Citadelle: The Shield of Oran

In the first installment of Loriciels' Citadelle series, which I ported from source code from the Sanyo PHC-25, and translated to English, you will come up against a range of monsters. There are Lich’s, Bugbears, Orcs, Assassins, Warriors, Shades and Gnolls. The game feels like an RPG, but it actually combines elements of that genre with a simple two-word parser text adventure and treasure hunt. There are puzzles to be solved too.

In the version I ported the stats of the monsters are randomly generated in terms of the hit points, armour class and strength at the beginning of each combat, so retreating might not be a good idea. Retreating takes you back to the previous room you were in. When you re-enter the room all the conditions for the monster will be reset. This might be a good thing if the monster is really strong and you’re getting pasted. Going and coming back in might make for a weaker monster. However, it might be worse!

Choosing Defence rather than attack just reduces your chances of being hit while also decreasing your chances of hitting the monster. Spells are powerful but fickle. The monsters are deployed in fixed locations as indicated in the map below.  However, if they don’t “disappear” at the end of combat random monsters will be spawned at random in one of the rooms. If you have the sword and the armour, the monsters are pretty easy to defeat. You won’t be let through the portcullis if you get pasted by the Gnoll and you don’t have at least one of these two items. A map and instructions follow:

** SPOILER ALERT ** Walkthrough Map below!

		Exit
N      W    +    E             S		Tomb SAY AROG GIVE EYE warrior		Arms of Oran (must have Lighted lamp) EXAMINE OBJECT TAKE SHIELD EXAMINE SHIELD harpy
Well Room SEARCH WELL TAKE KEY EXAMINE STONES OPEN STONE (requires hammer  and chisel) SEARCH NOOK TAKE EYE Assassin	Armoury EXAMINE MOSAICS EXAMINE STARS OPEN STAR (requires hammer  and chisel) TAKE ROD Lich	Tiled Entry Hall TAKE LAMP LIGHT LAMP OPEN DOOR (requires key)	Dark Hall EXAMINE FLOOR SEARCH DUST EXAMINE WALLS SEARCH WALLS USE MECHANISM	Store Room OPEN CRATES EMPTY CRATES (you'll discover the name Arog) OPEN BARREL EMPTY BARRELS SEARCH SACKS TAKE CUBE INSERT CUBE (requires mech from dark hall to have been touched)
	Stables CLIMB LADDER SEARCH ROOM MOVE BOARDS	Inside Cave SEARCH SKELETON TAKE CHISEL	Guard Room USE MECHANISM Bugbear
	Hay Loft SEARCH SACKS TAKE HAMMER SEARCH HAY DESCEND LADDER Shadow	In front of Cave EXAMINE GROUND TAKE FLINT TOUCH PORTCULLIS Gnoll
		Forest MOVE ROCK TAKE SWORD SEARCH TREE TAKE ARMOUR