Ultima Underworld II: Multiverse of Mongbats

A new side is lit up on the blackrock teleporter.

      

As much as I was enjoying aspects of Lands of Lore, I was somewhat eager to wrap up my last Lore session so I could get to my next Ultima Underworld II session. After all, I had left the game on the threshold of another world. Exciting stuff. Unlike every other Ultima game I've covered for this blog, I don't remember how this one played out. And since I never played Ultima VIII or Ultima IX, I've never had the satisfaction (or opposite) of finding out exactly what the Guardian is all about. Any new lore truly is new for me.

   

The blackrock gem brings me into a short hallway that ends in a locked door. A face of blackrock blocks the corridor behind me; it will take me back to the Britannian sewers. This sets up a mystery that we'll have to cover later. In the meantime, I bash through the door and enter a messy storeroom full of spoiled food and broken weapons. Investigating a barrel just leads to a fight with three bloodworms.

      

The new universe's welcoming committee.

    

A door leads to a hallway and a stairway to Level 2. The staircase brings me to a large common room full of goblin guards. I tense, but they don't attack. Cautiously, I approach one and initiate dialogue. He demands a password, suspecting me of being some kind of rebel. I manage to fool him by saying I am delivering supplies to the kitchen and handing him a delivery voucher that I found in the storeroom.

   

In subsequent conversations, it transpires that I am in some kind of prison tower. The specific land or world is never named, but it contains a kingdom called Fyrna. It seems that humans and goblins used to populate the world in an uneasy equality, but the Guardian contacted the goblins and either offered his favor (goblin perspective) or enslaved them (human perspective) and thus caused a war between goblins and humans. The goblins, led by a regent, seem to be winning the war. They have former human royalty working in the tower's kitchens and the leader of the human resistance, Bishop, imprisoned at the top of the tower. They see me as another servant, and I manage to walk through the tower without setting off any alarms.

   

A goblin provides some information about this world.

      

(The goblins refer to the Guardian several times as "the Red Titan." I find that interesting. I've made some joking comparisons between the Guardian and Thanos in the past, but now I wonder if there actually might have been some influence. I believe the Infinity Saga in Marvel Comics reached its peak in 1991, the year before the Guardian debuted in Ultima VII.)

What the map designates "Level 2" appears to be the main level of the tower (i.e., I arrived in the basement). A pair of double metal doors lead presumably to the outdoors, but I never find a way to open them.

  

To get from Level 2 to Level 3, I have to pass through a security corridor. A sign says that "standard protocols" are in effect. A nearby guard offers to tell me what that means for a bribe. I give him 10 gold pieces, and he relays that in the security corridor, the far door won't open until the near door is closed. I probably could have figured that out, but it's not like I'm finding lots of other places to spend money.

   

Level 3 has nothing but goblin guards. On Level 4, I encounter the first humans in the tower, working in the kitchens. These include a former prince of Fyrna named Felix and a man with his tongue cut out, Marcus. The kitchen has a hostile rat in a cage, for some reason (maybe goblins eat them), which I kill. 

    

Finally, a human!

        

On Level 5, I find an irate goblin smith trying to make gauntlets out of something called "fraznium," which is apparently too soft to effectively mold into something as complex as gauntlets. I suggest to him that he just make regular gauntlets with a fraznium coating, and he's so grateful that he gives me a pair. A door labeled "armory" is both locked and too strong to bash.

   

My character hits Level 8 as I reach the top of the stairs to tower Level 6. Behind a door with the Guardian's visage on it, I find the guard captain, Borne. Fortunately, all humans look alike to him, and he takes me for someone named Lorca Batan. I gather that Lorca Batan is a human traitor working for the Guardian. I play along with the conversation. Borne complains that Bishop is resisting all efforts at interrogation. I say that I'll break him, and he gives me the password ("Quicksilver") and another pair of fraznium gauntlets. Clearly, these are necessary somehow. The password gets me past the guard at the door to Level 7 and a separate guard on that level.

      

Captain Borne has some banners and the visage of the Guardian on his door.

   

I finally make it to Level 8, the top level. There are several cells here. One of them is blocked by "bars" of light, through which I am able to pass thanks to the gauntlets. 

  

Bishop initially also takes me for an interrogator, but I introduce myself as the Avatar of the Eight Virtues. Surprisingly, he's heard of me: "Thy name is known and honored among those who battle the Guardian on the many planes of reality." This surprises me, as I didn't do that much to hurt the Guardian in the last game. I just stopped him from entering Britannia, which is apparently one of many worlds that he's trying to conquer. There's something of an alliance forming among anti-Guardian factions on each of these alternate planes. Bishop says he has a way to contact them but won't tell me their names. Instead, he simply suggests that I look for "a sorcerous lady in a fortress high above a desert," and that I should also look for a "strange black jewel" that recently appeared in Bishop's chambers. It was stolen by guards. "I sensed the Guardian's sorcery in it," he says, "though I know not what part it plays in his designs."

       

I think I'd rather stick around this world and fight goblins than do any more chores for Lord British.

    

(Incidentally, I know from external sources that Bishop is the "author" of the Ultima Underworld II cluebook and that the world we're in is apparently called "Tarna." I think if the creators were going to use that name, they should have gone all-in and used liontaurs instead of goblins.)

   

I give Bishop one of the pairs of gauntlets, and he strides out of the cell to freedom. Another cell on the level is locked (but I can look through a grate and see a goblin in there); a third is full of mongbats, which I kill, distressed to find that mongbats, of all things, exist in other dimensions.

        

I suppose if I'm going to put them in the subtitle, I ought to have one screenshot.

      

As I head down to the previous level, I face a moral quandary (which, speaking of alternate universes, I swear to the gods was spelled quandry until they re-started the Large Hadron Collider yesterday). It appears that no one has yet noticed that Bishop is missing, so I can probably sneak out of this place without spilling any blood. On the other hand, any damage I can do to the forces of the Guardian is probably good for the multiverse in the long run. If I'm being honest, though, I mostly want to kill all the goblins for the experience points. Figuring I'm crossing no moral boundaries if they attack me first, I bump into one of the guards and speak rudely to him. Thus provoked, he attacks me and I am consequently morally justified in killing him.

   

i.e., I "Rittenhoused" him.

   

Word of my hostility spread quickly. I kill about five guards on Level 7 and several more on Level 6, including Borne and his lieutenant. Borne has a key ring with several keys. I head back up and open the locked cell and find a goblin named Milenius. He is the former military advisor for the Regent, caught spying for the Resistance. He is cynical about the Guardian's supposed benevolence: "Someday soon they shall seek to disobey the Guardian in some matter, and that day they shall know the nature of their 'alliance.'" He thanks me and heads off.

     

"Who's first?!"

    

In Borne's quarters, one of his keys opens a chest. It has a note from the Guardian (adorably signed "G.") ordering him to find and keep safe "a gem of hard black material." I find this on Borne's corpse and pocket it.

  

A massive, sturdy door next to Borne's office opens with one of his keys. Inside, I find a troll named Garg. After a brief conversation, he charges out the door and starts bashing goblin heads. Unfortunately for my experience-earning plans, the massive troll kills every other goblin in the tower. As I move downward, I just find their pulped bodies and discarded equipment. I gather a lot of gold--more than 100 pieces--and have to discard some excess weight to carry it all. The armory has nothing good. In the foundry, I find REL, YLEM, and SANCT stones, all of which I already have. The human servants in the kitchens pack up and flee. I get drunk on some wine, pass out, and wake up the next morning. (I was primarily testing to see what alcohol does to you in this game.)

      

There go my experience points.

    

Nothing I can do will open the double doors on Level 2. There isn't even a keyhole. The game is called Ultima Underworld, so it's not like I was expecting to be able to freely explore the landscapes of Tarna, but I do think it's too bad that my explorations are so limited. I'm also a bit confused as to the blackrock wall in the tower's basement. It looks like the one in Britannia that prevents us from leaving the castle. In Britannia, it's the result of the dome, but what is it doing here in Tarna?

       

These questions are on my mind as I warp home. No new facets are available on the gem, so I can't think of anything to do but return to the castle and report my adventures. Miranda is waiting eagerly as I enter the Great Hall; after she records my story, she says that Nystul wants to see me and Nanna is fomenting some kind of unrest among the servants (yesterday, that word was formenting). I go around talking to everyone.

   

Something weird is going on with Patterson. Iolo says that he caught the former mayor in the basement being attacked by a giant spider. Iolo saved him, but what was he doing in the basement? Patterson claims he was trying to find some wine for Dupre, but Dupre says that Patterson refused to drink with him. Meanwhile, despite Patterson's claims that his marriage is better than ever, Lady Tory says that he's been hitting on her. Maddeningly, I have no dialogue options with Patterson that explore any of this drama.

      

Lady Tory files a sexual harassment claim.

    

I finally find Syria, hanging around the throne room, and I get some points in "Sword." I also have Nelson teach me "Lore." My current stats are:

   

• 13 points in "Mana."
• 11 points each in "Attack," "Defense," and "Casting."
• 9 points in "Lore."
• 8 points in "Sword."
• 3 points in "Charisma."

   

Nanna, meanwhile, has complaints. She thinks the term "servant" is demeaning, and she wants the castle staff to be called "domestic management." She says the servants want a vote in the decisions being made in the castle, and overall she wants an end to the caste system in Britannia. Commenters have warned me about the chances of a "walking dead" scenario if I do otherwise, so I smile and nod and sympathize with Nanna and agree to talk to Lord British on the servants' behalf. I then head off intending to ask Lord British for permission to slay the servants.

   

Lord British is surprisingly hard to find. For once, he's not in his bedroom.

        

"Are you under there, my liege?"

      

I find him fiddling around in some corner of the courtyard. I relay the servants' concerns. He says he'll think about it. Later, I speak to him again. "Hast thou come to any new conclusions about our class problems?" he asks.

   

"I think the servants should be beaten!" I reply, because it's the funniest dialogue option ever, and because it's honestly how I feel. You don't try to negotiate a new contract in the middle of a life-or-death emergency.

   

Lord British doesn't like that. He calls me a "fool" and says he's going to meditate on "the past, and the way of life I have established in Britannia, and whether or not I have been just in my actions." "I shall be in my quarters," he concludes, as if this is a time for "meditation" any more than it's a time for striking. I can't tell you how done I am with Lord British.

   

I didn't save before this conversation, so I didn't try #2.

      

Nystul, meanwhile, takes my new blackrock gem, messes with it, and suggests I take it back down to the gem in the sewers. He predicts I will find "interesting effects."

  

Forgetting to drop off the gold in my chambers, I head back down, but not using the shortcuts. I want to try again with the gazers on Level 3 and the headless on Level 4. The gazers take me a couple of tries and all the IN BET MANI spells I can spare, but I manage to kill them. They were guarding a chest, which takes about 5 minutes of slashing with a spare long sword before it finally gives and spills its contents: a lantern, a magic scroll, some chain gloves, 14 gold pieces, a sapphire, and an EX rune.

    

Your time has come, gazer.

      

There's still a door on Level 3 for which I can't find a key, in the south. It won't respond to bashing, and all my picks were broken ages ago. And I still have to try to get above the waterfall when I have "Levitate." On Level 4, the headless require some hit-and-run tactics, but they ultimately fall to my improved swordsmanship and bring my character to Level 9. I'm also able to clear out the two angry ghosts on Level 5, who are guarding another sapphire, a goblet, and a regular mace.

   

Finally, I return to the blackrock thing on Level 5. Sure enough, as Nystul predicted, it's behaving differently. Where before, only one facet was a lighter color, now the light color is jumping around the facets. Specifically, it seems to be jumping randomly roughly every 8 seconds among three of them on the east side.

     

The blackrock teleporter. I can enter facets 1, 2, or 3.

   

I spend some time circling and mapping the device and confirm that it has 8 facets, each separated by a tendril of varying length. I don't know if that means anything. Facet 1, facing north-northeast, is the one I took to Tarna. That gives me two options for the next adventure. I'll let you know what I chose next time. Hopefully, it has a store of some sort!

      

Time so far: 13 hours