Part 3: Britain

If you have sextant in your backpack you can see your current location on the map. Here is the location of Trinsic in relation to the game world (the yellow plus):

The location of Trinsic on the world map

After leaving Trinsic I decided to head straight to the capital city, Britain. Britain is the location of Lord British's castle. My reason for coming here first is to pick up some gear set aside for me in the castle, and to initiate the "Forge of Virtue" expansion campaign. This is an expansion pack released for Ultima VII Black Gate which allows the Avatar to acquire useful items and abilities before heading out on the main adventure. To get to Britain I passed through the poverty stricken town of Paws which will will come back to later. Here is where Britain resides:

The location of Britain on the world map

My first stop was the Blue Boar, a tavern in the centre of Britain. Sitting at a table was my old friend Shamino (who looks a lot like my father...):

Shamino, one of the Avatar's three famous companions (along with Iolo and Dupre)

Shamino gave me my pocket watch which apparently I left last time I left Britannia. Iolo triggers some humorous conversation regarding Shamino and his relationship with a young actress here in Britain. Of course, I ask Shamino to join the party and we head to the castle to see our old friend Lord British.

Lord British, like the Avatar, originated on Earth. He is the monarch of Britannia and was the one who initially summoned the Avatar (just called the 'hero' at that time) to defeat Mondain the Wizard in Ultima I. Lord British mentions that another ritualistic murder happened in Britain not that long ago and that we should talk to the mayor of Britain, Patterson. He also gave me his orb of the moons, and tells me about the gear he has stashed away and hidden in the castle.

Lord British is the first person to mention the problems with the moongates and magic. The mages of Britannia have gone mad and their spells are no longer reliable - no one knows why. The moongates are also unreliable. Sometimes as people enter a moongate they are flung back and injured and nobody knows why. This is very concerning - Nystul the castle mage is completely mad and makes no sense. Lord British tells me to visit Cove and seek out Rudyum who has been studying a material called blackrock. Although Rudyum is mad now, he was apparently close to solving the problem with magic before he succumbed. 

We spoke to everyone in the castle, picked up a few errands, and raided the supplies Lord British set aside for us. At this point we have ragtag armour and weapons:

Our gear after leaving Lord British's castle.

One of the key items Lord British provided was my spell book. Whereas the mages of Britannia are unable to use magic reliably, Lord British suggests because I have only just arrived that I should be able to make it work (the disrupted ether may not have damaged me yet). Magic works by selecting spells from a spell book. Casting them consumes one of eight kinds of reagent. Spells are broken into eight increasingly powerful circles. You unlock higher circles of spells by gaining enough experience and attaining that level on your character. There is also a circle of spells called the "Linear Spells" which are very basic but cost no reagents:

Spell book is open showing the linear spells (essentially the 0th circle)

There is a lot more to this that I won't cover now but magic goes hand in hand with the runic language which is found throughout Britannia. I know this language pretty much off by heart because of the long hours I have spent in the game. It is essentially a one to one replacement of the English alphabet with a few utility runes for sounds such as "th".

At this point in the game I have two goals. Lord British has provided me with the deed for a ship, but I'd prefer to go and obtain the flying carpet. This is a special vehicle in the game that allows you to travel across sea and land. It is difficult to find enough space to land at times, but I'll use it throughout the game. The carpet is found at the entrance of the Dungeon Despise which is to the west of Britain. We will come back and explore Britain properly later once we have visited the Isle of Fire, which is the second goal I have (to complete the Forge of Virtue campaign).

Just outside the west Britain exit we encountered a battle between a paladin and three fighters. We helped the paladin defeat the fighters... and then I did something very un-Avatar-like. I killed the paladin in order to take his gear.

We had to rest and eat after the battle to recover but it was worth the effort. We were all decked out with chain armour as we made our way toward Dungeon Despise.

More battles followed - fighters, and we encountered reapers for the first time - twisted living trees who can send lightning bolts at you.

And then, after making our way along a river we found the flying carpet at the entrance of Dungeon Despise:

With the carpet obtained we headed straight for the Isle of Fire. This island is where the Forge of Virtue expansion pack takes place and is not on the map.

On the island we found a broken down castle with a blind mage called Erethian there. He spoke of how the half machine and half spirit Exodus was not truly defeated (in Ultima III) - but that his 'psyche' was separated from his 'Dark Core'. The dark core apparently resides here on the island, and acts like some kind of computer or machine which stores a wealth of information. Erethian seems to be researching the Dark Core and had a lot of tales to tell about Mondain, Minax, and Exodus. He talked about building an interface to interact with the dark core - it didn't sound very wholesome.

We explored the castle. Three statues stood in the northern-most room of the castle representing truth, love, and courage. They beckoned me to take three tests to prove my worthiness.

I entered the Test of Truth first. It was very strange. I entered a large room blocked by a steel wall. There seemed no way forward, so I looked around and found an illusory wall. I followed an invisible path in darkness until I came across a small room with an amulet (the talisman of truth) - and as soon as I picked it up I was immediately teleported back to the castle and had apparently passed the test.

My reward for passing the test? My intelligence and magic stats were both increased to the maximum of 30. Intelligence determines your mana pool, magic determines the strength of your spells.

Next up was the Test of Love. I was taken to a new area with a small house. Inside was a log book which detailed someone named Astelleron's journey to build golems to keep him company on the island. It talked about a bleeding tree growing out of a rock called the Stone of Castambre. It eventually details him creating two golems named Bollux and Adjhar to keep him company. Nearby I found the two golems. Bollux stood over the shattered corpse of Adjhar, asking for help. 

Bollux wanted me to help bring Adjhar back to life, and offered me a book. It was cryptic in places but it seemed to detail a ritual which involved obtaining blood from the Stone of Castambre. I grabbed a bucket and a pick and ventured forth. We found the tree, as described, and I struck blood from it and collected it in a bucket.

The Stone of Castambre.

When I went to complete the ritual Shamino remembered it required a 'heart'. Without any time to intervene Bollux gave up his heart to bring Adjhar back, killing himself in the process. Adjhar, upon waking, turned out to be much more intelligent than his companion. He told me about how I could obtain a new heart from the Stone of Castambre and repeat the ritual to bring Bollux back. On the way we discovered a secret passage and obtained a death scythe - an extremely powerful magic weapon which occasionally kills enemies outright, and some glass swords which are one time use super-powerful weapons for taking down boss enemies. After repeating the ritual and bringing Bollux back to life, I was given the talisman of love, transported back to the castle, and given 30 dexterity and combat for my trouble.

Lastly - the test of courage. This is a brutal test which involves fighting countless enemies including slimes, trolls, cyclops, drakes, and even an immortal dragon at the end. I had to reload multiple times, and get out my bedroll and sleep in the middle of the cave to heal up. At the end I found myself blocked again. The immortal dragon Dracothraxus will not let me pass until I can best him forever, although he did give me a gem as a reward.

I returned to the castle to ask Erethian what to do. He talked about a powerful sword he once tried to forge that I could potentially use. He then created an armoury for me to forge it. He apparently was able to build the hilt (made out of blackrock) without too much trouble, but the blade itself needs work. 

I was able to sharpen the blade, but it was much too heavy and clumsy to wield. Erethian suggested I needed to bind some magical source to the sword to make it usable. I found the answer inside a fiery mirror. The demon Arcadion is trapped inside the mirror and is forced to serve Erethian. Arcadion mentions the gem I obtained from the dragon, and that I can use it to shatter the mirror and free him. After doing this, Arcadion was bound inside the gem (he did not expect this). As his new master, I ordered him to bind to the sword - finally creating the infamous Black Sword.

The Black Sword is the most powerful weapon in the game. It one hit kills many enemies, but you can also summon Arcadion to kill powerful enemies (like the immortal dragon Dracothraxus) or release powerful magic.

So, I returned to Dracothraxus' lair and unleashed the power of Arcadion on him. 

And in doing so, I completed the Test of Courage. My strength was increased to 30, greatly increasing how much I can carry. Without any time to celebrate the statue gives me a new task - to find the Talisman of Infinity (I had just picked up the talismans of courage, love, and truth which were the amulets I received after each test).

Erethian talks about the talisman and how it resides in the Great Void (the same place the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom was placed during Ultima V). Mid conversation he decides he will no longer help me - fearing I may banish his beloved Dark Core to the Great Void. Fortunately, Arcadion (in the Black Sword) tells me what he knows. He mentions the concave and convex lenses forged to view the Codex (both of them are in the Britain museum). 

So we took a quick trip on the flying carpet back to Britain, retrieved the lenses from the museum:

...and headed back to the Isle of Fire. I followed the ritual described by Arcadion. The Talisman of Infinity appeared but so did Erethian... and he was mad. He tried to cast a powerful spell, but failed and destroyed himself. With my ritual complete, the Dark Core was then sent into the Great Void, removing the last trace of Exodus from Britannia. And with that, our time on the Isle of Fire was done (as well as the Forge of Virtue expansion). We reported back to Lord British and I was awarded additional strength (beyond the normal limits in the game!) and we found ourselves stronger and ready to face whatever Britannia had in store for us.

What the Forge of Virtue essentially provides is a means to bring the Avatar to maximum ability (and beyond) at the start of the game. Your companions still need to gain levels and visit trainers, but the Avatar at this point is decked out.