Linguistic Dragon, despite having been somewhat sidetracked by Pillars of Eternity, found some time to play Ultima 5 again recently. Unfortunately, it can’t be said that he had a rosy time of it with this latest go:

…We got into several fights as we skirted our way around waterways and mountains, bumping into headless, skeletons (where the An Xen Corp spell proved handy to have around), orcs, and the occasional rat. I picked up a decent amount of money and equipment on the way, though I wasn’t really focusing too much on equipment at the moment – gather a good stockpile of cash, then I could spend it on the necessary weapons and armor when I decided to prepare myself for diving into the more dangerous parts of the world. I gave Iolo and Jaana ranged weapons, Iolo because of his decent dexterity and Jaana to keep her at a safe distance, while Shamino, Gwenno and I held the front lines. I began to amass a nice little nest egg for myself as I approached the city of Sacrifice, and as I passed the lighthouse nearby, I found and even greater reason for my wallet to rejoice – a pirate ship on the horizon! If I could defeat its crew, then I wouldn’t even have to worry about purchasing a ship. I could get one for free! So after some careful maneuvering to lure the pirate ship to a position where I could climb aboard and seize it for myself, we attacked.

This turned out to be a less than stellar idea.

After having his Avatar killed off in a successful — though only barely — attempt to board the pirate ship, his surviving party members voyaged first to Minoc. Finding the town occupied by a Shadowlord, they took refuge in Stormcrow for a spell, wherein Linguistic observed the touching little scene pictured above:

As I left the lighthouse, I watched the keeper and his wife enjoy a meal — it seemed that while he maintained the light through the night and his wife kept things in order during the day, they at least took the time to eat together before trading off duty and rest with each other. It’s just a small little bit of NPC scheduling, but for some reason I find it adorable and endearing all the same.

Sadly, in the interim between the attack on the pirate ship and the party’s eventual entry into Minoc, Gwenno was also felled during another encounter; Linguistic’s bill for services at the healer in Minoc proved to be rather higher than expected, when finally the Shadowlord left the town. Once they were all back on their feet, however, Linguistic took the party on what could perhaps be described as a whirlwind tour of much of Britannia, stopping off at several places before ending up at the shrine which gives this article its title:

…I paid a visit to the Shrine of Sacrifice, which exhorted me to visit the Codex to learn of unwilling sacrifice. I finished my session by doing just that, dropping by the Codex then returning to the shrine. It strikes me that the Shrines have been, in their own manner, expressing just what is wrong with Blackthorn’s Laws – that it should be the guilt of the wrong action itself and not the threat of death that leads one to make amends, that sacrifice is a choice, not something to be forced. It makes me wonder whether these quests the Shrines ordain are specific to the Avatar, or whether they would be bestowed on any truly seeking enlightenment in this period of Britannian history – whether the Shrines themselves are trying to expose the nature of Blackthorn’s misinterpretations of the Virtues. Perhaps that’s why Blackthorn would be seeking the mantras and the words of power? The shrines themselves are pushing back against his rule? An interesting angle to think about, at any rate.

So ended the next chapter of my adventures, and I expect the next couple will be in a similar vein.

As always, do click on through and read the whole thing.