Linguistic Dragon managed to take enough of a break from Pillars of Eternity (which we talked about a couple of weeks ago, recall) to finish off Ultima 5:

When last I left my intrepid band of bold adventurers, we were camped out just outside the entrance of Shame, ready to make the journey into its depths, beyond which the Codex had told us lay the way to the core of the world, where Lord British awaited our arrival. This was it. The last stage of our rescue mission. We’d neutralized our main adversaries (hopefully Blackthorn would mellow out once he was truly free of the Shadowlords’ influence). We’d managed to pry the Crown Jewels back out of their hands. We’d been told, albeit cryptically, what we might expect during the expedition, and we’d prepared as best as we were able. All that was left was to enact the mission itself, facing down the dangers at the very heart of the Underworld, pushing past them all in order to rescue Lord British and bring him back to his rightful place as ruling monarch.

…

When all was said and done, and we limped our way away from the scene of all the carnage, we were barely clinging to the last threads of life, and Dupre had given his own in the fracas – by my own hand, I’m sorry to say, he was in the wrong position when I fired off an In Vas Grav Corp spell and there was no time to amend such. We had to resort to a scroll to resurrect him (thankfully he didn’t hold it against me), and it was some time before we had recovered enough to push onward, even with Vas Mani spells and regeneration rings hurrying the process along. We next we found ourselves thrust into a fight, we were relieved to see it was simply sharks and wisps. Sharks were no trouble at all for us anymore, and while wisps were dangerous no matter how you looked at it, we nullified the risk of getting charmed by them with the Crown, and used the terrain to our advantage to take them out before they could get close enough to retaliate in kind. It was refreshing to have a relatively easy fight, but it didn’t last long, when more ethereal wards made a fight with demons and mongbats difficult to orchestrate due to the tight quarters, and complicated even further when half the room started filling with lava. Shamino and Dupre didn’t survive to stagger their way out with the rest of the group, but fortunately, just after that was our goal.

Through a pit in the floor, we descended into a simple, well-furnished room with a mirror, though it was not our own reflection that we saw in it – but that of Lord British! One by one we were absorbed into the mirror, Shamino and Dupre resurrected in these final moments, and presented with the sandalwood box we had retrieved from his quarters, Lord British extracted a strange stone from it, casting it to the ground where we were all bathed in the crimson glow of a summoned moongate.

We all stepped through, and we knew our purpose had been achieved.

As you can imagine, there’s a lot more that Linguistic has written about the process of actually saving Lord British; click on through to read the rest.

And then, do be sure to check out Linguistic’s closing thoughts on the game. Although it didn’t quite supplant Ultima 4 as the favourite, Ultima 5 came close:

When it comes down to it, though, I think what really clicked with me about Ultima V is that sense of exploration and discovery as I saw the story and the world unfold around me, the same spark that drew me in to Ultima IV all those years ago. I devoured the game this time just as ravenously as I did Ultima IV on my first playthrough, and maybe that’s why I’ve come to love it as much as I have – it’s evoked that feeling, rekindled that joy to some extent. The conversations are deeper, the NPCs memorable, and even the landscape itself has some character, what with the oppressive feel of Blackthorn’s castle, the individuality of the dungeons, the glint of the lighthouses piercing the dark of night.

…

So now do I turn from Ultima V to Ultima VI, and as I do, my regard of the game is considerably higher than it used to be. It still hasn’t overtaken my favorite spot, but it’s now a very, very close second, I think – Serpent Isle is going to have some catching up to do when I get to it again. It’ll be fond memories behind me as I advance to the story of the False Prophet – and I must admit I’ve been very much looking forward to it.

You all know Ultima 6 is my favourite, so I’m definitely looking forward to what Linguistic does with its story.