Traveller’s log – 26.06.03
Codename – 3Toads

I have returned safely to base camp, our scouting party having completed its excursion into the Artillery Zone. We had little to fear; the cannons upon the hill have long fallen silent and stand abandoned like empty black tortoise shells. I cannot fathom what ancient beings might have employed such dread weaponry. Nor do I wish to.

Contrasting with the oppressive atmosphere effected by this sable machinery, the denizens of the Artillery Zone are for their part exceedingly friendly and quite hospitable, although they do not make themselves easy to find. To spend the evening with them, our scouting party was forced to brave a torturous maze of hallways and doors, many of which lead to a seemingly infinite series of repeating laundry rooms. We almost lost one member of our party, in fact, after Goul found herself in what appeared to her a room without means of egress. Thankfully, Xīnyì and I found her in time and guided her through the doorway she had missed.

Eventually, we reached the meeting place known to the locals as the “Queer Street Riichi Rendezvous.” To our delight, we found the resident matriarch, Queen Johana, entertaining two neighboring dignitaries, Princess Kaori and Princess CaveDyke, in anticipation of the latter’s sojourn to the Central Territories. With great enthusiasm, these royals welcomed us into their festivities, offered us provisions, and invited us to join in their celebratory games: a three-person variation on a popular tile matching puzzle competition known as Mahjong, the rules for which I only faintly comprehended before arriving.

Despite my ignorance of the game’s customs, I was blessed nonetheless with an invitation to sit at the royal table and to take part in the Queen’s game along with Princess CaveDyke. With some surprise, I found that I took to the rules rather quickly. More surprising still was the fact that I soon found myself winning! Could I explain to you now how it was that I won the game with a final score of 55 500 and that I did so with a dealer Mangan and a Baiman? My dear reader, I could not explain to you what these words mean, let alone how I achieved them. I suspect some god or demon possessed me in that moment, lending to me its divine and inscrutable favour.

A small spark of intrigue flared when, on account of my success, the Queen’s viziers set out to assassinate me with the oil extracted from the nut of the pea. Somehow, these would-be assassins were aware that I am not a human but am, in fact, three toads in a trenchcoat; furthermore, they must have surmised correctly that the nut of the pea spells doom for our vulnerable amphibian immune systems. Thankfully, Princess CaveDyke discovered the sinister plot in time to alert Queen Johana and to thwart the conspiracy. The meddlesome viziers were summarily executed, and there was much rejoicing.

I cannot speak to the enjoyment had by the other members of my scouting party, but there was much laughter from the table at which they played their own game with Princess Kaori. I believe their final scores were as follows:

  Xīnyì - 51 500
  Goul - 20 500
  Princess Kaori - 17 600

As for the Queen’s table, the final scores were thus:

  3Toads - 55 500
  Princess CaveDyke - 34 500
  Queen Johana - 0

Queen Johana is indeed a gracious host, for despite losing an entire room’s worth of points from the royal coffers, we were each of us invited to return to play again. Before parting, we all wished Princess CaveDyke a safe journey to the Central Territories. We then left, escaping past the infinite laundry rooms and beneath the towering black artillery. Upon returning to camp, I already looked forward to my next visit to the Queer Street Riichi Rendezvous.