OK, Mogri, how you wanna do this?
Mogri
Pump everything into Wizard Skills. Don't need anything but a stick if you have enough Wizard Skills.
Righto!
So, here's Mogri's build: I pumped Wizard Skills to the max (18), and bought nothing at the armory. I took a little leeway at the witches lair: since it cost nothing to enchant my stick I went ahead and did it, and I bought some magic items. Although they're not outright called "Wizard Skills", Mogri won't have any actual skills unless I buy some magic items. I also got him a magic cloak:
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The magic cloak be a device of protection. It adds strength
to your defensive coating, and while the witch will sell you
as many as you want, their strenth be not additive so one be
all you need. The magic cloak works on any human. The magic
cloak be permanent and need not be called upon to be useful.
This is definitely not within Mogri's order, but I figure I need some kind of protection and this is as close to wizardly robes as the game offers. Now, what are my wizard skills good for, you ask? Well:
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Wizard Skills determine which magic items you will be capable
of using. In general, the more potent the magic item, the
higher your wizard skill will have to be to use it. For
example, you will have to have a magic level of 5 or higher
in order for a healing potion to be effective.
So I don't think you actually get more powerful, you just get access to more powerful stuff. With level 18 skills, I can use any item I can afford. To avoid too much manual dumping all at once, I'm gonna tell you what each item does as I use it.
Mogri has entered the cave. Unfortunately, with a stamina score of zero and a weight of 55, each step I take is exhausting. After two steps, I have to take a break before moving again.
In room 2 I get attacked by a skeleton. Note that my health is at 40% and my restedness at 12. In this shot I've just fired off my Light Burst:
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The light burst sets forth a tremendous burst of light.
Monsters, blinded by the light, will not move. You must be a
level one wizard or better to use a light burst. If you try
to pick up a treasure or attack the monster he will shake off
the effects and attack you!
With the skeleton stunned, I move away and try one of my magic items. When you press 'M' for magic, the game asks for the number of the item you want to use. If you look back to my inventory shot from earlier, I have a fire ball in pocket #3. Let's give that a shot (the skeleton is invisible in this image because when I moved away from it after stunning it my character overwrote it):
Hey, that wasn't a fire ball! What's this Sphere of Essence business?
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The sphere of essence attempts to draw all the life essence
out of the monster. It will destroy skeletons and bats and
wound others. You must be a level 7 wizard to use the sphere
of essence, and it be a permanent item.
That sounds pretty good, actually, and it certainly did the job. But it's not what I asked for! Let me check my pockets again:
Huh. So when I used the light burst, it was used up, and all the items lower in the list moved up a place. The sphere of essence, being a permanant item, is still in my possession. I think I'll be getting a lot of use out of that.
I took a left this time, and picked up 50 coppers in room 11. That's upped the weight I'm carrying by 15 points. Let's see what that does to my movement:
Now one step takes most of my restedness, and attempting a second before resting up will fail because I'm too tired. Great. I carry on to the left and meet another skeleton. Before I show you that, though, let's see what the documentation has to say about skeletons:
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The skeleton be a very slow creature and some say easily laid
waste.
Sounds good! Let's do it:
It doesn't go so well, perhaps because I'm too busy reaching for the screenshot key to cast spells. In the first shot there I've hit the magic key causing the game to pause so I can pick an item, but whatever I chose must not've done the job, because I'm dead in shot two. Possibly because when I tried to use the item I was too exhausted and didn't actually use it. Too bad for Mogri.
OK, I'm gonna try this again with a slightly more well-rounded build.
Very slightly.
I again buy no gear beyond the magic cloak. I pick up a few more light bursts than last time now that I know they're consumable, and I hit the cave again:
Those stamina points have done me a world of good, and I can now move somewhat freely. Unfortunately I neglect to hover my finger over the 'M' key when entering the next room and am killed by the first enemy before I manage to hit it. Whups. Zeus offers to let me continue, and I take him up on it, sacrificing the copper in the first room and the life points that came with it.
At least I get to keep my magic items.
This time I've learned my lesson, and I fire off the Sphere of Essence before the skeleton reaches me, killing it.
I head off to the left again, encountering another skeleton. This time I fire off a fire ball for the kill. You might notice that the only visual difference between using the fire ball and using the sphere is that after the fire ball my number of items drops by one, because it's a single use item. Back in the 80s, gamers had imagination. Here, maybe this will help:
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The fire ball be an explosive that seeks monsters before
detonating. It will destroy all the lower level monsters and
seriously wound higher types. You must be a level 8 wizard
or better to use a fire ball.
I move on to the next room:
Aww, come on! I coulda killed that bat with my sphere, but it was on me so fast that I was dead before I could act. I've had enough of this! I may be a powerful wizard, but it's not doing me any good with so little defence. Time for another suggestion.
Kalir
What exactly does Charisma help with?
I'm glad you asked!
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Charisma affects your ability to talk to monsters. A
character with perfect charisma (18) will always enchant
monsters when you talk to them. Monsters will then let you
pass. A lower charisma may also work, but there is a catch.
If you talk to a monster and he lets you pass, but then you
decide to talk to him again he may get tired of listening to
you and try to smash your boring brains out!
18 Charisma sounds like easy mode, so long as I can get a word in before the monsters attack.
Kalir
Regardless of your answer, I think we need to Johnny Depp it up in here.
Sounds good! (Perhaps less so here in 2020 than when this was written back in 2013.)
So, what qualities does Johnny Depp have? Well, he's charming, and he'd never make me move through the world resting after every step. Is he smart, strong, dextrous, or wizardly? No idea. Let's assume that he isn't. That way he can also be rich.
I pick up some basic gear. The documentation for the gear pretty much says that it gets better as you get more expensive stuff. Because I don't have the wizard skills to use the magic items, the only things I get from the witch are a magic cloak and enchantments for my blade and armor:
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The effectiveness of the witches spell to add magic to your
blade or to your armor depends on the type of armor you are
wearing. The stronger your armor, the more magic it will be
able to hold. The cost for the service, however, goes up
with the type of armor. Adding magic to your equipment does
not effect its weight. Adding magic adds about %50 to the
effectiveness of your gear.
The enchantments only last until you leave the cave, so you have to refresh it each time you enter.
Here we are. An advantage of not trying to be wizardly is that I'm not weighed down by a pile of magic stuff.
I enter the room and hit 'T' for talk. A sort of squiddly sound plays, which doesn't come across too well in .gif form, and the skeleton lets me pass. Then when I take the treasure in the room the skeleton attacks, but I again talk it out of it. Yep, I really am charming.
I'm also a rat bastard. I cooly approach the charmed skeleton and strike a blow with my dagger. Unfortunately with low (0) strength and weak weapon, one blow doesn't do the job. Fortunately, with my chain mail and small shield the skeleton is having trouble hitting me and I'm able to finish it off unharmed.
I carry on to the left as before, charming and then murdering skeletons as I go. Through that door on the left is the bat that ended Mogri II's adventure so quickly. Well, I've learned. I hover my hand over the talk button before entering:
I hit 'T' in time, and the bat stands down. Unlike with the skeletons, I'm not quite brave enough to try killing this beast, even with my improved defence, so I just move past it, pick up the treasure, and talk to it again immediately so it'll let me leave the room. This is working out pretty well for me, but every enemy I'm not killing is an enemy that won't give me life points. I don't really need better stats if I can just talk my way out of every situation, but I'd be more comfortable if I were stronger.
In the next room I kill a couple skeletons. I charm the first, but the second I just turn around and stab. It's quicker that way. The manual has a nice explanation for why you only get attacked by one enemy at a time:
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One thing interesting about the monsters is that they only
attack you one at a time. While they may travel in groups,
it is said that that is how a leader among them is chosen:
whomever kills the intruder becomes the leader.
I assume the real explanation is that it's 1985 and your computer can't handle two monsters at a time, but I guess back in the day people were less jaded about questions like "why don't they attack all at once?".
I carry on charming and killing my way down the corridor. That bat actually took a swing at me before I talked to it, but didn't manage to hurt me, which suggests I'm being more cautious with bats than I need to be.
I make my way back out from the end of the passage, stopping through the room I skipped on the way in. There's nothing in there.
So here's what I gained from the left fork of the level. 144 coppers. Last time I wondered about the exchange rate. Now I know:
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One gold be worth 10 silvers and 1 silvers be worth 10 coppers.
I take the chance to save as I leave, and buy a point of strength.
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Strength determines your capability with a blade. The higher
the strength the more damage you do to monsters when you hit
them with a blade. A player with a high strength can even
destroy monsters without a blade, (the armorer will provide
you with a stick if you choose not to purchase a blade).
Your strength adds to the destructiveness of a blade.
That'll let me kill things quicker, which will make attacking them much safer. The armourer doesn't recognise me, but he exchanges my stuff at the right rate.
I take the chance to upgrade my armour to full plate, leaving me broke (I had close to 2000 silver left when I first entered the cave). I can still afford to enchant my dagger, but the cost of strengthening my armour is way out of reach. Luckily, I think the strongest armour in the game will suffice for the first dungeon.
Back in level one, I try out my weight/stamina ratio. I can move across a room quickly a reasonable distance without tiring out. The stamina in this game is an interesting but kind of annoying mechanic. If you're in a room without any monsters, it just makes it take longer to get to the next. If you're in a fight it can be more interesting, because you risk running out, but it all happens so quickly that I don't feel like I'm in much control. Maybe if I slowed the clock speed the emulator is running at it'd be better, but then it'd be even slower to move around. Anyways, I take the top exit. There was no skeleton or treasure in room 2: kills and collects are persistent. I could go kill the bats I skipped last time, but I'm more interested in exploring new areas.
I carry on upwards, talking to monsters and killing them. That's actually a waste of time, really. When you talk, the game pauses while the sound effect plays, and then the monster is no longer hostile (if the dice roll goes your way, but with my maxed charisma it always does). That's great, but skeletons are incapable of hurting me now anyway. That bat could be another story, though. I've got it charmed, but once I pick up that treasure:
It attacks again, and I kill it without taking a scratch. Nice!
I keep sticking to the left wall, picking up treasure and unnecessarily charming bats.
I'm also wasting time charming skeletons. The treasure drops are getting pretty big up here, though. I carry on upwards:
Oh cripes! The giant bug gets in a hit before I talk to it, but in my armoured state it only takes 5% off my health. I've actually cut out a few seconds of nothing happening from that .gif: I panicked and hit 'T' more often than I needed to, resulting in a few extra seconds of talk noises. I manage to kill the bug, but almost exhaust myself in the process. Luckily there's only one in the room.
100 more coppers. Sweet! I head back to the entrance to reequip and save before taking on the last leg of the level.
I pick up another point of strength. If I wind up facing multiple bugs, I wanna be able to kill one without exhausting myself.
I upgrade my weapon to a broad sword at the armoury, which pushes the cost of enchanting the blade beyond my means. Hopefully an unenchanted broad sword will outdamage an enchanted dagger, though. The upper branch of the cave got me twice the silver that the left one did, but my main source of income is actually the 20 life points I get after each kill or treasure collection. The 100 I had left over after increasing my strength were converted to silver when I reached earth again.
The right branch has the high room numbers and seems to be sending more enemies and treasure at me. I guess I'm doing things in the right order.
I carry on down the right corridor and take the next branch from it.
There are a few twisty hallways, one of which takes me to the next segment of the main corridor:
I swing back to pick up a treasure I missed, then carry on to fight some skeletons:
This is just free experience at this point.
All of these rooms were empty of monsters and treasure. The doorway to the right is where I got killed by a bug on my first foray into the cave. I think I'll take the upper exit first.
Things aren't much better up here. The bug is fast, but not very damaging. Each hit takes 4% of my health, which I quickly recover so long as my stamina is full. That's a far cry from the one hit kill I got on my first try.
In the next room I kill two with no difficulty, my stamina dropping to the 40s at its lowest ebb.
Taking the left exit leads to another corridor. Each of the three small rooms along the bottom had skeletons in them.
As did the first part of this area. I kill them and the bugs and pick up my first gold. That's ten silvers, or a hundred coppers, so it's actually no more valuable than what I was getting in the left wing of this level, but as a single coin it weighs less than the larger denominations. That bug fight was a bit tougher than the earlier ones since there were so many, and I actually ran out of stamina a couple times, but my health was never in danger.
I get 50 silvers in the first of these small rooms, which is equivalent to 5 gold, but its weight is 15. Each of the others has 10 silvers, the same value as one gold but weight 3, along with a bat guardian that's easily dispatched.
The upper corridor has more skeletons, and the rooms each have another 10 silvers and a bat.
Except for this one, which has another 50 silvers. Tidy! I'm now using 7% of my restfulness with each action, which increases my chances of getting exhausted in combat, but nothing seems to be able to touch me in this level anyway. That I can't walk very fast is more of a problem.
I make my way back to the room with the bug that killed me in the first game. Time for revenge!
No problems!
The next room doesn't go so well, though: facing three bugs I run out of stamina and come quite close to death, my health dropping to 20% with alarming rapidity. I think I might've been trying to swing my sword while too tired to do so, which tired me further without doing any damage to the bug. Luckily, I pulled through.
The last two rooms are pretty much uneventful, with 100 silvers in each and a single bug in the lower one.
I make my way back to the entrance. I've now killed and collected everything in level one. Oh wait!
I take the left fork and clear out a couple bats I skipped the first time through. There we go! Now I've cleared level one. I've got 2280 life points to level my character with, plus whatever's in my pockets:
By my count, that's 343.3 silver. Not a bad haul! Not enough to enchant my armour for level two, but not bad.
I make my exit and save my game. This seems like an appropriate place to stop for now.
Next time:
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Level two was used for storage. There be a few hidden doors
in level two, but no wandering monsters.
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