Ultima VII: The Black Gate/Britain


 * Companions: Shamino, Sentri
 * Items: Spellbook, Orb of the Moons, Stones of the Virtues, Pocketwatch

First of all head to the Blue Boar and get Shamino on your party (hold off on doing this if you want to see a funny tryst involving him and his latest girl, see below). Be sure to ask for your pocketwatch as this allows you to find the exact time of day without hunting for a sundial--very useful for some parts of the game. Now head north from here and into the museum. Head into the right-hand room and grab the Stones and Swamp Boots. Your companions won't complain about you stealing as these items were yours in the first place.

Now head off and hunt for Sentri. He's a good fighter, and the more people you can have to help carry equipment the better. Better yet he offers FREE training, with no limit to the number of sessions he'll give. You'll find a key in his bedroom that will provide access to his armoury.

Next head north to Lord British's castle. Talk about absolutely every topic he offers and you will get his Orb of the Moons as well as information on where your gear from the aftermath of Ultima VI is stashed. He'll also mention a murder in Britain that sounds suspiciously similar to the one in Trinsic. If you have The Forge of Virtue installed he'll also give you a ship with which to investigate the Isle of Fire, which has made a suspicious return from the depths of the sea.

Anyway, head to his room (the one with all the hunting trophies) and grab the key there. Now head north-east into the throne room and hunt for a lever in the room to the right. Throw it and head to the right to the kitchen. Lift the barrel and throw the switch, this opens a seemingly inaccessible room in the tower directly above you. Now find your way to a stairwell and go up.

The north-western tower contains your gear. Be sure to take the spellbook and reagents (you need both for later) as well as the rest of the stuff. The north-eastern tower holds some Plate Armour and a Heater shield.

Back downstairs, pocket the Powder Keg from the bottom-left room, being careful NOT to double-click it (it will blow up). This will be used shortly to get an extremely powerful weapon.

Now head to Fellowship Hall and interrogate Batlin about everything (he tells you that Elizabeth and Abraham have headed to Minoc), and will also ask you if you wish to join The Fellowship. Agree, and he'll give you a package to deliver to prove your trustworthiness.

NOTE: there is a special exploit you may be able to do here. See below for more.

You can open the package if you wish. Elynor will be a little miffed but you'll still get your reward and entry into The Fellowship. If you want you can save with it unopened just before telling her and try out the two responses. Saving and loading can also allow you to find out what's in it without getting the "bad" response.

Before you leave, grab the blue key and Yellow Potion from the right-hand room and open the chest in the left-hand room. You'll find an interesting note and 48 gold, so take it if you want. Also be sure to rob the poor box for another decent sum.

Opportunities
There are many things to do in Britain. The first and foremost, if you're a dishonest Avatar, is to steal anything you can lay your hands on. See Theft below for all the many things you can steal.

Magic Carpet
The Magic Carpet is the best transport in the game, as it can hover over both mountains and sea. Only very tall buildings can bar its way. Take the western road out of Britain and head north along the mountains at a vaguely north-western angle. Eventually you'll come to a river. Keep to the near bank of it and head south-east to 8N 30W where you'll find the Carpet. Unlike the other transports in the game this one has no ownership documents. Also take note (as the others point out to you) of the entrance to Dungeon Despise, there's much to do in there later on.

The Strength Test
Take the strength test to the west of the castle. It's free, and if your strength attribute is high enough (some training will help here) you'll win a toy dragon. The other toy in the "set", a Treasure Troll, is only found on one of the Avatar actors (with the Interactions mod it can also be crafted by the player).

The Game
Talk to Chuckles in the castle courtyard to play The Game. The rules are simple, just use words of only one syllable. The scroll Chuckles rewards you with will give you some advice you should definitely take when the time comes.

Occupations
Besides killing and thieving there are a few legitimate ways to make money.

Baker
Visit the baker and talk to him for a bit. Eventually the option to work for him will come up, so agree to this. He'll give you five gold for every five loaves, so get baking!


 * 1) Double-click on a bag of flour and then click on a clear space on a tabletop.
 * 2) Double-click on the bucket of water (in the SW corner) and then click on the flour (Interactions mod only)
 * 3) Pick up the ball of dough and place it in the oven.
 * 4) Pocket the finished loaf.
 * 5) Once you have five, talk to him to claim your payment.

NOTE: the mantlepiece above the hearth is also a baking surface! Every flat spot on there except for the far left corner can produce bread. You'll know it's working when your companions say their standard overcooking lines. This means that the bakery can actually produce six loaves at a time. This helps a lot when the baker's own baking takes up all the room and delays your own being put in to cook.

Note that any bread you bake yourself is yours and can be pocketed or eaten straight from the oven without penalty. Also note that if you make a quantity of loaves that isn't divisible by five you won't get full price for the additional ones. Also note that if you help the baker by putting his dough in the oven that bread will actually count as yours, thus allowing faster income.

Butcher

 * 1) Kill sheep to get mutton (or steal it, or buy it from Morfin in Paws for 3 gold).
 * 2) Sell it to Lord British's cooks for 5 gold.

Weaver

 * 1) Double-click on Shears then click on a Sheep to shear it (Interactions mod only)
 * 2) Double-click on a bale of Wool and then click on the Spinning Wheel to make Thread
 * 3) Double-click on the thread and then click on the Loom to make Cloth
 * 4) Double-click on the thread and then click on some Cloth to make clothing or toys (Interactions mod only)
 * 5) Double-click on Shears and then click on some Cloth or Clothes to make Bandages
 * 6) Double-click on Bandages and click on a party member to partially heal them

Note that the colour of the thread is random, but the cloth and clothes made from it seem to maintain that same colour.

Pumpkin Farmer

 * 1) Collect pumpkins
 * 2) sell to ?

Chicken Farmer

 * 1) Collect eggs
 * 2) sell to Mack

Theft
There are countless things to steal in Britain. Read the page on Stealing if you haven't already and make sure you're familiar with the techniques mentioned there, as for the sections below they'll be put into practise.

Robbing the Bank
Follow the moneychanger home (she lives in a brick house diagonally above the bank). If she isn't asleep go and have a nap yourself, using either the sundial (near the shipbuilder's workplace) or the pocketwatch (if you got it back from Shamino) to judge how long to sleep. Then go in and kill her while she sleeps. Be sure to save before killing her, you may need to dismiss your party to avoid them turning on you. It is possible to kill her when she's awake or on duty but this is not recommended as there are likely more witnesses and she has a larger likelihood of calling for help. A blue potion will cause her to sleep on the job but it's just as easy to nap until she also goes to bed (that way you can save those blue potions for the dragons). If help does come merely cast Help yourself and return to finish the job.

Search her body and take the three keys, then rebuild your party (if you dismissed them to do the murder). If you have a carriage place her body on it (easier than constantly dragging it around) and then drive to the mint. The next part can be a little tricky.


 * 1) Go around the building to where her desk is and unlock the first two doors.
 * 2) Go into the second room. Wait until the guard goes into the first room and lock him in there.
 * 3) Clear out this and the next room, using the pocketing trick to make the gold "yours".
 * 4) Unlock the first door and dump the cleansed loot there (if you don't have room to carry it on you).
 * 5) Go into the third room and once again lock the guard out.
 * 6) Cleanse this loot too (if you can't carry it on you).

And that's it! Be sure to check the desks along the way as there's more loot inside them. Once again be sure to shut and lock doors behind you so the guards won't come in and discover you. If they see you stealing they'll attack without warning, so just cast Help and come straight back by which time they'll have forgotten all about it.

It's probably a good idea to have your bags mostly empty for this (or else bring a chest with you, the carriage helps with this) as there are a lot of heavy gold bars to carry. You don't have to take all the loot at once, you can return on successive nights to take more.

Anyway, when you've taken all you want you need to resurrect the moneychanger for those gold bars to be of any use. First of all go have a sleep to make it daytime again so that she will return to work instead of going back to bed. If you have Janna with you simply tell her to resurrect and she will be restored. If you have a Resurrect spell, use it. If all else fails drive the cart to Lord British's castle and dump the body in front of him, then ask for healing. Either way once she's alive follow her back and get her to exchange the money.

Note that if your party's inventory is mostly full any money that can't fit vanishes forever, so be sure to lighten your load sufficiently before exchanging. You may wish to save before exchanging, which allows you to use a calculator and Iolo's abacus to check if you got your money's worth.

NOTE: the key in the moneychanger's house also opens the Mint, but not all of its doors. You can use this to make a less tricky withdrawal, but you'll still need to kill her in order to get the rest.

Bakery
Simply wait until he goes home at night. There should be a tableload of edibles left over which you can pocket (thus making them yours) and then eat.

Potion Shop
Wait until he's gone to bed and then go in and get them. You can also turn the light outside on (during the day) or off (at dusk) to entice him to come outside and correct it.

Keep in mind that the apothecary will buy up any vials of Silver Serpent Venom you happen to acquire, so be sure to grab and sell all you find.

Weapons Shops
Simply smash the glass countertops (probably without your party). Once you've done this you can return at your leisure and pocket anything you want as that will merely elicit a "Leave that be!" from the owner, rather than him calling the guards.

Jeweller
When he's gone to bed smash the countertop (probably without your party) and pocket the gems. Take only the gems, he won't buy any of the other items back from you. Then go and have a calculated nap and sell them back to him.