You will spend most of your time in Shadowvale inside, either in towns (cheery, brightly lit areas filled with people who want to be your friend) or dungeons (a general purpose term for dark, scary places where everyone wants to kill you). Towns change drastically depending on whether you’re playing Romans or Celts. For example, if you go to the Temple of Brigantia as a band of Celts, you will get a warm greeting. If you enter as a group of Romans, you will be savagely attacked.
To move around, click on the terrain screen in the direction you want to go, or use the keypad or arrow keys (the keypad tends to be the easiest way to move around).
There is a lot to do in town ...
Doors, Locked Doors, and Secret Doors
You will often need to go through doors to get places. To open a door, walk into it. Easy enough.
Sometimes, however, doors are locked. When you walk into a locked door, you will be asked if you would like to pick the lock or try to bash the door open. If you select Pick Lock, your character with the highest Tool Use skill and a lockpick will try to unlock the door. If you select Bash, the active character will try to knock the door down, taking damage if he or she fails. Some doors are magically locked. Bashing won’t work on them, and you can only pick the lock if you have a magical lockpick.
Celts have a hard time picking locks. Fortunately, they can cast the Craft Circle spell Pass Portal, which has a chance of unlocking any nearby doors.
Finally, some doors are so securely locked that you can only pass them if you have the correct key. When you approach such a portal, you will be told if you need a key to open the door and whether you were able to unlock it.
Crates, Barrels, Magic Barriers, and so on.
You can find a variety of interesting things scattered among the towns ...
Crates and Barrels: You can push these around by walking into them. These often have items inside. To search a barrel or crate, stand next to it and look at it.
Webs: When a character walks into a space with webs, he or she will be covered with them. Press the Wait key to clean off webs.
Blood stains, slime, bones: These are just background details. They don’t do anything.
Magic Barriers: Some magical barriers will prevent you from moving through them. Others inflict magical damage when you walk through. There is a certain magical item which can destroy a magical barrier, or you can use the Craft Circle spell Break Barrier.
Push Blocks: Some puzzles involve large stone blocks you need to push around. These blocks can’t be pushed diagonally.
Light and Darkness
Some areas are dark. You won’t be able to see more than a space away from you without using a light source (like a lamp or candle) or casting the Craft Circle spell Create Light.
Talking
To obtain information, get quests, and shop, you will need to talk to people. Lots of people. To talk to someone, press the Talk button (or type ‘t’) and click on the man/woman/hideous monster with whom you wish to converse. If this is someone who will talk with you, you will go to the talking screen.
 
The Talking Screen
Everyone responds to your asking about ‘look’, ‘name’, and ‘job’. When a character says a word which is highlighted in blue, he or she knows something else of interest about it. Click on a word to ask about it. For example, if you ask Bob about his job, he might say “I make swords.” If the word ‘swords’ is blue, that is something Bob knows more about. Click on that word to get more information.
Characters sometimes offer you quests. You can do these quests for notoriety or a rich reward. Talk to everyone to find out if they have a quest for you. When you’ve completed a mission, you usually get your reward by going back and asking about the keyword which got you the job in the first place. For example, suppose you ask Bob about ‘mission’ and he offers you a magical sword if you find out where his dog is. When you find the dog, talk to Bob and ask about ‘mission’ again to get a reward.
There are several buttons at the bottom of the talking screen:
Look, Name, Job: Select to get a description of the character’s appearance or to ask about his or her name and occupation.
Ask About ... : A word doesn’t need to appear in blue for you to ask about it. Select Ask About and you will be asked what key word to ask the character about. For example, if someone tells you to ask Bob about ‘swords,’ when you talk to him, select Ask About and respond ‘swords’ to find out what he has to say.
Buy: This option will only appear if this character will sell items. It brings up the shopping window (described below).
Sell: This option will only appear if this character will buy items. When you select this, a Sell button will appear next to each non-equipped, identified item. The number of coins you get when you sell it will be next to the button. Press the Sell button to sell the item. Quintus (in Shadow Valley Fort) and Morgan (in Shadowvale) are two people who will identify and purchase your excess items.
Record: Records what the character just said in your adventure notes. You can read these later by selecting See Adventure Notes in the Options menu.
Go Back: Jumps back to what the character previously said.
Done: Quit talking.
Shopping and Identification
If a character has something to sell when you talk to him or her, there will be a Buy button at the bottom of the talking window. Press it to enter shop mode.
 
The Shopping Screen
Shops can sell items, or spells, or potion making recipes. Select a character’s portrait to have that character shop. Click on an item or spell to buy it. Click on the ‘I’ button to the right of something’s name for a description.
When you’re through shopping, press the Done button.
Some people don’t sell items, but identification. For a fee, they will tell you what your items are. When you find someone who can do this (such as Quintus in Shadow Valley Fort or Morgan in Nethergate) and ask about identification, ‘ID’ buttons will appear by unidentified items in your item list. Press this button to pay the fee and find out what the item is.
Healers
Some people don’t sell items. Instead, they sell health. If one of your characters gets wounded, killed, or turned to stone, the right person can, for a fee, restore their health. When you select Buy while talking to them, you will enter the shopping screen and see a list of all the things wrong with the active character. Select an ailment to pay the fee and have it cured.
If you’re playing Romans, the most convenient healer is in a hut in the swamps west of Shadow Valley Fort (though you won’t be able to get there until Chapter 2). If you’re playing Celts, Mugain in Nethergate sells healing.
Making Potions
In a long, grueling adventure in a hostile area, there is nothing more refreshing than a nice, long swig of healing potion or energy elixir. Fortunately, if you obtain the right knowledge and the right ingredients, you can make powerful potions yourself before going on a long journey.
It is possible to find ten different potion recipes. To make a potion, you first need to know the recipe (the first two recipes are hidden in Shadow Valley Fort and Nethergate). Then you need a high enough Potion Making skill. You can find the minimum skill by going into the Character Info screen, selecting a type of potion (in the Potions section) and reading the description in the upper right hand corner.
Finally, you need the proper ingredients. There are four sorts of potion ingredients: Mistletoe, Healing Herbs, Spiritual Herbs, and Energetic Herbs. When you have everything you need, enter town and press the Make Potion button. Select the character with the highest Potion Making skill (by clicking on the portrait or typing ‘1’-’6’). A list of the potions you’re able to make will appear. Select the desired potion and you’ll be told whether or not you succeed. If it works, a new potion will appear in your inventory!
The ingredients for potions are scattered through Shadowvale. There are several places to find each ingredient hidden in the outdoors. When you find one of these places, take the herbs, and, when you return later, they may have grown back.
Getting Items
Ah, wealth. What could be more useful? Items are scattered everywhere in Shadowvale, on the floor, on tables, inside dressers and chests. To get nearby items, press the Get Items button (or type ‘g’). To take items out of a container, stand next to it and look at it.
Each character can equip a maximum of 12 items and carry up to 20 non-equipped items. In addition, each object has a weight. Each character can only carry so much mass. The higher the character’s strength, the more he or she can carry.
When you get an item, it will appear in your item list. To use or equip it, click on it.
Some items are cursed. When you equip them, you won’t be able to take them off! To remove the curse on an item, find a healer or have one of your characters cast the Craft Circle spell Remove Curse.
When you have an identified item you don’t need, find someone who will buy it. For example, Quintus in Shadow Valley Fort and Morgan in Nethergate are two people who can identify items and pay money for excess items.
Finally, if you leave an item in a town, the item will still be there when you return. For example, if you can’t carry all the items you want to keep, leave the excess in your quarters in Nethergate or Shadow Valley Fort.
