The Temple of Yellow Skulls

Dungeons & Dragons: The Abyssal Plague, Book 1

By: Don Bassingthwaite

Narrated by: Michael McConnohie

Following close on the heels of The Mark of Nerath, Don Bassingthwaite picks up the action and takes the characters into the eye of a new kind of Dungeons & Dragons adventure... Imprisoned in the void of a ruined universe by vengeful gods, Tharizdun - the Chained God, the Elder Elemental Eye - shares his exile with the Progenitor, a pool of liquid crystal that is all that remains of the Abyss that destroyed his universe. Enter our heroes Albanon, Shara and Uldane - all three adventurers readers will know from The Mark of Nerath. They thought their quests were over and done with, but danger still burns like the embers of a smoldering fire in the tall grass.

The Progenitor was locked safely away, guarded by Albanon’s dead master, but early on our heroes realize it was stolen and released in the presence of the green dragon Vestapalk as he fell at Shara’s sword. Now, alerted to the danger of the liquid crystal by a mysterious cleric who claims allegiance to an order that has protected the substance for time immemorial, they must go in search of the dragon’s body, to ensure his demise has not been exaggerated. What they discover has consequences that could change the world...

©2011 Wizards of the Coast LLC (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

if looking for something after Drizz't series

go to this if caught up on Drizz't series. Great story and characters. Loved it

Decent sale book.

Nothing great. nothing bad. a decent sale book. Not a great story. not great characters just everything decent.

Decent but not the first book

Without reading "The Mark of Nerath", this book makes a lot less sense. Everything in this book was established in "Mark of Nerath", except the titular Temple of Yellow Skulls.

Ignoring that, it's a decent adventure (if those elements were actually removed so it could stand alone, it would be an excellent adventure) and it is easily better than the next book in the series. I just can't escape how much it refers to the previous book. It fills in all the details, the characters spend a lot of the adventure talking about the events of the last adventure, which isn't marked as part of the series, or available on Audible.

Honestly, I'd skip this one unless you've read "Mark of Nerath". If you have read "Mark of Nerath", you probably won't need me to tell you that you ought to skip this book. If for some reason you read this first, it completely and utterly spoils "Mark of Nerath" as they rehash, in detail, all the major plot points.

Also, the second book has a different author. I blame this for ruining the second book (Oath of Vigilance", and I feel it's worth knowing about before you potentially become invested in the series.