From Haelrahv Wiki

(this page is a modified and updated version of the in-game HELP STARTING file)
(some information might be repeated in our Advancement article)

Contents 1 Receiving Help 1.1 Maps 2 Commands 2.1 Basics 2.2 Movement 2.3 Miscellaneous 3 Commerce 3.1 Buying & Selling 3.2 Making Money 3.2.1 Foraging 3.2.2 Mining 3.2.3 Hunting 4 Training Skills & Stats 5 Health & Death 5.1 Related Commands 5.2 Healing 5.2.1 Paying/Tipping 5.3 Death 5.4 Imaging

Receiving Help

Everyone starts out with a basic communicator (aka, "comms"). This should be your first try if you have a simple question. First you will need to TURN your communicator to switch it on (the same goes for switching it off). Next, TRANSMIT <message>. Starter communicators have three channels -- 0, 1, and 2. You can specify a channel by typing TRANSMIT # <message>, # being the channel number. To send a private comm message to someone, TRANSMIT TO <name> followed by your message. We cannot stress the TO enough. Communicators are audio devices. Therefore, a limited amount of actions are acceptable over the comm airwaves (e.g., you cannot smile or poke yourself in the belly over a comm, but such things as laughing, crying, and singing about icecream are okay).

Please note that comms are an in character form of communication. Please do not speak out of character unless it is through WHISPERs or private comm transmissions. Also, emoticons (aka, "smileys") are prohibited on the comm channels.

If you are unable to find the answers you are looking for, the ASSIST system will add your name to a queue, and an on-duty staff member will respond.

Maps

If you find yourself lost in our vast and confusing world, take a gander at the maps by Haidee Idia-Anari. They are on her website, here.

Commands

There are a plethora of commands of you to play and experiment with. More and more are added as time goes on. Some are only used for specific systems, but the rest can usually be used in any situation. Here is a compilation of a few of the more important ones.

Basics

SAY, ' or " 

Typing any of these three before anything will cause you to speak it out loud.

You type: 'Hello, my name is Arden.

or, SAY Hello, my name is Arden.

or, "Hello, my name is Arden.

You will see: You say, "Hi, my name is Arden."

Others will see: Arden Sutherland says, "Hi, my name is Arden."

WHISPER 

This can be used to speak privately with someone.

WHISPER <name> <message>.

You can also WHISPER GROUP <message> to whisper to everyone in your group.

Movement

In the very last line of a room description, you will see any obvious exits. These will be cardinal directions, primary intercardinal directions, up, down, and out. To move in a direction, you can type N, S, E, W, NW, SW, NE, SE, UP or DOWN.

Other exits, such as doors or paths can be entered by typing ENTER <name>, or GO <name>. These exits are not always plainly visible, and may or may not be mentioned in room descriptions.

Miscellaneous

To see a full list of social, combat, movement and language commands, simply type COMMANDS. Many commands can be shortened for ease of use -- experiment to find out which ones. There are a few more important commands you should keep in mind:

BUG 

This can be used to report errors in the game. If you notice a typo, or think that something isn't working right, PLEASE bug it so it can be fixed it as soon as possible. Try to bug it in the same room as the problem, too.

SUGGEST 

All suggestions that are made with the suggest command are kept in a log for future reference. This is the most effective way for us to put your ideas to use.

REPORT 

This command should only be used when asked by a Counselor to respond to a message they have sent you. It can also be used if you have an emergency that requires immediate attention, such as being stuck in a room. For non-emergencies, please use ASSIST.

Commerce

If you type CASH or WEALTH, you will notice that you start out with $75 in your credit account, and $75 on hand. When you locate a bank, you can use the following commands:

BALANCE 

This will tell you how much money you have deposited in the bank.

DEPOSIT <amount> 

Used to deposit on-hand cash into the bank.

WITHDRAW <amount> 

Used to take cash from your bank account.

Located in most banks will be storage vaults. These vaults are free to use, and you can access your stuff from any vault in Haelrahv. To acquire a vault, simply step into the vault room and you will be walked through the process. Vault books are also available in most banks. They keep a list of what belongings you have stored.

Buying & Selling

The inventory in shops can be displayed in three different ways. Shops often use more than one method, sometimes all three.

Menus 

These can be viewed by typing MENU, which will return a list of items and prices. To purchase an item from the menu, type ORDER #.

Catalogues 

These allow for some customization of your purchase, such as colour, fabric, or embellishments. You can READ the catalogue to view the pages, and READ PAGE # to see the choices on that specific page. You can then ORDER what you want, and it will then give you the price before you confirm your purchase.

Displays 

Sometimes inventory is displayed on or inside things (e.g., on a shelf or in a box).

To determine the cost of an item, you can LOOK or GLANCE at it. Be sure you are purchasing the correct item by TAPPING it since many shops sell multiples of the same items with different descriptions. If you find what you want, you can then BUY the item.

You can also SELL or PAWN items that you have in your hands. There are many different places to accomplish this, some of them specializing in certain items (and so they give a bit of extra cash on these items; you can check if a store has this bonus by SURVEYing it).

Commodities such as plants, minerals, potions, and poisons lose value after a large number of them has been sold at one time. There is a commdity ticker which you can LOOK at or READ to check the current prices of various things.

Making Money

There are many ways to make money at low levels. Here are the two of the easiest and most popular:

Foraging

Foraging can be done just about anywhere. The terrain of the room determines what you will find. Uses for foraged items range from alchemical and poison components to pawning them for cash. Also, you can feed some pets with most forageables.

SURVEY 

This will help you determine the current conditions in your location. Will also tell you what can be foraged in that room.

FORAGE 

How often you find things and the value of what you find depends on how skilled you are at foraging. You do not need any special tools to do this.

More skill in Ecology will translate into finding forageables more often as well as finding multiple units in a single use

Medics and Trackers a natural bonus to how much they can forage at one time.

Foraging for multiples of the same item will automatically bundle them together to save space. These bundles max out at 50 units.

If you find yourself with multiple un-maxed bundles, as can happen with storing them in a container before they're full, you can COMBINE MY <item> WITH MY <item> while holding both. This will move as many as possible from the bundle in your left hand to the one in your right.

If you only need a certain amount of an item, and you have a bundle with more than that amount, you can SEPARATE # FROM <item>. SEPERATE will also work for this, since it's a common misspelling.

For more information, please see our article on Foraging.

Mining

Mining can only be done in certain caverns. You will also need a mining shovel or pick, which can be bought from a couple of stores. Like foraging, your frequency and value of your finds depend on your skills. Mined jewels and stones can be used in alchemy, poison-making, or sold for money. The command to do this is MINE.

For more information, please see our article on Mining.

Hunting

There are a lot of places where those of the fighting persuasion can go and slay some creature or another. For more information, please see our hunting and bestiary articles.

Training Skills & Stats

In order to use the skill and stat points you start off with, you will need to find the areas or people that can train you. This will require some exploration, but here are a few helpful commands:

TRAINERS 

This will give you a list of any skills and stats that are trainable in that room.

TRAINER is also valid.

TRAIN <skill/stat> #

This is used to raise a skill or stat when you decide to increase it. The # is the amount of times you wish to train that particular skill or stat.

SKILLS 

A list of your skills and the number of points you have in them.

SKILLS ALL will show every skill available in the game. Anyone can train anything they want, but they will be limited in the amount they can train per level if their profession doesn't specialize in it.

INFORMATION 

A list of your stats and some other general information.

INFO is also valid

EXPERIENCE 

This will tell you your current total experience, experience needed for the next level, the time of your last image (more on this later), and the number of skill and stat training points remaining.

EXP is also valid.

For a more detailed explanation of the above, see the HELP ADVANCEMENT article in-game or our Advancement article.

Health & Death

Your character's health is a pretty big issue to keep in mind if you are considering hunting or running through an otherwise dangerous area.

Related Commands

HEALTH 

shows the locations of your wounds (if there are any), gives a general sense of how healthy and rested you are, and a general sense of how much inner focus you have left.

If you are using the Gemstone interface of The Wizard, the stats window will give you a percentage-value of the last three values.

DIAGNOSE <person> 

gives a list of wounds of that person.

Works on self, too, but must provide your character's name.

Healing

When hunting, you will sometimes be hurt severely enough to bleed. You can find basic medical supplies outside of the hospital. When you need emergency medical help, a visit to a Medic or the emergency room may be a good idea. To receive treatment at the ER in Llanfair, just enter the hospital and go through the double doors and lie down. The cost will be automatically deducted from your account. The most serious wounds are treated first, so if you do not want your small injuries healed, you may stand up and exit at any time.

Paying/Tipping

After being healed by a Medic, it is customary to offer payment (some like to call this "Tipping") for the rendered service. Some Medics may accept this payment, but some may not. If your Medic does not want to accept your payment, PLEASE do not pester them to accept. This will only irritate them and potentially make them reluctant to heal you in the future. Just offer your thanks and be on your way.

Death

Unless a medic can revive you, the only way to escape death is to RESTORE. Before level four, nothing will be lost from doing this. However, afterwards, the last image of your DNA will be cloned into a new body. Any experience or training points gained since that last image will be lost. After restoring, you will need to return to your place of death to retrieve the grave's contents. If you fail to return to your grave in one hour, the items will be transported to the back room of the pawn shop where they can be bought back.

Imaging

After level four, you will begin to lose any experience you have gained as a result of RESTOREing upon death. A way to prevent this is to visit the imaging center on a regular basis. They will store an image of your DNA, and create a clone of your body when you die. It will become vital that you do this often!