Rune Stones

This page is about the various Rune stone items you can find in the game. For information on the alphabet, see Runic Alphabet. For information on the spell system, see Magic.

Scattered around the Abyss is an alphabet of rune stones, each inscribed with a runic letter. The Avatar discovers these stones as they explore the Abyss, over time building a vocabulary of spells.

The following runestone items exist in the game:

• ᛉ Rune
• ᛒ Rune
• ᛖ Rune
• ᛇ Rune
• ᚺ Rune
• ᛃ Rune
• ᚲ Rune
• ᛗ Rune
• ᚾ Rune
• ᚱ Rune
• ᚦ Rune
• ᛏ Rune
• ᚢ Rune

Note that this means there will be four empty slots in your Rune Wheel.

They can be obtained in the following ways:

• Three runes can be found near the initial Rune Bag.
• Bought from Aelita in Marcaul, though she never has more than one.
• Sometimes found in chests.
• Sometimes dropped by slain monster.
• In destructible containers such as vases, crates, baskets, etc.

Each runic letter found on a rune stone has a specific meaning and effect, according to the Runic Alphabet.

Previous Appearances

• The Runic Magic differs from the traditional spellcasting used in the Ultima series, but was used throughout both Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss and Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds. Runic magic is a common arcane system on a number of worlds, it only functions in Britannia at places where the inter-dimensional barriers are worn thin, allowing the etheric properties of other planes to bleed through.