The Sinking: Beneath the Shadowheart

Before I kick this off: Apologies to my readers. I botched. This installment of The Sinking happens BEFORE Locks of the Panopticon and I thought I had already published this review. Usually, I try to stay within the chronology of APs etc., but this time around, I messed up. I’m sorry for any confusion caused.

This installment of the Sinking-mini-modules clocks in at 21 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page SRD, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC, 2 pages of advertisement, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 14 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

This being an adventure-review, the following contains SPOILERS. Potential players may wish to jump to the conclusion.

Still here? All right!

After a two-module spanning furious escape from the City into the holds of the enigmatic, xenophobic Kalks, the PCs have deserved a breather – alas, no rest for the wicked: One of Senator Vulgrax allies, bloodied and beaten, manages to find his way into the PC’s sanctuary – and his tidings do not bode well. The poor sap has tried to escape via the shadowheart, one of the outskirts of the notorious Dungeon Under the Mountain – for the Trypus has quarantined the area around the sinkhole, collecting dissidents – and now, execution may be eminent.

It does look like the PCs will be on the hunt through the shadowheart to enter the city and prevent the worst -hence, the following excursion through the tunnels is a fast-paced dungeon-crawl (featuring lavishly cartographed, player-friendly maps) through the doppelganger-infested tunnels – only to find a perished creature that may spawn a dread new type of undead. The Crusader Tavern and the crackdown of the Kharel on the place coincides with the PCs re-entering the city and from there on, they better be on their way towards the compound – where gathering information finally becomes possible – the strange plans the Trypus hatched and the true nature of the sinkhole – provided the PCs can get in fast and get out again, Vulgrax may actually, with the information, finally provide some answers…

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good, I noticed no significant issues. Layout adheres to a 2-column b/w-standard and the pdf comes with cool, original b/w-artworks and 0onegame’s great cartography. The pdf comes extensively bookmarked for your convenience.

Tim Hitchcock’s Beneath the Shadowheart starts off slow with and then turns into a cool “behind enemy lines/enemy of the state”-scenario that is quite an awesome set-up for the things to come – add to that the neat hazards and creatures and we get a cool module indeed, if one that in my opinion could have used slightly more information on the security procedures. Still, a great module for an almost unbeatable price and well worth 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 for the purpose of this platform.

Ypu can get this cool mini-module here on OBS!

Endzeitgeist out.

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