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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Goonalan" data-source="post: 4089113" data-attributes="member: 16069">Dungeon Crawl Classic #3 The Mysterious Tower Level 3-5Turn 88: Don’t press it.THUNGThe Paladin hits something, something small and hard to see, particularly in the twilight.“OOOOF.”Whatever it is it thumps the wind out of him.Cas slips and fumbles, and falls again…And is left dangling in mid-air clutching onto, well… who knows.The Paladin kicks his legs, manages to hang on to whatever it he’s clutching with his hands.“What’s keeping him up?” Jim enquires, to open-mouthed stares.“Magic?” Newt wonders.“I’m holding onto a rod.” Cas shouts over, one hand slips, flails and then grabs back up and onto the rod.“What’s the rod holding onto?” Jim shouts back.“Well I never…” Newt grins and quickly swallows down a Potion of Spider Climbing, “I’ll be a Monkey’s Uncle”, an expression of amazement back in Lowth.“What is it?” Anya asks.“Hang on.” Ala screams at Cas, and is instantly shushed by the crowd.“Err… People. People. I’m about to fall.” Cas states.The Gang stop to watch.Cas falls.“OOOOOOOOOF.”Onto another rod.He has a better grip this time.“I’m coming over.” Newt plays out a line of rope, gives the end to Bec, presses a lit sunrod into his belt and leaps into the unknown.Actually he grasps the rod perfectly, performs a brief loop, and settles squatting on the the thin metal rod.“There’s a button, on the rod, should I press…”“Don’t press the button.” Newt shouts at the paladin, he’s very definite.“Oh, ok.” Cas nods, and then nearly loses his grips, he scrabbles and flails for a while before grabbing back on.“Don’t press the button, really Cas, just don’t.”Below him the Paladin nods.“Bec, lower me down.”Slowly Newt is let down, the rope over the first rod, which acts like a brace, he’s to the Paladin, and in seconds has looped the rope twice around Cas’ waist.“He’s good to go.” Newt shouts up.Bec hauls and a waving Paladin departs the hole.A minute later Cas is topside and back in control of the situation.“I said I’ll be a minute.” Newt’s voice echoes from the depths, it’s clear he’s going down and not up.“Newt, come back here… Newt.” Cas calls back and stamps his foot, the soft soil shifts and slides, the Paladin scrabbles back, reddens.“NEWT.” He calls again.But the Gnome is gone, well actually…Newt grips to what appears to be the last, the fourth, Immovable Rod, what a find. The Gnome looks down, as best he can, gently swaying- the cavern below is circular, there seem to be exits, it’s difficult to get his bearings. He can see the floor is thick with a living carpet, a myriad type of fungi, one for every occasion.Funny there’s a spot to his right that seems to have been trampled flat.Newt swings up, at lightning speed, presses the button of the last rod, which causes it to come lose in his hand, and catches onto the rod above, he repeats the operation- three more times, the last leap depositing him back on the surface and bowing low before the crowd.Bec, Ala, Anya and Jim go to applaud.The only thing stopping them is Cas’ face. The Paladin taps his foot on the ground, arms folded, “Well?”“Well what?” Newt replies.“You heard what I said to Ala earlier”, which, again, is the wrong thing to say, “you can’t just go wandering off on your own young man.”“Who do you think you are, my Mum?”“For the purpose of this adventure, yes.” Cas chides.“What? Hang on- did you just call me ‘young man’?”“Yes, well… what I meant…”“Well for a start I’m not a man, a HU-man, I’m a Gnome, it’s not me that goes falling down holes needing to be rescued, you great clod-hopper.”“Well that’s as may…”“And furthermore, how old are you?”“What does that matter?” Cas looks sheepish.“How old?”“I’ll be twenty-two in three months.”“Right then, I’ll be fifty next week, so screw you sonny.”Newt wanders off, muttering.Then suddenly turns on his heals.“Do you know what these are?” Newt holds up the four rods.“No. Not really.”“Not really?” Its Newt’s turn to chide.“Well, no. Not at all, really- I mean I saw what they were doing in the hole, but…”“But what?”“But no, not really, I don’t know what they do, oh fiddlesticks, what do they do Newt?”Newt holds one of the rods in the air.“These are called Immovable Rods, there’s a second-story guy in The Nunny, he uses one of these, and he’s the best in the business.”“So?”“So what these do is somehow, when you press the button in, they connect with the air- the stay in place, they’re called Immovable Rods, you can hang off them, use them as steps- whatever.”“What’s your point?” Cas is just being surly now, everyone else can see Newt’s point.“My point is, Lord, they may come in useful, like they did earlier- for saving your fat ass.” Newt spits back.The two move closer, square up, the Gang close in should the need arise to separate the pair.“Oh, and the other thing is, the second-story guy, he paid three thousand gold for his, for just one of these. One-Two-Three-Four, Hey Presto- we’re rich.”Newt shakes the rods in the air to make his point.“Now watch.”He grabs the first rod again. Strategically places it in the air, presses the button and hauls himself…Falls on his backside.Newt scrambles up quickly, attempts to repeat the trick, he does- with same results. He tries one rod after another.“There magic’s spent, not a trace.” Anya remarks, her Detect magic spell tells her this is so.It goes quiet.Newt keeps trying- the rods are not working however.Eventually Cas breaks the silence, he giggles, attempts to turn the laugh into a yawn, it only makes it worse.“Right, that’s it, I’m off home.”Newt turns and stomps off.“Anya, go after him.” The Wizard stares at Cas, “Please Anya.”She nods and heads over to the Gnome who is at present kicking stones in random directions, cursing all the while under his breath.“Come on; let’s check the rest of this place out- quickly.” Cas leads Ala, Jim and Bec off towards what was obviously the main barracks.The wood framed building is now completely destroyed. The Gang can barely make out the outline of where the walls once stood. There’s a jumble of smashed and rotten furniture inside, a swift inspection reveals nothing of interest.The four adventurers move on, past Anya and Newt sitting together, whispering to each other, looking up to stare at Cas every now and then.The last area to be inspected is another ruined corner of the keep where a sturdy tower once stood, the bodies of several dead rats litter the place, otherwise it’s empty.They wander back, congregate again- the light’s almost gone.“We’d better get below.” Jim states.Newt looks up at the Ranger.“Newt.” But before the Ranger can finish the Gnome is on his way, back over to the Officer’s Quarters and to the trapdoor and ladder in the storeroom.Thirty seconds later Newt’s sunrod chases away the dark, he descends.“It smells- bad.” Newt whispers back up, and then heads off cautiously.Newt leaves the sunrod a little way from the ladder; the shadows are more conducive to his type of work, then heads on, down a 50-foot long hallway which ends in a dank, dark 30-by-50-foot room, which clearly used to be a jail. The stone walls are well built and reinforced, obviously designed by a master builder. On each side of the room are two barred jail cells. The two closest are only small, 10-by-10 cubicles, while the farther cells are much bigger, they must measure 20-by-20. The bars to each cell are bent and rusted; either something broke out, or else broke in.Then…“Nobody likes me, everybody hates me,Guess I'll go and eat worms,Long, thin, slimy ones; Short, fat, juicy ones,Itsy, bitsy, fuzzy wuzzy worms.Down goes the first one, down goes the second one,Oh how they wiggle and squirm.Up comes the first one, up comes the second one,Oh how they wiggle and squirm.”Newt stops short, a shadowy lump lurches into his vision, whatever it is its big, and has One-Two-Three legs, and One-Two-Three arms.Newt’s out of there.And in less than ten seconds back at the ladder, a couple of seconds later, back on the surface.“There’s something down there, something…”“Something what?” Jim asks, Anya snakes her arm round the Gnome’s shoulders.“Something big.”Anya crouches, so she’s at eye level with Newt.“What was it doing Newt? What did you see?”“It was… singing.”“Singing?” Anya looks up at Cas, confused.“Singing about worms.” Newt finishes and has a little cry.Next Turn: Top Scat.</blockquote>

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