Ultima IX - Tidbits #29: Covetous Shortcut (+different powder keg)

Channel:

CastChaos

Subscribers:

468

Published on December 7, 2021 10:31:01 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlNc35q3Cyc

Game:

Ultima IX: Ascension (1999)

Duration: 5:22

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1

As probably many now, the 2nd level of Covetous hides this shortcut path to the last chamber from where one escapes after finishing up everything.

I show it mostly to further the latest powder keg video I made. You see, here are kegs that are indeed explosive and work on specific spots. They look like the map effect kegs that I showed in the last video and also how the inert kegs are and the three won't mix.
-inert kegs: never explode. Not even when placed on these specific grates.
-map effect kegs: vanish upon using and if it happens on the lowest level of Covetous, an explosion effect plays on a certain wall and that wall is destroyed. The effect can be repeated if a keg was spared by glitch-wielding.
-explosive kegs: explode when activated on specific grates. Any of these kegs work on any destroyable grates.
Now, this adds another layer of mistery. For the are effect kegs of the last video, the question was if they work on certain other maps. Here with these, the question is if they work at specific slots. After all, there are grates at more places (especially Hythloth) and there are more holes in Covetous than one can see without flying cheat.

As for the shortcut, itself, as you can see, the crystal ball doesn't appear until killing the lich. However, why did the zombie attack the lich instead of me is than beyond me, like why I hear strange new humming/whistling/humming voices when being near certain skeletons in this playthrough.
Also, since you can't remove the force field from this side, you still need to return for the glyph. Unless you can pan out the camera enough to place Gringolet there, which I couldn't.
Other clever thought is entering through the exit chamber from the coast near Minoc where you normally escape. Casually, I only could get to the grate, but using the wizard eye glitch one can go further and I don't mean that literally. I think it's even included in some speedruns.

Also, that dark room might hide some additional secret or glitch.


Finally, I'd like to mention that this dungeon almost soiled my pants the first time I played. Or maybe the first ten times. The very first playthrough I needed to re-enter because of Gringolet and much later also to get blackrock for Trinsic. From the 2nd playthrough then on I always make sure to get enough blackrock to not need to return. Actually, this is the very first playthrough in my life where I don't handle skeletons like nuclear time bombs. The scary looks paired with the high damage and that they quickly reform makes them real spine chilling everywhere and since here are many... Brrr...

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