I get Bacco in almost every game I play (random events maxed), as well as plague. Never seen this blood thingy, but get meteors and "the world is getting more dangerous" pretty regularly.
I've beaten Bacco easily every time, but I have been chiefly playing a customized Kingdom of Tarth, with an archery-focused Sovereign (heck, in my current game, my Sov is level 17, highest of the bunch = P). As a result, I usually keep Bacco around as a melee champion, more a meat shield for high-iniit enemies than anything else, though = P