A-EftP - A place to call your own?

[Gon]

One of the coolest things about 1997's Exile III was the ability to buy your own house (Hawke's Manse) and put all your junk and stuff there. I'm not sure if anybody did that before Jeff. And in this grand old mansion you became the master of, there was even a brilliant AlienWaveBlade that did Poison damage hidden by the previous owner! Was it the Venomous WaveBlade of AEFTP?! Greatest RPG EVER.

 

As in all the Exile/Avernum games, you pick up, grab or capture or otherwise plain old steal a lot of loot in AEFTP but there's no really good place to put it. Leaving it around the teleportation hub in Tower of Magi is the logical place as somebody else said in another thread but still a travel hub doesn't seem a right spot for storing your war trophies. No privacy! Some other adventurers could drop by and help themselves hehehe. Still, the place to store it should preferrably be easily accessible by the teleport system.

 

Now the great thing about AEFTP is that the world is persistent and stuff you drop in towns do not disappear. Nobody steals anything but our party. Some places to stick my loot that I'm considering; Droknarr's lair in Silvar's sewers ever since you killed Drok and got rid of the slimes. The secret place behind Dharmon you get to by boat. Brigand's Fort, but the place is too rundown and needs major renovating, besides, the Avernum Government might take over the place and use it as a fort again. Almaria's sewers in the pit behind the concealed passageway, unfortunately Cormac's hiding there already and you can't trust him alone with your stuff. The middle of the Spiral Pit, but I'm too lazy to keep walking all the way down there, maybe Drath's crypt could be a good place with undead to watch over it ....

[Tcheedchee]

You could also start breeding cave cows, grow healing herbs and fungi, employ some Avernites to keep the place in order while you are adventuring and retaliate on the occasional nephilim band, slith raiders and bands of rogues, who'd occasionally try to raid your place to get at your nice trophies or steal your cows…

[Californian]

Oh I remember Hawke's Manse! Yeah, great place. I loved that.

 

So is it not in this game? I'm still in an earlyish stage.

 

Well drat, if it's not.

 

(I'm still loving this game though. I love the freedom to travel all over, after Avadon's limited little areas.)

[Superba]

@Gon Literary talking, I would suggest Kyass fortress as a good place to call your own. It offers some advantages, i.e. it is isolated, well built, not as good in terms of facilities, but there's the river for boats and Bargha's teleport is not that far. You would even not feel alone if you leave just after killing Kyass, the wizards, some soldiers; merchants will not attack you when you go back.

The fortress is far enough from both the Castle and the Tower of Magi to survey a huge portion of the western underworld including the Abyss, and cover it with your influence, as Kyass would wanted to do with different ambitions.

As you are/will be the powerful Commander of Avernum by Micah's wish, it would be useful for the benefit of all to have a stronghold of yours

[The Mystic]

Actually, it shouldn't matter too much where you store your stuff, as long as you remember where it is, and it's easily accessible. And don't worry about thieves, since there aren't any.

 

Originally Posted By: Californian

Oh I remember Hawke's Manse! Yeah, great place. I loved that.

 

So is it not in this game? I'm still in an earlyish stage.

 

Well drat, if it's not.

Click to reveal..

Hawke's Manse won't be around until the remake of Exile 3/Avernum 3, and it's on the surface. Jeff's still rewriting the series, so it'll be a while before you get to see it this time around.

 

Originally Posted By: Californian

(I'm still loving this game though. I love the freedom to travel all over, after Avadon's limited little areas.)

Yeah, if AEFTP is anything like its precursors (I haven't seen it yet, I'm patiently waiting for the Windows version), it's a very open world. Even when you've just started, there's a huge number of places you can visit almost immediately, though there's several I don't recommend until you've leveled up a bit.

[Gon]

True you can leave things anywhere except outdoors and there they will stay. I suppose that may not be true if you leave things in Fort Remote or Skraagath(sp?) and go back again after it is destroyed. That's not the point tho. The whole idea is to take over a place and make it your own lair, usually somewhere you've driven out the previous hapless occupants by force hehe.

 

Anyway, I am only speaking roleplaying wise within the story.

 

Well, taking over Kyass' freehold doesn't appeal so much, I actually like him and the Freeholders a lot more than the other sides and preferred working for him than anybody else. The guy is quite an interesting, colourful character and like us probably was an adventurer himself. (canon wise, I wonder what happened to him eventually?) However, I gave Drath's spell book to Thantria in exchange for Radiant Plate. The Empire naturally gave the best weapons though Kyass' rewards seem more valuable in the sense that he had to win those himself also through adventuring before he had anything to give. It'd be nice to even throw in our lot with Kyass who seems much more true to the Exile ideals, imo, than the Castle "those who would create their own Empire down below", as one of the NPCs put it. Don't remember who said that but the gist of the words are about that. Houghton I especially loathe for sending around us as hired goons to threaten, intimidate and get rid of inconvenient political opposition like Kyass (but not Thantria whom Avernum does deals with the Empire through.)However, it is not clear what dealings Kyass also has with Thantria seeing Thantria sends us to aid Kyass.

 

It's an interesting question; in context of the roleplaying, why should we be loyal to Avernum? Avernum didn't have any more right to the caves than anybody. Why should we help them do just as the Empire was doing on the surface? Which was exterminating everybody non human. Avernum may not have gone that far, eventually, but everybody else like Sliths and Nephils were certainly marginalised and living at the fringes ending up as minorities. (And being a Goblin with all these high and mighty adventurers running around couldn't be fun at all.) We were Empire subjects, thrown out and discarded, we could set up for ourselves like Kyass did. Maybe partner him. In fact, going by Hoth's ranting, his race were there first. And he took it from the Vahnatai who were there before him.

 

Besides, taking over Freehold and setting it up as our own stronghold will attract the political enmity of the Castle and Houghton will send out another group to "warn" us then "drive us out" by force. He's the aide to saintly old King Micah who takes care of all these "little details" that Micah doesn't soil his nice clean hands with. To Houghton, the adventurers were probably just expendables. Succeed in your mission, the Castle profits; fail, that's your problem. Commander Houghton has never heard of these roaming ruffians who tried to assassinate whomever, no paper trail, he always pays us in coins and "trinkets". hehehe

 

Currently I've taken the Empire outpost at Strange Cave to stash my trophies and gold and rubies and emeralds and everything else. (What, no diamonds, no blue ones?) Security wise it should be hard for normal Avernite citizens to get to since they don't have the Orb of Thralni. Then the place is secluded, out of the way of traffic, off the main freeway and very quiet, however, both Freehold and Bargha with its teleport transit system are within a quick marching distance. Even if some wanderer or another bunch of adventurers looking for loot could get to the cave, the base itself is well hidden behind a series of hidden switches, teleporters, a hell hound trap, an illusory wall, an old throne room and another concealed passage way! The base has a pantry, a kitchen, living quarters with lots of chest and cupboard space and a study for our mage! Finally, behind a last hidden wall is a secret vault for valuables! Just the thing for an adventuring, looting party like us.

 

 

 

[Jerakeen]

Great idea.

[Tcheedchee]

Your remarks concerning the marginalisation of people of other races are well said. Also what you say about Houghton and his role in regard to King Micahs clean hands. But Kyass also has some dirty secrets, I think. At least he doesn't like people to get involved too much.

 

At the moment, I'd love to settle in Aydins place. Nice Tower, nice defences, a "lagoon" and an enchanted pool close by, Bargha's pylon in hiking distance. Kyass freehold as well. Neighborhood of sages… Unfortunately it's already inhabited. I wouldn't throw out Aydin and his company.

[Superba]

quote=Gon]However, it is not clear what dealings Kyass also has with Thantria seeing Thantria sends us to aid Kyass.

 

It's an interesting question; in context of the roleplaying, why should we be loyal to Avernum?

 

 

This seem to me some good reasons Thantria has to help Kyass: in the beginning her interest in Kyass seem to match the Empire early intention to have a bridgehead in Avernum in a discrete way. But until now the Empire has placed some wizard, assassins, some communication Orbs. That's not enough, and my assumption is Thantria received orders from Gahlazad to help Kyass independant army to have a fortress in open field, with human soldiers (and wizards), to support the invasion from the inside.

So she would help you in Kyass place, or you when allied to him.

 

However, wheter you decide to support Micah or not, before the end of the game you are able to have an army at your command. Then it's up to you. Let's see your aces: you are ranked Commander of Avernum, this means I presume being Chief of Micah's army (Houghton's boss, ehehe). Then you have people support, according to your very high popularity level, and last but not least you know beings in each very human and some non human towns who owe you much, sometimes very much.

Use your contacts to recruit an independant army to establish a new underworld order seems feasible.

 

When you stop being loyal to Micah you however already (strongly) suspect there will be an invasion from the surface to avenge Hawthorne death. So what is the point to have your own army or to command Micah's soldiers when the Empire will be the common enemy to fight? I wouldn't count on Gahlazad complicity to take side with him because everybody know you are Hawthorne killer...