A.C.E. 1

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- BAAL DOCS - ----------- - TYPED BY CYBORG / END OF CENTURY 1999 - --------------------------------------- * ANOTHER GOLDEN OLDIE DOC * BAAL - THE HORROR BEGINS ------------------------ Archaeology is a strange profession at the best of times, digging up human remains, picking through what is left of a civilisation after hundreds of years makes you feel you could be one of the pack of salivating wolves or a hooded vulture whose patience has been rewarded with a few maggoty remains and that's if you're lucky. But i shouldn't complain, the fact is i enjoy it immensely, or i did until we started our latest dig and i began recieving the letters. At first i put them down to some kind of crazy crank with nothing better to do. The lads on the dig thought them a great joke. They started putting chicken bones on my door and one of them gave me a barbie doll with pins. They pulled my leg about them coming from a jilted lover, but they weren't the type of letter. They looked like they'd been written by somebody (thing?) who was incredibly old. The writing, - no, scrawl - was barely dicepherable. What i was able to read warned of terrible destruction of the earth, or death, plague, and of killing of man just for the hell of it. There were comments about the dig too; I couldn't decide whether they were threats or warnings. Whoever it was knew a lot about the massive stone slab we had uncovered. The stone came to light after we had removed yet more human remains from the site. The general concensus of opinion was that we had stumbled across an ancient burial ground but i didn't agree. The thing i couldn't understand was the grotesque mutilation of so many of the remains, of the look of abject terror on the faces. It was as if they had seen hell on earth and had died a hideous death in the process - but why? The stone was uncovered with strange evil looking hieroglyphics depicting horned monsters, massive toothed demons, mutants of all shapes and sizes. In the centre of the stone was a single word "BAAL", it stood out from the surrounding filth like a puss filled sore. I thought it looked like a massive door, but to what chamber? The mood of the team changed as a feeling of dread settled over us - in silence that night we all went to bed unsure of what tommorow would bring. When i got home another letter was waiting, i suddenely felt very cold & afraid. My hands were clammy as i opened it to reveal a crudely composed rhyme written again by my poison pen friend. Look at the date, Turn the last three around remove the I your screams won't make a sound. This one had me totally lost; what was significant about today's date - 5th June 1999, three what? and for heaven's sake there's no 'I' in June to remove. But the last line brought back images of those corpses all with their mouths wide open as if in silent scream, I shivered as if someone or something had walked over my grave. I played with my food rather than eating it that night and as i looked at the steak on my plate i suddenely wished i'd become a vegetarian. The meat (flesh) just stuck in my throat. I decided to swop the solids for liquid refreshment and opened a can of beer. The bitterness of the beer matched my moodas i attempted to look at the problem logically. What had these letters, today's date, the poor tortured souls who had died so hideously all got in common? and then of course there was the massive stone with the carvings and BAAL - who or what is BAAL? That feeling of dread returned, but i needed to know. I programmed everything i knew into the computer in the hope that someting relevant just might surface but it had no data on BAAL. So in desperation i rang my old university lecturer praying that he hadn't moved or (as i realised how old he must be) died. After what seemed a life time the phone was answered by a woman and my heart sank thinking he must have gone but she explained that she was his housekeeper, that she was already in bed and hated being disturbed. I tried the old charm on her and soon had her eating out of my hand. In no time old Jonesy was growling down the phone at me, muttering about being woken in the middle of the night and who the blazes did i think i was. I just said one word - BAAL, silence - you could have heard a pin drop, and then a whisper. "Don't move the stone" "How do you know about the stone?" I asked "It was foretold by an old scottish monk way back in the 12th century", the old man replied. "He wrote that a pictured stonw would cause death and destruction to the world at a time when man was reaching for the stars. His contemporaries thought him crazy and locked him away, but it looks like he wasn't so daft after all". "But i don't understand, what have the stars got to do with it?". He tutted down the phone, and i smiled to myself as he obviously hadn't changed a bit, he was still impatient Jonesy, "Don't you see that's a reference to man's space flights!" I realised as he spoke I'd not told him about my secret letter writer so i quickly went through everything that had happened. They didn't make sense to him either, he told me he needed to refer to some past notes and would ring me back. He left me with a chilling warning "Move that stone at your peril." I sat for a while trying to come to terms with the idea that behind that stone there lurked a beast, a creature so vile that to let it loose would mean man's destruction. I just couldn't believe it. It was like the beginning of a horror movie except this time it was for real and the film had a very reluctant leading man - ME!! I was rudely awaken by the shrilling of the phone, "Where have you been?" barked Jonesy as I answered it "I've been ringing you for hours. You've not moved that stone have you?" I apologised and assured him i'd not been near. "While you've been in the land of the nod I've been busy. I checked up on what our supposed mad monk had propheised in case there was any reference to dates or times." He asked me to read the verse again. When i had finished i thought the phone line had gone dead - then i heard a groan and before i could ask if he was okay he said in a fearful voice "You recieved the last letter on the 5th - a day early" "What do you mean?" I replied, "That letter should arrived today, the 6th. "You could be right" I said "But there's still no I in June" "Heavens you are stupid today" Jonesy said rudely "It's not an I it's a number 1, don't you see it says - just look at the date (it being now the 6th of June 1999) turn the last three around - that turns the three nines into sixes, remove the one (not the I as you read it) leaving you with the date the 6th of the 6th followed by 666 and you know what it is?" I felt sick as i said "Oh my God, the sign of the devil". As I answered him I noticed my watch on the table - I couldn't believe the time - 7:50am. I dropped the phone and ran as the lads would already be on the dig. I prayed I wouldn't be too late as i reached the brow of the hill overlooking the site. They had enlisted the help of a large excavator to which they had attached thick wire strops connected to large eye bolts in the rock. My cries were lost to the digger as it took the strain and i watched in horror as the stone started to move. For what seemed like an eternity nothing happened as i started to run down the hill. It began as a low rumble, and then a stale foul air erupted from the uncovered hole. I was thrown to the ground by the roar that followed, the stench of death by now making me retch. By this time panic had set in with the men and some started to run. They were the lucky few - others were frozen to the spot in absoloute terror - they died where they stood as BAAL rose through the mayhem firing at anything in his sight. As the dust settled he seemed to survey the area like an evil general after a battle pleased at the carnage before him. My mind was working over time on one thought - escape, but the idea flew right out of the window as he turned to the small hill where i lay transfixed with fear. "Good of you to come and watch the sideshow" ,BAAL sneered sarcastically. "I'm sorry it was all over rather quickly for you, but never mind, the main event will thrill you to death. He paused and then added "yes, literally to your death." "Why me?" i screamed (more in anger than in fear). He gestured with his hand as if to dismiss me and replied "You just happen to be useful to me, but any of you pathetic humans would have satisfied my needs. By the way did you like my letters?" The demon said this with a terrible evil grin on his face. His look said it all, he was revelling in the power that burst from his whole self. The fiend was just playing with me, the letters were all a game. He interrupted my train of thought by boasting that even as he spoke, his army of undead were stealing the thing he'd come for - a top secret war machine with which he could rule or destroy the world. He sneered. "When we meet again, I will be your master. At last the world will be mine." With that, he was gone, back to his stench filled lair, to await the return of the undead. Unfortunately I had a funny feeling that we would be meeting again very soon. That all happened 3 days ago, events have moved fast since then. A war council has set up an elite squadron of men, code named the 'TIME WARRIORS' - their mission to find and destroy BAAL and return with the war machine. MISSION INSTRUCTIONS -------------------- You are in charge of the TIME WARRIORS and here are your top secret mission instructions. You must guide and control each TIME WARRIOR in his quest. Although it is impossible to say what horrors you will encounter when you enter BAAL's lair, his enormous power coupled with his huge army of monstrous beasts make him an extremely dangerous enemy. We pray you can do it, we know you can. Many lives will be lost in the numerous bloody battles ahead but BAAL must be defeated. If not we run the risk of being ruled by a power crazy demon at best, at worst the earth as we know it is doomed. OUR FATE IS IN YOUR HANDS..... BASIC PLAYING INSTRUCTIONS -------------------------- The joystick is used to control the warrior as follows: Without firebutton pressed: j/s centre - Warrior is still and in firing position where appropriate. up/down - Warrior up or down ladders where appropriate. left/right - Warrior turn/move left or right where appropriate. With firebutton pressed: j/s centre - Warrior fires laser in direction faced where appropriate. (including off the ladders!) up - Warrior jumps straight up where appropriate. down - Same as j/s centre. left/right - Warrior stops & fires or transports where appropriate. j/s diagonal- Warrior somersaults forward in direction he is facing where appropriate. (It says 'where appropriate', because depending on your situation you won't be able to carry out some actions, for instance, you can't somersault off a ladder!) Where the title screen is being displayed and the music is playing the following keys can be used: S - Save high score table to disk F10 - Toggle high score table display <SPACE> - Start game KEYBOARD ACTIONS ---------------- The keyboard is also used for some functions: F1 - Set screen sync to 50hz. F2 - Set screen sync to 60hz. 1 - Select laser mode 1. 2 - Select laser mode 2*. 3 - Select laser mode 3*. 4 - Select laser mode 4*. C - Toggle area co-ordinate display on / off. P - Pause game (any key to resume). R - Refuel laser (see note below). S - Save current game position (see note below). L - Load previously saved game (see note below). ESC - (With fire button pressed) Abort current game. * Can only be used when corresponding cartridge has been collected. Numbers refer to ones on main keyboard (not numeric keypad). REFUEL LASER ------------ To refuel the lasers you have to first find one of the few refueling points and move up to it from the right hand side only, until you are in very close proximity to it (but not touching). If for some reason you can not refuel, the info console will tell you. For instance if you have blown the refueling point up you won't be able to refuel! It could be though, that you aren't close enough so move close; or you could be too close (touching) in which case move back slightly and try again. To stop refueling just move your warrior away. SAVE GAME --------- Follow the instructions for refueling but instead of pressing 'R' you must press 'S' for save. This is only a limited save game facility and as such is only avaliable in the underground cave section. LOAD GAME --------- To load in a presaved game, you may want to do so by pressing 'L'. You will be asked to verify this, type 'Y' to go ahead or 'N' to abort. This option is only avaliable in the underground cave world. TRANSPORTING ------------ There are 3 seperate domains to Baal, 2 large, 1 small. Once all war machines pieces have been collected (they flash yellow), you need to find the transporter, enter it and press the fire button. You will then be transported to the next domain. If you do not have all the war machine pieces in that particular domain, you will not be able to transport (You require 10 components to travel from domain 1 to domain 2 and a further 8 from there to the final part of your mission. Each time a component is collected it turns off one of the flashing L.E.Ds at the bottom of the screen.) Once you have successfully transported, your squadron will be granted an extra time warrior. If you have 6 or more warriors, only 5 will be displayed in the "Active warriors" box, but don't worry, they are still there. THE LASER --------- Your laser has 4 weapon modes (you need the cartridges for 3 of them). The first is very weak and objects will need many hits before being destroyed, some more powerful than others. Some objects can't be destroyed at all where as others need the more powerful weapon modes (4 is the most powerful). When you are low on laser energy (electrolite), the laser bolt will flash when it is fired. ENERGY SHIELDS/SCANNER ---------------------- You are equipped with a personal energy shield that will protect you from alien missiles only, for a limited number of hits. It can be topped-up at any refueling point. The scanner is equipped with an early warning system, a flashing red arrow in the top corners of the screen tell you of an approaching alien. NOTE:An extra warrior will be designated to your squadron for every 5,000 personal status points you achieve. END OF GAME ----------- Once the game is over, and you have a high personal status, you will be requested to identify yourself. To do so just type in your name using the main keyboard. The numeric keypad is used if you want to include special characters in your name. Each number on the numeric keypad will produce the character above the numbers on the main keyboard (i.e. pressing 1 on the numeric keypad will display a!). If you make a mistake, use the 'backspace' key to delete it. Press 'return' once you are finished. To restart the game you must press the space bar or if you wish to go back to the title screen and music (all 11 minutes of it) you can press the 'return' key. - THE END - ----------------------------------------------------------------------- HI TO DEVISTATOR & OF COURSE ALL OF THE END OF CENTURY 1999 MOB !!!!!! PARASITE & SIDEWINDER OF LSD , HUTCH OF UNREAL , COSY OF QUARTEX END OF CENTURY 1999 are looking for ELITE CODERS,etc..... If you classify yourself as a reasonable standard write to..... CYBORG / EOC 1999 2 WIDFORDBURY HOUSE, WIDFORD, NR WARE, SG13 8RL ENGLAND OR contact any other member of END OF CENTURY 1999 !!!! ALSO if you want to swap with me just write enclosing a disk/letter and i'll reply very quickly ! UNTIL THE NEXT TIME ! - EOC1999 - EOC1999 - EOC1999 - EOC1999 - EOC1999 - EOC1999 - EOC1999 - -----------------------------------------------------------------------