JalPhoenix: So this happened. I found a dungeon entrance out behind Lord British's castle. I was screwing around in there and hit a level with a tunnel, and a room I could not exit in any other way except the way I came in, despite the map saying that there were two adjacent rooms. No secret exits, no special tiles to stand on, nothing. So I decided to leave. Except I couldn't. When I climbed back up to where I came in, there was no ladder out.

So I said screw it and cast the X-it spell. Instead of popping up behind Lord British's castle, I was regurgitated into the Great Abyss! So here I am on an island with no boat. I did find a balloon right outside the dungeon, which I could board. It, however, will not move under any circumstances. When I try to move, it just whines "Drift only!" at me. Except it won't drift. At all. I even tried the Wind Change spell to get it to move. No dice.

So I went back into Hythloth, thinking I'd try to find the exit to Lord British's place again. This time, I found myself stuck on the opposite end of that passage that I couldn't get through the first time, and with a similar problem. I could enter a room, but I was limited to one tiny square in the upper left. I could only walk out of the room, at which point I found myself inside the wall, and then I could walk out back into the corridor from whence I came, but advance no further.

So I'm stuck in friggin' Hythloth. And of course, I saved the game in there. I'll need some advice here. If I could get that damn balloon to move, I'd probably be okay.

bliznik: Yes, it took me a *long time* to figure out I could board the balloon using (K)limb. That was not intuitive for me!!!

bliznik: You can also travel back to the castle using the Gate Travel spell--if you have the reagents and a spellcaster of a high enough level to cast it. It's a spell that you're supposed to learn by talking to a certain character in the game, but if you didn't, you can still cast it if you search around the internet to figure out the reagents for that spell.

Vyraexii: back in the day we didnt even have the internet to look stuff like this up neither
so we ended up trying all the commands until we found what works

dtgreene: If you have Mariah (or your main character is a mage), you have someone who's high enough level to cast it.

IF your party contains only the Tinker, Fighter, and/or Shepherd classes, you can't cast the spell, even if you use the orbs to max your stats. (And, in any case, toughing the Hythloth orbs will kill the character, and if you're able to revive the character, you have somebody with enough MP to cast Gate Travel without having to do this.)

There's also the fact that the player might not have found the Mandrake Root ingredient.

bliznik: All true. I did test it with my lv. 7 Dupre, Jaana, Shamino, and Iolo, and all of them were able to cast it.

But yeah, there are definitely multiple scenarios that exist where he may not be able to cast Gate Travel, and may just be stuck. In which case...a suicide teleport might be the best option.

Vyraexii: i think the problem you are having with the balloon
is that you have boarded it but haven't taken off (K)limb
(D)escend is to land (i believe only on grass spaces)

that being said, dtgreene's suggestion is the quickest and easiest way back to Castle British

also in the dungeon's rooms, sometimes you can trigger changes in the rooms layout by attacking walls
it may require a ranged weapon to trigger some of these (i am not 100% sure on this part)

JalPhoenix: I noticed earlier in the game that my horses and boats would spontaneously vanish. I'd leave boats parked at strategic locations, only to come back and find them gone. I thought it was just them being taken by a whirlpool, until my horses started disappearing, too.Now, THE DAMN BALLOON HAS VANISHED! Friggin' chests will stay forever, but your transport? Nah, man. Poof! into the nether with that. I swear, it's like the developers TRIED to make these old games as miserable to play as possible. I remember getting very, very angry at PC games when I was a kid, and I'm beginning to remember why.

dtgreene: If you go back into Hythloth and leave to the surface, there will always be another balloon there, I believe.

I don't remember vehicles disappearing in computer versions of Ultima 4 (unless the whirlpool got to them, but that's rare because the world is much bigger than Ultima 3's world), but I do know that the NES version would limit you to 4 (IIRC) ships at a time, with them disappearing if you get another one or if you cast the Gate spell. (By the way, the NES version has no rideable horses, as they were supposedly eaten by monsters.)

JalPhoenix: Every once in a while I would hear the "whirlpool got your ship" noise, but not often enough to swallow all of them. It's still happening. I've lost two more horses and at least one ship since making that post. The only thing I can think of is that monsters than can shoot will destroy an unmanned ship if they hit it. I found that out while disembarking onto a small island to fight some damn Balrons on land instead of on my ship. The assholes destroyed my ship and left me stranded, forcing a restart.

JalPhoenix: So this happened. I found a dungeon entrance out behind Lord British's castle. I was screwing around in there and hit a level with a tunnel, and a room I could not exit in any other way except the way I came in, despite the map saying that there were two adjacent rooms. No secret exits, no special tiles to stand on, nothing. So I decided to leave. Except I couldn't. When I climbed back up to where I came in, there was no ladder out.

So I said screw it and cast the X-it spell. Instead of popping up behind Lord British's castle, I was regurgitated into the Great Abyss! So here I am on an island with no boat. I did find a balloon right outside the dungeon, which I could board. It, however, will not move under any circumstances. When I try to move, it just whines "Drift only!" at me. Except it won't drift. At all. I even tried the Wind Change spell to get it to move. No dice.

So I went back into Hythloth, thinking I'd try to find the exit to Lord British's place again. This time, I found myself stuck on the opposite end of that passage that I couldn't get through the first time, and with a similar problem. I could enter a room, but I was limited to one tiny square in the upper left. I could only walk out of the room, at which point I found myself inside the wall, and then I could walk out back into the corridor from whence I came, but advance no further.

So I'm stuck in friggin' Hythloth. And of course, I saved the game in there. I'll need some advice here. If I could get that damn balloon to move, I'd probably be okay.

JalPhoenix: So this happened. I found a dungeon entrance out behind Lord British's castle. I was screwing around in there and hit a level with a tunnel, and a room I could not exit in any other way except the way I came in, despite the map saying that there were two adjacent rooms. No secret exits, no special tiles to stand on, nothing. So I decided to leave. Except I couldn't. When I climbed back up to where I came in, there was no ladder out.

So I said screw it and cast the X-it spell. Instead of popping up behind Lord British's castle, I was regurgitated into the Great Abyss! So here I am on an island with no boat. I did find a balloon right outside the dungeon, which I could board. It, however, will not move under any circumstances. When I try to move, it just whines "Drift only!" at me. Except it won't drift. At all. I even tried the Wind Change spell to get it to move. No dice.

So I went back into Hythloth, thinking I'd try to find the exit to Lord British's place again. This time, I found myself stuck on the opposite end of that passage that I couldn't get through the first time, and with a similar problem. I could enter a room, but I was limited to one tiny square in the upper left. I could only walk out of the room, at which point I found myself inside the wall, and then I could walk out back into the corridor from whence I came, but advance no further.

So I'm stuck in friggin' Hythloth. And of course, I saved the game in there. I'll need some advice here. If I could get that damn balloon to move, I'd probably be okay.