You are Alaric Blackmoon, a roving mercenary and adventurer. After the defeat of your last employer, the Duke Bastiel, you find yourself wandering the kingdom of Scippar, penniless and weaponless, living off the land or doing odd jobs in return for food and lodgings.

One day you arrive in a small rural village called Hengemire and find an inn where the innkeeper offers you a meal and a bed for the night in return for moving a load of beer kegs. You of course gratefully accept and spend the rest of the day toiling.

Later in the evening, you are enjoying a mug of ale after a good meal, when you overhear some locals discussing events in the nearby kingdom of Hecate. You move closer and discover that the main city of Hecate, Domreil, is being besieged by an army of lizard-men, the Xixon, who have reappeared from the swamplands east of Domreil.

The Xixon were thought to have been vanquished two hundred years ago, by the legendary Hecatean War Hero, Kolt. But it would seem that some of the Xixon survived and have embarked upon another evil campaign of conquest.

The Xixon are ferocious warriors, but above all they fear one weapon - the Axe of Kolt. This golden axe, forged by the great soreceror, Magor, gives the person weilding it awesome powers of invincibility and the slightest touch is instant death to a Xixon.

However, the axe is an ordinary weapon in the hands of anyone save a member of the Hecatean Royal Family.

The young King of Hecate, Kelson, has offered a huge reward to anyone who can find the Axe of Kolt and somehow bring it to him. It is their only hope against the hordes of Xixon invaders.

The locals are scared, as the location of Kolt's tomb was lost years ago, and they fear that once Hecate falls, the Xixon will cross the Nortcele and turn their wrath on Scippar.

You decide on the spot to seek the Axe of Kolt, but where do you start? Then, you are amazed to learn that Magor, the sorceror who forged the Axe, still lives in a nearby tower! If anyone knows where Kolt's tomb is, he will!

Next morning, you walk up into the foothills of the Gratz Mountains above Hengemire, where Magor's tower lies.

At the foot of the black basalt tower, there is a huge bronze door. As you reach it, a ghostly voice asks your business. You say that you have come to see Magor. The door swings soundlessly open, and you walk in and up the worn, spiral staircase until at last you are in the presence of the Sorceror.

You ask Magor if he knows where the tomb of Kolt lies. He ponders for a while then answers, "Yes, I know where the tomb is! But I wonder if you are worthy of the task of recovering the Axe of Kolt!"

He pauses, looks you straight in the eye, then continues.

"I want you to perform a small errand for me. You must recover a talisman which was stolen from me many years ago by the witch Morgeth. She dwells in Direwood Forest, near Domreil in Hecate. Return the talisman to me and I will reveal the whereabouts of Kolt's tomb....Fail, and you die!!"

Magor throws you a small bag of money.

"Use this wisely - it is the only help you will get from me in your quest!"

He chants an arcane incantation and the room spins. You blink and find you are back at the foot of the tower.....

Your Quest Begins Here!!!

To move around, use the usual N, S, E, W, NW, SW, NE, SE, plus IN and OUT/O, UP/U and DOWN/D, CLIMB and JUMP, GO/ENTER.
G = Get; T = Take; I = Inventory; R = Redescribe location
SAVE = Save position (to tape)
LOAD = Load saved postion

You will meet various characters in this adventure who you should TALK, or SAY things, to. Also be sure to LOOK AROUND or in various directions, and EXAMINE everything.

When you have completed an episode, you will be given a code word which must be typed in at the start of the next episode in order to commence play.

If you wish to commence play with a saved position, simply load the episode in, then type LOAD instead of the code and enter the filename of the saved position. Now load the saved position.

Note that there is a short background screen file before episodes 2, 3 & 4.

You should load this file first with CHAIN"" (RETURN), otherwise when the main part loads, you may lose the top line of text off the top of the screen.

This adventure was written with the aid of The Quill by Gilsoft, and is dedicated to all the Sci-Fi and Fantasy authors whose novels have given me so much pleasure over the last 20-odd years.

Thanks also to Harry, Paul and Neil.

Good Luck, and Happy Adventuring!!