[Solo] [Session Report 1 - 5/22/24] "R2, we need to be going up not down"

     

    My party consisted of 8 adventurers, To'Chor the Furtive (Fighter), Hor'No the Orange (Fighter), Trabran the Mighty (Magic User), To'Rin the Batrachian (Cleric), Wal the Weird (Elf), Don Web the Pious (Fighter), An the Mantled (Thief), and Hofan the Vigorous (Cleric).  The names were generated using the Holmesian Random Names generator and the characters were generated according to B/X rules.

    The party set out to explore an orc lair, however, after entering the second room they fell through a trap door that led to the 2nd level of the dungeon.  At this point, fear had not completely set in and they were still optimistic about the possibility of gaining a few extra coins due to being on a lower level.  After falling down the trap door, they started to make their way northward down a 30' long corridor that turned west for 40' until they eventually came across a door.  To'Chor and Don opened the door to a 20' square room but were surprised by a group of 5 Troglodytes!

    Now, the party was in a melee but they were caught off guard which gave the monsters a free round to attack.  Hor'No and Wal both suffer damage at the hands of these foul beasts.  Again and again the troglodytes attacked the party quickly slaying Hor'No and Wal after only a couple rounds of combat.  To'Rin also is slain but this allowed for some space to open up between the troglodytes and party members.  The party members quickly took advantage of this and decided to move backwards, then throwing their daggers, and finally Tabram was able to cast Sleep which knocked out 4 troglodytes.  The final monster, too scared to continue fighting, fled from the party.  The party quickly dispatched the sleeping troglodytes and while searching the room, were able to find a magical shield +1.  The party decided to give To'Chor the shield so he could swap his mundane one out for the magical one.  After this, the party took a much needed rest before they carried on adventuring.

    Finally rested, the party reminded themselves that they still need to find a way back up to the first level of the dungeon and so they headed east through a door and entered an empty 10' square room.  They continued east through another door and a long corridor.  At the end of this corridor was another trap which sent the party falling down into the 3rd level of the dungeon!

    The party was now very worried about finding their way out.  No matter where they turned, the dungeon seemed to keep forcing them downwards, deeper and deeper into the dungeon.  Once they got to their feet, they saw a group of 6 harpies!  Luckily, the adventurers were able to get the initiative and although hope seemed to be lost the party decided that if they should meet their end in this dungeon that they would go down fighting until the last man was slain.

    The melee began and To'Chor, Tabran, and An focused their attacks on a single harpy which allowed them to kill it swiftly.  Hofan then attacked another harpy, significantly wounding it.  This shook the harpies, perhaps they thought these humans would be easy prey, and they decided to flee.  The adventurers, somewhat emboldened by this victory, still needed to find a way out.  They chose to go through the western door and entered another 10' square room but this time it had treasure!  They gathered up 700 silver pieces and 200 gold pieces and stuffed them in their bags.  At least now, if the party made it back to town they would be able to afford a nice meals and bed to rest up for a while.  

    Not letting this get to their head, the party pressed onward and entered a 20' square room but as they entered it poisonous gas started to fill up the dungeon room.  To'Chor, despite his remarkable strength, began to choke and fell to the ground.  Tabran also started to cough and died.  Finally, Don choked and died as well.  An, however, quickly covered his mouth with his cloak and arm.  The poison began to dissipate and An relaxed.  After collecting the treasure and some light sources, he made his way to the northern door to open it.  He failed to open it.  Then, he started to hear the sound of harpies and the sound kept getting louder.  They had to be getting close!  An kept trying to open the door but it wouldn't budge until he gave it one last push with every last bit of strength he had.  The door opened but An, due to his momentum, flung forward and fell into a 10' deep pit and fell to his death.