The Meteor, the Stone and a Long Glass of Sherbet
Graham Nelson (as Angela M. Horns)
adaptive hints alchemy built-in hints cover art fantasy IF Competition 1996 IFComp Game IFComp Winner old school parser spells Xyzzy Awards 1996 zorkian
Another day wasted as guest of the Empress, a wretchedly long tour of the breath-taking Boreal Falls, conducted as ever by the Lady Amilia. As if she weren't bad enough, an honour guard of soldiers, their breast-plates red in the setting sun, march ahead of the procession and protect you from seeing anything unrehearsed. It's a dog's life being an Ambassador.
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The Meteor, The Stone And A Long Glass Of Sherbet

Another day wasted as guest of the Empress, a wretchedly long tour of
the breath-taking Boreal Falls, conducted as ever by the Lady Amilia.
As if she weren't bad enough, an honour guard of soldiers, their
breast-plates red in the setting sun, march ahead of the procession
and protect you from seeing anything unrehearsed. It's a dog's life
being an Ambassador.

The Meteor, the Stone and a Long Glass of Sherbet
The Interactive Memoirs of a Diplomat

(Please type "help" if you would like instructions.)

Standard interpreter 1.0

Watling Street (in the cushioned basket)
The ancient paved road stretches for miles to the south, turning very
slowly to the northeast along a mossy stone wall. From up here on your elephant's wickerwork basket, you're just level with the branches of
the old Imperial hunting woods inside the wall.

day for a fortnight, you're just desperate to get away.

The procession of elephants shuffles on, their enormous soles slapping
onto the flagstones with a dull, regular boom.
Inventory
You are carrying:
a fedora hat (being worn)
a hand telescope

"I'm sure I've told you the scandal with the new Lord Chamberlain?..."
You look at Amilia
The terrifying thing about the Lady Amilia, a young woman who would
grace any court ball, is that even after an entire day like this she
shows no sign whatever of being bored. Even now she is reading the
guide book with apparent concentration, though you can't ever remember
her turning a page.

"...such a disappointment for all concerned, quite honestly..."
You examine the hat
(Amilia's hat)
Amilia is wearing a simply fatuous hat, a light summer shade which
would look quite presentable if it weren't for the waxwork grapes,
apples, plums, damsons and so on around the brim.
You look at your hat
(Amilia's hat)
Amilia is wearing a simply fatuous hat, a light summer shade which
would look quite presentable if it weren't for the waxwork grapes,
apples, plums, damsons and so on around the brim.

"...which only means one thing..."
You examine fedora
A broad-brimmed light summer hat, ideal for shading your face from the
setting sun.

A silken boy runs up from the rear of the procession, hands you each a
glass of sherbet and then allows himself to be caught up again before
boarding the last carriage at the rear of the elephant-train.
You show the fedora to Amilia
Lady Amilia is unimpressed.
Amilia fans herself with the guide book.
You get book
Those seem to belong to Lady Amilia.
You throw the glass at Amilia
Oh, if only you could. A pity that the resulting incident could plunge
an entire continent into war, with the mighty Empire crushing your
tiny Duchy.
You examine the woods
The walls do seem very secure. Surely a minor local law would have
been enough to keep the local peasants away?

But then, by now you're quite sure it isn't just an ordinary hunting
estate. A pity this will probably be the closest you'll ever be
allowed to get...
You examine the elephant
The magnificent grey beast is wrinkled and has a wise look (but then,
after an entire day of Amilia's conversation, your average potato
would have a wise look). His two great ears flap a little up at the
front sides of the basket, his trunk curls and pokes at the air.

"Have I told you the rumour about the Empire's best racing donkey?..."
You look at the basket
The basket has the usual complement of cushions, but if there were
anything among them you'd have bumped into it hours ago.
You check what you're carrying
You are carrying:
a glass of sherbet
a fedora hat (being worn)
a hand telescope

"...such a terribly exciting moment for everybody..."
You look through the telescope
You must say what to look at through the telescope.

"...just as my Mother always warned me..."
You search amilia
You find nothing of interest.

Amilia fans herself with the guide book.

At a whistle from the soldiers up ahead, the procession comes to an
ungainly halt.

Customs Post (in the cushioned basket)
As the road passes around the corner of the woods and turns east, it
also passes a customs post. You're ten feet up, and the tasseled
pennant flag flutters down from the pole to curl around the basket in
the light breeze.

The whole procession of elephants and carts is halted, and there is
much commotion.
You look at Amilia through the telescope
Lady Amilia is too close to you to make that worthwhile.
You look at the flag through the telescope
The pennant flag is too close to you to make that worthwhile.

"Have I told you how I couldn't get a single pair of shoes to fit,
last week?..."
You look at the forest through the telescope
You raise the brass telescope expertly to your eye, a dashing gesture
which never fails to make Amilia clap her hands with pleasure.
Somehow, though, Amilia also manages to nudge your arm so that you
can't get a clear look at the woods.

"Don't fret," says Amilia, "we're only stopping a moment, it's just a
silly old routine I suppose, I mean they can see we aren't smugglers
or anything..."
You look at Amilia
The terrifying thing about the Lady Amilia, a young woman who would
grace any court ball, is that even after an entire day like this she
shows no sign whatever of being bored. Even now she is reading the
guide book with apparent concentration, though you can't ever remember
her turning a page.

The procession sluggishly resumes, taking some time to accelerate
again. You dread to imagine what a hill start would be like.

Watling Street (in the cushioned basket)
The ancient highway stretches east as far as the eye can see, running
parallel with the mossy stone wall enclosing the hunting woods to the
south. The wall appears unbroken. To the north, vast meadowlands sweep
into a lush, cultivated valley.

The procession of elephants shuffles on, their enormous soles slapping
onto the flagstones with a dull, regular boom.

"...such a dreadful shame, all things considered..."
You examine wall
(the mossy wall)
The walls do seem very secure. Surely a minor local law would have
been enough to keep the local peasants away?

But then, by now you're quite sure it isn't just an ordinary hunting
estate. A pity this will probably be the closest you'll ever be
allowed to get...
You look at the wall through the telescope
(the mossy wall through the hand telescope)
The mossy wall is too close to you to make that worthwhile.

The procession runs over a small culvert bridge, which presents no
problem to the elephants. You glance down, and can't help thinking
something's wrong somewhere.

"...I expect somebody was sorry, really..."
You ask Amilia about the wall
What Amilia doesn't know would fill a whole game in itself.

Amilia fans herself with the guide book.

Just for a moment, you catch a flickering glimpse of a bird up in the
higher branches of the woods.
You examine the bird
It's too far away to make out at all clearly, and it keeps moving.
You look at the bird through the telescope
You raise the brass telescope expertly to your eye, a dashing gesture
which never fails to make Amilia clap her hands with pleasure.
Although you only get one clear glimpse of the bird, its distinctive
speckled green and blue feathers must make it one of the legendary
Birds of Paradise.

"I'm sure I've told you my mother's recipe for rhubarb pudding?..."
You tell Amilia about the bird
"Is that so? Heavens!"

"...such a charming face, that's what I say..."
Drink sherbet
You sip at the fine sherbet, careful not to drink it all at once. It
has been chilled in a wooden cask of ice, and is the best news all
day.

Giggling nervously, for she has been waiting for you to take a sip,
Amilia downs her sherbet with a quick snort (unfortunately literally,
and she sneezes).
You say eww
[To address somebody, please type "name, what you want to say". For
example: "amilia, hello".]
Eww
Amilia is baffled, but then she so often is.
Kiss amilia
Thank heavens, an Ambassador's duties only go so far.

"...I expect somebody was sorry, really..."
Yes
That was a rhetorical question.
Sleep
You aren't feeling especially drowsy.

Amilia fans herself with the guide book.
You look
Watling Street (in the cushioned basket)
The ancient highway stretches east as far as the eye can see, running
parallel with the mossy stone wall enclosing the hunting woods to the
south. The wall appears unbroken. To the north, vast meadowlands sweep
into a lush, cultivated valley.

A bird seems to be darting about in the tree-tops, vaguely following
the procession.

The procession of elephants shuffles on, their enormous soles slapping
onto the flagstones with a dull, regular boom.
You ask Amilia about the guide book
What Amilia doesn't know would fill a whole game in itself.

"Surely I can't be the first to tell you about those scandalous
goings-on at the Royal Farm?..."
You give the telescope to Amilia
"Super!"

She squints into the telescope, but picks the wrong end, and then
hands it back with a half-puzzled look. "Marvellous invention, what?"
You ask Amilia for the guide book
"It's a jolly super guide book!" says Amilia gratuitously, as she
kindly passes it over. Fortified by years of training in the
diplomatic service, you thank her.

"...such a horrid way to spend a Wednesday in the season..."
You stand
It wouldn't be safe to dismount while the procession is under way.

"...a nod's as good as a wink, after all..."
You look at the bird through the telescope
Amilia thinks she disapproves of that.
You take the guide book
Enormously detailed with the useless and irrelevant, the Empress gave
it to you hoping you'd waste time studying it in detail. You have
vowed never to do so, but it's still handy for passing the odd dull
moment by looking up some specific local feature.

You already have that.
You look up the bird in the book
The Northland Empire supports a rich and varied avian life.
You look up the bird of the paradise in Book
The Guide Book has a lovingly detailed section on birds of paradise,
which there is no time to read now. Apart from the plumage, it seems
these birds are distinguished by their mating call, a chirrup followed
by a coo. They live to be twenty years old, always return to their
first nest in midsummer and steal each others' eggs, but nobody knows
why.
Chirrup
Amilia hangs her head half on one side and flutters her eyelids,
puzzled.
Coo
Amilia really is bewildered now. But your mating call does seem to
have done the trick! The bird of paradise flutters down over the wall
to dance eagerly around your basket.

Although clearly peeved by the lack of a significant other here, the beautifully-plumed bird does (to your immense satisfaction) begin
pecking away at the wax fruit on the Lady Amilia's hat.
You look through the telescope at the forest
You raise the brass telescope expertly to your eye. Somehow, though,
Amilia also manages to nudge your arm so that you can't get a clear
look at the woods.

Amilia hisses at the bird, without effect.
You look
Watling Street (in the cushioned basket)
The ancient highway stretches east as far as the eye can see, running
parallel with the mossy stone wall enclosing the hunting woods to the
south. The wall appears unbroken. To the north, vast meadowlands sweep
into a lush, cultivated valley.

The Bird of Paradise is still worrying away at Amilia's hat, so for
once your tour guide has her eyes off you.

The procession of elephants shuffles on, their enormous soles slapping
onto the flagstones with a dull, regular boom.
You check what you're carrying
You are carrying:
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
a glass of sherbet
a fedora hat (being worn)
a hand telescope

Amilia hisses at the bird, without effect.
You examine the elephant
The magnificent grey beast is wrinkled and has a wise look (but then,
after an entire day of Amilia's conversation, your average potato
would have a wise look). His two great ears flap a little up at the
front sides of the basket, his trunk curls and pokes at the air.
Go downwards
It wouldn't be safe to dismount while the procession is under way.

No matter what Amilia tries, the bird continues to hover.
You look at the ears
Which do you mean, the right ear or the left ear?
You give sherbet to Bird
You can only do that to something animate.
You pull the right ear
Amilia is too preoccupied to notice you doing this, giving the
elephant's ear a good tug. But he must be half-asleep on his feet,
after this long trudging day, and he shows no signs yet of waking up
for you.
You pour the sherbet on the elephant
As the icy liquid cascades over the elephant's great head, he bucks
and jumps, shaking his ears, thoroughly waking up. You have his
attention now all right.
You pull the right ear
The elephant gives a huge trumpet and begins to charge right, straight
into the stone wall! The basket careers along with him, suddenly
lurches onto his side and is rapidly crushed between an elephant and a
hard place.

Hopefully, you and Amilia will be sent to different departments of the afterlife.
You pull the left ear
the meadowland! The basket is tossed around at high speed as you and
Amilia are taken for a nerve-wracking ride.

By the time the bearers have got him under control again, the whole
procession has slewn out of line and is all over the valley. Casks are overturned, cartwheels have rolled loose, axles have broken, the
animals are restive, and darkness is coming on. The expedition will
have to stop here for the night.

The finest quarters they could find for a visiting Ambassador, at such
short notice: and much better than you'd have expected from a
provincial customs post. Presumably some very rich collector of
antiquities once slept here... The only exit is to east.

The room is almost filled with a four-poster bed, caparisoned gaudily
as a warhorse.

Northlands and Surrounding Provinces.

A jade figurine nestles in an alcove, beneath a painting of
unparalleled beauty.
You examine painting
It depicts a wide cavern with a polished stone ledge on one shore of a subterranean lake, dimly lit from above and ringed in with rock faces.
You look
The finest quarters they could find for a visiting Ambassador, at such
short notice: and much better than you'd have expected from a
provincial customs post. Presumably some very rich collector of
antiquities once slept here... The only exit is to east.

The room is almost filled with a four-poster bed, caparisoned gaudily
as a warhorse.

Northlands and Surrounding Provinces.

A jade figurine nestles in an alcove, beneath a painting of
unparalleled beauty.
You get Guide
Taken.
You examine the figurine
An exquisite antiquity.
You get it
Taken.
Go east
You can't get out, because soldiers ("for your protection,
Ambassador") are guarding the door.
Inventory
You are carrying:
a jade figurine
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
You eat guide
That's plainly inedible.
You look at the bed
It looks highly inviting.
You describe your surroundings
The finest quarters they could find for a visiting Ambassador, at such
short notice: and much better than you'd have expected from a
provincial customs post. Presumably some very rich collector of
antiquities once slept here... The only exit is to east.

The room is almost filled with a four-poster bed, caparisoned gaudily
as a warhorse.
You move painting
Nothing obvious happens.
You move the bed
Those are fixed in place.
You lie on the bed
You get into bed.

Customs House Bedroom (on the four-poster bed)
A magnificent design is woven into the inside of the tapestry roof of
the bed, and the whole effect is sumptuous and comfortable.
You look at the design
The design of a topiary garden, whose bushes and shaped hedges depict
a dragon, a unicorn, a great serpent and a huge misshapen dog. It is
signed "Leblank".
Sleep
You relax into a strange, dream-laced sleep. The Boreal Falls... Lady
Amilia, giggling wildly with a hysterical edge... your secret
briefing, back at the Duchy, when you were warned not to take anything
in the Empire at face value... and mages, sorcerers, enchanters,
powerful men from the Old Time...

...and suddenly you sit bolt upright, at the distant but unnerving
sound of the blowing of a horn. It's deep into the night but you're
now perfectly awake.
You look
Customs House Bedroom (on the four-poster bed)
A magnificent design is woven into the inside of the tapestry roof of
the bed, and the whole effect is sumptuous and comfortable.
You go outside
You get off the four-poster bed.

The room is almost filled with a four-poster bed, caparisoned gaudily
as a warhorse.
You go east
(The soldiers who guarded this door must have gone off duty some hours
ago.)

Stairs descend to the ground floor, and one doorway leads west, into
your bedroom.

The rich brocade curtains of the window here are drawn.
You examine the curtains
Perhaps you should open the curtains and then see what you can see.
You open the curtains
You open the curtains, and look out on a deserted Watling Street, the
mossy wall, the woods beyond. Somewhere in the distance, from the
centre of the woods, is an unearthly green glow.
Go downward
You are in the kitchen of the white-painted Customs House. The table
here looks as if it hasn't been used for the preparation of food in
years. A passage leads to the west and a dark staircase can be seen
leading upward. There is a fine, modern charcoal-stove and to the
east, the front door is closed.

On the kitchen table is a small wickerwork hamper (which is closed).

A joint of cured ham hangs from a hook in the ceiling.
You get the ham
You just, right up on tiptoe, succeed in dislodging the ham from its
hook.
You get the hamper
Taken.
You look at stove
This immaculate black iron stove, just the size of the fireplace, has
been very well cleaned and has that elusive "never used" look. It is a
modern, de luxe charcoal stove, embellished with iron hoops and
designs around the edge. The stove is currently closed.
You open the stove
You open the stove. There is no charcoal inside.
Search stove
The black-iron stove is empty.
You open the hamper
Thoughtfully, someone has provided you with breakfast.

In the small wickerwork hamper are some provisions - an apple, a hunk
of cheese and a clove of garlic.
Go west
You are in a stately and well-aged living room. There is a doorway to
the east, leading back into the kitchen, a trophy case, and a large
oriental rug in the center of the room.

A brass lantern rests on top of the trophy case.

here, just where you left it last night.
You put the ham in the hamper
You put the joint of cured ham into the small wickerwork hamper.
You examine the trunk
This little trunk (one foot by one foot by six inches) is an
immaculate example of Duchy craftsmanship at its finest. The latch
mechanism is so intricate that only its owner can open it. Turning out
fine products like this is the very lifeblood of your native land.

it? Surely only a wizard could have done so, and the days of the
wizards are long gone, back even before the foundation of the Old
Underground Empire! Unless... the rumours are true. Has magic been rediscovered here?

You'd better find out, because in a world of magic no-one's going to
want mechanisms like this any more.
You open the trunk
Expertly sliding your fingers along the sequence of hidden catches,
you trigger the mechanism and the trunk-lid gracefully raises.

In the Ambassador's trunk are a hand telescope, your formal
credentials and a coil of light rope.
You examine the credentials
"To whom it may concern... granted plenipotentiary powers
notwithstanding... most excellent and serene Highness..." and so on.
The froth which covers any diplomat's life.
You take all
trophy case: That's hardly portable.
oriental rug: That's hardly portable.
Go east
There's a hook in the ceiling.
You open the front door
They seem to be locked.
You examine the front door
As secure as you could ever hope for.
You go west
You are in a stately and well-aged living room. There is a doorway to
the east, leading back into the kitchen, a trophy case, and a large
oriental rug in the center of the room.
You examine the trophy case
According to a plaque, it's a genuine early Empire trophy case, a real antique. At that time, it was fashionable to collect precious items
and display them in one's own home, in just such a case.
You open it
As you open the old trophy case, which is so stiff it can't have been
opened in years, something shiny falls out into your hand.
Inventory
You are carrying:
your Ambassador's trunk (which is open)
a hand telescope
your formal credentials
a coil of light rope
a brass lantern
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open)
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, an apple, a hunk of cheese
and a clove of garlic
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
two ancient treasures:
a jewelled scarab
a jade figurine
You examine the scarab
A finely-worked filigree gold and jewelled scarab.
You look under the rug
With a great effort, the rug is moved to one side of the room,
revealing a seamless wooden floor.

Somewhat embarrassed, you move the rug back again.
You go east
You are in the kitchen of the white-painted Customs House. The table
here looks as if it hasn't been used for the preparation of food in
years. A passage leads to the west and a dark staircase can be seen
leading upward. There is a fine, modern charcoal-stove and to the
east, the front door is closed.

There's a hook in the ceiling.
You pull the stove
The stove budges fractionally, but is so heavy that you can hardly get
it to move at all by hand.
You tie rope to the stove
You make a secure little knot. It is now tied to the black-iron stove.
You pull the hook
The hook's too high for you to touch, even on tiptoe.
You put the rope on the hook
on top of something else.
You tie the rope to the hook
The rope's already tied to the black-iron stove.
You pull the rope
You pull hard on the rope, and the stove budges fractionally, but the
enormous friction of its flat base on the floor stops you from getting anywhere.
You look at what you're carrying with you
You are carrying:
your Ambassador's trunk (which is open)
a hand telescope
your formal credentials
a brass lantern
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open)
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, an apple, a hunk of cheese
and a clove of garlic
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
two ancient treasures:
a jewelled scarab
a jade figurine
You climb the rope
You see nothing special about the joint of cured ham.

But the rope leads neither up nor down.
You take the rope
You can't take the rope; it's tied to the black-iron stove.
You untie the rope
You untie the rope.
You stand on the table
That would be unhygienic. Anyway, the table is not underneath anything interesting, so no benefit would accrue.
You move the table
The kitchen table seems securely fixed in place.
You drop the trunk
Dropped.
You close the trunk
You close the clasps carefully, and the trunk seals itself.
You look around
You are in the kitchen of the white-painted Customs House. The table
here looks as if it hasn't been used for the preparation of food in
years. A passage leads to the west and a dark staircase can be seen
leading upward. There is a fine, modern charcoal-stove and to the
east, the front door is closed.

There's a hook in the ceiling.

You can also see your Ambassador's trunk (which is closed) here.
You check what you're carrying
You are carrying:
a length of light rope
a brass lantern
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
two ancient treasures:
a jewelled scarab
a jade figurine
You throw the rope at the hook
You throw the rope up. Its two ends are now hanging from the hook.
You tie the rope to the oven
You make a secure little knot. It now runs from the black-iron stove
up and over the hook, from which the loose end dangles.
You pull the rope
Pulling hard on the rope, you have enough leverage to slightly lift
the stove, and it comes aside towards the centre of the kitchen.

Behind the stove, it seems, was a much older chimney, an original
feature of the Customs House.
You get the hamper and the trunk
small wickerwork hamper: Taken.
Ambassador's trunk: Taken.
You take the trunk
You already have that.
You get the rope
You can't take the rope; it's tied to the black-iron stove.
You untie rope
You untie the rope. Its two ends are now hanging from the hook.
You get the rope
(first pulling the rope off the hook)
Taken.
You enter the chimney
As dazzling as you may be in the conference chamber, down a chimney
you're as mortal as anyone else. It looks extremely dangerous to climb
down in darkness without anything holding you safe.
You tie rope to the stove
You make a secure little knot. It is now tied to the black-iron stove.
Light lamp
You light the lantern.
Go inside
The stairs lead back up, and there's a doorway west.
You tie the rope to yourself
You tie the rope around you. One end is tied around you, and the other
to the black-iron stove.
You enter the chimney
You pull hard on the rope, and the stove budges fractionally, but the
enormous friction of its flat base on the floor stops you from getting anywhere.
Go downward
You abseil down the chimney, securely held by the rope, though you
have to untie yourself to drop down the last foot or so.

At the foot of the chimney are low and grimy cellars, built of
decaying brickwork and seemingly unused for years. There are no
bottles, or crates, unless they're stored through the passage to the
south.

Your length of rope is here. Its tail is just visible at the foot of
the chimney.
Go south
ancient Watling Street, which must run just overhead.

under a long lintel-stone; a side passage, northwest, is much more
earthy.
Go northwest
This is a red-brown earthy bole, a cavity in hardened soil with but a
single crawl leading out to the southeast. The ground is covered with
autumn leaves, russet and variegated.

In the centre is a bubbling pool of spring water, glinting with shades
and flickers of green phosphoresence.
Examine leaves
The leaves have the weight of many autumns, many winds, in their
delicate hue.
Count leaves
There are 16,339 leaves.
Search leaves
Turning through the leaves, you come across a precious platinum egg!
Drink water
The water is imbued with something... what? A taste of blackcurrant
and the scent of morning fire-ash. Whatever it is, it's naturally
carbonated and you hiccup.

In fact, you feel quite light-headed.
You examine the egg
You see nothing special about the platinum egg.

You're beginning to feel dangerously unsteady on your feet.
Wait
Time passes.

...And suddenly, there is the Power! It crackles through your whole
body, sparking at your fingernails and toenails, sending shivers along
your limbs. You feel suddenly afraid to imagine, afraid that you can
no longer tell imagination from reality.
You check what you're carrying
You are carrying:
your Ambassador's trunk (which is closed)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open)
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, an apple, a hunk of cheese
and a clove of garlic
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
three ancient treasures:
a platinum egg
a jewelled scarab
a jade figurine
You examine the scarab
A finely-worked filigree gold and jewelled scarab.
Go south
The only passage out of this earthy bole is southeast.
You go to the southeast
ancient Watling Street, which must run just overhead.

under a long lintel-stone; a side passage, northwest, is much more
earthy.

Still not quite yourself, you trip over slightly, banging your head on
the lintel. Involuntarily you curse out the word "jilnix", a word
you're almost certain you've never heard before!

surge of motion. A dark cloud of bat-like insects clashes with the
clear air around you, purposeless and malevolent. Only by great effort
of will can you abolish them.

One thing seems clear. The Old Magic has returned.
Spells
The jilnix spell is indelibly etched on your memory. Other than that,
you have no spells memorised.
Jilnix
As your brows frown, the air around you gathers with vile winged
insects, fluttering angrily about you for a moment. But nothing
results from this, and they dissipate again.
Go northwest
This is a red-brown earthy bole, a cavity in hardened soil with but a
single crawl leading out to the southeast. The ground is covered with
autumn leaves, russet and variegated.

In the centre is a bubbling pool of spring water, glinting with shades
and flickers of green phosphoresence.
Go south
You duck your head under the lintel-stone.

A narrow passage, running north to south under solid sandstone blocks
which must make up the base of the wall. Further south, the passage
runs onto what seems to be a ledge, and you have a sense of space
opening up from below.

The Old Underground Empire awaits!

A watchful oil-snake coils and uncoils itself restlessly, occupying
its territory but making no move towards you as yet.
You look at the snake
It has a lean and hungry look.
Jilnix snake
As your brows frown, the air around you gathers with vile winged
insects, which surge forward to plague the oil-snake. It recoils
(literally) backward, retreating south through the passage until out
of sight! Your insects dissipate, their work done.
Go south
This is a slate-littered shelf high up at the northwest eaves of a
dark, vaulted cave, from which a meadow-fresh breeze blows. The ledge
broadens down a slab "staircase" to the east but wastes away into a
tight squeeze southwest. Natural passages extend like tendrils into
the rock all around this cavern, but only one is accessible from here,
back north under the lintel.

Hanging down toward the dim, distant cave floor is a flourishing,
inverted cedar, its roots grappling the roof, its nearest outflung
branch a good 10 feet across the abyss from here.
Go north
A narrow passage, running north to south under solid sandstone blocks
which must make up the base of the wall. Further south, the passage
runs onto what seems to be a ledge, and you have a sense of space
opening up from below.

The Old Underground Empire awaits!
Go southwest
dead end not far west, but a muddy slide-passage descends to the
south.

A flat stick, curved around a right angle, rests on the ground here.
You look at stick
A flat curved stick, but one that has been well-crafted to some end.
You throw stick
stick, since you'd really need to pull your arm right back and swing
hard.
Go south
This is only half a cave; the eastern half, to be exact. It's a dark
place full of crevices (you would have missed the slide passage back
north if you hadn't already known about it); chief among them a
distinctive triangular cavity, 1 foot or so high, and blocked by a
rough quartz window.

What divides this cave is a solid, floor-to-ceiling stone wall running
north to south, masoned with mortar and seemingly recent. You feel
quite certain that the cave continues.

A shard of pottery glints slightly in the mud floor.
You look at the pottery
old. (Held up to the light, it has a faint glint from having being
baked with mica.)
You look
This is only half a cave; the eastern half, to be exact. It's a dark
place full of crevices (you would have missed the slide passage back
north if you hadn't already known about it); chief among them a
distinctive triangular cavity, 1 foot or so high, and blocked by a
rough quartz window.

What divides this cave is a solid, floor-to-ceiling stone wall running
north to south, masoned with mortar and seemingly recent. You feel
quite certain that the cave continues.
You examine the wall
(the masoned wall)
You see nothing special about the masoned wall.
You examine the window
The window itself, perhaps, was the work of primitive cave dwellers
long ago. Whoever they were, they seem to have cut some kind of cavity
to the east, behind the window.
You examine the cavity
Tantalisingly, you can only see darkness within.
You go to the east
The quartz window in the east wall is only 1 foot high, in addition to
being apparently unbreakable.
Jilnix window
As your brows frown, the air around you gathers with vile winged
insects, which surge forward to plague the quartz window. But nothing
results from this, and they dissipate again.
You check your inventory
You are carrying:
a shard of pottery
a flat curved stick
your Ambassador's trunk (which is closed)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open)
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, an apple, a hunk of cheese
and a clove of garlic
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
three ancient treasures:
a platinum egg
a jewelled scarab
a jade figurine
Go south
Thanks to the wall, the slide passage is the only way out.
You go north
dead end not far west, but a muddy slide-passage descends to the
south.
You go northeast
The increasingly earthy rock blocks your way. The only viable routes
are west, south and northeast.

This is a slate-littered shelf high up at the northwest eaves of a
dark, vaulted cave, from which a meadow-fresh breeze blows. The ledge
broadens down a slab "staircase" to the east but wastes away into a
tight squeeze southwest. Natural passages extend like tendrils into
the rock all around this cavern, but only one is accessible from here,
back north under the lintel.

Hanging down toward the dim, distant cave floor is a flourishing,
inverted cedar, its roots grappling the roof, its nearest outflung
branch a good 10 feet across the abyss from here.
Go south
ledge, either down to the east or into the tight squeeze to the
southwest.
You throw branch
The inverted cedar is already on the floor.
Go west
An earthy rockfall, soaked through with water into wet clay, makes
this passage lose all coherence. A kind of chimney-like crack leads
upward, and the crawl eases slightly to the east.

Roughly underneath the chimney-crack is a mound of garbage, dropped in
from above. Potato-peel, broken tools and so on seem to make up the
bulk of it.
You go to the west
The muddy earth is too tight.
Search heap
The moment you reach out to touch the mound, it comes alive with
woodlice and ants, making you pull your finger back as if stung.
Whatever the mound's secrets, they're well guarded.

A moment later, it's as if nothing had happened.
Jilnix heap
As your brows frown, the air around you gathers with vile winged
insects, which surge forward to plague the garbage heap. They set
about the garbage heap with relish, doing battle royal with the native woodlice and ants. Only when finally triumphant do they dissipate.
Search heap
Rummaging through the garbage, you turn up all manner of things: odd
socks with holes in, iron bedstead-parts, rotting turnips and so on.

And then you come across a bound volume of parchment (wrapped loosely
in old sackcloth), filled with curious writings.
You look at the crack
You can just make out starlight, so it must open onto the ground
above. You can't help feeling it was indeed constructed to be a
chimney, terribly long ago and with primitive tools at best.
Up
The chimney-crack becomes just too tight for you, and you sag back
down, muddier and wiser.
You check your inventory
You are carrying:
Experimental Spell Book #5
a shard of pottery
a flat curved stick
your Ambassador's trunk (which is closed)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open)
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, an apple, a hunk of cheese
and a clove of garlic
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
three ancient treasures:
a platinum egg
a jewelled scarab
a jade figurine
Examine book
Which do you mean, the parchment book or The Guide For Travellers To
The Lower Northlands and Surrounding Provinces?
You look at the parchment
A note tucked into the book falls out and into your hand.

The chiaro spell (cause inanimate object to radiate light).
The jilnix spell (summon small plague of insects).
The piroo spell (unfasten object).



The chiaro spell (cause inanimate object to radiate light).
The jilnix spell (summon small plague of insects).
The piroo spell (unfasten object).
You read the note
Graceful, almost effeminate handwriting on the note declares that as
the parchment book is defective (having failed the target of binding
up to 50 spells), it is to be disposed of.

Since magic-imbued paper will not burn, the instructions go on to
insist that the book must be securely buried.

Presumably, whoever received this note thought that dropping the book
into the rubbish dump at one corner of the Imperial hunting woods was
quite secure enough.

(There is something troublingly familiar about the handwriting,
perhaps from your briefings last month. But you can't put your finger
on it.)
You memorize the chiaro
You commit the chiaro spell to memory.
You memorize the chiaro
You commit the chiaro spell to memory once again.
You memorize the piroo
You commit the piroo spell to memory.
Chiaro pottery
glow! Not for a long moment is the light level tolerable.
You examine the chiaro
chiaro spell (cause inanimate object to radiate light).
You check your inventory
You are carrying:
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
a shard of pottery (providing light)
a flat curved stick
your Ambassador's trunk (which is closed)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open)
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, an apple, a hunk of cheese
and a clove of garlic
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
three ancient treasures:
a platinum egg
a jewelled scarab
a jade figurine
Go east
You edge along the northern wall of the cave, descending the rocky
stairs.

Just where the shelf flattens at the foot of rocky steps (climbing
westward), a square-cut doorway has been hewn into the north wall. The
ledge, which begins to curve southeast, is at its broadest here, yet
your feeling of vertigo hardly abates.

southwest, 30 feet away.

A watchful oil-snake coils and uncoils itself restlessly, occupying
its territory but making no move towards you as yet.
Go north
The oil-snake oozes and rears itself up to bar your way.
Jilnix snake
As your brows frown, the air around you gathers with vile winged
insects, which surge forward to plague the oil-snake. But it's not to
be fooled a second time.
Spells
The jilnix spell is indelibly etched on your memory. Other than that,
you have the piroo spell and chiaro spell memorised.
You look at the piroo
piroo spell (unfasten object).
Piroo snake
Nothing happens, perhaps because the oil-snake was already unfastened.
Piroo snake
You speak the word, but it seems that isn't enough to make the magical
forces gather. Perhaps if you could voice the spell more quickly, with
more assuredness... you would need to have learnt the spell in
advance, though.

Odd how at any one time, you can remember the details of some spells
but not others.

[Type the "spells" command to see which you can remember at any given
moment.]
You memorize the piroo
You commit the piroo spell to memory.
You go north
At the foot of the chimney are low and grimy cellars, built of
decaying brickwork and seemingly unused for years. There are no
bottles, or crates, unless they're stored through the passage to the
south.

Your length of rope is here. Its tail is just visible at the foot of
the chimney.
Piroo rope
The rope falls obligingly to your feet.
You go south
You duck your head under the lintel-stone.

A narrow passage, running north to south under solid sandstone blocks
which must make up the base of the wall. Further south, the passage
runs onto what seems to be a ledge, and you have a sense of space
opening up from below.

The Old Underground Empire awaits!
You throw the stick
You throw the flat curved stick out into the vast air of the cave,
where it quickly spins out of sight.
You wait awhile
Time passes.
You wait
Time passes.

Suddenly and without warning, the flat curved stick spins back in from
the cave and gives you a nasty bruise on the head.
Inventory
You are carrying:
a boomerang
a length of light rope
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
a shard of pottery (providing light)
your Ambassador's trunk (which is closed)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open)
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, an apple, a hunk of cheese
and a clove of garlic
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
three ancient treasures:
a platinum egg
a jewelled scarab
a jade figurine
You jump to the cedar
You take a short run-up and leap across, just managing to catch the
nearest branch! Painfully slowly, you haul yourself in.

You are perched inside the dense, broad first branches down from the
cedar's roots, which splay across the rocky ceiling like buttresses on
a perpendicular gothic column. Through the dappled green cover, you
can just make out the long ledge, but it's too far up to jump across.

A tree-house has been constructed here, though it's little more than a
wooden lean-to on a log platform.

You can also see a bow and an arrow here.
You take bow and arrow
bow: Taken.
arrow: Taken.
You look at arrow
There's no good way of tying it to that.

You see nothing special about the arrow.
You examine bow
A short-bow, reasonably accurate across short distances though little
good for rapid fire. Well-balanced, if far from being state of the
art.
You enter House
Strangely, every side appears to be solid with vine-bound planks and
logs, even the obvious place where a doorway should be.
You memorize the piroo
You haven't got that spell committed to memory. [Type "spells" to see
what you do remember.]

You commit the piroo spell to memory.
Piroo house
As the spell takes effect, vines begin to shrink and strain all over
the treehouse. Just as your magic is about to expire, the cords break
and the doorway opens up onto a dark interior.
You get in
(the ledge)
The ledge is too far off.
You enter House
Inside the wooden lean-to is a surprising illusion of space and
comfort, which you'd never guess is perched in an upside-down cedar.
There are no windows, but finely built wooden chairs suggest some kind
of meeting-place.

A golden fir-cone rolls about on one of the chairs.

You can also see two arrows here.
You get the cone
Taken.
Continue
(the arrow)
Taken.
You look at the cone
Only an inch across, but beautiful and valuable.
You sit
(on yourself)
That's not something you can enter.
Inventory
You are carrying:
three arrows
a bow
a boomerang
a length of light rope
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
a shard of pottery (providing light)
your Ambassador's trunk (which is closed)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open)
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, an apple, a hunk of cheese
and a clove of garlic
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
four ancient treasures:
a golden fir-cone
a platinum egg
a jewelled scarab
a jade figurine
You examine the destruction order
Graceful, almost effeminate handwriting on the note declares that as
the parchment book is defective (having failed the target of binding
up to 50 spells), it is to be disposed of.

Since magic-imbued paper will not burn, the instructions go on to
insist that the book must be securely buried.

Presumably, whoever received this note thought that dropping the book
into the rubbish dump at one corner of the Imperial hunting woods was
quite secure enough.

(There is something troublingly familiar about the handwriting,
perhaps from your briefings last month. But you can't put your finger
on it.)
You look
Inside the wooden lean-to is a surprising illusion of space and
comfort, which you'd never guess is perched in an upside-down cedar.
There are no windows, but finely built wooden chairs suggest some kind
of meeting-place.
You go outside
You are perched inside the dense, broad first branches down from the
cedar's roots, which splay across the rocky ceiling like buttresses on
a perpendicular gothic column. Through the dappled green cover, you
can just make out the long ledge, but it's too far up to jump across.

A tree-house has been constructed here, though it's little more than a
wooden lean-to on a log platform.
You go downwards
the trunk will bear your weight.

An improvised ladder of sticks, lashed together with vines and
creepers, hangs down the rest of the way.

An expanse of shingle and boulders sloping haphazardly across an irregularly-shaped floor a hundred feet across, only smoothed out at
its centre by a stream which pools just to the north. A furrow in the
rocky walls leads southwest, alongside a scree-fall which lies roughly
south; while the cave narrows into a canyon to the east.

The cone of the cedar hangs vertiginously over you, its tip perhaps 9
feet off the floor.

An improvised ladder of sticks, lashed together with vines and
creepers, rests against the tip of the cedar, leading up into its
branches.
You go north
That would be straight into the pool. Try walking around it.
Drink pool
The water tastes strongly of minerals, but is not unpleasant, though
it is extremely cold.
You go upwards
the trunk will bear your weight.

An improvised ladder of sticks, lashed together with vines and
creepers, hangs down the rest of the way.

You are perched inside the dense, broad first branches down from the
cedar's roots, which splay across the rocky ceiling like buttresses on
a perpendicular gothic column. Through the dappled green cover, you
can just make out the long ledge, but it's too far up to jump across.

A tree-house has been constructed here, though it's little more than a
wooden lean-to on a log platform.
The trunk becomes too smooth up near the roots.
The trunk becomes too smooth up near the roots.
You go downwards
the trunk will bear your weight.

An improvised ladder of sticks, lashed together with vines and
creepers, hangs down the rest of the way.

An expanse of shingle and boulders sloping haphazardly across an irregularly-shaped floor a hundred feet across, only smoothed out at
its centre by a stream which pools just to the north. A furrow in the
rocky walls leads southwest, alongside a scree-fall which lies roughly
south; while the cave narrows into a canyon to the east.

The cone of the cedar hangs vertiginously over you, its tip perhaps 9
feet off the floor.

An improvised ladder of sticks, lashed together with vines and
creepers, rests against the tip of the cedar, leading up into its
branches.
This is the base of the cave.
This is the base of the cave.
You go southwest
The furrow has been burrowed and extended by primitive mine workings,
hewn chiefly by hand or at best stone tools. But the seam has been
exhausted, and the striations in the rock scraped clean of ore.

What looks like a small drum lies discarded here.
You examine the drum
You are carrying:
an improvised ladder
three arrows
a bow
a boomerang
a length of light rope
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
a shard of pottery (providing light)
your Ambassador's trunk (which is closed)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open)
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, an apple, a hunk of cheese
and a clove of garlic
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
four ancient treasures:
a golden fir-cone
a platinum egg
a jewelled scarab
a jade figurine

It resembles a tambourine without chimes. Some kind of coarse gauze is stretched taut along the bottom of a wooden drum-frame.
You hit drum
A hollow Bong! results.
You look around
The furrow has been burrowed and extended by primitive mine workings,
hewn chiefly by hand or at best stone tools. But the seam has been
exhausted, and the striations in the rock scraped clean of ore.
Go northeast
An expanse of shingle and boulders sloping haphazardly across an irregularly-shaped floor a hundred feet across, only smoothed out at
its centre by a stream which pools just to the north. A furrow in the
rocky walls leads southwest, alongside a scree-fall which lies roughly
south; while the cave narrows into a canyon to the east.

The cone of the cedar hangs vertiginously over you, its tip perhaps 9
feet off the floor.
You go to the south
Heaped up against the southern cave wall like a sloping rampart, and
rising 50 feet above the stream, the scree fall is made up not of
fallen stones but of masonry, broken terracotta tiles, wrecked
alabaster murals and those marbly bits you can't ever remember the
name of: as if the veil of a temple has been rent in twain. But what
the catastrophe can have been, and where the building stood, you
cannot say.

A black scroll, like a roll of remembrance, is curled around the top
few feet of scree.
You count the tiles
Arithmetical correctness gone mad.
You examine the scroll
The scroll reads "azzev spell (view the past)".
You get the scroll
Just as you're about to pull out the scroll, a tiny but significant
shift of stones give you pause. The scree fall is on the very edge of
an avalanche! You'd need to be a lot more than arm's length away to
survive that.
Azzev
You haven't got that spell committed to memory. [Type "spells" to see
what you do remember.]
You throw the boomerang
stick, since you'd really need to pull your arm right back and swing
hard.
You memorize the azzev
It seems to be not enough to be able to read a copy of the spell. No,
the writing has to be part of the fabric of a spell book you have in
your hands, so that the magic can flow from the binding into your own
spine.
Inventory
You are carrying:
an improvised ladder
a drum (which is empty)
three arrows
a bow
a boomerang
a length of light rope
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
a shard of pottery (providing light)
your Ambassador's trunk (which is closed)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open)
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, an apple, a hunk of cheese
and a clove of garlic
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
four ancient treasures:
a golden fir-cone
a platinum egg
a jewelled scarab
a jade figurine
You hit the scroll with the ladder
I only understood you as far as wanting to hit the black, memorial
scroll.
You shoot scroll
You loose off an arrow at the black, memorial scroll, but miss.
You throw the boomerang at the scroll
There isn't really room to throw it at the black, memorial scroll in
this cramped space.
Jilnix scroll
As your brows frown, the air around you gathers with vile winged
insects, which surge forward to plague the black, memorial scroll. But
nothing results from this, and they dissipate again.
You throw the pottery at the scroll
Futile.
Piroo scroll
You haven't got that spell committed to memory. [Type "spells" to see
what you do remember.]
Piroo scroll
Nothing happens, perhaps because the black, memorial scroll was
already unfastened.
You describe your surroundings
Heaped up against the southern cave wall like a sloping rampart, and
rising 50 feet above the stream, the scree fall is made up not of
fallen stones but of masonry, broken terracotta tiles, wrecked
alabaster murals and those marbly bits you can't ever remember the
name of: as if the veil of a temple has been rent in twain. But what
the catastrophe can have been, and where the building stood, you
cannot say.

A black scroll, like a roll of remembrance, is curled around the top
few feet of scree.
Go north
An expanse of shingle and boulders sloping haphazardly across an irregularly-shaped floor a hundred feet across, only smoothed out at
its centre by a stream which pools just to the north. A furrow in the
rocky walls leads southwest, alongside a scree-fall which lies roughly
south; while the cave narrows into a canyon to the east.

The cone of the cedar hangs vertiginously over you, its tip perhaps 9
feet off the floor.
You go east
The cave floor closes off into an enclosed stream-bed here, forcing
you into a stoop.

The stream runs much faster here, as the bony hand of the cave-wall
clenches around it.
About yourself
As good-looking as ever.
Go east
Further east, the cave roof descends until it touches the stream
water-level.
You touch wall
Which do you mean, the north wall, the south wall, the east wall, the
west wall, the northeast wall, the northwest wall, the southeast wall
or the southwest wall?
Cross stream
You'll have to be more specific about which way to go.
Swim
The water is bone-chillingly cold, and even undressing near it would
give you goose-pimples.
You examine Guide
Enormously detailed with the useless and irrelevant, the Empress gave
it to you hoping you'd waste time studying it in detail. You have
vowed never to do so, but it's still handy for passing the odd dull
moment by looking up some specific local feature.
You put the ladder on the cedar
of the tree.
You take the cone
You already have that.
You look at your surroundings
An expanse of shingle and boulders sloping haphazardly across an irregularly-shaped floor a hundred feet across, only smoothed out at
its centre by a stream which pools just to the north. A furrow in the
rocky walls leads southwest, alongside a scree-fall which lies roughly
south; while the cave narrows into a canyon to the east.

An improvised ladder of sticks, lashed together with vines and
creepers, rests against the tip of the cedar, leading up into its
branches.

The cone of the cedar hangs vertiginously over you, its tip perhaps 9
feet off the floor.
You go to the northwest
You cross the stream and walk around the pool.

The stream's pool washes up almost to your feet, close to the
forbiddingly craggy and overhung northern wall of the cave, but the
water does leave room for a broad path around the periphery; and this
is its northern limb.

The cone of the cedar hangs vertiginously down, its tip suspended some
20 feet to the south, across the stream.

A single, graceful green water-lily plumes at the calm surface of the
pool.

You can also see an arrow here.
You get arrow
(the arrow)
Taken.
You get the lily
You'd have to wade through icy water to reach it.
Go northeast
You cross the stream and walk around the pool.

The stream's pool washes up almost to your feet, close to the
forbiddingly craggy and overhung northern wall of the cave, but the
water does leave room for a broad path around the periphery; and this
is its northern limb.

The cone of the cedar hangs vertiginously down, its tip suspended some
20 feet to the south, across the stream.

A single, graceful green water-lily plumes at the calm surface of the
pool.
Drink water
Which do you mean, the stream or the water lily?
You shoot the lily
snap!
Jilnix lily
As your brows frown, the air around you gathers with vile winged
insects, which surge forward to plague the water lily. The carnivorous
lily makes very quick work of them.
You throw the ham at the lily
The water-lily gulps upward and swallows the joint of cured ham with a
vicious snap!
You check your inventory
You are carrying:
a joint of cured ham
four arrows
an improvised ladder
a drum (which is empty)
a bow
a boomerang
a length of light rope
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
a shard of pottery (providing light)
your Ambassador's trunk (which is closed)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open)
some provisions - an apple, a hunk of cheese and a clove of garlic
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
four ancient treasures:
a golden fir-cone
a platinum egg
a jewelled scarab
a jade figurine
You throw the garlic at the lily
vicious snap!
You throw the apple at the lily
(first taking the apple)
The water-lily gulps upward and swallows the apple with a vicious
snap!
You throw the boomerang
You throw the boomerang out into the vast air of the cave, where it
quickly spins out of sight.
You wait awhile
Time passes.
Wait
Time passes.

Suddenly and without warning, the boomerang spins back in from the
cave and gives you a nasty bruise on the head.
You throw the boomerang at the lily
space.
You look
The stream's pool washes up almost to your feet, close to the
forbiddingly craggy and overhung northern wall of the cave, but the
water does leave room for a broad path around the periphery; and this
is its northern limb.

The cone of the cedar hangs vertiginously down, its tip suspended some
20 feet to the south, across the stream.

A single, graceful green water-lily plumes at the calm surface of the
pool.
You go to the north
The sheer black rock blocks your way.
Go south
That would be into the pool!
Up
the trunk will bear your weight.

An improvised ladder of sticks, lashed together with vines and
creepers, hangs down the rest of the way.
Up
You are perched inside the dense, broad first branches down from the
cedar's roots, which splay across the rocky ceiling like buttresses on
a perpendicular gothic column. Through the dappled green cover, you
can just make out the long ledge, but it's too far up to jump across.

A tree-house has been constructed here, though it's little more than a
wooden lean-to on a log platform.
Go north
Although branches radiate in all compass directions, your first
impression is that none of them lead anywhere in particular. Certainly
this one doesn't.
You throw the rope at ledge
The ledge is too far off.
You shoot arrow at the ledge
sight.
You put the ladder on the ledge
broadest branches to the ledge.
You look
You are perched inside the dense, broad first branches down from the
cedar's roots, which splay across the rocky ceiling like buttresses on
a perpendicular gothic column. Through the dappled green cover, you
can just make out the long ledge, but it's too far up to jump across.

An improvised ladder of sticks, lashed together with vines and
creepers, spans the abyss up to the ledge.

A tree-house has been constructed here, though it's little more than a
wooden lean-to on a log platform.
Up
This is a slate-littered shelf high up at the northwest eaves of a
dark, vaulted cave, from which a meadow-fresh breeze blows. The ledge
broadens down a slab "staircase" to the east but wastes away into a
tight squeeze southwest. Natural passages extend like tendrils into
the rock all around this cavern, but only one is accessible from here,
back north under the lintel.

Hanging down toward the dim, distant cave floor is a flourishing,
inverted cedar, its roots grappling the roof, its nearest outflung
branch a good 10 feet across the abyss from here.

An improvised ladder of sticks, lashed together with vines and
creepers, spans the abyss down to the cedar branches.
You throw the boomerang at the snake
There isn't really room to throw it at the oil-snake in this cramped
space.
You shoot arrow at the snake
You loose off an arrow at the oil-snake, but miss.
You get all
arrow: Taken.
arrow: Taken.
arrow: Taken.
cave floor: That's hardly portable.
inverted cedar: You can't reach the tree from here.
oil-snake: I don't suppose the oil-snake would care for that.
You examine the floor
(the cave floor)
You see nothing special about the cave floor.
You check your inventory
You are carrying:
four arrows
a boomerang
some provisions - a clove of garlic and a joint of cured ham
a drum (which is empty)
a bow
a length of light rope
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
a shard of pottery (providing light)
your Ambassador's trunk (which is closed)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open)
some provisions - an apple and a hunk of cheese
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
four ancient treasures:
a golden fir-cone
a platinum egg
a jewelled scarab
a jade figurine
You give the ham to the snake
The snake snatches and swallows whole the joint of cured ham, its neck distending to fit.
Look around
Just where the shelf flattens at the foot of rocky steps (climbing
westward), a square-cut doorway has been hewn into the north wall. The
ledge, which begins to curve southeast, is at its broadest here, yet
your feeling of vertigo hardly abates.

southwest, 30 feet away.

A watchful oil-snake coils and uncoils itself restlessly, occupying
its territory but making no move towards you as yet.

You can also see a small wickerwork hamper (in which are some
provisions - a joint of cured ham, an apple and a hunk of cheese)
here.
You examine lantern
The brass lantern is currently switched on.
You consult Guide abouthe oil-snake
The oil snake infests the foundations of many Northland houses. It is
said to bring bad luck, presumably because its bite is deadly poison.
You look
Just where the shelf flattens at the foot of rocky steps (climbing
westward), a square-cut doorway has been hewn into the north wall. The
ledge, which begins to curve southeast, is at its broadest here, yet
your feeling of vertigo hardly abates.

southwest, 30 feet away.

A watchful oil-snake coils and uncoils itself restlessly, occupying
its territory but making no move towards you as yet.
Go west
This is a slate-littered shelf high up at the northwest eaves of a
dark, vaulted cave, from which a meadow-fresh breeze blows. The ledge
broadens down a slab "staircase" to the east but wastes away into a
tight squeeze southwest. Natural passages extend like tendrils into
the rock all around this cavern, but only one is accessible from here,
back north under the lintel.

Hanging down toward the dim, distant cave floor is a flourishing,
inverted cedar, its roots grappling the roof, its nearest outflung
branch a good 10 feet across the abyss from here.

An improvised ladder of sticks, lashed together with vines and
creepers, spans the abyss down to the cedar branches.
Go southeast
This long parapet thins to nothing further on, appearing to lead
nowhere after all: the nearest other ledge being 50 feet vertically
below.

the inverted cedar, giving you a magnificent view of this botanic
marvel.

There's an iron ring fixed to the wall, the kind used to tie up
horses, though how anyone could possibly get a horse up here you can't imagine.
You tie the rope to ring
You make a secure little knot. One end is tied to the ring, the other
hangs down from the ledge.
Down
short, you decide against carefully lowering yourself down.
You go to the north-west
Just where the shelf flattens at the foot of rocky steps (climbing
westward), a square-cut doorway has been hewn into the north wall. The
ledge, which begins to curve southeast, is at its broadest here, yet
your feeling of vertigo hardly abates.

southwest, 30 feet away.

A watchful oil-snake coils and uncoils itself restlessly, occupying
its territory but making no move towards you as yet.
Go southeast
This long parapet thins to nothing further on, appearing to lead
nowhere after all: the nearest other ledge being 50 feet vertically
below.

the inverted cedar, giving you a magnificent view of this botanic
marvel.

There's an iron ring fixed to the wall, the kind used to tie up
horses, though how anyone could possibly get a horse up here you can't imagine.

Your length of rope is here. One end is tied to the ring, the other
hangs down from the ledge.
You tie the rope to the ladder
The rope's already tied to the iron ring.
You untie the rope
You untie the rope.
You look at what you're carrying with you
You are carrying:
an improvised ladder
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open)
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, an apple and a hunk of
cheese
four arrows
a boomerang
a clove of garlic
a drum (which is empty)
a bow
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
a shard of pottery (providing light)
your Ambassador's trunk (which is closed)
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
four ancient treasures:
a golden fir-cone
a platinum egg
a jewelled scarab
a jade figurine
You open the trunk
Expertly sliding your fingers along the sequence of hidden catches,
you trigger the mechanism and the trunk-lid gracefully raises.

credentials.
You examine the telescope
One thing about your home, the Duchy: you may not be a very powerful
realm, but you certainly are fine inventors and craftsmen. Take this
ten-inch brass "telescope", for example. Distant objects that you look
at through the telescope actually seem closer to you!
You look in the drum
The drum is empty.
Spells
The jilnix spell is indelibly etched on your memory. Other than that,
you have the chiaro spell memorised.
Chiaro boomerang
There is an almost blinding flash as the boomerang takes on a glow!
Not for a long moment is the light level tolerable.
You throw the boomerang
You throw the boomerang out into the vast air of the cave, where it
quickly spins out of sight.
You look
This long parapet thins to nothing further on, appearing to lead
nowhere after all: the nearest other ledge being 50 feet vertically
below.

the inverted cedar, giving you a magnificent view of this botanic
marvel.

There's an iron ring fixed to the wall, the kind used to tie up
horses, though how anyone could possibly get a horse up here you can't imagine.

Your length of rope is here.
Wait
Time passes.

Suddenly and without warning, the boomerang spins back in from the
cave and gives you a nasty bruise on the head.
You read Book
Which do you mean, Experimental Spell Book #5 or The Guide For
Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding Provinces?
Spell
The chiaro spell (cause inanimate object to radiate light).
The jilnix spell (summon small plague of insects).
The piroo spell (unfasten object).
You memorize the chiaro
You commit the chiaro spell to memory.
You break wall
(the masoned wall)
Violence isn't the answer to this one.
Go south
Thanks to the wall, the slide passage is the only way out.
You go west
Though the cave undoubtedly extends west, the wall means you are
unable to follow it.
Go downwards
the trunk will bear your weight.
You put the ladder on the floor
(the cave floor)
You hang the ladder so that it runs from the cave floor up to the tip
of the tree.
Go downwards
An expanse of shingle and boulders sloping haphazardly across an irregularly-shaped floor a hundred feet across, only smoothed out at
its centre by a stream which pools just to the north. A furrow in the
rocky walls leads southwest, alongside a scree-fall which lies roughly
south; while the cave narrows into a canyon to the east.

The cone of the cedar hangs vertiginously over you, its tip perhaps 9
feet off the floor.

An improvised ladder of sticks, lashed together with vines and
creepers, rests against the tip of the cedar, leading up into its
branches.
You go to the south
Heaped up against the southern cave wall like a sloping rampart, and
rising 50 feet above the stream, the scree fall is made up not of
fallen stones but of masonry, broken terracotta tiles, wrecked
alabaster murals and those marbly bits you can't ever remember the
name of: as if the veil of a temple has been rent in twain. But what
the catastrophe can have been, and where the building stood, you
cannot say.

A black scroll, like a roll of remembrance, is curled around the top
few feet of scree.
You get the scroll
Just as you're about to pull out the scroll, a tiny but significant
shift of stones give you pause. The scree fall is on the very edge of
an avalanche! You'd need to be a lot more than arm's length away to
survive that.
You shoot arrow at the scroll
You loose off an arrow at the black, memorial scroll, but miss.
You check your inventory
You are carrying:
a boomerang (providing light)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open)
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, an apple and a hunk of
cheese
four arrows
a clove of garlic
a drum (which is empty)
a bow
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
a shard of pottery (providing light)
your Ambassador's trunk (which is open)
a hand telescope
your formal credentials
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
four ancient treasures:
a golden fir-cone
a platinum egg
a jewelled scarab
a jade figurine
You throw the cheese at the scroll
(first taking the hunk of cheese)
Futile.
Go south
Heaped up against the southern cave wall like a sloping rampart, and
rising 50 feet above the stream, the scree fall is made up not of
fallen stones but of masonry, broken terracotta tiles, wrecked
alabaster murals and those marbly bits you can't ever remember the
name of: as if the veil of a temple has been rent in twain. But what
the catastrophe can have been, and where the building stood, you
cannot say.

A black scroll, like a roll of remembrance, is curled around the top
few feet of scree.

You can also see a shard of pottery (providing light) here.
You go east
The scree fall would be a desperate scramble down in any direction but
north.
You go southwest
An expanse of shingle and boulders sloping haphazardly across an irregularly-shaped floor a hundred feet across, only smoothed out at
its centre by a stream which pools just to the north. A furrow in the
rocky walls leads southwest, alongside a scree-fall which lies roughly
south; while the cave narrows into a canyon to the east.

The cone of the cedar hangs vertiginously over you, its tip perhaps 9
feet off the floor.

An improvised ladder of sticks, lashed together with vines and
creepers, rests against the tip of the cedar, leading up into its
branches.

You can also see a boomerang (providing light) here.
You look at the scroll with the telescope
The black, memorial scroll is too close to you to make that
worthwhile.
Go west
The cave wall is impenetrable in that direction.
Inventory
You are carrying:
a boomerang (providing light)
a shard of pottery (providing light)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open)
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, an apple and a hunk of
cheese
four arrows
a clove of garlic
a drum (which is empty)
a bow
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
your Ambassador's trunk (which is open)
a hand telescope
your formal credentials
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
four ancient treasures:
a golden fir-cone
a platinum egg
a jewelled scarab
a jade figurine
You put the cheese in the river
something else.
You put the cheese in the river
The hunk of cheese washes away with the stream.
Inventory
You are carrying:
a boomerang (providing light)
a shard of pottery (providing light)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open)
some provisions - a joint of cured ham and an apple
four arrows
a drum (which is empty)
a bow
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
your Ambassador's trunk (which is open)
a hand telescope
your formal credentials
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
four ancient treasures:
a golden fir-cone
a platinum egg
a jewelled scarab
a jade figurine
some provisions - a hunk of cheese and a clove of garlic
Spells
The jilnix spell is indelibly etched on your memory. Other than that,
you have the chiaro spell and piroo spell memorised.
Inventory
You are carrying:
an improvised ladder
a boomerang (providing light)
a shard of pottery (providing light)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open)
some provisions - a joint of cured ham and an apple
four arrows
a drum (which is empty)
a bow
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
your Ambassador's trunk (which is open)
a hand telescope
your formal credentials
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
four ancient treasures:
a golden fir-cone
a platinum egg
a jewelled scarab
a jade figurine
some provisions - a hunk of cheese and a clove of garlic
About yourself
As good-looking as ever.
Pray
Nothing practical results from your prayer.
Shout
[To address somebody, please type "name, what you want to say". For
example: "amilia, hello".]
You consult Guide about sherbet
A delightful fruit cocktail. A popular superstition holds that a
gentleman is fated to marry the first lady he drinks sherbet with.
Go north
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                          Q = re
sume game

Instructions: How to play this game
Briefings: A diplomatic background
> Hints: During the Procession
The Customs House
Amongst the Foundations
Ledge and Surroundings
Cedar and Cave Floor
Hints: Casting Spells
Hints: General
You go to the north
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                          Q = re
sume game

Instructions: How to play this game
Briefings: A diplomatic background
Hints: During the Procession
> The Customs House
Amongst the Foundations
Ledge and Surroundings
Cedar and Cave Floor
Hints: Casting Spells
Hints: General
Go north
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                          Q = re
sume game

Instructions: How to play this game
Briefings: A diplomatic background
Hints: During the Procession
The Customs House
> Amongst the Foundations
Ledge and Surroundings
Cedar and Cave Floor
Hints: Casting Spells
Hints: General
Go north
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                          Q = re
sume game

Instructions: How to play this game
Briefings: A diplomatic background
Hints: During the Procession
The Customs House
Amongst the Foundations
> Ledge and Surroundings
Cedar and Cave Floor
Hints: Casting Spells
Hints: General
You go to the north
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                          Q = re
sume game

Instructions: How to play this game
Briefings: A diplomatic background
Hints: During the Procession
The Customs House
Amongst the Foundations
Ledge and Surroundings
> Cedar and Cave Floor
Hints: Casting Spells
Hints: General
Hints
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                          Q = re
sume game

Instructions: How to play this game
Briefings: A diplomatic background
Hints: During the Procession
The Customs House
Amongst the Foundations
Ledge and Surroundings
> Cedar and Cave Floor
Hints: Casting Spells
Hints: General
I don'T actually know how to push the enter
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                          Q = re
sume game

Instructions: How to play this game
Briefings: A diplomatic background
Hints: During the Procession
The Customs House
Amongst the Foundations
Ledge and Surroundings
> Cedar and Cave Floor
Hints: Casting Spells
Hints: General
Cedar and Cave Floor
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                        Q = prev
ious menu

> I can't get back up.
The treehouse is impenetrable.
The scree slope is too unstable!
The arched doorway seems very dangerous.
What's the drum for?
Does the water-lily play a part?
Go north
(Press H for more, or SPACE to return.)

The means for doing so are further down.
Cedar and Cave Floor
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                        Q = prev
ious menu

> I can't get back up.
The treehouse is impenetrable.
The scree slope is too unstable!
The arched doorway seems very dangerous.
What's the drum for?
Does the water-lily play a part?

N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                        Q = prev
ious menu

I can't get back up.
> The treehouse is impenetrable.
The scree slope is too unstable!
The arched doorway seems very dangerous.
What's the drum for?
Does the water-lily play a part?
Go north
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                        Q = prev
ious menu

I can't get back up.
The treehouse is impenetrable.
> The scree slope is too unstable!
The arched doorway seems very dangerous.
What's the drum for?
Does the water-lily play a part?
(Press H for more, or SPACE to return.)

away.
Go east
You edge southeast along the ledge.

This long parapet thins to nothing further on, appearing to lead
nowhere after all: the nearest other ledge being 50 feet vertically
below.

the inverted cedar, giving you a magnificent view of this botanic
marvel.

There's an iron ring fixed to the wall, the kind used to tie up
horses, though how anyone could possibly get a horse up here you can't imagine.

Your length of rope is here.
You tie the rope to scroll
You make a secure little knot. It is now tied to the black, memorial
scroll.
You tie the rope to yourself
You tie the rope around you. One end is tied around you, and the other
to the black, memorial scroll.
You get the scroll
Just as you're about to pull out the scroll, a tiny but significant
shift of stones give you pause. The scree fall is on the very edge of
an avalanche! You'd need to be a lot more than arm's length away to
survive that.
You go north
The rope plucks out the scroll as you run north... but you are
overtaken by a thundering avalanche with the same idea! Your burial is
almost instant.
You jump
You jump on the spot, fruitlessly.
You untie the rope
You untie the rope.
Inventory
You are carrying:
a boomerang (providing light)
a shard of pottery (providing light)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open)
some provisions - a joint of cured ham and an apple
four arrows
a drum (which is empty)
a bow
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
your Ambassador's trunk (which is open)
a hand telescope
your formal credentials
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
four ancient treasures:
a golden fir-cone
a platinum egg
a jewelled scarab
a jade figurine
some provisions - a hunk of cheese and a clove of garlic
Go south
Heaped up against the southern cave wall like a sloping rampart, and
rising 50 feet above the stream, the scree fall is made up not of
fallen stones but of masonry, broken terracotta tiles, wrecked
alabaster murals and those marbly bits you can't ever remember the
name of: as if the veil of a temple has been rent in twain. But what
the catastrophe can have been, and where the building stood, you
cannot say.

A black scroll, like a roll of remembrance, is curled around the top
few feet of scree.

Your length of rope is here. It is now tied to the black, memorial
scroll.
Go south
The scree fall would be a desperate scramble down in any direction but
north.
You get the rope
You can't take the rope; it's tied to the black, memorial scroll.
Inventory
You are carrying:
a boomerang (providing light)
a shard of pottery (providing light)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open)
some provisions - a joint of cured ham and an apple
four arrows
a drum (which is empty)
a bow
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
your Ambassador's trunk (which is open)
a hand telescope
your formal credentials
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
four ancient treasures:
a golden fir-cone
a platinum egg
a jewelled scarab
a jade figurine
some provisions - a hunk of cheese and a clove of garlic
You tie the rope to boomerang
The rope's already tied to the black, memorial scroll.
Go north
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                        Q = prev
ious menu

I can't get back up.
> The treehouse is impenetrable.
The scree slope is too unstable!
The arched doorway seems very dangerous.
What's the drum for?
Does the water-lily play a part?
Go north
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                        Q = prev
ious menu

I can't get back up.
The treehouse is impenetrable.
> The scree slope is too unstable!
The arched doorway seems very dangerous.
What's the drum for?
Does the water-lily play a part?
You go north
The rope plucks out the scroll as you run north... but you are
overtaken by a thundering avalanche with the same idea! Your burial is
almost instant.
Go south
Heaped up against the southern cave wall like a sloping rampart, and
rising 50 feet above the stream, the scree fall is made up not of
fallen stones but of masonry, broken terracotta tiles, wrecked
alabaster murals and those marbly bits you can't ever remember the
name of: as if the veil of a temple has been rent in twain. But what
the catastrophe can have been, and where the building stood, you
cannot say.

A black scroll, like a roll of remembrance, is curled around the top
few feet of scree.

Your length of rope is here.
You pull the rope
You pull the rope.
Go downward
The rope plucks out the scroll as you run north... but you are
overtaken by a thundering avalanche with the same idea! Your burial is
almost instant.
You look around
Heaped up against the southern cave wall like a sloping rampart, and
rising 50 feet above the stream, the scree fall is made up not of
fallen stones but of masonry, broken terracotta tiles, wrecked
alabaster murals and those marbly bits you can't ever remember the
name of: as if the veil of a temple has been rent in twain. But what
the catastrophe can have been, and where the building stood, you
cannot say.

A black scroll, like a roll of remembrance, is curled around the top
few feet of scree.

Your length of rope is here. One end is tied around you, and the other
to the black, memorial scroll.
You go west
You skitter nervously down the very steep western side of the scree.

The rope plucks out the scroll... and your sideways leap is only just
in time to clear the thundering avalanche of masonry which results!

The furrow has been burrowed and extended by primitive mine workings,
hewn chiefly by hand or at best stone tools. But the seam has been
exhausted, and the striations in the rock scraped clean of ore.

You can see a black, memorial scroll here.
You untie the rope
You loose the rope from your waist.
You put the azzev in spell book
Your spell book begins to glow softly. Almost imperceptibly, the
binding swells and closes over the edge of the black, memorial scroll,
which straightens and becomes the new azzev spell page. The book's
brightness fades as the corners settle to perfect right angles.
You memorize azzev
You commit the azzev spell to memory.
Azzev
A cloud of green smoke gathers and swirls in the air like cream poured
into soup, and a vision briefly appears...

You see the painfully slow carving-out of the seam, by miners
centuries gone; and the anguish on their faces as the ore runs out,
never to be found again.
Go south
Heaped up against the southern cave wall like a sloping rampart, and
rising 40 feet above the stream, the scree fall is made up not of
fallen stones but of masonry, broken terracotta tiles, wrecked
alabaster murals and those marbly bits you can't ever remember the
name of: as if the veil of a temple has been rent in twain. But what
the catastrophe can have been, and where the building stood, you
cannot say.

The avalanche has cleared away part of the scree, leaving open behind
it a crudely arched doorway into the southern cave wall. Above the
doorway, a skull and crossbones has been carved.
Continue
You commit the azzev spell to memory once again.
Azzev
A cloud of green smoke gathers and swirls in the air like cream poured
into soup, and a vision briefly appears...

The scree slope being built, by teams of slaves, under an overseer
terrified that the doorway would ever be revealed again, but in a
desperate hurry... constantly glancing over his shoulder at the
corridor behind him... and the slope being completed, and his final
act laying the black scroll at its apex, to stand warning down all
time.
You look at the doorway
coated with a runny, nasty-looking paste which drips out of tiny
pores.
You get the paste
That's fixed in place.
Go south
As you pass through the archway, clouds of vapour and drips of arsenic
seep into your nose and ears! Death is immediate.
You put arrow in the doorway
The use of poisoned projectiles is strictly prohibited by the Protocol
of Collioure, one of the great triumphs of your early career.
You put the ham in the doorway
into something else.
Poison ham with arsenic
ham.
You touch the doorway with the ham
doorway.
You check your inventory
You are carrying:
a length of light rope
an improvised ladder
a boomerang (providing light)
a shard of pottery (providing light)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open)
an apple
four arrows
a drum (which is empty)
a bow
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
your Ambassador's trunk (which is open)
a hand telescope
your formal credentials
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
four ancient treasures:
a golden fir-cone
a platinum egg
a jewelled scarab
a jade figurine
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, a hunk of cheese and a clove
of garlic
Azzev lily
The spell backfires, and you somehow feel it wrong to apply it to
individual objects.
Azzev
A cloud of green smoke gathers and swirls in the air like cream poured
into soup, and a vision briefly appears...

Green lilies proliferating in the depths of the pool.
Azzev
A cloud of green smoke gathers and swirls in the air like cream poured
into soup, and a vision briefly appears...

An old man rocks back and forth in a chair, puffing smoke rings from a
long briar pipe.
Azzev
You haven't got that spell committed to memory. [Type "spells" to see
what you do remember.]
Azzev
A cloud of green smoke gathers and swirls in the air like cream poured
into soup, and a vision briefly appears...

The wall being masoned, but quite recently, by Northlands soldiers
working on the other side.
Go south
Thanks to the wall, the slide passage is the only way out.
Azzev
A cloud of green smoke gathers and swirls in the air like cream poured
into soup, and a vision briefly appears...

Seas of garbage rain down through the crack onto the mound, rapidly decomposing or washing away so that the process fights itself to a
standstill.
You memorize azzev
You commit the azzev spell to memory a third time. You have so much
rushing around in your head, though, that something may easily have
been lost in the confusion.
Go north
The increasingly earthy rock blocks your way. The only viable routes
are west, south and northeast.
You look at azzev
azzev spell (view the past).
Azzev
A cloud of green smoke gathers and swirls in the air like cream poured
into soup, and a vision briefly appears...

A very ancient time, when the tree has not grown: the doorway is being
cut with enervating slowness.
Go southeast
This long parapet thins to nothing further on, appearing to lead
nowhere after all: the nearest other ledge being 50 feet vertically
below.

the inverted cedar, giving you a magnificent view of this botanic
marvel.

There's an iron ring fixed to the wall, the kind used to tie up
horses, though how anyone could possibly get a horse up here you can't imagine.
Azzev
A cloud of green smoke gathers and swirls in the air like cream poured
into soup, and a vision briefly appears...

The tree, sprouting confidentally downwards.
Spells
The jilnix spell is indelibly etched on your memory. Other than that,
you have the azzev spell, chiaro spell and piroo spell memorised.
You look at Cedar with telescope
You raise the brass telescope expertly to your eye. There seems to be
a crude wooden house built into it halfway down.
Inventory
You are carrying:
a length of light rope
a boomerang (providing light)
a shard of pottery (providing light)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open)
an apple
four arrows
a drum (which is empty)
a bow
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
your Ambassador's trunk (which is open)
a hand telescope
your formal credentials
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
four ancient treasures:
a golden fir-cone
a platinum egg
a jewelled scarab
a jade figurine
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, a hunk of cheese and a clove
of garlic
You go north
You edge northwest along the ledge.

Just where the shelf flattens at the foot of rocky steps (climbing
westward), a square-cut doorway has been hewn into the north wall. The
ledge, which begins to curve southeast, is at its broadest here, yet
your feeling of vertigo hardly abates.

southwest, 30 feet away.

A watchful oil-snake coils and uncoils itself restlessly, occupying
its territory but making no move towards you as yet.
Go north
The oil-snake oozes and rears itself up to bar your way.
You get the rope
You can't take the rope; it's tied to the iron ring.
You show the apple to the snake
(first taking the apple)
The oil-snake is unimpressed.
You give the apple to the snake
The snake snatches and swallows whole the apple, its neck distending
to fit.

But something mysterious is wrong! It chokes, seizing up horribly and thrashing about, its great body squeezing away from you until it
topples over the lip of the ledge, plunging out of sight to its
presumed demise.
You eat the apple
Just in time, you stop yourself from taking a bite as you notice
little puncture-marks and a faint discolouration. This apple has been poisoned!
You eat the cheese
You eat the hunk of cheese. Not bad.
You give the apple to snake
The snake snatches and swallows whole the poisoned apple, its neck
distending to fit.
It chokes, seizing up horribly and thrashing about, its great body
squeezing away from you until it topples over the lip of the ledge,
plunging out of sight to its presumed demise.
Go north
This is a pale corridor filled with a cold, pearly light, ranging from near-darkness at the southern end to a bright glow from the east.

You are in the almost ghostly presence of a gaunt, long-haired man, an Adventurer who looks as if he has just stepped out of a weaving of a
scene from the old Empire.
You look at the man
If legends may be believed, although basically trustworthy he would do
almost anything for treasure.
Azzev
A cloud of green smoke gathers and swirls in the air like cream poured
into soup, and a vision briefly appears...

Even in your vision, the Adventurer stalks, untired and yet
unsatisfied.
Hello
The Adventurer is already serving under one geas, and you have little
chance of talking him out of it.
Go east
eastward continuation.

"The Chamber is private to my Master!" he booms, in a voice not his
own.
Inventory
You are carrying:
a boomerang (providing light)
a shard of pottery (providing light)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open but empty)
four arrows
a drum (which is empty)
a bow
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
your Ambassador's trunk (which is open)
a hand telescope
your formal credentials
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
four ancient treasures:
a golden fir-cone
a platinum egg
a jewelled scarab
a jade figurine
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, a hunk of cheese and a clove
of garlic
You give the egg to the man
The Adventurer's eyes gleam. Treasure! He wants only more and more of
it.
You give the figurine to Adventurer
(first taking the jade figurine)
The ghostly Adventurer guards the pile of treasure zealously.
You look
This is a pale corridor filled with a cold, pearly light, ranging from near-darkness at the southern end to a bright glow from the east.

You are in the almost ghostly presence of a gaunt, long-haired man, an Adventurer who looks as if he has just stepped out of a weaving of a
scene from the old Empire.

You can also see four ancient treasures (a golden fir-cone, a jade
figurine, a jewelled scarab and a platinum egg) here.
You give the pottery to Adventurer
The Adventurer is incorruptible. Well, fairly incorruptible. Unless
something valuable is on offer, anyway.
Inventory
You are carrying:
a boomerang (providing light)
a shard of pottery (providing light)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open but empty)
four arrows
a drum (which is empty)
a bow
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
your Ambassador's trunk (which is open)
a hand telescope
your formal credentials
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, a hunk of cheese and a clove
of garlic
You give credentials to Adventurer
(first taking the formal credentials)
He is unimpressed, perhaps because he speaks a language centuries
before your own.
You get the telescope then give it to Adventurer
Taken.
The Adventurer is incorruptible. Well, fairly incorruptible. Unless
something valuable is on offer, anyway.
Go south
Just where the shelf flattens at the foot of rocky steps (climbing
westward), a square-cut doorway has been hewn into the north wall. The
ledge, which begins to curve southeast, is at its broadest here, yet
your feeling of vertigo hardly abates.

southwest, 30 feet away.
Azzev
A cloud of green smoke gathers and swirls in the air like cream poured
into soup, and a vision briefly appears...

Terribly slowly, the stream erodes this channel into existence.
You check what you're carrying
You are carrying:
your formal credentials
a boomerang (providing light)
a shard of pottery (providing light)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open but empty)
four arrows
a drum (which is empty)
a bow
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
your Ambassador's trunk (which is open)
a hand telescope
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, a hunk of cheese and a clove
of garlic
You shoot the lily
snap!
Fill drum
The placid water pools slowly in the drum, then drains out of the
gauze. Nothing appears to result from this.
Fill drum
Water sluices through the gauze drum, panning and leaving a sludge of
wet sediment behind.
You look at the sludge
The sludge is a mucky aggregation of river debris; clay, sand, small
stones of all sizes.
Fill drum
Water washes through the sludge, filtering away the lighter sediment
until a gleaming (if tiny) lump of ore remains!
You check your inventory
You are carrying:
your formal credentials
a boomerang (providing light)
a shard of pottery (providing light)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open but empty)
four arrows
a drum
a tiny lump of tin ore
a bow
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
your Ambassador's trunk (which is open)
a hand telescope
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, a hunk of cheese and a clove
of garlic
Jilnix doorway
As your brows frown, the air around you gathers with vile winged
insects, which surge forward to plague the crudely arched doorway. But
nothing results from this, and they dissipate again.
Chiaro tin
There is an almost blinding flash as the tiny lump of tin ore takes on
a glow! Not for a long moment is the light level tolerable.
Inventory
You are carrying:
a tiny lump of tin ore (providing light)
your formal credentials
a boomerang (providing light)
a shard of pottery (providing light)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open but empty)
four arrows
a drum
a sludge of sediment
a bow
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
your Ambassador's trunk (which is open)
a hand telescope
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, a hunk of cheese and a clove
of garlic
Fill drum
Water sluices the sludge away to nothing. Then again, panning is all
about luck and persistence.
Go east
You edge along the northern wall of the cave, descending the rocky
stairs.

Just where the shelf flattens at the foot of rocky steps (climbing
westward), a square-cut doorway has been hewn into the north wall. The
ledge, which begins to curve southeast, is at its broadest here, yet
your feeling of vertigo hardly abates.

southwest, 30 feet away.
Go north
This is a pale corridor filled with a cold, pearly light, ranging from near-darkness at the southern end to a bright glow from the east.

You are in the almost ghostly presence of a gaunt, long-haired man, an Adventurer who looks as if he has just stepped out of a weaving of a
scene from the old Empire.

You can also see four ancient treasures (a golden fir-cone, a jade
figurine, a jewelled scarab and a platinum egg) here.
You give the ore to the ghost
The Adventurer is incorruptible. Well, fairly incorruptible. Unless
something valuable is on offer, anyway.
Fill drum
Effervescent, glowing spring water cascades magically around the pan.
There is a sudden flash of light!
Inventory
You are carrying:
your formal credentials
a boomerang (providing light)
a shard of pottery (providing light)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open but empty)
four arrows
a bow
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
your Ambassador's trunk (which is open)
a hand telescope
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
some provisions - a banana, a joint of cured ham, a hunk of cheese
and a clove of garlic
You look at what you're carrying with you
You are carrying:
a tiny lump of tin ore (providing light)
your formal credentials
a boomerang (providing light)
a shard of pottery (providing light)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open but empty)
four arrows
a drum (which is empty)
a bow
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
your Ambassador's trunk (which is open)
a hand telescope
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, a hunk of cheese and a clove
of garlic
Fill drum
Effervescent, glowing spring water cascades magically around the pan.
There is a sudden flash of light!
You put the drum in the pool
The drum drops silently into the spring water, vanishing without
trace.
You put the ore in pool
The tiny lump of tin ore drops silently into the spring water,
vanishing without trace.
Drink water
You feel it would be highly dangerous to drink further.
Azzev
A cloud of green smoke gathers and swirls in the air like cream poured
into soup, and a vision briefly appears...

Deranged, kaleidoscopic visions of great force and power, signifying
nothing.
You examine the Spell Book
The chiaro spell (cause inanimate object to radiate light).
The jilnix spell (summon small plague of insects).
The piroo spell (unfasten object).
The azzev spell (view the past).
You touch the tin to poll
ore.
Chiaro drum
There is an almost blinding flash as the drum takes on a glow! Not for
a long moment is the light level tolerable.
You eat the banana
Delicious! Just as you reach the last morsel, there is another
blinding flash of light.
You look at what you're carrying with you
You are carrying:
a drum (providing light and empty)
your formal credentials
a boomerang (providing light)
a shard of pottery (providing light)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open but empty)
four arrows
a bow
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
your Ambassador's trunk (which is open)
a hand telescope
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, a hunk of cheese and a clove
of garlic
You put the ladder on the floor
The jilnix spell is indelibly etched on your memory. Other than that,
you have the azzev spell and piroo spell memorised.

(the cave floor)
You hang the ladder so that it runs from the cave floor up to the tip
of the tree.
DDD
Enter saved game to load: Restore failed.
You look at the drum
It resembles a tambourine without chimes. Some kind of coarse gauze is stretched taut along the bottom of a wooden drum-frame.
Hint
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                          Q = re
sume game

> Instructions: How to play this game
Briefings: A diplomatic background
Hints: During the Procession
The Customs House
Amongst the Foundations
Ledge and Surroundings
Cedar and Cave Floor
Hints: Casting Spells
Hints: General
You go to the north
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                          Q = re
sume game

Instructions: How to play this game
> Briefings: A diplomatic background
Hints: During the Procession
The Customs House
Amongst the Foundations
Ledge and Surroundings
Cedar and Cave Floor
Hints: Casting Spells
Hints: General
Go north
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                          Q = re
sume game

Instructions: How to play this game
Briefings: A diplomatic background
> Hints: During the Procession
The Customs House
Amongst the Foundations
Ledge and Surroundings
Cedar and Cave Floor
Hints: Casting Spells
Hints: General
You go to the north
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                          Q = re
sume game

Instructions: How to play this game
Briefings: A diplomatic background
Hints: During the Procession
> The Customs House
Amongst the Foundations
Ledge and Surroundings
Cedar and Cave Floor
Hints: Casting Spells
Hints: General
Go north
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                          Q = re
sume game

Instructions: How to play this game
Briefings: A diplomatic background
Hints: During the Procession
The Customs House
> Amongst the Foundations
Ledge and Surroundings
Cedar and Cave Floor
Hints: Casting Spells
Hints: General
You go to the north
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                        Q = prev
ious menu

I can't get back up.
The treehouse is impenetrable.
The scree slope is too unstable!
> The arched doorway seems very dangerous.
What's the drum for?
Does the water-lily play a part?
You go to the north
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                        Q = prev
ious menu

I can't get back up.
The treehouse is impenetrable.
The scree slope is too unstable!
The arched doorway seems very dangerous.
> What's the drum for?
Does the water-lily play a part?
(Press H for more, or SPACE to return.)

It's not for percussion.
You look at the ledge with the telescope
You raise the brass telescope expertly to your eye. The ledge looks
much as you remember it. From here, however, you can see a cave
opening below the southeastern end of the ledge, concealed from above
by the overhang. But it's a very long way from here, and you can't see anything inside.
You drop the rope
The length of light rope is already on the floor.
You look
This long parapet thins to nothing further on, appearing to lead
nowhere after all: the nearest other ledge being 50 feet vertically
below.

There's an iron ring fixed to the wall, the kind used to tie up
horses, though how anyone could possibly get a horse up here you can't imagine.

Your length of rope is here. One end is tied to the ring, the other
hangs down from the ledge.

the inverted cedar, giving you a magnificent view of this botanic
marvel.
You tie the rope to yourself
You tie the rope around you.
You tie the rope to ring
You make a secure little knot. One end is tied around you, and the
other to the iron ring.
You jump
You make a wild jump out into the cave, swinging down until the rope
comes full stretch and catches you with an almost bone-breaking lurch.
So you're feeling quite dizzy as you swing back under the ledge and,
by ridiculous good fortune, into a cave mouth halfway up the wall
(which had been invisible from above).

An almost inaccessible side-chamber, which leads only a little way
northeast, giving you the feeling of being suspended in midair halfway
up the cedar cavern. It would make a splendid eyrie, but thankfully
there is no sign of eagles.
Inventory
You are carrying:
a tiny lump of tin ore (providing light)
your formal credentials
a boomerang (providing light)
a shard of pottery (providing light)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open but empty)
four arrows
a drum (which is empty)
a bow
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
your Ambassador's trunk (which is open)
a hand telescope
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, a hunk of cheese and a clove
of garlic

You are carrying:
a tiny lump of tin ore (providing light)
your formal credentials
a boomerang (providing light)
a shard of pottery (providing light)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open but empty)
four arrows
a drum (which is empty)
a bow
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
your Ambassador's trunk (which is open)
a hand telescope
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, a hunk of cheese and a clove
of garlic
You drop the rope
(first untying it from yourself)
The length of light rope is already on the floor.
You go to the northeast
Cruelly, the tight cave comes to what every adventurer dreads: a dead
end, leaving nothing for it but to go back southwest.

An ingot of silver was, presumably, quite safely stored here up to
now.
You get the silver
Taken.
You examine it
The ingot is marked in ancient runes with the word: "TOGNI". No,
actually: you were looking at it back to front.
Go southwest
An almost inaccessible side-chamber, which leads only a little way
northeast, giving you the feeling of being suspended in midair halfway
up the cedar cavern. It would make a splendid eyrie, but thankfully
there is no sign of eagles.
You get the rope
The rope is too far out.
You wait awhile
Time passes.

Suddenly and without warning, the boomerang spins back in from the
cave and gives you a nasty bruise on the head.

In the process, it recoils off the rope hanging in mid-air and swings
that (rather more slowly) toward you. Forgetting about rubbing your
temple, you grab at the rope and tie it back around your waist for
safety.
Go up
You jump back out and haul yourself painfully up the rope again.
Go outside
This long parapet thins to nothing further on, appearing to lead
nowhere after all: the nearest other ledge being 50 feet vertically
below.

the inverted cedar, giving you a magnificent view of this botanic
marvel.

Your length of rope is here. One end is tied around you, and the other
to the iron ring.

There's an iron ring fixed to the wall, the kind used to tie up
horses, though how anyone could possibly get a horse up here you can't imagine.

But you aren't in anything at the moment.
Go north
You edge northwest along the ledge.

Just where the shelf flattens at the foot of rocky steps (climbing
westward), a square-cut doorway has been hewn into the north wall. The
ledge, which begins to curve southeast, is at its broadest here, yet
your feeling of vertigo hardly abates.

southwest, 30 feet away.
Go north
This is a pale corridor filled with a cold, pearly light, ranging from near-darkness at the southern end to a bright glow from the east.

You are in the almost ghostly presence of a gaunt, long-haired man, an Adventurer who looks as if he has just stepped out of a weaving of a
scene from the old Empire.

You can also see four ancient treasures (a golden fir-cone, a jade
figurine, a jewelled scarab and a platinum egg) here.
You give the silver to the ghost
The Adventurer, having now acquired the whole nearby wealth of
treasure, spreads his arms around the pile of loot. As he does so, he
and they vanish like the dawn into the past where, perhaps, they
belong.
Go east
The corridor funnels out into a chamber, turning once again to the
south. Though smoother, the walls become hung with cobwebs and you
have a sense of disturbing centuries of quiet.

An ancient coffer, a chest of precious or personal papers, rests to
one side.
You open it
You open the coffer, revealing an old document and a colour chart.
Azzev
A cloud of green smoke gathers and swirls in the air like cream poured
into soup, and a vision briefly appears...

curious colour-chart.
You look at the chart
This chart, very ancient though it is, gives the impression of being
work in progress rather than a finished diagram, in that different
patches seem to have been drawn in at different times. It consists of
colours and symbols rather than words:

Red-black --> ? --> ? -->

Copper --> Silver-white --> Bright yellow -->

Black --> Dull silver --> Dull grey -->

Vivid green --> Skull symbol -->

Flame symbol --> Yellow -->

Chalky white --> Dark silver -->
You look at the document
Scratchy handwriting adorns this text, and the writing's in a dialect
almost unrecognisable today. But, like any diplomat worth his salt,
you've a way with languages: it writes of a way to tap the
Philosopher's Stone, a source of Riches by Transmutation, but which is
only workable fairly near the Stone itself... A sketch diagram
suggests that the author was familiar with the route back up to the
Customs House, and may even have lived there.
You get the chart and the document
colour chart: You already have that.
old document: Taken.
You look
The corridor funnels out into a chamber, turning once again to the
south. Though smoother, the walls become hung with cobwebs and you
have a sense of disturbing centuries of quiet.

An ancient coffer, a chest of precious or personal papers, rests to
one side.
You go to the south
The serene white illumination comes as a shock to your eyes after
following dim lamplight for so long, but this chamber is patient while
you blink; a circular room with smooth walls and concentric steps down
to a shallow well.

The Stone itself is resting in the well: an obelisk whose irregular
facets contrast so sharply with the perfect roundness of the walls
that it almost seems alive.

On the Philosopher's Stone is a spotless scroll.
You examine the scroll
The scroll reads "ruther spell (transmute pure chemical elements)".
You put it in the Spell Book
Your spell book begins to glow softly. Almost imperceptibly, the
binding swells and closes over the edge of the spotless scroll, which straightens and becomes the new ruther spell page. The book's
brightness fades as the corners settle to perfect right angles.
You memorize azzev
You commit the azzev spell to memory.
A cloud of green smoke gathers and swirls in the air like cream poured
into soup, and a vision briefly appears...

A wily gentleman casts a dazzling spell onto an ingot of silver, and
it becomes gold! He is enriched, but unsurprised.
You commit the azzev spell to memory.
Inventory
You are carrying:
a coffer (which is open but empty)
an old document
a colour chart
a length of light rope
a boomerang (providing light)
a tiny lump of tin ore (providing light)
your formal credentials
a shard of pottery (providing light)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open but empty)
four arrows
a drum (which is empty)
a bow
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
your Ambassador's trunk (which is open)
a hand telescope
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, a hunk of cheese and a clove
of garlic
You memorize ruther
You commit the ruther spell to memory.
Ruther tin
(This powerful enchantment easily cancels the earlier "chiaro" spell.)
You check your inventory
You are carrying:
a coffer (which is open but empty)
an old document
a colour chart
a length of light rope
a boomerang (providing light)
a tiny lump of lead ore
your formal credentials
a shard of pottery (providing light)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open but empty)
four arrows
a drum (which is empty)
a bow
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
your Ambassador's trunk (which is open)
a hand telescope
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, a hunk of cheese and a clove
of garlic
Ruther lead
power! And it is transmuted into a gleaming uncut diamond.
You look at the coffer
The coffer is empty.
You check what you're carrying
You are carrying:
a coffer (which is open but empty)
an old document
a colour chart
a length of light rope
a boomerang (providing light)
a gleaming uncut diamond
your formal credentials
a shard of pottery (providing light)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open but empty)
four arrows
a drum (which is empty)
a bow
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
your Ambassador's trunk (which is open)
a hand telescope
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, a hunk of cheese and a clove
of garlic
You examine the telescope
One thing about your home, the Duchy: you may not be a very powerful
realm, but you certainly are fine inventors and craftsmen. Take this
ten-inch brass "telescope", for example. Distant objects that you look
at through the telescope actually seem closer to you!
Ruther diamond
The magic has no effect, perhaps because the diamond's crystalline
structure is too strong.
Ruther lantern
You commit the ruther spell to memory.
The spell misfires, perhaps because the brass lantern is not pure but
a mixture or an alloy.
You look
The serene white illumination comes as a shock to your eyes after
following dim lamplight for so long, but this chamber is patient while
you blink; a circular room with smooth walls and concentric steps down
to a shallow well.

The Stone itself is resting in the well: an obelisk whose irregular
facets contrast so sharply with the perfect roundness of the walls
that it almost seems alive.
Go downward
The Adventurer was guarding the only entrance.
Go north
The corridor funnels out into a chamber, turning once again to the
south. Though smoother, the walls become hung with cobwebs and you
have a sense of disturbing centuries of quiet.
You go to the west
This is a pale corridor filled with a cold, pearly light, ranging from near-darkness at the southern end to a bright glow from the east.
Ruther arsenic
You commit the ruther spell to memory.
Blue magical light crackles over the doorway, abating to leave it...
greenly glowing.
Go south
An upward slope from the arched doorway to north, this is an irregular
burrow wriggled out of soft earth. Strange tracks have been dragged,
making wavy lines which meet at the distant top, where the burrow
opens out.
You examine the doorway
The doorway glows with green phosphorescence.
Go upwards
Hollowed out like a wasp's nest in a rotten apple, this almost-sealed
den can only be one thing.

creature, curled up, half-hornet, half-prawn. It looks as if it would
fall to dust if you so much as looked at it.

A glistening, pulsing egg, rocks back and forth erratically. It seems
close to hatching! A dull, humid heat radiates out from it, and you
sense effort and anger.
You examine corpse
You so much as look at the creature's body, and it falls to dust!
Azzev
A cloud of green smoke gathers and swirls in the air like cream poured
into soup, and a vision briefly appears...

A magnificent hornet-creature, in its death-throes, laying one final
egg.
You consult Guide Book about the hornet
into the population. Modern historians feel that this is merely a
symbol of deep insecurity.
You hit the egg
If anything could accelerate hatching, pushing the egg around might.
If only you could cause it to crack open somewhere!
Look around
Hollowed out like a wasp's nest in a rotten apple, this almost-sealed
den can only be one thing.

A glistening, pulsing egg, rocks back and forth erratically. It seems
close to hatching! A dull, humid heat radiates out from it, and you
sense effort and anger.
You examine the Spell Book
The chiaro spell (cause inanimate object to radiate light).
The jilnix spell (summon small plague of insects).
The piroo spell (unfasten object).
The azzev spell (view the past).
The ruther spell (transmute pure chemical elements).
You learn the piroo
You commit the piroo spell to memory once again.
Jilnix egg
As your brows frown, the air around you gathers with vile winged
insects, which surge forward to plague the glistening egg. They are
unable to make any inroad into the eggshell.
Piroo egg
Nothing happens, perhaps because the glistening egg was already
unfastened.
You look
Smothered in a suffocating red haze, half-conscious at best, your
position seems hopeless. The lily's membrane is tough as
crocodile-skin and beyond it is perhaps a thousand feet of water? The
pressure seals you in as well as any rockfall could. Indeed, only the
pressure makes it possible at all for one Ambassador and one giant
hatched lizard to share a space barely six feet in diameter.

The creature wriggles, dripping a saliva that burns to the touch, but
seems lapsed back into embryonic sleep.
You look at the creature
A sleek, beautiful marvel, half-insect, half-reptile. Its gauzy wings
are only undeveloped stubs and a little amniotic fluid still coats
them; but its sting, painted like a brimstone butterfly, looks deadly
already.
Inventory
You are carrying:
a coffer (which is open but empty)
an old document
a colour chart
a length of light rope
a boomerang (providing light)
a gleaming uncut diamond
your formal credentials
a shard of pottery (providing light)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open but empty)
four arrows
a drum (which is empty)
a bow
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
your Ambassador's trunk (which is open)
a hand telescope
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, a hunk of cheese and a clove
of garlic

The compression tightens.

The creature wriggles in sleep, stirring.
You learn the piroo
You commit the piroo spell to memory once again.
Piroo lily
Abruptly the lily-pod bursts. A detached observer would think its
graceful explosion reminiscent of seeds released onto a spring wind.
But with the pressure of the water smashing into you like a hammer,
you are soon detached from all observation, all reminiscence.
Wait
Time passes.

The membrane walls exude some kind of digestive fluid.
You wake creature
The hornet sleeps soundly (thank heavens).

The membrane walls exude some kind of digestive fluid.
Azzev
A cloud of green smoke gathers and swirls in the air like cream poured
into soup, and a vision briefly appears...

A highly disconcerting montage of plant and animal life being digested wholesale.

Your shoulders are being folded together, like a recalcitrant
cardboard box.

The creature wriggles in sleep, stirring.
Spells
The jilnix spell is indelibly etched on your memory. Other than that,
you have the piroo spell (twice) and chiaro spell memorised.

The hatchling wriggles in sleep, stirring.
Jilnix lily
There really is no situation so unpleasant you can't make it worse, is
there?

The pressure is now almost unbearable!
Jilnix  hatchlinjilnix   hatchling
There really is no situation so unpleasant you can't make it worse, is
there?

With a sudden convulsion of fibres, the lily pod crunches you up
entirely, with merciful speed.
You give the garlic to creature
The hornet sleeps soundly (thank heavens).
You shoot the hornet
What, in this confined space?

The compression tightens.
You check what you're carrying
You are carrying:
a coffer (which is open but empty)
an old document
a colour chart
a length of light rope
a boomerang (providing light)
a gleaming uncut diamond
your formal credentials
a shard of pottery (providing light)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open but empty)
four arrows
a drum (which is empty)
a bow
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
your Ambassador's trunk (which is open)
a hand telescope
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, a hunk of cheese and a clove
of garlic

The compression tightens.
You burn lily
The membrane seems impervious to everything.

The hornet wriggles in sleep, talons rustling.
Bite lily
The membrane seems impervious to everything.

The membrane walls exude some kind of digestive fluid.
Spells
The jilnix spell is indelibly etched on your memory. Other than that,
you have the piroo spell and chiaro spell memorised.
You kick the lily
The membrane seems impervious to everything.

Your shoulders are being folded together, like a recalcitrant
cardboard box.
Ruther lily
The spell misfires, perhaps because the lily membrane is not pure but
a mixture or an alloy.

The pressure is now almost unbearable!
You shoot arrow at the lily
What, in this confined space?

With a sudden convulsion of fibres, the lily pod crunches you up
entirely, with merciful speed.
You check your inventory
You are carrying:
a coffer (which is open but empty)
an old document
a colour chart
a length of light rope
a boomerang (providing light)
a gleaming uncut diamond
your formal credentials
a shard of pottery (providing light)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open but empty)
four arrows
a drum (which is empty)
a bow
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
your Ambassador's trunk (which is open)
a hand telescope
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, a hunk of cheese and a clove
of garlic

The creature wriggles in sleep, perhaps dreaming.
You feed the cheese to the creature
The hornet sleeps soundly (thank heavens).
Look around
Smothered in a suffocating red haze, half-conscious at best, your
position seems hopeless. The lily's membrane is tough as
crocodile-skin and beyond it is perhaps a thousand feet of water? The
pressure seals you in as well as any rockfall could. Indeed, only the
pressure makes it possible at all for one Ambassador and one giant
hatched lizard to share a space barely six feet in diameter.

The creature wriggles, dripping a saliva that burns to the touch, but
seems lapsed back into embryonic sleep.

The creature wriggles in sleep, stirring.
Fill drum
But there's no water here to carry.

The compression tightens.
You enter the coffer
That's not something you can enter.

The compression tightens.
Memorise ruther
You commit the ruther spell to memory.

The compression tightens.
Ruther telescope
The spell misfires, perhaps because the hand telescope is not pure but
a mixture or an alloy.

The creature wriggles in sleep, stirring.
Ruther creature
The spell misfires, perhaps because the embryonic hornet is not pure
but a mixture or an alloy.
You open the pod
The membrane seems impervious to everything.
Spells
The jilnix spell is indelibly etched on your memory. Other than that,
you have the ruther spell, piroo spell and chiaro spell memorised.

The membrane walls exude some kind of digestive fluid.
Piroo creature
Nothing happens, perhaps because the embryonic hornet was already
unfastened.
Chiaro diamond
The magic has no effect, perhaps because the diamond's crystalline
structure is too strong.

The hatchling wriggles in sleep, perhaps dreaming.
You search the hornet
You find nothing of interest.

Your shoulders are being folded together, like a recalcitrant
cardboard box.

The hornet wriggles in sleep, talons rustling.
Ruther window
The spell misfires, perhaps because the quartz window is not pure but
a mixture or an alloy.
You cut the window
Cutting that up would achieve little.
You look in the window
Tantalisingly, you can only see darkness within.
Chiaro window
The spell dissipates, perhaps because the quartz window is already
giving off light.
You look at the window through telescope
The quartz window is too close to you to make that worthwhile.
Ruther wall
(the masoned wall)
The spell misfires, perhaps because the masoned wall is not pure but a
mixture or an alloy.
You memorize ruther
That would be highly hazardous!
You commit the ruther spell to memory.
Ruther doorway
You commit the ruther spell to memory once again.
Blue magical light crackles over the doorway, reconstituting the
poison on the archway.
You look at the doorway
coated with a runny, nasty-looking paste which drips out of tiny
pores.
Ruther doorway
Blue magical light crackles over the doorway, abating to leave it...
greenly glowing.
You examine the doorway
The doorway glows with green phosphorescence.
Go south
An upward slope from the arched doorway to north, this is an irregular
burrow wriggled out of soft earth. Strange tracks have been dragged,
making wavy lines which meet at the distant top, where the burrow
opens out.
Ruther doorway
Blue magical light crackles over the doorway, reconstituting the
poison on the archway.
Go south
As you pass through the archway, clouds of vapour and drips of arsenic
seep into your nose and ears! Death is immediate.
Go north
An expanse of shingle and boulders sloping haphazardly across an irregularly-shaped floor a hundred feet across, only smoothed out at
its centre by a stream which pools just to the north. A furrow in the
rocky walls leads southwest, alongside a scree-fall which lies roughly
south; while the cave narrows into a canyon to the east.

The cone of the cedar hangs vertiginously over you, its tip perhaps 9
feet off the floor.

An improvised ladder of sticks, lashed together with vines and
creepers, rests against the tip of the cedar, leading up into its
branches.

You can also see a joint of cured ham here.
You go south
An upward slope from the arched doorway to north, this is an irregular
burrow wriggled out of soft earth. Strange tracks have been dragged,
making wavy lines which meet at the distant top, where the burrow
opens out.

You can see a joint of cured ham here.
You eat the banana
Delicious! Just as you reach the last morsel, there is another
blinding flash of light.

The hornet wriggles in sleep, stirring.
Piroo lily
Abruptly the lily-pod bursts. A detached observer would think its
graceful explosion reminiscent of seeds released onto a spring wind.
But with the pressure of the water smashing into you like a hammer,
you are soon detached from all observation, all reminiscence.
You wake the hornet
The hornet sleeps soundly (thank heavens).

The hatchling wriggles in sleep, talons rustling.
You kick the hornet
Does it not occur to you that you and the hornet are in the same boat,
or in this case the same submarine?

The compression tightens.
You examine the hornet
A sleek, beautiful marvel, half-insect, half-reptile. Its gauzy wings
are only undeveloped stubs and a little amniotic fluid still coats
them; but its sting, painted like a brimstone butterfly, looks deadly
already.

The creature wriggles in sleep, perhaps dreaming.
You examine the sting
The tip slightly exudes some kind of poison.

The membrane walls exude some kind of digestive fluid.
Poison arrow
You'll have to be more exact about how to do that.

Your shoulders are being folded together, like a recalcitrant
cardboard box.
Break stinger
You'd have to be very careful about that.

Your shoulders are being folded together, like a recalcitrant
cardboard box.
You shoot the hornet
What, in this confined space?
You check what you're carrying
You are carrying:
a coffer (which is open but empty)
an old document
a colour chart
a length of light rope
a boomerang (providing light)
your formal credentials
a shard of pottery (providing light)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open but empty)
four arrows
a bow
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
your Ambassador's trunk (which is open)
a hand telescope
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, a hunk of cheese and a clove
of garlic

The pressure is now almost unbearable!
You put the ham on the stinger
Putting things on the stinger would achieve nothing.

With a sudden convulsion of fibres, the lily pod crunches you up
entirely, with merciful speed.
Hint
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                          Q = re
sume game

> Instructions: How to play this game
Briefings: A diplomatic background
Hints: During the Procession
The Customs House
Amongst the Foundations
Ledge and Surroundings
Cedar and Cave Floor
Egg Chamber and Lily
Hints: Casting Spells
Hints: General
P.
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                          Q = re
sume game

Instructions: How to play this game
Briefings: A diplomatic background
Hints: During the Procession
The Customs House
Amongst the Foundations
Ledge and Surroundings
Cedar and Cave Floor
Egg Chamber and Lily
Hints: Casting Spells
> Hints: General
P.
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                          Q = re
sume game

Instructions: How to play this game
Briefings: A diplomatic background
Hints: During the Procession
The Customs House
Amongst the Foundations
Ledge and Surroundings
Cedar and Cave Floor
Egg Chamber and Lily
> Hints: Casting Spells
Hints: General
P.
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                          Q = re
sume game

Instructions: How to play this game
Briefings: A diplomatic background
Hints: During the Procession
The Customs House
Amongst the Foundations
Ledge and Surroundings
Cedar and Cave Floor
> Egg Chamber and Lily
Hints: Casting Spells
Hints: General
Egg Chamber and Lily
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                        Q = prev
ious menu

> Can the creature be revived?
When will the egg hatch?
Will the amniotic fluid harm my hands?
The lily is crushing me.
My possessions are lost!
Can I go back to the house for something?
What's the broad leaf for?
You go north
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                        Q = prev
ious menu

Can the creature be revived?
> When will the egg hatch?
Will the amniotic fluid harm my hands?
The lily is crushing me.
My possessions are lost!
Can I go back to the house for something?
What's the broad leaf for?
You go to the north
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                        Q = prev
ious menu

Can the creature be revived?
When will the egg hatch?
> Will the amniotic fluid harm my hands?
The lily is crushing me.
My possessions are lost!
Can I go back to the house for something?
What's the broad leaf for?
You go to the north
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                        Q = prev
ious menu

Can the creature be revived?
When will the egg hatch?
Will the amniotic fluid harm my hands?
> The lily is crushing me.
My possessions are lost!
Can I go back to the house for something?
What's the broad leaf for?
(Press H for more, or SPACE to return.)

You must find a way of immobilising it, without exploding it.
Egg Chamber and Lily
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                        Q = prev
ious menu

Can the creature be revived?
When will the egg hatch?
Will the amniotic fluid harm my hands?
> The lily is crushing me.
My possessions are lost!
Can I go back to the house for something?
What's the broad leaf for?
(Press H for more, or SPACE to return.)

You must find a way of immobilising it, without exploding it.
You squeeze the stinger
With extreme care you squeeze the hornet's stinger, and poison drips
out to form a tiny pool in the base of the lily pod. In this
compressed space you're just able to keep your feet out of it, for the
time it takes to soak into the membrane walls of the pod.
You wait for a while
Time passes.

There is a hissing sound from the base of the pod.

The hatchling wriggles in sleep, stirring.
Wait
Time passes.

poison! The whole pod rocks a little in the underwater currents,
fraying away from the stalk.
You wait
Time passes.

Suddenly the pod pulls free, and although you can see nothing of the
waters outside, your best guess is that it's drifting westward and
rising slightly.

You begin to feel a certain concern for, of all things, your
belongings. When the pod collapses, what will the water do to them?
Piroo
Abruptly the lily-pod bursts. A detached observer would think its
graceful explosion reminiscent of seeds released onto a spring wind.
But with the pressure of the water smashing into you like a hammer,
you are soon detached from all observation, all reminiscence.
You wait
Time passes.

The pod bumps against an obstacle, checking its westward motion. Now
it is only rising, rising.

The hatchling wriggles in sleep, stirring.
You put all in the coffer
old document: Done.
colour chart: Done.
length of light rope: Done.
boomerang: Done.
gleaming uncut diamond: Done.
formal credentials: Done.
shard of pottery: Done.
small wickerwork hamper: Done.
arrow: Done.
arrow: Done.
arrow: Done.
drum: Done.
arrow: Done.
bow: Done.
handwritten note: Done.
Experimental Spell Book #5: Done.
Ambassador's trunk: Done.
brass lantern: Done.
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces: Done.
joint of cured ham: Done.
hunk of cheese: Done.
clove of garlic: Done.

Finally the pod breaks surface and bursts into disparate leaves, no
longer bound up by the pressure. In confusion you strike out, treading
water, but after a couple of minutes' panic realise that the water is
only waist deep here. You wade toward a slight light.

From the natural light, dim and far above, you'd guess this cave was distinctly higher up than the cedar-cavern floor. A natural limestone
cavity, beautiful and thankfully unused, it's a chance to rest and
think. A single winding path leads vaguely north.

A burnished lantern lies discarded in the sand.

Dead leaves float out on the water, but of the hornet there is no
trace.

One broad leaf, though, has washed up beside you.
You put all in the coffer
old document: Done.
colour chart: Done.
length of light rope: Done.
boomerang: Done.
gleaming uncut diamond: Done.
formal credentials: Done.
shard of pottery: Done.
small wickerwork hamper: Done.
arrow: Done.
arrow: Done.
arrow: Done.
drum: Done.
arrow: Done.
bow: Done.
handwritten note: Done.
Experimental Spell Book #5: Done.
Ambassador's trunk: Done.
brass lantern: Done.
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces: Done.
joint of cured ham: Done.
hunk of cheese: Done.
clove of garlic: Done.

Suddenly the pod pulls free, and although you can see nothing of the
waters outside, your best guess is that it's drifting westward and
rising slightly.

You begin to feel a certain concern for, of all things, your
belongings. When the pod collapses, what will the water do to them?

The hatchling wriggles in sleep, stirring.
You close the coffer
You close the coffer.

The pod bumps against an obstacle, checking its westward motion. Now
it is only rising, rising.

The hornet wriggles in sleep, talons rustling.
You take the coffer
You already have that.

Finally the pod breaks surface and bursts into disparate leaves, no
longer bound up by the pressure. In confusion you strike out, treading
water, but after a couple of minutes' panic realise that the water is
only waist deep here. You wade toward a slight light.

From the natural light, dim and far above, you'd guess this cave was distinctly higher up than the cedar-cavern floor. A natural limestone
cavity, beautiful and thankfully unused, it's a chance to rest and
think. A single winding path leads vaguely north.

A burnished lantern lies discarded in the sand.

Dead leaves float out on the water, but of the hornet there is no
trace.

One broad leaf, though, has washed up beside you.
You get the leaf and the lantern
broad green leaf: Taken.
burnished lantern: Taken.
You take it
You are carrying:
a burnished lantern
a broad green leaf

You already have that.
You examine the lantern
The burnished lantern is currently switched off.
Spells
The jilnix spell is indelibly etched on your memory. Other than that,
you have the piroo spell and chiaro spell memorised.
Go north
It is pitch black. You are in danger of falling into a pit if you move
around in this.
You turn on the lantern
You light the lantern.

This is only half a cave; the western half, to be exact. It's a dark
place full of crevices (you would have missed the stony passage back
south if you hadn't already known about it). Boxes, bottles and crates
are stored here, and to judge from scrape-marks are used by whoever
lives through the broad passage northwest.

What divides this cave is a solid, floor-to-ceiling stone wall running
north to south, masoned with mortar and seemingly recent. You feel
quite certain that the cave continues.

The stub of a stock-keeper's note lies forgotten beside the stores.
You examine the stub
Just the torn end of a tally-sheet of some kind:


Make of that what you will!
Examine boxes
The stores piled up here are heavy and there's quite a supply,
covering half the wall: enough for a dozen men to last out for weeks.
Search boxes
You manage to uncover what seems to be a secret doorway in the masoned
wall. An emergency escape-route, prudently added by whoever is using
the stores?
You open the door
You open the secret door.
You go to the east
This is only half a cave; the eastern half, to be exact. It's a dark
place full of crevices (you would have missed the slide passage back
north if you hadn't already known about it); chief among them a
distinctive triangular cavity, 1 foot or so high, and blocked by a
rough quartz window.

the cave, after all.
Go west
This is only half a cave; the western half, to be exact. It's a dark
place full of crevices (you would have missed the stony passage back
south if you hadn't already known about it). Boxes, bottles and crates
are stored here, and to judge from scrape-marks are used by whoever
lives through the broad passage northwest.

the cave, after all.
Go northwest
Wheel Cave (South)
A circular corridor-cave, like a cartwheel's rim and unmistakably
artificial. Yet no mason of the Duchy could cut so smooth a wall! The
arc hoops around northeast and northwest, while a broad passage runs
southeast back to the stores.
You go northeast
Wheel Cave (East)
A circular corridor-cave, like a cartwheel's rim and unmistakably
artificial. The arc hoops around northwest and southwest.

A white scroll, in pristine condition, rests in a niche.
You examine the scroll
The scroll reads "ploor spell (nation shall speak peace unto nation)".
You go northwest
Wheel Cave (North)
A circular corridor-cave, like a cartwheel's rim and unmistakably
artificial. The arc hoops around southwest and southeast.

On the northern wall is a wooden rack, of the kind used by bakers to
cool cakes, or painters to dry watercolours.

On the wooden rack are seven unwritten vellum scrolls.
You look at the scroll
The scroll is as yet unwritten.
You get all
wooden rack: That's fixed in place.
You get all from the rack
unwritten vellum scroll: Removed.
unwritten vellum scroll: Removed.
unwritten vellum scroll: Removed.
unwritten vellum scroll: Removed.
unwritten vellum scroll: Removed.
unwritten vellum scroll: Removed.
unwritten vellum scroll: Removed.
You go southwest
Wheel Cave (West)
A circular corridor-cave, like a cartwheel's rim and unmistakably
artificial. The arc hoops around northeast and southeast.

of the great wheel.

A clear funnel chimney rises vertically up, like a glass-blower's vent
or something from a furnace, lined with smooth-curving brick.

Beneath the chimney is a huge, irregular, metallic lodestone,
presumably a meteor fallen to earth.

A thick, viscous green beam of magical light reflects from the meteor
through a right-angle: straight upward through the chimney, to a level
path east through the archway.
You look at the scroll
Which do you mean, an unwritten vellum scroll or the white scroll in
pristine condition?
Unwritten
The scroll is as yet unwritten.
Go east
The presence everywhere of tools and instruments makes this place
rather homely to a Duchy-born man like yourself: it's like a smithy,
but of the colours of light, not the alloys of metal.

At the workshop's centre is the Anvil, a hard stone mounting and,
perhaps, the fulcrum of the new Northlands Empire that is to come. The
beam of light courses in through the eastern archway to strike the top
of the Anvil dead-centre.

workshop, and can be turned anywhere on the calibrated dial from 1 to
180 degrees. It now stands at 37.12.

wooden cot, apparently in a deep sleep or coma.

On the floor beneath Clotspinner's outstretched hand are the fragments
of a broken glass prism, smashed by the fall. It's a tableau like a
narrative painting: you feel a curious urge to disturb nothing.
You look at Clotspinner
One of the few wise men to be widely known across the continent, he is Clotspinner, renowned for his optical experiments. They've
revolutionised the practice of lense-making in the Duchy, but the
Empress was far less impressed with such footling activities. Nothing
has been known of him since his "resignation" from the Imperial
Academy -- until now, that is.
You check your inventory
You are carrying:
seven unwritten vellum scrolls (which is unwritten)
a white scroll in pristine condition (of the ploor spell)
a stub of a stock-keeper's note
a burnished lantern (providing light)
a broad green leaf
You wake Clotspinner
Clotspinner lies prone, close to death, his pulse thready and weak,
his breath too slight to feel on your hand. Surely nothing on earth
could revive him now.
You look at the dial
It seems to be possible to put something into it.
Inventory
You are carrying:
a coffer (which is open but empty)
an old document
a colour chart
a length of light rope
a boomerang (providing light)
your formal credentials
a shard of pottery (providing light)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open but empty)
four arrows
a bow
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
your Ambassador's trunk (which is open)
a hand telescope
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
some provisions - a banana, a joint of cured ham, a hunk of cheese
and a clove of garlic
You drop all
coffer: Dropped.
old document: Dropped.
colour chart: Dropped.
length of light rope: Dropped.
boomerang: Dropped.
formal credentials: Dropped.
shard of pottery: Dropped.
small wickerwork hamper: Dropped.
arrow: Dropped.
arrow: Dropped.
arrow: Dropped.
arrow: Dropped.
bow: Dropped.
handwritten note: Dropped.
Experimental Spell Book #5: Dropped.
Ambassador's trunk: Dropped.
brass lantern: Dropped.
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces: Dropped.
banana: Dropped.
joint of cured ham: Dropped.
hunk of cheese: Dropped.
clove of garlic: Dropped.
Go north
An expanse of shingle and boulders sloping haphazardly across an irregularly-shaped floor a hundred feet across, only smoothed out at
its centre by a stream which pools just to the north. A furrow in the
rocky walls leads southwest, alongside a scree-fall which lies roughly
south; while the cave narrows into a canyon to the east.

The cone of the cedar hangs vertiginously over you, its tip perhaps 9
feet off the floor.

An improvised ladder of sticks, lashed together with vines and
creepers, rests against the tip of the cedar, leading up into its
branches.

Your length of rope is here.

You can also see some provisions - a clove of garlic, a hunk of
cheese, a joint of cured ham and a banana, The Guide For Travellers To
The Lower Northlands and Surrounding Provinces, a brass lantern
(providing light), your Ambassador's trunk (in which is a hand
telescope), Experimental Spell Book #5, the handwritten note, a bow,
four arrows, a small wickerwork hamper (which is empty), a shard of
pottery (providing light), your formal credentials, a boomerang
(providing light), a colour chart, an old document and a coffer (which
is empty) here.
You light it
That's already on.
Wait
Time passes.

There is a hissing sound from the base of the pod.
Wait
Time passes.

poison! The whole pod rocks a little in the underwater currents,
fraying away from the stalk.

The creature wriggles in sleep, talons rustling.
You wait
Time passes.

Suddenly the pod pulls free, and although you can see nothing of the
waters outside, your best guess is that it's drifting westward and
rising slightly.

You begin to feel a certain concern for, of all things, your
belongings. When the pod collapses, what will the water do to them?

The hatchling wriggles in sleep, stirring.
Wait
Time passes.

The pod bumps against an obstacle, checking its westward motion. Now
it is only rising, rising.

The hornet wriggles in sleep, perhaps dreaming.
Wait
Time passes.

Finally the pod breaks surface and bursts into disparate leaves, no
longer bound up by the pressure. In confusion you strike out, treading
water, but after a couple of minutes' panic realise that the water is
only waist deep here. You wade toward a slight light.

From the natural light, dim and far above, you'd guess this cave was distinctly higher up than the cedar-cavern floor. A natural limestone
cavity, beautiful and thankfully unused, it's a chance to rest and
think. A single winding path leads vaguely north.

A burnished lantern lies discarded in the sand.

Dead leaves float out on the water, but of the hornet there is no
trace.

One broad leaf, though, has washed up beside you.
You get the leaf and the lantern
broad green leaf: Taken.
burnished lantern: Taken.
Go north
It is pitch black. You are in danger of falling into a pit if you move
around in this.
You turn on the lantern
You light the lantern.

This is only half a cave; the western half, to be exact. It's a dark
place full of crevices (you would have missed the stony passage back
south if you hadn't already known about it). Boxes, bottles and crates
are stored here, and to judge from scrape-marks are used by whoever
lives through the broad passage northwest.

What divides this cave is a solid, floor-to-ceiling stone wall running
north to south, masoned with mortar and seemingly recent. You feel
quite certain that the cave continues.

The stub of a stock-keeper's note lies forgotten beside the stores.
You jump
(to the tree, presumably, rather than plunging into the abyss and
certain death)
You take a short run-up and leap across, just managing to catch the
nearest branch! Painfully slowly, you haul yourself in.

You are perched inside the dense, broad first branches down from the
cedar's roots, which splay across the rocky ceiling like buttresses on
a perpendicular gothic column. Through the dappled green cover, you
can just make out the long ledge, but it's too far up to jump across.

A tree-house has been constructed here, though it's little more than a
wooden lean-to on a log platform.
Go downwards
An expanse of shingle and boulders sloping haphazardly across an irregularly-shaped floor a hundred feet across, only smoothed out at
its centre by a stream which pools just to the north. A furrow in the
rocky walls leads southwest, alongside a scree-fall which lies roughly
south; while the cave narrows into a canyon to the east.

The cone of the cedar hangs vertiginously over you, its tip perhaps 9
feet off the floor.

An improvised ladder of sticks, lashed together with vines and
creepers, rests against the tip of the cedar, leading up into its
branches.

Your length of rope is here.

You can also see some provisions - a clove of garlic, a hunk of
cheese, a joint of cured ham and a banana, The Guide For Travellers To
The Lower Northlands and Surrounding Provinces, your Ambassador's
trunk (in which is a hand telescope), Experimental Spell Book #5, the handwritten note, a bow, four arrows, a small wickerwork hamper (which
is empty), a shard of pottery (providing light), your formal
credentials, a boomerang (providing light), a colour chart, an old
document and a coffer (which is empty) here.
You get all
stream: You have nothing which will hold water.
inverted cedar: You can't reach the tree from here.
improvised ladder: Taken.
clove of garlic: Taken.
hunk of cheese: Taken.
joint of cured ham: Taken.
banana: Taken.
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces: Taken.
Ambassador's trunk: Taken.
Experimental Spell Book #5: Taken.
handwritten note: Taken.
bow: Taken.
arrow: Taken.
arrow: Taken.
arrow: Taken.
arrow: Taken.
small wickerwork hamper: Taken.
shard of pottery: Taken.
formal credentials: Taken.
boomerang: Taken.
length of light rope: Taken.
colour chart: Taken.
old document: Taken.
coffer: Taken.
You put the scroll in the Spell Book
Your spell book begins to glow softly. Almost imperceptibly, the
binding swells and closes over the edge of the white scroll in
pristine condition, which straightens and becomes the new ploor spell
page. The book's brightness fades as the corners settle to perfect
right angles.
You go northwest
Wheel Cave (North)
A circular corridor-cave, like a cartwheel's rim and unmistakably
artificial. The arc hoops around southwest and southeast.

On the northern wall is a wooden rack, of the kind used by bakers to
cool cakes, or painters to dry watercolours.

On the wooden rack are seven unwritten vellum scrolls.
You get all
wooden rack: That's fixed in place.
You get all from the rack
unwritten vellum scroll: Removed.
unwritten vellum scroll: Removed.
unwritten vellum scroll: Removed.
unwritten vellum scroll: Removed.
unwritten vellum scroll: Removed.
unwritten vellum scroll: Removed.
unwritten vellum scroll: Removed.
You go southwest
Wheel Cave (West)
A circular corridor-cave, like a cartwheel's rim and unmistakably
artificial. The arc hoops around northeast and southeast.

of the great wheel.

A clear funnel chimney rises vertically up, like a glass-blower's vent
or something from a furnace, lined with smooth-curving brick.

Beneath the chimney is a huge, irregular, metallic lodestone,
presumably a meteor fallen to earth.

A thick, viscous green beam of magical light reflects from the meteor
through a right-angle: straight upward through the chimney, to a level
path east through the archway.
Ruther light
(the green light beam)
The beam is made of insubstantial light.
You memorize ruther
You commit the ruther spell to memory once again.
Ruther lodestone
The air around the meteor glows as it is transformed, slowly under the
play of the green light, into... a chalk formation, white and
irregular. The beam now loses itself in the any-angled facets of the
chalk.
Ruther chalk
The air around the chalk glows as it is transformed, slowly under the
play of the green light, back into the meteor, whose burnished surface
throws the beam back east through the archway!
You look
Wheel Cave (West)
A circular corridor-cave, like a cartwheel's rim and unmistakably
artificial. The arc hoops around northeast and southeast.

of the great wheel.

A clear funnel chimney rises vertically up, like a glass-blower's vent
or something from a furnace, lined with smooth-curving brick.

become, and into which the beam of magical light dissipates
harmlessly.
Go east
The presence everywhere of tools and instruments makes this place
rather homely to a Duchy-born man like yourself: it's like a smithy,
but of the colours of light, not the alloys of metal.

At the workshop's centre is the Anvil, a hard stone mounting and,
perhaps, the fulcrum of the new Northlands Empire that is to come.

workshop, and can be turned anywhere on the calibrated dial from 1 to
180 degrees. It now stands at 37.12.

wooden cot, apparently in a deep sleep or coma.

On the floor beneath Clotspinner's outstretched hand are the fragments
of a broken glass prism, smashed by the fall. It's a tableau like a
narrative painting: you feel a curious urge to disturb nothing.
Ruther prism
The spell misfires, perhaps because the fragments of prism is not pure
but a mixture or an alloy.
You check what you're carrying
You are carrying:
seven unwritten vellum scrolls
a coffer (which is open but empty)
an old document
a colour chart
a length of light rope
a boomerang (providing light)
your formal credentials
a shard of pottery (providing light)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open but empty)
four arrows
a bow
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
your Ambassador's trunk (which is open)
a hand telescope
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
some provisions - a banana, a joint of cured ham, a hunk of cheese
and a clove of garlic
a stub of a stock-keeper's note
a burnished lantern (providing light)
a broad green leaf
Objects
Objects you have handled:

the fedora hat   (lost)
the hand telescope   (inside the Ambassador's trunk)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces   (held)
the sherbet   (lost)
the jade figurine   (lost)
the joint of cured ham   (held)
the small wickerwork hamper   (held)
the poisoned apple   (lost)
the hunk of cheese   (held)
the clove of garlic   (held)
the jewelled scarab   (lost)
the brass lantern   (in Lily Pod)
the Ambassador's trunk   (held)
the formal credentials   (held)
the length of light rope   (held)
Experimental Spell Book #5   (held)
the handwritten note   (held)
the platinum egg   (lost)
the banana   (held)
the improvised ladder   (in Topmost Ledge)
the silver ingot   (lost)
the boomerang   (held)
the shard of pottery   (held)
the coffer   (held)
the old document   (held)
the colour chart   (held)
the spotless scroll   (lost)
the bow   (held)
the arrow   (held)
the golden fir-cone   (lost)
the arrow   (held)
the arrow   (held)
the drum   (lost)
the gleaming uncut diamond   (lost)
the black, memorial scroll   (lost)
the arrow   (held)
the burnished lantern   (held)
the broad green leaf   (held)
the stub of a stock-keeper's note   (held)
the white scroll in pristine condition   (lost)
the unwritten vellum scroll   (held)
the unwritten vellum scroll   (held)
the unwritten vellum scroll   (held)
the unwritten vellum scroll   (held)
the unwritten vellum scroll   (held)
the unwritten vellum scroll   (held)
the unwritten vellum scroll   (held)
You turn the dial
Try turning it to a particular setting.
You turn the dial to 100
You rotate the mounting to 100.00.
You examine note
Which do you mean, the handwritten note or the stub of a
stock-keeper's note?
You put the unwritten scroll in the dial
You put the unwritten vellum scroll on the calibrated swivel mounting.
You turn the dial to 180
You rotate the mounting to 180.00.
63
You rotate the mounting to 101.63.
You go east
The presence everywhere of tools and instruments makes this place
rather homely to a Duchy-born man like yourself: it's like a smithy,
but of the colours of light, not the alloys of metal.

At the workshop's centre is the Anvil, a hard stone mounting and,
perhaps, the fulcrum of the new Northlands Empire that is to come. The
beam of light courses in through the eastern archway to strike the top
of the Anvil dead-centre.

workshop, and can be turned anywhere on the calibrated dial from 1 to
180 degrees. It now stands at 101.63 and holds a sheet of vellum
paper.

wooden cot, apparently in a deep sleep or coma.

On the floor beneath Clotspinner's outstretched hand are the fragments
of a broken glass prism, smashed by the fall. It's a tableau like a
narrative painting: you feel a curious urge to disturb nothing.
You get the scroll
(the unwritten vellum scroll)
Taken.
You put it on Anvil
second.
You put the leaf in the dial
The mounting is clearly meant to hold something, but not a broad green
leaf.
You look at the dial
It seems to be possible to put something into it.
You turn the dial to 11000
You rotate the mounting to 169.60.
You turn the dial to -1
Enter saved game to load: Ok.

You can't see any such thing.
You check what you're carrying
You are carrying:
a coffer (which is open but empty)
an old document
a colour chart
a length of light rope
a boomerang (providing light)
a gleaming uncut diamond
your formal credentials
a shard of pottery (providing light)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open but empty)
four arrows
a drum (which is empty)
a bow
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
your Ambassador's trunk (which is open)
a hand telescope
a brass lantern (providing light)
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, a hunk of cheese and a clove
of garlic
You drop all except the lantern
coffer: Dropped.
old document: Dropped.
colour chart: Dropped.
length of light rope: Dropped.
boomerang: Dropped.
gleaming uncut diamond: Dropped.
formal credentials: Dropped.
shard of pottery: Dropped.
small wickerwork hamper: Dropped.
arrow: Dropped.
arrow: Dropped.
arrow: Dropped.
drum: Dropped.
arrow: Dropped.
bow: Dropped.
handwritten note: Dropped.
Experimental Spell Book #5: Dropped.
Ambassador's trunk: Dropped.
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces: Dropped.
joint of cured ham: Dropped.
hunk of cheese: Dropped.
clove of garlic: Dropped.
You squeeze the stinger
With extreme care you squeeze the hornet's stinger, and poison drips
out to form a tiny pool in the base of the lily pod. In this
compressed space you're just able to keep your feet out of it, for the
time it takes to soak into the membrane walls of the pod.
Wait
Time passes.

There is a hissing sound from the base of the pod.

The hatchling wriggles in sleep, perhaps dreaming.
Wait
Time passes.

poison! The whole pod rocks a little in the underwater currents,
fraying away from the stalk.
You wait
Time passes.

Suddenly the pod pulls free, and although you can see nothing of the
waters outside, your best guess is that it's drifting westward and
rising slightly.

You begin to feel a certain concern for, of all things, your
belongings. When the pod collapses, what will the water do to them?
Wait
Time passes.

The pod bumps against an obstacle, checking its westward motion. Now
it is only rising, rising.
Inventory
You are carrying:
a brass lantern (providing light)

Finally the pod breaks surface and bursts into disparate leaves, no
longer bound up by the pressure. In confusion you strike out, treading
water, but after a couple of minutes' panic realise that the water is
only waist deep here. You wade toward a slight light.

From the natural light, dim and far above, you'd guess this cave was distinctly higher up than the cedar-cavern floor. A natural limestone
cavity, beautiful and thankfully unused, it's a chance to rest and
think. A single winding path leads vaguely north.

A burnished lantern lies discarded in the sand.

Dead leaves float out on the water, but of the hornet there is no
trace.

One broad leaf, though, has washed up beside you.
You take all
burnished lantern: Taken.
dead leaves: You can't get to the pod's detritus from here.
broad green leaf: Taken.
Go north
This is only half a cave; the western half, to be exact. It's a dark
place full of crevices (you would have missed the stony passage back
south if you hadn't already known about it). Boxes, bottles and crates
are stored here, and to judge from scrape-marks are used by whoever
lives through the broad passage northwest.

What divides this cave is a solid, floor-to-ceiling stone wall running
north to south, masoned with mortar and seemingly recent. You feel
quite certain that the cave continues.

The stub of a stock-keeper's note lies forgotten beside the stores.
You go to the east
Though the cave undoubtedly extends east, the wall means you are
unable to follow it.
You go southeast
This is only half a cave; the western half, to be exact. It's a dark
place full of crevices (you would have missed the stony passage back
south if you hadn't already known about it). Boxes, bottles and crates
are stored here, and to judge from scrape-marks are used by whoever
lives through the broad passage northwest.

What divides this cave is a solid, floor-to-ceiling stone wall running
north to south, masoned with mortar and seemingly recent. You feel
quite certain that the cave continues.
You search wall
(the masoned wall)
You find nothing of interest.
Go east
You manage to uncover what seems to be a secret doorway in the masoned
wall. An emergency escape-route, prudently added by whoever is using
the stores?

You can't, since the secret door is in the way.
You go to the east
That's already open.

This is only half a cave; the eastern half, to be exact. It's a dark
place full of crevices (you would have missed the slide passage back
north if you hadn't already known about it); chief among them a
distinctive triangular cavity, 1 foot or so high, and blocked by a
rough quartz window.

the cave, after all.
Go downwards
An expanse of shingle and boulders sloping haphazardly across an irregularly-shaped floor a hundred feet across, only smoothed out at
its centre by a stream which pools just to the north. A furrow in the
rocky walls leads southwest, alongside a scree-fall which lies roughly
south; while the cave narrows into a canyon to the east.

The cone of the cedar hangs vertiginously over you, its tip perhaps 9
feet off the floor.

An improvised ladder of sticks, lashed together with vines and
creepers, rests against the tip of the cedar, leading up into its
branches.

Your length of rope is here.

You can also see some provisions - a clove of garlic, a hunk of cheese
and a joint of cured ham, The Guide For Travellers To The Lower
Northlands and Surrounding Provinces, your Ambassador's trunk (in
which is a hand telescope), Experimental Spell Book #5, the
handwritten note, a bow, four arrows, a drum (which is empty), a small wickerwork hamper (which is empty), a shard of pottery (providing
light), your formal credentials, a gleaming uncut diamond, a boomerang (providing light), a colour chart, an old document and a coffer (which
is empty) here.
You get all
stream: You have nothing which will hold water.
inverted cedar: You can't reach the tree from here.
improvised ladder: Taken.
clove of garlic: Taken.
hunk of cheese: Taken.
joint of cured ham: Taken.
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces: Taken.
Ambassador's trunk: Taken.
Experimental Spell Book #5: Taken.
handwritten note: Taken.
bow: Taken.
arrow: Taken.
drum: Taken.
arrow: Taken.
arrow: Taken.
arrow: Taken.
small wickerwork hamper: Taken.
shard of pottery: Taken.
formal credentials: Taken.
gleaming uncut diamond: Taken.
boomerang: Taken.
length of light rope: Taken.
colour chart: Taken.
old document: Taken.
coffer: Taken.
Memorise ploor
You commit the ploor spell to memory.
You get the scrolls
unwritten vellum scroll: Taken.
unwritten vellum scroll: Taken.
unwritten vellum scroll: Taken.
unwritten vellum scroll: Taken.
unwritten vellum scroll: Taken.
unwritten vellum scroll: Taken.
unwritten vellum scroll: Taken.
Ploor
A brief babble in your ears clarifies and settles to a calm voice, a
voice with the clarity of a thought. You are in telepathic conference
with the Archduke Elect, the head of the Duchy's legislature and
therefore of the whole Diplomatic Service!

Somehow, without words, a perfect concord is achieved between you. He
has received your report and is arranging for your escape: agents will
be waiting at Watling Street to whisk you away. But your detailed
impressions of what is going on will not be enough. No, you must
somehow foil this new magic, if possible forever.

(Only now do you realise how the poor watchmakers and craftsmen of the
Duchy must feel. This "ploor" spell will make travelling diplomats
entirely redundant.)
You put the diamond on Anvil
right across the calibrations on the far wall, in a weaker but still
potent greenness.
You turn the dial to 123
You rotate the mounting to 123.00.
You look
The presence everywhere of tools and instruments makes this place
rather homely to a Duchy-born man like yourself: it's like a smithy,
but of the colours of light, not the alloys of metal.

At the workshop's centre is the Anvil, a hard stone mounting and,
perhaps, the fulcrum of the new Northlands Empire that is to come. The
beam of light courses in through the eastern archway to strike the top
of the Anvil dead-centre, where it is refracted by the diamond, right
across the calibrations on the far wall.

workshop, and can be turned anywhere on the calibrated dial from 1 to
180 degrees. It now stands at 123.00.

wooden cot, apparently in a deep sleep or coma.

On the floor beneath Clotspinner's outstretched hand are the fragments
of a broken glass prism, smashed by the fall. It's a tableau like a
narrative painting: you feel a curious urge to disturb nothing.
You put the scroll in the swivel
You put the unwritten vellum scroll on the calibrated swivel mounting.

By an ancient and powerful magic, as you stand clear of the green
beam, one precise ray of one single shade strikes the paper in the
mounting. A spell appears upon it!
You look at the scroll
(the newly-written scroll)
The scroll reads "gloth spell (fold pastry dough 83 times)".
Inventory
You are carrying:
seven unwritten vellum scrolls
a coffer (which is open but empty)
an old document
a colour chart
a length of light rope
a boomerang (providing light)
your formal credentials
a shard of pottery (providing light)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open but empty)
four arrows
a drum (which is empty)
a bow
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
your Ambassador's trunk (which is open)
a hand telescope
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, a hunk of cheese and a clove
of garlic
a stub of a stock-keeper's note
a broad green leaf
a burnished lantern (providing light)
85
You rotate the mounting to 25.85.
You put the scroll in dial
You put the unwritten vellum scroll on the calibrated swivel mounting.

By an ancient and powerful magic, as you stand clear of the green
beam, one precise ray of one single shade strikes the paper in the
mounting. A spell appears upon it!
You look at the scroll
(the newly-written scroll)
The scroll reads "gloth spell (fold pastry dough 83 times)".
You look at the scroll
You put the unwritten vellum scroll on the calibrated swivel mounting.

By an ancient and powerful magic, as you stand clear of the green
beam, one precise ray of one single shade strikes the paper in the
mounting. A spell appears upon it!

(the newly-written scroll)
The scroll reads "gloth spell (fold pastry dough 83 times)".
48
You rotate the mounting to 127.48.
You examine the scroll
You put the unwritten vellum scroll on the calibrated swivel mounting.

By an ancient and powerful magic, as you stand clear of the green
beam, one precise ray of one single shade strikes the paper in the
mounting. A spell appears upon it!

(the newly-written scroll)
The scroll reads "corpax spell (make small-bore tunnel through light
stone)".
You put the scroll in the dial
Which do you mean, the newly-written scroll or an unwritten vellum
scroll?
Unwritten
You put the unwritten vellum scroll on the calibrated swivel mounting.

By an ancient and powerful magic, as you stand clear of the green
beam, one precise ray of one single shade strikes the paper in the
mounting. A spell appears upon it!
Inventory
You are carrying:
a newly-written scroll (of the corpax spell)
five unwritten vellum scrolls
a coffer (which is open but empty)
an old document
a colour chart
a length of light rope
a boomerang (providing light)
your formal credentials
a shard of pottery (providing light)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open but empty)
four arrows
a drum (which is empty)
a bow
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
your Ambassador's trunk (which is open)
a hand telescope
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, a hunk of cheese and a clove
of garlic
a stub of a stock-keeper's note
a broad green leaf
a burnished lantern (providing light)
Spell
Your spell book begins to glow softly. Almost imperceptibly, the
binding swells and closes over the edge of the newly-written scroll,
which straightens and becomes the new corpax spell page. The book's
brightness fades as the corners settle to perfect right angles.
You get the scroll
(the newly-written scroll)
Taken.
You put it in the Spell Book
Your spell book begins to glow softly. Almost imperceptibly, the
binding swells and closes over the edge of the newly-written scroll,
which straightens and becomes the new gloth spell page. The book's
brightness fades as the corners settle to perfect right angles.
You memorize the gloth
You commit the gloth spell to memory.
78
You rotate the mounting to 75.78.
You put unwritten scroll in the dial
You put the unwritten vellum scroll on the calibrated swivel mounting.

By an ancient and powerful magic, as you stand clear of the green
beam, one precise ray of one single shade strikes the paper in the
mounting. A spell appears upon it!
You examine newly
The scroll reads "alsakan spell (pursue squirrel with spectral
hounds)".
You get the scroll
(the newly-written scroll)
Taken.
You put it in the Spell Book
Your spell book begins to glow softly. Almost imperceptibly, the
binding swells and closes over the edge of the newly-written scroll,
which straightens and becomes the new alsakan spell page. The book's brightness fades as the corners settle to perfect right angles.
You read the spellbook
The chiaro spell (cause inanimate object to radiate light).
The jilnix spell (summon small plague of insects).
The piroo spell (unfasten object).
The azzev spell (view the past).
The ruther spell (transmute pure chemical elements).
The ploor spell (nation shall speak peace unto nation).
The corpax spell (make small-bore tunnel through light stone).
The gloth spell (fold pastry dough 83 times).
The alsakan spell (pursue squirrel with spectral hounds).
You memorize the corpax
You commit the corpax spell to memory.
Corpax meteor
The spell misfires: it's far too dangerous to direct at any specific
person or item.
Corpax
It's the most exhausting spell you've ever cast, leaving you almost
too wrung out to notice the pleasant rising tunnel now leading
smoothly up from the walls.
You take the chalk
That much chalk is deceptively heavy.
You look
Wheel Cave (West)
A circular corridor-cave, like a cartwheel's rim and unmistakably
artificial. The arc hoops around northeast and southeast.

of the great wheel.

A clear funnel chimney rises vertically up, like a glass-blower's vent
or something from a furnace, lined with smooth-curving brick.

become, and into which the beam of magical light dissipates
harmlessly.

A smooth, recent tunnel rises up to natural light.
Up
A half-cave, half-overhang among the mossy damp rocks of the central
hillock in the hunting woods. It's a clear night, and a fresh cold
breeze blows across your face.

The tunnel runs downward, back into the wheel complex. But escape with
your life is what matters now!
Go north
"My dear Ambassador," purrs a familiar voice. "You are welcome
indeed."

A break in the dense foliage, caused mainly by the shadow of the
rockface to the west, bathed by the unnatural light which fires over
the hillock. Trees are clustered in on all sides and there's no sign
of the boundary wall.

Amilia is flanked by impassive guards, and is herself wearing a corset
or jerkin of finely worked chain-mail, the kind favoured by assassins
and very expensive courtesans.

In her hand is an elegant spell book, bound in white kid leather
(until this evening you had presumed it a diary): her long fingers
gracefully point at you as she whispers something...

And you are transmuted into a wolfhound. Your vision goes black and
white, your hearing is suddenly acute. Of course, you can carry
nothing. (It's an Ambassador's life, being a dog.)

Weighing your options, you cock a leg over the nearest tree. Amilia
giggles. "Can you guess what I do to dogs, you vermin?"
Spells
As a wolfhound, you have no such ability.

Amilia disposes of her other business, and scoops you up into her
arms. It will save a good deal of unpleasantness to skip straight to
the outcome:
You go to the north
It may be possible to go that way from further around the wheel.
Go downwards
The wheel corridor is flat level.
Azzev
A cloud of green smoke gathers and swirls in the air like cream poured
into soup, and a vision briefly appears...

rest, at the foot of an irregular smoking pit, just here.
You go to the north-east
Wheel Cave (North)
A circular corridor-cave, like a cartwheel's rim and unmistakably
artificial. The arc hoops around southwest and southeast.

On the northern wall is a wooden rack, of the kind used by bakers to
cool cakes, or painters to dry watercolours.
Go southeast
Wheel Cave (East)
A circular corridor-cave, like a cartwheel's rim and unmistakably
artificial. The arc hoops around northwest and southwest.
Go east
The presence everywhere of tools and instruments makes this place
rather homely to a Duchy-born man like yourself: it's like a smithy,
but of the colours of light, not the alloys of metal.

At the workshop's centre is the Anvil, a hard stone mounting and,
perhaps, the fulcrum of the new Northlands Empire that is to come.

workshop, and can be turned anywhere on the calibrated dial from 1 to
180 degrees. It now stands at 75.78.

wooden cot, apparently in a deep sleep or coma.

On the floor beneath Clotspinner's outstretched hand are the fragments
of a broken glass prism, smashed by the fall. It's a tableau like a
narrative painting: you feel a curious urge to disturb nothing.
You go to the east
The only way in or out is through the arched entrance.
Azzev
A cloud of green smoke gathers and swirls in the air like cream poured
into soup, and a vision briefly appears...

Blinding flashes of green light.
You examine man
One of the few wise men to be widely known across the continent, he is Clotspinner, renowned for his optical experiments. They've
revolutionised the practice of lense-making in the Duchy, but the
Empress was far less impressed with such footling activities. Nothing
has been known of him since his "resignation" from the Imperial
Academy -- until now, that is.
Jilnix man
As your brows frown, the air around you gathers with vile winged
insects, which surge forward to plague Clotspinner. But nothing
results from this, and they dissipate again.
Ruther leaf
The spell misfires, perhaps because the broad green leaf is not pure
but a mixture or an alloy.
Inventory
You are carrying:
four unwritten vellum scrolls
a coffer (which is open but empty)
an old document
a colour chart
a length of light rope
a boomerang (providing light)
your formal credentials
a shard of pottery (providing light)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open but empty)
four arrows
a drum (which is empty)
a bow
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
your Ambassador's trunk (which is open)
a hand telescope
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, a hunk of cheese and a clove
of garlic
a stub of a stock-keeper's note
a burnished lantern (providing light)
Inventory
You are carrying:
four unwritten vellum scrolls
a coffer (which is open but empty)
an old document
a colour chart
a length of light rope
a boomerang (providing light)
your formal credentials
a shard of pottery (providing light)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open but empty)
four arrows
a drum (which is empty)
a bow
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
your Ambassador's trunk (which is open)
a hand telescope
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, a hunk of cheese and a clove
of garlic
a stub of a stock-keeper's note
a broad green leaf
a burnished lantern (providing light)
Tear leaf
You tear the leaf into a pile of smallish fragments.
You look at what you're carrying with you
You are carrying:
a torn-up broad green leaf
four unwritten vellum scrolls
a coffer (which is open but empty)
an old document
a colour chart
a length of light rope
a boomerang (providing light)
your formal credentials
a shard of pottery (providing light)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open but empty)
four arrows
a drum (which is empty)
a bow
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
your Ambassador's trunk (which is open)
a hand telescope
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, a hunk of cheese and a clove
of garlic
a stub of a stock-keeper's note
a burnished lantern (providing light)
Grind leaf
(with the Anvil)
Violence isn't the answer to this one.
You put the leaf on Anvil
You put the torn-up broad green leaf on the Anvil.
Look around
The presence everywhere of tools and instruments makes this place
rather homely to a Duchy-born man like yourself: it's like a smithy,
but of the colours of light, not the alloys of metal.

At the workshop's centre is the Anvil, a hard stone mounting and,
perhaps, the fulcrum of the new Northlands Empire that is to come.

On the Anvil is a torn-up broad green leaf.

workshop, and can be turned anywhere on the calibrated dial from 1 to
180 degrees. It now stands at 75.78.

wooden cot, apparently in a deep sleep or coma.

On the floor beneath Clotspinner's outstretched hand are the fragments
of a broken glass prism, smashed by the fall. It's a tableau like a
narrative painting: you feel a curious urge to disturb nothing.
You put the leaf on the dial
The mounting is clearly meant to hold something, but not a torn-up
broad green leaf.
You examine the hand
One thing about your home, the Duchy: you may not be a very powerful
realm, but you certainly are fine inventors and craftsmen. Take this
ten-inch brass "telescope", for example. Distant objects that you look
at through the telescope actually seem closer to you!
You feed the leaf to Clotspinner
Clotspinner lies prone, close to death, his pulse thready and weak,
his breath too slight to feel on your hand. Surely nothing on earth
could revive him now.
You memorize the ploor
You commit the ploor spell to memory.
Ploor clotspinner
A brief babble in your ears turns to a shriek. Whatever you're doing,
you're not doing it correctly.
You look
The presence everywhere of tools and instruments makes this place
rather homely to a Duchy-born man like yourself: it's like a smithy,
but of the colours of light, not the alloys of metal.

At the workshop's centre is the Anvil, a hard stone mounting and,
perhaps, the fulcrum of the new Northlands Empire that is to come.

workshop, and can be turned anywhere on the calibrated dial from 1 to
180 degrees. It now stands at 75.78.

wooden cot, apparently in a deep sleep or coma.

On the floor beneath Clotspinner's outstretched hand are the fragments
of a broken glass prism, smashed by the fall. It's a tableau like a
narrative painting: you feel a curious urge to disturb nothing.
Up
A half-cave, half-overhang among the mossy damp rocks of the central
hillock in the hunting woods. It's a clear night, and a fresh cold
breeze blows across your face.

The tunnel runs downward, back into the wheel complex. But escape with
your life is what matters now!
You go west
Into the Woods (as wolfhound)
Running, running through the trackless woods, in search of the wall
and escape. Everywhere looks like everywhere else.
Smell
Of course, your sense of smell is by far your most acute, and with it
you feel a whole landscape. To northeast a brook runs to the wall.
You go to the northeast
Under the Culvert (as wolfhound)
The brook runs confidently uphill, gushing up under the culvert, under
the wall to Watling Street. The pursuit seems to have been thrown off
for the moment.
You go north
Watling Street, Again (as wolfhound)
The meeting-point: where Watling Street crosses the culvert, through
which the brook still flows.

Agents of the Duchy, cloaked as all spies should be, huddle beside
black horses.
Bark
"Woof! Woof!"

The agents shoo you away. The last thing they want is a barking dog to
draw attention to them!
Bite agent
The agents kick you savagely, and you yelp as if this were unprovoked.
You sit
(on the agents of the Duchy)
As a wolfhound, you have no such ability.
About yourself
Glossy coat, wet nose: you're a much better-looking dog than you ever
were a human, really. Perhaps a trifle vainer.
Bite
(the agents of the Duchy)
The agents kick you savagely, and you yelp as if this were unprovoked.
Bark
"Woof! Woof!"
You listen
Your ears prick up. A hundred noises of the copse: badger, hedge-rat,
glow worm: Amilia's guards, crashing about deafeningly nearby: and,
far away, other voices and perhaps a horse. But which way?
Drink brook
The water is cold and magical, effervescent. You feel yourself
changing again, just as you did at the russet pool. Your limbs stretch
into arms and legs, your ears tuck back within human hair: yes, a man,
but just a man. No magic left. It seems a fair bargain, almost.
Go north
Watling Street, Again
The meeting-point: where Watling Street crosses the culvert, through
which the brook still flows.

Agents of the Duchy, cloaked as all spies should be, huddle beside
black horses.

"Well met, Captain," you call out casually, giving no hint of your
recent canine persona. They saddle up to smuggle you away from the
Empire forever: for you'll never be persona grata here again.

Perhaps the Duchy will flourish, now that the meteor is denied to
Amilia's Empire. Still, it can only be a matter of time before
Clotspinner succeeds in mastering the "ruther" spell, and then where
are you? But then, that's diplomacy: so many missions end in a
fifty-fifty impasse.
Hint
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                          Q = re
sume game

> Instructions: How to play this game
Briefings: A diplomatic background
Hints: During the Procession
The Customs House
Amongst the Foundations
Ledge and Surroundings
Cedar and Cave Floor
Egg Chamber and Lily
The Wheel and its Environs
Hints: Casting Spells
Hints: General
P.
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                          Q = re
sume game

Instructions: How to play this game
Briefings: A diplomatic background
Hints: During the Procession
The Customs House
Amongst the Foundations
Ledge and Surroundings
Cedar and Cave Floor
Egg Chamber and Lily
The Wheel and its Environs
Hints: Casting Spells
> Hints: General
P.
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                          Q = re
sume game

Instructions: How to play this game
Briefings: A diplomatic background
Hints: During the Procession
The Customs House
Amongst the Foundations
Ledge and Surroundings
Cedar and Cave Floor
Egg Chamber and Lily
The Wheel and its Environs
> Hints: Casting Spells
Hints: General
P.
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                          Q = re
sume game

Instructions: How to play this game
Briefings: A diplomatic background
Hints: During the Procession
The Customs House
Amongst the Foundations
Ledge and Surroundings
Cedar and Cave Floor
Egg Chamber and Lily
> The Wheel and its Environs
Hints: Casting Spells
Hints: General
The Wheel and its Environs
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                        Q = prev
ious menu

> Are the supplies useful?
How can I heal Clotspinner?
He is suspicious of me.
The beam strikes the anvil uselessly.
The beam dissipates in the ore.
What are the calibrations for?
What does the swivel mounting hold?
Is the meteor invulnerable?
How can I leave the Wheel?
P.
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                        Q = prev
ious menu

Are the supplies useful?
How can I heal Clotspinner?
He is suspicious of me.
The beam strikes the anvil uselessly.
The beam dissipates in the ore.
What are the calibrations for?
What does the swivel mounting hold?
Is the meteor invulnerable?
> How can I leave the Wheel?
P.
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                        Q = prev
ious menu

Are the supplies useful?
How can I heal Clotspinner?
He is suspicious of me.
The beam strikes the anvil uselessly.
The beam dissipates in the ore.
What are the calibrations for?
What does the swivel mounting hold?
> Is the meteor invulnerable?
How can I leave the Wheel?
(Press H for more, or SPACE to return.)

Well, it is a very heavy lump of elemental magnesium.
You go to the west
This is only half a cave; the western half, to be exact. It's a dark
place full of crevices (you would have missed the stony passage back
south if you hadn't already known about it). Boxes, bottles and crates
are stored here, and to judge from scrape-marks are used by whoever
lives through the broad passage northwest.

the cave, after all.

You can also see a burnished lantern (providing light) here.
You put pottery in the cavity
The quartz blocks all access.
Go north
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                          Q = re
sume game

Instructions: How to play this game
> Briefings: A diplomatic background
Hints: During the Procession
The Customs House
Amongst the Foundations
Ledge and Surroundings
Cedar and Cave Floor
Egg Chamber and Lily
The Wheel and its Environs
Hints: Casting Spells
Hints: General
You go north
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                          Q = re
sume game

Instructions: How to play this game
Briefings: A diplomatic background
> Hints: During the Procession
The Customs House
Amongst the Foundations
Ledge and Surroundings
Cedar and Cave Floor
Egg Chamber and Lily
The Wheel and its Environs
Hints: Casting Spells
Hints: General
Go north
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                          Q = re
sume game

Instructions: How to play this game
Briefings: A diplomatic background
Hints: During the Procession
> The Customs House
Amongst the Foundations
Ledge and Surroundings
Cedar and Cave Floor
Egg Chamber and Lily
The Wheel and its Environs
Hints: Casting Spells
Hints: General
You go north
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                          Q = re
sume game

Instructions: How to play this game
Briefings: A diplomatic background
Hints: During the Procession
The Customs House
> Amongst the Foundations
Ledge and Surroundings
Cedar and Cave Floor
Egg Chamber and Lily
The Wheel and its Environs
Hints: Casting Spells
Hints: General
You go north
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                          Q = re
sume game

Instructions: How to play this game
Briefings: A diplomatic background
Hints: During the Procession
The Customs House
Amongst the Foundations
> Ledge and Surroundings
Cedar and Cave Floor
Egg Chamber and Lily
The Wheel and its Environs
Hints: Casting Spells
Hints: General
Ledge and Surroundings
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                        Q = prev
ious menu

> How do I get down from the ledge?
I'm a good 20 feet short!
I can't get back up from the Tiny Cave.
Can I reach the tree from the ledge?
What use is the flat curved stick?
What's the significance of the shard?
What's behind the quartz window?
Woodlice and ants are a problem.
How do I pass the Pale Corridor?
What is the Philosopher's Stone?
How does the colour chart work?
P.
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                        Q = prev
ious menu

How do I get down from the ledge?
I'm a good 20 feet short!
I can't get back up from the Tiny Cave.
Can I reach the tree from the ledge?
What use is the flat curved stick?
What's the significance of the shard?
What's behind the quartz window?
Woodlice and ants are a problem.
How do I pass the Pale Corridor?
What is the Philosopher's Stone?
> How does the colour chart work?
P.
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                        Q = prev
ious menu

How do I get down from the ledge?
I'm a good 20 feet short!
I can't get back up from the Tiny Cave.
Can I reach the tree from the ledge?
What use is the flat curved stick?
What's the significance of the shard?
What's behind the quartz window?
Woodlice and ants are a problem.
How do I pass the Pale Corridor?
> What is the Philosopher's Stone?
How does the colour chart work?
P.
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                        Q = prev
ious menu

How do I get down from the ledge?
I'm a good 20 feet short!
I can't get back up from the Tiny Cave.
Can I reach the tree from the ledge?
What use is the flat curved stick?
What's the significance of the shard?
What's behind the quartz window?
Woodlice and ants are a problem.
> How do I pass the Pale Corridor?
What is the Philosopher's Stone?
How does the colour chart work?
P.
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                        Q = prev
ious menu

How do I get down from the ledge?
I'm a good 20 feet short!
I can't get back up from the Tiny Cave.
Can I reach the tree from the ledge?
What use is the flat curved stick?
What's the significance of the shard?
What's behind the quartz window?
> Woodlice and ants are a problem.
How do I pass the Pale Corridor?
What is the Philosopher's Stone?
How does the colour chart work?
P.
N = next subject                                                  P =
RETURN = read subject                                        Q = prev
ious menu

How do I get down from the ledge?
I'm a good 20 feet short!
I can't get back up from the Tiny Cave.
Can I reach the tree from the ledge?
What use is the flat curved stick?
What's the significance of the shard?
> What's behind the quartz window?
Woodlice and ants are a problem.
How do I pass the Pale Corridor?
What is the Philosopher's Stone?
How does the colour chart work?
(Press H for more, or SPACE to return.)

A cavity with a distinctive triangular shape.
You shoot cavity
You loose off the arrow across the cave and, satisfyingly, its arc
takes it straight into the triangular cavity.
The interior of the cavity is now lit up! You're still too far away
here to make out anything, though.
You look in the cavity with telescope
cavity.
You look in the cavity
The cavity contains a kind of prehistoric shrine, lined with cave
paintings. Preeminent among them is an intriguing sequence showing a
man being roused from a coma, or perhaps even death, with an elixir:
we see a shaman preparing this healing paste by tearing a broad leaf
and then grinding it up with an arrow.
Grind fragments with arrow
(the fragments of prism with the arrow)
Violence isn't the answer to this one.
Grind leaf with arrow
Using the arrow-head, you grind the leaf fragments down even further,
so that their natural moisture is driven out until you are left with a
dull green paste.
You give the paste to Clotspinner
The water-lily elixir has an immediate effect on Clotspinner! For a
moment you think it will burn him out, and that he's too weak to
withstand it: but then he rises from the cot, coughing and
spluttering.

"Well who are you?" he asks. "You needn't think I'm grateful. Can't
even do myself in, it seems."

Caught off-balance, you introduce yourself with a stammer, and make a
passable Court bow. "I suppose you can prove that, young man?"
Inventory
You are carrying:
a burnished lantern (providing light)
four unwritten vellum scrolls
a coffer (which is open but empty)
an old document
a colour chart
a length of light rope
a boomerang (providing light)
your formal credentials
a shard of pottery (providing light)
a small wickerwork hamper (which is open but empty)
three arrows
a drum (which is empty)
a bow
the "destruction order"
Experimental Spell Book #5
your Ambassador's trunk (which is open)
a hand telescope
The Guide For Travellers To The Lower Northlands and Surrounding
Provinces
some provisions - a joint of cured ham, a hunk of cheese and a clove
of garlic
a stub of a stock-keeper's note
You show the credentials to Clotspinner
"Thought so," he mutters. "Damnable headache. Pardon my suspicion and
all that. Ever since I invented the "morglop spell: pry into darkest
motives" I've been a little cynical, you know. Shan't be working for
Amilia any more, that's for certain!"

He staggers around the workshop, focusing his eyes again and generally rejoining the real world.
You show the credentials to Clotspinner
"Never mind that! What about my asylum?"

(You are beginning to think he belongs in one.)

"I shall want asylum, of course. Political asylum, from the Duchy,
eh?"
You memorize the ploor
You commit the ploor spell to memory.

"Of course I'll also need an official appointment."
Ploor
Nothing happens, perhaps because you have already reported home to the
Duchy.

"And a little wooden house by the sea."
You ask Clotspinner about the morglop
questions.

"And I'll need the best laboratories and assistants."
Memorise ploor
You commit the ploor spell to memory.

"With profiteroles every teatime, promptly at four."
Ploor
Nothing happens, perhaps because you have already reported home to the
Duchy.

"And I trust there'll be dancing-girls, ten or twelve should suffice
at a pinch."
Yes
That was a rhetorical question.

"Oh yes, my needs are simple," Clotspinner presses on.
Yes
He looks pensive as you shake hands on the deal, wondering no doubt if
he should have held out for more.

"Well, first thing to do's to get me out of here. I believe we'll
require a spell at, umm," (and he scribbles a quick calculation),
"mental arithmetic always was overrated, always said so, let's see,
172.88 degrees. Shall you do the honours?

"But... the light has gone... ah, I see. Weeks I've spent, trying to
dispose of that meteor, keep Amilia from using it! But just for the
moment I'd like it back, if it's not too much trouble."
88
You rotate the mounting to 172.88.
You put the scroll on the dial
You put the unwritten vellum scroll on the calibrated swivel mounting.
Ruther chalk
You commit the ruther spell to memory.
The air around the chalk glows as it is transformed, slowly under the
play of the green light, back into the meteor, whose burnished surface
throws the beam back east through the archway!
Go east
The presence everywhere of tools and instruments makes this place
rather homely to a Duchy-born man like yourself: it's like a smithy,
but of the colours of light, not the alloys of metal.

At the workshop's centre is the Anvil, a hard stone mounting and,
perhaps, the fulcrum of the new Northlands Empire that is to come. The
beam of light courses in through the eastern archway to strike the top
of the Anvil dead-centre, where it is refracted by the diamond, right
across the calibrations on the far wall.

workshop, and can be turned anywhere on the calibrated dial from 1 to
180 degrees. It now stands at 172.88 and holds a sheet of vellum
paper.

On the calibrated swivel mounting is a newly-written scroll.

Clotspinner wanders the workshop pensively, looking over the
equipment.
You get the scroll
(the newly-written scroll)
Taken.
You examine it
The scroll reads "thrale spell (assist even old or wizened savant)".
You put it in the Spell Book
Your spell book begins to glow softly. Almost imperceptibly, the
binding swells and closes over the edge of the newly-written scroll,
which straightens and becomes the new thrale spell page. The book's
brightness fades as the corners settle to perfect right angles.
You memorize the thrale
You commit the thrale spell to memory.
Thrale Clotspinner
"Thank you very much," says Clotspinner as he begins to disappear. "I
shall now be teleported direct to the Duchy. You, I'm afraid, will
have to make other arran..."

He's gone.
Go west
Wheel Cave (West)
A circular corridor-cave, like a cartwheel's rim and unmistakably
artificial. The arc hoops around northeast and southeast.

of the great wheel.

A clear funnel chimney rises vertically up, like a glass-blower's vent
or something from a furnace, lined with smooth-curving brick.

Beneath the chimney is a huge, irregular, metallic lodestone,
presumably a meteor fallen to earth.

A thick, viscous green beam of magical light reflects from the meteor
through a right-angle: straight upward through the chimney, to a level
path east through the archway.

A smooth, recent tunnel rises up to natural light.
Drink water
The water is cold and magical, effervescent. You feel yourself
changing again, just as you did at the russet pool. Your limbs stretch
into arms and legs, your ears tuck back within human hair: yes, a man,
but just a man. No magic left. It seems a fair bargain, almost.

It tastes only of rue.
Go north
Watling Street, Again
The meeting-point: where Watling Street crosses the culvert, through
which the brook still flows.

Agents of the Duchy, cloaked as all spies should be, huddle beside
black horses.

"Well met, Captain," you call out casually, giving no hint of your
recent canine persona. They saddle up to smuggle you away from the
Empire forever: for you'll never be persona grata here again.

But the Duchy will rise now. Tottering on the foundations laid by the
Old Underground Empire, the bankrupt remains which are the Northland
Empire of today will crumble at last. Unchecked, the Enlightenment
will spread across the continent, and nothing will be as it was.

Looking back from your horse, you only know that you will miss
Borealis, its tradition and undoubted glory: ever the Ambassador's
curse is to love the land he must one day betray and abandon. Still
and all: