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   ** *****        **         **    **         *    **    ***   **    **   
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      *            **         **    **          *** **          **    **   
  *****            ***         ******            ** ****    *   **    **   
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*    ***                                         *    *****      ***   *** 
*                                               *                          
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    ** **      **   * ***    *   ****     **     ** * ***   **  ****  
    ** **      **  *   ***  **    **      **     ***   *** ****       
    ** **      ** **    *** **    **      **     **     **   ***      
    ** **      ** ********  **    **      **     **     **     ***    
    *  **      ** *******   **    **      **     **     **       ***  
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*                           **                          *             
 **                         **                         *              
                             **                       *               
                                                     *                
  2005 - 2008, Version 1.03 manual
  By Mikko "Glowie" Karttunen

********************************************************************************************
*** What is it? ****************************************************************************
********************************************************************************************

Frozen Depths is a pretty traditional roguelike game with a cold theme.

The background story goes like this:

The world of Glacia has started to freeze all over. The surface people will perish,
should the temperature drop much lower. The high council of Glacia has selected you to
go to the Frozen Depths of Glacia, find out the source of coldness and get rid of it.
If you return to the surface, you'll be executed as a coward, if you die on the way,
another poor one will be sent down, but if you succeed in your quest, you'll become a 
hero. Many have failed and many will fail... Now you're all alone in the Frozen 
Depths, will you make it?

For more information about the game (and roguelikes), search the web and
http://koti.mbnet.fi/frozend


********************************************************************************************
*** How to start (also more detailed gameplay info) ****************************************
********************************************************************************************

This game is easy for new roguelikers but it requires a bit of patience,
willpower and an open mind. Here are the basics of the game:

First you'll have to choose your character's race, a training for him,
including extra training for one attribute, and then a name for him. The
races, trainings and attributes are described in the character creation
screens so I'll omit them from here. After the quick character creation
you'll find yourself on the first floor of the Depths.

Your HP is your character's health. When your HP drops to zero or less,
you're obviously dead. SP represents your character's endurance. Of
course all characters have enough endurance to move and fight, so SP
only limits how often you can use special skills. Both HP and SP regenerate
slowly.

You'll meet many different monsters during your quest in the depths, some
of them may even have special abilities that you'll have to learn the hard
way. Pay extra attention when you meet monsters with a background color.
These are superior monsters and have better stats than normal ones and
they can be quite deadly after the first few levels.

To attack a monster with a melee attack just try to walk to its tile.
If you want to shoot, find a bow and some arrows and press s. The shooting
is very simple, you can target anything within your sight range. Other
monsters can't block your arrows. Throwing is similar, but you'll have to
equip a thrown weapon and then press t.

Eventually you will level up. When this happens, you can train one attribute,
plus one randomly chosen extra attribute will increase too. Every three levels
you'll get a skill point, which can be used to learn a skill when you meet the
requirements. Your HP and SP will increase too when you level up.

Try to stay alive. Explore every level completely before moving on if you
don't have a really good reason to leave (you'll find good reasons to leave
before exploring some levels completely, too!)

Collect all items that you find useful. Equip new items and watch their
durability. Don't let the monsters surround you and watch your warmth
status. If you start to freeze, eat something warm, find a sage or use one
of the less common ways of heating yourself. Try to regenerate your health
after every battle if you lose hp and wait until all temporary ailments heal.
When you're in a bad situation with a promising character, think every
possible option first. There's no rush; the game is turn based.

You're losing warmth all the time if you aren't in a warm level (which isn't
very common). Try to find clothing if you're losing warmth quickly, clothing
reduces the warmth loss a lot.

You can equip items by pressing e (the * in the equip menu means that you have
something better to equip, this feature is blind to prefixes) and use or drop
items by opening the inventory (i), selecting the item and press u (use) or d
(drop).

Note that weapons, clothes and pieces of armor have a durability. You might
want to have an extra weapon if your current one is about to break.

Equipable items (except throwing weapons) have a blessed/cursed/uncursed (B/C/U)
status. You can't take cursed items off and they're worse than blessed
and uncursed ones. Blessed ones are the best. A sage can uncurse your
cursed items. Equip an item to reveal the B/C/U status. Yellow text indicates
a blessed item, blue is an uncursed item, red means that the item has been cursed
and you don't know gray items' status.

On your adventures you'll find gold, and can even sell items for gold at a sage or
sacrifice them to make the Goddess more aware of you. There are many ways to use
the acquired gold in the depths: you can sacrifice money in the name of the Goddess
at an altar, spend it on sages' various services or pay a deep smith for his help.

If you sacrifice enough, the Goddess can help you when you're in trouble in more
than one way. She can uncurse your equipment if you pray with full health without
any status ailments or completely heal you if you have ailments or wounds. To
sacrifice something, find an altar and press u. You can only sacrifice items and
money. Remember to pray when you're in a bad situation, the Goddess doesn't work
like an automatic machine. Praying works everywhere.

To use sages, go next to one and press c to chat with the sage and he will
give you a list of services you can use for a price. Sages are greedy bastards
and their prices will go up after each purchase. Deep smiths aren't greedy in
that way, but you need to supply them with craftable material if you want to get
something crafted. They can also repair your items and exchange material into
other material, for a small price of course. Deep smiths are used with the c chat
command too. When you want an item to be crafted or something repaired, you can decide
the price you'll pay the smith yourself before the deed is done, and this way
affect the amount of repairing or quality of the crafted item.

To use other dungeon features, like the shrines, walk to the tile and press u.
You don't have to press anything to use the campfires, just stay in the same tile.

The menus should be easy to use, always check the top lines for help.

Check the commands carefully so you don't miss anything important.

You can use wands, potions and warm food (to increase your warmth) from the
inventory screen. Select the item you'd like to use and press u in the inventory.

You can examine various useful details in the player's info screen, button
@. For example the temperature there indicates how quickly you lose warmth,
and thus how urgently you need more clothing. It can be one of the following:
Decreasing slowly, Decreasing, Decreasing quickly, Increasing and Increasing quickly.
You have nothing to worry about when it's slowly decreasing, you should start looking
for clothing when it's decreasing and when it's quickly decreasing, you're in trouble.

This should keep you alive long enough for you to learn everything you
need.

When you die (yes, you WILL die) you'll see your identified inventory and
some other info about your character before you leave it for good. If you
scored enough points, you'll get to the Hall of Fame. Also, a mortem file
will be generated to the Mortems folder. You can later look at the (a bit
more specific) stats of your character's life and death. The mortem
will be overwritten if you create a character with the old character's
name and it dies.


********************************************************************************************
*** Commands *******************************************************************************
********************************************************************************************

Press ? in-game to check commands quickly.

These are the default commands. You can change them by changing the keybindings.txt
file.

Movement: Numpad (NUMLOCK MUST BE ON!) or if you really have to, you can use
arrow keys too.

>   Descend stairs when you are on them
<   Ascend stairs when you are on them
Q   Quits the game. Notice that you won't see the post-mortem if you use this
g   Pick up something from the ground
i   Opens the inventory, from which you can drop and use various items
e   Opens the equipment screen, where you can naturally equip things
s   Shoots with the equipped bow. You need arrows to use this
c   Chats with a sage or a deep smith when one is next to you
S   Swaps current and readied weapons. You can ready weapons in the equipment screen
w   Walk to a direction or wait 50 turns if you press 5. Press space while moving to stop
O   Switches the auto pick up of ammunition on/off. Archers have it automatically on
L   Look around you. You can see trap names, monster's health and everything on a tile
t   Throws something if you have equipped a thrown weapon
_   Pray. Nothing happens if you haven't sacrificed enough, not even anything negative
D   Opens the skill menu, where you can learn new skills if you have enough stats to do so
u   Uses a dungeon feature. Check below for the dungeon feature symbols
d   Opens the skill menu, where you can use skills that you know
G   Saves the game. The name will be the characters name
M   Opens the message buffer where you can read the previous messages
@   Opens an info screen about the player and his stats
T   Changes fighting styles
a   Quickly uses the current quick skill, which can be defined in the skill menu (press d)


********************************************************************************************
*** Definitions ****************************************************************************
********************************************************************************************

Status ailments (shown on the bottom line of the stats bar)
    Par = Paralyze (You can't do anything)
    Sle = Sleep    (You'll wake up when something hits you, you can't act before that)
    Con = Confused (You'll wander around aimlessly)
    Sic = Sickness (Damage over time)
    Fev = Fever    (Drops carry capacity, shows warmth as 'Hot' and drops damage a bit)
    Ble = Bleeding (Damage over time)
    Poi = Poisoned (Damage over time)
    Slo = Slow	   (Your movement speed is decreased)
    Fum = Fumble   (Your chance to hit is decreased)
    Burd = Burdened   (Decreases speed, dodge and chance to hit)
    Imm = Immobilized (You can't move, but you can wait and hit or shoot nearby monsters)
    Fro = Frostbite   (Your HP and max HP drop temporarily. You recover from a frostbite
		      faster with a higher temperature. Also, higher temperature acts as a
		      resistance against frostbites; chance of getting a frostbite decreases)


Body temperatures (shown on the bottom line of the stats bar)
     Freezing
     Cold
     Cool
     -
     Warm
     Hot
     Boiling


Strength:
    Affects your melee damage and carry capacity
Vitality:
    Affects your hit point increase per level and hp regeneration rate
Dexterity:
    Affects your ranged damage and chance to hit (also with melee weapons)
Agility:
    Affects your dodge, speed, natural armor and critical strike chance
Stamina:
    Affects your special point increase per level and sp regeneration rate


Dungeon symbols
    . = Open space
    , = Sticky slush, slows you down
    # = Wall
    > = Stairs down
    < = Stairs up
    ' = Iceblock, you have to kick these down
    ^ = Trap

    ~ = Abandoned campfire
    - = Shrine (of a shrine spirit, has nothing to do with the Goddess)
    _ = Altar (of the Goddess)
    : = Snowman
    + = Icemirror
    ? = Scroll
    | = A lootable corpse
    0 = A hole into a pool of icy water

    Yellow @ = Sage
    Red @    = Deep smith
    A-Z, a-z = monsters (includes some other symbols as well)
   

    $ = Gold			(This is automatically picked up and doesn't weigh)
    \ = Wand			(You can zap them. Select and press u in the inventory menu)
    ! = Potion			(You can drink it. Select and press u in the inventory menu)
    % = Warm food		(You can eat this. Select and press u in the inventory menu)
    / = Ammunition		(Equip a bow to use arrows. Equip thrown weapons to throw)
    " = Amulet			(You may want to identify these before equipping them)
    = = Ring			(You may want to identify these before equipping them)
    ] = Piece of armor		(Equip to use it)
    [ = Piece of cloth		(Equip to use it)
    ( = Melee weapon		(Equip to use it)
    ) = Ranged weapon		(Equip to use it)
    * = Something valuable	(You should sell or sacrifice these)
    { = Craftable material	(Deep smiths can craft these into other items for a price)


The game screen
	It should be pretty easy to understand. HP is your health, SP represents
	your endurance and then there are the stats. If your, for example, agility
	is purple, it means that it has been temporarily buffed up. You can see
	the unbuffed agility using the @ screen. Next there is the amount of
	arrows you have left and $ is of course your money. Xp % shows your
	progress to the next level. CL is your character level and DL is the
	dungeon level. And the last T is the number of turns you've played the
	game.

	Above these you can read the important messages that your actions
	will generate. The dungeon uses up the rest of the screen.

	Status ailments and the body temperature are shown on the bottom line.


********************************************************************************************
*** Other useful info **********************************************************************
********************************************************************************************

-Arrows and thrown weapons don't weigh and their value is 0.

-The relative weights of the item types are:
 Ammunition < Potion&Wand&Accessories&Food < Weapon&Armor&Cloth < Craftable material < Valuable 

-The Goddess requires more gifts deeper in the dungeon if you want to pray.

-The Goddess can uncurse your equipment if you pray with full hp and without ailments

-If you wield two weapons, your miss rate will be higher.

-Space quits the walk mode during the movement (command w).

-You can only have one special skill prepared (if the skill doesn't occur instantly).

-The base power you can see in inventory does not include prefixes or B/C/U statuses.

-All of the bosses have one increased, extra high stat.

-If the monsters seem too hard and you're soon going to level up, camp for a second.

-The player's color reflects his warmth status.

-Resting increases your regeneration rate (default key 5).

-You can identify potions and wands by using them, but that doesn't work with accessories.

-You can't wear two similar rings.

-The right resolution for the game is 80x25 tiles.

-The bonus from an item (armor/weapon/cloth) doesn't depend on its durability.

-Characters with an archer's training can crumble iceblocks by shooting them with a bow.

-You need skill points to learn skills. You gain one point per 3 character levels.

-Weapon skills increase 100% randomly, there's a small chance on every single hit

-ESC and z commands are usually the same in menus.

-Windows users should use the fullscreen mode (ALT+ENTER).

-There is no separate speed for attacking and moving.

-You should always collect all sellable items (not ammunition) and sell/sacrifice them.

-The @ screen's armor and weapon values take into account the weapon/shield skills.

-It's useful to plan before playing which special skills you're going to pick and
 select stats according to that plan.

-You can change the delay of the quick move command so it works perfectly on your computer.
 Open the Keybindings.txt and change the first number.

-Wands and potions draw the base power from the character and are thus useful
 in all dungeon levels.

-Blessed items are better than uncursed ones, cursed ones are worse than uncursed ones.
 An accessory's B/C/U status indicates its effect, blessed being positive effect,
 uncursed neutral (both good and bad) and cursed, naturally, negative.

-If your body temperature drops a lot, your movements and regeneration rate will
 get slower. Also if your body temperature is higher than normally, these will be faster.
 Too high temperature decreases your speed though.

-Some Windows' versions (XP) don't use the pretty colors. If those users
 want to waste half a minute of their time to enhance the play experience, point
 the shortcut to the right .exe and folder. Check READ_THIS_FIRST for more info.

-The fighting styles can save your life when used properly in a tough situation.
 Aggressive increases your damage, but lowers your armor a bit. Defensive does the
 exact opposite. Accurate style increases your chance to hit, but lowers your speed,
 which can be increased by using the fast fighting style at the cost of chance to hit.


********************************************************************************************
*** Special skills *************************************************************************
********************************************************************************************

You can learn new special skills when you meet all their requirements. Those
consist of the stat requirements, a level requirement, plus you need a skill point.
You can check the requirements for each skill in the skill menu (D).

You may want to check the requirements, then create a plan about the stats you need
and the order if you want to get certain skills as soon as possible.

Note that not all skills occur instantly when you use them, instead you prepare to
use it the next time when you hit the enemy/the enemy hits you, depending on the skill.
You can check the prepared skill in the player screen (press @). You can only have one
skill prepared at a time. Preparing a skill (that needs preparing) doesn't cost a turn.


Accurate strike                Accurate shot    (10 SP)
-------------------------------------------------------
Str req: 14   Vit req: 0   |   Str req: 0    Vit req: 0
Dex req: 10   Sta req: 0   |   Dex req: 14   Sta req: 0
Agi req: 11   Lvl req: 3   |   Agi req: 11   Lvl req: 3

Your next normal strike or shot has an increased chance to hit.
Preparing this doesn't consume a turn.


Archer's dexterity     (1 SP plus more depending on your level and current SP)
------------------------------
Str req: 0    Vit req: 0
Dex req: 16   Sta req: 12
Agi req: 0    Lvl req: 6

Temporarily increases your dexterity.
The amount and cost depend on your current SP and level.


Brutal strike                  Brutal shot      (15 SP)
-------------------------------------------------------
Str req: 16   Vit req: 0   |   Str req: 11   Vit req: 0
Dex req: 0    Sta req: 0   |   Dex req: 16   Sta req: 0
Agi req: 12   Lvl req: 6   |   Agi req: 12   Lvl req: 6

Increases the damage of your next normal attack.
Preparing this doesn't consume a turn.


Create snowballs     (20 SP)
----------------------------
Str req: 0    Vit req: 0
Dex req: 15   Sta req: 14
Agi req: 0    Lvl req: 6

Creates snowballs, which can be used as a throwing weapon. Reduces
your warmth a bit. Only usable on snowy floors. Snowballs don't
disappear on other floors, but you can't make more elsewhere.


Critical strike                Critical shot    (10 SP)
-------------------------------------------------------
Str req: 14   Vit req: 0   |   Str req: 10   Vit req: 0
Dex req: 0    Sta req: 0   |   Dex req: 14   Sta req: 0
Agi req: 11   Lvl req: 3   |   Agi req: 11   Lvl req: 3

Your next hit or shot has an increased critical hit chance.
Preparing this doesn't consume a turn.


Dash              (15 SP)
-------------------------
Str req: 0    Vit req: 0
Dex req: 12   Sta req: 13
Agi req: 12   Lvl req: 3

You move two tiles to the selected direction if it's not blocked.
You can't dash if you're immobilized.


Destroy walls     (15 SP)
-------------------------
Str req: 0    Vit req: 0
Dex req: 0    Sta req: 14
Agi req: 0    Lvl req: 1

Destroys the selected nearby wall into an iceblock.


Disarm traps      (10 SP)
-------------------------
Str req: 0    Vit req: 0
Dex req: 0    Sta req: 12
Agi req: 0    Lvl req: 1

Disarms all visible traps near you.
Range: one tile


Double strike                  Double shot      (15 SP)
-------------------------------------------------------
Str req: 16   Vit req: 0   |   Str req: 0    Vit req: 0
Dex req: 11   Sta req: 0   |   Dex req: 16   Sta req: 0
Agi req: 12   Lvl req: 6   |   Agi req: 12   Lvl req: 6

You hit or shoot your next target twice.
Preparing this doesn't consume a turn.


Inhuman reflexes     (15 SP)
----------------------------
Str req: 0    Vit req: 0
Dex req: 0    Sta req: 13
Agi req: 16   Lvl req: 6

You have an increased chance to dodge the next harmful attack.
Preparing this doesn't consume a turn.


Knockback         (15 SP)
-------------------------
Str req: 15   Vit req: 0
Dex req: 0    Sta req: 13
Agi req: 0    Lvl req: 3

Knocks the target back 3 tiles if nothing is blocking the way.


Listen            (10 SP)
-------------------------
Str req: 0    Vit req: 0
Dex req: 0    Sta req: 12
Agi req: 0    Lvl req: 1

You catch some monstrous sounds and locate them in
the dungeon, but the location isn't 100% accurate.


Multishot         (25 SP)
-------------------------
Str req: 0    Vit req: 0
Dex req: 16   Sta req: 12
Agi req: 12   Lvl req: 6

Shoots all visible monsters with the current ranged weapon.
Range: line of sight


Multistrike       (15 SP)
-------------------------
Str req: 15   Vit req: 0
Dex req: 0    Sta req: 12
Agi req: 12   Lvl req: 6

Hits all monsters around you using the equipped melee weapon.
Range: one tile


Passive: Enhanced Accuracy
--------------------------
Str req: 0    Vit req: 0
Dex req: 19   Sta req: 0
Agi req: 0    Lvl req: 9

Greatly increases your chance to hit. This skill is always active.


Passive: Enhanced Deadliness
----------------------------
Str req: 19   Vit req: 0
Dex req: 0    Sta req: 0
Agi req: 0    Lvl req: 9

Greatly increases your chance to hit critically. This skill is always active.


Passive: Enhanced Evasion
-------------------------
Str req: 0    Vit req: 0
Dex req: 0    Sta req: 0
Agi req: 19   Lvl req: 9

Greatly increases your chance to dodge. This skill is always active.


Passive: Enhanced Regeneration
------------------------------
Str req: 0    Vit req: 16
Dex req: 0    Sta req: 16
Agi req: 0    Lvl req: 9

Greatly increases your regeneration rate. This skill is always active.


Passive: Enhanced Speed
-----------------------
Str req: 0    Vit req: 0
Dex req: 0    Sta req: 0
Agi req: 19   Lvl req: 9

Greatly increases your speed. This skill is always active.


Penetrating strike             Penetrating shot (20 SP)
-------------------------------------------------------
Str req: 11   Vit req: 0   |   Str req: 11   Vit req: 0
Dex req: 11   Sta req: 0   |   Dex req: 11   Sta req: 0
Agi req: 15   Lvl req: 6   |   Agi req: 15   Lvl req: 6

Hits or shoots all monsters in the selected direction.
Range: 4 tiles


Piercing strike                Piercing shot    (10 SP)
-------------------------------------------------------
Str req: 10   Vit req: 0   |   Str req: 10   Vit req: 0
Dex req: 10   Sta req: 11  |   Dex req: 10   Sta req: 11
Agi req: 13   Lvl req: 3   |   Agi req: 13   Lvl req: 3

Pierces the target's armor permanently. The reduction is
smaller after every use.
Preparing this doesn't consume a turn.
Duration: Permanent


Ranger's agility       (1 SP plus more depending on your level and current SP)
------------------------------
Str req: 0    Vit req: 0
Dex req: 0    Sta req: 12
Agi req: 16   Lvl req: 6

Temporarily increases your agility.
The amount and cost depend on your current SP and level.


Stunning strike                Stunning shot     (20 SP)
--------------------------------------------------------
Str req: 14   Vit req: 0   |   Str req: 0    Vit req: 0
Dex req: 0    Sta req: 16  |   Dex req: 14   Sta req: 16
Agi req: 0    Lvl req: 6   |   Agi req: 0    Lvl req: 6

Stuns the target for a moment. Bosses are immune to stun.
Preparing this doesn't consume a turn.


Vampiric strike                Vampiric shot     (25 SP)
--------------------------------------------------------
Str req: 15   Vit req: 15  |   Str req: 0    Vit req: 15
Dex req: 0    Sta req: 15  |   Dex req: 15   Sta req: 15
Agi req: 0    Lvl req: 6   |   Agi req: 0    Lvl req: 6

You heal yourself by leeching life from the target.
Preparing this doesn't consume a turn.


Warrior's strength     (1 SP plus more depending on your level and current SP)
------------------------------
Str req: 16   Vit req: 0
Dex req: 0    Sta req: 12
Agi req: 0    Lvl req: 6

Temporarily increases your strength.
The amount and cost depend on your current SP and level.


Wild regeneration    (1 SP plus more over time)
----------------------------
Str req: 0    Vit req: 16
Dex req: 0    Sta req: 13
Agi req: 0    Lvl req: 6

Heals over time using your SP. It is cancelled when
your SP hits 0 or you use a skill that needs preparing.


Yell              (15 SP)
-------------------------
Str req: 0    Vit req: 0
Dex req: 0    Sta req: 14
Agi req: 0    Lvl req: 1

Releases frozen stalactites from the ceiling very close to you
to block corridors. The stalactites can't hit the monsters or you.
Also wakes up monsters. Doesn't drop blocks every time.


***************************************************************************
*** The end ***************************************************************
***************************************************************************

Feedback:

Please send me feedback. If you don't like the game, you may also tell me why that is.
Feedback is very important, because I can't find all the bugs and make up all the cool
ideas alone. Feedback is the most important thing when it comes to improving the game.
You may also ask me questions if you're wondering "What is that?" or "How does this
work?".

drizzt_888@hotmail.com is my e-mail address, which can be used with
MSN Messenger too. You can find me on IRC, QuakeNet, the name is Glowie.
And you can use the contact page on the website.


Credits:

I created this game alone, but I thank all those who have helped me in any way.
I won't list every single one of them, because that would eat your poor computer's
HDD.


Disclaimer:

This game is a freeware game, blah blah blah, and I won't give you any money if it eats
your computer. Though you can report it as a bug.































The end.