Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar/Starting the Quest


 * See also: Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar (NES)/Starting the quest

The hero starts the game near a different town, according to the virtue he/she chose. First thing to do is to get to Britain and to the nearby Britain Castle, the only place where a character can level-up.

Any party member can earn a level when he or she has the sufficient amount of experience points. Talk to the king, and he will raise the Companion's level by 1, the health points by 100, and the three attributes by a random number between 1 and 7.

First of all
First of all, open the Magic menu and Mix all the garlic and ginseng you have to make as many Cure spells as you can. After every fight, the defeated enemies drop a chest containing some gold; the chest is often trapped, and one of the possible traps inflicts poison to the character; the Cure spell removes the poisoning.

If your character cannot use magic (Fighter or Shepherd), then you should not open chests until you get to Britain. Once there, the town healer can cure your poisoning in exchange for some of the gold you just got. Anyway, try to get a spellcasting companion as soon as possible.

From the mainland
The characters who start on an island will need to use the Moongates to get to the mainland.

Get equipped
The items are listed here sorted by price. Traveling by land (without using the moongates) allows to fight enemies and earn the necessary money to buy the items. Also, the characters will earn experience and levels until the pirate ships will start appearing in the sea.
 * 1) Buy a sling in Britain (recruit Iolo, who is already equipped with another sling);
 * 2) Buy a bow in Trinsic, south of Britain;
 * 3) Buy a crossbow in Jhelom, on an island accessible from the Yew moongate;
 * 4) Buy some keys in Vesper, south-east of Minoc;
 * 5) When you get to level 4, fight the pirates to win their ship.

Suggestion: recruit new companions only if you have ranged weapons for them. Remember that the hero's level determines the number of companions that can be in the party.

Once both keys and ship are acquired, the Companions can access almost every area in the game.

Questing to become an Avatar
Now, before entering the dungeons, you should better do some adventuring on the surface of Britannia. Three things necessary to clear the game can be completed before the Dungeons:
 * 1) Master The Eight Virtues;
 * 2) Gather the Companions;
 * 3) Follow all the threads about the Great Stygian Abyss.

These quests can only be accomplished in a non-linear way, and require you to walk around and fight to pass time. Luckily, you can wander with a purpose: complete the various Side Quests.