Chamber of the Sci-Mutant Priestess. by Draconian. The grammar of the original author is not the best, so don't blame me. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INSTRUCTION GUIDE for IBM-PC/Tandy/Compatibles Unzip all files into a subdirectory called CHAMBER (if you want to save the game). Type: RUNME GAME SETUP ---------- You will need to make the appropriate setup selections for the hardware in your system. When prompted, select choices appropriate for you system. NOTE: The mouse is automatically enabled if your mouse driver is loaded. If you're running an Ad Lib sound card on your sytem, it too will be enabled automatically. CONTROLS -------- MOUSE CONTROL: Move the cursor around by moving the mouse. To make selections, click the right or left mouse button. When you change screens, clicking the right mouse button will cause the rooms to change quickly. JOYSTICK CONTROL: Move the cursor by moving the joystick. To make selections press either joystick button. KEYBOARD CONTROLS: Use the UP/DOWN and RIGHT/LEFT arrow keys to move the cursor. You may also use the number pad to move the cursor if the NUM LOCK key is engaged. The SPACEBAR or ENTER acts as a button to make selections. To move through the world of CHAMBER OF THE SCI-MUTANT PRIESTESS, you must make decisions for you alter ego whenever the "Brain Module" appears. Move the cursor to look at brain options (represented by the small bubbles around the brain) and decide the appropriate action. As you move the cursor through the bubbles, various options will be displayed in the text box at the lower right corner of the screen. YOUR MISSION ------------ Take part in the five ordeals, if you want. Find your friend Sci Fi. Smash the protozorq plot before it's too late. HOW TO PLAY ----------- To freeze the game momentarily or quit the game, press ESC key, To restart, type: Y ro N. The Master of Ordeals (a Protozorq in a fetching mask) will hand you an object which could come in handy! Then he'll instruct you to go to a specific Ordeal. You can obey if you want, Raven. The Ordeals have begun and you have 1 hour to finish all five, should you decide to take part. If you can give 5 Vort skulls to the Protozorq at the Trader within the time limit, you will win the highest honor awarded to any Offa, Divo-hood. Failure, on the other hand, will result in something too disagreable to discuss at this time. MOVE the cursor with the mouse, joystick, or the cursor keys (PC without mouse). A text zone, at bottom screen, will translate what you explore as your cursor moves. When exporing, make sure you take in everything. The cursor turns RED when situated on vaild zone, and changes shape according to the kind of actions you can do. CIRCLE WITH RAYS: basic cursor. FINGER: use this cursor to choose ideas on your brain. CROSSED ARROWS: indicates possible exits, and directions you can move. ARROWS IN CIRCLE: indicates something to look at or manipulate. HUMAN FIGURE: character to select or act on. EMPTYING GOBLET: a full goblet ready to be emptied. FLY: move this to precise area where you wish to go with "sticky fingers" power. OPEN HAND: place this on what you wish to manipulate with 'sci shift' power. CONFIRM (click or space) when the cursor is on an element or character on whom you wish to act (inspect, talk to, attack, etc.) The BRAIN will then appear. This is your Tuner grey matter. It's full of ideas. They're in bubbles placed around the brain's surface. The ideas are those which come to mind in a particular situation. MOVE THE CURSOR from one idea to another. At bottom right of you screen, a text zone translates the idea. CONFIRM any idea you'd care to try. THE ICONS --------- On the right-hand side of you screen you'll find the icons you'll need for play. From top to bottom: 1) OBJECTS IN THE ROOM: (the icon changes color when an object is available in the current room) Confirm this icon to open a window containing any objects available for taking. If you leave an object somewhere, you'll be able to pick it up again any time you come back, unless someone else has decided to take it in the meantime! The window won't display if no objects are available in the room. MOVE the cursor over the objects. The identity of each is given in the text zone at bottom right. CONFIRM to manipulate the object of your choice. 2) SCI POWERS: Confirm this icon to access the 8 powers you have trained long and hard to master! These Tuner powers will give you the winning edge in many situati- ons. Be cardful not to flash them around, though, since they'll prove that you're a Tuner, and no one likes Tuners! Each time you use a power, your SCI-energy reserve will diminsh, and who knows if you'll be able to stock up in this damn Temple! A) SOLAR EYES. Switch on this super-vision power to see in the blackest darkness. It sure beats eating carrots. B) STICKY FINGERS. If you've ever dreamed of walking on walls, now's you chance! Just confirm this power and choose where you want to go with the cursor. C) KNOW MIND. Check out what that character over there is really thinking! Put the cursor on him (or her) to get the inside story. D) BRAINWARP. How to turn someone helplessly Moronic! Stupidize your enemy by putting the cursor on him. Unfortunately, it only lasts a second or two. E) ZONE SCAN. It so happens that some things are invisible to the naked normal eye. Zone Scan will tell you if anything is hidden in a particular room. These guys didn't reckon on a Tuner nosing around! F) SCI SHIFT. Move small objects just by looking at them! Protozorqs, unfortunately, don't count as small objects. G) EV. That means Extreme Violence. This SCI Power turns you into a crazed killer! Just choose your unsuspecting victim with the cursor and then tear him apart. Lovely. H) TUNE IN. You old teacher Gromek expained it this way: Development of the Hitachi-Gauss Amplifier led to perfecting of the Syntonization technique where the unconscious psychic emanations resonating from the subject are sorted and regulated by the Gauss. At the subject's request, the Amplifier should normally be in a position to provide the basis for a soulution, that is to say, the beginnings of a satisfactory way out of a worrying situation, thanks to an analysis based on the results of the harmonilzation of psycho-energetic oscillatory phenomena. To put it a little more clearly, you can use this power to make the Gauss give you an idea for getting out fo a jam! Since you're not an Emcom, however, his messages may seem strange. This is normal. 3) YOUR OBJECTS. Confrim this icon to check on what objects you have on you. A window will display, containing everything you have. Just click on the object you want to use. To use an object, click on it and choose one of the options on you brain. Some options (throw, give, place, etc.) you will have to designate the "target" of your action. 4) SCI ENERGY. When the pulsations get weak, that means your reserves are low. And no SCI Energy means no SCI powers! So go easy on the EV! The icon flashes when SCI energy reserves drop significantly or when insufficient for use of a power. 5) WAIT. If the best thing to do is just to wait a while, then confirm on this icon. Time will pass. The wait will stop after a certain time or if some- thing happens. 6) LOAD. To load and play a game you've previously saved. Select the load icon and confirm. The game will restart at the point where you saved it. 7) SAVE. Not your soul (Exxos deals with that), but the current game. Select the save icon and confirm. The game is saved. 8) TIME. This is useful. For instance, you can calculate how much time you have left to get those 5 Vort skulls in the Trader. 9) INDICATOR which flashes when it's your turn to act: click to take control of the cursor. |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------| | SOME THINGS YOU'LL MEET IN THE CHAMBER | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------| PROTOZORQS: The People of the Temple! These splendid beings are the result of a mutation which took place just after the Burn. The Protozorq's chief person- ality trait is a fanatical loathing of Offa. And since you're an Offa... MASTER OF ORDEALS: A high dignitary among the Protozorqid People. His task is to organize the 5 Ordeals you're supposed to take part in. PROTIZIM HARSSK: Religious and political leader of the Protozorqs. Great indeed is his pride at being the Protizim during whose reign the Original Sin will soon be cleansed! Should you feel in need of an uplofiting message, just consult the nearest Holo-Holo. THE PRIESTESSES: Their sacred duty is to guard the Books and intercede with Deilos on behalf of the People of the Temple. If you become a Divo, you'll be seeing them, briefly, up on the second level where they live. ZORQ: Protizim Harssk assures us that Zorq is back with the Komponent for the Spawnomatik. QRICH: It's a kind of hovering quid, to be seen floating near Zorq. Probably a pet. SAURA: The High Priestess, She who holds the Blade of Sacrifice. Future genitor (along with the god Zorq) of the Race to Come. VORTS: a mistake. See the Book of Shame for shameful details. DEILOS: The Power in the Abyss, temporary God during Zorq's absence. DIVO: Triumph over the 5 Ordeals and give the skulls to the Protoqorq at the Trader in under an hour, and you get to be a Divo, Holder of the Egg and Messenger to Deilos! ASPIRANT: Like the other Offas taking part in the Ordeals, you are an Aspirant, hoping to attain the glorious status of Divo! That is, from the Protozorqs' point of view, the reason for your presence in the Temple. Should you fail to become a Divo, then, um...On the other hand, if you do attain Divo-hood, well, uh... THE 5 ORDEALS: What the Protozorqs brought you here for. You just go into one of the Ordeals, overcome the ghastly difficulties and win a skull. Give five skulls to the Protozorq at the Trader in under and hour, and you're a Divo! It is not necessary to inset five skulls at once. The Protozorq standing guard will keep count of all the skulls you give him. THE EGG: Awarded to an Aspirant who manages to give five Vort skulls to the Protozorq at the Trader in under an hour. The Aspirant then receives the envied status of Divo and must report to the Chamber of Dreams. THE SECOND LEVEL: That's where Saura and the other priestesses go about their sacred duties. As an Offa, you have no right to even know of its existence, let alone consider the treacherous idea of finding a way to sneak up there! SCI-FI: Your friend. She's a prisoner somewhere in this damned Temple! You got yourself captured and sent to the Ordeals just to find and save her. GAUSS: Also know as the Foetus. The Hitachi-Gauss Amplifier links you tele- pathically to the nearest Tuner Netwerk Center. The Fauss lives in a jar at the center. His telepathic voice is a little strange. HOLO-HOLO: After a skull has been given to the Protozorq standing guard at the TRADER, you may gamble for a new object. After selecting the objects to be traded you will try your luck at the three cup holograph game. After the cups are shuffled select the one with the skull in order to win; losing means you will not obtain the desired object, but your skull is still accounted for as one of the five. ZAPSTIK: The awesome weapon that all Protozorqs carry. Offas don't have the right to use them! Zapstiks appear to be a left over from before the Burn. THE BURN: Tuner Netwerk research teams are still working to identily the nature of that hideous catastrophe which plunged our world into the chaotic nightmare we know today, friend. Trust the Netwerk. ZONE OF ORDEALS --------------- (Insert Map) 1 - Zone of ordeals 2 - The Ring 3 - The Master's Orbit 4 - The wall 5 - In the scorpion's presence 6 - De Profundis 7 - The return 8 - The twins 9 - The noose 10 - The Master's eye 11 - Protozorq 12 - Passage 13 - Dreams of slime 14 - Concourse 15 - Guard room (end of Instruction Guide) -=Silver Bullet=- Now on to the story of why you are here. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- COVER (page 1) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents A Word to the Wise .........................3 The Forbidden Orders of Deilos..............5 The Set Up..................................7 The Book of Origins........................10 The Book of Shame..........................11 (page 2) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Word to the Wise ------------------ A long time after the Burn. It is the reign of the Tuner Netwerk. The SCI-mutant Tuners discreetly control the world of the Normals, who fear and detest them utterly. For the Protozorqs, inhabitants of the Temple, the day of Atonement is at hand; the god Zorq has returned, as promised in The Book of Origins, appearing from the sky on board his flying object. In an explosion of crazed bloodlust, the horde wreaks havoc throughout the surrounding region. All the Normal villages are razed, and every one of their inhabitants exterminated. Every one, that is, except the young males, who are hered into the Mountain, The Temple of Zorq! Raven and his friend Sci Fi, two young Turners, approach a Normal settlement where the Protozorqs, armed with fearsome Zapstiks, are wiping out the last pitful pocket of resistance. In spite of order from the Foetus, Raven and Sci Fi fling themselves into the fray. The situation is hopeless, but thanks to his SCI-powers and astounding combat skills, Raven overcomes incredible odds and finally stands alone, surrounded on all sides by piles of broken and bloody Protozorq corpses. he turns to Sci Fi, but she's been dragged off to the Temple! The Netwerk orders Raven not to try and follow her into the mountain, but once again he defies the authority of the Foetus! At present Raven's in the very heart of the Temple of Zorq! Everywhere fanatical Protozorqs await the fateful word of their hideously deranged leader, Protizim Harssk, Guardian of the Protozorkal Shame. To find Sic-Fi, destroy the insan Protizim's bolldcurdling plot and, finally, hack a bolldy trail to Zorq himself, you've got the be utterly determined, ruthless, daring death at every turn! you'll need to use your SCI-Energy wisely it could mean the difference between total victory and a horribly sticky end! First you must face the bizarre and terrifying Ordeals of Deilos. Will you emerge as Divo, holder of the Egg and Messenger of the New Order, or will you meet a ghastly fate on the Altar of Atonement? The Master awaits, Raven. Your fellow Aspirants will show no pity. The repulsive Protozorqs keep gloating guard at every door! (page 3) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Chamber of the Sci-Mutant Priestess, with it all-mouse easy-to-handle game system, its infintely rich graphic animations and the strange splendour of its scenario, offers you an authentic future classic in the universe of computer games. Step into The Chamber of the Sci-Mutant Priestess, Draconian commands it! The Mangement reminds all organic life-forms that thinking of any sort is no longer necessary. Anyone caught indulging in thought processes will be furthered for restraining as Brand X breadkfast cereal. (page 4) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Forbidden Order of Deilos ----------------------------- 1.- Sergent Bullpup fills you in. (This section is reserved for use by life-forms wishing to soak up the socio-politikal background. The Management would like to point out that reading what follows is a bad move from a life-expectancy angle.) Sarge: As of right now, boy, you are RAVEN. Got it? You........(say "yes". If you're a girl, say "yes") Sarge: What'd you say, Slobface? You........(say "yes sir, sarge,sir" quite fast) Sarge: RAVEN, that's YOU, is the HERO of this here "fun-packed game of thrills". That makes you so happy, ain't that right? You........(say anything you want. He can't hear you because I've turned his ear off.) Sarge: I can lip-read. Now listen good, lunkhead... The Sarge, a person with overdeveloped jaws, takes out his gum and sticks it behind his left ear, because: A: His right ear got torn off in a breathing accident. B: Who want to know? Then the Sarge, whose eyes are piggish and closer together than his nostril, picks up a dog-eared sheaf of documents and reads them out loud, because: A: He wants you to listen good, lunkhead. B: see A. Okay, Sarge, It's your baby (page 5) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Raven's a Tuner. Tuners are Sci-mutants. Appeared after the Burn, same time as physical mutants. Normals hate mutants, specially Tuners, because can't tell apart from Normals physically. Normals rub out Tuner kids every time identified. Some Tuners avoid detection. Escape. From Netwerk. Live in hidden centers called Antennae. Defend selves. Remove Tuner kids from Normal communities before identified as Tuners. Normals fear and loathe Tuners. Yuk. Netwerk develops Hitachi-Gauss Amplifier, called Foetus, from human foetus. Allows long-distance telepathic links between Antennae. Netwerk now covers great part of inhabited world. Watch. Start intervening in Normal affairs to guide progress. Netwerk believes necessary to prevent Normals developing into powerful groupings, otherwise certain destruction of Tuners. Gasp. Netwerk maintains social stability discreetly. Normals loathe and fear Netwerk. Yuk. Netwerk will guide events untill Normals no longer hate Tuners. Some Tuners disapprove Netwerk policy. Leave Netwerk. Are Defectivs. Hiss. Hunted by Netwerk because irresponsible and dangerous. Raven is young Tuner, training over. Ready to serve. Has Psy powers like all Tuners. Raven's power destine him for Outside Teamwerk, contact with Normals to ensure satisfactory peaceful social evolution. Sent to new Antenna. Leaves with girl, Sci Fi is Transrec, Tuner working with Foetus, link between Contact Teams and Antenna. Sci Fi is also Feeler: picks up Trouble Spots, directs Contact Team to Pacification Zone. Raven and Sci Fi in love. Cute. Sci Fi has Defective tendencies. Was removed brutally from loving Normal parents. Raven explains that sad etc. bla bla, but Netwerk only hope for safe world. Normal too dangerous for selves and Tuners. Gulp. Cross region not totally under Netwerk care. Sci Fi feels Trouble Spot. Receive order from Antenna (thanks, Gauss) to observe, no intervene. witness massacre. Physical mutants attack Normal village. Kill everyone except young men. Foetus transmits order to avoid contact. Too dangerous. Sci Fi and Raven disobey! Fight mutants. Sci Fi captured. Mutant have Zapstiks. Victims go up in smoke. Raven uses Psy combat power to kill mutants. Sci Fi gone! Grr. Fleeing Normals fill in Raven: mutant are Protozorqs. Lived peacefully in mountain. Then carnage. Kill Normals, shouting "Death to Offa. Great is Zorq. Soon end of Shame". Only young men taken alive. Gauss establishes telepathic link with Raven. Sci Fi off the airwaves. Not dead but scrambled. Taken by force to mountain. Grr. Foetus forbids Raven to go after her. Was almost Defectiv anyway. Raven disobeys Netwerk. Finds new massacre, gets caught. Taken to mountain. Will and must find Sci Fi, take out Protozorqs. Banzai. Thanks, Sarge. Really most moving (page 6) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE SET UP THE SET UP RIGHT NOW (blood-curdling). (The following is reserved for those life-forms wanting to know what they're supposed to do, without wasting any more time on irrelevant issues. The Manage- ment reminds personnel that the possession of ideas or any attempt to contam- inate others with them is an offense punishable by restraining as encycloped- ias, and we all know what that means. Be a nice neighbour; flush that brain down the toilet.) So there you are in the mountain, Raven (that's you). The Protozorqs filing you unceremoniously into a dimly-lit slammer that smells like somebody just did something. Four Normals (you're not a Normal. You're a Tuner. That's a Sci- mutant with powers. Neat.) are slumped around, looking pretty glikky. You're in good shape, ready to shed quite a lot of blood to find you girl, Sci Fi, who's a prioner someplace in the mountain. You decide rather wisely to keep you more spectacular powers, ones like "stroll around on the ceiling" for later, as you don't feel like getting mashed into pulp (nobody likes Tuner). But why not sneak a look inside a mind or two? Well, well. These Normals sure have glikky thoughts today. One thrilling power you have works like this: the Foetus captures your subconscious impressions about a particular situation, and analyses them. So that, if you contact him, you'll get an idea what to do. It's your idea, processed by the Hitachi-Gauss Amplifer! If you try it now, for instance, he'll send you this message: "Pay Shunts" (he's a glikky speler). That means it's better to wait and not use up too much psy-energy on trying out you powers. A slight eternity later, a bunch of Protozorqs shove you all through a maze of corridors. You go along the Passage of the Faithful, into the Ring and finally into the Master's Orbit itself! The Master of the Ordeals quits his Eye, surrounded by a battery of crazed Protozorq fanatics. His mutant voice buzzes thickly from behind a terrifying mask! (page 7) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "YUGGA WAGGU" Offas, the day has dawned. The stench of shame will soon be wiped clean. Nourished be Delios, Abysmal Power of the Humid Pit! Zorq has retuned, as was written in The Book of Origins. Soon all Offas will be but a vomitous memory. Today you are become Aspirants, struggling to attain the blessed state of Divos, Messengers of the New Solution. Those who fail will have the homour to offer themselves up to Deilos! Who would be Divo must first triumph over the Five Ordeals. A skull of Vort will be awarded you for each Ordeal successfully overcome. To be a Divo, you must place five skulls in the Changer before one hour has elapsed! None may re-enter a Chamber of Ordeal that he has already overcome. Bear this in mind: none may do violence in the Orbit. Delios Forbids. YUGGA WAGGU! The Master has spoken. Well, buzzzed thickly. To each Aspirant he gives an object of some kind, directing him to one of the five Chambers of Ordeal. Finally, he turns to you, Raven... Can you win the Five Skulls of Vort? Is that the best way of getting to Sci Fi? What dangers await within the Chambers of Ordeal from whence wafts the fetid stench of grinning DEATH? Just what are these lunatic Potozorqs planning on anyhow, and can you stop them in time? (The management hereby informs all organic life-forms that the third and twenty- second words in each line of the following documents contain signif- icant doses of "Brain-Slurp 17". Preceding documents also. Why not pull the same amusing gag on your loved ones?) (page 8) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Book of Origins & The Book of Shame (page 9) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Book of Origins -------------------- Within the Mountain lived the People. From the sky came Zorq, the Exalted and his familiar, Qriich, in their flying appliance. And Zorq spoke to the People, saying "I have chosen you who are less than nothing. Tomorrow you will be Sires of the New Race, and the Earth will be yours and you will obliterize all the peoples of the Earth in a frenzy of mindless bloodlust." And the People felt joy. "Let a female be brought to me," barked Zorq, and it was done fast. A female of the People, the meatiest, was brought before Zorq who impregnated her, saying "Female, you will gender the New Race. Our races will be one and all others will shortly be obliterized, for they are Offa. "And the female was placed in the Spawnomatik according to Zorq's desire. In three hous she spawned a multiplicity of eggs which hatch fortwith. And the children did eat of their mother who thus fed her offspring that the Race might be the bloodthirstiest of all. And the children did eat of each other, down to the last. And Zorq spoke, saying "So much for the Race." And the People felt sadness, for the New Race had contained a fairly major glitch. Zorq spoke again, saying "I leave you, for I must seek out the Komponent. Upon my return, we will try once more. Keep the Spawnomatik as a sign. But touch it not. Choose a Protizim form amonght you. He will be Protizim of the People and will keep the Faith until my return." And Zorq and his familiar, Qriich, did disappear into the sky in their flying appliance. (page 10) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Book of Shame ----------------- The People of the Protozorqs selected a Protizim. And Proitizim Krill kept the faith, the Spawnomatik and the Mountain which became the Temple. And when Krill terminated, Prass was chosen as Protizim. And Proitizim Prass forgot the words of Zorq and took it upon himself to attempt the creation of the New Race, saying "Zorq has forsaken us, for he has found another People. but we have the Spawnomatik. Let us produce the New Race ourselves. In this way we can obliterize all other peoples." And the People of the Temple believed him, saying "He's right." And Prass spoke, saying "Let a female be brought to me. And let it be a meaty one." It was done. And Prass did impregnate her, saying "Woof Woof." Then the female was placed within the Spawnomatik where she spawned a slimy multitude of eggs which hatch. The children did nibble apologetically of the flesh of their mother, after which they did snooze. Protizim Prass spoke again, saying "This Race couldn't obliterize a squashed gerbil, let alone Offa, for they are Vorts!" And the People felt disappointed, for they had been counting on something a little more assertive than Vorts. Prass spoke once more, saying "This is our Day of Shame. Our misery is deserved, for we have lacked faith in Zorq who is verily our true God. We must obliterize ourselves and our borts fortwith, for we are covered in Guilt." Then spoke a Protozorq, saying "Nay, we deserve no such gentle gate. Our People must live to bear the crushing burden of our Crime until Zorq returns to deliver us of Shame. And our Vorts will be our slaves, that will see our Guilt before us every day! And when our God, Zorq, finally create the New Race, then will we obliterize ourselves to wash us of our Sin. Only you, Prass, have the right to obliterize yourself today." And the People of the Temple agreed. And Deilos became temporary God in Zorq's absence, for Deilos is the Abysmal Power of the Humid Pit, and the Protozorqs deserved no better. And Protizim Prass did terminaterize himself, saying "Let me be woken up on the Day of the collective Self-Obliterization." And thus did die Prass who spoke one positively last time, croaking "When Zorq returns, you will take young Offa. And from amongst them you will select those most apt to carry the message of reborn hope to Deilos. And from amongst the Offa you will take a female, whom you will name Saura, High Priestess, and who will genderize the New Race according to Zorq's desire, for Zorq is our God." It will be done.