X5: Temple of Death

X5 "Temple of Death" (1983) by David Cook is a D&D adventure for character levels 6-10.  The second module in the "Desert Nomads" series, the adventure introduces the land of Hule, west of the Great Waste.

Module X5 "Temple of Death" (1983) by David Cook.  Cover illustration by Timothy Truman.

The player characters continue their quest across the Great Pass and into the unknown lands beyond to confront "the Master".

The Great Pass:

The Great Pass lies in the Black Mountains, one of the highest and most forbidding mountain chains in the known lands of the campaign.  Here peaks are permanently ice-covered, and large glaciers fill many of the high valleys and saddles.

from module X5 "Temple of Death" (1983)

The Great Pass bears similarities in some respects to "The Fell Pass" by Karl Merris, published in The Dragon #32 (December, 1979).

The Well of the Moon:

On nights of the full moon, a ladder of moonbeams forms between the well and the moon.  This ladder may be climbed in one night.  It leads to the Kingdom of the Moon.  You must create this kingdom. If you do not want the players to go to the moon, you may ignore this power. 

from module X5 "Temple of Death" (1983)

I created a short side-adventure involving the Kingdom of the Moon, when I ran "Temple of Death" back in 1985.  I've posted a copy of my hand-written notes, here.

Map of Hule, from module X5 "Temple of Death"

The Land of Hule:

The land of Hule (also called the Sanctified Land) is a large country located beyond the Black Mountains.  It stretches from the edge of the Black Mountains to the Risilvar Escarpment in the south and the Dravish Steppes in the West. Most of the country is farmland.  In the center of the country is the sacred forest Niwhelm.  Beyond this forest is Lake Tros, also known as the Lake of the Deeps.  The population of the country is a mix of humans and non-humans, mainly orcs, gnolls, bugbears, kobolds, and ogres.  All these groups seem to live and work together to some degree, although they often feud and raid one another.  The farmland is dotted with small villages and farming communities.  These are very small and simple, and not interesting to the players.  Any information peasants can give is only rumors or guesses.  These villages are not located on the map.  However, marked on the map are the locations of several larger towns.  Bustling centers of trade, these towns have all the services adventurers need, including information.

from module X5 "Temple of Death" (1983)

The society and customs of Hule are covered in a fair amount of detail.  One of the towns in the northeast is described, as is the Dark Wood.

The Temple of Death is the capital of Hule, where the party will ultimately encounter the Master, who must be defeated in order to stop the war.

Cover to the English version of the unofficial Great Hule and Karkaz fan gazetteer (2016), translated by Mortis.

The region was expanded in the Great Hule and Kavkaz Gazetteer (2016) by Christian Constantin, with additional content by Omnibus, including maps by Thorfinn Tait.

New Weapons:

Two new weapons are described under Special Tunnel Encounter A on pg. 5 "The Children of the Caves": a bullroarer knife (a chain that ends in a flat knife, whirled over the head to make a loud roaring noise), and chakrams (steel rings, 6" in diameter, the outer edge of which is very sharp)*

*these are given Weapon Mastery statistics in Dragon #197, pg. 42

New Monsters:

Dusanu, Geonid,* Malfera,** Mujina, Spectral Hound***

*seemingly inspired by the Garthim in "The Dark Crystal" (1982)
**described as a creature from the Dimension of Nightmares
***described as creatures from the Dimensional Vortex - the void between all dimensions

Dimensions are a feature of B/X cosmology, previously introduced by Tom Moldvay in his revision of "Palace of the Silver Princess" (1981).

Cook was also involved in the development of module Q1 "Queen of the Demonweb Pits" (1980) in which several "alternate worlds" are described.

Credits:

Design: David Cook
Editor: Michael Williams
Art: Timothy Truman