Below the Root Mini-Manual (slightly updated Dec 1 2002) Your quest is to save Green-Sky. You can be one of five characters. Your choice decides the mix of Strength/Stamina, etc., and "Spirit" abilities. (In more familiar terms, "Spirit Skills"= Spells; "Spirit Limit" = max 'Spell Points'.) Characters can improve upon starting attributes (e.g. increase Spirit Limit) during the adventure. The firve chars are ... Neric- male, impulsive strong, highest Strength/Stamina, low Spirit Limit Genaa- female, beautiful charasmatic, highest S/S, zero SL Pomma- female, revered delicate child, moderate S/S and SL Charn- male, agile sturdy child, higher S/S, low SL Herd- male, sturdy rational, highest S/S, low SL Each Spirit Skill has a minimum SL requirement. Each 'Skill also uses up units of Sprit Energy when 'cast'. The Spirit Skills (with SL requirement and SE cost) are ... Pense (sense) Emotions- from any distance (5/1) Pense Messages- mental speech, speaking distance (10/1) Heal- restore Food and Rest (15/5) Grunspreke- influence tree growth (20/2) Kiniport- move objects or body with mind Objects (25/5) Body (30/10) Spirit Skills and other actions you can perform are listed beneath a pic showing your current location. For instance, you can Speak, Take (position yourself over item, if Take- able it will be added to your Inventory), Buy, ..., and Use: Use Trencher Beak- face bramble, USE the Beak to clear away one layer. (If you get caught in bramble patch without a beak, you will have to RENEW your character.) Use Vine Rope- face direction you want to throw rope. USE the rope; the rope will appear on the screen if there is something for it to catch on. CRAWL across the rope. Use Honeylamp- according to the original manual, it will be obvious when to use this item. It does not last long once lit. Some other items you will discover include ... Fruit & Nuts- food Lapan- rabbit-like animal Nid- hammock; nid-place = home Nekom- society of evil Erdlings Pan Bread- main food Salite- society of evil Kindars Shuba- garment for gliding Tokens- $$$ Wissenberries- not legal but may be helpful Exploration in Green-Sky The original game includes a fold-out map. It shows seven tree 'villages' (side view). Each village is called a "grund". Each grund has several huts, shops, etc.. I have not played BTR-- not yet, anyway; it looks like fun-- so, it is hard to say how important the map is. It shows simple outline drawings (like a coloring book) of six grunds on a 32 wide x 16 high grid. The grunds, left-to-right, are ... SKY GARDEN BROAD GRAND SILK STAR TEMPLE 5 4 4 5 3 4 7 Numbers= width in 'squares' devoted to a grund on the map. There is no tree pic for TEMPLE-- the space above the "TEMPLE GRUNDS" label is just empty squares-- probably, you are supposed to fill these in. You can make a pretty good BTR map*. It should be about 24" x 12" with space below the grid to mark off and label each grund. For each of the first six grunds, draw a light tree outline (trunk and some large branches) beginning with the 5th square from the bottom and ending about 4 squares from the top. The tree outline should be limited in width to the number of squares shown (above) for the grund. *Notes: You can see the original map included in the Apple II game on Phoenix's Green-Sky site at ... http://www.angelfire.com/sk/greensky/gsframe.html Rob (Zeprfrew) posted the location of maps for the C-64 version which seem to match the A2 version fine. You can find them at ... ftp://arnold.c64.org/pub/games/jeremy/Below-The-Root-Map/ Movement I R J K or D F keys or Joystick M C SPACE key or Joystick "fire" button is used for making most selections. Walk- press key or move joystick Jump- standing still, press key 2 times quickly or hold stick button and move stick. While moving, press key or press stick button (Jumping from letters is not allowed underground.) Run- You automatically start to run after a Jump. Stop- press opposite-direction key or move stick Climb- press key or move stick when on ladder or vine Crawl- press Down key (M or C), then press a Left or Right key or push stick back, then move L or R Stand Up- when Crawling, press Up key when or push stick forward Fall- Walk off the end of a ramp or tree limb Glide- with a Shuba, do a Fall and use keys or stick to go L or R Enter/Exit a Doorway- position yourself over door and press Up key or stick button Other Actions (Menu Commands) To Examine something, Speak to someone (you are facing), Save the game, etc., you choose the command from a menu. To display the menu with Keyboard control, press SPACE. With Joystick control, press a button and move the stick Down. Highlight the command you want and press SPACE or press the Joystick "Fire" button. Hints When you start out at your home, be sure to get the three tokens, shuba, and food there before leaving. (The homes are different; but, each seems to contain these items.) To get an item, stand next to it and go to the commands Menu. In the Menu, select "Take". For additional hints, character info, and more, check Phoenix's Green-Sky site at http://www.angelfire.com/sk/greensky/gsframe.html . Starting Before booting the game, FORMAT a diskette. The diskette will be used to save your position. Boot Side 1 and follow screen prompts. When you are told to insert Side 2, you will be asked to press "K" to use Keyboard or "J" for Joystick. Be sure to insert Side 2 before pressing "K" or "J". When first starting the game, select "Start Game". To pick a character, do an UP ("I" or move stick up) to view each character's description. Press SPACE or press the Joystick "Fire" button to select a character. Now that you've waded through my mm, be sure to see the fine docs on Apple II Textfiles at ... http://www.textfiles.com/apple/DOCUMENTATION/below.root . Rubywand