The first thing we did was travel back to that cave I found north of Yew Forest because now we have the unlock magic spell. We ended up entering the wrong cave... it was an abandoned prison of some kind.We came across a few obstacles we couldn't get past yet - there was poison fields which we handled by walking through and then casting Mass Cure, but the fire fields killed us. I am going to need to rely on spells a lot more in the future.
I explored the cave as much as I could, dropped off some extra gear I didn't need at Iolo's house, exchanged some gold at the mint in Britain, and bought some more spells of Nystal. I now have every fourth circle spell and most of the first to third circle spells. At some point reagents is going to be my major expense. Every time you cast a spell it uses one or more of eight kinds of reagent:
- Black pearl
- Bloodmoss
- Sulfurous ash
- Spider silk
- Mandrake root
- Garlic
- Nightshade
- Ginseng
When you cast a spell it consumes one of each kind of reagent required for that spell. Reagents don't cost a lot but you go through a lot when you are in dungeons or caves. Maintaining your reagent supply can take a bit of effort.
With that in order and our gold depleted again we decided to walk to Minoc to see what we found along the way. The path from Britain to Minoc is shown below...
We head the way we went to Cove but instead of heading along the bottom of Lock Lake, we head through the swamps and north. One of the mechanics in Ultima 7 is that swamps poison your party if they touch them... unless you are wearing "swamp boots". Only half our party have swamp boots at this stage, so it could be an interesting journey.
Through the swamp is a junction. We could have gone east to Vesper (the only mixed human and gargoyle town in Britannia) but instead went north to Minoc. On the way we fought slime, snakes, and mongbats.
The first landmark we came across was a gypsy caravan and the Britannian Mining Company. There was no-one in the mining company but we did have a look around... and found a lot of vials of Silver Serpent venom locked away in a chest. We took them as they will make us good money back in Britain, but it also suggests something sinister is going on with the mining company.
We spoke to the gypsies and found some interesting information.
There's been a brutal murder in the Minoc sawmill, it sounds a lot like the one in Trinsic. I need to take a look. Frederico and Tania, both gypsies, were killed. The gypsies are now considering leaving Minoc. Frederico and Tania's son, Sasha, is part of the Fellowship.
Margareta the fortune teller told me about my destiny. She had a lot of interesting things to say:
- She told me about a girl at the Shrine of Compassion who is in love with me (Nastassia).
- I must join The Fellowship if I want to learn about their true nature.
- There is a new evil in Britannia that I will reckon with in the future. The ether (the stuff which allows magic and moongates to function) is being affected by this evil being.
- This evil being will gain great power due to an event that will happen in the future. I am to visit the observatory in Moonglow to find out more. Someone there has a device which will help me.
- The man with the hook is not my true adversary, but finding him is necessary to complete my ultimate quest.
- I need to seek an audience with the Time Lord who is in trouble. He knows about this evil. The wisps are the ones who can help me talk to the Time Lord and the monks at the Empath Abbey can help me talk with the wisps.
This is the most concrete set of leads to follow yet. Just beyond the gypsy caravan was the sawmill the half the town was there. I talked to everyone. Here's what I learned:
- The general consensus is that the murderer(s) were from out of town and have already left.
- This was a ritualistic killing, like the one in Trinsic. We can probably assume Hook and Forskis are behind it again.
- Frederico was strongly against Sasha joining The Fellowship, to the point he threatened to beat him if he joined.
- There is also a scandal about a 30 ft statue being built of the town shipwright Owen. Part of the scandal is that three of his ships sank in the past and people died, but no investigation ever occurred. The Fellowship want to build the monument to show the kind of success they can offer their followers. The Artist's Guild fear it will put them out of business (with all the hype around Owen). The Artist's Guild feel they are unofficial enemies of The Fellowship.
- The mayor of the town, Burnside, told me he secretly thinks The Fellowship has a dubious philosophy and is only a member because he thinks it will increase trade to the town.
- My old companion Julia was in Minoc, but I decided I didn't want her to join the party for now.
- Elynor, the leader of The Fellowship in Minoc says that Elizabeth and Abraham have just left on their way to Paws. I must ask about them there at the Fellowship Shelter. I also delivered the package, without opening it. She paid me for my service - I should return to Batlin in Britain.
- The only physical clue at the crime scene was a uniquely shaped "serpentine" dagger which we took with us as evidence. It could have originated at Serpent's Hold. There was also a candelabra set up to light the bodies up.
Minoc was a bit of a walk up the road from the sawmill. Minoc is the city of sacrifice. It is known for its commerce, its craftspeople, and the Minoc Mine. It's a pretty big town, perhaps the second largest behind Britain. I talked to everyone there:
- Xanthia from the Artist's Guild made special candelabras for The Fellowship - like the one we found at the sawmill murder scene. Xanthia confirmed the one from the murder scene is one she made for The Fellowship. I need to ask Elynor about it. When I confronted her she just fobbed me off saying someone is trying to frame The Fellowship. She even blamed the gypsies for killing their own to make The Fellowship look bad. Elynor... is a pretty terrible person.
- A former pirate named Rutherford (who is the barkeep of The Checquered Cork) was quite up front. He knows Hook - he was a pirate and a murderer from Buccaneer's Den. He also confirmed that the Crown Jewel was docked in Minoc the night of the murders. It's pretty clear what has happened.
- Owen confirmed a man with a hook was walking around the night of the murder. He also said the Crown Jewel was in town at that time and that it was sailing to Paws. At this stage we can be pretty confident that Elizabeth, Abraham, Hook, and Forskis are travelling together on the Crown Jewel.
Just south of the blacksmith was a secret cave entrance with the waves lapping into it. I went in, had to cast Unlock Magic to go far inside. This turned out to be the rear entrance of the Minoc Mine which was formerly the Dungeon Covetous. Inside I found more Silver Serpent venom. A gargoyle worker in the cave, Fodus, has symptoms of venom use - his skin is falling off his face. He even mentions the 'silver fluid'. He let slip that they are searching for the 'secret ore', blackrock.
Two rather mad miners named Owings and Malloy are digging a tunnel to New Magincia (under the ocean)... using spoons. Sullivan the Tricker sold them a map to this land (to mine) but once they arrived they discovered it was already owned by the Britannian Mining Company.
I left the mine and came across a hermit named Karl living out of town. His brother died on one of Owen's ships, and he stole the plans for that ship. Karl wanted me to take it to Julia to assess. She took one look and immediately saw they were flawed:
The mayor was aghast, and immediately cancelled the statue. He asked me to confront Owen, which I did. And then... he killed himself.
A fitting ending for a vain and selfish man. With that, I have done with Minoc for now except to explore some of the abandoned mines and caves in the area.
Next up we will return to Yew and attempt to speak with the wisps!
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