This is my first post in a few days. I’ve not exactly had much time and also got distracted this weekend by a request to update one of my other projects (an audio enhancement for a few games which I hacked into scummVM).  This meant setting up a PSP development environment which takes near enough a full day of compiling and tweaking. Anyway thats out of the way now, so its back to Ultima.

Last time I played I’d just been told to fetch a bar to complete this soul cage at the blacksmiths. The bars are very close by in the cemetary railings. I hand one over and he finishes the cage.

Mordra gives me the required instructions to banish the liche. Step 1 involves taking all her potions from her house and combining them into the fireball potion.

The gadget for doing this is at the tortured ones place. I hook up each flask, put an empty one at the other end, light the burner and get my fireball potion.

I also need to dip the cage in the well of souls. This is behind a false wall at the back of the dark tower.

Thats everything in place but I can’t use the cage until midnight when Horance summons everyone to the tower. A lot of waiting later everyone appears at the tower lying still on all the slabs.

I slap the cage on Horance and use the potion.

Rather than killing Horance outright this just banishes the evil spirit from his body and he becomes himself again. I may have just saved his soul but just like everyone else he still has a quest or two for me.  First I have to take the blacksmiths wife back to him.

This part is simple enough.

Next I need to find someone who will go into the well of souls and sacrifice themselves to release all the souls within. He suggests I ask the mayor, but the mayor wants me to ask everyone else first.

While I’m asking everyone, I take the chance to get my reward from Caine. There are no answers to life and death after all – that was worth the effort then….

No one volunteers so I go back to the mayor and he agrees to do the job himself.

I lead him to the well, he jumps in (eventually) and all the souls are freed.

Horance rewards me with his staff. This weapon shoots fireballs and is quite powerful but I’ve not quite decided how useful it is yet as Iolo tends to shoot other people with it in combat.

Thats everything in Skara Brae done. I hitch the ferry back and sail all the way back to New Magincia with the “answer”.

Rather than just handing over the notebook, I have to fetch it myself from the mysterious building to the south. This is a small maze of secret walls, levers, teleports and the like.

It doesn’t prove to be too difficult and I get the end 10 minutes later. The room with the notebook is out of reach so I stack the convenient crates to make steps.

Horances notebook turns out to be more interesting than expected.  Its a detailed critique of the fellowships principles which pretty much states what should be apparent to anyone whos made it this far in the game.

More than this, it also says that the fellowship is being controlled by the guardian who is attempting to take over Britannia and that Batlin, Elizabeth and Abraham are his lieutenants. Its tempting to go over to Britain and take out Batlin but I expect that isn’t an option so I’ll stick with the quests which means taking this notebook to the wisps.

The wisps give me some further information. The guardian is some sort of creature from another dimension who has already conquered other worlds and will destroy Britannia if he can. He is attempting to come here through some sort of black moongate (which is where the title of the game comes in at last).

The wisp also tells me how to reach the timelord. All I have to do is use the moonstone to the NW which seems far too easy.

It works though and I get teleported to some sort of tiny shrine in a void. The time lord has been trapped here by the guardian in some sort of time fold.

The time lord doesn’t say a lot about himself – his job is to help time flow in some manner. He was the one who summoned me from Britannia in the first place but didn’t mean to drop me in Trinsic.

He gives me my next quest. There is some sort of generator in Despise NW of Britain and I need to destroy it. He hints that I won’t be able to do this but I can come back and ask him how if that is the case. He even goes as far as to tell me to use recall spells so I don’t have to do the whole dungeon again which suggests to me that Despise is going to be tough. I should really take the notebook back first I suppose. I’ll see how I feel about that next time I play – I think there is some sort of reward but I don’t really need any more weapons.

This was the session where I finally found out what is really going on in Britannia. You can pick guess of this stuff up along the way from whats happening in the towns but I like the way you see the effects on the world of the fellowship and a chance to make up your own mind before being told outright.