The Abductor's Quarters

The Abductor's Quarters
	◄Eamon adventure #8►
Author	Jim Jacobson
Released	1980
Revised	21 June 1985
EAG number	8
EDX number	03-04
EDX set	The Jim Jacobson Adventures Deluxe
Native format	Apple DOS 3.3
File	Eamon 8 - The Abductor's Quarters.dsk

The Abductor's Quarters is an Eamon adventure written by Jim Jacobson.

Background

The Abductor's Quarters is Jim Jacobson's fourth adventure, following The Devil's Tomb. As with his last adventure, here the setting returns to a more traditional underground dungeon, without the wilderness seen in The Zyphur Riverventure; however, The Abductor's Quarters is the first Eamon to employ a small maze with no visible exits and the need for the player to find ways through via trial and error, similar to those more famously featured in Colossal Cave Adventure and the Zork series.

Premise

Your friend Kathryn has been kidnapped by the Abductor, a villainous rogue adventurer who is lord of his own underground dungeon complex. You head in to rescue Kathryn and put an end to the Abductor's plans, but soon after entering the dungeon a rockfall blocks the entrance and you have to search from a means of escape. This means contending with a complex of dark and confusing underground passages, the Abductor's guards, a contentious bandit, and several magic items, including two unique magic swords.

The verbatim introduction text by Jacobson:

You are needed. A friend of yours, Kathryn, is in trouble. After trying to retrieve some of the many valuable treasures in a nearby dungeon, your friend mysteriously disappeared. After careful research, you discover that the dungeon your friend went to is controlled by a mad adventurer known only as "The Abductor". You must find your friend before the Abductor gets nasty and heads start to roll. Good luck!!!

Walkthrough

Original version

Eamon Deluxe version

As with the other Deluxe versions of Jim Jacobson's adventures, Frank Black has made significant additions to the play. Some of these take the form of alterations in description, such as the "Guard 1" and "Guard 2"-type enemies in the original being altered to be more amusing. Others involve smoothing over some rough edges, such as the bandit encounter which in the original adventure involves the player's money being unavoidably stolen by a bandit; now one can reclaim it after reaching the Abductor's vault.

Black also replaced five rooms to the program which appeared in the original code but were not used in the game, and added some appropriate treasure items to them, though still (as with the original) most of the treasure is found in the Abductor's vault. The Abductor is also said to have kidnapped several friends from previous Jim Jacobson adventures, too.

Reviews

Tom Zuchowski gave the adventure a rating of 6 and praised its special effects, though he thought it a hard play especially given the amount of exploration found in the game.

Luke Hewitt was less impressed with the Eamon Deluxe version, giving it only a 4-10, since while he appreciated the specials he disliked the lack of colourful descriptions in the background.

In other adventures

The Abductor is said to be a mad adventurer wielding an extra sharp Trollsfire as his weapon. Trollsfire is the sword found in The Beginners Cave.
The Abductor also appears again with a fresh underground base in Frank Black's Fiends of Eamon.
As with the rest of The Jim Jacobson Adventures Deluxe, companions from previous adventures return. Prisoner Thirteen from The Zyphur Riverventure can be found wandering the halls, while the Chef from The Cave of the Mind and the Eamon Deluxe character A.J can be rescued from the dungeons.

Location

The Abductor's quarters are said to be underground, but like many such locations it's unclear where they actually stand in relation to the Main Hall. However, a bandit who steals the player's money is said to be from Frukendorf, a town ruled by bandits, and later revealed in A Runcible Cargo as the location of the Bandit's Guild west of Evenhold. This combined with the use of a Trollsfire sword by the Abductor may suggest that his base is comparatively close to the Main Hall.

Trivia

The Abductor returns in Frank Black's adventure Fiends of Eamon where he's shown to be retired, living in castle and throwing parties for fellow villains.
The game reads the name of the friend you're rescuing (Kathryn) from a file named Last Char. If you fail in your mission, your adventurer will wind up a prisoner of the Abductor and their name and details will be written to the Last Char file. If you then revisit the adventure with a new character, your mission will be to rescue the old one.
A pickpocket will occasionally bump against you and make off with any gold you're carrying. In the original version of the program, carrying too much gold when the pickpocket appears will cause the Main Program to crash with an "illegal quantity" error.

External links