                        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. ]