Tars Underground
A tiny but confusing board, thanks to a spinner and a wrapping map. Your best bet is to get in and get out… although the easter egg is pretty epic.
This is a proper dungeon, so you need a light source to see and a compass to get your bearings. There are also far too many types of wandering monsters (1 in 100) for a board this small.
Exits
(02,05) Stairs up to the ruins of Tars.
(00,05) A pit that you can Climb down to the Underworld, behind a secret door.
Points of Interest
Whenever “your footsteps sound hollow”, there’s a secret door nearby. Face the wall and use Tracker to reveal it on the game map, or just walk through it.
The Spinner (01,04): A standard spinner trap, which works by changing your orientation but not redrawing the viewport (although if you have a compass spell running, it will point in the new orientation). Weirdly, if you wind up facing N or S, you are then able to walk through the wall!
The Stone Arms (07,04): Part of the Lanac’toor puzzle, stored in a chest behind a secret door. This is the only thing you really need to come here for, so take it and run.
The Closet (04,07): Another chest behind a secret door, this time with a Healing Potion (S:Heal) and five Dragon Stones.
The Other Closet (04,00): A locked chest (difficulty 1) behind a secret door. H:Fire Light, D:Death Curse, S:Sun Stroke.
The Visual Illusion (05,02): You spot yourself moving at the other end of an infinite corridor.
The Adventuring Party (03,01): Nasty.
The Inexplicable Easter Egg (04,02): Quite a shame about those adventurers, eh? Well, if you happen to use Arcane Lore here, Captain Kirk checks in from the bridge of the Enterprise:
“The scanner reports a vessel approaching at warp 19!!”
“Spock?”, Kirk says, “Intentions?” Spock scans the intruder. “Unable to tell, it seems to be doing evasive manouvers as if it is under attack.”
Kirk looks over to the transport tube and sees a party just standing there completely bewildered. “Who are you?” are the last words said as the strange people vanish. “Illogical” says Spock.
This is hands-down the weirdest easter egg I’ve ever seen. When I found it in the decompiled game code, I screamed out loud, booted up an old save file, and ran to that spot to verify it for myself.
Bestiary
| STR | DEX | INT | SPR | HP | AV | DV | Speed | XP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cave Snakes | 3 | 19 | 1 | 1 | 16–34 | +2 | +0 | 80' | 120 |
| 5d6, 4d4 | |||||||||
| Cave Wolves | 13 | 13 | 5 | 10 | 13–34 | +3 | +0 | 20' | 120 |
| 5d4, 7d4, flee | |||||||||
| Ghouls | 12 | 16 | 1 | 1 | 19–34 | +4 | +0 | 20' | 150 |
| 7d4 — undead | |||||||||
| Giant Snake | 20 | 22 | 1 | 3 | 13–34 | +2 | +0 | 10' | 100 |
| 3d8 — can't be disarmed | |||||||||
| Goblin | 10 | 12 | 6 | 10 | 13–34 | +4 | +0 | 30' | 120 |
| 4d6, 6d4 stun | |||||||||
| Guard Goblin | 20 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 19–40 | +3 | +0 | 20' | 90 |
| 5d6, 4d6 | |||||||||
| Lizard Men | 25 | 17 | 3 | 5 | 16–36 | +2 | +0 | 20' | 120 |
| 3d8, 4d6 | |||||||||
| Lizard Men | 33 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 15–48 | +2 | +0 | 20' | 150 |
| 8d4, call for help — can't be disarmed | |||||||||
| Skeletons | 8 | 14 | 8 | 8 | 12–33 | +2 | +0 | 10' | 80 |
| 4d6, 4d4, 1d8 — undead | |||||||||
| Spiders | 12 | 17 | 3 | 5 | 6–9 | +2 | +0 | 30' | 70 |
| 3d8, 4d6 | |||||||||
| Spitting Snake | 5 | 15 | 5 | 10 | 12–18 | +2 | +0 | 20' | 90 |
| 2d8 breath, 3d8 | |||||||||
| Wraiths | 3 | 22 | 30 | 40 | 13–40 | +2 | +0 | 10' | 180 |
| H:Fire Light @3 — undead | |||||||||
The adventuring party:
| STR | DEX | INT | SPR | HP | AV | DV | Speed | XP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adventurers | 12 | 16 | 12 | 12 | 19–39 | +2 | +0 | 10' | 130 |
| 6d4, dodge, flee | |||||||||
| Wizard | 10 | 14 | 20 | 30 | 21–30 | +3 | +0 | 10' | 250 |
| H:Fire Light @2, D:Whirl Wind, flee | |||||||||