Combat is one of the basic activities of mudding, though not the
only one. First, some monsters will attack you, and you will want to
defend yourself. Second, if you kill a monster, you can take any items or
treasure it has. Third, fighting will improve your skills, and then
you will be a better fighter in the future.

   When you first start out here, you will be weak and frail, until you
start to improve your skills.  Your chances of defeating an opponent
(player-character or non-player-character) depend on a couple of things:
your skills, and your weapon/armour. 

   You will want, before entering combat, to type 'wield <weapon>', and
'equip <armors>', if you can find, buy, or beg some armors or weapons
to use. This is very important, because if you do not have armor or
weapons to use, you will not hit the opponent with anything but your
fists (if you have skill in that) and you will not be protected from
their hits on you.

   You can attack a monster by typing "kill <monster>". You may also
find monsters attacking you, or sometimes a monster will attack you if
you cast a spell on them, or if you attacked them in the past.

  Here is a short example of a battle with an orc as your opponent:
    You are wielding a dagger, and he is wielding a knife.
  
     Orc swipes at you with his knife, and delivers a glancing blow.
     You swing at orc with your dagger and do light damage.
     Orc heaves his knife at you with all his might and hits you, hard.
     You muster all your strength and deliver a terrible blow to orc's
       head with your dagger.
     Orc dies.

   After the battle has ended, examine the corpse immediately, you may
find he is holding something that you desire. 

   Remember, fighting improves your skills.
   
See also the help on: kill, wield, equip, skills, spells.