The Fates of Twinion: Proven

 

I cannot tell from this image what shoulder she's looking over. It's a bit disconcerting.

         

As this session began, I had defeated the two maps of the Gauntlet and (almost) the three maps that make up the aqueduct/reservoir area. These areas together comprise Levels 1 and 2 out of heaven knows how many. 

    

The third aqueduct map was called Twinion's Falls. The area had a lot of spinners and illusory doors (i.e., doors that disappeared when I actually approached them). The purpose of the map was to find a switch that unlocked not only doors in this area, but also a pair of doors back in the Queen's Aqueduct that led to Level 3.

     

The development team does what it can, graphically.

           

Other encounters:

    

• Queen's guards blocked two corridors and attacked after I encountered them repeatedly. 

• A female NPC who I'd previously met in the reservoir area kept showing up. 

      

A better game would let her join my party.

      

• A male NPC who was confused by all the spinners. 

     

You just keep walking, my friend.

      

• A female wizard confused by a message on the wall that was obviously meant to confuse her.

• A series of prison cells. When approached from the north, they showed their occupants behind a force field. When approached from the east or west, I could enter and kill them. One of them, a "coelus," was set up as a major adversary, but he died quickly. 

      

All bark and no bite.

        

• A fountain conferred upon me the "Heal" spell.

• A cleric gave me an Elixir of Healing when I gave him directions to a ranger.

• A battle with two ruffians and a rogue leader earned me a Cross Key.

• I get several messages that suggest that thieves have picked my pocket before attacking me, but I don't notice a significant drop in gold.

        

Level 3 began with my arrival in "The Coliseum," via a teleporter from the Queen's Aqueduct. I started in a small central area with four teleporters, each leading to a different "arena." I eventually explored all four and didn't notice that any of them were more difficult than the others. Early in the first arena, I met a wizard who said: "She said I would get great rewards for doing all four, but I know that only one would suffice." "She" in this case must be the Queen—we're in her proving grounds, after all—so I resolved to complete all four arenas before meeting her.

    

The arenas offered the first legitimately hard battles in a while. Enemies included packs of wizards, giants, archers, thieves, knights, skeletal knights, and skeletal wizards. I found that my usual strategy for tough battles—use a Scroll of Protection at the outset; chug an Elixir of Health whenever my hit points drop below 100—got me killed more often than I would have liked. I experimented with other spells and skills and occasionally had some luck with "Petrify" or "Intimidate." A lot of it came down to luck. I continued to grow annoyed at the game's insistence on never clearing a square, so that if you (for instance) hit a dead end, you have to fight every battle again on the way back.

        

I like the artwork here, but I think I've seen it somewhere before.

         

One technique that occurred to me embarrassingly late is to always attack the group of enemies with the most enemies. Occasionally, you get a critical hit that wipes out three or four enemies at once, and you don't want to waste that on a single foe. 

      

The enemy parties are getting larger and tougher.

       

When I had mapped as much of the Coliseum as I could, I still had a bunch of unexplored areas surrounded by pillars. Is there some mechanism that I'm overlooking to get through these pillars?

   

All arenas eventually led to the same area of the Coliseum, where teleporters could carry me backwards to the Queen's Aqueduct or forward to the only other Level 3 map: The Queen's Palace.  

         

Moving on, or at least contemplating it.

       

Some other encounters in the Coliseum:

   

• A couple of rosters "listing various guilds and names." The game noted that "your name does not appear on the list!" This was true even after I completed all the arenas. I don't know whether I should make anything of this.

• A fountain gave me the "Reverie" skill, which lets you gain mana at the cost of initiative. I don't see using it in a single-character game. 

         

My current skill list. I've been favoring the passive skills.

       

One step into the Queen's Palace was a message: "There are short and long pathways to the Queen's chambers. Each has its own reward. Only one need be solved to continue, but more explored, the greater the rewards." The Palace level was hard; I still haven't mapped it all. It's full of one-way doors, illusory doors, spinners, bottomless pits (instant death), and the most difficult battles in the game so far.

   

I guess there are, in fact, multiple pathways. The first one I tried led me to battles with slimes that I could not defeat. They kept killing me in the first round. The second one led to an area with no exit except to throw yourself down a bottomless pit. There's a message next to this pit that I don't understand: "Perhaps you can send some light across the chasm to see if any burning clues are visible." Whatever it's suggesting, it doesn't correspond with any item, spell, or other game action that I can figure out.

           

Which command lets me "send light"?

        

Eventually, I found a pathway that had me wind past bottomless pits with spinners next to them, so moving too quickly led to instant death. There were also a few tough battles in this area. Beyond that was a room full of poison traps; fortunately, I have "Cure." At the exit to this room, Queen Aeowyn appeared. "Impressive, how you managed to pass through the arena!" she said. "Now, to my throne room. I will wait for you there!"

       

The queen's just hanging out in this room full of poison.

       

Aeowyn's throne room had a couple of pools of water and lots of statues. As I approached, the game noted: "A magnificent queen stands before you. Her beauty and strength awe all who see her, woman and man alike." When she saw me, she had a long speech:

       

My champions, a key awaits you at the palace exit. Use it at the ancient gateway east of the main entrance. Another portal will lead you to the depths of this volcano, where none has dared yet visit. I require four pieces of an ancient map! I enjoin you with this task as a test of your loyalty. Reveal your purpose to no one! Go now! Seek the kingdom of the Night Elves. I will meet you at your quest's end, that we may piece together the maps' meaning.

         

The approach to the throne.

        

I was indeed handed a Queen's Key as I exited. I left a lot of the map unexplored, blocked by enemies I couldn't defeat. But I guess I defeated the "proving grounds" part of the game.

 

The next couple of hours were nothing but frustration. I couldn't defeat the fixed battles with wraiths on Level 4, nor the ones in the Queen's Palace, nor just about anywhere else I went. The game is long and large enough that the last thing I want to do is waste time grinding, but it looks like I may have to if I want to progress. At the very least, I may need to experiment with some of the scrolls the shop offers.

 

These guys are harder than two of anything ought to be.

     

Speaking along those lines, I didn't get a single equipment upgrade this session. I've already bought the best bow, armor, and helmet the shop offers. Leveling has also slowed; I gained two levels (to Level 13) during the first half of this session and none in the second half. I don't know, maybe it's time to call this one. I barely got 1,000 words out of 7 hours of playing time.

   

Time so far: 16 hours 

 

  

Excelsior: Who Has Gone Farthest?

 

Chester reaches the Ninth Circle.

       

My "fixer" has arrived in Lysandia from another universe, tasked with dealing with some kind of threat to the land. He has inhabited the body of a sexless golem paladin (I will never tire of writing that phrase). He has spent the first 12 hours chasing hints to find three magical amulets that allow him to improve his attributes when he levels up. Towards the end of that quest, he learned that there is a Resistance in the dungeon of Intungo, which is on an island.

   

During this session, I:

   

• Acquired means of crossing water.
• Explored the dungeon to find the Resistance.
• Accomplished the Resistance's first mission.
• Made some progress on the Resistance's second mission.

   

The narrative starts in the city of Farborough, where I had previously noted ships for sale. I now have the 5,000 gold pieces necessary to buy one. I talk to everyone first—since NPC dialogue is prompted by plot points, it's a good idea to re-visit everyone when you re-enter a city—and manage to learn both "Swimming" and "Seamanship." 

        

An NPC teaches me how to sail my new ship.

        

These skills allow me to both purchase a ship and sail to a special magic shop accessible only by sea. I think that's half a dozen magic shops I've encountered so far. They sell both wands and spells, and I really need to keep track of which shops offer which spells so I can return when I have more money. I have to leave my horse behind; apparently, the ship is too small to accommodate him.

   

On the high seas, I confirm that the game world is 500 x 500 tiles and that it—hallelujah—does not wrap. The ship has a catapult that does about as much damage as my Retribution Sword, but from any number of squares away. It still confers experience, and land-based enemies still drop treasure.

     

The edge of the world.

      

I spend some time checking out nearby islands but find them mostly empty. A large island to the southeast has a single empty hut and a city called Rondeway. 

   

Eventually, I sail across the southern boundary of the map to visit the island with the city of Heize and the dungeon of Intungo. I find Heize curiously useless except for two pieces of NPC dialogue:

   

• "There is a great chemist living in the Seventh Keep."

• "There is a magic clock which, when wound with a special key, has remarkable powers." This is important, as I later buy a clock for 100 gold pieces in Rondeway.

        

I just need the key.

      

Intungo starts out as a typical maze-like dungeon. I explore the first level for a while, fight a lot of monsters, and take a ladder down. On the second floor, I'm greeted with a sign that says: "SE. W. NW. NE. SE. N. W. SW." At first, I think it's directions to the maze, but it soon becomes clear that doesn't work. None of the corridors go in intercardinal directions.

   

I wander a bit more and find a talking sign that asks for a password. It takes me a few minutes to figure it out. There are certain wall patterns in the dungeon shaped like letters, starting with an "S" southeast of the entry ladder. I go west from there and find a "U." This continues for a while until I piece together the password requested by the sign: SURMOUNT. This opens the way to the next level.

        

Note the first letter in the lower-right.

     

The third level has a walled city, grassy expanses, trees, and gas lamps. A watchman demands a password, but I got it last session from the woodsman Hule: VICTORY. This answer opens a door in the wall. The city is full of Resistance members who proudly proclaim their roles, including both fighters and scholars.

          

I think you're on shaky philosophical ground.

         

Their leader, Sebastian, is found to the west. He asks if I'm willing to aid in the overthrow of King Valkery, and I say yes. Sebastian gives me my first mission: deliver a message to King Valkery's heir, imprisoned somewhere in the Royal Keep.

   

Before I leave the Resistance city, I explore a lower level, which has a training arena and a room that includes every regular weapon and piece of armor in the game. There's also a storeroom with a skull. I pick it up, and the game says that I've acquired Mortimer's Skull. I have no idea who Mortimer is. I hope I didn't do something too early.

      

Be glad there are no shops in this little town.

      

Thanks to previous explorations, I know that the Royal Keep isn't the same thing as Castle Excelsior; it's a tower to the north of the castle, along the coast. I get attacked by guards the moment I enter. The first floor is full of things that look like cells, or perhaps storage rooms, but none of them have a person with them.

         

Nor is there any way to open any of those chests.

    

Level 2 is dark. Neither my magic lantern, nor my regular lantern, nor "Dark Eyes" allows me to see more than one square in radius. I circle the place forever before I realize I'm just walking in circles. I have to spend about 30 minutes searching every single wall space for secret doors. I finally find one mere steps from the arrival ladder. Boo.

     

This will not be the only time this session that I start searching in the wrong place.

     

Level 3 has more rooms and cells. There's an area with a door maze in which I have to move diagonally through doors and search diagonally for secret doors, followed by an area in which I have to move diagonally through trees and find secret doors. I don't happen to have my external numberpad at this point, so I have to use the on-screen keyboard app to get me through it. 

        

I'm not sure I understand how trees have secret doors embedded in them.

             

On the final level, I'm greeted by a guard who asks me if I know the name of a "murderer who fled from the continent." I actually do—a guy named Cope in Heize confessed to me that he committed murder—but I forget it at the time. I say YOU, and the guard pretends he doesn't get the joke. He leaves me alone to wander around. Again, I find plenty of cells and prisoners, but most of them are behind doors I cannot open. There's a large area to the north that I can't find a way to access despite searching every potential wall for secret doors. I can even see a guy in there who is probably the target of my quest.

   

Eventually, I speak to the guard again and try confessing to the murder myself. He tosses me in an otherwise inaccessible cell, and I find my way to the prisoner through a series of secret doors.

        

I like his reaction.

       

The prisoner introduces himself as Prince Williamson, son of King Valkery, and he has a long story to tell. He knows why King Valkery has undergone such a severe change in personality: A few months ago, he was in the throne room with his father when a "dirty old man" entered and offered the king a gift. When the king accepted, the old man shouted an incantation and broke a glass rod above his head. This act caused a brief electrical storm, from which "some sort of ethereal demon" emerged and entered the king's body. Valkery immediately changed from the wise, compassionate king he had once been to the tyrant we know today. He ordered everyone in the throne room executed except for Williamson, whom he had imprisoned.

   

The prince is delighted to hear about the growing Resistance. He thinks he has a way to restore the king, which he writes down and asks me to bring back to Sebastian. He bravely volunteers to stay behind "so as not to arouse any suspicion with the authorities."

      

Part of the Prince's story.

     

I use the "Instant Descent" spells to get out of the keep quickly and make the long return to Sebastian. Once I get to Intungo, I can use "Instant Descent" to get to the Resistance city quickly, but it takes a long time to cross the map, and I find myself wishing for some kind of fast travel mechanism. Later, I buy "Mesmer's Flying Feet" from a magic shop, as it promises to move the character great distances with each casting. The joke's on me, because it only moves the character about 20 squares, and he has to leave his horse behind. Not worth it (although it might allow access to some of the islands without having to buy a ship).

   

Sebastian receives Williamson's information gratefully and says he'll need to consult with his advisors. In the meantime, he wants me to speak to Ambora, the antiquarian, about a "powerful elixir which may prove useful in our efforts." Ambora tells me about the Elixir of Capital Power, which grants "near immortality." He thinks its secret is in the Almanac, a collection of arcane knowledge written by the sage Varbel, who did the majority of his research on Zzoborf Isle.  

      

Alas, the Almanac will cease publication next year.

          

Thanks to the map that Matt Engle gave me, I know that Zzoborf Isle is off the southeast coast of the continent. But I also know that I've been there, and there is nothing there. On the way there, I stop at a bit of land in the far northeast corner of the map and find magical fire that I can E)nter. It leads to a cave full of fire—some kind of underworld, I guess. I don't find anything to do there just yet, but I suspect I'll be back later.

          

After confirming my previous finding that Zzoborf Isle has no towns, keeps, or other things of note, I set about searching literally every square before finding the book 30 minutes later in a pool of water. Boo.

          

 I wish I'd started at the south end of the island.

      

The book is waterlogged and unreadable, but I have notes that Yohan in Roaldia repairs damaged books. I take the book to him and pay him 1,250 gold pieces to restore what he can. It turns out to contain a series of numbers.

      

I met a cryptographer named Wipfel in Rondeway, so I take the book to him. He says he's sure that "each set of three numbers represents a single letter," but he wants 5,000 gold to offer more than that. I start grinding for it, but I soon decide it will take less time to decode the cipher myself.

         

Was this the only page?

            

Since each grouping has three numbers from 1-3, that gives 27 possibilities, or one more than the alphabet requires. Since the book has both 111 and 333, I figure it's not as simple as putting them in order and assigning "A" to the first one and "Z" to the last. But eight combinations are unused (no SPHINX OF BLACK QUARTZ in this message), so I can still assign a random letter to each number set to simplify the cryptogram. I get:

   

CSFAVM QLFSH XIRDMLB HVVQ OYFXP RXL YRJZRC YRAIQ

 

I like to think that I'm good at cryptograms, but I can't get anywhere with this one. There are no obvious As, THEs, or NOTs, no repeated words, and only one set of double letters. Finally, I fire up my Microsoft Access database of English words (what, you don't have one?!) and start messing around with combinations. I start by assuming that the "V" in HVVQ is either O or E—more likely O since E is the most common letter in English and yet the V occurs in only one other place in the entire phrase. That limits the first word to only 106 possibilities, two of which are DAEMON and DRAGON. I work with DRAGON, which turns out to be a fortunate choice, and soon have:

   

DRAGON ??AR? ????N?? ?OO? ??A?? ??? ?????D ????? 

   

I then start working on the ?OO? word, the first letter of which has to be the last letter of the second word. It's not BOOK, since nothing ends in ??ARB. I think I'm getting somewhere by assuming it's MOON and the second word is CHARM, but that ultimately leads to dead ends. SOOT doesn't seem likely at first, but it would mean that the second word ends in S, which makes sense, and then a flashback to goddamned Ishar gives me the answer [Ed., as commenter Delfayne points out, I was more likely thinking of Drakkhen.]:

   

DRAGON TEARS ????NE? SOOT ??A?? ??E ?????D ????T

       

I'm literally trying to save the world.

       

That word before SOOT has to be CHIMNEY, right? Now we're off:

 

DRAGON TEARS CHIMNEY SOOT ??AC? ?CE ?I??ID ?I?HT 

    

It's nearly winter in Maine, and I see BLACK ICE immediately for words five and six. The final phrase is easy from there:

 

DRAGON TEARS CHIMNEY SOOT BLACK ICE LIQUID LIGHT

   

Whew. That only took about 90 minutes. I should have grinded instead.

    

Is that a recipe list? If so, I'm not sure how to find those items. It occurs to me at the end of all of this that I probably have to grind for the money and pay Wipfel anyway, as it's probably necessary to trigger the next bit of dialogue. Neither Ambora nor Sebastian has anything new for me in the meantime.

        

At least I didn't cheat by using the map. He would have told me.

      

I try to clean up some minor "to do" items before closing this entry:

   

• Another unexplored northern island has a single hut. Outside the hut is a sign that reads: "Karth Whitlaw and His Barbilious Inventions." There's a guy in the hut, but he doesn't seem to have anything to say to me. I can only assume he's important later.

       

"I was hoping to solve a quest before someone gave it to me."

      

• I spend some time chasing Jad Merlings, the renowned bard who can supposedly teach me "Music." Every time I visit a city where he supposedly last went, it turns out he's moved on to the next city. I visit South Blagsell, Burroughs, Hollow, and Woodshade, hearing at the last city that he's moved on to Roaldia, where I got the first clue about him. I give up. I hope "Music" isn't important.

      

Fool me five times . . .

        

• The only skill I don't have besides "Music" is "Lockpicking," and it doesn't seem to stop me from picking locks.

• I still have a couple of towers to explore, which I might do as an alternative to grinding outside Castle Excelsior.  

• No new weapon or armor upgrades this session, but I do visit Castle Excelsior at the end of it and go from Level 6 to Level 8. Dragons start appearing in the countryside.

           

Ow. Stop.

      

Combat remains frequent as I move from place to place, but it's become a trivial annoyance rather than any kind of challenge. That's too bad. It appears that the character development part of the game is largely over (save perhaps some additional spell acquisition). The good news is that the authors have shown a certain talent for puzzles that enliven what would otherwise be standard fetch quests. 

    

Time so far: 19 hours

BRIEF: The Fantasy Worlds of Tamrak (1993)

 

A backstory to make Norman's head explode.

        

The Fantasy Worlds of Tamrak

United States

Independently developed and published

Released 1993 for DOS

Date Started: 11 November 2025

Unplayable because: Unregistered demo is limited in gameplay 

           

"Tamrak may or may not be a fantasy world," the manual's backstory begins. Ooh, I like a good mystery. I mean, character creation has me choose between human, elf, and dwarf characters before sending me out into a landscape in which I fight orcs and goblins with elven daggers and magic spells. Also, the name of the game is The Fantasy Worlds of Tamrak. But, you know—the jury's still out.

      

It's a good metaphor for meta-data about the game itself. Most web sites, as well as the game's manual, give its name as Infinite Fantasy Adventures: Volume 1: The Fantasy World of Tamrak, but the title screen drops the series title. Perhaps nothing is more ambiguous than the name of the development kit (which we previously saw in The Rescue of Lorri in Lorrintron from 1991), which variously goes as DC-Games, DC-Play (sometimes without the hyphens), the Graphics Adventure Game System (or Builder), and the Generic Adventure Game System. Sometimes it goes by multiple names on the same screen.

         

That could be a sci-fi or steampunk castle.

      

That said, it's a competent enough kit (credited to David Hernandez of Plano, Texas), and I noted some of its strengths in the earlier entry. It offers keyword-based dialogues, a variety of text encounters, NPC movement scripting, complex item manipulation, and tactical combat reminiscent of Ultima V (the Ultima series is, of course, the source for the general look and feel of the kit). Neither game that we've seen has really exemplified what is possible with the kit. Tamrak is better than Lorrintron, but at least the author of the latter purchased the full version and could thus offer EGA graphics instead of this game's ugly CGA.

     

The story is that the world of Tamrak has long been going through a golden age under the wise reign of King Josephus. Tamrak consists of twelve "worlds," each ruled by an appointed lord, each represented by a jewel stored in a guarded safe in Josephus's castle. In response to some recent unrest, Josephus has the safe checked, and it turns out that someone has stolen the entire set of jewels. A tablet left behind indicates that the theft was orchestrated by the evil wizard Marbodaei, thought long-dead, now returned to launch his own claim to the throne. In desperation, Josephus flings a message calling for a hero into a time portal, where it arrives in the lab of the inventor of a time machine (the PC).  

      

Character creation has the player choose from elf, dwarf, wizard, archer, and fighter classes. The selection adjusts the game's attributes: strength, speed, aim, dexterity, hit points, IQ, and power. The player then gets to add to these attributes from a pool of bonus points.

     

I like that you get little tips on the uses of each attribute.

      

Gameplay starts in the character's own house, where he can pick up a key and a leather jacket. The backstory has already alerted the player that the time portal is hidden in a regular wall space, which serves as a hint to search the walls until he finds a secret door. But walking through the door just returns the character to the house; to move forward, he has to stand inside the doorway and hit E)nter.

      

Escaping the house.

       

Correct use of the portal sees the player arrive in the World of Tamrak, where his first priority is to find a town selling weapons. The game uses a traditional Ultima-style keyboard interface, with single letter commands like A)ttack, G)et an object, and T)alk. 

        

Arriving in Tamrak. Note the list of commands.

           

Tamrak's map is a large 100 x 255 tiles. The "worlds" of Tamrak—they may or may not be fantasy, remember—are just castles. The manual gives the names of all twelve—Odem, Pitdah, Bareketh, Nophak, Sappir, Yahalom, Leshem, Shebo, Ahlamah, Tarshish, Shoham, and Yashpheh—and their associated stones. (The source of this list is Exodus 28:17-20; each of these names is a gemstone displayed on a priestly breastplate that Moses ordered the Israelites to make.) These castles, as well as other scattered towns, also provide services including healers, pubs, and shops selling weapons, armor, spells, potions, necklaces, rings, and various modes of transportation.

      

Arriving in a new town.

      

Both indoors and outdoors, the character may be attacked by randomly-spawning enemies like orcs, trolls, giants, lizard men, snakes, water sprites, and pirate ships. Combat works like Ultima V in that a single enemy icon may turn out to include multiple enemies, which spread out and take on individual form once combat is engaged. Each round, the player can attack, cast a spell, or use an item. Attacks are targeted with a cursor that allows diagonal and ranged attacks. The character gets experience for every successful action, not just kills, and leveling up (which confers extra maximum hit points and spell power) is relatively swift.

        

Fighting a couple of lizard men.

       

There are some solid basic RPG mechanics here. I never fail to enjoy the process of slowly getting stronger, through both leveling and equipment purchases. Early-game combat is challenging and (for me) required careful use of spells like "Scare" and "Paralyze." It doesn't take long, however, for the game's many faults to come through.

    

• The game has a food mechanic, but food depletes so slowly (like one unit per 1,000 moves) that the developer might as well have not bothered. I think the starting 25 rations would last the entire game. This is good because:

• All food looted after battle is mysteriously rotten. 

• Something is broken with the random number generator that determines how much gold you find after battle. It's normally around 10-100, but every once in a while, you find thousands of gold pieces after killing the weakest enemy. You also sometimes find negative gold pieces, but this happens rarely enough that you can amass a fortune in a short time and buy the best items in the game. At some point, enemies stopped being able to do any damage to me at all when I crossed a certain AC threshold. 

       

That's what I call a Pyrrhic victory.

    

• When you enter certain buildings, you'd better pay attention to what square you arrived on because the game often shows no door, ladder, or other indication of the exit square. You have to just stand in the right place and hit E)xit.

      

Trying to find the way out of this shop.

      

• Sometimes, when you exit a city, you end up back at your house in the northwest part of the game map. 

• The game wastes the kit's dialogue abilities by rarely offering any keywords that NPCs respond to. Although like Ultima IV, everyone responds to NAME, there's no equivalent to JOB to prompt further discussion. The manual suggests that QUEST works, but no one I used it on responded.

      

Either Marta has a very strange nickname, or something has gone wrong with the data file here.

       

• You can ask a lot of NPCs to JOIN you, creating a party of up to six ("and another sixteen in reserve," the manual says, but I don't understand how that works). But a party simply multiplies the number of enemies you face in combat, making combat last a lot longer. Companions do not provide any advantage.

        

I briefly had a couple of allies.

      

• If you die, the game sometimes resurrects you and sometimes doesn't. (I think maybe you get a fixed number per level.) If it doesn't, you have to reload your last save game. But if you do, you mysteriously die again after one step. The only way to fix this is to completely quit the game and restart.

• Fully exploring the map means being able to cross water. The game offers a raft for sale, but for some reason it thinks the raft is food. You can Q)uaff it, for instance. If you drop it and use it to cross a river and then pick it up again, you'll lose it—the game adds it to your food total. Fortunately, there's a separate skiff that you can steal that doesn't have this problem. 

• Every 255 moves, the game says you're exhausted and forces you to C)amp and rest, an action that can be done literally anywhere and takes no time at all. 

      

I can even rest on a skiff in the middle of the ocean.

       

• The game will get into a glitch by which every store sells the exact same random things regardless of the specific nature of the store. 

• There are spelling errors on just about every screen. 

          

The "b" isn't even silent in that word.

        

The indoor areas can be unexpectedly large and complex. There are towers inside cities and dungeons inside towers. You have to watch for cave openings everywhere. My general sense is that finding each of the 12 gems requires solving a variety of puzzles or following a variety of hints. I found two of them in dungeons in their respective "worlds." As for the others, at least one site says that there's one puzzle in which you have to fool a guard with a false key, but I don't see how the mechanics even allow a puzzle of that kind of complexity.

      

This dungeon's name is a bit on-the-nose.

     

I wasn't really sure what to do with the two gems that I found (carnelian and emerald). I tried taking them to their respective kings, as a wizard told me, "Return the carnelian to the same place as Odem is." I tried speaking to the king of Odem, dropping the gem in front of him, dropping it on a nearby dais, and so forth, to no avail. I also tried returning them to King Josephus in his castle, Concord, but he also failed to recognize that I had them. He said that I should "return them to the Icon"; I have no idea what he means by that.

     

You mean "again," right?

     

A few other notes:

   

• The manual offers a list of different NPC types that the player will encounter, including trainers, beggars, and quest-givers, none of whom I encountered.

• I did encounter bartenders, however. You can order three beers at each of the game's pubs before the bartender cuts you off. You can ask for a tip after each beer, but the bartender only offers anything valuable after the second one.  

        

After three beers?! Oh, wait . . . I'm playing an elf.

       

• In addition to potions, the game has a lot of exotic foods that provide various temporary benefits like enhanced strength or rapid hit point regeneration.

       

I hope that the bread and cakes are "in the culinary style of the elves."

     

• I found two "proclamations," but the game offers no way that I can find to read them. 

• There's a store where you can buy lanterns and torches, but none of the underground areas were dark. The same store offers keys, but so far every locked door and chest could be bashed open.

          

But why?

            

If the game isn't unwinnable because of its bugs, it is unwinnable because of its shareware nature. The demo version allows the player to enter four of the twelve castles; the others simply say that there is no door present.

     

That must be inconvenient.

     

You had to register the full game to get access to the rest of it. The author asked $10 plus $2 for shipping and handling. The registration form promises that in addition to the full version of the game, those who register it will receive "a jewel from the Fantasy World of Tamrak," guaranteed to be "natural in origin." There's a skeptical part of me that wonders whether the full version ever really existed, and whether anyone really got that gem.

 

An NPC offers commentary on the shareware nature of the game. Technically, I have 10 jewels to find.

       

The Fantasy Worlds of Tamrak was written by Ray Johnson of Tupelo, Mississippi. (He gives a "C.G." after his name, and I cannot come up with any idea for what it stands for.) Johnson apparently also created a text adventure called Lost Gold: The Search for the Lost Dutchman Gold Mine in 1992 (also made using a kit; in this case, the BIG Adventure Game Toolkit). I like to think its story began, "The Dutchman Gold Mine may or may not be lost."