Druid 2 - Enlightenment One hundred and three years pass... One hundred and three years after Acamantors expulsion from Belorn, he has returned. Hasrinaxx the Druid was in the forest of Argoth searching for a fresh mistletoe which was to be used as a component for a new spell he was preparing. In the distance he could just make out a blossoming bush and started towards it. He flinched suddenly as he crossed the small patch of open grassland in of it Was he seeing things or did the bush really jolt suddenly? There it was again. All too late he saw the wild boar come rushing out towards him. He staggered back and yelped in agony as the boar nuzzled its way under his robes and bit into his now thrashing leg. Hasrinaxx quickly pointed a ringed finger at the boar and uttered two short words of mystic druid chant. A small electricity bolt shot from the Druid's finger and discharged itself into the boar's back. The animal squeeled in agony and disappeared into a maze of bushes. "How stupid to be caught unaware, like that!" the druid thought. "I've spent too much time living in the safety of my village. Gone are the days when I sent Acamantor's demon princes back to the dark planes from whence they came. Over one hundred years have past since then and although my magic has grown stronger, my spirit has grown weaker. I have been expelled from my Druid sect for experimenting with dangerous magics. I have become separated from nature and the elemental Gods of the Earth, the Wind, Fire and Water. And now age is slowing my wits. What is left in life for such a failed Druid?" If only Hasrinaxx knew the adventures that were to follow. Hasrinaxx cast his mind back to the wild boar. "Strange for an animal of the forest to attack a man. And a Druid at that. A friend of all animals and indeed of nature itself! Perhaps it was a sign from the Gods. Mother Earth herself was trying to tell him that he was slacking as one of the few Great Druids left". "No! That doesn't make sense" he thought. "The Gods would never use animals to do their fighting. That would be against the sacred laws of nature. He asked himself again why should a wild boar attack him? It seemed to be frightened. Running. But running from what? What could possibly scare a boar in the forest of Argoth? Men?" "No! Hasrinaxx could sense if there were men nearby. But he could sense something else though. It seemed almost Ethereal. A Feeling he hadn't felt in a long time. Not since he'd vanquished the demon princes from Acamentors tower. But That was many years ago. The wounds that opened the dark planes to this world could never be opened again. The great Druid sects had closed them soon after the demon princes had been expelled, with strong and mystic magic". Hasrinaxx cast his mind aside and set out about tending to his wounded leg. Nothing a small poultice of woundwort couldn't fix. It was as he stumbled along the well beaten track to Ishmar that he saw Ederyn, his faithful young apprentice. Like all apprentice Druids, Ederyn was too impatient in learning his magic and would very often make mistakes. Most of the time he would use the wrong herbs or speak the wrong Druid chant when casting a spell. But he would learn, as all wisened Druid's did. with age. Something seemed strange though. Ederyn's face seemed almost expressionless, his eyes bulging. Saliva dripped from his mouth and his skin seemed to have a blue tinge to it. Hasrnaxx commanded him to halt. For a moment, he thought he saw sign of recognition in his young apprentices face, but this instantly disappeared as the apprentice moaned deeply and continued to stagger forward. As he grew nearer, a piercing stench came over Druid which seemed to instantly draw him out of his trance. The stench was unmistakably that of death - or rather the undead - of souls denied an existence in the afterworld, and condemned forever to remain on the Earth, as the walking dead. Hasrinaxx raised his finger, his hand shaking, and pointed it towards his oncoming apprentice. "I'm sorry Ederyn!" he said softly and then uttered two words of mystical Druid chant. Strident long bolts of electricity shot from his fingertips and discharged themselves into the apprentices chest, sending him reeling to the ground, his chest smouldering but his face still expressionless. The body lay there, twitching and slowly sinking into the earth as if Mother Nature herself were calling the body back into the ground. But Hasrinaxx knew that the soul had not been vanquished to the afterworld and that it would rise again from this temporary grave in only a few hours. His suddenly shot up. His senses were now keened and he could see all around him, coming from very direction through the bushes and between the trees. The undead were everywhere. Once living people, the proud villagers of Ishmar, many were friends of Hasrinaxx. Now reduced to the walking undead. Reduced to attacking the living - jealous of those that still hold life. Hasrinaxx pitied their poor souls. He heard a thunderclap, and in the distance he could see that the clouds above the once peaceful land of Belorn had formed into the face of a dark, evil looking mage. He knew this was the work of Acamantor and his demon princes. He would return to Ishmar and from there, seek revenge and finally put an end to this this evil - and destroy the Dark Mage himself! He searched his small canvas bag and found the object that he required. He lifted the small silver crucifix high in his right hand. The sun gleamed from it. Instantly the undead backed into the bushed and the trees from whence they had come. Into the safety of the darkness and away from the gleaming holy symbol the Druid held in his hand Hasrinaxx spoke a deep Druid chant and started to walk forwards, along the beaten track to Ishmar... Playing the game ================ Command keys Spell Selection - U, I, O, P (upper arrow), H, J, K, L (lower) Take Spell - Caps Sh. Cast Spell - Space Bar Command Elemental - A Pause/Unpause Game - Enter Controlling the Druid Use a joystick or define keys (up, down, left, right, fire). Controlling the Elemental Whenever you create an Elemental to help you, he can be commanded with the 'Command Elemental' key to toggle between WAIT, FOLLOW (the Druid) and SEND (the Elemental in the direction the Druid is facing). Alternatively, a second player can control your Elemental using the joystick. To switch between manual and automatic Elemental mode, pasuse the game press the 'Command Elemental' key and unpause the game. The Display The Constitution indicator displays the current constitution of your Druid. This will run whenever you are attacked or when you walk through fire or water. The game will end and you will die if your constitution runs out. The Spell windows indicate the spell currently selected. Whenever your Druid walks over a spell, you will be told what the spell is in the message window. If you want to take it, you can store it in your Spellbook which can hold up to eight spells. The spell will always be placed above the spell indicator unless the currently selected spell position is already full, in which case, the spell will be placed in the next vacant spell position. The Elemental display, shows the status of your Elemental (if you have one). Firstly, you are shown what type of Elemental you have and what it is moving (useful if he is off screen). The display to the right of this shows you either what command the the Elemental is currently obeying or that the elemental is in manual mode. The red bar indicates your Elementals strength. The Electrical Bolt indicator, shows the current change of the Druid's electrical bolts. The more quickly you fire, the faster this runs down. As your electrical charge runs down, so fireing rate will decrease until you can fire no more. You will then have to wait to recharge your electrical energy. The Green rating bar will grow as you progress through the game to give you an idea how well you are doing. Great Druid Ratings As your Druid progresses through his adventures to Acamantors domain, the green rating bar will grow in length. This shows how well you have done in the game. When you die (or win!), you will be given a rating which describes the title best suited to your Druid. Of course, the best title is that of Overlord but only the best Great Druid's will ever become so honoured. The ratings in order of worst to best performance are: Orc Breath Earth Shaman Air Shaman Water Shaman Fire Shaman Earth Lord Air Lord Water Lord Fire Lord Keeper of Order Druid of Realm High Adept A-Sanach Overlord Druid Spellbook =============== Spell: Conjure Earth Elemental Type: Summoning/Protective Duration: Special Area of Effect: Around elemental This spell is the first of the four major elemental spells. When cast on open ground, a clay golem is summoned from the Earth Elemental Plane and will remain as the Druid's servant until its strength is depleted. he can only understand the three simple commands Wait, Follow and Send. The Golem is resistant to all forms of natural attack and is very strong. However he is slow and cumbersome and on occasions may prove a hindrance. Spell: Conjure Air Elemental Type: Summoning/Protective Duration: Special Area of Effect: Around elemental As the conjure earth elemental spell except an air wispe is summoned from the Air Elemental Plane and will remain Druid's servant until its strength is depleted. The wispe is very fast but also very weak. The great Druid 'Runewort' was well known for using Wispes in fast sweeping attacks on large amounts of weak foes. Spell: Conjure Fire Elemental Type: Summoning/Protective Duration: Special Area of Effect: Around elemental As the conjure earth elemental spell except an fiery phoenix is summoned from the Fire Elemental Plane and will remain Druid's servant until its strength is depleted. The Phoenix is reasonably fast but loses his strength fast when in wet or moist areas. Spell: Conjure Water Elemental Type: Summoning/Protective Duration: Special Area of Effect: Around elemental As the conjure earth elemental spell except an water kraken is summoned from the Water Elemental Plane and will remain Druid's servant until its strength is depleted. The Kraken is reasonably fast but loses his strength fast when in hot or arid areas. Spell: Wall of Fire Type: Obstructive Duration: Semi-permanent Area of Effect: 40' in direction cast When cast, deep red flames erupt from the ground in the direction the caster is facing. The flames will continue for forty feet, unless hitting some solid obstacle or significant feature of the landscape (see "Kaled's book of universal constants" for more on this). The wall will only destroy fire fearing foes and remains a permanent feature of the landscape until the Druid leaves the present land. Spell: Wall of Water Type: Obstructive Duration: Semi-permanent Area of Effect: 40' in direction cast When cast, deep blue water spurts from the ground in the direction the caster is facing. The spell is much the same as the wall of fire spell except that it will only destroy water-fearing foes. Spell: Death Touch Type: Offensive Duration: Short Area of Effect: Creature touched When this spell is cast, any creature touched by the Druid will instantly die. However, a few, more powerful creatures cannot be harmed by this form of magic. Spell: Deathlight Type: Destructive Duration: Short Area of Effect: 40' in radius about Druid This spell will destroy all creatures within a forty foot radius about the Druid for a short duration thus giving him time to gather his wits or pass through dark and eerie lands. There're some powerful creatures who are immune to this form of magic. Spell: Deathland Type: Destructive Duration: Medium Area of Effect: 40' in radius about Druid This spell is exactly the same as deathlight except that is lasts much longer. Great Druids always warn their unenlightened inferiors to use this form of magic sparingly. Spell: Finger of Lightning Type: Offensive Duration: Short Area of Effect: 40' in direction cast When cast, bolts of lightning shoot forth from the Druids fingertips. These bolts are ten times more powerful than the normal electrical bolts that Druids usually fire. Spell: Recharge Type: Replenishment Duration: Immediate Area of Effect: Druid The spell replenishes the Druids electrical bolts so that he can fire at the maximum rate possible. Spell: Slow Type: Obstructive Duration: Short Area of Effect: 40' in radius about Druid The curious magic causes all normal creatures within a forty foot radius of the druid to become lethargic and slow thus letting any nimble Druid pass between them quickly. Spell: Fireshield Type: Protective Duration: Short Area of Effect: Druid When confronted with pillars of flame, a wary Druid need only cast this spell. It will make his robes and sandals like tough dragonscale for short while and thus he will become impervious to all forms of natural heat. Spell: Invisibility Type: Concealment Duration: Short Area of Effect: Druid This well used spell is still one of the most useful that a Druid can carry in his spellbook. the Druid will be rendered invisible to all creatures of normal sight. However, some creatures do not see with their eyes but instead use heat or magic as a source of seeing. Spell: Armour Type: Protective Duration: Short Area of Effect: Druid When cast, this spell turns the Druids robes to strong steel for a short while, thus rendering the Druid less vulnerable to attack. Spell: Turn Away Type: Repellent/Illusion Duration: Short Area of Effect: 40' in radius about Druid This spell makes the Druid appear to be an abhorrent, powerful creature. This is of course, an illusion, but any unintelligent creatures in close vicinity to the Druid will immediately panic and try to run away. In time, the spell will end and the illusion will crumble away. Spell: Teleport Type: Ethereal travel Duration: Immediate Area of Effect: Druid This spell is fairly mystical. Great Druids have only managed to discover that when this spell is cast within a magic symbol, the caster is sent to another plane (the type of plane is decided by the magic symbol). Spell: Infra-vision Type: Visionary Duration: Short Area of Effect: Druid This magic is useful in darkness. It makes the Druids eyes sensitive to heat as well as light. However, this power will only last a short time and then you will be left back in the dark. Spell: Resurrection Type: Resurrection Duration: Special Area of Effect: Special This spell was originally created by the Necromancer Grobblar in a clever attempt to cheat death. Of course, Druids everywhere realised the value of such a spell and soon it was circulating amongst the higher ranks of the Druid sects. When cast, a grave is created. Should the Druid now bear the misfortune to die, he will gain new life and full strength and rise from the very same grave that he created. But be warned, you can only create one grave. If you cast another resurrection later, the grave created by the first resurrection will be destroyed. Spell: Doorblast Type: Destructive Duration: Immediate Area of Effect: 5' in radius about Druid When the Druid casts this spell, a mighty explosion can be heard about the Druid and all doors within a five foot radius of the Druid will shatter into a thousand pieces. Any foolish creatures within forty feet of the Druid will collapse in agony at the sound of the explosion. Spell: The Seeing Eye Type: Visionary Duration: Short Area of Effect: 80' in direction cast This spell enables the Druid to see what is ahead of him. When cast, the Druids mind is allowed to follow the land in front and see what dangers await. Spell: Sage Type: Legend Lore Duration: Immediate Area of Effect: None When this spell is cast, the Grand Druid Klaven Marr will give you a short clue depending on where you are. This should aid your Druid in his quest for enlightenment. Spell: Strengthen Type: Replenishment Duration: Immediate Area of Effect: Elemental up to 160' from Druid This spell will make you elemental stronger and thus prolong its return to the elemental planes. - - - - - - - - - - - - Speccy adaptation done by Aleksandar Lukic, in November 2003. Original document was found on an Hungarian site dedicated to c64 :)