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story identification - Classic Fantasy with characters from the real world


I read this book about 6-8 years ago, and it was already slightly old at that point. The key parts were that the characters were all from Earth (America, if I remember correctly - one character internally monologues about remembering exactly how many steps it takes to get to a specific beach from his house, and while I don't remember the beach name, I remember thinking it was American) and woke up in a fantasy world, scattered about, and not remembering where they come from for quite a while.


Each abductee is wearing a bracelet with (what I remember as) polyhedral dice, although they aren't named that I think I inferred it from the description, and at some point they start using them as a form of magic. They find out that they were all abducted by a wizard so they go to find him. I can't remember what happens next, other than that eventually they find him and in a later book in the series (that I only saw the blurb of) they go back to his castle.


I think the book might be called "______ Keep", and am fairly certain the later book in the series is called "Return to ______ Keep".


I'd really appreciate it if someone who knew the title could tell me - it's like an unscratched itch at the moment, and I'd love to read it again!




Answer



Sounds like Quag Keep by Andre Norton and Return to Quag Keep by Andre Norton and Jean Rabe. From the review of Quag Keep at www.curledup.com:



The book starts with a brief glimpse into a modern world where people are playing role-playing games with the aid of miniatures. The players belong to different gaming groups, and most of them do not know each other. Quickly, the players are transported into the very fantasy world that they we playing in, Greyhawk.

The main point-of-view character, a swordsman called Milo Jagon, and his rarely seen alter-ego, Martin Jefferson, wakes up in a tavern sitting alone at his table. He notices on his wrist a bracelet which has different kinds of die on it. It is also warm to the touch. He does not remember how he got there or much of anything about his life so far. A berserker called Naile Fangtooth comes to him and reveals that he has a similar bracelet. Neither of them knows where they got it, but both of them have vague memories of another world and place.

Soon a mysterious figure gives them a summons from a powerful wizard. They have nobody else to turn to, so they go to see the wizard. During the short journey, they meet an elven ranger, Ingrge, who also wears a similar bracelet. At the wizard's place, they meet four other adventures with similar memory loss and with bracelets: the bard Wymarc, the cleric Deav Dyne, the lizardman Gulth, and one token woman: the Amazon battlemaid Yevele.

The wizard Hystaspes explains to them that he has seen that a mysterious power from outside their world and time threatens their world of Greyhawk. He also knows that each of the adventures is bound to one person from another place. Now the group has to battle the mysterious menace in order to save their world and to find out what has happened to them. The only person who can help them is a great Gold Dragon, Lichis, who at least used to serve Law. The group sets out to find the dragon and defeat their enemies.



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