Ultima IV: The blue circle

 

The land is charted. The towns explored. The eight dungeons of disvirtue fully delved. I've put it off for weeks now, but I can no longer deny the call of the sea. I have questions - perhaps some answers lie there.

Of course, I'm still going to be methodical and thorough about it.

There is still a seaworthy pirate ship moored off the coast of Jhelom. I sail south - the magic spell "Wind Change" is very helpful here, as you move faster when perpendicular to the wind's direction - and wrap around to the north edge of Britannia. Using my sextant, I find the extreme northwest coordinates of the world and sail east.

 

And south.

Oh, what's this?

And back west.

And back up north.

The border of the world!

Well, that wasn't exciting, but it's groundwork, and I spotted some potentially interesting stuff in the southwest corner. For now, I sail east, charting out the missing spots near the maps' northern edge, using my Wind Change magic as needed.

Cannons still let you engage enemies from afar.

Wrong from the sea

Then south, along the map's east edge.

Dagger Isle's east side

Moonglow

An uncharted island south of Moonglow

Encountering another ship at sea

The art of war at sea! Projectile weapons are great here.

Oh, I see! This is Hylothe!

I disembark here, but don't find much except poison and lava.

I head west again.

Some volcanic islands

What's this?

I save my game, can't be too careful here, and sail into the storm.

The ship vanishes, everyone takes a bit of damage, and we emerge in a strange lake.

The coordinates tell me that this is Lock Lake, and the ship is lost. This is a closed lake, with only impassable shallows connecting it to the sea. Of course, that means that the storm is the only way in.

You can sail south to Cove. This is probably the intended manner.

Thankfully, there's another boat near Vesper - still there from all the way back near when I started playing. I gate to Minoc and walk there so I can resume this.

Sailing back to Hylothe's island, I spot an entrance from the north.

The interior is a maze of rocky walls, and a bit of a challenge for Ultimap, but I find the exit.

Demons and Balrons. And a shrine.

Unfortunately, the encounters here are unending, and nothing seems to help. I win the fight, I immediately fight more. I blow the horn, I still have to finish the fight, and then immediately fight another. I run away, and I lose two eights of Avatarhood and immediately fight another.

Thankfully, I saved before entering the vortex, so for all intents and purposes I have lost no progress. But I have no more patience for this today.

My world map: