Very soon after starting Avowed, you have to die. It's inevitable. A scripted kind of inevitable. And so I died upon entering the city of Paradis for the first time. An arrow got me, a poisonous arrow, and I had no idea where it came from. I died, but the game was far from over. Something otherworldly, with a litlle help of a local healer, brought me back. After that singular experience, I was advised to seek a Watcher, for only a Watcher could maybe reveal at least a small part of what really happened when I died.
Watchers are some kind of ... I don't know ... something ... a mix between a scholar and a spiritual medium; they are partly psychologists, partly fortunetellers, kinda helpful, or maybe just scammers.
I was advised to seek advice from the watcher that lives in an isolated mansion outside Paradis, becouse that one probably ain't too bad. The one that can be found in Paradis is a very shady character, and he, or more precisely she - as I later found out, charges a lot for her dubious services.
The world outside the city walls is fascinating and colorful, but it can be pretty dangerous, as well, so a simple quest like "Find the watcher" can easily turn into an epic adventure.
Today I'm gonna show you some cool stuff I saw on my way to the watcher.
Stuff like this, an interesting blue plant which may not be a plant at all. It could be some kind of fungus or an alien organism unclassifiable in our Earth's terms.
Here you can admire a colorful, peaceful herbivore that can often be seen domesticated in small villages.
These bones belong to a giant creature that is now probably extinct.
If you take a good look at all the little details in this scenic screenshot, you'll notice a human skeleton sitting in a chair in the left half of the picture. Judging by the content of the nearby chest, I think the dude was a wizard of sorts.
Here you can see another, considerably bigger chest, which I found in some abandoned rural house along the way.
This screenshot shows another chunk of the rugged scenery. Besides that, you can also see an entrance to a tunnel or something, in the left corner of the picture.
At some point, I stopped to spend the night in camp and cook some good food that might heal me if I get injured in battle.
This screenshot shows the cooking interface. Before waking up early in the morning, I had a strange dream in which I heard a voice telling me to find its lost memory. The voice gave me some clues ...
... that led me to the picturesque ruins of an ancient city.
These beautiful blue mushrooms were abundantly present and definitely worth a screenshot.
The ruins surrounded by rugged peaks look majestic and alien.
When it comes to that voice's memory I mentioned before, I didn't really know what to expect. I mean, what should that memory be? How should a memory look in a world outside someone's mind? Are there objects that can hold a memory as a bottle holds the wine? In this case, the memory appeared in the form of some ethereal colors shimmering in the air.
Here you can see the artwork I was looking at as a soothing, otherworldly voice spoke directly into my mind. That's how I received the memory I had to find.
Before leaving the ruins, I took a well-crafted sword that was lying there on the ground ...
... and soon regretted doing it. I was proudly holding that damn sword when a horde of angry skeletons emerged from a pond surrounded by ancient pillars. My elven archer doesn't even use melee weapons, only bows, primitive guns, and a litlle bit of magic occasionally. You can see only two skeletons in this screenshot, but believe me, I fought many more on that occasion. I almost got killed over a sword that I couldn't care less about.
Sometime later, I came across a damaged bridge that couldn't help me cross the small but deep pond surrounded by fairly high rocks.
This is the same bridge, shown from a different angle. You can also see some cool mushrooms in this screenshot.
It took me quite some time to come up with a solution.
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Here you can see how I used one of the spells I learned earlier in the game to freeze the water and reach the other end of the partially destroyed wooden bridge.
This screenshot shows the same bridge from the high rocks on the other side.
I was pretty far from the water, and I wondered if the spell could work at that distance, so I tried it. It worked. As you can see, I created two nice litlle ice platforms that soon melted in the sun.
After some more walking ...
... and a short visit to another ancient ruin ...
... I set up a camp for the night. It was time to let sleep restore my strength for the challenges that lie further down the road.
Here you can see the same ruins early in the morning.
I took this screenshot at the end of that day, in the evening.
Here you can see me resting in some cave after fighting with a bunch of humanoid lizards.
Nights in this world are really great for gaming photography. When the following screenshot was taken ...
... I finally reached the watcher's secluded mansion on the hill. It's a lovely building.
It has a large, well-kept garden ...
... and the interior feels very cozy, in stark contrast with the dangerous world outside.
My first thought upon stepping in was: "Damn, this watcher lady has almost more plants inside the house than in the garden. Is this a good or bad sign?"
The lady was cool, a good watcher, if you ask me.
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We had a lengthy conversation about souls, the afterlife, and other mystical stuff.
I learned some weird shit about myself and my place in the universe.
And that's it, the post can end here.
In this last screenshot, you can see me posing with some mushrooms, in a place not far from the watcher's residence.