 Exile II: Crystal Souls Help

Copyright 1996, Jeff Vogel

This is the help file for Exile II: Crystal Souls, the full-length, highly detailed fantasy role-playing Shareware game for Windows. In this help file, you will find out how to create a group of adventurers, equip it, take it around the world, and slay evil of all sorts. You will also find out how to register the game, enabling you to play the second half. And, if you get stuck near the beginning, be sure to look at Helpful Hints and Hints For Getting Started.

Exile II: Crystal Souls (Exile II for short)  is being marketed under the shareware concept. In the unregistered (i.e. free) version, you can play the first half of the game at full functionality (that is, by the way, a lot of game). Upon registering (i.e. paying), you will receive a code which will enable you to play the rest of the game.

New to Exile II? Be sure to read the sections Playing Tips For Beginners and Hints For Getting Started. These will give you a helping hand should you get utterly lost. Also, if you get stuck at a puzzle, read Answer To Early Puzzles. This gives a sort of a Mini-Hintbook for the free portion of Exile II.

Click on the topics below to find out about...

Introduction and Registration:

What is Exile II?

How do I register?

Order Form

Getting 256 Colors

Playing Exile:

Playing Tips For Beginners.

Getting started.

Creating your party.

The Exile II Menu.The Exile II Screen.

Getting around town.

Moving outdoors.

About Combat.

Using Items.

Using Magic.

Mage Spells.

Priest Spells.

Extra Help:

Hints For Getting Started

Answers To Early Puzzles

Credits


Introduction
 What is Exile II?

Exile II: Crystal Souls (Exile II for short) is a fantasy role-playing game. What is that? Well, its like a fairy tale or Tolkein novel, right there in your computer. You play a party of adventurers, a group of warriors and mages, thieves and holy people, going on quests, solving puzzles, doing good (and bad) deeds.

Exile II is designed to be as simple as possible to learn and play. If you, like many game-players, dislike reading the manual before jumping into the game, go ahead. It is recommended you read the Introduction (below), look at the illustrations to see what the buttons do, and, if you plan to design your characters from scratch (eventually a good idea), the section describing what the skills are. Also, the Hints For Getting Started section near the end of the manual contains some useful hints.

If you were lucky enough to have played Exile: Escape From the Pit, you will have a very easy time getting into the swing of things here. The commands are basically the same, and the differences will be pretty easy to pick up as you go along.

Introduction:

The surface world is ruled by the Empire. That's what its called. The Empire. Not the Empire of Something, or the Something Empire. Just the Empire. It's understandable. There's no need for elaborate names when there's only one game in town.

For many year, the Empire, in its arrogance, banished everyone it felt didnt fit in. Eccentrics, petty criminals, malcontents, they were all regarded as undesirable by the Empire. And, for many years, these unwanted citizens were send into Exile.

Exile was not just a status, however. It was (and is) an actual place. Exile is a network of hundreds of miles of caves and tunnels, forming an enormous, weblike labyrinth of warrens under the surface of the world. Kept lit my magic, fed by fungus, and populated by the unending stream of humans (and humanoids) from the surface, the people of Exile struggled by as best they could for many years.

When Exile was established, however, the Empire, complacent and arrogant, made its greatest mistake. It send down several mages, powerful mages, who were on the wrong side of a political struggle. The winners, Emperor Hawthorne and the archmage Garzahd, were confidant that sending down these archmagi would not be a problem. They even thought that maybe their skills could later be harnessed, once they were beaten down by several years rotting in the sunless lands.

They could not have been more wrong.

Some of the exiled wizards, like Rone, and Solberg, and Patrick, were content simply building a better life for the Exiles. One of them, however, was named Erika Redmark. A harsh and vindictive incantatrix, she enlisted a band of adventurers, made tough by their years below, in a wild, dangerous, and eventually successful scheme. She wanted to assassinate Hawthorne, brilliant Emperor of the surface world.

Five years later, Hawthorne was killed in his own throne room.

The response was immediate, and vicious. First, the portal into Exile was closed. Nobody was to be sent through. Second, other portals were created, to remote areas of Exile. Soldiers were sent there, the finest soldiers in the Empires army. They was one mission: Vengeance. Not one citizen in this subterranean den of vipers was to escape alive.

Teleporting people into Exile is a difficult and draining task, and so Exile was not flooded with enemy troops. Still, the soldiers that did come down have already taken a quarter of Exile, and are moving steadily inward, taking cave after cave and city after city. If nothing is done, Exile will be doomed, and you with it.

Your job now is not to fight the Empire, however. You have just arrived at Fort Ganrick, a tiny fort in the farthest outskirts of your nation. Your job - help fight a den of sinister Nephilim (savage, feline humanoids). Thankless and dangerous work, and far from dealing with the great threat you all face. However, it is possible that circumstances will change. It is possible that chance will seize you and pull you into the center of the story you are all living. Perhaps something is about to happen that will shake everything apart, and you will have to put it back together again.

Perhaps that could happen. Youre about to find out...

Getting Started...


How to register
 How to Register Exile II

Exile II is being marketed under the shareware concept. You can play the first half of the game at full functionality for free. To play the second half, you need to obtain a key (i.e. password) from Spiderweb Software.

PRICING:

    Exile II is $25, the Exile Editor is $9, the hint book is $7, and the Exile Bundle (all 3) is $35.

You can register by credit card or by sending a check or money order.

CREDIT CARD:

To register by credit card, call, fax or E-mail the Public Software Library and ask to register Product Code 14535. Then say which Exile products you want. The phone numbers are

Toll-free: 1-(800)242-4775

Outside US: 1-(713)524-6394

FAX: (713)524-6398

E-mail address: CIS: 71355,470

Internet address: 71355.470@compuserve.com

 Be SURE to have your registration codes handy when ordering.

All major credit cards are accepted.

THIS NUMBER IS FOR ORDERING ONLY - THEY CANNOT HELP YOU WITH ANYTHING ELSE.

MINIMUM CREDIT CARD ORDER $15 PLEASE

COMPUSERVE ONLINE REGISTRATION:

While on CompuServe, go to SWREG and search for keyword Exile. Select Exile II for Windows to register (make sure you register the Exile specifically marked as for Windows). You can only register the game and the $35 Exile bundle through CompuServe.

IMPORTANT - After registering on SWREG, E-mail the registration codes for the game and/or editor to 76463,1521. Ill get your keys back to you via E-mail right away.

BY CHECK OR MONEY ORDER:

Foreign orders are welcome. Pay with a money order in US currency. To print the order form, click on Order Form below and select Print from the menu above. Pay with a check (to Spiderweb Software) or money order (to Jeff Vogel).

HOWEVER YOU REGISTER, DONT FORGET YOUR REGISTRATION CODES. WE CANNOT REGISTER YOUR COPY WITHOUT THEM!

You should get your registration codes, along with full printed documentation, in the mail within 5-6 business days. If you include an E-mail address, your codes will be E-mailed to you as well. Please dont panic if your code doesnt arrive via E-mail - E-mail often gets lost or bounced.

Order Form


Order Form
Registration / Order Form

Make the check or money order payable to Spiderweb Software and mail to:

Spiderweb Software.

14 Easton Ave. #202

New Brunswick, NJ 08901   (USA)

 (908) 545-7552

Please print NEATLY and impress us with your penmanship.

Last Name                                              First Name

Address

City                                                         State                     Zip

Registration Code                                     To find out the registration code, select 'Shareware Info' from the title screen of Exile II. Without this, we cannot process your order.

Registration Code for Editor                                     To find out the registration code, select 'Shareware Info' from the title screen of Exile II. Again, without this, we cannot process an order for an editor.

For registration by credit card, call 1(800)2424-PSL. Minimum credit card order is $15.

I would like to register:

"Exile II: Escape From The Pit"................................................................NO        YES         ($25)

"Exile II Character Editor".........................................................................NO        YES         ($9)

"Exile: Escape From The Pit"....................................................................NO        YES         ($25)

"Exile Character Editor".............................................................................NO        YES         ($9)

I would like to order by mail:

The hint booklet to Exile II........................................................................NO        YES          ($7)

Send a copy of "Exile II" and the Exile Editor on disk............................NO        YES          ($6)

   (this is only available by mail)

The hint booklet to Exile............................................................................NO        YES          ($6)

Send a copy of "Exile" and the Exile Editor on disk................................NO        YES          ($6)

   (this is only available by mail)

Exile II Bundle: Exile II, the Editor, and a Hint Book............................NO        YES         ($35)

Exile Bundle: Exile, the Editor, and a Hint Book....................................NO        YES         ($35)

Total so far:                                                                                                   ______________

Outside US and Canada add $3 shipping and handling                             ______________

NJ residents add %6 sales tax                                                                      ______________

Total:                                                                                                              ______________

My e-mail address is:

America Online

Compuserve

Internet

Other

Circle the name of the service you would like us to try and e-mail your registration  to.


 Getting 256 Colors

Exile II is unusual among Windows games in that its graphics are designed for 256 colors. Should the graphics come up looking utterly bizarre, it is likely that your system is not currently set for 256 colors. Following these directions should fix the problem:

1. Go to the Program Manager.

2. In the Main directory, run Windows Setup

3. In the Options menu, select Change System Settings.

4. You will be changing the Display setting, using the arrow control to the right. Select one of the settings that mentions 256 colors. Your best bet will probably be Super VGA 640x480 256 colors.

5. Hit OK, and follow the instructions youre given.

6. Restart the machine. Exile should be in living, vibrant color.

7. Doesnt that look much nicer? Have fun!

When being run, Exile II takes over the colors in a system palette. Because of this, other applications may look somewhat odd. They will switch back to normal when Exile stops running.


 Getting Started

Starting the game

To run Exile II, double click on the Exile II icon. After a moment, you will be on the start screen. You have five options:

Load Saved Game -  Resumes a game youve already started. Select the save file to resume.

Create New Party -   Start a new game.

Shareware Info -   This screen gives the relevant information for when you decide

   to register Exile II. This includes cost, address, and the registration code you will

   need to give when you register.

Register Exile II -   When you register, you will be given a key (a large number).

   Select this option to enter the key to unlock the second half of the game.

Quit - Leave Exile.

When you are just starting, youll want to select Create New Party...

What is going on?:

You control a group of several adventurers (called player characters, or PCs, for short) who live in a land called Exile. Exile is a nation underground. The people of Exile live in caves far underground, growing pale in the dim green light of mushroom fungus, and growing thin on diets of lizards and moss. You arent there by choice - you were thrown down there by the Empire, the cruel autocracy that rules the surface world. You have just arrived at Fort Ganrick, in the northwest corner of Exile, where you are supposed to... And what? What is the goal? What are you trying to do?

      That's a fair question. And there are many answers. Do you want to escape? Save the people of Exile from the dangers they face? Battle the Empire armies invading your land? Seek and slay bizarre creatures somewhere else? Exile has many missions, some small, some large, some game-spanning. There are several ways to win the game, of varying difficulty. And there are towns and dungeons that just don't have much to do with anything.

      Finding out how to save (or change, or destroy) the world will not be easy. You will need to search caverns, huge and small, convenient and remote, talking to people and searching for clues. And then, when you find out something you can do, you must make the harder choice: Is it something you should do?

      So go to it! Pick a side, start swinging, and good luck.

Creating a Party...


 Creating a Party

What is a party?:

A party is the group of up to 6 adventurers, called player characters (PCs for short). You can play a party of your own making, or get a prefabricated party provided by the game. When you first run the game, select Create New Party from the opening screen. You can then choose whether to play a prefab party or make one from scratch.

When you hit Create New Party, you will be given the introduction the the game. Hit Done when youre through with it. Then you will see the Party Creation window. You will be given six prefabricated characters, each with preassigned skills and abilities. To get rid of a prefab PC, hit the Delete button by its name, and then hit the Create button. When your party is how you want it, press the Done button to start Chapter 1.

Using this window, you can select each of your characters names, graphics, race, advantages/disadvantages, and skills.

Race, PC Traits:   Each of your characters can be one of three different races, and have any of several advantages or disadvantages. These traits will help of hinder your character in various ways. They will also affect how quickly your character gains strength. If you take a character with lots of advantages, he or she will gain skills at a much lower rate. If there are lots of disadvantages, the character will gain skills faster.

These are the races and character traits. The percentage following each trait is how much slower this character will gain experience. A negative number means the character will gain experience faster.

Races:

Human (0%): The default race. The vast majority of Exile citizens are human. Being human conveys no notable advantages or disadvantages.

Nephilim (%12):  The Nephilim are a race of nimble, feline humanoids. They get a bonus when using missile weapons. Also, when character creation is completed, each Nephilim character gains 2 bonus points of dexterity.

Slithzerikai (%20):  The Slithzerikai are an ancient race of reptilian humanoids. There are two faction of Sliths in Exile. Some of them are friendly and allied with your people, and some of them are cruel and barbaric, and fight you whenever they get the chance. Slithzerikai are trained from birth to use pole weapons, and get a sizable bonus when attacking with them. Also, when character creation is completed, each Slithzerikai character gains 2 bonus points of strength and 1 bonus point of intelligence. Finally, Slithzerikai are resistant to poison.

PC Traits:

Toughness (%10): A character with toughness is protected from damage. Practically any sort of assault does less damage.

Magically Apt (%20): This powerful trait makes most spells cast by the PC more effective.

Ambidextrous (%8): When using a weapon in each hand, the second weapon is used with a large penalty. This trait removes that penalty.

Nimble Fingers (%12): This trait makes the owner much better at picking locks and disarming traps.

Cave Lore (%6): The character with this trait is very familiar with the flora and fauna of the caves. When traveling, you will occasionally gain food from hunting. Also, this trait has other, subtle effects. Make sure at least one PC has it.

Good Constitution (%10): This trait makes the character more resistant to poison and disease.

Sluggish (-%10): This character has much slower reactions. He or she will get one less action point in combat.

Magically Inept (-%8): This character never got the knack of using magical items, and, for some reason, they just dont work on him or her. The PC with this trait cannot use magic items.

Frail (-%8): This PC is a natural target for colds and other illnesses. They easily take advantage of the PCs weak constitution. Poison and disease have more of an effect.

Pacifist (-%40): Either because of squeamishness, fear of blood, mental weakness, or holy beliefs, this character will not strike a blow. This character cannot attack in hand to hand, or cast any spell targeted on a specific area. This trait gives a considerable experience bonus, but is it worth it?

Skills:   Each starting PC gets 60 skill points. Skill points are a sort of money you will spend on abilities.

When you press the Skills button, you will see a window where you can increase and decrease this PCs skills. To spend skill points to increase an ability, press the + button next to it. Press the - button to undo the action. The cost in skill points to increase your value in each skill is the number before the slash in the Cost column. The number after the slash isnt relevant yet (it becomes important when you train your characters).

      Should you spend the points and be satisfied, press the Keep button. If you want to start again, press cancel. When you buy and keep you skills, you go to the next step...

PC Graphic:   To assign a PCs graphic, press the Graphic button. Click on the button besides the graphic you want to use to represent your PC, or press cancel to begin the whole process anew.

If you have a Nephilim or Slith character, it is recommended (though not necessary) that you pick a graphic from that race.

PC Name:   To choose a name for your character, press the Name button. It must begin with a non-space character.

What about sex?:   You wont be specifically asked whether your character is male or female. If you want your warrior to be a woman, select a female graphic and appropriate name.

Making a New PC:   Should you start with less than 6 PCs or drop one later on, you can get another. Go to any of the major towns in Exile, and select Create New PC from the Options menu.

To find out what all these skills are good for, keep reading...

Getting To Know Your Characters:

Your little computerized people are, basically, a whole bunch of numbers, each determining how well he or she deals with the horrid threats the game will come up with. These are the most important statistics:

Level and Experience:   These two numbers (starting at 1 and 0 respectively) represent how much stuff your character has done. Your experience goes up when you kill stuff and complete missions. For every 100 experience points you get (adjusted up or down for race and PC traits), your level increases (up to a maximum of 50). When your level increases, you gain some health points and skill points (described below), and become a little better at everything you do. Alas, the higher your level, the less skill points and health you gain.

Skill Points:   As mentioned before, these points are the money you will spend to increase your skills. After creating your character, you will spend them at training schools, located in certain towns.

Current Health:   This very important number represents how much punishment your PC can take before dying. Every time he or she is damaged, the number goes down. Time and magical healing raise it again, up to a certain maximum. Keep an eye on it!

      Every skill point spent on health increases your maximum by 2.

Spell Points:   This number represents how many and how powerful spells your PC can cast. Whenever a spell is cast, you lose some spell points. Time and certain magic items bring the level back up.

      Every skill point spent on spell points increases your maximum by 1. Also, every level of Mage Spells and Priest Spells (described below) bought while creating your character gives you three bonus spell points.

      You can have a maximum of 200 health points and 100 spell points.

      The myriad skills you can buy for your characters are described below. Each can attain a maximum level of 20, unless otherwise specified. The cost for each skill is in parenthesis after its name.

Strength (3):  Measures how much brute strength the character possesses. High strength increases damage done in combat, improves odds of kicking down doors, and has other, more subtle effects.

IMPORTANT - Strength also affects how much health you gain when you attain a level. Buy strength up to 3 as soon as possible. Otherwise, you wont gain much health when you gain levels.

Dexterity (3):   Measure how nimble the character is. High dexterity gives a better chance of hitting in combat (esp. with missile weapons) and makes the character harder to hit. High dexterity also makes picking locks and disarming traps easier.

Intelligence (3):   Measures mental strength and dexterity. High intelligence also makes your spells more effective, sometimes very much so. Intelligence below 4 makes your spells work poorly.

      The above three skills are important. When high, they give many bonuses in the things you do. On the other hand, when one of these three skills is below 4, the PC will have penalties in any situation involving that skills. A PC in combat with a 1 dexterity will miss a lot.

Edged (2), Bashing (2), Pole (2), Thrown Missile (1), Bow (3):    The higher the skill, the better the chance to hit in the appropriate weapon type:

Edged:  Daggers, swords, axes.

Bashing:  Clubs, maces, flails.

Pole:  Spears, halberds, large axes, slith spears.

Thrown Missile:  Darts, Thrown daggers

Bow: Bows

Defense (2): This skill has three effects. It determines how well a character does at parrying, decreases the penalty in combat from bulky armor, and occasionally decreases the damage taken from enemies weapons.

Bulky armor prevents a character from casting mage spells. However, when your armor is only a little too bulky, sometimes casting a mage spell will work when the mage has high defense skill.

Mage Spells (6), Priest Spells (5):  These two skills are very expensive and very powerful. They enable the owner to cast spells of the appropriate type of a level up to the level of skill owned. The maximum level for both is 7.

      You automatically know most spells of level 3 and below. It takes some time to find spells of level 4 and above. Thus, getting these skills above level 3 at the beginning may not be a good idea.

Mage Lore (1):  You will occasionally need to decipher strange magical readings. This skill determines how good you are at this. If your skill is high enough, you may gain a spell or a valuable piece of information. Mage lore also determines what monsters appear in the Monster Roster Library function.

What is important when trying to decipher something is how much of this skill is present in the party. One character with 18 Mage Lore is equivalent to 6 characters with 3 Mage Lore.

Alchemy (2):  You will eventually gain the ability to make magic potions. To make a given potion, however, your Alchemy skill much be above a certain level. The higher it is above this level, the better the chance of succeeding.

When one PC is trying to make a potion, only that PCs Alchemy skill counts. Thus, it is much, much better to have one PC with high Alchemy skill than several PCs with low Alchemy skill.

Item Lore (4):  When you kill a monster, there will occasionally be items on its body. Normally, you wouldnt know what they were. However, Item Lore skill makes it possible that when you find the item, you will know what it is. Otherwise, you would have to take it to town and spend money to identify it.

The higher the Item Lore, the better the chance of the item appearing identified. In general, several PCs with low Item Lore is better than one PC with high Item Lore.

Item lore does not affect items already in town when you enter, or items gained in special encounters.

Traps (2):  Many chests and some corridors will have traps on them, which can be devastating. You will, however, be given a chance to pick a PC to disarm it. Chance of success depends on this skill.

Pick Locks (2):  Many towns and dungeons will have locked doors. A PC with some of this skill and lock picks equipped can try to pick them. The higher this skill, the better. Beware. Some locks cannot be picked.

Assassination (4):   Sometimes, when a character attacks a much weaker monster, the blow will do a good deal of extra damage. The more of this skill you have, the better the chance of this happening, and the stronger the monsters it can happen to.

Poison (2):   You will find poisons, which you can put on your weapons for a little extra punch. Having a few levels in this skill will make it more likely you will put the poison on at full strength, and the less likely you will nick yourself with the poison accidentally.

      Although you can buy a lot of this skill, 3-4 levels should be sufficient.

Luck (5):   This skill is expensive, but can be a bargain at twice the cost. Its effects are pervasive, subtle, powerful, and sometimes irreplaceable.

      Eventually, one way or another, you will have a party to control. At this point, you will be dumped into Exile. In particular, you will be in one of the towns there...

Getting Around Town...


Exile Menu
 The Exile II Menu:

This section describes performed by the various menus at the top of the screen:

File Menu:

Save, Save As:  Selecting this option has Exile II take a snapshot of your

current position in the game, so you can resume from this point later, should you

screw up. Exile II will prompt you for the name of your save file. You can only

save the game during town or outdoors mode.

Restore:  Selecting this has you load in one of your older games. You can do this

anytime.

New Game:  Should you get fed up, you can start again from the beginning.

Quit: When youve just plain had enough.

Options Menu:

Show Mage Spells:  You will be prompted to select a PC. Upon doing so, you will

see a list of all mage spells the PC knows how to cast.

Show Priest Spells:  Like the above, but for mage spells.

See Alchemy:   You will see a list of the alchemical recipes you know.

See Overall Stats:  You will see, in the text area, some statistics of your

parties progress.

Change PC Graphics:  You can use this option to change the graphic of a PC you

will select.

Change PC Name:   You can use this option to change the name of a PC you will

select.

Preferences:  This option brings up the preferences dialog. This is described

below.

Create New PC:  When this is selected in a major town, you can create a new PC.

Of course, this only works when you have less that 6 people in your party.

The Preferences Window:

From here, you can change how the game plays.

Display Alignment:  This option determines how the Exile window is drawn

on the screen. You can have the game take up the full screen, with the game

information drawn in a corner you choose, or you can play Exile II in a smaller

window you can drag around the screen.

No Sounds:  This option turns off the games sounds.

Dont Save Maps:  Normally, the game stores maps youve found in your save

files. This makes the save files 60K larger. Selecting this option keeps Exile II

from saving your maps, resulting in smaller save files.

Speed Up:  This option reduces the length of the pauses Exile II sometimes puts

in the game.

Show Room Descriptions More Than Once:  Often, you will find a special

encounter which flashes a description of what youve just found in the text area.

Once found, most of these wont be printed again. This option makes the messages

kept around to be printed whenever you encounter them.

Fewer Sounds:  This option has Exile II play less of the sounds it normally plays.

Use this option if you start to encounter crashes - Exile II may be conflicting with

your sound card.

Help Menu:

This menu brings up various dialogs which describe the game. These dialogs can be kept up for continuous reference.

Library Menu:

This library menu options are extremely useful. They are your best source for information about Exile II: its spells and monsters, handy tips for playing, and other useful things.

Mage Spells: This bring up a window which describes all the mage spells in the

game.

Priest Spells: This bring up a window which describes all the priest spells in

the game.

Skills:  This option brings up a window describing the different skills your

characters can attain, and giving hints for how much of them to buy and when.

Alchemy & Poison:  This window describes the different alchemical concoctions

and how to make them, and tells how best to use poison.

Helpful Tips:  This very useful option gives a host of hints for playing Exile II.

Monster Roster:  This window gives statistics for many (though not all) of the

creatures you can meet in Exile II. The higher your parties Mage Lore skill, the

more monsters will appear.

Map of Eastern Exile:  This option brings up a dialog with a crude map of

Eastern Exile. Beware - most things arent shown! You gotta find the dungeons on

your own.

Actions Menu:

Do Alchemy:  When in town, select this option to try to make a potion. There

is more information on this in the next section.

Wait 100 Moves:  When in town, you cannot make camp. Selecting this option,

however, has you wait for a long time in order to regain health and spells points.

Beware - themonsters can use this time to get reinforcements.

Display AutoMap:  This action brings up the window showing a map of what

youve seen so far.


The Exile Screen
 The Exile Screen:

You will now be looking at the main Exile screen. To the upper left is the terrain screen, showing you and your surroundings. To the lower left are the buttons which you use to do certain things. To the upper right is the status screen, giving the relevant info on the state of your party. To the lower right is the text screen, which will tell you what youve done and whats going on.

Terrain Screen:   When outside or in town, the person in the middle represents your party. Around you will be the flora, fauna, and miscellaneous stuff of the underworld.

       To move around, move the cursor into the terrain screen. Move it around. It will turn into an arrow. Click the mouse button when the arrow points in the desired direction. When looking, picking locks, etc. (all described below), to select the item to look at (or whatever) click on it.

       The border of the terrain screen is also something to click on. When looking, aiming a missile, or targeting a spell, clicking on the terrain screen border will shift the view of the terrain screen in the appropriate direction.

Buttons:    These change depending on your setting. What the Outdoor/Town/Combat buttons do is described in  the relevant sections.

Status Screen:   This has a variety of pages. You can scroll through them right or left by clicking on the blue arrows. There are also faster ways to move through them...

Roster Page: The first page lists your party members and their status. The

numbers in the first column are remaining health points. The numbers in the

second column are the remaining spell points.

To drop a PC permanently, click on the X button by the PCs name. To have two

PCs switch places, click on the trade places button for the two PCs.

To get to this page, press 0 on the keyboard or = on the keypad. Clicking on

the name of a PC on this page takes you to that PCs stat page.

Below each PCs name will occasionally appear a symbols representing that characters status.

PC Stat and Inventory Pages:  Each PC has each of these. The first gives the skills and experience of the PC, and the second lists the inventory. Typing the number 1 - 6 takes you to the stat page of the appropriate PC. Clicking on the stat page then takes you to the inventory page.

On the inventory page, clicking on an item equips it (indicated by the items name appearing in italics). Repeating this unequips it. See the items section for information on what the other buttons do.

Special Items:  There are two pages showing the special items youve found.

Pressing 9 gets you to the first of these. Pressing 9 again takes you to the

second.


 Getting Around Town

When you begin the game, you will be in one of Exiles many towns and forts. There are a variety of things you can and should do.

Moving around:   To move, place the cursor on the terrain screen in the direction you want to move (it should turn into a little arrow) and click. You will take a step in the direction the arrow points. To move up, for example, move the cursor above the little person in the middle (you). The cursor should turn into an arrow pointing up. Click. You will move up a space.

      You can also move using the keypad. Hitting 5 pauses your party, 8 makes you move up, 2 down, and so on.

      If you cannot move there, because of something in the way, the text screen will tell you so. If youve stepped on something unpleasant, like swamp, lava, or some sort of trapped square, you will be informed. There are several interesting things to know about moving around...

      Leaving Town: When you want to leave a town or dungeon, pick a direction and

keep walking. Eventually, when you walk off the edge of the map, you will be

outdoors. A handy way of telling how far you are from the edge of the map is to

use the Map button, described below.

      Special Encounters:  You will occasionally see, both in town and outdoors, a

white circle on the the nearby floor/ground/whatever. The white circle signifies

a special encounter or occurrence of some sort. Step on it to find out what it is.

      Wall and Secret Doors:  Not all walls, man-made or otherwise, are as they

appear. Some walls have secret doors and hidden tunnels. When you walk into a

wall with one of these, you will pass through it. This may not always be a good

thing.

      Locked Doors:  When you walk into a door, you will try to open it. However,

some doors are guarded by locks, magical and non-magical.

      To open a locked door, you can bash it or pick the lock. Bashing only rarely

works, and failed attempts are punished by damage. Only strong characters

should try to bash doors.

      Locks can be picked by a character who has a decent Pick Locks skill and has

lockpicks equipped. When you fail, there is a chance that one of your picks will

break.

It is rumored that you can find higher quality lockpicks.

    Finally, some doors are magically locked. Bashing and lockpicking will not

work; you will need to use the mage spell Unlock Doors. And every great once in a

while, you will find a door on which none of these methods will work! Youll need

to find a key or lever or something else to open it.

      Boats:   Both outdoors and in town, you can find boats. To enter one, move onto it.

To leave it, steer it onto ground. Boats are essential to get to certain interesting

places, and may be able to travel over more things than water...

      Light:   Some areas are dark. To see beyond your nose, you will need a light

source, be it a torch or spell. In certain unpleasant areas, even a torch or spell

wont get rid of the darkness.

Pausing:   Sometimes, youll want to just sit and watch the world go by. Click on

your party or hit 5 on the keypad to just wait.

Alchemy:   One of the things you can do in town is use ingredients youve found in your adventures to try to make potions. Should you have the right ingredients, the right recipe, and a PC with sufficient alchemy skill, select Do Alchemy from the Actions menu. You will be asked who is going to make it, and then given a list of potions you can make. Certain potions cannot be made by a character with low alchemy skill. The higher the alchemy skill, the better the odds of success.

For more information on the things you can make with alchemy, inside the game select Alchemy Info, under the Library menu.

The Town Guard:  Be careful! Damaging a friendly townsperson or stealing items can get the town guard after you! If this happens, you best flee town, before they destroy you.

Selecting Spaces Shortcut:   When you hit the look button (or the talk button), click on the space you want to look at to look at (talk to) it. A quicker way to look at something is to hit l on the keyboard, and then the keypad key in the direction you want to look. This has you look at (or talk to) whatever is in the next space in that direction.

      Each of the many buttons at the bottom left corner of the screen has you do something. The appearance of the button is given in parenthesis. Several of them have keyboard equivalents. When they do, the key is given in the parenthesis:

Cast Mage (Fireball. m):   You will be asked to select one of your party members, who will then be given a chance to cast any mage spells he or she knows. Mage spells are described later.

Cast Priest (Black ankh. p):   Same as cast mage, but for priest spells.

Look  (Eye. l):   Clicking on this button and then on a space in the Terrain Screen gives you a list of everything in the space you click. Terrain, monsters, and items will be identified.  Also...

      Looking Off screen:  When you look, if you click on the terrain border, the

terrain youre looking at will scroll in the direction you click on, so you can see

the monsters before theyre right on top of you.

      Signs:  When your party is adjacent to a sign, you can read it by looking at it.

      Searching Stuff:    When your party looks at something it is standing adjacent

to, you will search the crate/desk/bookshelf/whatever for interesting things. If

there is something there, you will have a special encounter.

      Opening Chests:   When you find a treasure chest, standing adjacent to it and

looking at it has you try to open it. You will be asked to select a party member to

disarm the trap.

Picking someone with decent Trap skill is well advised.

Talk  (Lips, t):   You can talk to any living creature which is not actually trying to kill you. To do so, click on this button, and then the thing you want to talk to.  You will then be presented with a window with the description of the person.

      To talk to a person, type something in the text box at the top of the window, and hit return. Ask one words questions, like crown or demon. Everybody responds to look,name and job. Beyond that, you can figure out what the person knows things about by reading what they tell you. For example, if you ask someone her work and she says I sell information about swords. asking her about information  or swords would be a good idea.

      Special Information:   Occasionally, someone will tell you something that will

help you do something else, such as a password or the location of a hidden item.

When this happens, you will be told something along the lines of You take note

of this. If you die later without saving, be sure to go back to get this

information again.

      Stores:   Most of the towns have a store of some sort in them. To buy something,

talk to the person behind the counter. If there is something to be bought, or if

you can sell things, you can then find out what. In general (but not always), the

thing to ask about to purchase something is buy. Purchase and Buy are used

interchangeably. Sometimes, however, the thing to say to buy something may be

tricky to figure out.

      There are many sorts of stores. The more important ones are:

      Shops:  There are many sorts of shops. Some sell weapons, some armor, some

potions, some strange things. Many will also buy things, generally for half what

you paid.

      Training:   You can spend your experience to gain valuable skills at the

occasional training center. This works exactly the same as when you created your

character, but you also have to pay gold. Each level in a skill costs the amount

after the slash in the cost column.

Should you buy some skills and then decide you dont want them, press the Cancel

button to restore your character. Press the Keep button to keep the training.

      Sages:  Occasionally, you will find a learned soul who can teach you how to cast

new spells and make alchemical delights. Other people can identify your items

for you, so you can know if that potion is poison before you drink it.

When you buy a spell for a character, only that character knows it. On the other

hand, you only need to buy an alchemical recipe once for the entire party. The

person selling it to you will tell you which special plant you need to make it.

      Docks:  A few towns sell sturdy boats to navigate the lake and rivers of the

underworld. When you buy a boat, one of the boats at a nearby dock will become

yours, and you will be able to enter it.

      Healers:  A few towns have people skilled in the healing arts. For a fee, they will

cure all damage the selected PC has taken, up to and including being turned to

dust. Paying a healer will also have the curses removed from all the PCs

equipped items.

     Weapon Improvement:  Every once in a while, you will meet someone who can

improve your non-magical weapons, for a large fee. When this happens, click by

the weapon to have it changed.

Get   (Hand picking up scroll. g):   When you see items nearby, click on this button to get them. If hostile monsters are in sight, you will only be able to get adjacent items. If not, you will be able to get all items nearby.

When the item getting window comes up, click on an item to get it. To have a new PC get items, click the button by their picture.

Finally, some items in towns are not your property. Getting these items puts you in danger of being attacked by the town guard!

Use   (Use, u):  This all-purpose command has you do something to an adjacent space. Using an open door closes it, and vise versa. Using a space with webs has you clear the webs away. Perhaps this action has other uses...

Map   (A Scroll, a):   As you wander around the town or dungeon, you will automatically keep track of the terrain you see. When you click this button, you will see a map of the area youre in. Your party will be represented by a solid green square. Walls are solid black, water is solid blue, lava is red, swamp is green, and obstructions are black-outlined squares.

      Also, you can leave the map window up while you play. It will keep updating itself as you travel.

Enter Combat Mode   (Sword. f):   As you wander around, someone or something might decide to attack you. When in town mode, you travel in a tight-knit, awkward group. Thus, you cant fight back, and the monsters move and act faster than you.

      To deal with this unpleasant situation, click on this button to enter combat mode. Your group will split up into its individual members, and you will be able to fight back.

      When you leave town (or go into combat) the buttons will change. The next two sections say what the new buttons do.

Moving outdoors.

About Combat.


 Getting Around Outdoors

When you leave town, you will be in the massive caverns and twisty, endless tunnels that make up Exile. The things you can do out here are similar to what you can do indoors, but slightly more restricted.

      Moving around and casting spells work the same as in town. However, the spells you can cast are a bit more limited. Looking works the same, although there will no longer be things to search (there are still signs to read).

      The map button works the same. You will keep track of what youve seen outside, and can call it back up. However, if you move a long way away from an area and then return, you may have forgotten what you saw the first time.

      When you see a town, tower, fort or dungeon, move onto it to enter it.

      As in town, you can find boats to get around on. Move onto a boat to board it, and steer the boat onto ground to disembark.

      Watch out for waterfalls! Not only will they suck you down them, but when you fall down one you lose a bunch of food too.

      There are three new buttons outdoors:

Rest   (A tent, r):   When you are far from a friendly town and a hospitable inn, this is your best option for recovering strength. When you press this button, you will settle down for a while and sleep. You will wake up, however, if a group of monsters gets close to you, and not get any rest in the bargain. It is usually best to rest in secluded areas.

      You cannot rest if someone is poisoned, or if you dont have enough food to get through the night.

Save   (Disk with arrow pointing to it), Restore   (Disk with arrow out):   These magical buttons enable you to make a snapshot of the current status of your game so that, should you get killed, misplace the game-winning artifact, etc., you can return to the spot you saved at.

      When you click on save, you can enter a name for the snapshot of your progress. When you restore, double click on the file you saved. You can also save from the pull-down File menu. You can also save in town. See Other options below..

     There will still be combats outdoors. Occasionally, monsters will run up to attack you. When this happens, you will find yourself on a battlefield where you will fight the monsters, much as you would have fought them in town.

      You can drop items outdoors, but when you do theyre gone forever. Should a PC die (of starvation, for example), the PCs items will appear on the ground the next time you enter a town or get in an outdoor combat.

About Combat.


 Surviving Combat

Combat works similarly to being in town or outdoors, except that you move your party one PC at a time instead of all at once. You will get to move each of your PCs, and then all the other people/monsters move (and maybe attack you). Then the process repeats.

      The main difference between normal town and combat mode, of course, is that youre probably trying to kill something.

Entering Combat:  When you are attacked outdoors, you will enter combat immediately. In town, however, you have to start combat yourself. To enter combat mode, press the button with the sword on it.

Action Points:  Each turn, each character get a base 4 action points. Wearing heavy armor reduces this amount; being hasted increases it. Whenever you do something, this amount goes down. It can go negative, and when your PC has 0 or less action points, your turn ends.

The actions you can perform in combat are listed below, with their action point cost.

Line of Sight:   A character can only fire a missile or spell at a location he or she can see. Also, trees and other obstructions between the shooter and the target will make the missile less effective.

When targeting, a line will appear between the attacker and the target. When the line disappears, you cant see the space youre aiming at.

Moving and Attacking:   You move by clicking on the terrain screen in the desired direction. To attack something, move into that thing. The result of your attack will appear to the lower right.

      If you attack someone who wasnt attacking you, you will be asked if you really want to do that. Attacking innocents will bring the town guard down on your head, and you may have a serious problem. Be careful! Merely causing damage to an innocent will also bring the cops down on your head, and you may not get a warning before you do it.

Switching Places:  In combat, when one PC moves into another, they switch places. This is very useful during combat in cramped quarters.

Stand Ready:    As before, when you click on the active character, that character will wait. However, should a hostile creature then move into weapon range, that PC will attack the enemy.

Targeting:   When you cast a magic spell or fire a missile, you select a creature to fire at by clicking on it. When you may want to aim at someone off screen, before selecting your target you can scroll the view around by clicking on the border of the terrain screen.

      The buttons have the following effects:

Look  (Eye, l, 0 AP):   Looking works much as it did before.

      Looking Off screen:  When you look, if you click on the terrain border, the

terrain youre looking at will scroll in the direction you click on, so you can see

the monsters before theyre right on top of you.

Parry  (Shield, d, all AP):   Should a character be at risk, you can have that character use his or her turn simply defending. How effective this is depends heavily on the defense skill of the character, although there will always be some benefit.

Get  (Hand grabbing scroll, g, 4 AP):   Works exactly as before, except you dont get to choose who gets the item - the active character gets it.

    Hitting G has your party grab all nearby items. This only works when no monsters are visible.

Wait   (Wait, w, 0 AP):   Clicking this has the PC wait for the other PCs to attack. Eventually, he or she will get another chance to act.

Shoot   (Arrow, s, bow - 3 AP, thrown missile - 2 AP):   When you click on this and the active PC has a thrown missile weapon or a bow and arrows equipped, you will shoot a missile at the target you select.

End Combat   (End, e):   In town, when you are through fighting, click this button to go back into town mode (whether or not any foes remain). When in an encounter outdoors, you can resume traveling by clicking this button (although it will only work if all the enemies are dead).

Active   (Act, x):    Clicking on this button makes the current PC the only active PC. None of the other PCs will do anything until the active PC dies, or you click the Act button again.

Other actions have an action point cost:

Using An Item (3 AP)

Equipping/Removing An Item (1 AP)

Giving An Item (1 AP)

Dropping An Item (1 AP)

      This sums up the things you can do in combat. But what of the rewards, and the risks?

Getting Damaged, Armor:   Every time you get hit, your health goes down. When you receive a blow that would take you to 0 or less health, you end up at 0 health (this is signified by a coughing noise). When you get damaged and have 0 health, you die. When you take a lot of damage and have 0 health, you will be obliterated (making this PC much harder to raise from the dead).

      Fortunately, there is a wide variety of armor in the game. Armor will not reduce the number of blows you take, but will reduce the amount of damage you take when those blows land. However, the heavier the armor, the more it interferes with your ability to attack and cast spells (although defense skill helps with this).

      Changing armor takes a while. While you can change helms and shields, you cannot change armor in combat.

Dying:  This happens. When it does, all the newly deceaseds possessions drop to the ground in a pile. Should this happen when you are in a boat, you may need to row back for them.

      Items cant be dropped when outdoors. Should someone die when wandering around outside, the items will stay with you until you enter a town or get into combat, at which point they immediately drop to the ground.

      Dead people can be brought back to life. This can be done using certain priest spells, or at the healers you will find in some of the towns.

      Beware. If the killing blow does enough damage, it will turn the PC into dust. It will then be much more difficult to raise him/her from the dead.

Killing Enemies:   Whenever you kill an enemy, the person dealing the death blow gets some experience, and everyone else gets a much smaller amount. Should this experience give you a level, the game will let you know in the text screen.

Treasure:   Will appear when the monster is killed and you get lucky. If you have decent Item Lore skill, the item may even appear fully identified.

Fleeing:   Of course, sometimes the enemy is just too tough. When this happens, it is possible to escape.

      In town combat, you must move your party to the outskirts of town, leave combat mode, and then walk out of town. You cannot leave town when youre in combat,

      In outdoor combat, you flee by moving to the boundary of the battlefield (which will look like a black nothingness) and walk off. If you succeed, the character will have fled. When your whole party is fled or dead, or youve killed all of the enemies and pressed the End Combat button, combat will end and your party will be reunited.

      If you are adjacent to a monster and move away from it, it will attack you. The same goes in reverse.

Poisoning a Weapon:   Using poison poisons your equipped weapon, which can be either a hand-to-hand weapon or a quiver of arrows (not darts or throwing knives). Hitting a monster with it then does a considerable amount of damage, spread out over time. The level of the poison decreases with every blow delivered and every blow that lands. The poison is lost should you change weapons or leave town.

      Using poison on an already poisoned weapon gives the weapon a strength of poison equal to the maximum strength of the poison already there and the poison youre putting on.

Enemy Resistances:   There are a wide variety of types of damage you can do. Hand to hand weapons do physical damage. Poison is another kind of damage, fire is another, non-fire magic (such as ice bolts or kill spells) is yet another. These sorts of damages affect different monsters differently. Many monsters are resistant to fire. Less are resistant to magic. Very few are resistant to poison, however - keep this in mind when dealing with that pesky enemy mage in the back.

Using Items.


 Dealing With Items

There are three sorts of possessions you can come across:

Gold:   Well, this isnt actually literal chunks of gold. Exile doesnt use money quite as much as the surface world. The number of gold pieces you are said to have represents the various trade goods, valuable chunks of metal, furs, and other valuable, barterable items you carry around. Anyway, whatever it actually is, its what you buy stuff with. You start with a small amount.

Food:   Preserved giant lizard steaks, dried mushrooms, yummy, tangy lichens, and all the other rich bounty of Exile. Every once in a while you will eat some of it, one unit for each active PC. Not having enough food results in starvation, damage, and bad things.

Items:   Each PC can carry 16 objects, such as armor, helmets, tools, weapons, etc. You can do various things with these items:

      Equip/Unequip:  To bring an item to hand, click on it on the PCs items page. To

unequip  it, do the same. You only have two hands, and some weapons take up both

of them. You can only wear two rings, and one necklace (too many magic items

interfere with each other in bizarre ways).  Beware. When you equip a cursed

item, you will need to find a healer to take the curse off.

      Item Info:  Clicking on the button with the I brings up a window giving

information on the item.

      Give:   To do this, click on the G button to the right of the item. You may then

select a PC to give the item to.

      Use:    Clicking on the U button has you use the item, for better or worse. Most

usable items have a limited number of uses (the number in parenthesis after the

name of the item, should the item be equipped). When the last use is used, the

item disappears.

      Drop:   Clicking on the D button leaves the item on the ground at your feet,

unless youre outdoors. When you drop an item outdoors its gone forever.

Storing Items:  Should you come across more items than you can carry, there are rooms provided where you can leave your items behind. These rooms are in the cities of Olgai and Silvar, and in the Castle. It is up to you, however, to figure out which room your items can be left in.

Using Magic.


 Using Magic

There are seven levels of spells. Your characters begin the game knowing most spells up to third level. They can cast a mage spell of a given level if they have that many spell points, and Intelligence and Mage Spells skill at that level (and the same goes for priest spells). Upon casting, the character loses a number of spell points equal to the level of the spell cast, and something happens.

      Spell effects are cumulative, and build up quickly. If you bless a character twice, the effect will be much more than twice the effect of one bless. When you poison a monster twice, it will do well over twice the damage the first spell would have caused. If one fear spell doesnt make a monster flee, the next one will have a much better chance of working. Casting two light spells makes the light last twice as long.

      Mage spells require great delicacy of movement to cast. For this reason, they cannot be cast when bulky armor is being worn. Priest spells, consisting mainly of shouted prayers, do not have this limitation.

Selecting a Spell:

      To cast a mage (or priest) spell, click on the mage (or priest) spell button in the lower left corner of the Exile II window. A window will come up in which you can select your spell.

      To pick a spell to cast, you first need to choose a caster. The buttons to pick a caster are in the upper left; click the button to the left of the PC you want to cast the spell.

      Now select what spell to cast. Click the button to the right of the spell you want to cast. Spells you can cast have green buttons to their right. Not all possible spells will be on the screen at once ... hit space to see the other spells. As a shortcut, to pick a spell, type the letter to the right of the spell name.

      Finally, if this is a spell you are casting on a fellow PC, when you select it, buttons will appear to the right of the names of the Pcs you can cast the spell on. Click one of these to cast the spell on that PC.

      Finally, hit Enter or press the Cast button to cast the spell.

Mage Spells and Encumbrance:  If you are wearing armor with a total encumbrance of greater than one, you cannot cast mage spells. However, high defense skill can counteract this. If your armor isnt too bulky, sometimes defense skill will enable you to cast spells. If you fail, however, you lose your turn.

Multiple Target Spells:  Some spells, such as the Arrow spells, have more than one target. When you cast such a spell, click on each target. Click on a target again to untarget it. Should you decide to cast the spell without using all your targets, hit space.

Magical barriers:  Some spells create a two space with barrier of some sort of magical wall. You can rotate this before placing it. Do so by hitting space.

Dumbfounding:  Being dumbfounded reduces the number of spells you can cast. Being a little dumbfounded prevents you from casting high level spells. The more dumbfounded you are, the more spells you lose access to. The priest spell Restore Mind and certain magic items can undo the effects of dumbfounding.

Repeat Casting:   A very useful shortcut during spellcasting is the Repeat Cast keys. Typing M or P cast you recast the last mage or priest spell you cast. During combat, this has that character cast the last spell he or she cast.

Magical Walls and Barriers

Both you and your foes have the capability to create a wide variety of magical fields and barriers, each with different effects and durations.

There are fire, force, ice, and blade walls, which damage anyone entering and fade with time. There are stinking clouds, which curse anyone entering and fade quickly, and antimagic clouds, which prevent any spell casting or targeting inside them, and fade slowly.

Webs cover anyone entering with goo, which slows the victim down. Pausing cleans off the goo.

Quickfire:  The rarest and most deadly of the magical fields is quickfire. Once quickfire is created, it begins to spread, expanding until it fills the entire dungeon! Antimagic clouds slow it down, and dispel fields spells can hinder its progress, but once quickfire is loose, running is your only real option.

When a dungeon is overcome with quickfire, leave and return later. The flames will have died down.

Fire and Force Barriers:  These barriers last until they are dispelled. The former damages anyone entering, and the latter prevents anyone from entering at all.

Summoned Monsters

Both you and your foes can magically bring forth creatures to aid you. These summoned monsters fight for a short time, and then disappear. If killed, they leave no treasure.

The most (potentially) powerful summoning spells are Capture Soul and Simulacrum. Should you obtain a Soul Crystal, casting Capture Soul on a monster stores a copy of it. Later, you can cast Simulacrum to bring a copy of the monster forth. Collect copies of the most powerful monsters and bring them to your aid! A Soul Crystal can hold 4 monsters. The more powerful a monster is, however, the higher the chance this spell will fail.

Beware - when you Capture Soul a monster, its copy is stored in a random slot in the Soul Crystal. It may copy over a monster you already have.

Mage Spells.

Priest Spells.


 Mage Spells

These are the spells available to your mages. A character starts with the first three levels of spells automatically. The higher level spells must be found or bought.

      PCs can cast spells on other PCs regardless of the distance between them. Hostile spells, on the other hand, can only affect monsters sufficiently nearby. When a spells name is followed by R and a number in parenthesis, the number is the maximum distance between the target and the caster for the spell to work.

Level 1:

Light:  Creates a weak light.

Spark:  (R 6) Fires a weak bolt of electricity at an enemy.

Minor Haste:  Makes the selected PC move faster for a while. All haste spells take

effect at the beginning of the next round.

Strength: Makes the selected PC more skilled for a short time. Works like the priest

spell Bless.

Scare:  (R 6)  Decreases the morale of the victim. Casting this on a weak foe will

make the foe flee. Even if the monster doesn't flee, later castings have a higher

chance of success.

Flame Cloud:  (R 7)  This spell fills the selected space with a short-lasting wall of

fire.

Identify:  This draining spell identifies one unknown item in the possession of the PC

you select.

Scry Monster:  (R 14)  This spell is cast during combat. When cast, you receive

information about the monster you target: current health, spell points, etc.

Goo: (R 8) This spell covers the target with sticky goo, slowing it down and

interfering with its attacks.

True Sight: This spell lets you see everything in a short radius around you, even

spaces blocked off by walls. It's useful for finding secret passages, for example.

Level 2:

Minor Poison:  (R 6) Poisons the target creature. This does a fair amount of damage,

but it takes time to happen.

Flame:  (R 8)  Fires a decent-sized bolt of flame at the target. The damage done

increases with the level of the caster.

Slow:  (R 7)  Makes the victim get half its usual number of actions for a while.

Dumbfound:  (R 10)   Makes the victim incompetent: easier to hit, easier to damage,

and less able to attack you.

Envenom:  This spell puts poison on the weapon of the selected PC, with no chance of

failure or accidental poisoning.

Stinking Cloud:  (R 8)  When cast, a 3x3 area you select becomes filled with choking

gasses. Anyone entering will have far less effective attacks for a short time. The

gas will slowly fade on its own.

Summon Beast: This spell summons one low-level non-magical monster to fight on

your side. It disappears after a short time.

Conflagration:  (R 8) This spell makes the air in a radius 2 circle burst into flames,

charring anyone inside the cloud. After creation, the cloud will rapidly fade.

Dispel Field:  (R 10) This spell erases a magical field in a target space. It does not

work on certain powerful sorts of field.

Invisibility:  When cast, the target becomes very faint and hard to see, becoming

much more difficult to hit for a time. Attacking someone makes the invisible PC

visible.

Level 3:

Unlock:  Some doors are magically locked, and others are just hard to open. This

spell will crack them. However, it isnt guaranteed to succeed, and wont work on

all doors.

Haste:  Makes the selected PC get twice the usual number of actions for a long time.

Fireball:  (R 12)  Fires a powerful ball of flame, which affects the target space and

every space adjacent. The damage done increases with the level of the caster.

Long Light:  Like the first level light spell, but much more effective.

Fear:  (R 10)  Like scare, but much more powerful.

Wall of Force:  (R 12)  This powerful spell creates a line of force walls, which are

 like fire walls but more damaging and lasting. Hitting space while targeting this

spell makes the wall rotate.

Weak Summoning: (R 4)  When cast, a group of monsters appears and attacks all

enemies of the caster. The number of monsters depends on the level of the caster.

After a time, they disappear.

 	Flame Arrows:  (R 10)  This spell is like flame, but the caster gets to select several

targets. The number of missiles increases with the level of the caster. If you don't

want to use all the missiles, hit space to cast the spell.

Web:  (R 8) This spell covers a large circle with icky webs, slowing down everyone

inside. The webs last until torn down.

 	Resist Magic: You can cast this spell on another PC to make him/her resistant to

magical damage and effects. Note this does not help against damage from fire and

cold.

Level 4:

Poison:  (R 8)  This makes poison run thick in the veins of the target. Repeated

castings will have a devastating effect.

Ice Bolt:  (R 12)  Slams the target with a heavy, pointed bolt of ice. Effective against

monsters who are resistant to fire. Damage increases as level of caster increases.

Slow Group:  (R 12)  Makes all monsters within a 12 space radius move at half

speed for a time.

Magic Map:  This powerful spell gives you a vision of the entire level. Your map will

show you the entire area. However, to cast this spell requires a sapphire.

Capture Soul:  (R 10) You need a Soul Crystal to cast this. When you cast it on a

monster, you attempt to store a copy of it in your Soul Crystal, so you can later

recreate it with the simulacrum spell. The stronger the monster, the lower the

chance of success.

Simulacrum:  This spell summons a monster you select from your Soul Crystal. The

cost depends on the level of the monster being summoned.

Venom Arrows:  (R 8) This spell is similar to Flame Arrows, except that your

 targets become poisoned.

Wall of Ice: (R 8)  This spell is similar to Wall of Force, except that it creates an

ice wall. Ice walls do as much damage as force walls, but last a lot longer.

Level 5:

Stealth:  This powerful spell makes monsters less likely to see you for a time which

depends on your level. Try casting it before walking through a room crowded

with monsters.

Major Haste:  Gives the entire party double the actions for a time depending on the

level of the caster.

Fire Storm:  (R 14)  This spell is like fireball, but does more damage, and affects

all creatures within two spaces of the space you target. Be careful not to fry your

party!

Dispel Barrier:  In some towns, you will find magical barriers blocking you from

certain areas. This spell will remove them. The chance of success starts low,

but improves with the casters level. Some barriers are harder to dispel than

others, some cannot be dispelled, and it is rumored some barriers can be

walked through.

Fire Barrier: This spell creates a single fire barrier at the target space. Fire

barriers are damaging and permanent.

Summoning: This spell is like Minor Summoning, but summons more powerful

monsters.

Shockstorm: (R 10) This spell creates a large sphere of force walls.

Spray Fields: (R 12) This spell creates a large number of small fields of a random

sort, each of which may be individually targeted. The number of fields increases

with the level of the caster.

Level 6:

Major Poison:  (R 8)  This spell makes the targeted monster very poisoned.

This spell does a lot of damage, but it takes time to take effect.

Group Fear:  (R 12)  When cast, the caster begins to radiate a horrible aura of fear.

All monsters within 12 spaces lose a lot of morale. This spell gains effectiveness

rapidly with the level of the caster.

Kill:  (R 6)  The deadly Kill spell deals a devastating blow to one target you select.

Ravage Enemy:  (R 8)  Another effective spell. When cast, all monsters within 8

spaces of the caster are slowed and cursed.

Daemon: This dangerous spell summons a beast from the netherworld to fight at your

side.

Antimagic Cloud:  This spell created a spherical field, from which no spells may be

cast and in which no spells may be targeted. After creation, it slowly fades.

Mindduel:  When cast on a magic using enemy, the two creatures get in a mental

battle, absorbing spell points from each other. The loser may end up dumbfounded

or killed. Requires a Smoky Crystal to cast.

Flight:  When cast outdoors, the party can fly for a short time.

Level 7:

Shockwave:  A dangerous spell. It sends a wave of force out from the caster, damaging

everyone nearby--monsters and PCs. The farther someone is from the caster,

 	the more damage is taken, out to a radius of 10. Dont cast this spell in towns.

Major Blessing:  When cast, the entire party is blessed and hasted, and has their

weapons mildly poisoned.

Recharge:  A spell of many and varied uses. When cast, you select a wand, staff, or

rod in your possession, and it gains a charge. Unfortunately, there is a chance of

melting the item, which increases with the number of charges already there.

Protection:  One of the most powerful spells in the mages repertoire. It makes the

whole party temporarily magic resistant, and makes one PC you select immune to

ALL damage for a short time.

Major Summoning: This spell works like Summoning, but brings forth much more

powerful creatures.

Force Barrier: This spell creates an impenetrable, permanent barrier. Be careful

not to trap yourself.

Quickfire: Devastating beyond words, this spell creates a space of quickfire, which

will sweep over the area killing everyone and everything.

Death Arrows: (R 6) This spell is like the previous Arrow spells, but strikes each

target with a kill spell. The number of arrows increases with the level of the

caster.

Priest Spells.


 Priest Spells

As with mage spells, all PCs start with the first three levels of priest spells, and some only work within a certain range.

Level 1:

Minor Bless:  Makes the character harder to hit and take less damage from blows. It

also makes the PC hit more often, and his or her blows do more damage. Its

effects decay with time.

Minor Heal:  Increases the health of the selected PC a small amount, up to the PCs

maximum health.

Weaken Poison:   Reduces the amount of poison running around in the veins of the

selected PC.

Turn Undead:  (R 8)  When cast on an undead creature, it usually does a reasonable

amount of damage to it. It has no effect on non-undead.

Location:  Returns the partys x-y location in the town.

Sanctuary: The target of this spell becomes magically shielded. For a time, monsters

probably won't be able to attack him/her. The effects disappears when the PC

attacks someone.

Symbiosis: This spell has the caster absorb the damage taken by another character.

The higher the casters level, the less damage the caster takes per health point

healed.

Minor Manna: Casting this spell gives the party a little more food.

Ritual - Sanctify: When cast on a location filled with evil magic, the location

receives a blessing. This might drive out the evil magic. Then again, it might not.

Stumble:  The victim of this spell moves slower and has worse attacks for a short

time.

Level 2:

Bless:  Like Minor Bless, but better. Its effect increases with the level of the caster.

Cure Poison:  Like Weaken Poison, but better. Its effect increases with the level of

the caster.

Curse:  (R 10) The opposite of bless. It makes everything work much worse for the

victim, for a time.

Light:  Gives a short, reasonable quality magical light source.

Wound:  (R 5)  Deals a painful blow to the targeted victim. The damage increases

with your level.

Summon Spirit - This spell summons a shade from the netherworld to aid you. It

will disappear after a short time.

Move Mountains - When cast on a fragile wall or outcropping of rock, the wall or

outcropping crumbles into rubble. It doesn't work on all walls.

Charm Foe: (R 6) This spell has a chance of making the target monster start to fight

for the party. The chance of it working drops sharply with the level of the monster.

Disease: The victim of this spell is afflicted by a disease, which slowly weakens it.

The disease lasts a long time.

Dispel Field: This spell dispels all magic walls in the target space. It does not affect

barriers. It sometimes affects quickfire.

Level 3:

Heal:  A much better version of Minor Heal.

Minor Heal All:  Casts one minor heal on each PC.

Holy Scourge:  (R 8)  This spell gives the victim a powerful curse, the effect of

which increases with the level of the caster.

Detect Life:  This spell causes all other living things to appear on your map for a

short time. Note, however, that this spell only detects creatures in areas you have

explored.

Repel:  (R 10)  Makes the victim very afraid. With luck, it will flee.

Manna: This spell magically creates a lot of food for the party.

Forcefield:  (R 8) This spell fills an area with walls of force, which are fairly

damaging and reasonably long lasting.

Cure Disease: Casting this spell on a PC cures all his/her disease.

Restore Mind: This spell completely undumbfounds the recipient.

Smite: (R 8) This spell fires a number of bolts of divinely inspired cold, the

number of which increases with the level of the caster. To cast without using all the

targets, hit space.

Level 4:

Cure All Poison:  Causes everyone to become less poisoned. Useful for dealing with

those nasty swamps.

Curse All:  (R 10)  Causes all monsters within ten spaces to receive a powerful

curse.

Dispel Undead:  (R 8)  Deals a deadly blow to the targeted undead nasty. Chance of

having effect increases with level.

Remove Curse:  Occasionally, you will put on an item which then refuses to be taken

off. Casting this spell has a chance of removing the curse.

Sticks to Snakes: This spell summons a bunch of snakes to aid the party. Skillful

casters have a chance of getting asps instead of the weaker giant snakes.

Martyr's Shield: When something strikes the recipient of this spell in hand-to-hand

combat, it takes as much damage as the victim. The duration of this spell

increases with the level of the caster.

Cleanse: This spell purifies the recipient. The beneficiary is completely unwebbed,

and all disease is cured.

Firewalk: When cast, for a short time everyone in the party can walk across lava

with no damage. The duration increases slowly with the level of the caster.

Level 5:

Bless Party:  Much like Bless, but affects everyone.

Major Heal:  Works like the Heal spell, but gives much more bang for the spell

points.

Raise Dead:  This spell returns a dead character to life. However, you need to have

Resurrection Balm for the spell to work, and there is a small chance (decreasing

with your level) that it turns the corpse to dust. A dusted character can only be

revived with a Resurrect spell.

Flamestrike:  (R 9)  The first good offensive priest spell. It chars all beings

adjacent to the space you target. The damage done increases with level.

Mass Sanctuary: This spell hides all PCs (like a sanctuary spell). As before, the

effect for a PC is voided when that PC attacks.

Summon Host: This powerful spell summons four spirits, and a magical being to lead

them. They then fight on the side of the caster for a little while.

Shatter: This spell strikes every space adjacent to the party with a Move Mountains

spell.

Dispel Fields: All magical walls, etc. in the large area affected by this spell will be

dispelled. It has a small chance of affecting quickfire.

Level 6:

Heal All:  Like the Heal spell, but affects the whole party. Very efficient.

Revive:  This spell heals all damage and cures all poison for one PC.

Ravage Enemy:  (R 10) This spell works similarly to the spell of the same name for

mages, but you select one target and it has a very intense bad effect.

Destone:  Certain rare monsters can turn one of your characters to stone. This

valuable spell undoes the damage.

Summon Guardian: This spell summons a powerful, invisible being to fight on the

side of the party. Be careful not to damage it by mistake!

Mass Charm: When cast, all creatures within eight spaces of the caster have a chance

of coming under his/her control.

Protective Circle: A very unusual and effective spell for a party on the defensive.

The caster is surrounded by several layers of magical fields, which fend off anyone

attacking.

Pestilence: This spell afflicts everyone within eight spaces with an effective but

slow-acting disease.

Level 7:

Revive All:  When cast, the party receives a powerful healing (increasing with level

of the caster) and has poison cured as well.

Ravage Spirit:  (R 4) Demons have a nasty tendency to resist any spells you throw at

them.  This spell gives them a blow which, most of the time, does a lot of damage.

The chance of success increases with the level of the caster.

Resurrect:  Like raise dead, but much more effective, and works on even a dusted

character. It still requires Resurrection Balm to cast.

Divine Thud:  (R 12)  The most powerful offensive priest spell. It delivers a

stunning blow of force to all beings within two spaces of the targeted space.

Avatar: This spell temporarily makes the caster an invulnerable, incredibly

powerful avatar of the gods.

Wall of Blades: (R 10) This spell creates a wall of the most damaging (and long

lasting) of the magic walls. Rotate the wall by hitting space.

Word of Recall: This spell returns the party to Fort Ganrick, where you began the

game. Because of the danger of teleporting from narrow, windy tunnels, it can only

be cast outdoors.

Major Cleansing: This spell removes all webs and disease from the party.


Helpful Hints
 Playing Tips For Beginners

Exile II is a computer fantasy role-playing game. If youve never played a game of this sort before, much of whats going on will be very unfamiliar to you. This section provides an overview of how to do the most important things, so you dont get too swamped with the details. Dont worry - even though Exile II is complicated, once you can get around you will be able to pick up other things very easily.

Starting the game - In Exile II, you will control a group (or party) of six adventurers (often referred to as PCs, for player characters). You will take these six people on adventurers, kill monsters, collect loot, and try to save the world. Each person has his or her own skills, abilities, and items.

To start the game, you need to get a group of six people. From the starting screen, press Create New Party, and read the introduction. When you hit done, you will be at the party creation screen.

Notice you have already been given six characters. You can now, if you wish, drop, recreate, or edit these PCs. For now, dont worry about this. Just hit Done to start the game.

Moving around and getting stuff - You start in a town called Fort Ganrick, at the far northwest corner of the land of Exile. Youre in your bedroom. Use the keypad or click on the screen to move around. Look around a little bit.

There is a white spot on the floor where you start. These white dots mark Specials, special encounters.

Now its time to go get your equipment. Moving into a door opens it. Go out of the building youre in and into the courtyard. Head east (right) and go into the rooms on the other side of the fort. There are lots of items there, ready for the taking. There are armor, weapons, and rations to use in your adventures.

Hit g to pick them up. The item getting window will appear. Hitting the button by a PCs picture has that PC get stuff. Clicking on the name of an item gets it. Get everything.

Readying armor and weapons - Now that you have some armor and weapons. Its time to put on your new gear. The rectangle to the upper right on the screen is where the statistics for your party are given. Hitting the arrow buttons (or keys) scrolls through the pages. You can see the abilities and items for everyone in your party. (Very useful shortcut - hitting a PCs number on the keyboard moves you to that PCs page. Hitting it again shows you that PCs inventory).

Go to one of your PCs inventory pages. Click on the name of, say, a suit of armor. The name of that item will now appear in italics. That means youre wearing it! Click it again to take it off.

Suppose one PC has two suits of armor, and you want another PC to be protected. Go to the page of the PC with two suits of armor, and hit the G button by one of them. This gives the item away. A window will come up asking who to give the item to. Click by the name of the PC to give the item to.

There! Youre equipped. Now, you can start meeting the people in the fort around you, or go out and kill something.

Talking to people - Hit t and click on a person to talk to him/her/it. The talking window will appear.

You ask people about things by asking about single words (like demon or sword or Exile.) Dont ask whole sentence questions (instead of saying Where is the sword? ask about sword).

Everyone responds to name and job, so always start with those. Then ask the person about things he or she says in conversation. If JoeBob says Im out hunting for giant spiders. ask about hunting or spiders. People wont respond to everything they talk about, but they will respond to a lot of the things.

Talk to people in the fort. Youll notice that most of the soldiers say the same thing. Be sure to talk to Cecile, the fort commander. She tells you about the mission you were brought to Fort Ganrick to do.

Finally, talking to people is how you will buy food and equipment. To see if someone has something to sell, hit the Buy button.

Killing Stuff - Now its time to go out and fight. Might as well get used to combat - youre going to be doing a lot of it!

You can find stuff to kill by either finding a dungeon (theres a tricky one east of where you start, and another under Fort Draco to the southwest), or wandering around outdoors. When you get attacked, to strike back, simply move into the hostile monster. Youll swing whatever weapon you have in your hand. The text area in the lower right will tell you how your attack went.

When you kill stuff, the dead monsters will often leave behind more items for you to get. Unfortunately, you wont always know what these items are. There are, fortunately, people in towns who (for a fee) will tell you what they are.

Casting Spells - The other necessary skill for playing Exile II is casting spells: magical incantations which do all sorts of stuff. There are two sorts of spells: mage spells, which tend to do damage and help in combat, and priest spells, which tend to heal and improve the party.

Hit m to cast a mage spell or p to cast a priest spell. The numbered buttons to the number of left are used to select who will cast the spell. The green buttons in the lower half of the window are used to select the spell. The numbered buttons in the upper right are used to select who to cast the spell on (if youre casting a healing spell, for example, on a wounded character).

There are seven levels of spells, each harder to cast than the spells in the level before. You start with characters able to cast most spells up to level 3.

Secret Doors - Some doors (in all sorts of walls and in cave walls as well) are hidden. To search the walls, walk into it. If there is a secret door there, youll pass through the wall.

Go back to the storerooms in Fort Ganrick and try this. You may find some interesting surprises.

If you get stuck - Of course, its possible that you will still get stuck. Maybe you always get killed, or you cant find any money, or something else. Should this happen, Exile II comes with a character editor, which can heal your characters and give them as much gold and food as they want.

If you cant figure out where to go, read Tips For Getting Started, near the end of this manual. It tells you about all the starting dungeons, and when you should contemplate entering them. It also tells the locations of several good treasures.

This is only a brief overview, of course. It says nothing about training, or many important things about spellcasting. It will, however, get you moving, and once youre getting around, you should find the rest falls into place very quickly.

So welcome to the wild world of Exile II! And good luck! Who knows? You may actually be able to make a difference!


 Hints for Getting Started

Exile can be a rather tricky game to get started in. The foes are many, and the cash is scarce. This is a quick guide for how to get started in a comfortable way, step by step.

First, answers to common questions:

1. How do I attack something?

Move into it.

2. How do I equip a weapon or put on armor/rings/etc.?

Go to that characters inventory page and click on the name of the item. Equipped items are named in italics.

3. I cant figure out talking to people! How do I do it?

Everyone responds to look, name and job. After that, try parroting what they say. If they say in response to job: I like to repair swords. Ask about repair and swords. Characters only respond to one word questions.

4. How do I aim or look at someone offscreen?

Click on the thick gray rectangle around the terrain display to scroll the view.

The rest of this section is excerpted from the hint book, a repository for all manner of useful Exile information. It is a step by step guide to finding all the useful stuff near the beginning of the game. It gives a lot of secrets away. Don't read this unless you're pretty stuck.

Exile II is a tricky game to get established in. The missions are difficult, and the monsters are challenging. Still, there are many opportunities to get ahead, if you know where to look.

      The first thing to do upon creating your party is go to the storehouses to the east, and grab everything you can. Dont forget to search for secret doors in the northern walls - there are a few  nice items in a hidden room. Also, look for gold behind the building you start in.

      Be careful around Fort Ganrick now. Soon, it will be attacked by Nephilim while you are entering or leaving. Dont hang around unless your party is in pretty good shape.

      Now go to Fort Draco and buy a little better equipment. Stone axes, maces, etc. are nice.  Its time to start adventuring.

      The best place to start is probably the dungeon directly underneath Fort Draco. Its small, not too challenging, and very convenient to get back from. Going to Gunstons Homestead is a good idea, too. The salamanders are a tough fight, but the reward is a good one.

      There are now two dungeons to gain experience and treasure is: the Nephilim Castle and the Verdant Valley. Its probably better to start at the Castle - theres much more treasure on the monsters inside it. Do the small, secret cave to the north of the Nephilim Castle first (remember - you search for secret passages by walking into the walls). This is the best route to get inside the Castle. Also, be careful - it's easy to move too far in and get ambushed by monsters on the way out when youre weak.

      Most monsters in the Verdant Valley dont have loot. On the other hand, they arent as tough as the monsters in the Nephilim Castle (for the most part), and there are two good piles of treasure in the place. The first is in the brigands lair in the northwest corner. The other is in the sub-dungeon filled with lizards you can find in the southeast corner of the dungeon. The treasure in the sub-dungeon is in a secret room. Again, walk into the cave walls to find it.

      OK. Suppose youre sick of these two dungeons. Now what? Well, the spiders across the river from Fort Duvno send you on a mission to fight the aranea. Aranea are tough, but they have a lot of loot, and the reward is lucrative. Someone in Formello sends you to a cult of priests and undead to the west. There's plenty of stuff to fight there, and a fair amount of loot.

      After going through these adventures, your party should be tough enough to start exploring in earnest. One warning - when the Vahnatai spirit shows you the exit in Formello, dont go down it too quickly. Its a one way trip, and if you arent well prepared, you dont stand a chance.


 Answers to Early Puzzles

If you get stuck somewhere early in the game, this section provides hints and answers to all the early puzzles. Look to see if your question is below, and, if so, look at the number after it. Look for that hint in the list at the end of the section.

Map -

If you get lost, don't forget there is a map available. Select 'Map of Eastern Exile' in the Library menu.

Chapter 1 - The Barriers

     This is the introduction of the game. Here, you build a strong party, get used to the surroundings of Exile, and start figuring out whats going on. Dont be afraid to leave puzzles unsolved and dungeons unexplored - youll be back here someday.

What is my goal in this chapter?   4

How do I survive the attack on Fort Ganrick?   22

I keep getting killed trying to get into the Nephilim Castle. What should I do?   14

Theres a gate in the Nephilim Castle that asks me for a password. What is it?   21   3

I found a path blocked by webs. How do I pass them?   13   27

How do I steal Motraxs treasure without him attacking me?   2

I cant pass a corridor because I dont have Magi Clearance. How do I get it?   12

I have to destroy this evil altar. Ive found it. How do I destroy it?   20   26

I found this door outdoors that asks for a password. What is it?   11   25

How do I bring down these barriers outdoors that everyones so upset about?   10   19

I found this place called Solbergs Tower. How do I get in?

Chapter 2 - Dark Waters

      Dark Waters involves a long, one-way trip through grim, monster infested tunnels. Many are the ruins and many are the dangers that must be faced, as you explore the abandoned lands of the mysterious Vahnatai.

      Dark Waters is a stressful chapter for many gamers, because of fears that something important will be left behind. Dont worry about it. The chapter is designed so that, even if you breezed through doing the absolute minimum you could do, you still will not damage your ability to finish the game in any way. So do what you want.

What is my goal in this chapter?   9

Im stuck down a waterfall. How do I go back?   18

I found this weird creature called a Vahnatai in a house. What do I do?   8

I found this place called the Barrier Tower. How do I get in?   17

How do I open the gates in the River Fort?   1   7

Im trying to pay my respects to Dahris-Bok, but his dungeon is a pain...

What do I do with the levers?   16   24

Theres this room with three portculli. How do I pass?   6

The vampire keeps killing me! What do I do?   29

I thought the Vahnatai wanted to talk to me. Why are a bunch of them attacking me?   23

I found this dungeon where someone was trying to awaken a bunch of Vahnatai in these big

crystal coffins. How do I do it?   5   15

Once I reach the Vahnatai lands, some towns wont let me in, and I cant speak their language!   30

Answers:

1. To open the gates, you need an items from a different dungeon. Explore a bit more.

2. You cant - Motraxs defenses are too good. If you want the dragons stuff, you have to fight for it.

3. The password is Ghath.

4. Your goal is to find out about the barriers cutting you off from the rest of Exile, discover who created them, and begin your journey to meet them. This part ends when you take the boat you find after leaving through the passage  in east Formello, and begin your journey to meet the Vahnatai.

5. Look for two scraps of paper. The information you need is written on them.

6. Stepping on a space in the 3x3 room south of the portculli opens/closes some portculli. The trick is to step in the northwest corner an odd number of times. Then the puzzle is easy. Leaving the dungeon and reentering resets the puzzle.

7. Go to the Watery Ruins, which are in the southwest corner of this outdoor section. In the northwest corner of this dungeon are hexagonal bars. Get one (or more - you can sell them later). Then return to the River Fort. There are two special spaces where you use the bars to open the gates to let your boat pass.

8. Just talk to him. He tells you a little bit about the Vahnatai and why they want you to visit them.

9. Your goal is to complete the dangerous journey down the river and reach the lands of the Vahnatai. This chapter ends when you pass through the dungeon Long Tunnel.

10. Boy! Those barriers are powerful! Maybe you should find out who made them.

11. You cannot do this until you reach Chapter 4. If you have reached Chapter 4...  25

12. You need to have earned Magi Clearance. You cannot do this until Chapter 4.

13. Perhaps some more friendly spiders can help you.

14. Remember - to find a secret door in cave wall, just walk into it. Search for secret doors outdoors north of the Nephilim Fortress, and in the cave wall far west of the front gate.

15. Go to the control panel at the east end of the dungeon. Enter blwlb.

16. There is a room with four portculli in the center of the room. Turning wheels causes some gates to open and some to close. Try exploring new areas when you can reach them.

17. You cant get in now. Dont worry - youll be back here eventually.

18. You cant go back (without using the character editor). You have to fight your way through.

19. Go to east Formello. Get the message about the Vahnatai. Prepare, then explore the opened area in the northeast corner of town. Youll find the route to Vahnatai lands.

20. Read about the first level priest spells. Anything look interesting?

21. Fort Ganrick eventually gets attacked by Nephilim. One of them, when killed, coughs up a valuable hint.

22. After a certain point in the game, dont return to Fort Ganrick until your party is fully healed and well armed. Let the soldiers run up and take most of the punishment. Throw in a few summoned monsters to help them. Bombard them with spells. Wait as long as you can before fighting them, so that more fort defenders can come help. Hopefully, theyll be softened up enough that you can take them.

23. Good question. Perhaps theres more than one faction of Vahnatai.

24. Enter the central room with the four portculli. Leave by the east entrance. Find the wheel, pull it and return to the central room. Leave by the north exit, find the wheel, turn it, return to the center, go through the west exit, find and turn the wheel, return to the center, go out the south exit, and head west. Find Dahris-Bok and pay your respects.

25. The password is on a body to the west of Cotra. Its Skulls.

26. Find the spell Ritual of Sanctification. Its in a library at the west end of Formello. You can get it by finding a secret door in the west wall of Formello.

27. Go to the Spider Caves. Look for a pool of slime. Rub it all over yourself. Youll be able to pass the webs.

28. You need Royal Clearance. Wait until Chapter 4.

29. You can get around the vampire. Look for a secret door in the south wall of the room with 2 pillars.

30. To be able to speak the Vahnatai tongue, you need to perform a ritual in Avit.


 Credits:

Concept, Design, and Programming: Jeff Vogel

Graphics, Design: Shirley Vogel

Opening Screen Graphic:  Tim Phillips

Button Graphics: Andrew Hunter, a freelance artist specializing in

      computer graphics who can be reached as Wormius@aol.com

Testing for Windows Version:

David Allvord, Charles Bemis, Mark Kimbrell, Jim Pedicord, Jessie Shoop, Shane Skidgel, Jackie Ellie Swartz

Testing for Macintosh Version:

Testing Above And Beyond The Call Of Duty:  Brandt Despain, Lane Foulk, BeadleB

Beta Testing:  Adam Pasztory, Gus Zeissig, Wesley "Rogue" Miaw, Don Henson, Finbar Foley, Lissa Tannhauser, Bill Millard

Other AOL Testers:  Kel9320, CarpetEtr0, XTiger, FinbarF, JRConrad, BeadleB

Special thanks to:

Tim Phillips and Sean Sayrs - The crew from Fantasoft that pulled me on board, sent me sound disks and graphics, provided moral support and the presence of like spirits.

Brandt Despain, Lane Foulk, BeadleB, Bill Millard - For beta-testing for a VERY long time. They tolerated bugs that would send lesser souls screaming into the hills.

Richard Garriott (aka Lord British) - For creating the Ultima series, my biggest inspiration.

The makers of Wizard's Crown, Phantasie, Realmz, Might and Magic, Deathlord, and Wizardry (in that order) - For providing good ideas to crib.

Comedy Central - For playing in the background for several hundred of the hours I spent making this. It's playing right now.

talk.bizarre - For being generally cool.

All my friends - For not killing me when they found out I made them characters in my game.

Spider - My pet tarantula, for its constant support.

Some of the many bands/performers listened to during the making of this game (in no particular order) -

Silly Wizard (Scottish traditional - very excellent)

Nirvana

Steeleye Span

Green Day

Enya

Clapton

Janis Joplin

Melissa, Tori, K.D., and Ani

Too much Tull

They Might Be Giants. Lots.

Indigo Girls

Sarah McLachlan