User Guide

The Prequel
Five years have passed since I captured the mystical amulet from the Mad Overlord
Trebor. His agents had only been a few hours ahead of me in obtaining the artifact.
The amulet had lain hanging around the neck of a forgotten god's statue in an ancient
crumbling Temple. Whose Temple it once was is now whispered faintly only in
ancient and forbidden tomes. Never is the full name used, perhaps for fear of invoking
something dreadful that might be merely slumbering.
The mist enshrouded valley that hides the Temple has been known throughout time as
the Gods' Hopyard, supposedly because of a great portal that was opened one night by
a demented archmage. It is said in arcane legends that on that night the Gods came
here and played. The world shook and mountains danced. The whole sky was afire
with shimmering colors. As dawn rose, a gigantic voice suddenly blasted out a harsh
command, and everything in the world froze in mid-stride. Then there seemed to be a
great inhaling, a loud implosion, and the world moved again. The portal was gone.
Who or what chased back the Gods and closed the portal no one knows. It was a long
while before anyone was brave enough to venture into the valley to find out what had
occurred. It was quite difficult to see, a dense mist now covering the valley edges. In
the far end of the valley there loomed a gigantic Temple of a style never before seen.
In its center was an altar room wherein stood a statue. Around the neck of the statue
hung an amulet that glowed with such magical energy that none could gaze upon it
for long.
As to what this amulet is, or to whom it might have belonged, the greatest scholars of
the last three millenia have debated. Some feel that it was the focus by which the
portal was opened, and any who possessed it could open the way for the Gods' return.
Others theorized that it was too powerful to have originated on this worldly plane,
and so must have been left behind during the retreat of the Gods. A third group
partially agreed with the second; the amulet was not of this dimension, but was used
by whatever chased away the Gods. Thus the artifact was more powerful than the
Gods themselves! Furthermore, they warned, the Temple, statue and amulet were
placed in the valley to seal the portal and prevent the Gods' return. This group was, of
course, scoffed at by other scholars, as the implications of their theory was much too
disturbing to contemplate.
Over the ages, many thieves and mages have been drawn to the amulet and the
legends that surround it. All who have sought to possess it have failed. I, Werdna, the
most powerful Wizard of this Age, was always intrigued by speculations about the
wonders of the amulet, but was much too prudent to enter the Temple without the
proper safeguards. The most infuriating thing to me was no one knew so much as a
hint of what those safeguards might be. No one had any idea why each previous
attempt into that eldritch vale had met with disaster.
Then one day I was approached by a dealer of dubious antiques. Amongst the
obvious fakes and worthless old bones was a scroll that he claimed was over a
thousand years old. He assured me that no one had ever opened it, and demanded an
outrageous 500 g.p. for the item. Intrigued, I haggled him down to a mere 80 g.p. and
took the scroll back to my study. When I attempted to break open the seal, it popped
off in my hand! The scroll had been carefully opened and then gently resealed.
Making a note to summon a demon to deal with the scurrilous knave, I settled down
to study the scroll. It actually seemed quite old and was in very poor condition. The
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Return of Werdna