最近，你开始发现自己在日常工作中感到无所适从和遥不可及。探矿，偷窃，十字军和战斗等奇怪的梦境困扰着你数月，然而你却不知这是为何。你想知道你是否一生都在梦境中，直到现在都在设法忘记它们。在某些夜晚，你突然醒来并大哭，回想起那些在梦境中奇异而强大的生物，你不禁感到恐惧，这些生物似乎潜伏在梦境中地牢的每个角落。这些困扰着你的梦境的细节是真实的吗？每天晚上，你都会感到对于进入废墟附近神秘洞穴的渴望愈来愈强烈。然而在每天早晨，当你回想起那些在你之前进入神秘洞穴而又没有回来的人的故事时，你立刻又打消了这个念头。最终，你抑制住了寻找那个在梦境中的神秘之地的想法。毕竟，当其他的探险者在洞里呆了一段时间，沿着这条路回来的时候，他们通常看起来比第一次时要好些。谁能说那些没有回来的人不是在继续探索着呢？
经过四处打听，你得知一个称之为“Yendor的护身符（Amulet of Yendor）”的小玩意儿。如果你能找到它，它将为你带来巨大的财富。你曾知道的一个传说也提到找到了那个护身符的人，将被诸神赋予永生。有传言说护身符位于Gehennom农谷（Valley of Gehennom）之外，在危险迷宫（Mazes of Menace）内的深处。听到这些传说后，你立即意识到有一些深远而隐秘的原因，你要下到洞穴里去寻找他们所说的护身符。即使关于护身符力量的谣言是不真实的，你还是决定至少应该能够将冒险经历的故事以可观的价格卖给当地的吟游诗人，特别是在一路上遭遇到的任何恐怖或是神奇的生物。你在当地的酒馆里度过了最后一个晚上，当你看着自己成功的几率越来越低时，你变得越来越沮丧。
早晨你醒来，收拾好你的东西，动身去地牢。经过几天波澜不惊的旅行，你看到了古老的遗迹，它们标志着危险迷宫的入口。夜深了，你就在门口扎营，在空旷的天空下过夜。早上，你再次收拾好你的装备，在外面吃可能是你最后的一顿饭，然后你进入了地牢......
1. Introduction
Recently, you have begun to find yourself unfulfilled and
distant in your daily occupation. Strange dreams of prospecting,
stealing, crusading, and combat have haunted you in your sleep
for many months, but you aren't sure of the reason. You wonder
whether you have in fact been having those dreams all your life,
and somehow managed to forget about them until now. Some nights
you awaken suddenly and cry out, terrified at the vivid recollec-
tion of the strange and powerful creatures that seem to be lurk-
ing behind every corner of the dungeon in your dream. Could
these details haunting your dreams be real? As each night pass-
es, you feel the desire to enter the mysterious caverns near the
ruins grow stronger. Each morning, however, you quickly put the
idea out of your head as you recall the tales of those who en-
tered the caverns before you and did not return. Eventually you
can resist the yearning to seek out the fantastic place in your
dreams no longer. After all, when other adventurers came back
this way after spending time in the caverns, they usually seemed
better off than when they passed through the first time. And who
was to say that all of those who did not return had not just kept
going?
Asking around, you hear about a bauble, called the Amulet of
Yendor by some, which, if you can find it, will bring you great
wealth. One legend you were told even mentioned that the one who
finds the amulet will be granted immortality by the gods. The
amulet is rumored to be somewhere beyond the Valley of Gehennom,
deep within the Mazes of Menace. Upon hearing the legends, you
immediately realize that there is some profound and undiscovered
reason that you are to descend into the caverns and seek out that
amulet of which they spoke. Even if the rumors of the amulet's
powers are untrue, you decide that you should at least be able to
sell the tales of your adventures to the local minstrels for a
tidy sum, especially if you encounter any of the terrifying and
magical creatures of your dreams along the way. You spend one
last night fortifying yourself at the local inn, becoming more
and more depressed as you watch the odds of your success being
posted on the inn's walls getting lower and lower.
In the morning you awake, collect your belongings, and set
off for the dungeon. After several days of uneventful travel,
you see the ancient ruins that mark the entrance to the Mazes of
Menace. It is late at night, so you make camp at the entrance
and spend the night sleeping under the open skies. In the morn-
ing, you gather your gear, eat what may be your last meal out-
side, and enter the dungeon...