Ultima IV: Broke but honorable

I need gold. I've been getting it from beating up monsters above ground, but I need lots more - it's time to start looking for it underground. I can't just rob the treasury like in the last game - that's "unjust" and "dishonorable." Better to break into a daemon's lair, kill everyone, and take their gold - that's "valorous" instead.

But I'm definitely going to need torches to get anywhere, and probably some keys and reagents too. And that also costs money - and currently I have none.

Torches and keys are sold in Vesper, far on the east side of the continent, and there's no way to get there quickly. Much unmapped terrain remains between Britannia and Vesper - I decided I'd walk there and map out some uncharted geography along the way, and fight everything I see for as much petty cash as I can get.

A rough chart of my trip

 

As I near Vesper, I stop at the Shrine of Sacrifice to meditate. As suspected, CAH is the mantra here.

 

Unexpectedly, the bridge to the shrine caught me in a rewarding loop - trolls attacked, I'd kill them, get their gold, and another group would attack immediately afterward. This repeated three times, earning me about $120 in short order.

In Vesper, I go to the bar to ask about Nightshade. It takes some generous tips, but he eventually directs me to ask Virgil in Trinsic. I also follow up on the sailor's tip that sextants can be purchased at the guild - they can, but for $900 which I haven't got right now. Instead, I spend most of what I've got on torches, gems, and keys, and then ride back to Minoc to donate the rest of it.

Minoc's moongate just happens to correspond to the full moon phase, so while I'm here, I take the opportunity to enter during double full moons, and enter the shrine of spirituality. I meditate on OM.

And immediately re-enter the moongate on the very next phase to teleport to the Cape of Heroes, near Trinsic, where I have a few tasks to do.

First task - I use one of my magic keys to open the locked door at the inn.

Total waste - it just goes outside, dumping me back into the world map.

Next, I revisit Virgil, still hiding in his poison field, and ask about nightshade.

Third, I wander around until an orc spawns, beat him up for some gold, and then tip the bartender so I can ask him about the white stone.

I return to the moongate and take it to Castle Britannia. Now that I have magic keys, I can explore the jail and battlements. The guards don't seem to mind.

• In the southwest cell, a mage Zorin tells me to seek help from anyone named Antos, found in the Lycaeum, Empath Abbey, and Serpent Castle, and ask of the bell, book, and candle.
• In the southeast cell, accessed through a secret wall in the southern battlement, a blob creature called Reaper tells me of a "thing which can kill many" at Buccaneer's Den. I suspect this is the Skull of Mondain, which I'd been warned to never use.
• The northwest cell holds a bunch of software pirates who warn me that a pirate can never become a true avatar.
  

 

British offered healing but no promotions, not even for poor level 1 Katrina.

I checked in with Hawkwind.

• Honesty - Ready for elevation.
• Compassion - Some
• Sacrifice - Some
• Spirituality - Some
• Humility - Ready for elevation
  
• Honor - Ready for elevation
  
• Valor - Ready for elevation
• Justice - Some

 

Doing better! Sacrifice improved, and honor is ready for elevation. And since I have the honor rune, I take the moongates to Trinsic and do it.

This takes about two minutes of waiting. I don't mind.

 

I'm still not completely sure how the shrines work. Multiple NPCs have told me to meditate for "1, 2, 3 minutes," but it seems to me that the first two steps are not necessary. If you are ready for elevation and meditate for three cycles, you gain an eighth, and if you aren't, then you get a clue regardless of how many cycles you meditate for.

 

My world map:

Ultima IV: Jhelom, Maginica, & Skara Brae

I decided on a change of tack - rather than systematically "lawnmow" the remaining map, I'd seek out my remaining companions first. The sooner I get them, the sooner they can enjoy the benefits of experience points that we accrue while exploring.

My four companions so far were all found in major cities. The remaining three must also be found in major cities. And each major city is in proximity to a moongate. Therefore, I would use the moongates to hasten my search. Four moongate locations remained unexplored, and one of them happened to be in a clearing just to the northwest of Yew!

I took it to another unexplored moongate location - Valorian Isle, far southwest of the mainland.

Valorian Isle is actually three small islands. The moongate leads to the middle which is the largest of them, and is the location of the city of Jhelom and not much else but a lot of mountains and swampland.

• Guards at the entrance tell me that the passages to the north and south are restricted. I can't see a way to get to them without murdering the guards, which is something we don't do any more.
• A lot of fighters walk around and speak of valor.
• One fighter, 'X', seeks the red stone.
• Another tells me to ask Aesop of the mantra.
• A wounded fighter at the healer's tells me of the dungeon Destard.
• The weapon shop sells crossbows made by Iolo. I buy two of them for $1200, leaving me with $353. These go to Iolo and Jaana.
  
• The armor shop sells chain and plate in both normal and magic varieties. I have no budget for any of that right now, but I note that magic plate costs an astounding $7000.
• Aesop is found in the trees south of the armory, and tells me the mantra is RA, and the shrine is on the island to the south.
• After tipping at the pub and inquiring about sextants, I learn that guild shops sell them, but you have to ask for them.
  
• A few of the doors at the inn are locked.
  

I presumed that Jhelom's recruitable fighter was renting one of the rooms at the inn. As the whole point of this trip had been to recruit Jhelom's fighter, I figured I'd take a detour to Vesper to buy some magic keys, but first, I rode the moongate to a location not on the map, corresponding to the waning crescent phase.

Magincia is a horrible place, festering with sewage and crawling with snakes and undead. I'm too low on curative reagents to explore it properly.

The reason I'm here, though, is to meet the shepherdess Katrina, the sole survivor of Magincia's prideful calamity. She tells me that pride thrives when truth, love, and courage are absent, and humility must prevail over pride. She joins, and I give her a spare sling as a suitably humble weapon.

From this unknown corner of the world, I can moongate to the last unvisited location - a chain of islands off the coast of Spiritwood, which I had previously seen from the other side of the channel.

 

The first of these islands is the location of our last unvisited city - Skara Brae.

• A beggar on the northwest corner of town tells me that the ankh knows of the rune and her friend Ambule knows the mantra.
• Shamino the ranger camps by the ankh in the middle of town, but won't join me until I am more experienced.
• A mage by the ankh tells me that Magic Missiles only need one part of sulfurous ash.
• The ankh does indeed speak, but will not speak of the rune until I know the mantra.
• Ambule bets on the north side of town outside the herb shop, and sends me to find the child Barren for the mantra.
• Barren is on the east side of town by a stream, and tells me the mantra is OM.
• Knowing the mantra, the ankh reveals that the rune is found in Britannia's treasure chamber, and also that to find the shrine I must enter the "gate of full moons."
• A powerful mage at the herb shop tests my knowledge of reagents, and directs me to the barkeep in Vesper to ask about nightshade.
• The vendor sells the usual reagents, but only blood moss is competitively priced at $4 each.
• A ranger in the northeast section of town tells me that the white stone is missing from the dungeon Hythloth, and directs me to ask of it at the bar in Trinsic.
• The food shop has the best food prices yet at $20 for a pack of 25. My party needs more food as it keeps growing, so I buy about 600 rations, costing me almost every cent I've got left.
  

I compiled the best prices for each reagent:

• $2 for sulfurous ash (Moonglow & Skara Brae)
  
• $4 for ginseng (Paws & Skara Brae)
  
• $2 for garlic (Paws)
  
• $3 for spider silk (Moonglow)
  
• $4 for blood moss (Skara Brae)
  
• $7 for black pearls (Paws)
  

 

And then I rode the moongates back to Britain to heal and check my progress.

• Honesty - Ready for elevation.
• Compassion - Some
• Sacrifice - Little
• Spirituality - Some
• Humility - Ready for elevation
  
• Honor - Some
• Valor - Ready for elevation
• Justice - Some
  

Compassion improved, and humility joined honesty and valor in the virtues for which I am ready to ascend, but problems remain with each. I haven't got the runes for any of them, I haven't found the shrine of honesty, I do not know the mantra of humility and suspect that I will need to scour Magincia to find it.

My todo list - I am keeping some detailed notes beyond what I write in these pages - keeps growing, but one thing is certain. I'm going to need lots more gold. But while I'm here in Castle Britannia, there's one task I can accomplish for free.

The shrines never said anything about lifting rocks.