Avecta I: Ebora
================

Guide by Brad Smith, 2018-12-13
http://rainwarrior.ca


Avecta is an RPG for the Atari ST, written by Mark Swanson, and published in
STart Magazine, Volume 4, No. 2, September 1989.

This walkthrough will cover the things you need to know to complete the game,
but is not an exhaustive list of the game's content. The progression of
critical events in the game is mostly linear, but there are usually a lot of
other things to explore.

Except for the tips and walkthrough, the first part of this document is very
similar to the official instructions which were included in the magazine with
the disk. Those are available here:

https://www.atarimagazines.com/startv4n2/avecta.html

Numbers in the walkthrough will refer to rooms in the accompanying maps. These
should not be needed if you follow the indicated directions, but they may help
with visual orientation.


The Screen
----------

The top left of the screen shows the current room, as a graphical grid of
squares.

On the bottom left is text describing the current situation, and anything said
by the characters in the game.

On the right side is your status and action list.


At the top of the status bar is your player's name. Just below this is your
hit points, the letter G (good health) or P (poisoned), then your spell
points. If your hit points drop to 0 you will die. If you are poisoned, you
will have a limited amount of turns to use the Unvenom or Heal spell before
you die. Other spell effects like A (Armor) or V (Vorpal) may follow the spell
points indicator.


Actions
-------

You may click any visible square that is reachable by a straight line to move
the player there. Along the grid, the player may move horizontally,
vertically, or diagonally by one square at a time. Every square is adjacent to
all 8 squares surrounding it.

You may click on the player (or press the Space Bar) to see what is in your
hands, or inventory. To equip an item, click a hand from the menu, and select
an item from the inventory to put in your hand.

If you have a weapon in your hand, enemy creatures can be attacked by standing
adjacent to them, clicking directly on the creature, and choosing a stance
from the attack menu. All Out, Standard, Defensive, or Fall Back to exit from
combat mode. The attack commands can also be issued with keyboard keys A, S,
D, F, which is useful when having to repeatedly attack. Enemies will show 0,
L, M, H, X beside their name to indicate zero, low, medium, high damage, or
death. A P beside a monster's name indicates that it is panicked, and will
flee from the player.

Other actions may be selected by clicking the menu, or pressing the keyboard
key of their first letter. Once selected, most actions cannot be directly
cancelled, but as a workaround you may be able to click on an invalid target
to prevent taking the action.

Cast: Casts a spell. See below.

Examine: Click on something that can be seen in a straight line from the
player, and some description of it will be given. You can also click on items
in your inventory, or on the player to examine items held in your hand.

Drag/Eat: To drag an adjacent object, select this action, click on an adjacent
object, then click on the square you wish to move to. If the object is not too
heavy, you will move to the new square, and the object will be dragged to the
place where you stood. To eat an item, select this action, then click on the
item in your inventory, or if it is in your hand, click on the player instead.

Search: This action will search all adjacent squares. This will pick up any
items in an adjacent chest, stable, stove, barrel, et cetera. It can also
reveal hidden doors in the walls, if they exist in an adjacent square, though
this is a random chance so it may take several attempts. See also: Reveal
spell.

Take/Drop: This action will allow you to take an item that is lying on an
adjacent square. It will also allow you to click an item in your inventory to
drop on an adjacent square. This can be used to insert a key into a door.

Wait: Waits one turn.

X-it: Select this action then click on a door or other form of exit to go to
the next room.

Rook/Snoop: Select this action and click on an door or other exit, or a locked
chest. If the target is locked, there is a random chance it will unlock,
unless it is a door that requires a key. On any exit there is a random chance
the player will hear what is happening in the next room, which can be used to
plan ahead. Because it is random, it may require several uses before it
succeeds. See also: Thief spell.

Fire Arrow: If a bow is in your good hand, you can use this command to shoot
an arrow at a distant enemy.

Burn/Snuff: Use this to see in dark rooms. It will light or snuff a torch,
though it requires the use of one of your hands. It will normally
automatically move to your other hand, and it will be put away when you enter
a room with light again.

Give: Use this to give the item in your good hand to an adjacent friend.

Voice: Use this to take control of a friend. Use again to release control of
that friend. When in control, you will alternate turns with them. This does
not work on charmed creatures (see Charm spell).

Quit/File: Use this to save or load the game to a file, or quit to the
desktop. Sometimes a load may fail if it goes to a different area than the
current one, but if you quit and reload from the title screen it should
succeed.


Spells
------

Use the Cast action to cast a spell. A list of spells will appear which the
number of spell points each one costs to use. After clicking a spell, you will
usually need to click a suitable target for the spell.

Cure: Will heal a random number of hit points.

Search: Like the Search action but guaranteed to find a hidden door if it
exists. Usually it is better to use the Search action multiple times to
conserve spell points. If hunting for hidden doors, the Reveal spell is more
effective (see below).

Freeze: Has a chance to freeze an enemy in place for a random number of turns.
In rooms where enemies respawn infinitely, it is very useful for stopping the
last one instead of killing it and causing a fresh wave to spawn.

Unvenom: Removes poison from the target.

Vorpal: Gives a temporary ability to attack ghosts with your weapon, otherwise
all of your attacks will miss.

Speed: Gives you extra turns, sometimes useful in combat to act faster than
your enemy.

Armor: Gives you temporary extra resistance to attack.

Disarm: Used to disarm traps placed on a chest or door.

Bolt: Low level attack spell. Usually Fireball is a better value, except
against very weak enemies.

Thief: Like the Rook action but with automatic success.

Fear: Chance to make a creature panic. A panicked enemy will run away from the
player.

Fireball: Mid level attack spell. Kills most enemies in one hit.

Blink: Used to teleport a character or object from one place to another. You
have to be able to see both locations. You can also use it on yourself.

Reveal: Reveal all hidden doors in a room at once.

Heal: Combination of a full cure and unvenom in one step.

Prism: High level attack spell.

Block: Cast on a doorway to prevent creatures from entering it. Useful if
you're being pursued.

Charm: Chance to turn an enemy friendly temporarily. You cannot Voice or Give
items to a charmed creature, they will merely fight on your behalf.

Wallfire: Casts a 3x3 grid of fire that lasts for several turns. Very
effective against groups of enemies. It is difficult to aim, because enemies
will usually get one or two chances to move while you are casting the spell.

Destroy: Can completely destroy an object.

Summon: Summons a few creatures who will fight enemies on your behalf, and
then each other when those are gone.

Death: Chance of instant death.

Life: Can be used to revive a dead friend. If you haven't taken their items,
they will pick them back up on revival.

Teleport: Can be used to travel longer distances if you also have a Seekshard.
First place the Seekshard on the floor where you wish to teleport to
(Take/Drop), then pick up the Seekshard (Take/Drop). When you wish to return
to that spot, use the teleport spell. The Seekshard's target location will be
cancelled when you walk through some doors in the Monastery that have a
protection spell, so be mindful of this while travelling there.


Tips
----

Every action may take one or two turns. This mostly matters when in combat,
where creatures will take turns to attack you whenever you take a turn of your
own.

Move diagonally instead of horizontally or vertically to save a turn, or
possibly to get around a blocked corner.

Don't break into homes in town. You will become known as a criminal and guards
will find and attack you throughout the town. If you're curious, save before
doing it, then reload once you're satisfied.

Once you have learned where a hidden door is, use the Search action instead of
the Reveal spell to conserve your spell points.

When your health and spell points are low, return to your room at the inn to
refresh yourself.

This game does not have experience points, and killing enemies has no direct
reward. It may be better to avoid confrontation if it's possible to do so.

A Seekshard can be used to escape rooms where the door has disappeared behind
you, provided its target hasn't been cancelled by a spell-protected doorway.

Save often, and make multiple saves as you go in case you need to undo a
mistake.


Walkthrough
===========

Story
-----

This story takes place on an island called Ebora, west of the continent of
Avecta. The player and barbarian friend Eirik were travelling there to meet
the Grand Mage Leveth. One night the player has strange nightmares, and
awakens to find Eirik gone, with his scimitar left behind. The player
continues on to Leveth's home outside of a town called Kilkaney, where the
game begins.


Part 1: Kilkaney
----------------

You begin in Leveth's house. After your discussion with him, you will need to
leave the room. Go to the door, and try to exit through it. Because it is
locked, you will need to use the Rook/Snoop ability to try to unlock it.
Repeat this action until it succeeds, then exit through the door.

Next you are in a dark hallway. Use the Burn/Snuff action to light a torch,
and make your way across this room.

Finally you come out in the south-east corner of the town of Kilkaney. This
place is safe to explore as long as you do not break the local laws. Magic is
forbidden, and stealing or breaking into homes will usually result in the town
guards coming to kill you.

At this point there is nothing that is critical for you to do in town. You may
wish to keep investigating the town, or go outside and explore. The only thing
you should do before leaving town is to find a power potion (detailed below),
but everything else here is optional, or can wait until later.

In the north-east is a courtyard. The lord of Kilkaney lives just north of
this room, but the gate is locked. (If you're curious to meet him, save your
game and Rook/Snoop the door.) In the mid-north is access to two shops, one
for scimitars, and one for power potions. South of this room, in the middle of
Kilkaney, are two more shops for torches and a bow and arrows. You do not
really need to buy any of these things to complete the game, but all of them
are available if you wish to use your gold. Your gold is limited, and there
will not be much more to find in the game, but it has no other use outside
this town. You might offer a low price to try and get a better deal from a
merchant.

In the north-west is an entrance to the inn. You have a room here already paid
for, which you can return to whenever you need to recover your health and
spell points. Yours is the last room on the west side, after going up the
stairs. Step one square into the room, and you will fall asleep, then recover.

The inn-keeper will offer you a drink as you leave. If you accept, he will
expect a tip. Give him a very good tip, and he may tell you an interesting
story. If you already know his story, it is best to refuse the drink, however.

In the south-west are two locked doors. One has a sign you can examine that
will tell you it is haunted by spirits. Rook/Snoop the door unlocked and go
inside. Open your inventory and equip the scimitar in your good hand, and as
ghosts approach, Cast the Vorpal spell on yourself. Use the Standard attack to
defeat the ghosts; it may take some time, as the player is not a very good
fighter and will usually miss, but the ghosts are weaker than you. Past the
ghosts are some stairs to a basement where you can Search a chest to find a
power potion. Save this for later. (You could also just buy one of these from
a merchant in town, but they are expensive.)

Following up on the inn-keeper's story, in the north-west part of town there
is an entrance to the dump. Again you can Rook/Snoop your way inside. Four
rats will appear. Cast Fireball on three of them to dispose of them quickly,
but then use Freeze on the fourth to stop it in place. (If you kill all four,
more rats will appear.) In the north of this room you will find a narrow
passage blocked by a pile of trash. Cast Destroy on the trash pile, and go
through. Inside you will learn something important.

Return to the inn for a rest, then go to the south middle of town, south of
the fountains you will find the entrance, and you can leave to go outside.

From Kilkaney, travel north two screens, then east twe screens to find a hole
in the ground. This is the cave of the orcs.


Part 2: Cave
------------

Upon entering the cave, you will immediately face a group of orcs. The
Wallfire spell will be particularly useful against them if you can aim it
well. Most enemies in this place will stay dead permanently, so if you are
running low on spell points, try to return to town to rest at the inn.

This place is dark and difficult to find your way around. You may wish to make
a map, or use the one I've provided.

From here (01) go south (03), east (06), south-east (08), east (11), south
(14), south (17), then east (19).

You should save in this room, because the next part may take a few attempts.
Travel east, and ignore the narrow passage to the north. There is some space
to the south, before the cooridor narrows again to the east. Take three steps
into the corridor, then stop. The fourth tile is a trap door! (If you've
saved, you can try stepping on it.) Use the Blink spell to teleport yourself
to the other side of the trap, then go into the next room (1B).

Here (1B) you will find the Crusher! This monsters seems to be impervious to
your spells and attacks, so run back to the previous room. Take four steps
from the entrance, then Blink across the trap, and Wait for the Crusher to
pursue you. It will fall into the trap! Blink across the trap to re-enter the
Crusher's room.

South of the Crusher's room is a dark chamber with two chests. Search the
chest of the left for a Black Ball. The other contains an unimportant Old
Bone. Return the way you came, and Blink across the trap one more time, and
continue west back to the previous room (17).

From here go south (1D) then south-east (1E) to come face to face with some
Flamers. Before doing anything else Take/Drop the Black Ball and place it on
the floor in front of you. It will explode, and cause the Flamers to run away
to their safe room. Without doing this, they will make extremely formidable
foes. On the east side of this room is hole you can exit through (to 20).

In this dark room you will find a passage blocked by 2 piles of trash. These
seem to be magically protected, so you cannot Destroy them. You are also too
weak to move them. This is why you must have a power potion! (Save now.) Stand
next to the trash pile, then Drag/Eat the potion in your inventory. Now
Drag/Eat the trash and drag it to the west to unblock the passage. The potion
should last at least long enough to pull out one pile of trash, which should
give you room to squeeze past the other diagonally. You will find a mask on
the ground there, which you should Take.

With your disguise, travel back to the Flamers' room (they are sill hiding),
north four times (1D, 17, 14, 11), west twice (08, 06), now north-east (07),
then north (04). Here is another group of orcs, but your disguise won't fool
them. Either fight them first, or just go east (0C) and cast Block on the door
to keep them from following you for now.

From the kitchen (0C) Go north (0D) then east (0F). Follow this narrow
corridor, but stop before you reach the last square at the dead end. Cast
Reveal to show a hidden door! There is also a trap on this door, however, so
cast Disarm on the door before you try to step on that last square. Go through
the door (10).

In this room (10) the machine will burn you immediately if it doesn't think
you're an orc, but thats what the mask is for. The chest at the north-east
contains the magic Book you have been tasked to find, but there is another
trap here. Cast Disarm on it, before you Search the chest for the Book. The
other chest contains gold.

Return west (0F), west (0D, south (0C), west (04). Deal with the orcs, or just
go south (07) and Block the entrance again. Go west (06), west (03), north
(01), and finally west to leave the cave.

Return to Kilkaney. Here you have a choice of returning to Leveth's home, or
the hidden room in the dump. Save before you do, just in case you make the
wrong choice.

After returning the Book to Leveth, you will receive the Vile Key to the
Monastery, and a Seekshard that you can use to teleport. Sleep at the inn, and
remember to save.


Part 3: Monastery
-----------------

Go outside. South two screens, then east one will bring you to the Monastery.

Take/Drop the Vile Key onto the door to open the way inside. It is very
important to save before you proceed, because you will not be able to leave
once you enter.

The Monastery is a large area with a lot of things to explore, many of them
not essential to completing the game. In order to get through it, you must
succesfully conserve your spell points so that you have enough to get through
the critical tasks. You may wish to explore the monastery thoroughly first,
make yourself a map, then reload your save and come back with a plan to do it
more efficiently.

There are a lot of notes lying in trash heaps (Search) or on desks in this
place. Some of them give clues to completing the game, which might explain how
you were supposed to know some of the things you must do here.

Enter the first room (01), as you approach the door to the north, ghosts will
appear and flee. Open the door and continue (02).

The door will close behind you here, and any seekshard target you have set
will be cancelled, so there is no way out. Search the trash pile at the top
left to find the Bone Key, and six skeletons will appear. Try to hit most of
them with a single Wallfire spell if you can.

Go north into a small dark corridor (03). First go east (04), use another
Wallfire to take care of the goblins here, then use the Bone Key to free your
friend Eirik. Put the Scimitar in your good hand, then Give it to him. He can
use it much better than you can. From this point on, if you want to take
control of him, you can use the Voice command, and you will be able to
alternate turns with him. Use the Voice command a second time to release
control.

Return to the dark corridor (03) and now go west (05). In this room a group of
spiders will appear. If you kill them all, more spiders may replace them, so
be careful not to spend too many spell points dealing with them. The chest is
not important, but in the north wall, two squares to the left of the chest you
can Search to find a hidden door. Go north through the revealed door. If
poisoned by the spiders, use the Unvenom spell on yourself and Eirik once
you've reached safety.

Here (07) there is a rainbow square that will ask you a riddle. The
answer is spelled out in capital letters in the riddle. Answering correctly
(DEATH) will allow you to search the chest for a Black Key. Return through the
room of spiders, back to the dark corridor (03). Remember to Unvenom if
needed.

At the north end of this corridor you can Search to find another hidden door.
Take/Drop the Black Key onto it to proceed north into the forge (08).

You must try not to spend too many moves in the forge. It is very hot and you
will take a little bit of damage for every turn. Deal with the goblins
quickly; despite wearing asbestos they are susceptible to Wallfire, and let
Eirik finish off any stragglers with his scimitar.

Move quickly to the door on the west and enter a dark room (09). Take one step
from the door diagonally south-west, and search the chest to find a Device.
You will be attacked by bats, but ignore them and immediately return to the
forge (08).

Watch your health, and cast cure on yourself or Eirik if you're running low.
(Note that it is the least expensive spell.) Take two or three steps into the
room, until Eirik appears behind you then use Voice on him. Move yourself
beside the middle forge, and position Eirik next to the forge as well. Next
use Eirik to Drag/Eat the forge away from the wall, revealing stairs. Go down
the stairs (0C).

In this room, a few goblins will attack. Use Voice to let Eirik act on his
own, and try to use the tables and chairs to keep yourself away from the
goblins while he deals with them for you.

In the north-east of this room is another hidden door you can Search to find.
Proceed east through it (0E). In the next room, find the door to the north
(12), go through this storage room and north again (13).

Here (13) is a room full of ghosts. Ignore them, and try to move west, after
going a little bit north around a short wall. Diagonal movement may help get
past the ghosts. In the south-west of the room is a strange altar. Search it
to find the Rod. The ghosts will immediately panic and flee. Leave the room
and return to the room under the forge (12, 0E, 0C).

Now go through the hole on the west wall (0D). Without the rod, this dark room
would snuff your torch and cause continual damage to you. Move toward the
north-west corner to find a desk you can Search for an anti-magic potion.

Return east (0C), east again (0E), and search behind the statue on the east
wall to find a hidden door. Go east into that door (10).

Here (10) is Melkthrop's Ectoplasmic Converter. Take/Drop the Device onto it
to destroy it, because this machine is making Melkthrop invincible.

The next task is to go North, but you will need to prepare first. Take/Drop
the Seekshard onto the floor here, then Take/Drop to pick it back up. Use
Voice on Eirik, and heal up if you need to. Enter the room to the north (14).

In this dark room (14) is a gork that will deal heavy damage to you. As soon
as you and Eirik have entered, the door will disappear behind you, so the only
way out will be the Teleport spell. In the north end of the room is a chest
that you can search for a Broadsword, but it is too heavy for the player. You
must move Eirik to pick up the Broadsword, and then cast the Teleport spell to
leave the room. I found it helpful to cast Speed on the player, to lure the
gork around the room, out of reach of its harm, while Eirik goes for the
Broadsword. After teleporting back, make sure to Unvenom if you were poisoned
by the gork.

Now back in the room where the machine was (10), search the east wall to find
another door. Through here is a short passage with a riddle tile at the end.
Correctly answer it (MELKTHROP) and you can proceed to the final room (16).
Definitely save before you go inside. Take control of Eirik with voice.

When entering Melkthrop's chamber, immediately Drag/Eat the anti-magic potion.
This will make you invincible against his spells, but not Eirik. The task here
will be to get Eirik next to Melkthrop and hit him with the Broadsword. Only
the Broadsword can damage him. Most of Melkthrop's attacks will safely be
deflected by the player's potions, but if he kills Eirik you will need to cast
Life to bring him back. I found it very helpful to cast Speed on Eirik, and
also use the All Out mode of attack. After one or two hits, Melkthrop might
Blink himself to the other side of the room. Try to find him and complete your
task as quickly as you can. In my game, he first appeared roughly
east-south-east of the entrance, and then his Blink moved him directly west,
but it might be random. It may take a few tries to do this, and hopefully you
have enough spell points left to make it through.

After defeating Melkthrop, a trap door will appear in the south-west corner of
the room. Exit here (17). You will be given a final riddle (CHAOS), and then
can exit through the hole to end the game.


Other Notes
-----------

There is a duplicator device (15) in the Monastery. I have no idea what it is
willing to duplicate. It likes the goblins' bottle of Bourbon, at least, but
has rejected everything else I have tried to use with it.

There are two rooms in the orc cave where the door will close behind you. One
contains a power potion (1A), and the other 10 gold (21). The only way to
escape either room is to use the seekshard, as you did with the gork, but
unfortunately you will not be able to get the seekshard until after you've
completed the other objectives in the cave.

The room with 10 gold also has an error in its data that causes you to enter
through a wall, and the door that is supposed to close will not correctly
appear that way. This does not affect the outcome (as you are still trapped in
the room without being able to teleport out), but you can fix this bug by
editing CAVE.DAT and DCAVE.DAT with a hex editor, and changing byte $145F from
$00 to $18.

Both the Cave (3C) and Monastery (32) seem to have have unused rooms with no
entrance or exit in their data files, but I could not figure out how to access
either of them. Editing doors to redirect into them did not seem to work. The
Outside map also has several unused rooms which can be seen on the map.

A python script for parsing the game's room data is available here:
https://gist.github.com/bbbradsmith/299b92b664672e7fc8f4ee8855f816d9