[Notes for the run of July 15, 1999.] We discuss what supplies we should ask for, and other preparations for the trip. We ask for fresh quivers of arrows, and extra arrows (though not a whole barrel as some had hoped for :-), and also spare weapons in case of breakage, as Rhori warns us we may be gone rather a while. Brillig gets bullets for his sling. Calais notes that he's stronger than when we started, and picks out a stronger bow. Paris, having learned something of logistics, asks for enough money to cover our food and boat passage for the journey. We also arrange for horses, and for riding training whenever people want to budget the time. Calais notices that Rhori keeps a smaller bow on his horse, and asks about it. Rhori explains that a longbow is too big to use on horseback, so if Calais is thinking of learning enough riding to be able to fight on horseback he should get a shortbow as well. Calais isn't sure how much riding he'll pick up, but gets a shortbow anyway just to be safe. Anton acquires a musical instrument of some sort. The week passes, and Sevenday, and then comes the harvest festival. Paris says she's going to go to it with some people from the palace who invited her to join them. The rest of us go from the Jouet district. The two groups don't meet up, though it's not clear we'd recognise Paris even if we had, since she's wearing a dress and makeup. We find that the vendors here use coin more than we're used to. (At the Baron's festivals, we often used barter.) Calais hands out coins to everyone. Rhori notices that he's lost his money pouch, and Paris asks if Calais has seen it. Calais produces it, and Rhori ties it on extra tight. But partway through the day he discovers that it is once again missing. [Pat, you should tell me how much to subtract from my hoard for everyone's festival expenses. 20 coppers each? Whatever, just let me know.] The festival is arrayed along three miles of the main street. The prices are rather high, especially nearer the center of the festival. (Five coppers for a skewer of meat? You can eat for a week for that price!) The only fresh fruit is some grapes, which are quickly gone. Mia remarks on a place where it appears someone sometimes gives Tarot readings, but the person isn't there now. She's mentioned that reader before, and that she thought it might've been Dierdre. Calais remembers that we've been warned not to meet Dierdre under the new moon, but in any case it's currently about a week after the new moon. Paris tells us she's going to be posing as a boy for this journey. She picks out some boy's outfits to wear when she's out of armor. We ask her why she's going as a boy, and she explains that no woman has been given the right of arms since Tara joined the kingdom, and she must wear her sword as part of the rules of her Order. We ask about Mia and Claire, who also wear swords, and Paris explains that they should be wary about entering a palace or even the noble's part of a city while wearing them. Actually, this applies to peasants as well as women. Paris says there may be times when she tells us we should all hide or otherwise set aside our swords. She explains that she is allowed to wear hers because of her emblem, but that it'll still raise fewer questions if she isn't seen to be a woman. We continue training through Thirdday, and leave on Fourthday. Brillig asks if we can go out past the fields so he can see how the harvest is going. That takes us out to the south, so we all get to see the mound where Claire's earth-mage friend, Pierre, um, holes up. Brillig asks how we know what direction to go. Paris says she has a plan that involves seeing the librarian in the library at the capital city of Pelier, so we're headed there, after which we'll continue east to a river and hire a boat to take us north. Mia wears her ice armor full time. It's rather bright, but then, so is Paris's newly-repaired and beefed-up armor. Mia's horse isn't too sure about the armor, but puts up with it. Calais has trouble controlling his horse; he keeps riding out in front to scout, but the horse then stops to graze. We set up watches: Brillig/Calais/Mia, Claire/Rhori, and Paris/Anton. Mia casts her "extra luck" spell during the first watch. The night passes uneventfully. The next day, several of us decide to lead our horses for a while. Paris offers to scout, but Rhori convinces her that there's more to it than just going out in front and looking around, and that he should do it. He rides out a ways, and after a time sees a man with a stick running toward him. It's the Fool. He has a dog now. Rhori stops them, and the Fool breathlessly explains that he was running away from ogres. He doesn't know how many. The party catches up and tries to make sense of his story, but he's not good at giving details (like what's an ogre, how big are they, how many, where, etc.). They were moving rocks, big boulders really, from out of a hole. The Fool remarks that the road we're on looks familiar, but he thinks it used to be wider. We ask about the dog; he found it in the hills, where it distracted him from wandering over a cliff, so he named the dog Lucky. Paris believes this is the route the Prince and Baron Ruby were on when they encountered the demon, so we don't have to return to tell them that there are monsters along this road; they already know. We discuss whether we need to get a look at the ogres, to know what they're up to or just to know exactly where they are. The Fool says he's heading east, so we agree to let him travel with us. Anton checks for magic; neither the Fool nor his dog is magical. Rhori talks to the Fool a while, trying to understand him better. The blind leading the blind? :-) Mia recalls the location Silverlock described where he and the Prince met the monsters and the demon, 42 miles from Fort Carcasone. Paris, who has learned some geography, realises these are probably the same set. At that, she wants to go attack them, but we point out again that the Prince already knows these ogres are there, and didn't order us to deal with them, so it's not part of our current quest. So we continue east. Rhori asks the Fool if he knows where to find Strength and Justice. "She's with the lions, by the mountains, and a river? And you won't find Justice unless you know how to look for truth, and have a little luck." Rhori asks if Truth and Luck are in the Tarot, and Anton says no. Luck might be the Wheel of Fortune, but there's no Truth. Anton asks the Fool if he's seen the Warlord. The Fool gives a little gasp, but answers no. Then he adds that he was sure scared by the Chariot, though. We consider who might be associated with Truth. There's the Hermit; he carries the lamp of knowledge, which shines out. He's searching for either Truth or Justice. The Fool remarks more than once how everything seems topsy-turvy. We ask for some examples. He again mentions the narrow road, and that the Emperor's not on his throne. Also, the Emperor doesn't have his Sceptre or his Orb. "How do you know that?" asks Anton. "Otherwise things wouldn't be topsy-turvy, would they?" He thinks the Warlord's orcs might've captured the Emperor. Mia says the Emperor can command the Warlord, but the Fool says he can't command the Warlord without the Sceptre and Orb. Oh great. We travel more slowly so the Fool can keep up with us, so it takes an extra day to reach Fort Carcasone, arriving on Twosday morning. The Fort is also a way station for caravans, so there are inns there. We figure it'll be six days to Pelier, and another two to the river. We spend a day there to rest (especially those with saddlesores), then continue east, leaving the Fool behind. The valley is peaceful, full of happy families who've never heard of orcs, magic, and so on. After some days we approach a hill that gives a commanding view of the surrounding valley. There is a city atop the hill, descending down the sides. If we hadn't seen the Duke's city, this one would be quite impressive. Paris tells us this is where we should put away our weapons. Rhori asks if he needs to conceal that he works for the Prince; Paris doesn't think that's necessary. Indeed, she says that once we find a place to stay and have cleaned up, she'll want Rhori to wear the Prince's colors and escort her to the library, since that may help her to gain entrance. Calais asks around. It takes him a while, since he's not all that streetwise, but eventually he finds a reasonable place to stay. Paris wants a bath; she's apparently gotten used to daily baths. The innkeeper's daughter offers to wash our clothes for a modest fee. When she sees Mia's robes, though, she offers to do Mia's for free in return for her telling how to dye her clothes like that. Mia gossips with the girl, talking about the Duke's new castle, etc. Rhori asks Calais if he can find out where the Library is. Calais asks around, but nobody seems to know of one. He guesses it must be inside the palace. Paris (in boy's garb) and Rhori go to the palace, where Paris presents her letter of introduction for the chief librarian. After waiting a while, an assistant librarian comes and says the chief librarian is very busy; Paris this time explains that she has a letter for the chief librarian from Prince William. "Oh, Prince's business! Why didn't you say so?" He leads them in. The assistant asks Rhori about Paris. "Is his voice ever going to change? He sounds like a girl." "Well, so does she." Like most people who try to get information from Rhori, the assistant is confused. Rhori goes on about orcs and other stuff, until the assistant desperately ditches them with the chief. The chief librarian reads the letter, then leads them down a narrow stairway, through a narrow gap between bookcases, through a door, down more stairs, etc. Finally he pushes on the wall, and a secret door opens, revealing... yet another stairway down. Still later, they find themselves in a small room. It's not dusty, though the librarian says they've just recently found the room and so have no record of anyone being in there for hundreds of years. The librarian says that the books aren't to leave the library, by order of the Prince. Rhori asks what Prince. The heir. "The Prince of Air?" Paris explains to Rhori that the Crown Prince, the heir to the throne, is the older brother of the one we know, Prince William. The librarian points to some books as being the ones of interest, but says they're in no language he understands. He opens one to a bookmark and shows a diagram that Paris thinks is a map of the Duke's city, Westmore, but with some odd features that make her think perhaps it's a map of where it used to be before it came to the Duke. He leaves them to examine the books, saying he'll check back on them before he goes home, to make sure they're not trapped or lost. Paris and Rhori can't read the books either, so they look at the pictures. One book has pictures of all the major arcana. Another has star patterns and symbols of the various magical orders. After a while, Rhori asks whether they're accomplishing anything there. Paris mentions, among other things, that she had been hoping to find a way "into" the mountain to find some clue. Rhori looks around at the books, and notices something unusual about one stack, leading him to spot an anomaly in the wall. But he can't figure out how to open the wall. After a while they get hungry, and decide to go find some food and maybe bring back the rest of the team to help. But they don't get very far back up before coming to a place where they have to choose left or right, so they wait for the librarian. Rhori again forgets that Paris is pretending to be a boy, and lets slip to the librarian that she's a woman. Paris explains they want to bring some help to look at the books. The librarian finds a young page and gives him instructions to wait for Paris and her companions tomorrow and escort them in. The youngster thinks the librarian is a bit daft for referring to Paris as "her". Outside, Anton picks up some street rumors. He hears that the King is going to marry off the Princess to some Duke from the Islands. (We've heard that the kingdom is the kingdom of "Tara and the Isles", from when Tara and some island kingdom merged.) There are also rumors of great riches to the west; a Duke who gives houses away to anyone who shows up; streets paved with gold, etc. Anton asks about the library. Rhori says it was very small. Actually, Paris explains, the library is very big, but the room with the books is very small. "Which books?" Rhori answers, "The books that the Prince of Air says we can't take with us." Anton gets excited at that, but we eventually clear up that he means the Crown Prince, the heir. Aw shucks. Paris asks for help from the mages in looking at the books to see if the writing is magical. She also wants help in opening the compartment in the wall. The mages and Calais all offer to help, but Anton is clearly apprehensive. Brillig is also welcome to join us, in case the secret compartment leads to trouble. Upon returning the next day, Anton is indeed unwilling to enter the narrow, underground passages. He begs off, saying he doesn't feel well. He tries to get the books brought up, but that's not permitted. After a while he leaves, very unhappy, and goes to get drunk. The rest of us go down to the room. After much examination, Calais concludes that the wall section is counterbalanced, but the triggering mechanism is not in the room. He goes out to examine the spiral stairwell that led to the room, while the mages go in to examine the books. Rhori helps Calais look, and they find a concealed compartment in the central pillar of the stairs. Inside, Calais finds a finger-sized loop with a wire attached, running downward. After much trepidation and checking the compartment for traps, Calais inserts his finger and pulls up. There's a click and a rumble, and the mages report that the wall section has opened. To be continued...