Casting spells from the runestaffs requires several steps.

1. Placing a rune on the staff.

Put the staff in your right hand (remember, it's a mirror!).
Bring up the journal, and flip to the runes section, going to the page containing the rune you want.
Right-click on the rune. This should bring the staff up on the right side of the book.
Right-click onto the slot on the staff where you want the rune to be. This will overwrite any existing runes/meta-runes.
If you want to add a meta-rune to a regular rune, flip to the meta-runes page, right-click on the meta rune, then right-click on top of the rune you wish to 'meta'. Meta runes can be combined onto regular runes (except for 2x and 3x runes).
Repeat as often as desired.
Left-click somewhere off the book and staff to return to regular playing mode.


2. Getting ready to cast a spell.
Place the staff in your right or left hand.
Click the mouse button corresponding to the hand holding the staff. This should bring up the staff on the right (or left?) side of the screen.

3. Casting a spell into the playing screen (on monsters, etc)
Get ready to cast a spell.
Click on the rune you wish to cast.
Place the cursor on the target of the spell (or the direction it is to go).
Press the mouse button corresponding to the hand holding the staff.

4. Casting a spell on yourself or on an NPC in your party.
Make sure the character status bar is visible in the top-right corner of the screen. If it's not, click on the mirror in the top-right corner to make it visible.
Get ready to cast a spell.
Click on the rune you wish to use.
Click on the compass heading in the center of the status bar to reveal characters. Staff will move to the center of the screen.
Click on the character you wish to cast a spell on.
Repeat as desired.
Click somewhere off the character display and runestaff to return to regular play.

NOTE: Recharging of staffs is done automatically when you step onto a manna circle (green circle on floor). All staffs are recharged, whether in hand or in inventory. Standing on the circle doesn't do it, you have to step onto it.


This is a list of the runes I found, where they were, and what they do. Many runes were found more than once.

RUNE NAME	TYPE	LEVEL FOUND	DESCRIPTION
Shrink	Reg.	Lower keep	Shrinks target
Firebolt	Reg.	Lower keep	Shoots fireball at target
Power-2	Meta	Lower keep	Doubles the power (& cost) of another rune
Heal	Reg.	Lower keep	Minor healing spell
Shrink	Reg.	Sewers	Shrinks target
Read	Reg.	Mines1	Gives target ability to read *some* unreadable text
Heal	Reg.	Mines1	Minor healing spell
Silence	Reg.	Mines1	Silences target
L. Aerial	Reg.	Mines1	Lesser Aerial Magic (aka feather fall) Take no damage from falling in pits
Firebolt	Reg.	Mines1	Shoots fireball at target
Potency	Meta	Mines2	Lowers magic resistance of target
L. Aerial	Reg.	Temple1	Lesser Aerial Magic (aka feather fall)
Strength	Reg.	Temple2	Strengthens character
Spoilspell	Reg.	Temple2	Cancels magical effects or provides protection vs magic
Flame	Reg.	Temple2	Casts a magical flame on the square in front of the caster
Shield	Reg.	Temple2	Target protected against ranged attacks
Energybolt	Reg.	Temple2	Shoots magical energy bolts that weaken or stun opponents
Translocate	Reg.	Lower FG	Sets a teleport target circle
Scare	Reg.	Lower FG	Scares target. Target may flee
Armor	Reg.	Upper FG	Creates an (imperfect) magical armor barrier around the target
Winds	Reg.	Upper FG	Casts a magical whirlwind
Shrink	Reg.	Upper FG	Shrinks target
Strong Heal	Reg.	Upper FG	Improved heal - also cures poison, etc
Ball	Meta	Upper FG	Gives a regular rune an area effect
Duration	Meta	Upper FG	Makes the effect of some runes last longer
Murphy	Reg.	Faerie realm	Very murphy rune - casts slow
Invisibility	Reg	Faerie realm	Casts invisibility on party
Duck	Reg.	Faerie realm	Duck rune. It goes Quack.
Read	Reg.	Dwarf halls	Gives target ability to read some unreadable text
Power-2	Meta	Dwarf halls	Doubles the power of a regular rune
Power-3	Meta	Dwarf halls	Triples the power of a regular rune
Ball	Meta	Dwarf halls	Gives a regular rune an area effect
Duration	Meta	Dwarf halls	Makes the effects of some runes last longer
Potency	Meta	Dwarf halls	Lowers magic resistance of target
Teleport	Reg.	Dwarf halls	Teleports party to the target circle, set by the translocate rune
Armor	Reg.	Ice caves	Creates magical armor
Ball	Meta	Ice caves	Gives a regular rune an area effect
Ice bolts	Reg.	Ice caves	Shoots ice bolts at target
Warming	Reg.	Ice caves	Thaws target, protection vs cold
Fire ward	Reg.	Ice caves	Places a fire trap on floor in front of the caster
Scare	Reg.	The Gate	Scares target. Target may flee
Deep Freeze	Reg.	The Gate	Severely chills opponents (try it on fire elementals)
Stoptrack	Reg.	The Gate	Stops opponent in its tracks
Spheres	Reg.	The Pit	Shoots spheres at opponents, crushing lightly defended creatures
Read	Reg.	The Pit	Gives target ability to read *some* unreadable text
Quickness	Reg.	Castle	Increases targets rate of attack