such as knowing only the past or producing runestones. Talorids are created to serve the Guardian, but the Avatar destroys and replaces the sole reproductive Talorid to free the race. The Avatar completes a series of tests at Scintillus Academy, a mage school whose staff was killed by the Guardian. Afterwards, the player travels to the Pits of Carnage, a subterranean prison on a world where the Guardian trains soldiers to attack other dimensions; and to the Tomb of Praecor Loth, where a king killed in a war with the Guardian is buried. Finally, the Avatar visits the Ethereal Void, a strange world with floating, glowing pathways and no map. Eventually, the Avatar discovers that Mayor Patterson is the traitor and destroys the blackrock dome. Development Looking Glass Technologies began to develop Ultima Underworld II in April 1992. The team's goal was to build upon the foundation laid by the game's predecessor, Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss. They attempted to write a better, more complex plot and to include superior simulation elements and "play value". According to project leader Doug Church, the team's "biggest advantage" was the presence of four dedicated designers; by contrast, each member of the original game's team had assumed multiple roles. The Tomb of Praecor Loth was largely created by lead writer Austin Grossman, who took inspiration from the Dungeons & Dragons module Tomb of Horrors. The additional designers allowed Looking Glass to more carefully revise levels in Ultima Underworld II, so that players would have "interesting stuff" to see and do each time they explored an area. The team attempted to fine-tune the role-playing mechanics of Ultima Underworld, such as by making certain skills more powerful in the sequel. More puzzles and interactivity were added, and the game world was made several times larger than that of Ultima Underworld, according to Church. He later believed that the team was overambitious, and that the game was insufficiently focused and polished as a result. Like its predecessor, Ultima Underworld II was produced by Warren Spector, who was Looking Glass' main link to publisher Origin Systems. Church later praised Spector's handling of the project: his weekly phone conversations and monthly meetings with Looking Glass helped Church and the team to refocus creatively during development. When the team failed to produce enough art for the game, Spector supplemented the art team with contractors from Origin, which Church believed was