Servants of the Blood Moon

Beware! This review contains major spoilers.

This is the fifteenth booster adventure by AEG. It is designed for three to four characters of level 7-10. It costs $2.49.

Production and Presentation: This module is 16 pages but each page is only ½ the width of an A4 page. The front (soft)cover features poor colour artwork, the back cover features an introduction to the adventure. There are two mediocre internal pieces of black & white artwork and the central pages contain a basic un-scaled map of the palace and library. The final page and the inside back cover contains OGL bumpf. The inside front cover contains advertising.

The Story: An evil sorcerer kills the unicorn protector of an elven forest in an attempt to control a gelugon known as The Blood Moon. The forest has been corrupted and the elves are leaving the forest in droves. The city of Myr lies at the heart of the forest. The PCs are begged by the elves to investigate, and are told that information regarding the situation might be found in the library of Myr. Battling their way through devils and undead which plague the forest, they come to Myr. They investigate the library, which has been taken over by Servants Of The Blood Moon (a new monster). They find clues to help them understand what they are facing. They turn to the palace of Myr, the lair of the half-elven sorcerer who seeks to control The Blood Moon, who is imprisoned in a sacred grove at the heart of the palace. If the sorcerer faces defeat, he may release the devil by breaking his magical staff (topped by the unicorn horn). The devil ignores the PCs, kills the sorcerer, and disappears. Using a gift from a good cleric trapped in the palace temple and the unicorn’s horn, they can create a new unicorn who will heal the forest.

The High Points: Despite the numerous combats hinted at in the above overview, this module seems very combat light. The text leaves development of combat mainly to the discretion of the DM and concentrates on providing interesting NPCs (a mad blind adventurer waiting for his dead colleagues to come out of the forest) and settings (the forest drips with blood, the diabolically desecrated druids grove at the finale). There is a rumours section at the beginning, which can provide the players with a challenge to unravel the truth from the groundless fears and hopes of the elves. The new monster, Servants Of The Blood Moon, was excellent – the outsider resembles a nosferatu vampire, tattooed with evil runes. It wraps its tattered vestigial wings around itself to make itself invisible and hunts with stealth and intelligence. Its charm and fear abilities, along with a nasty ever-bleeding wound ability make a rounded and useful creature for any setting.

The Low Points: The worst part of this adventure is the ending, which uses a really horrible deus ex machina finale – both in terms of the gelugon devil ignoring the PCs if released, and the soppy recreation of the unicorn. The DM has to do a fair amount of work to prepare for this adventure, planning some of the combats and expanding on some of the locations. The real climax of the adventure (a penultimate meeting with the sorcerer and ten Servants) is too tough for the party level described – actually EL 17. In fact, the DM will need to carefully plan encounters with the wealth of devils and undead free in the forest and in Myr, and the party is advised to proceed with caution.

Conclusion: One of the better adventure boosters, spoiled only by it’s disappointing ending. Much of the plot, setting and NPCs can be easily transplanted into a home-grown campaign but needs a fair amount of work to be able to run it smoothly. The new monster is the best I have come across in all the AEG adventures. Scrapes a Good rating from me because of this and its adaptability.

This was the first AEG mini-adventure I bought, and I will not be running out to buy another. It was nice and inexpensive, but the content was sorely lacking. What do you get for your $2.49? Minor SPOILERS follow.

Fairly good production values: Good layout, no major errors, no glaring rules problems. Admittedly, I have not gone over it too carefully, so I may have missed something in this area.

A new monster (a demon): This monster was OK - something a little bit different. Would provide a good challenge for the mid-level party this adventure is written for.

A new magic item: Again, not bad. Nothing too exciting, but provides some possibilities.

A nifty NPC encounter: This is not the first party of characters to try this adventure...

A map of a palace: Nice and clear, with the rooms labeled on the same page. This could easily be recycled for another setting.

A very cliched, uninteresting adventure: This is where the product falls flat on its face. If you read the back cover, you've pretty much got it. "Evil force despoils lovely Elven forest, kills Unicorn, yadda yadda." I realize these adventures are meant to be short and simple, but I was completely let down by this one. The setting (an elven palace) holds no particular surprises, and the quest pretty much consists of "find the bad guy and kill him." The plot, as it is, is ended by a fairly arbitrary deus ex machina scene.

This module might be a good evening's hack-fest for some groups, but I found myself saying "That's it?"

Deep in the elven forests of Myereth, the ancient rowan trees spread white boughs above a sacred site. Pillars of stone twist like some strange form vine, curling among the branches and reflecting the light of a silvery moon. The forest is silent and beautiful, protected since the dawn of time by a powerful Unicorn. But now, Myereth runs with blood and their rowan trees have begun to wither and die. In the center of the Rowan Grove, the bloodied bodies of the last elven warriors of Myereth lie scattered and broken. Over them stands a dark-robed sorcerer, lifting the bloody skull of a creature that may have once been a horse... with a single ivory horn.