INTRODUCTION Rohrkhad Dwarf-Father sat in the Throne of Stars and cast his second Eye upon the land. Although viewing his children always disappointed him, he could not help himself from looking upon the dwarves who, once peaceful, had now split into warring tribes. He bent the Eye upon chief Rakan of the Morin tribe and saw through Rakan's eyes. Rakan was in his longhouse in the steady Kafari, studying a leather map showing the boundaries of the Morin and Tamar tribes. But now Rakan's loremaster placed coloured clay to indicate the positions of a new threat--bands of Taldor raiders to the west. Rohrkhad could feel Rakan's fear; the Morin were dwarves and could be counted on to adhere to the Codes of Battle, but the Taldor were unpredictable creatures. The God then looked upon the stone city Haraza, capitol of the Tamar, where the dark-skinned chief Torongo was shouting at advisers. 'I do not want to hear of Taldor raids! We can defeat Morin and Taldor! Find word of the treasures of the Gods!' And the advisers scurried away, quarrelling about how they could find word of treasures that had been lost for generations. Rohrkhad sighed a sigh born from centuries of despair. Since the other Gods drove him from his castle and stole his sigil, he had watched his children all turn bitter, and now he had all but given up on moral affairs. He longed for the mile-high steel walls of his Castle Entemar. He longed for his sigil, Khamalkhad, the axe forged from bloodstone before the dwarves were born, now hidden deep in the ice caverns beneath Entemar. And the covenants prevented Rohrkhad from returning to his castle except in the form of impotent fire. But Rohrkhad had one last hope to save the dwarves from themselves and from the cruelty of the other gods. He had been watching a young warrior who lived in the caves beneath Asarene - a young warrior who was skilled with axe, crossbow and magic. A young soldier who could one day penetrate Castle Entemar, retrieve Khamalkhad, and use it as a symbol to unite the warring dwarven tribes. Rohrkhad sang to the threads of Time, and tied the youth to that destiny with divine chains. INSTALLATION AND STARTUP To run Bloodstone from the CD-ROM, log onto your CD-ROM drive and type BLOOD E. The sound card setup will run automatically on initial installation. To reset sound options later, type SETD E. Bloodstone CD will use some space on your hard disc for save files. To create a boot disc If you are unable to run Bloodstone CD-ROM due to 'insufficient memory', you will need to create a Boot Disc. Insert a blank disc to be formatted into drive A & type FORMAT A:/S E at the C: prompt. This will create a system disc. QUICK START >From the title screen, select NEW (N). Choose a character to lead your party. Pick three volunteers to join your party. Hit q to give your party members random attributes. The game starts on the northern edge of a cavern. There is an exit passage to the southwest. Before the party can escape, it is ambushed by a group of Taldor. When the fight is over, head west. You will emerge in the land of Asarene. Move one space south, into the camp, and talk to Mantar, who provides the background for your quest. At this point, head north to Haraza to meet the Dwarves of the Tamar tribe, or south to Kafari to the Dwarves of the Morin tribe. THE MAIN SCREEN The status summary box in the top right hand corner of the screen shows your party's current health and energy. E.g. DANAT 51 99 OK HALAN 25 12 Ti Danat has 51 Hit points, an energy level of 99, and no health problems. Halan is on 25 hit points, 12 energy points and he's tired. 'Po' means poisoned, 'Il' means ill, and 'Ex' means exhausted. USING THE MOUSE AND KEYBOARD To say a magic word or ask about an 'other' topic, use the alphabet keys to type the word. Commands are issued to the party or selected member by pressing its first letter. Click in the command box to issue commands. Number keys select party members and enter status screens. Keys 1 - 6 select the corresponding member, making him the recipient of your commands. For example, if you press the 3 key, then select 'talk', party member 3 will do the talking. Move your party around using the numeric keypad. Clicking in the picture area is the same as 'looking' where the mouse points. The left button moves you there. c V turns sound on or off. q Escapes from problematical situations. E or z issues highlighted commands. MENUS AND COMMANDS The Main Menu Recall readies a spell for action. Magic casts the spell. Notes lets you review recent events. Talk begins a conversation. Camp recovers your party's energy, lets them learn spells, fix their weapons, change armour, and more. Pass makes your party stand still for five game minutes. Formatn lets you rearrange your party's members using the number keys and space bar. Draw lets the selected party member draw a weapon. Whisper tells you to whisper a magic word. Look tells you what an object seems to be. Sheathe puts a party member's weapon away. Quit allows you to leave the game or pause it. Save saves your game. You can save up to eight games. Restart loads a previously saved game. End returns you to the game in progress. The Notes Menu Up, Down, Top & Bottom scrolls through notes. Insert lets you add a note of your own. Add lets you add one at the end of the notepad. Remove takes the note on the screen out of the notepad. Search searches for a word in the notepad. Go to lets you go to a specific page in the notepad. Clear empties the entire notepad. Level specifies how many notes are put in the notepad. End returns to the main menu. The Talk Menu Greet lets the selected member switch their attentions. Talk gets into the details. People and Other ask you to type in a name or subject. Offer offers a reward or bribe. Assign tells someone to do a specific task. Invite asks someone to join the party. Dismiss removes a party member. Buy lets you purchase an object from someone. Sell lets you sell one of your own objects. End ends the conversation, returning to the Main Menu. TRAVEL To explore Tarq, you will travel on foot, by magical means, and by sailing (learn the art of shipbuilding). When travelling through the countryside, the screen shows an area that can be crossed in about half a day on foot. If the party is not properly equipped to cross certain terrain, a message appears to let you know. Your party can also teleport via a teleportation chamber. These are very rare, difficult to find, and even harder to activate. STATUS SCREENS The status screens, activated by zero (0), allow you to gain information on your party members and transfer items between them. Inven and Magic let you skip quickly through the status screens. Transfr lets you drop an item or transfer items between party members. Distr distributes items evenly to the rest of the party. Pool collects items into one person's inventory. Search gives an overview of the party's possessions. The first status screen lists personal data. Hit Pts are the current hit points followed by maximum hit points. Sleep, the Heal spell, or potions restore them. Energy is the character's current energy level. Sermin Mushrooms, sleep, or the Energy spell restore this. Shield is the party member's magical shield protection. In Hand is the weapon the party member has drawn. Spell is the magic spell ready to be cast. Health is a list of the member's health problems. In Use is something that has been eaten or applied, and is ready to take effect. Wearing is the armour the party member has put on. The second Status Screen displays the 9 character attributes. Normally ranging from 0 to 12. The next two screens list the 18 skills and the current ability in them, ranging from 0 to 99. The Inventory Screen shows a character's complete inventory. Weapons, armour, and other special items usually show wear and tear (W-T) next to the item name. Each party member's inventory is limited to 40 different items. The Spell status screen show spells the member knows. MEM is the spells memorised and not yet cast. TIM is the time it would take to memorize the spell. ENE is the energy needed to cast the spell. CHARACTER ATTRIBUTES Bravery determines when or if a character will flee during combat. The Courage spell will boost bravery. Strength determines what weapons may be used and how much damage can be done. Dexterity lets a character do more than one thing in one combat turn. Endurance determines the maximum hit points. Agility reflects the ability to dodge a physical attack. Loyalty tells how likely a member is to complete assignments given by the hero. Charm measures a character's ability to speak profitably. Intelligence affects the amount of time needed to memorize a spell. Resistance is the ability to withstand magic attacks. CHARACTER SKILLS Some skills improve with experience, others with training. Their are several schools, where instructors train your party in the various skills. Sword skill determines how likely a character is to score a hit with a sword. Axe skill reflects ability with an axe. Archery skill reflects ability with bow and arrow. Magic ability affects the result of spells cast. Fist is used when the character is out of weapons. Swimming skills increase chances in crossing water. Trading allows your party to get the best prices. Stealth is the ability to avoid hostile beasts. Researching skills allow a character to dig information. Soulreading allows a character to read emotions. Lockpicking skills open chests without setting off traps. Tracking ability increases the chances of discovering an ambush. Musical ability helps you play music to good effect. Carpenter skills allow your characters to build shelter and, as with other craft skills, earn money in the towns. Metalsmith skills allow characters to fix weapons. Gemcutter skills are useful for earning money and selling gems. Tailor skills allow you to make a good impression. Leadership ability increases the likelihood of successfully rallying your party in battle. THE PARTY Your party members can talk with each other in the same way they talk to other people. To dismiss a member, issue the dismiss command. He will then return home. This allows your hero to invite someone else. Another way to open up a place in the party is to send a companion on assignment. You can assign companions to take up employment, memorize spells or receive training to improve a particular skill. CHARACTER GENERATION Once in the character's Status Screen you may edit their skills, personality and background. Select continue to skip through until you reach the attributes screen. You have 30 points to allocate to the character's attributes. Select continue again, to see that you have 30 points to allocate to skills. Each point allocated to a skill takes 1 point away from the points available. Each point added to an attribute decreases the number by 3. ITEMS Potion: 'Use' a potion to restore hit points. Sermin Mushrooms: Restores energy to magic users. Gonshi Mushrooms: Increases dexterity. Nift Leaves: Rubbing these on the back of the neck stops the next 3 physical blows from doing any harm. Mirget Leaves: Rubbing these on a members arm greatly increases the damage the next swing will do. Luffin Flowers: Makes the next swing hit every time. Turpin Mushrooms: Increases the next spell's potency. Fireglobes: When stepped on during combat will explode and cause great damage. Loka Packets: Cures the effects of poison. Medicin Doses: Cures illness. Enchanted Tiles: Used to activate teleportal chambers. Maps: Use a map to see your surroundings. Map flasks: Use these in unmapped areas. They are activated by pearls or, preferably, a piece of alabaster. Drum: Rallies your party in combat. Lyre: Restores your party's energy. Bugle: Used to terrify an enemy. Flute: Soothes an enemy into submission. Shovels: Used to dig for buried treasure. Picks: Needed to unlock hidden treasures. Ropes: Essential for climbing mountains. Blankets: Used to gain maximum energy when camping. COMBAT Prepare your party for combat. Your setup options are: Draw lets a party member draw a weapon. Sheathe used to fight (or talk) bare-handed. Recall lets you recall a memorized spell. Look allows you to identify creatures and objects. With the Talk option you can choose to Rally your own side or Greet the opposition. If rallying is successful it increases enthusiasm. Greet allows you to talk to the leader of the opposition. If he attacks immediately they have the advantage of moving first. To skip all the preliminaries select Begin. During combat, all members of one side take a turn, then all the members of the other side. In an ambush, the monsters go first unless a party member detected the ambush. If there was no ambush, then you go first unless you try to 'Talk' and fail. Markers indicate which members have not completed their moves. Retreat is sometimes advisable. Characters who fled from combat usually reappear after victory. If the leader flees, the rest of your party will also attempt to flee. Here is an example of a combat messages: Danat hits Taldor -16 Dam: 14 (A-2) HP:8 Danat scored a hit against a Taldor worth 16 hit points. The actual damage was 14 due to the Taldor's leather armour which absorbed 2 points. As a result of the hit, the Taldor has 8 hit points left. You can tell the party members who still have moves left in the current turn to make moves as they see fit. This is accomplished with the Solo command. The Head command lists all available party members. The party member you choose replaces you as leader. Adjust the speed of the combat using the number keys 0 - 9. Return the members to your control by pressing any other key. After defeating the monsters, you must resurrect any slain party members as soon as possible. If you fail, be sure to transfer valuable possessions to survivors. Next take the opportunity to plunder the bodies of your conquered foes. If the monsters were guarding a treasure chest or magic fountain, 'Use' a pick on the locked chest, or drink from the fountain to restore energy. MAGIC As your party proceeds in its quests, it will both wield and withstand much magic. The more they know about this powerful force, the more prepared they will be. There are nine rules of magic: Rule 1: The energies needed to cast spells can only be channelled through the use of a spell totem. Rule 2: Spells can be learned from magic totems only. Rule 3: Spells that have been learned must be recalled to memory before they can be cast. Rule 4: If a spell has been learned more than once, the next copy will jump into the caster's recollection. Rule 5: Less experienced casters use their own energy. Those of more experience draw energy from the atmosphere surrounding them. Rule 6: Experienced spell-casters get a greater effect from spells. Resistant opponents receive a lesser effect. Rule 7: Time taken learning a spell depends on the difficulty of the spell, the magical aura of the local geography, and the intelligence of the spell-caster. Rule 8: All magic resolves itself. Rule 9: Spell effectiveness depends on circumstances. THE SPELL TOTEMS Ashard--Ashard's spells are a mix of offensive, defensive and informational spells. FEAR instills a fear of combat. The length of time depends on your skill and the resistance of the opponent. CONFUSE makes the enemy forget all about you. SHATTER sends an ice ball at the opponents which shatters upon contact and causes great damage. GLAMOUR increases the target's apparent charm, making it possible for the target to hold conversations. LOCATE can be used to either avoid conflict or find it. DETECT marks the location of magical teleportals. Belfon--Belfon's spells are mostly used in combat. FIREBALL changes the air to fire and propels it toward the chosen opponent. TELEPORT changes the location of the party. HEAL changes the stamina of its target to be as high as possible. It does not cure illness or poisoning. WEAKEN changes the target opponent's armour to sand, and its magical shield to air. JUMP changes a combatant's location. WHIRLWIND conjures up a raging, conical windstorm. Chalta--Chalta is the totem of protection. ENERGY restores the target's energy to its maximum. The maximum is lower when the target is ill or poisoned. SEE is the counterspell to Disappear. When See is cast on an area, all opponents become visible again. DISAPPEAR is the spell of invisibility. While invisible, the target is protected from the most attacks. An invisible person can attack with no chance of missing. WALKWATER congeals portions of pools and streams, allowing the caster and his party to walk on them. SHIELD erects a magical shield around the target. The shield protects against magical assaults only. RESURRECT actually raises the dead. The person to be resurrected must have been slain in honourable combat and can not have been dead very long. Demmock--among the mightiest of spell totems. MOBILITY removes paralysis. FIRESTORM throws fireballs against all the opponents at once. The fireballs are only half as powerful as those thrown against a single opponent by the Fireball spell. HEAL ALL restores full hit points to all party members. ALLSHIELD is to 'Shield' as Firestorm is to 'Fireball'. It strengthens the magical shields of all party members. FIREDEATH throws a giant fireball. It damages everyone near its landing point, as would a normal fireball spell. CRUMBLE is a devastating mental attack. When cast, all of your opponents' shields are stripped away. Entus--these are of benefit in combat and in towns. CURE removes the effects of poison and illness. BARGAIN temporarily increases its target's trading skill. QUIVER is cast on someone using a crossbow. The target receives a quiver of magical bolts. SHARPEN is cast on someone using a sword or axe. The weapon will inflict a disabling wound. BERSERK causes one of your party to be possessed by a mad spirit. While affected, the character will attack multiple times during a round and do greater damage. WHERRIGAN summons the mighty Wherrigan to fight. Fanorl--Another very powerful totem. BETRAY causes its target to turn against his or her allies. SUMMON produces a duplicate of its target. DESTROY completely destroys almost any opponent. Casting it removes memory of all other spells. TERRIFY causes enemies not brave enough to flee. DOUBLE conjures up a duplicate of a party member. TIMESTOP slows down time for the caster's opponents. Gimlai--Gimlai's spells are of great aid to the party. ACIDBALL hurls a ball of fuming acid at its target. IMBECILE causes loss of all spellcasting ability. COURAGE used to enhearten a companion. SENSE detects ambushes before they happen. RESTSOUL prevents a fallen undead foe from reanimating and rejoining the fight. LIGHTNING sends an electrical ball from the caster to the target, damaging all in its path. COMBAT TECHNIQUES Spell totems are the most important assets of your party. Mushrooms and leaves are also indispensable. Mirget will triple your damage. In a serious fight, all the party members should use gonshi. It is worthwhile to enrol a companion who is skilled in music. Each party member gets a variable number of moves each round, depending on dexterity. Dexterity 1-5, ensures one or two moves. 6 means two moves; over 6 means two or three. If you attack or cast a spell on the first move, then eat a gonshi, and then continue to attack or cast spells for three more moves, this will result in four useful moves each round. The Sharpen spell doubles damage. Combined with mirget, Sharpen is lethal. If a party member has a low sword or axe skill, use luffin flowers or position the character so the monster can't dodge. If something is in their way on both sides, they can't dodge. When you first encounter the enemy, you will be on the other side of the battlefield from them. Jump a party member with high strength and a big weapon up next to the monsters, have him use gonshi, mirget and nift, cast Sharpen, and then bash monsters into oblivion. With an enemy already in their midst, the monsters will be less inclined to advance into your rear ranks. To double the damage, arm your party with crossbows and cast Quiver on them before they fire. This works well on monsters with fewer than 100 hit points. Move your wizards and archers to the rear and move your fighters to the front. The most important thing when facing monsters is to survive. Cast Disappear on all your party members before your turn ends. The monsters will then wander aimlessly until it's your turn again. Some monsters can detect invisible people, others can cast a counterspell. When the Disappear spell isn't enough, nift leaves and steel plate armour will help your party members survive physical attacks. Kill spellcasters and archers first. They tend to combine their fire-power against a single party member. Spellcasters should have a good supply of Resurrect spells, you never know which one will survive to cast it on the others. The Summon, Double, Betray and Wherrigan spells all change the odds of the battle in your favour. TROUBLESHOOTING Bloodstone requires XMS extended memory for playing digitized sound effects. XMS memory requires the HIMEM.SYS driver from DOS or Windows or other upper-memory manager like QEMM to be active. To test for sound card compatibility problems, run SETD from DOS and select one of the PC SPEAKER options. WEAPONS Strength Needed Base Damage Shortsword 1 18 Scimitar 2 16 Broadsword 4 28 Broadsword 6 35 Greatsword 8 44 Smallaxe 2 17 Hammeraxe 3 25 Battleaxe 5 33 Doubleaxe 6 37 Greataxe 8 45 Light Crossbow 3 20 Medium Crossbow 5 30 Heavy Crossbow 9 50 ARMOUR Protection Leather 4 Ring mail 7 Chain mail 10 Dwarven chain 13 Bronze plate 18 Steel plate 21 Methreal 28 Bronze helmet 3 Iron helmet 5 Steel helmet 8 This product is exempt from classification under UK Law. In accordance with The Video Standards Council Code of Practice it is considered suitable for viewing by the age range(s) indicated. Copyright 1993 Mindcraft Software, Inc. Action 16 is a trademark of Digital Integration Limited. Distributed under licence by Digital Integration Limited, Watchmoor Trade Centre, Watchmoor Road, Camberley, Surrey, GU15 3AJ. Sales: 01276 684959 Fax: 01276 21541 Customer Support: 01276 678806