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The beautifully jeweled Amulet of Egreth was at one time the most cherished possession of a powerful magician named Thorman the Red-beard. It was able to magnify the power of its owner, be it for good or evil. After his only daughter and son-in-law were killed by his apprentice Radnor, Thorman was weakened by grief. As his dying gesture, the mighty wizard cast the amulet from the turret window, so that none but his granddaughter should have it. Infused with all of the awesome sorcery which Thorman had possessed during his life, the powerful amulet set out to fulfill the wizard’s last wish.
The carp which ate it in the Egreth moat found that it could swim farther and faster than ever before, but not fast enough to elude the raccoon waiting on the shore. The raccoon felt a strange power surging through him. With a mighty breath, he send the amulet on its way. Skimming the treetops on its nightly prowl, an owl spotted the glittering lure. The owl traveled long into the night. Never before had the owl journeyed this far into the Northlands. The amulet’s destination was close at hand. Lia, only a small child at the time and living with her cousins in the Northlands, unknowingly fulfilled her grandfather’s dying wish when she found the amulet while walking in the woods and took it as her own.
As Lia grew into womanhood, her friends loved her willful nature and the small magics she was able to work using the power of the amulet. But her stepparents thought her fey and looked upon her with fear rather than pleasure. One night, Lia overheard them plotting to sell her to the Green Magicians. It was then that she disguised herself as a boy, by shorning her hair and donning male garments, to facilitate her flight from home.
In the mid-tenth century (957-966 GUE) she joined with a caravan heading for Accardi-by-the-Sea when it had stopped for the night on the boundaries of Egreth Castle. This wagon was driven by Gurthark the Stout, guarded by Ryker, and carrying Acia, Frobwit the Fair, and Dirinthrax, a long lost descendant of King Duncanthrax.
Later that evening, when Lia had fallen asleep, Acia on her second attempt, was able to snatch the amulet from her. Undressing by the bedroll, Acia did not notice as it slipped out of her cloak pocket onto the forest floor. Lia would not realize for some time that she had lost it.
Radnor, the evil warlock who still dwelled in Egreth, detected the amulet, knowing that it had been destined to return to him in the possession of a woman. He sent his enslaved night gaunts out to retrieve the woman. When they reached the campsite, they abducted Acia, but did not realize that the amulet was no longer in her possession. Radnor sent the gaunts out once more to recover the amulet. This time, a night gaunt which had been a poet in the days before Radnor had enchanted them, picked up the amulet. When he did so, the bauble’s magical powers broke him free of the magician’s spell. Although determined to free his brothers from Radnor’s powers, he returned with them to Egreth Castle. When Radnor again summoned the gaunt, a bright flash of light forced him to drop the amulet. With it gone, Radnor’s psychic chains of evil enchantment slipped around him once more.
Later, while Dirinthrax was on his way to rescue Lia from a hobgoblin harem within Egreth Castle, he stumbled upon the amulet. It guided him to the harem where Lia was. After rescuing her, Dirin watched as Radnor changed his master Frobwit into a slug. Dirin funneled his rage into a mighty spell through the amulet, which was able to subdue the warlock’s powers.
Acia, deceived by Radnor’s powers, snatched the amulet out of Dirin’s hand and placed it about her neck. When the warlock placed a cursed crown upon her head that put her beneath a trance, he took the amulet for himself. Ryker fought the wizard, managing to gain it for only a moment, before Lia used the amulet’s own power to fish it into her hand. At that moment, Lia’s disguise fell away, revealing her womanly form. Harnessing the amulet, she turned Radnor into a puddle of foul-smelling liquid.
The Amulet of Egreth was last known to be in the possession of Lia, and assumed to have remained with her throughout the entirety of her rule.
| SOURCE(S): Zork Quest I |