GETTING TO THE THIRD LEVEL OF THE STORE FIRST LEVEL >e You climb the stone staircase. It leads you upwards in a spiral to the Second Level. SECOND LEVEL A black lacquer cabinet is on the north wall. On the floor near the south wall is a large ornamental carving of a sea turtle. Next to the turtle is an antique washbasin. Shelves cover the west wall. The shelves contain a variety of garden and pond supplies, including sand rakes, potting soil, and garden decorations. Most of the items on the shelves fail to hold your attention. However, your eye is drawn to a can of fish food, a used paperback novel, and some electric hedge trimmers. An open panel to the east reveals a stone staircase leading downwards. >x cabinet The cabinet is closed. There is a painting on the cabinet doors, a painting of a Japanese warrior king. The king is standing with one foot on the back of a sea serpent and the other foot on the back of a large turtle. Both the sea serpent and the turtle are swimming unharmed in the middle of a boiling sea, while the ships of demons perish beneath them, consumed by the steaming ocean. You wonder briefly why the sea is boiling hot, but then you see that the breath of the sea serpent is heating the waves with lightning bolts. After further inspection you realize that there actually IS steam here, and it's not just a part of the painting. The steam is coming from INSIDE the cabinet. >open cabinet You open the cabinet, stepping aside to avoid the escaping steam. A bowl of rice porridge is waiting for you inside the cabinet. It looks hot and appealing. You are very impressed that the owner of the store would offer such thoughtful hospitality to his customers. >take bowl You take the bowl of rice porridge containing a spoon out of the black lacquer cabinet. >eat porridge You eat the rice porridge. >x bowl The bowl looks like it needs to be washed. >wash bowl Since the washbasin is on the floor, you crouch down to wash the black bowl containing a spoon. From this perspective you can see a reflection in the water. The reflection appears to be caused by light shining down from a round opening in the ceiling, directly above the sea turtle. You finish washing the black bowl containing a spoon. >look up There's a round opening in the ceiling near the south wall. >stand on turtle The dark green finish is a bit slippery. It probably would be safer to sit. >sit on turtle You sit on the sea turtle, straddling it as if you were riding a horse. Suddenly you hear some mechanical grinding noises coming from the floor and from inside the turtle. With a jerking motion the turtle rises upwards a little ways and then stops. You look down and see that your turtle is now resting on the back of a SECOND turtle underneath it! Then comes another jerking motion that lifts you even higher. Now you find yourself sitting on the top of a stack of THREE sea turtles. The process continues until you are lifted up through an opening in the ceiling to the Third Level. It's turtles all the way down! You're fairly certain that there aren't any more turtles on the way, but you get off the turtle anyway, just in case. ------------- Press space bar to continue ----------------- THIRD LEVEL Shelving covers the north wall. On the shelves you see a large array of incense supplies, much of which appears to have been imported from Japan. Since you don't know much about incense, you find the variety of utensils, bowls, fragrant wood chips, and incense base to be rather confusing. Losing interest in the incense you turn your attention to the small selection of candles at one end of the shelving. You notice a green candle, a ivory-colored candle, and a dark red candle. In an alcove on the east wall is a statue of a warrior king, smaller than the one you saw on the First Level of the store. A large box of white rice ash is sitting on the floor next to the west wall. To the south you see a round hole in the floor with a carving of a sea turtle.