No, Jake isn’t anywhere around. The Palace and marketplace are to the EAST, so why don’t you go have a look?
This is the hub of the city: Palace to the north, marketplace to the south.
Apart from the usual sensory overload of an eastern marketplace, you find nothing worth noting.
You make a note of this fountain, knowing you’ll need to drink a lot of water today.
The chickpea vendor is not going to let you ransack her stall.
The sweet-seller hasn’t got any treasures or magical goodies concealed about his ample person.
Not to belabor the obvious, but…
Jake isn’t here.
The most prominent feature of the stall is the display of VERY LARGE jars. The potter is nearby if you want to ask him about them.
This corner of the marketplace is relatively quiet and secluded.
The shoemaker wouldn’t like it if you started looking inside his wares and under his counter.
There is nothing here but dust.
In one corner of the courtyard is an unappetizing heap of assorted rubbish: food scraps, broken pots, tarnished brassware, greasy rags and so on.
On a table nearby is a tray of small roasted birds, fresh from the oven.
Another time, when you’re less tired and overheated, you’ll come back and have a closer look at that shed.
This area is quiet and secluded. If your thoughts are turning in the direction of unlawful entry, nobody would be likely to see you.
You are surrounded by tall buildings with many windows. Better keep a low profile.
The courtyard is overlooked by many, many windows. Better keep a low profile.
You look at the jumble of alleyways to the south, and decide to stick to familiar ground.
The bath attendant would have something to say if you started tearing apart his domain.
The benches ringing the walls are covered with discarded clothes of varying size and quality.
Since this is the main entrance to the Palace, you don’t really expect to find anything but doors and footprints.
To the north are several large windows, some standing open. The windows in the east wall are are screened with a fine lattice so it is impossible to see in.
But there are also several secluded corners where you can duck out of sight of all the windows.
In this part of the room, there is nothing to see but papers and ledgers.
With all those boxes and storage crates, it’s hard to know where to begin.
You’ve already found the only portable object in this room.
Like so many rooms on the ground floor, this one is all but bare. You find nothing of interest.
It’s a pleasant room, cool and shady, but you don’t really belong here.
The courtyard to the south is surrounded by three stories of Palace, so even here it’s relatively cool and quiet.
The soft ground is partly covered with loose paving stones.
This room isn’t used for much of anything. You find nothing that merits further attention.
The table is covered with an assortment of dainties.
The room has almost the feeling of a waiting room: this is where you’d linger before getting permission to go upstairs.
You’ve already found the only object of value in this room.
From the looks of things, the Sultan will be enjoying a banquet when he is finished hearing petitions in the audience hall.
Truthfully, now:
The only reason this room is in the game at all is that those of you who make maps would have been annoyed by its absence.
There are a number of different musical instruments in the room, all of them very valuable.
The room is sparsely furnished to counteract the effect of the warmth from the south windows.
From here you can see several dozen windows all around the courtyard. The thought is a little unnerving.
There’s nothing of interest in the room: it exists only to provide access to the flat roofs, and is too high up ever to be a popular storage site.
From here you can see the service courtyard, stables and an unending tangle of alleyways to the north and west.
To the EAST, a waist-high wall separates this roof from the roof of the women's wing.
Far below, you see a pleasant walled garden.
What, exactly, did you expect to find up here in midair?
What, exactly, did you expect to find up here in midair?
Behind you is one of four matching towers, all with large windows not too far overhead.
You make a note of the service courtyard below, particularly its water fountain.
Taking care not to fall in the windows, which would send you plummeting thirty or forty feet to the hard floor of the audience hall, you sneak a look at the Sultan from above.
From here you have a great view of the marketplace at its noisiest and gaudiest.
In addition to its audience-hall access, this room gives a nice view over the main approach to the Palace.
Here’s a time-saving tip: you can go diagonally across this large room in any direction, NORTHEAST to SOUTHWEST and so on.
You’ve got a nasty feeling that someone's watching you.
Take your pick: wardrobe, boxes, mirror, window…
It looks as if you’ve already found what this room has to offer.
The bedrooms opening onto this gallery are probably loaded with valuable jewelry…
but you haven’t the nerve to explore them, since this wing of the Palace isn’t completely empty.
The pavilions to the east look shady and inviting.
That jug of sharbat looks very appealing.
At a different time of day, or a different season of the year, you’d probably appreciate this place a lot more.
There’s loads of fascinating stuff in here, but it’s just that—more interesting than valuable.
If you’ve taken care of the roc, there’s really no reason to stick around any more under the blazing sun.
