resting under thick layers of cobwebs and black dust.
In front of you is a room with several cabinets.
To your left are messy shelves.
To your right is the entry room.
Behind you are more messy shelves.
- - [[Forward ->Basement C Left]] - -
[[Left ->Shelves]] - - - - [[Right ->Basement Entry]]
- - - [[Back ->Shelves]] - - -This room has several menacingly large cabinets, all shut.
In front of you is a room with a bunch of boxes and a water heater.
To your left are large cabinets.
To your right is a central-looking room.
Behind you is a room with shelves.
- - [[Forward ->Basement Back Left]] - -
[[Left ->Cabinet2]] - - - - [[Right ->Basement Center]]
- - - [[Back ->Basement Left]] - - -This room has an old water heater, and cardboard boxes are piled in a large, disorganized heap against the front wall.
In front of you is a pile of cardboard boxes.
To your left is the heater.
To your right is a room with a piano.
Behind you is a room with several cabinets.
- - [[Forward ->Boxes]] - -
[[Left ->Boiler]] - - - - [[Right ->Basement Back]]
- - - [[Back ->Basement C Left]] - - -//Get in the elevator//
, the next instruction reads.
You do not see an elevator.
In front of you is a central-looking room.
To your left is a room with shelves.
To your right is a room with a large cabinet.
Behind you are the dark stairs.
- - [[Forward ->Basement Center]] - -
[[Left ->Basement Left]] - - - - [[Right ->Basement Right]] This room is completely bare and the walls are stained black from traces of liquid seeping down them. There is a doorway through every wall.
In front of you is a room with a piano.
To your left is a room with several cabinets.
To your right is a room with a desk.
Behind you is the entry room.
- - [[Forward ->Basement Back]] - -
[[Left ->Basement C Left]] - - - - [[Right ->Basement C Right]]
- - - [[Back ->Basement Entry]] - - -Knowing a little how to play, you've never felt negatively about the discovery of a piano before - they usually make you feel like playing. The piano abandoned against the back wall, however, inexplicably makes you feel uneasy rather then playful. Its probably just you being worried about that message you're supposed to be delivering. Yeah, that's gotta be it.
In front of you is the inexplicably unsightly piano.
To your left is a room with a bunch of boxes and a water heater.
To your right is a seemingly empty room.
Behind you is a central-looking room.
- - [[Cautiously Prod Some Keys ->Piano]] - -
[[Left ->Basement Back Left]] - - - - [[Right ->Basement Back Right]]
- - - [[Back ->Basement Center]] - - -One of these rooms must have an elevator. This one has a large cabinet.
In front of you is a room with a desk.
To your left is the entry room.
To your right (if: $elevator)[the wall has slid open to become a doorway to a hidden elevator.](else:)[is a dirty wall.]
Behind you is a large cabinet.
- - [[Forward ->Basement C Right]] - -
[[Left ->Basement Entry]] - - - - (if: $elevator)[[[Right ->Elevator]]]
- - - [[Back ->Cabinet1]] - - -There is a cluttered workbench in this room. It is cluttered with junk.
In front of you is a seemingly empty room.
To your left is a central-looking room.
To your right is a cluttered workbench.
Behind you is a room with a large cabinet.
- - [[Forward ->Basement Back Right]] - -
[[Left ->Basement Center]] - - - - [[Right ->Desk]]
- - - [[Back ->Basement Right]] - - -There is a wall of empty hangers and a row of empty racks.
In front of you are empty hangers.
To your left is a room with a piano.
To your right is a row of empty racks.
Behind you is a room with a desk.
- - [[Forward ->Racks]] - -
[[Left ->Basement Back]] - - - - [[Right ->Racks]]
- - - [[Back ->Basement C Right]] - - -Junk is piled all over the top of desk. Supporting the desk are two short stacks of drawers.
Search?
[[Rifle through the piles on top ->Junk]]
[[Rifle through left drawers ->Junk]]
[[Rifle through right drawers ->Junk]]
[[Nah ->Basement C Right]] Its an old water heater.
(if: $boxes)[Through the space where some boxes used to be stacked before they collapsed, you can now see a polished lever bolted to the wall behind the heater.]
The heater's front panel has two small buttons, an unmarked dial, and a big red button.
(if: $boxes)[[[Reach Behind and Pull Lever ->Unlock]]]
[[Push Small Buttons ->Boiler]]
[[Adjust Dial ->Boiler]]
[[Push Big Red Button ->Boiler]]
[[Nah ->Basement Back Left]] Search Cabinets?
[[Seach first cabinet ->Empty]]
[[Seach second cabinet ->Empty]]
[[Seach third cabinet ->Empty]]
[[Seach fourth cabinet ->Empty]]
[[Seach fifth cabinet ->Empty]]
[[Seach sixth cabinet ->Empty]]
[[Nah ->Basement C Left]] Plink Plonk.
Unthinkably, sour notes escape from the ancient inner-workings of the ragged piano. They are completely out of tune and you don't know if the piano will be able to handle being played much longer.
[[Tap Keys Again ->Piano]]
[[Leave it in Peace an deliver the URGENT MESSAGE ->Basement Back]]These are completely empty.
[[Okay ->Basement Back Right]]Cardboard boxes are piled in a large, disorganized heap against the wall.
There doesn't seem to be anything of value in the opened boxes.
Open new boxes?
[[Open Boxes From the Pile Top ->Boxes]]
[[Open Boxes Fallen on the Floor ->Boxes]]
[[Open Boxes From the Pile Bottom ->Collapse]]
[[Nah ->Basement Back Left]]Elevator.
This is where I'll end this, despite only being a set up to a longer story. Right now I want to continue it in a part 2, but I don't know when I'll be able to get around to starting that. So this is the end for now.Search Cabinet?
[[Yes ->Empty]]
[[Nah ->Basement Right]] None of the many items scattered on these shelves immediately stand out to you. There is unlikely to be anything of use.
Search anyway?
[[Search Top Shelves ->Shelves]]
[[Search Middle Shelves ->Shelves]]
[[Search Bottom Shelves ->Shelves]]
[[Nah ->Basement Left]] You find more junk.
Junk is piled all over the top of desk. Supporting the desk are two short stacks of drawers.
Search?
[[Rifle through the piles on top ->Junk]]
[[Rifle through left drawers ->Junk]]
[[Rifle through right drawers ->Junk]]
[[Nah ->Basement C Right]] You here a click echoing from another room.
(set: $elevator to true)
[[Return ->Basement Back Left]] Great idea. What could go wrong?
The pile collapses as soon as you pull a box out from under it.
(set: $boxes to true)
But at least now you can open the box! Inside you find nothing but **really** dusty garbage. Nicely done!
[[But I Had To Do That ->Basement Back Left]]You find nothing of use to you in this cabinet.
(link-undo:"Okay")