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Spanky wrote a few notes on his first 10 hours playing Ascension..

Trouble in Britain

Britain is the city of Compassion, or at least it's supposed to be. Turns out... the citizens are behaving just the opposite of compassion. Anyone who was either poor or disabled, including the bread-maker who lost his arm in the mill, was banished from the city to 'Paws', southwest of Britain. The general vibe you get from some of the town folks is quite rude and unfriendly.

Fixing this 'lack of compassion' is my first task in Britannia by a direct order from Lord british himself. He tells me the problem originates from the black tower that shot up from the ground just northeast of the city near the dungeon of Despise. He asks me to go there and find the root of the problem.

After important bits of information and quests requests from conversations, the game automatically writes them in my journal. Later I can thumb through and keep track of all important bits on info needed to win the game.

The king gave me directions to Despise and the Black Tower but I felt the need to checkout the rest of my surroundings just outside of the city. I couldn't help it... the mountain areas beg for some exploration. I could spend a lot of time in just a small section outside the city and not see it all. The game offer's an endless opportunities to explore it's nooks and crannies hiding here and there. If you like to explore your surroundings in depth... you will be rewarded.

Behind the Museum to the east, in a small shack, I found an impostor. Some guy... dressed in the Avatars garb... who happens to be in complete love with me... he is hiding. He asks me not to tell anyone he's there. I get the feeling Britannia has not only banished the sick and the poor, but, also the homosexual.

Despise

Eventually I head east towards the Black Tower. Just over a bridge I find Sarah. She's was the caretaker for the 'Shrine Of Compassion' which has fallen into ruin.

On the way to the Black Tower, I run into a few rats and pirates. These guys are easy to kill. The rats drop a few coins when they're dead. I've never figured out what are rats doing with money.

The black tower was only a few minutes from the city. It sits in a pool of lava surrounded by broken earth from when it jetted out of the ground. Nearby is the entrance to Despise.

On the way here I noticed no transitions between the landscapes. The game doesn't seem to be made of map levels connected to one another. So far, the entire world is one continuous map. Including indoor and underground areas.

I walk into Despise. It's quiet in here. I expect monsters to be jumping out at every corner but that wasn't the case. You can always tell if there is danger nearby. The music changes when you are threatened by a monster so you're never surprised by anything.

Despise is linear. There are no multiple paths... just one straight shot to the end. Nothing hard to fight either... just rats and spiders. Some of the doors are locked by keys, which are hidden nearby... usually in a chest, or a switch mechanism. They offer a few puzzle elements this way but they are quite easy to figure out.

Not far in the dungeon, I find two men locked in a cell. They tell me of a treasure they were looking for and never found. I set them free. The treasure is a magical shield. To get it, you need to obtain 4 gems hidden in the dungeon. In one of the rooms, there are 4 pillars. Placing each gem on a pillar will reveal the shield inside a pentagram on the floor.

You are forced to swim just before the end of the dungeon... nothing treacherous here. There is a switch underwater near the waterfall that will move a rock revealing one of the stones. Beyond that room... I ran into a well dressed, older man with a sword. He challenges me to a fight. I obliged.

Once he is wounded, he reveals himself to me as Iolo. Iolo is an old friend of the Avatar from previous Ultima's. It looks as if he was turned to the dark side. Apparently the fight forced him to regain his senses and he urges me to the next room and to leave the dungeon post haste.

...at the end of the dungeon, I am surrounded by lava. A bridge spans across it and leads to an opening inside the Black Tower. In the tower is the Glyph of Compassion, the perverted version of the Sigil Of Compassion. I take it and head back out of the dungeon.

After exiting the dungeon, another movie sequence begins...

I am surprised and grabbed from behind by a man in purple armor. Blackthorne is there and tells me tells me I am going to be taken to the guardian. A woman comes out from behind a rock, throws a dagger at the guard on top of me rendering him unconscious... and one at the eye of Blackthorne. he recalls out and disappears. She comes out from behind the rock and introduces herself as Raven. She want me to prove I am the Avatar by showing her the Sigil of Compassion which I do not have at this point. When I do get it... I'm told to meet her at the boat docks in the southern part of Britain. Her boss wants to see me.

I wasn't sure of what to do next, so I set forth back to Lord British's castle to see what to do. Once I got there... Lord British offered me nothing new. Obviously there was more to do. I headed back East and met back up with Sarah, the caretaker of the Shrine of Compassion. She tells me I must hurry to repair the shrine using the Heart of Compassion, which I do not have at this point. Then I remembered that a number of people were banished to the slum town of Paws. After a quick look at my map... I head there.

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