Session report for December 14, 2023. Three players adventured for one day.
Characters
Mustacha, human ranger level 2
Tony D, human assassin level 2
Brother Flint, human monk level 1
Only three players this time. To make matters worse, none of those classes are permitted to employ hirelings at this level. To help manage the challenges, the party decided to stick to the first level of the dungeon.
The first result on the AD&D dungeon generator was trick/trap: elevator room down 1 level! Disaster!
In previous delves, the party mapped out quite a bit of level 2, so it took a few minutes for me to determine where the room would go. Here's what I did.
First, I generated exits for the elevator room: one door on the east wall and one on the south wall. Then I referred to my level 2 map and identified the location of the room after it descended. It would be right in the middle of a long hallway going east to west. To resolve the discrepancy I shifted the room north 10 feet and decided that the doors would move with the room. And so the south door lined up with the hallway as a one-way secret door.
At this point Brother Flint had intuited what was going on and he asked if they moved laterally during their descent. Sigh. Yes.
In spite of that, they chose to explore the west and east doors first. One hallway led to a room with giant badgers sleeping off their latest meal. The opposite hallway wound around to the northwest and intersected two perpendicular hallways.
They heard the grinding of stone as the elevator room returned to the first level and their fates were sealed.
Down the hall they came to a medium sized chamber with a stone fireplace where they surprised 21 goblins pouring out of a secret door. For the second encounter in a row they had three rounds of surprise, thanks to the ranger. But they were outnumbered seven to one. They chose violence and killed seven goblins in two segments before retreating down the hall. Tony D'Angelo secured a choke point with caltrops encrusted with spider venom. The surviving goblins retreated in shock.
A staircase up led them back to the first level. They were relieved to be back on the first level, but according to their maps they were far away from the known exits.
The game became very tense at this point: the players realized there was a good chance they would not make it out of the dungeon, and on my part fatigue was setting in. They pressed on.
A huge hallway with a gallery 20 feet above opened before them. They ignored the door in the alcove on the west wall and headed to the chamber at the end of the hall. Another door led to a long hallway.
A pit trap opened under Tony. He fell and took 1 point of damage and was quickly rescued.
They entered a room with a fountain that hadn't had water in ages (if ever).
Monster: piercer. With a 95% chance of surprise, Mustacha's ranger bonus did not save them. Tony drew the short straw. It was a large piercer and did 3d6 damage. Tony never knew what hit him.
Mustacha and Flint realized they'd certainly die if they kept crawling around looking for the exit, so they beat feet back to the elevator room with Tony's body. The door opened to a wall because the room was still on the upper level. When they examined the wall they found magic runes that activated the elevator. They took the room back up to the first level and barely escaped with their lives.
[The elevator room in Appendix A does not describe the nature of the elevator room other than that it goes down one level and returns after 30 minutes. I reasoned there might be a "call button" of some kind on the lower level. Was I too kind? What would you do with an elevator room?]
THE VANQUISHED
7 goblins - 96 XP
1 piercer (3HD) - 110 XP
Tony D'Angelo - killed by a piercer ambush
THE SPOILS
65 silver
THE SCORE
Mustacha (NG Ranger 2, E): 104 XP & 33 sp
Brother Flint (?? Monk 1, E): 104 XP & 32 sp
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