Ultima VII: The Black Gate

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Despise

Before going inside Despise, I made triple sure I’ve cast a Mark spell; I’ve had far too many games when I couldn’t teleport back easily and wasted time finding my way to the entrance. Inside, I got promptly killed by the fire-spewing obelisk trap – I completely forgot the bloody thing was there.

Had a chat with Brother Wayne, a monk from the Empath Abbey who got lost in the cave and is too proud to ask for help. Well, keep on being lost then.

I couldn’t really remember the way around Despise, but my muscle memory must have kicked in, because very soon I discovered the series of magically locked doors leading to the secret hideaway of anti-Lord British revolutionaries. Apparently they were planning to attack his castle… all four of them. I thwarted the coup and collected the juicy magical goodies, including two full suites of magic armour.

I found the sphere generator, but the magical gate won’t let you through and teleports you back into the cave. When told about my problem, Time Lord advised me to get the enchanted hourglass from Nicodemus in Yew, who is a total loony but rather entertaining to talk to.

Nicodemus, it seems, sold the hourglass to the pawn shop in Paws, and once you bring it back he just laughs at you and tells you to please fix the blinking ether first. Time Lord then sends you to see Penumbra in Moonglow. But first, I had another Fellowship meeting to attend, this time in Minoc. Elynor, the local leader, totally pushes the us-against-them victim narrative and is not too subtle about what she wishes on the enemies of the Fellowship.

Moonglow

Before visiting Penumbra, I chatted with the locals and met Frank, an insufferable talking fox on the quest for honesty. I can’t think of any other talking animals in U7 other than Smith and Sherry the mouse, so Frank must be a visitor from Narnia or something. Anyway, he is asking for a black eye with his “honesty”.

Maybe it’s a book lover in me, but I love the Lycaeum and I spent some time reading the books on the second floor. I remember how pissed off I was when, in U9, the once-huge building got reduced to one puny little room. Bleh! Many of the books are repeats of what I’ve already read elsewhere, but I found some new ones too, such as the book on the hierarchy of the Britannian society, placing LB at the top and the wingless gargoyles at the lowest rung of the ladder. One other (very silly) book gave advice on how to use a bucket of water to splash cats.

Mariah is off with the fairies like all mages, and I got myself involved into a love triangle between Zelda the bossypants at the Lycaeum, Nelson the head of the Lycaeum, and his twin brother who heads the Observatory and has the same annoying habit of showing off his trinkets. Another local of note was a stay-at-home father who would rather follow the traditional gender roles and get a man’s job. There’s also some tension between the Fellowship leader and his clerk, who thinks he’s not up to the task and wants you to rat on him to Batlin in Britain.

I solved the item puzzles at Penumbra’s house, and after 200 years she woke up to the mother of all headaches from the damaged ethereal waves. She felt better once I placed the fragments of blackrock around the house, but in between me leaving and coming back she just went to sleep again on her stone slab! Haven’t you had enough sleep woman?

Penumbra got a vision of the tetrahedron magic generator that messes up the ether, and sent me to Terfin to find the Ethereal Ring necessary to break the defense. I stayed back in Moonglow for a while and explored the Observatory, which is a pretty cool complex.

I also got the orrery from Brion, which helps you track the Astronomical Alignment, a celestial event that sees all the planets and moons perfectly line up. Brion has no time for dating, but he’s got time to perve at the goings on in the private rooms at the Baths on Buccaneer’s Den from his crystal ball. I guess, in the absence of film, that’s what porn in Britannia amounts to.