Part 14: Skara Brae

Skara Brae is the city of spirituality. It was part of the Britannian mainland during Ultima VI: The False Prophet, but is now on a desolate island to the west of Britain:

We flew back and left the flying carpet in Britain, then walked. There was a moongate right next to where you can cross over to the island. And then, the ferry:

The skeletal ferryman completely ignored me when I tried to engage in conversation. Then I remembered, to speak to the dead I need to use the fourth circle spell "Seance". This allowed me to engage him in conversation.

Shamino didn't seem all that keen to go across. Looks like I found his weakness. Try as I might the ferryman didn't have anything to tell me other than he would take me across for two gold coins. So I paid him, and we went.

What awaited us on the other side was a picture of destruction. Nothing living at all, all the buildings ruined and charred.

There were also no people. No living people at least, only ghosts. Luckily, I had already cast Seance so I was able to interact with them. Here's what I found out:

• Before all of this destruction occurred a lich named Horance had already been enslaving the town and raising the dead. Horance was a well loved mage and poet the last time the Avatar was in Britannia. 
• Mistress Mordra (the healer) along with Trent (the blacksmith) and Caine (the alchemist) set about stopping Horance. Unfortunately, while brewing a potion for Mordra, Caine caused an explosion of fire which burned Skara Brae for days - even separating it from the mainland. Everyone died and is now here in spirit and enslaved by Horance. According to Mordra it was the mayor Forsythe's fault, for telling Caine the incorrect amount of each ingredient.
• Caine is also the "tortured one" that Alagner spoke of. I will need to obtain the answers of life and death from him.
• Every night everyone in town must go to the Dark Tower and become servants of his "Black Mass". No-one has any recollection of this happening except Mordra. 
• Trent's wife Rowena has been taken by Horance as his undead bride which causes him a lot of grief. Trent apparently spends day and night working on some cage no-one knows anything more about (but he never finishes it).
• Mistress Mordra is the one to talk to if I want to help the (former) citizens of Skara Brae.
• Quenton (who was a spirit even before the fire)'s daughter Marney's spirit is also held captive by Horance. He was killed by a man named Blade who he borrowed money from.

The mayor Forsythe told me more about the original plan to defeat Horance. The built the cage (the one Trent works on) and dipped it into the Well of Souls. They were planning to use the well to trap Horance. He then told me to speak to Mordra and get instructions on how to get rid of the liche.

Trent (the blacksmith) was working on his cage. He told me about Rowena and also a little music box in his smithy that she gave him. I took it with me in case it might help me later.

We found The Tortured One (Caine) next in his alchemist's lab. I asked him about the answers of life and death. He told me he would give me the answers but only if I freed him and the others from the liche. He also told me that the liche is not Horance, but an evil spirit who inhabit's Horance's dead body. He directed me to Mistress Mordra again.

Next we visited the Dark Tower. Rowena was there sitting on a throne. She seemed trance-like in her responses when I spoke to her, and it was clear she was not aware of her condition or that of the castle. Remembering the music box that Trent told me about, I played it and she snapped out of it. In her brief moment of clarity she told me to pass on to Trent that she still loves him in the hopes it might restore him. She gave me a ring to pass on to him as proof. At the back of the tower was a blue swirling pool, the Well of Souls. We took a look and at one point sprung a trap which teleported us outside to a shrine bathed in fire, everyone took heavy damage and we left the castle.

The ring had a profound impact on Trent. He calmed down and was able to finally speak to me. He asked me to help free Rowena, and of course I agreed.

The first step was to obtain an iron bar from the cemetery. One of the annoying things about the whole island is that all the doors are haunted and often shut just as you are about to pass through them. I made sure to smash all the wooden doors down to avoid that inconvenience. With the iron bar done, the Soul Cage was complete and it was time to take it to Mordra.

Mordra told us the full plan. First we needed to empower the cage with the might of the dead by dipping it in the Well of Souls in the Dark Tower. Then we needed to create a potion to destroy the liche. Finally, we need to wait until midnight and trap Horance during his Black Service and use the potion on him. Apparently during this service the liche draws energy from the townspeople. We took careful note of the potion ingredients this time:

• A potion of invisibility
• A potion of curing
• A vial of mandrake essence

We found all three ingredients in Mordra's house and headed to Caine's alchemist lab. Caine showed us how to make the potion using the equipment in his lab. We placed the ingredients into the machine:

... turned on the burner, and created the potion we will need to destroy the liche:

Next we went back to the Dark Tower and dipped the Soul Cage into the Well of Souls. What we ended up with was a glowing blue Soul Cage:

With everything in place, we waited until midnight to complete the ritual. At midnight Horance and all the townsfolk slept. We approached the liche, used the soul cage, and trapped him inside. I talked to him briefly before using the potion, he talked about his plans to overthrow Lord British, how he discovered blackrock and embedded it in his castle to block the disturbed ether (allowing him to use magic freely). We used the potion and the liche was destroyed, and Horance was again himself.

Horance asked me to free the souls in the Well of Souls. The first task, however, was to lead Rowena back to her husband Trent. Our party was full so we had to leave Jaana behind in the tower to take her.

Trent and Rowena were finally reunited and embraced each other. Back at the tower Horance told us about how we would destroy the Well of Souls. Unfortunately the only way to destroy the well is for one of the spirits in the town to agree to sacrifice themselves.

I spoke to all the spirits, starting with Forsythe. He reluctantly agreed to sacrifice himself if no-one else in town was willing. Everyone else either had a good reason not to, or flat out denied me. Especially Trent and Rowena, who had only just been reunited. Even the Ferryman said no, "I must perform my duty... until the end of eternity" was all he had to say.

We went back to Forsythe, he seemed to harden his resolve and agreed to do it. We took him to the well and his resolve quickly diminished. He tried to stall but eventually resigned to his fate and leaped into the well. After an explosion the souls were freed and all that was left was an empty dark well.

For helping the town, Horance gave us his staff ( a Firedoom Staff). We returned to Caine and asked for the answers of life and death. He called us a fools and told us that there are no answers to life and death, only questions. Feeling foolish, we decided to head back to Alagner in New Magincia.

We wanted to talk to Quenton about the fate of Marney before we left but everyone seemed to disappear after the Black Service, so we cast Help and returned to Britain instead.

Next up we will return to New Magincia to get Alagner's notebook, take it to the wisps, and hopefully speak to the infamous Time Lord.