When Evil Lurks

It's about time Donnie Yen made an impact yet again in the fantasy wuxia-pian genre, given the rather recent dismal films with Painted Skin (where he only had a supporting role), An Empress and the Warriors, and Tsui Hark's Seven Swords back in 2005. Most of us went ballistic with his more modern action roles ranging from SPL to Ip Man, and his 14 Blades character of Qing Long (Green Dragon, thanks to those mean looking tattoos adorned all over his upper torso) here looks quite set to become yet another memorable role similar to his morally ambiguous one in Bodyguards and Assassins.
Here, Yen's Qing Long is the General-in-chief bodyguard to, and assassin for a Ming Dynasty king, who had set up the Jin Yi Wei (the Mandarin title), or the Brocaded Robe Guards, a special army known for its dogmatic principles in fulfilling mission objectives, whose loyalty is to the king only, and are at his beck and call to do just about anything the king commands. That of course leaves room for evil eunuchs to manipulate, especially when they can get the king easily distracted with wine, song and plenty of nubile women.

In the quaint Southern town of Port Bella Rosa, something sinister lurks beneath the cobblestones. When hunger stirs a centuries-old evil, a demon awakens, releasing its hunters in search of prey. Jackals swarm from the mist, seeking out quarry, sating their master with offerings of human flesh. Allie Kent catches a glimpse of the first victim: a corpse with its organs, muscle and bone all consumed, leaving nothing more than skin behind. While police work to solve the unexplained murder, more bodies are found mutilated…

Michael Powell's controversial meditation on violence and voyeurism effectively destroyed his career when it was first released, but later generations have come to regard it as a masterpiece. Karl Heinz Boehm stars as Mark, the son of a psychologist who kept a video journal of the boy's upbringing for research purposes. The constant intrusions profoundly affected the boy, who grew up to be a photographer himself; but his principal subject matter consists of women whom he murders before the camera. He then runs the films of his victims in their final throes so that he can study their reactions to death–a perverse extension of his father's experiments, which tormented Mark to analyze his reactions to raw fear…..

Jill Tracy is both villainess and heroine of her own musical netherworld. The San Francisco-based artist has garnered multiple awards and a devoted following for her evocative cinematic music, sophisticated lyrics, old-world glamour, and curious passion for strange tales. Hailed by critics as a "femme fatale for the thinking man," Tracy was described by NPR's All Things Considered as "utterly intriguing… luring you into a magical kingdom solely of her creation." LA Weekly calls her "very distinctive and exciting." Her signature sound conjures up images of wonder cabinets, hidden passageways and opium dens, but at the same time, it's shockingly new. Jill Tracy coos in a voice of cut-velvet smoke, ornately framed by her dark classical-cum-parlour piano, creating a world of opulence and danger, of magic and madness. As one critic put it: "You know it's not safe here; but with Jill Tracy as your guide, you'll be in no hurry to leave." With her recent forays into filmmaking, writing, acting and theatre, Jill Tracy is redefining the image of modern day renaissance artist. But beneath her trademark sound and style lurks cold steel. No corporate-contrived cookie cutter blandness here. She is refreshing proof that smart… is sexy.

Complete the Trials of Kornath to learn the location of The Dark Tower. Defeat the creature that lurks there, the one behind the events that transpired in The Curse of Feldar Vale and Mystery at Morgoth. An adventure for 4-6 characters of Level 6-15, loosely based on D&D Open Game License (1e/2e).