xref: /src/games/hack/data

	Hack & Quest data file - version 1.0.3
@	human (or you)
-	a wall
|	a wall
+	a door
.	the floor of a room
 	a dark part of a room
#	a corridor
}	water filled area
<	the staircase to the previous level
>	the staircase to the next level
^	a trap
$	a pile, pot or chest of gold
%%      a piece of food
!	a potion
*	a gem
?	a scroll
=	a ring
/	a wand
[	a suit of armor
)	a weapon
(	a useful item (camera, key, rope etc.)
0	an iron ball
_	an iron chain
`	an enormous rock
"	an amulet
,	a trapper
:	a chameleon
;	a giant eel
'	a lurker above
&	a demon
A	a giant ant
B	a giant bat
C	a centaur;
	Of all the monsters put together by  the  Greek  imagination
	the  Centaurs (Kentauroi) constituted a class in themselves.
	Despite a strong streak  of  sensuality  in  their  make-up,
	their  normal  behaviour  was  moral, and they took a kindly
	thought of man's welfare. The attempted outrage of Nessos on
	Deianeira,  and  that  of the whole tribe of Centaurs on the
	Lapith women, are more than offset  by  the  hospitality  of
	Pholos  and  by  the  wisdom of Cheiron, physician, prophet,
	lyrist, and the instructor of Achilles.  Further,  the  Cen-
	taurs  were  peculiar in that their nature, which united the
	body of a horse with the trunk and head of a  man,  involved
	an  unthinkable  duplication  of  vital organs and important
	members. So grotesque a combination seems  almost  un-Greek.
	These  strange  creatures were said to live in the caves and
	clefts of the mountains, myths associating  them  especially
	with the hills of Thessaly and the range of Erymanthos.
	               [Mythology of all races, Vol. 1, pp. 270-271]
D	a dragon;
	In the West the dragon was the natural  enemy  of  man.  Although
	preferring to live in bleak and desolate regions, whenever it was
	seen among men it left in its wake a  trail  of  destruction  and
	disease. Yet any attempt to slay this beast was a perilous under-
	taking. For the dragon's assailant had to contend not  only  with
	clouds  of  sulphurous fumes pouring from its fire-breathing nos-
	trils, but also with the thrashings of its tail, the most  deadly
	part of its serpent-like body.
	[From: Mythical Beasts by Deirdre Headon (The Leprechaun Library)]
E	a floating eye
F	a freezing sphere
G	a gnome;
	... And then a gnome came by, carrying a bundle, an old fellow
	three times as large as an imp and wearing clothes of a sort,
	especially a hat. And he was clearly just as frightened as the
	imps though he could not go so fast. Ramon Alonzo saw that there
	must be some great trouble that was vexing magical things; and,
	since gnomes speak the language of men, and will answer if spoken
	to gently, he raised his hat, and asked of the gnome his name.
	The gnome did not stop his hasty shuffle a moment as he answered
	'Alaraba' and grabbed the rim of his hat but forgot to doff it.
	'What is the trouble, Alaraba?' said Ramon Alonzo.
	'White magic. Run!' said the gnome ...
			[From: The Charwoman's Shadow, by Lord Dunsany.]
H	a hobgoblin;
	Hobgoblin. Used by the  Puritans  and  in  later  times  for
	wicked  goblin  spirits,  as in Bunyan's 'Hobgoblin nor foul
	friend', but its more correct use is for the friendly  spir-
	its  of  the brownie type.  In 'A midsummer night's dream' a
	fairy says to Shakespeare's Puck:
	        Those that Hobgoblin call you, and sweet Puck,
	        You do their work, and they shall have good luck:
	        Are you not he?
	and obviously Puck would not wish to be called  a  hobgoblin
	if that was an ill-omened word.
	Hobgoblins are on the whole, good-humoured and ready  to  be
	helpful,  but fond of practical joking, and like most of the
	fairies rather nasty people to annoy. Boggarts hover on  the
	verge of hobgoblindom.  Bogles are just over the edge.
	One Hob mentioned by Henderson, was Hob Headless who haunted
	the  road  between Hurworth and Neasham, but could not cross
	the little river Kent, which flowed into the  Tess.  He  was
	exorcised  and  laid under a large stone by the roadside for
	ninety-nine years and a day. If anyone was so unwary  as  to
	sit  on  that stone, he would be unable to quit it for ever.
	The ninety-nine years is nearly up, so trouble may  soon  be
	heard of on the road between Hurworth and Neasham.
	               [Katharine Briggs, A  dictionary  of Fairies]
I	an invisible stalker
J	a jackal
K	a kobold
L	a leprechaun;
	The Irish Leprechaun is the Faeries' shoemaker and is  known
	under  various  names  in different parts of Ireland: Cluri-
	caune in Cork, Lurican in Kerry, Lurikeen in Kildare and Lu-
	rigadaun  in  Tipperary.  Although he works for the Faeries,
	the Leprechaun is not of the same species. He is small,  has
	dark  skin  and wears strange clothes.  His nature has some-
	thing of the manic-depressive about it: first  he  is  quite
	happy,  whistling merrily as he nails a sole on to a shoe; a
	few minutes later, he is sullen and  morose,  drunk  on  his
	home-made  heather ale. The Leprechaun's two great loves are
	tobacco and whiskey, and he is a first-rate con-man,  impos-
	sible  to  out-fox.  No  one, no matter how clever, has ever
	managed to cheat him out of his hidden pot of  gold  or  his
	magic  shilling. At the last minute he always thinks of some
	way to divert his captor's attention  and  vanishes  in  the
	twinkling  of  an eye.
	                  [From: A Field Guide to the Little People
	                     by  Nancy Arrowsmith & George Moorse. ]
M	a mimic
N	a nymph
O	an orc
P	a purple worm
Q	a quasit
R	a rust monster
S	a snake
T	a troll
U	an umber hulk
V	a vampire
W	a wraith
X	a xorn
Y	a yeti
Z	a zombie
a	an acid blob
b	a giant beetle
c	a cockatrice;
	Once in a great while, when the positions of the  stars  are
	just  right, a seven-year-old rooster will lay an egg. Then,
	along will come a snake, to coil around the egg, or a  toad,
	to  squat  upon  the  egg, keeping it warm and helping it to
	hatch. When it hatches, out comes a creature  called  basil-
	isk, or cockatrice, the most deadly of all creatures. A sin-
	gle glance from its yellow, piercing toad's eyes  will  kill
	both  man  and beast. Its power of destruction is said to be
	so great that sometimes simply to hear its  hiss  can  prove
	fatal.  Its breath is so venomous that it causes all vege-
	tation to wither.
	There is, however, one  creature  which  can  withstand  the
	basilisk's deadly gaze, and this is the weasel. No one knows
	why this is so, but although the fierce weasel can slay  the
	basilisk,  it will itself be killed in the struggle. Perhaps
	the weasel knows the basilisk's fatal weakness: if  it  ever
	sees  its own reflection in a mirror it will perish instant-
	ly. But even a dead basilisk is dangerous, for  it  is  said
	that merely touching its lifeless body can cause a person to
	sicken and die.
	    [From: Mythical Beasts by Deirdre Headon (The Leprechaun
	           Library) and other sources. ]
d	a dog
e	an ettin
f	a fog cloud
g	a gelatinous cube
h	a homunculus
i	an imp;
	 ... imps ... little creatures of two feet high  that  could
	gambol and jump prodigiously; ...
			[From: The Charwoman's Shadow, by Lord Dunsany.]

	An 'imp' is an off-shoot or cutting. Thus an 'ymp tree'  was
	a grafted tree, or one grown from a cutting, not from seed.
	'Imp' properly means a small devil, an off-shoot  of  Satan,
	but  the distinction between goblins or bogles and imps from
	hell is hard to make, and many in the  Celtic  countries  as
	well as the English Puritans regarded all fairies as devils.
	The fairies of tradition often hover  uneasily  between  the
	ghostly and the diabolic state.
	                 [Katharine Briggs, A dictionary of Fairies]
j	a jaguar
k	a killer bee
l	a leocrotta
m	a minotaur
n	a nurse
o	an owlbear
p	a piercer
q	a quivering blob
r	a giant rat
s	a scorpion
t	a tengu;
	The tengu was the  most  troublesome  creature  of  Japanese
	legend.   Part  bird  and part man, with red beak for a nose
	and flashing eyes, the tengu was notorious for  stirring  up
	feuds  and  prolonging  enmity between families. Indeed, the
	belligerent tengus were supposed to have  been  man's  first
	instructors in the use of arms.
	                    [From: Mythical Beasts by Deirdre Headon
	                                 (The Leprechaun Library). ]
u	a unicorn;
	Men have always sought the elusive unicorn, for  the  single
	twisted  horn  which projected from its forehead was thought
	to be a powerful talisman. It was said that the unicorn  had
	simply  to  dip  the tip of its horn in a muddy pool for the
	water to become pure. Men also believed that to  drink  from
	this horn was a protection against all sickness, and that if
	the horn was ground to a powder it would act as an  antidote
	to  all poisons. Less than 200 years ago in France, the horn
	of a unicorn was used in a ceremony to test the  royal  food
	for poison.
	Although only the size of a small horse, the  unicorn  is  a
	very  fierce  beast,  capable  of killing an elephant with a
	single thrust from its horn.  Its  fleetness  of  foot  also
	makes  this solitary creature difficult to capture. However,
	it can be tamed and captured by a maiden. Made gentle by the
	sight  of a virgin, the unicorn can be lured to lay its head
	in her lap, and in this docile mood, the maiden  may  secure
	it with a golden rope.
	                    [From: Mythical Beasts by Deirdre Headon
	                                 (The Leprechaun Library). ]
v	a violet fungi
w	a long worm;
	From its teeth the crysknife can be manufactured.
~	the tail of a long worm
x	a xan;
	The xan were animals sent to prick the legs of the Lords of Xibalba.
y	a yellow light
z	a zruty;
	The zruty are wild and gigantic beings, living in the wildernesses
	of the Tatra mountains.
1	The wizard of Yendor
2	The mail daemon