Blood on White Petals is a short scenario - designed for an evening's play - in AEG's Adventure Keep series. With a decidedly oriental feel, it is best run in an oriental setting - else the 'traditions' that the characters are being asked to uphold would be decidedly bizarre if not baffling to them, and much of the dramatic tension would be lost.

The scenario opens with a succinct background for the DM, explaining about the silk-rich Caotang province and the politics that have been going on, and the black arts practiced by the current magistrate of Caotang villiage... and the results when the local peasants discovered what he was up to. This is why you need to be using an oriental setting: peasants revolting against an unjust lord would not raise many eyebrows in a conventional mediaeval/fantasy setting.

The adventure itself opens with the characters arriving in the vicinity of Caotang village. Why they are there is left to the DM to decide - perhaps the scenario is to be dropped in as a 'side adventure' while the characters think they are about something else entirely.

Once the characters have encountered the devastated peasants - who quite naturally expect only death for having slain their magistrate - it will be up to them to figure out what has been going on. As the magistrate was killed while in the process of summoning and binding a demon, the demon is now attempting to break free - it needs to kill the remaining children of the villiage to be able to manifest permanently; so the characters will have to search a nearby monastery where the ritual had been taking place, fight off any number of animated corpses and items set upon them by a very wily, not to say desperate demon, figure out where the remaining children are hidden and slay the demon when it manifests briefly to devour one...

A simple and straightforward adventure, but with sufficient investigation to keep the characters thinking as well as fighting. Presentation is good, including a nice map of the monastery, but more attention should have been paid to proofreading as several spelling and grammatical errors have slipped through. It would be a good adventure for low-level characters to establish a minor reputation in this particular area.

Return to Blood on White Petals page.

Reviewed: 19 May 2007