The Great Stygian Abyss

The final leg of the journey has dawned. Today I will finish the quest by battling my way down the Great Stygian Abyss to find the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom. To begin the quest, I rang the Bell of Courage. By the time I lit the Candle of Love, there had been loud earthquakes and much trembling.

Level 1 of the Abyss was quite straightforward. There was a series of rooms with Lava Lizards followed by another series with Daemons surrounded by magical fields. The party trudged its way through to the first altar. I had forgotten that one needs to answer questions and then use the appropriate stone color. Thankfully, I know the game so well that the answers were easy.

Level 2 had rooms of sea creatures and was relatively straightforward. After you answer the question correctly and use the stone at an altar, it changes into a ladder going down.

The first room in Level 3 was rather surprising. It was empty! I don't know if this is a bug.

In the second room, however I wondered if this was another endless Daemon horde. I stuck around for the fight and it turned out there was a finite number of them after all. They were just stacked on a single square.

Level 4 is a little sneaky if you don't peer at a gem or cast a View spell right away. Instead of the obvious room door on the south side, one needs to actually take the secret passage east. In one of these passages the party ran into a troll. A battle in a secret passage looks odd.

After defeating the lone troll, there were just two rooms to cross before the altar where I used the green stone.

Level 5 is where things start to get interesting and tedious. After a couple of tremor spells, the denizens behind the electric fields were reduced to a Zorn and a Balron. Because of the Zorn's ability to negate magic, I had to wait for it to walk through the walls until I could destroy it. Thereafter, I just had to trigger open the secret passage southwards.

The room with the ten Reapers turned out not to be as bad as in my journey 27 years ago. I remembered this room well. After two Tremors and a Negate Magic spell, the party slowly polished off the remaining evil creatures. Jaana triggered open the passage southwards.

The room with dragons in the foothills was slow going. Eventually we defeated them and I opened the eastward passage.

Level 6 is a bugbear if you have not done it before. It was lodged in my memory 27 years ago (after many mistakes) that to navigate through the maze, one needed to head east through the secret passage.

The most tedious room in my visit down the Stygian Abyss was the one below. I did not want to Negate Magic because I needed to Dispel the electric fields to trigger open the secret passage southwards. My Tremor spells failed to kill any of the three Balrons resulting in much falling asleep before I was eventually able to eliminate them.

It was in the next room that I made a significant error because it was getting late and I was not alert. I was not keeping good track of where I was in the maze and did not think that fighting the Hydras and the Balron was needed. I walked out west and the passageway closed behind me into a room I had visited before that I knew was not the right way forward. As a result I had to go through the maze a second time including the room above! I was prepared the second time around.

We took the south exit and easily defeated a group of Headless. I have a vague memory that this is easier than the room to the east but I did not bother to check. The final room in the maze was relatively straightforward. It was then a short distance to the altar where I used the purple stone. The party had a rest after the maze of rooms.

Level 7 had a number of interesting triggers. The first room had a treasure chest in the middle. After defeating the room's occupants the party walked straight across westwards. The minute I stepped on the middle treasure chest, electric fields appeared around me. Thankfully I had a supply of Dispels ready and was able to easily get out. I left the Gold alone.

In another room, I almost managed to sneak through without letting out the denizens but Iolo managed to trigger one wall open. The group quickly made short work of the Hydra.

Another interesting room gave me a great opportunity to cast a Jinx spell. By the time the spell wore off, only one Ghost and one Phantom were left. Jaana and Katrina stood in the appropriate locations to open up the appropriate exits.

Level 8 is another reason why you should really peer at a gem or View.

I picked the southward passage in the first cluster of rooms. In the second room, I knew there had to be a passageway west but I could not remember the trigger location. I assumed it would be in the lava, so Jaana and I both took plenty of damage exploring every single square. Nothing! It turned out that if Geoffrey had just walked one square south, many hit points would have been saved.

After finding the first triggering space, Jaana went back into the lava to hit the second trigger. 

The first room in the second cluster was the "mirror image" room except it is not quite a mirror image as you can see. I killed my "opposite mage" with a single blow from my Magic Wand. The mirror image as you can see is based on the order of the virtues from Honesty to Humility. I wonder what it would do if the avatar was not a mage. This room was probably the easiest battle and my party took no damage. 

The next room required me to find a passageway east. Shamino found the first trigger resulting in a secret passage "wall" revealing itself in the southeast corner.

I finally made it to the last altar. Upon using the stone, all my companions "vanished".

I "used" the Three Part Key automatically. (I don't know what would happen at this point if I did not have it.)

Thankfully, I do know the word of passage, at which point I was asked a series of questions about the virtues. They do not bother to mix up the questions so everything follows the same order from Honesty to Humility.

As I answered each question correctly, a figure started to be drawn on the screen with each correct answer.

Apparently I am well versed in the virtues. I then had to identify the three principles of Truth, Love and Courage. (Interestingly the only time things are out of sequence is in the use of the Bell followed by the Book followed by the Candle at the entrance to the Abyss.)

After more rumbling, the final question was asked. Answering it correctly revealed the infinity symbol which curiously is also a sideways "8" (for the 8 virtues).

After a bunch of endgame text in which I was transported back to my own world, I reached the final screen. The journey had taken three hours in real time. My quest had come to an end.

45650 moves. Cumulative playing time = 27 hours.

The Three-Part Key

I am close to the final stage of my journey. It would be bad for the party to run out of food while I am down in the dungeons so I went to Skara Brae and bought an additional 8 packs of rations. The party traveled by moongate to Minoc and sailed a short distance to the dungeon Covetous. My goal was to get a lot of treasure on my way to getting the three-part key. Level 5 was well stocked with treasure and Katrina only got poisoned once getting the Gold in both areas. On Level 6, Shamino touched a magic ball. Jaana and I then cast Heal spells to raise his hit points to a reasonable number.

The party worked its way down to Level 8 and the first altar room we found in the southwest corner was for Courage. I had expected more resistance but there were only four swarms of Insects and a single dragon. These were easily dispatched before I went to the altar to use the four stones. For some reason I was confused and used the yellow stone in the first slot. I quickly realized my error and canceled the action. On my second attempt I carefully selected the four correct stones and was rewarded by receiving a third of the three-part key.

Backing out of the altar room the same way I came in, I then made my way to the northeast corner room of Level 8 - the altar room of Love. Again I was greeted by insects and a dragon. I made no mistake in selecting the four correct stones yielding the second part of the three-part key. I could not remember which dungeons each of the other three exits would lead. I chose to go across towards the East exit. This led to the dungeon Wrong. I had been down here before so it was not too difficult to figure out where the altar room was located. My party had a quick rest before entering the altar room. This one had a group of gremlins - an even easier battle.

I used the blue, green, purple and white stones and obtained the final portion of the three-part key. An X-it spell later, I was on the surface of Britannia. I fought my way traveling south until the going got tedious; I cast my first Gate Travel spell to the moongate portal outside Castle Britannia. Lord British raised Katrina and Dupre to Level 6. I had more than enough Gold for the two magic bows and did not feel like wandering around the lands to try and get Geoffrey more experience since he was still around 250 points short of being raised to Level 5. (Shamino also had a ways to go to reach Level 6.) It was time to take a ship to Buccaneer's Den.

At the Arms shop, I had a brainwave. If I sold all my unneeded weapons and armor, I might have just enough to get 1 magic bow and 1 magic wand instead of getting a pair of magic bows. I would not sell any of the mystic swords as this would not be in line with the theme of the game. After buying 1 magic bow and selling the weapons and armor I had 4996gp. So close! I decided it was worth selling two Flaming Oils to make an even 5000gp and bought the last magic wand for Jaana's use. The party also put on their mystic robes in preparation for the last stage of the journey.

I then sailed south and east to the island of the abyss. As I sailed into Pirate's Cove I was in for a surprise. Although my six ships were still there from defeating the pirates the first time, the pirates had reset and there was a fresh group of eight to ten ships. I quickly used the wheel of the H.M.S. Cape to strengthen my ship's hill and then sailed in with cannon's blazing. Although I was able to destroy at least half the ships by blasting them to oblivion, I still had to fight four broadside hand-to-hand combat encounters. Amazingly throughout all the battling, my party emerged unscathed after the last of the pirates was defeated.

Three quarters of the party was poisoned in the marshland between the cove and the entrance to the abyss. I mixed batches of spells I would probably use battling my way down to the lowest level of the abyss. I have now reached 24 hours of gaming stretched over 3 weeks. This was a good stopping point. 27 years ago, the journey down the abyss took somewhere around three hours so I will need to find a decent time block to complete the game. I'm guessing it will take two hours thereabouts since I have experienced the Great Stygian Abyss once before; although it took somewhere closer to 9 months and way more hours the first time around to reach this point.

44136 moves. Cumulative playing time = 24 hours.

Mystic Arms

My first journey was to the oak grove in Empath Abbey. I took the moongate to the Yew portal and traveled southwest towards the castle. I made straight for the grove and found the mystic armor without a hitch. After exiting the castle I took the scenic route back to Britain to fight some battles and collect more Gold. I would like to get Geoffrey up to Level 4 before I go down a dungeon to get the three-part key. I took one of the ships outside Britain and sailed south to Serpent Castle. In the Academy training room I found the mystic weapons on my "first search". As I was sailing back north hugging the southeast coast of Britannia, I saw the Trinsic portal and decided to park my ship there instead and take the moongate back. I am trying not to consume food as quickly since I would like to save my Gold for weapons.

Lord British was more than happy to raise Julia and Jaana to Level 6. I think some of the others are close. Geoffrey also made it up to Level 4. I'm hoping he will reach Level 5 before I enter the Abyss.

42166 moves. Cumulative playing time = 22.5 hours.

Achieving Avatarhood

When I was a teenager, my parents were somewhat suspicious of computer games. Puzzle games were viewed positively for their virtues in exercising the mind. Of course one of the main reasons my parents yielded to getting a computer was so we could learn useful skills such as programming (in my case Basic) and using spreadsheets (in this case Dbase). That was how we ended up with an Apple II clone named "Dolfin" - its displayed name upon bootup. My brother and I were careful to not mention certain things about our games. Quoting the line from Ultima III Exodus, "from the depths of hell he comes for vengeance" would probably have banned us from certain types of games, as things related to Dungeons & Dragons magic and witchcraft were looked upon as corrupting influences. Learning mantras, meditating at shrines, and becoming an Avatar, might result in the same fate. We were careful not to mention these things.

At present however, I am ready to achieve avatarhood after virtuously destroying the skull of Mondain and getting my party seriously injured in the process. Nothing that LB couldn't take care of with his miraculous and "free" healing powers! I first sailed to the shrine of compassion, chanted the mantra for three cycles, and was rewarded with partial avatarhood and a vision. A moongate journey later, we traveled to the shrine of sacrifice and repeated the process (with a different mantra of course!) This was our last "eighth" of Avatarhood. The vision was similar. Now I am a full avatar, as indicated by the "full ankh" between the numerical values of my party's food and gold. I also took the opportunity to search for more nightshade and mandrake root.

It was time to go back to Paws and chat up Sir Simon and Lady Tessa because now I could honestly say I was an avatar, and they would tell me where to find mystic armor and weapons. I will need to make a trip to Empath Abbey and another to Serpent Castle to pick up the requisite items. I also still need to journey down the dungeons to obtain the three-part key. I have not decided on the best route yet. After that, I just need to get more gold for two more magic bows and the party will be ready to enter the Great Stygian Abyss to find the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom - two other things we were careful not to mention in our younger days.

40977 moves. Cumulative playing time = 22 hours.

Pirate's Cove

Today's journey started with a trip to the shrine of Spirituality. After meditating for three cycles, I was granted a vision. I am also now a three-quarter avatar. Since I was on the east side of Britannia, I replenished my stores of nightshade and mandrake root. My next goal was to buy two magic bows at 2000gp apiece. I took one of the ships docked near Britain and sailed to Buccaneer's Den. I sold two old non-magical bows and an axe to the arms shop during my visit too. Next stop, the shrine of honesty for a three-cycle meditation. I misjudged the location of the island and sailed too far east forcing me to double back, eventually arriving at the shrine. Upon completing my meditations, I was told that the second thing to do at the entrance to the Great Stygian Abyss was to read the Book of Truth.

Since I was already in the East, it made sense to sail for the isle of the abyss, not to enter, but to destroy the skull of Mondain. This would also remind me what the journey to the abyss would be like, and to smoothen the way for my next visit when I would actually enter the abyss. This requires me to clear the ships at Pirate's Cove. Perhaps it was a sign that pirates abounded in the seas as I captured another frigate off Verity Isle. I parked one ship at Moonglow and sailed the other ship south. Eventually I saw mountains to the east indicating I had arrived at the island. It was time to use the wheel of the H.M.S. cape to strengthen the hull of my ship. I can't help but think about the similarity between mountainous Mordor (from the Lord of the Rings) in the southeast of Middle Earth and the mountainous southeastern isle of the abyss in Britannia.

The entrance to the cove is on the west side of the isle. I waited for a favorable wind before sailing in as quickly as I could in an easterly direction. The pirate ships started to swarm around and surround me! There were only eight of them. For some reason, I thought there would be more.

After an exciting battle, six ships were under my control. I noticed that the pirate ships tended to be stern-heavy. I would quickly defeat the pirates at the front of the boat whereby Shamino would begin to board the pirate ship before the rogues were finally killed. It was now time to journey to the abyss.

While I remembered the lava from way back, I had forgotten about the poison. The entire party got poisoned but we doggedly made our way to the entrance of the abyss, through marsh and flame. At the entrance, I cast the evil Skull into the abyss. This was accompanied by peals of thunder!

We trudged our way back out to Pirate's Cove where Jaana, Iolo and myself cast cure spells on everyone. (Geoffrey had to be cured earlier because I was not sure he would make it out without dying. He managed to pass the marshes without getting re-poisoned.) After camp and rest by the ship, we were ready to exit the cove and sail back to see what Hawkwind thought of our recent acts. I had also given more gold to beggars in Moonglow and visited the healers to donate blood.

Hawkwind was pleased with our progress! He directed me to meditate for three cycles at the shrines of Compassion and Sacrifice. I should be able to achieve avatarhood in my next post. Then all that remains is the three-part key.

39785 moves. Cumulative playing time = 21.5 hours.