Michael Sonntag's Walkthrough for Ultima VII: Forge of Virtue

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Walkthrough: Forge of Virtue

Add-On to Ultima VII Part 1: The Black Gate (Origin Systems Inc.)

Walkthrough by Michael Sonntag (sonntag@fim.uni-linz.ac.at)

If you have talked to Lord British about the tremors , you can use the Golden Ankh, which is located south of Vesper, but if you already own another ship you can use this. If you sail straight southwards from Vesper and go around the west side of the isle when you reach them, you'll find a passage north between two towers into a small lake. A the north end there is the castle of fire, whose entrance you can see in the gem from Lord British (which will shatter when used too near the place you can see in it).

Inside the Castle:

In the room to the north is the shrine of the three principles with the according three statues. To the east is a small room with a mirror and the core of Exodus. The blasted secret door to the NW leads to the test of courage. This room is a bit messy, because of the dragon that went through. The room to the west is inhabited by Erethian. Talk to him and read all of his books. Avoid talking about his blindness, as this will cut short your conversation. He will tell you about the castle. If you've talked to the demon Arcadion in the mirror to the east, he will tell you about him, the dragon and the two golems.

You can start either with the test of truth or the test of love. If your not very strong, I suggest the test of love, for it's the easiest one. You'll never have to fight there.

Test of Love:

Walk through to portal in the room with the secret door from Erethians room. To the SW is a house with a tombstone and a cave behind it. In there are a pick, a bucket (which you should both take) and a few powder kegs. East of the house lies a dead golem (Adjhar) with his brother Bollux beside him. Agree to help his brother and he will give you a book about creating golems. Read it and pick up the page, which fell down. proceed north through the cave with another pick and some kegs to the small glade with the backpack.

There you are teleported to a short hallway which leads to the stone of Castambre. Put the bucket just south of the stone and use the pick on the tree (using on the stone will do nothing). Your bucket should now be full of blood, otherwise move it and try again. Return back to the two golems and pour blood on all five stones. Then read the scroll which fell out of the book. You will need a heart for the golem and Bollux will give his and drop it on the body. Open the body of Adjhar and put the heart in it. Read the scroll again and he will live.

Tell him about what happened and agree to help his brother. Go back to the stone of Castambre and use the pick on the tree. Take the heart and repeat the steps from before for the blood. Go back, put the heart in the body, pour the blood and read the scroll. Now both golems live. Talk to Adjhar and he will give you the talisman and teleport you back.

Test of Truth:

Talk to the statue of the old man on the norht side of the shrine and opt for the test of love. He will teleport you to a room with no apparent exit. The wall to the south is just an illusion, so walk through it. You will come to a big room with scorched corners and a skeleton in the center. Walk around on the carpet and nothing will happen, walk through the center of the room and the cause for the scorch-marks and the skeleton will be clear ... Now you'll have to decide: do you want the talisman of truth badly or do you want a glass sword too.

This glass sword is about the only useful thing to be found in this test and you have to get it before the talisman, for you cannot enter the test afterwards. If you decide to go for the talisman immediately, turn north after the big room where the hood lies on the floor. You walk through the wall and go north, east and north again, flip the switch, take the talisman and out you go by teleportation. Otherwise go to the metal wall, which will lower itself automatically when you approach it. Take nothing out of the left room, for moving one item will cause great damage to you or one of your companions and most times kill one. So save before if you relly want to try. The room on the right you can plunder without any hesitation. Follow the way and you will see a room to the west with the talisman. If you take it, it will disappear, as all the other talismans from now on. Go on till you come to the cave, where you take the way north.

A hidden teleporter will transport you to an small island, where one or more tentacles await you. Kill them and proceed north along the eastern riverside till you come to a big cave with another shrine. Take the way to the northeast across the chasm and into another corridor. You will have to go through the cells from west to east and from south to north, for the keys are locked in the cell before. If you want to avoid this, just go past them and take the last corridor to the east and flip the switch, for this room is NOT locked. Flipping the switch lowers the metal door to the north, where the glass sword awaits you.

The teleporter in this room leads to yet another maze, but theres only another wrong shrine with two golems and 6 burst arrows in a chest. Now return to the first cave with the shrine and cross the river on the stones. Follow the bank of the river this time on the other side (north-west) till the isle where you were teleported to. Go out on your side and DO NOT cross the river on the stones, for you will be teleported to the island again. Instead stay on the western side and go south till the river ends. In the western part of the cave I found nothing except a chest I couldn't get to because of the invisible walls. So go back and get the talisman now.

Test of Courage:

The eastern portal leads you to the test of courage. I never found a key to the locked door, so you will have to pick it. Kill the mage the skeletons and the headless. The mage hast the key to the next door to the east, where to golems await you (which will also have to be disposed of). Search the skeletons and corpses around the two red gates. There are somes magic armors and another key to this gate. Behind this gate fight your way through the spiders and scorpions and pull the lever in both the nort and the eastern end.

This will open the walls to the next section where a small dragon awaits you. Kill him a open the chest to get the glass sword. Go to the little room with the orb and look into it. Put the sword on the plate in front of the orb and both will shatter and a key will appear. Unlock the door with that key and find some food in the barrels. To the north are some trolls with another food. Two doors block your way. So go back and enter the corridors and go north. Take the magic helm and head south. Kill the two golems and take the way to the south, for the corridor is blocked with bones. Enter the other room and replace the ordinary helm with the magic one and one of the two doors will open. Take the ordinary helm back to where you found the magic one and place it on the altar to open the second door. head to the north, where the fires burn. On the floor lies a completely charred body with a magic axe.

Go north to find Dracothraxus, the immortal dragon and talk to him. On the floor is another burnt body with a glass sword, which maes it easy to kill him. After he is alive again, take the gem out of his mouth and go back to Erethian and tlak to him. He will use his magic summon a smithy and the tools. Put the sword upon the oven and use the bellows till it is red with a white stripe. Then put it on the anvil and use the hammer on it. Repeat this till you say that it can't get better. Heat it up once again and use it on the filled water trough (Fill it with using the bucket on the well and afterwards on the trough; 3 times needed).

Talk to Erethian about the sword, which is to heavy to use. Take the gem from the dragon in your weapon hand and use it on the demon-mirror to trap Arcadion into the gem. Take the black sword in the other hand and talk to the gem and command Arcadion to bind to the sword. Go back to Dracothraxus, talk to the sword and use ist deatch-power on the dragon. He will be revived again and leave forever after opening the door. Go north through the portal and take the talisman of courage. A last quest will be laid out for you: Banish the dark core to the void.

Banishing the Dark Core:

Get the scroll of infinity from Erethians room (beside his bed) and talk to him. He will refuse to tell you about it, but the sword will. Travle back to Britain (or use the Orb of Moons), go to the museum and take the two lenses. Return to the Isle of Fire by ship (or by commanding the sword to take you back). Put the three talismans on the dark core and place the two lenses on either side. Erethian will appear and try to hinder you, but his spell doesn't work out and he dies. The core will be placed into the void. Return to Lord British to receive your last increase in statistics (another 30 to strength and hit-points).

Cheats and Amusing Things:

In the test of love is a secret room with some weapons. You must enter it during the test, for afterwards you cannot get there again. On the north-eastern corner of the stone of Castambre is a lever which opens a wall in the corridor to the NE. Look careful, for only one pixel of it is visible. Walk through the black south, east and south and you'll find some bats and the weapons: a death-scythe, a firedoom staff and in the corpse to the south 9 glass swords.
In one of Erethians book is a hint on how to kill Lord British: Wait till he stands under the door to his throne-room and double-click on the brass-plate above his head. You will find out some interesting things about him ...

Open Questions:

In the cave of the test of truth with the invisible walls there seems to be another cave to the west which I never reached because of the walls. Is there anything interesting there and how can I get there? And how do you reach the chest in this cave?
In the test of courage the mage at the beginning summons a lich. How do I reach him? I tried to extinguish the flames, but that helped nothing.
What are the red gates in the test of courage for?
Is it just incidentally or is the dumb golem in the test of love (Bollux) intentionally named like the robot in the Star Wars book: 'The Han Solo adventures' who can also open his chest (or is it the other way round)?

Any suggestions, errors or missing things are highly welcome.