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Oh, and throughout your various missions, you also encounter a mysterious figure who uses your status as Hand to attempt to procure favors. Redbeard suspects that dark (and illegal) magic lies at the root of the problem. When word comes down that a beast seemingly made of shadows is harassing the residents of a small village, you're sent to "resolve" the problem. However, despite being low on numbers, Avadon believes its law applies and should be enforced everywhere. Unlike your other destinations, this land is not directly involved with the pact. Those residents include, in particular, an arrogant and grouchy dragon who openly states that if the pact doesn't work for him, he might decide he's no longer respecting its rules.Īfter completing a mission there, you are sent next to Khemeria. Such creatures used to keep to their own territories under fear of extermination, but recently they have begun making life miserable for the Kva residents. This land is part of the pact, but shares borders with non-pact lands that house Wretches, Ogres and Titans. You pick a character from one of four classes, meet a few other Hands who serve as your allies in battle, handle a small riot in Avadon's dungeons and soon journey to the three lands that host the majority of the game's campaign.įirst, you are sent to the remote Kva. Has Redbeard stayed in power too long, allowing a once-great organization to fall into disrepair? Is his authoritative style of rule doing more to hurt Avadon's authority than to help it? You'll spend plenty of time pondering such topics.Įscape From the Pit tossed you into an open world where the only thing preventing you from going virtually anywhere was your ability to survive the local monsters, but The Black Fortress is considerably more linear. Hell, even current members of Avadon question its purpose. Being a Hand and having all the authority that title bestows might have sounded like a dream job for your blank slate of a hero, but the reality is far different.
![avadon the black fortress shadow beast avadon the black fortress shadow beast](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/darksummoner/images/b/b7/3036.png)
Non-pact groups, whether they be primitive races of humanoids such as Wretches and Ogres, or the once-mighty Tawon Empire, take advantage of that dynamic to undermine Avadon, both by raiding pact lands and by working with disgruntled nobles to fuel outright rebellion. This inconsistent enforcement leads to widespread resentment. There simply are too few Hands to effectively cover all the lands of the Pact, which requires Redbeard to pick and choose what problems are important enough to delegate resources to handle. That could lead him to, oh, raze an entire village just to prove a point.Īs you'll soon find out, reality and theory differ. Your decisions are law, and no one in their right mind will oppose you, lest they draw Redbeard's ire. In theory, as a Hand, you represent Avadon itself.
![avadon the black fortress shadow beast avadon the black fortress shadow beast](https://files.rebel.pl/products/106/5119/_110090/60010699016_BSFTheDreadedAmbullENG03.jpg)
Redbeard's employees come in three ranks: Hearts report directly to him Eyes handle research, spying and other crucial non-combat duties and Hands are sent out on the road to get their hands dirty. You start the game as a new Hand of Avadon. Are non-pact countries trying to gum up the works? Avadon will spearhead the effort to put them back in their proper, subservient place. Are two member countries working through a disagreement? Avadon will mediate. Having trouble with bandits? Avadon will kill them for you. Led by the mysterious Redbeard, a man both jovial and sinister, Avadon's employees essentially serve as above-the-law secret police. More precisely, Avadon is the governmental seat for a five-country pact, and serves the dual purpose of enforcing laws and making sure no one-either in or outside of those countries-even thinks about engaging in illegal activity.
#Avadon the black fortress shadow beast full#
Though this particular game didn't impress me as much as Escape From the Pit, it still provided me with a full 35 hours of entertainment.Īvadon is a collection of five countries in a fantasy world. Fortunately, Spiderweb doesn't fall into the same traps that bedevil Kemco. I've played a decent number of Kemco's mobile RPGs, so I've grown accustomed to tiny companies that constantly recycle virtually everything in order to meet deadlines. Well, "completely new" if you ignore how Avadon: The Black Fortress uses many of the same assets from Avernum, meaning you fight many of the same monsters throughout the same sorts of dungeons and caves, which are littered with many of the same tools and items.
#Avadon the black fortress shadow beast software#
Still a good thing."ĭuring the same year that Jeff Vogel's Spiderweb Software released Avernum: Escape From the Pit - a second remake of his first game, Exile - the independent company also delivered a completely new property to computer gamers. " Avernum, but more linear and plot-driven.