Classic Games Revisited
Ultima VIII: Pagan Walkthrough
7.17. The Pilgrimage
We are going to revisit some familiar territories: the cemetery and the Upper Catacombs. Return to the cemetery (jump down south from the roof all the way to the crossroads, east to East Tenebrae, north, east, north, and all the way east to East Road, north all the way, east and north). Follow the dirt track north, east and north, but this time continue going north alongside the fence. At the end, head north-east and north through the gargoyle-flanked gates and enter the building in front of you from the eastern side. Go the end of the central passage between the two gargoyles and cast Open Ground, then enter the Upper Catacombs.
Walk north all the way through the door and the previously-lowered gate up to the fenced area. Go east all the way till you can go no further, north, east, immediately north and east, past the pile of skeletons to the automatic gate, which will shut upon your approach. Retrace your steps and return so that the gate lowers and cross over. So far this route has been familiar to us.
Now go north and you will come upon a building to the west. In the unpatched version, the gold plaque will read “Towards Fate Do You Travel” and in the patched version it will be “The Birthplace of Moriens.” Open the locked door with the Key of the Scion and go through. Go west, south, west to walk around the lava.
[Optional] All the way west in the little corridor next to the gold plaque that reads “Rest in Peace,” you can cast a Restore to Sight scroll or Reveal to discover a chest with silver magic armor, which we are already wearing.
From the lava pool, on the other side of this corridor, head in a west-northwest direction and follow the corridor north to come upon large double-doors. Walk through to enter the Shrine of the Ancient Ones.
7.17.1. Skull of Quakes
Walk north, northwest past the spiked rollers, north past the doors, and east until you come upon a caged chest surrounded by 5 levers. Use Aerial Servant to deposit the chest next to you and take the key from it.
The actual solution to the puzzle is this: Going clockwise, if the levers are numbered 1 to 5 starting at the western one, flip the levers in this order: 5-3-5. (Sometimes it works with just 5-3, sometimes with 5-3-5-3.) But you need to first throw the corresponding skull candles far away, then activate the levers. If you hear a horn sound, or if balls of fire emerge, something went wrong. You can continue playing around with random levers until the cage opens but it is better to reload and start from the beginning. If all the levers get flipped by themselves, you’re doing the right thing.
Just before this cage puzzle was a gate puzzle to the north. You can avoid either that puzzle (as we have done) or avoid this cage puzzle and another puzzle a little further ahead, and solve the gates instead. It is far easier to do this one even if you don’t know Aerial Servant.
Go north through the locked double-doors, further north to the end of the passage past all the fire shooters (hug the east wall to avoid damage), east to the end of the passage, all the way south and west to a chest. If you have a scroll of trap destruction, use it from a few steps away, or just tank through the trap on the chest. Take the Skull of Quakes from it; it will be useful much later.
7.17.2. Puzzling Gate
Return east, north and west to see a passage going north. Go north and west past the spiked rollers to come upon a fenced gate that seems impossible to open. Although hidden from view, there are pressure plates to the north of the gate just like the ones you can see to its south. Walk around the northern edge of the wall until you hit one and the gate will open. Go south through it.
This pressure plate puzzle could have been avoided if you had solved the gate puzzle earlier instead of choosing to do the cage puzzle.
Now follow the passage west, south, southwest, west past the exit to the gate puzzle, and south. You need to climb up to the west between the stalagmites. It can be a little tricky to find the right spot to stand in before climbing up. Go west (jumping over the water), and turn north as soon as you are able. You will come upon a gravestone.
Conveniently placed next to it is an empty bag, a vial of blood, and blackmoor. If you don’t already have Open Ground, you can prepare it here. Cast Open Ground and the mud next to the gravestone will fall away. If you were standing in the right spot, you should fall down with it (unhurt) or just walk into the pit. Walk south and you will be able to see where you are. Go east to see the Zealan Ceremonial Shield. Aerial Servant it next to you and pick it up.
7.17.3. Rolling Spheres Puzzle
Go all the way west and north through a gateway and you will find yourself surrounded by a few pillars. Go all the way east to find the rolling spheres puzzle. The way north is barred by a fence. To the northwest of it is a pillar with a pressure plate on top. Aerial Servant the skull lying on the ground to the pressure plate and the gate will open.
Actual solution: You need to hit the pressure plate to lower the fence. To do this, you need to stand at a distance and throw rolling spheres at the top (but on the side) of the tall pillar that is holding up the plate (beyond the fence). This will not work if Hackmove is on. If your mouse pointer is an arrow while holding a sphere, the sphere will be placed instead of thrown. To throw it, the pointer needs to be crosshairs. It could take several tries and might turn out to be frustrating, especially if you start running low on things to throw.
Go north and flip the lever to raise an adjacent platform. Walk south under the platform and take the key from the table. The chest and barrels around here have some reagents and coins if you want them. Just north of the lever is a white beam that can harm you; jump over it. On the other side, go east past a fire shooter to come upon a stairs puzzle.
7.17.4. Stairs Puzzle
The objective is to ‘move’ the entire staircase from the right to the middle. The problem is that you can only move one step at a time, by first weighing down the pressure plate in front of the step you wish to move, and then the plate in front of the destination. The restriction is that you can never place a taller step in front of a lower step. You can weigh down the pressure plates either by stepping on them, or by using the clock that has been provided here. I find it much simpler to just walk around.
If the pressure plates (or stairs) are numbered 1, 2 and 3 from left to right, the solution is: 31 32 12 31 23 21 31 32 12 13 23 12 31 32 12. Be careful after placing the last step. Stepping again on plate 2 will undo it. The door will open once the puzzle has been completed and you should go through it.
Blocking your path north are blue and red beams. The red beam is benign, but the blue one will kill you. Cast Rock Flesh on yourself, drink a purple potion of invulnerability, or cast Intervention before going across and down the steps on the other side. Continue north to find a locked double-door to the west. Unlock it; the next set of doors is not locked so go through to the Zealan Shrine.
Go west to the last bench that has a skeleton lying on it. Move the skeleton to reveal a key that you should take. This will let you unlock all the small double-doors, giving you easier access to various regions of this map, which we will use on our way back. Walk up to the altar, place the Zealan shield on it, walk to the middle of the statues, and they will speak to you.
7.17.5. Obelisk Tip
It is best to prepare Grant Peace before continuing. You can kill your upcoming foe (Khumash-Gor) with a magical weapon but the spell is the most painless way to defeat it. Use the scroll of dispelling magic portals to open the doors in front of you. Make sure you’re prepared before entering (e.g., keep your inventory open so that you have ready access to the Grant Peace focus).
After killing the ghost, pick up the Scimitar of Khumash-Gor. It is a decent weapon, but nothing special. It does double damage to undead, but you are better off using the Deceiver for consistent higher damage output, the Slayer for its vorpal hit chance, or the Protector for its AC boost. Next, along the western wall, open the jewelry box to the right and take the obelisk tip. The chest has some potions. The statues will speak to you again upon leaving this room.
7.17.6. Shortcuts to the Exit
Leave the shrine through the double double-doors to the east and return south. To the east, just before the staircase, are double-doors that you can unlock. Go through these and head south all the way to more locked double-doors. Again, unlock and walk through. Now go all the way west, past the staircase puzzle, to the end of this corridor. At the very end, unlock yet another set of double-doors to the south and go through. Run south all the way (a tiny bit east) to more locked double-doors. Unlock them and walk up to where you picked up the shield from (this is how we would have got it without Aerial Servant).
Finally, walk south and follow the passage east to unlock the last set of doors. Go southeast past the spiked rollers, and south to the Birthplace of Moriens. South, east, southeast, jump east over the lava, a tiny bit north and east to exit back to the Upper Catacombs.