PHANTOM OF THE CATACOMBS: 5 Complete Quests! Enjoy 30 Quests in the Registered Version! LANDMARKS, TREASURES, and VILLAINS: The Key to each of these items is available by typing [K]ey. =TOMBS =GRAVES =TREES =Cargo Boxes These items simply block your path. o=GOLD =GEMS =EXPERIENCE %=STRENGTH These are items of value which you can find useful to take back to the realm if playing via LORD. =FAIRY =HORSE The Fairy and the Horse are items which you may wish to take back with you to LORD, but they also may prove necessary in conquering a quest. For instance, the underground rivers are much too swift to swim across. But if you find a strong stallion, you can ride the steed across the swift current. =KEY In many quests, you must find the key in order to unlock a door. =MANDRAGORA ROOT POTION You earn one scattered Mandragora Root Potion for each 100 yards you plunge in the Deep Abyss. If you lose your health from a battle with an underworld fiend, you may rejuvenate your health if you find one of these scattered potions. You start out each quest with 3 potions. =PHANTOM The Phantom will roam the cemetery trying to elude your grasp. If you are diligent, you may catch him and he will give you a key to the Mausoleum door. =SKELETON Beware these fiends in the Cemetery. Do not cross their paths, whatever you do! They will eat you and your lifeless body will be returned to the realm. =CYCLOPS After you obtain the key in the Cemetery, these Cyclops will follow you wherever you go. They are fairly harmless, but very strong and stubborn and will not move to let you pass. =PIRANHA Piranhas swim about in some of the underground rivers. Beware, their sharp teeth will shred you into ribbons if you run into them. *=WILL-O-WISP These poisonous gases arise from swampy areas and popup randomly. Stay away from them, because inhaling their deadly poisons is certain doom! =HARPIES Harpies are predatory monsters having a woman's head and the body and claws of a vulture. They appear and disappear at will. Beware! =Rolling Blade Beware of this underground instrument of doom. The Rolling Blade rolls about the Catacombs and if it rolls into you, well, you're pretty much sliced up! =SPOOKS You will meet up with these horrible little creatures down within the Catacombs. Beware, they appear and reappear with each step you take. To cross their frigid path, you must walk into them when you KNOW they will be disappeared on your next step. They always stay in the same spot. =SPIKES What is a Catacombs without spiked walls which close in on you to squash you. If you time your entrance right, you can avoid these spikes. =VIPER Beware these venomous reptiles. One strike will take your health. They don't travel far from their lair however. =WRITHING WORMS These poisonous little creatures are extremely dangerous. They like to horde together, allowing only a very narrow trail for you to pass. You must be very careful NOT to bump into one of these creatures, for their poison will take your life. =SEVERED HAND Beware of this dastardly little creature. The Severed Hand will select a chamber in the Catacombs and roam about looking for a victim. =VAMPIRE BAT The Vampire Bat likes to fly about looking for victims from which to suck some blood. Beware, they will attempt to lessen your health. They don't travel very far however. =BLOODY HOOK The Bloody Hook is rumored to have once been a Pirate. This little thief will rob you of your treasures or place a curse upon you. Since it is merely a Bloody Hook, it cannot travel at all, but loves to block your path to other places. Go around the hook if you can avoid him, but if he blocks your path, you have no choice but to see what villainy he has in store for you today. =ZOMBIE Beware this bug-eyed Zombie. He will walk into you and take your health. ONCE A DAY: You are allowed to enter this game once per day. You can either enter as an IGM via LORD or as a standalone game if your sysop provides both options. This way non-LORD players can still play the game and compete. CEMETERY: Do you dare enter the Cemetery where the Phantom roams? Pick up all the goodies you can find in the cemetery grounds while chasing the Phantom. Do NOT run into the Skeletons. If you can catch the Phantom, he will give you a key to the Mausoleum. And then... the fun begins! In the Cemetery, you may move diagonally, as well, as up, down, right, and left with your arrow keys. THE MAUSOLEUM: Once you've retained the key to the Mausoleum, you enter the doorway and the Phantom brings you news of the deep abyss. Those sneaky little ghouls put the hole to the abyss right inside the entrance to the Mausoleum, so beware! THE DEEP ABYSS: Within the Mausoleum is a room with a dark hole. This hole is a deep abyss. For each 100 yards you plunge without smashing into the sides of the abyss, you earn one Mandragora Root Healing Potion which the Phantom will scatter within the chambers below. These potions will prove very useful on your quest. Be ready to move back and forth with your numeric arrow keys, using "4" and "6". THE CATACOMB QUEST: After falling to the Catacombs below, you will land in a mysterious, blood chilling chamber. Each chamber quest you conquer, you will receive a new chamber quest the next day. Many rewards and horrors await you in the Catacombs. In the Catacombs, you may NOT move diagonally. BONUS QUEST: There *is* a way to make it through the entire quest without losing any health and requiring a Healing Potion. If you can conquer the quest without losing any health, you will be sent on a bonus quest. In the bonus quest, you may only move up, down, or right. You cannot move left or cross your path. You may pick up all the rewards you can carry while avoiding the Skeletons. To end the Bonus Quest, you must select "Q"uit when you are done. This will end the game and save any items you earned on the bonus quest. All of these earnings will be taken back with you to LORD if you are playing via the IGM. If you are playing via LORD: As you traverse the Cemetery, fall in the Deep Abyss, and conquer the creatures in the Catacombs, you will get to take all your treasures earned back with you to the LORD Realm. Conversion of Earnings: Whether you are playing as a LORD IGM or a Standalone Game, your non-experience earnings will be converted to Phantom of the Catacombs Experience. For instance, Phantom of the Catacombs does not keep track of gold, gems, hitpoints, etc., so any of these items you pick up along the way will be converted to Experience for your overall score. So even if you don't play via the IGM mode, it is in your best interest to pick up all of these items as they will increase your game score upon conversion. ;) GHOST BUSTERS ROOM: Visit this room to share your conquests and disappointments with others. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: If you have 0 experience when you log-out, your character will be deleted during nightly maintenance to clear out non-playing characters. CHATTER (MULTI-NODE CHATTING) Multi-node BBS's can now have players send each other messages via the CHATTER function. Press '*' from any of the screens to invoke the chatter options: CHATTER: (*) All (1) Personal (2) Screen/Hold (3) Pausing (4) Rewind You may press ** to send a message to everyone. Or press *1 to send a personal chatter. You will be asked to input the name of the person. Press *2 to toggle putting messages on hold or automatically send them to screen as they are received. To take messages off of hold, depress *2 again. Press *3 to toggle pausing on and off. If pausing is on, at the end of each message you must press 'Y' to indicate the message was read and continue. If this is annoying, you can simply toggle pausing off by depressing *3 and the messages will advance with each keystroke that you make. The problem with this is, that in your speed to get away from a spook, you may miss a message. But you can always rewind.... ;) Press *4 to Rewind messages. If you had message pausing off and missed some messages, you can press *4 to rewind messages from 1-99 messages. If you wish to cancel, just depress 0. SPLIT-SCREEN Sysop Chat Split-screen sysop chat can be invoked by the player or the sysop by depressing "C" from within the game. Hit escape to exit the sysop chat mode. This pages the sysop with a beep if your sysop has it enabled. COLOR: Colors can be used in your chatting, and in the Ghost Buster's room. All colors can be BRIGHT or PLAIN and flashing or not flashing. If you want a BRIGHT color, preface the code with a lower case `b for BRIGHT. Each color code must begin and end with the ` stroke next to the number 1 key. Phantom of the Catacombs color codes are different than the LORD color codes when writing messages and chatting in Phantom of the Catacombs. If you wish to Jot a Message to a player in LORD via Phantom of the Catacombs, use the LORD color codes. PHANTOM OF THE CATACOMBS COLOR CODES: This shows bright blue and plain blue. `b bl` = bright blue `bl` = blue `f b bl` = flashing bright blue `b f bl` = bright flashing blue (same thing, different order) Here are the rest of the colors: `bl` = blue `g` = green `c` = cyan `r` = red `m` = magenta `b y` = yellow `y` = orangeish brown `br` = brown (orangeish brown) (same as above) `b w` = white `w` = grey `gy` = grey (same as above) `b bk` = dark grey (bright black) `f` = flashing -------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: If you are using Telemate, make sure your status bar is turned off so that the screen doesn't scroll involuntarily. CREDITS: Joanna Watkins for ANSI Art: opening screen, Phantom, Dracula, Zombie, Skeleton, Spiders, Tombs. Herman Hardin for Pirate Skull & Crossbones, Cyclops Eyeball, Fish Trip Quest, and Plunder Quest. Matt Somerville for extensive testing to find the "info.* baud rate bug" caused by some other IGM author rewriting it with a negative value. Pre-Beta Testing Thanks go to! Allen Cowling Ned Fagan Rick Gordon David Marshall Della Moore Marian Prucha Rich Rempfer Mark Sheppard Matt Somerville Mark Tassin Phil Watkins Phantom of the Catacombs is a product of Nannette Thacker and Shining Star Software. Phantom of the Catacombs can be freqed as PHANTOM at 1:291/60 or 1:291/23. Phantom of the Catacombs is available on the SSSDOORS FILE DISTRIBUTION NETWORK! So sign up for it via filemgr with your Fidonet Provider! ------------------------------------------------------------------ Fidonet address: 1:291/60 Nannette Thacker Internet address: nannette@southwind.net SSS DOORS INTERNET FTP: ftp ftp.southwind.net /users/n/nannette ftp europa.com /outgoing/DOORS/STAR http://www2.southwind.net/~nannette/ Shining Star Software also offers the following support echos: SHINE*STAR -- FIDONET SSSDOORS -- Shining Star Software File Distribution Network (SSSFDN) Nannette frequents the DOORGAMES FIDONET echo if you have questions or comments.