Fort Ludios
Fort Ludios is a special level reachable through a magic portal found in a vault, somewhere between dungeon level 11 and Medusa. In some games, the portal is not generated and it is impossible to reach Fort Ludios.
Map
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You start on the magic portal marked ^. Teleportation is not permitted. Proceeding into the level will find you battling enormous hordes of enemies, the main contingent of which is soldier-types. Many of these enemies are armed with wands. It is not a good idea to attempt Fort Ludios without reflection or magic resistance.
Dragons are generated here - four around the fort for certain, and potentially more in the throne room. With some luck and a few scrolls of enchant armor, you might be able to make some DSM.
The fort has no drawbridge. To enter, you will need some means of crossing water. If your only means of crossing water is jumping, you can blast through the door from afar with force bolt, the spell dig, or their wand counterparts (wand of striking and wand of digging).
The right half of the fort (through which you must enter) is filled not only with a wide assortment of monsters but also Croesus himself, who sits atop the opulent throne.
The four corner rooms of the fort contain precious gems: rubies, diamonds, emeralds, and amethysts. The left half of the fort is filled with gold, but also with land mines and spiked pits. Come with a bag of holding if you plan on leaving with all of the gold: Fort Ludios contains around 50,000 pieces, or about half of a strong character's total carrying capacity.
Strategy
See Movement tactics#Doors for a way to beat the crowd. Make sure you have reflection when attempting to conquer Fort Ludios, wands have nasty side effects (such as disintegrating your rings, freezing potions and burning paper and armor) and a soldier might even be generated with a wand of death.
There should be dozens of dropped polearms which you can use to kill the giant eels in the moat.
Croesus hits hard, but is easily dispatched with ranged attacks from across the moat. Alternatively, use a wand of cold to form a bridge across the moat; then when he stands on it use a wand of fire to melt it and drown him. Since there often are tough monsters, such as Olog-hai and dragons, in the throne room with Croesus a ring of conflict will help a lot.
