When the seventh day comes and it is time for you to return to the castle in the
forest, your sisters cling to your sleeves.

"Don't go back," they say, and "When will we ever see you again?" But you
imagine they will find consolation somewhere.

Your father hangs back, silent and moody. He has spent the week as far from you
as possible, working until late at night. Now he speaks only to ask whether the
Beast treated you "properly." Since he obviously has his own ideas about what
must have taken place over the past few years, you do not reply beyond a shrug.

You breathe more easily once you're back in the forest, alone.



Bronze
A fractured fairy tale by Emily Short
Release 12 / Serial number 101025 / Inform 7 build 6F95 (I6/v6.31 lib 6/12N)

Have you played interactive fiction before? >yes

If you have not played Bronze before, you may still want to type HELP to learn
about special commands unique to this game.

Drawbridge
Even in your short absence, the castle has come to look strange to you again.
When you came here first, you stood a long while on the drawbridge, unready to
cross the moat, for fear of the spells that might bind you if you did. This time
it is too late to worry about such things.

An iron-barred gate leads north.

>transcript

Start of a transcript of

Bronze
A fractured fairy tale by Emily Short
Release 12 / Serial number 101025 / Inform 7 build 6F95 (I6/v6.31 lib 6/12N)
Identification number: //1810847C-0DC7-44D5-94EF-313A3E7AF257//
Standard interpreter 1.1 (1C) / Library serial number 080126
Standard Rules version 2/090402 by Graham Nelson

>n
(first opening the iron-barred gate)
You shouldn't be able to open it, heavy as it is, but it swings aside lightly at your touch. The Beast said that it knows friend from enemy; and the castle, at least, still regards you as friend.

Entrance Hall
There is no fire in the big fireplace, and no one is waiting for you here; the air is very cold. Over the gate, the old familiar warning sign is painted.

Various passages lead deeper into the castle: north towards the central courtyard, southwest to the guard tower, east and west into the libraries, the offices, the galleries. Somewhere in this maze, he waits; and he should be told as soon as possible that you did return.

An iron-barred gate leads south to the drawbridge.

>x gate
It stands open and unlocked.

>x fireplace
Unlit, vacant. It is almost as though you are not expected.

>x sign
You know the words by heart, having heard them first from your father, and then studied them yourself on many more recent occasions.

You read: Those who seek to leave the castle depart at peril of their lives and souls, unless another servant be provided in exchange, or a fixed term of absence be granted by their master.

>sw

Guard Tower
A round tower offering protection to the drawbridge.

>look
Guard Tower
A round tower offering protection to the drawbridge.

>x tower
You can't see any such thing.

>x drawbridge
You can't see any such thing.

>ne

Entrance Hall
There is no fire in the big fireplace; the air is very cold. Over the gate, the old familiar warning sign is painted.

Various passages lead deeper into the castle: north towards the central courtyard, southwest to the guard tower, east and west into the libraries, the offices, the galleries. Somewhere in this maze, he waits; and he should be told as soon as possible that you did return.

An iron-barred gate leads south to the drawbridge.

>w

Great Dining Hall
Such a long hall that the soup might get cold between one end and the other. You and he used only the far west end, nearest the kitchen. Once you took to dining together at all, that is; the first few months he brought trays to your room, while you hid.

But then you took to eating here; and at the end of every meal he would stand up formally and ask his question.

"You can leave at any time," he said, when he first spoke to you. You stared at him, surprised that someone with his face and teeth was capable of human communication. "Would you like to go?"

There are other memories, more recent, of course. Every glance around the room reminds you of a different one.

>look
Great Dining Hall
You allow yourself to remember another night, another request.

"I'm surprised you haven't gone home yet," he said very early in your stay.

"I've heard stories," you replied. "As if there weren't enough to see around the castle. I know what happens to your servants who try to leave you."

"Nothing bad would happen to you," he said. But you could not believe him, not with all the captured spirits, not with the stories, not with the evidence around the castle.

>look
Great Dining Hall
You allow yourself to remember another night, another request.

"And now -- would you like to go home?"

You bit your lip. It had been a pleasant conversation, up until now, when you are reminded: however nicely he may behave, he is still the king of a cursed line, and not to be trusted.

>look
Great Dining Hall
You allow yourself to remember another night, another request.

"I assure you," he added. "No harm will come to you if you do go."

"I only have your word for that," you replied, looking stubbornly into your soupbowl.

He sat. "I am unable to lie to you," he said. "It is one of the conditions placed upon us. We can only tell the truth."

"And why should I believe that?"

He raised his glass. "I'll try again tomorrow."

>look
Great Dining Hall
You allow yourself to remember another night, another request.

"Were you ever married?" you asked, ignoring his question.

"No."

"Then you have no heirs?"

"I have no legitimate sons," he replied. "But I certainly have an heir, somewhere. If I died, somewhere, someone would inherit all this, and the whole system would go on as before, the servants and the contracts. But don't worry: I have tried, and it turns out that I don't die easily."

>look
Great Dining Hall
You allow yourself to remember another night, another request.

"And you promise I would not regret it? Truthfully."

He coughed. "I don't know your future. And -- since you ask I must answer -- I don't think much of your father, a man who would barter his daughter's service for his own, especially since he had unflattering ideas of what I would do with you."

You sputtered. "Well of course you couldn't-- I mean, being an animal..."

His teeth gleamed. "I assure you I could," he said. "But I won't."

>look
Great Dining Hall
You allow yourself to remember another night, another request.

"I have become used to it here," you answered, surprising yourself. "There is plenty to read; there is the chessman, and games; and you are good company." He raised his glass with a half smile. "You'd rather stay here without me?"

"No," he said.

>look
Great Dining Hall
You allow yourself to remember another night, another request.

"I c-care for you," you said. "I am lonely without you, and you make me laugh, and you're nice..."

"Stop," he said. "And remind me never to order the port again."

He picked you up from your chair and your head rested on his shoulder. "But why can I not be in love... Oh, carry me carefully on the stairs: I feel sick!"

"Simply, pet," he said, walking slowly up the steps. "What you offer I couldn't accept. In fact, I'm not sure what you are offering. Do you have some fantasy of marrying me? Being my mistress?"

You could not think of the answer; there was no solution that was not absurd. He set you down carefully on the bed and went away. A moment later he came back, bright crimson bell in his left paw. "When you wake in the morning and are very ill, which you will be, ring this and the servants will bring a tonic appropriate to your condition."

>look
Great Dining Hall
You allow yourself to remember another night, another request.

"For a visit, if you won't go to stay?" he asked. "We could arrange that too, if you liked."

"And nothing bad would happen to anyone I cared about?" you demanded.

"Nothing bad would happen to you or to your family. There would be no ill health and no spiritual repercussions."

"You're leaving something out," you said, having gotten familiar with the precise way he speaks when hedging around a difficult fact.

"It could be unpleasant for me," he replied, strained. "But you mustn't stay because of my feelings on the matter. Your family miss you, and I am the villain in this piece."

>look
Great Dining Hall
You allow yourself to remember another night, another request.

"Don't mention the leaving thing once more," you said. "Or I will throw a glass at your head."

He sighed. "You are as stubborn as you are honorable," he said. "No doubt the two are related."

>look
Great Dining Hall
You allow yourself to remember another night, another request.

After a long time: "You haven't asked me to leave in a while," you said.

"Ah." He looked at his plate of food. "Of course you may go. I'm glad you believe my word about the effects, now."

"I will go to visit my family," you say, stressing the word visit. "On condition that you tell me how to do it so that I will not harm you. If you won't do that, I don't go."

He looked at you, his expression cloudy. "There is a very good reason why..."

"Those are my terms."

He sighed. "Very well," he said. "If your trip lasts fewer than seven days, it will have no effect on anything here." He looked down at his curled paw. "But if you don't come back -- and I imagine you won't -- I will forgive you."

>look
Great Dining Hall
Such a long hall that the soup might get cold between one end and the other. You and he used only the far west end, nearest the kitchen. Once you took to dining together at all, that is; the first few months he brought trays to your room, while you hid.

But then you took to eating here; and at the end of every meal he would stand up formally and ask his question.

>look
Great Dining Hall
Such a long hall that the soup might get cold between one end and the other. You and he used only the far west end, nearest the kitchen. Once you took to dining together at all, that is; the first few months he brought trays to your room, while you hid.

But then you took to eating here; and at the end of every meal he would stand up formally and ask his question.

>w

Enormous Kitchen
Haunted with the spirits of chefs past, generations and generations of culinary geniuses; one can never predict its whimsies. Unless he has moved everything, the bell to summon them into action should be in one of the rooms upstairs.

>n

Servant Quarters
You've never come here before, and now you see why. Not a room friendly to visitors, it has the air of resentful, martyred suffering. Even His most unpleasant ancestors would not have grudged this place more paint, surely, and more straw for the beds.

A decaying ladder leads down.

>x straw
Well. There really isn't any.

>x ladder
The decaying ladder leads down.

>d

Darkness
Though a dim light filters down from the servant quarters, you can see almost nothing of the contents of your current location. You find yourself concentrating all the more alertly on your hearing, as though the slightest echo might offer a clue.

You hear some dry sifting from the northeast.

>u

Servant Quarters
Not a room friendly to visitors, it has the air of resentful, martyred suffering. Even His most unpleasant ancestors would not have grudged this place more paint, surely, and more straw for the beds.

A decaying ladder leads down.

>s

Enormous Kitchen
Haunted with the spirits of chefs past, generations and generations of culinary geniuses; one can never predict its whimsies. Unless he has moved everything, the bell to summon them into action should be in one of the rooms upstairs.

>e

Great Dining Hall
Such a long hall that the soup might get cold between one end and the other. You and he used only the far west end, nearest the kitchen. Once you took to dining together at all, that is; the first few months he brought trays to your room, while you hid.

But then you took to eating here; and at the end of every meal he would stand up formally and ask his question.

>n
You find your way blocked by a phantom guard. Somewhere nearby you hear chimes.

As soon as you back up, he disperses into smoke again.

>e

Entrance Hall
There is no fire in the big fireplace; the air is very cold. Over the gate, the old familiar warning sign is painted.

Various passages lead deeper into the castle: north towards the central courtyard, southwest to the guard tower, east and west into the libraries, the offices, the galleries. Somewhere in this maze, he waits; and he should be told as soon as possible that you did return.

An iron-barred gate leads south to the drawbridge.

>sw

Guard Tower
A round tower offering protection to the drawbridge.

>ne

Entrance Hall
There is no fire in the big fireplace; the air is very cold. Over the gate, the old familiar warning sign is painted.

Various passages lead deeper into the castle: north towards the central courtyard, southwest to the guard tower, east and west into the libraries, the offices, the galleries. Somewhere in this maze, he waits; and he should be told as soon as possible that you did return.

An iron-barred gate leads south to the drawbridge.

>e

Scarlet Gallery
You do not often come this way, into the older part of the castle, which is narrow and has a low roof. The walls, and the ceiling too, are deep scarlet, the color of the old king and queen that ruled here two hundred fifty years ago, when there was still a kingdom.

>look
Scarlet Gallery
You do not often come this way, into the older part of the castle, which is narrow and has a low roof. The walls, and the ceiling too, are deep scarlet, the color of the old king and queen that ruled here two hundred fifty years ago, when there was still a kingdom.

>x walls
You take another look around.

Scarlet Gallery
You do not often come this way, into the older part of the castle, which is narrow and has a low roof. The walls, and the ceiling too, are deep scarlet, the color of the old king and queen that ruled here two hundred fifty years ago, when there was still a kingdom.

>se

Scarlet Tower
A little hexagonal room, from whose narrow window you can see the moat, the lawn, and the beginning of the forest outside.

On the windowsill, a helmet waits, for the use of the sentry.

>x lawn
Beyond a short stretch of clear ground, the forest grows thick and uninhabited for many miles.

>x moat
Beyond a short stretch of clear ground, the forest grows thick and uninhabited for many miles.

>x forest
Beyond a short stretch of clear ground, the forest grows thick and uninhabited for many miles.

>x helmet
A very old helmet that you have seen the Beast wear (and quite foolish it looked, perched on a head it no longer fits: it would suit your head better). He told you once that the helmet was for night watchmen, scouts, and guards, to increase their vigilance and strengthen their hearing.

Lines of writing arc over each ear, but you do not know the language in question.

>read writing
Lines of writing arc over each ear, but you do not know the language in question.

>wear helmet
You acquire the helmet.

You settle the helmet over your head, and there is a roaring in your ears at first. But then the sharpened hearing begins to feel natural again.

>nw

Scarlet Gallery
You do not often come this way, into the older part of the castle, which is narrow and has a low roof. The walls, and the ceiling too, are deep scarlet, the color of the old king and queen that ruled here two hundred fifty years ago, when there was still a kingdom.

>e

Gallery of Historical Paintings
Here on the north wall and the south are paintings of historical events from times past: the assassination of King Elzibad in 1248; the arrival of Princess Lucrezia from the Italian State of Medici-Credenza in 1545.

The gallery goes on, echoing, both east and west.

>x elzibad
You see his pointy-slippered attendants wringing their hands, his wife wiping her eyes on an ermine muff, peasants grieving.

Of Elzibad himself, there is only a pair of blackened feet, sticking out from under the elephant.

>x elephant
You see his pointy-slippered attendants wringing their hands, his wife wiping her eyes on an ermine muff, peasants grieving.

Of Elzibad himself, there is only a pair of blackened feet, sticking out from under the elephant.

>x lucrezia
Lucrezia wears silk the pale blue of the morning sky, and her eyes are little currants of malice.

>e

Room with the Labyrinth Floor
A mosaic floor of black and white, like that of cathedrals, as protection against the spite of the undead: which protection might often have been needed, by those that dwelt here in former times. The way down is at the center of the maze.

>d

Darkness
Though a dim light filters down from the room with the labyrinth floor, you can see almost nothing of the contents of your current location.

>u

Room with the Labyrinth Floor
A mosaic floor of black and white, like that of cathedrals, as protection against the spite of the undead: which protection might often have been needed, by those that dwelt here in former times. The way down is at the center of the maze.

>w

Gallery of Historical Paintings
Here on the north wall and the south are paintings of historical events from times past: the assassination of King Elzibad in 1248; the arrival of Princess Lucrezia from the Italian State of Medici-Credenza in 1545.

The gallery goes on, echoing, both east and west.

>w

Scarlet Gallery
You do not often come this way, into the older part of the castle, which is narrow and has a low roof. The walls, and the ceiling too, are deep scarlet, the color of the old king and queen that ruled here two hundred fifty years ago, when there was still a kingdom.

>ne

Treasure Room
Locked in an iron cage are the house treasures not in use: the collection consists of a sceptre, a puzzle piece, and a pair of cloven shoes, at present -- he showed them to you one rainy day, telling you their many histories.

Nearby a small door leads east.

He's not down here, then, in the east wing.

Perhaps he's in one of the side rooms you've not visited yet...?

>x cage
Made of broad strap-like bars of metal, as thick as a man's belt, and heavily reinforced. Here and there are marks where someone would seem to have made an attempt to break in. In the cage are the sceptre, the puzzle piece, and the pair of cloven shoes.

In the iron cage are a sceptre, a puzzle piece, and a pair of cloven shoes.

>x sceptre
Formerly belonging to Queen Ingratitudina the First (so he said), only slightly bent where she used it to strike King Cophetua.

You reacquaint yourself with its appearance: Studded with measly turquoises and semi-precious stones.

>x piece
Something shiny has been painted on the piece.

>x shiny
You can't see any such thing.

>x piece
Something shiny has been painted on the piece.

>x shoes
Made for something with cloven hoofs. They bear evidence of having been adjusted to their current size by a shoemaker, and perhaps (therefore) could be again.

>e
(first opening the small door)
(first unlocking the small door)
You lack a key that fits the small door.

>sw

Scarlet Gallery
You do not often come this way, into the older part of the castle, which is narrow and has a low roof. The walls, and the ceiling too, are deep scarlet, the color of the old king and queen that ruled here two hundred fifty years ago, when there was still a kingdom.

>w

Entrance Hall
There is no fire in the big fireplace; the air is very cold. Over the gate, the old familiar warning sign is painted.

Various passages lead deeper into the castle: north towards the central courtyard, southwest to the guard tower, east and west into the libraries, the offices, the galleries. Somewhere in this maze, he waits; and he should be told as soon as possible that you did return.

An iron-barred gate leads south to the drawbridge.

>n

Central Courtyard
Open to a grey sky, from which a light rain falls. You have never seen the courtyard otherwise: it rains in every season, winter or summer, no matter what lies beyond the moat.

It was here that you first laid eyes on the Beast: emerging from the State Rooms, snarling. He seemed angry at you for coming, even though you had had no choice. Or perhaps (you thought) he was simply violent. You did not run.

The castle proper opens both north and south, and to the east a helical staircase ascends to the roof.

>x rain
The raindrops seem to you larger and colder than you remember.

>x staircase
A handsome staircase designed by an Italian engineer in the 16th century.

>e

Ground Floor Helical Staircase
The steps rise from here towards the upper rooms, and open out onto the bare courtyard.

An obscene gargoyle sits where the finial of the banister should be.

Upstairs. That must be the solution. You'll find him up there, and everything will go back to normal; as it always does after a fight or disagreement or odd patch. Sooner or later things just right themselves and resume as they have always gone.

>x gargoyle
He came up while you were bent over the gargoyle, trying to lift it. "Taking that back to your room?" he asked slyly. "It won't work, but if you're lacking companionship I could find an appropriate servant to see to your needs."

You felt yourself blush. "It's ugly," you said. "I wanted to move it."

"Oh. You can't." He frowned at it. "It is a remnant, left here by an angry soul who managed to take some revenge despite his enslavement. There are a few others around, mostly in the crypt. They're immovable, but harmless."

You reacquaint yourself with its appearance: Not too large, but stunningly ugly: a stone about the size of an apple, carved into a monster with outsized ears and eyes -- not to mention outsized attributes elsewhere.

>u

Upstairs Helical Staircase
In this spot, you fell and almost broke your leg -- or some other more valuable part of you -- except that He caught you.

But you are alone now, and therefore cautious.

>e

Private Parlor
A sitting room of the family, in old times, and familiar territory to you now as well. Your bedroom is just south; other bedrooms, mostly smaller, in other directions.

Nearby a heavy door leads north.

You can also see a bentwood table (on which is a jigsaw puzzle) here.

>x puzzle
His latest offering: he brings you all the most innocent toys he can find, to occupy your time and make you less miserable. This one is nearly finished, missing only one piece that neither of you could ever find.

>x table
The appearance of the bentwood table has not changed significantly since you left.

On the bentwood table is a jigsaw puzzle.

>s

Crystal Bedroom
A fantasia of gleaming and glittering, chandeliers and mirrors: all that shines or reflects has been moved here, into this room that you inhabit, which he never enters.

The south end of the room is most dazzling, because of the daylight from the balcony.

>x mirrors
You learned, long ago, that the mirrors would keep him away; and then, when you had less need to keep him at bay, you kept them anyway, so as not to disturb him by returning them to the rest of the palace.

>s
You step out into the rain; the fat droplets sound like hail on the surface of your helmet.

Gilded Balcony
A ridiculous filigreed balcony that is like nothing so much as a birdcage: and from here you can see all the way across the moat, across the forest, the plain, to the edge of the sea, only by staring long enough in any direction.

When you first came here, the balcony was full of plants in pots: poison oak, nettles, nightshade, datura. "They grow best here," he explained. "Don't touch them." And he took them away, and you have never seen them again since.

>x sea
If you look long enough, your vision expands until you can see the ocean, grey and clouded with storms, that took your father's livelihood and brought your family to ruin.

>x sea
If you look long enough, your vision expands until you can see the ocean, grey and clouded with storms, that took your father's livelihood and brought your family to ruin.

>n

Crystal Bedroom
A fantasia of gleaming and glittering, chandeliers and mirrors: all that shines or reflects has been moved here, into this room that you inhabit, which he never enters.

The south end of the room is most dazzling, because of the daylight from the balcony.

>n

Private Parlor
A sitting room of the family, in old times, and familiar territory to you now as well. Your bedroom is just south; other bedrooms, mostly smaller, in other directions.

Nearby a heavy door leads north.

You can also see a bentwood table (on which is a jigsaw puzzle) here.

>sw

Green Bedroom
Having more personality than most of the bedrooms, it was decorated for someone specific and has been left that way: green and white, with a simple rustic cast unusual for the palace.

The chief exception is the royal portrait on the wall.

>x portrait
"That was me," he told you. "Before I was changed. Do you think I was handsome?"

You shrugged. Handsome, yes, but proud, selfish, resentful, perhaps cruel. "The painter did not do justice to your personality," you replied.

"You're wrong," he said. "And I put the painting here to punish the woman who slept here. She treated me with justice, and I could not forgive her."

He refused to tell you the rest. "You like me more than you should, and trust me less," he said. "If I told you the rest of this particular story, you would neither trust nor like. There, that's a warning for you."

You reacquaint yourself with its appearance: A portrait of a young, arrogant king: not a prince, but one who inherited early and used his power from the beginning. He stares out with bitterness, perhaps even resentment.

>ne

Private Parlor
A sitting room of the family, in old times, and familiar territory to you now as well. Your bedroom is just south; other bedrooms, mostly smaller, in other directions.

Nearby a heavy door leads north.

You can also see a bentwood table (on which is a jigsaw puzzle) here.

>se

Empty Bedroom
Like a monk's chamber compared to every other part of the palace, just bare walls now. Here your father stayed, when he made his ill-fated journey to the castle. The Beast told you this, on your first visit.

On the wall, as a curio, hangs an open shackle -- sign of the only person ever to have escaped the power of this place.

>x shackle
Your father claims to have been chained up, but the Beast never made the least effort to restrain you with chains or bars. On the contrary-- but that remains a puzzle.

You reacquaint yourself with its appearance: A curious object, a broken shackle. Nowhere else in the castle are there any chains or ropes or devices of torture; there has never been a need for such physical coercion...

>nw

Private Parlor
A sitting room of the family, in old times, and familiar territory to you now as well. Your bedroom is just south; other bedrooms, mostly smaller, in other directions.

Nearby a heavy door leads north.

You can also see a bentwood table (on which is a jigsaw puzzle) here.

>e

Guest Bedroom
Made up for the reception of a guest who will never arrive again. A tapestry recalls the story.

Still here at the center of the room is the stool you and the Beast used, the time he tried to teach you to dance -- not a great success, but more effective than the experiment with stilts.

He's not upstairs, then: there's nowhere in these rooms he could have been hiding, no space large enough to conceal him.

He must have gone into one of the more... difficult portions of the castle. The state rooms, or the crypt. One of the places he knows you hate to visit alone.

This does not bode well for his state of mind. (Will he be angry? It has been a long time since he was truly angry at you... But you cannot deal with that until you find him.)

>x tapestry
It is hard to make out the story from the faded threads, but it appears to show a very small man, almost a dwarf, who holds on a leading string a very large demon, almost a god.

>x dwarf
It is hard to make out the story from the faded threads, but it appears to show a very small man, almost a dwarf, who holds on a leading string a very large demon, almost a god.

>get stool
You acquire the stool, and assess it curiously.

An ordinary three-legged stool, like the one your cat at home liked to sleep on.

>w

Private Parlor
A sitting room of the family, in old times, and familiar territory to you now as well. Your bedroom is just south; other bedrooms, mostly smaller, in other directions.

Nearby a heavy door leads north.

You can also see a bentwood table (on which is a jigsaw puzzle) here.

>n
(first opening the heavy door)
You get far enough to glimpse a north window before being overcome: you reel back from a smell of roses and death, so powerful that you can't go forward. Until there's a breeze through here, you won't be able to stand being in the place.

Private Parlor
A sitting room of the family, in old times, and familiar territory to you now as well. Your bedroom is just south; other bedrooms, mostly smaller, in other directions.

Nearby an open heavy door leads north.

You can also see a bentwood table (on which is a jigsaw puzzle) here.

>open heavy door
That's already open.

>w

Upstairs Helical Staircase
A dizzying prospect, the spiral of steps down to the ground.

>d

Ground Floor Helical Staircase
The steps rise from here towards the upper rooms, and open out onto the bare courtyard.

An obscene gargoyle sits where the finial of the banister should be.

>w

Central Courtyard
Open to a grey sky, from which a light rain falls. You have never seen the courtyard otherwise: it rains in every season, winter or summer, no matter what lies beyond the moat.

The castle proper opens both north and south, and to the east a helical staircase ascends to the roof.

>u
From here, you can head north, south, and east.

>n
Again the sound of chimes, and the phantom guard that blocks your path. Somewhere there must be a ringer summoning him, protecting the State Rooms.

You have never known the Beast to put up guards before. It has always been enough for him to guard the rooms himself.

>* Hm, my hand-drawn map shows no other places to easily go.
You seem to want to talk to someone, but I can't see whom.

>e

Ground Floor Helical Staircase
The steps rise from here towards the upper rooms, and open out onto the bare courtyard.

An obscene gargoyle sits where the finial of the banister should be.

>u

Upstairs Helical Staircase
A dizzying prospect, the spiral of steps down to the ground.

>e

Private Parlor
A sitting room of the family, in old times, and familiar territory to you now as well. Your bedroom is just south; other bedrooms, mostly smaller, in other directions.

Nearby an open heavy door leads north.

You can also see a bentwood table (on which is a jigsaw puzzle) here.

>n
You get far enough to glimpse a north window before being overcome: you reel back from a smell of roses and death, so powerful that you can't go forward. Until there's a breeze through here, you won't be able to stand being in the place.

Private Parlor
A sitting room of the family, in old times, and familiar territory to you now as well. Your bedroom is just south; other bedrooms, mostly smaller, in other directions.

Nearby an open heavy door leads north.

You can also see a bentwood table (on which is a jigsaw puzzle) here.

>e

Guest Bedroom
Made up for the reception of a guest who will never arrive again. A tapestry recalls the story.

>x tapestry
It is hard to make out the story from the faded threads, but it appears to show a very small man, almost a dwarf, who holds on a leading string a very large demon, almost a god.

>take it
That's hardly portable.

>w

Private Parlor
A sitting room of the family, in old times, and familiar territory to you now as well. Your bedroom is just south; other bedrooms, mostly smaller, in other directions.

Nearby an open heavy door leads north.

You can also see a bentwood table (on which is a jigsaw puzzle) here.

>se

Empty Bedroom
Like a monk's chamber compared to every other part of the palace, just bare walls now. Here your father stayed, when he made his ill-fated journey to the castle. The Beast told you this, on your first visit.

On the wall, as a curio, hangs an open shackle -- sign of the only person ever to have escaped the power of this place.

>nw

Private Parlor
A sitting room of the family, in old times, and familiar territory to you now as well. Your bedroom is just south; other bedrooms, mostly smaller, in other directions.

Nearby an open heavy door leads north.

You can also see a bentwood table (on which is a jigsaw puzzle) here.

>s

Crystal Bedroom
A fantasia of gleaming and glittering, chandeliers and mirrors: all that shines or reflects has been moved here, into this room that you inhabit, which he never enters.

The south end of the room is most dazzling, because of the daylight from the balcony.

>get mirror
They're hardly portable.

>x mirror
You learned, long ago, that the mirrors would keep him away; and then, when you had less need to keep him at bay, you kept them anyway, so as not to disturb him by returning them to the rest of the palace.

>n

Private Parlor
A sitting room of the family, in old times, and familiar territory to you now as well. Your bedroom is just south; other bedrooms, mostly smaller, in other directions.

Nearby an open heavy door leads north.

You can also see a bentwood table (on which is a jigsaw puzzle) here.

>sw

Green Bedroom
Having more personality than most of the bedrooms, it was decorated for someone specific and has been left that way: green and white, with a simple rustic cast unusual for the palace.

The chief exception is the royal portrait on the wall.

>ne

Private Parlor
A sitting room of the family, in old times, and familiar territory to you now as well. Your bedroom is just south; other bedrooms, mostly smaller, in other directions.

Nearby an open heavy door leads north.

You can also see a bentwood table (on which is a jigsaw puzzle) here.

>w

Upstairs Helical Staircase
A dizzying prospect, the spiral of steps down to the ground.

>d

Ground Floor Helical Staircase
The steps rise from here towards the upper rooms, and open out onto the bare courtyard.

An obscene gargoyle sits where the finial of the banister should be.

>w

Central Courtyard
Open to a grey sky, from which a light rain falls. You have never seen the courtyard otherwise: it rains in every season, winter or summer, no matter what lies beyond the moat.

The castle proper opens both north and south, and to the east a helical staircase ascends to the roof.

>s

Entrance Hall
There is no fire in the big fireplace; the air is very cold. Over the gate, the old familiar warning sign is painted.

Various passages lead deeper into the castle: north towards the central courtyard, southwest to the guard tower, east and west into the libraries, the offices, the galleries. Somewhere in this maze, he waits; and he should be told as soon as possible that you did return.

An iron-barred gate leads south to the drawbridge.

>e

Scarlet Gallery
You do not often come this way, into the older part of the castle, which is narrow and has a low roof. The walls, and the ceiling too, are deep scarlet, the color of the old king and queen that ruled here two hundred fifty years ago, when there was still a kingdom.

>ne

Treasure Room
Locked in an iron cage are the house treasures not in use: the collection consists of a sceptre, a puzzle piece, and a pair of cloven shoes, at present -- he showed them to you one rainy day, telling you their many histories.

Nearby a small door leads east.

>open door
(first unlocking the small door)
You lack a key that fits the small door.

>x helmet
You can't, of course, get a good look at the helmet while you're wearing it, so...
You lift the helmet from your head, and the sudden quiet feels like going deaf.

A very old helmet that you have seen the Beast wear (and quite foolish it looked, perched on a head it no longer fits: it would suit your head better). He told you once that the helmet was for night watchmen, scouts, and guards, to increase their vigilance and strengthen their hearing.

Lines of writing arc over each ear, but you do not know the language in question.

>x writing
A very old helmet that you have seen the Beast wear (and quite foolish it looked, perched on a head it no longer fits: it would suit your head better). He told you once that the helmet was for night watchmen, scouts, and guards, to increase their vigilance and strengthen their hearing.

Lines of writing arc over each ear, but you do not know the language in question.

>wear helmet
You settle the helmet over your head, and there is a roaring in your ears at first. But then the sharpened hearing begins to feel natural again.

>listen
You hear your own steady breathing.

>sw

Scarlet Gallery
You do not often come this way, into the older part of the castle, which is narrow and has a low roof. The walls, and the ceiling too, are deep scarlet, the color of the old king and queen that ruled here two hundred fifty years ago, when there was still a kingdom.

>e

Gallery of Historical Paintings
Here on the north wall and the south are paintings of historical events from times past: the assassination of King Elzibad in 1248; the arrival of Princess Lucrezia from the Italian State of Medici-Credenza in 1545.

The gallery goes on, echoing, both east and west.

>e

Room with the Labyrinth Floor
A mosaic floor of black and white, like that of cathedrals, as protection against the spite of the undead: which protection might often have been needed, by those that dwelt here in former times. The way down is at the center of the maze.

>x maze
The maze doesn't look uncrossable by you. You step forward and look down into the room below, but it is too dark to see much.

>listen
You hear your own steady breathing.

>look down
The maze doesn't look uncrossable by you. You step forward and look down into the room below, but it is too dark to see much.

>x mosaic
The maze doesn't look uncrossable by you. You step forward and look down into the room below, but it is too dark to see much.

>walk
(heading north, since there are no other options)
From here, you can head west and down.

>d

Darkness
Though a dim light filters down from the room with the labyrinth floor, you can see almost nothing of the contents of your current location.

>listen
Windchimes ring, almost inaudible, from the northwest. You can also make out your own steady breathing.

>nw

Darkness
It's so dark in here that you have to feel your way along, and are nervous of tripping at any moment. You find yourself concentrating all the more alertly on your hearing, as though the slightest echo might offer a clue.

Windchimes ring, muted, from the northeast, competing with an irregular dripping from the southwest. You can also make out your own steady breathing.

>ne

Darkness
It's so dark in here that you have to feel your way along, and are nervous of tripping at any moment. You find yourself concentrating all the more alertly on your hearing, as though the slightest echo might offer a clue.

Windchimes ring, melodious, from the west. You can also make out your own steady breathing.

>w

Darkness
It's so dark in here that you have to feel your way along, and are nervous of tripping at any moment. You find yourself concentrating all the more alertly on your hearing, as though the slightest echo might offer a clue.

Windchimes ring, loud, from the north. You can also make out your own steady breathing.

>n

Darkness
Though a dim light filters down from rose garden, you can see almost nothing of the contents of your current location.

>listen
Windchimes ring, noisy, from somewhere above you.

>u
You climb into the pale light...

Rose Garden
Only one kind of rose grows here, a pink only just distinct from white. This strain creeps over the ground and climbs the walls of the cloister.

In the middle of the garden a way slopes into the ground, reminding you of the entrance to a burial mound.

Strung up by a chain is a set of iron windchimes.

>get windchimes
You cannot reach the iron windchimes from your present position; you'd need something to stand on.

>drop stool
You set the stool down next to one wall.

>stand on stool
You stand, a little precariously, on the stool, and are now more or less the same height as an ordinary person.

>get windchimes
The chimes have been locked to the chain that supports them.

>unlock chain
You lack a key that fits the iron windchimes.

>inv
You are carrying:
a helmet (being worn)

>silence windchimes
(in the helmet)
Putting things on the iron windchimes would achieve nothing.

>break windchimes
They sound prettily only when hung up for the wind.

>s
You decide that you'll need to get down first. You get off the stool.

Rose Garden
Only one kind of rose grows here, a pink only just distinct from white. This strain creeps over the ground and climbs the walls of the cloister.

In the middle of the garden a way slopes into the ground, reminding you of the entrance to a burial mound.

Strung up by a chain is a set of iron windchimes.

You can also see a stool here.

Cloister Walk
A pleasant cloister overlooking the rose garden to the north. You have walked it many times, seeking to waste the excesses of time at your disposal.

>n

Rose Garden
Only one kind of rose grows here, a pink only just distinct from white. This strain creeps over the ground and climbs the walls of the cloister.

In the middle of the garden a way slopes into the ground, reminding you of the entrance to a burial mound.

Strung up by a chain is a set of iron windchimes.

You can also see a stool here.

>get stool
You acquire the stool.

>s

Cloister Walk
A pleasant cloister overlooking the rose garden to the north. You have walked it many times, seeking to waste the excesses of time at your disposal.

>e

Walk's End
Lucrezia, they say, died here. It is only a turning point in the corridor, with a bench.

On the stone bench are some discarded embroidery materials.

>x materials
A few weeks ago now, he came to you with a quick step. "Look, it took me all morning, but I found this." Holding out the basket of threads, the folded linen. Not in bad condition, either.

"What is that for?" You were never much for sewing things at home, even before your mother died.

"I thought -- since you're so bored here --" He lowered his arm. "When I saw more of the world, I knew a number of young ladies who were very fond of it. My sister liked to make stories with hers."

You opened your mouth, looking for something to say.

"I see," he answered. "The world has changed. What do young ladies do now?"

"I don't know," you reply. "My father fell on hard times. We live in the country. I'm more or less a milkmaid, these days."

At the word milkmaid, his mouth twisted a little and he shrugged. "I cannot provide any cows," he said, after a long time.

You reacquaint yourself with its appearance: The little that is already done is old-fashioned blackwork, like your grandmother's mother might have stitched.

>x materials
Unfinished linen and threads.

>get materials
You acquire the discarded embroidery materials.

>s

Scrying Room
A place for consulting with the servants, summoning them by their instruments and allowing their spirits to manifest in the mirrors. But you know this only from explanation, because the mirrors and glasses have been broken or carried away to the Crystal Bedroom, when they ceased to reflect anything that gave pleasure to their master.

Nearby a small door leads west to the treasure room.

A small key hangs beside the door.

>get key
You acquire the small key, and assess it curiously.

The key is of the sort of delicate design intended to unlock more than one thing.

The small key unlocks the small door.

>unlock door
(with the small key)
You unlock the small door.

>w
(first opening the small door)

Treasure Room
Locked in an iron cage are the house treasures not in use: the collection consists of a sceptre, a puzzle piece, and a pair of cloven shoes, at present -- he showed them to you one rainy day, telling you their many histories.

Nearby an open small door leads east to the scrying room.

>e

Scrying Room
A place for consulting with the servants, summoning them by their instruments and allowing their spirits to manifest in the mirrors. But you know this only from explanation, because the mirrors and glasses have been broken or carried away to the Crystal Bedroom, when they ceased to reflect anything that gave pleasure to their master.

Nearby an open small door leads west to the treasure room.

>n

Walk's End
Lucrezia, they say, died here. It is only a turning point in the corridor, with a bench.

>w

Cloister Walk
A pleasant cloister overlooking the rose garden to the north. You have walked it many times, seeking to waste the excesses of time at your disposal.

>w
The chime summons the phantom guard again, preventing you from making any progress.

>n

Rose Garden
Only one kind of rose grows here, a pink only just distinct from white. This strain creeps over the ground and climbs the walls of the cloister.

In the middle of the garden a way slopes into the ground, reminding you of the entrance to a burial mound.

Strung up by a chain is a set of iron windchimes.

>drop stool
You set the stool down next to one wall.

>stand on stool
You stand, a little precariously, on the stool, and are now more or less the same height as an ordinary person.

>put embroidery on windchimes
You try muffling the chimes in the cloth, but can't rig the whole arrangement so as to keep them absolutely silent -- and that is what you need to do, if you're going to avoid summoning up the spirit guards.

>tie windchimes with embroidery
I didn't understand that sentence.

>muffle windchimes
What do you want to muffle the iron windchimes in?

>embroidery
I didn't understand that sentence.

>muffle windchimes
What do you want to muffle the iron windchimes in?

>materials
You try muffling the chimes in the cloth, but can't rig the whole arrangement so as to keep them absolutely silent -- and that is what you need to do, if you're going to avoid summoning up the spirit guards.

>inv
You are carrying:
a small key (which opens the small door)
some discarded embroidery materials
a helmet (being worn)

>tie windchimes
What do you want to tie the iron windchimes to?

>materials
You try muffling the chimes in the cloth, but can't rig the whole arrangement so as to keep them absolutely silent -- and that is what you need to do, if you're going to avoid summoning up the spirit guards.

>look
Rose Garden (on the stool)
Only one kind of rose grows here, a pink only just distinct from white. This strain creeps over the ground and climbs the walls of the cloister.

In the middle of the garden a way slopes into the ground, reminding you of the entrance to a burial mound.

Strung up by a chain is a set of iron windchimes.

>get roses
Your father did so once, at his cost. You leave them alone, though you could hardly do yourself any greater harm than has already been done.

>x roses
In the bud it is innocent; in bloom, it bears the mark of a death's-head at the heart.

>se
You decide that you'll need to get down first. You get off the stool.

Rose Garden
Only one kind of rose grows here, a pink only just distinct from white. This strain creeps over the ground and climbs the walls of the cloister.

In the middle of the garden a way slopes into the ground, reminding you of the entrance to a burial mound.

Strung up by a chain is a set of iron windchimes.

You can also see a stool here.

Walk's End
Lucrezia, they say, died here. It is only a turning point in the corridor, with a bench.

>nw

Rose Garden
Only one kind of rose grows here, a pink only just distinct from white. This strain creeps over the ground and climbs the walls of the cloister.

In the middle of the garden a way slopes into the ground, reminding you of the entrance to a burial mound.

Strung up by a chain is a set of iron windchimes.

You can also see a stool here.

>d

Darkness
Though a dim light filters down from rose garden, you can see almost nothing of the contents of your current location.

>u
You climb into the pale light...

Rose Garden
Only one kind of rose grows here, a pink only just distinct from white. This strain creeps over the ground and climbs the walls of the cloister.

In the middle of the garden a way slopes into the ground, reminding you of the entrance to a burial mound.

Strung up by a chain is a set of iron windchimes.

You can also see a stool here.

>break chain
You cannot reach the iron windchimes from your present position; you'd need something to stand on.

>stand on stool
You stand, a little precariously, on the stool, and are now more or less the same height as an ordinary person.

>unlock windchimes
(with the small key)
You unlock the iron windchimes.

>take windchimes
You take the chimes down, silencing them and muting their power. When they are entirely still, they fade from your grip and vanish.

>inv
You are carrying:
a small key (which opens the iron windchimes and the small door)
some discarded embroidery materials
a helmet (being worn)

>get off stool
You get off the stool.

Rose Garden
Only one kind of rose grows here, a pink only just distinct from white. This strain creeps over the ground and climbs the walls of the cloister.

In the middle of the garden a way slopes into the ground, reminding you of the entrance to a burial mound.

You can see a stool here.

>get stool
You acquire the stool.

>s

Cloister Walk
A pleasant cloister overlooking the rose garden to the north. You have walked it many times, seeking to waste the excesses of time at your disposal.

>w

Parliamentary Chambers
Despite its grand name, this is one of the smaller chambers of the castle, because the kings were never inclined to brook too much advice. On each side of the room are two neat oak benches, seating for perhaps thirty men -- and, more rarely, women, and a few characters who could not be called by either term.

>w

State Rotunda
Built for the bureaucratic offices of the palace. Inlaid in the floor is the map of all the lands that once this palace commanded; and from the stains and driblets of wax, it is clear to you that someone at some time thought it useful to set a candle at the map's center, and observe the result.

>x map
Since the lands of the Kingdom were once quite dispersed the cartographer has, from indolence, fancy, or an urge to flatter, omitted all the territories that intervened, so that here floating in a cherry-wood sea are the State of Medici-Credenza; the Emirate of Elzibad; the Equine Protectorate of Argos; a goodly portion of Essex; and Malta, the only true island of the lot.

There is writing around the map's edge, not legible in this light.

>x writing
(the helmet)
You can't, of course, get a good look at the helmet while you're wearing it, so...
You lift the helmet from your head, and the sudden quiet feels like going deaf.

A very old helmet that you have seen the Beast wear (and quite foolish it looked, perched on a head it no longer fits: it would suit your head better). He told you once that the helmet was for night watchmen, scouts, and guards, to increase their vigilance and strengthen their hearing.

Lines of writing arc over each ear, but you do not know the language in question.

>sw

Law Library
Many books of precedent line these walls, containing every kind of contract that can be made to bind every kind of soul.

A hole in the floor descends to the other, less savory portion of this place.

You can see a great contract book here.

>x books
Which do you mean, the books or the books of precedent?

>the books of precedent
There are too many for you to read even if you took a long time at it, and most are written in unfamiliar languages.

>x great contract book
The runes are unfamiliar to you, but you know what the book is: a record of all the contracts of all the souls enslaved to the king of this castle.

You caught him staring at you once. "Your clothing is wearing out. I'll look up a seamstress in the contract book for you."

You plucked the erring sleeve back into place. "You needn't," you said. "I don't mind."

"Yes, but I do," he snapped. "I was once a -- the polite term would be a connoisseur of ladies -- and it is not a taste that goes away. So for everyone's sanity it would be best if you went about fully clothed."

You avoided him for three days, after that incident. But your gowns were all replaced.

>g
The runes are unfamiliar to you, but you know what the book is: a record of all the contracts of all the souls enslaved to the king of this castle.

>get great contract book
You acquire the great contract book.

>x hole
Pentagonal and lined with stones.

>n

Lower Bulb
In this very tall room, like a silo, is a glass of running sand: not an hourglass, or even a dayglass, but a timer whose duration you do not know. A whole Sahara has poured into its lower chamber, but the trickle from above continues, very fine.

Around the outside of this contraption ascends a wooden staircase.

>up

Upper Bulb
In the upper chamber, you find, there is almost as much sand as there is below; indeed for all you can tell the flow might be eternal.

Nearby an ivory door leads southwest.

And here Beast lies, sprawled on the ground as if he'd fallen.

"Nothing bad will happen for the first seven days," he said, when you left.

And yet here he is, looking very nearly dead.

>x beast
He looks starved, unwell, near death, in fact. He will need to be given food before he will properly revive -- and who knows what else...

It baffles you to find him in this condition, when he could easily have gotten whatever he needed in the kitchen.

>e

Gallery of Still Life
Natural light from the south -- coming in from the courtyard, you suppose, though you are too short to see out -- illuminates a series of still life paintings on the north wall: one showing the Wedding Treasure when Lucrezia arrived from Medici-Credenza, the other rather fancifully entitled Supper with M.

Nearby a heavy door leads east.

>x wedding
A table tastefully laid with possessions of power or personal worth, brought by Lucrezia as gifts from her father: an inkpot, a helmet, a green girdle stitched with vines, a curious pair of cloven shoes.

>x inkpot
A table tastefully laid with possessions of power or personal worth, brought by Lucrezia as gifts from her father: an inkpot, a helmet, a green girdle stitched with vines, a curious pair of cloven shoes.

>x supper
A table nicely laid out with white linen and napkins, bread and fruit; and a spoon with a very, very long handle.

>e
(first opening the heavy door)
You get far enough to glimpse a mechanical chessplayer before being overcome: you reel back from a smell of roses and death, so powerful that you can't go forward. Until there's a breeze through here, you won't be able to stand being in the place.

Gallery of Still Life
Natural light from the south -- coming in from the courtyard, you suppose, though you are too short to see out -- illuminates a series of still life paintings on the north wall: one showing the Wedding Treasure when Lucrezia arrived from Medici-Credenza, the other rather fancifully entitled Supper with M.

Nearby an open heavy door leads east.

With both doors open, a breeze begins to blow through the smelly area.

>w

Upper Bulb
In the upper chamber, you find, there is almost as much sand as there is below; indeed for all you can tell the flow might be eternal.

Nearby an ivory door leads southwest.

And here Beast lies, sprawled on the ground as if he'd fallen.

>sw
(first opening the ivory door)
(first unlocking the ivory door)
You lack a key that fits the ivory door.

>unlock ivory door
You lack a key that fits the ivory door.

>w

Records Room
Where all the papers and histories are kept, not only for the royal family, but for kin in every kind and direction.

>x papers
Neatly filed: he told you he'd spent twenty years or so on them, having no other way to occupy his time. Anything you wanted to look up, you should be able to discover easily.

>look up beast
I only understood you as far as wanting to look up.

>search
You notice here the helmet, the great contract book, the papers, the discarded embroidery materials, the small key, and the stool.

>x papers
Neatly filed: he told you he'd spent twenty years or so on them, having no other way to occupy his time. Anything you wanted to look up, you should be able to discover easily.

>read papers
You skim the annals of 1102-1105, and decide that life has really gotten more interesting since the twelfth century. However, if you want to find anything specific here, you're going to have to look it up by name.

>look for lucrezia
You head east to the upper bulb. Then down to the lower bulb. Then east to the state rotunda. Then south to the central courtyard. Then south to the entrance hall. Then east to the scarlet gallery. And finally east to the gallery of historical paintings.

Gallery of Historical Paintings
Here on the north wall and the south are paintings of historical events from times past: the assassination of King Elzibad in 1248; the arrival of Princess Lucrezia from the Italian State of Medici-Credenza in 1545.

The gallery goes on, echoing, both east and west.

>go to records room
You head west to the scarlet gallery. Then west to the entrance hall. Then west to the great dining hall. Then north to the law library. Then north to the lower bulb. Then up to the upper bulb. And finally west to the records room.

Records Room
Where all the papers and histories are kept, not only for the royal family, but for kin in every kind and direction.

>x histories
Neatly filed: he told you he'd spent twenty years or so on them, having no other way to occupy his time. Anything you wanted to look up, you should be able to discover easily.

>x papers about lucrezia
I only understood you as far as wanting to examine the papers.

>consult papers about lucrezia
You quickly skim the unpleasant history of Lucrezia of Medici-Credenza, how she brought odd magical treasures with her, introduced new methods of binding and contracting that were previously unknown even to this castle, and maintained a room for her studies in the basement below the rose garden. From this room everyone including her husband was banned.

There are some suggestions that she was the daughter of the Devil himself, sent to the castle to tempt the kings into further folly and destruction. But who knows?

>consult papers about devil
A very old scroll narrates how King Athanasius, first of his line, entered a wager with Mephistopheles, and won the pen that the Devil used to sign contracts for men's souls.

The King retired to this castle, overjoyed with his success, but the Devil flew away laughing.

>consult papers about pen
A very old scroll narrates how King Athanasius, first of his line, entered a wager with Mephistopheles, and won the pen that the Devil used to sign contracts for men's souls.

The King retired to this castle, overjoyed with his success, but the Devil flew away laughing.

>consult papers about myself
You are the merest interloper here.

>consult papers about king
You have never known his true name, and can only guess that he must be the last of the line of kings.

>consult papers about althanasius
You discover nothing of interest in the papers.

>consult papers about contracts
You discover nothing of interest in the papers.

>consult papers about medici-credenza
You quickly skim the unpleasant history of Lucrezia of Medici-Credenza, how she brought odd magical treasures with her, introduced new methods of binding and contracting that were previously unknown even to this castle, and maintained a room for her studies in the basement below the rose garden. From this room everyone including her husband was banned.

There are some suggestions that she was the daughter of the Devil himself, sent to the castle to tempt the kings into further folly and destruction. But who knows?

>consult papers about shoes
You discover nothing of interest in the papers.

>e

Upper Bulb
In the upper chamber, you find, there is almost as much sand as there is below; indeed for all you can tell the flow might be eternal.

Nearby an ivory door leads southwest.

And here Beast lies, sprawled on the ground as if he'd fallen.

>w

Records Room
Where all the papers and histories are kept, not only for the royal family, but for kin in every kind and direction.

>e

Upper Bulb
In the upper chamber, you find, there is almost as much sand as there is below; indeed for all you can tell the flow might be eternal.

Nearby an ivory door leads southwest.

And here Beast lies, sprawled on the ground as if he'd fallen.

>e

Gallery of Still Life
Natural light from the south -- coming in from the courtyard, you suppose, though you are too short to see out -- illuminates a series of still life paintings on the north wall: one showing the Wedding Treasure when Lucrezia arrived from Medici-Credenza, the other rather fancifully entitled Supper with M.

Nearby an open heavy door leads east.

>e

White Gallery
Of more recent construction than many another portion of the castle, and therefore light and airy, and a pleasant place to spend a few hours.

Nearby an open heavy door leads west to the gallery of still life.

Placed where it will have the most light on the board for the longest time is a mechanical chessplayer.

>x chessplayer
The chessplayer wears a turban, and in its wooden fingers grasps the head of the black bishop. Whatever move it contemplates has yet to occur.

The Beast brought it out for you to play against, when other entertainment palled. You lost consistently until he came and roared at it; and afterwards began to win. The suspicion that it was throwing games made you a bit reluctant to make use of it, in the end.

The mechanical chessplayer is currently switched off.

>turn on chessplayer
You throw the switch hopefully, but nothing happens -- in fact, the switch flops loosely back into its old position, plainly connected to nothing.

>x switch
The chessplayer wears a turban, and in its wooden fingers grasps the head of the black bishop. Whatever move it contemplates has yet to occur.

The Beast brought it out for you to play against, when other entertainment palled. You lost consistently until he came and roared at it; and afterwards began to win. The suspicion that it was throwing games made you a bit reluctant to make use of it, in the end.

The mechanical chessplayer is currently switched off.

>e

Bellroom
Kept, conveniently, close to where the masters of the house would once have slept. There are bells large and small, clappers, tambourines, and gongs. Most of these you have never seen used at all.

Roses from the garden below have crept up to grow around the north window, lending a sickly smell to the place.

Nearby an open heavy door leads south to the private parlor.

Catching your eye among many other unfamiliar itemsare some iron windchimes, a little gold dinner bell, and a silver bell.

>get windchimes
You acquire the iron windchimes, and assess it curiously.

Each chime is engraved with the staring eyes and exaggerated nostrils of a spirit warrior.

>x windchimes
Each chime is engraved with the staring eyes and exaggerated nostrils of a spirit warrior.

>get bell
Which do you mean, the bell collection, the little gold dinner bell, or the silver bell?

>get dinner bell
You acquire the little gold dinner bell, and assess it curiously.

It is the dinner summons, and particularly familiar to you.

>get silver bell
You acquire the silver bell, and assess it curiously.

It bears the stamp of a lamplighter.

>x silver bell
It bears the stamp of a lamplighter.

>ring silver bell
You ring the bell, but those who might hear and heed it are not close enough.

>s

Private Parlor
A sitting room of the family, in old times, and familiar territory to you now as well. Your bedroom is just south; other bedrooms, mostly smaller, in other directions.

Nearby an open heavy door leads north to the bellroom.

You can also see a bentwood table (on which is a jigsaw puzzle) here.

>n

Bellroom
Kept, conveniently, close to where the masters of the house would once have slept. There are bells large and small, clappers, tambourines, and gongs. Most of these you have never seen used at all.

Nearby an open heavy door leads south to the private parlor.

Roses from the garden below have crept up to grow around the north window, lending a sickly smell to the place.

>e

Apothecary
Furnished with a long countertop and the equipment of an apothecary; sketches from physicians; anatomical drawings of creatures similar to the Beast, bears and lions being especially prominent; also poison reference books, primarily the work of Italian and (earlier) Persian experts. The room has an unused air, and you do not remember ever coming in before, or seeing the Beast go in. It must have been a hobby that interested him before your arrival.

Roses from the garden below have crept up to grow around the north window, lending a sickly smell to the place.

>x books
Assorted disturbing recipes for ways to make your enemies die quickly, or to dispatch them slowly in great pain. The pages most discolored by use and splashed ingredients are those pertaining to swift and pleasant execution.

>w

Bellroom
Kept, conveniently, close to where the masters of the house would once have slept. There are bells large and small, clappers, tambourines, and gongs. Most of these you have never seen used at all.

Roses from the garden below have crept up to grow around the north window, lending a sickly smell to the place.

Nearby an open heavy door leads south to the private parlor.

>w

White Gallery
Of more recent construction than many another portion of the castle, and therefore light and airy, and a pleasant place to spend a few hours.

Nearby an open heavy door leads west to the gallery of still life.

Placed where it will have the most light on the board for the longest time is a mechanical chessplayer.

>x silver bell
It bears the stamp of a lamplighter.

>think about lamplighter
The silver bell might be useful to have.

Shall I go on? > yes
Try ringing the silver bell in the Translation Room.

>look
White Gallery
Of more recent construction than many another portion of the castle, and therefore light and airy, and a pleasant place to spend a few hours.

Nearby an open heavy door leads west to the gallery of still life.

Placed where it will have the most light on the board for the longest time is a mechanical chessplayer.

>e

Bellroom
Kept, conveniently, close to where the masters of the house would once have slept. There are bells large and small, clappers, tambourines, and gongs. Most of these you have never seen used at all.

Roses from the garden below have crept up to grow around the north window, lending a sickly smell to the place.

Nearby an open heavy door leads south to the private parlor.

>s

Private Parlor
A sitting room of the family, in old times, and familiar territory to you now as well. Your bedroom is just south; other bedrooms, mostly smaller, in other directions.

Nearby an open heavy door leads north to the bellroom.

You can also see a bentwood table (on which is a jigsaw puzzle) here.

>w

Upstairs Helical Staircase
A dizzying prospect, the spiral of steps down to the ground.

>d

Ground Floor Helical Staircase
The steps rise from here towards the upper rooms, and open out onto the bare courtyard.

An obscene gargoyle sits where the finial of the banister should be.

>w

Central Courtyard
Open to a grey sky, from which a light rain falls. You have never seen the courtyard otherwise: it rains in every season, winter or summer, no matter what lies beyond the moat.

The castle proper opens both north and south, and to the east a helical staircase ascends to the roof.

>s

Entrance Hall
There is no fire in the big fireplace; the air is very cold. Over the gate, the old familiar warning sign is painted.

Various passages lead deeper into the castle: north towards the central courtyard, southwest to the guard tower, east and west into the libraries, the offices, the galleries. And no wonder he was not here to meet you.

An iron-barred gate leads south to the drawbridge.

>w

Great Dining Hall
Such a long hall that the soup might get cold between one end and the other. You and he used only the far west end, nearest the kitchen. Once you took to dining together at all, that is; the first few months he brought trays to your room, while you hid.

But then you took to eating here; and at the end of every meal he would stand up formally and ask his question.

>w

Enormous Kitchen
Haunted with the spirits of chefs past, generations and generations of culinary geniuses; one can never predict its whimsies.

>ring dinner bell
The little gold dinner bell tinkles gaily: as in automatic response, your stomach rumbles. There will be a feast, now, waiting for you in the dining hall.

As for the gold bell, it returns to its place.

>e

Great Dining Hall
Such a long hall that the soup might get cold between one end and the other. You and he used only the far west end, nearest the kitchen. Once you took to dining together at all, that is; the first few months he brought trays to your room, while you hid.

But then you took to eating here; and at the end of every meal he would stand up formally and ask his question.

A considerable feast is set out on a platter as big as a shield.

>x feast
A platter heaped with -- why, you must this time have woken the chefs of King Yggdram the Piscine: it is pickled whitefish and wilted greens, hot soup made from leviathan's bones, and other dishes you do not recognize, made of things that have not grown in this vicinity for many a year.

>get feast
You acquire the feast.

Perhaps he will feel better when he has eaten, you reflect. He has always had a large appetite -- the result of his change in form, he tells you.

He used to mock your dainty eating, and sit at table long after your plate was empty; and make a game of guessing foods that might tempt you to eat even a little more; vanishing into the kitchen to instruct the staff, and returning a little later; saying roguishly, "This, I think you will like..."

In your defense, you never had sugared violets at home.

>x feast
A platter heaped with -- why, you must this time have woken the chefs of King Yggdram the Piscine: it is pickled whitefish and wilted greens, hot soup made from leviathan's bones, and other dishes you do not recognize, made of things that have not grown in this vicinity for many a year.

>x feast
A platter heaped with -- why, you must this time have woken the chefs of King Yggdram the Piscine: it is pickled whitefish and wilted greens, hot soup made from leviathan's bones, and other dishes you do not recognize, made of things that have not grown in this vicinity for many a year.

>look
Great Dining Hall
Such a long hall that the soup might get cold between one end and the other. You and he used only the far west end, nearest the kitchen. Once you took to dining together at all, that is; the first few months he brought trays to your room, while you hid.

But then you took to eating here; and at the end of every meal he would stand up formally and ask his question.

>look
Great Dining Hall
Such a long hall that the soup might get cold between one end and the other. You and he used only the far west end, nearest the kitchen. Once you took to dining together at all, that is; the first few months he brought trays to your room, while you hid.

But then you took to eating here; and at the end of every meal he would stand up formally and ask his question.

>e

Entrance Hall
There is no fire in the big fireplace; the air is very cold. Over the gate, the old familiar warning sign is painted.

Various passages lead deeper into the castle: north towards the central courtyard, southwest to the guard tower, east and west into the libraries, the offices, the galleries. And no wonder he was not here to meet you.

An iron-barred gate leads south to the drawbridge.

>n

Central Courtyard
Open to a grey sky, from which a light rain falls. You have never seen the courtyard otherwise: it rains in every season, winter or summer, no matter what lies beyond the moat.

The castle proper opens both north and south, and to the east a helical staircase ascends to the roof.

>e

Ground Floor Helical Staircase
The steps rise from here towards the upper rooms, and open out onto the bare courtyard.

An obscene gargoyle sits where the finial of the banister should be.

>u

Upstairs Helical Staircase
A dizzying prospect, the spiral of steps down to the ground.

>e

Private Parlor
A sitting room of the family, in old times, and familiar territory to you now as well. Your bedroom is just south; other bedrooms, mostly smaller, in other directions.

Nearby an open heavy door leads north to the bellroom.

You can also see a bentwood table (on which is a jigsaw puzzle) here.

>n

Bellroom
Kept, conveniently, close to where the masters of the house would once have slept. There are bells large and small, clappers, tambourines, and gongs. Most of these you have never seen used at all.

Roses from the garden below have crept up to grow around the north window, lending a sickly smell to the place.

Nearby an open heavy door leads south to the private parlor.

Catching your eye among many other unfamiliar itemsis a little gold dinner bell.

>get dinner bell
You acquire the little gold dinner bell.

>w

White Gallery
Of more recent construction than many another portion of the castle, and therefore light and airy, and a pleasant place to spend a few hours.

Nearby an open heavy door leads west to the gallery of still life.

Placed where it will have the most light on the board for the longest time is a mechanical chessplayer.

>w

Gallery of Still Life
Natural light from the south -- coming in from the courtyard, you suppose, though you are too short to see out -- illuminates a series of still life paintings on the north wall: one showing the Wedding Treasure when Lucrezia arrived from Medici-Credenza, the other rather fancifully entitled Supper with M.

Nearby an open heavy door leads east to the white gallery.

>w

Upper Bulb
In the upper chamber, you find, there is almost as much sand as there is below; indeed for all you can tell the flow might be eternal.

Nearby an ivory door leads southwest.

And here Beast lies, sprawled on the ground as if he'd fallen.

>feed beast
(the feast)
With great care, you feed the soup to the Beast. So much spills that you doubt whether you are making any progress; then he swallows.

"You are ornery," he says. "I guaranteed your return -- you know what that means?"

"That if I had not come back, you would have died," you reply.

"That is only a small part of what would have happened. The other contracts would have unraveled, the servant souls freed."

You frown at him. "I've been trying to use you to this purpose for years," he says, touching your cheek. "But you wouldn't go. I'm touched that you came back for me -- really, I can't tell you how much -- but you've ruined the plan."

"Is there a way to set them free that doesn't kill you?" you ask.

He looks startled. "Not for me," he says. "There's a room in the basement below the rose garden I can't get into. Lucrezia's room. You'll need to get in, search the crypt, find a way to destroy the contracts book... there are places in the castle I cannot enter, because she sealed them against all her descendants. But you are not one of her descendants, so--" He chuckles weakly at some joke, but he hands you an iron key. "You'll need the shoes."

"Would that lift the curse on you, too, do you think?" you ask.

"Unlikely. That is another matter. Less happy." After a moment he begins to sleep again.

>x beast
Though he has eaten, he looks deeply exhausted, as though something preys on his spirit.

>d

Lower Bulb
In the lower chamber, you find, there is almost as much sand as there is above; it must have been flowing a very long time.

Around the outside of this contraption ascends a wooden staircase.

>w

Translation Room
Endowed with a deep power that dissolves into ready vernacular even the most ancient and secret scripts of the Law Library.

Usually blazing with the captured light of many thousands of candles, but it has been let to go out, and everything is dim.

You can see an ordinary quill pen here.

>get pen
It doesn't look heavy at all, but you can't lift it.

>x pen
Made of a black feather, to be sure, but there is nothing else at all strange about it, or valuable, or in the least bit unusual. Nothing to make you look twice.

>x candle
You can't see any such thing.

>e

Lower Bulb
In the lower chamber, you find, there is almost as much sand as there is above; it must have been flowing a very long time.

Around the outside of this contraption ascends a wooden staircase.

>s

Law Library
Many books of precedent line these walls, containing every kind of contract that can be made to bind every kind of soul.

A hole in the floor descends to the other, less savory portion of this place.

>n

Lower Bulb
In the lower chamber, you find, there is almost as much sand as there is above; it must have been flowing a very long time.

Around the outside of this contraption ascends a wooden staircase.

>u

Upper Bulb
In the upper chamber, you find, there is almost as much sand as there is below; indeed for all you can tell the flow might be eternal.

Nearby an ivory door leads southwest.

And here Beast lies, sprawled on the ground as if he'd fallen.

>go to central courtyard
You head down to the lower bulb. Then east to the state rotunda. And finally south to the central courtyard.

Central Courtyard
Open to a grey sky, from which a light rain falls. You have never seen the courtyard otherwise: it rains in every season, winter or summer, no matter what lies beyond the moat.

The castle proper opens both north and south, and to the east a helical staircase ascends to the roof.

>n

State Rotunda
Built for the bureaucratic offices of the palace. Inlaid in the floor is the map of all the lands that once this palace commanded; and from the stains and driblets of wax, it is clear to you that someone at some time thought it useful to set a candle at the map's center, and observe the result.

>s

Central Courtyard
Open to a grey sky, from which a light rain falls. You have never seen the courtyard otherwise: it rains in every season, winter or summer, no matter what lies beyond the moat.

The castle proper opens both north and south, and to the east a helical staircase ascends to the roof.

>w
From here, you can head north, south, and east.

>s

Entrance Hall
There is no fire in the big fireplace; the air is very cold. Over the gate, the old familiar warning sign is painted.

Various passages lead deeper into the castle: north towards the central courtyard, southwest to the guard tower, east and west into the libraries, the offices, the galleries. And no wonder he was not here to meet you.

An iron-barred gate leads south to the drawbridge.

>w

Great Dining Hall
Such a long hall that the soup might get cold between one end and the other. You and he used only the far west end, nearest the kitchen. Once you took to dining together at all, that is; the first few months he brought trays to your room, while you hid.

But then you took to eating here; and at the end of every meal he would stand up formally and ask his question.

>n

Law Library
Many books of precedent line these walls, containing every kind of contract that can be made to bind every kind of soul.

A hole in the floor descends to the other, less savory portion of this place.

>n

Lower Bulb
In the lower chamber, you find, there is almost as much sand as there is above; it must have been flowing a very long time.

Around the outside of this contraption ascends a wooden staircase.

>w

Translation Room
Endowed with a deep power that dissolves into ready vernacular even the most ancient and secret scripts of the Law Library.

Usually blazing with the captured light of many thousands of candles, but it has been let to go out, and everything is dim.

You can see an ordinary quill pen here.

>ring silver bell
The silver bell rings once in triumph, and the room springs to brilliant light.

The bell itself fades back to its usual place.

>look
Translation Room
Endowed with a deep power that dissolves into ready vernacular even the most ancient and secret scripts of the Law Library.

The single candle blazes with many times more light than one light source ought to produce.

You can also see an ordinary quill pen here.

>drop helmet
You set down the helmet.

>read writing
You read: I call upon you, I summon you, I bind you, daemon of the small bone of the left ear: make my hearing strong. I call upon, summon, and bind you, daemon of the small bone of the right ear: make my hearing stronger yet.

I call upon, I summon, I bind you, daemon of air-that-moves, carry sound swiftly to my ears. I call upon, summon, bind you, daemon of earth-that-shakes, relay noises rapidly to me.

If you daemons do not do this, I will bind you under the earth in darkness and make the worms to crawl upon your head.

>wear helmet
You acquire the helmet.

You settle the helmet over your head, and there is a roaring in your ears at first. But then the sharpened hearing begins to feel natural again.

>read contract book
You read with interest the indenture of a certain fighting-man. Thanks to the neat way the names are written at the top right corner of each page, you could easily look up anyone, though.

>g
You read with interest the indenture of a certain fighting-man. Thanks to the neat way the names are written at the top right corner of each page, you could easily look up anyone, though.

>consult contract book about myself
You search, search, search -- and here is the page with your name at the top. But the contract below, which stipulates your eternal imprisonment here, has been amended with a permission to leave and return within seven days. Then: "Guarantor of this exchange: the king of the castle and all his rights and servants." Which means that if you had not returned, the Beast would have been forfeit and all the servants as well.

>consult contract book about father
Your father's contract is just before your own: a lifetime (and deathtime) of service in this castle, as the immediate result of setting foot herein. From comparison to some of the other contracts, you see that it would have been easy service indeed, no manual labor but only companionship to the king, and no command-bell to make him come or go.

But the contract has been amended in a small neat hand that says: "Voided in voluntary exchange for his daughter's service." That would be where you come in. And: "Guarantor of this exchange: the king of the castle and all his rights and servants."

>consult contract book about king
Even if you knew his name, he wouldn't be listed here, of course. The master is not contracted, only the servants.

>consult contract book about candle
You discover nothing of interest in the great contract book.

>consult contract book about chessplayer
You search for the spirit that plays chess, but find nothing. It must have been recorded under a proper name, but you do not know what that might be.

>consult contract book about embroidery
You discover nothing of interest in the great contract book.

>get candle
You acquire the candle, and assess it curiously.

Only apparently a single candle, but giving off a great deal of illumination.

>x candle
Only apparently a single candle, but giving off a great deal of illumination.

>e
You walk far enough in to get a view of sand falling in a huge hourglass. Though it is only a thin stream, it sounds louder than it should: the noise, magnified by your helmet, becomes too much to bear, and you retreat.

>e
You walk far enough in to get a view of sand falling in a huge hourglass. Though it is only a thin stream, it sounds louder than it should: the noise, magnified by your helmet, becomes too much to bear, and you retreat.

>remove helmet
You lift the helmet from your head, and the sudden quiet feels like going deaf.

>go to state rotunda
You head east to the lower bulb. And finally east to the state rotunda.

State Rotunda
Built for the bureaucratic offices of the palace. Inlaid in the floor is the map of all the lands that once this palace commanded; and from the stains and driblets of wax, it is clear to you that someone at some time thought it useful to set a candle at the map's center, and observe the result.

>put candle in map
That can't contain things.

>put candle on map
You set down the candle.

>x map
Since the lands of the Kingdom were once quite dispersed the cartographer has, from indolence, fancy, or an urge to flatter, omitted all the territories that intervened, so that here floating in a cherry-wood sea are the State of Medici-Credenza; the Emirate of Elzibad; the Equine Protectorate of Argos; a goodly portion of Essex; and Malta, the only true island of the lot. Of these, the candle's light glows with particular strength only in Italy and Malta; it seems that the power of the Kingdom has waned a good deal.

You read: Here there be Daemons.

>get candle
You acquire the candle.

>go to rose garden
You head east to the parliamentary chambers. Then east to cloister walk. And finally north to rose garden.

Rose Garden
Only one kind of rose grows here, a pink only just distinct from white. This strain creeps over the ground and climbs the walls of the cloister.

In the middle of the garden a way slopes into the ground, reminding you of the entrance to a burial mound.

>d

Rooted Room
Cut as an afterthought through earth and the underside of the garden, and therefore muddy and soil-scented.

>wear helmet
You settle the helmet over your head, and there is a roaring in your ears at first. But then the sharpened hearing begins to feel natural again.

>s

Bell Castings
A room of scrap and refuse: wooden structures and clay molds from which bells might be made, scrap metal, pieces of bells now broken.

>x bells
By the look of it, there's not a useful, sounding instrument in the lot.

>e

Wax Supply
A dank storage area, stacked with bars of wax -- perhaps for some casting process? You couldn't say.

>sw

Zoo
A resting place for an animal: warm but rough. There is little to suggest, from this environment, that he thinks of himself as a man at all, though he is capable of walking upright and eating with utensils, of reading books and even of writing a legible hand.

The only distinguishing mark is a miniature hung on the wall, like a devotional object, or perhaps a reminder. Something about the sole image in an otherwise bare room reminds you of the royal portrait in the Green Bedroom.

You can see a poison vial here.

>x miniature
The tiny image of a lady in a green girdle. But it isn't Lucrezia.

>get vial
You acquire the poison vial, and assess it curiously.

You brought it with you; he confiscated it the first night.

"It was a good thought," he said, plucking it from your fingers with a delicacy that should be impossible in one his size. "But if I could be killed by poison -- or by violence, or starving, or leaping from towers, by drowning or by suffocation or by fire, I assure you, I would have found the way by now. That leaves only yourself as a victim, and I did not bring you here to die." And so you didn't.

You reacquaint yourself with its appearance: It has mostly dried up now; the apothecary who sold it to you did not say anything about whether it would keep its efficacy for long.

>x vial
It has mostly dried up now; the apothecary who sold it to you did not say anything about whether it would keep its efficacy for long.

>get miniature
It fails to move even a little, but clings to its place tenaciously -- in the way you associate with the stone gargoyle, upstairs.

>se

Bear Corridor
Less couth and cultivated than any other part of the castle, and you have been forbidden to visit this place before now. The walls press close to you on either side. The floor slopes down. Bears with sharp claws are carved into the rock, but they remind you of Him, and you are not frightened.

>u

Room with the Labyrinth Floor
A mosaic floor of black and white, like that of cathedrals, as protection against the spite of the undead: which protection might often have been needed, by those that dwelt here in former times. The way down is at the center of the maze.

>x maze
The maze doesn't look uncrossable by you. You step forward and look down into the room below, but it is too dark to see much.

>d

Bear Corridor
Less couth and cultivated than any other part of the castle, and you have been forbidden to visit this place before now. The walls press close to you on either side. The floor slopes down. Bears with sharp claws are carved into the rock, but they remind you of Him, and you are not frightened.

>nw

Zoo
A resting place for an animal: warm but rough. There is little to suggest, from this environment, that he thinks of himself as a man at all, though he is capable of walking upright and eating with utensils, of reading books and even of writing a legible hand.

The only distinguishing mark is a miniature hung on the wall, like a devotional object, or perhaps a reminder. Something about the sole image in an otherwise bare room reminds you of the royal portrait in the Green Bedroom.

>sw

Rocky Chamber
A tight, rocky corner among foundations of the oldest part of the castle. A slow leak in the south wall admits a little water, but not enough to be very destructive.

>fill vial from leak
I only understood you as far as wanting to fill the poison vial.

>fill vial
The leak is only a drip, not enough to fill anything.

>nw
You start into the crypt, but an icy unnatural wind blows against you, as though the spirits resent the intrusion of someone with a light. And yet you have seen the Beast come down here, from time to time, bearing lanterns, torches, whatever he found handy.

There must be some preliminary, a matter of spiritual etiquette perhaps, to establish yourself as the master of those below.

>ne

Zoo
A resting place for an animal: warm but rough. There is little to suggest, from this environment, that he thinks of himself as a man at all, though he is capable of walking upright and eating with utensils, of reading books and even of writing a legible hand.

The only distinguishing mark is a miniature hung on the wall, like a devotional object, or perhaps a reminder. Something about the sole image in an otherwise bare room reminds you of the royal portrait in the Green Bedroom.

>ne

Wax Supply
A dank storage area, stacked with bars of wax -- perhaps for some casting process? You couldn't say.

>w

Bell Castings
A room of scrap and refuse: wooden structures and clay molds from which bells might be made, scrap metal, pieces of bells now broken.

>n

Rooted Room
Cut as an afterthought through earth and the underside of the garden, and therefore muddy and soil-scented.

>sw

Tight Passage
The passage through rock ends here, and begins to tunnel through soil instead where it heads northeast.

There is also a sinister door, leading west.

You can also see a cord and an inscription here.

>x cord
A pullcord emerges from the rock just before the walls of the passage turn to mud.

>x inscription
There's lettering beneath the pullcord.

Unfortunately the words are too worn for you to read. Perhaps if the light were coming in from an extreme angle, you would do better.

>w
(first opening the sinister door)
(first unlocking the sinister door)
You lack a key that fits the sinister door.

>sw
You start into the crypt, but an icy unnatural wind blows against you, as though the spirits resent the intrusion of someone with a light. And yet you have seen the Beast come down here, from time to time, bearing lanterns, torches, whatever he found handy.

There must be some preliminary, a matter of spiritual etiquette perhaps, to establish yourself as the master of those below.

>ne

Rooted Room
Cut as an afterthought through earth and the underside of the garden, and therefore muddy and soil-scented.

>drop candle
You set down the candle on the ground. The room remains brightly lit, but from below, your movements casting enormous shadows on the walls and ceiling.

>sw

Darkness
It's very dark and you can barely make out any of the room's contents, or even tell where the walls are. The only illumination is a harsh raking light across the floor, coming in from the northeast.

The inscription is unfortunately just too high on the wall to be fully lit this way, though you can pick up part of it.

>x inscription
There's lettering beneath the pullcord.

The light coming in does illuminate the floor sharply, and is at a good angle, but it is a bit too low to show up the lettering halfway up the wall. All you get is the deepest capital letters -- P, L, and D -- and the last line: or he will depart again without offering aid.

>ne

Rooted Room
Cut as an afterthought through earth and the underside of the garden, and therefore muddy and soil-scented.

You can see a candle (providing light) here.

>drop stool
You set the stool down next to one wall.

>put candle on stool
(first taking the candle)

You pick up the candle, restoring the lighting to a more natural angle. Immediately the place seems less unnerving.

You put the candle on the stool, aligning it neatly against the wall. A harsh raking illumination is now cast along the wall, about at a height with your knees.

>sw

Darkness
The light from northeast comes in a bit above floor-level, sharply illuminating one wall but leaving the rest of your surroundings dark and unfathomable.

The inscription stands out beautifully now.

>x inscription
There's lettering beneath the pullcord.

You read: Pull this cord, then wait in the room directly above to speak with Lucrezia's steward. Do not let more than five minutes pass between the summons and the waiting, or he will depart again without offering aid.

>ne

Rooted Room
Cut as an afterthought through earth and the underside of the garden, and therefore muddy and soil-scented.

You can see a stool (on which is a candle (providing light)) here.

>u
You climb into the pale light...

Rose Garden
Only one kind of rose grows here, a pink only just distinct from white. This strain creeps over the ground and climbs the walls of the cloister.

In the middle of the garden a way slopes into the ground, reminding you of the entrance to a burial mound.

>s

Cloister Walk
A pleasant cloister overlooking the rose garden to the north. You have walked it many times, seeking to waste the excesses of time at your disposal.

>w

Parliamentary Chambers
Despite its grand name, this is one of the smaller chambers of the castle, because the kings were never inclined to brook too much advice. On each side of the room are two neat oak benches, seating for perhaps thirty men -- and, more rarely, women, and a few characters who could not be called by either term.

>look
Parliamentary Chambers
Despite its grand name, this is one of the smaller chambers of the castle, because the kings were never inclined to brook too much advice. On each side of the room are two neat oak benches, seating for perhaps thirty men -- and, more rarely, women, and a few characters who could not be called by either term.

>w

State Rotunda
Built for the bureaucratic offices of the palace. Inlaid in the floor is the map of all the lands that once this palace commanded; and from the stains and driblets of wax, it is clear to you that someone at some time thought it useful to set a candle at the map's center, and observe the result.

>go to tight passage
You head east to the parliamentary chambers. Then east to cloister walk. Then north to rose garden. Then down to rooted room. And finally southwest to tight passage.

Darkness
The light from northeast comes in a bit above floor-level, sharply illuminating one wall but leaving the rest of your surroundings dark and unfathomable.

The inscription stands out beautifully now.

>pull cord
You can't see any such thing.

>ne

Rooted Room
Cut as an afterthought through earth and the underside of the garden, and therefore muddy and soil-scented.

You can see a stool (on which is a candle (providing light)) here.

>get all
stool: You acquire the stool.
candle: You pick up the candle, restoring the lighting to a more natural angle. Immediately the place seems less unnerving.

>sw

Tight Passage
The passage through rock ends here, and begins to tunnel through soil instead where it heads northeast.

There is also a sinister door, leading west.

You can also see a cord and an inscription here.

>pull cord
You give the cord a hard yank. Somewhere above you a very deep bell tolls.

>go to cloister walk
You head northeast to rooted room. Then up to rose garden. You climb into the pale light...

, emerging into rose garden. And then south to cloister walk.

Cloister Walk
A pleasant cloister overlooking the rose garden to the north. You have walked it many times, seeking to waste the excesses of time at your disposal.

>w

Parliamentary Chambers
Despite its grand name, this is one of the smaller chambers of the castle, because the kings were never inclined to brook too much advice. On each side of the room are two neat oak benches, seating for perhaps thirty men -- and, more rarely, women, and a few characters who could not be called by either term.

>w

State Rotunda
Built for the bureaucratic offices of the palace. Inlaid in the floor is the map of all the lands that once this palace commanded; and from the stains and driblets of wax, it is clear to you that someone at some time thought it useful to set a candle at the map's center, and observe the result.

>w
You walk far enough in to get a view of sand falling in a huge hourglass. Though it is only a thin stream, it sounds louder than it should: the noise, magnified by your helmet, becomes too much to bear, and you retreat.

>e

Parliamentary Chambers
Despite its grand name, this is one of the smaller chambers of the castle, because the kings were never inclined to brook too much advice. On each side of the room are two neat oak benches, seating for perhaps thirty men -- and, more rarely, women, and a few characters who could not be called by either term.

>e

Cloister Walk
A pleasant cloister overlooking the rose garden to the north. You have walked it many times, seeking to waste the excesses of time at your disposal.

>n

Rose Garden
Only one kind of rose grows here, a pink only just distinct from white. This strain creeps over the ground and climbs the walls of the cloister.

In the middle of the garden a way slopes into the ground, reminding you of the entrance to a burial mound.

>d

Rooted Room
Cut as an afterthought through earth and the underside of the garden, and therefore muddy and soil-scented.

>sw

Tight Passage
The passage through rock ends here, and begins to tunnel through soil instead where it heads northeast.

There is also a sinister door, leading west.

You can also see a cord and an inscription here.

>think about cord
Perhaps the pullcord will help you summon Lucrezia's steward and get into the chamber.

Shall I go on? > yes
You'll have to pull the cord, then within five moves go to the room which is immediately above this one; then WAIT.

Shall I go on? > yes
From the Tight Passage you go northeast to the Rose Garden, so you want the room which is south and west from the Rose Garden.

Shall I go on? > no

>pull cord
You give the cord a hard yank. Somewhere above you a very deep bell tolls.

>go to parliamentary chambers
You head northeast to rooted room. Then up to rose garden. You climb into the pale light...

, emerging into rose garden. Then south to cloister walk. , emerging into cloister walk. And then west to the parliamentary chambers.

Parliamentary Chambers
Despite its grand name, this is one of the smaller chambers of the castle, because the kings were never inclined to brook too much advice. On each side of the room are two neat oak benches, seating for perhaps thirty men -- and, more rarely, women, and a few characters who could not be called by either term.

>wait
There is a scuffle, and a presence unfolds itself from where it was waiting, unseen, on the benches. It comes towards you and circles you, and you have the idea -- more imagination than eyesight -- that this was once a tall, thin man of considerable power.

It says a few words in the bastardized Italian of the state of Medici-Credenza, and you hear the scrape of wood and stone from somewhere below you: a door opening.

Then the presence vanishes.

>look
Parliamentary Chambers
Despite its grand name, this is one of the smaller chambers of the castle, because the kings were never inclined to brook too much advice. On each side of the room are two neat oak benches, seating for perhaps thirty men -- and, more rarely, women, and a few characters who could not be called by either term.

>search
You notice here the helmet, the poison vial, the great contract book, the oak benches, the discarded embroidery materials, the iron windchimes, the small key, the stool, the little gold dinner bell, the candle, and the iron key.

>go to tight passage
You head east to cloister walk. Then north to rose garden. Then down to rooted room. And finally southwest to tight passage.

Tight Passage
The passage through rock ends here, and begins to tunnel through soil instead where it heads northeast.

There is also a sinister door, leading west -- and currently open.

You can also see a cord and an inscription here.

>w

Lucrezia's Study
Little survives here, enough to suggest that a number of books were burned and glass tools smashed. You can only guess at why, or by whom.

But the dominant item is the vast image of Lucrezia at a wardrobe fitting of some kind.

There is also a sinister door, leading east -- and currently open.

A single pile of notes remains.

>x image
Lucrezia stands, imperiously, in what is now the empty bedroom, while a gnome-like shoemaker at her feet customizes pair after pair of shoes to her misshapen--

You look away, unnerved, towards a less disturbing element, the leather tambourine in Lucrezia's hand.

>x lucrezia
Lucrezia stands, imperiously, in what is now the empty bedroom, while a gnome-like shoemaker at her feet customizes pair after pair of shoes to her misshapen--

You look away, unnerved, towards a less disturbing element, the leather tambourine in Lucrezia's hand.

>x tamborine
You can't see any such thing.

>x tambourine
Lucrezia stands, imperiously, in what is now the empty bedroom, while a gnome-like shoemaker at her feet customizes pair after pair of shoes to her misshapen--

You look away, unnerved, towards a less disturbing element, the leather tambourine in Lucrezia's hand.

>x notes
Spiky, erratic handwriting on a variety of mystical and magical topics pertaining to the castle and the spiritual status of the inhabitants.

>read notes
Simply flipping through them with no particular goal in mind is inexplicably disquieting to you, as though you might learn a maddening truth if you are not extremely cautious.

>consult notes shoes
I didn't understand that sentence.

>consult notes about shoes
The shoes, according to these pages, symbolize their wearer's right to tread in and be master of the territory of the dead.

"For which reason I wear them always to funerals and in graveyards", remark the notes conversationally, "the which habit has greatly offended some of the noble ladies through the cause of the shoes not being a suitable color for such occasions." Before you can build up much sympathy, Lucrezia continues: "Therefore in recompense I enslaved two of these ladies to my personal service and gave a third to my son to be his concubine until better manners and humility attend them all."

Some additional function for the shoes is suggested by the papers -- something about the preservation of memory or a connection to those who wore them previously -- but it seems that even Lucrezia did not understand this very well. ("And for this reason I am determined never to let them fall into the hands of another, but to have them burnt on my pyre at the moment of my death, lest those that follow after learn my secrets.") That scheme didn't work out for her, evidently.

>consult notes about lucrezia
Though the notes are of her writing, they are for the most part not about her: she was not a diarist, but an experimenter.

>consult notes about castle
Whenever she writes about her family or her husband, it is with a kind of weary exasperation. You have the sense that none of them were-- or seemed to be-- nearly as intelligent as Lucrezia herself, and she therefore protected and despised them.

>consult notes about king
Whenever she writes about her family or her husband, it is with a kind of weary exasperation. You have the sense that none of them were-- or seemed to be-- nearly as intelligent as Lucrezia herself, and she therefore protected and despised them.

>consult notes about quill
About the pen there is a considerable raving: "Many tests of fire, water, pressure, torsion, acid, and poison have failed; even gunpowder and holy water have not sufficed to ruin it; nor do I now believe that it can be destroyed, but suppose that, being plucked from the wing of the old man my father, it partakes of his same eternal nature. Therefore the arrangement must be dissolved in some other way."

>consult notes about contract book
Mostly some speculative notes about the possibility of voiding contracts through some loophole of demonic legalism. You don't entirely follow it. At any rate, to judge by this, she had obtained a kind of mastery over the crypt-spirits by use of her magic shoes. And there is also a reference to a room upstairs, behind the ivory door.

>take notes
You acquire the pile of notes.

>e

Tight Passage
The passage through rock ends here, and begins to tunnel through soil instead where it heads northeast.

There is also a sinister door, leading west -- and currently open.

You can also see a cord and an inscription here.

>w

Lucrezia's Study
Little survives here, enough to suggest that a number of books were burned and glass tools smashed. You can only guess at why, or by whom.

But the dominant item is the vast image of Lucrezia at a wardrobe fitting of some kind.

There is also a sinister door, leading east -- and currently open.

>e

Tight Passage
The passage through rock ends here, and begins to tunnel through soil instead where it heads northeast.

There is also a sinister door, leading west -- and currently open.

You can also see a cord and an inscription here.

>sw
You start into the crypt, but an icy unnatural wind blows against you, as though the spirits resent the intrusion of someone with a light. And yet you have seen the Beast come down here, from time to time, bearing lanterns, torches, whatever he found handy.

There must be some preliminary, a matter of spiritual etiquette perhaps, to establish yourself as the master of those below.

>go to treasure room
You head northeast to rooted room. Then up to rose garden. You climb into the pale light...

, emerging into rose garden. Then southeast to walk's end. , emerging into walk's end. Then south to the scrying room. , emerging into the scrying room. And then west to the treasure room.

Treasure Room
Locked in an iron cage are the house treasures not in use: the collection consists of a sceptre, a puzzle piece, and a pair of cloven shoes, at present -- he showed them to you one rainy day, telling you their many histories.

Nearby an open small door leads east to the scrying room.

>open cage
(first unlocking the iron cage)
(with the iron key)
You open the iron cage.

>get all
sceptre: You acquire the sceptre.
puzzle piece: You acquire the puzzle piece.
pair of cloven shoes: You acquire the pair of cloven shoes.

>go to puzzle
You head southwest to the scarlet gallery. Then west to the entrance hall. Then north to the central courtyard. Then east to the ground floor helical staircase. Then up to the upstairs helical staircase. And finally east to the private parlor.

Private Parlor
A sitting room of the family, in old times, and familiar territory to you now as well. Your bedroom is just south; other bedrooms, mostly smaller, in other directions.

Nearby an open heavy door leads north to the bellroom.

You can also see a bentwood table (on which is a jigsaw puzzle) here.

>solve jigsaw puzzle
You snap the final piece into place.

Nothing tremendous happens, but the picture is complete.

The table is set for two: a robed king, and the devil. Between the two of them is a quill pen, jet black, and a huge book. The dialogue of these two characters is written on tiny gilt scrolls that spool out of their mouths, and this is what you could not read before the jagged piece was found: the devil is saying, "TIME IS ON MY SIDE," to which the king replies, "BUT NOT FOR LONG."

>x king
You can't see any such thing.

>x jigsaw
The table is set for two: a robed king, and the devil. Between the two of them is a quill pen, jet black, and a huge book. The dialogue of these two characters is written on tiny gilt scrolls that spool out of their mouths, and this is what you could not read before the jagged piece was found: the devil is saying, "TIME IS ON MY SIDE," to which the king replies, "BUT NOT FOR LONG."

>inv
You are carrying:
a pair of cloven shoes
a sceptre
a pile of notes
a candle (providing light)
a stool
a poison vial
a helmet (being worn)
an iron key (which opens the iron cage)
a little gold dinner bell
some iron windchimes
a great contract book
a small key (which opens the iron windchimes and the small door)
some discarded embroidery materials

>wear shoes
They emphatically do not fit. You will have to find someone to adjust them, evidently.

>go to tambourine
(the leather tambourine)
You head north to the bellroom.

Bellroom
Kept, conveniently, close to where the masters of the house would once have slept. There are bells large and small, clappers, tambourines, and gongs. Most of these you have never seen used at all.

Roses from the garden below have crept up to grow around the north window, lending a sickly smell to the place.

Nearby an open heavy door leads south to the private parlor.

Catching your eye among many other unfamiliar itemsare a leather tambourine and a silver bell.

>get tambourine
(the leather tambourine)
You acquire the leather tambourine, and assess it curiously.

A hoop stretched with good-quality leather.

>get silver bell
You acquire the silver bell.

>play tambourine
You strike the tambourine, but the shoemaker doesn't materialize. And now you think about it, didn't that image in Lucrezia's study show where she was being fitted? Hm.

>go to image
You head west to the white gallery. Then west to the gallery of still life. Then west to the upper bulb. You walk far enough in to get a view of sand falling in a huge hourglass. Though it is only a thin stream, it sounds louder than it should: the noise, magnified by your helmet, becomes too much to bear, and you retreat.

The image is gone.

>disrobe helmet
(the helmet)
You lift the helmet from your head, and the sudden quiet feels like going deaf.

>go to image
You head west to the upper bulb. Then down to the lower bulb. Then east to the state rotunda. Then east to the parliamentary chambers. Then east to cloister walk. Then north to rose garden. Then down to rooted room. Then southwest to tight passage. And finally west to lucrezia's study.

Lucrezia's Study
Little survives here, enough to suggest that a number of books were burned and glass tools smashed. You can only guess at why, or by whom.

But the dominant item is the vast image of Lucrezia at a wardrobe fitting of some kind.

There is also a sinister door, leading east -- and currently open.

>x lucrezia
Lucrezia stands, imperiously, in what is now the empty bedroom, while a gnome-like shoemaker at her feet customizes pair after pair of shoes to her misshapen--

You look away, unnerved, towards a less disturbing element, the leather tambourine in Lucrezia's hand.

>play tamborine
You can't see any such thing.

>play tambourine
You strike the tambourine, but the shoemaker doesn't materialize. And now you think about it, didn't that image in Lucrezia's study show where she was being fitted? Hm.

>go to study
You're already in Lucrezia's Study.

>look
Lucrezia's Study
Little survives here, enough to suggest that a number of books were burned and glass tools smashed. You can only guess at why, or by whom.

But the dominant item is the vast image of Lucrezia at a wardrobe fitting of some kind.

There is also a sinister door, leading east -- and currently open.

>x image
Lucrezia stands, imperiously, in what is now the empty bedroom, while a gnome-like shoemaker at her feet customizes pair after pair of shoes to her misshapen--

You look away, unnerved, towards a less disturbing element, the leather tambourine in Lucrezia's hand.

>go to empty bedroom
You head east to tight passage. Then northeast to rooted room. Then up to rose garden. You climb into the pale light...

, emerging into rose garden. Then south to cloister walk. , emerging into cloister walk. Then west to the parliamentary chambers. , emerging into the parliamentary chambers. Then west to the state rotunda. , emerging into the state rotunda. Then south to the central courtyard. , emerging into the central courtyard. Then east to the ground floor helical staircase. , emerging into the ground floor helical staircase. Then up to the upstairs helical staircase. , emerging into the upstairs helical staircase. Then east to the private parlor. , emerging into the private parlor. And then southeast to the empty bedroom.

Empty Bedroom
Like a monk's chamber compared to every other part of the palace, just bare walls now. Here your father stayed, when he made his ill-fated journey to the castle. The Beast told you this, on your first visit.

On the wall, as a curio, hangs an open shackle -- sign of the only person ever to have escaped the power of this place.

>play tambourine
A brisk wind fusses about your feet, then does something to the shoes, resizing and slightly reshaping so that they might have a hope of staying on you.

>wear shoes
You slip your feet into the shoes, and feel less alone. Mere sentiment, you think; but then there is the brush of a thought other than your own. The crypt. Under the Law Library. There are sources of power there which even I have never understood.

>go to crypt
You can't think how to get there from here.

>go to law library
You head northwest to the private parlor. Then west to the upstairs helical staircase. Then down to the ground floor helical staircase. Then west to the central courtyard. Then north to the state rotunda. And finally southwest to the law library.

Law Library
Many books of precedent line these walls, containing every kind of contract that can be made to bind every kind of soul.

A hole in the floor descends to the other, less savory portion of this place.

>d

Central Crypt
A relic-storage place for all the bits of men and women -- and creatures -- bound to the Kings over many centuries. Only brute animals are free of binding, since they have no souls; which is why there are no dogs in the castle, no horses, no songbirds.

>w

Apprentice's Workshop
A mausoleum for apprentices who perished before their terms of indenture were complete.

A decaying ladder leads up.

>look
Apprentice's Workshop
A mausoleum for apprentices who perished before their terms of indenture were complete.

A decaying ladder leads up.

>ne
Virgin's End
The resting place of maidens who died before marrying those to whom they were engaged.

The Beast's thoughts intrude on yours, courtesy of the enchanted shoes: They died without marrying those to whom they were betrothed, but not all died maidens. Impossible to tell the tenor of that particular thought. Not all of them are to my account, I hasten to add.

>se

Father's Regret
The home of fathers who died before their children were born.

Tokens of binding are stored here: bones and bits of hair, relics, hearts scientifically dried, and many other things, culled through the centuries by the masters of this place, in drawers.

>x tokens
The drawers are numerous, but there is only one that opens without sticking.

>open drawer
You open the drawers, revealing an ivory key and an elephant harness.

>get all
ivory key: You acquire the ivory key, and assess it curiously.

It is not all ivory, of course, just a metal shaft with ivory in the handle.

>get harnass
You can't see any such thing.

>get narness
You can't see any such thing.

>x ivory key
It is not all ivory, of course, just a metal shaft with ivory in the handle.

>get elephant
The harness refuses to budge, in a way you associate with the stone gargoyle.

>x elephant
Torn in several places, but it was once quite a showy piece, with gems, tassels, buttons. Must be associated with quite an interesting contract, this piece.

>consult papers about elephant
You can't see any such thing.

>consult contract book about elephant
The runes are unfamiliar to you, but you know what the book is: a record of all the contracts of all the souls enslaved to the king of this castle.

>sw
The floor sounds progressively stranger as you walk toward the middle of the room.

Debtor's Paradise
The graves of men who died before resolving their debts.

>n
As you walk out of the room, you notice that your footsteps sound odd.

Central Crypt
A relic-storage place for all the bits of men and women -- and creatures -- bound to the Kings over many centuries. Only brute animals are free of binding, since they have no souls; which is why there are no dogs in the castle, no horses, no songbirds.

>n

Virgin's End
The resting place of maidens who died before marrying those to whom they were engaged.

>sw

Apprentice's Workshop
A mausoleum for apprentices who perished before their terms of indenture were complete.

A decaying ladder leads up.

>u

Servant Quarters
Not a room friendly to visitors, it has the air of resentful, martyred suffering. Even His most unpleasant ancestors would not have grudged this place more paint, surely, and more straw for the beds.

A decaying ladder leads down.

>s

Enormous Kitchen
Haunted with the spirits of chefs past, generations and generations of culinary geniuses; one can never predict its whimsies.

>e

Great Dining Hall
Such a long hall that the soup might get cold between one end and the other. You and he used only the far west end, nearest the kitchen. Once you took to dining together at all, that is; the first few months he brought trays to your room, while you hid.

But then you took to eating here; and at the end of every meal he would stand up formally and ask his question.

>n

Law Library
Many books of precedent line these walls, containing every kind of contract that can be made to bind every kind of soul.

A hole in the floor descends to the other, less savory portion of this place.

>n

Lower Bulb
In the lower chamber, you find, there is almost as much sand as there is above; it must have been flowing a very long time.

Around the outside of this contraption ascends a wooden staircase.

>w

Translation Room
Endowed with a deep power that dissolves into ready vernacular even the most ancient and secret scripts of the Law Library.

You can see an ordinary quill pen here.

>consult contract book about elephant
A worked bronze gong, according to this, controls a shape-shifting djinn of considerable size and destructive power, which resents the terms of its enslavement and would be overjoyed to take revenge.

This djinn has taken many forms in the past, but most frequently disguises itself as an elephant.

>consult contract book about green
You discover nothing of interest in the great contract book.

>inv
You are carrying:
an ivory key
a silver bell
a pair of cloven shoes (being worn)
a sceptre
a pile of notes
a candle (providing light)
a stool
a poison vial
a helmet
an iron key (which opens the iron cage)
a little gold dinner bell
some iron windchimes
a great contract book
a small key (which opens the iron windchimes and the small door)
some discarded embroidery materials

>e

Lower Bulb
In the lower chamber, you find, there is almost as much sand as there is above; it must have been flowing a very long time.

Around the outside of this contraption ascends a wooden staircase.

>e

State Rotunda
Built for the bureaucratic offices of the palace. Inlaid in the floor is the map of all the lands that once this palace commanded; and from the stains and driblets of wax, it is clear to you that someone at some time thought it useful to set a candle at the map's center, and observe the result.

>e

Parliamentary Chambers
Despite its grand name, this is one of the smaller chambers of the castle, because the kings were never inclined to brook too much advice. On each side of the room are two neat oak benches, seating for perhaps thirty men -- and, more rarely, women, and a few characters who could not be called by either term.

>e

Cloister Walk
A pleasant cloister overlooking the rose garden to the north. You have walked it many times, seeking to waste the excesses of time at your disposal.

>e
Walk's End
Lucrezia, they say, died here. It is only a turning point in the corridor, with a bench.

The Beast's thoughts intrude on yours, courtesy of the enchanted shoes: an unexpected burst of sentiment. He loves this place, because he so often spoke with you here, and it is overlaid with odd glimpses of yourself, gestures and expressions you did not know looked so funny.


>nw

Rose Garden
Only one kind of rose grows here, a pink only just distinct from white. This strain creeps over the ground and climbs the walls of the cloister.

In the middle of the garden a way slopes into the ground, reminding you of the entrance to a burial mound.

>d

Rooted Room
Cut as an afterthought through earth and the underside of the garden, and therefore muddy and soil-scented.

>s

Bell Castings
A room of scrap and refuse: wooden structures and clay molds from which bells might be made, scrap metal, pieces of bells now broken.

>e

Wax Supply
A dank storage area, stacked with bars of wax -- perhaps for some casting process? You couldn't say.

>sw
Zoo
A resting place for an animal: warm but rough. There is little to suggest, from this environment, that he thinks of himself as a man at all, though he is capable of walking upright and eating with utensils, of reading books and even of writing a legible hand.

The only distinguishing mark is a miniature hung on the wall, like a devotional object, or perhaps a reminder. Something about the sole image in an otherwise bare room reminds you of the royal portrait in the Green Bedroom.

The Beast's thoughts intrude on yours, courtesy of the enchanted shoes: largely self-disgust, the image of himself as the kind of creature who belongs here. He really has very good manners. There are whole evenings when you almost forget that he isn't shaped like a man.


>x miniature
The tiny image of a lady in a green girdle. But it isn't Lucrezia.

>consult papers about girdle
You can't see any such thing.

>se

Bear Corridor
Less couth and cultivated than any other part of the castle, and you have been forbidden to visit this place before now. The walls press close to you on either side. The floor slopes down. Bears with sharp claws are carved into the rock, but they remind you of Him, and you are not frightened.

>nw

Zoo
A resting place for an animal: warm but rough. There is little to suggest, from this environment, that he thinks of himself as a man at all, though he is capable of walking upright and eating with utensils, of reading books and even of writing a legible hand.

The only distinguishing mark is a miniature hung on the wall, like a devotional object, or perhaps a reminder. Something about the sole image in an otherwise bare room reminds you of the royal portrait in the Green Bedroom.

>sw

Rocky Chamber
A tight, rocky corner among foundations of the oldest part of the castle. A slow leak in the south wall admits a little water, but not enough to be very destructive.

>nw

Father's Regret
The home of fathers who died before their children were born.

Tokens of binding are stored here: bones and bits of hair, relics, hearts scientifically dried, and many other things, culled through the centuries by the masters of this place, in drawers.

>w

Central Crypt
A relic-storage place for all the bits of men and women -- and creatures -- bound to the Kings over many centuries. Only brute animals are free of binding, since they have no souls; which is why there are no dogs in the castle, no horses, no songbirds.

>u

Law Library
Many books of precedent line these walls, containing every kind of contract that can be made to bind every kind of soul.

A hole in the floor descends to the other, less savory portion of this place.

>w
From here, you can head north, northeast, south, and down.

>n

Lower Bulb
In the lower chamber, you find, there is almost as much sand as there is above; it must have been flowing a very long time.

Around the outside of this contraption ascends a wooden staircase.

>w

Translation Room
Endowed with a deep power that dissolves into ready vernacular even the most ancient and secret scripts of the Law Library.

You can see an ordinary quill pen here.

>consult contract book about girdle
With some effort, you find the contract, which turns to be one of a large number of contracts involving young women. These all occur towards the end of the book, shortly before your own.

In fact, this is the very last contract recorded before your father's and yours: a young woman named Yvette, brought to the castle -- though she was betrothed to a lord already -- to "serve" the king. You have the impression that the contract book is leaving out a good deal, such as why Yvette was associated with the girdle, and what she was doing here. Perhaps in the papers there will be something.

>consult papers about girdle
You can't see any such thing.

>consult papers about yvette
You can't see any such thing.

>inv
You are carrying:
an ivory key
a silver bell
a pair of cloven shoes (being worn)
a sceptre
a pile of notes
a candle (providing light)
a stool
a poison vial
a helmet
an iron key (which opens the iron cage)
a little gold dinner bell
some iron windchimes
a great contract book
a small key (which opens the iron windchimes and the small door)
some discarded embroidery materials

>consult notes about yvette
You discover nothing of interest in the pile of notes.

>consult notes about girdle
You sift through the papers until you find a pertinent entry: that the girdle is to be in some way a device for the punishment or forgiveness of those who abuse the castle's power, "being in the possession of the weakest of its victims". Accompanying this are a bundle of astrological diagrams, so who knows how reliable that may be thought to be.

>consult notes about contract book
Mostly some speculative notes about the possibility of voiding contracts through some loophole of demonic legalism. You don't entirely follow it. At any rate, to judge by this, she had obtained a kind of mastery over the crypt-spirits by use of her magic shoes. And there is also a reference to a room upstairs, behind the ivory door.

>consult contract about yvette
With some effort, you find the contract, which turns to be one of a large number of contracts involving young women. These all occur towards the end of the book, shortly before your own.

In fact, this is the very last contract recorded before your father's and yours: a young woman named Yvette, brought to the castle -- though she was betrothed to a lord already -- to "serve" the king. You have the impression that the contract book is leaving out a good deal, such as why Yvette was associated with the girdle, and what she was doing here. Perhaps in the papers there will be something.

>consult papers about castle
You can't see any such thing.

>go to empty bedroom
You head east to the lower bulb. Then up to the upper bulb. Then east to the gallery of still life. Then east to the white gallery. Then east to the bellroom. Then south to the private parlor. And finally southeast to the empty bedroom.

Empty Bedroom
Like a monk's chamber compared to every other part of the palace, just bare walls now. Here your father stayed, when he made his ill-fated journey to the castle. The Beast told you this, on your first visit.

On the wall, as a curio, hangs an open shackle -- sign of the only person ever to have escaped the power of this place.

The Beast's thoughts intrude on yours, courtesy of the enchanted shoes: I told your father I doubted anyone would willingly trade places with him. In the whole history of my family, I don't know of a single person who has exchanged contracts, until you. Then -- what might be your thought or might be his -- He wasn't worth it, you know.

>nw

Private Parlor
A sitting room of the family, in old times, and familiar territory to you now as well. Your bedroom is just south; other bedrooms, mostly smaller, in other directions.

Nearby an open heavy door leads north to the bellroom.

You can also see a bentwood table (on which is a jigsaw puzzle) here.

>e

Guest Bedroom
Made up for the reception of a guest who will never arrive again. A tapestry recalls the story.

>w

Private Parlor
A sitting room of the family, in old times, and familiar territory to you now as well. Your bedroom is just south; other bedrooms, mostly smaller, in other directions.

Nearby an open heavy door leads north to the bellroom.

You can also see a bentwood table (on which is a jigsaw puzzle) here.

>s
Crystal Bedroom
A fantasia of gleaming and glittering, chandeliers and mirrors: all that shines or reflects has been moved here, into this room that you inhabit, which he never enters.

The south end of the room is most dazzling, because of the daylight from the balcony.

The Beast's thoughts intrude on yours, courtesy of the enchanted shoes: affection, longing, guilt; amusement at your innocence and anger at your blindness; frank desire. Such a tangled, terrifying mess of emotion that you barely recognize yourself in the mirrors.

Sorry. The thought is sleepy and not entirely comforting.

>s
You step out into the rain.

Gilded Balcony
A ridiculous filigreed balcony that is like nothing so much as a birdcage: and from here you can see all the way across the moat, across the forest, the plain, to the edge of the sea, only by staring long enough in any direction.

The Beast's thoughts intrude on yours, courtesy of the enchanted shoes: Thought the cage metaphor quite unsubtle; but I thought you might like it anyway, being able to see all that distance. This room is built above the watchtower down below, you see, part of a vertical line of power.

>n
Crystal Bedroom
A fantasia of gleaming and glittering, chandeliers and mirrors: all that shines or reflects has been moved here, into this room that you inhabit, which he never enters.

The south end of the room is most dazzling, because of the daylight from the balcony.

The Beast's thoughts intrude on yours, courtesy of the enchanted shoes: just a suppressed agitation this time, and some emotions you might not be willing to call love. I won't hurt you.

>n

Private Parlor
A sitting room of the family, in old times, and familiar territory to you now as well. Your bedroom is just south; other bedrooms, mostly smaller, in other directions.

Nearby an open heavy door leads north to the bellroom.

You can also see a bentwood table (on which is a jigsaw puzzle) here.

>s

Crystal Bedroom
A fantasia of gleaming and glittering, chandeliers and mirrors: all that shines or reflects has been moved here, into this room that you inhabit, which he never enters.

The south end of the room is most dazzling, because of the daylight from the balcony.

>n

Private Parlor
A sitting room of the family, in old times, and familiar territory to you now as well. Your bedroom is just south; other bedrooms, mostly smaller, in other directions.

Nearby an open heavy door leads north to the bellroom.

You can also see a bentwood table (on which is a jigsaw puzzle) here.

>s

Crystal Bedroom
A fantasia of gleaming and glittering, chandeliers and mirrors: all that shines or reflects has been moved here, into this room that you inhabit, which he never enters.

The south end of the room is most dazzling, because of the daylight from the balcony.

>get mirror
They're hardly portable.

>n

Private Parlor
A sitting room of the family, in old times, and familiar territory to you now as well. Your bedroom is just south; other bedrooms, mostly smaller, in other directions.

Nearby an open heavy door leads north to the bellroom.

You can also see a bentwood table (on which is a jigsaw puzzle) here.

>sw
Green Bedroom
Having more personality than most of the bedrooms, it was decorated for someone specific and has been left that way: green and white, with a simple rustic cast unusual for the palace.

The chief exception is the royal portrait on the wall, hung at a height and in a position that reminds you of the miniature in the Zoo.

The Beast's thoughts intrude on yours, courtesy of the enchanted shoes: Remorse. Mostly strong remorse. And maybe a faint touch of resentment that things went bad so unexpectedly. That's not a thought I'm proud of.

>ne

Private Parlor
A sitting room of the family, in old times, and familiar territory to you now as well. Your bedroom is just south; other bedrooms, mostly smaller, in other directions.

Nearby an open heavy door leads north to the bellroom.

You can also see a bentwood table (on which is a jigsaw puzzle) here.

>n

Bellroom
Kept, conveniently, close to where the masters of the house would once have slept. There are bells large and small, clappers, tambourines, and gongs. Most of these you have never seen used at all.

Roses from the garden below have crept up to grow around the north window, lending a sickly smell to the place.

Nearby an open heavy door leads south to the private parlor.

Catching your eye among many other unfamiliar itemsare a worked bronze gong and a leather tambourine.

>get gong
You acquire the worked bronze gong, and assess it curiously.

A heavy thing that you have never seen rung. The upper surface is hammered with the sign of an elephant.

>x gong
A heavy thing that you have never seen rung. The upper surface is hammered with the sign of an elephant.

>get tambourine
(the leather tambourine)
You acquire the leather tambourine.

>look
Bellroom
Kept, conveniently, close to where the masters of the house would once have slept. There are bells large and small, clappers, tambourines, and gongs. Most of these you have never seen used at all.

Roses from the garden below have crept up to grow around the north window, lending a sickly smell to the place.

Nearby an open heavy door leads south to the private parlor.

>go to ivory door
You head south to the private parlor. Then west to the upstairs helical staircase. Then down to the ground floor helical staircase. Then west to the central courtyard. Then south to the entrance hall. And finally south to the drawbridge.

Drawbridge
There is little enough purpose in loitering outside: He and his servants never come out here, and whatever you must do, you will have to do within.

An iron-barred gate leads north to the entrance hall.

The Beast's thoughts intrude on yours, courtesy of the enchanted shoes: I'm not sure you can leave just now, poppet.

You have the ivory door in front of you.

>x ivory door
I only understood you as far as wanting to examine the ivory key.

>open ivory door
You can't see any such thing.

>x door
It stands open and unlocked.

>n

Entrance Hall
There is no fire in the big fireplace; the air is very cold. Over the gate, the old familiar warning sign is painted.

Various passages lead deeper into the castle: north towards the central courtyard, southwest to the guard tower, east and west into the libraries, the offices, the galleries. And no wonder he was not here to meet you.

An iron-barred gate leads south to the drawbridge.

>go to black
You can't think how to get there from here.

>e

Scarlet Gallery
You do not often come this way, into the older part of the castle, which is narrow and has a low roof. The walls, and the ceiling too, are deep scarlet, the color of the old king and queen that ruled here two hundred fifty years ago, when there was still a kingdom.

>e
Gallery of Historical Paintings
Here on the north wall and the south are paintings of historical events from times past: the assassination of King Elzibad in 1248; the arrival of Princess Lucrezia from the Italian State of Medici-Credenza in 1545.

The gallery goes on, echoing, both east and west.

The Beast's thoughts intrude on yours, courtesy of the enchanted shoes: amusement. Poor old Elzibad. Though I suppose it wasn't so funny at the time. Remind me to tell you-- but I may not have the chance, I suppose.

>e

Room with the Labyrinth Floor
A mosaic floor of black and white, like that of cathedrals, as protection against the spite of the undead: which protection might often have been needed, by those that dwelt here in former times. The way down is at the center of the maze.

>solve maze
That's not a meaningful action in this case.

>solve
What do you want to solve?

>labyrinth
That's not a meaningful action in this case.

>d

Bear Corridor
Less couth and cultivated than any other part of the castle, and you have been forbidden to visit this place before now. The walls press close to you on either side. The floor slopes down. Bears with sharp claws are carved into the rock, but they remind you of Him, and you are not frightened.

>nw

Zoo
A resting place for an animal: warm but rough. There is little to suggest, from this environment, that he thinks of himself as a man at all, though he is capable of walking upright and eating with utensils, of reading books and even of writing a legible hand.

The only distinguishing mark is a miniature hung on the wall, like a devotional object, or perhaps a reminder. Something about the sole image in an otherwise bare room reminds you of the royal portrait in the Green Bedroom.

>ne

Wax Supply
A dank storage area, stacked with bars of wax -- perhaps for some casting process? You couldn't say.

>go to treasure room
You head west to bell castings. Then north to rooted room. Then up to rose garden. You climb into the pale light...

, emerging into rose garden. Then southeast to walk's end. , emerging into walk's end. Then south to the scrying room. , emerging into the scrying room. And then west to the treasure room.

Treasure Room
Kept in an iron cage are the house treasures not in use: the collection consists of nothing, at present.

Nearby an open small door leads east to the scrying room.

>sw

Scarlet Gallery
You do not often come this way, into the older part of the castle, which is narrow and has a low roof. The walls, and the ceiling too, are deep scarlet, the color of the old king and queen that ruled here two hundred fifty years ago, when there was still a kingdom.

>e

Gallery of Historical Paintings
Here on the north wall and the south are paintings of historical events from times past: the assassination of King Elzibad in 1248; the arrival of Princess Lucrezia from the Italian State of Medici-Credenza in 1545.

The gallery goes on, echoing, both east and west.

>w

Scarlet Gallery
You do not often come this way, into the older part of the castle, which is narrow and has a low roof. The walls, and the ceiling too, are deep scarlet, the color of the old king and queen that ruled here two hundred fifty years ago, when there was still a kingdom.

>se
Scarlet Tower
A little hexagonal room, from whose narrow window you can see the moat, the lawn, and the beginning of the forest outside.

The Beast's thoughts intrude on yours, courtesy of the enchanted shoes: all old innocent recollections, playing at knights when he was still a boy, long ago.

>nw

Scarlet Gallery
You do not often come this way, into the older part of the castle, which is narrow and has a low roof. The walls, and the ceiling too, are deep scarlet, the color of the old king and queen that ruled here two hundred fifty years ago, when there was still a kingdom.

>gw
That's not a verb I recognize.

>w

Entrance Hall
There is no fire in the big fireplace; the air is very cold. Over the gate, the old familiar warning sign is painted.

Various passages lead deeper into the castle: north towards the central courtyard, southwest to the guard tower, east and west into the libraries, the offices, the galleries. And no wonder he was not here to meet you.

An iron-barred gate leads south to the drawbridge.

>n

Central Courtyard
Open to a grey sky, from which a light rain falls. You have never seen the courtyard otherwise: it rains in every season, winter or summer, no matter what lies beyond the moat.

The castle proper opens both north and south, and to the east a helical staircase ascends to the roof.

>n

State Rotunda
Built for the bureaucratic offices of the palace. Inlaid in the floor is the map of all the lands that once this palace commanded; and from the stains and driblets of wax, it is clear to you that someone at some time thought it useful to set a candle at the map's center, and observe the result.

>sw

Law Library
Many books of precedent line these walls, containing every kind of contract that can be made to bind every kind of soul.

A hole in the floor descends to the other, less savory portion of this place.

>think about beast
You're missing an object that might be useful to resolving this problem.

Shall I go on? > yes

Perhaps you should explore further.
There's a room you've visited, but you haven't exhausted all there is to see there. (The place command will list every room you've visited, if you'd like to review.)

Shall I go on? > no

>place
What do you want to place on?

>show places
You can't see any such thing.

>think about beast
You're missing an object that might be useful to resolving this problem.

Shall I go on? > yes

Perhaps you should explore further.
There's a room you've visited, but you haven't exhausted all there is to see there. (The place command will list every room you've visited, if you'd like to review.)

Shall I go on? > yes
Try going back to the Drawbridge.

>go to drawbridge
You head south to the great dining hall. Then east to the entrance hall. And finally south to the drawbridge.

Drawbridge
There is little enough purpose in loitering outside: He and his servants never come out here, and whatever you must do, you will have to do within.

An iron-barred gate leads north to the entrance hall.

>x gate
It stands open and unlocked.

>look
Drawbridge
There is little enough purpose in loitering outside: He and his servants never come out here, and whatever you must do, you will have to do within.

An iron-barred gate leads north to the entrance hall.

>look south
You can't see anything promising that way.

>x drawbridge
The drawbridge looks longer than it actually is; the towers are so high that the tops are lost in cloud, and looking east or west, you cannot see the furthest extent of the walls. An optical illusion: it is smaller inside.

Probably.

>x towers
You can't see any such thing.

>look under drawbridge
You find nothing of interest.

>look east
The castle just goes on and on.

>jump
You hop, but don't attain much height.

>wear helmet
You settle the helmet over your head, and there is a roaring in your ears at first, both from your heartbeat and from the raindrops on metal. But then the sharpened hearing begins to feel natural again.

>listen
Even your own breathing is magnified when you wear the helmet, so you must concentrate past it...

The windchimes are silent now that they've been taken down.

>listen
Even your own breathing is magnified when you wear the helmet, so you must concentrate past it...

The windchimes are silent now that they've been taken down.

>jump
You hop, but don't attain much height.

>listen south
I only understood you as far as wanting to listen.

>s
From here, you can head north.

>n

Entrance Hall
There is no fire in the big fireplace; the air is very cold. Over the gate, the old familiar warning sign is painted.

Various passages lead deeper into the castle: north towards the central courtyard, southwest to the guard tower, east and west into the libraries, the offices, the galleries. And no wonder he was not here to meet you.

An iron-barred gate leads south to the drawbridge.

>s

Drawbridge
There is little enough purpose in loitering outside: He and his servants never come out here, and whatever you must do, you will have to do within.

An iron-barred gate leads north to the entrance hall.

>n

Entrance Hall
There is no fire in the big fireplace; the air is very cold. Over the gate, the old familiar warning sign is painted.

Various passages lead deeper into the castle: north towards the central courtyard, southwest to the guard tower, east and west into the libraries, the offices, the galleries. And no wonder he was not here to meet you.

An iron-barred gate leads south to the drawbridge.

>inv
You are carrying:
a leather tambourine
a worked bronze gong
an ivory key
a silver bell
a pair of cloven shoes (being worn)
a sceptre
a pile of notes
a candle (providing light)
a stool
a poison vial
a helmet (being worn)
an iron key (which opens the iron cage)
a little gold dinner bell
some iron windchimes
a great contract book
a small key (which opens the iron windchimes and the small door)
some discarded embroidery materials

>play gong
You hesitate. He told you not to play idly with the bells whose purposes were unknown to you, you see...

>play gong
You strike the gong, but to your disappointment, nothing happens.

>play gong
You strike the gong, but to your disappointment, nothing happens.

>inv
You are carrying:
a leather tambourine
a worked bronze gong
an ivory key
a silver bell
a pair of cloven shoes (being worn)
a sceptre
a pile of notes
a candle (providing light)
a stool
a poison vial
a helmet (being worn)
an iron key (which opens the iron cage)
a little gold dinner bell
some iron windchimes
a great contract book
a small key (which opens the iron windchimes and the small door)
some discarded embroidery materials

>s

Drawbridge
There is little enough purpose in loitering outside: He and his servants never come out here, and whatever you must do, you will have to do within.

An iron-barred gate leads north to the entrance hall.

>play gong
You strike the gong, but to your disappointment, nothing happens.

>inv
You are carrying:
a leather tambourine
a worked bronze gong
an ivory key
a silver bell
a pair of cloven shoes (being worn)
a sceptre
a pile of notes
a candle (providing light)
a stool
a poison vial
a helmet (being worn)
an iron key (which opens the iron cage)
a little gold dinner bell
some iron windchimes
a great contract book
a small key (which opens the iron windchimes and the small door)
some discarded embroidery materials

>wave sceptre
You look ridiculous waving the sceptre.

>x sceptre
Studded with measly turquoises and semi-precious stones.

>fill vial
>I beg your pardon?


>x vial
It has mostly dried up now; the apothecary who sold it to you did not say anything about whether it would keep its efficacy for long.

>fill
What do you want to fill?

>vial
>inv
You are carrying:
a leather tambourine
a worked bronze gong
an ivory key
a silver bell
a pair of cloven shoes (being worn)
a sceptre
a pile of notes
a candle (providing light)
a stool
a poison vial
a helmet (being worn)
an iron key (which opens the iron cage)
a little gold dinner bell
some iron windchimes
a great contract book
a small key (which opens the iron windchimes and the small door)
some discarded embroidery materials

>consult notes drawbridge
I didn't understand that sentence.

>consult notes about drawbridge
You discover nothing of interest in the pile of notes.

>think about drawbridge
You can't think of anything further on the topic.

>think about beast
You're missing an object that might be useful to resolving this problem.

Shall I go on? > yes

Perhaps you should explore further. You're in the correct room right now. Try further exploring yourself.

>look
Drawbridge
There is little enough purpose in loitering outside: He and his servants never come out here, and whatever you must do, you will have to do within.

An iron-barred gate leads north to the entrance hall.

>x gate
It stands open and unlocked.

>x drawbridge
The drawbridge looks longer than it actually is; the towers are so high that the tops are lost in cloud, and looking east or west, you cannot see the furthest extent of the walls. An optical illusion: it is smaller inside.

Probably.

>x door
It stands open and unlocked.

>close gate
You close the iron-barred gate.

>x gate
It is closed and unlocked.

>lock gate
That doesn't seem to be something you can lock.

>x gate
It is closed and unlocked.

>look
Drawbridge
There is little enough purpose in loitering outside: He and his servants never come out here, and whatever you must do, you will have to do within.

An iron-barred gate leads north to the entrance hall.

>play gong
You strike the gong, but to your disappointment, nothing happens.

>n
(first opening the iron-barred gate)
You shouldn't be able to open it, heavy as it is, but it swings aside lightly at your touch. The Beast said that it knows friend from enemy; and the castle, at least, still regards you as friend.

Entrance Hall
There is no fire in the big fireplace; the air is very cold. Over the gate, the old familiar warning sign is painted.

Various passages lead deeper into the castle: north towards the central courtyard, southwest to the guard tower, east and west into the libraries, the offices, the galleries. And no wonder he was not here to meet you.

An iron-barred gate leads south to the drawbridge.

>s

Drawbridge
There is little enough purpose in loitering outside: He and his servants never come out here, and whatever you must do, you will have to do within.

An iron-barred gate leads north to the entrance hall.

>x hall
You can't see any such thing.

>inv
You are carrying:
a leather tambourine
a worked bronze gong
an ivory key
a silver bell
a pair of cloven shoes (being worn)
a sceptre
a pile of notes
a candle (providing light)
a stool
a poison vial
a helmet (being worn)
an iron key (which opens the iron cage)
a little gold dinner bell
some iron windchimes
a great contract book
a small key (which opens the iron windchimes and the small door)
some discarded embroidery materials

>ring silver bell
You ring the bell, but those who might hear and heed it are not close enough.

>ring dinner bell
You ring the bell, but those who might hear and heed it are not close enough.

>put windchimes on gate
Putting things on the iron-barred gate would achieve nothing.

>drop windchimes
You set down the iron windchimes.

>x windchimes
Each chime is engraved with the staring eyes and exaggerated nostrils of a spirit warrior.

>consult papers about gong
You can't see any such thing.

>consult notes about gong
You discover nothing of interest in the pile of notes.

>go to translation
You head north to the entrance hall. Then west to the great dining hall. Then north to the law library. Then north to the lower bulb. You walk far enough in to get a view of sand falling in a huge hourglass. Though it is only a thin stream, it sounds louder than it should: the noise, magnified by your helmet, becomes too much to bear, and you retreat.

>remove helmet
You lift the helmet from your head, and the sudden quiet feels like going deaf.

>go to translation
You head north to the lower bulb. And finally west to the translation room.

Translation Room
Endowed with a deep power that dissolves into ready vernacular even the most ancient and secret scripts of the Law Library.

You can see an ordinary quill pen here.

>consult contract book about gong
A worked bronze gong, according to this, controls a shape-shifting djinn of considerable size and destructive power, which resents the terms of its enslavement and would be overjoyed to take revenge.

This djinn has taken many forms in the past, but most frequently disguises itself as an elephant.

>consult contract book about djinn
You discover nothing of interest in the great contract book.

>go to djinn
That noun did not make sense in this context.

>go to scrying room
You head east to the lower bulb. Then east to the state rotunda. Then east to the parliamentary chambers. Then east to cloister walk. Then east to walk's end. And finally south to the scrying room.

Scrying Room
A place for consulting with the servants, summoning them by their instruments and allowing their spirits to manifest in the mirrors. But you know this only from explanation, because the mirrors and glasses have been broken or carried away to the Crystal Bedroom, when they ceased to reflect anything that gave pleasure to their master.

Nearby an open small door leads west to the treasure room.

The Beast's thoughts intrude on yours, courtesy of the enchanted shoes: Mostly we used all this for communicating with the enslaved, bringing their spirits to the mirrors to speak to us. That was easily done, by ringing the bells. The more difficult stuff, real prophecy, foresight -- only a few of our line ever had those powers. Lucrezia, mostly.

>play gong
You ring the worked bronze gong hopefully, but -- despite the old function of the room -- there are no mirrored surfaces remaining in which your summoned spirit can manifest itself, because you took those all upstairs to your bedroom.

>n

Walk's End
Lucrezia, they say, died here. It is only a turning point in the corridor, with a bench.

>w

Cloister Walk
A pleasant cloister overlooking the rose garden to the north. You have walked it many times, seeking to waste the excesses of time at your disposal.

>w

Parliamentary Chambers
Despite its grand name, this is one of the smaller chambers of the castle, because the kings were never inclined to brook too much advice. On each side of the room are two neat oak benches, seating for perhaps thirty men -- and, more rarely, women, and a few characters who could not be called by either term.

>e

Cloister Walk
A pleasant cloister overlooking the rose garden to the north. You have walked it many times, seeking to waste the excesses of time at your disposal.

>n

Rose Garden
Only one kind of rose grows here, a pink only just distinct from white. This strain creeps over the ground and climbs the walls of the cloister.

In the middle of the garden a way slopes into the ground, reminding you of the entrance to a burial mound.

>s

Cloister Walk
A pleasant cloister overlooking the rose garden to the north. You have walked it many times, seeking to waste the excesses of time at your disposal.

>e

Walk's End
Lucrezia, they say, died here. It is only a turning point in the corridor, with a bench.

>s

Scrying Room
A place for consulting with the servants, summoning them by their instruments and allowing their spirits to manifest in the mirrors. But you know this only from explanation, because the mirrors and glasses have been broken or carried away to the Crystal Bedroom, when they ceased to reflect anything that gave pleasure to their master.

Nearby an open small door leads west to the treasure room.

>w

Treasure Room
Kept in an iron cage are the house treasures not in use: the collection consists of nothing, at present.

Nearby an open small door leads east to the scrying room.

>sw

Scarlet Gallery
You do not often come this way, into the older part of the castle, which is narrow and has a low roof. The walls, and the ceiling too, are deep scarlet, the color of the old king and queen that ruled here two hundred fifty years ago, when there was still a kingdom.

>se

Scarlet Tower
A little hexagonal room, from whose narrow window you can see the moat, the lawn, and the beginning of the forest outside.

>x moat
Beyond a short stretch of clear ground, the forest grows thick and uninhabited for many miles.

>x lawn
Beyond a short stretch of clear ground, the forest grows thick and uninhabited for many miles.

>wear helmet
You settle the helmet over your head, and there is a roaring in your ears at first. But then the sharpened hearing begins to feel natural again.

>x forest
Beyond a short stretch of clear ground, the forest grows thick and uninhabited for many miles.

>x drawbridge
You can't see any such thing.

>x lawn
Beyond a short stretch of clear ground, the forest grows thick and uninhabited for many miles.

>nw

Scarlet Gallery
You do not often come this way, into the older part of the castle, which is narrow and has a low roof. The walls, and the ceiling too, are deep scarlet, the color of the old king and queen that ruled here two hundred fifty years ago, when there was still a kingdom.

>e

Gallery of Historical Paintings
Here on the north wall and the south are paintings of historical events from times past: the assassination of King Elzibad in 1248; the arrival of Princess Lucrezia from the Italian State of Medici-Credenza in 1545.

The gallery goes on, echoing, both east and west.

>e

Room with the Labyrinth Floor
A mosaic floor of black and white, like that of cathedrals, as protection against the spite of the undead: which protection might often have been needed, by those that dwelt here in former times. The way down is at the center of the maze.

>w

Gallery of Historical Paintings
Here on the north wall and the south are paintings of historical events from times past: the assassination of King Elzibad in 1248; the arrival of Princess Lucrezia from the Italian State of Medici-Credenza in 1545.

The gallery goes on, echoing, both east and west.

>w

Scarlet Gallery
You do not often come this way, into the older part of the castle, which is narrow and has a low roof. The walls, and the ceiling too, are deep scarlet, the color of the old king and queen that ruled here two hundred fifty years ago, when there was still a kingdom.

>ne

Treasure Room
Kept in an iron cage are the house treasures not in use: the collection consists of nothing, at present.

Nearby an open small door leads east to the scrying room.

>e

Scrying Room
A place for consulting with the servants, summoning them by their instruments and allowing their spirits to manifest in the mirrors. But you know this only from explanation, because the mirrors and glasses have been broken or carried away to the Crystal Bedroom, when they ceased to reflect anything that gave pleasure to their master.

Nearby an open small door leads west to the treasure room.

>n

Walk's End
Lucrezia, they say, died here. It is only a turning point in the corridor, with a bench.

>nw

Rose Garden
Only one kind of rose grows here, a pink only just distinct from white. This strain creeps over the ground and climbs the walls of the cloister.

In the middle of the garden a way slopes into the ground, reminding you of the entrance to a burial mound.

>s

Cloister Walk
A pleasant cloister overlooking the rose garden to the north. You have walked it many times, seeking to waste the excesses of time at your disposal.

>w

Parliamentary Chambers
Despite its grand name, this is one of the smaller chambers of the castle, because the kings were never inclined to brook too much advice. On each side of the room are two neat oak benches, seating for perhaps thirty men -- and, more rarely, women, and a few characters who could not be called by either term.

>w

State Rotunda
Built for the bureaucratic offices of the palace. Inlaid in the floor is the map of all the lands that once this palace commanded; and from the stains and driblets of wax, it is clear to you that someone at some time thought it useful to set a candle at the map's center, and observe the result.

>sw

Law Library
Many books of precedent line these walls, containing every kind of contract that can be made to bind every kind of soul.

A hole in the floor descends to the other, less savory portion of this place.

>remove helmet
You lift the helmet from your head, and the sudden quiet feels like going deaf.

>n

Lower Bulb
In the lower chamber, you find, there is almost as much sand as there is above; it must have been flowing a very long time.

Around the outside of this contraption ascends a wooden staircase.

>w

Translation Room
Endowed with a deep power that dissolves into ready vernacular even the most ancient and secret scripts of the Law Library.

You can see an ordinary quill pen here.

>go to records room
You head east to the lower bulb. Then up to the upper bulb. And finally west to the records room.

Records Room
Where all the papers and histories are kept, not only for the royal family, but for kin in every kind and direction.

The Beast's thoughts intrude on yours, courtesy of the enchanted shoes: We have always retained an extraordinarily good secretary and historian. If there is any good in this damned arrangement...

>consult papers on yvette
It takes some searching, but you find it eventually. The king in these parts was accustomed to bring young ladies to the castle when his wooing of them was unsuccessful, whereupon they were under contract and unable to resist him.

This he did for many years, snatching away men's brides; until one day he stole Yvette. She was only a humble milkmaid, but so beautiful she was betrothed to a lord, etc., etc., and moreover her great-great-grandmother had been Lucrezia the Enchantress (oh dear), so she possessed a magical girdle of surpassing power.

When she discovered what was about to happen to her, while she was still on the drawbridge of the castle, she cursed the king to become a mere beast, so that the spell would never be lifted until someone loved him who was not under magical contract. What was more, this person would need the power of that same magical girdle...

There is even a small woodcut of the grieving Yvette, carrying a cow bell and looking downtrodden.

>consult papers on girdle
It takes some searching, but you find it eventually. The king in these parts was accustomed to bring young ladies to the castle when his wooing of them was unsuccessful, whereupon they were under contract and unable to resist him.

This he did for many years, snatching away men's brides; until one day he stole Yvette. She was only a humble milkmaid, but so beautiful she was betrothed to a lord, etc., etc., and moreover her great-great-grandmother had been Lucrezia the Enchantress (oh dear), so she possessed a magical girdle of surpassing power.

When she discovered what was about to happen to her, while she was still on the drawbridge of the castle, she cursed the king to become a mere beast, so that the spell would never be lifted until someone loved him who was not under magical contract. What was more, this person would need the power of that same magical girdle...

There is even a small woodcut of the grieving Yvette, carrying a cow bell and looking downtrodden.

>consult papers on cow
You discover nothing of interest in the papers.

>consult papers on bell
You discover nothing of interest in the papers.

>consult papers on elephant
An entertaining story tells how Elzibad, worse than all the other kings of this palace that had previously been seen, was defeated by one of his own demons in elephant form, when someone who was not contracted to him gained command of the demon. Command of his slaves then passed to his son.

From that day on the castle was so built that no one could even enter into it without becoming contracted to its king, for the protection of the royal family.

>consult papers on elzibad
An entertaining story tells how Elzibad, worse than all the other kings of this palace that had previously been seen, was defeated by one of his own demons in elephant form, when someone who was not contracted to him gained command of the demon. Command of his slaves then passed to his son.

From that day on the castle was so built that no one could even enter into it without becoming contracted to its king, for the protection of the royal family.

>consult papers on lucrezia
You quickly skim the unpleasant history of Lucrezia of Medici-Credenza, how she brought odd magical treasures with her, introduced new methods of binding and contracting that were previously unknown even to this castle, and maintained a room for her studies in the basement below the rose garden. From this room everyone including her husband was banned.

There are some suggestions that she was the daughter of the Devil himself, sent to the castle to tempt the kings into further folly and destruction. But who knows?

>consult papers on devil
A very old scroll narrates how King Athanasius, first of his line, entered a wager with Mephistopheles, and won the pen that the Devil used to sign contracts for men's souls.

The King retired to this castle, overjoyed with his success, but the Devil flew away laughing.

>consult papers on pen
A very old scroll narrates how King Athanasius, first of his line, entered a wager with Mephistopheles, and won the pen that the Devil used to sign contracts for men's souls.

The King retired to this castle, overjoyed with his success, but the Devil flew away laughing.

>consult papers on drawbridge
You discover nothing of interest in the papers.

>consult papers on castle
You discover nothing of interest in the papers.

>consult papers on king
You have never known his true name, and can only guess that he must be the last of the line of kings.

>think about beast
You're missing an object that might be useful to resolving this problem.

Shall I go on? > yes

Perhaps you should explore further.
There's a room you've visited, but you haven't exhausted all there is to see there. (The place command will list every room you've visited, if you'd like to review.)

Shall I go on? > yes
Try going back to the Drawbridge.

>go to drawbridge
You head east to the upper bulb. Then down to the lower bulb. Then east to the state rotunda. Then south to the central courtyard. Then south to the entrance hall. And finally south to the drawbridge.

Drawbridge
There is little enough purpose in loitering outside: He and his servants never come out here, and whatever you must do, you will have to do within.

An iron-barred gate leads north to the entrance hall.

You can also see some iron windchimes here.

>wear helmet
You settle the helmet over your head, and there is a roaring in your ears at first, both from your heartbeat and from the raindrops on metal. But then the sharpened hearing begins to feel natural again.

>listen to windchimes
Even your own breathing is magnified when you wear the helmet, so you must concentrate past it...

The windchimes are silent now that they've been taken down.

>hang windchimes
That's not a verb I recognize.

>look
Drawbridge
There is little enough purpose in loitering outside: He and his servants never come out here, and whatever you must do, you will have to do within.

An iron-barred gate leads north to the entrance hall.

You can also see some iron windchimes here.

>x gate
It stands open and unlocked.

>close gate
You close the iron-barred gate.

>lock gate
That doesn't seem to be something you can lock.

>x gate
It is closed and unlocked.

>inv
You are carrying:
a leather tambourine
a worked bronze gong
an ivory key
a silver bell
a pair of cloven shoes (being worn)
a sceptre
a pile of notes
a candle (providing light)
a stool
a poison vial
a helmet (being worn)
an iron key (which opens the iron cage)
a little gold dinner bell
a great contract book
a small key (which opens the iron windchimes and the small door)
some discarded embroidery materials

>x notes
Spiky, erratic handwriting on a variety of mystical and magical topics pertaining to the castle and the spiritual status of the inhabitants.

>consult notes on drawbridge
You discover nothing of interest in the pile of notes.

>ring gong
You strike the gong, but to your disappointment, nothing happens.

>ring key
Which do you mean, the ivory key, the iron key, or the small key?

>ivory
Time was when you thought the castle and its inhabitants could be taken down with physical violence, but you have since learned better.

>go to translation room
You head north to the entrance hall. You shouldn't be able to open it, heavy as it is, but it swings aside lightly at your touch. The Beast said that it knows friend from enemy; and the castle, at least, still regards you as friend.

Then west to the great dining hall. Then north to the law library. Then north to the lower bulb. You walk far enough in to get a view of sand falling in a huge hourglass. Though it is only a thin stream, it sounds louder than it should: the noise, magnified by your helmet, becomes too much to bear, and you retreat.

>remove helmet
You lift the helmet from your head, and the sudden quiet feels like going deaf.

>go to translation room
You head north to the lower bulb. And finally west to the translation room.

Translation Room
Endowed with a deep power that dissolves into ready vernacular even the most ancient and secret scripts of the Law Library.

You can see an ordinary quill pen here.

>consult contract book about djinn
You discover nothing of interest in the great contract book.

>consult contract book about elephant
A worked bronze gong, according to this, controls a shape-shifting djinn of considerable size and destructive power, which resents the terms of its enslavement and would be overjoyed to take revenge.

This djinn has taken many forms in the past, but most frequently disguises itself as an elephant.

>go to records room
You head east to the lower bulb. Then up to the upper bulb. And finally west to the records room.

Records Room
Where all the papers and histories are kept, not only for the royal family, but for kin in every kind and direction.

>consult records about djinn
An entertaining story tells how Elzibad, worse than all the other kings of this palace that had previously been seen, was defeated by one of his own demons in elephant form, when someone who was not contracted to him gained command of the demon. Command of his slaves then passed to his son.

From that day on the castle was so built that no one could even enter into it without becoming contracted to its king, for the protection of the royal family.

>think about drawbridge
You can't think of anything further on the topic.

>think about contract book
The current problem cannot be fully dealt with until you have addressed another issue; further exploration is called for. You might concentrate on the ivory door for now.

>go to ivory door
You head east to the upper bulb. Then down to the lower bulb. Then east to the state rotunda. Then south to the central courtyard. Then south to the entrance hall. And finally south to the drawbridge.

Drawbridge
There is little enough purpose in loitering outside: He and his servants never come out here, and whatever you must do, you will have to do within.

An iron-barred gate leads north to the entrance hall.

You can also see some iron windchimes here.

You have the ivory door in front of you.

>open ivory door with ivory key
You can't see any such thing.

>open ivory door
You can't see any such thing.

>x ivory door
I only understood you as far as wanting to examine the ivory key.

>go to ivory
It is not necessary to specify movement within the room.

>remove helmet
You're not wearing that.

>n

Entrance Hall
There is no fire in the big fireplace; the air is very cold. Over the gate, the old familiar warning sign is painted.

Various passages lead deeper into the castle: north towards the central courtyard, southwest to the guard tower, east and west into the libraries, the offices, the galleries. And no wonder he was not here to meet you.

An iron-barred gate leads south to the drawbridge.

>w

Great Dining Hall
Such a long hall that the soup might get cold between one end and the other. You and he used only the far west end, nearest the kitchen. Once you took to dining together at all, that is; the first few months he brought trays to your room, while you hid.

But then you took to eating here; and at the end of every meal he would stand up formally and ask his question.

>n

Law Library
Many books of precedent line these walls, containing every kind of contract that can be made to bind every kind of soul.

A hole in the floor descends to the other, less savory portion of this place.

>n

Lower Bulb
In the lower chamber, you find, there is almost as much sand as there is above; it must have been flowing a very long time.

Around the outside of this contraption ascends a wooden staircase.

>up

Upper Bulb
In the upper chamber, you find, there is almost as much sand as there is below; indeed for all you can tell the flow might be eternal.

Nearby an ivory door leads southwest.

And here Beast lies, sprawled on the ground as if he'd fallen.

>open ivory door
(first unlocking the ivory door)
(with the ivory key)
You open the ivory door.

>enter ivory door

Smoke-Damaged Chamber
Though not actually burnt, the walls are stained with smoke, especially at the south end. This mess has partly obliterated what was once a detailed mural on the west wall.

Nearby an open ivory door leads northeast to the upper bulb.

>x mural
Though some of the detail is gone, the mural shows the path through the forest to the castle. At the castle gate, a smiling king with horns has just finished laying down a trail of silver coins leading into his domain; at the other end of the path, a crowd of astonished and eager peasants is collecting them.

It is clear enough that in a few minutes they will get to the drawbridge and all be enslaved.

>e
Lie Library
Fables, fictions, and falsehoods, arranged by number by type, and containing such categories as "In which the hero receives help from three aged figures," "In which the villain has a mysterious name," and so on.

You can see a book return stand (on which is a storybook) here.

The Beast's thoughts intrude on yours, courtesy of the enchanted shoes: Ah, now here's an interesting little locale. Lucrezia had it built. She was always her father's daughter, you perceive. It is so powerful that it makes false the things that are brought in -- I used it once to void a lady's marriage contract --

The thread of thought stops. On second thought, that is not a story I am proud of.

>x book return stand
Carvings around the outer edge of the stand indicate how one should use it: a small tonsured figure places a book on the stand, then rings a bell; whereupon a librarian, bearing the traditional shackles and sheets of a ghost, appears to take it away.

On the book return stand is a storybook.

>x storybook
A collection of fanciful tales "which were once true but are no longer". It is stamped across the front as having been inducted into the Lie Library.

You read: Once upon a time, there was a young Russian girl whose mother died, leaving behind only a painted wooden clapper which made a loud noise. When the girl's father married again, the second wife was very cruel and miserly... (etc. at some length); but whenever the girl was lonely, she took the wooden clapper to the mirror in her mother's bedroom and clapped it loudly; and her mother's spirit would appear to her and advise her... (And so on, for several dozen pages of adventure, ending in marriage to the Tsar.)

>get storybook
You acquire the storybook.

>get fables
You can't see any such thing.

>x bell
Which do you mean, the silver bell or the little gold dinner bell?

>silver
It bears the stamp of a lamplighter.

>ring silver bell
You ring the bell, but those who might hear and heed it are not close enough.

>put storybook on stand
You put the storybook on the book return stand.

>get storybook
You acquire the storybook.

>w

Smoke-Damaged Chamber
Though not actually burnt, the walls are stained with smoke, especially at the south end. This mess has partly obliterated what was once a detailed mural on the west wall.

Nearby an open ivory door leads northeast to the upper bulb.

>s
Burnt Frame
A corner tower severely damaged by fire, so that there is only framework between you and the sky.

The Beast's thoughts intrude on yours, courtesy of the enchanted shoes: A spectacular but unsuccessful attempt. My fur was singed and foul-smelling for weeks.

>e

Black Gallery
Lined with neat rows of inscrutable -- one might almost say pointless -- objects.

There's a gold ring (with signet, though you do not recognize the symbol) and a stuffed boar (looking angry); a broken beam, an inkpot, a dark-colored pendant; a white apple, a preserved goat, a cane, a glass leaf, a silver buckle, a copper snake, a homunculus, a parrot perch, and a green cloth swatch.

>get ring
You acquire the gold ring, and assess it curiously.

A very very curious object.

>x ring
A very very curious object.

>x signet
You can't see any such thing.

>wear ring
You put on the gold ring.

>get boar
The stuffed boar is too heavy for you to lift.

>x boar
A very very very curious object.

>x boar
A very very very curious object.

>get beam
The broken beam is too heavy for you to lift.

>x beam
A very very very very curious object.

>x inkpot
A very very very very curious object.

>x inkpot
An inkpot of dark material. Inside there remains only a red-black crust of dried ink.

>get inkpot
You acquire the infernal inkpot.

>x beam
A very very very very very curious object.

>x beam
A very very very very very curious object.

>look
Black Gallery
Lined with neat rows of inscrutable -- one might almost say pointless -- objects.

There's a parrot perch (evidently much used) and a broken beam (charred at each end); a cane, a green cloth swatch, a glass leaf; a white apple, a stuffed boar, a preserved goat, a silver buckle, a copper snake, a homunculus, and a dark-colored pendant.

>x cane
A very very very very very very curious object.

>x cane
A very very very very very very curious object.

>get cane
You acquire the cane.

>x swatch
A very very very very very very very curious object.

>x swatch
A very very very very very very very curious object.

>get swatch
You acquire the green cloth swatch.

>look
Black Gallery
Lined with neat rows of inscrutable -- one might almost say pointless -- objects.

There's a silver buckle (without a mate) and a parrot perch (evidently much used); a copper snake, a glass leaf, a preserved goat; a white apple, a stuffed boar, a homunculus, a dark-colored pendant, and a broken beam.

>x buckle
A very very very very very very very very curious object.

>x buckle
A very very very very very very very very curious object.

>get buckle
You acquire the silver buckle.

>get all
neat rows: A discouraging prospect -- moving everything from this room is really work for about a dozen strong spirits from the contract book.

>x perch
A very very very very very very very very very curious object.

>get perch
The parrot perch is too heavy for you to lift.

>x snake
A very very very very very very very very very very curious object.

>x snake
A very very very very very very very very very very curious object.

>get snake
You acquire the copper snake.

>x leaf
A very very very very very very very very very very very curious object.

>x leaf
A very very very very very very very very very very very curious object.

>get leaf
You acquire the glass leaf.

>x goat
A very very very very very very very very very very very very curious object.

>x goat
A very very very very very very very very very very very very curious object.

>get goat
The preserved goat is too heavy for you to lift.

>look
Black Gallery
Lined with neat rows of inscrutable -- one might almost say pointless -- objects.

There's a broken beam (charred at each end) and a white apple (complete with white stem and leaf); a dark-colored pendant, a preserved goat, a homunculus; a stuffed boar and a parrot perch.

>x apple
A very very very very very very very very very very very very very curious object.

>x apple
A very very very very very very very very very very very very very curious object.

>x apple
A very very very very very very very very very very very very very curious object.

>get apple
You acquire the white apple.

>x pendant
A very very very very very very very very very very very very very very curious object.

>x pendant
A very very very very very very very very very very very very very very curious object.

>wear pendant
You acquire the dark-colored pendant.

You put on the dark-colored pendant.

>x honunculus
You can't see any such thing.

>x homunculus
A very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very curious object.

>x homunculus
A very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very curious object.

>geet homunculus
That's not a verb I recognize.

>get homunculus
You acquire the homunculus.

>look
Black Gallery
Lined with neat rows of inscrutable -- one might almost say pointless -- objects.

The neat rows have been thinned down to the stuffed boar, the preserved goat, the parrot perch, and the broken beam, thanks to your diligent action.

>inv
You are carrying:
a homunculus
a dark-colored pendant (being worn)
a white apple
a glass leaf
a copper snake
a silver buckle
a green cloth swatch
a cane
an infernal inkpot (empty)
a gold ring (being worn)
a storybook
a leather tambourine
a worked bronze gong
an ivory key (which opens the ivory door)
a silver bell
a pair of cloven shoes (being worn)
a sceptre
a pile of notes
a candle (providing light)
a stool
a poison vial
a helmet
an iron key (which opens the iron cage)
a little gold dinner bell
a great contract book
a small key (which opens the iron windchimes and the small door)
some discarded embroidery materials

>w

Burnt Frame
A corner tower severely damaged by fire, so that there is only framework between you and the sky.

>e

Black Gallery
Lined with neat rows of inscrutable -- one might almost say pointless -- objects.

The neat rows have been thinned down to the stuffed boar, the preserved goat, the parrot perch, and the broken beam, thanks to your diligent action.

>n

Lie Library
Fables, fictions, and falsehoods, arranged by number by type, and containing such categories as "In which the hero receives help from three aged figures," "In which the villain has a mysterious name," and so on.

You can see a book return stand here.

>w

Smoke-Damaged Chamber
Though not actually burnt, the walls are stained with smoke, especially at the south end. This mess has partly obliterated what was once a detailed mural on the west wall.

Nearby an open ivory door leads northeast to the upper bulb.

>ne

Upper Bulb
In the upper chamber, you find, there is almost as much sand as there is below; indeed for all you can tell the flow might be eternal.

Nearby an open ivory door leads southwest to the smoke-damaged chamber.

And here Beast lies, sprawled on the ground as if he'd fallen.

>e

Gallery of Still Life
Natural light from the south -- coming in from the courtyard, you suppose, though you are too short to see out -- illuminates a series of still life paintings on the north wall: one showing the Wedding Treasure when Lucrezia arrived from Medici-Credenza, the other rather fancifully entitled Supper with M.

Nearby an open heavy door leads east to the white gallery.

>e

White Gallery
Of more recent construction than many another portion of the castle, and therefore light and airy, and a pleasant place to spend a few hours.

Nearby an open heavy door leads west to the gallery of still life.

Placed where it will have the most light on the board for the longest time is a mechanical chessplayer.

>e

Bellroom
Kept, conveniently, close to where the masters of the house would once have slept. There are bells large and small, clappers, tambourines, and gongs. Most of these you have never seen used at all.

Roses from the garden below have crept up to grow around the north window, lending a sickly smell to the place.

Nearby an open heavy door leads south to the private parlor.

Catching your eye among many other unfamiliar itemsis a cow bell.

>get cow bell
You acquire the cow bell, and assess it curiously.

Much like the ones you used on the cows at home.

>x cow bell
Much like the ones you used on the cows at home.

>w

White Gallery
Of more recent construction than many another portion of the castle, and therefore light and airy, and a pleasant place to spend a few hours.

Nearby an open heavy door leads west to the gallery of still life.

Placed where it will have the most light on the board for the longest time is a mechanical chessplayer.

>go to lie library
You head west to the gallery of still life. Then west to the upper bulb. Then southwest to the smoke-damaged chamber. And finally east to the lie library.

Lie Library
Fables, fictions, and falsehoods, arranged by number by type, and containing such categories as "In which the hero receives help from three aged figures," "In which the villain has a mysterious name," and so on.

You can see a book return stand here.

>put storybook on stand
You put the storybook on the book return stand.

>ring cow bell
You ring the bell, but those who might hear and heed it are not close enough.

>look
Lie Library
Fables, fictions, and falsehoods, arranged by number by type, and containing such categories as "In which the hero receives help from three aged figures," "In which the villain has a mysterious name," and so on.

You can see a book return stand (on which is a storybook) here.

>x stand
Carvings around the outer edge of the stand indicate how one should use it: a small tonsured figure places a book on the stand, then rings a bell; whereupon a librarian, bearing the traditional shackles and sheets of a ghost, appears to take it away.

On the book return stand is a storybook.

>x bell on stand
You can't see any such thing.

>x bell
Which do you mean, the cow bell, the silver bell, or the little gold dinner bell?

>cow
Much like the ones you used on the cows at home.

>think about stand
The stand is here to allow you to get things shelved in the Lie Library.

Shall I go on? > yes
Judging by the pictures would need to place the required object on the stand, then ring the correct bell for the librarian.

Shall I go on? > yes
Doing this might render the book in question false.

Shall I go on? >
Please answer yes or no.> no

You might want to review the book return stand. You can't think of anything further on the topic.

>x stand
Carvings around the outer edge of the stand indicate how one should use it: a small tonsured figure places a book on the stand, then rings a bell; whereupon a librarian, bearing the traditional shackles and sheets of a ghost, appears to take it away.

On the book return stand is a storybook.

>look
Lie Library
Fables, fictions, and falsehoods, arranged by number by type, and containing such categories as "In which the hero receives help from three aged figures," "In which the villain has a mysterious name," and so on.

You can see a book return stand (on which is a storybook) here.

>w

Smoke-Damaged Chamber
Though not actually burnt, the walls are stained with smoke, especially at the south end. This mess has partly obliterated what was once a detailed mural on the west wall.

Nearby an open ivory door leads northeast to the upper bulb.

>ne

Upper Bulb
In the upper chamber, you find, there is almost as much sand as there is below; indeed for all you can tell the flow might be eternal.

Nearby an open ivory door leads southwest to the smoke-damaged chamber.

And here Beast lies, sprawled on the ground as if he'd fallen.

>x beast
Though he has eaten, he looks deeply exhausted, as though something preys on his spirit.

>ring cow bell
You ring the bell, but those who might hear and heed it are not close enough.

>go to drawbridge
You head down to the lower bulb. Then east to the state rotunda. Then south to the central courtyard. Then south to the entrance hall. And finally south to the drawbridge.

Drawbridge
There is little enough purpose in loitering outside: He and his servants never come out here, and whatever you must do, you will have to do within.

An iron-barred gate leads north to the entrance hall.

You can also see some iron windchimes here.

>ring cow bell
You ring the bell, but those who might hear and heed it are not close enough.

>go to scrying room
You head north to the entrance hall. Then east to the scarlet gallery. Then northeast to the treasure room. And finally east to the scrying room.

Scrying Room
A place for consulting with the servants, summoning them by their instruments and allowing their spirits to manifest in the mirrors. But you know this only from explanation, because the mirrors and glasses have been broken or carried away to the Crystal Bedroom, when they ceased to reflect anything that gave pleasure to their master.

Nearby an open small door leads west to the treasure room.

>ring cow bell
You ring the cow bell hopefully, but -- despite the old function of the room -- there are no mirrored surfaces remaining in which your summoned spirit can manifest itself, because you took those all upstairs to your bedroom.

>go to mirror
You head west to the treasure room. Then southwest to the scarlet gallery. Then west to the entrance hall. Then north to the central courtyard. Then east to the ground floor helical staircase. Then up to the upstairs helical staircase. Then east to the private parlor. And finally south to the crystal bedroom.

Crystal Bedroom
A fantasia of gleaming and glittering, chandeliers and mirrors: all that shines or reflects has been moved here, into this room that you inhabit, which he never enters.

The south end of the room is most dazzling, because of the daylight from the balcony.

>get mirror
They're hardly portable.

>inv
You are carrying:
a cow bell
a homunculus
a dark-colored pendant (being worn)
a white apple
a glass leaf
a copper snake
a silver buckle
a green cloth swatch
a cane
an infernal inkpot (empty)
a gold ring (being worn)
a leather tambourine
a worked bronze gong
an ivory key (which opens the ivory door)
a silver bell
a pair of cloven shoes (being worn)
a sceptre
a pile of notes
a candle (providing light)
a stool
a poison vial
a helmet
an iron key (which opens the iron cage)
a little gold dinner bell
a great contract book
a small key (which opens the iron windchimes and the small door)
some discarded embroidery materials

>go to drawbridge
You head north to the private parlor. Then west to the upstairs helical staircase. Then down to the ground floor helical staircase. Then west to the central courtyard. Then south to the entrance hall. And finally south to the drawbridge.

Drawbridge
There is little enough purpose in loitering outside: He and his servants never come out here, and whatever you must do, you will have to do within.

An iron-barred gate leads north to the entrance hall.

You can also see some iron windchimes here.

>think about drawbridge
You can't think of anything further on the topic.

>x moat
The moat is full of slightly oily brown water. If you had been physically imprisoned, you might have tried to swim across; so it is just as well that you were not.

>ring cow bell
You ring the bell, but those who might hear and heed it are not close enough.

>inv
You are carrying:
a cow bell
a homunculus
a dark-colored pendant (being worn)
a white apple
a glass leaf
a copper snake
a silver buckle
a green cloth swatch
a cane
an infernal inkpot (empty)
a gold ring (being worn)
a leather tambourine
a worked bronze gong
an ivory key (which opens the ivory door)
a silver bell
a pair of cloven shoes (being worn)
a sceptre
a pile of notes
a candle (providing light)
a stool
a poison vial
a helmet
an iron key (which opens the iron cage)
a little gold dinner bell
a great contract book
a small key (which opens the iron windchimes and the small door)
some discarded embroidery materials

>fill vial with moat
I only understood you as far as wanting to fill the poison vial.

>fill vial
>x vial
It has mostly dried up now; the apothecary who sold it to you did not say anything about whether it would keep its efficacy for long.

>n

Entrance Hall
There is no fire in the big fireplace; the air is very cold. Over the gate, the old familiar warning sign is painted.

Various passages lead deeper into the castle: north towards the central courtyard, southwest to the guard tower, east and west into the libraries, the offices, the galleries. And no wonder he was not here to meet you.

An iron-barred gate leads south to the drawbridge.

>inv
You are carrying:
a cow bell
a homunculus
a dark-colored pendant (being worn)
a white apple
a glass leaf
a copper snake
a silver buckle
a green cloth swatch
a cane
an infernal inkpot (empty)
a gold ring (being worn)
a leather tambourine
a worked bronze gong
an ivory key (which opens the ivory door)
a silver bell
a pair of cloven shoes (being worn)
a sceptre
a pile of notes
a candle (providing light)
a stool
a poison vial
a helmet
an iron key (which opens the iron cage)
a little gold dinner bell
a great contract book
a small key (which opens the iron windchimes and the small door)
some discarded embroidery materials

>think
The Beast has asked that you destroy the contract book. You could work on that problem, or consider some of the other possibilities. Tantalizing leads at the moment include the Beast.

>* I need to be able to ring the right bell in the lie library.
That's not a verb I recognize.

>go to lie library
You head west to the great dining hall. Then north to the law library. Then north to the lower bulb. Then up to the upper bulb. Then southwest to the smoke-damaged chamber. And finally east to the lie library.

Lie Library
Fables, fictions, and falsehoods, arranged by number by type, and containing such categories as "In which the hero receives help from three aged figures," "In which the villain has a mysterious name," and so on.

You can see a book return stand (on which is a storybook) here.

>inv
You are carrying:
a cow bell
a homunculus
a dark-colored pendant (being worn)
a white apple
a glass leaf
a copper snake
a silver buckle
a green cloth swatch
a cane
an infernal inkpot (empty)
a gold ring (being worn)
a leather tambourine
a worked bronze gong
an ivory key (which opens the ivory door)
a silver bell
a pair of cloven shoes (being worn)
a sceptre
a pile of notes
a candle (providing light)
a stool
a poison vial
a helmet
an iron key (which opens the iron cage)
a little gold dinner bell
a great contract book
a small key (which opens the iron windchimes and the small door)
some discarded embroidery materials

>ring bell
Which do you mean, the cow bell, the silver bell, or the little gold dinner bell?

>cow
You ring the bell, but those who might hear and heed it are not close enough.

>ring bell
Which do you mean, the cow bell, the silver bell, or the little gold dinner bell?

>silver
You ring the bell, but those who might hear and heed it are not close enough.

>ring bell
Which do you mean, the cow bell, the silver bell, or the little gold dinner bell?

>dinner
You ring the bell, but those who might hear and heed it are not close enough.

>go to bell room
You head west to the smoke-damaged chamber. Then northeast to the upper bulb. Then east to the gallery of still life. Then east to the white gallery. And finally east to the bellroom.

Bellroom
Kept, conveniently, close to where the masters of the house would once have slept. There are bells large and small, clappers, tambourines, and gongs. Most of these you have never seen used at all.

Roses from the garden below have crept up to grow around the north window, lending a sickly smell to the place.

Nearby an open heavy door leads south to the private parlor.

>search
You notice here the helmet, the sceptre, the pair of cloven shoes, the poison vial, the great contract book, the infernal inkpot, the white apple, the cane, the glass leaf, the silver buckle, the copper snake, the homunculus, the green cloth swatch, the dark-colored pendant, the gold ring, the discarded embroidery materials, the small key, the ivory key, the pile of notes, the stool, the bell collection, the little gold dinner bell, the silver bell, the heavy door, the north window, the candle, the worked bronze gong, the leather tambourine, the cow bell, and the iron key.

>look for bell
Which do you mean, the bell collection, the little gold dinner bell, the silver bell, or the cow bell?

>collection
You have the bell collection in front of you.

>x bell collection
The appearance of the bell collection has not changed significantly since you left.

>get bell collection
That's hardly portable.

>go to translation room
You head west to the white gallery. Then west to the gallery of still life. Then west to the upper bulb. Then down to the lower bulb. And finally west to the translation room.

Translation Room
Endowed with a deep power that dissolves into ready vernacular even the most ancient and secret scripts of the Law Library.

You can see an ordinary quill pen here.

>consult contract about lie library
You discover nothing of interest in the great contract book.

>consult contract about librarian
The contract records that the librarian -- a relatively recent innovation at the castle -- is controlled by a glass bell.

>consult contract about glass bell
The contract records that the librarian -- a relatively recent innovation at the castle -- is controlled by a glass bell.

>consult notes about glass bell
You discover nothing of interest in the pile of notes.

>go to records room
You head east to the lower bulb. Then up to the upper bulb. And finally west to the records room.

Records Room
Where all the papers and histories are kept, not only for the royal family, but for kin in every kind and direction.

>consult records about glass bell
You discover nothing of interest in the papers.

>go to bell room
You head east to the upper bulb. Then east to the gallery of still life. Then east to the white gallery. And finally east to the bellroom.

Bellroom
Kept, conveniently, close to where the masters of the house would once have slept. There are bells large and small, clappers, tambourines, and gongs. Most of these you have never seen used at all.

Roses from the garden below have crept up to grow around the north window, lending a sickly smell to the place.

Nearby an open heavy door leads south to the private parlor.

Catching your eye among many other unfamiliar itemsis a glass bell.

>get glass bell
You acquire the glass bell, and assess it curiously.

Thick glass with a clapper on a chain.

>go to lie library
You head west to the white gallery. Then west to the gallery of still life. Then west to the upper bulb. Then southwest to the smoke-damaged chamber. And finally east to the lie library.

Lie Library
Fables, fictions, and falsehoods, arranged by number by type, and containing such categories as "In which the hero receives help from three aged figures," "In which the villain has a mysterious name," and so on.

You can see a book return stand (on which is a storybook) here.

>burn contract book with candle
I only understood you as far as wanting to burn the great contract book.

>burn contract book
You hold the candle to the book; the flame licks the pages cheerily and gleams on the gilding of the marginal illuminations -- some of those early contracts are quite fancy. But the fire does not harm the parchment at all, or even darken it.

>break contract book
It proves most resistant to any physical assault.

Stands to reason it wouldn't be that easy, of course.

>x stand
Carvings around the outer edge of the stand indicate how one should use it: a small tonsured figure places a book on the stand, then rings a bell; whereupon a librarian, bearing the traditional shackles and sheets of a ghost, appears to take it away.

On the book return stand is a storybook.

>ring glass bell
You summon the librarian, who turns up, sees the storybook, and restores it to its place. But you could easily get it out again.

>put contract book on stand
You put the great contract book on the book return stand.

>look
Lie Library
Fables, fictions, and falsehoods, arranged by number by type, and containing such categories as "In which the hero receives help from three aged figures," "In which the villain has a mysterious name," and so on.

You can see a storybook and a book return stand (on which is a great contract book) here.

>ring glass bell
You summon the librarian, who comes and looks at the contract book: you see this as a sort of fog. It frowns at the condition of some of the pages, then searches the front and back of the book; then, grimacing, it takes out a red seal like those used in the empire of the Chan. It is about to mark the contract book property of the Lie Library, when it discovers that its seal ink has dried up: so the stamp has no efficacy. Disappointed, it vanishes again.

>x seal ink
You can't see any such thing.

>x ink
You can't see any such thing.

>look
Lie Library
Fables, fictions, and falsehoods, arranged by number by type, and containing such categories as "In which the hero receives help from three aged figures," "In which the villain has a mysterious name," and so on.

You can see a storybook and a book return stand (on which is a great contract book) here.

>inv
You are carrying:
a glass bell
a cow bell
a homunculus
a dark-colored pendant (being worn)
a white apple
a glass leaf
a copper snake
a silver buckle
a green cloth swatch
a cane
an infernal inkpot (empty)
a gold ring (being worn)
a leather tambourine
a worked bronze gong
an ivory key (which opens the ivory door)
a silver bell
a pair of cloven shoes (being worn)
a sceptre
a pile of notes
a candle (providing light)
a stool
a poison vial
a helmet
an iron key (which opens the iron cage)
a little gold dinner bell
a small key (which opens the iron windchimes and the small door)
some discarded embroidery materials

>x inkpot
An inkpot of dark material. Inside there remains only a red-black crust of dried ink.

>consult notes about inkpot
About the inkpot, the notes are their most cryptic, and the quality of the handwriting has also declined so that you suspect the author of having been either elderly or sick. "Of this article, which my father gave me, I believe I have finally uncovered some use. For though it will not hold ink of the ordinary kind, it perfectly contains that which flows beneath the burial ground, consisting of the regret of all inhabitants..." Etc., etc.

>consult notes about librarian
You discover nothing of interest in the pile of notes.

>x notes
Spiky, erratic handwriting on a variety of mystical and magical topics pertaining to the castle and the spiritual status of the inhabitants.

>go to burial ground
That noun did not make sense in this context.

>go to central crypt
You head west to the smoke-damaged chamber. Then northeast to the upper bulb. Then down to the lower bulb. Then south to the law library. And finally down to the central crypt.

Central Crypt
A relic-storage place for all the bits of men and women -- and creatures -- bound to the Kings over many centuries. Only brute animals are free of binding, since they have no souls; which is why there are no dogs in the castle, no horses, no songbirds.

>look
Central Crypt
A relic-storage place for all the bits of men and women -- and creatures -- bound to the Kings over many centuries. Only brute animals are free of binding, since they have no souls; which is why there are no dogs in the castle, no horses, no songbirds.

>w

Apprentice's Workshop
A mausoleum for apprentices who perished before their terms of indenture were complete.

A decaying ladder leads up.

>se
The floor sounds progressively stranger as you walk toward the middle of the room.

Debtor's Paradise
The graves of men who died before resolving their debts.

>look
Debtor's Paradise
The graves of men who died before resolving their debts.

>ne
As you walk out of the room, you notice that your footsteps sound odd.

Father's Regret
The home of fathers who died before their children were born.

Tokens of binding are stored here: bones and bits of hair, relics, hearts scientifically dried, and many other things, culled through the centuries by the masters of this place, in drawers.

>look
Father's Regret
The home of fathers who died before their children were born.

Tokens of binding are stored here: bones and bits of hair, relics, hearts scientifically dried, and many other things, culled through the centuries by the masters of this place, in drawers.

>nw

Virgin's End
The resting place of maidens who died before marrying those to whom they were engaged.

>look
Virgin's End
The resting place of maidens who died before marrying those to whom they were engaged.

>se

Father's Regret
The home of fathers who died before their children were born.

Tokens of binding are stored here: bones and bits of hair, relics, hearts scientifically dried, and many other things, culled through the centuries by the masters of this place, in drawers.

>ne

Tight Passage
The passage through rock ends here, and begins to tunnel through soil instead where it heads northeast.

There is also a sinister door, leading west -- and currently open.

You can also see a cord and an inscription here.

>ne

Rooted Room
Cut as an afterthought through earth and the underside of the garden, and therefore muddy and soil-scented.

>s

Bell Castings
A room of scrap and refuse: wooden structures and clay molds from which bells might be made, scrap metal, pieces of bells now broken.

>e

Wax Supply
A dank storage area, stacked with bars of wax -- perhaps for some casting process? You couldn't say.

>sw

Zoo
A resting place for an animal: warm but rough. There is little to suggest, from this environment, that he thinks of himself as a man at all, though he is capable of walking upright and eating with utensils, of reading books and even of writing a legible hand.

The only distinguishing mark is a miniature hung on the wall, like a devotional object, or perhaps a reminder. Something about the sole image in an otherwise bare room reminds you of the royal portrait in the Green Bedroom.

>sw

Rocky Chamber
A tight, rocky corner among foundations of the oldest part of the castle. A slow leak in the south wall admits a little water, but not enough to be very destructive.

>ne

Zoo
A resting place for an animal: warm but rough. There is little to suggest, from this environment, that he thinks of himself as a man at all, though he is capable of walking upright and eating with utensils, of reading books and even of writing a legible hand.

The only distinguishing mark is a miniature hung on the wall, like a devotional object, or perhaps a reminder. Something about the sole image in an otherwise bare room reminds you of the royal portrait in the Green Bedroom.

>se

Bear Corridor
Less couth and cultivated than any other part of the castle, and you have been forbidden to visit this place before now. The walls press close to you on either side. The floor slopes down. Bears with sharp claws are carved into the rock, but they remind you of Him, and you are not frightened.

>u

Room with the Labyrinth Floor
A mosaic floor of black and white, like that of cathedrals, as protection against the spite of the undead: which protection might often have been needed, by those that dwelt here in former times. The way down is at the center of the maze.

>go to crypt
You head down to the bear corridor. Then northwest to the zoo. Then southwest to rocky chamber. Then northwest to the father's regret. And finally west to the central crypt.

Central Crypt
A relic-storage place for all the bits of men and women -- and creatures -- bound to the Kings over many centuries. Only brute animals are free of binding, since they have no souls; which is why there are no dogs in the castle, no horses, no songbirds.

>look
Central Crypt
A relic-storage place for all the bits of men and women -- and creatures -- bound to the Kings over many centuries. Only brute animals are free of binding, since they have no souls; which is why there are no dogs in the castle, no horses, no songbirds.

>* where can I fill the inkpot?!?
Bronze understands commands, such as ">examine a cow bell", but not questions. You can get some information about the current game state with commands such as LOOK, EXAMINE, INVENTORY, PLACES, and OBJECTS; or, for more instructions, type HELP.

>think about inkpot
(the infernal inkpot)
Before concerning yourself with that, you should thoroughly explore the crypt.

Shall I go on? > yes
Especially the Debtor's Paradise.

Shall I go on? > no

>go to debtor's paradise
You head south to the debtor's paradise.

The floor sounds progressively stranger as you walk toward the middle of the room.

Debtor's Paradise
The graves of men who died before resolving their debts.

>look
Debtor's Paradise
The graves of men who died before resolving their debts.

>x graves
You can't see any such thing.

>look at graves
You can't see any such thing.

>nw
As you walk out of the room, you notice that your footsteps sound odd.

Apprentice's Workshop
A mausoleum for apprentices who perished before their terms of indenture were complete.

A decaying ladder leads up.

>e

Central Crypt
A relic-storage place for all the bits of men and women -- and creatures -- bound to the Kings over many centuries. Only brute animals are free of binding, since they have no souls; which is why there are no dogs in the castle, no horses, no songbirds.

>e

Father's Regret
The home of fathers who died before their children were born.

Tokens of binding are stored here: bones and bits of hair, relics, hearts scientifically dried, and many other things, culled through the centuries by the masters of this place, in drawers.

>sw
The floor sounds progressively stranger as you walk toward the middle of the room.

Debtor's Paradise
The graves of men who died before resolving their debts.

>x helmet
A very old helmet that you have seen the Beast wear (and quite foolish it looked, perched on a head it no longer fits: it would suit your head better). He told you once that the helmet was for night watchmen, scouts, and guards, to increase their vigilance and strengthen their hearing.

Lines of writing arc over each ear, but you do not know the language in question.

>wear helmet
You settle the helmet over your head, and there is a roaring in your ears at first. But then the sharpened hearing begins to feel natural again.

>walk
(heading north, since there are no other options)
As you walk out of the room, you notice that your footsteps sound odd, as though there were hollow space somewhere under the stones -- though you cannot identify a specific part of the floor that seems more vulnerable.

Central Crypt
A relic-storage place for all the bits of men and women -- and creatures -- bound to the Kings over many centuries. Only brute animals are free of binding, since they have no souls; which is why there are no dogs in the castle, no horses, no songbirds.

>s
The floor sounds progressively hollower as you walk toward the middle of the room.

Debtor's Paradise
The graves of men who died before resolving their debts.

>go to middle of room
That noun did not make sense in this context.

>listen
You hear your own steady breathing.

>n
As you walk out of the room, you notice that your footsteps sound odd, as though there were hollow space somewhere under the stones -- though you cannot identify a specific part of the floor that seems more vulnerable.

Central Crypt
A relic-storage place for all the bits of men and women -- and creatures -- bound to the Kings over many centuries. Only brute animals are free of binding, since they have no souls; which is why there are no dogs in the castle, no horses, no songbirds.

>s
The floor sounds progressively hollower as you walk toward the middle of the room.

Debtor's Paradise
The graves of men who died before resolving their debts.

>ne
As you walk out of the room, you notice that your footsteps sound odd, as though there were hollow space somewhere under the stones -- though you cannot identify a specific part of the floor that seems more vulnerable.

Father's Regret
The home of fathers who died before their children were born.

Tokens of binding are stored here: bones and bits of hair, relics, hearts scientifically dried, and many other things, culled through the centuries by the masters of this place, in drawers.

>sw
The floor sounds progressively hollower as you walk toward the middle of the room.

Debtor's Paradise
The graves of men who died before resolving their debts.

>x stones
Seemingly even.

>jump
You hop experimentally across the floor, the helmet amplifying your sensitivity to every sound, so that you are able to distinguish the exact flagstone at which the hollow thudding becomes most resonant.

On a bit of investigation, this stone turns out to be loose.

>x stone
A trapdoor -- well, really, a hinged flagstone, not much different from the rest of the floor to which it belongs.

>open trapdoor
You open the trapdoor.

>look
Debtor's Paradise
The graves of men who died before resolving their debts.

Nearby an open trapdoor leads down.

>d

Dank Room
The air is clammy and unpleasant, and clogs in your lungs.

Nearby an open trapdoor leads up to the debtor's paradise.

>n
Press Room
Liquid squeezed from the surrounding earth here flows out through a fountain, then soaks back into the ground below.

The Beast's thoughts intrude on yours, courtesy of the enchanted shoes: mostly loathing and fear much stronger than your own, but whatever he knows does not come through to you.

>fill inkpot
You fill the infernal inkpot from the fountain, trying to get as little as possible on yourself.

>x inkpot
An inkpot of dark material. It is full almost to the brim with red-black ink.

>x ink
The liquid is sludge-black where it pours in quantity, but where it runs thin, it appears red.

>s

Dank Room
The air is clammy and unpleasant, and clogs in your lungs.

Nearby an open trapdoor leads up to the debtor's paradise.

>go to lie library
You head up to the debtor's paradise. Then north to the central crypt. Then up to the law library. , emerging into the law library. Then north to the lower bulb. You walk far enough in to get a view of sand falling in a huge hourglass. Though it is only a thin stream, it sounds louder than it should: the noise, magnified by your helmet, becomes too much to bear, and you retreat.

>remove helmet
You lift the helmet from your head, and the sudden quiet feels like going deaf.

>go to lie library
You head north to the lower bulb. Then up to the upper bulb. Then southwest to the smoke-damaged chamber. And finally east to the lie library.

Lie Library
Fables, fictions, and falsehoods, arranged by number by type, and containing such categories as "In which the hero receives help from three aged figures," "In which the villain has a mysterious name," and so on.

You can see a storybook and a book return stand (on which is a great contract book) here.

>put inkpot on stand
You put the infernal inkpot on the book return stand.

>ring glass bell
You summon the librarian, who comes and looks at the contract book: you see this as a sort of fog. It frowns at the condition of some of the pages, then searches the front and back of the book; then, grimacing, it takes out a red seal like those used in the empire of the Chan.

It inks this carefully from the inkpot, then stamps inside the front of the book:


PROPERTY OF THE LIE LIBRARY
DO NOT REMOVE

...whereupon the contracts inside begin to unravel and dissolve into the merest stories.

You never do discover any final rest or cure for the Beast. But perhaps that is a small price to pay for all the souls you have liberated.



*** You have made an exchange ***



Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, QUIT, or UNDO the last command?
> undo
Lie Library
[Previous turn undone.]

>look
Lie Library
Fables, fictions, and falsehoods, arranged by number by type, and containing such categories as "In which the hero receives help from three aged figures," "In which the villain has a mysterious name," and so on.

You can see a storybook and a book return stand (on which are an infernal inkpot (full) and a great contract book) here.

>consult papers about girdle
You can't see any such thing.

>consult notes about girdle
You sift through the papers until you find a pertinent entry: that the girdle is to be in some way a device for the punishment or forgiveness of those who abuse the castle's power, "being in the possession of the weakest of its victims". Accompanying this are a bundle of astrological diagrams, so who knows how reliable that may be thought to be.

>go to bedroom
Which do you mean, the Green Bedroom, the Guest Bedroom, the Empty Bedroom, or the Crystal Bedroom?

>crystal
You head west to the smoke-damaged chamber. Then northeast to the upper bulb. Then east to the gallery of still life. Then east to the white gallery. Then east to the bellroom. Then south to the private parlor. And finally south to the crystal bedroom.

Crystal Bedroom
A fantasia of gleaming and glittering, chandeliers and mirrors: all that shines or reflects has been moved here, into this room that you inhabit, which he never enters.

The south end of the room is most dazzling, because of the daylight from the balcony.

>ring cow bell
You ring the cow bell, and a heavy fog coalesces around you; then at the mirror there forms the image of an exceptionally beautiful young woman, wearing a green girdle.

"It is a long time since I was called," she says, pressing her nose and fingers to her side of the glass and looking at you with interest. You see around her neck the burn of a noose, and guess uneasily at what she did to herself. She looks at you with plain curiosity.

"So you're the one?" she asks. "Did you know that he carried me over the drawbridge into the castle, and made me slave to his wishes even though I was betrothed to another? and that for the breach of contract my father died impoverished?"

You say nothing. You have not known him to be like that; but many human lifetimes have passed since Yvette was alive.

She shrugs one shoulder. "If you can love such a creature, then I will leave the green girdle for you on my grave; you come take it and kiss him," she says.

Then she fades from view.

>ring glass bell
Many faces press to the far side of the mirror, but no one shade has the strength to speak, and finally they fade away again, half-damned.

>ring gong
Many faces press to the far side of the mirror, but no one shade has the strength to speak, and finally they fade away again, half-damned.

>ring silver bell
Many faces press to the far side of the mirror, but no one shade has the strength to speak, and finally they fade away again, half-damned.

>go to crypt
You head north to the private parlor. Then west to the upstairs helical staircase. Then down to the ground floor helical staircase. Then west to the central courtyard. Then north to the state rotunda. Then southwest to the law library. And finally down to the central crypt.

Central Crypt
A relic-storage place for all the bits of men and women -- and creatures -- bound to the Kings over many centuries. Only brute animals are free of binding, since they have no souls; which is why there are no dogs in the castle, no horses, no songbirds.

>n

Virgin's End
The resting place of maidens who died before marrying those to whom they were engaged.

You can see a magic girdle here.

>get girdle
You acquire the magic girdle, and assess it curiously.

It is the green girdle familiar to you from paintings here; a possession of Lucrezia's.

>wear girdle
You put on the girdle, securing it around you. It fits unexpectedly well.

>go to beast
You head south to the central crypt. Then up to the law library. , emerging into the law library. Then north to the lower bulb. , emerging into the lower bulb. And then up to the upper bulb.

Upper Bulb
In the upper chamber, you find, there is almost as much sand as there is below; indeed for all you can tell the flow might be eternal.

Nearby an open ivory door leads southwest to the smoke-damaged chamber.

And here Beast lies, sprawled on the ground as if he'd fallen.

When you look at the Beast this time -- it must be the influence of the girdle -- you see him as more animal than human, though you long ago learned to discern a man's expressions on his face.

I was afraid of him, says the memory of Yvette in your head, as though she's trying to justify herself to you. There are other thoughts as well, murkier; but you are left with the impression that she killed herself, in the end, not because of her family's misfortunes or the lord she was separated from; but because she was carrying a child, and feared that it would be born some kind of monster.

>kiss beast
As you do, you can't help remembering -- because of the girdle -- how many women before you this king imprisoned against their will. And why should he deserve to be forgiven, merely because he has been less cruel to you than to the others?

When you lift your head, he is his proper self: a man, about forty-five. Handsome, perhaps, but in the style of the lord mayor, not someone you would have aspired to wed. His face has perhaps softened a little since his youth, but he is still recognizably the same person.

He looks ruefully at his restored hands. "I failed to free them," he says. "And now I've dragged you into the trouble with me."

You shake your head, and try to calm him.



*** You have restored the King, but not his servants ***



Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, QUIT, or UNDO the last command?
> undo
Upper Bulb
[Previous turn undone.]

>go to lie library
You head southwest to the smoke-damaged chamber. And finally east to the lie library.

Lie Library
Fables, fictions, and falsehoods, arranged by number by type, and containing such categories as "In which the hero receives help from three aged figures," "In which the villain has a mysterious name," and so on.

You can see a storybook and a book return stand (on which are an infernal inkpot (full) and a great contract book) here.

>ring glass bell
You summon the librarian, who comes and looks at the contract book: you see this as a sort of fog. It frowns at the condition of some of the pages, then searches the front and back of the book; then, grimacing, it takes out a red seal like those used in the empire of the Chan.

It inks this carefully from the inkpot, then stamps inside the front of the book:


PROPERTY OF THE LIE LIBRARY
DO NOT REMOVE

...whereupon the contracts inside begin to unravel and dissolve into the merest stories.

>go to beast
You head west to the smoke-damaged chamber. And finally northeast to the upper bulb.

Upper Bulb
In the upper chamber, you find, there is almost as much sand as there is below; indeed for all you can tell the flow might be eternal.

Nearby an open ivory door leads southwest to the smoke-damaged chamber.

And here Beast lies, sprawled on the ground as if he'd fallen.

>kiss beast
As you do, you can't help remembering -- because of the girdle -- how many women before you this king imprisoned against their will. And why should he deserve to be forgiven, merely because he has been less cruel to you than to the others?

When you lift your head, he is his proper self: a man, about forty-five. Handsome, perhaps, but in the style of the lord mayor, not someone you would have aspired to wed. His face has perhaps softened a little since his youth, but he is still recognizably the same person.

His fingers stretch in experiment. "Dear virgin mother. You did it. The servants are free?"

You nod.

"Good girl." He touches your cheek affectionately; then freezes. "And you're wearing Yvette's girdle. I suppose you heard her story, in that case." He sticks out his jaw. "You can go now. It won't kill me, this time."

You draw a breath and give him your answer.



*** You have restored the King and freed his servants ***



Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, QUIT, or UNDO the last command?
> quit

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