Bronze
by Emily Short (2006)
Genres: Fantasy

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.

action: %
response: 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.

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.
action: About yourself
response: You are nontrivially the worse for your journey -- hungry, dirty, and tired. But all that can be seen to later.
action: You examine the moat
response: 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.
action: You examine the gate
response: It is closed and unlocked.
action: You go to the north
response: (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.

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.
action: You read the sign
response: 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.
action: You look at the fireplace
response: Unlit, vacant. It is almost as though you are not expected.
action: Go north
response: 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.
action: About yourself
response: You are nontrivially the worse for your journey -- hungry, dirty, and tired. But all that can be seen to later.
action: You go east
response: 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.
action: You examine the gargoyle
response: 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.
action: Go upward
response: 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.
action: Go east
response: 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.
action: You examine puzzle
response: 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.
action: You go south
response: 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.
action: You look at the mirrors
response: 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.
action: You look in the mirror
response: You look and see yourself, scratched and dirty from the long journey; and remember...

He stood in the doorway, amused. "You look displeased."

You, holding wide brocaded skirts. "They're very rich and very beautiful and much too fancy for me."

"And?"

"And--" You glanced down at them. "And they would have been out of fashion on my grandmother!"

"Which is the last time the servants had a chance to practice making gowns," he said. "Do you mind? There is no one to see you but me, and I assure you that my knowledge of current Parisian fashion is nonexistent..."
action: You examine the bed
response: Unrumpled: the service keeps them neat and tidy.
action: Go south
response: You step out into the rain.

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.
action: Sing
response: You make a little noise, to cheer yourself. Then stop again, when you remember that it is a song he taught you.
action: Dance
response: Despite all his lessons, you never did get the knack of it.
action: You think about the puzzle
response: You're missing an object that might be useful to resolving this problem.
action: You go to the east
response: 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.
action: You examine the stool
response: An ordinary three-legged stool, like the one your cat at home liked to sleep on.
action: You examine the bed
response: Unrumpled: the service keeps them neat and tidy.
action: You go west
response: A dizzying prospect, the spiral of steps down to the ground.
action: You go to the south-east
response: 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.
action: You look at the shackle
response: 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...
action: Go southwest
response: 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.

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

Perhaps he's downstairs somewhere, in the east wing. That would make sense. You find those rooms dreary and cold, but he spends time there when he wishes to be alone; perhaps...
action: You examine the portrait
response: "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.
action: You go north
response: (first opening the heavy door)
You get far enough to glimpse an open heavy door 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.

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.
action: You go west
response: 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.
action: You go north
response: 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.
action: Go south
response: 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.
action: You go to the southwest
response: A round tower offering protection to the drawbridge.
action: Go east
response: 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.
action: You go northeast
response: 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.
action: You examine the sceptre
response: 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.
action: You examine puzzle piece
response: Something shiny has been painted on the piece.
action: You examine the shoes
response: 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.
action: Go east
response: (first opening the small door)
(first unlocking the small door)
You lack a key that fits the small door.
action: You go east
response: 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.
action: You look at the King
response: 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.
action: You examine the Princess
response: Lucrezia wears silk the pale blue of the morning sky, and her eyes are little currants of malice.
action: Go east
response: 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.
action: Bronze1
response: Save failed.
action: Go southeast
response: 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.

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

There is still the chance that he's somewhere in the kitchen wing, west of the entrance hall. Maybe he got hungry.

(He never liked to eat in the dining hall alone, and took it up only when you were around. But maybe he's gone there for some reason anyway?)
action: You look at the helmet
response: 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.
action: Look around
response: 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.
action: You look through the window
response: Beyond a short stretch of clear ground, the forest grows thick and uninhabited for many miles.
action: You take the helmet
response: You acquire the helmet.
action: You go to the south-east
response: A little hexagonal room, from whose narrow window you can see the moat, the lawn, and the beginning of the forest outside.
action: You find the key
response: The current problem cannot be fully dealt with until you have addressed another issue; further exploration is called for.
action: You go to the west
response: 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.
action: You look around
response: 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.
action: Look around
response: 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.
action: You look around
response: 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."
action: You describe your surroundings
response: 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."
action: You describe your surroundings
response: 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."
action: You describe your surroundings
response: 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.
action: Look around
response: 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."
action: You describe your surroundings
response: 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."
action: Look around
response: 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."
action: Look around
response: 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."
action: You look around
response: 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.
action: You go to the west
response: 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.
action: Go north
response: 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.

So he's not among the kitchen things.

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.)
action: Go down
response: 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.
action: You go northeast
response: 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.

You hear some dry sifting from the immediate vicinity.
action: You listen
response: You hear some dry sifting from the immediate vicinity.
action: Wear helmet
response: 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.
action: You listen
response: Windchimes ring, muted, from the southeast. You can also make out your own steady breathing and some dry sifting from the immediate vicinity.
action: Go southeast
response: 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 northeast, competing with some dry sifting from the northwest and an irregular dripping from the southeast. You can also make out your own steady breathing.
action: Go southeast
response: 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 northwest. You can also make out your own steady breathing and an irregular dripping from the immediate vicinity.
action: You listen to the dripping
response: Even your own breathing is magnified when you wear the helmet, so you must concentrate past it...

The irregular dripping sounds like a leak.
action: Go northwest
response: 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 southeast. You can also make out your own steady breathing and some dry sifting from the immediate vicinity.
action: You listen to the sifting
response: Even your own breathing is magnified when you wear the helmet, so you must concentrate past it...

The dry sifting sounds like some dust.
action: You take the dust
response: They're hardly portable.
action: You listen
response: Windchimes ring, muted, from the northwest. You can also make out your own steady breathing and an irregular dripping from the immediate vicinity.
action: You go to the north-east
response: 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 northeast. You can also make out your own steady breathing.
action: Go upwards
response: You climb into the pale light...

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.
action: Ring chimes
response: You cannot reach the iron windchimes from your present position; you'd need something to stand on.
action: You find the stool
response: You head down to rooted room. Then south to the enormous kitchen. Then east to the great dining hall. Then east 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 east to the 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.
action: You take the stool
response: You acquire the stool.
action: You go to the rose garden
response: You head west 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. Then west to the great dining hall. Then west to the enormous kitchen. Then north to the servant quarters. Then down to the apprentice's workshop.

You climb into the pale light...

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.
action: You drop the stool
response: You set the stool down next to one wall.
action: Ring chimes
response: They sound prettily only when hung up for the wind.
action: You take the chimes
response: The chimes have been locked to the chain that supports them.
action: You listen to the chimes
response: Even your own breathing is magnified when you wear the helmet, so you must concentrate past it...

The chimes sound randomly, but not unpleasantly. It is only if you listen for a long time that they begin to remind you of a warning or a threat.
action: Go downwards
response: You decide that you'll need to get down first. You get off 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.

You can also see a stool here.

Though a dim light filters down from rose garden, you can see almost nothing of the contents of your current location.
action: Go upwards
response: You climb into the pale light...

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.
action: You take the stool
response: You acquire the stool.
action: Go south
response: 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.
action: You go west
response: 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.
action: You go east
response: 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.
action: You take all
response: discarded embroidery materials: You acquire the discarded embroidery materials, and assess it curiously.

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.
action: Inventory
response: You are carrying:
some discarded embroidery materials
a stool
a helmet (being worn)
action: You look at the materials
response: Unfinished linen and threads.
action: Look around
response: Lucrezia, they say, died here. It is only a turning point in the corridor, with a bench.
action: You examine the bench
response: A deep seat with a curious relief carved onto the back: if you look from the right angle, it appears as though Lucrezia is lying on the bench, just like a lady on a tomb, her hands piously folded around the handle of a mirror. Scrying her own death, perhaps, or maybe communicating with someone who had already died.
action: You go northwest
response: 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.
action: You go to the tapestry
response: You head down to rooted room. Then south to the enormous kitchen. Then east to the great dining hall. Then east 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 east to the guest bedroom.

Made up for the reception of a guest who will never arrive again. A tapestry recalls the story.
action: You take the tapestry
response: That's hardly portable.
action: You go to the kitchen
response: You head west 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. Then west to the great dining hall. And finally west to the 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.
action: You go to the east
response: 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.
action: You go north
response: The chime summons the phantom guard again, preventing you from making any progress.
action: You go to the east
response: 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.
action: You go to the chimes
response: You cannot reach the iron windchimes from your present position; you'd need something to stand on.
action: You go to the rose garden
response: You head west to the great dining hall. Then west to the enormous kitchen. Then north to the servant quarters. Then down to the apprentice's workshop.

You climb into the pale light...

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.
action: You stand on the stool
response: You decide that you'll need the stool to be on the ground first. You set the stool down next to one wall.

You stand, a little precariously, on the stool, and are now more or less the same height as an ordinary person.
action: You check what you're carrying
response: You are carrying:
some discarded embroidery materials
a helmet (being worn)
action: Muffle chimes
response: What do you want to muffle the iron windchimes in?
action: You go to the kitchen
response: You head down to rooted room. You decide that you'll need to get down first. And finally south to the 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.
action: Go north
response: 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.
action: Objects
response: Thus far you have seen an iron-barred gate, a helmet, an assassination of King Elzibad, an iron cage, a sceptre, a puzzle piece, a pair of cloven shoes, an obscene gargoyle, some discarded embroidery materials, some iron windchimes, a small door, a bentwood table, a jigsaw puzzle, a royal portrait, a stool, a shackle and a heavy door.
action: You go to the King
response: You head south to the enormous kitchen. Then east to the great dining hall. Then east to the entrance hall. Then east to the scarlet gallery. And finally east to the 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.
action: You take the King
response: That's hardly portable.
action: You look behind the King
response: Bare wall; nothing else.
action: You go to the gargoyle
response: You head west to the scarlet gallery. Then west to the entrance hall. Then north to the central courtyard. And finally east to the 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.
action: You look at the gargoyle
response: 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.
action: You go to the shackle
response: You head up to the upstairs helical staircase. Then east to the private parlor. And finally southeast to the 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.
action: You take shackle
response: You acquire the shackle.
action: You go to stool
response: 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 south to the entrance hall. Then west to the great dining hall. Then west to the enormous kitchen. Then north to the servant quarters. Then down to the apprentice's workshop.

You climb into the pale light...

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.
action: You go to your bedroom
response: You head down to rooted room. You decide that you'll need to get down first. Then south to the enormous kitchen. Then east to the great dining hall. Then east 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.

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.
action: You look under the bed
response: It is clean beneath as above.
action: You take the mirror
response: They're hardly portable.
action: You go to the labyrinth
response: 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. Then east to the scarlet gallery. Then east to the gallery of historical paintings. And finally east to the 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.
action: You check what you're carrying
response: You are carrying:
a shackle
some discarded embroidery materials
a helmet (being worn)
action: You listen
response: Windchimes ring, almost inaudible, from the northwest. You can also make out your own steady breathing.
action: Go east
response: From here, you can head up.
action: You go to the northwest
response: 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.
action: You go southwest
response: 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 northwest. You can also make out your own steady breathing and an irregular dripping from the immediate vicinity.
action: Go up
response: You appear to be lost in here, except that you recall you came in from the northeast. If necessary you can always try going to a room you've already visited, or heading roughly out.
action: You go outside
response: By dead reckoning, you head back towards where you think the surface ought to be...

You head uncertainly in what feels like the right direction, based on dimly apprehended light, and the movements of air

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.
action: You take the ladder
response: That's fixed in place.
action: You hold the nose
response: (It is usually not necessary to refer to specific body parts.)

You are always self-possessed.
action: You put the shackle on the nose
response: (It is usually not necessary to refer to specific body parts.)

You already wear a shackle of a sort.
action: You think about the chimes
response: To reach the windchimes, it might help to stand on something.
action: Y.
response: Try standing on the stool.
action: You think about the stool
response: You have seen the item you need to solve this problem, but it's not in sight at the moment. (The objects command will list everything you remember seeing, if you'd like to review.)
action: Y.
response: 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.)
action: You go to garden
response: You head down to the apprentice's workshop.

You climb into the pale light...

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.
action: You examine the roses
response: In the bud it is innocent; in bloom, it bears the mark of a death's-head at the heart.
action: You think about the chimes
response: You're missing an object that might be useful to resolving this problem.
action: Y.
response: Perhaps you should explore further.
There's a room you haven't yet visited.
action: You think about the stool
response: The stool might be useful to have.
action: Y.
response: The stool may help with the iron windchimes.
action: Y.
response: Try going southeast to start your explorations.
action: You go to the southeast
response: You decide that you'll need to get down first. You get off 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.

You can also see a stool here.

Lucrezia, they say, died here. It is only a turning point in the corridor, with a bench.
action: You look at the ground
response: You take another look around.

Lucrezia, they say, died here. It is only a turning point in the corridor, with a bench.
action: You think about the bench
response: You could sit on the stone bench.
action: You sit on the bench
response: You settle uneasily onto the bench, recalling its ghostly former user.
action: You go west
response: You decide that you'll need to get down first. You get off the stone bench.

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

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.
action: You go to the stool
response: You head north to 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.
action: Go southeast
response: Lucrezia, they say, died here. It is only a turning point in the corridor, with a bench.
action: Go south
response: 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.
action: You take the key
response: 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.
action: You unlock door
response: (with the small key)
You unlock the small door.
action: Go west
response: (first opening the small door)

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.
action: Unlock cage
response: You lack a key that fits the iron cage.
action: Go east
response: 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.
action: Scry
response: What do you want to scry in?
action: You go to your bedroom
response: 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.

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.
action: You think about small key
response: The small key might be useful to have.
action: Y.
response: The small key may help with the iron windchimes and the small door.
action: You go to the stool
response: 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. Then east to the scarlet gallery. Then northeast to the treasure room. Then east to the scrying room. Then north to walk's end. And finally northwest to 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.
action: Unlock chimes
response: (with the small key)
You unlock the iron windchimes.
action: You take them
response: You take the chimes down, silencing them and muting their power. When they are entirely still, they fade from your grip and vanish.
action: You go south
response: You decide that you'll need to get down first. You get off 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.

You can see a stool here.

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.
action: You go to the entrance
response: You head east to walk's end. Then south to the scrying room. Then west to the treasure room. Then southwest to the scarlet gallery. And finally west to the 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.
action: Go southwest
response: A round tower offering protection to the drawbridge. It is less cheery and more strongly fortified than the Scarlet Tower, and offers little by way of a view.
action: Go north
response: 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.
action: You look at the map
response: 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.
action: You go southwest
response: 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.
action: Examine book
response: 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.
action: You take the book
response: You acquire the great contract book.
action: You read book
response: The words are in a language you don't understand: even the Beast had to take it to the translation room to make any sense of it.
action: You go downward
response: Though a dim light filters down from the law library, 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 your own steady breathing, and some dry sifting from the north.
action: Go up
response: 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.
action: Go north
response: 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.
action: You remove the helmet
response: You lift the helmet from your head, and the sudden quiet feels like going deaf.
action: Go north
response: 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.
action: Go upwards
response: 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.
action: You go southwest
response: (first opening the ivory door)
(first unlocking the ivory door)
You lack a key that fits the ivory door.
action: You go east
response: 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.

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.
action: You examine Beast
response: 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.
action: Kiss Beast
response: You press your mouth to his cold one, and catch the strange scent of night woods, cinnamon, and blood copper.

He does not stir.
action: You search Beast
response: He sleeps, or inhabits some state deeper than sleep.
action: You go to the parlor
response: You head west to the upper bulb. Then down to the lower bulb. Then east to the state rotunda. Then south 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.

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.
action: Go north
response: You get far enough to glimpse an open heavy door 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.

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.
action: You go to the dining hall
response: You head 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 west to the 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.
action: Go north
response: 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.
action: You think about the bell
response: The Beast's collection of bells lives upstairs in the bell room, and provides him more or less whatever he needs, by summoning the servants indentured to his house. You have yet to discover any task, however menial or obscure, for which there is not some slave or other recorded.
action: You think about the breeze
response: Rooms with a strong smell will sometimes air out when doors at both sides are opened, allowing a breeze to go through.
action: You go to still life
response: You head north to the lower bulb. Then up to the upper bulb. And finally east to the 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.

And here Beast lies, sprawled on the ground as if he'd fallen.
action: You open the heavy door
response: You open the heavy door.

With both doors open, a breeze begins to blow through the smelly area.
action: You examine the paintings
response: Which do you mean, Wedding Treasure or Supper with M?
action: You examine Wedding Treasure
response: 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.

The worst of rose stink has mostly gone, now.
action: You look at the Supper
response: A table nicely laid out with white linen and napkins, bread and fruit; and a spoon with a very, very long handle.
action: You go east
response: 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.
action: You examine the chessplayer
response: 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.
action: You think about food
response: The beast seems to be suffering extreme hunger.
action: You go to the east
response: 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 items are some iron windchimes, a little gold dinner bell, and a silver bell.
action: You take the dinner bell
response: You acquire the little gold dinner bell, and assess it curiously.

It is the dinner summons, and particularly familiar to you.
action: You take all
response: iron windchimes: You acquire the iron windchimes.
silver bell: You acquire the silver bell, and assess it curiously.

It bears the stamp of a lamplighter.
action: You go to the dining hall
response: 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. Then south to the law library. And finally south to the 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.
action: You ring the dinner bell
response: You ring the bell hopefully, but apparently it only works in the Kitchen itself.
action: You go to Kitchen
response: You head west to the enormous kitchen.

Haunted with the spirits of chefs past, generations and generations of culinary geniuses; one can never predict its whimsies.
action: You ring the dinner bell
response: 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.
action: You go to the dining hall
response: You head east to the 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.
action: You take the food
response: You acquire the feast, and assess it curiously.

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.

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.
action: You go to Beast
response: You head north to the law library. Then north to the lower bulb. Then up to the upper bulb. And finally east to the 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.

And here Beast lies, sprawled on the ground as if he'd fallen.
action: You feed the Beast
response: (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.
action: You check your inventory
response: You are carrying:
an iron key
a silver bell
some iron windchimes
a great contract book
a small key (which opens the iron windchimes and the small door)
a shackle
some discarded embroidery materials
a helmet
action: You go to the treasure room
response: You head west 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 northeast to the 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.
action: You open the cage
response: (first unlocking the iron cage)
(with the iron key)
You open the iron cage.
action: You take all
response: sceptre: You acquire the sceptre.
puzzle piece: You acquire the puzzle piece.
pair of cloven shoes: You acquire the pair of cloven shoes.
action: You examine the bell
response: It bears the stamp of a lamplighter.
action: You go to the parlor
response: 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.

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.
action: You put the puzzle piece in the jigsaw puzzle
response: 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."
action: You look at the puzzle
response: 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."
action: You go to the rose garden
response: You head 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. Then east to the scarlet gallery. Then northeast to the treasure room. Then east to the scrying room. Then north to walk's end. And finally northwest to 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.
action: You ring bell
response: The sound echoes; if you had to guess, you would say that a larger space lies somewhere to the southwest.
action: You wear the shoes
response: They emphatically do not fit. You will have to find someone to adjust them, evidently.
action: You go to the mosaic
response: You head uncertainly in what feels like the right direction, based on dimly apprehended light, and the movements of air

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.
action: You go to quarters
response: You head west to the gallery of historical paintings. Then west to the scarlet gallery. Then west to the entrance hall. Then west to the great dining hall. Then west to the enormous kitchen. And finally north to the 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.
action: You go to the lamp
response: There is a room here where you might be able to acquire light, but you haven't reached it yet. Try exploring further.
action: You examine the scepter
response: Studded with measly turquoises and semi-precious stones.
action: You go to the rotunda
response: You head down to the apprentice's workshop. And finally northeast to the 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.
action: Go east
response: 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.
action: You go east
response: 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.
action: Go north
response: 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.
action: You go to the upper bulb
response: You head south to cloister walk. Then west to the parliamentary chambers. Then west to the state rotunda. Then west to the lower bulb. And finally up to the 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.
action: You go southwest
response: (first opening the ivory door)
(first unlocking the ivory door)
You lack a key that fits the ivory door.
action: You go to the bell room
response: You head east to the gallery of still life. Then east to the white gallery. And finally east to the 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 items is a little gold dinner bell.
action: You ring bell
response: (the silver bell)
You ring the bell, but those who might hear and heed it are not close enough.
action: You go to the east
response: 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.
action: You look at the sketches
response: They concentrate on weak points and the functioning of the digestive tract.
action: Examine book
response: (the 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.
action: You examine the poison
response: 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.
action: You go to the upper bulb
response: You head west to the bellroom. Then west to the white gallery. Then west to the gallery of still life. And finally west to the 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.
action: You look at the ivory door
response: It is closed and locked.
action: You examine papers
response: 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.
action: You look up Lucrezia
response: What do you want to look up in?
action: You look up Lucrezia in the papers
response: 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?
action: You look up Devil in the papers
response: 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.
action: You look up Elzibad in the papers
response: 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.
action: You look up the gargoyle in the papers
response: Among the records there is a large section on the various failed romantic business of the kings and queens and their brothers and sisters, so that you might almost suspect this to be part of the castle's curse.

In this collection, you find the history of Duke Cantherius: married at 59 to a lissome wife of 17, he "urgently desired to enjoy her company", but found himself unable. He consulted a young Parisian doctor, who contracted that through his services the Duchess would be delivered of a child within the year.

Alas, medicine brought no relief; not even that most reliable method, an ointment of honey, crow's egg, and the gall of an electric eel. The Duchess began to hint that she meant to have the marriage annulled; the Duke grew abusive. Seeing no solution through medical arts, the doctor was compelled by his contract to seduce the Duchess.

When the young woman was delivered of triplets, the Duke kept two of the boys and raised them as his own; the third he strangled, together with the doctor himself, as a punishment to his erring wife.

Whereupon the ugly gargoyle appeared on the stair, and could never be budged.
action: You look up myself in the papers
response: You are the merest interloper here.
action: You go to lower bulb
response: You head east to the upper bulb. And finally down to the 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.
action: You go east
response: 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.
action: Go west
response: 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.
action: Go west
response: 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.
action: You ring bell
response: The silver bell rings once in triumph, and the room springs to brilliant light.

The bell itself fades back to its usual place.
action: You look at your surroundings
response: 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.
action: You take the candle
response: You acquire the candle, and assess it curiously.

Only apparently a single candle, but giving off a great deal of illumination.
action: You go to the mosaic
response: You head east 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. Then east to the gallery of historical paintings. And finally east to the 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.
action: You go to map
response: You head west to the gallery of historical paintings. Then west to the scarlet gallery. Then west to the entrance hall. Then north to the central courtyard. And finally north to the 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.
action: You put the candle on the map
response: You set down the candle.
action: Describe the surroundings
response: Built for the bureaucratic offices of the palace. Inlaid in the floor is the map of all the lands that once this palace commanded: you have set up a candle in its accustomed place to shed light over the map.

You can see a candle here.
action: You examine map
response: 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.
action: You go to the records room
response: You head west to the lower bulb. Then up to the upper bulb. And finally west to the records room.

Where all the papers and histories are kept, not only for the royal family, but for kin in every kind and direction.
action: You look up Elzibad in the papers
response: 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.
action: You look uthe medici-credenze in the papers
response: 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?
action: You go to the map
response: You head east to the upper bulb. Then down to the lower bulb. And finally east to the 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: you have set up a candle in its accustomed place to shed light over the map.

You can see a candle here.
action: You take the candle
response: You acquire the candle.
action: You go to the rose garden
response: You head east to the parliamentary chambers. Then east to cloister walk. And finally north to 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.
action: Go down
response: Cut as an afterthought through earth and the underside of the garden, and therefore muddy and soil-scented.
action: You go to the south-west
response: 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.
action: You read the inscription
response: 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.
action: You drop the candle
response: You set the candle down immediately under the inscription -- but that's no good, you see at once, because thanks to the curvature of the wall you still can't get the thing at the right angle. Perhaps if it were lit from further off and from the side, rather than the bottom...
action: You take the candle
response: You pick up the candle, restoring the lighting to a more natural angle. Immediately the place seems less unnerving.
action: You open the door
response: (first unlocking the sinister door)
You lack a key that fits the sinister door.
action: You pull the cord
response: You give the cord a hard yank. Somewhere above you a very deep bell tolls.
action: You go to the southwest
response: 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.
action: You go to the northeast
response: Cut as an afterthought through earth and the underside of the garden, and therefore muddy and soil-scented.
action: You go south
response: A room of scrap and refuse: wooden structures and clay molds from which bells might be made, scrap metal, pieces of bells now broken.
action: Go east
response: A dank storage area, stacked with bars of wax -- perhaps for some casting process? You couldn't say.
action: You examine the wax
response: Far too large a supply for you to move around.
action: You go to the southwest
response: 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.
action: You examine the miniature
response: The tiny image of a lady in a green girdle. But it isn't Lucrezia.
action: You take all
response: poison 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.
action: You go southwest
response: 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.
action: You look at the leak
response: The dripping moisture has the oily look of moat water.
action: Go northeast
response: 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.
action: You go southeast
response: 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.
action: You take the miniature
response: It fails to move even a little, but clings to its place tenaciously -- in the way you associate with the stone gargoyle, upstairs.
action: You look at the bears
response: Almost a ceremonial bear procession, if bears had liturgies and rituals.
action: You go to the rooted room
response: You head down to the bear corridor. Then northwest to the zoo. Then northeast to wax supply. Then west to bell castings. And finally north to rooted room.

Cut as an afterthought through earth and the underside of the garden, and therefore muddy and soil-scented.
action: You go to Library
response: Which do you mean, the Law Library or the Lie Library?
action: You go to Law Library
response: 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. Then west to the parliamentary chambers. , emerging into the parliamentary chambers. Then west to the state rotunda. , emerging into the state rotunda. And then southwest to the 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.
action: You go to the quarters
response: You head south to the great dining hall. Then west to the enormous kitchen. And finally north to the 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.
action: You go to Beast
response: You head south to the enormous kitchen. Then east 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 east to the 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.

And here Beast lies, sprawled on the ground as if he'd fallen.
action: You go to the tight passage
response: 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. And finally southwest to 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.
action: You drop the stool
response: You set the stool down next to one wall.
action: You put the candle on the stool
response: You put the candle on the stool.
action: You examine the inscription
response: There's lettering beneath the pullcord.

The candle is at about the right height here to illuminate the inscription, but the angle's off; further down the corridor would be better.
action: You take stool and the candle
response: 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.
action: You go to the southwest
response: 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.
action: You go to the northeast
response: Cut as an afterthought through earth and the underside of the garden, and therefore muddy and soil-scented.
action: You put the candle on the stool
response: 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.
action: Go southwest
response: 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.
action: You read the inscription
response: 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.
action: Go northeast
response: 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.
action: You take the candle and the stool
response: candle: You pick up the candle, restoring the lighting to a more natural angle. Immediately the place seems less unnerving.
stool: You acquire the stool.
action: You go to the parliamentry chambers
response: 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.

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.
action: Wait
response: 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.
action: You go to the tight passage
response: You head east to cloister walk. Then north to rose garden. Then down to rooted room. And finally southwest to 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.
action: You go to the west
response: 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.
action: You look at the image
response: 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.
action: You look up Beast in the notes
response: You can discover no specific references to the Beast; though your hazy impression from his conversation is that he never knew Lucrezia, she having been generations before him.
action: You look up Elzibad in the notes
response: Lucrezia seems to have been quite interested in Elzibad, or rather, in what happened to the castle after Elzibad's death, when contracts were made binding upon all who entered. But there is nothing in her notes to suggest that she had access to sources beyond the papers in the records room, and therefore you are likely to be able to find out all the same yourself, if you wish.
action: You look up the shoemaker in the book
response: 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.
action: You look up Devil in the notes
response: References to the devil are scattered throughout the pages, with no one portion devoted to him entirely. Somewhat to your surprise, Lucrezia does not seem to have been an ardent fan of the Old Gentleman, neither a professed witch nor a worshipper at his court; she was merely interested in a pragmatic, legalistic way in the question of whether his compact with the ruling family of this castle could ever be dissolved, with or without the damnation of all parties.
action: You look up the pen in the notes
response: 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."
action: You look up the roses in the notes
response: The roses are of Lucrezia's own breeding, and you have the impression she regarded them in the nature of a practical joke.
action: You look up the mirror in the notes
response: There are various records of the conferences Lucrezia had with various friends, family members, and servants, by ringing bells in the presence of her magical mirrors.
action: You look up the hourglass in the notes
response: From the notes you have the impression that Lucrezia understood the function of the hourglass and expected that everyone else did also; therefore, maddeningly, she did not record it. But it seems merely to be a measure of something, not a source of power or control.
action: You go to the translation room
response: 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 west to the lower bulb. , emerging into the lower bulb. And then west to the 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.
action: You read about the shoemaker in book
response: You find a contract for a shoemaker: longer than the average contract, because it seems to have enslaved the man almost without limit, to serve Lucrezia's constant need: she had very very bad feet. It omits the usual information about the summons and the usual location of action, but the image in Lucrezia's study is more helpful -- perhaps, again, an intentional precaution on her part.
action: You read about the cook in the book
response: Dozens of cooks were placed under contract, at different times, new ones being brought on as the old ones were unable to keep up with the current fashions in cuisine; and these are controlled in turn by the gold dinner bell.
action: You read about Beast in the book
response: Even if you knew his name, he wouldn't be listed here, of course. The master is not contracted, only the servants.
action: You read about yourself in the book
response: 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.
action: You read about the father in the book
response: 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."
action: You read about the gargoyle in the book
response: After some researches you succeed in finding a reference, to a young doctor who was contracted to the castle to relieve the impotence of the king's brother, Duke Cantherius.
action: You read about the miniature in the book
response: 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.
action: You go to the papers
response: You head east to the lower bulb. Then up to the upper bulb. And finally west to the records room.

Where all the papers and histories are kept, not only for the royal family, but for kin in every kind and direction.
action: You look up Yvette in the papers
response: 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.
action: You look up Cantherius in the papers
response: Among the records there is a large section on the various failed romantic business of the kings and queens and their brothers and sisters, so that you might almost suspect this to be part of the castle's curse.

In this collection, you find the history of Duke Cantherius: married at 59 to a lissome wife of 17, he "urgently desired to enjoy her company", but found himself unable. He consulted a young Parisian doctor, who contracted that through his services the Duchess would be delivered of a child within the year.

Alas, medicine brought no relief; not even that most reliable method, an ointment of honey, crow's egg, and the gall of an electric eel. The Duchess began to hint that she meant to have the marriage annulled; the Duke grew abusive. Seeing no solution through medical arts, the doctor was compelled by his contract to seduce the Duchess.

When the young woman was delivered of triplets, the Duke kept two of the boys and raised them as his own; the third he strangled, together with the doctor himself, as a punishment to his erring wife.

Whereupon the ugly gargoyle appeared on the stair, and could never be budged.
action: You go to the notes
response: You head east 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.

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.
action: You go to the bell room
response: 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 west to the lower bulb. , emerging into the lower bulb. Then up to the upper bulb. , emerging into the upper bulb. Then east to the gallery of still life. , emerging into the gallery of still life. Then east to the white gallery. , emerging into the white gallery. And then east to the 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 items are a cow bell, a leather tambourine, a silver bell, and a little gold dinner bell.
action: You take all
response: cow bell: You acquire the cow bell, and assess it curiously.

Much like the ones you used on the cows at home.

leather tambourine: You acquire the leather tambourine, and assess it curiously.

A hoop stretched with good-quality leather.

silver bell: You acquire the silver bell.
little gold dinner bell: You acquire the little gold dinner bell.
action: You go to study
response: 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. 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.

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.
action: You play the tambourine
response: 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.
action: You go to the parlor
response: 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. And then east to the 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.
action: Go southeast
response: 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.
action: You play the tambourine
response: 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.
action: You wear the shoes
response: 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.
action: You go to the drawbridge
response: 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 south to the entrance hall. And finally south to the 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.
action: You go to Law Library
response: You head north to the entrance hall. Then west to the great dining hall. And finally north to the 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.
action: Go downward
response: 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.
action: You go north
response: 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.
action: You go southeast
response: 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.
action: You open the drawers
response: You open the drawers, revealing an ivory key and an elephant harness.
action: You take the key and the harness
response: Which do you mean, the ivory key, the iron key or the small key?
action: You take the ivory key
response: 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.
action: Inventory
response: You are carrying:
an ivory key
a little gold dinner bell
a silver bell
a cow bell
a stool
a candle (providing light)
a poison vial
a pair of cloven shoes (being worn)
a sceptre
an iron key (which opens the iron cage)
some iron windchimes
a great contract book
a small key (which opens the iron windchimes and the small door)
a shackle
some discarded embroidery materials
a helmet
action: You take the harness
response: The harness refuses to budge, in a way you associate with the stone gargoyle.
action: You look at the harness
response: 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.
action: You go to the south-east
response: 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.
action: You go to the north-west
response: 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.
action: Go northeast
response: 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.
action: Go southwest
response: The floor sounds progressively stranger as you walk toward the middle of the room.

The graves of men who died before resolving their debts.
action: Go northwest
response: As you walk out of the room, you notice that your footsteps sound odd.

A mausoleum for apprentices who perished before their terms of indenture were complete.

A decaying ladder leads up.
action: Go downwards
response: A mausoleum for apprentices who perished before their terms of indenture were complete.

A decaying ladder leads up.
action: You tap the floor
response: You tap experimentally on the floor, but lack the acuity of hearing to tell whether there are different degrees of hollowness.
action: Wear helmet
response: 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.
action: You tap the floor
response: You tap experimentally on the floor, listening closely through the power of the helmet, until you find a suspiciously resonant -- and loose -- stone.
action: You take the stone
response: That's fixed in place.
action: You move stone
response: You open the trapdoor.
action: You descend
response: The air is clammy and unpleasant, and clogs in your lungs.

Nearby an open trapdoor leads up to the debtor's paradise.
action: You go north
response: 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.
action: You examine the fountain
response: The liquid is sludge-black where it pours in quantity, but where it runs thin, it appears red.
action: Smell liquid
response: Despite its unappealing appearance and the rankness of the air, it does not smell as vile as you expect: more bitter.
action: You fill the vial
response: The vial is stoppered and full of the old poison; and in any case who knows how the liquid here would interact with the apothecary's brew? Better to find some other container.
action: You check your inventory
response: You are carrying:
an ivory key
a little gold dinner bell
a silver bell
a cow bell
a stool
a candle (providing light)
a poison vial
a pair of cloven shoes (being worn)
a sceptre
an iron key (which opens the iron cage)
some iron windchimes
a great contract book
a small key (which opens the iron windchimes and the small door)
a shackle
some discarded embroidery materials
a helmet (being worn)
action: You go south
response: The air is clammy and unpleasant, and clogs in your lungs.

Nearby an open trapdoor leads up to the debtor's paradise.
action: Go upward
response: The graves of men who died before resolving their debts.

Nearby an open trapdoor leads down to the dank room.
action: You go north
response: The resting place of maidens who died before marrying those to whom they were engaged.
action: You go to the upper bulb
response: You head south 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.
action: You remove the helmet
response: You lift the helmet from your head, and the sudden quiet feels like going deaf.
action: You go to the upper bulb
response: You head north to the lower bulb. And finally up to the 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.
action: You unlock the ivory door
response: (with the ivory key)
You unlock the ivory door.
action: You go to the south-west
response: (first opening the ivory door)

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.
action: You look at the mural
response: 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.
action: You go to the south
response: 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.
action: You go east
response: Lined with neat rows of inscrutable -- one might almost say pointless -- objects.

There's a cane (probably a swordstick, by the look of the handle) and a silver buckle (without a mate); a homunculus, a glass leaf, a copper snake; an inkpot (empty), a white apple, a stuffed boar, a preserved goat, a parrot perch, a green cloth swatch, a dark-colored pendant, a gold ring, and a broken beam.
action: You take all
response: neat rows: A discouraging prospect -- moving everything from this room is really work for about a dozen strong spirits from the contract book.
action: You take the inkpot
response: You acquire the inkpot, and assess it curiously.

A very curious object.
action: You examine the homunculus
response: A very very curious object.
action: You examine the cane
response: A very very very curious object.
action: You examine the buckle
response: A very very very very curious object.
action: You examine the leaf
response: A very very very very very curious object.
action: You look at the snake
response: A very very very very very very curious object.
action: You look at apple
response: A very very very very very very very curious object.
action: You examine the boar
response: A very very very very very very very very curious object.
action: You examine the goat
response: A very very very very very very very very very curious object.
action: You examine the perch
response: A very very very very very very very very very very curious object.
action: You look at the cloth
response: (the discarded embroidery materials)
Unfinished linen and threads.
action: You take cloth
response: (the green cloth swatch)
You acquire the green cloth swatch, and assess it curiously.

A very very very very very very very very very very very curious object.
action: You take the pendant
response: You acquire the dark-colored pendant, and assess it curiously.

A very very very very very very very very very very very very curious object.
action: You take the ring
response: You acquire the gold ring, and assess it curiously.

A very very very very very very very very very very very very very curious object.
action: You take the leaf
response: You acquire the glass leaf.
action: You take the beam
response: The broken beam is too heavy for you to lift.
action: Examine beam
response: A very very very very very very very very very very very very very very curious object.
action: You take the cane
response: You acquire the cane.
action: You take the buckle
response: You acquire the silver buckle.
action: You take the homunculus
response: You acquire the homunculus.
action: You take the leaf
response: You already have that.
action: You take the snake
response: You acquire the copper snake.
action: You take the apple
response: You acquire the white apple.
action: You take the boar
response: The stuffed boar is too heavy for you to lift.
action: You take the goat
response: The preserved goat is too heavy for you to lift.
action: You take the perch
response: The parrot perch is too heavy for you to lift.
action: Go south
response: From the looks of things, immediately above the Guard Tower. An assortment of weapons, most of them hundreds of years old and no longer useful, are collected here, though from the gory appearance at least a few of the daggers have been sharpened and tried in the relatively recent past.
action: You take the dagger
response: You have learned that the Beast cannot be killed so directly -- though to judge by the evidence he did try here. And in general physical violence has never been much use against the castle's more spiritual powers.
action: You go north
response: 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.
action: Go north
response: 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.
action: Examine storybook
response: 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.)
action: You go to your bedroom
response: 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.

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.
action: You ring the cow bell
response: 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.
action: You go to the virgin's end
response: 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. Then down to the central crypt. And finally north to the 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.
action: You take the the magic girdle
response: 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.
action: You think about the girdle
response: (the magic girdle)
You're still missing some information that might be useful to understanding the problem.
action: You wear the girdle
response: You put on the girdle, securing it around you. It fits unexpectedly well.
action: You examine the scepter
response: Studded with measly turquoises and semi-precious stones.
action: You go to Beast
response: 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. Then up to the upper bulb. , emerging into the upper bulb. And then east to the 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.

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.
action: Kiss Beast
response: 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.
action: You go to Lie Library
response: You head west to the upper bulb. Then southwest to the smoke-damaged chamber. And finally east to the 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.
action: You take the storybook
response: You acquire the storybook.
action: You put the contract book on the stand
response: You put the great contract book on the book return stand.
action: You look at the contract book
response: 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.
action: You look at the stand
response: 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.
action: You check what you're carrying
response: You are carrying:
a storybook
a magic girdle (being worn)
a white apple
a copper snake
a homunculus
a silver buckle
a cane
a glass leaf
a gold ring
a dark-colored pendant
a green cloth swatch
an inkpot (empty)
an ivory key (which opens the ivory door)
a little gold dinner bell
a silver bell
a stool
a candle (providing light)
a poison vial
a pair of cloven shoes (being worn)
a sceptre
an iron key (which opens the iron cage)
some iron windchimes
a small key (which opens the iron windchimes and the small door)
a shackle
some discarded embroidery materials
a helmet
action: You go to the bell room
response: 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.

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 items are a cow bell and a leather tambourine.
action: You go to the bell castings
response: 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. 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. And finally south to 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.
action: You go to Lie Library
response: You head north 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 west to the lower bulb. , emerging into the lower bulb. Then up to the upper bulb. , emerging into the upper bulb. Then southwest to the smoke-damaged chamber. , emerging into the smoke-damaged chamber. And then east to the 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 great contract book) here.
action: You ring bell
response: Which do you mean, the little gold dinner bell or the silver bell?
action: You go to the fountain
response: 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. Then down to the central crypt. Then south to the debtor's paradise. Then down to the dank room. And finally north to the press room.

Liquid squeezed from the surrounding earth here flows out through a fountain, then soaks back into the ground below.
action: You take the liquid
response: That's hardly portable.
action: You fill the inkpot
response: You fill the inkpot from the fountain, trying to get as little as possible on yourself.
action: You go to Lie Library
response: You head south to the dank room. Then 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. , emerging into the lower bulb. Then up to the upper bulb. , emerging into the upper bulb. Then southwest to the smoke-damaged chamber. , emerging into the smoke-damaged chamber. And then east to the 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 great contract book) here.
action: You take the contract book
response: You acquire the great contract book.
action: You go to the translation room
response: You head west to the smoke-damaged chamber. Then northeast to the upper bulb. Then down to the lower bulb. And finally west to the 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.
action: You read contract book
response: 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.
action: You read the contract book
response: You read with interest the indenture of a certain ostler. Thanks to the neat way the names are written at the top right corner of each page, you could easily look up anyone, though.
action: You go to the bell room
response: 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. And finally east to the 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 items are a glass bell, a cow bell, and a leather tambourine.
action: You take the glass bell
response: You acquire the glass bell, and assess it curiously.

Thick glass with a clapper on a chain.
action: You go to Lie Library
response: 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.

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.
action: You put the contract on the stand
response: You put the great contract book on the book return stand.
action: You ring glass bell
response: 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.
action: You put the inkpot on the stand
response: You put the inkpot on the book return stand.
action: You ring glass bell
response: 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:



...whereupon the contracts inside begin to unravel and dissolve into the merest stories.
action: Look around
response: 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 an inkpot (full)) here.
action: You go to Beast
response: You head west to the smoke-damaged chamber. Then northeast to the upper bulb. And finally east to the 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.

And here Beast lies, sprawled on the ground as if he'd fallen.
action: You go to the gate
response: Which do you mean, the iron-barred gate or the mural?
action: You go tthe iron-barred gate
response: You head west to the upper bulb. Then down to the lower bulb. Then east to the state rotunda. Then south to the central courtyard. And finally south to the 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.
action: Go north
response: 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.
action: You go south
response: 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.
action: Go south
response: 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.
action: You go to Beast
response: 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. Then up to the upper bulb. And finally east to the 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.

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