Hilt Fortress Interior

Finally I've had the chance to complete Hilt's expansive interior! This map doesn't include the upper tower itself, which will appear in a later release, but does include all the lower areas deep beneath the earth.

Once you pass through the exterior doors, you will appear in an entry hall adorned with friezes and stone carvings of past Obsidian battles and victories, now defaced and crumbling. The torches are lit, evidence of the kobolds which have decided to make this area their own.

Beyond, a huge reception rotunda hosts the four stone thrones of the ancient Obsidian generals who once held court here. It has become of den of the kobolds, who just might be willing to make a deal with the players (eventually) which could include escort through these ancient halls if the players are willing to fight an infestation of giant spiders far below.


Deeper still are several of the forgotten chambers adjacent to the large barracks, similar to those at the surface. Here the party will discover areas such as the old kitchens and mess hall, armor and weapons forges, and a small armory. The kobolds are frustrated because neither of these proved to be the Obsidian Forge of legend...



Below the Barracks a huge, shadow-filled training area sits, choked with vast spider webs and filled with crawling horrors. It is here that the players might find a few meager kobolds attempting (and failing) to fight the many giant spiders that prowl this room, especially the lowest arena floor where the players must cross to go deeper..

Sticky webs seem to halt intruders at every turn, and of course the spiders immediately attack any who dare trespass. At the chamber's center, a huge nest stretching to the ceiling is adorned at its base with many corpses that have been sucked of blood yet still carry treasures to loot... The players are welcome to continue delving further downward in search of the real Obsidian Forge... The kobolds wish them luck...


Below the Training Arena the stairs eventually lead to the main entrance to the Tombs of Eternity... Apparently the ancient Obsidian Builders truly outdid themselves when they found the old lava caves here, because now the grand central crypt hall is an impressive area filled with fly-over walkways, multiple arches leading to tomb-filled halls, and great pillars stretching many stories up and down into darkness. Only further down these side halls might one find evidence of the crude lava tubes they were originally carved from. A single path through this echoing hall, lit by eternal sorcerous crystal sconces, leads to the far side, where a door continues deeper down below... But between here and there, however, sinister green mists rise from the floor and gaunt, skeletal shapes move menacingly through the glowing vapors....

Below the Tombs of Eternity is a long-abandoned Chapel where the Obsidians once performed dark rites in honor of their dead before carrying them back up to be interred in the endless tombs... This is largely full of collapsed stone and old furniture, including a few supply chambers and the office of the old Chaplain, but the main feature here is the secret door the players must discover that will finally allow them into the hidden volcanic chambers of the Obsidian Forge itself.

Beyond the Chapel's secret door, a natural tunnel lined initially with a few crystalline lights leads deeper into the earth, eventually emptying out into a large, dangerous-looking chamber filled with swirling vapors and angry pools of lava...

Beyond this, at the back of these natural volcanic chambers, is an entrance carved by the Obsidians leading into a large circular chamber excavated to expose part of a massive, alien glyph-covered artifact that seems to be made of volcanic glass even more ancient than that which fell from the shattered moon... This must be the true Hilt that once pierced the land long ago!!! And at its center, under a shaft of crimson light and power that falls from a huge floating piece of obsidian, is the Forge itself...waiting...


I hope you've enjoyed this little tour through the depths of Hilt! Hopefully I'll be able to post some more once the tower interior is done... Have a great weekend!

Scottie ^_^

 

Wow... Just, WOW!!!

 

Masterfully done.

 

Am I the only one who thinks those glyphs look weirdly familiar? But they're not the same as U9.. already checked.

 

And now on the QA server I am running around it and already horribly (but blissfully) lost.

Great job. (I would suggest they dump the tour guide deeper so more of your beautiful stage can be explored)

 

No I stand corrected.. they ARE from U9.. the black rock pillars! I was only looking at the corrupted glyph textures earlier thinking they were the same.. ha!

 

Now; something wicked this way comes!!! Can't wait to try my sword and nerves of steel in Hilt. To the forge we go. And, this is so gnarly it stands alone in evil green mookey delight awesomeness.

 

Outstanding !

 

A design master.

 

Thanks for all the kind words!

Long ago I created a set of hexagonal "evil" glyphs for a paper RPG puzzle I put in one of my dungeons for my players way back in the old D&D days... They never really saw the light of day again until I started working for Origin... When Richard wanted a set of glyphs for use with our stuff then, something totally different and separate from all the already-existing Ultima lore,...I dug them out, dusted them off, and put them to good use. I figured I'd never get a better chance to use them again! Richard's welcome to borrow them anytime! ^_^

 

They ARE pretty cool. And the place does look awesome.

 

Ugh! I really want to post publically and I know this is a bit self-serving but I'm too excited at the moment NOT to say it somewhere. So think what you like.. but I get it! I know what happened! What parts of the legends are true, what started it all.. everything.. (or close to it). Yeah I could be full of it and totally off base but I don't think so. And.. I'm not going to tell anyone!.. At least, not yet. And since I'm posting this here I'm not even going to give a hint.. And I don't even have inside info..

On the other hand.. it's also possible someone else beat me to it a long time ago and just hasn't said anything.. but since they didn't and I did.. gah.. such a nerd I'm turning into..

 

Parts of the rest of that area look like the inside of the tower in U9.

 

To which tower are you referring? Apart from the pillars I don't remember any towers..

 

The one you kept going into. Or at least I did. In the Hilt, it's the shallow depression with the broken off pedestal underneath the shard.

 

You must be referring to the 8 black rock pillars.. of which the obsidian forge pictured here is the base of one. Though I would surmise that this one we're looking at here is not one of those 8 but an entirely different one.

 

Awesome work, Scottie!

 

You're welcome!

 

Tower. Pillar. Whatever. It's been fifteen years or so since I played the game.

 

Very beautiful , great work !!!