She looked slowly behind her at the long-eared, fuzzy animal that seemed frozen with fear. It was barely the size of her foot, and it trembled slightly when their eyes met. Shss widened her eyes slightly. and the creature could take no more. It darted back into the trees and lost itself in the foliage. A slight hiss escaped the dark girl's lips, and she relaxed her muscles for a few more minutes of rest. Only seconds passed before her eyes flew open. Something was coming. and laughing. Shss tossed her spear from right hand to left and stood, dashing to the nearest tree and leaping to its lowest branch. From there, she looked down at a most peculiar sight. A strange blue bug was flying low over the road, the path leading to the left, with a cadre of tiny green creatures chasing it on foot. The bug seemed to be playing with them, descending low to the ground and near their grasping fingers, then zipping back up when it was just within their reach. The green creatures had a familiar shape: two arms, two legs and a head, though their skin was green like Shss' people, but smooth like her own. A few in the back of the group withdrew some containers from their blue clothing and hurled them at the strange bug. The bug suddenly shouted something peculiar and shot into the sky, and the containers arced, fell and struck the road with a loud and fiery BOOM! For a brief time, the creatures seemed quite upset at their tormentor's escape. until one of them pointed up into the trees, and at Shss. She clearly wasn't as well concealed as she thought! The ones in the back withdrew more of the firewater, and threw them into the tree. Though Shss dove to the ground just in time, the resulting explosion still added extra force to her flight. She hurtled through the air, end over end, twisting her body to land feet first on the ground and face the frenzied things. She gripped her spear with both hands and hunched down, pointing it straight at them. The creatures foolishly charged her, hoping to win with sheer numbers, screaming and shouting and laughing with murderous intent. "Haaaaa. ssss!" Shss hissed loudly, and the first wave was upon her. Three of the quicker ones lept in broken tandem at her. which proved to be their fatal mistake. Shss released her left hand from the spear, and using her right arm, swung the spear in a great arc at the leaping creatures' tiny eyes. The first two shrieked, struck her body and fell to the ground, clutching their sliced eyes and rolling about on the road beneath her, instead of latching on as they intended. The third's jump was better timed and continued on its descent towards Shss' face. Unfortunately, it assumed that she would be preoccupied with the two others, and didn't expect her to rush forward and strike it with a massive headbutt that sent it sprawling. All of the others lept as well, a semicircle of grasping fingers seeking any vital parts of Shss' body. but finding nothing but air as she charged forward. The unlucky creature who decided to jump by itself from the center position of the semicircle suddenly found itself impaled on a massive spear, and moving in the opposite direction. The giant dark girl drove the spear into the ground and thrust the rest of the weapon through its body, using both as a vault into the back row of the firewater throwers. Where her spear had previously touched the ground, explosions burned to a crisp every blade of grass in the vicinity, but did no other damage. Their intended target had already reached the height of her great jump, and fell spear down into the body of one of the throwers. Now with two silent creatures impaled on her spear in a grisly scene of death, the others seemed exceedingly reluctant to continue fighting. The girl drove forward and kicked one of the creatures backwards while it still reached into its robe. It crashed into one of its friends and bounced along the ground.

unexplored, for if the pen was there, it would keep her from wasting her time elsewhere when she could be back home, sleeping. She retraced the steps that had brought Simmons and her here, up the stairs, around the corner and through a side door, back to the main hall of the castle. As she walked back to the front gate, she could very faintly hear the laughing of the pirates as they made their way back to civilization. That, too, soon faded away into nothingness. Once more, she was alone. Lucciana sighed and pondered her next move. There was a grouping of doors to her left and right, and the double archway was once again in front of her. It was deadly quiet. She went over her potential moves. she could try some of those doors, but they seemed too close to the entrance to be likely places to hide a treasure. Nonetheless, she broke down each of the locked portals to be sure. She found the sad remains of a throne, a family of rats in a bare pantry, and other things of little interest. She really didn't think the Cosmic Forge would be in the cupboard. More rooms, more of the same. Dust, cobwebs, broken tables and rotted chairs. Six rooms, and nothing but a sneeze to show for her trouble. "Whatever you wish," the Prince had promised her for this job. Had she known her part would amount to nothing more than brutal housekeeping, she would have asked for a bigger advance. She continued down the grand hall past the double archways, to a pair of stairs leading to one of the castle spires. She ascended with a sigh, when a cold draft hit her. The wind came from upstairs, which probably meant somebody had left the door to one of the spires open. But when she reached the top, the door was closed. Strange, she thought, taking a look at the obstruction. It was made of solid oak, though the handle looked flimsy enough. This high up, the chances of something valuable being hidden were certainly higher. a hidden object, maybe a magic pen that granted wishes and certainly wasn't the object of an overactive imagination? Lucciana unsheathed her katana and sliced the handle between the door and the cheap copper that comprised it. It dropped to the floor and looked up at her, almost as if to sadly cry out, "Why?" The door, free of the lock that had held it for over a century, slowly began to open inwards. It was dark, much darker than any room she had visited thus far. Apparently, this room's everburning torch found a way to circumvent its promise of centuries without upkeep. From the light spilling up from the downstairs, Lucciana could make out only the towering figure of an elegant bed in the corner. The rest of the room was shrouded in darkness. She cautiously made her way into the shadows, hearing nothing but the sound of her own footsteps and breathing. her surprisingly heavy breathing. The shadows soon got so thick that she couldn't even see a few inches in front of her. It was actually getting to be a noticeable hazard, so she began to chant a Fireball spell. Suddenly, she tripped over something very heavy beneath her. She had only time to utter a sharp curse before she struck the ground, and whatever it was toppled over. Immediately after, the sounds of many unseen things thudding and shattering against the stone floor pierced the once silent gloom. Of course she hadn't seen it. the room was pitch black. Lucciana cursed herself for her lack of foresight, and stood up in the middle of what she assumed was a pile of broken furniture and other various items. That's when the hand grabbed her left arm, her sword arm. She had made such noise coming in that she had no idea that something was creeping up behind her. "Wha.?" she stammered, hoping that whoever had her was just trying to get her attention. But when she felt the teeth sink into her arm, she knew for certain its intentions.

might have made as it was dying. She finally put the grisly scene behind her, and continued down a chute to the next sickening sight that was surely waiting for her. Luckily, all she found was a hallway. Just a few minutes of flying brought Kiwi to its end; the hallway came out into a vast open area, a small path winding to her right and left. Far below her, the trees looked even smaller than she was. She had apparently wandered outside of the castle, and was now looking down the mountain that stood to its side. A bridge connected the mountain she stood upon to an even more grand mountain beyond her, but seemed kind of rickety upon closer inspection. If destiny was somewhere around here, the top of the biggest mountain was as good a place as any to start looking for it. Just then, she heard a deep and scary voice, bellowing forth from beneath the bridge. "YARRRRRR!" the voice boomed, "I be the Toll Troll! Pay the toll or heads will roll!!" Kiwi descended and stood on the ground as the shadowy figure slowly drew itself from the bottom of the bridge and out onto the mountain path. She called Master Jang a Giant, but she would have used a different word for her teacher had she had this frame of reference! The gigantic fuzzy being stood even taller as he rose up straight, giving Kiwi a full view of his immense size. He was clothed in a simple blue loin cloth, and seemed quite proud in showing off his great muscles. muscles which gripped a sledgehammer almost as big as the bridge itself! Kiwi was frozen with fear at the sight of such a great being. He growled slightly at her intrusion, and cracked his knuckles before he re-tightened his grip on the humongous hammer. Finally, she summoned up enough willpower to simply squeak out, "Toll?" "YARRRRR!" the Toll Troll bellowed. "You be payin' the toll to cross the bridge, or I turns you into my snack!" Kiwi began to feel courage come back to her. Even if he was hostile, she was quicker; there was nothing to worry about! She flew up slightly, crossed her arms and said, "But I don't wanna cross the bridge! I'm here to find destiny!" The Toll Troll's eyes flared with rage. "NOT PAYIN' THE TOLL? THEN HEADS WILL ROLL!!" And with that, he picked up his great sledge and swung it overhand at the hovering Faerie. In all honesty, she was completely unprepared for its assault. more specifically, she was unprepared for how quickly he could swing his sledge. Kiwi had barely enough time to fly backwards before the sledge pounded into the mountain below with enough force to crush any living being beneath it. The wind from the great weapon's flight spun her out of control, and she toppled through the air, slamming into the rock behind her. She had enough time to stand and dive out of the way once more, as the Toll Troll recovered and pounded his great hammer into the spot she had struck just seconds before. Kiwi screamed as she flew into the air again and struck the ground farther down the path. She couldn't fly with such heavy drafts coming off of the Toll Troll's strikes. The Toll Troll recovered once again and raised his great hammer up, poised to drive it into the shivering Faerie, while she lay prone with her eyes closed upon the ground. "WAIT!" she screamed, holding her hands up as the hammer came down. In an impressive show of strength and control, the Toll Troll stopped his great hammer in mid-descent, just feet away from crushing her. "So, you decided to pay the toll, little mosquito?" he asked, bringing the hammer back to a resting position

Lucciana froze. She felt something. welcoming and peaceful with that touch, and strangely familiar. She stared into Shss' eyes for a second, and wondered silently what it could all mean. Finally, the Samurai grasped tighter and pulled Shss up. It was time to set sail.
The river was still, but there was a very tiny current. The raft had been drifting north rather slowly, and the somewhat narrow body of water seemed to be completely blocked off on all sides. To the west, the wall of the castle kept even pace with the two girls and their vessel, and to the east, another. a cave-like wall kept the journey on a straight voyage north. It would have been quiet, but Ooshiama seemed to be quite the talker. The language barrier didn't seem to matter to her, or perhaps, it was the reason that she was being so open. In the end, it gave Shss ample time to reflect on what had happened in the past few days. If I hadn't been so unprepared. The thought kept racing through her mind. The serpent had caught both of them by surprise, and she knew that using her spear to simply disarm or stun the great beast would simply have gotten them both killed. She knew it was an unavoidable kill, but it didn't keep her from feeling bad for the serpent, or for her vow, which now seemed impossible to keep. Shss gave the beast a silent prayer to speed its journey back to the earth, and begged its forgiveness. She would give up this whole game of murder and survival once she had found the Kassmak Ohss, hopefully to be one of the washers or teachers of her village. whatever would make her useful to her people without taking another life. She widened her eyes slightly. yes, that would be best. Ooshiama continued to speak, gesturing strangely as she stared off into the distance. It was kind of funny. but at the same time, she knew they had to stay alert, in case another of those things came around. What would she do if it did? Slay it, or find another way? The Fighter kept her ears open for the slightest trickle of water outside of the raft's noise, in case another one of those things came back. "Ei," Ooshiama interjected suddenly. Shss looked up and followed her companion's look to a small beach off to the west. It was the exact same one they had departed, complete with the serpent's head and the strange symbol in the dirt. The river had looped back on itself. Ooshiama seemed to get a little flustered, shaking her head in disbelief. In truth, Shss was feeling the same way. They had floated down this river for the past hour looking for the Kassmak Ohss, and came back to the same place they started from! A red light began to form in the robed girl's hand, pointed towards the river. She was probably going to send them back to shore to plan their next move, but that's when Shss saw something she hadn't noticed before. "Ooshiama!" she shouted, pointing off to the east. It was hard to make out through the darkness, but then, they both saw it: an island, covered by a massive fortification of some sort, out in the middle of the river. The glow in Ooshiama's hand dimmed. The raft was drifting north, away from the shore to the west, and the island to the east. They were going to sail away from both shores! Ooshiama stood up and hooked an arm under Shss' shoulder, pulling her to her feet. After she wrapped her good arm firmly around her waist, the Fighter suddenly couldn't feel the raft beneath her anymore.

As the skeletons began to reconstruct themselves, Shss strode forward to disrupt their progress. She arced her spear from the right straight across the line of building skeletons, cutting ribcages in half and sending the line of bones against the far wall. Lucciana was busy kicking skeletal hands into the air and slicing them into pieces, making sure they would never come together again. Pieces clattered all around her with tiny clinking sounds, just as she felt a slight pressure in her ear telling her something was behind her. She spun around and sliced her sword in a neat path, straight across the upper ribs of the a skeleton with its sword raised high above and behind it. With its legs no longer able to support the weight of the blade, its arms and head dipped back, with sword still in hand, and fell to the floor with a smash. Shss realized that they couldn't go back out the way they came, if Ooshiama was as tired as she was after such a short flight over the river. She pierced a jabbering, biting skull on the ground and pushed towards the stairs leading farther down. When she turned to beckon Ooshiama after her, she saw a bright blue light emanate from the pale girl's hands and shoot out towards the skeletons. A massive sheet of snow and ice covered the bulk of the bones on the ground, and their struggles to end the lives of the two intruders suddenly stopped. Ooshiama fired ball after frozen ball of blue ice over the bones still crawling and moving along the ground, until the entire chamber was encased in immobile ice. When she was finished, she tucked her wounded arm back into her robe, and smirked as she held up two fingers, marching down the stairs leading farther into the crypt. Shss hissed in disbelief, then followed her friend down. The two entered a small room with an empty alcove in it. The sickening sounds of rattling bones and the scraping of swords being dragged along the ground above didn't follow. Shss sighed in relief, and both girls walked around the alcove through a small archway, and into a vast hall of death. Lined up in tiny chambers to their left and right, bones were laid to rest, as far as the eye could see. Ooshiama hunched over like she was going to throw up. Shss walked over to offer some comfort, but she waved her away, straightening up and striding down the corridor as if nothing was the matter. despite her furrowed brow. Shss rested her spear against her shoulder, holding it firmly in case more of the creatures came to life. But there was no rattling, no shifting, nothing in the shadows that might denote an attack. The bones were still, and the two walked cautiously past rows and rows of long deceased bodies. The hallway was extremely long. They had travelled for at least fifteen minutes, past more and more of the bodies and the penetrating quiet. Shss' back was beginning to ache from being clenched in anticipation for so long, and she noticed the same readiness in Ooshiama's set jaw and hand on her sword. The clenching got worse when they passed through an open gate leading into a small crypt, though thankfully filled with substantially less occupants in fewer alcoves in the walls. Torchlight flickered off of their pale white bones, and cast eerie shadows in the corners of the room. Off to the left and right, the small room opened up into hallways with pronounced fountains of gushing water latched onto the walls. Shss pointed off to the right, and the two girls walked past a small room with more bones on the ground. They were stacked in a messy pile, a far cry from the deferential and respectful manner in which the other skeletons had been laid to rest. Shss couldn't be sure, but some of them appeared to be moving. She pushed a curious Ooshiama farther down the hallway in case the bones were planning on following. Something was rustling straight ahead. Shss pointed her spear forward and Ooshiama unsheathed her

Smitty's eyes widened, and he blinked a few times, letting her know he understood. Hiromi released the Paralysis around his mouth, and Smitty spoke. "Few know the name of Karain, and if ye know 'em, then there ain't no way ye be throwin' in yer lot with tha Ramm folk," he said. "He be a good man. and it be a damn shame that most'a the folk who used ta be under his domain came here ta mine these here mines." Hiromi sighed in relief, and released the Paralysis spell from the grizzled old Dwarf. He composed himself and wiped the nervous beads of sweat off of his forehead. "But yer friend, if he truly be yer friend." he added, "if he be with them Ramm folks, ye best just forget about 'em. They ain't ones ta play around, and they be involved in all kinds'a despicable acts. "'ts a wonder they haven't set their sights on tha mines or its riches yet, but we catch some'a their numbers snoopin' 'round, lookin' fer victims ta sacrifice ta their god," he continued. "Sometimes we run 'em off. sometimes, we don't." Hiromi shivered slightly. either Quinn had been taken in by these people against his will, or he truly hadn't revealed as much of himself during their brief meeting on the road as she thought. She didn't say anything for a short while, letting everything sink in. "Hi-chan?" Kiwi whispered to her. She broke from her thoughts, her mind made up. "I need to find him, in case he's being forced to do something bad," she stated firmly. "I can't believe that he's a bad person. not after all the things he's told me." Smitty shook his head slightly. "Ye have no clue whatsoever whatcha gettin' yerself inta. None. And that's why." He picked up his hammer. "I'm goin' with ye. and ye ain't gonna stop me," he said. "Ye'll find tha Temple of Ramm on tha outskirts'a tha forest, near tha swamp on tha edge'a tha River Styx. I'll take ye both there. consider it payment fer tha corn," he said with a smirk at Kiwi, "and fer not bein' there when Karain needed me tha most." Kiwi cheered and Hiromi smiled. "Thanks, thanks, thanks!" Kiwi shouted, hugging the stout Dwarf with all her might and planting a big kiss on his cheek. "I'll give you lots of Faerie Dust for this!" Smitty nodded in response. "Heh, I'll be lookin' forward ta it, lass," he said, and grabbed one last ear of corn. "Now we make way fer tha Skull Door, in tha castle. Stay close ta me and try not ta let tha miners see ye." As the Dwarf made his confident way out the door, corn and hammer in hand, Hiromi whispered to Kiwi. "Told you that Faeries tasted delicious!" Kiwi giggled, and the three marched their way up the stairs, towards Quinn and the Temple of Ramm.

The great towering head and neck of a green serpent protruded from out of the river and stared down at him, its eyes red with hunger and madness. Most of the black water dripped off of its head back into the river, but the few drops that did find their way onto Smitty's body began to add even more wrinkles to his skin before everyone's eyes. Hiromi backed up on the skiff as far away from the serpent as she could, but not near enough to touch the water that could age with a touch. The serpent's head glided down and slowly approached the skiff. Its jaw opened and revealed its glistening teeth. It was almost close enough to touch now. Hiromi readied a Paralyze spell and almost shouted to the ferryman to paddle them away, when she was stopped by movement off to her side. The ferryman turned slowly towards the serpent, and even in the pitch black of her surroundings, all three of them could see his frightening white skull. Even as he moved, he continued to row with his coldly steady movements. The serpent's head turned all at once, straight into the eye sockets of the ferryman Charron. It held the look for only a split second before it cast its crimson eyes down towards the river, then sank back beneath the waters. Charron turned back towards the front of the boat, and they continued on. Smitty grunted in frustration and furrowed his brow. "Blast it. Xorphitus made sure tha Vicar'd keep this haunt in check with tha Horn'a Souls, so why's he goin' wherever he damn well pleases?" Kiwi's ears perked up. "Hi-chan, that's the Ghost you sent away, right?" she whispered. Unfortunately, everyone heard her in the absolute silence. "WHAT?!" Smitty yelled, pounding the skiff. It began to rock slightly, but Charron kept rowing without a word. Hiromi shrank back. "It's. he was stuck there, in the spire!" she stammered. "We had to help him escape!" "Of all tha.!" Smitty sputtered. "This ain't worth no amount'a corn, bein' stuck out here'n tha middle'a tha Styx with tha carrier'a dead souls himself! And tha worst part is." He sighed, then continued. "Ain't no reason fer me ta blow me top at ye, knowin' ye was only doin' it fer tha Vicar's sake. guess we'll figure it all out when we gets there." "Sorry," Kiwi whispered, her face flushed and pained. Smitty caught her ashamed look, and was visibly moved. "Ain'tcha fault, lass," he comforted her. "Neither'a ye. Les just see where this spook is takin' us." They rowed on in silence for a few minutes, nobody saying a word. The wind rustled eeriely, sending shivers down Kiwi and Smitty's spines. Hiromi, well dressed as she was, was more immune to the chill. She was quiet for a few more seconds, then stepped cautiously forward towards Charron, taking a seat behind him. "Mister Charron, um, sir?" she stammered, though he gave no indication of hearing her. "You take souls to their resting places, right? So you'd know if someone was alive or not?" Charron made an almost imperceptible movement at this, turning his head just slightly to the side. "Quinn, maybe of the Temple of Ramm. he has a tat." "Alive." Hiromi jumped at the unexpected hiss that came from beneath his hood. His voice was at the same time soft and grating, calm and firm, a voice that spoke from centuries of occupying a space somewhere between life and death. But as much as it scared her, she was relieved to hear that Quinn was all right.

tumbled to the ground, and the Nightgaunt suddenly found itself in a fight for its life with the biting, scratching zombie. A watery shriek whizzed by Kiwi's ear into a third Nightgaunt just as it was about to grab her in its claw. Hiromi started another chant and nurtured another feeling of power in her body as the Nightgaunt's bodily fluids froze solid and it stopped moving altogether. Kiwi smiled in thanks, then spun towards the Nightgaunt, catching it in the chest with her left heel, then her right in an impressive spin kick. A split second later at the end of her spin, she flew backwards and drove both elbows into the spot she had kicked, and the Nightgaunt struck the wall with a thud. A crack appeared in the stone where its head hit. She felt a small gust of wind and flew up, dodging the clawed hand that had almost grabbed her, but instead cut deeply into her skin. Kiwi cried out, looped around and brought two fists down on the Nightgaunt's shoulder, breaking the bone instantly. Its reflexes brought its face down to look at the wound, and Kiwi's head was waiting to strike it in the forehead and send it sprawling to the ground. Smitty had crushed a few more of the zombies, but there were more and more piling out of the crypts. They were finally able to swarm him, and one took a great bite out of his neck. Smitty cried out in pain as it ripped the skin and flesh from his bones and blood began to spurt. But then, four of the nearest zombies, including the one who had bitten him, exploded into a pile of useless, unmoving meat. The body parts flew into the wall as if something had pushed them, and a feeling of warm liquid ran down his spine. He hurriedly looked down at the wound on his neck. Hiromi's glowing hand was there, and when she removed it, only a teeth-shaped scar remained. He nodded in respect and turned to take down a few more of the disgusting creatures. The Priest turned around to her other friend, just in time to see the lucky strike one of the Nightgaunts had gotten. Kiwi's fragile body was already cut up pretty bad from the slicing talons of the Nightgaunts, but now one of them had struck her cleanly and broken several of her bones. They advanced as Kiwi's unmoving body started to fly towards the groaning zombies. And, instead, landed in Hiromi's outstretched hand. She gently closed her hand down on the brave Faerie, and felt the warmth of God's love and healing leave her hand and pour into the little one's body. Only seconds later, her bones had knit and the scratches had closed completely. Kiwi opened her eyes and smiled. Hiromi nodded, and pointed her hand towards the remaining two Nightgaunts who had almost completely closed in. Kiwi hunched herself down on Hiromi's outstretched hand, then shot forward with all her might. This time, the Priest braced herself for the little one's immense power, and kept her balance. Her flight drove her straight at the first Nightgaunt's forehead. The force of her attack pushed his head back and cracked it down on the stone steps. With a cry, she rocketed towards the final, suddenly cowering one. At the same time, Smitty pushed forth with renewed energy, indebted to the girl who had just made such short work of the undead creatures. He jumped and swung his hammer at the stomach of one of the zombies, and it fell back into the crowd of its bretheren in a twitching heap. He was about to continue on to the zombie off to his right, when a small blue figure began to dart between them. It was too fast to see, but every time the figure flew near one of the zombies, it was suddenly and violently whipped in one direction or another. One after another was driven into walls, alcoves, into the ground or even blasted up into the ceiling. Then, they started exploding. It was then that Smitty realized that Kiwi was immobilizing the clumsy corpses while Hiromi was dispelling

running," he said with confusion. The man smirked with a "you must be joking" look. "Why would I run from the guy who saved me?" he asked, taking a sitting position across from the Dracon. "That girl Hiromi and some of the patrols around this here castle told me they saw a black monster running around nearby, and when I finally find him, he's napping just down the hall. Looks like you 'n me share the same wound, bro." He rolled back his sleeve. The purple marks of the serpent's fangs had long turned a healthier red and pink, and the man showed no sign of discomfort. Janus pulled back his leathers to see the black scales on his shoulder and, indeed, the marks were almost identical. The snake obviously found itself an effective place to bite and subdue its prey and stuck to the plan. "The name's Queequeg," he introduced himself, proudly pointing at his chest. "I guess ya could call me this castle's unofficial supplier. Weapons, armor, ammunition, oil, scrolls, whatever ya need, I got." The Dracon looked at him strangely. "I'm. Janus," he replied warily. He was unaccustomed to introductions. this whole meeting was weird. "Janus huh? I like it," Queequeg said, and bowed slightly. "So. it looks like ya favor the bow. I took the liberty of adding a couple more arrows to yer stash, and a crossbow and quiver of bolts if ya ever need them. Won't do ya much good to be outta ammo in a place like this!" He pointed off to the corner to indicate Janus' new weapons. He followed Queequeg's finger to the neat pile against the wall. His bow and arrows were there, but next to them now sat the crossbow and pouch of bolts that Queequeg had promised. Etched on the side of the crossbow, Janus could make out a "Q" in exquisite penmanship. "Made them myself, outta materials I save for my regulars," the dark man said. "I hope they can protect ya as well as ya did me." He stood up and started towards the door. "Well, I better get back to mindin' the store. Them pirates need all the help they can get in a place like this. Come look me up if ya ever need help, bro, I'm just down the hall." He smiled and waved, and began to open the door. Janus stood up suddenly. "Wait." he said, reaching towards the merchant. "Yeah, bro?" Queequeg replied, turning to him. "I'm, um, looking for something," Janus stammered. He noticed that he was mumbling a lot. but then again, he'd never really talked to anyone before. "I, uh, overheard the men in the mountains talking about it. Some sort of, um, pen that. that when you write with it, it. it becomes true." Queequeg shut the door quickly and rushed back to Janus, leaning in close and whispering. "You here for the pen too, huh?" he asked quietly. "A lotta the pirates in here came here to find it, but they got nothin' to show for it. However." he continued, checking around for any hidden ears among the shadows. "They don't call me a jack of all trades for nothin'," he finally said. "I dabble in more than just material goods; I have the info ya need, too. Ya wanna find the pen, ya go down the hall, downstairs, and make a couple of lefts. Go past the Skull Door, and talk with the Bane King at the Isle of the Dead on the River Styx. Remember: stairs, door, river, island, king. Ya follow my instructions, and you'll find it. "Word'a caution though, bro," he continued, "some say the reason this whole castle fell is 'cause'a that pen. I wouldn't touch it for the life of me, but if that's whatcha came here for, then I won't stop ya. So ya be careful when ya go and deal with the Undead to find that thing, got it?" Queequeg smirked again and kindly clapped the Dracon on his good shoulder. With a wave, he was across the room and out the door. Janus felt confused. This was the first time, in my whole life, someone has treated me like a Man. he thought.

feelings of "open," "unlock" and "move" fill his entire being, and accompanied each word with an appropriate mental image. Finally, came his favorite part. Tearn closed his paw and rapped his knuckles on the rusted portcullis. "Knock, knock," he said, and the gate slid into the wall at his insistence. The snake and its fangs moved right along with it, and the gate jammed halfway open, trying over and over to tear the fangs from the snake before it could continue all the way into the wall. The movement drove the snake's sleeping head into the wall over and over again, but it didn't wake. Tearn slipped past the wretched thing and went down the stairs. At least it was brighter down here. Another gate that now barred his path, labeled "Hazard Area," actually lifted his spirits. if the Cosmic Forge was anywhere, it would be behind several locked barricades and a guardian. It seemed he was on the right track. Tearn heard something creeping inside, a slithering type of sound. At first he thought it might be snakes, but a look inside showed the truth: the entire area was overrun by vines. And not any ordinary vines, either. These ones were moving, stretching along the ceiling and down the walls, creeping along the floor and twisting around one another. They must have sensed him coming, because a few of the vines closer to the gate began to creep between the bars and reach for him. Obviously carnivorous, they wiggled forward to strangle the life out of him. Tearn removed the vial he was going to use on his way in here, the vial of acid, and threw it on a larger grouping of the creeping vines. It shattered and spread the acid all over them, but seemed to have no other effect as they continued to slither towards him. Once again, he felt warmth overtake his body. though this time, it was almost too hot to stand. Tearn cupped his paws together and summoned forth a wild, leaping mass of fire, finally directing it straight onto the pool of acid and the vines in it. The fire lept forward in several twisting streams, and the acid suddenly burst into explosive flames. The vines in the pool retreated from him, and the ones still coming faltered somewhat, but it was too late. The flames burned brighter and hotter with so much fresh tinder available to it, and streamed back into the gate to ignite more and more of the others. As the flames flowed left and right, they licked the ceiling and set more and more of the plants on fire. Within seconds, the entire room and every last vine was aglow with flickering red flame, until they could no longer be seen amidst the the choking smoke that emanated from their charred forms. Tearn stood back with a satisfied grin at the pathetic resistance that had been left for him. A trapped snake and a room of fuel for a ready inferno were hardly ways to guard such a precious artifact. The fire burned hotter, and he suddenly began to feel angry. The tiny, piercing screams for help came to him again, and he smelled blood. His face flushed, his jaw tightening, and he felt a tiny sting in his eyes. Before the tears could come, a woman's voice cried out. "Tearn!!" He snarled, shaking loose a telltale tear, feeling the same pain he relived every day of his life. Just as quickly, though, he pushed the thoughts aside with more images of opening, and Knock Knocked the gate open. Later. there was always time to remember later. By this time, the air was absolutely black with smoke, though nothing more remained of the fire save a few vines that were still burning here and there. Tearn conjured a swirling, blowing sensation in his chest, and conjured forth an Air Pocket spell to blow the smoke and ash away from him. Creating a bubble of fresh air, he moved forward into the mesh of charred vines, wincing slightly at the strong and pungent odor of broiled plantlife. The flowing feeling in his body continued as Tearn's Air

Pocket kept the ash away, and he walked down a small stone hallway in the back. The vines hadn't travelled back this far, and the smoke finally let up. Tearn pushed the Air Pocket behind him and created a stationary barrier between himself and the ash. The flowing feeling left him. Up ahead, a small group of dark-skinned women were fiddling with something in an opening on the left, speaking quietly amongst themselves. Half of them were bare from the waist up, but they were all wearing grass skirts, and all had spears. Suddenly, one of them looked up from what they were doing, and pointed at him with a cry. The other women followed her pointed finger, then they all scurried down the path to the left, disappearing from sight. Tearn calmly walked forward to the opening. a small, open cave-like space with a seemingly bottomless pit for a floor. One of the women was still in view, moving hand over hand on a rope tied to a boulder on either side of the chasm, her spear clenched in her teeth. At the other end of the rope, and with surprising agility, she swung herself up to the other side, landed on the stone floor and cut the rope with a swipe of her spear. Seeing the path as impassable, she ran down the hallway, out of sight. He relaxed, and felt an airy sensation overcome his body. He began to feel lighter and lighter, until his feet began to lift slightly off of the ground. He made sure to keep that feeling well in mind as his weightless body began its slow movement over the pit to the other side of the chasm. If there were people still living in this blasted place, he was sure as hell not going to let them go anywhere without getting all the information they had. When he reached the other side and had just set down on the stone floor in the hallway, he heard the shouting echoes of the women he had just seen. They sounded like battle cries, but had no tinge of fear within them. Perhaps they were prepared, and were waiting for him. Tearn looked right down the hall, towards the source of the shouting, and came face to face with the hulking, flailing, roaring monster that took up almost the entire room ahead of him. It was green, and it had several large roots and moving vines coming out of its body. He might have called it a plant, had it not had a mouth and a row of teeth to put the serpent to shame. Two of the women were behind it. While one was running down another passageway, a bare chested one was pointing at Tearn as she looked at the creature and shouted something. When she finished, the thing roared even louder, and its vines shot towards his body. The woman smirked confidently and strode out with the others, spear in hand. Tearn dodged to the side as two of its tendrils smashed the stone beneath him, cracking it in the process. He conjured up the feeling of cold, and in mid-dive had manifested two sharp spears of ice to drive through the thing's tendrils and into the crack it had just created. The back of the tendril swung wildly, but the end was firmly pinned to the crack in the stone by the ice lances. He hit the wall as two more vines swung out and struck at him. One missed completely and hit the wall next to him, but the other managed to hit him in the shoulder, sending him flying down the passage. He hit the ground and rolled to a stop several feet away, but was relieved to see that the creature couldn't come down the same narrow hallway. Unfortunately, when its vines stood up vertically and several openings appeared in them, Tearn knew it didn't need to physically approach. He pushed a feeling of air out of his body in time to create a shield of swirling wind, scattering the dozens of thorns the beast had shot out of its tendrils into the walls around him. The Missile Shield wouldn't hold long, so as the thing readied another deadly volley of thorns, Tearn ran back down the brief strip of stone between the hallway of thorns and the bottomless pit. Almost

wondered briefly what could be worse than a wrongful death, to set this Queen so wholly on edge, but understood when she gave the definitive answer: "He used the pen!!" she roared. The spirit shook with rage at the memory of the Forge's power. Her lovely face contorted in a mask of absolute fury, and her ghostly teeth were clenched tightly together. Tearn had seen that face reflected to him many times before. "He got exactly what he wanted," she explained. "First, his whore lover struck me down with her own hands. Second, she became pregnant with his bastard son. and finally, he became immortal. He used and discarded me like an old plaything, and took the Demon Child for himself as a lover. "They murdered countless innocents, including myself, and all who have attempted to end their reign have met similar fates! With the Forge in their control, this world will be theirs. unless you can stop them!" Tearn wondered if the Queen's comparison was as off the mark as he had originally thought. If she knew what he was planning to do with the Forge, she would probably view him with the same disdain as she did her murderers. "I have waited for you for decades, because I knew you wielded the power necessary to murder them both!" she continued. "With the power of the Forge in your hands, they will not be able to stand up to you! Go, to its resting place in the Temple of Ramm! West of here through a passage on the River Styx, up the mountain, go to their base of depravity! "Put an end to the senseless slaughter at their hands and slay them! The King, the wretched whore girl, and their hellborn child! Kill them all! KILL THEM ALL!!" The ghostly form exploded from within with a powerful scream of anguish and revenge. The mist that made up its body fanned out in all directions and towards the Felpurr, encompassing the entire room. He could feel the coldness of her death, as well as a lifetime of anguish, as the mist passed through him, then finally disappeared. Her scream echoed, losing no volume for several seconds, until it finally began to die down. Shortly after, it had receded. and a metal clang clattered where her spirit had disappeared seconds before. Tearn knelt down to recover the Silver Cross that the spirit had dropped, tucked it into his robe, and sighed. He was beginning to tire of the dead yelling at him their untold tales, and was annoyed at being sent on yet another chase for information on his way to the Forge. He had no doubt in his mind that the second he reached the Temple, he would only meet another wailing specter with clues on the pen's true whereabouts. Tearn exhaled sharply in exhaustion. He was sick of wasting time, knowing how many more of his people may be dying while we was sent around in circles for this pathetic pen. He finally conjured and summoned a powerful anti-force throughout his body. With the powerful Levitate spell in effect, Tearn became a blur. A single thought propelled him at unbelievable speeds out of the Queen's crypt and down the hallway of skeletons. At the speed he was travelling, he didn't even have time to focus on any particular alcove of the dead. In no time at all, he had made his way past the frozen skeletons, out the front door of the massive mausoleum and over the River Styx to the passage leading to the Temple of Ramm. *** Not a single one of the soldiers had seen the robed Felpurr silently flying onto the roof of the Temple. and there were a lot of them. The first rays of dawn peeked over the trees on the mountain's edge and cast a pleasant hue on the black walls of the vile Temple. Because of his Levitation spell, he was completely out of air magic for the time being, but it made little difference. His most destructive spells, the

no bigger than a closet. There was barely enough room to stand up, and just a simple wooden door in front of him. Here was a good a place. Tearn didn't finish the thought before he fell asleep. *** He didn't know how much time had passed, but he could feel the power of all six realms of magic within him again. Tearn sat up and felt around the holes in his robe where the Magic Missiles had struck him. There were bruises where they had hit, but otherwise, he was fine. Suddenly, he began to hear voices from the other side of the door. Tearn prepared a standby Fireball spell and burst through the portal. It was once a regal chamber, but the beautifully colored tapestries along the walls were now faded and torn. There was a door about fifty feet ahead at the other end of the room and it had a sign on it, but he couldn't read it at this distance. In the middle of the room sat a winged girl, and a man who looked deathly sick. The man was exceedingly pale, and had pointed ears and glowing yellow eyes. He was dressed in a beautiful black robe and cloak with red lining, seated upon the stone floor. His mouth was slightly open at the sudden intrusion, and Tearn had plenty of time to see two pointed fangs protruding out there. He stared into the floor listlessly. The girl, on the other hand, was a beauty, in stark contrast to the sickly man. She was crouched behind him, with her arms protectively around his chest. Her black hair was cut neatly at medium-length, and her green skin looked soft and inviting. When Tearn charged in, she had been whispering something in his ear, but stopped to look up at the intruder with her deep black eyes the second he had entered. She closed her eyes and nuzzled the man slightly, then stood up to face Tearn. She was wearing only a large black belt and boots, and was unashamed at Tearn seeing her near-naked body in all of its beauty. He felt enchanted at her approach, but dispelled the feeling immediately with thoughts of his mission, and of those he had lost. The juxtaposition of anger and love in his mind kept her from whatever enchantment she was trying to cast on him. "The Demon and the King," he said. Rebecca seemed slightly surprised that her charm had been resisted, and stopped between the Bane King and the intruder. She placed her right hand on her hip and left the other at her side, tilting her head towards the ground but not keeping her eyes off of Tearn. Though she seemed to be relaxed, he knew that she was by no means unready to ward off any attacks. "Yes," she answered softly. Tearn summoned forth a greater fire than the one he had prepared earlier, knowing just what he was up against. "I've come for the Cosmic Forge. Stand aside and I won't harm either of you," he stated. "Why?" she asked. Tearn growled softly, then spoke. "That's none of your business," he replied gruffly. Rebecca blinked in response. "For power?" she asked. "Don't you have enough already? Do you really need more?" "It's none of your business!" he repeated, louder this time. "Now move aside, murderer, before I send you both back to hell." He reached for the Silver Cross within his robe and pointed it towards the two. Rebecca closed her eyes and looked off to the side in pain. "You've been talking to the Queen, haven't you?" she stated more than

Softkey is a tenn which we coined to describe aprocedure thatremoves, or at leastcircumvents, any copy-protection on a particular disk. Once a softkey procedure has been perfonned, the resulting backup copy can usually be copied by the normal copy programs (for example: COPYA, on the DOS 3.3 System Master disk).
Applesoft inserts spaces into a program listing before and after every command word or mathematical operator. These spaces don't pose a problem except when they are inside of quotes or after a DATA command. There are two types of spaces: those that have to be keyed and those that don't. Spaces that must be typed appear in COMPUTIST as special characters (0). All other spaces are there for easier reading. NOTE: Ifyou want your checksums to match, only type spaces within quotes or after DATA statements if they are shown as (0) charactors. SAVE the program atperiodic intervals using the name given in the article. All characters after a ~EM are not checked by the checksum program so typing them is optional.
You have a LEGAL RIGHT to an unlocked backup copy of your commercial software.
Our editorialpolicy is that we do NOT condone software piracy, but we do believe that users are entitled to bockup commercial dislcs they have p.rchased. In addition to the security of a backup disk, tM removal of copy-protection gives the user tM option of modifying programs to meet his or her needs. Furthermore, tM copyright laws guarantee your right to such a DEPROTECTED bockup copy:
..It is not an infringement for the owner of a copy of a computer program to make or authorize the making of another copy or adaptation of that computer program provided: 1) that such a new copy or adaptationis created as an essential step in the utilization ofthe computer program in conjunction with a machine and that it is used in no other marmer, or 2) that such new copy or adaptation is for archival purposes only and that all archival copies are destroyed in the event that continued possession of the computer program should cease to be rightful. Any exact copies prepared in accordance with the provisions of this section may be leased, sold, or otherwise transferred, along with the copy from which such copies were prepared, only as part of the lease, sale, or other transfer of all rights in the progranl. Adaptations so prepared may be transferred only with the authorization of the copyright owner."

Commands and control keys
Commands which a reader is required to perfonn are set apart by being in boldface and on a separate line. The return key must be pressed at the end of every such command unless otherwise specified. Control characters are preceeded by "ctrl". An example of both is:

Typing Hexdumps

Machine language programs are printed in COMPUTIST as hexdumps, sometimes also as source code. Hexdumps are the shortest and easiest format to type in. You must first enter the monitor:

CALL -151

Key in the hexdump exactly as it appears in the magazine. ignoring the four-digit checksum ($ and four digits) at the end of each line. When fmished, return to BASIC with:

6ctrl P

Type 6. Next. place one fmger on the ctrl key and then press P. Don't forget to press the return key. Other special combinationkeypresses include ctrl reset and open-apple ctrl reset. In the fonner, press and hold down the ctrl key then press the reset key. In the latter, press and hold down both ctrl and open-apple then press reset.
BSAVE the program with the filename, address and length parameters given in the article.

Typing Source Code

The source code is printed to help explain a program's operation. To enter it, you need an
United States Code title 17,1117

COMPunST#81

Reader. Data Exchange

Editorial Notes:

:I <:> 0 ,.
I just got back from vacation. Guess you noticed? I wasn't planning to take anytime off this summer but something special came up and I couldn't pass on it. So anyway, we're back on track. Inside this issue you'll find some notes on the NEW System 6.0 for the llgs that are purported to be more than just rumors. Also, I worked up a meIDOIy map for the lIe as the centerspread for this issue. Take a look and see what you think. Let me know if you find any errors or if you think something should be added. I haven't received postage for postcard to let you know about your issue.19 any suggestions about what you would like to see on First Oass postage for a replacement issue.98 future centerfolds. So think about it and write me Envelope.18 sometime. Not counting the cost of the second issue or the time it takes to process and pack your order, that comes to Complaints $1.50 I received a nasty note recendy from a reader who $1.70. Thanks for complaining! I forgot to upgrade moved and missed an issue. 1 sent him a card that said the charge for replacement issues to include the new that the Post Office had notified me of his new address postage. Guess I'll have to change the postcard to say "We'll send you a replacement issue for $2.00".

and that I would replace his most recent issue if he would send me $1.50 for the postage. He was indignant and stated, invery colorfullanguage, thathe had already paid for that issue and didn't intend to pay again. Oops! We obviously have a misunderstanding here. Unless you have a First Class subscription (he didn't), the Post Office will not automatically forward your issue. You must tell them to forward your 3rd Qass mail! If you don't do this then they will destroy your issue and send me your new address. They charge me 35 for this service. Now let's figure this out. USPS address notice.35
Apple fie Memory Map... 12 Apple Leaks & Rumors from Kansasfest 8 Catalog patch for the Color Print Shop 18 Comments on Lode Runner VIrUS 16 Customizing MECC's 1990 Programs 19 How to Exclusive OR (EOR) values 19 Map for "The Secret of Monkey Island" 6 Notes on Where in Time is Cannen Sandiego 8

Table of Contents

Editorial Note RDEX Contributors Most Wanted Softkeys nnClassifieds The Product Monitor

Reviews

FlightStick Links: The Challenge of Golf Platinum Paint 1.0.5 The Graphics Exchange 6 7
Estimation: Quick Solve II Five-Star Forecast Fossil Hunter Grammar Toy Shop Instant Survey Micro Typewriter v4.0 Murphy's Minerals.:

PatteIllS

Fast Frames, Updates. Etc.
DOS 5 Earthrise Math Plus Real Treasure Map! Real World Platinum Rotox The Secret of Monkey ls1and Wizardry: Bane of the Cosmic Forge
Picture Chompers Probability Lab Professor AI's Sequencing Lab Stickybear Shapes (ProOOS 1.5) Studymate (the grade booster) Sun and Seasons The Duel: Test Drive II Time Navigator Wmdwalker

Tom.ab.awk.,... 15

Where in Europe is Carmen Sandiego? Where in the USA is Cannen Sandiego? Where in the World is Cannen Sandiego? Where in Time is Cannen Sandiego? 18 17

Vendors _

_.-.__ _

mMSoftkeys:

Softkeys:
Backyard Birds Balance of Power Chemistry: Balancing Equations Chemistry: The Periodic Table Chuck Yeager's AFf Equation Math Estimation: Quick Solve 1

Fi 1 e Edit Co 1 or Option Font Size Sty 1 e 320

Produc'&.s

FlightStick
Joystick for PC (Apple n series version available) $44 (approx. retail)

CH Products

Size: 6.5"W x 5.9"0 x 1.7"H x 5.75" Handle Centering Tension: approx. 170 gm. Handedness: none (Right, ifusingthrottle) Centering Error: none H, 0.01 %V Centering Defeat: none Movement Range (Horiz. sample): 50 degrees Useful Range (Horiz. sample): 45 degrees Centering Adjust: two top-of-case thumbwheels Connector: PC DIN Case Access: four screws (remove feet)
you shove around the handle, when you're at center, you get at-center outputs. On a spring-tensioned stick with standard pot elements, THAT isn't supposed to happen! Only pressure-sensor sticks are supposed to deliver zero CE (at the price of rather high tensions and a somewhat mushy feel). "Useful Range" sampling proved to be another "say what? that can't be!" situation. The EA tuner showed smooth output changes over the ~ 50-degree handle movement swing. That is, if a program wants reliable full-swing control, the CH unit can supply it. What about some standard measure of useful range? Since BASIC has built-in 'ideas' about X and Y endpoints, I hopped to Microsoft's "Quick BASIC", wrote a short output-display program, and, with a freshly EA-tuned stick, gave "Useful Range" another try. The nearly-fullswing 45-degree result is the one shown above. More? How about a true 'perfect square' response pattern?! At X-min or
X-max, X varies less than 1% while you vary Y over its entire vertical range. The same holds at Y extremes for X swings. Translation: If"at-center"means your spacecraft is flying straight and level, then that's what it will meanafter a hardtum evasion maneuver, if you need to cross-hair an incoming heat-seeker FAST, you've got plenty of glitch-free precision. In short, whateveryourgame, FlightStick has the reliability, accuracy, and precision to get the job done. Naturally, as per S.O.P., I zeroed-in on possible weaknesses. Placing the throttle wheel to the handle's left clearly leaves left-handers with less than optimal on-case throttling. Still, 'WHAT is the control doing on the case in the first place? Few games use it; and many which might will also have to place ''Throttle'' on the keyboard along with many other (view, arming, targeting, weapons select, etc.) controls. When your non-stick hand.has to sit on the keyboard anyway, what good is a casemounted control? Mainly, I suspect, it's there so you carfsay "Sure, my stick has a throttle control." Sooner orlater you will want to spray some control cleaner into the pots; having to remove the stick-on feet is inconvenient. FlightStick's 7-foot cable is fairly supple; but it could be more so. The plug's fastener bolts need a bitmore playas well. On our game port, both did notline up precisely with posts on either side ofthe socket; so, only one could be tumed-in.Leavingthecasefreeofpainted logos and stick-ons is smart-there's nothing to wear off or peel-- but what about more COLOR?! Perhaps a sky blue, day-glo green, etc. option would be a good idea. Then, again; maybe not. After much thought, I have to admit that CH Products' somewhat stodgy blackand-white motif 'fits' most computer colorschemes; AND 'the big black stick on the large off-white case' has become a kind of quality trademark. To prevail in Sierra's "Stellar 7", US Gold's new '''Soccer'', Spectrum's "Stunt Driver",. do you absolutely ~ the kind ofdurability and testnumbers one expects to find on the typical Space Shuttle console? Probably, not- at least, not often. Beyond some point, super specs become, chiefly, a guarantee of exceptional quality; software designers can'tvery well afford to produce games playable by owners of just one particular stick model. If, however, you want the unmatched feel and looks of the #1 joystick, you willjusthave to live withover-designed ruggedness and published parms thatfriends will insist~ you've got an unfair advantage. You may never really need the 'FlightStick edge'; but, it's kind of nice to havejust in case!

Painters/IIgs

Okay, guys, THIS is a mouse ('click', click'). THIS is a computerscreen ('tap', 'tap'). A mouse is not a pencil ora brush. A computer screen is not a sheet of paper. A super-res computer "painter" utility is not, mainly, for painting! Painter boxes always seem to come plastered with beautiful pictures of tigers, temples, and flowers; so, it's no wonder that everyone thinks everyone else is creating piles of artwork. Well, I have yet to see anyone produce a high quality portrait or scene from scratch using a painter utility. Why bother to mastermouse-drawing when it's so easy to transfer-in digitized images? Most users, including those with genuine artistic talent, depend upon computerpainters for A. relatively simpleoriginal drawings; B. cutting, pasting, moving around, and otherwise processing graphics. Once you dump the notion that your mouse is supposed to be a paintbrush, deciding what a painterutility SHOULD do well is much easier. Since you want to harness computer' smarts' for doing anything and everything to graphic items, a good place to start is the utility's tools; generally: the more the better. As the '90's opened, IIgs users could choose from among four major tool-rich painters: Paintworks Gold (Activision/Mediagenic)** Deluxe Paint n (Electronic Arts) Graphics Studio (Accolade) 816 Paint (Baudville) **
Eachoffers the standard' setofdrawing functions (e.g. freehand, lines, brushes, filled/unfilled shapes) along with magnify, rotates, cut & paste, color editing, multiple text fonts, etc. "Paintworks'" and "Deluxe Paint'" add powerful perspective and masking commands; and, overall, are the more 'feature-loaded' painters. "Graphics Studio" suffers from an odd tool arrangement but does permit loading-in pictures on top of existing graphics at the current screen position on the 'page'. (The I1gs screen is 200 scanlines or "dots" from top to bottom. A painter "page" is a scrollable two-screen workspace which, if printed, mls a standard 8.5" x II" sheet. GS and DP offer 4OO-line pages; the PWG page is 396 lines, and 816 has a 378-line page.) Of the four products, only "Paintworks'" allows instant switching between 320 and 640 modes with no need to save and reload the current graphic. A notable "Paintworks'" deficit is that the user can not view any part ofthe current picture while editing palette colors. In 640 mode, none of the four products offers bQ1h dithered colors (for l6-color
work). and true non-dithered drawing estsu.per-respainter more than doubles. ,. your~hics landscape! (fpr higher detail)., Eachwihdow represents a separately Given the waymajorlltil~ties divvyup most-wanted features, seriOus. graph- loadablelsavable320or640x:400'page' ics worlt on the IIgs has inevitablyre- cpmpltte with its own palette, sixteen quire<! access to at least two painters. patterns, and optionalmask. Thanks to a Even owners of two, three, or all four compact tool bar and 'pull-out' colorI packages often add a powerful non- pattern palettes, you can retain the convenience of clickable functions with a painter utility from Roger Wagner: large portion of any page in view. A

Real World Platinum

Beagle Bros's Platinum Paint is one ofthose special products that users simply 'latchonto'. Like "Copy II Plus" and "AppleWorks", it seems assured of a long run of updates, enhancements, and add-ons. This month I won't suggest any changes to the program itself. Instead, the aim is to make the surrounding 'environment' work better for the everyday 'real world' user.
$004: A5 E8 $006: AO $009: C20
A5 E8 (no change) AAO (change ANOto LOA) C20 (no change)
The surrounding code is shown in case you wishto do a 'searchand change' 1. All of the files in SYSTEM/CDEVS using Copy II Plus's Sector Editor. I 2. All of the files in SYSTEM/ found the code in diskette Block $3FB. DESK.ACes What 'Import Whatever' does is al- 3. START in SYSTEM low you to trick GSOS's Import func- 4. MODEM in SYSTEM/DRIVERS tion. GSOS ImIX>rt works and looks 5. TOOL025, TOOL026, TOOL034 in very much like the familiar Open funcSYSTEM/TOOLS tion. When selected, ImIX>rtupdates and 6. All of the files in ICONS. displays its list offiles for the currently I. Import Whatever If you copied the Beagle-supplied selected folder. Changing disk volume GSOS 5.04 System Disk, all of the As observed in the review, one of and/or folder produces fresh updates Platinum Paint's star features- the and new lists, just like Open. Unlike BASIC and ProDOS /8 ftles should alcapability for importing hires and dou- Open, Import also includes a clickable.ready be deleted. If they're present, deble-hires pictures- still does not work pull-down 'Fonnat' box for showing! letethem. Similarly, inSYSTEM/DRIVcorrectly. PP version 1.0.5 will recog- selecting the ImIX>rt fonnat (e.g. "Mac- ERS many files should already be missnize.o.n1I $2000-1ength hires pics and Paint", "Hires", etc.). Also, ImIX>rt's list ing. You should fInish with APPLES400Q-length DHR pies. It SHOULD of displayed files includes only those DISK3.5, APPLEDISK5.25, CONalso accept the much more common which may fit.the currently selected SOLE.DRIVER, IMAGEWRITER, PRINTER, and PRINTER.SETUP in $1FF8 and $3FF8 sizes. fonnat. Changing fonnat leads ImIX>rt What to do? Dearly, if one must to recheck each file and produce a new the SYSTEM/DRlVERS folder. If you worry aboutre-sizingmosthires orDHR list of candidates. The IW patch turns do not plan to access 5.25" diskettes, picture imports, the Import feature isn't OFF this recheck. With 'Import What- deleteAPPLEDISKS.25. This alsoelimworth much. Once you decide to put up ever' installed, you can change Fonnat inates some delay during volumes-onwith 'pre-processing', why bother with "til the cows come home'; but the can- line checks. I also dropped FASTImport at all? Baudville's "816 Paint" didate ftles will remain the same as FONT- it is supposed to speed up text utilities and ''The Graphics Exchange" when the volume and/or folder was drawing- with no obvious bad effects; but, since I'm still experimenting, the from Roger Wagner can handle super- opened. file is not included in the scrap list. res conversions for ALL unpacked hires "So what?" So, now, you can click In SYSTEM/SYSTEM.sETUP I and DHR files. Either is a better ap- "ImIX>rt" and bring in.mlX unpacked have not scrapped CDEV.INITbecause proach than a 'maybe/ maybe not' Im- hires or DHR pic. The key is "Macport option or fussing with file stretch- Paint" fonnat. All sorts of non-'Mac- it uses only 3K; and leaving it alone ing tricks. To 'work' in the Real World, Paint" ftles pass the "MacPaint" check, simplifies restoring all or part of the (in Platinum Paint must be able to deal including all of your favorite hires and Control Panel functions with each import 'as is'. DHR pics! Just select "MacPaint" for- DESK.ACCS and CDEVS) should you The Beagle people did not, as far as I mat, open a source volume!folder, and wish to do so. TS2 and TS3 are retained can tell, program the file non-recogni- switch to "Hires" or "Double-hires". as well. Users ofROMOl IIgs'sneed the

COMPunST #81 Readers Data Exchange

llI. Setup

So far so good. The other side of Space is the IN-side, RAM. To get the most from Platinum Paint on a typical 1.25MB IIgs, the first RAM-saving step is to cut OS memory usage. This means booting GSOS, going to the OS Control Panel, clicking the Memory icon, and making sure that RAM Disk and Cache are set to zero. (New settings go into Battery RAM and take effect upon the next cold start.) Unless you've got 2MB or more RAM, experimentation with cache and RAM Disk sizing is probably a waste of time. Speedier disk access is less important to user convenience than ready availability of painter features. Each open window, custom brush, masks, cut-and-paste "selection", any fonts you load,. all need RAM. For example, setting a mask for a window uses as much memory (a complete 64K segment) as the window itself. Note: Why, you may ask, does a mask use so much memory? Good question.Atthetimeamaskissetorchanged, any colors 'in the mask' are just for selecting areas are to be protected. Only mas. (not specific colors) are 'remembered'. At one bit per pixel, a mask should require 32Kbytes for a 640 x 400 'page' (256000/8) and just 16K bytes for one in 320 mode. The explanation appears to be that "It makes for easier programming". 7
Indeed. while one may point to Platinum Paint as an illustration of what can be accomplished using Toolbox calls; the painter also reveals some weaknesses. At 1.25MB, you CAN access all four windows, the Spare window, and support two masks-- all with enough leftovermemory to create acustom brush and load-in several fonts. I emphasize "can" because everything depends upon how you set up your workspace. When all windows are opened and masks set before you start to cut and paste. load fonts. etc. then the 'big stuff' is nicely packed together and memory is efficiently managed. On the other hand. should you start by opening one or two windows and doing a lot of work on them (e.g. load-in some fonts. move around picture pieces.). then, 'little stuff' gets in the way of subsequent window openings. Memory "fragmentation" can easily whack your space for windows and masks in half! No doubt. sluffing off 64K blocks which become 'contaminated' with font loads and brushes makes life easier for the Memory Manager. If the MM didn't behave like such a klutz- OR, ifit were simply fired !-1.25MB could easily guarantee five or six windows with plenty ofroom for fonts. brushes. and a clipboard. As for the in-program start-up "Preferences" settings. I experimented with the options and ended up retaining Spare Page and Screen Blanker along with Scroll Bars. Title Bar. and Space Windows. A Spare Page. of course. gobbles 64K; but the additional flexibility it offers is worththe cost. The Shadow Screen option didn't deliverenough extra speed to justify its 32K RAM overhead. Practically every major productivity package takes a bit of 'fitting in'. On a large-RAM hard disk system. it's no trouble at all getting Platinum Paint comfortably ensconced; on the typical floppy-only 'real world' IIgs. it's as easy as I. II. III!

Yes, System 6.0 is real. yes it's awesome, yes it has an HFS FST (as well as DOS 3.3 and Pascal FSTs), tons ofnew features. even MORE speed. and a really really really improved Finder. Some of Finder's new features: A "Windows" menu that allows you to select windows that are hidden under other windows. The "About." item now displays a modeless dialog with memory counts (Finder, NDAs, free, max block) that is updated every 15 seconds. The title of a window can be clicked on and a list of folders drops down so you can select directories previous to it. Option-clicking in the close box of a window closes all windows Gust like the Mac Finder). Option-clicking open a folder closes the window you clicked in after opening the new folder.
Also in issue #77 is a softkey for
Estimation Quicksolve from MECC for the 3.5" version. I tried it on my 5.25" disk and it does not work; however. if I transfer this over to a 3.5" it does work. I need some help to patch the 5.25" version so that it will work because my lab is set up for 5.25" disks. I am in desperate need of a program like the MECC Copy program. I run a junior high school lab of 30 computers and nearly every day I have a damaged disk. I can request another copy from the central office but that does not help with the classes until they get around to sendingme the copy which can take two weeks or more. Could someone please send me a program that will work like the MECC copy program?

--------~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tools required:
Screw driver (standard or Philips whichever is required) Pliers or wrench Soldering Iron (70 watt) Drill (1/2" shank preferred) Drill bit (for 3/4" hole)

Substitutes:

Dremel tool with cutting attachment half moon or circular file

Parts Required:

Key lock switch 14 gauge wire (6 inch) preferably black Powercenter(orAC strip withenough clearance for I" diameter hole and 4" depth)
Opening the Surge Guard Power Supervisor
Remove the four screws on the bottom ofthe case. (See figure #2.) The tilt! swivel monitor stand can be removed by unscrewing the wing nut located in the top center of the stand. I recommend removing this for ease ofhandling while cutting the hole for the key switch.

IFigure I Bottom View

Opening the System Saver IIGS
On the System Saver carefully move the rubber strip to one side and use a small four inch #1 Philips screwdriver to remove the screws. (See figure #1.) The screws along the edges should be left in the hole after removing. DO NOT remove the entire rubber strip or peel back an excessive piece, the screwdriver will easily fit around the adhesive strip.

Volume 2 of the Super lOB collection covers all the controllers from COMPUTIST No. 27 through No. 38. The following controllers are on volume 2:
Alice in Wonderland AphabeticKeyboardingoAlternate RealityoAutoduel-Checkers oChipwits oCoIor Me -Conan.data oConan.prog oCopyDOS -Crisis Mountain oDisk Director Dragonworld Early Games Easy as ABC F-15 Strike EagleFantavision.Fast controller oFishies oFlight Simulator oHailey Project -Hartley Software (a) Hartley Software (b) -Jenny of the Prarie -Jingle Disk Kidwr.er oKracking Vol II oLode Runner oLOGO II (a) LOGO II (b) oMasquerade Mastering the SAT Microtype: The Wonderful World of Paws oMicrozines 1 oMicrozines 2-5 Miner 204ger Mist &View to a KiN oMurder on the Zinderneuf oMusic Construction Set Newswap controller oQlympic Decathlon Other Side ophi Beta Filer opnstop II.Print Shop Companion RDOS Robot War oSpy YS Spy oStandard controller Sundog V2 oSwap controller oSword of Kadash oSynergistic Software oTawala's Last Redoubt oTerripin Logo Threshold oTime is Money oTime Zone oTink! Tonk! o Troll's Tale oUltima IV Wilderness Word Attack &Classmate oWorId's Greatest Baseball World's Greatest Football
Volume 4 of the Super lOB collection covers all the controllers from COMPUTIST No. 54 through No. 65. The following controllers are on volume 4:
AbracadatalDesign Home oAlgebra 3 &4 oAmerican Challenge oAnimate side (A) Animate side (B) oApplewriler Preboot Aztec-castle Wolfenstein -Championship Wrestling -Crossword Magic 4.0 -Crypt of Medea oDam Busters oDazzle Draw Death Sword oDeathlord Scenario Dignal Paintbrush Sys oDondra oDr Ruth Dreadnoughts oElem Social Studies #3 EleITl Social Studies #6 oEOSIAretic Fox Estimation oFraction Factory oFractions oGenerai Chemistry #8 -GI Joe -Hardball Lords of Conquest oMatchmakerWGF -Math BlasteroMaxweiI Manor -MECC (Apr 89) oMicrozine #26 oMind Over Matter (1984) -Nightmare Gallery oQne on One (new) oPath Tactics oPenguin oPitfalllloPooI1.5 oPrint Shop Data Disk Project Space Station opSATWord Attack Skills oRealm of lmpossibilny Roadwar 2000 oScience Prof oScience Toolkit Modules oScience Toolkn oSeaspeIer oSongwriter oSpace Station oSpe1l1t oSpy Hunter oSunburstoSuper Sun.lGen Manager oSuper Sunday Teachers Rec eook Tellstar IITest Maker The NewOregon Trail Troll Shop Right oUftima V (a) oUltima V (b) oUltima V (c) oVocabulary Adv I Z~fin

"Requires at least 64K of memory. ""Although some controllerswill completely deproteet the program they weredesigned for, some will not, and therefore require their corresponding issue of COMPUTIST to complete the deprotection procedure.
0 volume I 0 volume n D volume m
Check the box(s) for the book(s) you want then: Canada postage $2.36 $3.72 $4.32 Foreign postage $5.69 $9.37 $13.05 add $1 per book plus $.65 handling plus the correct postage

to get final

: Book of Softkeys US/Mexico posta" One Book $2.36 Two Books $2.90 Three Books $2.90

Exp. Zip _

cost. $
The Super lOB Collection: Includes all four disks with Super lOB version 1.5
0 - All four volumes 0 Other Foreign - All four volumes 0 US/Canada/Mexico - Volume #4 only
0 Other Foreign - Volume #4 only

US/Canada/MeXiC~

CouIIIry
$30.00 $ $35.00 $ $8.00 $ $10.00 $

Total enclosed. $

oSend US funds drawn on US bank:. We ship by UPS so we need a street address. Otherwise, we ship by 1st Class mail which gets there but takes a little longer. Call. (206) 832-3055 to use a credit card or send check/money order to:

COMPUTIST

33821 E Orville Rd Eatonville WA 98328-9590

Auxiliary

System
SystemROM (CIOO-FFFF) There is 16K ofROM space on the IIe consistingoftw08KROMchipsmatked"CD" and "EF'. The CDROM can overlay the I/O space at alOO-CFFF thus replacing the ROM space assigned to the slots. On the II and 11+ the ROM space is only 12K (DOOO-FFFF) and does not share the I/O space at COOO-CFFF.

Memory

Hi-RAM (DOOO-FFFF) Bankswitched memory. On the lIe the main memory HiRAM is on the motherboard. On the II and the II+ it is on the RAM card plugged into slot O. The auxiliary bank ofHi-RAM memory does not exist on the Apple II and II+.

_____ FOOO _

I-If.'!!~~r- EOOO BANKl,2(DOOO-DFFF) Hi-RAM contains 16Kbytes of memory but only has 12K of space to access it. The extra 4K is bank switched into the 0000DFFF space. This creates two (2) 4K banks. (See "HiRAM softswitches")

_ DOOO _

_____ COOO _._ Aux

RAM Main RAM

. - CFFF _ CFOO _CEOO COOO

_____ BOOO

_____ AOOO
Auxiliary Memory (0200BFFF) This memory is on the card plugged into the auxiliary slot. This slot replaced slot zero on the II and 11+. This memory is used heavily by DOS and by ProDOS' BASIC SYSTEM. Most of your programs will execute here with the smarter ones taking advantage of HiRAM and any additional banks of auxiliary memory. Note: Portions of Auxiliary memory are used by the 80 column text (040007FF) and double hires graphics (20003FFF) hardware.

Input! Output

~"""""'"""II-
I/O ROM (CSOO-CFFF) This 2K memory space is supposed to be shared by the cards plugged into the slots on a one-at-a-time basis. Access to the 2K space is gained by first referencing address $CFFF (to tell ill cards to release this space) then any memory access into the SlotROM ofthe card needing access will give it e~clusive control.

1----+-

C0 C600 C500 C400 C300 C200
Slot ROM (CIOO-C7FF) These seven 256 byte memory spaces belong to the cards in slots 1-7, respectively. They are intented for ROMs with driver Code to access the individual card functions. This code will vary depending on the type of cardpluged into the slot.

_ C100 __ COCO

CXROM (CIOO-CFFF) System ROM can overlay the I/O space a.t'CoooCFFF thus replacing the shared 2K byte I/O Slot ROM space as well as the 256 byte ROM space assigned to each slot. On the II and 11+ the ROM space is only 12K (DOOO-FFFF) and does not share the I/O space at COOO-CFFF. INTC3ROM (C300-C3FF) System ROM can choose to overlay only the 256 byte area assigned to slot 3. This is so that the built-in 80 column card software can co-exi~t with a plug-in card in slot 3.
SlotI/O (C09O-COFF)!hese seven 16 byte memory spaces belong to the cards in slots 1-7, respectively. Their purpose is to transfer bytewide data to and from the cards. The 16 byte area that would normilly belong to slot 0 is used for HiRAM ank switching.

"~,:~,:

- COFF COFO COEO CODO COCO COBO
Text Page2 (OSOO-OBFF) This area of memory is defmed by Apple as the secondary text page, however, it is not supported in hardware. You must move. the contents ofthis memory to text page 1 in order to see it on your screen.

COAO C090 :_COSO _C070

Text Pagel (0400-07FF) This memory is used for the display of 40 column text and lores graphics. Combined with the same area of auxiliary memory it can display 80 column text or double lores graphics.
_C060 _COSO _C040 _C030 _C020
Stack (OlOO-OlFF) This 256 byte area of memory is used by the microprocessor to store important data about the program being executed. ZeroPage (OOOO-OOFF) This 256 byte area of memory is shared by ill software, howerver, much of it is claimed by the operating system (OS).

COMPUTlST #81

_cooo~
Hail and well met, Eamon adventurer. COMPUTIST has news ofgreat import for loyal supporters of Eamon and members in good standing at the Main Hall. There is a newsletter for Eamon Adventure Buffs.
The "'Guild" is printed quarterly. A 1 year subscription is: US & Canada: $7.00 Foreign: $12.00 (U.S. funds)

Rod O'Brien NY

Rod O'Brien 41 West72ndSt#l6C New Yorlc, NY 10023 I have been studying various viruses and would like to see whatthis onelooks like. Before you get the wrong idea I want to study the virus to defeat it, I am not looking to write one of my own. The virus "Lode Runner" has been reported around the Apple II world for some while now. The following is a reprint ofsome articles I have written in mylocal users group newsletter, BAUD (Big Apple Users Digest). It seems that a new program coming out of France, Speedy Smith, has been responsible for a new virus in the Apple II world. The new virus, called LODE RUNNER, seems to be installed on Speedy Smith, which is an Apple IIgs copy program. The screens for the programs are all SHR and it has athermometerto indicate copyprocess. The reason no one is sure if this program is the culprit is that the programmers have written it in their own new DOS which is unreadable through the standard processes. It seems that Copy 11+ can catalog it and the total number of blocks indicated are 292 used but the files only add up to a total of 148 used. The virus seems to trash disks andhas shownup in Canada, Oregon, California and Michigan. (And now Florida according to Zorro) A good way to check to see ifyou are infected (besides having your disk erased) is to use Copy 11+ to check your Block 0000. If your first three bytes are 01 Athen the disk IS infected. It seems the virus is being spread through the copying of the program and then booting an unaffected disk immediately afterwards. The virus seems to attach itself to the ProDOS kernel so it goes unnoticed till it goes off. The virus will go offifthe Month listing in the Control Panel is set to October and the day is divisible by 8. Next you mustbootanew disk with an Open Apple-Control-Reset. The second disk must not be write-:: protected or the virus will not attach itself. The virus will appearonthe screen with a red background and says, "+++ SYSTEM FAILURE in : +++ 08 It then counts down to zero and a multi-colored screen will appear saying,
OCKlE Copies. Distr:Artistes Associes ==LOAD RUNNER = Premier virus NON-DESTRUCTEUR sur IIGS par SUPER HACKER &SHYRKAN du MASTERS CRACK ING SERVICE 1988 Lyons
Comments on Lode Runner Virus
In Computist # 75, ZoIn? of Florida mentions that his uncle has come across a virus named Lode Runner on a Nibble disk from August 1990. I have an original version of Nibble's August 1990 disk and can find NO indication of a virus on it. I ask Zorro ifhis uncle has an original ora "copy" of the Nibble disk. I would think it has to be a"copy". Also I would like Zorro to forward a copy of the disk (with virus) to me at my address:

Thexdern Sie"" On-line The Protection
1be protectionfor this addictivegame is another "Page x, Paragraph y, Word z" Pirate Protection. Tracing the code was easier than I first expected since I could use Turbo Debugger. The protection actually lies in GAME.EXE, but GAME.EXE is executed from within SIERRA.EXE. Here is a short excerpt from the call to the protection:
118B:03B5 17BB:0389 118B:038E 17BB:03CO 17BB:03C3
I only changed the first part of this routine. What the changes do are documented as comments. 57BB:97DA NOP Remove Jump
57BB:97DB 57BB:97DC 5188:97DF 5188:97E1 5188:97E2 518B:97E6 57BB:97E8

The Fix

The fix for this one is simple. Simply change the CALL to a JUMP to 4C (since the ES register must be POP'ed) and change the JS to a JMP. This resolves the check Note: About this time, you should hearavoice that says: 'The Protectionis about to die".
3888:0042 3888:0044 3888:0046 3888:0048 3888:0049 3888:oo4A 38B8:OO4B 3888:004C 38B8:004E 38B8:005O 3888:0051 38B8:oo52 38B8:oo53
MOV 01.,(51-14] Load fist expected
byte MOV (SitOl. Replace OUr Data INC St Position b' next Byte CMP(St-14].OO Are.aendof data? JNZ 97DC Nope. Get next byte JMP 9802 Yep, Jump around theresa.
CALl FAR (0508) CMP BYTE PTR (059B).FF Fnt tine through? JZ 3C3 Nope. Continue CALL 8FE7 Protection MOVAl.OF Continue
XOR AH,AH Zero out AH Register INT 10 Set Video Mode to Text JMP 0048 Avoid Protection NOP

The Protection

The protection for WC goes beyond the typical"lookon page 7, paragraph4, word 8" manual protections. This protection requires you to: A) Scan for what it is asking on an entire page of the manual or B) Scanfor what itis askingonone of the 4 supplied a blueprints It is about the most unfriendly "pirate-protections" I have ever encountered. Unfortunately, locating and disabling the protection was as difficult as it is unfriendly.

NOP NOP

POP ES OR AX,AX JMP 0053 Always 8ranch to ok
NOP MOV AX,49B8 Continue loading program

Step By Step:

The Hunt
My nonnal routine as oflate is to use 1. Rename the two program files so that Turbo-Debuggerto execute the program DEBUG can edit them: along its path until I find the protection. REN GAUNTLET.EXE GAUNTLET.TMP ~owever, WC requires 64OkofRAM to REN GFAST.EXE GFAST.TMP play, and with Turbo-Debugger loaded, 2. Execute DEBUG I had only 316k (conventional RAM) DEBUG GAUNTLET.EXE left. This left me to perfonn the trace 3. Search for the bytes to change: using Debug (ugh!). The reason I deSO FFFF 9A plore using DEBUG isbecause itcannot Debug will respond with handle the transition to graphics. AnyXXXX:yyyy for use in step 4 way, this trace has to have been the most grueling imaginable. It was constantly 4. Patch this section ofcode as follows: EXXXX:YYYV EB 07 DB CO CO looping back into itself, and finding the EB03909090 actual routine that loaded the values from disk and displayed them 5. Write the changes out to disk. was more than the average challenge. W 6. Bring in the next program using the Disabling It 'N' and 'L' commands of DEBUG I was never ableto actually locate the NGFAST.TMP area that loads the information from L disk. I was however able to locate the 7. Searchfor the bytes to change: regionthattranslates whatthe usertyped SO FFFF 9A as an answer into an encoded mess to compare to the expected v~ues. This Debug will respond with routine basically ADDs, SUBtracts, XXXX:YYYY for use in step 4 8. Patch this section of code as follows: MULtiplies, and DIVides the values EXXXX:VYYY EB 07 OBCO CO entered by the user using different values from several locations. Instead of EB03909090 worrying about whatit was doing exact9. Write the changes out to disk. ly, I decided that the most prudent thing W to do was have the routine grab the 10. Quit DEBUG expected values and replace whatever I Q typed with them. The only thing I needed to find were the expected values. As