The Jester's Court

The Jester's Court
◄Eamon adventure #282►
Author	Raymond Feist
Created	c. 1981
Released	May 2026
Native format	Apple DOS 3.3
File	Eamon 282 - The Jester's Court.dsk

The Jester's Court is one of two Eamon adventures written by fantasy author Raymond Feist, the other being The Trapster's Maze. It was written around 1981 and formally added to the Eamon catalog in 2026.

Background

Feist's involvement in fantasy world-building began in the late 1970s when he was a student at the University of California, San Diego. He joined a D&D-style roleplaying group and with his friends helped develop and flesh out the various settings used in the game's sprawling campaigns. Feist also took an interest in early Apple II computer games, and when he learned of Donald Brown's Eamon he decided to "take a bash" at it and create a couple of original adventures of his own.

Disks on eBay in 2026

In correspondence with Huw Williams in 2026, Feist recalled that he created the adventures before he thought he would become a professional writer or game designer, which suggests they were probably completed in 1981 (before the publication of his first novel in October 1982). He shared The Jester's Court and The Trapster's Maze with friends, and they soon found their way into the software library of the Apple Corps of San Diego (ACSD), a local Apple users group. However, the adventures seemingly didn't spread much farther and never reached the National Eamon User's Club, so they remained unseen for many years.

When a collection of floppy disks from the ACSD came up for auction on eBay in May 2026, Huw Williams bought them for $20 and rediscovered Feist's adventures, making them available online through the Eamon Wiki. Informed of their recovery, Feist wrote, "It's good to know they're still floating around out there somewhere and a few folks may still get a giggle out of them."

Premise

From the introduction:

"Dear Sam:" the letter began. "I have gone to visit an old friend, Shandon, in Krondor. See you when I get back. Love, Felinah. XXOO!"

The adventurer who gave you the letter says, "Sorry, Sam, we found this on the road to the Jester's court." He shakes his head sadly and walks away.

Your old friend Felinah has taken the wrong road (for the third time this month).

As the fellow who gave you the note said, "Sam, who else could go?" Who else is strong enough, brave enough (or dumb enough) to get her out? So it has fallen upon you, Sam, to go and fetch her back again, safely.

You know what he means. Jester's Court is a fearful place. Many have ventured there, but few have returned. And of the few who have, most came back mad! (Not that this is a problem for you. Felinah's only got one oar in the water anyway, and you've got to be crazy to be going after her.)

So after tramping along for a week, you find yourself outside the Jester's Court! Outside the door, you can see a sign. It reads:

Welcome to Jester's Court
Visitors are discouraged, but if you must come in, here are the house rules:
1) No spitting on the floor
2) No stealing the silver
3) No abusive language
Signed, The Jester

Well, Sam, good luck! You'll be needing it!

Walkthrough

Adventure map by Huw Williams

This walkthrough begins by clearing out the dungeons and freeing Felinah (and other prisoners) early on, then moving generally northward through the rest of the castle and ultimately defeating the Jester himself. This approach minimizes back-tracking. However, if you want to absolutely ensure the safety of your friend Felinah, you can carry out all the exploration and combat first, then when the enemies have been dispatched, return to the dungeons, free her, and go together to the exit.

The walkthrough also skips empty rooms and dead-ends, taking you only through rooms that have treasure or monster encounters, or are otherwise necessary for completing the mission.

Remember that some allies who join you along the way may not carry weapons of their own, so giving them spares lets them participate in combat.

Early rooms

1. From the entrance, proceed north through the long hall to a T intersection.
2. Go east into a corridor. The north room is empty, but the south one leads to a "hobby room" that contains a large wooden horse. If you ride horse it'll magically whisk you back to the Main Hall, but you can safely take it if you like. Going south again takes you to a gold room where you can battle a sphinx and collect some gold. Return to the corridor.
3. Go east to where the corridor bends, with exits north and east.
4. Take the north path first, which takes you to a set of stairs that lead up the castle's tower. At the top are an empty observatory a bedroom occupied by a chained maiden (who when freed will probably attack you with her nail file). Go back down the stairs and return to the bend.
5. Step east into a fancy bedroom. If you move bed you'll uncover a hidden passage leading down. Follow it.

Dungeons

1. Below the bedroom, pick up the "vile vial" (a healing potion) and follow the tunnel west.
2. Battle the bearded guard, then go north to find the dungeon's jailer. Dispatch him, take the keys, and return to the tunnel.
3. Go south to an intersection. Take the east path first which leads to a torture room where you can dispatch the torturer. Return and take the west path which leads to the cell where Felinah hangs in chains. Free her and return to the main E/W tunnel.
4. Go west. Free the chained prisoner and chained slave in the small cells to the north and south.
5. Go west and battle the tall guard. A stairway leads up but ignore it for now.
6. Go west, then south, and you'll reach the end of the tunnel. Go up.

Middle rooms

1. You emerge into a "game room" where a friendly clown may join your party. Grab the copy of Monopoly and exit east. (The exit back down to the dungeons is via the chest.)
2. You're at a north/east bend in a corridor. Check out the rich bedroom to the south, where a servant of the Jester's may join the group, then return to the corridor.
3. Optionally: go one more step east and explore the side-rooms north and south. The south room is occupied by a large spider, the north by a cute but dangerous puppy named Fido. (The cat in the chamber beyond Fido's room is friendly.) If you go further east you'll be back at the very first T intersection you came to, so instead go back west to the bend by the game room.
4. Take the corridor north. The west side-chamber is a storage room occupied by a lurking boogeyman.
5. Step north again to a T intersection.
6. Go west to where the corridor ends, with doors opening north, south, and west. In the south room you can pick up a silver ring; the other two rooms are empty (though the north one has a stairway leading down to the dungeon). Return east to the intersection.
7. Follow the long hallway east to where it bends.
   1. The guard room (south) is occupied by two large guards.
   2. The armory (east), guarded by an ogre, contains a valuable sword named "Monsterslayer".
8. Taking the hallway north reveals two more side chambers, east and west.
   1. East is the mess hall occupied by a single guard.
   2. West is the kitchen where the cook is preparing meals. Take the cup of coffee — drinking it will raise your agility by one point.
9. Go north to the great archway that leads into the Jester's court, and north again to enter.

Jester's court

1. You're at the south end of the Jester's great hall, with exits east and west. East will lead to the exit, so skip it for now. West leads to a small set of rooms that are empty save for an aggressive stand-up comic.
2. Go north twice to reach the north end of the Jester's hall. Again there are two side chambers: the west one is the office of the Jester's aggressive agent, the east one is home to a chained-up gagwriter who may join you when freed. (You can also collect his Smith-Corona typewriter.)
3. Go north again to reach the Jester's inner court. Defeat the captain of the guard and collect the jewels.
4. Go north once more and you're at the throne of the Jester himself! Dispatch him, take the golden crown, and your enemies have all been vanquished.
5. Go south (four times) to the south end of the court, then take the east corridor you skipped earlier. It leads to a large chamber whose east wall is dominated by a magical mural of the Main Hall. Step east into the mural and you're transported home.

Though your goal is to return safely with Felinah, the game assigns no reward for returning with her, and no penalty for returning without her.

Trivia

• Felinah is a character in Feist's first novel Magician and its sequel Silverthorn. She is the daughter of Duke Brucal of Yabon.
• Felinah's intended destination, Krondor, is an important city in Feist's world of Midkemia, located on the east coast of the Bitter Sea.
• Returning home by stepping into a magical mural of the Main Hall is also how the adventurer exits The Lost Island of Apple by Donald Brown.
• The adventure number shown on the game's diskette — 13 — wound up being assigned instead to The Caves of Treasure Island by Paul Braun and Geoffrey Genz.
• The adventure disk was #23-A in the San Diego Apple Corps library.
• The time between when The Jester's Court was created and when it officially entered the Eamon catalog was approximately 45 years, the longest of any adventure.

External links

• The Official Raymond E. Feist Website
• The Interactive Fiction Database: The Jester's Court