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: