Danger Gang Turquoise Hack the Fortress of Nora

Liten studies the map and comes up with a viable strategy against the killer apes in round two.

After healing from their wounds, the party descends once more and after listening to determine where the zombie apes are currently positioned, Abner is dispatched to lure them into an ambush in the four way intersection. This way they will be able to attack from three sides (with Abner making additional attacks from the second rank with his halberd). A lopsided clash occurs, and the apes are still quite tough, but they are eventually defeated by Liten’s superior grasp of tactics.

Searching the room to the south, Lugurix finds and ancient and finely wrought sword. He grasps it and claims it as his own.

Heading down a now noticeably slanting hallway to the west, they find another hole in the ground flanked by two mother goddess statues. Liten is able to identify them as both representative of Hittite deities (as one might expect), indeed he partly recognizes them from idols found in the dungeon beneath Magnesia. Despite everyone’s expectation, they do not suddenly become animate, but rather stubbornly remain stone.

The party takes an opportunity to rest before going down to what must be the heart of the dungeon.

Lugurix volunteers to be first down the hole, but insists on having a rope tied around his waist. This turns out to be a wise idea. After his feet touch ground, he is seized by a strong magnetic force that threatens to yank him through the air to the west. He recovers his balance, but no sooner has he taken a step forward than a sleek black panther resolves from the shadows and swipes at him with its claws.

“Pull me up! Pull me up!”

The rest of the party is able to do just that, and soon Lugurix is lying on the stone ground, panting furiously.

A plan is devised whereby Lugurix takes point, Signy, tied securely behind him throws magic stones, Presentinus, tied behind her, avails himself of prayer and spiritual hammer while Naum holds to the rope and digs his feet into the ground, anchoring them to the spot. Abner and Liten, neither of whom has any armor to be concerned about, will assist with his halberd and magic missiles, respectively.

They carefully file down as Naum takes a careful grip on the rope holding his comrades in place against the powerful magnetic force. He is surprised by the strength of the pull and immediately buckles, knocking first into Presentinus and then into Signy, who manages to hold her ground. The party carefully inches its way forward.

Lugurix, determined not to be taken by surprise this time, is completely taken by surprise as the creature suddenly dives out of the shadows at him as before. The fight is on. The guardian beast puts up a brief but heroic fight before being vanquished, and Naum manages to maintain his hold on the rope which is now slick with his sweat.

Cautiously, the party makes it’s way forward and into a large room.

Abner, with complete freedom of movement, investigates. There is a casket of some sort with golden lid in middle of the floor, rising up from the living stone. Behind it, a barrel that was being pulled towards the darkness is trapped behind the casket’s side, quivering as its rims and nails attempt to answer the magnet’s siren song.

Abner pushes aside the casket lid to find the box empty. He notices a perplexing Hebrew inscription on the casket (that being the Inscription on the Empty Casket of Noria), but is unable to ascertain exactly what it means. Nervous of knocking loose the barrel without knowing where it’s going to end up, Abner attaches a light stone to a metal arrowhead and releases it…

What the stone illuminates is extraordinary. The room opens up into a wide chasm on the far side of the room. The arrow head flies across the chasm and strikes an enormous iron deposit on the opposite wall, revealing countless centuries of iron tools, weapons and raw ingots that have been allowed to collect here. At the bottom of the chasm, a rushing sound reverberates and Abner carefully peeks over the edge to see a massive underground river, far, far below.

Nobody is too excited about exploring any further, now that, hopefully, what they seek is in their grasp. They carefully create a rope harness for the barrel and slowly walk it backwards from the casket. Abner and Liten carry the gold casket lid up to the rope and the entire party ascends, returning to one of the bone covered rooms.

Everyone is anxious to leave, but Presentinus insists on resting to take more divination magic in the hopes of uncovering more treasure. The rest of the party grudgingly agrees, but the joke ends up being on Presentinus. He attempts to cast detect magic only to discover his holy symbol missing. The prayer beads he uses for augury as well.

“MITES!!!!!”

He can hear the tiny monsters snickering several floors above, and the party ascends prepared to take the little buggers on. They don’t get too far before a spike covered tree swings down from above and creams Lugurix and Signy. More laughing. Presentinus casts find traps (which does not require the use of a holy symbol, for some reason) and Liten stealthfully takes point and prepares to incapacitate them with a stinking cloud spell. With Presentinus’ help he is able to avoid the traps that the mites have built in the intervening two days and return to the room where they retreated into the holes in the walls. He casts stinking cloud into their hidey-holes and the sounds of tiny retching immediately emanate therefrom.

The party has a good laugh and leave the fortress. Presentinus is overcome with rage.

“No way am I leaving this dungeon with less money than when I went in!”

He storms back in and demands his property back from the mites, who, in between vomiting, tell him where to stick it; relenting only after he starts pouring lamp oil down the holes and threatening to immolate the whole lot of them. Thus satisfied, he catches up with the rest of the party and they return to town.