Ultima IV: East by northwest

 

After a reload, I continued mapping out Britannia in an easterly direction, this time steering clear of swamplands but otherwise following the coast. Little presented a challenge to our slings and cloth armor, not even an encounter with a daemon around Lock Lake. I did at one point return to Lord British for healing - he advanced me to Level 3. I kept going east, past Lock Lake, past the Bloody Plains, and eventually spotted a pirate ship on the coast, whose sailors were easily felled. Very soon, we sighted a new, minor-seeming city - Vesper.

• The guards are non-sentient.
• A jester mentions Nate the Snake, but will not elaborate.
• A sage hiding in the trees tells me to consult with Hawkwind on virtue.
• A ranger on the other side tells me to meditate at the shrines for 1, 2, and 3 cycles. I am still not sure how.
• A kid tells me to visit Calumny in Yew who knows the Quickness spell.
• A group of shepherds in the plaza speak of humility. The shrine is in an island southeast of Britannia, guarded by daemons, and the mantra is pride's reversed.
• A thief at the tavern tells me that Paws is a great place to steal horses.
• The guild shop sells torches, magic gems, and magic keys.
• A hidden room east of the guild holds many treasures, and a guard who sternly warns me not to touch them.
• In another hidden room west of the guild, a shepherd warns me to never use the skull of Mondain should I find it.
  

  

I continued exploring and mapping out this peninsula east of the Bloody Plains. The Shrine of Sacrifice sits on a small island in the middle of it, but my lack of the corresponding rune kept me out.

Nothing else was here, so I returned to the Bloody Plains and followed the mountainous northern coast westward. Despite difficult terrain, my food reserves continued to hold steady, and the hostile encounters remained trivial.

This ambush in the hills might have been tactically interesting, but we - a bard and mage - come out unscathed against four rogues without using any smarts whatsoever.

High up in the hills where the flanking mountain ridges block line of sight, I spotted a fortress town - Minoc.

 

There's not much to do in this mountain town.

• A tinker knows of the shrine of sacrifice - so do I - but does not know the mantra.
• At the inn, a ranger from Skara Brae gossips that his city's rune is missing.
• Also at the inn, a rune-carver tells me to seek his sister Mischief for the Sacrifice rune.
• The poor house's entrance is flooded with nasty sewage which poisons me and Iolo, and there's no healthcare in Minoc. I spend the last of my reagents preparing curative magic.
  
• Julia, caring for the paupers, asks if I will help her care for the poor. I agree and she stops caring for the paupers to join my party.
• The rest of the residents are all destitute, and chatty, but not helpful.
  
• Mischief hangs out in the grass outside the Iron Works, and tells me to seek the rune of sacrifice inside the forge.
  
• A bard inside sings "CAH." This sounds like it might be a mantra.
• The iron works sells powerful weapons, including magic swords swords and throwing axes, but they're out of my price range.
• Zircon, who works the forge, tells me that his mystic weapons and armor were sold to Sir Simon and Lady Tessa.
• Before I go inside the forge, I splurge for a three-bed room at the inn and heal up. Once again, rogues attack at night and lift a few more coins even as we fight them off (we don't get them back).

  

  The steel-melting hearth takes a toll on your health!
  

• After finding the rune, mischief tells me to ask Alkerion of the stone.
• Alkerion lives in the poor house, and tells me the stone of Sacrifice is orange, and can be used in the altar rooms of Love and Courage.
  

I left Minoc and continued my exploration of the northern coast, heading westward around the mountainous edge of the Lost Hope Bay, into The High Stepes, where I spotted a dungeon entrance but did not enter, and around a large inlet into The Deep Forest. Here, we faced an encounter against many venom-spitting snakes and skeletons.

 

The encounter left Julia poisoned, which should have been incredibly bad news - we're out of reagents, and the shelter of Britannia was a good ten screen lengths' distance away and separated by a mountain range.

Thankfully, you can recover HP while resting - it just doesn't take away the poison - and food supplies were still ample. I decided to take my chances and press on to the next town. Bad idea, it turned out - resting eventually stopped working and Julia just died.

Bad luck punished my decision further when I opened a poisoned chest. Frantically, I pushed west onward through a dark forest, nearing the western edge of the continent, looking for any signs of civilization.

Happily, I found one.

 

Unhappily, this turned out to be Empath Abbey, and not a normal city with clearly labeled healers, and I quickly died amongst the monks and beggars while looking for help.

So finally, I turned around and took the long walk back Britannia with Iolo dragging our corpses to Lord British's magic fingers.

Iolo can easily take these orcs alone

British revives me for free, but not Julia

While here, I consult Hawkwind on my virtues.

• Honesty - Some
  
• Compassion - Little
  
• Sacrifice - Little
  
• Spirituality - Little
  
• Humility - Some
  
• Honor - Little
  
• Valor - Some
  
• Justice - None
  

Despite tipping a beggar or two, my compassion took a dip! But humility and valor improved.

Resurrecting and healing Julia at Britain's healer costs me $500, and I am asked to donate blood at the cost of my own HP, which of course I accept - it's virtuous and British's free healing is right over there.

My map so far: