Your quest is to obtain the three parts to the crown of Ultimate Darkness. Each part of the crown is located in each of the three lands of Ramagold. Lannia - a greenland and Durnin - a desertland and Zarthynia - an iceland. In each land are four buildings; a Bazaar, a Sanctuary, a Tomb and a Ruin.

This is where you can use any gold you have to purchase more warriors or more food. A number between 4 and 6 will be displayed under the Warrior heading. This number corresponds to the number of bags of gold which is being asked for each warrior. You can accept this by replying "Y" to the "OK?" prompt or you can Haggle by pressing the "H" key. This will reassess the amount of gold being asked (either up or down). This can only be used once. Repeat, entering "Y" for each Warrior you wish to purchase. You will notice your gold decreasing each time you do this; when you have enough reply "N" to the "OK" prompt. This will then repeat the procedure for the purchase of food.

If during the course of a game your Warrior, Gold or Food levels fall below an acceptable level you may enter the Sanctuary.

Note: Do not enter either of these unless you consider you have sufficient warriors to do the battle. These two locations will be described together as their role in the adventure is the same except only one contains the part of the crown. When entering either the Tomb or the Ruin you may hear the bottle horn. If this happens, the Gold and Food headings will be replaced with the heading "BRIG", the number underneath this will indicate how many Brigands you will have to fight during the battle.

The battle will start automatically. Each clash will be followed by updated Warrior and Brigand values. If you seem to be losing the battle, you can retreat by hitting any key. The battle will then end. If however you continue to fight and the number of Warriors falls to zero you will have lost not only the battle but the game. If however the number of Brigands falls to zero, the battle has been won and you will be rewarded.

Rewards are only obtained after defeating a number of Brigands in a battle. Any one of the following can be given as a reward.

1. More Warriors.
2. More Gold.
3. More Food.
4. A Map.
5. A Dragon Sword.
6. Magic Potion.
7. Piece of the Crown.

Each move you make during a game is controlled by the N, S, W, E keys corresponding to the points on a compass, N for up, W for left, etc.

Each move you make will use up one unit of food. If you food level reaches zero, one of your Warriors will die for each move.

During the course of a game, certain things can occur to hinder your progress. You could get lost, in which case you will still use up food (or a Warrior) but not actually get anywhere!

You may be hit by the plague; this will immediately infect one quarter of your Warriors or the Dragon may strike and steal a quarter of your gold. However, you can protect yourself from any of these mishaps by obtaining rewards 4 to 6 above.

The Map, once obtained, will be kept throughout the game and ensure you won't get lost. The potion will cure the symptoms of the plague and initiate the recovery of one quarter of your Warriors each time the plague strikes. Again, this will be kept throughout the game.

The Dragon Sword will not only protect you from the dragon but will reinstate you with any gold previously stolen by the dragon when he strikes. Unfortunately the sword can only be used once and has to be regained in battle after it has been used.

Once you have won a part of the Crown, you may leave the land you are in and enter the next land on your journey.

You do this by travelling West until you reach the edge of the current land. The screen will then begin to change colour and the new land entered. You will not be able to leave a land until you have obtained the part of the crown. Once in the new land each building will be assigned a new role for example what was a tomb in the first land may now be a sanctuary.

CLOADM (ENTER)

The game will load and run automatically.