The Gaming Den

You put the yellow mask in place. Is it your imagination or is something tingling in the air? Which mask will you place on the third face? The green one, the blue one or the white one?

You put the green mask on the third face. An expectant hush seems to fall in the chamber. Was it your imagination or did Heimdall move?

If you wish, you can abandon your mask-placing and leave. Otherwise, which mask will you put on the last face? The blue one or the white one?

You put the mask on the last face. A sudden stillness settles on the room. You notice a flicker of movement from the figure of Heimdall on the Rainbow Bridge. You jump back startled as he turns and hands you the Horn of Heroes, turns back, and freezes into immobility again! Note that you have the Horn of Heroes. Amazed, you continue on through the door ahead.

You come to a long hall. At the far end is a dais upon which rests an iron-shod quarterstaff that glows with a faint radiance. Beyond it are huge double doors adorned with two demon faces, wrought in gold. Between you and the dais the floor is a chequerboard of nine two-metre-square stone slabs. You will have to cross them to reach the dais and the doors. The first three lie before you. Will you step out onto the left-hand slab, the middle slab or the right-hand slab?

You walk on to the centre stone slab, senses alert for any trap. Nothing happens. Will you step out on to the slab directly in front of you, the centre-most slab of the nine, the slab to your left, the slab to your right, the slab at a diagonal to you, forward and to the left, or the slab at a diagonal to you, forward and to your right?

With great care you cross the central slab, ready for anything. It seems safe, however. Will you step to the slab directly to your left, the slab directly to your right, the slab directly ahead of you or the slab diagonally forward to your left or the slab diagonally forward and to your right?

Tentacled Guy from Space Assassin wrote:Take the middle, always the middle.

The chamber's far wall is a huge archway, around which an ornate frieze has been carved. Beyond the arch is a bluish haze. The carvings are of many things: heads, geometric patterns and other seemingly meaningless symbols. The frieze directly above the arch is odd, for it seems to depict some kind of game akin to chess, save that there are only nine squares. It appears that some of the squares automatically destroy any piece that moves on them. There is nothing else of interest here, and no way out save to step into the blue haze. Shrugging your shoulders, you do so.

As cautiously as you can, you steal out on to the slab. A surge of adrenalin courses through you as the slab shifts, and there is a loud click beneath your feet. Will you leap forward headlong or drop to the floor?

You hurl yourself forward, coming to rest just in front of the dais. A long sharpened wooden stake bursts out of the slab you were just on. Relieved to be still alive, you turn your attention to the dais.

The dais is plain and uninteresting, but the staff that rests upon it is far from that. The quarterstaff is of hard ash, bound in iron at each tip, and with bands of iron along its length. Runes of power are etched into the wood. If there is a Sage in the party who wishes to examine it, turn to 458. To anyone else, it feels as any other staff would, but is obviously of great value.

When you have finished here, you turn your attention to the great double doors. They swing open easily at a touch. Turn to 165.

You recognise the staff as an ancient artefact that was once wielded by the Legendary Great Wizard, and Master of the Lore of Sages, Lord Kashu, Shackler of Demons, Suzerain of the Palace of the Moon, the Sorceror Supreme.

It is the Staff of Might. While you wield it in combat, add one to your Fighting Prowess and one to your damage rolls. It also enables you to cast the Enchanter spell Volcano Spray once per combat. For this purpose it counts as automatically readied for that combat, and is cast with a Psychic Ability of ten. You may or may not tell your comrades of its power, at your discretion.

As you step through the doors, there is a flash of bright light and you feel a sense of timeless dislocation. When you recover, moments later, you find you are standing at an underground wharf. A river flows from a low rock tunnel to your left, into a wide stone corridor ahead. A cool blast of air accompanies the icy black water on its journey. Bobbing beside you on the water is a barge of copper, finely crafted, easily large enough to take half a dozen passengers. The magical defences of the tower have teleported you either deep under ground or to some unknown part of the world. There appears to be no other way to go, so you climb aboard and pole your way into the corridor ahead. After a while it widens to the size of a small lake, at the centre of which lies an island of dark rock. At the far end you can just see the river flowing into another tunnel.

Will you moor the boat and investigate the island or carry on up the river?

You moor the barge to some iron railings that have been set into the rock of the island. As you walk on, you realise that the interior of the island is a low bowl or depression which cannot be seen from the lake. An old dilapidated hut stands near you, beside a small shrine consisting of a carved stone pedestal to some forgotten god.

Will you investigate the hut or the shrine? If you decide to return to the barge, turn to 282.