You gaze into the pool, scanning the water for the missing locket. "Oh no!" cries the mouse. "Don't do it like that--" but you don't hear the rest. You are sucked into the pool like a vortex, and your head spins with confusion. Just as suddenly as you were sucked in, you are snuffed out like a candle. The last though running through your mind was wonder at how you got into this predicament.\n\n''THE END''\n(one of several)

//Yes, I'll be coming, don't worry//, you start to shout, but before you speak the second word you are swallowed up by the ground beneath the rock you were sitting on.\n\n<<display "Falling">>

You scream as loud as you ever did.\n\n<<if visitedTag("help")>>Quicker than an eye, a black silhouette attacks the Baroness. While she's distracted you escape from the tea room and take an elevator to the surface, helpfully labeled "Elevator to the Surface". You come back to the lake and the party. It turns out not to have been as bad as you feared.<<else>>But sadly, no-one comes to help you, and the Baroness proceeds to chop off your head.<<endif>>\n\n''THE END''\n(one of several)

It seems you're hardly the only one here in this god-forsaken place; you can see the lantern light of a fellow traveler moving through the gloom of these caverns. You shout out after him, and he quickly turns toward your way.\n\nIt takes him a while to reach you, and when he does, he hardly speaks at all, except to mutter a gruff "Hello".\n\n[[Ask for his lantern|Just Ask]]\n[[Say, //How do you do, sir//|Hello]]

You never did like large parties or gatherings, but your aunt Mabel was getting married, and as you always did like her best, you traveled halfway across the country to attend.\n\nAt least the reception is being held near a lake; there's still too many people to deal with, but it's easy to slip away from the festivities when you're out of doors. So you wandered off, not knowing or caring where you went. You followed a bubbling brook upstream, where it led into a shady trench, too steep to climb in your current outfit. As you stop to rest on a mossy rock, you notice some curious markings on it, like the alphabet of a curious, elfin people.\n\n[[Examine the markings closer|Examine]]\n[[Leave the markings be|Leave]]

Down, down, down you tumble, into the dark netherworld of God-Knows-Where. You strain to see where you are going, but it's of no use; it's too dark to see much of anything here. Down, down, down... Just when you are beginning to wonder when you'll finally stop, you do. It's a hard fall, and it makes you ache all over; still, it's not as hard you might expect, given how long it seems you've been falling.\n\n[[{{{*****}}}|Lantern]]

It doesn't take nearly as long to find the poor bat's lost ball as you feared; it seems he forgot to check behind a large, crystalline stalagmite.\n\n"Thank you so much!" he cries when you give back the ball. Then he pauses, as if to consider something.\n\n"You know," he begins again, "My family may not have much money, but we can afford to have someone teach me. Only," and here his bat gets low, "only there are not many people here who would be willing to teach a bat. Would you like to stay here and give me lessons? I promise you my mother will reward you handsomely."\n\n[[Take the bat up on his offer|Governess]]\n[[Say you'd love to, but you //really// must be going|Bat Goodbye]]

Your legs start running before you're even halfway off the rock. You dash back downstream to the lake, but before you quite reach the lake again, you hear the most cacophonic sounds behind you. Dare you take a glance backwards?\n\n[[Yes, I dare|Glance Backwards]]\n[[No, getting back to the party is more important|Back to Party]]

You slow yourself and twist your head to see what could possibly be making that cacophony. You quickly wish you didn't since you see the ground behind you quaking into two. You speed up again, but it's too late; the ground has swallowed you up.\n\n<<display "Falling">>

Soon you come across a palace cut into the very stone, lit up by fungi that look like Chinese lanterns and decorated with marbled columns. <<if visitedTag("bn")>>//This must be the Baroness's palace//, you think gravely.<<endif>>\n\nSuddenly there is a flourish of trumpets, and down the stairs descends a regally dressed lady. "Good day to you, madame," she says smiling. "I am //She// who is known as the Baroness, and I rule over these parts." You curtsey in greeting, more out of fear than anything else.\n\n"Of course, being //royalty// I always get what I want, and what I want //right now// is for you to attend tea with me." You aren't sure how to respond to this, so [[you follow the Baroness inside|Tea]].

So you come back to the party, and smile when you're talked to, and try not to mind Uncle Albert's dirty jokes //too// much, and in all other ways act like a real human being.\n\n''THE END''\n(one of several)

You don't follow those voices. You curl up, exactly where you are, thinking of how alone you feel, and stay there until the party is quite finished. After, you linger around the moonlit lake, wishing you could be someone other than what you are.\n\n''THE END''\n(one of several)

Beneath the Mossy Stone

Molly "Healy" G.

You curtly ask for his lantern, wondering if he'll even satisfy such a request. He grumbles at your demand, but to your surprise, he //does// hand it over, although he gives you such a //bitter// look all the while. He then disappears back into the dark of the caverns, grumbling "Lousy surface folk, think they own everything," to himself.\n\n<<display "Center">>

With some effort you manage to get the mouse to say what's the trouble. "I dropped my locket in the pool," she says between sobs, "and since I can't swim, I can't get at it! And oh! My crying's not helping matters much, is it?" You can hardly disagree with //that//.\n\n"Will you go and get it for me?" she asks, sweetly. "I promise to repay you someday."\n\n[[Apologize and say you must be going on|Baroness]]\n[[Look into the pool and grab the locket|Pool End]]\n<<if visited("Hello")>>[[Reach into the pool and take the locket without looking|Locket]]<<endif>>

//Beneath the Mossy Stone// was created by Molly "Healy" G. for the 2014 Indie Game Maker Contest. It is inspired by the works of Lewis Carrol, movies like //Labyrinth// and //The Dark Crystal//, and old-school Choose-Your-Own-Adventures.\n\n[[(Back to the story)|previous()]]

With the traveller gone, you can see two obvious paths through the caverns. The path to the right looks dripping wet; to the left can be heard piercing shrieks, at intervals of one every half a minute. Which seems less worse?\n\n[[The right path|Right]]\n[[The left path|Left]]

[[About]]

So you stay and become the governess to a young bat. It is not as nice down here as it was on the surface, but you manage, and soon forget almost all about your life above-ground. Soon the bat is grown, and embarrasses himself by asking for your hand in marriage. You turn him down, not being attracted to rodents, but he insists on paying for your schooling him, and with that money you build a schoolhouse down here, and start a life of teaching frogs, fish, goblins, and other strange creatures.\n\n''THE END''\n(one of several)

They probably don't //really// mean anything, and even if they do, it's best not to risk the wrath of strange people. So you stay by the brook for a while, wondering if the people back at the party are missing you.\n\nYou get your answer when you hear the calls for your name, followed by by shouts of "Come on! The party's just getting started!"\n\n[[Go back to the party|Back to Party]]\n[[Stay where you are|Stay End]]

You carefully avert your gaze and reach into the pool, feeling around for the missing locket. After a few minutes of searching like this, you grab hold of it at last, and raise it triumphantly from the pool.\n\n"Thanks ever so much!" cries the mouse. "I promise I won't forget this!" You thank the mouse and continue on your way.\n\n<<display "Baroness">>

You frown and say you really must be going now, //wherever// it is you're going. The bat looks sad at this news, but swear he will repay some day in the future.\n\n<<display "Baroness">>

You say a brief greeting to the traveler, and he looks you over, half in surprise that someone has took notice of him.\n\nFinally, he nods and says, "Good day, ma'am. It's an odd sight to see someone from the Lands-Above down in our halls." (You look closer at him as he says this, and notice his pale green skin and elongated face.)\n\n"But I dare say you have manners nice enough for one of our royalty, so I figure I'll spare you some help on the way. First, take my lantern." (He gives you the lantern as he says this, and as you look over it in your hands you can see that it's made of brass.) "It's not much, but it should be of help when it comes to seeing things down here, especially with your kind's eyes," he snorts.\n\n"Second, don't look too long at any pools, or else you might find them looking back at //you//. Third, always take the chance to help someone in need; you never know when that help will come back to you. Last, but most important of all, be wary of our Baroness, for her ways are capricous, even to our folk, and she has malice in her eternal grin." This last advice being said, he waves you off, and you are left to [[contemplate the paths through the caverns|Center]].

You are very frightened at the thought of what might be causing those shrieks, but you absolutely //hate// getting wet, so left path it is. You swing your lantern to-and-fro as you walk down it, hoping to catch whatever monster is causing those noises off-guard.\n\nBut there isn't a monster after all; instead it's a young bat (you can tell it's young, because it's //so// much smaller than all the other bats you've seen, and also because it's wearing corduroy overalls), wailing about his lost ball.\n\n"Oh miss!" he cries, "Will you please help me? My mother works for the Baroness, and it's //She// who gave me that ball! //She// will be most upset to find it's gone missing, and I don't want to find out what will become of mother and me when that happens!"\n\n[[Help him find the ball|Ball]]\n[[Say you're //terribly// sorry but you //must// be on your way|Baroness]]

You detest getting wet, but you think you might hate those piercing shrieks more. You walk along the right path, shielding your head from the water dripping from the ceiling.\n\nSoon, you see what is the cause of all the water: an overflowing pool, caused by a mouse crying nearby. She looks absolutely miserable, although you have no idea what might be the cause.\n\n[[Smile, but move on quickly|Baroness]]\n[[Stop and ask her what's the matter|Pool]]

It soon turns out this was a terrible idea. You aren't used to the different manners employed underground, and so the tea is a terrific failure.\n\n"Oh, of all the impudent subjects I have had in my life!" screams the Baroness. "Somebody chop off this woman's head!"\n\nYou feel awfully smug when no-one appears at the Baroness's call. The smugness turns to fear, however, when you realize this is because she intends to do the deed herself.\n\n"All right, child," says the Baroness as she picks up a large butcher knife. "Do you have any last words?"\n\n[[Scream]]\n[[Pick up a knife yourself|Kill]]

These strange markings could be the work of elves, or the work of settlers, or the work of eels, or else the work of nobody. But you'll never know unless you take a closer look, right? So you gently trace the outlines of the strange markings with your finger. On closer inspection, they look, //vaguely// like they could be fanciful interpretations of the Roman alphabet. //See, this one looks like a "J", and here is an "M", and this one looks almost like a backwards "P"--//\n\nSuddenly, the letters all light up, and the stone beneath you begins to shiver and shake. Just outside the brook, you can hear the voices of the people at the party, calling your name.\n\n[[Call after them]]\n[[Get up and run towards them|Run]]

You reach under the table and pick up a steak knife that was kicked down there earlier. When the Baroness lifts the butcher knife over her head for the chop, you lunge forward and shove your knife into her ribs. This makes a satisfying cut, and the Baroness falls down.\n\n"Oh dear," she says, vacantly gazing. "That may not have been the smartest thing to do."\n\nThen she expires.\n\nYou start to leave the palace, but a mob gangs up on you before you do.\n\n"This woman has killed the old Baroness!" they shout. "Therefore, she is the new Baroness!"\n\nThey shout and lift you high into the air. As they do, you idly wonder if you'd be better or worse than the old one.\n\n''THE END''\n(one of several)

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