Avernum: Escape from the Pit

A sprawling, underground civilization, made up of criminals and exiles from an oppressive Empire above is certainly a unique setting. My party find themselves flung into a pit, and forced to make a new life in the dank caverns of Averum. I don’t know their names. Not because they don’t have any but because I clicked random and haven’t had a need to learn them.

There is warrior guy, my burly, bald, tank. He wields either a pole arm or spear, depending on whatever has the group has scrounged up (or outright stolen) and has better stats. Forgoing a shield, he prefers to take the brunt of enemy attacks straight to his armored face.

There is warrior woman, slightly different from warrior guy. A different class even, but not enough of a difference to remember what her class is. Rebel maybe? She wields dual swords, because dual swords are cool! They may have some sort of attack penalty, but I’ve used her skill tree to mitigate that. She remains cool that way. She also has a pechant to back stab enemies standing next to allies wether she is behind them or not. She’s like a heavely armored rouge who is not stealthy but can still hit those sweet, sweet, crits.

Following behind warrior woman is Priest Guy. Priest guy has the heals, he has the buffs, he also has a few decent attack spells. He regularly has to choose between keeping teamates alive or calling on his god to smite something. He heals about as much as he smites. Sometimes it works out. Sometimes half the team dies but the heathens must be smote.

At the back of the party is Magic woman. She started the adventure as the parties damage dealer. Throwing fireballs here and there without a care. Always protected by Warrior guy and Warrior woman. As the adventure has progresses, Magic Woman doesn’t cast as many fireballs. She kind of misses it. Instead she has been relegated to a haste and daze bot. Sometimes she summons a creature to bolster the party’s numbers, but mostly she casts Haste and Daze. The former granting the party extra turns, the later causing enemies to miss their turns. Sometimes, when she’s feeling frisky, she’ll cast a fireball, just for old times sake.

This is the party that arrived in Avernum and set out to find a way to leave this wreched maze of caverns. Along the way, they’ve picked up odd jobs, met an underground dragon, and have gotten hit on by sentient spiders. All of this while exploring the norther quarter of Avernum.

Thus far, the fights have been numerous but on the easier side. Sometimes the party retreats to a nearby town to lick their wounds. More likely, they are going back to town to revive a fallen comrade. Usually due to one to many smites and when Priest guy really should have healed.

Now that they have been tasked to travel south, to the Great Cave, the capital of Avernum, the fights are getting harder. Not in an unfair way, but in a, we must use our brain and some consumables to get past this one, kind of way.

For a game that is a remaster of a rewrite, of a rewrite, of a game from 1995, Avernum: Escape from the Pit has captured my attention and imagination in a way I was not expecting. It was among one of the first games I bought on Steam, in a whole Spiderweb Software bundle, back when Steam sales were exciting. It has since been staring out from my Steam library for years, patiently bidding it’s time, until now, when it perfectly fits the mood and game mechanics I am currently looking for.