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.