Ultima IV: Rule Britannia

 

Castle Britannia is a big, multi-leveled place. Some of the walls are false - the giveaway is a slightly different wall texture.

• The guards are many, nameless and not terribly talkative, but direct you to the second floor to meet Lord British.
• Chuckles the Jester uselessly promenades around the main hall, and asks about your ankh if prompted.
• Hawkwind the Seer is protected by a thick field of sleeping energy, but you can walk through eventually and consult with him on the virtues. His appraisal of my virtues:
  
• Honesty - Some
• Compassion  - Some
  
• Sacrifice - Little
  
• Spirituality - Little
• Humility - None
• Honor - None
  
• Valor - None
  
• Justice - None
  
• Mounds of treasure line a secret room hidden within the guard's barracks. Since I strive for honesty and also don't have a death wish, I leave it.
• A wounded fighter at the healer's tells me to seek out the smith Zircon in Minoc for his mystic arms.
  
• A shepherdess who oversees the waters, only accessible through secret doors, laments that her town was destroyed for its pride, and its ruins are found at coordinates latitude K'J" and longitude L'L". That isn't especially meaningful to me right now, as the map has no markers, but if I remember right, you can get a sextant eventually.
• Another shepherd on the northern side of the castle warns me that the path ahead is perilous - beyond is a ladder going down behind a locked door.
• A sage hides in the woods on the castle's east side and asks a riddle, to which I have not yet an answer.
  

Moving onto the second floor:

 

The northeast turret goes to a southward leading battlement where I am stopped by a locked door, and there's nothing else here except two guards. To be fair, the ladder going up to it was hidden. The northwest turret gives access to the castle's upstairs facilities.

• A bunch of kids walk around the kitchen. The chef, named "Le Chef," demands I try his soup.
• The prison has a few guards, a few locked cells, and one weird looking creature in a cell with no entry except a false wall to the south.
• Useless jesters and musicians loiter in the throne room.
• A maiden "Juliet" offers help, but only if I know how the eight virtues form into the three principles.
• Lastly, I converse with Lord British.
  

He offers free healing, and advice on the virtues:

• Moonglow is the city of honesty.
• Britain is the city of Compassion, and bards are the corresponding class.
  
• Jhelom is the city of Valor, and fighters are the corresponding class.
  
• Yew is the city of Justice.
• Minoc is the city of Sacrifice.
• Trinsic is the city of Honor, and paladins are the corresponding class.
  
• Skara Brae is the city of Spirituality.
• Magincia's ruins are a testament to Humility.
• Truth is learned at the Lyceaum.
• Love is learned at Empath Abbey.
• Courage is learned at Serpent Castle.

 

Next, I visit the nearby town of Britannia.

• The guards advise me to spare the lives of non-evil creatures for compassion's sake.
• At the armory, I purchase a sling and cloth armor for myself. This costs most of my cash.
• A "spicy woman" named Pepper asks if I seek something, but is unresponsive to anything I suggest.
• I compassionately donate to a beggar, who tells me that Pepper knows of the rune. So I ask her of it, and she tells me it lies at the end of a hall somewhere.
• Another Magincian shepherd at the hotel tells me that humility exists without truth, love, or courage.
• A cul-de-sac in the hotel reveals a rune when searched.
• A druid, looking for "Julio," tells me to find the shrine of compassion "east across two bridges."
• A child tells me that "Cricket" knows the mantra of compassion. I find him busking at the tavern, and after some pestering tells me it is MU.
  
• Gweno the bard dances and sings for children playing around a campfire.
• Iolo plays his lute here too, and offers to join when I praise his music. I accept.
  

 

I'm going to need more gold to get anywhere - I need food to live, and reagents to make the best use of my magely powers, and right now I can't afford either. I save my game, and start exploring and mapping in an eastward direction, on the lookout for trouble.

Two parties of orcs spawn from the north, and go down easily to our dual slingshots, yielding a few coins, but the trip through the mountains and swamps to the east are uneventful, except for when Iolo's delicate constitution gets poisoned stepping into the mire, causing his hitpoints to slowly drip away.

After crossing two bridges, we arrive at the shrine of compassion.

Following the advice of the pilgrims at the Lycaeum, we meditate on compassion for one cycle, and then chant MU.

I cannot subsequently meditate for longer cycles - my mind is "still weary."

On the way back, Iolo died from his poisoning as I sought Lord British's curative aid. This is because, as in prior Ultimas, poison damages you on every step you take, even indoors where the distance represented by each step should logically be much shorter. The winding walk from the castle gate upstairs to the throne room is quite long and damaging. And resurrecting Iolo just isn't in my budget right now.

Lesson learned - always carry a few prepared casts of Cure before venturing into the marshes. Always use it before entering locations.

At least I got a chunk of mapping done during this misadventure.