233 lines
9.6 KiB
Plaintext
233 lines
9.6 KiB
Plaintext
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Hack & Quest data file - version 1.0.3
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@ human (or you)
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- a wall
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| a wall
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+ a door
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. the floor of a room
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a dark part of a room
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# a corridor
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} water filled area
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< the staircase to the previous level
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> the staircase to the next level
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^ a trap
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$ a pile, pot or chest of gold
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%% a piece of food
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! a potion
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* a gem
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? a scroll
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= a ring
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/ a wand
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[ a suit of armor
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) a weapon
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( a useful item (camera, key, rope etc.)
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0 an iron ball
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_ an iron chain
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` an enormous rock
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" an amulet
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, a trapper
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: a chameleon
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; a giant eel
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' a lurker above
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& a demon
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A a giant ant
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B a giant bat
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C a centaur;
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Of all the monsters put together by the Greek imagination
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the Centaurs (Kentauroi) constituted a class in themselves.
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Despite a strong streak of sensuality in their make-up,
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their normal behaviour was moral, and they took a kindly
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thought of man's welfare. The attempted outrage of Nessos on
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Deianeira, and that of the whole tribe of Centaurs on the
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Lapith women, are more than offset by the hospitality of
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Pholos and by the wisdom of Cheiron, physician, prophet,
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lyrist, and the instructor of Achilles. Further, the Cen-
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taurs were peculiar in that their nature, which united the
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body of a horse with the trunk and head of a man, involved
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an unthinkable duplication of vital organs and important
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members. So grotesque a combination seems almost un-Greek.
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These strange creatures were said to live in the caves and
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clefts of the mountains, myths associating them especially
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with the hills of Thessaly and the range of Erymanthos.
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[Mythology of all races, Vol. 1, pp. 270-271]
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D a dragon;
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In the West the dragon was the natural enemy of man. Although
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preferring to live in bleak and desolate regions, whenever it was
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seen among men it left in its wake a trail of destruction and
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disease. Yet any attempt to slay this beast was a perilous under-
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taking. For the dragon's assailant had to contend not only with
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clouds of sulphurous fumes pouring from its fire-breathing nos-
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trils, but also with the thrashings of its tail, the most deadly
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part of its serpent-like body.
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[From: Mythical Beasts by Deirdre Headon (The Leprechaun Library)]
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E a floating eye
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F a freezing sphere
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G a gnome;
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... And then a gnome came by, carrying a bundle, an old fellow
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three times as large as an imp and wearing clothes of a sort,
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especially a hat. And he was clearly just as frightened as the
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imps though he could not go so fast. Ramon Alonzo saw that there
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must be some great trouble that was vexing magical things; and,
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since gnomes speak the language of men, and will answer if spoken
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to gently, he raised his hat, and asked of the gnome his name.
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The gnome did not stop his hasty shuffle a moment as he answered
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'Alaraba' and grabbed the rim of his hat but forgot to doff it.
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'What is the trouble, Alaraba?' said Ramon Alonzo.
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'White magic. Run!' said the gnome ...
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[From: The Charwoman's Shadow, by Lord Dunsany.]
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H a hobgoblin;
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Hobgoblin. Used by the Puritans and in later times for
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wicked goblin spirits, as in Bunyan's 'Hobgoblin nor foul
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friend', but its more correct use is for the friendly spir-
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its of the brownie type. In 'A midsummer night's dream' a
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fairy says to Shakespeare's Puck:
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Those that Hobgoblin call you, and sweet Puck,
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You do their work, and they shall have good luck:
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Are you not he?
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and obviously Puck would not wish to be called a hobgoblin
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if that was an ill-omened word.
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Hobgoblins are on the whole, good-humoured and ready to be
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helpful, but fond of practical joking, and like most of the
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fairies rather nasty people to annoy. Boggarts hover on the
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verge of hobgoblindom. Bogles are just over the edge.
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One Hob mentioned by Henderson, was Hob Headless who haunted
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the road between Hurworth and Neasham, but could not cross
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the little river Kent, which flowed into the Tess. He was
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exorcised and laid under a large stone by the roadside for
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ninety-nine years and a day. If anyone was so unwary as to
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sit on that stone, he would be unable to quit it for ever.
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The ninety-nine years is nearly up, so trouble may soon be
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heard of on the road between Hurworth and Neasham.
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[Katharine Briggs, A dictionary of Fairies]
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I an invisible stalker
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J a jackal
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K a kobold
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L a leprechaun;
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The Irish Leprechaun is the Faeries' shoemaker and is known
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under various names in different parts of Ireland: Cluri-
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caune in Cork, Lurican in Kerry, Lurikeen in Kildare and Lu-
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rigadaun in Tipperary. Although he works for the Faeries,
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the Leprechaun is not of the same species. He is small, has
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dark skin and wears strange clothes. His nature has some-
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thing of the manic-depressive about it: first he is quite
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happy, whistling merrily as he nails a sole on to a shoe; a
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few minutes later, he is sullen and morose, drunk on his
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home-made heather ale. The Leprechaun's two great loves are
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tobacco and whiskey, and he is a first-rate con-man, impos-
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sible to out-fox. No one, no matter how clever, has ever
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managed to cheat him out of his hidden pot of gold or his
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magic shilling. At the last minute he always thinks of some
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way to divert his captor's attention and vanishes in the
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twinkling of an eye.
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[From: A Field Guide to the Little People
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by Nancy Arrowsmith & George Moorse. ]
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M a mimic
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N a nymph
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O an orc
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P a purple worm
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Q a quasit
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R a rust monster
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S a snake
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T a troll
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U an umber hulk
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V a vampire
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W a wraith
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X a xorn
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Y a yeti
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Z a zombie
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a an acid blob
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b a giant beetle
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c a cockatrice;
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Once in a great while, when the positions of the stars are
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just right, a seven-year-old rooster will lay an egg. Then,
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along will come a snake, to coil around the egg, or a toad,
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to squat upon the egg, keeping it warm and helping it to
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hatch. When it hatches, out comes a creature called basil-
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isk, or cockatrice, the most deadly of all creatures. A sin-
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gle glance from its yellow, piercing toad's eyes will kill
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both man and beast. Its power of destruction is said to be
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so great that sometimes simply to hear its hiss can prove
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fatal. Its breath is so venomenous that it causes all vege-
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tation to wither.
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There is, however, one creature which can withstand the
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basilisk's deadly gaze, and this is the weasel. No one knows
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why this is so, but although the fierce weasel can slay the
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basilisk, it will itself be killed in the struggle. Perhaps
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the weasel knows the basilisk's fatal weakness: if it ever
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sees its own reflection in a mirror it will perish instant-
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ly. But even a dead basilisk is dangerous, for it is said
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that merely touching its lifeless body can cause a person to
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sicken and die.
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[From: Mythical Beasts by Deirdre Headon (The Leprechaun
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Library) and other sources. ]
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d a dog
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e an ettin
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f a fog cloud
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g a gelatinous cube
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h a homunculus
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i an imp;
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... imps ... little creatures of two feet high that could
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gambol and jump prodigiously; ...
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[From: The Charwoman's Shadow, by Lord Dunsany.]
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An 'imp' is an off-shoot or cutting. Thus an 'ymp tree' was
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a grafted tree, or one grown from a cutting, not from seed.
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'Imp' properly means a small devil, an off-shoot of Satan,
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but the distinction between goblins or bogles and imps from
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hell is hard to make, and many in the Celtic countries as
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well as the English Puritans regarded all fairies as devils.
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The fairies of tradition often hover uneasily between the
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ghostly and the diabolic state.
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[Katharine Briggs, A dictionary of Fairies]
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j a jaguar
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k a killer bee
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l a leocrotta
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m a minotaur
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n a nurse
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o an owlbear
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p a piercer
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q a quivering blob
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r a giant rat
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s a scorpion
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t a tengu;
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The tengu was the most troublesome creature of Japanese
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legend. Part bird and part man, with red beak for a nose
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and flashing eyes, the tengu was notorious for stirring up
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feuds and prolonging enmity between families. Indeed, the
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belligerent tengus were supposed to have been man's first
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instructors in the use of arms.
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[From: Mythical Beasts by Deirdre Headon
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(The Leprechaun Library). ]
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u a unicorn;
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Men have always sought the elusive unicorn, for the single
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twisted horn which projected from its forehead was thought
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to be a powerful talisman. It was said that the unicorn had
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simply to dip the tip of its horn in a muddy pool for the
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water to become pure. Men also believed that to drink from
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this horn was a protection against all sickness, and that if
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the horn was ground to a powder it would act as an antidote
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to all poisons. Less than 200 years ago in France, the horn
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of a unicorn was used in a ceremony to test the royal food
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for poison.
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Although only the size of a small horse, the unicorn is a
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very fierce beast, capable of killing an elephant with a
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single thrust from its horn. Its fleetness of foot also
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makes this solitary creature difficult to capture. However,
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it can be tamed and captured by a maiden. Made gentle by the
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sight of a virgin, the unicorn can be lured to lay its head
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in her lap, and in this docile mood, the maiden may secure
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it with a golden rope.
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[From: Mythical Beasts by Deirdre Headon
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(The Leprechaun Library). ]
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v a violet fungi
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w a long worm;
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From its teeth the crysknife can be manufactured.
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~ the tail of a long worm
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x a xan;
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The xan were animals sent to prick the legs of the Lords of Xibalba.
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y a yellow light
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z a zruty;
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The zruty are wild and gigantic beings, living in the wildernesses
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of the Tatra mountains.
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1 The wizard of Yendor
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2 The mail daemon
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