Classic Games Revisited
Ultima VIII: Pagan Walkthrough
7.1. Equip Yourself
After being dropped from the sky by the Guardian into the sea by unknown lands, you will be inadvertently rescued by a fisherman named Devon who brings you in an unconscious state to his campsite on the shore. Your only objective is to find a way to return home. The game begins in dialogue with Devon as you wake up.
[Optional - Story] You can choose to have a long conversation with Devon. If you talk to him about the fate you avoided, he will tell you about the Lurker and a little about the Necromancers and that will end your conversation. Instead, ask him about where you’ve ended up. Replying with “I come from far away” will result in him telling you about Bentic in Tenebrae Library. In this line of questioning, you can get to know about the current ruler of Tenebrae, Mordea and her general disposition in life, as well as about Tempests. You can then go on to question him about the Lurker and Necromancers. You can also keep speaking with Devon to get all story lines in case you miss something.
You could also simply say Goodbye and end the conversation.
7.1.1. Bedroll & Helmet
When you are done speaking to Devon, double-click the Bedroll next to the campfire to roll it up, then place it in your backpack.
Now travel east along the shoreline all the way until the end. Don’t worry about any critters you encounter along the way. Just step over them and they will die. Turn north until you reach the city wall. Half-hidden behind a tree here is a jewelry box with a key in it. Take the key (and box if you wish), retreat south a few paces and climb up to the higher ground to the west (stand next to it and medium-arrow/both-click). Travel west until you reach a walled-off area (the remains of a dilapidated house). In the northwest corner of the house is a chest. Double-click the key, then click the chest. Open the trapped chest (double-click; an explosion will hurt you) to find a Helmet. Equip it.
Don’t waste any potions on healing your wounds. Quite some time will pass before your first fight and you will probably be back to full health before then.
7.1.2. Dagger & Keyring
Travel southwest from the dilapidated house to return to Devon. Now walk west until you reach steps leading up to a wooden bridge. Next to the steps are a couple of barrels. In one of the barrels, you will find a dagger inside a jewelry box. Equip it on the character sheet. In the patched version, you will also find a keyring.
[Optional - Story] You will also find a scroll mentioning the Skull of Quakes. You don’t need to keep the scroll but it tells you that Queen Mordea doesn’t wish its location to be public knowledge.
[Optional - Stats] Now is a good time to bulk up your muscles. Walk east a little to an empty patch of land (or all the way to Devon), go into combat mode and swing your weapon like crazy. Jump around like a madman. Eventually you will see your strength and dexterity rising very slowly. You can do this until both are maxed out at 25.
Of course, you could choose to progress your stats slowly as the game intended, and regularly search for and beat up ghouls. You could also cheat your stats up by using my cheat table with Cheat Engine (Google Search prevents me from linking directly to the software's site).
At the wooden bridge, climb the steps and turn south. As you approach, you will witness an execution in a cutscene. Once it ends, you will be questioned about your identity and purpose here by a guard. Answer any way you like. I usually answer honestly: “My name is,” “Far away” and “To return home.”
Now run north to enter Tenebrae and begin the long journey home. At the city gates, you will be stopped by another guard asking your identity. Once again, answer honestly and continue north through the city gates.
7.1.3. Scrolls & Potions
You will now be in Central Tenebrae. Four-five strides north will be a crossroads. Go a few more strides north under the bridge. Open the door to the west and go in. The chest here only contains some clothes (the key is on the table). Ignore it and go upstairs. Take the scroll of Trap Destruction. Leave this tower via the east and enter the tower opposite (the door will become visible when you get close enough). Go downstairs. The chest here is trapped but don’t use the scroll yet. Take the hit instead; we are going to be walking around Tenebrae a lot and you will recover all lost health naturally. Grab your first bag from the chest. Purple potions give you invulnerability for a short period and are invaluable in some difficult fights. Ignore the helmet: it affords lesser AC than the one you are wearing.
Note: the rest of Equip Yourself can be done in any order. You may choose to plan out a more efficient route for yourself. If this is your first time playing, going across maps multiple times is a good way to familiarize yourself with them.
7.1.4. Keyring
Exit the tower room through the door to the west and go north, across the wooden bridge. This is the palace. Immediately turn east and go through the door at the end of the corridor. This is the kitchen. Three paces to the north is a flight of stairs going up. Take it. On the upper floor, you will see three barrels. All three barrels hold baskets and one of these baskets contains a keyring. If you are playing the unpatched version, this is where you can acquire it.
7.1.5. Central Tenebrae Waypoint
Exit this little tower via the west. Go northwest to a table surrounded by dummies. On this table is a backpack. Empty it and drag it north with you past the dragon statues. In the middle of these statues is the Central Tenebrae waypoint. It will activate as soon as you approach it. We still need to get the item that lets us teleport around, but we’ll get to that later. First, place the empty backpack near the teleporter. Eventually, you can add more backpacks or jewelry boxes here and treat them as your stash for items you don’t want to lug around.
Once you are done organizing your inventory, go to the northwest tower via its southern entrance. Climb down the stairs to the lower floor and open the door to the east. Walk east and turn north when you see the wooden bridge. Once again you will come upon a pair of stone towers with a stone bridge across them. However, the doors here are locked. Stand right next to the water puddle and jump straight up. To be sure of your placement, you can walk under the bridge and then take tiny paces south until the bridge just comes into view. Then face north and jump up.
The room to the west has several potions; take them if you wish. Go downstairs. The lower room has yet another keyring. You don’t need it. However, the desk at the west wall has a bag full of coins which you want. The chest only contains some Molotov cocktails.
7.1.6. Longsword & Body Armor
Go back upstairs, exit the tower and cross the bridge to the eastern tower. Enter it and go downstairs. The chest here is trapped. Stand a few paces away from it and use the scroll of trap destruction. The only items of interest here are the longsword and armor. Don’t bother taking the arm guards, we will acquire much better equipment soon before we meet any monsters. Discard the dagger if you equip the longsword.
Return upstairs, climb up the southern side of the bridge and jump down to the paved road. South across the wooden bridge. Turn east as soon as you enter the castle and open the door to enter the eastern corridor. Turn south until you come upon another set of doors, open them, then go west and south to exit the palace. Go south across the wooden bridge and under the stone bridge to be back at the crossroads.
7.1.7. More Scrolls & Potions
Take the road east and follow it ‘into the wall’ to reach East Tenebrae. Go north, east, north and east to the end of the road. Go northeast across the zig-zagging road to come upon a house with a wooden fence. If the doors are locked, sleep somewhere and return, otherwise go in.
Go straight north and double-click the switch on the wooden wall just above the chair. Also flip a switch on the west wall next to the fireplace. Go to the room north and east through the now open gates and take the key from the dead body.
Climb up the stairs. Do not flip the switch on the southern pillar. Take and use the scroll of trap destruction from the dead body, but stand a few paces away from the chest to avoid damage. Unlock the chest and take everything you need (you don’t need the trap detection scrolls) from the chest, tables and dead body, then return downstairs. Exit west and south to leave the house.
7.1.8. Bags of Cash
Go south and west to the junction in the road. Walk directly south alongside a long white wall across the grass until you hit another paved road. Walk east to the end of this road and you will be at the gates of a large estate with the statue of a gargoyle adorning either side of the entrance. Go north around the pool of water to reach the manor. Double-clicking one of the gold plaques should confirm that this is where Salkind resides. Open the door and enter.
In case you need to return here (there is never any pressing reason to), an easier route from the entrance to East Tenebrae is to turn south immediately, take the first fork east, then the first fork south to a pair of dragon statues, and east again to the end of the road.
Inside the manor, go west to the end and then through the door to the south to enter the bedroom. Close the door behind you to make sure nobody catches you stealing. To the left of the tapestry on the north wall is a switch that you should flip. On the table next to the east wall, move the towel and take the key under it.
Exit the bedroom, turn east to return to the main door, and go north to enter the main hall. If someone (Salkind) is here, leave the house and sleep until he’s not around. When the room is empty, move the vase in the northwest corner and take the key under it. Go back to the bedroom (south and west) but don’t enter it. Instead, use the key to unlock the door opposite and open it. Stand in the doorway and read a scroll of trap destruction (any closer and you will get hurt). Unlock the chest, take everything in it and leave the estate (east, south all the way around the pool of water and outside the gates).
7.1.9. Leggings
Walk all the way west to a pair of dragon statues. Go north and enter the building. Flip the switch on the bricks of the fireplace to your west. Go to the northwest corner and down the stairs. Walk around to the room to the south, move the clock and take the key behind it. Stand a few paces away from the chest in the northeast corner and cast a scroll of trap destruction, then unlock the chest. Equip the leggings in it. The backpack contains a few potions. Return upstairs and leave the house to the south.
We are now going to go west to get more equipped, and then return east to get even richer because that is kind of on the way to our next real destination. If you wish, you can flip the order you do these in.
Follow the road west, then north until you reach the gateway you entered East Tenebrae from (flanked by two huge lamp posts). Exit to the west to return to Central Tenebrae. Follow the road all the way west to the other end to exit the map.
7.1.10. Axe
This is West Tenebrae. Continue west along the road until it forks in front of a building and turn south until that road reaches another building. This is Shaana’s house. She was the executioner you witnessed at the beheading. Go east and south to the door and enter (there is an entrance on the north side but you can’t see it from the outside). Don’t worry if she’s practicing in this room, she won’t see you stealing in the bedroom. The bedroom is to the west—you’ll have to go north and west through the skull-patterned curtains to get there. Move the book on a table alongside the west wall to find a key, then use the key on the chest next to it. You can now drop your weapon and equip the axe instead. It is the most damaging non-magical weapon. Take the diamond if you intend to follow an upcoming optional path to more riches.
Note: The book that’s hiding the key—open it and read it over and over again until your intelligence reaches 25. It’s only two pages so this is the fastest legitimate way to do it. You can read it here even if Shaana comes into the room and even after you’ve stolen the axe. As long as you don’t move it, it doesn’t count as stealing. Or leave the house with the book and read it there.
Don’t double-click the book to close it. You have to single-click the pages till the end for it to count as ‘reading’. Just like your strength and dexterity, this will also require some patience.
7.1.11. Armor
Leave Shaana’s house via the north door and you will be back at the fork where you turned east to go around her house. Go west, a couple of strides south where the road turns, and west along the road to reach the blacksmith’s (Korick) forge. If it is closed, walk away, sleep and return until it opens. Walk in and speak to Korick. You’ll want to buy arm guards and a shield. They’ll be placed in your inventory; equip them on the Character Sheet. Equipment in the palace towers, which we ignored, are of lower AC. This is the best equipment you can have until we find magical gear.
If you wish to avoid some later travels in the game, you may wish to acquire a Deadman’s Elbow (or stick in the unpatched game) from the northern end of this map before continuing. Read about where to get it in 7.5.4.
Now return to East Tenebrae (east from Korick’s workshop, north at Shaana’s door which you left open, east at the first fork ‘into the wall’ to reach Central Tenebrae, and all the way east to reach East Tenebrae).
7.1.12. Cash
In East Tenebrae, follow the northbound road. It will bend along the wall: north, east, north, east, north, and east along a fence. North along this fence is Rhian’s house. She’s the widow of the guy who was beheaded.
[Optional - Riches] If the door is locked, you’ll have to sleep somewhere and return. Once it’s open, enter and speak to Rhian and ask about her husband’s business (“What do you do?” “Your husband’s shop?”). You can talk to her about other things and as many times as you wish, these options will always be available. Enter the door next to Rhian, go north all the way until you are out from under the roof, go west out of the alcove and north all the way to reach her bedroom. Enter and sleep on her bed for a period. Return to where Rhian was. If she is no longer around (sleep until she isn’t), plunder the table lined with gems and jewelry. Don't miss the jewelry box opposite the table; it has obsidian coins. Sleep for another period in her bed and speak to her when she's back. You can now sell all the goodies back to her for a neat sum. Exit the house back on to the road.
Note: In the unpatched version, after sleeping in her bed, the door to her house remained locked for me and it was impossible to get out. I had to hackmove myself out of her house. Unfortunately you have to sleep somewhere in her house otherwise the door will be locked when she’s not home and you can’t get in to steal in the first place.
It’s possible this bug only appears in certain circumstances and won’t happen to you, but keep it in mind before you overwrite a recent save.