Ultima IV: The splurge

Back at home base and loaded with all the cash I can carry, it's spending time!

First step, Minoc, by way of moongate.

Minoc's expensive magic weapons are only usable by Dupre and Julia. I already have one magic axe, but I buy another, and two magic swords for melee backup. I'm left with only $3,499 from my original $9,999.

While I'm here, I give $49 to a beggar at the poor house. One dollar at a time - I have a funny feeling that this is considered more virtuous than all at once.

Next, I went south to the Bloody Plains and searched the swampland for mandrake, as Calumny advised. Nothing! Nothing but multiple cases of poison that I had to waste my cures on!

Then I continued east to the Shrine of Sacrifice to meditate on CAH. Gotta pump up those spirituality numbers too!

Further east was Dagger Isle, which I could blink to and explore. The Shrine of Honesty is located here, but without the rune I couldn't yet enter.

Blinking around here, I found another dungeon on a nearby mountainous island, totally inaccessible otherwise.

Another time, though. The place I want to be is Vesper, where I can finally purchase that sextant.

I also purchase torches, gems, and keys. Lots of them - more than 80 of each, leaving me with about $400 left.

I return to the moongate by Minoc and take it to Skara Brae, first visiting the Shrine of Spirituality for a meditation opportunity by entering during dual full moons. Here I recruit Shamino, who I immediately equip with a spare bow, donate some blood, and spend the rest of my cash reserves on reagents.

I also explore a little bit more around here, including the tiny island to the north and southern Spiritwood, before returning to Britain. No levels are gained, but Hawkwind tells me I am ready to elevate in spirituality.

The sextant, by the way, shows your exact position in the world when used. Lord British's castle is latitude G'K", longitude F'C", and letters A-P are used. That's 16 letters of the alphabet, giving us a world 256 tiles wide and 256 tiles tall, assuming that P'P" by P'P" is the southwest corner of the world. With this data, I re-orient my map to put (the unexplored) A'A" by A'A" in the upper-left corner.

My world map:

Ultima IV: Loaded

Following my costly trip to Magincia, I found myself in a familiar situation - broke but honorable. And yet, I'm still in a much better place than I had been - I'm not completely broke, nor am I lacking in all reagents, just ginseng and blood moss, and while I've only got a few keys left, I really only need one in order to repeat my profitable adventure to Lord British's dungeon, which I can do much better this time. Plus, I'm not only honorable, I'm valorous too!

I started this session with a shopping trip to Skara Brae - the cheapest place to buy ginseng, blood moss, and food, spent nearly everything everything I had, and gave my last coin to a beggar. Then I took the moongates to Britannia by way of Yew, where I made one detour to the shrine of justice.

Long, boring, and repetitive story short - I was able to easily replicate my dungeon raid, except this time I had the foresight to prepare several dispels ahead of time, and robbed the Balrons' cache five times, for a haul worth over $5,000. And I could have gotten even more, except that I ran out of healing spells.

The balloon escape from the Hylothe entrance took me to the hills east of Lock Lake this time, a longish walk from Britain, free healing, and access to the moongate networks.

$5,000+ will buy me a lot of reagents. It's enough to buy over 200 of everything, and your inventory maxes out at 99!

As with last time, I went to Paws first, but this time I bought 99 ginsengs, 99 garlics, and 99 black pearls. And immediately crafted all of it into magic spells so I could buy more ginsengs, more garlics, and more black pearls. All in all I get 99 Awakens, 99 Cures, 21 Fireballs, and still have over $3,000 left.

Next, Moonglow, where sulfurous ash and spider silk is cheap. With these, plus the reagents brought from Paws, I can craft 28 Blinks, 99 Dispels, 3 Energy Fields, 98 Heals, 99 Lights, and still have $1850 left over.

Finally, Skara Brae, for blood moss, as well as more sulfurous ash and ginseng. I spend the rest of my money here, but it gets me 81 Blinks, 1 Heal, 99 Opens, 2 Protects, 99 Quicknesses, and 26 Sleeps. Not many reagents are left over after all this crafting.

My magic arsenal after this session

 

Did I mention that all these spells have to be crafted one at a time, and reagents purchased nine at a time? Each spell that I craft, I need to hit 'M' to enter reagent mixing mode, select the spell I want to craft, key in the ingredients, hit enter, and I have to do that 99 times for each spell to max out my supply of it. And when I run out of an ingredient, I have to talk to the vendor, select the reagent, hit '9' to buy nine, type in the correct amount of currency to pay, and repeat the process ten more times to fill up. It's not a great user experience!

 

So then I thought. Why not do it again? I went right back into the dungeon and farmed the balrons' gold - $9,999 of it. This took 13 awakens, 9 cures, 13 dispels, and 15 heals - a total cost of about $400 including the cost of the magic key to get in and the YUP spell to get out.

On the way out, I noticed something funny that I hadn't before:

⮂

 

A secret passage where ettins are eating dinner! At the moment, though, exploring wasn't on the agenda, so we turned back and left.

One long, long balloon ride later, we landed by The Deep Forest. Cool - we had some unfinished business in Empath Abbey nearby.

• I spot a false wall on the east side of the throne room, but this led only to a forbidden treasure room with a guard, and an uninteresting bard playing his lute by the moat outside.
• The locked door in the throne room goes to a grove with four people walking around, each offering a clue about the virtues. I know most of this already from my pilgrimages, but it's all here in one place.
  
• Benjamin the Bard tells me that Love alone makes Compassion.
• Thomas the Tinker tells me that Love and Courage combine to make Sacrifice.
• Lastro the Ranger explains that Spirituality is based on Truth, Love, and Courage.
• Deirdre the Druid says that Truth tempered by Love is Justice.
• Marcy's lady-in-waiting, when asked about the horn, tells me the paladin Malchor can lead me to it.
• Malchor is found at the healer's, and tells me to search for the horn on an island off the tip of Spiritwood.
• Brother Antos tells me to meditate on love at the shrine to find the candle.
• The ankh in the western cloister can be spoken to, and when asked about "love," sends me back to the bard in the hidden passage.
• The bard tells me the candle is found in a "secret place" hidden off Lock Lake.
  

Spiritwood's a nice, long walk south, which gives me an opportunity to map out a bit of the terrain along Britannia's west coast.

And then I blinked around the cays, searching everywhere, until I found it.

 

Incidentally, I figured out how the "blink" spell works. It isn't random, and it isn't fixed, but it is based around the tiles loaded into memory.

The world is divided perfectly into uniform sectors which are 16 tiles wide and 16 tiles tall. At any given moment, you have one sector completely loaded, and also you have two buffers of tiles from the eight surrounding sectors loaded.

 You have:

• The 16x16 map of the current sector, shown in the middle
• An "inner buffer" extending three tiles in all four directions, shown highlighted in green.
• An "outer buffer" extending another five tiles in all four directions, shown darkened.
  

That gives a total of 32x32 tiles loaded at any given moment, which also happens to be the size of the minimap displayed when you use a gem. Any time you step onto the outer buffer region, it will load a new set of 32x32 tiles from disk into memory, and re-orient your minimap.

So here's what Blink does. After picking a direction, Blink teleports you to the farthest loaded tile in that direction which is legal to traverse.

In programmatic terms:

• Move in the selected direction until you hit the edge of the minimap.
• If you wound up on an illegal tile (e.g. ocean, mountain), move backwards until you hit a walkable one.
  

In any event, the cumulative experience from this adventure brought me to level 7 and Katrina, still rather combat-ineffective but no longer so fragile, to level 4.

My world map:

Ultima IV: Haughty spirits after the fall

In preparation for my next adventure, I restocked on reagents, taking a tour around the moongate network to get the best prices. For $1000 I could buy 45 of everything and still have a decent wad left over for miscellaneous upgrades.

First, I went to Paws by Trinsic, and along the way made sure to give Katrina plenty of opportunities to train experience by delivering coups de grâce on wounded enemies. There, I bought:

• A leather suit for Katrina for $200
  
• 45 ginseng for $180
• 45 garlic for $90
• 45 black pearls for $315
• A horse for $600
  

 

With ginseng and garlic cheap here, I prepared a bunch of awaken and cure spells and bought more, costing another $100. This left me with about $1200.

I took an opportunity to explore the stables here, locked by a door which I previously could not open. A bull attacked; I drove it away, and then had a conversation with Smith, the series' famous talking horse.

This is for P-Tux7

 

Next, I moongated to Verity Bay and my hometown of Moonglow, where I bought:

• 45 sulfurous ash for $90
• 45 spider silk for $135
  

While on this island, I revisited the Lycaeum to visit Nigel, Father Antos, and to explore the locked room, which turned out to be a library.

• Nigel tells me that his spell 'Recall' takes ash, ginseng, garlic, silk, bloodmoss, and mandrake.
  
• Father Antos tells me to seek the Book of Truth in the library.
• The librarian directs me to look under "T." Too bad there's no 'T' here - or is there?
• There is a secret, previously undiscovered treasure room east of the throne room. But there's nothing worthwhile here unless you want to tarnish your honor by stealing their gold (and very likely bring down the Lycaeum's royal guard on you).
  

 

I tried to be clever and search the "T"'s under BRITANNIA, OBSERVATORY, and BETH. No luck - but I found it anyway, hidden in manner somewhat less clever than that.

From here, I went to Jhelom, to explore the locked rooms at the Inn.

Geoffrey desires battle, but won't join yet.

In the other room, Lord Robert questions my cojones and then tells me about the rune.

A secret door in Lord Robert's chambers led somewhere previously seen but inaccessible without violence!

I dispelled the fields and explored this new section of Jhelom, the interior walls surrounding it.

• A mage "Senora" imprisoned in the southwest tower tells me to ask the barkeep about sextants. Way ahead of ya.
• Nostro is found in the northwest tower, and tells me the rune is buried in a tower.
• He follows me around as I search each spot of each tower. I find it in the southeast tower's southeast corner.
  

 

With remarkable luck, after leaving a pirate ship spawned nearby, which I hijacked and took one island south to ascend in Valor. The Blink spell, as I discovered, isn't much good because you can't control how many spaces it takes you.

Next step on the moongate - Magincia.

It took me a lot of healing magic to trudge through this cursed place. I didn't even bother curing the poison while exploring, as I'd just re-poison myself anyway.

The many ghosts here have a lot to say.

• A small ghost haunting the armour shop tells me to speak to Heywood about the mantra.
• Heywood is just up north in the weapons shop and sends me to ask Faultless.
• A ghost names Ruskin wandering near the ruined bridge seeks to learn humility, and tells me to ask the snake of the rune.
• The skeletons in the northeast corner tell me of the shrine of humility - I will need to find a silver horn to pass the demonic guard there. The shrine is on the north bank of the isle of the abyss, and the queen of love's lady in waiting can tell more about the horn.
• The skeletons at the pub have moving stories to tell, but the pertinent information is that I must also speak to the snake about the stone.
• The snake attacks before I get a chance to try to talk to him - I'll need to leave town and come back for another try.
  
• Faultless is behind the counter at the weapons shop, and must be approached directly by entering through the crumbling back; you cannot speak over the counter. He tells me the mantra of pride is MUL - and from that I now know the mantra of humility must be LUM.
  

 

Amazingly, my 45 ginsengs - the common ingredient between cure and healing spells - weren't enough to power me through Magincia completely. I used the last of them to craft curing spells as I left, and it still wasn't enough for everyone suffering from poison. Iolo, who out of them has the most HP, had to do without. The snake will have to wait until next time.

 

Back at Britain, to heal and check in, Katrina instantly gains two levels, and Hawkwind tells me that I am ready to elevate justice.

 

My new and improved world map:

Ultima IV: There and back again

My first ever disk flip in an Ultima game!

 

Newly equipped with some thieves' guild tools, and by an ironic coincidence also an eighth of honor, I broke into Lord British's dungeon in search of some gold.

That's odd - it dropped me into a pit with no way back up, only down! What is this, an oubliette? Right in the capital of the city-state of compassion?

The first thing I do is mix up an Xit spell with some of my precious few reagents. We really don't want to get stuck down here without an escape plan. I also prepare a Yup spell - magical ascension - as an alternate means of escape.

Next, I peer at a gem and see that there's nothing worthwhile on this floor, and I take the ladder down. Far down, all the way to level 8, where I peer into another gem.

The diamond is my location, and the ^ icons are force fields, which can be dispelled with magic.

I prepare a few dispels and head northward.

 

OMG, dragons! They're... not difficult. Even Katrina can tank a hit or two from them. In fact, the worst thing about this fight is that after killing them all, I have to manually move everyone out the arena to the left in order to continue. Such is the case anywhere in the dungeon.

The fight immediately continues as we cross an underground bridge guarded by a troll and some mermen. Nothing we haven't dealt with before.

Chamber #3 has some daemons, plus a balron who casts sleep spells from behind impassable force fields. Impassable, but not undispellable.

End of the trip, and there's a lot of treasure! I line everyone up behind me and dispel a hole in the field.

It's funny how as a mage, I'm still not half bad as a tank, owing to my decent HP which is determined entirely by level. I don't even need to use magic here apart from the dispels.

We snipe the balrons through the chokepoint and take their gold - about $1,150 worth of it.

Opening the chests is a bit annoying as even after the fight is over, you still have to manually move party members over each chest and then have them open it, but it's turn-based. After moving Iolo or whoever onto a chest, the turn cycles through everyone else before he gets a chance to open it, and by the time it gets back to him you've forgotten whether he's standing over a chest or not.

We leave, and...

Oh goody, it all respawned, and we get to repeat the entire fight sequence! But that made me think - if the enemies respawn when you leave a room, does gold respawn too?

You bet it does! But I was down to my last two dispels, so I made this my last raid, before fighting my way backwards through the sequence and back to the maze.

A reaper stands between me and the ladder. Thankfully, the force field didn't respawn.

I climbed the ladder back to the top and cast my YUP spell.

Hey, wait - this isn't Lord British's castle! A quick re-entry shows that this is the entrance to Hylothe, and peering at a gem shows an entirely different layout from where I was initially.

Trudging through this rocky canyon, I find a balloon - the only way out.

Said balloon can't be controlled directly except for liftoff and landing - we drift where the wind takes us.

 

We fly across an unknown sea, over active volcanoes, and land by one of the few unexplored locations in the world above ground (apart from Magincia) - Serpants (sic) Hold.

• The guards at the gate both tell me that they are Sentri, baron of this island province. I assume that this is a scripting error.
• The training master at the academy tells me that when I find the altar room of courage, I must use the red, orange, purple, and white stones. I already know that these first three colors correspond to the virtues of valor, honor, and sacrifice, all of which derive from courage. Presumably white, then, must correspond to spirituality.
• A wounded "sailer" at the healer's tells me that he is the sole survivor of the H.M.S. Cape shipwreck.
• Sister Antos is found in the northeast turret, past a treasure room which is accessed by a false wall in Sentri's throne room. I ask about the bell - she tells me to ask the fighter Garam. She knows nothing of the book or candle.
• A nixie swimming in a small pool tells me that the H.M.S. Cape had a magical steering wheel that would strengthen her hull. But not enough, it seems.
• Garam is found in the southwest chamber, and tells me to search for the bell at sea, at latitude N'A", longitude L'A".
  

I saw no way off this island except for the balloon I arrived by, so I lifted and drifted some more. And drifted. And drifted.

After what felt like an eternity - this was probably close to five minutes in realtime, we finally blew over the mainland. I recognized the shrine of compassion below, deep in the canyon by the swampy shores of Lock Lake. The wind continued to carry the balloon northward across the lake, until we could safely land.

A bit of a hike southwest, and we returned to Lord British. Our horse, though, was gone.

The results - Iolo alone gained a level. I really must allow Katrina to deliver a few finishing blows. Hawkwind offered no new insights.

But I have lots of money! Money that would be well spent on reagents so that I can go back to the dungeons and get even more money. For doing good things, of course.

Despite combat being a tedious and mindless affair, with a crummy interface that is saved only by almost absurdly low difficulty, this was a fun session and really felt like an exciting adventure that unfolded organically. And for the first time, I feel in control - I can go where I want, do what I want, and not be held back by my cash, food, or supplies.

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: