Tallyron II The story so far: The Wizard of Tallyron told the story of how a magic mace kept the kingdom of Tallyron from invasion. Tallyron was bordered by sea on the west coast, on the north by the lands of the dreaded Black Knight, on the east by the country of Krull the Merciless and to the south lay the empire of Grekh the Evil. These three rulers together wished to destroy the land of Tallyron forever. The Black Knight stole the mace and hid it on the Island of the Lost and a young acolyte from the Grand Meeting of Wizards was selected to recover it. Together with his two friends, Marc, from the King's yeomen and Karl, a southern farmer, he recovered the mace and destroyed the Black Knight. Marc has since become Commander in Chief of Tallyron's armies and our intrepid hero has become Court Wizard to the king of Tallyron. Now read on! "More wine for my guests!" called the young wizard. Roget, the old leader of the Grand Meeting of Wizards, watched him, warily. The third member of the dinner party, Marc, sat back in his chair, knowing what was afoot, but saying nothing. "Now, just what are you up to, you young rascal?" asked the old wizard. "Surely an acolyte can treat his master to a good meal?" enquired his host, genially. "The days when you were a junior Meeting member and I was your master are now long past," said Roget evenly. "You are no acolyte now, but the Court Wizard of Tallyron and quite outside any jurisdiction of mine. Now what exactly are you after?" "Too wise by half, as usual," grinned the Court Wizard. "Quite right, I need your help. Tell me, what do you make of this?" Clearing a space in the centre of the table, he spread out a scroll of parchment. It looked extremely old, but the assembled company could clearly read the following stanzas: From wizard's lair in darkest Wold Was spawned a hare of crystal, cold. When Mace is lost, and Mace is found feel bell's reposte, deep underground. For Hare be found with ill intent and Mace be drowned to great extent. "Where did you get this?" asked Roget. "From the king. This is part of the prophecies of Karleem." The old man gasped. Karleem was a legendary seer who lived many years previously, had made many predictions, and had never been wrong. "Now I think I understand. The king is concerned about the reference to the loss and recovery of the mace?" said Roget. "Quite. So any help would be appreciated." "Let us see then." Roget examined the parchment. At length he said: "Well, the Wold is the old name for the Southlands, the area just below where your friend Karl has his farm. A hare is the old southern word for a bell, so presumably the prophecy must refer to some magic bell with the power to negate the effect of the mace. I should think the Keeper of the Moontower on the southern plains could tell you all about it." "Then I must travel south." The Court Wizard turned to Marc. "Would you care to join me?" The soldier smiled. "Why not? The army could manage very well without me for a day or two. And it gives us a chance to look up an old friend!" Chapter Two "I hope this will take no longer than a week or two," com- plained Karl. "I have a harvest to worry about." "Stop winging. You know you hate the quiet life!" Marc chided. The three of them approached a bluff overlooking the southern plains of Tallyron as dusk fell. Suddenly they were surrounded by a group of armed men who moved forward to attack them. The Court Wizard had a sleep spell ready. The two fighters drew their swords. "Wait, Marc," called the magician. "They don't look like Grekh's people." The Court Wizard gravely gave his name. "And who am I addressing? Why do you prepare to attack us?" he asked indignantly. "Our humble apologies, my lord. We defend the Moontower and these are troubled times, for Grekh's armies are abroad." Marc and Karl exchanged glances. "Looks like there may be something to the poem, after all," said Karl. "Take us to your Keeper, please." Within half an hour the Keeper of the Moontower, who was an ancient gnarled character with a long beard and flowing grey hair, was reading the history of the Crystal Bell of the Wold from an old manuscript. The visitors soon determined that if the bell should be rung by an attacking army, the mace would become powerless. "But there is worse news, I'm afraid," said the old man gloomily. "The bell's last known position was in the old underground complex at Woldcrest, just five miles southwest of here. All the surface buildings have long since fallen into ruin. Very little is left. But it is said that the underground walkways and rooms are still there. They are only accessible by an old stone ladder beneath a trap door, but I have a map which will direct you there." The ancient figure leant forward and lowered his voice. "But it is rumoured that Grekh is already inside the complex, with a bodyguard of gargoyles. And that he has populated it with the living dead." The Court Wizard looked at his men. "Well, gentlemen. This ime we start with the best equipment available, and I know many spells. Are you with me...?" [ And that's it. No more instructions were given; you are left to find out for yourself what your spells do and how strong which monster is. Nor am I going to supply that information here. Note that Tallyron II loads its map data from tape, and modifies it as it is run. This means that it will have to be re-load this data for every game (and does do so if re-run after it's finished). The scan of the final page of the listing was not very clear, so it's possible that I've made an error or two in the map data. I had to write a map display program to try and debug this data. On the TZX, following the game and the data file, I've provided both the data creation program and this map display program (which is also useful for cheating...). The latter will, like the main program, read the map from tape. Richard Bos, July 2012. ]