Ultima IX: Ascension Plot Document, Continued

After they managed put online the Edward del Castillo’s plot summary document for Ultima IX: Ascension, the editors at Ultima Aiera have managed to come into possession of the complete final revision of Bob White’s version of the plot. Needless to say, this is a treat for every self-respecting Ultima fan. Here’s a lengthy excerpt from the beginning:

II. Hawkwind at Stonegate
A. Stonegate
1. You awaken in an orderly room, upon a small bed, wearing only homespun white robes
a. The room is filled with books, grimoires, scrolls, parchments and other tools of learning
b. Near you a man sits in a simple chair, wearing similar robes to yours
i. He wearily introduces himself as Hawkwind, the one who first aided you to gain the enlightenment necessary to seek Avatarhood
ii. He tells you traveling worlds can have a disorienting effect upon the traveler and says there are plenty of reference materials in this room to help you remember your past
2. You begin to glow with a blue light, the light slowly fades
a. Hawkwind explains this light means you are gaining power toward the point which you will reach ascension.
b. Your deeds will determine the strength of your power. In your travels you must maintain your Avatarhood and remind and teach others of this path, for soon you must move beyond this world.
c. I give to you this dagger. It’s name is Raukarist. It was forged by the ancients of this world long ago in preparation for the one who would come later and lead this world through darkness and into the future.
d. Raukarist is sensitive to the condition of your virtue. As your virtue increases so will the usefulness of this weapon, for it will not always be as you see now. The shrines are also sensitive to the precense of this weapon, and they can tell you what the weapons capabilities are.
3. Hawkwind reveals his true nature
a. He says he knew you would be arriving this day and adds you were subconsciously using your fledgling powers as the Titan of Ether to travel to Britannia
(The Nexus of the Worlds was the destination of the Ethereal Portal on Pagan. The white passages were built long ago, by an ancient and powerful race, as a way-station to allow travel to any point in the universe at will. This info is in Hawkwind’s books.)
b. He seems to grow weaker, his voice softer as he says he is the one who created the gate to bring you here to safety because you were not yet ready to face the Guardian
c. He says he is the Timelord who aided you even before you had attained Avatarhood and there is more about him you will come to know in good time
(The Timelord keeps the knowledge of the Ultima and the tie between the Guardian and Avatar a secret to keep this information from falling into the Guardian’s hands and thereby making him more difficult to face.)
d. Hawkwind states that you may use all that is here. Check the chest for further items.
4. Your quests begin
a. Hawkwind asks you to Seek Lord British at Lord’s Keep in Britain
i. He tells you he would create a gate to Lord’s Keep, but is too weak from having brought you to Stonegate
ii. He knows of a passage out of Stonegate the Shadow Lords once used, he has not tried it himself, but he it will lead to the sewers beneath Britain
(There is a Wyrm Guard, Damon, somewhere in this passage. If the Avatar defeats him, he can take his cool armor and weapons, but these have a stigma in Britannia and an evil magic within themselves. They also confer a high resistance to magic, being made of dragon hide. This fight kicks up the Avatar’s Fatigue, causing him to need sleep soon.)
iii. He says L.B. has lost his purpose due to the illness and says you must help him to lead once more, (Together will you and Lord British find the way to defeat the Guardian.)
iii. Hawkwind says he must rest now, and prepare for the future, then he disappears
b. You read of the destruction of the land in Hawkwind’s personal journals
i. The Guardian came here, to Stonegate, stood atop the battlements, and cast a powerful and terrible spell
ii. He hurled foul, magical glyphs to the eight corners of the world and where they fell, huge columns rose from the ground
iii. The columns are dragging the moons out of their orbits, building awesome power as they do so, and ripping Britannia apart at its core
iv. This destruction of the land has caused a great famine to spread, and at the same time a plague has come upon the people and creatures alike, these factors have combined together to cause strife between different factions in Britannia
v. The spell is still in effect and growing stronger daily and he believes it has corrupted the moongates, the mystical conduits between towns, making them dangerous to use
c. In his journals Hawkwind writes of an illness that befell L.B. and of the Tribunal he created to rule in his stead, but his writings go on to say the strife is amongst these Tribunes
i. A plague ravages the people of Britannia, but in areas controlled by the Tribune of Love, Brother Amoranth the Apostate, the Monks of Compassion have a temporary cure known as Serpentwyne
ii. In areas ruled by the Tribune of Truth, Lady Verona the Justiciar, they have no Serpentwyne and suffer greatly from the plague, but the Mages of the Circle magically transform raw materials into food, so the famine effects them less
iii. The forces ruled by the Tribune of Courage, Sir Corigan the Knight-Marshal, are split defending Truth and Love from the ravages of brigands, wild creatures, and a new threat, the Wyrm Guard
iv. He writings say little else of the Wyrm Guard, save that they fly dragons

Introduction end…
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