Fatal Distractions!/fataldistractions.bin/chap02/nh22/data

Text File | 1987-12-21 | 11KB | 258 lines

    NetHack & Quest data file - version 2.0
@    human (or you in human guise)
-    a wall
|    a wall
+    a door (or a spell book)
.    the floor of a room
    a dark part of a room
#    a corridor
}    water filled area
{    a fountain
<    the staircase to the previous level
>    the staircase to the next level
^    a trap
\    an opulent throne.
$    a pile, pot or chest of gold
%    a piece of food
!    a potion
*    a gem
?    a scroll
=    a ring
/    a wand
[    a suit of armor
)    a weapon
(    a useful item (camera, key, rope etc.)
0    an iron ball
_    an iron chain
`    an enormous rock
"    an amulet (or a web)
,    a trapper
:    a chameleon
;    a giant eel
'    a lurker above
&    a demon
A    a giant ant
B    a giant bat
C    a centaur;
    Of all the monsters put together by  the  Greek     imagination
    the  Centaurs (Kentauroi) constituted a class in themselves.
    Despite a strong streak     of  sensuality     in  their  make-up,
    their  normal  behaviour  was  moral, and they took a kindly
    thought of man's welfare. The attempted outrage of Nessos on
    Deianeira,  and     that  of the whole tribe of Centaurs on the
    Lapith women, are more than offset  by    the  hospitality  of
    Pholos    and  by     the  wisdom of Cheiron, physician, prophet,
    lyrist, and the instructor of Achilles.     Further,  the    Cen-
    taurs  were  peculiar in that their nature, which united the
    body of a horse with the trunk and head of a  man,  involved
    an  unthinkable     duplication  of  vital organs and important
    members. So grotesque a combination seems  almost  un-Greek.
    These  strange    creatures were said to live in the caves and
    clefts of the mountains, myths associating  them  especially
    with the hills of Thessaly and the range of Erymanthos.
               [Mythology of all races, Vol. 1, pp. 270-271]
D    a dragon;
    In the West the dragon was the natural    enemy  of  man.     Although
    preferring to live in bleak and desolate regions, whenever it was
    seen among men it left in its wake a  trail  of     destruction  and
    disease. Yet any attempt to slay this beast was a perilous under-
    taking. For the dragon's assailant had to contend not  only  with
    clouds    of  sulphurous fumes pouring from its fire-breathing nos-
    trils, but also with the thrashings of its tail, the most  deadly
    part of its serpent-like body.
    [From: Mythical Beasts by Deirdre Headon (The Leprechaun Library)]
E    a floating eye
F    a freezing sphere
G    a gnome;
    ... And then a gnome came by, carrying a bundle, an old fellow
    three times as large as an imp and wearing clothes of a sort,
    especially a hat. And he was clearly just as frightened as the
    imps though he could not go so fast. Ramon Alonzo saw that there
    must be some great trouble that was vexing magical things; and,
    since gnomes speak the language of men, and will answer if spoken
    to gently, he raised his hat, and asked of the gnome his name.
    The gnome did not stop his hasty shuffle a moment as he answered
    'Alaraba' and grabbed the rim of his hat but forgot to doff it.
    'What is the trouble, Alaraba?' said Ramon Alonzo.
    'White magic. Run!' said the gnome ...
            [From: The Charwoman's Shadow, by Lord Dunsany.]
H    a hobgoblin;
    Hobgoblin. Used by the    Puritans  and  in  later  times     for
    wicked    goblin    spirits,  as in Bunyan's 'Hobgoblin nor foul
    friend', but its more correct use is for the friendly  spir-
    its  of     the brownie type.  In 'A midsummer night's dream' a
    fairy says to Shakespeare's Puck:
        Those that Hobgoblin call you, and sweet Puck,
        You do their work, and they shall have good luck:
        Are you not he?
    and obviously Puck would not wish to be called    a  hobgoblin
    if that was an ill-omened word.
    Hobgoblins are on the whole, good-humoured and ready  to  be
    helpful,  but fond of practical joking, and like most of the
    fairies rather nasty people to annoy. Boggarts hover on     the
    verge of hobgoblindom.    Bogles are just over the edge.
    One Hob mentioned by Henderson, was Hob Headless who haunted
    the  road  between Hurworth and Neasham, but could not cross
    the little river Kent, which flowed into the  Tess.  He     was
    exorcised  and    laid under a large stone by the roadside for
    ninety-nine years and a day. If anyone was so unwary  as  to
    sit  on     that stone, he would be unable to quit it for ever.
    The ninety-nine years is nearly up, so trouble may  soon  be
    heard of on the road between Hurworth and Neasham.
               [Katharine Briggs, A  dictionary     of Fairies]
I    an invisible stalker
J    a jackal
K    a Keystone Kop
L    a leprechaun;
    The Irish Leprechaun is the Faeries' shoemaker and is  known
    under  various    names  in different parts of Ireland: Cluri-
    caune in Cork, Lurican in Kerry, Lurikeen in Kildare and Lu-
    rigadaun  in  Tipperary.  Although he works for the Faeries,
    the Leprechaun is not of the same species. He is small,     has
    dark  skin  and wears strange clothes.    His nature has some-
    thing of the manic-depressive about it: first  he  is  quite
    happy,    whistling merrily as he nails a sole on to a shoe; a
    few minutes later, he is sullen and  morose,  drunk  on     his
    home-made  heather ale. The Leprechaun's two great loves are
    tobacco and whiskey, and he is a first-rate con-man,  impos-
    sible  to  out-fox.  No     one, no matter how clever, has ever
    managed to cheat him out of his hidden pot of  gold  or     his
    magic  shilling. At the last minute he always thinks of some
    way to divert his captor's attention  and  vanishes  in     the
    twinkling  of  an eye.
              [From: A Field Guide to the Little People
                 by     Nancy Arrowsmith & George Moorse. ]
M    a mimic
N    a nymph
O    an orc
P    a purple worm
Q    a quantum mechanic
R    a rust monster
S    a snake
T    a troll
U    an umber hulk
V    a vampire
W    a wraith
X    a xorn
Y    a yeti
Z    a zombie
a    an acid blob
b    a giant beetle
c    a cockatrice;
    Once in a great while, when the positions of the  stars     are
    just  right, a seven-year-old rooster will lay an egg. Then,
    along will come a snake, to coil around the egg, or a  toad,
    to  squat  upon     the  egg, keeping it warm and helping it to
    hatch. When it hatches, out comes a creature  called  basil-
    isk, or cockatrice, the most deadly of all creatures. A sin-
    gle glance from its yellow, piercing toad's eyes  will    kill
    both  man  and beast. Its power of destruction is said to be
    so great that sometimes simply to hear its  hiss  can  prove
    fatal.    Its  breath is so venomous  that it causes all vege-
    tation to wither.
    There is, however, one    creature  which     can  withstand     the
    basilisk's deadly gaze, and this is the weasel. No one knows
    why this is so, but although the fierce weasel can slay     the
    basilisk,  it will itself be killed in the struggle. Perhaps
    the weasel knows the basilisk's fatal weakness: if  it    ever
    sees  its own reflection in a mirror it will perish instant-
    ly. But even a dead basilisk is dangerous, for    it  is    said
    that merely touching its lifeless body can cause a person to
    sicken and die.
        [From: Mythical Beasts by Deirdre Headon (The Leprechaun
           Library) and other sources. ]
d    a dog
e    an ettin
f    a fog cloud
g    a gelatinous cube
h    a homunculus
i    an imp;
     ... imps ... little creatures of two feet high     that  could
    gambol and jump prodigiously; ...
            [From: The Charwoman's Shadow, by Lord Dunsany.]

    An 'imp' is an off-shoot or cutting. Thus an 'ymp tree'     was
    a grafted tree, or one grown from a cutting, not from seed.
    'Imp' properly means a small devil, an off-shoot  of  Satan,
    but  the distinction between goblins or bogles and imps from
    hell is hard to make, and many in the  Celtic  countries  as
    well as the English Puritans regarded all fairies as devils.
    The fairies of tradition often hover  uneasily    between     the
    ghostly and the diabolic state.
             [Katharine Briggs, A dictionary of Fairies]
j    a jaguar
k    a killer bee
l    a leocrotta
m    a minotaur
n    a nurse
o    an owlbear
p    a piercer
q    a quivering blob
r    a rockmole
s    a giant spider
t    a tengu;
    The tengu was the  most     troublesome  creature    of  Japanese
    legend.      Part    bird  and part man, with red beak for a nose
    and flashing eyes, the tengu was notorious for    stirring  up
    feuds  and  prolonging    enmity between families. Indeed, the
    belligerent tengus were supposed to have  been    man's  first
    instructors in the use of arms.
                [From: Mythical Beasts by Deirdre Headon
                     (The Leprechaun Library). ]
u    a unicorn;
    Men have always sought the elusive unicorn, for     the  single
    twisted     horn  which projected from its forehead was thought
    to be a powerful talisman. It was said that the unicorn     had
    simply    to  dip     the tip of its horn in a muddy pool for the
    water to become pure. Men also believed that to     drink    from
    this horn was a protection against all sickness, and that if
    the horn was ground to a powder it would act as an  antidote
    to  all poisons. Less than 200 years ago in France, the horn
    of a unicorn was used in a ceremony to test the     royal    food
    for poison.
    Although only the size of a small horse, the  unicorn  is  a
    very  fierce  beast,  capable  of killing an elephant with a
    single thrust from its horn.  Its  fleetness  of  foot    also
    makes  this solitary creature difficult to capture. However,
    it can be tamed and captured by a maiden. Made gentle by the
    sight  of a virgin, the unicorn can be lured to lay its head
    in her lap, and in this docile mood, the maiden     may  secure
    it with a golden rope.
                [From: Mythical Beasts by Deirdre Headon
                     (The Leprechaun Library). ]
v    a violet fungi
w    a long worm;
    From its teeth the crysknife can be manufactured.
~    the tail of a long worm
x    a xan;
    The xan were animals sent to prick the legs of the Lords of Xibalba.
y    a yellow light
z    a zruty;
    The zruty are wild and gigantic beings, living in the wildernesses
    of the Tatra mountains.
1    The wizard of Yendor
2    The mail daemon
3    a soldier;
    The soldiers  of Yendor are  well-trained in the art of war,
    many  trained by  the wizard himself.  Some say the soldiers
    are explorers  who were  unfortunate enough  to be captured,
    and  put under the wizard's spell.  Those who have  survived
    encounters  with  soldiers   say  they  travel  together  in
    platoons,  and are fierce fighters.  Because of the  load of
    their  combat gear,  however,  one can usually run away from
    them, and doing so is considered a wise thing.
8    the medusa;
    This hideous  creature from  ancient Greek myth was the doom
    of many a valiant adventurer.  It is said that one gaze from
    its eyes  could turn a man to stone.  One bite from the nest
    of  snakes which  crown its head could  cause instant death.
    The only  way to kill this  monstrosity is to turn its  gaze
    back upon itself.
9    a giant;
    Giants have always walked the earth, though they are rare in
    these times.  They range in size from  little over nine feet
    to a towering twenty feet or more.  The larger ones use huge
    boulders as weapons, hurling them over large distances.  All
    types of giants share a love for men  -  roasted, boiled, or
    fried.  Their table manners are legendary.