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The Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord - 1981

    It was in the fall of the fifth year of the fanatical wizard Werdna that our campaign began.  What season or year it is now, none of us knows.  I believe we are on the ninth level of this accursed maze, but time and distance are ever shifting, and reality is fleeting.
    As we break camp, my five companions and I sort out our weapons and supplies. We have accumulated wondrous treasures and mighty weapons.  Dreams of returning to enjoy the subtle pleasures that this shared booty could bring fill our wakeful sleep.  Sezmar, the samurai; Sarah, the priest, and I, a ninja, are the vanguard. Moradin, the thief; Prospero, the mage; and Tuck, the bishop, bring up the rear.
    We slowly make our way down the zigzagging corridor.  Suddenly, the eldritch light cast by Sarah's Lomilwa spell reveals a secret door.  Kicking the door open, we charge into a small room. Unfortunately, the hellhounds, demons and deadly creeping coins do not welcome company. A fierce battle ensues that shakes the very foundation of the maze. I slay one demon with my bare hands, while Sezmar dispatches hellhounds with his Muramasa blade. The tide of battle turns and twists in a kaleidoscope of weapons and mystical energies. Finally Prospero ends it. While Sarah shields us behind a Maporfic spell, Prospero casts the dreaded Tiltowait. We are victorious!
    Bare, magic-blasted walls hardly reward our heroic effort. Our luck suddenly takes a dramatic turn -downward! The secret chute masks the hidden entrance to the tenth level.  The final path to Werdna's lair is open. As we are standing around, slapping each other on the back, the air is pierced with a maniacal laugh...  Werdna waits!
    Sobered, we regroup, heal our wounds, and set out again. We have no delusions: our greatest challenge lies ahead.  Resolutely raising our banner high, we stealthily tiptoe forward. We quickly vanish into the stygian darkness. Momentarily, our banner shines with the gold and silver dragons of Hawkwind's Hunters, then it too vanishes as distant sounds of battle reverberate.
    - Book 1, Chapter 9, the Chronicles of Hawkwind

    Trebor, the Mad Overload, was not always mad, merely power crazed. Several years ago, he had obtained a fabled amulet, whose awesome powers were the subject of many legends. As he sat in his throne room gloating over the empire this amulet would bring him, a great incapacitating fear gripped him. When the terror had passed, a trembling Trebor no longer held the amulet. Only one wizard could cast such a terrible spell - his arch nemesis, the Evil Wizard Werdna. How was Trebor to find him and get back the amulet?
    The answer arrived swiftly, the very next day, when the earth groaned and the Castle rocked from side to side. For to taunt his enemy, Werdna had used the amulet to carve out of the ground below the Castle a ten level fortress maze. Secure in the vast depths, surrounded by monsters most foul, Werdna, to this day, still plumbs the secrets of the amulet to some unknown purpose.
    The shock of all these events completely unhinged Trebor. He became thoroughly paranoid and strove to protect himself with an elite guard of the best characters in each class, while plotting on how to get the amulet back.
    Trebor, though, is also well known for killing two birds with one stone (or any other handy weapon). He quickly turned the affront of Werdna's Mazes below his Castle into an asset, by declaring that these were the special Proving Grounds he had ordered built! He told his subjects that these Mazes would form the perfect place to train the bodyguards he needed (and quite possibly recover the amulet at the same time.)
    Needless to say, any Adventurers who did recover the amulet will be immediately inducted into his Elite Guard, by force if need be...
    This, then, is the situation your characters are thrust into. With a little luck, they will map the Maze, maul the monsters, make off with some of the goodies, find the Amulet and only get killed a few times while doing it!