X3: Curse of Xanathon
X3: Curse of Xanathon was by Douglas Niles, 1982, for levels 5-7. Duke Stephen of the frontier duchy Rhoona is nuts and the party has to figure out why and fix it.
Stephen's madness offers some of the finest comic-relief in RPG history. We don't know if Niles was aware of Caliph Hakim al-Fatimi's ludicrous edicts down in pre-Crusade Egypt, but they read about the same. An especially nice touch is how Stephen explains his reasoning behind, say, that horses eat meat henceforth. After all, of course they need the protein.
Stephen's edicts get less funny when one orders that dwarves be stretched on the rack that they might enjoy true equality with the human population. Turns out there's a cult, of the Chaotic god Cretia (TSR hadn't thought up "Immortals" yet), eager to foment Chaos (remember that in this line of D&D, Chaos=evil). Its leader is Xanathon, and he's working to install his puppet Draco upon the ducal throne.
 This article contains spoilers! You have been warned. |
Then follows one of the most iconic moments in the X-series: the party goes to confront Xanathon and... can't.
So they gotta go on a quest to a remote shrine to retrieve Xanathon's life-gem/phylactery. It's guarded by a spectre, a formidable foe for level-six characters standing a good chance to knock them down to level four. When they come back they find Xanathon much more amenable and they can extract from him the antidote for the addled duke. Draco, having been thrown right under the horse-and-carriage, knows he's facing the rope or the Blood Eagle or something equally horrible so he's not amenable at all; he's the 14th-level final boss fight.
Pretty sure after all this is done, Xanathon flees the duchy and, indeed, the whole Vestland/Rockhome region. What would YOU do?
This plot is for a human barony on the border of a powerful dwarven realm. Given that the X series is still working within the Known World confines, Niles figured inland Vestland for Rhoona's location. Vestland is, thereby, assumed to be less Viking and more late-medieval Norway. It does seem that Niles wrote the story first, and placed it later, given that the names "Rhoona" and "Stephen" aren't particularly Germanic. Neither is "Xanathon" - he could be a foreigner as his name leans more towards being Hellenistic. But anyway, what we got is set in Vestland.
This module is one way players of X10 can get Vestland in on Darokin's side. Assuming Vestland can move their troops through their neighbors' space.