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.