The spells and skills found in Alsherok form an integral part of the MUD. You will find that your character will need magic in one form or another to survive in the world. To cast a spell, type 'cast spellname target' and to use a skill, type 'skillname target'. For example, 'cast fireball' and 'backstab barbarian' respectively. Some skills and spells do not require entering a command such as the peek skill while others can only have your character as their target. To find out more about spells and skills, enter the command 'help spellname' or 'help skillname'. To list out all the possible skills and spells which your character can have, type 'slist'. Aside from actually casting spells, spell-like effects can also be obtained through the use of wands, staves, scrolls, potions, pills, and salves. Some are beneficial while others are harmful so it always pays to identify these items and know what they do before you use them.
To use a wand, simply hold it in your character's hands and then type 'zap targetname'. For example, if you want to blast an Orc with your Wand of Fireballs, simply type 'zap orc' or if you want to heal yourself with a Wand of Healing, type 'zap charactername'. Be careful for you can accidentally blast yourself with a harmful spell if you were holding the wrong wand. For a staff, you will also have to hold it in your character's hands and then type 'brandish'. This invokes the power of the staff, hitting creatures around you with a harmful spell or casting a beneficial spell on your character. Wands and staves have a finite number of charges or number of uses before they run out of power. You can recharge them by finding a sorcerer or a fellow adventurer who has the recharge ability. Typing 'appraise wandname' or 'appraise all' with your wands and staves in your inventory will list out the prices of recharging them fully. This is usually determined by the number of charges, how much the wand is worth and how high your charisma score is. The command 'repair wandname' or 'repair all' will recharge your wands and staves.
Potions and pills usually confer instantaneous beneficial spell effects such as healing or protection upon those that consume them. They are dependent on how full of food and drink your character is. So you may not be able to use the potions or pills immediately after your character has a full meal. To use potions and pills, type 'quaff potionname' or 'eat pillname'. You can also quaff potions during battle. However this has a chance of failing, resulting in your potion breaking and spilling its contents on the ground. Potions and pills only have one use each. So, it is always a good idea to keep several healing and recall potions handy just in case you get into too much trouble.
Scrolls and salves form the last of the objects which can cast spells. To use a scroll, type 'recite scrollname targetname', where targetname can be any creature or player depending on the spell which the scroll casts. You can use the scrolls on yourself too. Like the potions, scrolls have only one use per scroll although some scrolls have multiple spells on them. Those with multiple spells will cast all the spells simultaneously when you use the scroll. For a salve, you will have to type 'apply salvename'. Salves can be used on other characters by typing 'apply salvename charactername'. Salves can have more than one use per salve.