FAQ: highly secret game spoilers for Quest

From: gl8f@fermi.clas.Virginia.EDU (Greg Lindahl)

Date: Sun, 01 May 1994 04:45:03 +0000

Archive-name: games/quest-spoilers-faq
Last-modified: 1994/04/20

The following information is information that was deleted from the
Quest FAQ. It was originally collected by Tony Quirke
<quirke_a@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz>, who was asked by Bob Cook to not
distribute this information because some of the players of the game
complained that it made the game no fun, and some of this information
is different from game to game.

My Oleg the Loudmouth persona can't resist such a situation. It's a
fact of life that some players are going to continue to trade this
information whether it remains in the FAQ or not. A player who doesn't
want to read it doesn't have to, and a simple disclaimer about
changing information can easily prevent disappointment.

So, as a public (dis-)service, I will be posting this information
monthly. This posting is not authorized or condoned by Tony Quirke,
Adventures by Mail, or anyone else. If you don't want to know this
information, don't read it. If you have any updates for this
information, please send me email at <gl8f@virginia.edu>. I'll be sure
to send it to Tony as well ;-)

Spoilers follow.

I mean it! Don't read if you don't want to know.

a) Mage Spells
----------------
(NB: MSR stands for "Minimum skill required". May be inaccurate.)

[ also note that these spells change numbers for different games. I
  would presume that the MSR's don't change. ]

(  1) Enchant Weapons I - minor improvement, one character (MSR 29)
(  2) Shield I - minor effect, one character with armour (MSR 20)
(  3) Magic Dart - small damage, always hits, affects all types (MSR 29)
(  5) Sleep I - affect weakest monster types (MSR 27)
(  6) Healing I - single character, minor healing
(  9) Detect Treasure I - wilderness only, range of a few sectors (MSR 38)

( 12) Enchant Weapons II - Stronger enchantment, one character.
( 13) Enchant Weapons III - Strong enchantment, affects whole group.
( 14) Turn Undead I - protects against weakest undead types (MSR 20)
( 31) Destroy Undead - Will destroy, or weaken undead creatures
( 41) Deflect Magic I - Reflects magic, small chance of hitting caster
( 42) Deflect Magic II - More effective than Deflect Magic I (MSR over 38)
( 51) Battle Lust - YOUR group ignores retreats, increases combat ability [CA]
( 58) Fear I - Makes weaker enemies flee, stronger ones have reduced CA
( 61) Slow Poison - prevents poison damage for the rest of turn (MSR 27)
( 62) Healing II - Affects all in the party, minor healing
( 81) Awaken - Wakes characters affected by 'Sleep' spells.
( 91) Reveal Traps - Reveals any traps come across that turn
( 92) Reveal Treasure - Dungeon only, reveals rooms with treasure (MSR ovr 38)
( 98) Identify Item - Will give you the item blurb for that target item

(126) Petrify - Will turn one of oppositions characters to stone (dead)
(127) Disintegrate - Destroys swords, armour and equipment
(128) Black Void - Summons a black void, which may (1 in 4) suck in 1 enemy
(136) Choking Gas - Better effects on weaker creatures, no effect on undead.
(137) Poison Cloud - Reduces CA of target, no effect on undead
(139) Flesh Rot - [?]
(143) Turn Undead II - Prevents undead monsters from attacking
(149) Plague Wind - [?]
(157) Insanity - [?]
(179) Engulfing Globe - Globe sucks in characters, but is unpredictable.
(268) Shield II - Enhances armour of group members
(269) Shield III - Stronger enhancement than Shield 2
(329) [See 529]
(345) Destroy Undead II - More powerful version of Destroy Undead I
(348) Lightening Blast - Good against metal armour. A few creatures immune.
(356) Ball of Fire - Can destroy weak enemies. Some creatures immune to fire.
(378) Magic Blast - Like Magic Dart, but bigger. Will always strike true
(431) Deflect Magic III - More reliable than Deflect magic I and II
(489) Target Illusion - [?]
(498) Invisibility - Makes group invisible for that turn
(519) Fear II - Makes most enemies flee, may kill weaker ones outright
(529) Acid Blast - [?] [This is also spell no 329, I think - MP]
(536) Dispel I - Moves 1 item/creature further away (dungeon or wilderness)
(538) Dispel II - Moves creature group away (dungeon or wilderness)
(548) Confusion I - Confuses enemy, no damage but reduces CA
(549) Confusion II - As Confusion I but stronger
(568) Sleep II - [?]
(579) Drain Life - reduces toughness of target, no effect on undead
(589) Total Death - Kills one of enemy characters (random) outright
(649) Stop Poison - Will stop the effect of poison on character for 1 turn
(666) Prophecy - Hoax spell, several variations, has no effect
(678) Healing III - Affects one person, heals a lot
(679) Healing IV - Affects entire party, heals a lot
(689) Cure Disease - Cures one diseased character
(839) Exit Dungeon - Teleports group out of dungeon from any level
(841) Teleport I - Moves group in target direction 1-5 sectors (random dist)
(842) Teleport II - Moves group in target direction 5-10 sectors
(849) Teleport III - Moves group in target direction 10-15 sectors
(858) Jaunt I - Moves group up or down one dungeon level [?? - Two 8s !!]
(859) Jaunt II - Moves group to target dungeon level
(869) [See 859]
(912) Reveal Monsters - Reveals all monsters on that dungeon level
(914) Detect Treasure II - [?]
(935) Detect Treasure III - Detects treasure in high range
(937) Map Wilderness I - Maps in wilderness as if party ended in city.
(938) Map Dungeon Level - Maps entire dungeon level that group on
(947) [See 956]
(956) Map Wilderness II - As Map Wilderness I but even larger area is mapped
(978) Make Food - Creates enough food to prevent starvation of group
(987) Locate - gives location and statistics for target group

[ Some of these notes below may actually be bugs or design flaws that
  may be fixed in existing games. ]

X - Quests

- You can get Library quests by "buying" them from Librarys at no cost, but
    you need 4000 EXP for the group. These are rumoured to pay very well
    indeed. They involve travelling to locations such as forests and "mapping"
    them. All you actually have to do is enter one of the outside sectors
    (for a forest) and return to the nearest city for your reward ! They
    seem to only be to nearby forests. Use "Y <no.>" to finish quest. You
    may find temple quests to be better paying and faster for large parties.

XI - Dungeons

- One person reports that Dungeons are never located inside cities and that
    there are almost always 2 dungeons approximately 2 days travel outside
    each city.

- Beware of dungeons in mountainous terrain, they usually only have 2 or
    3 rooms and a really nasty monster in the first one you enter. (usually
    something that kills one of your characters outright)

XII - Money and Thievery

- One trick might be to commit three robberies, then cast the Miracle
    "Insanity". This allows another three robberies, and can be repeated.
    Alternatively follow thefts with a "L <town no.>" to cope with being
    thrown out of town, or leave them 'til the end of your turn.

- A recommended strategy is to try a Call Spirit and a couple of Luck of
    Novala spells (assuming you worship Novala). With a thief in the mid
    50 SK level, you can attempt the juicy targets such as jewellers and
    banks. (*LIB*). Of course, you first have to be aligned to Novala.

XIII - General

- Buying mage skill replenishs the mage's spell points. Thus, with a lot of
    money one can buy skill, cast high cost spells for the experience, and
    buy skill again. "Battle Lust" may be a good spell to use, but be wary
    of having no retreat factor...

- "Oracle" always gives you a blurb, whereas "Revelation" won't. You may
    wish to cast "Oracle" in any blank orders on weapons/items you'd rather
    not buy. Doesn't use power or experience, but doesn't work on monsters.

- Only swords, axes, and bows have "plus N" varients. This doesn't matter
    much when you have a young group, but when you want to upgrade to
    magical weapons it's important. You might wish to switch over to
    equipping and training your party in them early on.

- If a shopkeeper says "It is rumoured..." or "They say...", they're
    probably making it up. (*LIB*). This may not be accurate, and may
    alter from game to game, however. *Compare* information, and you should
    be able to figure out the bogus statements.

- Whichever group has the most fighters seems to have the advantage in melee
    combat, should player fighting be your goal (*LIB*)

- Mage's spells have roughly three levels; Low, Medium and High. Gaining
    experience fast in order to learn Medium and High level spells can be
    done by casting such spells as Map Wilderness (6 Power, 38 EXP) or
    Make Food (8 Power, 65 EXP). Chris Clarke notes that KJC Quest recently
    changed Make Food to 35 EXP, so experimentation might be useful.

- It's possible that worshippers of Baldor using a Call Spirit to get a
    Lifebringer to help them will be resurrected if they fall in combat !
    This is, however, an unconfirmed rumour, and should be taken with a
    large grain of salt.