By Bruce Boughner, Staff Reviewer, d20 Magazine Rack and Co-host of Mortality.net Radio
Caution: This review may contain spoilers!!
This review is for Bloodhollow by Bastion Press, which is 44 pages in length and carries a retail price of $5.99 (pdf download). This little adventure from Bastion seems to be a running theme, demons, demons, and demons!!!! Whereas the last Bastion adventure I reviewed, Legacy of Ahkirat, dealt mainly with orcs and cambions, this adventure throws in minotaurs and vampires. The adventure promises combat (mostly against undead), traps and magery, so a cleric, wizard-type, rogue and fighter-type are recommended and was designed for a party of four 7th level characters of mostly Good alignment.
It is site-oriented, but the sites may be adapted into any existing campaign. The author recommends a southwestern seacoast but it is not mandatory. Steve Montano also allows for his two cities, Tulan Lei and Keeldraga to be substituted by cities of your existing campaign (Freeport!!!!!). The adventure starts of the Ridgeback Road between Tulan Lei and Keeldraga then moves on to the slaver Elias Pike’s Lair and then to the Bloodhollow itself to deal with the HLIC (Head Lich In Charge) and was designed to keep the PC’s happy that they survived.
Llandrix Taivorkan, a syrines devil, is plotting a major campaign on the lower planes. Her plans were discovered; by an Order of Dawn (lawful knights). She was recruiting on the Prime Material Planes by supplying Skydaggers, floating fortresses that can travel invisibly at great speed. A Lich, Malath, was to provide undead shock troops and recon on the PMP. The Order of Dawn’s prayers, alerted a group of Archons, who thwarted and re-imprisoned Llandrix on the edges of existence. All of the Skydaggers were destroyed, except one.
An arch-wizard named Aram Crythos found the Skydagger centuries later and dubbed it Bloodhollow, due to the huge amounts of blood it takes to power the fortress’ flight and invisibility. An evil and vile man, deluded by visions of his ruling the earth from a throne of skulls, the necromancer made it his base of operations. Gathering a following of trolls, a family of minotaurs, powerful mercenaries and a medusa to help him keep the pens stocked with human livestock. He was about to launch his first assault when fate stepped in.
Llandrix, imprisoned at the edge of existence, is very much alive, and though kept from influencing the outside worlds, she has retained her connection with the Skydaggers she and Malath created. Since Crythos revived Bloodhollow, she has been regaining her control over it. Using the undead energies Malath used to create it Llandrix has begun to influence and consume all aboard it. And the fortess is underway with Llandrix in control. Crythos has inadvertently opened a rift to the demonic planes and the Bloodhollow is on it’s way to free Llandrix
Several hooks are given to draw the players into this unique adventure, along with rumors and ‘common knowledge excerpts for the area. Tulan Lei and Keeldraga are briefly described in stat format. Tulan Lei as a well-ordered magocracy of wizards and Keeldraga as a rowdy cesspool of goblins and hill giants that has been incorporate only a scant three years.
The encounters are well written AND all the stats are right there with the description (Thank You!!). The artwork is superb and maintains a consistent theme of being VERY red throughout the book. Hats off to the artist Michael Orwick. Many traps and monster encounters abound, each one getting sneakier and more devastatingly deadly you go on. The treasure is ample but not over the top
This adventure rocks!!! There is as much deadly danger for the bad guys as there is for the players and little good for all if the puppet mistress Llandrix succeeds in freeing herself and we haven’t gotten halfway through the book!!
The bulk of the book is spent on the flying fortress (take that Dragonlance!!) and the nearly impossible hoard of undead foes is very, very daunting, at any level of play. Maps are conveniently interspersed throughout the chapters (also a nice touch!!). Even though I’ve seen quite a number of demon/devil based books lately, this one really stands out as a superior romp through a rare type of locale. Three cheers and Huzzah!!
To see the graded evaluation of this product, go to The Critic's Corner at www.d20zines.com.
