Kelfour Edition volume III number VIII

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  _______________________________________________________________________
 / \                                                                     \
|   |                                      Hunting Mummies to Fire Cats!  |
 @_/_____________________________________________________________________/
 |                                                                     |
 |                                                                     |
 |    GemStone III(TM)                                  January 1993   |
 |                                                      Vol. 3, No.8   |
 |               _   _           _    ___                              |
 |              / ) / )         / )  / __)                             |
 |             / /_/ /  ____   / / _/ (   ____   __  __  ____          |
 |            /   __/  / __ ) / / (  __) / _  ) / / / / / ___)         |
 |           / /\ \   / ___/ / /  / /   / (/ / / (_/ / / /             |
 |          (_/  \_) (____) (_(  (_(   (____/ (_____( (_(              |
 |                         _____      _    _    _    _                 |
 |      |\  ,,,,,  /|     / ____)    / )  (/  _/ )  (/                 |
        | \/_   _\/ |    / (__   ___/ /  _   (  _) _   ____   ____     |
 /\     (_    "    _)   /  ___) / _  /  / )  / /  / ) / _  ) /    )    |
 \ \      (  ,--, )    /  (_   / (/ /  / /  / /  / / / (/ / / /) /     |
 / /    ,,,\__-__/,,, (_____) (____(  (_(  (_(  (_( (____/ (_((_(      |
 \ \   ,,,,""""""",,,,                                                 |
 /_/   (  )"""""""(  ) ,('')       The Kronicles of Kulthea            |
[!!!]-'  / """"""" \  \_/ /                                            |
  `-----' """"""""" `.___/                                             |
 |______  ;;;;;;;;;  __________________________________________________|
 |_______ """"""""" ___________________________________________________|
 |        """" """"                                                    |
 |        """   """                                                    |
 |       _"",   ,""_    Local News ..............................   1  |
 |    __(___)   (___)_  Hall of Fame ............................  11  |
 |                      Kelfour Census Report ... Catrissa Dakhati  2  |
 |  Rolling up a Character .................... Lord Nixie Trevize  4  |
 |  Mastering the Character Generator .............. Rondo d'Amici  5  |
 |  Successful Thievery:                                               |
 |    The Deadliest Skill .............. Lord Artuero Bresnahanini  7  |
 |  How to Defeat Pickpockets .......................... Anonymous  9  |
 |  Misremembering Moon ................................. Greywulf 12  |
 |  The Monster Chronicles: Mummies ............... Jarran Terraxx 13  |
 |  A Hacker's Guide to Greys ................... Imlach Draughlir 14  |
 |  A Guide to Cavers ................................... Darkseed 16  |
 |  Out of the Frying Pan (FGS) ................ Celestin Drowstar 18  |
 |  Fire Cats and Fire Rats ...................... Kalagay Halatil 20  |
 |  Water's Shadowed Flight .......................... Eron Kulsen 22  |
 |  Bumbling in the Dark .......................... Kert Clandocci 23  |
 |  A Guiding Star ............................. Belladonna Atropa 25  |
 |  Harpy Holidays ............................... Lloyd Lowd, PhD 27  |
 |                                                                     |
 |_____________________________________________________________________|
 |                                                                     |
 | Kelfour Edition/Kronicles of Kulthea, is devoted to the Multiplayer |
 | Role-Playing Game GemStone III on GEnie Online Service. Submissions |
 | may be edited for space, accuracy and readability.  Write Assistant |
 | Editors  Kalagay Halatil, Jarran Terraxx,  Rasputin Santare,  or to |
 | Publisher Phaedra Bleu by GE Mail to P.HERRINGTON for details.      |
 |   __________________________________________________________________|___
 |  /                                                                     /
 \_/_____________________________________________________________________/
  
  
       
  
  



  
                           Kelfour's Local News
                           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  
      Role-playing Experience!              Pirates Pose as Merchants!
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All residents are encouraged to stay   Although (as you can see below) they
in character when in the environs of   offered items of great value, recent
Kulthea  because, at long last, real   visiting  merchants  were exposed as
experience  points are being awarded   dangerous  pirates  by several brave
for doing so!                          adventurers.
  
       Read the Version Notes          Some items included a Grey Nipcan of
       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~          Invisibility  for 700 silvers, white
Staying  current with changes to the   gold   vial   believed   to  hold  a
game is important to optimizing your   Resurrection potion for 5580, Silver
playing investment. Changes are doc-   horn  of  Strength  for  2000, Metal
umented  regularly  in  the  Version   Chalice  containing  Blur  for 2000,
Notes  available on menu option 2 on   Alabaster  decanter of Wizard Shield
GEnie  page  931.   Changes were ex-   for 7150, Glass Flask of Strenth for
plained   there,  for  instance,  in   725,  Glass Bottle of Channeling for
December  and  January affecting the   4000,  and  a Glass Decanter with an
following:                             unknown spell for 1700 silvers.
  
  Tend, Diagnose and Unwrap                Great GemStone III Resources
  Dragging overfilled containers           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  Word of Disarm                       * Indexes to Back Kelfour Editions
  Brawling                               GemStone III Library files 45 & 46
  Enchantment True and Get command       Find the articles YOU want!
  Disarm and Trap
  Call Familiar                        * Town Forums every Wednesday
  ... and many more!                     Residents meet in Moot Hall
  
       Visit Town Frequently           * Newbie Night, Last Tuesday of Each
       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~             Month. Personal help in the game!
Attention!  Residents staying out of
Kulthea  for  more  than 90 days run   * Multi-player Games RoundTable
the risk of not being recognized up-     GEnie*Basic Bulletin Board
on return. Details in GemStone III's     Categories 17 through 20
Policy Statement on GEnie page 931.      Keyword MPGRT
                                                              /|
                                                             //|
                                                            // |
     ______________________________________________________|/  |_______
    / \                                                    |  _|       \
    \@|    Hunter's Theme Song                             | (_)        |
      |                                                   _|            |
      |                         Home on the Plains       (_)            |
      |                         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~                      |
      |                                                                 |
      |           Oh, give me a home where the Lesser Orcs roam,        |
      |              Where the Torkaans and Hobgoblins play.            |
      |            Where often is heard, that encouraging word          |
      |               That my chest won't blow pickers away!            |
      |                                                                 |
      |                     Home, home on the plains!                   |
      |              Where the Trolls and the Wolvies I slay.           |
      |       Where crits are deserved, and my wounds are all cured,    |
     _|                And my mind never clears up all day!             |
    /@|                                                                 |
    \/_________________________________________________________________/
                                    -1-
  
  
  
  
 ____________
/ \      __  \          Kelfour's Landing Census Report
\@|     / "|  |         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  |    //|"|  |        by Catrissa Dakhati, Census Taker
 _|   //=|"|  |
/@|  //  |"|  | census of  Kelfour's   [Editor's Note:  This situation  was
\_/ ~~   ~~~ /  Landing  adventurers   rectified in grand style by the bard
  ~~~~~~~~~~~   was conducted  early   Lord Enegue LionHeart by press time,
last December when the entire  popu-   as shown by the January 25th Fame.]
lation  of  646 people was polled as
to  race  and  choice of profession.   The  same  statistics were then com-
It  was  discovered  that 43 inhabi-   puted for the  entire  population of
tants  of Kelfour's had attained the   Kelfour's Landing.
special  title  of  Lord or Lady.  A
separate  poll  was  done  for these   Half-elves  may be outcasts in other
high  ranking  members  of  our fair   lands, but they have obviously found
town.                                  a  home  in  Kelfour's Landing.  The
                                       class  divisions show that Kelfour's
This  titled class numbered 43, just   is truly a frontier town.  As in any
less than 7% of the population.        frontier town, thieves are plentiful
                                       so  carrying a tight purse is recom-
As  can  be  seen  by  the following   mended.   And  it is clear from this
charts,  Elves are the more dominant   census  that  the  town  needs  more
of  the  races, making up almost 80%   clerics and healers.
of  the Lords.  The absence of Lords
among  common  men  is  interesting,   These are the facts and figures, any
although  the  division of the Lord-   further analysis and discussion will
ships  among the various professions   be left  to others.  Hopefully  this
was fairly evenly distributed except   census  will  prove  informative and
for bards.                             useful to all.
    _______________________________________________________________________
   / \                 Breakdown of Lords by Race and Class                \
  | @/_____________________________________________________________________/
  |          Halfling       5 (12%)         Fighter       3 ( 7%)         |
  |          Half-elf      20 (47%)         Thief        10 (23%)         |
  |          Fair elf      12 (28%)         Bard          0 ( 0%)         |
  |          High man       3 ( 7%)         Ranger        6 (14%)         |
  |          High elf       1 ( 2%)         Cleric        6 (14%)         |
  |          Wood elf       1 ( 2%)         Healer        5 (12%)         |
  |_         Dwarf          1 ( 2%)         Mage         10 (23%)        _|
   /         Common man     0 ( 0%)         Sorceror      3 ( 7%)        \
  |                        ---------                     ---------        |
  |          Total         43 (100%)                     43 (100%)        |
  |-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
  |                             Race by Class                             |
  |                  Half-  Half  Fair  High  High  Wood         Common   |
  |                  ling   Elf   Elf   Man   Elf   Elf   Dwarf    Man    |
  |                                                                       |
  |       Fighter      0%    5%    0%   67%    0%    0%     0%     0%     |
  |       Thief        0%   25%   42%    0%    0%    0%     0%     0%     |
  |       Bard         0%    0%    0%    0%    0%    0%     0%     0%     |
  |       Ranger       0%   30%    0%    0%    0%    0%     0%     0%     |
  |       Cleric      20%   20%    8%    0%    0%    0%     0%     0%     |
  |       Healer       0%   10%    8%    0%  100%    0%   100%     0%     |
  |       Mage        60%   10%   33%    0%    0%  100%     0%     0%     |
  |       Sorceror    20%    0%    8%   33%    0%    0%     0%     0%     |
  |                  ---------------------------------------------------- |
__|       Total #      5     20    12     3     1     1      1      0     |
\_/______________________________________________________________________/
                                    -2-
  
  
      
  
  
  

    _______________________________________________________________________
   / \                            Class by Race                            \
  | @/_____________________________________________________________________/
  |               Fighter Thief  Bard  Ranger Cleric Healer Mage Sorc     |
  |                                                                       |
  |    Halfling      0%     0%    0%     0%     17%     0%   30%  33%     |
  |    Half-elf     33%    50%    0%   100%     67%    40%   20%   0%     |
  |    Fair elf      0%    50%    0%     0%     17%    20%   40%  33%     |
  |    High man     67%     0%    0%     0%      0%     0%    0%  33%     |
  |_   High elf      0%     0%    0%     0%      0%    20%    0%   0%    _|
   /   Wood elf      0%     0%    0%     0%      0%     0%   10%   0%    \
  |    Dwarf         0%     0%    0%     0%      0%    20%    0%   0%     |
  |    Com. Man      0%     0%    0%     0%      0%     0%    0%   0%     |
  |                ---------------------------------------------------    |
  |    Total #        3    10      0      6       6      5    10    3     |
  |-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
  |                Number of each Race and Class split up                 |
  |_---------------------------------------------------------------------_|
   /          Halfling      44 ( 7%)      Fighter     111 (17%)          \
  |           Half-elf     295 (46%)      Thief       154 (24%)           |
  |           Fair elf     118 (18%)      Bard         28 ( 4%)           |
  |           High man      86 (13%)      Ranger      109 (17%)           |
  |           High elf      15 ( 2%)      Mage        109 (17%)           |
  |           Wood elf      30 ( 5%)      Sorceror     44 ( 7%)           |
  |_          Dwarf         23 ( 4%)      Cleric       53 ( 8%)          _|
   /          Common man    35 ( 5%)      Healer       38 ( 6%)          \
  |                       ----------                  ---------           |
  |          Totals       646 (100%)                 646 (100%)           |
  |-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
  |                   Race by Class and Class by Race                     |
  |-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
  |                 Half   Half  Fair  High  High  Wood         Common    |
  |                 ling   Elf   Elf   Man   Elf   Elf   Dwarf  Man       |
  |      Fighter      0%   15%    8%   40%   20%    7%    43%    20%      |
  |      Thief       14%   31%   27%    3%   20%   13%    17%    31%      |
  |      Bard         2%    3%    5%    6%    7%   10%     0%     9%      |
  |      Ranger       0%   24%   10%   19%    7%   10%     9%    11%      |
  |      Cleric       7%    8%    8%   12%    7%    0%    13%     6%      |
  |      Healer       2%    6%    5%    5%   20%    0%    17%     6%      |
  |      Mage        59%    7%   29%   13%    7%   40%     0%     9%      |
  |      Sorceror    16%    5%    8%    3%   13%   20%     0%     9%      |
  |                ----------------------------------------------------   |
  |      Total #      44   295   118    86    15    30     23     35      |
  |-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
  |                Fighter Thief  Bard  Ranger Cleric Healer Mage Sorc    |
  |     Halfling      0%     4%    4%     0%      6%     3%   24%  16%    |
  |     Half-elf     41%    59%   32%    65%     47%    47%   20%  32%    |
  |     Fair elf      9%    21%   21%    11%     17%    16%   31%  20%    |
  |     High man     31%     2%   18%    15%     19%    11%   10%   7%    |
  |     High elf      3%     2%    4%     1%      2%     8%    1%   5%    |
  |     Wood elf      2%     3%   11%     3%      0%     0%   11%  14%    |
  |     Dwarf         9%     3%    0%     2%      6%    11%    0%   0%    |
  |     Com. Man      6%     7%   11%     4%      4%     5%    3%   7%    |
  |                 ---------------------------------------------------   |
  |     Total #      111    154    28    109      53     38   109   44    |
  |                                                                       |
  |   Note: Percentages may not always add up to 100 due to rounding.     |
__|   This report was based on the Fame list posted on Dec. 10, 1992.     |
\_/______________________________________________________________________/
                                    -3-
  
  
    
  
  
  
 ___________              Rolling up a Character
/ \      __ \             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
\@|     / "| |            by Lord Nixie Trevize
  |    //|"| |
 _|   //=|"| | nyone  who  wants  to   The  second  set  of  numbers,  your
/@|  //  |"| | develop  a  long-term   potential  stats, is determined from
\_/ ~~   ~~~/  character in GemStone   a  Role Master table incorporated in
  ~~~~~~~~~~   should test a variety   the character manager.
of professions before choosing  one.
Find someone to show you  the ropes.   You've  probably  been advised about
Information  from  others will  save   re-rolling.   "Get 100s and put them
you much time and frustration.         here,  then put that 99 there," etc.
                                       Well,  okay  if you want just 3 or 4
Once you've decided on a profession,   good  stats,  but  if  you want good
you  will need to create a character   stats all around, forget that.
with stats  (numbers which determine
bonuses that affect your character's   Here's what you do:
abilities  in the game) you can live
with  over  time.  My own experience   Ask  around  (or look in back issues
has  been  that  you  can  expect to   of  KE) and find out which stats are
spent  4 to 6 hours in the character   important to your profession.
manager  to  optimize  these  stats.
For  example,  my  character's stats   Put  your  two  lowest rolls in your
using this technique are:              character's automatic 90s.
  
 COnstitution    99   STrength   99    Put your  highest roll  in the skill
 AGility         99   QUickness  98    you  need  the  most  which  is  not
 Self Discipline 99   PResence   75    covered by an automatic 90.
 ELoquence       97   INtuition  97
 REasoning       87   EMpathy    98    Put  all  other  high numbers in the
                                       first  5  stats (CO, AG, SD, EL, RE)
Any  profession  would be successful   to maximize your Development points.
with these stats.
                                       Once you have started  your pattern,
The character  manager generates two   stick to  it. Don't jump around with
sets  of numbers for your character.   your numbers.  Just stick to putting
These  numbers are divided between a   the same type in the same place.
first  roll  and a potential roll --
the stats you start out with and the   Always   examine   your  character's
potential  stats  you work toward as   potential  stats  to see if they are
as  your  character  matures.   Both   satisfactory.   This  method  allows
sets  are  weighted:   On your first   you  to  take advantage of both sets
roll, you will get 3 numbers between   of  rolls  and the possible 90s that
75-100,  3  between 50-80, 3 between   each  can produce.  The object is to
20-50,  and  1  between 20-100.  The   get  the  potential 90s to match the
second  set  of numbers will produce   low stats from the first roll.
similar results, except that numbers
between 1 and 20 are allowed on some   Believe  me,  this  method works!  I
rolls.                                 invested  six  hours  rolling  up my
                                       character.   Three  times I rejected
Let's  look  at  the  spreads.  Your   better  stats  than  I ended up with
will have two automatic 90s, and the   because  I  wanted  2.8 power points
character  manager  will  generate a   per  level.   I  settled instead for
total of 6 numbers between 75-100, 6   2.5, and I've never regretted it.
between  50-80, 6 between 20-50, and
2  between 20-100.  It's possible to   My advice is to forget about getting
get eight 100s and two 98s, but this   100s.  Go for a bunch of the highest
would occur rarely indeed.             90s you can manage.
                                    -4-
  
  
  
     
  
  
  
 _______________       Mastering the Character Generator
/ \ ____    ____\      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
\@| +|~~\  /~~|+|               by Rondo d'Amici
  |  |~\~\/~/~| |
 _|  |~|\~~/|~| | any a new resident    _________________________________
/@| _|~| ~~ |~|_| of  Kulthea, after    \                                \
\_/ ~~~~    ~~~~/ spending   several    ||________________________________|
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  years in the area,    |                                |
has   decided   that   their  chosen    | 1 @ 98 or higher for INtuition |
profession of adventuring is not for    |                                |
them.   Most of these folks have re-    | 3 @ 90 or higher for QUickness |
latives of some description who wish    |   COnstitution and STrength    |
to  follow  in  their  footsteps  as    |                                |
adventurers, but this entails visit-    |  1 @ 75 or higher for AGility  |
ing  that  most blessed of all spots    |  ______________________________|
of the town of Kelfours Landing, the    | @\                              \
Character  Generator.   This article     \_/______________________________/
discusses how to best determine what
the  new  adventurer needs to obtain
from the Character Generator and the   Additionally, I wanted the potential
best  way  to  obtain these charact-   rolls  in each of the above categor-
eristics without causing your family   ies  to  be 95 or higher.  I decided
to go bankrupt.                        to prioritize the remaining rolls in
                                       this  order:  Self Discipline, Reas-
Deciding What You Want                 oning,  Empathy,  Presence, and Elo-
                                       quence (taking the default 90).  The
Before   you   enter  the  character   purpose of making these decisions in
generator,  you  should  spend  some   advance  is  to  allow  you  to look
time  deciding  what  your new char-   immediately at a set of 10 rolls and
acter  wants  to do as a profession.   decide  if the rolls are high enough
After you decide, you must determine   to  merit  investing  more  time  or
the  sort of statistics and training   whether you should reroll posthaste.
that  are  best  for someone of that
profession.  The best way to do this   Remember  that you will have no more
is  to  contact the leading citizens   than  four  starting rolls above 80,
in  your chosen profession.  Talk to   no matter how many times you reroll.
various  people  around  town, leave   The  potential  rolls are a function
messages  on  the bulletin board, or   of  the starting rolls, but they can
send  email  to  individuals, if you   theoretically  be any value equal to
know their addresses.  Additionally,   or greater than the starting rolls.
you   should   read  Kelfour's  most
famous  book,  Natasha's No-Nonsense   The   beginning   adventurer  should
Tourist Handbook to Kulthea.           decide which areas he plans to train
                                       in  before  entering  the  character
Other  adventurers will be  happy to   generator.   Spell users should per-
tell you what stats are important to   use  the  spell  lists in advance to
your occupation,  but opinions about   decide which list or lists they plan
rolls abound!  It's up to you to de-   to  develop.  Will your character be
cide how high your rolls must be for   a  picker  of  chests,  a  picker of
each stat.   In other words,  do you   pockets,  or  a stalker who picks on
want  a QUickness rating above 90 or   monsters?  Will you wave wands, read
95, or  is 80 good enough?  How many   runes,  or  try to brawl your way to
Power  Points  per level are enough?   fame   and   fortune?    Many  local
For  example,  when  I  visited  the   residents will be more than happy to
character  generator I had decided I   discuss how to optimize  your train-
needed the following potential rolls   ing experience.
to be an effective cleric:                                          More...
  
                                    -5-
  
  
  
      
  
  
  
Once  you  decide  you  are ready to   Your second macro should read:
enter  the  character generator, you
need  to  set  up two macros to help   D [CR] Y [CR] D [CR] Y [CR] D [CR] Y
you quickly reroll when you get poor   [CR]  M  [CR] 1 [CR] 1 [CR] 1 [CR] 1
rolls.   The first macro should read   [CR]  Your Name [CR] 3 [CR] 1 [CR] Y
as follows:                            [CR] Y [CR]
  
    N [CR] 4 [CR] [CR] 3 [CR]          This  one  answers all the questions
                                       to get from your  potential rolls to
where  [CR]  is  a  carriage  return   a new set of rolls.
character,  ASCII 13.  (Note:  There
are  really  no  spaces  in  macros;   Now  you're  ready.  CHECK IN at the
spaces  are  used for clarity only.)   inn.   Retire your character or fam-
This  macro  will  be used after the   ily  and  agree to have the computer
rolls  are  displayed  and  you have   assign the rolls randomly.  You will
rearranged  them if you desire.  The   be  looking  at  a set of ten rolls,
N and first [CR] answers "no" to the   where  the  first three are probably
question,  "Do you want to rearrange   the highest, along with possibly the
the  rolls?"  The  4 and [CR] select   last.   Look  these  rolls  over and
the  profession  of  Cleric.  If you   decide  if  you  want  to build your
want  some  other profession, change   character  from  them.  If not, exe-
the 4 to a number from the following   cute  the  first macro, press enter,
table:                                 and  execute  the  second macro.  In
     ________________________          approximately  50  seconds, you will
    |\                       \         be looking at a new roll.  Unlike in
    |/_______________________/         the  game,  I  found no limit to the
    |                       |          number of lines you can type ahead.
    |       1 = Fighter     |
    |       2 = Thief       |          [Editor's Note:   ALWAYS  check  out
    |       3 = Mage        |          your POTENTIAL rolls!  Great changes
    |       4 = Cleric      |          can have taken place with them.]
    |_      5 = Healer      |
     /      6 = Sorcerer    |          If you like those numbers, rearrange
    |       7 = Ranger      |          them  in the order you desire.  Then
    |       8 = Bard        |          either execute the first macro ONLY,
    |  _____________________|_         or  answer  the  questions  manually
    | @\                      \        until  you see your potential rolls.
     \_/______________________/        If  you  execute this part manually,
                                       you  will  not  have  to bother with
The  next [CR] acknowledges when the   correcting  the  first macro to your
generator  tells  you  that  certain   profession and race.  At this point,
rolls  were raised to 90.  The 3 and   you  will  have  to  decide  if this
[CR]  selects  the race of Half Elf.   character  is  acceptable.   If  you
If  you  desire another race, change   like the character, proceed normally
the 3 to a number from the following   through  the  training  screens  and
table  that  corresponds to the race   away you go.  If the potential rolls
of your choice:                        are  not  to  your satisfaction, hit
      ______________________           the enter key and execute the second
     / \                    \          macro.   In about 40 seconds, you'll
     \@|   1 = Common Man    |         have  a  new  set  of  rolls to play
       |   2 = High Man      |         with.   In my case, it took me about
       |   3 = Half Elf      |         40  rolls  to  get  the  character I
       |   4 = Wood Elf      |         wanted,  which  totalled  around  90
       |   5 = High Elf     _|         minutes using  this  system.   I be-
       |   6 = Fair Elf     \          lieve  it will  allow you  to design
      _|   7 = Dwarf         |         a good character without  the  bore-
     /@|   8 = Halfling      |         boredom  and  expense usually assoc-
     \/_____________________/          iated with rerolling.
                                    -6-
  
  
  
     
  
  
  
                  Successful Thievery: The Deadliest Skill
 _____________    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
/ \ _________ \        by Lord Artuero Bresnahanini
\@| ||=|=|=|| |
  | ~~ |_| ~~ |he ability to  ambush   mines  the  extent of  the  critical
 _|    |_|    | well  does not  come   injury inflicted on the target.  The
/@|   _|_|_   | easily.  A thief who   way in which it does so is straight-
\_/__________/  patiently  trains in   forward; add  the  ambusher's  skill
it  (twice  per level, every  level)   ranks to the D100 roll. Thus, if the
will not find ambushing at all help-   roll is 46  (assume  a "C"  critical
ful until well along in this career.   for  simplicity's  sake),  and   the
Eventually, however, these  years of   ambusher has twelve ranks of ambush,
training  pay  off, and  the  higher   the  modified  D100 is  58, and  the
level thief  fully trained in ambush   crit  inflicted  is  whatever  a  58
can be expected to kill a foe with a   dictates on the appropriate table.
single blow.
                                       Allow me  to put  the crit roll into
This  month's article explores  this   equation form. If the reader desires
deadliest of abilities. In doing so,   further clarification, I again refer
I have assumed that the reader has a   him or her to Lady Valeria's series,
more than  passing familiarity  with   which explains  the mechanics of the
Lady  Valeria  Deering's  two - part   crit system in full.
series "On Critical Hits," found in
Kelfour Edition, Vol.1, Nos.10 & 11.   Modified  Crit Roll =  D100 +  [Crit
                                       Type Modification]  +  [Target  Crit
The bonus  derived from  the  ambush   Resistance,  if   any]   +   [Ambush
skill is not like the bonus acquired   Skill (when attacking from hiding)]
with other skills, which increase at
a decreasing  rate (+5  for  each of   An example is in order.  Recall last
the  first ten  skill ranks, +4  for   time that Toady had his pocket pick-
each of the 11th through  20th skill   ed by Ricardo.  Toady vowed to train
ranks and  so  forth).  Training  in   harder, and he was true to his word.
ambush  gives a player the  straight   Lord Toady now walks the Wild. Being
bonus of +1 for each  skill rank  no   a civilized chap, he has, of course,
matter  how many ranks the character   not caused any harm to Ricardo.
has earned.  This  accounts  for the
comparatively  slow  realization  of   However, Lord Toady has become angry
the skills benefit.                    with  Tortious, because Tortious has
                                       spoken out openly about something he
The ambush  skill  comes  into  play   swore to keep secret. Toady sets out
only after a number of prerequisites   to  slay Tortious  and  successfully
are satisfied. First, the thief must   stalks  him out  of the temple  into
hide successfully.  For this reason,   the grasslands. He readies  a weapon
ambush  training without training in   and jumps out of hiding to attack!
stalk and hide is of minimal  worth.
Once a thief is successfully hidden,   Unfortunately, a  torkaan wanders in
he or she must attack from this hid-   front  of Toady just at that moment,
den position  and not  only  hit the   so Toady swings his morning star  at
target, but exceed the THT by enough   the torkaan instead of  at Tortious,
that a critical  hit is scored. Once   and Tortious manages to escape.
these  factors  are satisfied -- the
successful  hide,  the  strike  from   But let us  see what  happens to the
hiding, the successful hit, and  the   torkaan. Toady's OB with the morning
scoring of a  critical injury on top   star is 145 (he is level 22 with  no
of  concussion point  damage --  the   ST  bonus). The  torkaan's DB is, of
skill of ambush enters the picture.    course, zero. The morning star's THT
                                       against AT3, which I believe torkaan
Ambush  affects combat by  adding to   skin to be, is 80. Toady's D100 roll
the internal  D100 roll which deter-   turns out to be a 10.
                                    -7-                             More...
  
  
    
  
  
  
Toady's modified  D100 is 155 (OB of   even with a low crit roll, the bonus
145 - DB  of 0 + D100 of 10), so  he   will increase the crit's severity to
exceeds the THT by 75.  This results   the point  that the  target  will be
in  Toady's  damaging the torkaan to   incapacitated and easily finished.
the extent of 30  concussion points.
He also scores a critical hit on the   Now that  the  benefits  of  serious
unfortunate torkaan.                   ambush training have been explained,
                                       let  us look at some tips about  how
Exceeding  the  THT  of  skin  based   to use the hide/ambush  technique in
armors  by anything over  50 results   hunting. A thief  will generally use
in an "E" Critical.  Using Valeria's   hide / ambush  when soloing, as most
tables, we  see that an "E" Critical   groups do not appreciate  having the
adds 20  to the  critical  roll.  In   quarry destroyed in one blow. Still,
addition, because Toady  is level 22   when  hunting  in  a  group  with  a
and fully trained in ambush, he adds   greedy, double - casting mage, it is
the  number of  skill  ranks  he has   one sure way to teach the magic-user
accumulated, 46, to the roll.  Toady   some  restraint,  and  the  thief is
therefore brings a total  of +66  to   encouraged to do so.
his crit roll.
                                       To solo  using hide/ambush, you must
Keep  in mind that  the crit roll is   recognize that older monsters in the
hidden; you will never get to see it   land have a  ridiculously  effective
as a  player.  However, for purposes   "find" logic. No  amount of training
of this  example, we  will show that   can  overcome  it, at  least while a
Toady's D100  crit roll is a 62. The   thief can  still get experience from
roll is modified  by +20 (because of   the monster.  So the monster must be
"E" Critical)  bringing  it  to  82,   slow  enough for  the thief to  hide
which  means that  Toady would break   (which  takes five seconds) and then
the torkaan's  right  arm.  However,   strike before the monster  can sniff
when he adds his ambush skill bonus,   him  out and attack. Otherwise,  the
Toady's crit roll goes right off the   thief will never be able  to get off
charts, exceeding  120 and resulting   an attack, as  the monster continues
in  instant  death  to the  torkaan,   rediscovering his hiding place.
either  on the crushing table (heart
destroyed)  or  the  puncture  table   If the thief  can muster  enough DB,
(shot through ears).                   through  magic  or  by  parrying, to
                                       withstand  an attack, the creature's
Some monsters have a natural resist-   round  time  need  be only  slightly
ance to crits.  Liches, for example,   over  five  seconds.  The thief  may
have a -40 to the  crit roll against   then strike from  hiding and let the
them. Monks have similar resistance.   creature  attack while  the thief is
In order to overcome  this handicap,   still in round time from the ambush.
a thief must  strike from ambush  to   The  thief  may then hide again  and
have a reasonable  chance of slaying   repeat the process.
the monster  in any way  other  than
beating it until it loses all of its   However,  if the thief  cannot stand
concussion points.  Torkaans, I have   up to a hit from the monster without
determined  after significant  field   parrying  back up to 100 first, then
testing, are not among the  monsters   a long  creature round  time, eleven
resistant to crits, thus Toady slays   or twelve seconds, is necessary. The
the torkaan in one blow.               thief  waits  for  the  creature  to
                                       strike,  hides, ambushes, parries up
At high levels of skill, the chances   again, and  then lets  the  creature
of an individual surviving an ambush   strike before repeating. The process
attack become  quite small. Although   can take a long time and can also be
instant death will  not  be achieved   rather risky.
in every  instance (until  the thief
reaches  the  59th  level  or so), a   Keep in  mind that it  may be worth-
look  at the crit tables shows  that   while  to  parry  substantially  and
                                    -8-              [Continued on Page 10]
  
  
    
  
  
  
 ____________             How to Defeat Pickpockets
/ \      __  \            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
\@|     / "|  |                   Anonymous
  |    //|"|  |
 _|   //=|"|  |
/@|  //  |"|  |s  you may  be aware,    often, especially  when someone  you
\_/ ~~   ~~~ / picking pockets is on    suspect is around. You'll figure out
  ~~~~~~~~~~~  the rise in  Kulthea.    in a hurry who  the main pickpockets
Fortunately, though, pickpockets CAN    in town are.  Don't just be  suspic-
be defeated.  Here's how.               ious of Lord level  thieves, though.
                                        ANY profession can pick pockets.
              Long Term
              ~~~~~~~~~                 Thirdly, use  INFO  to check on your
Anyone can train cheaply to defeat a    silvers, not WEALTH.  When  you type
pickpocket.  The secret  is to train    INFO  no  one sees  you  count  your
once in perception and pickpocketing    coins, unlike with WEALTH. This way,
each level. BOTH bonuses add to your    the pickpocket won't  know  that you
defence  against  being stolen from.    suspect her.
For  the  would-be  robber only, her
pickpocketing skill is applied. This    Next, know which areas are safe from
means  by  level 12  the Lord  level    pickpockets  and  which aren't.  The
pickpocket is beginning to have some    temple is safe. Travelling merchants
trouble stealing from you.  By level    wagons and  shacks are  USUALLY safe
17 she probably can't steal from you    (more on that later). Helga's Tavern
at all.  This advantage continues to    is NOT safe.
grow in your favor.  By the time you
are  level 21  or so, a level 30 (!)    Be especially  wary  when  merchants
pickpocket can't touch you; by level    are in town, or when  special events
23 you  are  safe  from a  level  40    are going on. Pickpockets are out in
robber, etc.                            force  then. Special  events  rarely
                                        have any  kind  of  protection  from
The pickpocket  also gets a bonus of    pickpocketing, so  leave your  money
(SD+SD+AG)/3,  but since  most pick-    in the bank.  Areas around merchants
pockets are elves of one sort or the    are usually protected from  thievery
other (all elves  have a SD penalty)    of this type.  When you  are waiting
this  doesn't amount  to  much.  The    for a  merchant  and  someone  picks
victim  get a bonus of (IN+IN+QU)/3.    your pocket, use  the REPORT command
It's pretty cheap to train this way,    to send a message asking GameMasters
2-5  points  for  sword  swingers, 6    to protect the area.  Use REPORT in-
points for  spell users.  Well worth    instead of THINK  because only Game-
it in the long run.                     Masters see those messages.
  
            Short Term                  Even when the merchant's wagons  are
            ~~~~~~~~~~                  safe, the area outside of them some-
There are  also lots  of things  you    times isn't.  This  causes  problems
can do  to protect  your hard-earned    when you  are waiting for the merch-
silvers if you don't have sufficient    ants to  arrive, with  your  pockets
training to be safe.  The first rule    full  of  silver.  Fortunately,  you
is obvious, leave  your money in the    cannot  be  stolen  from if  you are
bank!  If you  don't have  it on you    hidden.  If the robbers aren't there
it can't be  stolen.  Set up a macro    yet,  just  hide  and  wait for  the
to go  from the  temple  straight to    merchants.  If the robbers are there
the bank, including a 'go window' at    already, chances are you cannot hide
the end.                                with  them  in  the  room.  Go  to a
                                        nearby  room,  hide, and  sneak into
Secondly, know  who the  pickpockets    the room with the pickpockets in it.
are.  One way  to do this is to keep    It's  much  easier  to sneak  up  on
a small  amount  of  silver in  your    someone with high perception than it
pocket  at all  times.  Check  on it    is to hide from them.
                                    -9-                              More...
  
  
      
  
  
  
Finally, don't stand out. Most pick-    tend to go out  of his way to pester
pockets are of sordid  character and    you.  You must be just  as sneaky as
vengeful  nature.  If one  KNOWS you    he  is,  at  least  until he  can no
caused  problems  for  him, he  will    longer pick your pocket.
  
   ____________________________________________________________________
  / \                                                                  \
  \@|_          Robbers                          Victims                |
     /      Double Trained                    Single Trained            |
    |    Level   Pickpocket Bonus   Perception + Pick = Defense Bonus   |
    |    -----   ----------------   ---------------------------------   |
    |      5            58              30     +  30  =     60          |
    |     10            96              54     +  54  =    108          |
    |     15           134              74     +  74  =    148         _|
    |     20           152              93     +  93  =    186         \
    |     25           162             108     + 108  =    216          |
   _|     30           172             122     + 122  =    244          |
  /@|                                                                   |
  \_/__________________________________________________________________/
  
  
  
                                         ________________________________
Successful Thievery .... From Page 8    /                                \
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~                    |             Earn An              |
use  the hide / ambush  technique to   |                                  |
hunt faster  monsters.  This  method   |     All Expense-PAID Vacation    |
reduces  the thief's  chance to  hit   |     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~    |
the  creature by  a large  amount in   |            in Kulthea            |
many  cases.  However, the  handicap   |            ~~~~~~~~~~            |
may be  offset by  better  criticals   |                                  |
when the thief does connect. Experi-   | Take the vacation of your dreams |
mentation  will show if it is a good   | in Kelfour's and its surrounding |
way for an individual thief to hunt.   | wilds absolutely FREE! An entire |
                                       | weekend  from 6PM  Friday  until |
Finally, the newer  creatures, monks   | 8AM Monday, your local time.     |
and  liches in  particular,  have  a   |                                  |
more reasonable "find"  logic  which   | Explore  the town,  hunt  in the |
allows  the thief a chance to remain   | wilds, make new friends or visit |
hidden after  the monster  searches.   | Castle Claedesbrim's ruins -- do |
Ambush  skill will become more valu-   | everything you  normally  would, |
able  as new creatures  appear  with   | absolutely FREE!                 |
this more  reasonable logic; and the   |                                  |
thief may hide, wait for the monster   | You can  do all  this by  simply |
to  search, attack, parry, and  hide   | contributing articles, poetry or |
again. In addition to the benefit of   | ASCII art  to  Kelfour  Edition, |
ambush  against  these monsters, the   | GemStone III's  official player- |
thief is  also able  to escape  many   | written newsletter.              |
attacks altogether because the mons-   |                                  |
ter cannot find him or her. Thus, to   | Send  GE Mail to KE's  Publisher |
the mature thief, ambush is a useful   | Phaedra Blue  (at  P.HERRINGTON) |
day-to-day skill as well as being an   | for complete details!            |
invaluable  resource  for  occasions   |                                  |
when one hit is all you might get.      \________________________________/
  
  
  
                                   -10-
  
  
  
  
     
  
  
  
  _________________________________________________________________________
 / \                                                                       \
 |  )                            Hall of Fame                               )
 |@/_______________________________________________________________________/
 |                                                                         |
 |     FIGHTER        Lvl      THIEF           Lvl |===========COMMON MAN==|
 |-------------------------------------------------|Bishop O'dowd        15|
 | Waldo2 Ptolomy     24  Mikhail Minnehan      29 |Sauren Tessar        13|
 | Gilthor Longblade  23  Artuero Bresnahanini  27 |Dreamweaver Oenotha..11|
 | Benar Stormarm     21  Moonpie Legend        24 |Silent Mydnyghte     10|
 | Blades Clanners    16  Valeria Deering       23 |Dec Carfa'shon       10|
 | Metaboculous Grid..15  Stanyon Sting         23 |=============HIGH MAN==|
 | Peat Sallixto      15  Winter Moorsland      23 |Gilthor Longblade    23|
 | Angeleyes DuLac    15  Camorra Amandaus      22 |Benar Stormarm       21|
 | Dirac de.Montegilt 14  Griffun Skyborne      21 |Queron Kinevan       20|
 | Imlach Drauglir    13  Bleys Airelious       21 |Luke Medivac         18|
 |_Flynn Bloodmark    12  Laeg Cearnach         20 |Enegue LionHeart     17|
  /------------------------------------------------|=============HALF ELF==|
 |     MAGE                    CLERIC              |Fxg Lyon             29|
 |-------------------------------------------------|Mikhail Minnehan     29|
 | Dartaghan Darkstar 30  Lairaerrykthrok Tyki..30 |Kayla Kyndhart       29|
 | Odds Bodkins       27  Taarna Wayfinder      27 |Taarna Wayfinder     27|
 | Whilder Planrathe  26  Redeye Kielsson       24 |Maruko Ashimine      26|
 | Certain Justice    24  Zinderin Paxton       23 |=============WOOD ELF==|
 | Elminester Silvan..23  Ardneh Cormorant      21 |Joqain Denark        20|
 | Rhone Yarrl        22  Lohann McCloud        21 |Mithil Wyerla        17|
 | Artemis Al~Anhir   21  Michealoos Duraderos  19 |Kaylin Darkmoor      16|
 | Wisraith Winterwi..21  Snow Evenstars        19 |Celestin Drowstar    10|
 | Delvian Kel'Bathi..20  Tory Sterlington      17 |Moalanfaidh Maomadh.. 9|
 |_Xura Viirkort      20  Paks Moray            16 |=============HIGH ELF==|
  /------------------------------------------------|Strom O'Berin        40|
 |     HEALER                  BARD                |Soulsavr Truespel    13|
 |-------------------------------------------------|Fonrod Felagund       9|
 | Strom O'Berin      40  Enegue LionHeart      17 |Tighbor Siterious     7|
 | Kayla Kyndhart     29  Mendle Seldagrave     16 |Aguarin Howenthorne   6|
 | Caretaker D'Bolho..26  Llorien Silvanestii   13 |=============FAIR ELF==|
 | Woundhealer Odlaw  21  Dreamweaver Oenothara 11 |Artuero Bresnahanini 27|
 | Unum LUX           20  Elladan Palarran      10 |Whilder Planrathe    26|
 | Penna Dulaney      19  Rasta Farian           8 |Certain Justice      24|
 | Luke Medivac       18  Valinor Kalmirson      6 |Valeria Deering      23|
 | Vesitsa Talchild   17  Zimbangu Atlantia      6 |Airioch Ramthanodox  23|
 | Eowynn Earrame     16  Telemon Talespinner    6 |=============DWARF=====|
 |_Aldan Hawkei       12  Chieftain Getty's      6 |Caretaker D'BoldHome 26|
  /------------------------------------------------|Vesitsa Talchild     17|
 |     RANGER                  SORCERER            |Aeklug Baeyenbregha..16|
 |-------------------------------------------------|Alberich Albenherrs..14|
 | Fxg Lyon            29  Airioch Ramthanodox  23 |Hilgavolkas LaJolla  10|
 | Maruko Ashimine     26  Enigma Sirillian     21 |=============HALFLING==|
 | Nastrom Trevin      26  Queron Kinevan       20 |Dartaghan Darkstar   30|
 | Gallenod Varynesti  23  Nixie Trevize        19 |Lairaerrykthrok Tyk..30|
 | Talon Elessidil     21  Mithil Wyerla        17 |Odds Bodkins         27|
 | Arborius Draginson  20  Vlad Drakulya        16 |Artemis Al~Anhir     21|
 | Mohrgan Silversteel 19  Anthrax BLACKMOORE   11 |Enigma Sirillian     21|
 | Kalagay Halatil     17  Charms D'Warfling    11 |=======================|
 | Trachten Hickapod   16  Celestin Drowstar    10 |  -------------------  |
 | Rory Brandybuck     16  Sylvermyst Sadheart  10 |  -------------------  |
 |-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
/@\     Shadow World Current Rankings as of Sun Jan 03 21:08:01 1993       |
\_/_______________________________________________________________________/
                                   -11-
  
  
      
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
           _____________________________________________________
          /\                                                    \
          \@|                                                    |
            |                                                    |
            |                 Misremembering Moon                |
            |                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~                |
            |                     by Greywulf                    |
            |                                                    |
            |                                                    |
            |    ...and the moonlight's scent is sweet           |
            |    with clarity,                                   |
            |    green leaves, dark leaves, dark green leaves    |
            |    deep breaths spin 'round and 'round             |
            |    and 'round and 'round and 'round and 'round     |
            |    loud whispered thoughts my heart remembers not  |
            |                                                    |
            |    ...ansilius                                     |
            |                                                    |
            |    run                                             |
            |    pad, the softened earth, the needles damp       |
            |    he comes                                        |
            |    about the circle race, ecstatic                 |
            |    the Taker comes                                 |
            |    we breathe we breathe                           |
            |    we run and run and run and run and run          |
            |    and celebrate                                   |
            |                                                    |
            |    ...the Feast!                                   |
            |                                                    |
            |    howl, howl, while ye remember howl!             |
            |    sweet thickness spreading down our muzzles      |
            |    chest fur matting                               |
            |    chase the moon we                               |
            |    are the Moon we are for now                     |
            |    and he,                                         |
            |    the Slit-eyed One is us                         |
            |    and we are he                                   |
            |                                                    |
            |    ...and we remember not                          |
            |                                                    |
          /@|                                                    |
          \/____________________________________________________/
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
                                   -12-
  
  
    
  
  
  
 ____________         The Monster Chronicles: Mummies
/ \ _________\        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
\@| ||=|=|=|| |              by Jarran Terraxx
  | ~~ |_| ~~ |
 _|    |_|    |
/@|   _|_|_   |
\_/__________/his month  we'll cover    section  of the  graveyard, that one
one  of  the  most  fearsome  of the    section being the  crypt, which is a
undead, the Mummy.                      very  appropriate  place  for  them,
                                        considering  they'll  want  to  stay
Before taking  on this horror, it is    near their original  resting places.
wisest to  know your target  and the    Keeping that in  mind,  it won't  be
things they are capable of.  Mummies    very likely that you'll accidentally
are  very  hard to  miss, of  all of    encounter one anywhere else, unless,
the undead  creatures, they are very    of course, someone  chased it out at
unmistakable. The way to always tell    you.
a mummy from any  other creature, is
the fact that mummies were once dead    Now for a little  closer look at the
relatives of  one person or another,    Mummy itself. As stated earlier, the
who were  then taken and  wrapped up    Mummy is wrapped up in bandages from
in cloth bandages  to preserve their    when they were  first buried.  Since
bodies. At least until someone, most    then,  the bandages  have grown  old
likely a  cleric, brought  them back    and rotting, the  bodies  themselves
to unlife to  haunt and  torment the    having  gone far  into the  decaying
citizens of Kelfours landing.           process.  Earth worms and other such
                                        insects  have  probably  made a home
Fortunately,  Mummies  can  only  be    within the  body of  the mummy.  The
found in  one place,  the graveyard,    eyes have  long sunken  inside their
so you  certainly wont  run into one    sockets, but they  don't really  see
on the  road.  It is  suggested that    with them  anymore.  Someone  with a
you don't try Mummies  until you are    weak  stomach  may  not  be  able to
at  least  6th level, and  certainly    handle looking into  the untold hor-
not alone.  Mummies hang around with    rors that are reflected in a Mummy's
some pretty tough monsters, like the    eyes.
bone golem (which will be covered in
another article).  Therefore,  it is    Mummies  don't  seem to  be  able to
also suggested that  you travel with    move around like other undead.   The
at least one  cleric and a  group of    logical  reason may  be that  before
about four  other members;  there is    they died they may  have already had
safety in numbers  when dealing with    something wrong,  or perhaps the way
powerful undead.                        they had died might have been a very
                                        brutal one.  Since  they  have their
Mummies have a DB  of 30 and  are of    original bodies when they were first
normal speed, so  it is  possible to    buried, then they  still retain that
get in two hits to its one.  Mummies    specific trait they had.  This might
use two forms of attacks, both claw,    be a limp, or an  unusable arm, even
and  ensnare, making them  extremely    perhaps their  head  lolling  to one
difficult to deal with. Being snared    side. But no matter what the problem
and then clawed by a mummy is not on    they  are  still quite  dangerous to
the list of fun things to do.           deal  with, and  unlike  some  other
                                        monsters, they  won't  beg for mercy
After you  beat the  mummy, skinning    from you.
it is always a  nice idea. It's said
that Jarlik the Furrier  will pay 75    Mummies are bent on  the destruction
silvers for mummy shrouds, on top of    on all life,  so killing  you or any
the  treasure that  they are already    other living  creature  won't bother
carrying,  most  likely  from  their    them.  However, if  one does  manage
tombs where they  were first buried.    to defeat you, rest assured that you
Mummies  hang out  in a  very  small    won't end up as one of the undead.
                                   -13-
  
  
    
  
  
  
 ____________            A Hacker's Guide to Greys
/ \ ___   ___\           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
\@|  \~\ /~/ |              by Imlach Draughlir
  |   \ ~ /  |
 _|    |~|   |ou've wandered through         How to Get to Grey Orcs
/@|    |~|   | Torkland, gone on  to    _______________________________
\_/    ~~~   / Hobs,  traveled  into   /\                         N    \
  ~~~~~~~~~~~  Gorcs,   and   hacked   \@|      Kobold     [ ]   W+E    |
about  in Hillies.  Now you're faced     |      Forest    / |     S     |
with that most horrible of all ques-     |              /   |           |
tions,  "What's  next?" There IS an      |            /     |           |
answer to that question: Greys!          |     go  [ ]     [ ]  go      |
                                         |    path   //   \\  trail     |
The Grey  Orc is  one  of  the  most     |             [W]              |
unsociable creatures I've met in the     |              |  Werebears    |
Dragonsfang so  far, but  when  they     |             [ ]              |
drop  Level   2  chests   with  more     |              |               |
frequency than  a Hob,  it  sort  of     |             [ ]              |
makes up  for their lack of manners.     | B=boulder  /   \             |
(By the  way, if you're hunting in a     |          /       \           |
group, let the  lowest level charac-     |      [ ]    [B]   [ ]        |
ter search.  You'll find more chests     |          \ down  /           |
that way.)                               |            \   /             |
                                         |             [ ] <-- climb    |
You will  also notice  how quick the     |              |    boulder    |
Grey Orc is.  You  can forget  about     |             [ ]              |
playing parry tag with these bundles     |              |               |
of joy. I've been told that parrying     |             [ ] -- [ ]       |
them is possible, but after spending     |                    go  //    |
three levels hunting there, I've yet   /@|                    pass  [ ] |
to see it done successfully.           \/______________________________/
  
Next in  a long line  of threats  is   in  the center.  The final  stage is
how rapidly Greys appear or "gen" as   the active  one, when  those  sparks
some like to say.   At  first glace,   leave the cloud. Luckily  the sparks
this sounds good.  Then it "turtles"   strike  randomly, so the Orc can get
up (shifting its  OB to DB)  and you   hit just like you.
are  flailing  away  like  a hapless
bozo  when  another  one  ambles in.   Be  VERY   wary  when  those  clouds
Suddenly:                              spark. The  damage they do is in the
                                       form of  critical strikes.  Armor is
Blast drives foe's jaw thru brain!     no  protection,  though  the  higher
 ** Imlach just bit the dust!          your AGility is, the less likely you
                                       are to   sustain damage. A cloud can
See what I mean?                       kill you outright  or just shave off
                                       a few  concussion points. As if this
Okay.  We've   covered  the   subtle   wasn't bad enough,  a cloud can move
threats, so let's take a look at the   into other  areas.  So keep  a close
obvious things  you'll have to worry   watch on where clouds are  and check
about, namely, combat  capabilities.   adjoining rooms.
Grey Orcs have several attacks.  The
most  infuriating  of  these  is the   Moving down  the list we come to the
ever unpopular  gas  cloud.  When  a   dreaded firebolt  and  shockbolt.  A
Grey casts a cloud, it  goes through   laen shield  can be a big help here.
a series of stages before it becomes   The +15  from the  shield goes  into
dangerous.  During  stage  one,  the   your spell  DB as well. Being only a
cloud forms in the air above you. At   thick-skulled fighter  myself,  I've
stage  two,  it condenses.  In stage   found  this   to  be   an   absolute
three, you'll notice  sparks forming   necessity while fighting here.
                                   -14-                             More...
  
  
       
  
  
  
Now to  the least  of your  worries,   course, is  never travel alone! Even
the physical  prowess of  the Greys.   Lords  and Ladies can  die  here  if
You'll find  you have  a THT  of  64   they make  the wrong  move. In fact,
with a  broadsword, so  adjust  your   if your  group meets  another  group
parry accordingly. I've included the   while  you're  there,  join  forces.
statistics of  the Grey Orc here, so   It's bad enough  trying to  keep  an
you can  get an idea of what  you'll   eye on  the clouds  your orcs  make,
be facing.                             let alone those  which  other groups
  _________________________________    generate.
/|                                 |
||       Grey Orc Statistics       |   Second, pick up anything you drop as
||                                 |   quickly   as  possible,   especially
||  Level 10  Fast speed  CPS 130  |   shields. If you thought Greys were a
||     DB 90  Weapon:  Mace OB 90  |   pain before, just  wait till  one is
|| Magic attacks: Shockbolt OB 40  |   wearing  your shiny new laen shield!
||                Firebolt  OB 45  |
||                Gas Cloud        |   Finally, never get overconfident. As
\|_________________________________|   soon  as   you  become  comfortable,
               ||   |                  you'll get  a face  full  of  cloud,
             ~~~~~~~~~~                be stunned by  a firebolt, or simply
When it  comes to traveling in Greys   get  nailed by a  lucky  mace  blow.
there are  a few  things  you  might   Greys is  a dangerous place, but the
want to  keep in mind. The first, of   rewards are well worth it. Have fun!
  
  
  
            =====================================================
  
  
                        ,mmmmm,            ______     _________
                        @ooooo@,         / /. . \\   /./-----\.\
                        @0m0m0Q@        / /. . .`,\\>./,  ,  ,\.\
                        @0X00X@@       | |. . .  |:|\|   ,  ,  |.|
                     ____@0m00@_____   | | . . . |:|X| ,  ,  , |.|
                    @@@op(oboy)pop@@Ok | |. . .  |:|\|   ,  ,  |.|
                   @@@@opopopopop@@@p@@| | . . . |:|\| ,  ,  , |.|
                   @@o@@opopopopop@@op@@,|. . .  |:|\|   ,  ,  |.|
                   @@o@@popopopopopop@o@@| . . . |:|X| ,  ,  , |.|
                    @@o@@mmmmmmgogogo@oo@|. . .  |:|\|   ,  ,  |.|
                     @@@@@@@mmm'ooo@|@oo@| . . . |:|\| ,  ,  , |.|
                      @oooooooOOOO@"  @o@|. . .  |:|\|   ,  ,  |.|
                      @OoOoO@OoOoO@   @@@| . . . |:|X| ,  ,  , |.|
                      @oooo@@@oooo@   @@@|. . . .|:|\|   ,  ,  |.|
                     .@@@o@@@@ooo@@  ,@@}| . . .//  \\_________/.|
                    .@@oo@@@@@@ooo@. "@@'|. . //     \==========/
                   .@ooooo@@@@@oooo@      \ //
                   @ooooO@' `@@ooo@|
                   @oooo@'   `@oooo@
                  @ooo@'     `oooo@|      The MUMMY, from his coffin,
                  @oo@@'      `@oo@|      began to rise. And suddenly,
                  @o@@|        @@o@,           to my surprize...
                  @@@@:        @@o@|                -----
                  @@@@:        @@o@|          "HE DID THE MASH!"
                  `@oo:        `@@@:
                  /@@@)        /@@@)
                (@@@@/       (@@@@/                     Art by Phoenix
  
            =====================================================
                                   -15-
  
  
  
      
  
  
  
                             A Guide to Cavers
 ______________              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
/ \ ____  ____ \                By Darkseed
\@| ~| |  | |~ |
  |  |~|--|~|  |
 _|  |~|--|~|  |
/@| _|~|  |~|_ | ave you grown tired   you're fighting  has  attacked  you.
\_/ ~~~~  ~~~~ / of killing  Greater   At that moment, you drop your parry,
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Orcs  for the  lowly   attack the  monster a certain number
experience  you seem to receive?  Do   of times, depending on the monster's
they no longer  challenge your gifts   speed, and then parry  back up again
with the blade?  If this is true and   before it can swing once more.  This
if you're looking  for a new  way to   way, you're  attacking at  your full
advance, Cave Trolls may be just the   strength, without  running  the risk
solution for you.                      of being  attacked while  your DB is
                                       low.  With Cave Trolls, you  can get
Cave  Trolls are  large  trolls that   in two swings before  the Cave Troll
live  in  the  Claedesbrim  Dungeon.   can retaliate as  long as  the speed
They can be very  nasty at times but   of the game is normal and you get no
the  rewards  you gain can  be quite   delays.
exceptional. Trolls are level twelve
creatures with a mere 62 DB,  easier   The next trick is what  do to when a
to  hit  than a  Greater Orc.  Their   Troll "turtles."  What this means is
OBs are considerably  higher at 127,   that the troll is  essentially going
but if you can survive that at parry   to parry 100.  Its OB will be 0 when
100,  then you'll  do fine here.  As   it  attacks you, and  its DB will be
with  all  areas, there  are certain   considerably higher.  A Cave Troll's
tricks  to the  trade that  must  be   DB  when it is  turtled is  153.  In
learned before one  can successfully   other words, you must either be able
hunt this area.                        to  hit  a 153, or  have  someone in
                                       your party who can do it for you.  A
First off,  never go alone to cavers   third  option is  having someone who
unless  you  are  of a  considerably   can cast spells or wave wands at it.
high level, at least 8th. The reason   This is  essential  due  to the fact
for  this  rule is  that if  you get   that Cave Trolls  have a tendency to
caught  with your  guard down  and a   turtle if you do not  kill them fast
troll takes a  swing at  you, he can   enough. They will fight you normally
kill you in one shot. This can prove   for a  while until  they have lost a
to be rough on  your  weapons as you   certain number of concussion points.
tend to  drop them and  they tend to   Then  they  will turtle,  swing, and
disappear once they are left  alone.   begin running from room to room.
If you have another person with you
there is a high chance he or she can   Another helpful  trick is in knowing
get your items for you and go off to   what to wear.  Heavy hide  is a good
seek help.  This is not an option to   choice.  The Troll  has a THT  of 89
one who fights alone.                  with his weapon.  Also, objects such
                                       as aventails, greaves, and helms are
The  next  trick  is in  how  you go   important because trolls can inflict
about fighting them. Cave trolls are   critical damage. Often called crits,
so big, that they move quite slowly.   this can happen when a monster's hit
Parry  tagging  is a technique  that   is 10+ points  higher than  your DB.
will help keep you alive, as well as   Can be deadly. Weapons  and  shields
assist you  in defeating the Trolls.   that are  made of  special materials
For those of you who aren't familiar   are generally known  to be resistant
with  parry  tagging, I will discuss   as far as breaking goes. Cave Trolls
the fundamentals of it.                are not  known  to  break  shaalk or
                                       laen  items  regularly. There is, of
Parry tagging  is when you keep your   course, always the  chance  that  it
parry raised until the creature that   could happen.
                                   -16-                             More...
  
  
    
  
  
  
I suggest large  groups of  at least   are 12th level.  Strong, lower level
three  people  when  you  fight Cave   players with  superior equipment can
Trolls.  This will  generate a  good   gain experience quickly from trolls.
amount  of  experience,  as  well as   This can  serve as a  great spot for
give  you the  fighting power  to be   gaining levels at a very  fast clip.
able to  kill them,  usually  before   I strongly suggest that you take the
they  can turtle.  The real  plus to   time to see if  Cave Trolls  are the
Cave Trolls is  the  fact  that they   quarry for you.
  
  
   _______________________________________________________________________
  / \                                                                     \
  |@/_____________________________________________________________________/
  |                                                                      |
  |     Map to Cave Troll Area                        Town Gates --->O   |
  |                                                        go path-->|   |
  |          _____________                            west-->  /-----O   |
  |         /             \             N                     /      |   |
  |        /  Cave Trolls  \            |                    O---O---O   |
  |       /-----------------\        W--+--E                 | /   ^     |
  |       |                 |           |                    O     |     |
  |       | Level 12        |           S                   /    go path |
  |       | Max OB: 127     |                              O             |
  |       | DB: 62          |                              |             |
  |       | Max DB: 153     |                      O---O---O             |
  |       | Very Slow       |           up/down--> |                     |
  |       | Level 1 Chests  |                      |                     |
  |        \_______________/                       O                     |
  |                                               /                      |
  |                          O---O---O---O---O---O                       |
  |                          |             ^                             |
  |                          O     go path |           |\  ,,,,,  /|     |
  |                         /                          | \/_   _\/ |     |
  |                        O                    /\     (_    "    _)     |
  |                       /                     \ \      (  ,--, )       |
  |                      O                      / /    ,,,\__-__/,,,     |
  |           go path--->|                      \ \   ,,,,""""""",,,,    |
  |                      O---O                  /_/   |  |"""""""(  )  ('')
  |                     /  ^ |                 [!!!]-'  / """"""" \  \_/ /
  |                    /     O                   `-----' """"""""" `.___/|
  |                up/down    \ <- go ledge              ;;;;;;;;;       |
  |                            O                         """""""""       |
  |                            |                         """" """"       |
  |                            O--O---O---O              """   """       |
  |                             ^          \            _"",   ,""_      |
  |                             |           O          (___)   (___)     |
  |                           up/down       |                            |
  |              O       O                 /                             |
  |  go door ---> \       \ <--- go door  / <-- go crack                 |
  |  |  O          O---O---O---O---O-----/                               |
  | ---> \         |       |       ^\---------\                          |
  |    O---O---O---O       O                   \                         |
  |      ^          \      |                   Beginning of Cavers       |
  |      |         ^ O     O---O               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~       |
  |     go arch      |         | <--up/down    (Relatively Small Area)   |
 _|               go door      O                                         |
/@|                                                                      |
\/______________________________________________________________________/
                                   -17-
  
  
  
     
  
  
  
 _________                 Out of the Frying Pan
/ \ _____ \                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
\@| ~|_|~ |                 by Celestin Drowstar
  |  |~|  |
 _|  |~|  |t was  a chilly  trip  up   falchion until finally I killed it.
/@| _|~|_ | through  Danjirland, but
\_/ ~~~~~ / it  got warm  real fast.   The  next fire  guardian was  not so
  ~~~~~~~~ Up on Blototh sits a vol-   easily  dispatched.  That  airwalled
cano,  home to  fire  guardians  and   firephantom  wandered into the melee
firephantoms. This was my first time   and  became a nuisance. The guardian
into  the  volcano, and  I  was only   not only  cast  fireballs  and fire-
kinda sure that I  could survive the   bolts,  but  also a  firestorm!  The
fireballs  and  firebolts  that  the   guardian  suddenly   brightened   as
local  inhabitants   could  unleash.   before, but  this time  a dark cloud
Some older  mages and  sorcerers had   appeared. I knew I only had  a short
assured me I could, and I was really   time  to  flee  the room  before the
hoping they were right.                storm struck, and I had no intention
                                       of  sticking around  to see  what it
My first  encounter here  was with a   could do to me. I fled to safety and
firephantom. It  wasn't too powerful   returned after a while to  find that
for me; but, since it was  unlife, I   the  firestorm was  gone. I pulled a
couldn't hit it with my weapon.  Not   metal wand  from my sack and quickly
wanting to waste  any metal wands on   killed the guardian before it  could
it, I airwalled it and continued  to   cast another firestorm.
explore my new surroundings. While I
admired the lava flows in one of the   I continued  hunting fire  guardians
rooms, a fire guardian floated in.     in this fashion until, needing  rest
                                       and more  metal wands, I had to ring
The fire  guardian charged me, and I   back  to the  safety of  the temple.
easily dodged  the attack, preparing   Only a few  people were there,  some
and  casting a Touch  of  Disruption   just chatting and one trying to open
spell. It hit the guardian's leg but   a  chest.  As I sat  resting, I  was
didn't do much damage.  Brightening,   feeling  pretty good about  the fact
the guardian prepared its attack and   that I had fought fire guardians and
cast a  fireball  at me. I  realized   lived through it and now I was safe.
that my magical defenses were enough
to survive the  attacks.  We battled   Then  the person next  to me who was
for a  short time. It cast fireballs   picking a chest looked up and said:
and firebolts  at me, and I attacked
with  Touch of Disruption spells and   "Uh oh..."
                                                                    More...
  
     ___________________________________________________________________
   /|                                                                   |
   ||                Info on the Blototh Volcano Critters               |
   ||                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~              |
   ||                                                                   |
   || Firephantom:  Level 6  Undead    Fire Guardian:  Level 16  Living |
   ||     DB 20  CPs 85  fast speed    DB 70  CPs 195  med speed  small |
   ||                                                                   |
   ||   Non-magic attack (with OB):    Non-magic attacks (with OB):     |
   ||         Swing (40)                  Charge (55)  Swing (85)       |
   ||                                                                   |
   ||      Magic attacks (with OB):    Magic attacks (with OB):         |
   ||  Firebolt (60)  Fireball (60)    Firebolt (110)  Fireball (110)   |
   ||       Firestorm (area attack)    Firestorm (area attack)          |
   \|___________________________________________________________________|
         \________________________________________________________\
                                   -18-
   
  
  
  
  
  
  
To get to the Blototh Volcano, go to   Titans  have weaponfire,  which  can
the  weatherbeaten sign  which leads   instantly demolish  a weapon even if
to Danjirland, and follow the trail.   you dash  past at  top speed. Use an
Quickly  go  on to the  fallen  tree   expendable weapon. Go on to the gash
trunk and cross it.                    which  is the  spot marked A  on the
                                       map. If  you walk back you will need
At this point, you  will be in Titan   to GO  MOUTH to  get  out, where you
territory. It  is very important NOT   went GO GASH to enter.
to  carry  valuable   weapons  here.
  
  
  
    ___________________________________________________________________
   / \                                                                 \
   \@|    The Danjirland Route to Blototh Volcano and Fire Guardians    |
     |    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~    |
     |                                                                  |
     |                                                                  |
     |                 ......... [A]                                    |
     |                 :      u/d :            B - C, D - C: climb arch |
     |                 :         [ ]                  C - B: ne         |
     |       go gash (in)         :                   C - D: sw         |
     |       go mouth (out)   u/d :  [ ]                                |
     |          [ ]               : /                                   |
     |         /                 [ ]..... u/d     [ ]-------[B]         |
     |      [ ]                   |     :        /         .   \        |
     |     /                      |    [ ]    [ ]         .     [ ]     |
     |  [ ]-- [ ]-- up/down       |     :      |       [C]       |      |
     |              up/down       |     :.....[ ]     .         [ ]     |
     |                [ ]         |    u/d       \   .         /        |
     |                 |         [ ]              [D]-------[ ]         |
     |              up/down         \                                   |
     |    TITANS! --> [ ]            [*]         The spot marked C is   |
     |Put your good  /                           a safe node room.      |
     |stuff away   [ ]                                                  |
     |  and run!     \     go /-[ ]                                     |
     |               [ ]-/ trunk |                                      |
     |                          [ ]                                     |
     |                           |                                      |
     |               [ ]--[ ]   [ ]                                     |
     |             /     /      /                                       |
     |          [ ]     [ ]--[ ]                      N                 |
     |<- to      |                                                      |
     |   hill   [ ] <- go trail                       |                 |
     |   trolls  .                                W --+-- E             |
     |           .                                    |                 |
     |      _________                                                   |
     |     /         \                                S                 |
     |    |  Danjir!! |                                                 |
     |     \_________/                                                  |
     |         | |                                                      |
   /@|        ~~~~~                                                     |
   \_/_________________________________________________________________/
  
  
  
  
  
                                   -19-
  
  
  
      
  
  
  
 ____________             Fire Cats and Fire Rats
/ \ ___   ___\            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
\@|  \~\ /~/ |              by Kalagay Halatil
  |   \ ~ /  |
 _|    |~|   | ou would think that a   To begin  with the smaller creature,
/@|    |~|   |  sufficiency  of cats   Firerats are  deadly with  teeth and
\_/    ~~~   /  could  keep a  large   claws. Brimstone  floors  give  them
  ~~~~~~~~~~~   rat population under   traction for fast attacks, and their
control.  The sad  fact is  that the   bite  can  deliver  serious disease.
Firecats in their cave at the end of   Firecats, on  the other  hand, are a
the  Seolfar Strake would rather eat   whole  lot worse.  Not only are they
people  than rats. And  what  do the   as fast and  numerous and  harder to
Firerats  do, eat cheese?  Not they!   kill, they deliver way too many heat
It's people or nothing for Firerats.   criticals (where any = too many).
  
    _______________________________________________________________
   / \                      Monster Statistics                     \
   \@|                                                              |
     |       Firecat - level 18            Firerat - level 16       |
     |        OB = 165  DB = 90            OB = 140 / 155  DB = 70  |
     |      THT = 66  MTHT = 80            THT = 66 / 69  MTHT = 84 |
     |            Attack - claw            Attack - claw, bite      |
     | Special - heat criticals            Special - disease        |
   __|                                                              |
   \ |       -*- Assumes Normal Heavy Hide and Broadsword -*-       |
    \|_____________________________________________________________/
  
These animals do  not carry  chests,              Puma Update
so what  makes them  worth  hunting?              ~~~~~~~~~~~
On  a  purely  materialistic  plane,   In  October, Kelfour Edition printed
Jarlik will give you 600 silvers for   Celestin Drowstar's  map and article
Firecat claws  and about 350 silvers   about pumas, early and  welcome news
for Firerat tails. Worth some devel-   about this furry bonanza.  Following
opment points put into  skinning, if   is a minor up-date:
cash is what you are after.
                                       First, there are three  fog rooms by
I like  to use  a  rapier  on  these   the waterfall where everyone's DB is
creatures  because  of  the  reduced   bumped up  by +30 -- yours  and  the
THT. I'm not  the hardest  hitter on   the  pumas'.   If you remember this,
the planet, so  that's a  major con-   you can parry down  some so  you can
sideration  for  me. As  usual  with   hit harder.  Just remember  to parry
natural  attacks, heavy hide  is not   normally when you leave these rooms.
not as good  protection as a leather
breastplate would be. Train in rigid   Next, a rock jetty extends  out into
leather  when  you can, and you will   the lake  from the  southeast shore.
be safer among the claws and teeth.    This is possibly a "safe" room; I've
                                       yet to see a puma in there.
Firecats and  Firerats are  too fast
for  parry tag; find  a parry  level   Finally, the  route  to pumas  has a
that will let you hit but which will   kink  in it that  didn't  show up on
keep you alive when the Firecats hit   the previous  map. The kink  has now
back.  Experiment  from parry 100 on   been included.
down, not the other way around. Also
think about the special attacks, the   On the  following page  is a map  of
disease and heat crits. A little tag   the route  from the  rockslide north
can hurt you, stun you, and possibly   of the  Mine Road to the cave at the
kill you. Err on the side of caution   end of Seolfar Strake, including the
unless you have a cleric friend  who   area where pumas are found.
needs work.                        -20-                             More...
  
  
  
      
  
  
  
  
  
  _________________________________________________________________________
 /  \                                                                      \
| /@ |         Mappe   Of   Ye   Denizens   of   Seolfar   Strake           |
| \_/______________________________________________________________________/
|                                                                         |
|                                                                         |
|       N                                  ( )--( )--( )                  |
|       |                                  /           \                  |
|    W--+--E                      go     /               \                |
|       |              ( )--( ) trail ( )                ( )              |
|       S             /     /              - FIRECATS -    \              |
|                   /     /            ..................... \            |
|                 ( )   ( )            :      ( )--( )     :  ( )         |
|                  |     |             :     /        \    :    \         |
|                  |     |             :   /            \  :      \       |
|                 ( )   ( )--( )       : ( )  ( )  ( )--( ):       ( )    |
|                  |           \       :   \    \       /  .  (out)  \    |
|                  |    BEARS    \     :...  \    \   /   go opening   \  |
|                 ( )            ( )      :   ( )  ( )  :  .           ( )|
|                  |        and    \      :     \   |     go cave (in)  | |
|                  |                 \    :       \ |   :  .            | |
|                 ( )          BOARS ( )  :        ( )  :  ( )         ( )|
|                  |                  |   :.............:   |          .  |
|                  |                  |                     |    down ->  |
|                 ( )                ( )    - FIRERATS -   ( )    <- up   |
|  <- climb rock   |                 /                       \      .     |
|                  |               /                           \   .      |
|  ( )--( )       ( )           ( )                             ( )       |
|      /           |              \                                       |
|    /             |                \     <- go path ............         |
|  ( )      ( )- -( )               ( )--( )--( ). . : ( )--( ) :         |
|    \      /                             go trail ->       /   :         |
|      \  /                                          :    /     :         |
|      ( )                    .......................: ( )      :         |
|                             :                        /        :         |
|                             :           . . . . . ./. . . .   :         |
|                             :  + 30 to  .       ( )       .   :         |
|                             :  your DB  .      /   \      .   :         |
|                             :  and the  .    /  fog  \    .   :         |
|                             :   puma's  . ( )        ( )  .   :         |
|                             :           . .|. . . . . | . .   :         |
|                             :              |          |       :         |
|                             :             ( )        ( )      :         |
|                             :     |                go rock    :         |
|                             : - PUMAS -          go shore     :         |
|                             :     |            ( )            :         |
|                             :.................................:         |
|                                                                         |
|  _______________________________________________________________________|_
 \/________________________________________________________________________/
  
  
  
  
  
  
                                   -21-
  
  
  
    
  
  
  
  
  
                          Water's Shadowed Flight
                          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                               By Eron Kulsen
  
  
                       Shadowed is the hand of night,
                   Dark and desperate, filled with hate.
                   Stars blaze through infinite darkness,
                Points of light, nothing more, nothing less.
  
                  Pale Moon, ever present in rising glory;
                Lighting the way, revealing moving stories.
              Blue Orb, why do you run at such steadfast pace?
              To someone's dismay, the sun may take thy place.
  
                     Silver streams, sprung from below.
                Enchanted waters, where do your rivers flow?
            Deep waters move to run swift, faster, faster still.
           Shattered light, escapes, dancing across the surface.
  
            Slowing speed, cool lakes, under a moonlight night.
          Here you will stay a while, dear water in placid state.
         Hurry now, do not tarry, soon the sun will wound the sky.
            Even now heat escapes, stay cold, or face thy fate.
  
               Tendrils, wet with mist, rise above the lake;
                 Entranced in their own movement to place.
            Transparent to naked eye, feeding upon deep waters;
                   Cold to touch, yet warm to rise above.
  
                    Bodies of waters move on once more.
                     Currents to be thy body, thy soul.
                       Rush quick, straight and true,
                    Before suns power, fades thee soon.
  
           Run quicker still, sweet waters, to the east.. light!
                 Your journey soon ends, green seas await.
                 Now, a taste of salt to bitter the tongue;
                Ahead, new and vast oceans are not to late.
  
           Bright sunlight tightens the grip, above you enfolds.
               'Ware not, silver spring, thy waters are home.
              Moons and Suns will pass, in short eternal time.
               Fear not, dear spring, more waters will come.
  
    ______________________________________________________________________
   /                                                                      \
  |                       Imbedding Service Available                      |
  |                       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~                      |
  |   Lord Sorcerer Nixie Trevine, honored resident of Kelfour's Landing,  |
  |   will imbed select sorcerous and channeling spells in items you pro-  |
  |   vide, for your use later. You must supply the item, and his fee in   |
  |   silvers is tallied by the formula 1000 + (level of spell -1 * 100).  |
  |   Further information may be obtained from Lord Nixie,  or by typing   |
  |   IMBED within the confines of Kulthea. For example, Lock Lore (#403)  |
  |   imbedded in your item costs 1200 silvers.                            |
   \______________________________________________________________________/
                                   -22-
  
  
    
  
  
  
 _____________              Bumbling in the Dark
/ \ ____   ___\             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
\@| ~|~|  /~/~ |              by Kert Clandocci
  |  |~|_/~/   |
 _|  |~|~\~\   | ert  awoke  slowly,   paces,   preparing   for   the  next
/@| _|~|  \~\_ | as if coming out of   onslaught,  he  had  already shifted
\_/ ~~~~  ~~~~/  a  haze.  At  first   into  a  combat state and was acting
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~  he had no idea where   from instinct and experience.
he  was.  The landscape was obscured
in night shadow, with only the light   The  tork sprang toward him one more
of Orhan  to illuminate it.  Looking   time,  lunging  for  his throat.  At
around  in  an  effort  to  get  his   the  last second, with a simple man-
bearings,  he suddenly realized that   euver,  Kert  thrust his shield into
he  had been sleeping outside in the   the  torkaan's path,  forcing  it to
grasslands!   While  this  was  sur-   move away. But the beast immediately
prising  in itself, he was even more   regained   its  footing  and  turned
surprised   that   he   hadn't  been   again   to   attack,  just  as  Kert
slaughtered  in his sleep by a wand-   launched   an  attack  of  his  own.
ering torkaan.  These normally tran-   Drake falchion swept down, burrowing
quil,  chubby,  sheep-like  animals,   deeply  into  the  beast's  neck and
(the  domain   of   the   mysterious   flaring  up with a fiery blast.  The
Ky'Taari His Shepherdesses)  had be-   torkaan  was  thrown  back  from the
come rabid and attacked without pro-   force  of  the  blow, dead before it
vocation.   "Those  shepherdesses  I   hit  the  ground.   "Whoa,  only one
never  seem  to  see  must  have the   strike!"   he   thought  exultantly.
flock  bedded  down," he muttered to   "Usually  these  battles take a fair
himself.     Standing    slowly   to   bit  longer  than  that."  Kert  was
stretch,  he glanced about once more   pumped  up from the quick combat and
to  ascertain  where he was situated   the  fatigue he had felt after first
in  relation   to  the  town  gates.   awakening  was  gone.   "Maybe  I'll
Familiar   landmarks  soon  revealed   hunt  a  bit longer and see if there
that he was just south of Kelfours -   are  any  more  of  the nasty beasts
a  short,  easy  journey.   Reaching   lurking about, endangering the town-
down to pick up his falchion and his   folk."
trusty shield, he noticed - again to
his  surprise  -  an  odd shimmering   He quickly skinned  the torkaan  and
light emanating from both.             tossed  the  pelt into his backpack.
                                       "That'll   at   least   pay  for  my
"Hmm... that's  odd,  my  protection   lodging,"  he  thought to himself as
spell  is  still  up,"  Kert said to   he  jogged  north toward town.  "And
himself.  Feeling a little less vul-   I'll be a bit closer to town if I do
nerable,  he readied himself for the   get tired."
trek  back  into town and set off to
the north, his thoughts on finding a   Kert  travelled  a  couple  of hours
nice, warm bed.                        more  through the short grass toward
                                       the  town  gates,  meeting, greeting
After   walking  only  a  couple  of   and skinning two more torkaans along
hundred  yards,  a  torkaan that had   the  way.   Upon  his arrival at the
been   lying  inconspicuously  in  a   path to the gate, he briefly contem-
patch  of tall grass off to his left   plated  heading on into town to sell
leapt  out  at him.  All thoughts of   the  three fresh torkaan pelts.  But
warm  beds vanished.  Turning swift-   the lure of battle was too much.  He
ly,   Kert  swung  at  the  drooling   decided  instead  to  take  a  quick
creature  and knew as soon as he did   side-trip  into  the woods to see if
that  the  blow  had been rushed and   kobolds  were  as lively as torkaans
would miss its mark.  In an instant,   at night.
the  torkaan  was  on  him,  but the
attack  was  wild  and  Kert  easily   He  turned  west  and  moved  slowly
side-stepped  it.   Backing up a few   through   the  woods,  peering  cau-
                                   -23-                             More...
  
  
  
  
  
  
tiously about in the soft moonlight.   that  he  was  alive  and well, that
Making  his  way  back  south  for a   there   had  been  no  torkaans,  no
while,  he spotted a pair of kobolds   kobolds  and  no wolverine, and that
in  a  small  clearing  dead  ahead.   he'd   just  had  one  too  many  at
Deciding   to  make  this  his  last   Helga's.
combat of the night, he quickly cast
a protection spell and sprinted into
the clearing to make his attack.        ____________________________________
                                       / \                                  \
The  kobs reacted quickly, spreading   |@/_____ Where the Torkaans Roam ____/
out to get to Kert's flanks.  But he   |                                   |
was  ready  for  them,  and  quickly   |                                   |
slashed   open   the  thigh  of  the   |    [KE] = Kelfour's               |
nearest  one.   He turned to get his   |           Exterior                |
shield  up  to  fend  off  the other   |                                   |
kob's  attack when he felt the slice   |    [LG] =  Lower                  |
of  metal  in his lower back and the   |         Dragsonfang               |
sticky  warmth of blood gushing from   |         Grasslands                |
the  fresh wound.  Not backing down,   |                                   |
he decided it was a minor injury and   |                                   |
renewed his attack.  He made a feint   | Kobland<--[KE]---path---to gate   |
at   the   second  kobold  and  spun   |        |       Kelfours           |
quickly,  driving  his falchion home   |       [KE]                        |
in  the stomach of its partner.  The   |        |                          |
creature screamed and dropped to the   |       [KE]                N       |
ground,  twitching  as its lifeblood   |        |                  |       |
poured from its wounds.                |       [KE]             W--*--E    |
                                       |        |                  |       |
Kert  swiftly  turned  back  to  the   |       [KE]                S       |
remaining  kobold.   But  it was al-   |        |                          |
ready fleeing to the north.  "Afraid   |       [KE]                        |
to  stand  and fight," he thought as   |      /   \                  go    |
he  prepared  to set off in pursuit.   |   [LG]  [LG]-[KE]-[KE]-[KE]-bridge|
Then,  to  his  horror,  he  saw the   |    |                              |
reason:   a wolverine, racing across   |   [LG]                            |
the  clearing,  moonlight reflecting   |      \                            |
ominously from razor-sharp claws.      |      [LG]                         |
                                       |       |                           |
Immediately, Kert started to back up   |      [LG]                         |
and prepared to defend.  But he knew   |         \                         |
even  as  he  moved  that it was too   |         [LG]                      |
late.   The  wolverine was on him in   |          |                        |
less  than  a heartbeat, and he felt   |         [LG]                      |
its  claws sink deep into his chest,   |          |                        |
his  blood  spurting warm and wet on   |         [LG]                      |
his skin.  His vision blurred and he   |          |                        |
fell,    still   clinging   to   his   |         [LG]                      |
falchion...                            |         /                         |
                                       |      [LG]---->Iorak's Reach       |
...and  slowly  became aware that he   |       |             The Shadow    |
was  looking  up  at the bottom of a   |       |                           |
bar  stool.  The falchion had become   |    go path                        |
a  beer mug, its contents lying pun-   |       |                           |
gent  and  wet  in  a  puddle on the   |    To Upper Kandsfang             |
floor.   A near-empty bottle of wine   |      and Hobland                  |
lay  across the bar, slowly dripping   |   ________________________________|
onto  his  chest.  Through a drunken   |  @\                               \
haze, his  mind  registered the fact    \__/_______________________________/
                                   -24-
  
  
  
    
  
  
  
 ____________                 A Guiding Star
/ \ ________ \                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
\@| ~|~|~~|| |             by Belladonna Atropa
  |  |~|_ ~~ |
 _|  |~|-|   |ew tragedies strike as   to those hunting grounds others deem
/@|  |~|     | forcefully as a death   unprofitable.
\_/ ~~~~~    / in  the family, espe-
  ~~~~~~~~~~~  cially from the point   Sadly, even in the desolate regions,
of view of the deceased.  We here in   clerics are challenged, not by other
Kelfour's are lucky  to have a corps   players, but by  the frustration  of
of  dedicated and competent  clerics   fighting monsters that won't die, or
to aid  us in these  times, offering   that  can't  be  found, or  that are
more  than just comfort: our clerics   unapproachable. One  of  the  common
can offer a return to life for those   training grounds  for young  clerics
of us  careless enough  to have left   is  the   graveyard.  Why  do  other
it too soon.                           professions,   those   with   better
                                       skills in  combat, avoid this place?
Still, glad  as most  of us  are  to   In part, because heavy  gates render
have  a  cleric  on  hand  in  these   entry  almost impossible for one who
circumstances,  they  are  not  much   travels alone. In part,  because the
desired  as  companions  in  battle,   creatures of that haunted realm,long
particularly among those young whose   since gone  from material life, have
guiding principle is "advancement at   fewer valuable,  salable possessions
any price." The limitations a cleric   than any  other collection.  And, in
faces in  combat challenges  any but   part, because  none save clerics can
the most  patient hunting  party  to   wield  the   only  weapons  commonly
avoid  shutting   them  out  of  the   available which  have effect  on the
carnage.   Still,    this    mayhem,   unliving things found there.
distasteful  as   it  is   to   many
clerics, is  a necessary part of the   The graveyard,  then, would  seem to
learning  experience.  When  clerics   have been  made  for  clerics.  They
are relegated  to the  back ranks in   alone have  spells designed for such
hunting  parties,  they  are  forced   creatures, and  they alone  can  use
either to  hunt alone  or to content   the weapons.  But  clerics  are  not
themselves  with   what  they   have   notoriously strong.  Clerics are not
learned and advance no further.        notoriously rich.  Without  strength
                                       to  push  past  the  gates,  without
Not a  difficult choice.  Few  would   coins to  buy rings  to bypass those
choose    stagnation     even     if   gates, this  unprofitable ground  is
advancement were to come at the cost   nearly unattainable.
of companionship,  if there  were  a
possibility  in   later  years  that   What other  regions are unclaimed by
one's  skills   and  training  would   more able  hunters?  Surely  no  one
prove invaluable  to the rest of the   would   consign   clerics   to   the
adventuring community.  It is ironic   catacombs. Rats carry disease but no
that the same clerics whose services   purses,  and   they   offer   little
are absolutely  vital  in  times  of   challenge  as  hunters  progress  in
trouble are  an unwanted  burden  in   skill.  The   coastal   cliffs   are
their   earlier   years.   We,   the   perhaps  the   best   area   readily
perpetually dying, challenge clerics   accessible, but  the  carrion  worms
to prove  their willingness to serve   infesting  the   region  are   quite
us in  our greatest need. We require   dangerous. The kobold forest and the
them  to  hide  out  away  from  the   mine road  are so  often the  chosen
travelled ways, learning their craft   hunting grounds of other professions
in isolation,  with little help even   that clerics  are frequently  forced
in such  common forms  as protective   to abandon hunts in those expanses.
spells. Yet  those  called  to  this
profession   often    endure    such   In short, the prospects for clerics,
enforced loneliness, accepting exile   particularly  young   clerics,   are
                                   -25-                              More..
  
  
    
  
  
  
fairly bleak.  They can  advance far   dirty. Let  them come  to understand
more slowly than other classes, with   death, and dying. It will be to each
a great  deal of difficulty, hunting   hunter's advantage  later  on  if  a
with  other   groups,  or  they  can   cleric at this stage learns what the
advance  in  isolation,  again  with   hunt is all about.
much greater  difficulty than  other
professions. This is a primary cause   There is  something you can do, even
why  clerics   so  frequently  leave   those of  you past  the hob-stomping
Kelfour's, sending  back  others  of   days of  youth. You  can spend  some
their family to prosper in what is a   time helping  a cleric learn the art
remarkably well-to-do frontier town.   of combat.  You can  help  find  the
This is  also a  primary  cause  why   monsters  most  commonly  hunted  at
clerics    are    so    infrequently   that  age.  You  can  cast  whatever
available  at   the   time   of   an   protective spells  you may  have  so
adventurer's  death,  prompting  the   your   cleric    can    hunt    more
dreaded realm-  shifting  which  can   fearlessly. You  can even  help wear
leave a decaying body protected from   the monster  down if  you  have  the
the elements  and foul creatures but   time and a yearning for easy prey.
also cut  off from  the lands of the
living and  of the  dead.  Those  in   If  you  have  younger  cousins  and
this condition, often referred to as   nieces and  nephews, don't send them
the "off line," can survive weeks or   out to  hunt alone,  with a sense of
even years  awaiting the services of   "family honor"  compelling  them  to
clerics,  but   it  is   hardly   an   meteoric rise.  Let  them  take  the
enviable plight.                       slower path of the guiding star to a
                                       young cleric,  advancing at the pace
What can  be done?  Is there  a  way   of those who follow.
clerics  can  be  brought  into  the
mainstream of  hunting groups,  even     _________________________________
in the days of their youth?             /                                 \
                                       |                                   |
Of course there is.  The drawback is   |                                   |
that  the concept  is so  blindingly   |                                   |
simple it's hard for get-ahead young   |                                   |
adventurers to grasp.  As clerics in   |                                   |
later  years  assume  responsibility   |                                   |
for the  well - being of the  entire   |                                   |
community, so in  their younger days   |                                   |
the community must take some respon-   |                                   |
sibility  for  the  well - being  of   |      Your Advertisement Here      |
clerics.                               |      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~      |
                                       |                                   |
Those hunting in the more profitable   |                                   |
areas must make an effort to include   |                                   |
clerics in their groups  beyond just   |                                   |
allowing them to tag  along. Clerics   |                                   |
must  be  allowed to participate  in   |                                   |
the battle.  Not just when the  more   |                                   |
battle-ready are exhausted and ready   |                                   |
ready to  retire for  a  while,  but   |                                   |
from the  time the group forms until   |                                   |
it breaks  up at  end of  day. If  a   |                                   |
monster falls  to a  single blow, so   | Kelfour Edition sells advertising |
be it.  If a  monster,  as  is  more   | space to select patrons.  Contact |
often the  case,  is  slowly  beaten   | Publisher  Phaedra Bleu for rates |
back, beaten down, killed, then make   | (in silvers) and more information |
an effort  to see that the cleric in   | at GE Mail address P.HERRINGTON.  |
the  party   has  a   hand  in  that   |                                   |
process.  Let them get  their  hands    \_________________________________/
                                   -26-
  
  
    
  
  
  
 ____________                 Harpy Holidays
/ \ ___   ___\                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
\@|  \~\ /~/ |              by Lloyd Lowd, PhD
  |   \ ~ /  |
 _|    |~|   |uletide descended upon   Presents are  always a  big part  of
/@|    |~|   | us  once  again  last   the   season.    Some  of  our  more
\_/    ~~~   / month.  As  the  bard   prominent residents were seen either
  ~~~~~~~~~~~ Thomin of Lehrer sang:   sporting  their  new  "prezzies"  or
                                       sulking because they didn't get what
    Slay those wildfowl, geese,        they   wanted.   Lady  Valeria,  for
          and pheasants,               instance, had a brand new  sword and
    Trim the tree, get useless         cheerfully showed it to everyone she
            presents...                met, all the while dusting  the tips
    By my beard, this season's         of her fingers  with emery cloth and
           unpleasant!                 saying   what  a  nice  present  her
    Elf-friend, here we go again.      "Sandy Claws" got her. Somehow I got
                                       the impression that  this particular
Of course,  Thomin may  be  forgiven   spirit  of  Yuletide  present  spent
his poor  mood in  what most  people   more  time hiding  in  shadows  than
consider a festive season. He'd just   sliding in chimneys.
sat  through a three-hour recital by
Enegue the  Bard that  consisted  of   The hobbits were a sight, as always.
Yuletide arias from ancient  operas,   Lord Dartaghan  got his  usual  gift
all of which were the last  works by   from his  Great Aunt  Reba: a set of
the respective composers. (Obviously   fuzzy wolverine  pajamas with padded
their   patrons   beheaded  them  to   feet and  fake claws.  (It seems the
prevent further musical mischief.)     nice old lady still thinks of him as
                                       a little   nipper  and likes to hear
And, as if  the simple  rendition of   him try  to growl and pretend he's a
these  musical   aberrations  wasn't   fierce  wild  creature.)    But  the
enough, Enegue (otherwise  known  as   worst  blow   to  the   sheep-dipped
the  Bland Bard, due to his habit of   hobbit's ego  was when he discovered
reciting ancient  history in public)   that his  partner in  grime, the Low
hired (or coerced through kidnapping   Prelate of  Kelfour's Landing,   was
their loved ones) the Kulthean Play-   now a  quarter-cubit taller than he,
ers to accompany him. This  group of   thanks to some heel lifts given by a
amateur  thespians  practices out of   friendly deity.
Cheldar's Bath  House  every  Monday
night, partly because the Bath House   Lord Mikhail checked his stocking to
is usually  fairly empty that  night   find  a   lump  of  coal,  which  he
and  that any sin is  allowed there.   promptly inserted  into  the  vacuum
It also helps that Cheldar is almost   where  his  soul  formerly  resided.
completely deaf.                       Lord Maruko opened his presents with
                                       a dazzling display of his katana, to
The group isn't completely hopeless;   discover  an  autographed manuscript
they are quite loud. During the per-   of  Mushashi's "Five  Rings." Unfor-
formance, a  slightly lovesick  bull   tunately, he received a severe paper
moose arrived and made a beeline for   cut while opening  the book and will
the choir.  It seems that one of the   require  months  of  bed  rest after
young  fighters  in  the  group, who   having Lord  Strom tend  his wounds.
fancies   himself a  singer, had the
pitch  and timbre of a female  moose   Speaking of  Lord (Legend In His Own
in  the throes  of a mating  frenzy.   Mind) Strom,  someone gave  a him  a
Needless to say, this disrupted  the   certificate  for  six  free  lessons
concert completely, and  was greeted   from Surtey on how to treat compound
with  a  standing  ovation from  the   fractures.    Or  was  that  how  to
audience. (The moose kicked open the   compound fractures?    Probably  the
door that Enegue's  manager thought-   latter.  I'd recommend everyone stay
fully locked as the event started.)    healthy this year.
                                   -27-
  
                                                                     KEV3N8
                                                                      [end]

See Also: