Ultima IX: Ascension

The Avatar had spent time back on Earth before returning to Britannia — only to arrive in a land already under the Guardian's shadow. Hawkwind the Seer transports the Avatar to Stonegate and delivers grim news: enormous columns have erupted across Britannia, their malignant influence warping the land with plagues, famine, and natural disaster. The columns have also corrupted the Eight Virtues into hollow mockeries of their true meaning. The people of Britannia follow these distorted ideals faithfully, held in line by Lord Blackthorn and his Wyrmguard in service of the Guardian. The path forward runs through Britannia's dungeons. The Guardian has stolen the Runes of the Virtues and reshaped them into glyphs powering each column — to bring Britannia back, the Avatar must descend into each dungeon, reclaim the glyphs, and meditate at the Shrines of the Virtues to cleanse what was corrupted. Near the end, the truth about the Guardian comes into focus: he is not an outside enemy, but the Avatar's own dark half — the shadow cast by every virtue claimed but never fully lived. The only way to free Britannia is to ascend beyond it, carrying that shadow along. An Armageddon spell cast behind a Barrier of Life lifts both Avatar and Guardian to a higher plane, out of Britannia at last.