                             Speed
                            =======

            by Boudewijn Wayers (dedos4@win.tue.nl).


There are two levels of speed, "fast" and "very fast".

One can only be gained by wearing speed boots. Thus, speed boots ALWAYS
increase your speed by one factor, and their speed can only be lost by
removing the boots.

The other is the "intrinsic speed", that can be gained in various ways,
including:

- at game startup (Archeologist, Elf, Samurai)
- by reaching level 7 (Barbarian, Caveman, Knight, Valkyrie)
- by praying to your god
- by eating a quantum mechanic when you don't have intrinsic speed
- by zapping yourself with a wand of speed monster
- by quaffing a potion of speed (temporary effect)

Of course, there are also many ways of losing speed, namely:

- by getting hit by a shade
- by getting hit by a gremlin
- by getting hit by a skeleton
- by turning to stone (the process starts with you losing speed)
- by eating a quantum mechanic when you do have intrinsic speed
- by zapping yourself with a wand of slow monster
- by reaching the time-out of a quaffed potion of speed

As far as I know of, there are no other ways of gaining or losing
speed. When you have either intrinsic speed or speed boots, you are
"fast". When you have both, you are "very fast".

Note that you can also become slower than normal, when you are
burdened. A character that would be very fast when unburdened, would be
something like fast when burdened, and normal or even slower when he
was, for example, stressed or strained. Since this slowing down works
differently (not by levels of speed but by making you miss turns), the
effects cannot be explained more clearly.

