Quag Keep

Milo Jagon, a swordsman, waits in a shabby tavern in the Free City of Greyhawk, uneasy about a danger he cannot yet name. A bracelet of two metal bands, holding tiny gemmed dice, is fastened to his wrist, yet he cannot recall who gave it to him or what it can do. He soon meets six people from very different walks of life. Each has fragmentary memories of a different world, and each wears a matching bracelet. A wizard has bound all of them to a task: locate and destroy an alien, malevolent force that is steering their lives.

The novel draws on the elaborate wargames that were then growing popular, presenting the story as a contest inside a contest, with lives at stake. When the bracelets begin to heat, the dice roll and the characters are pushed into the next phase of that game, where they appear to be mere pieces on the board.

Andre Norton was a prominent science fiction and fantasy author, and this book is set in the Greyhawk world of Dungeons & Dragons. It mixes high adventure with the ongoing struggle between good and evil.