Dungeon 2 Turn 50
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After picking up another empty mug and swapping the armour once again, Ricki and Kamau head towards the dungeon entrance.
“This buzz wouldn’t be so bad if I wasn’t aware of what caused it.”
“I bet a lot more people would take up dungeon-crawling if they got free drinks out of it.”
“The aftertaste of gastropod would change their minds pretty quick.”
“Then again, I guess all these bar patrons we keep having to knock out must be—”
Ricki sees that two more figures have entered the dungeon, but this time they aren’t a pair of hapless drunks. A guard and dog team has appeared, quite possibly looking for two escaped convicts. It looks like they’re going to be wandering the dungeon from this point on, and that guard looks well equipped with chain armour and a greatsword.
Ricki and Kamau stop and consider their options. Fight? Hide? Abandon the dungeon?
Wruh-roh
I’m gonna guess the dog can go in holes. Hopefully it clears out the first hole and splits from guard.
Priority now is turning on the ale and getting out I think.
Agreed. I forgot LSN talked about hard vs soft time limits for dungeons. And this is an awesome idea.
Ricki: Go left one room and see if the guard and dog split up using Dungeon Eyes. If they continue into the next room together, go back down the ladder so we can flip the lever by the thugs.
Kamau: Stick with Ricki.
If Kamau sticks with Ricki, he will not be able to reach lever 2 at the skeletons before/without encountering the guard/dog, if those do not linger upstairs. And those two enemies look like “determined”, not like “lingering”.
Betcha pennies to ponies that this HERE is the person (plus attack dog) who the thugs were waiting for.
And the thugs were right, they DO look like kicking our butts.
(LSN was just saying that they possibly are looking for two escaped convicts. He didn’t specify which ones – thugs or Ricki and Kamau – nor for what reason they are looking for them – help them carry the loot or try to re-incarcerate them.)
I mean we pretty much have had established in dungeon 1 that guards being corrupt jerks is not an unlikely option…
I guess we could always try to hide out in various nooks and crannies to avoid them (e.g. the skeleton room).
Also, I hope the new “team” leaves the switches alone, so we don’t have to start that again.
After thinking it over a few times, I think the guard is not the guy the thugs are waiting for. He won’t make it to them – they are waiting behind the hole/tunnel, not peeking outside, and they won’t manage to fit the chest through the tunnel.
That’s what the dog is for. To go down the tunnels and find his “associates”.
At least that’s what I am going to assume if the dog immediately is sent down the tunnel in the entrance room.
Is that ANY possibility that those two are “The Boss” of the two thugs guarding the chest?(probably not: I forgot about holes&tunnels, guard is too tall like Kamau)
And maybe there is any way to lure guard+dog to the lowest level and let them have fun with wererats? 😀
EDIT: I checked the layout of corridors, it’s almost a dead end and no branches.. it seems that only this small room with magic chest allows for any hiding attempt over the way to wererats. The guard and the dog, specifically the dog, probably won’t be easily fooled into going left to wererats. Hm. Ricky could be the bait and could then try hiding in the hole that leads to the lone wererat near valve (~ hide in the same room as in turn 45) but the dog could follow via hole. And wererat is still there IIRC..
… I assume dogs here have their natural scent sniffing abilities. It may be a wrong assumption though.
… so, maybe that little room with glass chest. Would it be possible to use leftover opened chest from room from turn 45 to make a makeshift cover to hide the ladder leading to the glass chest? Then some running back&forth near the left exit to the wererats’ room could leave enough scent for the dog to follow there, while hiding in the glass cheest room, with entrance/ladder covered by a chest.. far stretched.. but could it work?
Ricki might also be able to hide in an empty treasure chest. See here: https://dungeoneyes.com/how-to-play/ under “trying things” it is actually something LSN “suggests”. I daresay it will have a dice roll connected to it, though, to determine whether or not that hiding attempt is successful and we all know how “lucky” Ricki gets when it comes to those. :/
… unbelievable, the chest breaks!
Ricki: go left and climb up into the small alcove with the open chest. Hide in the chest. use your dungeon eyes to peek into the room, don’t open the lid like in “how to play, trying things”.
Kamau: go down two rooms (where the skeletons are) and (possibly next turn, because the dead bodies of the drunks may count as “guarded” by the skeletons and therefore take an action to interact with) trade your clothes with one of the (dead) drunks (if the guard can’t be fooled because of different skin colour, then at least the scent might distract the dog) and attach the ball and chain to their leg.
If we are lucky, the guard might not know Kamau and (mis)take the dead drunk for the escaped prisoner.
I plan on Kamau going back up one room and “hide” in the area where the two drunks were in the centipede room. If I understand the hints dropped throughout the game (“hidey spaces between the walls”, “able to see the WHOLE room”, etc.) then “normal” people – who don’t have dungeon eyes – will only see/be aware of anything that is in the same room & level as they are. So assuming that the guard doesn’t have dungeon eyes, even with the torch (on the wall in the centipede room) he will only find Kamau if he is on the same level as he is, because otherwise he has no line of sight.
https://postimg.cc/14dTsFS8
Of course this plan is a gamble, relying on the guard then going DOWN the ladder (and finding the skeletons, the dead drunks and the ball and chain), instead of going up the ladder and find Kamau, so Kamau can sneak up the ladder and get away while the guard is busy with the skeletons, but I think taking this chance is better than facing them (especially dog and guard together) head-on. Besides, Kamau has been rather lucky with the dice so far (breakable equipment on him never actually broke iirc.), so here’s hoping that this trend will continue.
Also, if the guard has dungeon eyes, too, we’re screwed. 😛
Ricki: Go to the thugs guarding the treasure. Tell them that guards are on the way. Offer to work with them to defeat the guards. See what they say. Accept help if they offer it.
…and switch the lever there!
To finish the dungeon (i.e. restore proper ale flow) Ricki needs to 1. go one room left, one room down, 2. one room right, one room up (through hole), 3. switch lever 3 at the thugs; Kamau needs to 1. go down two rooms, 2. switch lever 2, but probably needs to handle skeletons and/or drunks there (or can pass them and just tank their attacks?) We could just outrun the guard/dog, if the skeletons do not take too much time and guard/dog do not go straight to the skeletons.
If we want to try the approach outlined above, we should ensure that Ricki has an empty item slot at the end (to get a new set of thieves’ tools at the start of next dungeon). (Also putting the keys into her inventory would work, because those are discarded automatically.) We need to decide whether Kamau (skeletons/drunks) is more in need of the armor than Ricki is (no fight expected, but the thugs could attack).
Actually, the longer I think about this, the more I think we might just -have to- cut our losses here and the “finish this once and for all” approach is best. I do want to earn another skill for Rick. Thank you for pointing out that we can be done with this for good in 3 turns.
Ricki: trade the cheap ale with Kamau for the keys and the rusty sword for the coin of revelry (keys so she will have empty space at the start of the next dungeon. coin so she might offer it in trade to the thugs for a crossbow before throwing the switch, if people are inclined to try that. Also, keeping the armour on her so the thugs can’t one-shot her). Go left and down and avoid the glass and the trap. (double move)
Kamau: swap items with Ricki as above and go down and down (don’t approach the skeletons and/or drunks there yet). (double move)
Note: I can’t “downvote” my own (other) post, and I don’t want to strike-through my suggestion there (because I think it would be super handy if the authorities thought Kamau was dead), but I prefer this post to happen, if there were a tie between them.
Note that Kamau’s double move this turn isn’t strictly necessary, he can move down one room this turn (plus, say, drinking cheap ale for more defense) and then move down again and hit the lever. That said, starting in the skeleton lever room does mean Kamau can flip the lever and leave, so I think we’re still better off, especially if being stuck in the room after going in to flip the lever means that he’s in combat for two turns instead of one.
Ricki also has to move 4 times and take an action, so while we need one double move, the second double move doesn’t earn us as much. Again, if the dungeon doesn’t immediately clear, then we benefit from flipping the lever and leaving.
Agreed. Also, entering the skeleton room in the next turn (51) will allow us to see what enemies are (still) there. And we could use turn 53 (the final turn, simultaneously to Ricki flipping the last lever) to have Kamau swap clothes with the black drunk, shave him and lock the ball and chain on them to try and disguise him as “Kamau decoy”. If that drunk did die from skeletons, we could even have Kamau cut off his arm for even more resemblance.. (Provided this doesn’t clash with Kamau’s moral code. On one hand it would be a desecration of a corpse, but on the other if I had to choose between doing that and possible getting executed when/if I get caught, I can imagine that I would probably have no qualms to do the cutting. He’s dead already, so he’s not gonna feel it. But I also have no idea how “facial recognition” happens in the world of dungeon eyes.)
Whether Kamau can tank the skeletons/drunks depends on how many of them are left and if they will all attack him, or if they will fight among themselves (exclusively or too. The drunks have been established to be “too stupid” (don’t remember the exact wording) to switch targets, but the skeletons might show different behaviour).
Last we saw, there were 2,5 skeletons (2 human sized ones and a goblin sized one) and 2 drunks, but I would hazard a guess that by now, only either drunks or (more likely) skeletons are left. (Because drunks are likely to miss, due to being drunk and due to it being dark… On the other hand, drunks have 2 defence whereas skeletons seem to have only 1, and all unarmed humanoids – and skeletons thereof – seem to have a base attack of 1.
So… hard to tell without knowing what the initial HP of a wandering drunk is.)
In any case, Kamau can tank 3 damage (without the armour on) plus one extra damage from the buzz of the snale (in turn 51 only, if I did successfully keep track of things). He also has 6 HP left, so that bit should not be a problem.
Getting past the dog and the guard however might become a problem, I don’t think he would die from a brief encounter (one turn of combat should be okay plus he still has the dauntless feat*), but I wouldn’t advise prolonged exposure.
…if reduced to zero: 1 HP left, one hit by guard and one by dog, -1 HP, dead – could happen, but maybe I am just too fearful.
Yep, GTFO time. Once we meet the dungeon condition we should be clear. Otherwise, it’d be a race past this guy.
For reference, we’re looking at 4-5 Defense and probably 5 Attack on this guard, plus the dog has Attack 2 and Defense 1. With Dauntless, Kamau would be able to tank for two turns while running past on the way out if it comes down to it. Probably only one turn after running past skeletons to flip the lever.
If we need to use the tap to confirm, then we’ll need to plot a way to slip past. Ricki has lots of options to hide in chests and through holes (though the dog may chase), but Kamau is less lucky. It’ll basically be a matter of luck whether the guard goes his way or not, his best shot at avoiding the guard would be to hide up where the wand skeleton was and hope they don’t investigate the barrel step. Better to hit the skeleton lever and then run through if necessary.
CombatDoctor’s map (in case anyone does not have a bookmark for it):
https://viewer.diagrams.net/?tags=%7B%7D&highlight=0000ff&layers=1&nav=1&title=Dungeon%20Eyes#Uhttps%3A%2F%2Fdrive.google.com%2Fuc%3Fid%3D1Kbl4QaQZ205RJG2DVZXetuXqJ985Wglz%26export%3Ddownload
thanks! 🙂
Ricki: warn the thieves, enlist their help if they’re willing, and flip the switch.
Then IF and ONLY IF you can figure out how to separate that torch from the guard, then you could do:
Kamau: Put out all the torches along a path to the skeletons and dire rat king.
Ricki: Grab a torch and control where is lit, to lure the Guard/Dog to go fight mobs for us.
The guard/dog might be easier to flee/fight after it’s seen some action.
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“The aftertaste of gastropod would change their minds pretty quick.”
Au contraire !
https://www.google.com/search?q=gastropod+recipe
What a chef français could do with a snale!
Not my taste, but everyone as they like.
]