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Here I have found some strategy guides for various games for playstation, playstion 2, playstation 3, xbox 360, and PC for you to use. If you have any problems,ideas, or more games that I should add feel free to email me at adam.templar@gmail.com
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Ultima IV "Quest of the Avatar" Walkthrough/FAQ(PC/Apple/Commodore/Amiga/NES(?), etc.) Version 1.4.0, copyright 2000, 2002, 2003 by Andrew Schultz schultza@earthlink.net Ultima IV copyright Origin and Richard Garriott(Lord British) 1985. I am not associated with them in any way. Waah, too bad for me. Please do not redistribute this for profit without my prior consent. Although I cannot presume it is the best Ultima IV Walkthrough/FAQ out there(it was my first try at a FAQ), and Ultima IV is one of my favorite all-time games, this took considerable effort on my part. However, if you contact me with a specific question(i.e. mention this game), I will probably let you display it. This FAQ can be used in conjunction with my script FAQ and introductory question FAQ to give you a fuller feel for the world of Ultima IV. **AD SPACE** If you like these sorts of old games, feel free to visit my classic Apple gaming page: http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Exhibit/2762/games/games.htm BUT EVEN BETTER! I now have a web page with info related specifically to Ultima IV. It allows point-and-click interface quick navigation of dungeons. No monsters or secret doors yet(that's later) but right now you can see what all the rooms look like and where they should go. http://home.earthlink.net/~schultza/u4/u4dun.htm should just keep improving. I hope. ================================ OUTLINE 1. INTRODUCTION 2. TRICKS AND ANNOYANCES 3. QUICK WALKTHROUGH 3-1. QUICK START 3-2. WHICH SPELLS? 3-3. THE FIRST FEW ITEMS 3-4. AVATARHOOD 3-5. A DIGRESSION ABOUT FIGHTING, AND IN EVENT OF FATALITY 3-6. BOATING AND THE REST OF THE ITEMS 3-7. DUNGEON PLUNGIN' 3-7-1. GETTIN' DECKED OUT RIGHT 3-7-2. MIXIN' IT UP 3-7-3. STONES 3-7-4. KEYS 3-7-5. LOST FIGHT INSURANCE 3-8. GETTING YOUR PARTY 3-9. STYGIAN ABYSS 3-9-1. WHAT TO HAVE BEFORE YOU ENTER 3-9-2. GETTING THERE 3-9-3. LEVEL 1 WALKTHROUGH 3-9-4. LEVEL 2 WALKTHROUGH 3-9-5. LEVEL 3 WALKTHROUGH 3-9-6. LEVEL 4 WALKTHROUGH 3-9-7. LEVEL 5 WALKTHROUGH 3-9-8. LEVEL 6 WALKTHROUGH 3-9-9. LEVEL 7 WALKTHROUGH 3-9-10. LEVEL 8 WALKTHROUGH 3-9-11. IS THAT YOUR FINAL ANSWER? 4. ITEM LIST 5. LOCATIONS 6. OH LOOK! NEW RECRUITS! 7. MOONGATE MADNESS 7-1. THE BASIC CHART 7-2. FOR THE CURIOUS 8. "YOU CAN'T SAVE IN DUNGEONS!" ...UNLESS... 9. (MOSTLY) HEX CHEATING 9-1. PC 9-1-1. CHARACTERS 9-1-2. LOCATIONS 9-2. OTHER OLDER SYSTEMS 9-2-1. CHARACTERS 9-2-2. LOCATIONS 9-3. THE SOMETIMES-GREAT DISK SWITCH 10. ODDS AND ENDS 10-1. WHAT HAWKWIND SAYS 10-2. ARCANE SYSTEM DIFFERENCES 11. VERSIONS 12. CREDITS ================================ 1. INTRODUCTION Took me 13 years to solve the game. But I always loved it. I remember seeing a cluebook for $9.95 at the old Egghead.com and regretting not buying it when an insurance company took over that store area a year later. But the journey was fun, although there's also a lot of stuff you have to go through much less expediently than you'd like--unless you've got the formula down too well. It takes a while to buy all the reagents you need, and you do have to get a bit of a rhythm with fighting, etc. This FAQ/Walkthrough is designed to help you see what to focus on, when, in order to get through the game as quickly as possible. I've done so a few times. At the end there's even help with hex-cheats for the very experienced people out there. But be warned--going too quickly through all of this harms your potential enjoyment of the game and the world Richard Garriott has created. 2. TRICKS AND ANNOYANCES One of my favorite things to do to pass moon cycles without passing turns(a problem from my Apple days I remember all too well) is to hit ZTATS and watch the moon phases go. This also works for waiting in a ship. Watch out for hitting A/(up arrow) in combat--get the wrong rhythm and it starts thinking you may hit A twice. The key buffering can be irritating and outright wrong so don't get too far ahead of yourself. On the Commodore emulator you need to know F5/F7 scrolls you through the Ztats and you use [/'; for NSEW/IMKJ. But the learning curve is worth it because you can go rather quickly through the game later. Even at slow parts you can hit ALT-W to toggle the warp. Which is a good thing--you can get through dull parts fast. Also to create spells I like to get in a rhythm and create a bunch of the same at once. Sadly batch mixing didn't come in play until Ultima V, but on the other hand there are only a few spells you really need. Hitting escape while waiting over a bridge gives you a chance to fight bridge trolls. They are good for gold and experience early on. Leaving a gold chest in the wilderness makes it easier to walk over. This is useful if it is on rugged terrain, and it can also provide a guidepost in a dark forest. Tremor is misspelled TREMMOR on the Commodore and Apple when you cast it. But it still works well enough! Altar is misspelled ALTER on the Commodore version in the Stygian Abyss. Thine is also spelled THYNE. Oops. A bit of a vowel movement there. In conversations, you need only type in the first four letters of a subject. Very useful when asking about SPIRITUALITY. You can also hit enter instead of BYE. 3. QUICK WALKTHROUGH 3-1. QUICK START I prefer to start as a mage. This allows you to start in Moonglow, where you can go directly to Britain and accumulate levels rapidly, and it allows you to cast a lot of spells early on to find certain tough to find items. To be a mage simply select "A" every time at the start when you are asked questions. (Note: some versions of the game apparently allow shepherds to use magic wands IF your avatar is the shepherd. I wasn't able to reproduce that.) However, the virtues are pretty much embedded in each question(i.e. do you SACRIFICE or show COMPASSION,) so it shouldn't be too hard to become whatever you want to be. So if you want to solve the game as a shepherd, you can try that. The eight virtues are as follows: Honesty, Compassion, Valor, Justice, Sacrifice, Honor, Spirituality, and Humility. I abbreviate them later with their first four letters(only honesty/honor are confusing this way) in a table--but abbreviating with the four letters has one big advantage. That is how characters in the game hear you talk. So for instance if someone says "I HAVE KNOWLEDGE" you can type "KNOW" to find out about the knowledge. It's very useful. I don't really worry about buying new armor; in my walkthrough it's pretty straightforward how to get to the mystic arms and armor, which are your best bet, and even if you die Lord British regenerates you. 3-2. WHICH SPELLS? Some spells are much more useful than others. I find that of paramount importance for the basic spells are: C(Cure) because you will have to walk through poison at some point in the game D(Dispell) to get two of the runes and also to get to hidden areas in dungeons and dungeon rooms H(Heal) to heal when you've holed up and camped recently and are nowhere near Lord British X(X-it) to leave a dungeon Z(down) to descend a dungeon level and bypass a room Y(up) to kick yourself up a level--although an X is preferable to a few Y's (note about Y and Z: these work randomly, so if you're in a spot where you can only use up and down stairs and you cast one of these, you won't go directly up and down unless you are very unlucky indeed. This is potentially useful for general exploring.) G(gate travel) is moderately useful if you're in a hurry, and R(resurrection) will be downright necessary when you enter the Stygian Abyss. A(awake) is also useful there. K(kill) is not so necessary as you should have good players by then anyway. 3-3. THE FIRST FEW ITEMS Depending on where you start, you may feel more comfortable picking up certain runes. Since you need to get to Lord British's castle I suggest that you try to get there first. Then you can use the moongates to warp around, find the runes, and return to the castle and continue to pick up levels. You should have very little trouble maxing out your statistics at 50--just as long as you make it to Lord British before 'jumping' two levels, i.e. if you make it to level 5 experience and are level 3, you'll only get one attribute boost instead of 2 for going up separately. The requirements for each level are listed below: 100 xp for level 2 200 xp for level 3 400 xp for level 4 800 xp for level 5 1600 xp for level 6 3200 xp for level 7 6400 xp for level 8 You can't get above 9999 xp so 8 is the maximum. You'll need to get level 8 to get all party members(total members <= experience level) but you can pretty much do that just finding items. The experience points for items found are as follows: Runes = 100 (total possible = 800) Stones = 200 (total possible = 1600) More advanced items = 400 These include the horn, skull, bell, book, candle, wheel of HMS Cape, mystic armor and weapons, but NOT the three-part key. (total possible = 3200) Note that if you search and find the mystic items again(i.e. if you sold them, died, or had everyone equip them) then you will get 400 experience again. This isn't a terribly consequential bug as by the time you do this you should be at or close to level 8 anyway. Also note that the total experience you gain from all this is 5600(assuming no double-dipping) which means just by searching you can get most of the items you need. As for how to get them, I'll go by relative ease of items found for the first bit, but once you get a boat, you can sweep across the continent for the very tough to find items. Understanding moongate travel helps tremendously with getting around quickly early on, although if you think you can get somewhere easier by boat(I don't assume you have one early on,) by all means do so! I also recommend not picking up party members until later--this streamlines you for a while and you won't have to face 14 orcs at once. Which is like filling out paperwork. The first item you can find is in Lord British's castle, the rune of Spirituality. To get to Lord British's castle you can just go to the nearest moongate and zap around until you are kicked to the phase one moon, shaped like a left parenthese, just after the full moon. Enter, go left in the hallway, and go through the first door on the right to the north. There'll be a secret passage in the back of that room. Search all the treasure chests for the RUNE OF SPIRITUALITY. This gets you 100 points experience. Visit Lord British to see if you gained a level or if you have been hurt badly and need healing. Ask him about HEAL and say N and he will always heal you. By the way, Lord British resurrects people with the healing and even when they've gained a level. Don't be shy asking. It's no skin off his back. You also will want to talk to Hawkwind each time you're back about the various virtues--doing so helps your spirituality. The next item is in Britain. Go there and follow the tiles right and north when you hit a wall. There'll be a narrow hallway, and search there at the end for the RUNE OF COMPASSION. Again check for a level and if you've got it return to Lord British. You can now take a detour to Paws. There are two ways to get there; take a moongate from Britain to Trinsic and go north along the coast, or go south along the coast from Britain. It's a village in the mountains, and if you go south on entering and then east, you'll find the RUNE OF HUMILITY in an enclave, almost in the very southeast of the mountain range. Check your level again and now use moongates to get to Moonglow. There are two ways to do this: Return to Britain(if you are up for a level) and go to Trinsic and then Moonglow, or just go to Trinsic. Moonglow is across the bridge from the moongate, and you'll find a mage north of a treasure chest. Search the chest but don't take it. Hooray! The RUNE OF HONESTY! Four down, four to go. Now for a slight change of pace; before you return to Britain in the moongate, first step in when you have both Trammel and Felucca(the moons) at new moon status. Search. You've found the BLACK STONE! Now step out and step back in(do the hokey pokey if you feel like it, too.) You should be close to another level, so you can detour back to the castle if indeed you've got a new one. In any case the next rune to find is in Yew. You can get to Yew by foot or(less confusingly, as there's a big forest around it) via the Britain moongate as it pops up. From the clearing you go south and east alternately and you'll see Yew. There is a justice building to the north when you reach the end of the path heading east. Enter it, then enter the door. You'll then have two cells; enter the north one and search the southwest corner. Bingo, the RUNE OF JUSTICE! Back to Britain(go north/west alternately to hit the moongate) and now you may want to build up your gold reserve a bit, since you are strong enough. I recommend getting to 1500 or so. Make sure you have a sling at least(some sort of missile weapon) and then stand on a bridge and push ESC a whole lot. Trolls will attack, and you get 7 EXP for killing each of them--and gold chests with an average of 50 GP. Be sure to pick up a gold chest as the game doesn't see the square as a bridge if a chest is still on it. If you are poisoned/damaged too much just head back to Lord British's. Peace0000001 pointed out a general note on poison: if you can't quite make it to Lord British but get in the castle, visit Hawkwind and get nailed by a sleep field. That will negate the poison's effects. Once you're done with this, enter the moongate there when the destination is at full moon, sending you to Minoc, as long as you get around the mountain first(southwards, a few squares west, and north.) Enter Minoc and go to the forge, the southeast building. The door to the right features the forge. Search in the southeast of the fire area to find the RUNE OF SACRIFICE. You should really detour to buy some magic keys in Vesper now. From either the gate or Minoc you can go southeast, east across a bridge for a big river with many branches, east through two impassable mountain ranges, and southeast to a village. Enter the village and you'll find a guild where you can buy magic keys, which are the most important items to get right now. You can also type 'D' if you have enough money to buy a sextant. It'll be 900 gold. If you don't get it now, you'll be back in the general area later for the shrine of sacrifice. If you've got the keys, use the moongates to get to Moonglow(Minoc->Trinsic- >Moonglow) and head north up the coast to the Lycaeum. There'll be a library that's locked--but no problem! Use a magic key on it and search between the R and the V. Voila, the BOOK OF TRUTH! It's a 400-point item, the first you can get for a while. Now the last two runes are behind magic fields. You don't strictly need Dispel for one of them, but you do for the other unless you have a (ahem) hex editor. I'll discuss THAT later, but I will assume that you have the magic points necessary to cast Dispel or Blink from now on--if you're not a shepherd or tinker, intelligence should be high enough, but if you don't have 20 magic points, pick up Mariah to do your heavy spellcasting. Also since you're on the Isle of Truth you might as well begin to accumulate more reagents. If you don't have the cash, get it by milking the trolls on the bridge near Moonglow. Be sure to overpay the lady selling reagents but never by too much. I think if you buy something for more than it's worth, cut off the conversation, and repeat, you can get virtues improved that way too. Be sure to have ten dispel spells and start accumulating cure and heal. If that gets boring stock up on X and Z for dungeon traversal. Back to Britain, then to Trinsic via moongate. In the southwest corner of the town you have a bunch of poison fields. You can chance it and try to walk across without getting poisoned, or you can cast a single dispell. Search to find the RUNE OF HONOR in the center of the small square the fields made. The big doozy is the final one, and it is in Jhelom. Moongate to Moonglow and then Jhelom. Enter the town. There will be two locked doors in the inn; take the one to the left. Go through the secret wall in the back, ignore the chest, and note the lightning fields. Dispel the one to the south and then the next two in your way. In the southeast corner of the southeast tower, search to find the RUNE OF VALOR. Congratulations, you now have all the runes. You can top this off by going back to Britain(Jhelom->Moonglow->Britain) and heading west to a break in two mountain paths. If you have a sextant, note that the item you want is at F'A', E'A'. You can line yourself up so that you are twelve or so squares below it, say, F'J' E'A', and cast a blink spell north. Alternatively you can peer at a gem to get stuff exactly right; in any case, be sure to save the game before trying the blinks, so if you mess up you get a mulligan. The computer can only land you on the square inside the mountain, so search to find the WHITE STONE. Make sure you've got enough magic to get out and blink any direction you want. This is much easier than the originally intended solution of entering Hythloth from the back of Lord British's castle, surfacing, and using the balloon you found and consequently casting wind spells until it lands in exactly the right place. Which requires you to negotiate some nasty timing puzzles as well. You now have 1600 experience points from finding items, which gets you to level 6, no problem. Although it's possible to find more items if you have a boat, I'll assume you don't just yet. It's now time to start the whole virtues racket. You may already be worthy of partial avatarhood in honor(finding certain valuable items) by now. But three virtues you can get without leaving the castle are humility, sacrifice, and spirituality. Sacrifice presents an interesting racket. What you do for that is to go upstairs to Lord British and ask to be healed. Then you go downstairs, south, east, and south until there's a door to the healer's on the left. Enter, talk to the healer, and say you don't need help. When he asks if you'll give blood, say yes. You can do this until your hit points are at 300 or below. If you're level 6 that means you can do it a maximum of three times. But the beauty of all this is that you can go back up to Lord British and get healed and return again. You don't get free cookies and juice for all that blood you give away, but you'll have to deal with it--it's convenient enough, you'll agree. **Peace0000001 says that you get extra sacrifice points for donating the last of your gold--but with the racket in the castle, it's semantic. You may want to take a bit of a detour as well. First of all, you want to go see Hawkwind consistently on your way up to Lord British. Just ask him about your sacrifice, why not? Then say bye--you'll get credit for spirituality. If you like you can just perpetually talk to him, ask him about Spirituality(remember you can abbreviate words to their first four letters) and say BYE. You don't have to go through the sleep fields and back to get another credit for chatting. [In fact, Red Scarlet noted on the Amiga--and I verified with a Commodore emulator--that you don't even need to do THAT. It warps common sense but there you go. However on the Commodore you do have to walk away from some folks before you talk to them again to get Humility and Compassion to work. But you can continually buy from the old lady to get justice/honesty up.] If the blood racket gets tiresome for a bit you can stop off in the secret part of the east wing. There's a secret door to the north just as you enter, and there's another one on the north wall of the next room, one square east. In the northeast tower you have a door to the right and what you can do to get your humility up is to talk to Shawn the Shepherdess who is watching the water. You can actually try to box her in a corner she can't get out of(lower left and right; pin her against a wall to facilitate this) and keep talking, asking the same questions, and saying bye. Talk, ask her about PEAC(E) and say NO when she asks if you are proud, say bye, and repeat until that gets tiresome and you're ready to get back to giving blood--and 'umble as Uriah Heep to boot! It may take a few tries before Hawkwind recommends you for elevation in humility, but it's nice to get all that in-house virtue. I guess Lord British being so awesome and all rubs off. There are other people to talk to who can give you humility but watch out for X in Jhelom. He'll ask 'are you the Avatar?' and you should say No. Yes, which seems the honest answer if you've got all eight pieces, loses and eight in humility--No is okay by honesty apparently. **Peace0000001 points out a cheat here for the Apple as well: you can say "yes" a bunch of times and the game will in fact give you an Eighth. A definite bug, probably due to some effect with bit rollover. Not verified on other systems. Honesty and justice should be done easily enough. You just go to the reagent woman(Moonglow's a good place; you know the Moonglow<->Britain transit by now, I imagine) and give her a bit more than she asks for each time. **Peace0000001 points out a cheat here, again. You can actually rob Lord British 'til you have 9999 gold. Then buy reagents one at a time; apparently paying the old lady/ladies the exact amount helps your virtue all the same. You'll have 6600 gold left over as well. This also gets your honor back. Valor tends to fall after a while. Just fight a lot of bridge trolls or whatever and the combats will not be too tedious. Compassion actually may be the toughest. It seems you need to find a beggar, Talk, GIVE some gold amount, BYE, and repeat. I don't think the amount matters as much as the action--a test with Commodore save states seems to confirm this. I recommend Sprite in Britain by the inn for compassion. It may help a bit extra to give your last gold piece as well. So now you are a potential avatar but what to do? All dressed up in the latest sackcloth and ashes and nowhere to go! You'll need to head for the shrines. So I wrote that all up below. The locations of the shrines and so forth. But it's still a good idea to have instructions. Be sure to save before you enter each shrine as the process is a bit tedious and I've bungled it. Always meditate for three cycles while at a shrine, and always be sure to type in the mantra relatively soon after the meditation ends or your turn will pass. Double check the spelling as well. If you mess up, 1)your spirituality will take a hit and 2)you'll be too exhausted to try again for a while. Also you may want to save your game a bit more frequently once you start piling up 'eighths.' If you lose an eighth(i.e. you gain avatarhood in valor but lose a fight outdoors) it is annoying to recoup. HONOR may be the easiest to gain worthiness, and it's also easy to get elevated in. Southwest of Trinsic, in the continent's corner, you'll see a shrine just behind a poison patch. Enter there and use the mantra SUMM three times. Don't cure until you've left the poison patch. You should be ready in SPIRITUALITY now even without my recommendation. This one only appears when you enter a moongate--the moongate by Minoc, when both moons are full. Do the usual moongate shuffle next time you're near one. Britain leads to Minoc nicely but you may want to have 1200+ gold before you enter--this makes one of the many detours in East Britannia much more worthwhile. From the Minoc moongate it's a relatively short and convenient walk to the shrine of SACRIFICE. You go south from the moongate, east past the river, east in the pass through two mountain ranges, and into the shrine. On the way you may want to pick up some extra mandrake(the sole patch lying around) and nightshade(forest next to the shrine of Sacrifice.) Stop in at Vesper too. Get some gems and keys and even the sextant(type D when asked what you want.) I've found you really need only 15 keys for the entire game if you know which doors to open. You can pick off a tough one next with a little ironic guile. Simply circle clockwise around the lake(or cast blink to the east) surrounding the shrine of sacrifice and head to the east coast. Blink east, and head southeast along the shore until you see the shrine of HONESTY. Boating there is annoying, but you can just pretend you're getting there as a mage would. You've got some tough shrines ahead, but first you may want to moongate to Jhelom(Minoc->Skara Brae->Jhelom)--this process may be easier than taking a boat there. VALOR is not too bad. The mantra is RA. If you want to cheat a little, blink south from a square west of Jhelom. Other locations won't let you on the small islet surrounded by mountains where the shrine resides. Then blink back. Of course you can take a boat there if this is a bit confusing. Now go back to Britain(Jhelom->Moonglow, where you should pick up reagents for Blink->Britain) and head east along the coast until it turns up near swampland. Cast a blink spell to the east and you'll wind up in mountains. This is expedient and saves spells in the end as well due to the poison patches lying around. The shrine of COMPASSION is in a nook there. Enter, use the mantra MU, and leave. It's time for a bit of a detour; the village of COVE is tucked away and not easily accessible by boat unless you're sucked up by a whirlpool(twisters just damage you so beware.) What you need to do to get there is 1)leave the shrine of compassion, 2)go S, 2W and 2N and 3)cast a blink spell east. That ought to get you to an enclave. [Red Scarlet mentions here that you can approach from the north and blink. There's a swamp to the east that you might be able to make it from, and you can also come in from the south on a boat if you've climbed out--but you'll lose use of the boat if you do so.] Enter the town and go east until you see a building to the north. Enter that building and notice the upper left fire square has a secret door to the left. The CANDLE OF LOVE is, in fact, in the very back. The next one to pick up is JUSTICE. You may want to get a boat for this one, or you may just "suck it up" and accept that you'll get poisoned a bit. Have a few cure spells ready. From Yew you can go directly east(be sure you cut below the river,) and then north before you follow the coast to the pinnacle. The mantra is BEH. We'll worry about humility later and just take pride in our accomplishments for now; this requires a special item, which will be picked up as we sweep across Britannia in a boat. You also may be able to pick up the horn via blink spells, but this requires exactitude. If you have a sextant I think you can cast blink sixteen squares(the usual range for the spell) from the north(i.e. J'N', C'N'.) 3-4. AVATARHOOD Here is a small concordance of all the virtues. |PRI| |NCI|STONE | |MAN |COMPAN |SHR VIRTUE |PLE|COLOR |CLASS |TOWN |DUNGEON |TRA | ION |INE ----------+---+------+--------+----------+--------+----+--------+----- HONESTY |T |Blue |Mage |Moonglow |Deceit |AHM |Mariah |EC OJ COMPASSION|L |Yellow|Bard |Britain |Despise |MU |Iolo |FM IA VALOR |C |Red |Fighter |Jhelom |Destard |RA |Geoffrey|OF CE JUSTICE |TL |Green |Druid |Yew |Wrong |BEH |Jaana |AL EJ SACRIFICE |LC |Orange|Tinker |Minoc |Covetous|CAH |Julia |DC NJ HONOR |TC |Purple|Paladin |Trinsic |Shame |SUMM|Dupre |MP FB SPIRITUALI|TLC|White |Ranger |Skara Brae|Hythloth|OM |Shamino |XX XX HUMILITY |0 |Black |Shepherd|Magincia |Abyss |LUM |Katrina |NI OH Honor being below sacrifice seems a slight glitch, as does "destard" instead of "dasterd." Note there is a match-up with colors as well: Blue=(T)ruth, yellow=(L)ove, red=(C)ourage. Seeing this provides a clue to picking up certain items. Hythloth is also referred to as "hylothe" on the Apple, a small oops. 3-5. A DIGRESSION ABOUT FIGHTING, AND IN EVENT OF FATALITY If you know you are about to die you may want to mix up as many reagents as possible because you lose all reagents and unequipped weapons/armor when all party members die. If you are near a town and can't afford healing try to dump all your gold on a beggar to help your compassion if need be. You'll always wind up with 200 gold and 200 food when resurrected anyway. I also think you lose Mondain's skull, but no other game-critical items, if you die. Stones and runes and others stay in your possession. Dying with a full party is much more serious, and if this happens and you haven't lost an eighth for valor, you should go immediately to Empath Abbey to get new Mystic Robes, as you will be low on food. Sell them and buy food. If you have lost an eighth for valor, you may want to kill the app without saving and try again. The only quick alternative to get the eighth back is to fight a bunch of bridge trolls. 3-6. BOATING AND THE REST OF THE ITEMS One thing to note about boating is that the wind changing direction can be annoying. To wait for it to change the direction you want without monsters chasing after you, you can just push Ztats and wait around, much like you do when waiting for a moongate. However the most annoying wait may be finding a boat--usually you can find one off the coast of Britain, but it may be a wait. You may want to moongate among land masses a bit to find something(even to Trinsic.) Of course you can just go about your way finding items, some of which are near the coast, and you should run across something. In a boat you can fire at monsters to destroy them, which happens randomly(I've taken eight shots to shoot a group of orcs,) but watch out for sea creatures, which can shoot diagonally. Remember you can take five hits before you go to the bottom of the sea, and you can also heal the hull by time. However you can only use the wheel of the HMS Cape when hull strength is at 50--this vaults you to 99 strength. Also you can X-it the boat and hole up and camp at sea, which is useful. The first item to get is the Silver Horn. Now to get it without the ship you can cast blink from the south tip of the claw of land south of Skara Brae. Then go all the way south on the mountain/grass isle and cast blink again. You'll be in one of two isles that look like so: ~**~~ **~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~** ~~*@~ *=mountain, @=where to search for the horn. Incidentally you can also boat around the continent and pick it up; the reefs are tricky to navigate, but you'll manage. Sextant location is K'N' C'N'. Now what you can do is go west and south. This leads you to the big mysterious isle of the Abyss. Circle around it to the north and you'll find an entrance. Save here but beware. If you don't use your horn often enough before walking over the mountains, demons will attack you ad nauseum--even ruining your eight in valor once they kill you! So use the horn every four steps as you prepare to walk into the mountains just to be safe. The Shrine of Humility will be easy to see, and use the mantra LUM. You're now an Avatar! Use the horn on your way out too. You can sweep for the Skull of Mondain next. It's southwest of this isle, at location P'F M'F. But you can only find it at the dead of night. Use the waiting trick if you get stuck there--it's wedged in between three lava shoal islands as well. From there it's northwest to the Bell of Courage at N'A' L'A'. It's really in the middle of the sea and again the sextant is a huge help here--however it's also just north of the passage east into the Isle of the Abyss as well. You now have the three artifacts of the principles. You'll probably need a boat to get the mystic weapons. Not that they are necessarily critical to the game, but they help. It's technically possible to cast blink spells there(from the south tip of Britannia mainland, cast blink south/east/south/east until you wind up on a HUGE isle) but it's easier to take a boat south of Buccaneers' Den(in fact, go back there right away to sell your surplus--you only need 2 swords, really) or just follow around the coast until you get to such an island. The weapons room holds them. In the center column, search in the square just north of the absolute center. Bingo. Take my recommended detour Next is a fun item which isn't necessary but helps your survival. Since you're going that way you might as well pick up the wheel to the HMS Cape. It wasn't really accessible before since shoals blocked your way. This item is in an inlet in the south of the main continent of Britannia at N'H' G'A'. The last item(s) you need are the mystic robes in Empath Abbey. They're in a garden behind a jimmy locked door in the main throne room. Standing on the jimmy locked door you need to go seven east and two north. You should now have all the items you need although if you get killed you'll have to get the skull and the mystic stuff again. 3-7. DUNGEON PLUNGIN' 3-7-1. GETTIN' DECKED OUT RIGHT Be sure you have the best possible weapons before getting here. The lower dungeon rooms can be pretty rough. In fact you may want to get weapons for all of your future prospective party. Here is what I recommend for when you go into the Abyss, although you can get it much earlier to make the dungeons easier: Mage--magic wand Bard--magic wand Fighter--mystic sword Druid--magic wand Tinker--magic bow Paladin--magic bow Ranger--magic bow Shepherd--magic sword I might even recommend carrying one companion(Mariah, unless you're a mage-- then, Jaana) to help back you up a bit. Monsters can cast sleep spells, for instance, and it's annoying to be sacked out for a length of time as they beat you up. I certainly recommend getting mystic armor before traveling in. For the final reckoning you can, of course, build up money the conventional way, but you should be an Avatar by now and thus can find mystic armor and arms. You should have the cash from selling magic robes, weapons, etc. to buy all this in Buccaneers' Den. A brief budget below: --6 mystic swords sold for 21000 gold = 21000 --3 magic wands bought for 15000 gold -15000 --3 magic bows bought for 6000 gold - 6000 ______ break even! And that doesn't even include the mystic robes you can at first sell to clear out your inventory so you can search and find more! Buccaneers' Den is ideal for this, not just for weapons, but also for reagents and gems and torches and keys. You just have to dispel the lightning field, beat the balron, and start buying. There are also some spells that are great for any occasion. You should probably have the following: C(Cure)--maybe 20 here. Maybe even more. But you should already have a good supply from your general travels. D(Dispell)--There'll be LOTS of energy fields, especially lightning. Take 10- 15. E(Energy)--3 or 4. if you know a room with balrons/reapers/gazers is ahead you can poison everyone first. G(Gate Travel)--one or two really. Just a way to get right back to a town after you leave a dungeon--especially Hythloth, which is marooned on the island with the Abyss. Remember that 1=Moonglow, ..., 8=Magincia. H(Heal)--of course your characters will get nicked up. 20 at least, but don't forget you can hole up and camp, and some fountains heal you. L(Light)--sulfurous ash(the only reagent) is cheaper and more convenient to get than torches, so why not? R(Resurrect)--you're going to get careless every now and then, but be sure to have some heals in reserve after casting this--it doesn't restore any hit points. T(Tremor)--useful with the tougher monster rooms as it can make monsters flee even if they aren't killed--this also makes them take the same damage as 'fleeing'. V(View)--either this or gems would be a good idea to have. You can always use the cheat of entering a dungeon, casting Z And viewing all the levels, mapping, restarting without saving, and trying again. Which isn't nice, but oh well! X(X-it)--combined with Gate Travel, a quick way out. 2 or 3 because you may forget to mix an X spell the next time! Y(Up)--good if you're too lazy to find the stairs or face a daunting battle. 5 or 10 because X is several Y's. Z(Down)--awesome for getting to the bottom of things. 20-25. 3-7-2. MIXIN' IT UP You may have to go through all the dungeons twice: once to pick up the six stones and once to get all three keys. However even split up twice neither task is too daunting. It's actually easier to get all the stones at once, because many of them are on the bottom levels and there is in fact a way to transport between the bottom levels. Altar rooms connect dungeons opposing similar virtues. Gremlins are probably the most annoying of the weak monsters. They get next to you and steal food. But spiders can be annoying as well as they shoot poison, ghosts can bother you with walking through walls(they can hit you with hand-to-hand attacks, but you can't hit them in that case,) will o wisps teleport at random, and you have a glut of tough monsters that just shoot poison or sleep or cast very nasty spells. You also have magic balls in each dungeon. Depending on the dungeon's opposite virtue it will magnify certain stats for a character of yours. For instance, Shame's opposite virtue is Honor. That contains truth and courage. The game considers Truth<->intelligence(needed for mages to cast spells) Love<->dexterity(booby prize for bards, a euphemism for thieves I guess) Courage<->strength(fighters need this) So in shame you would get +5 strength and intelligence for touching a magic ball. You can help your new characters out with this and in fact it might not matter early on if they die; after all you can always get more gold, the main problem after you die, from finding mystic weapons and armor. Red Scarlet points out that Hythloth magic balls take 800 HP away on the Amiga, and this sounds right. I wasn't sure if it was 600 or 800. Also one cool thing about dungeon rooms is that you can flee them without suffering any reprecussions. Therefore if you're near death and want to avoid losing in combat, get whipped in a dungeon room. Actually it's even better to cast X(it,) G(ate travel) to 2 and then enter Lord British's Castle where you can get healed, but if you're poisoned with no cure spells there might not be time even if you can hole up and camp. 3-7-3. STONES [to flesh out later] You don't have to be an Avatar to complete all this, but it doesn't hurt. Seven of the dungeons are connected by three altar rooms on their respective level eights. The altar rooms are of Truth, Love and Courage(the three virtues,) and the each leads to four dungeons. Destard Despise Deceit | | | Shame - Courage - Covetous - Love - Wrong - Truth - Shame | | | +------------------+---------------+ | Hythloth First of all, I should mention you don't need to spend any time in Hythloth whatsoever to find the stones. And the Stygian Abyss doesn't appear until much later. That's because each dungeon connects to an altar room of a principle its related virtue opposes. Humility/Abyss has none of those. Hythloth/Spirituality has all three. Shame is the best one to go down first. That is because the stone is on level two, and a quick Z gets you there(climbing down forces you down a shaft.) It's easy to find the stone as it is at the end of a long hallway in the southeast. Search for the Purple Stone. Then you can continue to cast Z down until level eight or, if the stairs are easy to find, just take them down to save a spell. If you are lucky, then in Shame you will be kicked down from level 7 to 8 north of the three rooms in a row. If not then you have a one way trip to get to the north part, which is where the altar rooms are. You may want to cast an up and down again to try to get out of this mess, but there is a hidden benefit to getting stuck in the wrong place. Note also that moving around a bit after you cast up/down spells seems to change where you are significantly; casting the spells up/down/up/down in succession doesn't give much varied results. Here's how to get through the bottom part of level 8 of Shame: each dungeon room on level 8 of Shame is divided into the west and east parts. The first time you enter the top one, you are on the upper left side. You're forced to move down twice(the monsters are all on the right, fortunately) and then left away from the rooms. Now in the small cul de sac off to the left you have: 1) two magic spheres, each giving +5 strength and +5 intelligence 2) a healing fountain for all to drink, which you'll need to fight the dragons, hydras and balrons you'll face on the way back. Whoever is level four can participate in this freely--even below, if you have resurrect spells. Remember that if someone has 400 hit points and loses 400 they are not killed, but hit points drop to zero and the next hit kills them. Unless you heal them quickly...but the fountain is unlimited! This is a great place to beef up stats and may even be worth going in/out a few times. Just cast up/down in the nook and maybe you can get kicked north of the rooms. Leave the dungeon through an altar room and come back. Note that the balls are there again. Truth - Shame - Courage is the way the altar rooms straighten out. From there in fact you can derive the whole map given that the one-virtue rooms are always north, and each principle room(truth, love, courage) connects to the four corresponding vice dungeons with Hythloth always south and one-principle virtues to the north. The next dungeon I would go to is in the west. Wrong is not a particularly hard one if you're already near the bottom. The hallway to the west leads to a room with a Zorn and a bunch of slimes. I recommend a tremor or two here on the first move as Zorns cast anti-magic and all the slimes could make your life a bit of a nuisance for a while. Once you've packed off all the bad guys, you'll want to dispell the lightning fields in the northwest. The one in the corner, once dispelled, leaves a square that when you step on it a passage opens to the west. Take it. Then take the green stone. Now you'll probably want to fight the zorn and slimes again, go south and back into the altar room to the east. Now, after winning the fight, go north to get to Deceit. The best thing to do here is to cast Y-Up and then on level seven you have a few fields to navigate in the southwest corner. You'll need to repel three fields--at the pit, cast dispell, go south, cast dispell, go south, face west, dispell, go two west. You'll be at the stone. Now you can take your chances when you cast Z-Down and try a couple of times, but if you're not placed where you wanted to be(the north corridor when you peer at a gem, there are only two dungeon rooms to navigate; the west one has gazers and headless in the northeast. You'll want to exit to the east. Then another one has a moat of reapers and gremlins. You'll want to exit that to the north. Be advised that traps ahead are annoying, so heal your characters a bit forst. But soon you'll get back to the altar room--by Deceit of DePants no less(sorry!) Defeat the monsters and now you're ready to discover the three part key. Put your Avatar on the center square and type U. Type STONE for the item you want to use. Then the following colors work: WHITE PURPLE GREEN BLUE The order is never important, so don't worry about that. You now have the 'T' of the three-part key. Congratulations! Now go back through Shame to the east, and enter the altar room of courage. Now go back into Shame and go east this time. You'll wind up in the altar room of Courage. Go north into Destard. Destard is also not a hard dungeon, if you use Up/Down judiciously. Note that if you cast an Up spell in order to leave the eighth level, you may wind up in two sections: the hallways with secret doors that cross each other(the stone is in the east-west one) or another more mazy one. If you wind up in the mazy one, take the stairs up, go west four, and go down to get where you want to be. Then cast down and get out of the dungeon. It's a bit tricky to do so as there is a secret door dividing level eight; if you wind up in a rectangular corridor then check the second-top right wall, which should hold a secret passage that winds back into the altar room of Courage. Now go east to Covetous after defeating the monsters. Another stone on level seven, only this one you are going to get without a single Up/Down spell. Head along the corridor and enter the dungeon room; the Ettins around the campfire shouldn't pose much problem, but you might want to cast tremor for expediency. Then go up the stairs and fly east through the two bridge rooms. Don't worry about the monsters; they won't do much damage, especially in the second, where you're dropped in the east anyway, and you can flee in dungeon rooms without losing valor. Then when you're out in the hallway, note there's a secret door right to the east. A couple, in fact. Through them is the orange stone. Backtrack down to level eight. Double back to the altar room of courage. Now for the second part of the key, 'C.' After defeating the monster, use the following stones: WHITE RED PURPLE ORANGE Re-enter Covetous. This time, however, go east into the other dungeon room, defeat the bats and serpents, and follow the passage to the altar room of love. Exit the altar room of love to the north. This puts you in Despise. The stone is on level five. In order to get to it, you'll need to enter the center of three rooms with passages surrounding them except to the north and then trip a secret passage. The serpents shouldn't be too hard to defeat. Now there is a secret wall just right of the body of water. Step on it, and nothing seems to happen. But wait! In the southwest a wall has turned into a wall with a chink. Have someone step on it, and it's like the Red Sea parting--a clear path north. Get the yellow stone and cast down three times. Now before entering the altar room of love I recommend a rest and full healing. That is because there are four Balrons there; remember, altar rooms give different monsters when approached from different directions. And if you are alone then for heavens sakes be careful! It's possible to beat the Balrons, but if they start casting sleep all the time you might be stuck. Still, getting killed isn't the worst thing in the world, as you can simply re-enter Shame, go to Covetous, and approach the altar room of love again. But it could be a hassle. Once you're in the altar room of love, you need to use the following stones: WHITE YELLOW GREEN ORANGE Now you have all three parts of the three part key. If you want to, you can go on a suicide mission to Hythloth a few times to pump up your stats touching the magic spheres, although this kills people under level (6/8?) If you die(in a dungeon room, preferably, and not battle-- commit suicide if you must in a room,) all you need to do is to sell some mystic armor to get an immediate food supply, moongate from Britain to Yew, go to Empath Abbey(blink west to avoid monsters,) search in the grove and find the armor again. You're set for cash for a while. Of course a better strategy is to exit and enter Hythloth continually if possible, using the Resurrect spells and up/down or the altar rooms. If you want to concentrate on specific stats then you can go to specific dungeons. I think I've outlined a good link- up among Wrong, Shame and Covetous, the three dungeons that increase two stats(-400 hit points.) You'll have a chance to heal after one of these. And you can enter and exit a dungeon quickly to return. 3-7-4. KEYS In the center of each altar room there is, well, an altar. After a combat with various monsters(different depending on how you enter the room) you want to put four of each stone on them with your avatar. Note that 1. there are four dungeons heading into each room 2. there are four virtues associated with each, and each is tied to that altar room in some way These are two clues telling you which stones to use in which room. Love has yellow for its primary color. The stones whose virtues also use love with it are: green(Justice/TL) orange(Sacrifice/LC) white(Spirituality/TLC) Finally, you need to use yellow(Compassion/L) as well. If you're an Avatar, you get one part of the key! Next it's through Covetous to the altar room of courage. There you use: red(Valor/C) purple(Honor/TL) orange(Sacrifice/LC) white(Spirituality/TLC) And then through Shame to the altar room of truth. blue(Honesty/T) purple(Honor/TL) green(Justice/TL) white(Spirituality/TLC) You should have all three parts of the key now, making you very close to winning the game! The easiest way to get out now is to cast X(it) from a dungeon. From the altar room of courage, the best dungeon to exit through is Destard although Despise is also good, and Shame is nice if you have a blink spell(go east.) Covetous is also good if you have a blink spell, but it borders high mountains and water...a warning for the spell-less. Also note if a dungeon is hard to enter then it is hard to leave. And if you take a boat to one dungeon and leave via another it will be tough to get it back. Fortunately you can blink to most dungeons except the Abyss and Hythloth. With Hythloth you need to either use the balloon or climb all the way down and go through an altar room to get out. 3-7-5. LOST FIGHT INSURANCE If your hit points are getting low, and you have to die, just walk into a dungeon room and get killed off there. This will help you avoid losing an eighth in valor. Once you're back on the surface you should go to Britain and sell some magic armor(I'm serious!) before going to Empath Abbey(via the Yew moongate--blink south and west to make it quicker) and getting more. Then you can go back(the moongate is at C'F' D'C', the town southeast at C'L' D'K') and hopefully a boat will be around. 3-8. GETTING YOUR PARTY This should be done only just before you go off to the Stygian Abyss. Otherwise you run the risk of many boring long fights. Be sure you have the proper arms and armor ready before picking them up, but once you do, it's pretty easy to get through. Remember that you can't pick up a companion who has the same profession you do. --MARIAH is just north of the treasure chest in Moonglow. --IOLO is in the southeast corner of Britain, beyond the river, singing to the kids --GEOFFREY is locked in the SE room of the inn in Jhelom --JAANA is northeast of the entrance. She is the druid north of the fire. --JULIA is in the poor house, all the way down the entry path to the right and then up. You can avoid the swamp to get to her with care. --DUPRE is waiting for you in the west part of the Trinsic tavern, north of the entrance --SHAMINO is just to your east as you enter. He's two paces away from the ankh while others are just one. --KATRINA is on the outskirts of Magincia. Head south after you've entered the town location. You'll have to step through some swamp so have some cure spells on hand. 3-9. STYGIAN ABYSS 3-9-1. WHAT TO HAVE BEFORE YOU ENTER Preparations are important for the final descent that will lead to ultimate victory. A brief checklist: Special items: You MUST be a full Avatar You MUST have all 8 stones You MUST have all 3 parts of the 3 part key(I forgot one, it must say TLC in the Ztats) You MUST have all 8 party members(not 100% verified but the manual and supporting literature say so--and Red Scarlet verified it on the Amiga) Skull isn't necessary but it is nice Recommended spells and armor: Best spells to have: Cure and Heal, for usual reasons. Resurrect(5, just in case.) Energy field(10 or so, for a devious trick late in the Abyss.) Dispell(30.) Y-Up and Z-Down don't work here, but X-it does. Tremor is a MUST and I recommend you make 99 of it. See 3-7-1 for the weapons. 3 magic bows, 3 magic wands, 2 mystic weapons. 8 magic armor. You should get 99 of each reagent in case one particular spell runs low. There's a bit of standing around and searching for mandrake/nightshade but even giving 99 to the blind reagent seller for each purchase(easy typing here- -just B999 would be the keystrokes for Ginseng for instance) is not that costly in the latter stages. Note this means 99 reagents cost 1089 gold. With 6 different buyable reagents this makes 1089*6=6534 gold, which is less than the price of 2 mystic weapons. So you can do this in Buccaneers' Den, say, after going straight north(with 4 squares or so west) from Serpants' Hold. And go back to pick up more if need be. The ones you must find can be found easily enough on the Minoc-Shrine of Sacrifice Line. The security is worth it. 3-9-2. GETTING THERE, GENERAL HINTS Even getting into the Stygian Abyss is tricky. Here's how. Use the HMS Cape wheel on your ship then head east from Serpent's Isle. The entrance to the Isle of the Abyss that you want is at N'L' O'A'. But beware--the bay is actually off to the west of that, and there are many pirate ships there waiting for you! Be sure to save before entering and then check the wind is blowing north or south as you enter, and run forward and try to engage the nearest one. If your ship's hull strength gets low, X-it it and try to climb on a new one. Exiting can also cause any adjacent ships to encounter you. Your best bet is to push east(make sure winds are favorable first) and also use other ships as bunkers against enemy fire. In a small quirk of unrealism, if another ship is hit you can still board it and it will be full strength. You can probably ditch the ships without killing them all to reach the east bank, but it's a fun challenge. Note that if you track back outside and try to re-enter, the ghost pirate fleet appears again. This is annoying if you just want to win, even though they are probably easier the second time through. Although the naval battles that arise are a fun sub-game. Once you're clear, there's some swamp followed by lava filled mountains. Cast cure after clearing the swamp, and you will want to stand on the fire square in the middle of the lava flow. The damage and slow progress are a bit annoying, but you'll have plenty of time to rest and heal up while in the Abyss. Now: 1. use the SKULL 2. use the BELL 3. use the BOOK 4. use the CANDLE Enjoy the pyrotechics. You can enter the Stygian Abyss! I may take particular note of the formations here so I'll list how they look, by default, below. Generally 4 is behind 1 so if you are playing with a fighter/shepherd avatar you might want a magic wand person behind them. 7 8 546 213 752 368 41 14? 863 257 213 546 7?8 Most of the time you'll want the magic wand people in front to take out the nastiest monsters. Also if you're a shepherd or fighter you'll want a strong magic user in the 4 slot. Shepherds and fighters are close to useless in the Abyss; they can't use missile weapons, as there are no magic ones, and nonmagic weapons fail in the Abyss as a rule. There may be some micromanaging below. Basically the win fights/rest/wait paradigm works well and there are lots of small corridors where you can take a rest to recharge. But as so many fights are taxing, you may find you need specific strategies to limit the damage, and I've tried to outline some below. Important points: --wait around after 'winning' a dungeon room to recharge spell points and even cast heal spells --it's OK to have others wait around while one person(preferably your leader) goes searching for tripwires. Just be sure no-one exits the wrong way, or everyone else will have to. --unless you have lots of heal spells, which you should try to cast anyway, try to rest once a level. --for important spells such as tremor, pace yourself. If you started with 80, try to use no more than ten per level. 3-9-3. LEVEL 1 WALKTHROUGH The first level, which I dubbed Magic Mail Mariah in the Land of the Lava Lizards, is pretty linear. However, there are immediate annoyances such as damage from lava flow and annoying lava beasts. The first room has four lava lizards best dispatched with T(Tremor.) You'll want to move your 2 and 5 and 8 characters down one before they walk across, as they will only have to touch two lava squares(automatic damage) that way. Let the lava lizards come to you, but if one insists on fleeing into a corner, you can safely ignore it and walk through to the next room, which features a similar array. Use Tremor again, and line everyone up on the bridge and walk over after disposing of the lava lizard. I find I just move everyone right if they're on or to the left of the bridge and move the rest onto the bridge path as I can. Avoiding the lava shouldn't be too bad. In the next room, move your 1, 3 and 4 right and your 6 up. This nullifies any potential lava damage as 3 and 6 stood on lava squares to start out. Nail the hydras with(again) a tremor. Exeunt south. The fourth room is just annoying. You'll have to walk through a ton of lava, so angle for the ways down with the fewest lava squares. Also move a few party members over to the left as the lava lizards run at you so that you can dispose of them quickly. After this you will wind up in a small corridor where you will want to rest. Past this you have a few rooms full of demons and sleep/lightning fields. These are annoying, but as long as you dispell the three sleep fields in front there shouldn't be a problem--tremor might be overdoing it here, but if you've got the spells, why not use them? One per room please. You can probably just run through the room, past the demons, if you are lazy, for the first two anyway. The passage turns from south to east in the third room, though. Then in the fourth you have to break down the lightning fields to the east or suffer terrible inconvenience. Although again if you are lazy you can just flee. This is a great place to use Tremor as you are protected at first. Beyond this you have a sort of open area; lots of walls appear where they shouldn't, but this is due to a flaw in the graphic engine, I think. There are two fountains which take ~80 hit points and poison you, so don't drink from them. Go to the altar in the center and use a stone. The answers: HONESTY, then BLUE. 3-9-4. LEVEL 2 WALKTHROUGH The dungeon rooms here are not terribly hard and don't have great variety. You'll want to move south or east in each one, and you'll have to pass through four dungeon rooms before seeing the other side of the 'complex.' In each one you'll also have three serpents with other water creatures and a combination of dragons, balrons, hyrdras and demons. Again, a tremor spell in each room gives you a big early advantage, so use it. It doesn't matter which way you exit the fourth room, as the hallway wraps around the map. The stairs down that you can see lead nowhere; you need to find the secret door(s) which are EES or SSE of these stairs. From there you might as well proceed south dispelling the fields along the way. First you'll have an altar where you need to use a stone; you must respond COMPASSION and use the yellow stone to gain access to level three. 3-9-5. LEVEL 3 WALKTHROUGH Some nondescript, mirrored and(dare I say?) slightly unoriginal dungeon rooms here, really. The object is to get from the stairs to the center of the remaining map reduced by the false-lead hallways. I'll assume you start in the southwest. You can go east from here, and in the dungeon room head to the north. Don't worry about the demons that pop up; ignore them as you go by. The next room is the opposite; there seem to be two demons, but many demons are on the same square. You can run right by with moderate damage, but it's better to be sure and shake them out a bit with a tremor spell(maybe even two) before going forward; when you get to the middle of the room, the demons are released. You may want to organize your party so that five people in a row are in the front line. Then, when you open up the demons' 'cages,' you'll be able to attack them with more firepower. Proceed north. The third altar--you know the basic drill, but this time it's VALOR and RED. 3-9-6. LEVEL 4 WALKTHROUGH A few false trails here; peer at a gem first and you'll notice the way south through the room leads to a dead end...after a few grueling room combats. Instead you want to head east through a secret door, north, and east. Behind a field you can dispel there are two dungeon rooms. You could also circle around to get to the next stone, but these dungeon rooms are easier to fight in--if not easier to navigate. In the first, an Undead and a Tremor spell should do the trick, although the ghosts in the walls are annoying to fight against. In the second, a tremor should do well, and you should have two characters(at least) go up each corridor. It will require a bit of timing, but you won't take much damage in the process against the weaker monsters. The other way(north, east and south) leads to rooms with 4 balrons and then 3 balrons, hydras and reapers--each. The fourth altar: say JUSTICE and use the GREEN stone. 3-9-7. LEVEL 5 WALKTHROUGH This is the first of the levels that really focuses on secret doors and also challenges you with the best way to get through the level. Some rooms are tougher than others. Level five, again, has fountains you don't want to drink from. There are doors to the east and south after the first room, and neither is really different from the other. I'd just go south and cast a few tremors before the zorn counters your magic. Note it also counters the balron's sleep spells, which is nice--the enemy sleep spells are less effective than the fields, it seems. Once you've killed all the monsters, dispell a lightning field(the one to the south makes it simplest) and be sure to make a firing squad along the bottom row before you do so. Then kill the balron and have someone go west down that corridor and north. The wall to the east will fall. Go that way, but first, I recommend you do something sneaky. Create a poisoned field(C-ast, E- nergy, P-oison) and have everyone walk through it. No, I'm not nuts. You don't lose any hit points for it, but you are poisoned. And if you're poisoned, you can't be put to sleep. This is critical with lots of reapers/gazers/balrons casting sleep spells. Again, in this next room, a busy one, you may want to have the first two folks with 50+ magic points cast tremor. This will get most of the reapers out of the way, as a big problem is being sleeped to death while your opponents wait on you. You might want to use awake spells as well if you did not take my poisoned field advice--just remember to cast awake on players behind your current one in the order if possible. This gets you an extra move. After disposing of the reapers in the northwest part, go to the southeast. There's a wall in the very southeast corner, but one square north of it, you'll release a wall opening to the east. The next room is a bit tougher than it looks; you'll probably trip a switch that poisons all party members. However, if you manage to avoid the very central square(3 NE of the middle reef) you can walk out without any harm done. Had you gone south you would've faced a bunch of dragons and had to open a bunch of secret levers as well, and even walk through fire. At this point you'll find the altar soon, and you need to use stone, respond SACRIFICE and ORANGE. 3-9-8. LEVEL 6 WALKTHROUGH This is the maziest of the levels. It's got a sequence of rooms, where you must be observant to figure out the way through, but on the other hand you can view parts of the dungeon rooms without seeing others, and you can probably piece together a vague map from them. There are a lot of passages that turn out to be one-way doors, so you need to be careful. The first thing to realize is that there's a secret door you need to go through. And you'll want to go east from it to start your journey. Things start off pretty one way and not too dangerous. You go south to the next room, then west. There are a couple of serpents here that should be easy enough to kill, and it's pretty much dictated that you'll go south from here. Then you must go east, and after defeating the twisters(you can walk on them, by the way, which is cool) go north. You're back in the second room on your trek, but on the other side. Go east from here and get ready for your first major operations. Here's not a great place to use tremor spells because you can pick off the balrons individually. Line everyone up behind the balron, cast dispell, and have target practice. Be careful of the diagonal shots from the balrons on the right, though--they can shoot over water even if they can't move. One solution here could be to create a lightning field(C(ast)/E/L(ightning)) where the balrons shoot diagonally--two squares in front of where your leader starts. Then work your way around it. Go south. This next room looks like a doozy but is actually not too bad. Again you'll want to remove just one field at a time. You could cast tremor but it might be a waste of spells. Just line up everyone who can shoot behind the bottom of the three lightning fields on the right. Cast dispell at it, and start shooting at the hydra. It will die, replaced by another hydra, then another, then a balron. Repeat for the bottom segment. Now to the tripwires. The first is in the enclave where the upper right balron was. That opens up a wall to the south; rock turns to tile, which you can walk over. Voila, a bridge. Now there are two ways to go about the next room to face. I recommend the slight cop-out to the south, but the way to the east is interesting. ** the honest way ** Again you don't have to cast tremors here but it could help. Four reapers face your point-man--be sure the first ones through have a magic wand. Kill off the reapers; don't worry about the time it takes to get across. Note that, because you cross poison, you're invulnerable to sleep spells and, in fact, you may want to get everyone poisoned before knocking off the reapers. Being poisoned doesn't do damage until you're outside, and it will come in even more handy later. ** end honest way ** ** the recommended wimpy way ** You face a bunch of headless that can't reach you now. Off to the side you see a balcony where maybe you saw the squares you're on now a while ago. Simply go south; you'll trip three bridges that will allow the headlesses to scramble over, but then it is just too easy to run away from them. You can escape without a scratch. ** end recommended wimpy way ** Now in the next room you'll want to exit to the east if you arrived from the north and to the south if you arrived from the west. This will only release one balron. Note that the square one diagonal from the campfire releases the energy fields around the balron in that direction. So what you can do if you've taken the wimpy way is the following: line up five people in a row in front of the energy field to shoot at the balron and have another character cross the west bridge, go east and south. This will release the balron. Now fire away. Escape to the south. If you took the harder way, replace the last bit with: ...have another character cross the north bridge, go south and east. This will release the balron. Now fire away. Escape to the east. A little squirming the right way keeps your enemies under wraps. It gets more detailed in level 7, but first to get there, use the stone at the altar and say HONOR and PURPLE. 3-9-9. LEVEL 7 WALKTHROUGH Here in level 7, many of the rooms are easy if you can descry what NOT to set off. There are four rooms to pass, each northwest of the previous. It never matters whether you leave the room to the west or the north. Room # 1: wipe out the headlesses. Avoid the single chest, which will put a lightning field around the person who tries to take it. Who needs gold at this point, anyway? Room # 2: the hydras are annoying if you release them, but fortunately you don't even have to if you're careful, and it is probably most convenient to release one and fight it. I'm going to assume you exited room 1 to the north. Then you'll have entered from the east, and you'll want to exit this room to the north too. Similarly if you exited from the west you'll enter from the south and want to exit from the west. To get through without releasing the hydras, have your #2(#3 if entering from the south) go WNWNNNN to exit. Put another player in #2's place and go again. Repeat until everyone's out. Note that if you step on a square one diagonal away from the center, the hydra in that direction is released. Stepping on one such square(NE if from east, SW if from S) will actually give you more maneuvering room, and stepping on NE/SE or SW/SE will give even more, although at a risk. Depending on your patience and your party's health, choose the way best for you. Room # 3: there is a secret door in the center of the southeast wall which acts as a tripwire to the area you can't access yet, but you may want to cast tremor and then undead to soften the bad guys up first. The wisps may be annoying, and the liches may hang around, but it's nothing you can't handle. From there you'll want to go to the southeast part of the area not previously accessible, and walls will fall open, letting you walk to the west or north. Room # 4: it's a bit obvious there's something to do with secret walls here, but the nuisance is to move one person through what's created here(send player # 8 south, south, west if entering from the east--or west, west north if from the south.) A tremor may help clear the air at first, and if you've got some Dispells left it may expedite stalking out the remaining monsters. After all this, use a stone at the altar and say SPIRITUALITY and WHITE to get to the final level. 3-9-10. LEVEL 8 WALKTHROUGH There are a lot of false leads here; in a way, the longest way is not the right one, and this is not so bad. Basically you will need to remember the map from peering at a gem, so you know which direction you'll want to go next in a dungeon room. The most obvious way is usually the wrong one. I like checking out the first room to the south. It's easy enough to beat especially if you have some tremor spells left over. You can head south from there. There will be five lava lizards. Retro time--nail them with a tremor spell, shoot the rest, and then look for a secret door to the west. The first tripwire is in the lwer left corner, one square left of some lava. Have one character go for it, and have the other go for the upper right corner, where the second tripwire is. In the meantime, align the rest of the party in the center so it's easy to escape, then have everyone run left. This makes things much simpler. You're halfway there now. Follow the passage to the next dungeon room; one of each profession of people will attack you, all in a straight line. If you've got more than six tremors left, use them, if only to expedite things. Heal up big-time. Wait to recharge magic points. Enter the final combat room. Two gazers, three dragons, four demons, four balrons. Can there be any doubt what to do? More tremor spells! Once you're done, have someone walk on the treasure chest. A passage to the north opens, but don't be tempted. Instead, have someone go to the broken wall in the nook below the treasure chest. This will open a passage to the right, where you see the final altar. Use stone, BLACK, HUMILITY. Oh dear, that's not a stair down, that's the final puzzle! 3-9-11. IS THAT YOUR FINAL ANSWER? I'll just write up an overview of what to do here throughout the abyss, ignoring specific room strategy. To go down a level you need to find an altar and place the right stone on it. Trial and error will give you the right stone(the computer asks for a color) and then you get a simple question. They are located as follows: Level 1: blue, answer HONESTY Level 2: yellow/COMPASSION Level 3: red/VALOR Level 4: green/JUSTICE Level 5: orange/SACRIFICE Level 6: purple/HONOR Level 7: white/SPIRITUALITY Level 8: black/HUMILITY Note the parallel with the order of the virtues! However, on level 8 instead of a puzzle The puzzles after you use the black stone are answered as follows: VERAMOCOR is the word of passage(get VER, AMO, and COR from the castles--each, I believe, Latin prefixes implying truth, love and courage) HONESTY COMPASSION VALOR JUSTICE SACRIFICE HONOR SPIRITUALITY HUMILITY TRUTH LOVE COURAGE INFINITY(Each time you achieve an "eighth" you see one of these characters. I is what you see for Honesty, N for Compassion, etc.) You get a second chance if you goof--on EACH question. But do be careful. 4. ITEM LIST Quick half-spoiler reference on where to find items: (Note: most towns/village/location have no more than one item of importance in it. It's another way to keep track of what you've done.) Rune of Honesty: Moonglow, Mariah's gold chest Rune of Compassion: Britain, End of hall in inn Rune of Valor: Jhelom, Southeast tower, behind lightning fields Rune of Justice: Yew, Felon's prison Rune of Sacrifice: Minoc, Forge in armory Rune of Honor: Trinsic, SW corner, behind poison field Rune of Spirituality: Lord British's castle, treasure chamber Rune of Humility: Paws, in southeast mountains Blue stone: Deceit L7 Yellow stone: Despise L5 Red stone: Destard L7 Green stone: Wrong L8 Orange stone: Covetous L7 Purple stone: Shame L2(Cast Z from level 1, explore, then exit) White stone: Mountain range NW of Britain--only space "inside" it Black stone: Moonglow moongate, new moons T key: Altar of truth-white, blue, purple, green stones L key: Altar of love-white, orange, yellow, green stones C key: Altar of courage-white, red, orange, purple stones Skull of Mondain: New moons, by lava in middle of sea PF MF Wheel of HMS Cape: South tip of Britannia, close to Jhelom NH GA Silver Horn: By Skara Brae, to the south Bell of Courage: At Sea, in an enclosure of reefs NA LA Book of Truth: Lycaeum, Library(under "T") Candle of Love: Cove, secret door to left of Ankh Magic Armor/Robes: Empath Abbey AE BG Magic Weapons: Serpants Hold AP AI Sextant: Guilds(Vesper/Buccaneers' Den), buy "hidden item"(D, 900) 5. LOCATIONS [later] 6. OH LOOK! NEW RECRUITS! Here's what your party looks like when they're new. Name |Prof | HP|L|WEAPON| ARMOR |EXP|STR|DEX|INT|G --------+-------+---+-+------+-------+---+---+---+---+- Mariah |Mage |200|2|STAFF |CLOTH |125| 09| 12| 20|F Iolo |Bard |300|3|SLING |CLOTH |240| 16| 19| 13|M Geoffrey|Fighter|300|3|AXE |LEATHER|205| 20| 15| 11|M Jaana |Druid |200|2|DAGGER|CLOTH |175| 17| 16| 13|F Julia |Tinker |200|2|MACE |LEATHER|110| 15| 16| 12|F Dupre |Paladin|300|3|SWORD |CHAIN |325| 17| 14| 17|M Shamino |Ranger |200|2|SWORD |LEATHER|150| 16| 15| 15|M Katrina |Shephrd|100|1|STAFF |CLOTH |005| 11| 12| 10|F Your avatar will similarly get these traits when he starts out. You can't get the person with the same profession as you to join, either(i.e. the person in the town near where you start.) 7. MOONGATE MADNESS 7-1. THE BASIC CHART A brief guide to moongates-an easy way to transport. They barely take any moves if you use Ztats and then just wait-handy for avoiding monsters! For each phase the left moon moves, the right moon moves three phases. Thus, if you want to get to phase X, there are three phases you can get there from. A table is below. Phase: 0 Town: Moonglow From: 0,2,5 Moonglow,Jhelom,Trinsic To: 0,1,2 Moonglow,Britain,Jhelom Phase: 1 Town: Britain From: 0,3,5 Moonglow,Yew,Trinsic To: 3,4,5 Yew,Minoc,Trinsic Phase: 2 Town: Jhelom From:0,3,6 Moonglow,Yew,SkaraBrae To: 6,7,0 SkaraBrae,Magincia,Moonglow Phase: 3 Town: Yew From: 1,3,6 Britain,Yew,SkaraBrae To: 1,2,3 Britain,Jhelom,Yew Phase: 4 Town: Minoc From: 1,4,6 Britain,Minoc,SkaraBrae To: 4,5,6 Minoc,Trinsic,SkaraBrae Phase: 5 Town: Trinsic From: 1,4,7 Britain,Minoc,Magincia To: 7,0,1 Magincia,Moonglow,Britain Phase: 6 Town: SkaraBrae From: 2,4,7 Jhelom,Minoc,Magincia To: 2,3,4 Jhelom,Yew,Minoc Phase: 7 Town: Magincia From: 2,5,7 Jhelom,Trinsic,Magincia To: 5,6,7 Trinsic,SkaraBrae,Magincia 7-2. FOR THE CURIOUS Let x=the phase you're in. Then (3x mod 8, 3x+1 mod 8, 3x+2 mod 8)=the phases you can go to. Note that the phases you can go to from those phases are 9x mod 8, ..., 9x+8 mod 8, so you can get anywhere in two jumps! Also note [x/3], [(x+8)/3], [x+16/3] are the phases you can get to x from, where [y]=the greatest integer less than or equal to y. Note you can also use moongates to visit every town exactly once: 0->1->4->5->7->6->3->2->0 is one cyclic solution for wherever you may wish to start. This is useful when you "swoop" to pick up characters late in the walkthrough and avoid too many combats. |0|1|2|3|4|5|6|7 0|x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x 1|x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x 2|x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x 3|x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x 4|x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x 5|x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x 6|x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x 7|x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x 8. "YOU CAN'T SAVE IN DUNGEONS!" ...UNLESS... Older versions of Ultima IV can be emulated. Regardless of what one may feel about emulation, this game is free anyway, and playing with speed certainly has its advantages. Unless you've got an Amiga which You can play with an Apple or Commodore emulator. If you choose this path, I recommend Commodore, specifically VICE, downloadable from zophar.net. For it you seem to need to set Virtual Device Traps on in the Options pull-down menu and True Drive Emulation off. And go to drive settings and make sure drive 9 is 1541 or it will drive you crazy. ftp://arnold.c64.org has the disk images for Commodore. Running the game this way, it's similar to Windows...except for a little feature called "save states." On VICE you can poke into the hot key menu(ALT-S is now quick-save, which is more handy if you're not writing a guide) and a dialog box pops up for a file to save to. Then if you hit ALT-L P, I(ALT-L was so much better) it returns you to that computer state later. Do it in a dungeon and you have de facto saving ability. You also won't have to 'boot up' the emulator next time you play--although you may want to save the game with a ship outside. If you don't save the disk but save the state, the boat may well be gone next time you climb out if you kill and restart vice. 9. (MOSTLY) HEX CHEATING Last warning: although challenging in itself hex editing can ruin the first time player's appreciation of a really wonderful game. So think and breathe deeply before reading further on. And if you don't understand this, unfortunately I can't help with the technical aspect. But you can learn a lot from hex editing. Still...the way this game unfolds is great, and I don't want to rob you of it unless you're just REALLY mad at the Stygian Abyss or something. 9-1. PC 9-1-1. CHARACTERS Cheating's not PC, but you can cheat on the PC all right. The file PARTY.SAV has some very interesting stuff you will enjoy poking through. I think that the following map should help out. I'm assuming basic knowledge of hexadecimal here. I'm also assuming you have a hex editor which allows you to view a binary file--AXE works nicely for setting the columns to 39, so your characters are all lined up--as each character information is encapsulated in a packet 0x27(39 in decimal) bytes long. So the starting locations as I consider them(there is some overlap, but I start you at one to make things a little clearer) are: 0x00 you 0x27 character 2 0x4e character 3 0x75 character 4 0x9c character 5 0xc3 character 6 0xea character 7 0x111 character 8 0x08 current hit points 0x0a max hit points 0x0c experience (0f 27 = max) 0x0e strength 0x10 dexterity 0x12 intelligence 0x14 magic points 0x18 weapon 0=NONE 1=STAFF 2=DAGGER 3=SLING 4=MACE 5=AXE 6=SWORD 0x1a armor 0=NONE 1=CLOTH 2=LEATHER 3=CHAIN 1-byte data 0x1c-0x2b name(be sure to end this with 0x00 if you change a party member's name) 0x2c gender (0b=male, 0c=female) 0x2d position in party 0x2e status(G=good, S=asleep, D=dead, P=poisoned) The character name is actually at the end but I've included relative offsets of the important stuff below. It's important to note that the bytes are least significant first, i.e. 12 00 is 0x0012, 00 12 is 0x1200. And now for more party-oriented stuff: 0x04 = # of moves. Again this is a 'long' variable. 0x140 = calculated food units. The game displays food from 0 to 9999 but actually it calculates food left differently. Since the numbers can go over 65536=2^16 here this number is defined as a "long." One food unit per party member is subtracted each move and the computer displays (this long / 100)'s integral value. To start with 9999 food you need to set the bytes to dc 41 0f 00 0x144 = gold. Should not be more than 0xf27(9999 decimal.) The values below are all two bytes but should not be set to more than 63 00, and of course the second byte should always be left blank. 0x17c = # of bows 0x18e = Sulfurous Ash(A) 0x190 = Ginseng(B) 0x192 = Garlic(C) 0x194 = Spider Silk(D) 0x196 = Blood Moss(E) 0x198 = Black Pearl(F) 0x19a = Nightshade(G) 0x19c = Mandrake Root(H) 0x19e = # of A spells mixed 0x1a0 = # of B spells mixed .... (you see the pattern) 0x1d0 = # of Z spells mixed (Note that if you have more than 24 different spells mixed at one time the last two are crowded out on the screen. But you can still cast Y and Z to your heart's desire.) This can all be set easily with AXE if you type 6/3/(right arrow) repeatedly. You can also control what your companions are like to start out with in the PARTY.NEW file. Similar byte arrangements occur there but they are organized according to helper character's virtue(Honesty down to Humility.) [gems/torches/keys HEX locations?] 9-1-2. LOCATIONS *.ULT is where the location files are for towns. If you want to plow a clear path to somewhere(i.e. in Jhelom) then you can replace the 7E, or wall, bytes with 3E, or tiles. The results can be amusing if you know all the icons. Adjusting *.TLK can wreak havoc with what people are trying to tell you. 9-2. OTHER OLDER SYSTEMS 9-2-1. CHARACTERS For Commodore and Apple, it is not so easy. I've only listed Commodore but I'm sure the method is the same for Apple. I actually preferred to use save states here. The program seems to translate somewhat to 'hexadecimalish.' I.e. if you have 1357 gold left it will show 13 57 or 57 13(check on revamp) which makes it easier for you to visualize and edit. 0xAA74 is where the Commodore cheating seems to start. 9-2-2. LOCATIONS If you want to be a real bastard and edit the locations themselves(Say! Now THAT's magic!) then your current location seems to start at 0xe874 of the save state for VICE. Using another emulator you may want to see which offset has a roughly sensible 32x32 map following it. Again I can't recommend AXE strongly enough for that sort of thing. Note that this does not affect the actual disk, so if you leave the vicinity and come back then the area will look normal again. 9-3. THE SOMETIMES-GREAT DISK SWITCH I remember a friend telling me this in junior high school. On an Apple or Commodore, if you stick the Underworld disk in the drive and move off several squares in one direction, the disk will read the wrong info, and you may find a gold chest. If one is there, then you can open it repeatedly to make a ton of gold. However you don't want to go in too many directions or you may be trapped by garbage sectors and be unable to move out of your original one. To restore normalcy, just walk away and walk back. The computer never writes over map information--it just gives your location. So if you save around the garbage(not save STATE) then the next time you play everything should be normal. This doesn't work on Windows, but Windows may allow you to specify a byte in the outerworld on the map for a chest, which you can open whenever you want. The file would be WORLD.MAP. The byte would depend on where you are in the map. You'll want to locate some place you can get to easily. 10. ODDS AND ENDS 10-1. WHAT HAWKWIND SAYS When you talk to Hawkwind, he will tell you something different based on your virtue. Some of the comments if you're doing really badly are quite funny. On the Commodore you can see what virtues you have with ctrl-S. If you're using an emulator it's probably TAB-S. You'll see a 16 digit number which is really a two-digit number for each virtue. 00 = avatarhood. 00-19: first comment(here 00 with no part of the ankh = you're a real jerk) 20-39: second one 40-59: third one 60-98: fourth one 99: fifth one I don't know much about exact plusses and minuses for virtue, but I think Dan Simpson has some of that info in his FAQ. Stuff he seems to have missed: you start out with 50 in all virtues. And at the start of the game, each question you answer in favor of a virtue gets you 5 points for that one. So all virtues are close to getting pushed to the next level. Honesty: THOU ART A THIEF AND A SCOUNDREL THOU MAY NOT EVER BECOME AN AVATAR! THOU ART NOT AN HONEST SOUL, THOU MUST LIVE A MORE HONEST LIFE TO BE AN AVATAR! THOU HAST MADE LITTLE PROGRESS ON THE PATHS OF HONESTY, STRIVE TO PROVE THY WORTH! THOU DOST SEEM TO BE AN HONEST SOUL, CONTINUED HONESTY WILL REWARD THEE! THOU ART TRULY AN HONEST SOUL SEEK YE NOW TO REACH ELEVATION! Compassion: THOU ART A COLD AND CRUEL BRUTE THOU SHOULDST GO TO PRISON FOR THY CRIMES! THOU DOST KILL WHERE THERE IS NO NEED AND GIVE TOO LITTLE UNTO OTHERS! THOU HAST NOT SHOWN THY COMPASSION WELL BE MORE KIND UNTO OTHERS! THOU DOST SHOW THY COMPASSION WELL, CONTINUED GOODWILL SHOULD BE THY GUIDE! COMPASSION IS A VIRTUE THAT THOU HAST SHOWN WELL. SEEK YE NOW ELEVATION! Valor: THOU DOST NOT DISPLAY A GREAT DEAL OF VALOR THOU DOST FLEE BEFORE THE NEED! THOU ART A COWARD THOU DOST FLEE FROM THE HINT OF DANGER! THOU ART NOT YET A VALIANT WARRIOR, FIGHT TO DEFEATE EVIL AND PROVE THYSELF! THOU ART SHOWING VALOR IN THE FACE OF DANGER STRIVE TO BECOME YET MORE SO! THOU ART A TRULY VALIANT WARRIOR SEEK YE NOW ELEVATION IN THE VIRTUE OF VALOR! Justice: THOU ART AN UNJUST WRETCH THOU ART A FULSOME MEDDLER! THOU ART CRUEL AND UNJUST, IN TIME THOU WILL SUFFER FOR THY CRIMES! THOU HAST NOT PROVEN THYSELF TO BE JUST. STRIVE TO DO JUSTICE UNTO ALL THINGS! THOU DOST SEEM FAIR AND JUST STRIVE TO UPHOLD JUSTICE EVEN MORE STERNLY! THOU ART JUST AND FAIR SEEK YE NOW THE ELEVATION! Sacrifice: THOU ART A SELF-SERVING TUFTHUNTER, THOU DESERVETH NOT MY HELP, YET I GRANT IT! THOU DOST NEED TO THINK MORE OF THE LIFE OF OTHERS AND LESS OF THY OWN! THY SACRIFICE IS SMALL. GIVE OF THY LIFES BLOOD SO THAT OTHERS MAY LIVE. THOU ART GIVING OF THYSELF IN SOME WAYS, SEEK YE NOW TO FIND YET MORE! THOU ART GIVING AND GOOD. THY SELF-SACRIFICE IS GREAT. SEEK NOW ELEVATION! Honor: THOU ART A CAD AND A BOUNDER THY PRESENCE IS AN AFFRONT, THOU ART LOW AS A SLUG! THOU DOST NOT FIGHT WITH HONOR BUT WITH MALICE AND DECEIT! THOU DOST NEED TO SHOW THYSELF TO BE MORE HONORABLE, THE PATH LIES BEFORE THEE! THOU DOST SEEM TO BE HONORABLE IN NATURE, SEEK TO BRING HONOR UPON OTHERS AS WELL! THOU HAST PROVEN THYSELF TO BE HONORABLE, SEEK YE NOW FOR THE ELEVATION! Spirituality: THY SPIRIT IS WEAK AND FEEBLE THOU DOST NOT STRIVE FOR PERFECTION! THOU DOST NOT TAKE THE TIME TO CARE ABOUT THY INNER BEING A MUST TO BE AN AVATAR! STRIVE TO KNOW AND MASTER MORE OF THINE INNER BEING. MEDITATION LIGHTS THE PATH! THOU ART DOING WELL ON THE PATH TO INNER SIGHT CONTINUE TO SEEK THE INNER LIGHT! SPIRITUALITY IS IN THY NATURE SEEK YE KNOW THE ELEVATION! Humility: THOU ART PROUD AND VAIN, ALL OTHER VIRTUE IN THEE IS A LOSS!' THOU ART TOO PROUD OF THY LITTLE DEEDS, HUMILITY IS THE ROOT OF ALL VIRTUE! THY PROGRESS ON THIS PATH IS MOST UNCERTAIN. WITHOUT HUMILITY THOU ART EMPTY! THOU DOST SEEM A HUMBLE SOUL THOU ART SETTING STRONG STONES TO BUILD VIRTUES UPON! THY HUMILITY SHINES BRIGHT UPON THY BEING SEEK YE NOW FOR ELEVATION! 10-2. ARCANE SYSTEM DIFFERENCES Apparently some systems have different ways of figuring experience. You only get four points for finding the white or black stone on the Amiga. 10-3. SPEEDING IT UP, SORT OF Red Scarlet's suggestion of searching at a nightshade/mandrake square and walking away and returning reminded me of my own tactic where you just sit and search. Mine costs a bit more on mandrake(where you get poisoned) but it reminded me of what I told Robert Ingram. Just sit on the square and hit Ztats and the moons will start to shift. So you won't get attacked by as many monsters while harvesting reagents. And if you are playing to save moves(I've gotten 20000-30000, forget the exact count) this also helps a bit. You can use the same trick to wait for winds to adjust. Although they are less cyclical. End of FAQ proper ================================ 11. CREDITS Ultima: The Avatar Adventures, by Rusel DeMaria and Caroline Spector, helped me to look up some location details I didn't have on hand. "Oh--it's somewhere over there" is not specific enough for a walkthrough, I fear. It also helped me to figure any quick ways through dungeons. Official Book of Ultima, by Shay Addams, helped re-inspire me to look at the whole series. One day I'll even get around to Ultima VI! I forgot who sold me Ultima: The Collection on eBay but it was cool. http://www.moongates.com/u4/maps/Maps.htm for coming back from what I thought was the dead and being not only a great reference when my notes were too messy but also still(since before 2000 I believe) being a great reference for stuff a text document can't do. I've studied their programming techniques(or what they must have been) which has tangentially helped me in other matters as well. Great job folks! Y'all uninitiated go check it out. Robert Ingram for reminding me that, yes, indeed, I did like the Ultima series very much and yes, indeed, the dungeons were tough to navigate and deserved more scrutiny. He also provided me with some good advice as well, and his thoughtful questions unlocked some techniques I'd used and forgotten. Peace0000001@aol.com for some clever hints about virtues and also using sleep to ward off poison. Red Scarlet for a bunch of good pointers to help with this guide, especially for the Amiga version. Adam Lamontaigne for asking about Ultima V. Without him I never would have considered plowing through the dungeons for Ultima IV and V to make the web pages before my big hard drive crash. Both above--intelligent questions, strong writers--and this tips off something somehow. A bunch of people on the GameFAQs message boards, AIM, ICQ: bloomer, daremo, falsehead, MaxH, OhioState82 and RetroFreak all listened to my rantings about what a good game this was, thought about starting FAQs in general and asked for my advice, and so forth. This helped my own efforts in ways not immediately apparent. I'm sure there are others to whom I've raved about this game, but they all help...with this, Ultima I-III, and V-VI. Thanks! And finally, ORIGIN for releasing this game as freeware promotion for the Ultima Collection, and GameFAQs for having a walkthrough for this in the first place, which helped get me inspired to write more detailed stuff. And for just BEING there to write old games for. 12. VERSIONS 1.4.0: Sent in 06/24/2003. So much for palindromic dates. Added info from fellow GameFAQs prolific Red Scarlet(RS,) who also managed to inspire me to find out about all Hawkwind says. Added link to dungeon map. Which I hope was not on my failed hard drive. 1.3.1: Sent in 03/20/2003. I forgot to update version # at the top of the FAQ and also put in peace's info. Next I plan to have notes about the full dungeon(document in separate TXT file and HTML as well.) 1.3.0: Sent in 11/3/2002. Completed the six dungeons. Pretty much complete now and WAY bigger than I'd initially anticipated. 1.2.0: Sent in 10/31/2002, still no dungeon in-depth guide, but I touched up a lot of details and believe I have a sufficient Abyss walkthrough. Still need details on the virtue/vice dungeons though. 1.1.0: Reformatted completely 10/7/2002 and sent to GameFAQs in anticipation of my dungeon in-depth guide. Whoo boy, there was some stuff that needed work- -err showed me how much I'd improved. I was right about 'subject to review.' I still have to fill in details about the items but feel I've nailed some important details down which make this guide much more comprehensive. The rest will fall later. All old formattings and the embarrassment that go with them are gone. 1.0.0: Converted RTF to text 4/22/2000 and submitted it to GameFAQs. The bulk of this work was done 7/99 before I had FAQ experience so it may be choppy and subject to review.