Part 62: Chapter 6, Part 12

When I started this update we had a three-way tie so I'm casting my vote for... I dunno. Strength I guess.




This means we've maxed out our first attribute. :emoticon expressing enthusiasm about advancement in game:




Oh god damn it. It's pitch black and we can't get the day spell until later in the game.




: To know that if Raven and the Avatar wished to destroy the Gargoyle people, never would they have brought forth an egg to me.
: To end my plea by asking Your Honor to clear Raven of all charges brought against her, to clear her name and to clear the Avatar's name.
: To thank Your Honor for this time in court.




They are conducting a court session in an outdoor courthouse, in the middle of the night during a rainstorm, and it is the most natural thing in the world.


: Having heard this plea and examined the evidence given, this court finds that the defendant, Raven is indeed innocent and is to be cleared of all charges.
: Furthermore, this court apologizes for any distress that it has caused and releases the defendant effective immediately with no stain upon her character.
: Finally, as I see that the Avatar has entered the court, I wish to apologize both as the judge in this case and simply as a man.
: I have spent all of my adult life in the pursuit of justice. Somewhere along the way, I lost sight of that pursuit.
: I wish to thank you Avatar, for showing me the error of my ways and for setting me back on the path of justice.
: The deaths of fifty-seven guards is a worthy price to pay to correct a single judge about a single case.




Yay! Now we can leave this horrible place and only return once more, when we have higher dexterity.




We're going back to Britain the easy way.









In a crate on a ledge is the Unpolished Sapphire lighthouse gem. For some reason getting it polished will make it even larger.




At the top of the mountain is a guardpost. (Worst job possible).

In case you can't see it, the castle maze is right on the other side of the cliff.


There isn't much here to do. I reorganize our inventory, learn some scrolls, sell some more loot (we now have about 28,000 in gold) and sleep until it's light outside. The dialogue options for the NPCs do not change. At all. Ever. Not even Lord British.












: Who were your parents?
: My mother was a cook. She died when I was very young. I barely even remember her. My father was a sailor.
: Mother said that he died in a storm before I was born. She told me that he was very handsome and brave. All the kinds of things that a little girl wants to believe about her father.

Oh, so she doesn't remember her mother, does she?


: How long have you been with [Samhayne]?
: Almost my entire life. I know Samhayne acts like he'd sell his own mother for the right price, but deep down he's got a soft heart.
: He's actually taken in several orphans and brought them up.




: He raised you and brought you into the business.
: It's a legitimate business, Avatar, and he's used it to help a lot of kids, not just me. Without Samhayne's help, a lot of kids would never have made it.


: But you would have, with or without his help. You're strong, and you're smart. You'd have found a way to succeed with or without Samhayne.
: Yes, well, I'm the exception.




...Congratulations, Ultima IX, for being the first game to have a more jarring and poorly-scripted romantic subplot than Final Fantasy VIII!


: Easy there, love; you've got a lot of work to do, remember?
: How could I forget?
: Don't worry, there'll be plenty of time for fun later, but right now we've got to get going.

Prelude to a