Q. How do I open the safe in the Main Store?
A. If you examine the safe:

> x safe
The safe is a plain steel block set into the wall. The combination dial shows the thirteen Zodiacal
constellations - slightly quaint, but the Service is slow to change a good thing.

The safe is closed and locked.

Hmm. You may remember something about when you looked closely at Ctesc, who's right here behind a fracture:

> x ctesc
It's Sydney Ctesc - an East Empire name, his family is from out that way. He's an ensign in
Alchemy, same as you, though a year senior. Short, quiet, studies hard.

You see something, a sequence of symbols, scrawled on Ctesc's hand. And his attention seems to
be directed towards the steel safe.

> x hand
You squint at Ctesc, but he's too far away and his hand is at an awkward angle. You can't make the symbols out. The last one might be... Scorpio? Virgo?

Drat. The safe combination is most likely written on his hand, but you don't know how many Zodiacal symbols make up the combination, and you're not even sure whether the last one is Scorpio or Virgo. So the combination must be elsewhere... or not. Tell you what, this is one of the hardest puzzles in the early part of the game, because the clue for it is quite subtle. In fact, you need to create a planetary lens, for which the ritual can be found in the Study Room:

> recall planetary lens
"TO CREATE A PLANETARY LENS (which reveals symbolic associations of the celestial sphere): This will require two glass lenses of matching curvature. Prepare an environment with lunar influences, ensuring that the atmosphere is free of aromas. Place one lens within the bound, and invoke a simple sealing, followed by a word of essential nature. Let one drop of Java spirit upon the lens, and place the other lens atop it. The Binding of the Celestial Sphere will fuse the lenses and empower them."

OK, so "...(which reveals symbolic associations of the celestial sphere)..." is the reference to the Zodiac. But there's another little wrinkle: "...matching curvature..." to me means "same curvature". Nuh uh. There aren't two of the same lenses anywhere to be found. What you actually need is two lenses that will "fit together". Those would be the concave and convex lenses that are in the Opticks Annex. Anyway, I trust you can find the other stuff required by this ritual by now. Oh, and the Binding of the Celestial Sphere formula is on a crumpled sheet in the Exoscaphe. Then you can use either the ritual bound in the Nave or the Opticks Annex to make the planetary lens: Click here to show/hide ritual steps

Now let's go see what's inside that safe: Click here to show/hide instructions for opening the safe and revealing what's inside

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