Dungeon of Justice - Attempts 6 & 7

 Another week, another attempt at finishing "Dungeon of Justice", the mini-adventure from Warlock #5.  Surely I'll get it this time.  After all, it's a mini-adventure, how hard can it be?

ATTEMPT 6

For my sixth attempt, I rolled a Skill of 11, a Stamina of 19, and a Luck of 11, probably my best character yet for this adventure.  After choosing the Potion of Fortune, it was time once more to try to survive the Dungeon of Justice and find the Golden Idol.

With no obvious clues as to which path will lead to success, I'm still in exploration mode.  The path that seemed most likely to lead to something interesting was the door with the combination lock, so I set that as my goal.

Getting to that door involved going back over a lot of familiar territory: I killed the thief, turned left at the first junction, sneaked past the sleeping dog (taking its brass key), went through a door and dropped down into a hole, turned right at a junction, and fought a Hobgoblin.  This Hobgoblin had a parchment with some numbers written on it (these numbers were the combination needed to unlock the door I was headed for).

From there I went north, fought a Giant Spider for a ruby, fought some Giant Porcupines, crossed a river by using a bridge being devoured by giant termites, and took a door to the east.  This brought me to the door with the combination lock.  I had to add the numbers of the combination together, and turn to that section.  The numbers on the Hobgoblin's parchment were correct, and I was able to open the door and enter a library.

The walls were lined with books, and there were three books open on the table (one red, one blue, and one green).  I decided to read them all.  (Oddly, the adventure implies that you might not have time to read.  I'm not sure if this is just odd phrasing, or if there's something in the adventure that would impose such a time limit.)

The red book was in Ancient Elven, and completely unintelligible.  The blue book was full of maps, one of which showed the terrain of Analand, including the locations of some valuable mines.  I took it with me.  The third book was a list of criminals submitted for trial, with my own name inscribed last.  The name before me was a thief, no doubt the one I'd killed at the start of the adventure.

Leaving through the north door, I entered a prison.  In a cell I saw a tattered prisoner, and rather than murder him in cold blood I decided to talk to him.  I exchange for his freedom, he said that he could tell me where to find an enormous ruby.  I opened his cell, and the prisoner leaped forth, wrested my sword from my grasp, and disemboweled me with a single blow.  To quote the text: "Your adventure ends here... messily!"

ATTEMPT 7

Well, the combination lock ended up being a bust, unless there's something great beyond the prison.  This time around, I set myself to explore some of the other pathways I'd yet to go down.  For such a small adventure, this one is surprisingly non-linear.  I rolled a Skill of 10, a Stamina of 19, and a Luck of 11 before setting off.

After killing the thief, I turned north at the next junction, then east at the junction after that.  The next junction had a northern passage that I hadn't explored yet, so I took that one.  It ended at a door, which I opened.  Inside the room, there were two Orcs chattering to each other (Skill 5, Stamina 6 and Skill 6, Stamina 5).

The Orcs fell beneath my blade, and I wasted no time in looting their corpses: they had 5 gold pieces, and a sprig of some sort of herb.  I decided to risk eating the herb, expecting maybe a little bit of healing.  I got that (restoring 4 Stamina), but I also got a boost I wasn't expecting: from now on, my Luck could never be lowered below 6.

I continued north, and at a junction I was forced to go north again.  This linked up to the path with the grille, which I ignored, as there's nothing beyond it but a bottomless pit.  The path turned east, and I ignored the next door, which only led to a fake Idol and certain death.  Further east was a junction where I was forced to go north, and that path ended at a cliff.  There was a rope leading down, and I had to test my Luck twice to get down safely.

From here I had to cross the termite bridge, and choose between the three doors on the far side.  The eastern door led to the combination lock, but I didn't have the numbers this time around.  The northern door led to a difficult fight with a Birdman, and no other reward to speak of.  So I chose the door to the west.

The western door led to a tunnel, with three paths heading north.  I chose the middle path, as it was the only one I had never explored.  It opened up into a room with two mud pits, and the stench of rotting flesh.  I had three ways forward: skirting around to the left, skirting around to the right, or taking the middle path.  I chose to go right down the middle.  The stench almost choked me, but a successful Luck test allowed me to cross safely and continue on.

The tunnel headed north before turning east.  I came to a side door, but when I opened it the room beyond was pitch black.  I decided to risk the dark room, and almost as soon as I entered the floor fell away under my feet.  I failed the first Luck test (rolling double 6), and was surprised not to be killed instantly; I got another chance, and managed to save myself.  (Before the Luck tests the room asked me if I had a Ring of Skill.  I'd found it in a previous game with the Cape of Levitation, so this might be another avenue to explore.) With no other option, I continued east down the tunnel.

This lead to a crossroads, where I was forced to go north and encounter the old man at the end of the adventure.  I already knew that admitting I didn't have the Idol would result in my death, so I decided to kill him.  He warned me against it, but with no other good options I pressed my attack, and he cast a spell that turned me to stone.

THE POST-GAME

I checked off some more paths here, and explored some new areas, but none of it feels like progress.  Normally by this point in an adventure I have at least some idea of what I should be doing, but this one has me baffled.  I still have a few more unexplored paths, so hopefully I'll find the idol in one of those.  If not, I really don't know what to try next.

Plugging My Newest Blog

I should have another attempt at "Dungeon of Justice" posted on the weekend, but in the meantime I have another blog I've been working on with some regularity: Chronology X.  If you're into X-Men comics you might want to check it out, but be warned that this is extremely focused on deep-dive continuity issues and minutiae related to the passage of time.  I'm trying to construct a working X-Men timeline based on clues from within the comics, so we're talking extremely pedantic nerd bullshit here.  If that sounds like something you might enjoy, please head on over there and take a look.

Dungeon of Justice - Attempts 4 & 5

In the comments of my last post, Ed Jolley kindly informed me that at least one of the references in my PDF of "Dungeon of Justice" is pointing to the wrong section.  Commentor Sitbear also pointed me towards some other errors that were printed in the original.  I've fixed all of those, so hopefully now I'll be playing with a mistake-free version of this adventure.  Thanks, folks!  I also keep getting comments about there being some trick to this adventure, one that I might need to look up the answer for.  I have to say that this intrigues me.  As far as I can tell "Dungeon of Justice" is a straight dungeon-crawler, so I'm interested to see what my readers are hinting at.

ATTEMPT 4

For my fourth attempt at this adventure, I rolled a Skill of 11, a Stamina of 18 and a Luck of 10.  With these incredibly viable scores I went into this with some confidence that I'd at least survive long enough to get some good exploration done.

After the initial fight with the Thief, I headed north to the room with the Giant Bats.  In a previous adventure I'd explored this room after killing the bats and found a trapdoor, but due to a failed Luck test I'd been unable to open it.  I was still curious about it, so I made this my first stop for Attempt 4, and this time I was lucky enough to get the trapdoor open.  Inside I found a recess containing a cape, a ring and a phial of colourless liquid.

First I tried on the cape, which proved to be a Cape of Levitation.  (I'd been asked for this during previous attempts, and had been keeping my eye out for it ever since.)  I also put on the ring, which was identified as a Ring of Skill.  Unfortunately, the ring had long ago been cursed, and instead of increasing my Skill it reduced my Stamina by 2 and my Luck by 1.  The phial was holy water, blessed by an ancient druid, and gave me a +1 bonus to my Attack Strength.  Handy!  (As my regular readers may have figured out, my style when playing gamebooks is to try out every single thing that I can, regardless of any potential threats to my wellbeing.  I treat each attempt at a gamebook as an exploratory mission: I'm aiming to find out as much as I can so that I can determine the best possible path forward.  When presented with three items in a Fighting Fantasy, I know very well that at least one of them is going to be terrible, but I still have to try them all out.  This time around, I feel like I came out ahead pretty well.)

From that room I headed north, through the junction with the erroneous link that Ed Jolley had warned me about.  Previously it had pointed me to a corridor where I tripped and broke my shield, but the correct entry led me to a dead end.  I tried to look for secret passages, but a failed Luck test meant that I had to go back to the previous junction and head east.

This led to another junction, where I was forced to head north.  I passed a grille on the wall, but it was locked, and I was unable to open it without a brass key.  Further ahead the tunnel turned east, and after a long walk I came to a door in the north wall.

Opening the door, I found what I had been looking for: a golden idol on a tall pedestal!  The room was criss-crossed with tripwires, all connected to crossbows, but there was no way I could leave without trying to get that idol: my life depended on it.  I had no trouble making my way through the wires, but as soon as I got near the idol disappeared.  It was an illusion, and I had walked into a trap.  After an ominous rumbling, a stone slab fell on top of me, and I had no way to escape being crushed.  My adventure was over!

THE POST-GAME

Okay, so I had a pretty good idea that what I'd found was not the idol I was looking for.  I get the feeling it's not going to be that obvious, especially with the hints my readers have been dropping.  But like I said, I have to try as many options as possible, and now I can add that room to my list of places to ignore.

ATTEMPT 5

That last game was quick, so I launched right into another attempt.  This time I rolled a Skill of 11 once again (I've been on fire with these Skill rolls), a Stamina of 21, and a Luck of 7.  In most of my attempts I set a specific goal, and this time around I wanted to open the grille that I'd been unable to unlock in the last game.  I knew where the key was, it was just a matter of finding the path that links back from there to the grille.

After being thrown in the dungeon and fighting a Thief, I came to a junction and decided to go west.  This led to a room where a dog was sleeping in a basket, with a key hanging on a hook nearby.  I decided to risk sneaking through the room, but my sword struck a stone, and (due to a failed Luck test that reduced my score to 6) the dog woke up.  It was, however, no ordinary dog; the beast had two heads, and was apparently the dreaded Xlaia, thought to be extinct for centuries.  Regardless of how dreaded it was, I killed it with ease, made it properly extinct, and took the brass key with me.

The passage out of the room headed west then turned north.  I ignored a door on the east wall, and at the next junction I turned east.  Shuffling footsteps warned me of someone's approach, but it was just an old man, who had been thrown in here by the elves years ago.  I gave him directions back to the entrance, and he rewarded me with a clue: "All that glitters is not gold. There are many forms to what you seek; do not be misled by false idols."  (Thanks guy, where were you during my last attempt?)

Further along the passage I came to an alcove containing three small bottles.  One had clear liquid  inside, one golden liquid, and the last had a pale green syrup.  I, of course, decided to down them all.  The clear liquid restored my Stamina by 1 point.  The golden liquid put me to sleep for several hours.  I was not killed by any wandering monsters, and nobody came along to steal my stuff, but I did awaken in a groggy state, which meant that my Attack Strength would be reduced by 1.  The third liquid was an Elixir of Fortune, and from now on I was able to add 1 point to my dice roll every time I Tested my Luck.  (Waaaiiiit a second.  That's bad!  You want to roll low on a Luck test, to get under your score.  So either the author has gotten this wrong, or is deliberately messing with the reader.  I'll follow the text as written, I guess, but I really don't know what the intention is here.)

The tunnel soon connected with a junction (which I recognised, meaning that I was on the path towards the grille).  I headed north, then east, then north again, and came to the grille in the side of the wall.  With the brass key I was able to unlock it, but the effort required to push it open was such that I stumbled headlong into the darkness, right into a pit.  Without the Cape of Levitation in my possession I fell, and fell, and fell...  The pit was bottomless.  So while my character was technically still alive, my adventure was very much over.  (Actually, based on my map I don't think it's possible to get the brass key and the cape of levitation in the same game, unless there's a connection somewhere that I'm missing.)

THE POST-GAME

Well, I accomplished my goal, for all the good it did me.  To be honest, I feel like I've made very little progress in this adventure.  I've figured out a bunch of things not to do, but I'm no closer to a solving the adventure than I was at the beginning.  I think my next target is the combination lock on the other side of the river.  It could just be another red herring/deathtrap, but of the loose ends on my map so far it looks the most promising.