Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar - Solution
By Stephen Lee
sl14@cornell.edu (valid until 1996 I guess) Version: 1.10 (08 JUL 93)

Author's Notes: I've played Ultima IV before on an Apple ][+, and the music on the Mockingboard is great! Too bad the IBM version doesn't have any decent music. I miss it a lot! I've forgotten how good it was... When I replayed this excellent game, I couldn't find a solution on the net, so I decide to write one myself, and here it is!

Solution

The objective of this game is to gain access to the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom. In order to do that, the following goals need to be fulfilled:

(1) Become 8 parts avatar

(2) Have the key of 3 parts

(3) Know the word of passage

(4) Know the pure axiom

(5) Go to the chamber

(1) Become 8 parts avatar: You just need to do the right things and avoid doing the wrong things (sounds easy eh?). To know what the 'right' and 'wrong' things are, you can meditate at the shrines.

Each of the 8 cities represents a virtue, and you should ask about in each for the rune and the mantra, in order to access the shrines. Note that you'll need to locate the shrine of spirituality, and get the Silver Horn to gain access to the shrine of Humility. Visit Hawkwind in Britannia often to know of your progress. Once you are ready for partial avatarhood in a virtue, go to the shrine and meditate for 3 cycles. Repeat until you are avatar in all 8 virtues!

(2) Getting the key of 3 parts: You need to find the 8 coloured stones and use them in the Altar room of Truth, Love and Courage to get the 3 parts of the key. The stones are mostly found at the Dungeons, except the white and the black stone. The altar rooms are accessible via the 8th level of the Dungeons. You also need to figure out which 4 stones to use at each altar.

(3) Knowing the word of passage: Ask the parts of the word in Lycaeum, Serpent's Hold and Empath Abbey. Paste together to get word of passage

(4) Knowing the pure axiom: When you achieve Avatarhood in each virtue, a rune would appear on screen. Translate. Paste the 8 alphabets together to get the pure axiom.

(5) Going to the chamber: The chamber is accessed via the Great Stygian Abyss. So first you need to figure out where the entrance of the Abyss is! Second, you'll need to reach it. To do that you need the wheel of H.M.S. Cape to pass through the pirates.

After that, you'll need the Book of Truth, Candle of Love and Bell of Courage to open the entrance. And while we are at it, why not find Mondain's Skull and destroy it at the mouth of the Abyss? And also, to survive the Abyss, you need the Mystic Armor and Weapons. Then hack through the Abyss and find the chamber at the 8th level! Oh by the way you need the stones again to go down each level of the Abyss, but you should have them already at this time. Once you are in the chamber, all you need to do is to answer a few questions (correctly of course!), and win!

Hints: Can't find your companions? There is one in every city (including Magincia) except the one that you come from (ie. with the same job as you). Just look hard.

The magic wand (5000gp from Buccaneers' Den) is the most powerful weapon. The magic bow (2000gp, same place) follows, but need ammunition (arrows).Both are ranged, and thus more useful than the Mystic Weapons.

Reverse the mantra of Pride to get the mantra of Humility. Lord British will heal your party if you ask for it. In Magnicia, wait for the snake to approach you with P)ass and T)alk it. Don't run into it because you'll be attacked before you have a chance to ask.

Orbs in Dungeons can enhance Str, Int and Dex. (see table below) Telescope in Lycaeum let you see the maps of the cities. (see table below)   The only projectile weapon a shepherd can use is the sling.

Hythloth connect to all 3 Altar rooms. Also, there is a room in level 8 (just go straight down) which has a lot of chests (money!) in it. You can go into the room, defeat the Balrons, get the money, retreat, and enter the room again for another loot. You can repeat this until you have enough money or not enough health. The manual lists the energy fields' effects incorrectly (mine Tom's did, anyway). The correct effects:

Violet: sleep
Blue: lightning
Orange: flame
Green: poison

Spoilers:

(1) How do I... Choose job: Look up the virtue your job corresponds to. When answering the | questions of the gypsy at the beginning, steer your answer towards that virtue. Advance in level: Go talk to Lord British! Decode these locations in the spoiler: Get the sextant! Know which stone to use at an altar: The short answer is you use the stones that are found in the dungeons connecting to the altar room. Hythloth is white. The long answer is to use the stones that contain the color of the principle: blue for truth, yellow for love, red for courage. Note how they mix to get the other colors. White contains all colors. Black contains none. Know which stone to use in the Abyss: See the table for the virtue each stone corresponds to.

Get to Cove: The intuitive way is to wait for a pirate's ship to appear in Lock Lake, which is tedious and need a lot of luck. However, a better solution is to get a ship (by buying or getting one from pirates) and sail into a whirlpool! The ship will reappear in Lock Lake and you can now go to Cove. A second way is to use the blink spell (blink west then south) | from the right place, which is even easier. | Get around in the Abyss: It's very tedious, I suggest you just bring a lot of gems... In some rooms you'll need to step on/push some tile to open a door, make a bridge, etc. Some rooms need to be entered twice from different directions. When in doubt, map it out!

(2) Where can I find... My companions: see table below.

Sextant: ask for item 'D' at theive's guild.
Mandrake: Found at D'G" L'G" and K'F" G'E" when both moons are dark.
Nightshade: Found at J'F" C'O" and C'M" M'N" when both moons are dark.
Shrine of Spirituality: Enter moongates when both moons are full.
Runes: see chart below Mantras:
    ditto Silver horn: Buried on an isle off the tip of Spiritwood (K'N" C'N") White Stone: F'A" E'A" on Serpent's Spine (reached via
    Balloon) Black Stone: Stand where the gate of both moons dark shall appear, search when moons goes dark.
Balloon: At exit of Dungeon Hythloth. You may find the X-it spell useful for this purpose. Note that the balloon returns there each time     you exit from Hythloth.
Dungeon Hythloth: Enter from secret entrance in Britiannia.
Wheel of HMS Cape: In deep waters of the bay in Cape of Heros (N'H" G'A")
Book of Truth: A'G" A'G" in Lycaeum
Candle of Love: A'B" B'G" in Cove Bell of Courage: Bottom of a deep well at sea, N'A" L'A"
Skull of Mondain: At P'F" M'F" on the darkest night Mystic Armors: A'E" B'G" in Empath Abbey
Mystic Weapons: A'P" A'I" in Serpent Castle

(3) What is... The word of passage: veramocor The pure axiom: (You really want to know?) It's 9 14 6 9 14 9 20 25. I believe you have enough intelligence to translate this.

Useful information:

Virtue TLC Shrine Mantra Dungeon Location Orb Stone Level
Honesty T-- E'C" O'J" AHM Deceit E'J" P'A" I--Blue 7
Compassion -L- F'M" I'A" MU
Despise E'D" F'L" -D-
Yellow 5 Valor --C O'F" C'E" RA
Destard K'I" E'I" --S Red 7
Justice TL- A'L" E'J" BEH
Wrong B'E" H'O" ID-Green 8
Sacrifice -LC C'N" M'N" CAH
Covetous B'L" J'M" -DS Orange 7
Honor T-C M'P" F'B" SUMM
Shame G'G" O'P" I-S Purple 2
Spirituality TLC (1) OM Hythloth (2) IDS White (3)
Humility --- N'D" O'H" LUM --- --- --- Black (4) Phase City Location Moongate Virtue Rune Map (5)

1.(O) Moonglow I'H" O'I" I'F" O'A" Honesty A'G" A'I" E
2. O) Britian G'K" F'C" Compassion A'B" B'J" F
3. |) Jhelom N'O" C'E" Valor B'O" B'O" G
4. ) Yew C'L" D'K" C'F" D'C" Justice A'G" A'N" H
5. Minoc B'E" J'P" B'D" K'G" Sacrifice B'O" B'M" I
6.( Trinsic L'I" G'K" M'C" G'I" Honor B'N" A'C" J

7.(| Skara Brae I'A" B'G" H'O" B'H" Spirituality (6) K | 8.(O Magnicia K'J" L'L" Pride(7) (8) L | | Job Virtue City MP(9)

Companion Location:

Mage Honesty Moonglow 2
Mariah NW by chest
Bard Compassion Britian 1 Iolo
Fighter Valor Jhelom 0
Geoffry Locked room in inn
Druid Justice Yew 1.5 Julie NW camping Tinker
Sacrifice Minoc 0.5 Jaana in poor house
Paladin Honor Trinsic 1 Dupre
Ranger Spirituality Skara Brae 1
Shamino by Ankh at entrance
Shepherd Humility Magnicia 0
Katrina SW corner

Keep Location Principle Map
Lycaeum G'L" N'K" Truth B | Empath Abbey D'C" B'M" Love C | Serpent's Hold P'B" J'C" Courage D

Misc Location Map
Britiannia G'L" F'G" A | Paws J'B" G'C" M | Buccaneers' Den J'O" I'I" N | Vesper D'L" M'J" O | Cove F'K" I'I"(10) P

(1) Enter Moon Gate at Moonglow when both moons are full
(2) Enter from secret entrance in Britiannia
(3) F'A" E'A" on Serpent's Spine (reached via Balloon)
(4) Stand where the gate of both moons dark shall appear (I'F" O'A" ?), search when moons goes dark
(5) Shown in the observatory in Lycaeum
(6) A'I" B'B" in Britiannia
(7) Opposite of Humility
(8) B'N" B'N" in Paws
(9) number times Intelligence
(10) Go into Lock Lake by sailing into a whirlpool or use blink spell

+======================================+
|City/Price(gp)| A | B | C | D | E | F | +======================================+
|Skara Brae | 2 | 4 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 8 | |Moonglow | 2 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 9 | |Buccaneers' D.| 6 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 1 | +===================================================+
|Spell | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | MP | +===================================================+
|A)waken | | X | X | | | | | | | |B)link | | | | X | X | | | | | |C)ure | | X | X | | | | | | | |D)ispell | X | | X | | | X | | | 20 | |E)nergy Field | X | | | X | | X | | | | A Sulfurous Ash |F)ireball | X | | | | | X | | | | B Ginseng |G)ate Travel | X | | | | | X | | X | | C Garlic |H)eal | | X | | X | | | | | | D Spider Silk |I)ceball | | | | | | X | | X | | E Blood Moss |J)inx | | | | | | X | X | X | | F Black Pearl |K)ill | | | | | | X | X | | | G Nightshade |L)ight | X | | | | | | | | | H Mandrake |M)agic Missile| X | | | | | X | | | | |N)egate | X | | X | | | | | X | | |O)pen | X | | | | X | | | | | MP: Magic Points |P)rotection | X | X | X | | | | | | | |Q)uickness | X | X | | | X | | | | | SB: Skara Brae |R)esurrect | X | X | X | X | X | | | X | 45 | MG: Moonglow |S)leep | | X | | X | | | | | | BD: Buccaneers' Den |T)remor | X | | | | X | | | X | | |U)ndead | | | | | | | | | | |V)iew | | | | | | | X | X | | |W)ind Change | X | | | | X | | | | | |X)it | X | | | X | X | | | | | |Y)(up) | | | | X | X | | | | | |Z)(down) | | | | X | X | | | | |   =+============+ Last Words

Some of the info in the tables are missing. I don't want to open up the game again to fill those in, but they are probably not required to finish the game. If somebody can write a section on going through the Abyss it would be great. Ditto for Weapon and Armor availability and prices. How about a map generating program? I've seen one for the Apple, but anyone has an IBM version? (For U5 also) If you improve on this file, please send me a copy if possible.

If anyone has a copy of U4/U5 for the Apple ][ or a MockingBoard they want to get rid of, try contacting me at the address at the top. Machine-Dependent Note: If you are still lucky enough to play this game on an Apple with MockingBoard, I still remember you can sample the music by pressing 1-9 (maybe 0 too) at the title screen. I'm not sure I remember it correctly, but that's the idea. It works with Ultima VI on the IBM PC, too.

Useless information, but maybe someone cares: The Book of Wisdom has writing | on the cover. When translated, it reads: "Being a compendium of the processes and effects of combining human will and natural forces as | discovered and recorded by the greatest sorcerers since the beginning of time.

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