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<>> restore

  Restored.
 <> On the ice of a frozen lake <>

  You are on the ice surface of the long, frozen lake in a deep valley, right
at the lake's southern end.  Snowy evergreen slopes enclose the narrow breadth
of the lake, and large drifted banks of snow line its eastern and western
shores.  The lake and its ice extend much farther to the north, and going south
would bring you back to the snow-covered shore.

  The king-to-be is struggling to keep himself upright on the ice, and not
having very much success.

<>> l

 <> On the ice of a frozen lake <>

  You are on the ice surface of the long, frozen lake in a deep valley, right
at the lake's southern end.  Snowy evergreen slopes enclose the narrow breadth
of the lake, and large drifted banks of snow line its eastern and western
shores.  The lake and its ice extend much farther to the north, and going south
would bring you back to the snow-covered shore.

  Your young pal is struggling to keep himself upright on the ice.

<>> n

  If you weren't already convinced that traveling long distances down the lake
on foot was completely impractical, the Prince of Dwindeldorn is ready to make
a compelling case for it.  He can barely keep hands and knees under himself,
let alone two feet with forward motion.  And the lake is many miles long...

  A clump of snow falls loudly off of a pine bough.

<>> x lake

  The surface of the lake is extremely smooth and glassy.  There's no telling
how thick the ice is, other than very.

<>> nudge

  "Well, it would seem that we have to find a way to keep going north on the
frozen lake.  Let's keep exploring around the countryside, and see if we can
find anything to help us!"

<>> s

 <> Frozen lake shore <>

  You are out in the northern wilds of Dwindeldorn, where the wastes spread far
away to the unpeopled lands beyond.
  From where you stand, a frozen lake stretches away north into the hazy
distance, majestic and mournful.  The lake is very narrow in proportion to its
length, and steep, dark-treed slopes carpeted with snow rise to considerable
heights directly from the water's edge, making the lake into a deep and snaking
valley.  The lake runs upwards of two miles to the north, appearing there to
make a bend to the northeast and disappear behind the rising slopes of the
valley.
  All together, the scene is one of a haunting and lonely beauty.
Southeastwards the ground rises much more gradually through a snowy evergreen
wood.

  Your "squire" is in tow.

<>> se

   You find your way back through the wastes to the origin of the North Road,
and head southeast...

 <> The Northern Marches <>

  It is a chilly and sparsely-populated country here in the Northern Marches.
You catch an occasional sighting of farmers with teams of woolly oxen, partly
dug-in houses, or flocks of long-haired sheep with their shepherds.  Many a
small ribbon-like waterfall rushes down from the cliff edge of higher plateau,
and most of the trees in sight grow in scattered clusters.
  The North Road leads northwest, and southwest towards the heart of
Dwindeldorn.

  PQ is hanging around.

<>> x houses

  The farms in these parts are pretty widely spread out: rarely is more than
one in view at a time as one travels the North Road.  The ground floor of most
buildings backs into the earth so that less fuel is needed on winter nights to
combat the encroaching chill.

  Your ostensible squire baas at the nearest sheep.

<>> x farmers

  It's a tough and resilient folk that people these outlying lands.  You have
occasionally seen them out working their land while traveling this road, but
none are to be seen at the moment.

  At least seven waterfalls are in view from this spot, and send small,
continuous ribbons of water down to the earth below.

<>> x waterfalls

  Many of the waterfalls appearing over the clifftops are blown completely into
vanishing mist before ever reaching the ground.

<>> x sheep

  The sheep that you see in these northern parts have long straight wool, which
hangs nearly to their feet.

  Stiff winds rip across the opens.

<>> get wool

  Well... you aren't really planning to go and try to shear a sheep right under
its shepherd's nose.  If you're that anxious for wool, maybe you'll find
another animal where the acquisition of its hair is a more straightforward
matter.

  Your squire tries to get the sheep's attention.

<>> *hmm that seems like a hint

  Comment recorded.

<>> l

 <> The Northern Marches <>

  It is a chilly and sparsely-populated country here in the Northern Marches.
You catch an occasional sighting of farmers with teams of woolly oxen, partly
dug-in houses, or flocks of long-haired sheep with their shepherds.  Many a
small ribbon-like waterfall rushes down from the cliff edge of higher plateau,
and most of the trees in sight grow in scattered clusters.
  The North Road leads northwest, and southwest towards the heart of
Dwindeldorn.

  Nearby, Quiz is ambling around.

<>> i

  Between you and your human pack mule, you're in possession of a cattail, your
ember box, and the burlap sack.

<>> x cattail

  This is a cattail, or bulrush, that you picked from the edge of Oogerstane's
pond.  It's a little shorter than one of your legs, with that unusual, sausage-
shaped cluster of dense flowers at the end.

<>> l

 <> The Northern Marches <>

  It is a chilly and sparsely-populated country here in the Northern Marches.
You catch an occasional sighting of farmers with teams of woolly oxen, partly
dug-in houses, or flocks of long-haired sheep with their shepherds.  Many a
small ribbon-like waterfall rushes down from the cliff edge of higher plateau,
and most of the trees in sight grow in scattered clusters.
  The North Road leads northwest, and southwest towards the heart of
Dwindeldorn.

  Near by your side is the king's son.

<>> sw

  The southwest journey takes you across the gradually descending highland,
where the North Road finally drops down a high escarpment and enters the
Haystacks.  You continue on past Wickerhorn and come to a knoll near
Eathbrutham Castle...

  The course of the travel included making camp for the night.  You added to
Quisborne's many new roles that of Fetcher of Firewood, and showed him how to
arrange fuel and tinder to most successfully get a good fire going.  These
tasks are much more purposeful than they may at first seem, for to be a king,
you told him, is foremostly to be a servant.
  The fires, once lit from the embers in your box, provide in return a means to
keep your ember box alight and ready.

 <> Knoll over the Ribbleskinder valley <>

  This is a region known colloquially as "The Haystacks", so named for its many
hills, not large but spaced out and decidedly mound-shaped.  At some distance
to the west and the north are the Ribbleskinder River and a highland,
respectively... east and south you can spot a few castles and farms.
  There is a junction of roads on this particular knoll; they lead northeast
toward the high country, southeast, and south.  There is also a wagon track
leading downhill to the northwest.

  Nearby, the Dwindeldornian prince is ambling around.

  "Toad knickers and frog bonnets, Valkyrian!" blurts the prince.  "We've done
so much walking!  Sooo muuuch waaalkiiiinggg..."

<>> x river

  The Ribbleskinder River is somewhat narrower up this far north than it is
down where the ferry crosses

  It isn't any surprise to you when you ask the prince if he's ever done a
pull-up before, and he answers no.  For his first attempt, you select a tree
limb of suitable height and direct him to jump and grab it.  If his first two
pushups were performed underwhelmingly, at least they were performed.  This
time, the prince kicks, writhes, and gasps, but he can't pull himself up.
  Well.  Baby steps eventually turn into race-winning strides.  You lock your
fingers to create a stirrup, and boost the prince upwards only just enough that
he's still forced to use all his strength to get his chin over the limb.  You
do this a few times, and call his first pull-up workout a wrap.

<>> l

 <> Knoll over the Ribbleskinder valley <>

  This is a region known colloquially as "The Haystacks", so named for its many
hills, not large but spaced out and decidedly mound-shaped.  At some distance
to the west and the north are the Ribbleskinder River and a highland,
respectively... east and south you can spot a few castles and farms.
  There is a junction of roads on this particular knoll; they lead northeast
toward the high country, southeast, and south.  There is also a wagon track
leading downhill to the northwest.

  The royal youth is hanging around.

  Geese fly in a "V" formation through the sky.

<>> e

  Besides that there are better travel routes available, you just never know
when you might end up encroaching on someone else's property.
  Better options are southeast, northwest, northeast, or south towards
Squarchminster.

  You can hear the song of birds in the distance.

<>> se

   The southeast road makes a very scenic course through the knobby hills and a
few small villages, coming after some distance to a region of fine farmland...

 <> Country roads <>

  Thriving farms and croplands abound in this region, a number of which you can
see spreading out below to the west or the north from the slight rise that
you're on.  South and southeast of you a patch of woods blocks the view, but a
pair of overgrown stone pillars flank an overgrown lane which leads into it.
  Besides the weedy lane going southeast, the country roads wind east along the
edge of the woods, northwest, and southwest towards Squarchminster.

  There's a fork in the road.

  Your ostensible squire lollygags behind, and then catches up.

<>> x fork

  It's a pewter dinner fork.  Likely it dropped from some carriage, or a
workman's lunch sack.  The tines are all bent apart.

<>> get it

  As the wise man once said: "If there's a fork in the road, take it."

  Your young pal is "using" a tree.

<>> l

 <> Country roads <>

  Thriving farms and croplands abound in this region, a number of which you can
see spreading out below to the west or the north from the slight rise that
you're on.  South and southeast of you a patch of woods blocks the view, but a
pair of overgrown stone pillars flank an overgrown lane which leads into it.
  Besides the weedy lane going southeast, the country roads wind east along the
edge of the woods, northwest, and southwest towards Squarchminster.

  Your companion, the princeling, is here with you.

<>> se

 <> An uninhabited farmstead <>

  You have followed the overgrown track to its end, where there stands an
(apparently) uninhabited farmstead.  A tall frame with a carven sign suspended
from it is nearly swallowed up by some bushes that were planted at its base.
Though there is no paint left, you can still read "Gramblefork Place" in the
carving.
  Everything around you is overgrown and ramshackle... a collapsed pigshed
there, and rotting rail fences everywhere.  A rather lush-looking plot of knee-
high weeds extends southward for awhile until thickets and trees enclose a
small windy creek, and the main building of Gramblefork Place stands to the
southwest.  Some unkempt trees vaguely form a couple of rows along the north
side of the clearing.  The track you arrived from runs through the rows of
trees northwest away from the farm.

  Lying towards the east in an overgrown pasture is the misshapen form of an
old hayrick.

  Prince Quisborne the Feckless is here with you as always.

<>> x hayrick

  Oftentimes the yeomen put their hay up in very carefully constructed
hayricks, leaving ventilation space inside, and binding sheaves into a roof
that overhung the rest of the stack.  This one is mostly an amorphous blob now,
but the fact that there's still any hay here at all after so long means that it
must have been especially well built to start with.

<>> *i was looking at the map in another window during all this

  Comment recorded.

<>> l

 <> Gramblefork Place <>

  You're in the somewhat open space in front of a farmstead.  A tall frame with
a carven sign reads: "Gramblefork Place."  Everything around you is overgrown
and ramshackle... a collapsed pigshed there, and rotting rail fences
everywhere.  A rather lush-looking plot of knee-high weeds extends southward
for awhile until thickets and trees enclose a small windy creek, and the main
building of Gramblefork Place stands to the southwest.  Some unkempt trees
vaguely form a couple of rows along the north side of the clearing.  The track
you arrived from runs northwest.

  Lying towards the east in an overgrown pasture is the misshapen form of an
old hayrick.

  The lad is sticking about in your general vicinity.

  Your squire continues undaunted to try to master the squeaking of grass.

<>> get hay

  You grab an armful of the old hay, then think better of it, and toss it back.

<>> search hayrick

  There's an awful lot of hay there...

<>> l

 <> Gramblefork Place <>

  You're in the somewhat open space in front of a farmstead.  A tall frame with
a carven sign reads: "Gramblefork Place."  Everything around you is overgrown
and ramshackle... a collapsed pigshed there, and rotting rail fences
everywhere.  A rather lush-looking plot of knee-high weeds extends southward
for awhile until thickets and trees enclose a small windy creek, and the main
building of Gramblefork Place stands to the southwest.  Some unkempt trees
vaguely form a couple of rows along the north side of the clearing.  The track
you arrived from runs northwest.

  Lying towards the east in an overgrown pasture is the misshapen form of an
old hayrick.

  Near by your side sticks the boy.

<>> kick hay

  And what do you expect to find in a haystack?  A needle?  Well, a person can
dream: we won't stop you.  You kick around some more in the hay, scattering it
about...

<>> g

  The prince is growing just a little restless as you persist in kicking around
hay while there is (allegedly) a lost crown to be found and a maiden to be won.
  But then – wait!  Your eyes catch sight of something that glints just a
little...

  It's – no, it can't be! – you've just found a needle in a haystack.

  "Well, dunk me in a lake and hang me out to dry, sir!"  Prince Quisborne
says.  "You found something in that mess of hay after all!"


*** Your score has just gone up by three points ***

<>> i

  Between you and your human pack mule, you're in possession of a cattail, your
ember box, the burlap sack, the fork, and the needle.

  You show Prince Quisborne how he can use the gear sack to weight his
shoulders and do squat exercises with it.

<>> x needle

  It's just an ordinary sewing needle: sharp, made of metal, and with a tiny
eye at one end.

  You keep Prince Quisborne at his pushups.  He knocks out eight this time.

<>> l

 <> Gramblefork Place <>

  You're in the somewhat open space in front of a farmstead.  A tall frame with
a carven sign reads: "Gramblefork Place."  Everything around you is overgrown
and ramshackle... a collapsed pigshed there, and rotting rail fences
everywhere.  A rather lush-looking plot of knee-high weeds extends southward
for awhile until thickets and trees enclose a small windy creek, and the main
building of Gramblefork Place stands to the southwest.  Some unkempt trees
vaguely form a couple of rows along the north side of the clearing.  The track
you arrived from runs northwest.

  Lying towards the east in an overgrown pasture is the misshapen form of an
old hayrick.

  Your protegé is present as ever.

<>> sw

(first opening the byre doors)

 <> In the byre at Gramblefork <>

  It isn't quite as bright in here as you'd have guessed, with one end of the
building missing... but there are various partition walls between this room and
the burned-down end.  However, it's clear that this remaining portion of the
building was the byre half, where animals were kept.  You're in a wide walkway
with two stalls on either side: given that the walkway runs northeast-
southwest, the stalls could be considered north, south, east, and west stalls.
Planks overhead suggest that the upstairs was a hayloft.  The double doors
leading out are to the northeast.

  Your sidekick accompanies you into the byre.

<>> u

  You don't see any way to readily get up to the hayloft, but it's probably not
important.

<>> x stalls

  Which stalls do you mean, the south stall, the west stall, the north stall,
or the east stall?

< distinguish >> s

  These stalls are of thick boards running horizontally up to your shoulder
height, with spaced-out slats above that.  There's a door into each.  The south
stall has its door shut.

<>> s

(first opening the south stall)

  Prince Quisborne, in his usual inquisitive fashion, pushes open the south
stall before you can get to it yourself.  "Well, there's something in this
one," he says.  Looking yourself, all you can see is a big lump of moldering
horse blankets.

  You enter the south stall.  Your protegé comes in too.

<>> x blankets

  Heaped up on the floor of this stall are some musty old horse blankets.  They
look like they'd fall apart if you tried to pick them up.

  The future monarch of Dwindeldorn looks around the byre.

<>> search it

  Lifting up the moldering blankets, you see that they are mounded up over an
old saddle: also ugly and tattered, but at least not turning into pieces at the
slightest touch.

  Dwindeldorn's future king offers you more facts from the animal kingdom.
"This just astonishes me: they say there's a sea slug that can absorb some
minuscule substance from algae, and can then live off the sun without eating,
just like a plant!"

<>> get saddle

  You kick the junk blankets off the saddle and pick it up.  Mmph, it's pretty
heavy.

<>> l

 <> In the byre at Gramblefork (standing in the south stall) <>

  The remaining portion of the building was clearly the byre half, where
animals were kept.  There is a wide walkway with two stalls on either side:
given that the walkway runs northeast-southwest, the stalls could be considered
north, south, east, and west stalls.  Planks overhead suggest that the upstairs
was a hayloft.  The double doors leading out are to the northeast.

  The musty horse blankets are lying in this stall.

  The lad is in the south stall with you.

  The future monarch of Dwindeldorn looks around the byre.

<>> x blankets

  Heaped up on the floor of this stall are some musty old horse blankets.  They
look like they'd fall apart if you tried to pick them up.

<>> gert it

  We must apologize for our lack of omniscience, but we are not able to process
the verb or verb phrase you're trying to use.

<>> get blankets

  You move the blankets some more, and they continue to disintegrate.

<>> g

  You move the blankets some more, and they continue to disintegrate.

<>> g

  You move the blankets some more, and they continue to disintegrate.

<>> g

  You move the blankets some more, and they continue to disintegrate.

<>> look under blankets

  You get your hands under the bottom of the blanket stack and lift to look
under.  There's nothing under them.

<>> l

 <> In the byre at Gramblefork (standing in the south stall) <>

  The remaining portion of the building was clearly the byre half, where
animals were kept.  There is a wide walkway with two stalls on either side:
given that the walkway runs northeast-southwest, the stalls could be considered
north, south, east, and west stalls.  Planks overhead suggest that the upstairs
was a hayloft.  The double doors leading out are to the northeast.

  The musty horse blankets are lying in this stall.

  The king's son is in the south stall with you.

  The prince turns the conversation to culinary matters.  "The key to enjoying
kale," he says, "is to not eat it.  But Mama makes me eat it all the time."  He
sighs.

<>> n

(first getting out of the south stall, then opening the north stall)

  You enter the north stall.  Your companion comes in too.

<>> w

(first getting out of the north stall, then opening the west stall)

  You enter the west stall.  Prince Quiz comes in too.

<>> e

(first getting out of the west stall, then opening the east stall)

  You enter the east stall.  The youth comes in too.

<>> l

 <> In the byre at Gramblefork (standing in the east stall) <>

  The remaining portion of the building was clearly the byre half, where
animals were kept.  There is a wide walkway with two stalls on either side:
given that the walkway runs northeast-southwest, the stalls could be considered
north, south, east, and west stalls.  Planks overhead suggest that the upstairs
was a hayloft.  The double doors leading out are to the northeast.

  The musty horse blankets are lying in the south stall.

  The king's son is in the east stall with you.

<>> x west stall

  You see a rough compartment of stained, dinged boards of about shoulder
height, some remnants of straw on a dirt floor, and an empty manger.  The west
stall is standing open.

  The future monarch of Dwindeldorn looks around the byre.

<>> c straw

  You search the east remnants of straw.  Your findings are more or less
ordinary.

<>> l

 <> In the byre at Gramblefork (standing in the east stall) <>

  The remaining portion of the building was clearly the byre half, where
animals were kept.  There is a wide walkway with two stalls on either side:
given that the walkway runs northeast-southwest, the stalls could be considered
north, south, east, and west stalls.  Planks overhead suggest that the upstairs
was a hayloft.  The double doors leading out are to the northeast.

  The musty horse blankets are lying in the south stall.

  The royal youth is in the east stall with you.

  Your squire is recollecting the singular circumstances by which you lit the
coals in your ember box at Forthlong Hall.

<>> get straw

  You don't need to take every pebble, twig, or piece of dirty straw that you
see.

<>> out

  You step back into the walkway.

<>> l

 <> In the byre at Gramblefork <>

  The remaining portion of the building was clearly the byre half, where
animals were kept.  You're in a wide walkway with two stalls on either side:
given that the walkway runs northeast-southwest, the stalls could be considered
north, south, east, and west stalls.  Planks overhead suggest that the upstairs
was a hayloft.  The double doors leading out are to the northeast.

  The musty horse blankets are lying in the south stall.

  The young sprig of royalty is sticking about in your general vicinity.

<>> ou

  This is one of those times where we may not have covered the verb you're
trying to use...

<>> out

 <> Gramblefork Place <>

  You're in the somewhat open space in front of a farmstead.  A tall frame with
a carven sign reads: "Gramblefork Place."  Everything around you is overgrown
and ramshackle... a collapsed pigshed there, and rotting rail fences
everywhere.  A rather lush-looking plot of knee-high weeds extends southward
for awhile until thickets and trees enclose a small windy creek, and the main
building of Gramblefork Place stands to the southwest.  Some unkempt trees
vaguely form a couple of rows along the north side of the clearing.  The track
you arrived from runs northwest.

  Lying towards the east in an overgrown pasture is the misshapen form of an
old hayrick.

  Near by your side is the princeling.

  The prince has been doing some additional work on his pull-ups, and can now
wriggle his chin up to the limb, unassisted, in the most spasmodic and ungainly
fashion.

<>> nw

   The lane takes you back uphill and through some woods, till you regain the
main road...

 <> Country roads <>

  Thriving farms and croplands abound in this region, a number of which you can
see spreading out below to the west or the north from the slight rise that
you're on.  South and southeast of you a patch of woods blocks the view, but a
pair of overgrown stone pillars flank an overgrown lane which leads into it.
  Besides the weedy lane going southeast, the country roads wind east along the
edge of the woods, northwest, and southwest towards Squarchminster.

  Quiz is present and accounted for.

<>> e

  The saddle is surprisingly bulky.  You decide you're not going to trudge
around the land trying to cumbersomely carry it.  While it might be gratifying
to give the prince this duty (you're always looking out for his true welfare),
that would also mean your journey's progress would be reduced to a snail's
pace.  You send Prince Quisborne back to the barn with the saddle, and then
proceed to leave Gramblefork Place.

  Nighttime overtakes you before your wanderings are concluded.  As you find a
spot to settle for the night, Prince Quisborne says: "I've never been so hungry
in my life!  I haven't eaten this *whole* day... not since I ate the last of
the treats last night that Mama sent me off with.  Boy, I'm ready for supper!
What are we having?"
  You let the boy know that you're not supping tonight.
  "What?  What?!!  But... twenty-four hours?!  Won't we starve?!?!"
  Quisborne's question provides occasion for you to enlighten him on several
salient points concerning fasting.  For one, that an able-bodied adult can go
upwards of four weeks without food, before actual starvation commences, wherein
the vital tissues of the body begin to be consumed.  Then, that it is a process
singularly conducive to self-mastery, and the kind of mental toughening that
you are aiming to bring about in him.  And again, that fasting itself has many
healthful effects on the body, inasmuch as it ushers it into special modes of
cleansing and healing that are not accessible during the normal course of
digestion.  All of this you know from your own experience.
  You've heard the phrase "a long face" all of your life, but you have never
seen one until now.  The prince's face is very, very, touchingly long.  "But...
it's... just for tonight, right?  We'll always have lots to eat, other times?"
Your conspicuous silence makes the prince suspect that you aren't at all
worried about going a few days in a row without food here and there.
  He's right.

 <> Chelkwibble town <>

  This is Chelkwibble: a backwater town not far in from the eastern coast of
Dwindeldorn.  The town is no overlarge one, yet it has garnered some fame
abroad on account of its fine cheeses and other products of milkcraft.  An old
mead-hall sits in the middle of town, and an inn is to the east.
  To the eye, the town is distinctive for its roofs of various shapes, one and
all of which are made from deep live sod.  In fact, it is a commonplace sight
here to see a sheep or goat contentedly munching grass on the top of a house,
for many of the houses' roofs have at least one side which slopes all the way
down and blends in to the ground.
  Quaint as it may be, under your present obligations Chelkwibble plays little
more than the role of a crossroads.  Dirt streets become roads which emanate
from various points of the town in different directions: southwest, west,
northwest, northeast, and a lesser one southeastward toward the coast.

  The Dwindeldornian heir is following you wherever you go.

<>> *oh god so many directions

  Comment recorded.

<>> l

 <> Chelkwibble town <>

  This is Chelkwibble: a backwater town not far in from the eastern coast of
Dwindeldorn.  The town is noted for its fine cheeses and other products of
milkcraft.  To the eye, the town is distinctive for its variously-shaped roofs
of deep live sod, on which a goat might be seen.  There's a mead-hall and an
inn, and dirt streets can lead you out of the town in different directions:
southwest, west, northwest, northeast, and a lesser one southeastward toward
the coast.

  Nearby, the Dwindeldornian heir is ambling around.

  Your companion seems to be on his way to figuring out how to make the blade
of grass squeak.

<>> *map seems to show a quarry

  Comment recorded.

<>> nw

   You pass many snug country homesteads to the northwest of Chelkwibble.  Not
so far along, the road proper has its end, and the way continues as a track
through partly wooded country.  It comes to a dead end at the foot of some
steep bluffs...

 <> At an inundated quarry <>

  Cut deep into the face of a steep wooded bluff dead ahead is the cavernous
hollow of an old quarry.  Around you are rugged foothills which continue to
grow higher and lead toward a mountainous country to the north.  You can rather
assume the quarry is old given that its depths have been entirely filled up
with rain and groundwater to the level of the ground you're standing on.
You're right at the water's edge where the foot of the bluff would have been
before it was all quarried out.  The quarry-lake is just north of you, and the
path that brought you here leaves to the southeast.

  Near by your side is the feckless prince.

  "Wow!" the prince exclaims.  "What a pretty lake!"

<>> x lakr

  "Lakr" could either be something as yet unknown to you or else a phrasing
unknown to us.

<>> x lake

  The quarry appears to the eye as a large section that has been cleanly sliced
and then removed from the tall hillside, with a glassy floor of still water.
Tall walls, nearly but not quite vertical, are created on three sides of the
quarry, with the west and east side walls diminishing in height as they stretch
from the back of the quarry down to the level of the water at the front.  The
side walls might reach over one hundred feet at their highest, and splay at
somewhat more than a right angle from the back wall, making the quarry wider at
its front than its back, like a trapezoid.
  It appears that the quarry was cut at the convergence of two different kinds
of rock substrata, which was probably a boon for the masons of that day, being
able procure both stone types from the same site.  Granite and slate, if you
had to guess.

  Pointing out a mark at some distance, you order the prince to make a sprint
to it and back.

<>> l

 <> At an inundated quarry <>

  Cut deep into the face of a steep wooded bluff dead ahead is the cavernous
hollow of an old quarry, now filled with water.  Around you are rugged
foothills which continue to grow higher and lead toward a mountainous country
to the north.  You're right at the water's edge where the foot of the bluff
would have been before it was all quarried out.  The quarry-lake is just north
of you, and the path that brought you here leaves to the southeast.

  The royal youth is with you like your shadow.

  By this point you've gotten Quisborne into a semi-regular routine of
practicing his pushups.  He can do twelve in a row now.

<>> n

   You decide to look around in the water a bit, and see if anything is to be
gained from the old quarry.  You take a plunge into the jarringly cold water...

  Prince Quisborne remains behind with the gear sack.

 <> Swimming on the quarry-lake surface, southeast corner <>

  You are treading water on the surface of the filled-up quarry, near the
southeast corner.  The water is ultra-pure, and despite its clarity you can
only see blue below you.  The quarry walls taper down to almost nothing on the
east, and to the south the quarry lake surface ends abruptly at level ground.

<>> w

 <> Swimming on the quarry-lake surface, southern side <>

  You are treading water on the surface of the filled-up quarry, near the open
southern side.  The water is ultra-pure, and despite its clarity you can only
see blue below you.  South of you the lake ends abruptly at level ground.

<>> s

   As the quarry forms a stark pit in the ground, there is no shallow end, so
you give a kick in the water and swing yourself back up to land.

 <> At an inundated quarry <>

  Cut deep into the face of a steep wooded bluff is the cavernous hollow of an
old quarry, now filled with water.  Around you are rugged foothills which
continue to grow higher and lead toward a mountainous country to the north.
You're right at the water's edge where the foot of the bluff would have been
before it was all quarried out.  The quarry-lake is just north of you, and the
path that brought you here leaves to the southeast.

  The Dwindeldornian heir is sticking nearby.

  You're sopping wet.

<>> in

   You take another plunge into the jarringly cold water...

  Prince Quisborne remains behind with the gear sack.

 <> Swimming on the quarry-lake surface, southeast corner <>

  You are treading water on the surface of the filled-up quarry, near the
southeast corner.  The water is ultra-pure, and despite its clarity you can
only see blue below you.  The quarry walls taper down to almost nothing on the
east, and to the south the quarry lake surface ends abruptly at level ground.

<>> w

 <> Swimming on the quarry-lake surface, southern side <>

  You are treading water on the surface of the filled-up quarry, near the open
southern side.  The water is ultra-pure, and despite its clarity you can only
see blue below you.  South of you the lake ends abruptly at level ground.

<>> w

 <> Swimming on the quarry-lake surface, southwest corner <>

  You are treading water on the surface of the filled-up quarry, near the
southwest corner.  The water is ultra-pure, and despite its clarity you can
only see blue below you.  The quarry walls taper down to almost nothing on the
west, and to the south the quarry lake surface ends abruptly at level ground.

<>> d

 <> Underwater in the quarry <>

  You are swimming underwater in the quarry.  The water is clear and bright
here just under the surface.  The hand-cut walls of the quarry loom murkily to
the south, and also to the west.

<>> w

  You are stopped by the solid rock of the quarry in that direction.

<>> s

  You are stopped by the solid rock of the quarry in that direction.

<>> u

 <> Swimming on the quarry-lake surface, southwest corner <>

  You are treading water on the surface of the filled-up quarry, near the
southwest corner.  The water is ultra-pure, and despite its clarity you can
only see blue below you.  The quarry walls taper down to almost nothing on the
west, and to the south the quarry lake surface ends abruptly at level ground.

<>> n

 <> Swimming on the quarry-lake surface, western side <>

  You are treading water on the surface of the filled-up quarry, near the
western wall.  The water is ultra-pure, and despite its clarity you can only
see blue below you.  The damp, cut walls of the quarry rise out of the water to
the west.

<>> w

  You are stopped by the solid rock of the quarry in that direction.

<>> d

 <> Underwater in the quarry <>

  Clear blue-green water is all around you, as you swim through the quarry.
The water is clear and bright here just under the surface.  The hand-cut walls
of the quarry loom murkily to the west.

<>> w

  You are stopped by the solid rock of the quarry in that direction.

<>> u

 <> Swimming on the quarry-lake surface, western side <>

  You are treading water on the surface of the filled-up quarry, near the
western wall.  The water is ultra-pure, and despite its clarity you can only
see blue below you.  The damp, cut walls of the quarry rise out of the water to
the west.

<>> n

 <> Swimming on the quarry-lake surface, northwest corner <>

  You are treading water on the surface of the filled-up quarry, near the
northwest corner.  The water is ultra-pure, and despite its clarity you can
only see blue below you.  The damp, cut walls of the quarry rise out of the
water to the north, and also to the west.

<>> d

 <> Underwater in the quarry <>

  You are underwater in the clean, cold water of the quarry.  The water is
clear and bright here just under the surface.  The hand-cut walls of the quarry
loom murkily to the north, and also to the west.

<>> n

  You are stopped by the solid rock of the quarry in that direction.

<>> w

  You are stopped by the solid rock of the quarry in that direction.

<>> e

 <> Underwater in the quarry <>

  You are swimming underwater in the quarry.  The water is clear and bright
here just under the surface.  The hand-cut walls of the quarry loom murkily to
the north.

  Your lungs are starting to burn a bit.

<>> u

 <> Swimming on the quarry-lake surface, back (northern) side <>

  You are treading water on the surface of the filled-up quarry, near the back
(northern) wall.  The water is ultra-pure, and despite its clarity you can only
see blue below you.  The damp, cut walls of the quarry rise out of the water to
the north.

<>> d

 <> Underwater in the quarry <>

  You are underwater in the clean, cold water of the quarry.  The water is
clear and bright here just under the surface.  The hand-cut walls of the quarry
loom murkily to the north.

<>> d

 <> Underwater in the quarry <>

  Clear blue-green water is all around you, as you swim through the quarry.
You are several yards underwater here, with nothing visible below but more
water.  The hand-cut walls of the quarry loom murkily to the north.

<>> d

 <> Underwater in the quarry <>

  You are swimming underwater in the quarry.  It is beginning to get quite dim
this far down, and the pressure of the water is hurting your ears.  The hand-
cut walls of the quarry loom murkily to the north, and the muck-covered bottom
of the quarry is just below you.

<>> u

 <> Underwater in the quarry <>

  Clear blue-green water is all around you, as you swim through the quarry.
You are several yards underwater here, with nothing visible below but more
water.  The hand-cut walls of the quarry loom murkily to the north.

  Your lungs are starting to burn a bit.

<>> u

 <> Underwater in the quarry <>

  You are underwater in the clean, cold water of the quarry.  The water is
clear and bright here just under the surface.  The hand-cut walls of the quarry
loom murkily to the north.

<>> u

 <> Swimming on the quarry-lake surface, back (northern) side <>

  You are treading water on the surface of the filled-up quarry, near the back
(northern) wall.  The water is ultra-pure, and despite its clarity you can only
see blue below you.  The damp, cut walls of the quarry rise out of the water to
the north.

<>> e

 <> Swimming on the quarry-lake surface, northeast corner <>

  You are treading water on the surface of the filled-up quarry, near the
northeast corner.  The water is ultra-pure, and despite its clarity you can
only see blue below you.  The damp, cut walls of the quarry rise out of the
water to the north, and also to the east.

<>> d

 <> Underwater in the quarry <>

  Clear blue-green water is all around you, as you swim through the quarry.
The water is clear and bright here just under the surface.  The hand-cut walls
of the quarry loom murkily to the north, and also to the east.

<>> u

 <> Swimming on the quarry-lake surface, northeast corner <>

  You are treading water on the surface of the filled-up quarry, near the
northeast corner.  The water is ultra-pure, and despite its clarity you can
only see blue below you.  The damp, cut walls of the quarry rise out of the
water to the north, and also to the east.

<>> e

  You are stopped by the solid rock of the quarry in that direction.

<>> s

 <> Swimming on the quarry-lake surface, eastern side <>

  You are treading water on the surface of the filled-up quarry, near the
eastern wall.  The water is ultra-pure, and despite its clarity you can only
see blue below you.  The damp, cut walls of the quarry rise out of the water to
the east.

<>> d

 <> Underwater in the quarry <>

  You are underwater in the clean, cold water of the quarry.  The water is
clear and bright here just under the surface.  The hand-cut walls of the quarry
loom murkily to the east.

<>> w

 <> Underwater in the quarry <>

  You are swimming underwater in the quarry.  The water is clear and bright
here just under the surface.

<>> d

 <> Underwater in the quarry <>

  Clear blue-green water is all around you, as you swim through the quarry.
You are several yards underwater here, with nothing visible below but more
water.

<>> d

 <> Underwater in the quarry <>

  You are swimming underwater in the quarry.  It is quite dim this far down.
The muck-covered bottom of the quarry is just below you.

  Your lungs are starting to burn a bit.

<>> u

 <> Underwater in the quarry <>

  You are underwater in the clean, cold water of the quarry.  You are several
yards underwater here, with nothing visible below but more water.

<>> u

 <> Underwater in the quarry <>

  Clear blue-green water is all around you, as you swim through the quarry.
The water is clear and bright here just under the surface.

<>> u

 <> Swimming on the quarry-lake surface, center <>

  You are treading water on the surface of the filled-up quarry, near the very
center.  The water is ultra-pure, and despite its clarity you can only see blue
below you.

<>> d

 <> Underwater in the quarry <>

  You are swimming underwater in the quarry.  The water is clear and bright
here just under the surface.

<>> d

 <> Underwater in the quarry <>

  You are underwater in the clean, cold water of the quarry.  You are several
yards underwater here, with nothing visible below but more water.

<>> d

 <> Underwater in the quarry <>

  You are swimming underwater in the quarry.  It is quite dim this far down,
and the pressure of the water is hurting your ears.  The muck-covered bottom of
the quarry is just below you.

<>> search bottom

  You see nothing on the mucky bottom.

  Your lungs are starting to burn a bit.

<>> u

 <> Underwater in the quarry <>

  You are underwater in the clean, cold water of the quarry.  You are several
yards underwater here, with nothing visible below but more water.

<>> u

 <> Underwater in the quarry <>

  Clear blue-green water is all around you, as you swim through the quarry.
The water is clear and bright here just under the surface.

<>> u

 <> Swimming on the quarry-lake surface, center <>

  You are treading water on the surface of the filled-up quarry, near the very
center.  The water is ultra-pure, and despite its clarity you can only see blue
below you.

<>> s

 <> Swimming on the quarry-lake surface, southern side <>

  You are treading water on the surface of the filled-up quarry, near the open
southern side.  The water is ultra-pure, and despite its clarity you can only
see blue below you.  South of you the lake ends abruptly at level ground.

<>> e

 <> Swimming on the quarry-lake surface, southeast corner <>

  You are treading water on the surface of the filled-up quarry, near the
southeast corner.  The water is ultra-pure, and despite its clarity you can
only see blue below you.  The quarry walls taper down to almost nothing on the
east, and to the south the quarry lake surface ends abruptly at level ground.

<>> e

  You are stopped by the solid rock of the quarry in that direction.

<>> d

 <> Underwater in the quarry <>

  You are underwater in the clean, cold water of the quarry.  The water is
clear and bright here just under the surface.  The hand-cut walls of the quarry
loom murkily to the south, and also to the east.

<>> d

 <> Underwater in the quarry <>

  Clear blue-green water is all around you, as you swim through the quarry.
You are several yards underwater here, with nothing visible below but more
water.  The hand-cut walls of the quarry loom murkily to the south, and also to
the east.

<>> d

 <> Underwater in the quarry <>

  You are swimming underwater in the quarry.  It is quite dim this far down,
and the pressure of the water is hurting your ears.  The hand-cut walls of the
quarry loom murkily to the south, and also to the east, and the muck-covered
bottom of the quarry is just below you.

<>> u

 <> Underwater in the quarry <>

  You are underwater in the clean, cold water of the quarry.  You are several
yards underwater here, with nothing visible below but more water.  The hand-cut
walls of the quarry loom murkily to the south, and also to the east.

  Your lungs are starting to burn a bit.

<>> u

 <> Underwater in the quarry <>

  Clear blue-green water is all around you, as you swim through the quarry.
The water is clear and bright here just under the surface.  The hand-cut walls
of the quarry loom murkily to the south, and also to the east.

<>> u

 <> Swimming on the quarry-lake surface, southeast corner <>

  You are treading water on the surface of the filled-up quarry, near the
southeast corner.  The water is ultra-pure, and despite its clarity you can
only see blue below you.  The quarry walls taper down to almost nothing on the
east, and to the south the quarry lake surface ends abruptly at level ground.

<>> s

   With a kick, you swing yourself up out of the quarry and onto solid ground.

 <> At an inundated quarry <>

  Cut deep into the face of a steep wooded bluff is the cavernous hollow of an
old quarry, now filled with water.  Around you are rugged foothills which
continue to grow higher and lead toward a mountainous country to the north.
You're right at the water's edge where the foot of the bluff would have been
before it was all quarried out.  The quarry-lake is just north of you, and the
path that brought you here leaves to the southeast.

  Your companion, the youth, is here with you, bearing the sack.

  You are soaked through.

<>> se

   The road leads you before long back to Chelkwibble...

 <> Chelkwibble town <>

  This is Chelkwibble: a backwater town not far in from the eastern coast of
Dwindeldorn.  The town is noted for its fine cheeses and other products of
milkcraft.  To the eye, the town is distinctive for its variously-shaped roofs
of deep live sod, on which a goat might be seen.  There's a mead-hall and an
inn, and dirt streets can lead you out of the town in different directions:
southwest, west, northwest, northeast, and a lesser one southeastward toward
the coast.

  The young figurehead is here.

  The prince is struggling with finding an ending for his latest limerick.  You
can hear him talking to himself:

  "My lady went out with a cracker,
  Not knowing that birds would attack her.
  But attack her they did...
  So she fled and she hid, and we've never been able to track her?"

<>> *maybe i'll get a treasure map or something later for the quarry lake

  Comment recorded.

<>> l

 <> Chelkwibble town <>

  This is Chelkwibble: a backwater town not far in from the eastern coast of
Dwindeldorn.  The town is noted for its fine cheeses and other products of
milkcraft.  To the eye, the town is distinctive for its variously-shaped roofs
of deep live sod, on which a goat might be seen.  There's a mead-hall and an
inn, and dirt streets can lead you out of the town in different directions:
southwest, west, northwest, northeast, and a lesser one southeastward toward
the coast.

  Prince Q is hanging around.

  "...But attack her they did, and the cracker it slid in the mud and turned a
little bit blacker?"

<>> ne

  The road emanating northeast from Chelkwibble connects to a few outlying
homesteads, and then quickly turns into little more than a trail.  This trail
continues well into the wilderness, which soon becomes mountainous.  You judge
that the sea cannot lie too many miles to the east, since Chelkwibble itself
lay not far from the coast.  On the path goes, into the mountains: low ones at
first, and then growing steeper...

  Somewhere between leaving there and arriving here, you and the prince stopped
for the night.  Before bedding down, you put the prince through a more
strenuous exercise regimen than he had been through thus far.

 <> A prospect over impassable terrain <>

  You've come to a high overlook deep in the mountains.  Before you,
northwards, peaks continue to rip through the sky from near to far, shrinking
to the edge of sight.  The terrain has been arduous to traverse thus far: any
further, it becomes fully impassable.  Deadly gorges ring every upthrust cusp
of rock, denying entrance to that country to all bipeds of your likeness.
  Far away, seen framed between the slopes of two nearer peaks, a tower and
some walls sit high up in the mountains.  How anyone could've gotten there to
build something is altogether a mystery; you can't imagine they came from this
direction.  Going southwest, back the way you came, is probably the only way
away from here that doesn't involve perishing.

  Nearby, Prince Quisborne is ambling around.

  "Valkyrian, is that it, sir?  The Fastness of the Dracken Fells, that we're
looking for??"  The prince's question isn't entirely irrational: you're pretty
far north, and you're looking at a very isolated stone edifice.  But you tell
him that the structure in view looks much more like a conclave for the devout
than a fastness of old, and you don't think that this region is part of that
known as the Dracken Fells.

  You have finally dried off from your last plunge.

<>> n

  Those gorges though.

  "My lady went out with a cracker,
  Not knowing that birds would attack her.
  But attack her they did,
  So she lifted the lid
  And whipped out the Jumbo Bird-whacker."
  "I guess you have to assume the lady is carrying a lidded basket for that to
make sense," the prince comments.

  A few clouds hang overhead.

<>> l

 <> A prospect over impassable terrain <>

  You've come to a high overlook deep in the mountains.  Before you,
northwards, peaks continue to rip through the sky from near to far, shrinking
to the edge of sight.  The terrain has been arduous to traverse thus far: any
further, it becomes fully impassable.  Deadly gorges ring every upthrust cusp
of rock, denying entrance to that country to all bipeds of your likeness.
  Far away, seen framed between the slopes of two nearer peaks, a tower and
some walls sit high up in the mountains.  How anyone could've gotten there to
build something is altogether a mystery; you can't imagine they came from this
direction.  Going southwest, back the way you came, is probably the only way
away from here that doesn't involve perishing.

  Your squire is here.

  You instruct PQ to do some more squats with the sack on his shoulders.

  The sky seems as if it is being stabbed in a thousand places by the ruthless
mountain peaks.

<>> x gorges

  In a manner of speaking, they are drop-dead gorges.  Their most salient
feature is that of preventing you from proceeding any farther north.

  Your ostensible squire continues to improve his pushup abilities.

  Loneliness pervades the landscape.

<>> *groan

  Comment recorded.

<>> l

 <> A prospect over impassable terrain <>

  You've come to a high overlook deep in the mountains.  Before you,
northwards, peaks continue to rip through the sky from near to far, shrinking
to the edge of sight.  The terrain has been arduous to traverse thus far: any
further, it becomes fully impassable.  Deadly gorges ring every upthrust cusp
of rock, denying entrance to that country to all bipeds of your likeness.
  Far away, seen framed between the slopes of two nearer peaks, a tower and
some walls sit high up in the mountains.  How anyone could've gotten there to
build something is altogether a mystery; you can't imagine they came from this
direction.  Going southwest, back the way you came, is probably the only way
away from here that doesn't involve perishing.

  Your sidekick tags along.

  "Monkeys will travel a mile away to find the right rocks to bring back and
crack nuts with," Quiz says.

<>> search gorges

  Short of (fatally) entering or jumping into the gorges, you can't exactly
reach them to interact with them.

<>> sw

   It is quite a long trek back to Chelkwibble...

 <> Chelkwibble town <>

  This is Chelkwibble: a backwater town not far in from the eastern coast of
Dwindeldorn.  The town is noted for its fine cheeses and other products of
milkcraft.  To the eye, the town is distinctive for its variously-shaped roofs
of deep live sod, on which a goat might be seen.  There's a mead-hall and an
inn, and dirt streets can lead you out of the town in different directions:
southwest, west, northwest, northeast, and a lesser one southeastward toward
the coast.

  The young figurehead is present as ever.

  You send the prince over to a convenient tree to knock out some pull-ups.  He
squirms out two in a row.

<>> x inn

  The town of Chelkwibble looks very much like it grew out of the ground and
has always belonged here.  Scarce any buildings stand directly adjacent to each
other, being instead encircled by ample yards and trees.  One ancient mead-hall
still stands in the midst, around which the town eventually grew up, and nearby
The Oyster Cloister does business as the local lodging-house.
  While there are houses with all upright walls, a great many of the houses
look a lot like hillocks of turf: their front and back walls are shaped like a
round-topped triangle (or perhaps more like the profile of a large bell), and
the sod rolls right up and over forming the other two sides and the roof at the
same time.  Many of the buildings in town which aren't houses are devoted to
dairy operations or are at least somehow related to something that came from an
udder.

  The Oyster Cloister is Chelkwibble's main inn.  It's two stories, with a
mounded sod roof well-studded with out-looking circular windows.  The oyster
reference has no doubt to do with Chelkwibble's proximity to the eastern coast.

  Prince Quisborne watches longingly as two youths of about fifteen years of
age ride down one of the sod-made ramp roofs on a miniature wagon.  They've
each taken several turns going down when they notice that PQ has been standing
there looking on.  "Hey pal!  Well, don't just stand there oglin' like a gowk!
You gonna try it?"
  And thus, Quisborne gets his wish, and ascends the tall, grassy roof-slope
for a ride.  He rumbles down in the wheeled box, letting out an undignified
"AAAAAH!!" the whole way, and doesn't wreck until he has reached the level
runway of the ground.  With high thanks to the local boys, he comes back over
to you, bubbling and laughing.  "Hailing humpbacked hedgehogs, Valkyrian!  I
enjoyed that enormously!  I think I will be a little sad when I have to go back
and live at the castle again..."

  A little bit of poking around reveals that some of the Chelkwibblian dairy
artisans make concoctions from a mixture of horse, donkey, sheep, cow, and goat
milk.

<>> enter inn

  The inns of Dwindeldorn aren't likely to hold much attraction for you, given
that you're carrying no coin for food or lodging, nor do you intend to start.
The comforts of an inn aren't part of your designs for the prince... a man can
sleep in a handmade shelter, or under the stars if need be; and food can be
gotten by other means than paying coin.  There's a lot for the prince to learn
about and benefit from in doing without luxury, and in being forced to use
resourcefulness to obtain what is necessary.  After all, he's got you... what
could go wrong?  But anyway...

  Your visit to The Oyster Cloister amounts to no more than a breather from
travel and adventure.  The locals are laughing over stories about olden kings
of dubious renown.  The bit that you overhear concerns when the son of one King
Larlop the Parsimonious was taken by pirates.  The pirates thought to extort a
goodly sum from the king by holding the prince hostage, but the king didn't
think the lad, who was known as Prince Fespis the Irksome, was worth the
required sum.  He tried to make a more economical counteroffer, but gave up
when he was refused.  At length, the disappointed and ransomless pirates didn't
want the irksome prince around any more, and dumped him overboard, whence he
managed to gain the shore and wander his way home.  Thus King Larlop spared his
coffers, upheld his frugality, and got his son back all the same.
  Rested, you leave the inn.

 <> Chelkwibble town <>

  This is Chelkwibble: a backwater town not far in from the eastern coast of
Dwindeldorn.  The town is noted for its fine cheeses and other products of
milkcraft.  To the eye, the town is distinctive for its variously-shaped roofs
of deep live sod, on which a goat might be seen.  There's a mead-hall and an
inn, and dirt streets can lead you out of the town in different directions:
southwest, west, northwest, northeast, and a lesser one southeastward toward
the coast.

  Your sidekick is here with you as always.

  Customers go in and out of The Oyster Cloister.

<>> x hall

  The town of Chelkwibble looks very much like it grew out of the ground and
has always belonged here.  Scarce any buildings stand directly adjacent to each
other, being instead encircled by ample yards and trees.  One ancient mead-hall
still stands in the midst, around which the town eventually grew up, and nearby
The Oyster Cloister does business as the local lodging-house.
  While there are houses with all upright walls, a great many of the houses
look a lot like hillocks of turf: their front and back walls are shaped like a
round-topped triangle (or perhaps more like the profile of a large bell), and
the sod rolls right up and over forming the other two sides and the roof at the
same time.  Many of the buildings in town which aren't houses are devoted to
dairy operations or are at least somehow related to something that came from an
udder.

  The mead-hall is a relic from a far-off age when most of the land was wild
and unsettled.  It's the largest structure to be seen in town, and seems to
have been well kept up over time.  The building is covered with a large mass of
sod, and was made with a cruck frame, meaning that large bent trees were split
in two, the matching halves being separated and mirrored to lean against each
other at their peaks, forming one rib or section of the building.  By
appearances, the old hall still serves the age-old fermented honey drink in
addition to serving as a town hall/dance hall/feasting hall.

<>> enter hall

  You and the prince step inside the ancient building, which is filled with
yokels, some bustling and some loafing.  It's spacious, but coarse and dim.
  "I've actually never had mead before!" the prince remarks.  "It looks good!
If you're going to ferment anything, it might as well be honey, right?!"
  The prince's comments, however, are in vain, for you have no money with which
to buy any refreshments, and nobody appears to be giving any handouts.  When
you're done in the mead-hall, you go back outside.

  The Prince of Dwindeldorn watches the bustle of the town.

<>> sell needle

  We must apologize for our lack of omniscience, but we are not able to process
the verb or verb phrase you're trying to use.

<>> i

  Between you and your human pack mule, you're in possession of a cattail, your
ember box, the burlap sack, the fork, and the needle.

<>> l

 <> Chelkwibble town <>

  This is Chelkwibble: a backwater town not far in from the eastern coast of
Dwindeldorn.  The town is noted for its fine cheeses and other products of
milkcraft.  To the eye, the town is distinctive for its variously-shaped roofs
of deep live sod, on which a goat might be seen.  There's a mead-hall and an
inn, and dirt streets can lead you out of the town in different directions:
southwest, west, northwest, northeast, and a lesser one southeastward toward
the coast.

  The ever-present prince is here.

<>> x goats

  The sheep and goats see nothing unusual about their being perched on the roof
of the house.  The grass there is as good as any.

  The Prince of Dwindeldorn watches the bustle of the town.

<>> get goat

  You don't need to meddle with the Chelkwibble livestock.

<>> dance

  You're not keen on making a display of yourself when people might be
watching.

  Prince Quisborne finally forces a squawk out of the blade of grass between
his thumbs.  "Hoo-rah, sir!  I figured it out!  Wahoo!"  He then goes on to
squawk the daylights out of the grass blade, exulting like one just named
champion of a tournament.

<>> l

 <> Chelkwibble town <>

  This is Chelkwibble: a backwater town not far in from the eastern coast of
Dwindeldorn.  The town is no overlarge one, yet it has garnered some fame
abroad on account of its fine cheeses and other products of milkcraft.  An old
mead-hall sits in the middle of town, and an inn is to the east.
  To the eye, the town is distinctive for its roofs of various shapes, one and
all of which are made from deep live sod.  In fact, it is a commonplace sight
here to see a sheep or goat contentedly munching grass on the top of a house,
for many of the houses' roofs have at least one side which slopes all the way
down and blends in to the ground.
  Quaint as it may be, under your present obligations Chelkwibble plays little
more than the role of a crossroads.  Dirt streets become roads which emanate
from various points of the town in different directions: southwest, west,
northwest, northeast, and a lesser one southeastward toward the coast.

  The king's son is present and accounted for.

<>> ne

   You leave Chelkwibble to the northeast and travel a good way into
mountainous country...

  Along the way, evening came and you both camped for the night.

 <> A prospect over impassable terrain <>

  You've come to a high overlook deep in the mountains.  Before you,
northwards, peaks continue to rip through the sky from near to far, shrinking
to the edge of sight.  The terrain has been arduous to traverse thus far: any
further, it becomes fully impassable.  Deadly gorges ring every upthrust cusp
of rock, denying entrance to that country to all bipeds of your likeness.
  Far away, seen framed between the slopes of two nearer peaks, a tower and
some walls sit high up in the mountains.  How anyone could've gotten there to
build something is altogether a mystery; you can't imagine they came from this
direction.  Going southwest, back the way you came, is probably the only way
away from here that doesn't involve perishing.

  Quiz is present and accounted for.

<>> sw

   It is quite a long trek back to Chelkwibble...

 <> Chelkwibble town <>

  This is Chelkwibble: a backwater town not far in from the eastern coast of
Dwindeldorn.  The town is noted for its fine cheeses and other products of
milkcraft.  To the eye, the town is distinctive for its variously-shaped roofs
of deep live sod, on which a goat might be seen.  There's a mead-hall and an
inn, and dirt streets can lead you out of the town in different directions:
southwest, west, northwest, northeast, and a lesser one southeastward toward
the coast.

  Your companion, the royal youth, is here with you.

  "I love to talk about Princess Persimmon... but let me tell you, sir, I don't
just know how to properly say what I think of *her*!  She gives me the most
pleasing combination of gooseflesh and collywobbles, and I feel like a whole
horde of militant butterflies are waging war in my stomach.  It's really
strange!  But it's amazing!  I really, really want to make her happy."

<>> sw

  The day reaches its end as you journey from the one place to the other, and,
as is your custom, you find a secluded spot out of the way, and pass the night
with what makeshift comforts you can supply.  Just as the sun comes up, before
the travels and adventures of the new day, you find the nearest body of
chilling water fit to submerge you, and introduce young Quisborne to the
healthful practice of stripping down and plunging vigorously into it.  His
misgivings notwithstanding, he sees you dive swiftly and eagerly in, with no
repercussions other than a look of bracing satisfaction, and concludes that
there must be nothing to fear.  Without even so much as a toe test, he throws
himself into the water, and straightway goes into paroxysms of agony not unlike
those of a mother walrus caught in the throes of an abortive birth.
  We could dwell on his paroxysms, and their collective description and
duration, but eventually the paroxysms cease, and a new sensation washes over
his flesh and through his veins.  "Great bowls of fizz, Valkyrian!  I feel
amazing right now!!  My blood is flowing like mad, and I feel like I could race
a horse!"  You smile, because you know the feeling.  Soon enough, you both are
out, dried, on the way, and at your next destination...

 <> The Golden Wood of Eshquoke <>

  You have entered a region of Dwindeldorn known as The Golden Wood of
Eshquoke.  For many square miles around, the gentle hills are covered with
curious trees whose kind is scarcely to be found anywhere else.  The natural
colors of these trees' leaves are blazing yellowy-oranges and golds,
occasionally verging into orangey-pink and orange-red: very like the colors
which other broadleaf trees only assume in the days before the long chill
begins to descend on the earth.
  This wood surrounds you, which is nowhere so dense but that some patches of
grass and dandelions are able to grow on the forest floor.  No road has been
made through the wood, but you appear to be upon the track most often followed
by those who would cross it.  From here the track seems to lead west,
northeast, and southeast.

  A horse, with no apparent owner, frolics gaily about in a nearby glade.

  The king-to-be tags along.

  The roaming horse shakes its mane.

<>> x horse

  It is a funny-looking animal; not quite right in the proportions.  Otherwise
it has all the equine features that one would expect.  However, it looks quite
happy in its free-roaming life.

  You get your subordinate established in the habit of practicing his
sprinting.  For a stretch you had to indicate "It's that time" to him with a
look, but now he has learned to put in some hard running every day or two of
his own accord.

<>> pet horse

  The horse doesn't appear to be insulted by your intentions; nevertheless, if
you try to pet it, it trots just out of reach before continuing to graze.

<>> ride horse

  Considering that the merest attempts of trying to touch the horse result in
its shying away from you, it follows that the horse is not any more
accommodating to the idea of you riding it.

  "Heeere, Horsey!"  The prince tries to beckon the horse over to him, but the
horse merely sniffs at the invitation.

<>> i

  Between you and your human pack mule, you're in possession of a cattail, your
ember box, the burlap sack, the fork, and the needle.

  The Prince of Dwindeldorn is trying to bust a move.  "I never really got to
go anywhere," he explains.  "So I don't know much about dancing, and just try
to make my own stuff up."

<>> ask prince about horse

  "I don't know why, I just never got around to learning to ride them.  I feel
quite silly about that now... especially around you, with all your
knightliness."

<>> prince, ride horse

  The prince is already heavy on following orders and doing things that are
hard for him to do.  Let's not be too bossy.

  The wild horse lets out a whinny of unknown significance.

<>> tame horse

  You may be trying to use a verb that we weren't instructed how to handle...

<>> l

 <> The Golden Wood of Eshquoke <>

  You have entered a region of Dwindeldorn known as The Golden Wood of
Eshquoke, where the natural colors of the trees' leaves are blazing yellowy-
oranges and golds, occasionally verging into orangey-pink and orange-red.  The
forest is not so dense but that patches of grass and dandelions are able to
grow on the forest floor.  The most passable tracks seems to lead west,
northeast, and southeast.

  A horse, with no apparent owner, frolics gaily about in a nearby glade.

  The incumbent to the throne is here with you as always.

  The wild equine snuffles around the ground as if looking for something
tastier than the same old grass.

  Your protegé makes an unsuccessful attempt to befriend the wild horse.

<>> pet horse

  The horse doesn't appear to be insulted by your intentions; nevertheless, if
you try to pet it, it trots just out of reach before continuing to graze.

<>> x horse

  It is a funny-looking animal; not quite right in the proportions.  Otherwise
it has all the equine features that one would expect.  However, it looks quite
happy in its free-roaming life.

<>> l

 <> The Golden Wood of Eshquoke <>

  This is a region of Dwindeldorn known as The Golden Wood of Eshquoke, where
the natural colors of the trees' leaves are blazing yellowy-oranges and golds,
occasionally verging into orangey-pink and orange-red.  The forest is not so
dense but that patches of grass and dandelions are able to grow on the forest
floor.  The most passable tracks seems to lead west, northeast, and southeast.

  A horse, with no apparent owner, frolics gaily about in a nearby glade.

  The incumbent to the throne is with you like your shadow.

<>> ne

   The northeastern route continues on through the peaceful and beautiful wood,
eventually emerging and traversing the rugged green country to Chelkwibble...

 <> Chelkwibble town <>

  This is Chelkwibble: a backwater town not far in from the eastern coast of
Dwindeldorn.  The town is noted for its fine cheeses and other products of
milkcraft.  To the eye, the town is distinctive for its variously-shaped roofs
of deep live sod, on which a goat might be seen.  There's a mead-hall and an
inn, and dirt streets can lead you out of the town in different directions:
southwest, west, northwest, northeast, and a lesser one southeastward toward
the coast.

  Your "squire" is in tow.

  The heir to the throne of Dwindeldorn waits for your lead.

<>> e

  For a few minutes, you take the young sprig of royalty inside The Oyster
Cloister to rest your feet.  A few ancient and retired knights are sitting
around swapping stories from their glory days.  One artifact avows he once got
swallowed whole by a dragon with galloping diarrhea, which then excreted him
before he got digested.  Dragon stories, like fish stories, only get bigger
with time.
  Soon enough, you tell the lad it's time to be on your way...

<>> se

   The southeastward-leading trail brings you before long within view of the
sea.  The trail then continues down steep rocky slopes toward the sea's edge...

 <> On the shore of the Sea of Sorrows <>

  You are standing on the shore of the Sea of Sorrows.  The sea comes into a
middle-sized cove here, so that you cannot see extremely far down the shore on
either side, but to the east the open sea stretches to the distant horizon.
  The coastline of Dwindeldorn is a rugged one, an uplifted land mass which
drops sharply to the sea.  Where you are, a tract of vegetated land separates
the cliff's base from the water's edge, but to the north and the south of this
cove, the ground turns quickly into jagged cliffs which plunge into the waters,
and any travel along the coast is rendered unfeasible.  In fact, the steep
trail northwest up the escarpment is the only way to go from here.
  The turf under your feet is lush, and the crescent of land which lies between
the sea and the bottom of the cliff is thickly covered over with straight young
trees, which grow right up to the pebbly rim of the water.  Dwindeldorn has
never been known for its seafaring, and after visiting its beautiful but
inhospitable coast, you can understand why.

  Your protegé is sticking nearby.

  The prince surveys the sea with fascination.  "I don't believe I've ever set
eyes on the sea before!  Not the sea proper, that is.  I've been to the Great
Skalfyrth Water, where the water reaches the horizon; but there you know
there's land just beyond.  Here, it's like the water stretches away to the end
of the world!  It's a little scary, if I'm being frank."

<>> nudge

  "It would be fantastic if we could make friends with that horse, and even get
to ride him around.  But we should keep wandering around so we know what
options we have."
  "What's more, we could explore the quarry some more."

<>> l

 <> On the shore of the Sea of Sorrows <>

  You are standing on the shore of a cove of the Sea of Sorrows.  The coastline
of Dwindeldorn is a rugged one, an uplifted land mass which drops sharply to
the sea.  Where you are, the cliff's base is separated from the water's edge by
a narrow crescent of flat ground, grown over by a tract of straight young
trees.  To the north and the south of this cove, the jagged cliffs meet
directly with the waters, and any travel along the coast is rendered
unfeasible.  In fact, the steep trail northwest up the escarpment is the only
way to go from here.

  The young figurehead is present as ever.

  Your squire looks for crabs.

<>> d

  There are no openings below you here.

<>> x cove

  The great water that lies before you is the Sea of Sorrows, so named for the
many and multifarious sorrows that betide those who venture out into it.  Those
venturers are relatively few, leaving the sea much a place of mystery for those
who remain on land.  The droning wind makes a melancholy melody over the
ceaseless waves.

<>> enter cove

  You can't think of any good reason to get in the water here.

  The king-to-be gets in some pull-ups.

<>> search it

  There's nothing in the sea that's not supposed to be there.

  By your direction, the prince continues to do exercises that build up his leg
power.  He comes to understand that you expect him to carry on this discipline
without needing to be expressly told to.

<>> search cove

  There's nothing in the sea that's not supposed to be there.

<>> l

 <> On the shore of the Sea of Sorrows <>

  You are standing on the shore of a cove of the Sea of Sorrows.  The coastline
of Dwindeldorn is a rugged one, an uplifted land mass which drops sharply to
the sea.  Where you are, the cliff's base is separated from the water's edge by
a narrow crescent of flat ground, grown over by a tract of straight young
trees.  To the north and the south of this cove, the jagged cliffs meet
directly with the waters, and any travel along the coast is rendered
unfeasible.  In fact, the steep trail northwest up the escarpment is the only
way to go from here.

  Nearby, Quiz is ambling around, sack in hand.

<>> x trees

  Growing just above the waterline and all over the ground up to the cliffs is
a good stand of straight young trees, quite tall, and averaging about as thick
as a man's leg.  They might be some kind of sea birches.  We said "young", but
that's mainly in comparison to most of the other trees in Dwindeldorn, which
are routinely larger than what two or even three men could lock hands and ring
around.

  A tiny crab scuttles across the pebbly shore and out of sight.

<>> search trees

  The trees are plentiful, but are spaced from each other enough to see in a
short time that nothing unusual is concealed amongst them.

<>> l

 <> On the shore of the Sea of Sorrows <>

  You are standing on the shore of a cove of the Sea of Sorrows.  The coastline
of Dwindeldorn is a rugged one, an uplifted land mass which drops sharply to
the sea.  Where you are, the cliff's base is separated from the water's edge by
a narrow crescent of flat ground, grown over by a tract of straight young
trees.  To the north and the south of this cove, the jagged cliffs meet
directly with the waters, and any travel along the coast is rendered
unfeasible.  In fact, the steep trail northwest up the escarpment is the only
way to go from here.

  Your companion, PQ, is here with you.

<>> nw

   A steep trail up the cliffs leads you back to Chelkwibble, not many leagues
from the sea...

 <> Chelkwibble town <>

  This is Chelkwibble: a backwater town not far in from the eastern coast of
Dwindeldorn.  The town is noted for its fine cheeses and other products of
milkcraft.  To the eye, the town is distinctive for its variously-shaped roofs
of deep live sod, on which a goat might be seen.  There's a mead-hall and an
inn, and dirt streets can lead you out of the town in different directions:
southwest, west, northwest, northeast, and a lesser one southeastward toward
the coast.

  The royal youth is following you wherever you go.

  "You know what really puzzles me?" says the prince.  "Why do people say
'happy as a clam'?  Are clams really that happy?  How would anybody know?
Clams can't even smile!"

<>> sw

  Leaving southwest from Chelkwibble, you travel through the rugged but green
country of eastern Dwindeldorn.  At length the road makes its way into the
Golden Wood of Eshquoke...

  Somewhere between leaving there and arriving here, you and the prince stopped
for the night.  Having found the nearest watercourse, you showed the prince how
one can make a weir of stones in the streambed and catch small fish without
hooks, spears, or nets.

 <> The Golden Wood of Eshquoke <>

  This is a region of Dwindeldorn known as The Golden Wood of Eshquoke, where
the natural colors of the trees' leaves are blazing yellowy-oranges and golds,
occasionally verging into orangey-pink and orange-red.  The forest is not so
dense but that patches of grass and dandelions are able to grow on the forest
floor.  The most passable tracks seems to lead west, northeast, and southeast.

  A horse, with no apparent owner, frolics gaily about in a nearby glade.

  The incumbent to the throne is lollygagging behind.

<>> l

 <> The Golden Wood of Eshquoke <>

  This is a region of Dwindeldorn known as The Golden Wood of Eshquoke, where
the natural colors of the trees' leaves are blazing yellowy-oranges and golds,
occasionally verging into orangey-pink and orange-red.  The forest is not so
dense but that patches of grass and dandelions are able to grow on the forest
floor.  The most passable tracks seems to lead west, northeast, and southeast.

  A horse, with no apparent owner, frolics gaily about in a nearby glade.

  The Prince of Dwindeldorn is sticking nearby.

  The quirky horse finds a suitable clump of grass amidst the forest floor
litter, and rips off a mouthful of it.

  Your ostensible squire is making shrill sounds by blowing on a piece of grass
clamped between his thumbs.

<>> w

   You travel through the Golden Wood to its western end, and continue on
through a mostly roadless grazing country...

 <> A large dead tree in a meadow <>

  You're in a rolling meadow, quite in the heart of the realm of Dwindeldorn.
Patches of woods rise at varying distances from you in different directions,
while the meadow basks under a deep blue sky.  There aren't any proper roads
here, but the area appears by no means to be unacquainted with the occasional
traveler or shepherd.  Natural byways lead to the south, the east, and the
northwest.

  Standing like a ghostly finger from the ground in the middle of the meadow is
the sun-bleached remains of an old tree trunk.  Myriads of buzzing bees are
swarming around its top.

  The royal youth is hanging around.

<>> x trunk

  The remains of the old tree consist of nothing but a sixteen-foot-tall
section of trunk: barkless, branchless, and broken off at the top.  Where the
trunk enters the ground, a large rotting void opens into the center of the
tree.
  Myriads of buzzing bees are swarming around the tree's top.

  "Ooh, look at all those bees, sir!" exclaims the prince.  "There must be a
mountain of honeycomb up in the top of that tree!  Do you think?  I mean, I was
just guessing.  Maybe the bees are just really excited about the bark, and the
wood, and such."

<>> search trunk

  Peering into the rotten cavity at the tree's base, you can see that the
heartwood of the tree has long ago been rotted and hollowed out, leaving only a
tree-shaped shell.  Dry forest litter lies on the floor of the cavity.  You
can't see very far up the hollow.

<>> get litter

  Really, you don't need to take any of this stuff with you...

  A stray leaf flutters down from a tree.

<>> get leaf

  We can safely leave the leaf alone.

<>> l

 <> A large dead tree in a meadow <>

  You're in a rolling meadow, quite in the heart of the realm of Dwindeldorn.
Patches of woods rise at varying distances from you in different directions,
while the meadow basks under a deep blue sky.  There aren't any proper roads
here, but the area appears by no means to be unacquainted with the occasional
traveler or shepherd.  Natural byways lead to the south, the east, and the
northwest.

  Standing like a ghostly finger from the ground in the middle of the meadow is
the sun-bleached remains of an old tree trunk.  Myriads of buzzing bees are
swarming around its top.

  The boy is present and accounted for.

  "This one isn't working out for me," Quisborne says.  "I've got this much:"

  "A queen was once robbed of a treasure
  That always had given her pleasure.
  But let me be brief:
  They captured the thief..."

  "But what after that?  I could say 'And she pulled off his toes at her
leisure,' but that's a little macabre."

<>> u

  It turns out the sky is not the limit: roughly three feet is, then gravity
kicks back in.

<>> x ees

  "Ees" is either:
 - Something you haven't come across yet
 - Something not necessary to your adventure
 - A phrasing we aren't equipped to handle

<>> x bees

  The swarming bees are making a veritable cloud of buzzing movement around the
top of the dead tree trunk.  It's safe to assume there's a sizeable hive
somewhere up in there.

  A lovely butterfly floats around demurely, and alights on a leaf.

<>> x top

  You cannot see that.

<>> l

 <> A large dead tree in a meadow <>

  You're in a rolling meadow, quite in the heart of the realm of Dwindeldorn.
Patches of woods rise at varying distances from you in different directions,
while the meadow basks under a deep blue sky.  There aren't any proper roads
here, but the area appears by no means to be unacquainted with the occasional
traveler or shepherd.  Natural byways lead to the south, the east, and the
northwest.

  Standing like a ghostly finger from the ground in the middle of the meadow is
the sun-bleached remains of an old tree trunk.  Myriads of buzzing bees are
swarming around its top.

  Near by your side is the feckless heir.

  The prince is talking.
  "It's weird, you know?  Living away from the castle, I mean.  Having to do
everything for ourselves, and lots of times wishing for something but not being
able to ring for it and have it right then and there.  I think I'm finding that
it makes life more interesting...  Or, things just seem to *matter* more, now.
Actually, except as concerns the princess, I'm not in any hurry to go back to
my castle life."

<>> climb trunk

  The tree is barkless, smoothed by prolonged exposure to the elements, and too
large in diameter to reach around for a hug-style climb.

<>> kick trunk

  You vent your frustrations by giving the dead tree a solid kick.  Afterwards,
you have to explain to the prince that this was an ignoble action and not to be
exampled.

  Prince Quiz sings a made-up melody.

<>> l

 <> A large dead tree in a meadow <>

  You're in a rolling meadow, quite in the heart of the realm of Dwindeldorn.
Patches of woods rise at varying distances from you in different directions,
while the meadow basks under a deep blue sky.  There aren't any proper roads
here, but the area appears by no means to be unacquainted with the occasional
traveler or shepherd.  Natural byways lead to the south, the east, and the
northwest.

  Standing like a ghostly finger from the ground in the middle of the meadow is
the sun-bleached remains of an old tree trunk.  Myriads of buzzing bees are
swarming around its top.

  Your young pal is here.

<>> s

  The semi-open countryside eventually picks up a horse track which continues
to wind south.  You come to a road just outside of Kinterole hamlet...

  You found a suitable place to make camp for the night during the travel.
"Ouch!" the prince had said.  "I have blisters forming *inside* other blisters,
so that you might even say my blisters have blisters."

 <> A construction site near Kinterole hamlet <>

  The road branches in a number of directions here in a pleasant little dell,
just on the eastern edge of a tiny hamlet called Kinterole.  Lying northeast of
you, a large and stately house is being reared up.  One might say, being reared
up very slowly and in quite an inexplicable fashion.  A cursory glance at the
site shows a building in wildly varying stages of incompletion.  Here on one
end, much of the frame is yet to be raised, while there on another end the
walls are filled in and there's a section of roof already built with slate
shingles going on.  There's a half-built chimney here, and over there there's a
wall with some windows in, and some window openings empty.
  The ground around the house looks as the ground at a construction site will
usually do... it's covered with mounds of dug-up earth near the footprint of
the building, lumber stacks are all about, as are large patches of dried and
rutted mud where innumerable carts have come and gone with their loads.  The
builders of Dwindeldorn have this to their credit, that they don't hack down
every towering old tree within a stone's throw of the house, just because they
might have to work around it... thus, the site is shady, and the tall trees
give the future house a nice sense of snugness.
  You can hear clamor and hollering coming from inside.  One could walk up to
the house and step right into it through a wide section that hasn't been walled
in yet.
  From here a horse track leads north, following the natural topography of the
land and dodging around trees and large rock outcroppings.  The way east leads
to terrain growing more rugged and thickly forested.  Just west is the hamlet,
past which the road also leads to the northwest.  A little leaning sign peeps
out from the weeds by the hamlet lane.

  The heir to the throne of Dwindeldorn is here with you as always, sack in
hand.

<>> read sign

  It's just a sign letting you know you're leaving the hamlet.  It says:

YOU ARE NOW GOYNGE OUT OF KINTEROLE

<>> save

  Saved.

<>> 

  Go forth bravely, and live well...