A Serpentine Tale

A SERPENTINE TALE (Black Tower 2)


(Zenobi Software)





Spectrum 48K/128K+2








In the corner of the nursery stood a small oak cabinet


and in this cabinet were stored the various books and


toys of your childhood. Amidst these books were the


usual "GRIMMS FAIRY TALES", "GULLIVER's TRAVELS" and


"TALES OF TOM THUMB", but the one that always caught


your eye and the one you spent most time reading was


a tatty old book entitled "MYTHS AND LEGENDS".





This book told of the various myths that the various


peoples of this world believed in and of the many creatures


that dominated these myths. However one creature prevailed


over them all ... that creature being the "SEA SERPENT".


And although its description varied somewhat in the


various tales, it was always a creature of immense size


and voracious appetite ... if only for unwary travellers


and shipwrecked sea-farers!





Over the years you had become fascinated by these creatures


and the multitude of stories told about them, but you had


never once suspected that one day you would come face-to-face


with one of them ... After all, they were only figments of


the imagination - or so you believed.








THE STORY SO FAR





Following on from your success in destroying the "MORJAN CRYSTAL" you decided to take


a well-earned breather and enjoy a sea-voyage to the city of Hiarken. Situated on the


other side of the Moellen Sea, this city was renowned for its night-life and even more


so for the exotic spiced dishes conjured up by its many chefs. All in all, you were


looking forward to arriving there and sampling both delights ...





The voyage went well for the first few days, but on the third day, just as you came in


sight of land, a violent storm arose and amidst mountainous seas the ship went down


with all hands onboard ... All hands, that is, except for YOU! At the onset of the storm


you had taken shelter in a small boat, which had been brought on deck to be caulked, and


it was this small boat that was to be your saviour. For at the height of the storm both


you and the small boat were washed overboard and left to the mercy of the roaring seas.








NOTES





This game will recognise all the normal commands such as SEARCH, DROP, WEAR, and GET.


However it will also accept such "out-of-the-ordinary" commands as PLOUGH, SNIFF, BUY,


TIDY and SHOVE. Use the commands RAMSAVE (RS) and RAMLOAD (RL) to store a game position


in MEMORY but always use the more standard SAVE and LOAD to store a more permanent copy


to TAPE.





To converse with the various characters you may encounter, just input "ASK HARAT" (or


whoever it is) in order to gain some assistance. However they might not answer ... you


might just have caught them at a bad time ... so try again later.








HINTS





If it is too dark to see, just waiting around might cast some light on the subject and


you never know what it might reveal. Also when in desperate straits it can sometimes


call for very desperate measures ... so grab it and hold on regardless!!