Ultima IV Virtues 1

Somebody recently did a picture of their idea of the Ultima IV game characters from long ago. It reminded me of a story I had been thinking of way back then about a small band of young heroes who are on a quest to stop a marauding dragon. I had originally envisioned it as a Seven Samurai type story with seven heroes of different types. The idea was partially to showcase a GURPS campaign I'd been working on at the time set in the world of Ultima IV - but with the fantasy races of GURPS Fantasy thrown in for flavor.

I started putting together ideas for the characters using Aiko3 and Hiro3 after seeing the recent picture.

This pair is the first pair that show up in the story. I've long forgotten the names I had intended to use, so I went back to the names of the official characters from U IV.

Dupre the Paladin (virtue Honor) is the son of a Paladin who was killed by the dragon when Dupre was very young. He was raised by a friend of his fathers and trained to follow his fathers footsteps as a Paladin. Unlike most "Paladin" traditions, his doesn't believe in chastity, baby Paladin's have to come from somewhere.

When he turned 18 he took what gear he could afford with his inheritance - along with the Warhorse named "Blue" that was bred from his fathers own horse and began his quest. Compared to the full-plate that everyone imagines Paladins wearing his chain and hardened leather doesn't seem like much, but it's what he's got, for now.

As the story starts he's wandering near an area known for being wild and tumultuous - hoping to find rumors of the dragon. As he beds down for the night he hears the squalling of a largish cat nearby. Being the sort who cannot leave even a wild animal to suffer he goes to see if he can help. What he finds is a wildcat caught in a snare hanging from a tree. She looks rather pitiful, as if she's been there for a few days. Dupre cuts the cat down and carries her back to his camp so he can take care of her. After using his simple healing talents on her and giving her food and water he leaves her to rest and crawls into his own blankets. Shortly there-after a naked girl crawls into the blankets with him, and before he can protest, she kisses him passionately, which leads to other things. The two are still entangled when they wake in the morning.

The girl introduces herself as Shamino the Ranger (virtue Spirituality). The wildcat he rescued last night was her, she's a shapeshifter who comes from a tribe of natural shapeshifters. A few days before her clan was attacked by a dragon, and she succumbed to dragon-fear and fled, eventually getting snagged in the snare that normally she'd never have missed seeing.

After passing back and forth notes Dupre realizes that the dragon that attacked her tribe is the same one that killed his father. When he follows her back to the village they discover everyone is missing or dead. Shamino gathers what she can and decides to join Dupre's quest, and continue their new relationship.

They eventually meet others who likewise have reasons to join the quest.


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DAZ2.3: Aiko3 and Hiro3