Nights like these truly are frightening.
With no natural light to keep you company, thanks to the thick canopy of trees obfuscating the moon and the stars, all you can see is what the headlights of your car show you.
You drive carefully on this narrow and uneven dirt road, which bends unpredictably to one side or the other.
[[Continue|Start 2]]
(set: $shackkey to false)
(set: $shackopen to false)After a while the forest clears, leaving in its place a wide, moonlit clearing.
You pass an open gate, entering what must have once been a bountiful farm.
What lies before you is only the husk of what must have been: crooked signposts, dilapidated buildings, rusted tools, and overgrown land.
On top of a low hill you see it: a massive manor.
[[Continue|Start 3]]You keep driving up the hill.
While approaching the main gate, you see how its stone walls are still intact, although covered in ivy and moss.
The gate itself is majestic, tall, rusty and open.
You let yourself in, uninvited and unwilling.
[[Continue|Start 4]]Your headlights shine on the manor's broken windows and once shiny brass ornaments. The moonlight gives the building a dreadful, pallid colour.
Its rotting wood and peeling paint tell a story of old grandeur.
The garden is squallid in its abandoned state, and you hear scuttering noises amongst its twisting bundles of vines and scruffy, ill-looking bushes.
You park near the entrance and exit the car, carrying your torchlight with you.
[[Continue|ManorFront]]You stand in front of the manor.
The [[main door|ManorMaindoor]] is in front of you. You could also go and explore what is [[behind|ManorBehind]] the building.
If you were to turn, you would see the [[gate|ManorGate]] from whence you came.Double-click this passage to edit it.You walk a stone path that leads to the backyard. The stones are cracked and uneven, and home to drab-coloured, crustose lichens.
Passing a small gate connected to a short fence, you enter the backyard.
There are some old [[chairs and a table|BackChairs]], a [[back entrance|BackEntrance]] to the manor, and a crooked, wooden [[shack|BackShack]].You walk the gravel path that leads to the main gate.
The gate is truly impressive in both size and style. Too bad that its iron [[adornments|GateAdorn]] have been ruined by decades of rust.
[[Go back.|ManorFront]]You look closer to the adornments of the gate.
Although rusted, you clearly see a motif of leaves intervining onto some branches. Under the branches are some human figures dancing, but the rust has ruined any detail.
[[Go back.|ManorFront]]You see an old table and chairs, alongside a swing and old cricket clubs.
The [[table|BackTable]] and chairs used to be painted white, but the little paint that remains is flaky and moss-ridden, while the exposed metal has become rusty.
The swing and cricket items suffered a similar fate, having been mercilessly exposed to the weather for years.
This must have been where the owners used to spend their free time, enjoying the fresh air while hiding from indescreet eyes.Clicca due colte questo passaggio per modificarlo.The shack is made of wood, and its back wall leans on the outer stone wall of the garden. Its walls are made of cracked, dry wood planks, and used to be painted a lovely green colour. It has an [[old door|ShackDoor]] and no windows.
Some old wood is piled up next to it, under some roofing.Your eye catches something dangling from under the table.
You look closer, and notice that it is a tiny tin box. It is partially attahed to the underside of the table.
You take it in your hands and decide to open it. Inside it, you find [an old key.]<c1|
(click: ?c1) [You take the key. It is in good conditions, and larger than expected. (set: $shackkey to true)]
[[Go back|ManorBehind]]The door seems to be pretty solid, if old.
It has a rusty handle, and a large keyhole. (click: "large keyhole")[(show: ?s1)]
|s1)[(if: $shackkey is true)[The keyhole seems to fit the [[large key|InShack]] you found.](else:)[Unfortunately, you do not have the right key.](if: $shackopen is true)[[[Enter the shack|InShack]].]]
[[Go back.|ManorBehind]](set: $shackopen to true)
(set: $shackkey to false)
[[Go back|ShackDoor]].