The Intervention

Alarmed for himself and for his friend, Prince Jake first consulted with Sir Crowler (who was busy throwing a ball with the baboons) and then traveled alone, down from the plateau and to Pasar. Asking around, he found out that Bangqiu’s friend Beatriss was encamped somewhere north of the village. He found her and explained his concerns. Bangqiu was starting to have concerns of his own. A black spot seemed to be growing in his mind and that space he forgot things. Copying the new spells became exhausting and practicing old spells, even those he’d known for years became more difficult than he remembered. When Prince Jake returned with Beatriss, Bangqiu was in a near panic, trying to destroy the book, but also afraid to do so. Beatriss’s associate Ju-Mei knew what was happening. With a blinding light, he threw Bangqiu onto the floor. As the young wizard lay transfixed, Ju-Mei prayed over him until he, too was exhausted. When Bangqiu recovered, he seized a knife and stabbed the book three or four times before the blade broke. He closed the cover and then wondered out loud whether Saisho’s teacher would still want it.

The next day, based on information from Prince Jake that he had seen birds flying into the formidable structure known to the baboons as the "ghost tower," Bangqiu decided he would try to find a way inside. His hope was that one of those birds was Saisho's teacher. Eschewing the front door, Bangqiu used his boots to levitate up to the top floor. There were numerous small windows, but they were too narrow for him to enter, and the shutters were closed. Using his short sword, he broke the latch on one of the shutters. It popped open, and Bangqiu found himself frozen in mid-air. A monkey trailing a rope, crawled out and jumped on to Banqiu. As the monkey started to tie the rope around Bangqiu's frozen form, Bangqiu began to levitate higher. The monkey abandoned whatever project it had planned and leaped off of Bangqiu to re-enter the tower. Bangqiu surveyed the roof of the tower and, when the monkey's spell wore off, lowered himself on to it. The roof was flat, made of thick wood and had a trap door in the middle of it. The trap door wouldn't open, no matter much Bangqiu punched it or stabbed it with his sword. Frustrated, but still stubbornly refusing to try the front door, Bangqiu lowered himself to the ground and returned to his royal quarters.