Kermit the hobbit _ burglar backed up against the damp stone wall,
praying that the beast would not notice him. His party of five had
successfully battled a small group of trolls, and had escaped from the
encounter with considerable loot. On their way back to the safety of a
nearby walled city, the group stumbled across four rhinoceros beetles.
Since all the members of Kermit’s party were suffering from at least
minor wounds, the battle with the beetles had been disastrous. Although
they had killed all but one of the beetles, all of Kermit’s companions
were now dead, and the one remaining beetle was turning to
finish off the lightly armored thief!

Despair flooded into the the hobbit’s heart as the monster approached
him. For some reason he had never understood, his short sword had
never been an effective weapon against certain creatures. It seemed to
be as difficult to damage these creatures as it was to penetrate a fine suit
of plate mail.

As the creature lunged at him, Kermit dodged to the side and struck.
What was this? The blade had actually penetrated the creature! In a
frenzy of hope and fear Kermit struck again and again! The giant beetle,
already wounded by one of the fighters in Kermit’s party, began to
falter! It fell! Kermit had won!

He looked with wonder at his blade. Had some strange enchantment
fallen suddenly upon it? Never before had it penetrated a creature
of this type so readily.

Willing to make the best of an awful situation, Kermit bent down to
relieve his dead companions of their more portable loot before moving
on. But what was this? Three of them were alive! With feverish haste
Kermit began to tear up his cloak to make bandages. By working quickly
he was able to save two of them.

What strange enchantment, he wondered, as he prepared some
rhinoceros beetle broth for his wounded friends, is upon this place that
the laws of nature are so subtly bent?

* * *

Furd the mighty, Lord of Tamerlane Castle, was in a foul mood.
Although he was in his fiftieth year, his strength and vigor was that of a
young man. For decades he had been the mightiest swordsman in the
realm. But alas, on a recent adventure he had faced a foe with a dread
Sword of Sharpness, and now his sword arm was gone. He stood beside
his trusted henchman, Clayton the High Priest.

“I tell you, Clayton, it is enough to make me curse God, the loss of
this arm!” he grumbled.

“There are spells that could help,” Clayton sighed, “but I have
never mastered them.”

Suddenly the very air around them crackled with power and energy.

“What, what enchantment is this?” Furd cried.

“Furd!” Clayton gasped. “Your hair. There are suddenly streaks of
gray in your hair!”

“And in yours as well,” Furd replied. “What madness is this that
suddenly makes us feel the weight of our years all in one moment?”

“I know not, sire,” the loyal Clayton replied.

Indeed, all within the realm were mystified at the CHANGE in the
elderly, so heavily had the weight of years come to rest on those of truly
advanced age. And yet the cloud was not without a lining of silver or, as
Furd was later to insist, a lining of platinum! For that very next morning a
beaming Clayton approached his crippled lord, and began to chant
mystic words.

“What is the meaning of all this?” Furd demanded once his loyal
vassal had completed the spell.

“The meaning is clear, lord,” the smiling Clayton replied. “Though
a man’s strength may decline with age, his Wisdom may increase!”

But the mightly Furd was no longer listening, for the bandage on his
stump of an arm had suddenly grown tight, and he had ripped it off.

The arm was growing back again . . .

*    *    *

On the world of Letsmakeadeal the awesomely powerful 37th-level
Wizard was about to conquer yet another nation, using his 19th-level
“Smite Rulers and Transfer Loyalty of the Population to Caster” spell.
As he began to cast his mighty spell the world around him was suddenly
turned inside out, stirred vigorously, and the contents poured into a new
mold.

A voice from out of nowhere spoke to him. “You are now first level.
You have two pips and 20 gold pieces. You know only the following
four spells: Read Magick, Burning Hands, Feather Fall, and Identify.
Good luck, sucker.”

*    *    *

And in the study-by-the-lake the Arch-World-Shaper smiled. His
Dungeon Masters Guide was now complete. He would rest awhile
before beginning his next project.