I got the damned platinum brooch and beat Hawthorne again, and this time escaped to Avernum. Two things:

1. You can make the game unwinnable by having your only save be in the Royal Spire with four brooches;
2. The fight against Hawthorne is surprisingly easy if you know the trick. All my characters are unrealistically strong so the main challenge was the damned Spire itself, with infinitely spawning guards. If you know the trick to beating him it’s no sweat, and you don’t even have to kill any guards to escape. As a boss fight, Grah-Hoth is harder. The wizard fight in the Royal Spire is harder.

Just the road to the surface left, and I’m already about half done with that quest. I’ll play Avernum 2, but not immediately. I still have Ultima V to play after beating 1-4. Avernum looks like it’d be easier to come back to.

Death screens:

1. Dying
2. Trying to enter Aydin’s tower without enlightenment
3. Sleeping in the Royal Soire
4. killing Hawthorne with four brooches (victory but you die)