Beyond the Nightmare Gate

You are the Wizard Grey Star, chosen hero of an ancient magical race — the Shianti. To find the Moonstone, source of all Shianti wisdom, you must venture
Beyond the Nightmare Gate
.

Dare you enter a realm of mystery, a world of gods and demons? For somewhere in this twilight region is the secret of the Moonstone. Only you can find it and with its power throw down the evil Shasarak and save mankind. Your journey will take you across the grey plains of the Neverness, past the dark enchantments of the Crystal Tower, and on towards perils undreamed of. Armed only with the Wizard's Staff and the magical spells of the Shianti, you must step into a nightmare world where only the bravest will survive!

The World of Lone Wolf
is an exciting adventure series in which you are the hero, you make the decisions, and you fight the combats using the unique systems included in the book.

Ian Page
was born in London in 1960. Since the age of sixteen he has pursued a successful career as a singer/songwriter. With the band Secret Affair, he had a string of chart hits to his credit including
Time for Action
and
My World
. His interest in the fantastic worlds of ‘Sword and Sorcery’ dates back to his early teens, and to his love of the novels of J.R.R. Tolkien and Michael Moorcock. It was in 1979, when Joe Dever introduced him to role-playing games, that his involvement in the world of Magnamund began. He contributed greatly to the development of the southern reaches of this fantastic world, and worked closely with Joe on several other role-playing games projects that include TV and radio appearances.

Ian has since re-entered the music industry with a band known as
The Affair
.

Joe Dever
, the creator of the bestselling Lone Wolf adventure books and novels and editor for the World of Lone Wolf series, has achieved world-wide recognition in three creative fields — as an award-winning author of international renown, as an acclaimed musician and composer, and as a games designer specialising in role-playing games.

On graduating from college in 1974, Joe Dever became a professional musician, and for several years, he worked in the music industry in Europe and the United States.

While working in Los Angeles in 1977 he discovered a then little-known game called ‘Dungeons & Dragons’. Although the game was in its infancy, Joe at once realised its huge potential and began designing his own role-playing games along similar conceptual lines. These first games were to form the basis of a fantasy world called Magnamund, which later became the setting for the Lone Wolf books.

Five years later, in 1982 at the Origins Game Fair, Joe won the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons World Championships in Baltimore, an event held before 16,000 people. Inspired and encouraged by his success at Origins, Joe decided to quit the music business and devote his time to writing and games design.

In 1983, after a brief spell at Games Workshop in London, he wrote
Flight from the Dark
 — the first Lone Wolf interactive gamebook. His manuscript immediately attracted a frenzy of interest from three major London publishing companies, all of whom bid for world rights. Joe accepted an offer of publication from Hutchinson's (later to become Century Hutchinson Ltd; now Random House UK) and
Flight from the Dark
was first published in 1984.

This first book sold more than 100,000 copies within its first month of publication, and overseas rights were snapped up by twelve countries (including the United States, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, and Sweden). The success of Joe's first book laid the foundations for the future of the Lone Wolf series, which has sold millions of copies around the world.

Joe has continued to work in the games industry as script writer and games design consultant.

Paul Bonner
is the illustrator of the World of Lone Wolf series of gamebooks. His childhood love of ‘folk-tales, fairy-stories,
The Hobbit
, Scandinavian tales, myths, and sagas’ led Paul Bonner to spend four years at Harrow, a London art school, on an illustrating course of study.

His artwork for the
World of Lone Wolf
series is among his earliest professional work. He subsequently started freelancing for Games Workshop and later accepted a full-time position. He worked there for a few years before moving on to produce full-colour artwork (which Games Workshop had not required from him). He moved to Copenhagen, Denmark and again began to work as a freelance illustrator.

Internet Edition published by
Project Aon
. This edition is intended to reflect the complete text of the original version. Where we have made minor corrections, they will be noted in the
Errata
.

Publication Date: 28 October 2012

Concept copyright © 1986 Joe Dever and Gary Chalk.
Text copyright © 1986 Ian Page.
Illustrations copyright © 1986 Paul Bonner.
Distribution of this Internet Edition is restricted under the terms of the
Project Aon License
.

• Title Page
  
• Dedication
  
• Acknowledgements
  
• Of the Coming of Grey Star
  
• The Story So Far …
  
• The Game Rules
  
  • Magical Powers
    
  • Equipment
    
  • Rules for Combat
    
• Sage Advice
  
• Numbered Sections
  
• The Shadakine Empire
  
• Action Chart
  
• Combat Rules Summary
  
• Combat Results Table
  
• Random Number Table
  
• Errata
  
• Footnotes
  
• Table of Illustrations
  
• Project Aon License
  

For Pat and David

‘I would be especially pleased if my granting of the rights to distribute my books in this way was seen as my “millennium gift” to all those devoted readers who have kept the Kai flag flying high, through all the good times, and the not-so-good. It would make me very proud indeed if this enterprise laid the foundations of a lasting legacy, securing the longevity of Lone Wolf by making my creation freely and readily accessible to current and future online generations. For them, for us, for Sommerlund and the Kai. … ’
Joe Dever

Project Aon would first like to thank Joe Dever for making this generous offering of the books that we have all loved from the beginning. We are also grateful for the generosity of Rob Adams, Paul Bonner, Gary Chalk, Melvyn Grant, Richard Hook, Peter Andrew Jones, Cyril Julien, Peter Lyon, Ian Page, Graham Round, and Brian Williams for contributing their portions of the world of Magnamund to Project Aon. We would also like to acknowledge the following members of Project Aon for their diligent work:

Transcription

Mike David

Illustration Transcription

Jonathan Blake
Simon Osborne

XML

Jonathan Blake
Jeff Dougan
Thomas Wolmer

Replacement Illustrations

JC Alvarez (Action Charts)
Jonathan Blake (Extramatter Charts and Tables)
Christopher Lundgren (Map and Small Illustrations)

Proofreading

Ryan Cross (Sections 36–70)
Simon Osborne (Frontmatter and Sections 1–35 and 71–350)

Editing

Jeff Dougan
Ingo Klöcker
Benjamin Krefetz
Christopher Lundgren
Simon Osborne
Timothy Pederick

Coordination

Jonathan Blake
Thomas Wolmer

Special Thanks

David Davis, Patrick Kalinauskas, Chris Neilson

Ancient days they were when first the Shianti set foot upon the land that men call Magnamund. Long had they journeyed through the void, homeless wanderers in search of a place to call their own. And so it was that when the Shianti first looked upon the face of the land, their hearts were raised in wonder. They saw a world of nameless mountains, untamed forests, and lands both wild and free. Here they chose to cease their wanderings and to devote themselves to the study and appreciation of this newfound land.

To the delight of the Shianti, the race of man first emerged at this time and they watched his early struggle towards civilization with eager concern. Like gods, the Shianti seemed to the minds of primitive men. Tall and proud, shining with a radiance that spoke of magic and arcane mystery, the Shianti moved among them and with their powers of wizardry, aided man in his development.

As the centuries passed, man fell to worship of the magical Shianti and the power of these wizards grew even stronger. With hungry hearts they sought to unlock the mysteries of knowledge, sending their minds into other planes of existence and strange worlds beyond the sphere of the material plane. Their foresight was now unmatched and the power of their thought was mighty indeed. It was at this time that they created the Moonstone. Woven of the very fabric of the astral plane of Daziarn, this translucent gem was the greatest achievement of Shianti wisdom. It was the binding force of all Shianti magic, containing the combined might of all their wizardry, the sum of all their knowledge. The Golden Age of the Shianti had come and the Moonstone was the instrument of their dominion throughout all Magnamund. Man stood as little more than a shadow, blinded by the shining white light of Shianti glory. But, in creating the Moonstone, the unwritten laws of nature had been transgressed. For the Moonstone, like the Shianti themselves, was something outside of man's own world; it defied the natural order laid down by the creators of Magnamund and disrupted the balance that the gods had designed.

The Goddess Ishir, High Priestess of the Moon and mother of all men, showed herself to the Shianti and spoke to them of the destiny of man: ‘The children of this world must claim their inheritance. Their time has come and they must learn to stand alone. They are lost in their worship of you and the day draws ever nearer when they will covet the power of the Moonstone.’

And the Shianti said: ‘Forgive us, Great Goddess, for we intended no harm. We love mankind even as you do. We have sought to do good and protect your children from harm.’

But Ishir replied, ‘Of this there can be no doubt, but this world is not your realm. Man must be free to pursue his destiny alone, and you must leave, for you trespass on his domain.’

The Shianti were filled with sorrow. They feared a return to the void and to their lonely wandering, and pleaded with Ishir that she might allow them to remain. Ishir was filled with pity for them. She spoke again, saying, ‘If you are to remain, you must obey my command. You must take a vow never to interfere with mankind's fate. As a token of good faith you must lay aside the Moonstone, and return it to the plane where it belongs.’

Solemnly, the Shianti agreed. The vow was sworn before Ishir, and the Moonstone was returned to the Daziarn. The Shianti then moved south to the Isle of Lorn. They encircled their new home with a web of enchantments, magical mists, and mage winds to prevent man from ever finding their place of refuge in the Sea of Dreams. Knowledge of the Shianti faded with time, save in southern Magnamund where it became enshrined in legend, and the worship of them endured. Priests of the Shianti religion preserved their teachings and patiently awaited the day when the ‘ancient ones’ would return, bringing with them lasting peace and the blessing of a new golden age.

Two thousand years strode by and man advanced as Ishir had foretold. He built great cities and cultivated the land; his kingdoms rose and fell; he made war and loved and laughed and became master of his fate. But a new power was emerging in the province of Shadaki. There Shasarak the evil Wytch-king ruled. The black necromancer commanded an army of brutal soldiers and had a devoted following of men who upheld his religion of demonic worship and sacrificial rites. Devotees of the Shianti and other religious cults were persecuted in a merciless purge. Ruthlessly, the Wytch-king destroyed all his opponents and began a terrible war with the peoples of the neighbouring provinces. From the ruins of war Shasarak shaped the Shadakine Empire, subjugating whole nations to his evil rule. As the provinces fell to his might, the Shianti looked on helplessly, bound by their vow to the Goddess Ishir never to interfere in the affairs of man.

On the night of the crowning of Shasarak as Overlord of the Shadakine Empire, a great storm broke upon the Sea of Dreams, a storm that raged with unnatural intensity. Lashed by wind and rain, illuminated by wild lightning, the waters heaved and danced in fury to the thundering music of the storm, unchecked by even the enchantments of the Shianti. When finally the tempest died, the Shianti looked out in amazement on the shattered hull of a ship drifting towards their shore. Never before had this occurred, for the enchantments and mage winds had kept them secure from the curiosity of man by forcing him to sail close to his own land.

The Shianti went quickly to the ruined ship where they found only one survivor — a baby. They perceived the sudden arrival of this human child as a sign of great portent, and they conceived a plan by which they might lawfully aid mankind. They named the orphan child Grey Star, because a star is the symbol of hope in the Shianti faith, and because of the silver streak in the child's jet-black hair. In the shadow of the wrath of the Goddess Ishir, they raised the child as one of their own and taught him their secrets. Diligently they set about their instruction, for their aim was to provide a saviour for mankind. Armed with the might of Shianti wizardry and wisdom, their hope was to create an adversary equal in power to the evil Wytch-king of Shadaki, for they realized that only with the death of Shasarak would man once more be free to determine his destiny.