xref: /dragonfly/games/hack/data (revision 6e278935)
1	Hack & Quest data file - version 1.0.3
2@	human (or you)
3-	a wall
4|	a wall
5+	a door
6.	the floor of a room
7 	a dark part of a room
8#	a corridor
9}	water filled area
10<	the staircase to the previous level
11>	the staircase to the next level
12^	a trap
13$	a pile, pot or chest of gold
14%%      a piece of food
15!	a potion
16*	a gem
17?	a scroll
18=	a ring
19/	a wand
20[	a suit of armor
21)	a weapon
22(	a useful item (camera, key, rope etc.)
230	an iron ball
24_	an iron chain
25`	an enormous rock
26"	an amulet
27,	a trapper
28:	a chameleon
29;	a giant eel
30'	a lurker above
31&	a demon
32A	a giant ant
33B	a giant bat
34C	a centaur;
35	Of all the monsters put together by  the  Greek  imagination
36	the  Centaurs (Kentauroi) constituted a class in themselves.
37	Despite a strong streak  of  sensuality  in  their  make-up,
38	their  normal  behaviour  was  moral, and they took a kindly
39	thought of man's welfare. The attempted outrage of Nessos on
40	Deianeira,  and  that  of the whole tribe of Centaurs on the
41	Lapith women, are more than offset  by  the  hospitality  of
42	Pholos  and  by  the  wisdom of Cheiron, physician, prophet,
43	lyrist, and the instructor of Achilles.  Further,  the  Cen-
44	taurs  were  peculiar in that their nature, which united the
45	body of a horse with the trunk and head of a  man,  involved
46	an  unthinkable  duplication  of  vital organs and important
47	members. So grotesque a combination seems  almost  un-Greek.
48	These  strange  creatures were said to live in the caves and
49	clefts of the mountains, myths associating  them  especially
50	with the hills of Thessaly and the range of Erymanthos.
51	               [Mythology of all races, Vol. 1, pp. 270-271]
52D	a dragon;
53	In the West the dragon was the natural  enemy  of  man.  Although
54	preferring to live in bleak and desolate regions, whenever it was
55	seen among men it left in its wake a  trail  of  destruction  and
56	disease. Yet any attempt to slay this beast was a perilous under-
57	taking. For the dragon's assailant had to contend not  only  with
58	clouds  of  sulphurous fumes pouring from its fire-breathing nos-
59	trils, but also with the thrashings of its tail, the most  deadly
60	part of its serpent-like body.
61	[From: Mythical Beasts by Deirdre Headon (The Leprechaun Library)]
62E	a floating eye
63F	a freezing sphere
64G	a gnome;
65	... And then a gnome came by, carrying a bundle, an old fellow
66	three times as large as an imp and wearing clothes of a sort,
67	especially a hat. And he was clearly just as frightened as the
68	imps though he could not go so fast. Ramon Alonzo saw that there
69	must be some great trouble that was vexing magical things; and,
70	since gnomes speak the language of men, and will answer if spoken
71	to gently, he raised his hat, and asked of the gnome his name.
72	The gnome did not stop his hasty shuffle a moment as he answered
73	'Alaraba' and grabbed the rim of his hat but forgot to doff it.
74	'What is the trouble, Alaraba?' said Ramon Alonzo.
75	'White magic. Run!' said the gnome ...
76			[From: The Charwoman's Shadow, by Lord Dunsany.]
77H	a hobgoblin;
78	Hobgoblin. Used by the  Puritans  and  in  later  times  for
79	wicked  goblin  spirits,  as in Bunyan's 'Hobgoblin nor foul
80	friend', but its more correct use is for the friendly  spir-
81	its  of  the brownie type.  In 'A midsummer night's dream' a
82	fairy says to Shakespeare's Puck:
83	        Those that Hobgoblin call you, and sweet Puck,
84	        You do their work, and they shall have good luck:
85	        Are you not he?
86	and obviously Puck would not wish to be called  a  hobgoblin
87	if that was an ill-omened word.
88	Hobgoblins are on the whole, good-humoured and ready  to  be
89	helpful,  but fond of practical joking, and like most of the
90	fairies rather nasty people to annoy. Boggarts hover on  the
91	verge of hobgoblindom.  Bogles are just over the edge.
92	One Hob mentioned by Henderson, was Hob Headless who haunted
93	the  road  between Hurworth and Neasham, but could not cross
94	the little river Kent, which flowed into the  Tess.  He  was
95	exorcised  and  laid under a large stone by the roadside for
96	ninety-nine years and a day. If anyone was so unwary  as  to
97	sit  on  that stone, he would be unable to quit it for ever.
98	The ninety-nine years is nearly up, so trouble may  soon  be
99	heard of on the road between Hurworth and Neasham.
100	               [Katharine Briggs, A  dictionary  of Fairies]
101I	an invisible stalker
102J	a jackal
103K	a kobold
104L	a leprechaun;
105	The Irish Leprechaun is the Faeries' shoemaker and is  known
106	under  various  names  in different parts of Ireland: Cluri-
107	caune in Cork, Lurican in Kerry, Lurikeen in Kildare and Lu-
108	rigadaun  in  Tipperary.  Although he works for the Faeries,
109	the Leprechaun is not of the same species. He is small,  has
110	dark  skin  and wears strange clothes.  His nature has some-
111	thing of the manic-depressive about it: first  he  is  quite
112	happy,  whistling merrily as he nails a sole on to a shoe; a
113	few minutes later, he is sullen and  morose,  drunk  on  his
114	home-made  heather ale. The Leprechaun's two great loves are
115	tobacco and whiskey, and he is a first-rate con-man,  impos-
116	sible  to  out-fox.  No  one, no matter how clever, has ever
117	managed to cheat him out of his hidden pot of  gold  or  his
118	magic  shilling. At the last minute he always thinks of some
119	way to divert his captor's attention  and  vanishes  in  the
120	twinkling  of  an eye.
121	                  [From: A Field Guide to the Little People
122	                     by  Nancy Arrowsmith & George Moorse. ]
123M	a mimic
124N	a nymph
125O	an orc
126P	a purple worm
127Q	a quasit
128R	a rust monster
129S	a snake
130T	a troll
131U	an umber hulk
132V	a vampire
133W	a wraith
134X	a xorn
135Y	a yeti
136Z	a zombie
137a	an acid blob
138b	a giant beetle
139c	a cockatrice;
140	Once in a great while, when the positions of the  stars  are
141	just  right, a seven-year-old rooster will lay an egg. Then,
142	along will come a snake, to coil around the egg, or a  toad,
143	to  squat  upon  the  egg, keeping it warm and helping it to
144	hatch. When it hatches, out comes a creature  called  basil-
145	isk, or cockatrice, the most deadly of all creatures. A sin-
146	gle glance from its yellow, piercing toad's eyes  will  kill
147	both  man  and beast. Its power of destruction is said to be
148	so great that sometimes simply to hear its  hiss  can  prove
149	fatal.  Its  breath is so venomous  that it causes all vege-
150	tation to wither.
151	There is, however, one  creature  which  can  withstand  the
152	basilisk's deadly gaze, and this is the weasel. No one knows
153	why this is so, but although the fierce weasel can slay  the
154	basilisk,  it will itself be killed in the struggle. Perhaps
155	the weasel knows the basilisk's fatal weakness: if  it  ever
156	sees  its own reflection in a mirror it will perish instant-
157	ly. But even a dead basilisk is dangerous, for  it  is  said
158	that merely touching its lifeless body can cause a person to
159	sicken and die.
160	    [From: Mythical Beasts by Deirdre Headon (The Leprechaun
161	           Library) and other sources. ]
162d	a dog
163e	an ettin
164f	a fog cloud
165g	a gelatinous cube
166h	a homunculus
167i	an imp;
168	 ... imps ... little creatures of two feet high  that  could
169	gambol and jump prodigiously; ...
170			[From: The Charwoman's Shadow, by Lord Dunsany.]
171
172	An 'imp' is an off-shoot or cutting. Thus an 'ymp tree'  was
173	a grafted tree, or one grown from a cutting, not from seed.
174	'Imp' properly means a small devil, an off-shoot  of  Satan,
175	but  the distinction between goblins or bogles and imps from
176	hell is hard to make, and many in the  Celtic  countries  as
177	well as the English Puritans regarded all fairies as devils.
178	The fairies of tradition often hover  uneasily  between  the
179	ghostly and the diabolic state.
180	                 [Katharine Briggs, A dictionary of Fairies]
181j	a jaguar
182k	a killer bee
183l	a leocrotta
184m	a minotaur
185n	a nurse
186o	an owlbear
187p	a piercer
188q	a quivering blob
189r	a giant rat
190s	a scorpion
191t	a tengu;
192	The tengu was the  most  troublesome  creature  of  Japanese
193	legend.   Part  bird  and part man, with red beak for a nose
194	and flashing eyes, the tengu was notorious for  stirring  up
195	feuds  and  prolonging  enmity between families. Indeed, the
196	belligerent tengus were supposed to have  been  man's  first
197	instructors in the use of arms.
198	                    [From: Mythical Beasts by Deirdre Headon
199	                                 (The Leprechaun Library). ]
200u	a unicorn;
201	Men have always sought the elusive unicorn, for  the  single
202	twisted  horn  which projected from its forehead was thought
203	to be a powerful talisman. It was said that the unicorn  had
204	simply  to  dip  the tip of its horn in a muddy pool for the
205	water to become pure. Men also believed that to  drink  from
206	this horn was a protection against all sickness, and that if
207	the horn was ground to a powder it would act as an  antidote
208	to  all poisons. Less than 200 years ago in France, the horn
209	of a unicorn was used in a ceremony to test the  royal  food
210	for poison.
211	Although only the size of a small horse, the  unicorn  is  a
212	very  fierce  beast,  capable  of killing an elephant with a
213	single thrust from its horn.  Its  fleetness  of  foot  also
214	makes  this solitary creature difficult to capture. However,
215	it can be tamed and captured by a maiden. Made gentle by the
216	sight  of a virgin, the unicorn can be lured to lay its head
217	in her lap, and in this docile mood, the maiden  may  secure
218	it with a golden rope.
219	                    [From: Mythical Beasts by Deirdre Headon
220	                                 (The Leprechaun Library). ]
221v	a violet fungi
222w	a long worm;
223	From its teeth the crysknife can be manufactured.
224~	the tail of a long worm
225x	a xan;
226	The xan were animals sent to prick the legs of the Lords of Xibalba.
227y	a yellow light
228z	a zruty;
229	The zruty are wild and gigantic beings, living in the wildernesses
230	of the Tatra mountains.
2311	The wizard of Yendor
2322	The mail daemon
233