
====== The Town ======

     You begin your adventures in the town.  It consists of eight buildings,
each with a shop entranceway (and one also with an inn), and is well populated.
The first time you are in town it will be daytime, but the sun rises and sets as
time passes.  Nighttime in the town can be dangerous...

Townspeople:
     Most townsfolk go about their daily tasks, paying little or no attention to
you unless provoked.  However, there are slippery-fingered thieves and armed
killers that you need to avoid.  Fights do break out, so be prepared.  Since
your character grew up in this world of intrigue, no experience is awarded for
killing the town inhabitants, though you may acquire treasure.


--- Stores ---

     You enter buildings by walking onto their entranceways, which (in text
mode) are represented by numbers from 1 to 8 or the '+' sign.
     A new display then replaces the old.  For most buildings, you see the name
and race of the store owner, the name of the store, and the maximum number of
gold pieces that the store owner will pay for any one item.  Below it is
displayed the inventory; if it is numerous, you may display another page by
typing space.  Near the bottom of the screen is displayed a list of commonly-
used commands.
- 'g' or 'p': get/purchase an item.
- 'd' or 's': drop/sell an item.
- 'I': inspect an item (reveals any known special properties, reads spellbooks)
- ESC:  leave the store.

The General Store:
     Sells foods, drinks, cloaks, robes, torches, lamps, oil, shovels, picks,
spikes, and ammunition for missile launchers.  Buys items of these types (except
robes) and some others.

The Armory:
     Buys and sells every kind of armor except cloaks.

The Weaponsmith's Shop:
     Buys and sells melee weapons, missile launchers, and ammunition.

The Temple:
     Buys and sells blunt weapons, healing and restoration supplies, and various
other holy items.

The Alchemy Shop:
     Buys and sells potions and scrolls.

The Magic User's Shop:
     Buys and sells rings, amulets, wands, rods, and staffs.

The Bookstore:
     Buys and sells spellbooks.

Your Home:
     Here you may store objects that you cannot carry on your travels or will
need later.  You may check the contents of your home when in the dungeon by
using the '~' command.

The Inn (named):
     Offers quests for especially dangerous foes.


--- Buying and Selling ---

     Store owners have individual personalities; often their names are a
valuable hint.  Some can offer a great deal of money, but never seem to hold any
sales; others cannot pay nearly what your valuable items are worth, but often
give great deals.  The price of items that change hands depends on their base
cost, how well your and the store owner's races get along*, your Charisma, and
the innate greediness of the store owner.

     * Everyone likes his or her own race best.
     * Humans will trade with anyone, and nobody really hates them.
     * Dwarves and orcs are at war; dwarves and elves don't much get along.
     * Nobody loves a Half-Orc or Half-Troll but another orc or troll.

     Stores never have everything in stock; as time passes, their inventory
slowly changes (but only when you are in the dungeon).  Store owners fully
identify everything you sell them; you also become aware of objects of that
type.

Bargaining:
     Price also depends on one factor more:  your skill at bargaining.  The
shopkeeper will immediately go to his final price on low-priced items, but for
more valuable things, you need to haggle a little.  As you glance over a store's
inventory, you will notice that some prices are in grey rather than white; they
are items that you should bargain for.
     If you are selling something, a typical haggling session starts with the
shopkeeper assuring you that a good price is something like 50-70% of what the
item is really worth.  You demand maybe twice or three times this, and the
bargaining begins.  You bring your price closer to the shopkeeper's offer, and
he then does the same for you.  The best way to change a price is to enter "-20"
or "+20", instead of retyping a new figure.  After some rounds, you and the
shopkeeper will meet somewhere in the middle.
     The key to success is to change your price neither too little (which will
insult the shopkeeper) nor too much (which is a sign of inexperience, and will
be taken advantage of).  Some shopkeepers like to haggle more, other are
impatient and demand good offers, but you have always have enough leeway to
succeed.
     If you've gotten the shopkeeper to admit his final price, and you close the
sale, your reputation with him goes up.  If you accept a bad deal (no "Final
offer"), your reputation goes down.  The higher your reputation as a haggler,
the more items that the shopkeeper will just go straight to his final price on
(he knows he can't fool you).  It is quite possible to get a shopkeeper to
immediately offer the final price on just about everything.
     Just be careful not to antagonize the shopkeepers too much.  You have to
work at it, but you can get any shopkeeper mad enough to throw you out of the
store.  When this happens, you can't get back in for quite some time, perhaps
three or four days.  Fortunately, shopkeepers are forgiving souls:  as time
passes, they will forget any unhappiness you've caused them.  Shopkeepers also
forget an insult every time you buy or sell anything; if you want to get back in
the Temple's good graces, buy some potions of Cure Light Wounds.  One at a time.

     There is an option to auto-haggle, but be warned:  Those who blithely
accept the shopkeeper's prices pay a markup.  The higher the value of the item,
the higher that markup; it is nothing for anything under 250 gold and up to 33
percent for really expensive things.

Stores can upgrade their inventory:
     Every time you buy something new, especially something valuable, from a
store, it has more money to spend on items it wouldn't normally carry.  As time
passes, and you continue to patronize particular stores, you will notice two
things:  firstly, the shopkeepers will start paying special attention to you,
and secondly, that they will begin to stock a few unusual items.  It takes quite
a while, but stores can significantly upgrade their inventory over time.
     Be aware that shopkeepers mark up the prices of these unusual items.  For
valuable things, this markup can be considerable.

Investing in stores:
     You can also give shopkeepers money directly by investing in their store.
Use the '*' command, then type 'I' to invest money.  In addition to making the
store more likely to stock nice stuff, investing in stores also improves the
shopkeeper's attitude, and may make him forget any bad bargains.

Shopkeepers can retire and be replaced:
     Shopkeepers do retire, but only very rarely.  The new shopkeeper benefits
from all of the money you've spent at the store, and has a good (but not
perfect) idea of how good a haggler you are.
     If you completely buy out a store's inventory, the shopkeeper may offer to
retire.  He'll demand a fortune, though.


--- Getting quests ---

    You take on quests by going to the Inn and choosing one from the list.  As
you succeed in more quests, and take on greater challenges, the rewards for
success can become great indeed.
     When you accept a quest, you have lots of time to prepare for it.  However,
once you enter the quest level, you cannot leave for any length of time without
running a risk of failing the quest.  Failure reduces your prestige, and you may
get poorer rewards from the quest-givers until you recover their respect.

     Be warned:  If you are not a really good player, "moderate" and "difficult"
quests can get your characters killed fast!















