Castle Britannia[edit]
When you start the game, you are in a battle already against three gargoyles. Kill them all and search (Look) the corpses. If you are lucky, you can find a boomerang.
| Name | Quest/Function | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Lord British | Game starter, heal | Throne room |
| Geoffrey | Geoffrey's quest | |
| Nystul | Nystul's quest | South-west room |
| Chuckles | Chuckles' quest | Entrance hall |
| Maldric | - | North-east room |
| Sherry | Companion | South-west room |
Talk to Lord British, then to Geoffrey and to Nystul. Ask Lord British to heal your party. Geoffrey sets you on the quest to free the eight shrines of virtue.
Leave the throne room, take the door to the west, then the first door to the south. This is the Avatar's room, where you can find full initial equipment for your main character. Drop the Orb of the Moons on the table: it would make the game far too easy.
Explore the rest of the castle, open (Use) any container and collect what is inside. Search (Look) the furniture and collect any item you find around. In the south-east there is a locked door that cannot be opened using the key; no need to use any lockpick: in Lord British wardrobe room there is a secret door. Move the crate, search (Look) the north wall and get through. In the south-west room you can find some weapons and armors, but also a sack of flour and some cloth. You can sell the flour to Cullen in town and the two samples of cloth to Leonard in Yew.
You can meet Sherry the Mouse in Nystul's laboratory in the south-west or beyond the locked door to the south-east. She can join you if you give her some cheese, found in the kitchen. Because of her minimal endurance, equip her with a sling (Iolo starts with one) or a lightning wand (found in a chest).
Chuckles the jester sets you on a side-quest, but you will be able to complete it only later.
No need to explore the basement: you will have to use up torches, and you could even get poisoned by giant rats. Instead, use Lord British's key and open the portcullis and the drawbridge.
| Item summary | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rare items | Useful items | Weapons and armor | Useless items | |
| Start | Ankh amulet, Orb of the Moons, key "A" | - | Sword | - |
| Avatar's room | Spellbook (with "Help" spell), red potion | Meals (8 meat, 6 bread), 6 torches, 5 lockpicks, 18 ashes, 5 spidersilks, 4 nightshades, 4 mandrakes, 7 ginsengs, 5 garlics, 5 blood mosses, 7 black pearls | Chain coif | Wooden shield, leather boots, ale, pants, tunic |
| King's rooms | Key "n", 2 yellow potions | Meal (grapes) | Main gauche, sword, chain mail, chain coif | Book, scroll, wine glass, wine, tunic, pants, leather boots |
| Castle | Scroll, lightning wand, blue potion, red potion, yellow potion, green potion, orange potion, purple potion, black potion, white potion | 5 gold coins, 1 lockpick, 10 meals (3 cheeses, 2 meats, ribs, ham, cake, bread, rolls) | - | 2 tunics, pants, butter |
| East wing | - | Sack of flour, 2 cloths | 8 flasks of oil, leather armour, cloth armour, curved heater, leather helm, chain coif | Wooden shield, horseshoes |
Britain[edit]
Click to enlarge
Britain is by far the largest town in Britannia: it counts 24 inhabitants, plus the guards.
Because of its size, it will be subdivided into four parts. Leave the castle and continue south until you get to a sundial. Anything south of it and the street is listed as "south" in the table below; "east" and "west" from the sundial is quite self-explanatory; the "Serpent Loop" is the area north of the Castle.
| Name | Quest/Function | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Gwenneth | Merchant: weapons | East: weapon shop 1 |
| Lynn | Merchant: weapons | East: weapon shop 2 |
| Max | Merchant: armor | East: armory |
| Tiberius | Merchant: healer | East: healing shop |
| Efram | Merchant: guild | East: guild shop |
| Peyton | Merchant: inn | South: inn |
| Arty | Merchant: ships | South: shipwright |
| Wilbur | Merchant: horses | South: stables |
| Daver | Rune-1, mantra-1 | East: streets |
| Tholden | Mayor, Rune-2, mantra-2 | East: town hall |
| Kenneth | Rune-3, mantra-3 | West: Conservatory |
| Nan | Rune-3, mantra-3 | West: Conservatory |
| Ariana | Rune-4 | West: Conservatory |
| Anya | Rune-5, merchant: food | East: tavern |
| Terri | (Buys gold nuggets) | East: town hall |
| Fyodor | Trader: buys wool, sells thread and cloth; Lycaeum library quest | East: tailor shop |
| Linda | Trader: sells grain | Serpent Loop fields |
| Cullen | Trader: buys flour, sells food | East: bakery |
| Rufus | (Sells horseshoes) | Serpent Loop smithy |
| Kytyn | - | West: Museum |
| Nema | - | Serpent Loop orchard |
| Matt | - | East: tavern |
| Lazeena | - | East: tavern |
| Finn | - | Random |
From the sundial, turn east and get to the commercial area of the town. Talk to all the merchants, and most of all speak with Daver. Buy a magic bow from Gwenneth at Iolo's Bows: she will give you credit once. Then, invest some money and buy some arrows from Lynn. Cullen the baker will buy the sack of flour found in Lord British castle.
Terri may exchange all of Dupre's gold nuggets for gold coins. Still, drop one nugget and get it back after exchanging the other ones: you will need it later.
| Plot characters |
|---|
| All these characters hold information necessary for the advancement of the plot.
|
| The merchants of Britain |
| All these characters sell several goods useful for your quest.
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| The traders in Britain |
| All these characters buy or sell a single good; you can earn more money by trading them.
|
| Flavor characters |
| All these characters hold information irrelevant to your quest.
|
| Weapon shops | Armor shop | Guild shop | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weapon | Atk. | Rng. | Armor | Def. | Item |
| Bow | Cloth armor | Torch | |||
| Crossbow | Leather armor | Oil | |||
| Sling | Chain mail | Gem | |||
| Magic bow | Plate mail | Backpack | |||
| Triple crossbow | Iron helm | Bag | |||
| Arrows | Heater shield | Shovel | |||
| Bolts | Powder keg | ||||
| Dagger | |||||
| Spear | |||||
| Sword | 1 | ||||
| Two-handed sword | 1 | ||||
Inscriptions on the tombstones:
- "Though she outlasted husbands five,// Now Beth too is no more alive,// But as she drew her final breath,// She smiled a smile to scoff at death."
- "Husband the first// Sir Cedric Burned with firm bold// Till his life was quenched with a dagger cold."
- "Husband the second// Roderic Passed with an awful wail// When someone served him poisoned ale."
- "Husband the third// Walter passed on in his sleep// His last thoughts a secret that death will keep."
- "Husband the fourth// Roger's manner was formal and stiff// Till one day he fell off a cliff// But now his body's a cordial host// To worms and maggots for he's a ghost."
- "Husband the fifth// Martin left this world of toil// When he fell in a vat of boiling oil."
The mantra and the rune[edit]
Daver McCord, the bellkeeper, is the first character in Britannia who talks about runes and mantras. He ignores what exactly they are for, but he knows these things come from Lord British. If you ask the king, he will simply reply to ask to the town leaders.
Who is the town leader in Britain? Tholden, who works in the town hall, south-east from the Castle.
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"Hmmm. I guess that you don't keep a regular schedule, being the Avatar and all. Probably out till all hours, collecting runes and such."
Runes? "Magical little things. There's a symbol on one side, and a letter on the other. Probably spell something out if you put 'em all on a necklace. But that hasn't been done for a long time. After the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom was brought back from the underworld, Lord British gave the runes to the lords of the eight cities."
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Mantras? Runes? "Ask the leaders of each town to tell thee of that." |
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Rune? Mantra? "The rune and mantra of Compassion are in the keeping of the bards at the Conservatory. I entrusted them with the rune due to their compassionate nature. As for the other runes, they are no longer together, as they were when the Codex was recovered. Since then, they have become scattered throughout the land. Each was sent to a town near its shrine. If thou dost ask the lords of each of these towns, they should be able to tell thee more. The towns are Moonglow, Jhelom, Yew, Minoc, Trinsic, Skara Brae, and New Magincia." |
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Compassion? "Yes, I know of the Rune and Mantra of Compassion."
Mantra? "I've been trying to work the Mantra of Compassion into a song, but I don't know what 'mu' means."
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Compassion? "Yes, I know of the Rune and Mantra of Compassion."
Mantra? "The Mantra of Compassion is 'mu.' Is that a spider on your shoulder? No, 'tis just a trick of the light."
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Rune? "I have the Rune of Compassion. Isn't it pretty?" She reaches into her pocket and takes it out to show you. "Do you need it for something?"
Yes? "Are you on an important quest?" Yes? "I'm not supposed to let anyone else have it. But if you truly need it... I don't know what I should do. I know! My parents run the Blue Boar Tavern. Go ask them if you can borrow the rune. If they say 'tis okay, I'll give it to you." |
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Daughter? Ariana? "Ariana is the light of my life. Seems she had scarce learned to walk when she first showed a gift for music. She studies now with the bards at the Conservatory."
Permission? Borrow rune? "Thou dost wish to borrow the Rune of Compassion from my daughter?" She pauses a while in thought. "Very well: thou dost have an honest face. I grant thee my permission." |
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Rune? "Hi! Did you get permission from my parents to borrow the rune?" Yes? "Then here you are." She hands you the rune. "I wish you the best of luck on your quest." |
The village of Cove and the Shrine of Compassion[edit]
In order to get to Cove, you have to travel east and get past the Shrine of Compassion. Fight the Gargoyles: there should be just a few early on in the game.
| Name | Quest/Function | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Ahrmaand | Shrine, rune, mantra | |
| Gertan | Hospital | |
| Sasha | Merchant: healer | Hospital |
| Rudyom | Merchant: magic | Magic shop |
| Gilron | - | Hospital |
| Artegal | - | Hospital |
| Ed | - | Hospital |
The healer Sasha can heal your characters. If a character hold no gold, she will heal him/her for free. You can save money if you give (Move) all your money to a healthy character.
In the hospital you can meet four warriors. Only one of them is able to speak, and he is the man you came for: Gertan. Unfortunately, the information he holds is of little use to you.
Instead, the village leader, Ahrmaand, tells you all you need to know: how to use the Rune and the Mantra to negate the force field on a shrine, and how to pray at a shrine in order to get enlightment... that is upgrade of your characters' attributes.
Finally, Rudyom the mage sells spells and reagents. His spells can be very useful throughout all the game. See the page about magic for more information about him.
Now backtrack to the Shrine of Compassion and defeat all the gargoyles once again. After the battle, follow Ahrmaand's instructions and liberate the Shrine of Compassion. Collect the Moonstone and let your characters meditate if their experience points are enough to gain a level.