2. Caverns by Paul C. Roberts
The player's directionless journey continues in a location that bears no resemblance to the one he just left, with no entrance behind him. Confused? I certainly was!
The player finds himself in a cellar area containing four cisterns. Slith lurk in the background.
A doorway at the far side of the cellar leads out into an underground dock, where two rafts await. Unfortunately, no amount of kicking and jumping will make the rafts flow along the subterranean river. The weary player is forced to take a swim.
Before long, the underground river brings the player to an impassable rock wall. However, a narrow opening awaits to one side.
The opening leads to a number of underground chambers that are being used for storage. The chambers' angular nature suggests that they may be artificial. Either way, they are infested with Flies and Pupae. In the furthermost chamber, a nameless human has met his end as he shelters by the light of some smouldering logs.
A side passageway brings the player back out into the river, where a sickly yellow sky is now visible. Nearby, another dock offers the player a way to the next stage of his enigmatic travels.
3. Nali Canyon by Paul C. Roberts
The player arrives at the top of a great yawning abyss stretching down into darkness below. A narrow wooden bridge leads to an opening on the far side.
Despite the presence of Pupae on the bridge, it seems that this part of the system of tunnels is still occupied by the Nali, who are hiding here with the last of their precious belongings stored in crates and vases.
The tunnels lead ever deeper down inside the wall of the canyon. On the lower levels, near another stretch of the underground waterway, a Nali beckons as the player kills the last of the Pupae that have been haunting them. The departed humans have left certain items in their care - weapons which the Nali now want the player to have.
Signs of civilisation continue in the depths of the tunnels. Perhaps the Nali will be able to relax again once the player has completed his meandering travels...
The player emerges on narrow plank crossing deeper down in the canyon. Unfortunately, the entrance on the far side is blocked. The only way forward lies in a death-defying leap to a narrow platform on an even lower level...
Surviving the fall - just - the player looks back up to see the sky far above. There's no way back now...
Something sinister lurks on this lowest level of the canyon. A teleporter... but to where?
4. Deep Down by Paul C. Roberts
The player materialises in a logistical routing station guarded by a Mercenary. Ahead lies a huge platform lift.
The player steps onto the lift and begins a slow descent.
Humans have passed this way before, it would seem, but who they were and where they were headed is unexplained. Whatever their goals, their eviscerated remains litter the infrastructure of the platform lift.
And it's not long before the player learns how they met their end. The place is, once again, infested with Pupae...
5. Death Arena by Paul C. Roberts
The lift arrives in a large, dimly lit hallway. There's a vague sense that something significant is about to happen.
Indeed, the hallway is merely an antechamber to a huge subterranean chamber. At the centre of the chamber, a winged nemesis lurks.
Once again, it's a final fight to the death with a Skaarj Warlord.
When the Warlord can take no more punishment, it teleports away. The player is left, with no exit and no way back, to rot, alone, forever...
Here in
Hollow we have what is ultimately a frustrating pack to play. The build isn't bad at first, but the story is nonexistent, the maps get shorter and less accomplished in design as you go on, and the lack of any way to actually
finish the thing is fairly unforgiveable. None the less, I didn't hate it, and in a way my impressions of it have improved slightly over time.
Hollow was one of the first custom packs I played, and it was the first in which I couldn't become completely immersed, with the limitations of its design being more apparent than others I had played at that time. This created a lingering feeling of dissapointment that has taken some time to ebb away.
Strangely, though, part of this pack seeded some of the ideas for
Tashara's Cove. For some reason, when I reached the underground chamber in
Nali Canyon where there is a foggy, unreachable cavern with the sound of a waterfall in the background, my mind expanded the scene to imagine, just out of sight, the suspended causeways and imposing stone pillars that so define the appearance of the village in
Tashara's Cove. I can't remember now whether this happened consciously or in a dream, but it was one of the strangest and most unlikely sources of mapping inspiration I've ever had!
Next time: Since both maps are short, probably a double feature. I will be seeking the
Heart of Chizra, and rescuing yet another Nali Priest...
TheIronKnuckle
Gilded Claw
Ignorance is knowing anything
Darkon
White Tusk
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Hellscrag
Founder
Legendslayer222
Skaarj Elder