Dungeon of Justice - Attempt 8

After seven attempts, I can sense that my readers are starting to get somewhat frustrated with my efforts to complete Dungeon of Justice.  I get the feeling that I've been on completely the wrong track, and that simply exploring the dungeon isn't going to be enough for me to find the Golden Idol and win the adventure.  Nevertheless, there are still tunnels for me to check out, and with no other obvious options I plan to stick with it.

This time around I rolled a Skill of 8, a Stamina of 21, and a Luck of 10.  Those aren't the greatest stats, but I'm not overly worried; there are tough enemies in this book, but they're hidden out of the way and easily avoided.

As usual I started the adventure by fighting the Thief; this time he actually wounded me, which is unusual.  At the first junction I took the western path, through the room with the sleeping dog.  Despite my high Luck score I rolled badly on my attempt to sneak past.  The two-headed dog Xlaia woke up, and I had a fight on my hands.  Our Skills were even, but by the time I'd killed Xlaia I only had 3 Stamina points left.  I ate a meal, restoring my Stamina to 7, before moving on.  (The rules says that you can only eat when instructed, but at no point in the adventure have I been told I can eat provisions.  I can only assume that this is a mistake resulting from copying the rules directly from Warlock of Firetop Mountain, so I'm allowing myself to eat provisions whenever I'm not in combat.)

I ignored a door and headed north at the next junction (into unexplored territory).  At the top of some stairs I was attacked from behind by a Dwarf wielding a morning star (Skill 8, Stamina 5).  He struck me before the battle commenced (reducing my score to 6).  With only a meagre 1-Stamina advantage, I decided to use my Luck score to even the odds.  My first blow reduced him to 1 Stamina, but then he proceeded to win the next three combat rounds; I had to use my Luck again to avoid death.  With just 1 Stamina remaining, I killed the Dwarf and hastily ate another provision (restoring my Stamina to 5).

I almost got killed by a dwarf with no
beard, how embarrassing.

Continuing north, I came to a room with three exits and a pile of gold pieces in the middle.  I carefully scooped up the gold (30gp in total), and searched the corners for more.  Finding none, I was told by the adventure that I had to exit to the north.  The door was trapped with darts, but I avoided them with a successful Luck test.  My Luck had been reduced to 5 at this point, so I took a drink from my Potion of Fortune to raise it to 11.

Along the passage I came to a massive door studded with iron bolts.  The handle was shaped like an enormous bird, and I decided to push it open. Inside there was a sparsely furnished room, with an old man asleep on a chair.  I didn't find anything else in the room, but before leaving I had the option to murder the poor old guy.  Instead I decided to wake him up and question him.  The startled old man offered me all of his treasure, which I took; it amounted to 27 gold pieces and a diamond.  Once again I had the option of cold-blooded murder, but I decided to let the old man live and leave the room.

The author really wants me to
murder this guy.

The passage turned into a chimney, and I had to climb up (reducing my Stamina to 4; I ate a meal to get it back up to 8).  I emerged in the river cave, with the bridge and the termites.  Crossing the bridge with a successful Luck test, I took a door to the west.

At the next junction I went north, entering a room with a pit.  Having been drowned in this pit in an earlier play-through, I ignored it and continued north into unexplored territory.  I emerged into a circular room with a deep pool of warm water. While taking a refreshing swim I noticed a door at the bottom which I was unable to open. With nothing else to do, I headed back through the pit room to the junction and turned west.

Ignoring a north tunnel, I soon came to the room with the ruby and the constantly rotating spikes.  I'd been here in an earlier adventure, but decided against trying to get the ruby.  This time I went for it, and one successful Luck test was all I needed to pocket the ruby.  With nothing else to do, I went back to the last junction and headed north.

I entered the room with the two mud pits, and decided to skirt around them to the right.  With a successful Luck test I was able to pass by without mishap.  I went north, past a door leading to a trap, and soon ended up in the final room, where I was asked if I had the idol.  Once more I did not, so I was taken before my elven accusers and shot to death.

THE POST-GAME

I got more of the dungeon paths explored, but to nobody's surprise the idol didn't turn up along any of them.  Currently, I have these options left to explore:

• The north tunnel of a junction found just after a jumping into a pit (a little north of the sleeping dog).
• Heading north from the door where I met the sleeping old man.
• Whatever lies past the Light Worshippers over on the eastern side of the dungeon.
• North of the prison past the combination lock.
• The dead-end/secret door directly north of the entrance (through four junctions)

I'm pretty sure that most of those are just going to connect back to areas I've already explored, with little of interest to be found.  I should try to knock them all out as quickly as possible in my next post.  Wherever that idol is, it's damn well hidden.