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.

The Last Stone

After picking up Geoffrey and arming him with a bow, the party set sail north towards Skara Brae skirting the west coast of Britannia. I passed the isles south of Spiritwood and rounded the island of Skara Brae keeping close to the coastline until finding the mouth of the river that would lead to the dungeon Shame. I had seven of the eight colored stones and had left purple for the last. The entrance to Shame is laced with poison. Seven of my party made it through but Shamino got poisoned just before we passed through the dungeon doors.

I had a vague memory that this dungeon is complicated. I thought that the stone would be on Level 8 and that perhaps I could also visit an altar room if one was nearby, since I still needed to get the three-part key. I quickly realized that the entry ladder goes all the way down to Level 7. I recall that the Apple II version had some sort of bug whereby if you X-ited a balloon without landing properly (i.e. you still have a bird's eye view over the terrain), then you could take the ladder all the way down to Level 9 and get unlimited gold! Since illegal jumping out of the balloon (with no harm) is not permitted at present, I could not explore if this bug exists in the GOG version.

The first dungeon room was interesting. Casting a "View" spell showed that I had to head east after defeating the denizens of the crypt. I actually remembered how to trigger open the secret passage. Unfortunately I had to get poisoned while stepping in the southeast corner. This moved what I think is supposed to represent a coffin or gravestone - actually I'm not sure what those two-square rectangles represent. Iolo stepped in the space of the one that opened up, and the passageway east was revealed.

I worked my way back up to Level 4 which is the crucial section of the dungeon that connects the different areas. There is a suite of five rooms arranged in a cross-shape, the center of which contains a twister, a ghost and a giant squid. I first went west and worked my way down to Level 6 where Katrina opened many treasure chests. The Gold was not unlimited, though, and I am saving up to get more magic weapons before entering the abyss. I then worked my way down to Level 8 only to find that the stone was not there.

The party backtracked to Level 4, fighting the twister, ghost and giant squid again, before exiting south. I worked my way back up to Level 2 and was rewarded with finding the purple stone. I was not sufficiently motivated to work my way back down to an altar room so I cast two "Y-up" spells to leave the dungeon. I parked my ship along a narrow section of the river, and then fought several battles on my way back to Castle Britannia.

36711 moves. Cumulative playing time = 20.5 hours.