TALISMAN on SynTax PD 585
         (Public Domain Illustrated Text Adventure,
                 requires 2 meg. of memory)
                 Written by Paul Jenkinson
           Notes by Barbara Gibb on an Amiga A600

You will have to FIGHT Orcs, Dwarves, Slugs and Wolves in order to
progress, although you may, on occasions, be allowed to ignore
them. The short sword is fairly successful as a weapon against
Orcs and Slugs, but the Dwarves usually win unless you have the
long sword (or the broken long sword at the end of the game). The
Wolves can be killed with the broken sword, but generally don't
have the odds in their favour as much as the vicious Dwarves. A
couple of times I was faced by both an Orc and a Dwarf. Victory
for you, against the Dwarves in particular, seems random, so be
prepared to reload your saved position many times.

Orcs never seem to appear beyond the pit leading to the cave
system, Dwarves appeared anywhere except the town, Slugs only
roamed the maze and Wolves the church area and town.

Only when the message about your strength being low appears on
screen will you be allowed to increase it by drinking from the
pool in the CAVE, the jug in the WIZARD'S COTTAGE or the fountain
in the MAZE. I couldn't drink at the oasis or small water hole but
that may be because I wasn't in a poor enough condition.

Thoroughly map the initial locations and persevere, YOU WILL WIN
IN THE END. The Wizard will get annoyed if you talk to him too
much, and he transports you to the cave with the pool, but none
the worse for wear.

The placing of objects is random and sometimes the short sword,
flute and bronze coin are difficult to find.

SAVE frequently, but as it overwrites your previous save, it may
be prudent to use more than one disk. I always saved one move
AFTER I'd defeated a Dwarf in the cave system.

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