History Literature / TempleOfTerror

* DropTheHammer: Remember the Maul of Stonebridge from ''Literature/TheForestOfDoom''? The one you put back together? [[spoiler:You get to use it in the climax to destroy the Dragon artefacts.]]

** The merchant caravan sells you an assortment of items; of course, you can't buy everything, and you won't know in advance what you actually need. More than half of these, including the sealing-wax, beetle charm, black mask, and flute, are either never mentioned again or don't help you when you get the opportunity to use them.

* SpellingBonus: Inverted: where finding the letters "D-E-A-T-H" will kill you.

* BreakingTheFourthWall: There's an unavoidable obstacle that makes the hero lose their magic spells, but they don't know this in-universe. Instead, the book directly tells _the reader_ what happened if they try to cast a spell at any point in the future.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: There are five, each can be summoned by an artifact, and apparently, even _one_ of them is strong enough to ensure victory (which, considering in other books you could fight and slay dragons, is a significant power difference).

* RaceAgainstTheClock: Implemented in an unusual way in the latter half of the adventure. When you enter the city of Vatos, the Messenger of Death curses you, warning that should you ever come across all five of the letters "D-E-A-T-H" on your adventure, this will spell your doom -- literally! -- and the curse will kill you on the spot. The letters are not out in the open, but hidden in places where you're likely going to look for the dragon statues -- which, of course, you _need_ to find to stop Malbordus. This adds pressure and deters you from needless searching, as you'll quickly run out of time finding letter after letter before you can locate all of the dragon statues.

* SandWorm: There's a mandatory (and hard) boss battle against a _massive_ sand worm midway through your journey to reach the Temple. [[spoiler:If you win, you can take one of its teeth, which is the only thing capable of killing Leesha.]]

** Searching exhaustively or needlessly is likely to turn up one of the letters of "D-E-A-T-H". Collect all five for a reward...an _eternal_ reward...

* TrialAndErrorGameplay: Even more so than usual. Like in most any Livingstone book, the Artefacts are hidden in random places, just as the Death letters are, and you have no clues about their location. You'll have to blindly stick your head in every nook and cranny hoping to find an Artefact, while _also_ hoping not to find a letter.

You start the game in the Dwarven village of Stonebridge, enjoying some rest after your latest adventure when the old wizard Yaztromo himself storms the village with dreadful news: the Dark Elves of Darkwood forest are secretly gathering an army bent on world domination, and have sent their champion, the dreaded warlock Malbordus, to the Desert of Skulls: according to an ancient legend there's a long-forgotten, evil-infested temple in the middle of this scorching wasteland, hosting five Dragon statuette: with each of these artifacts it's possible to summon a NighInvulnerable dragon that will do the bidding of evil. It is clear that Malbordus must be stopped before he gets his hands on the Dragons, and thus a hero is required to stop the Dark Elves. Armed with your shiny new sword and some spells taught you by Yaztromo, you have to venture forth south in order to reach the temple, get all the Dragons before Malbordus does and stop him once and for all, all of this while surviving the deadly desert, the assassins sent by Malbordus and the infernal cult of Leesha, mistress of said temple.

The gameplay is overall similar to Jackson's ''Literature/TheCitadelOfChaos'', only with Livingstone's signature GottaCatchThemAll style which narrows the true path to victory to one and, of course, next to no clue on which path is the right one.

* AchillesHeel: Leesha is protected by spells that make her NighInvulnerable. [[spoiler:Except to a SandWorm Tooth, which can pierce her barrier and kill her.]]
* AffablyEvil: Leesha. Even after you killed her minions and broke into her sanctum, she looks amused or slightly surprised, [[spoiler:and if you lack a way to hurt her she'll paralyze you with her magic, allowing Malbordus to take your Artefacts at his leasure. This breaks and she runs for her life when she realizes you can hurt her, though.]]

* AnnoyingArrows: Despite its magical nature, the ''Magic Arrow'' spell is sometimes ineffective. Then again it seems to be a [[LawyerFriendlyCameo lawyer-safe]] version of Magic Missile anyway.

** While crossing a pool taking up an entire portion of a room, you get attacked by the tentacles of an unseen underwater monster (creatively named a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Tentacled Thing]]) which attempts to drown you.

** A really, really odd case, midway in the adventure; one corridor have the arms of statues holding swords, which slashes at you when you approach, and that's it. There's nothing those statue arms are attached to, strangely enough.
* BigBadDuumvirate: Malbordus the evil Dark Elf and Leesha, the High Priestess of the temple. While they're not in league with each other, you'll have to face them both. [[spoiler:If you don't have the Sand Worm tooth, you find out that they ARE allies, with Malbordus taking your Artefacts after Leesha paralyzes you.]]
* BlackSwordsAreBetter: Malbordus's weapon of choice, the blade can paralyze you if it strikes you three times, kinda like a Ghoul.
* BondVillainStupidity: The Messenger of Death chooses to play a sadistic game with you which may as well completely fail if you can avoid all the places where the letters for "Death" are hidden.

* BreakingTheFourthWall: There's an unavoidable obstacle that makes the hero lose their magic spells. They don't know this, and the book directly tells the reader what happened if they try to cast a spell at any point in the future.
* BroughtDownToNormal: The unavoidable golden shower (fitting) you walk under partway through the book that nullifies all your spells, but still makes you lose Stamina if you try casting them.

* {{Curse}}: Upon entering the Temple, the Messenger of Death will place in several, hidden spots the letters of the word "Death". If you stumble across all of them, you die instantly where you stand.
* DemBones: This game has both traditional skeletons and "Man Skeletons" (which are skull-headed humanoids serving as Leesha's bodyguards).

* DualWielding: The Mutant Orc assassin (an insanely tough enemy, but luckily a SkippableBoss you can just detour around) wields two long knives in combat. If you don't have a short dagger to do this yourself, you'll fight him with your skill reduced because of his advantage, in addition to the assassin's already difficult Skill of 11.

** Inverted with the Five Letters of Death, which kills you if you find them all and should avoid at all costs.
* HighPriestess: Leesha, the priestess of Vatos who leads the cultists. And is working alongside Malbordus in his mission.
* ImDyingPleaseTakeMyMacGuffin: In a rather unusual twist... [[spoiler:Near the very end you can stumble into a delirious Dwarf who went all the way from Stonebridge to deliver you the Stonebridge Maul you can use to smash the Artifacts.]]

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:High Priestess Leesha sensibly decides to run away from the hero as soon as she finds out he holds the only weapon capable of killing her and is not seen again.]]
* MagicKnight: This time around, Yaztromo can teach you up to four spells you can employ, kinda like in ''Literature/TheCitadelOfChaos''. At least for a while. Also, Malbordus is a sorcerer who's no slouch when in comes to swordfighting.
* MsFanservice: Leesha the High Priestess, appearing lounged on several cushions, wearing a low-cut, cleavage-exposing dress and a smile.
* NonStandardGameOver: If you miss even one Dragon, you get to see Malbordus riding said Dragon towards Darkwood, which means that you failed your quest.
* {{Oculothorax}}: You encounter one in the corridors of Vatos, called an Eye Stinger who resembles a floating flesh-bag of spikes with a single eye. It can be killed instantly piercing it's [[EyeScream central eye]], but if it touches you the spikes contains a venom that [[TakenForGranite petrifies you in seconds]].

* OrcusOnHisThrone: Leesha is content with enjoying being pampered in her inner sanctum, taking action against you only when you reach her. Subverted with Malbordus, who's on the move just like you.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: There are Five, can be summoned by an artifact and, apparently, just one of them is strong enough to ensure victory to a whole army of evil (which, considering that in other books you can fight dragons in hard but doable battles, is kinda odd).

** Also, a fire-breathing Fiend hiding in a pot.
* PlotCoupon: The five Dragon Artifacts scattered through all the Temple of Vatros, which you must recover at all costs. Inverted with the five letters of Death, which you're encouraged to avoid.

** Of the ten spells you're given, a few of them turns out to be more trouble than they're worth, namely the Magic Arrow (two of three times you're given this option is in a path that's unwinnable anyway; the one time you can use it in the "correct" path is against some weak Needle Flies whose Skill is either 5 or 6), jump (which drains 3 Stamina points, used in areas where you can usually find an alternate, enemy-free path), and at least one of them - language - isn't even usable at any point.
** Then there's the merchant caravan, who sells you an assortment of items. More than half of them including the sealing-wax, beetle charm, black mask and flute which are either useless, or not used at any point in the book.

* SandWorm: A massive one is a mandatory (and hard) boss battle midway through before you reach the Temple. [[spoiler:If you win you can pry one of his teeth, which conveniently enough is the only thing capable of killing Leesha.]]

** As expected, this time more suspense is obtained with the presence of the five letters scattered in the dungeon which will kill you if you gather all of them.
** A good one is near the end, where the Skeleton Men asks you [[spoiler: to give in the Sand Worm Tooth. If you do, your only weapon against Leesha is gone and you're left powerless against her.]]

* SpellingBonus: Inverted by the Messenger of Death, where finding the letters it leaves weakens you and will kill you if you find all five.
* StealthSequel: To ''Literature/TheForestOfDoom''. You're implied to be the same Hero who recovered the Hammer of Stonebridge, and near the end you get to use said hammer to destroy the Dragon Artifacts.

* ThirstyDesert: You have to cross one with all the dangers coming from dehydration, cold nights and ''gigantic SandWorm lying around''.
* TortureCellar: It turns out Vatos has a torture chamber, where you find a slave about to be flayed by a sadistic masked torturer. You're given an option to rescue the slave (by attacking and killing the torturer), at which point you found out he's punished by the high priestess, Leesha, for attempting to escape.
* TrialAndErrorGameplay: Even more so than usual. Like in most any Livingstone book, the Artefacts are hidden in random places, just as the Death letters are, and you have no clue about their location. Which means that you'll have to blindly stick your head in every nook and cranny hoping to find an Artefact, while blindly hoping not to find a Letter.
* VainSorceress: Leesha is the {{Ancient Egypt}}-flavored one, complete with revealing dress and big, dumb servant fanning her with a massive ostrich-feather fan.

** If you chose to attack an adventurer who's near his death, you'll be overwhelmed by guilt and lose 3 LUCK points instantly. Chose to talk to him and he'll give you a valuable clue before he passes out.
** Trying to raise your sword on an unarmed artist and you'll be killed instantly by a force-field. Turns out the artist is bestowed an enchanted ring given to him by the High Priestess, and if you chat with him he'll give you a valuable clue afterwards.

** A type-2 example, while attempting to cross the Desert of Skulls without entering Port Blacksand, you end up getting ensnares by a Sand Snapper's tentacles. The rest of the monster is visible though, but you can only fight and kill the tentacles.

* CastFromHitPoints: Yaztromo gives you a crash course in magic that lets you cast a few basic spells, and doing so drains your health.

* WouldntHitAGirl: While you can slay monsters and male cultists like there's no tomorrow, [[spoiler:the worse thing you can do to Leesha is to scare her away and force her to run from you if you possess the SandWorm Tooth.]]

* BreakingTheFourthWall: There's an unavoidable obstacle that makes the hero lose their magic spells. They don't know this, and the book tells the reader directly what happened if they try to cast a spell at any point in the future.

* AffablyEvil: Leesha. Even after you killed her minions and broke into her sanctum, she looks amused or slightly surprised, [[spoiler:and if you lack a way to hurt her she'll paralyze you with her magic, allowing Malbordus to take your Artefacts at his leasure.]]

* MagicKnight: This time around, Yaztromo can teach you up to four spells you can employ, kinda like in ''Literature/TheCitadelOfChaos''. Also, Malbordus is a sorcerer who's no slouch when in comes to swordfighting.

* DropTheHammer: Remember the Maul of Stonebridge from ''Literature/TheForestOfDoom''? The one you put back together? [[spoiler:You get to use it in the climax to destroy the Dragon artifacts.]]

** The Five Dragon Artifacts.

* WeaksauceWeakness: Leesha is protected by spells that make her NighInvulnerable. [[spoiler:Except to a SandWorm Tooth, which can pierce her barrier and kill her.]]

* SpellingBonus: Inverted by the Messenger of Death.
* StealthSequel: To ''Literature/TheForestOfDoom'', you're implied to be the same Hero who recovered the Hammer of Stonebridge, and near the end you get to use said hammer to destroy the Dragon Artifacts.