1: Hack & Quest data file - version 1.0.3 2: @ human (or you) 3: - a wall 4: | a wall 5: + a door 6: . the floor of a room 7: a dark part of a room 8: # a corridor 9: } water filled area 10: < the staircase to the previous level 11: > the staircase to the next level 12: ^ a trap 13: $ a pile, pot or chest of gold 14: %% a piece of food 15: ! a potion 16: * a gem 17: ? a scroll 18: = a ring 19: / a wand 20: [ a suit of armor 21: ) a weapon 22: ( a useful item (camera, key, rope etc.) 23: 0 an iron ball 24: _ an iron chain 25: ` an enormous rock 26: " an amulet 27: , a trapper 28: : a chameleon 29: ; a giant eel 30: ' a lurker above 31: & a demon 32: A a giant ant 33: B a giant bat 34: C a centaur; 35: Of all the monsters put together by the Greek imagination 36: the Centaurs (Kentauroi) constituted a class in themselves. 37: Despite a strong streak of sensuality in their make-up, 38: their normal behaviour was moral, and they took a kindly 39: thought of man's welfare. The attempted outrage of Nessos on 40: Deianeira, and that of the whole tribe of Centaurs on the 41: Lapith women, are more than offset by the hospitality of 42: Pholos and by the wisdom of Cheiron, physician, prophet, 43: lyrist, and the instructor of Achilles. Further, the Cen- 44: taurs were peculiar in that their nature, which united the 45: body of a horse with the trunk and head of a man, involved 46: an unthinkable duplication of vital organs and important 47: members. So grotesque a combination seems almost un-Greek. 48: These strange creatures were said to live in the caves and 49: clefts of the mountains, myths associating them especially 50: with the hills of Thessaly and the range of Erymanthos. 51: [Mythology of all races, Vol. 1, pp. 270-271] 52: D a dragon; 53: In the West the dragon was the natural enemy of man. Although 54: preferring to live in bleak and desolate regions, whenever it was 55: seen among men it left in its wake a trail of destruction and 56: disease. Yet any attempt to slay this beast was a perilous under- 57: taking. For the dragon's assailant had to contend not only with 58: clouds of sulphurous fumes pouring from its fire-breathing nos- 59: trils, but also with the thrashings of its tail, the most deadly 60: part of its serpent-like body. 61: [From: Mythical Beasts by Deirdre Headon (The Leprechaun Library)] 62: E a floating eye 63: F a freezing sphere 64: G a gnome; 65: ... And then a gnome came by, carrying a bundle, an old fellow 66: three times as large as an imp and wearing clothes of a sort, 67: especially a hat. And he was clearly just as frightened as the 68: imps though he could not go so fast. Ramon Alonzo saw that there 69: must be some great trouble that was vexing magical things; and, 70: since gnomes speak the language of men, and will answer if spoken 71: to gently, he raised his hat, and asked of the gnome his name. 72: The gnome did not stop his hasty shuffle a moment as he answered 73: 'Alaraba' and grabbed the rim of his hat but forgot to doff it. 74: 'What is the trouble, Alaraba?' said Ramon Alonzo. 75: 'White magic. Run!' said the gnome ... 76: [From: The Charwoman's Shadow, by Lord Dunsany.] 77: H a hobgoblin; 78: Hobgoblin. Used by the Puritans and in later times for 79: wicked goblin spirits, as in Bunyan's 'Hobgoblin nor foul 80: friend', but its more correct use is for the friendly spir- 81: its of the brownie type. In 'A midsummer night's dream' a 82: fairy says to Shakespeare's Puck: 83: Those that Hobgoblin call you, and sweet Puck, 84: You do their work, and they shall have good luck: 85: Are you not he? 86: and obviously Puck would not wish to be called a hobgoblin 87: if that was an ill-omened word. 88: Hobgoblins are on the whole, good-humoured and ready to be 89: helpful, but fond of practical joking, and like most of the 90: fairies rather nasty people to annoy. Boggarts hover on the 91: verge of hobgoblindom. Bogles are just over the edge. 92: One Hob mentioned by Henderson, was Hob Headless who haunted 93: the road between Hurworth and Neasham, but could not cross 94: the little river Kent, which flowed into the Tess. He was 95: exorcised and laid under a large stone by the roadside for 96: ninety-nine years and a day. If anyone was so unwary as to 97: sit on that stone, he would be unable to quit it for ever. 98: The ninety-nine years is nearly up, so trouble may soon be 99: heard of on the road between Hurworth and Neasham. 100: [Katharine Briggs, A dictionary of Fairies] 101: I an invisible stalker 102: J a jackal 103: K a kobold 104: L a leprechaun; 105: The Irish Leprechaun is the Faeries' shoemaker and is known 106: under various names in different parts of Ireland: Cluri- 107: caune in Cork, Lurican in Kerry, Lurikeen in Kildare and Lu- 108: rigadaun in Tipperary. Although he works for the Faeries, 109: the Leprechaun is not of the same species. He is small, has 110: dark skin and wears strange clothes. His nature has some- 111: thing of the manic-depressive about it: first he is quite 112: happy, whistling merrily as he nails a sole on to a shoe; a 113: few minutes later, he is sullen and morose, drunk on his 114: home-made heather ale. The Leprechaun's two great loves are 115: tobacco and whiskey, and he is a first-rate con-man, impos- 116: sible to out-fox. No one, no matter how clever, has ever 117: managed to cheat him out of his hidden pot of gold or his 118: magic shilling. At the last minute he always thinks of some 119: way to divert his captor's attention and vanishes in the 120: twinkling of an eye. 121: [From: A Field Guide to the Little People 122: by Nancy Arrowsmith & George Moorse. ] 123: M a mimic 124: N a nymph 125: O an orc 126: P a purple worm 127: Q a quasit 128: R a rust monster 129: S a snake 130: T a troll 131: U an umber hulk 132: V a vampire 133: W a wraith 134: X a xorn 135: Y a yeti 136: Z a zombie 137: a an acid blob 138: b a giant beetle 139: c a cockatrice; 140: Once in a great while, when the positions of the stars are 141: just right, a seven-year-old rooster will lay an egg. Then, 142: along will come a snake, to coil around the egg, or a toad, 143: to squat upon the egg, keeping it warm and helping it to 144: hatch. When it hatches, out comes a creature called basil- 145: isk, or cockatrice, the most deadly of all creatures. A sin- 146: gle glance from its yellow, piercing toad's eyes will kill 147: both man and beast. Its power of destruction is said to be 148: so great that sometimes simply to hear its hiss can prove 149: fatal. Its breath is so venomous that it causes all vege- 150: tation to wither. 151: There is, however, one creature which can withstand the 152: basilisk's deadly gaze, and this is the weasel. No one knows 153: why this is so, but although the fierce weasel can slay the 154: basilisk, it will itself be killed in the struggle. Perhaps 155: the weasel knows the basilisk's fatal weakness: if it ever 156: sees its own reflection in a mirror it will perish instant- 157: ly. But even a dead basilisk is dangerous, for it is said 158: that merely touching its lifeless body can cause a person to 159: sicken and die. 160: [From: Mythical Beasts by Deirdre Headon (The Leprechaun 161: Library) and other sources. ] 162: d a dog 163: e an ettin 164: f a fog cloud 165: g a gelatinous cube 166: h a homunculus 167: i an imp; 168: ... imps ... little creatures of two feet high that could 169: gambol and jump prodigiously; ... 170: [From: The Charwoman's Shadow, by Lord Dunsany.] 171: 172: An 'imp' is an off-shoot or cutting. Thus an 'ymp tree' was 173: a grafted tree, or one grown from a cutting, not from seed. 174: 'Imp' properly means a small devil, an off-shoot of Satan, 175: but the distinction between goblins or bogles and imps from 176: hell is hard to make, and many in the Celtic countries as 177: well as the English Puritans regarded all fairies as devils. 178: The fairies of tradition often hover uneasily between the 179: ghostly and the diabolic state. 180: [Katharine Briggs, A dictionary of Fairies] 181: j a jaguar 182: k a killer bee 183: l a leocrotta 184: m a minotaur 185: n a nurse 186: o an owlbear 187: p a piercer 188: q a quivering blob 189: r a giant rat 190: s a scorpion 191: t a tengu; 192: The tengu was the most troublesome creature of Japanese 193: legend. Part bird and part man, with red beak for a nose 194: and flashing eyes, the tengu was notorious for stirring up 195: feuds and prolonging enmity between families. Indeed, the 196: belligerent tengus were supposed to have been man's first 197: instructors in the use of arms. 198: [From: Mythical Beasts by Deirdre Headon 199: (The Leprechaun Library). ] 200: u a unicorn; 201: Men have always sought the elusive unicorn, for the single 202: twisted horn which projected from its forehead was thought 203: to be a powerful talisman. It was said that the unicorn had 204: simply to dip the tip of its horn in a muddy pool for the 205: water to become pure. Men also believed that to drink from 206: this horn was a protection against all sickness, and that if 207: the horn was ground to a powder it would act as an antidote 208: to all poisons. Less than 200 years ago in France, the horn 209: of a unicorn was used in a ceremony to test the royal food 210: for poison. 211: Although only the size of a small horse, the unicorn is a 212: very fierce beast, capable of killing an elephant with a 213: single thrust from its horn. Its fleetness of foot also 214: makes this solitary creature difficult to capture. However, 215: it can be tamed and captured by a maiden. Made gentle by the 216: sight of a virgin, the unicorn can be lured to lay its head 217: in her lap, and in this docile mood, the maiden may secure 218: it with a golden rope. 219: [From: Mythical Beasts by Deirdre Headon 220: (The Leprechaun Library). ] 221: v a violet fungi 222: w a long worm; 223: From its teeth the crysknife can be manufactured. 224: ~ the tail of a long worm 225: x a xan; 226: The xan were animals sent to prick the legs of the Lords of Xibalba. 227: y a yellow light 228: z a zruty; 229: The zruty are wild and gigantic beings, living in the wildernesses 230: of the Tatra mountains. 231: 1 The wizard of Yendor 232: 2 The mail daemon