Omega: Rich Game World

A quest at last!

Returning to the drawing board after my last character death and a Paladin break, I created a new character--Bozo--donated at the orphanage, joined the paladins, won two arena battles, gambled at a casino and won a jackpot of more than 1,500 gold, and was told to go to hell by a haunt in the cemetery.

Anyone know the language and translation of the first part of the sentence?

The extra money allowed me to get entrance to the library, where I read a history of the City of Rampart and got a little more information of the game world, which might be called LOCUS. The world seems to be torn between the forces of law and chaos, each with its pantheon of deities. The Gods of Law include Odin and Athena, and the Gods of Chaos are Set and Hecate. Nice blending of mythologies there. There are also Druids, who seek to maintain a balance and some mysterious beings called Lords of Destiny, who arbitrate between the two forces.


        
There was a "mysterious document" in the library, heavily annotated by the librarian, which suggested something about the main quest: basically, character improvement to the level of Adepthood. It ended with the statement that "the final test of an Adept is Mastery of that Void which lies both within and without the self" and that "only an Adept can become a Total Winner."

Determined to fully explore Rampart before setting out and dying again, I found a few places I had overlooked in my previous games (some of the city is randomized with each new character, too). Among my deeds:

• Slew two haunts in the cemetery and rose a couple of levels

• Tried to bash a statue that was in my way and had it turn into a "catoblepas," which I killed and then salvaged its eyes.

You didn't think it was a real word either, did you?

• Explored a hedge maze, killed several monsters, found several treasures, and found the entrance to a sewer (didn't go down just yet).

• Found the Oracle in the center of the hedge maze. All she told me was "The ArchDruid speaks wisdom in his forest shrine." The Oracle's mirror also tells you your alignment; it gave mine as on the "chaos" side of "neutral," which surprised me. I wonder if attacking creatures that weren't attacking me is to blame.

• Visited a tavern when it opened (hours, days, and months pass in the game) and spent 100 gold on a round for the house.

Grateful NPCs.

• Spent 900 gold on a partial suit of plate armor.

• Got refused by the Mercenary Legion because of my paladin membership.

• Joined the "Explorer's Club" and was taught a spell that would automatically teleport me in dungeons.

By this time, I had gained enough levels that the Duke granted me an audience and gave me a quest to bring him the head of the Goblin King. The manual says that the Goblin King's lair is due south of Rampart but I'll have to search for it. I found it almost immediately, about three squares south of the city. The game forced me to let my horse go free, unfortunately.

The Goblin Caves turned out to be large and multi-leveled, and as I sign off for the day, I'm in the middle of them. I'm very worried about survival. Permanent death is one thing in a game like Rogue, where nothing much changes from one game to another, and the point is not to "win" the game so much as see how close you can come. It's another thing in this game, which is more like a traditional CRPG. Imagine if every time your character died in Baldur's Gate or Morrowind, you had to start completely over from the beginning.

Tomorrow, I'll let you know if the episode left me victorious, or howling at the walls in frustration. It's a roguelike, so do you want to lay odds?