Walkthrough for “The Love of the Virtues” Quest
By EM Kanmare
Corastine, set up in Britain at the orders of her abbot, seeks to restore faith in the old Virtues and expand knowledge of their content. Thus she leads this quest.

The instruction book (as well as her initial speech), said to start by standing in front of the symbol best representing the month of February and speak its name. As this was designed to be a quest centered on Valentine’s Day ~ it was LOVE, of course.
Speaking TRUTH sent one to Despise (the opposite of Truth) where one was greeted by Eternals and the book Truth:

The book says:

“These guardians defend your answer. I trust they do not trouble thee? While surely of great importance overall, as all of the Virtues are, this month is February.

Perhaps another choice best fits this time?

Seek again Defender of Truth.”

Speaking COURAGE sent one to Destard (as Courage’s opposite) guarded by the native creatures of the area. There was the book Courage placed as shown:

This book said the following:

“Now you have defeated the minions of Chaos, thou shalt have thine answer. While surely of great importance overall, as all of the Virtues are, this month is February.

Perhaps another choice best fits this time?

Seek again, Crusader of Courage.
Speaking LOVE sent one to Minoc, where one was greeted by Mya, the fortune teller.

For those who may not have played the old Ultima games, a fortune teller was always present at the start and usually asked some questions to start the Avatar on his quest.

In those games they determined what class you became to start and what equipment you would have and how people would treat you – how you came across to them.

Mya had three riddles for you – she described them as “visions”. As this is a Virtue Quest – the answers to the riddles were Virtue Shrines (I changed the text a little after the start to make this a little more obvious – it is always easy to see things when you write them… not so easy until you get feedback to see that things might be harder than they seem).

Riddle One: You come upon a wolf trapped within a cruel trap. She will bite if freed, yet you feel her pain.
Answer: Compassion

Riddle Two: You meet again a childhood friend who tells you of an exploit that harmed Others…The local magistrate never told them who told him.
Answer: Justice

Riddle Three: A miner and his wife struggle to put food on the table, yet the children are never hungry.
Answer: Sacrifice
These are the three Virtues that contain Love – Compassion comes directly from Love, Justice is Love tempered with Truth and Sacrifice is Love combined with Courage.

The three shrines had books that formed part of the text. Each tome also had a clue on the back page “None of Me”. If you have no Truth, Love or Courage – you are left with Pride.

The dungeon that links with Pride is Doom (or the Abyss). Hence Wisaxi the gargoyle was located there. The Stratics Virtues page has all of this information as an aside.
Wisaxi had a quote of his own for the tome, as well as three more locations to talking books. These changed every couple of days. (couldn’t make it too easy now… *grins*)

They were named with the old mantras associated with the shrines: Mu (Compassion), Beh (Justice) and Cah (Sacrifice) which actually came from the Gargoyle tongue (hence Wisaxi being a gargoyle – his name by the way means: Wise Principle).

The quotes these talking books had were numbered so you knew which ones became part of your tome. They did not change – although the locations did. One of the books was always in Ilshenar (Mistas, Lakeshire and Vas Lor Reg) one always in Tokuno (both of the Dojo’s and then Zento) and the third between the cities associated with Love (Cove, Minoc and then the cave near Compassion).

The final tome was handed out during two sessions (the first four hours and the second three) in the hall where it all began. I took this one before we started the first session.

 

The final tome was actually missing Wisaxi’s quote as pointed out at the first session.

 

 

“The Book of Love Authored by Kanmare”
Love is a tender emotion, felt in as many ways as there are people. Without this Principle societies fail, as it is Love that brings us together as one People, whatever your creed may be. Without Love there is no Compassion as this Virtue depends directly on Love.

Without caring for each other, we descend into Despise, the petty bickering of those who judge others harshly without cause. Without Love there is no Justice, as there is nothing to temper the judgments made by the mind’s eye. The Heart knows right from wrong and will often see clearer than the head. Without Love, there is only the cold Truth of facts laid bare, which will not always make a wise choice.

Without Love, there is no Sacrifice, as there is no reason to give of oneself to another’s cause. Self preservation being thine only cause, alone you would be. No one should live alone. There are three Virtues connected to Love:

Compassion
Compassion is the most profound of human emotions. Pure in its intent, it shows itself as a desire to help another in pain. Only a detested life owes itself to another’s suffering. It is said: Kill not the non-evil beasts of the land, and do not attack the fair people. It is also said: Give of thy purse to those who beg and thy deed shall not be forgotten.

Justice
Justice tempers pure Love with Truth to provide life’s judgments. Justice without force is impotent; force without justice is tyranny. It is said: Those who inflict injustice upon others cannot expect fair treatment unto themselves. It is also said: To take the gold of others is injustice not soon forgotten. Take only thy due. Take care that the judgments made by thee are in accordance with the will of thine heart.

Sacrifice
Sacrifice is the Courage to give of oneself in the name of Love. Just as the poor feed their children before they eat, noble acts in this life do not go unrewarded. Karma says the Sacrifices we make return to us threefold. It is said: To give of thy life’s blood so that others may live is a Virtue of great praise. Watch for the Sacrifices others make for thee. It is in noticing the small things we can be great.

This Tome has explored the Virtues connected to Love and thus, how we should, especially in the month of February, give thanks and enjoy its fruits with all of our friends in this Life.
The format was loosely based on the book Virtue by Lord British himself.

 

Thank you EM Kanmare,
Your hard work is appreciated.
“The Love of the Virtues” Quest was a great success!

Valentines Day 2009