Dungeon 5 Turn 1
————
After switching around their equipment a bit, Ricki, Kamau, and Lara split up to talk to the kobold family that seems to live in this room. They seem weirdly okay with strangers wandering into their home, and some of them seem to already know Ricki.
“Hey kids! You staying safe in the dungeon?”
“Yes, Ricki! Mom and day say we can play in the hall as long as nobody’s here, but we gotta go back upstairs if bad guys show up.”
“Sounds smart. Wouldn’t want some goon to steal your ball.”
“Y… yeah. We wouldn’t want that to happen.”
“Siiiiigh. We left our old ball sitting out instead of putting it away last week. It went missing and now we only have this crappy one.”
“We think a bad guy took it.”
“Want me to keep an eye out for your old ball?”
“Sure! We’ll give you this one if you bring the old one back!”
“I’ll be sure to do that if I find it!”
“Hi there, sir. We’re on our way into the dungeon, and we were wondering if there’s anything we should look out for? Or if you’re having any trouble we might be able to help with?”
“Well, there’s three different gangs that have taken over apartments in here. They usually leave us alone, but they’ll probably attack you if you barge in on them.”
“Do you know WHY they’ve left you alone if they’ve been taking over other areas?”
“They probably like having us here at the entrance to hide their presence.”
“As for anything you could help with… well, we’re eating dinner pretty soon. Do you think you could send our oldest back this way? She went to talk to the new fellow who moved in recently.”
“Sure, I’ll tell her you’re waiting for her.”
“Hey. What’s up?”
“Just doing some cleaning. Can I help you?”
“The question is, can WE help YOU?”
“I think we’re good, thanks.”
“Are you SURE?”
“Ma’am, I’m trying to get my son to take a nap…”
After talking to the kids, Ricki continues down the hall and explores the next room.
A shield! Sweet!
I don’t think that’s a shield. Previously unattended shields (at least bucklers) we flat on the floor.
That may be out missing ball…
The only unattended buckler I recall is the very first one, dungeon 1 turn 1. That was also being used as a plate.
I think this is overthinking it. Looks like a shield.
It’s pixel for pixel identical to Ricki’s shield. I really doubt it’s a ball. If the rust monster assumption is correct, this is foreshadowing that we can take non-metal equipment to fight it
I also think that it is a shield.
See, It looks exactly as the one Ricki has.
And the ball of little kobolds has seams…
Ricki: move to the next room.
Lara and Kamau: follow Ricki.
Need to know more before going away:
we got 3 missions:
That monster looks like it eats mettle. A bit like a rust monster.
That monster looks clean, and not scary, like the faithless. It may mean it’s not just freaking tough, it may have mechanics or strategy.. But it lives in mines, with kobolds with pickaxes, ok, I think it may be tough (as in: high DEF) as well. I’d definitely scan it first with some lens if we get any.
It is a classic rust monster. Modeled after that weird Hong Kong plastic toy that Gary Gygax had. Ricki can go nekkid and slip past it to get the ball, then afterwards lure the gangsters into its lair to be disarmed. This whole dungeon is a “let’s you and him fight” roleplay. If done correctly there will be little combat (by us).
Sometimes they have regular teeth though. Should be wary of that (though I imagine only a small amount of damage compared to the potential damage to our wallets if it eats some fancy metal stuff)
3-kinda doubt this is a quest.
Lara: Tell only her that she should tell him about dark elves slavers and how they may take restless children that dare to live in a dangerous places, then “look” and him, then wink at her and leave.
1. Get the golden ball of the king’s daughter from the spring.
2. Save the princess.
3. Bring the spinning wheel to the awake beauty.
😉
Ricki: move right
Lara and Kamau: move right as a group.
not like there is anything else to do.
Interesting that we have multiple rooms long corridor leading to the exit.
It worries me.
We have those chests we could ask them about. Also maybe try to move one just to see if anything happens
I don’t like idea of trying to rob people living in slums, sure we are living on the streets, but come on.
If you’re going to be a thief, then be what you are. Thieves don’t typically steal from the rich. That’s why figures like Robin Hood are so exceptional. Most thieves steal whatever isn’t nailed down, and if it’s nailed down they bring a prybar and steal it anyway.
True. There’s the difference in power and consequences. If a poor person doesn’t grab them by hand, they’ll probably be safe off the site, whever they succeed in stealing or not. But the rich.. are rich. You steal from them, make them angry, even if they don’t catch you right on site, they buy info on you, they get people after you, possibly chasing you for years.. That’s not a good thing for thieve’s health. Only experts can deal it well enough to steal from the rich.
Asking about chest – yes.
Doing anything without asking – no.
You want armed Arachnomancer that just barged into their home ask them if she can “take” content of their treasure chest.
While her fully armored and also armed companion is dowstairs with the rest of family?
So let’s Ricki do the “asking” job. They know her.
Also I made a proposition below about keeping Lara away from any talks (at least for now).
The chest is closed. The question is: Is it closed, because the kobolds closed it (and have the key), or is it closed because the key broke or was lost, or because the chest appeared out of thin air (dungeon!)?
Lara: “Do you mind us prying that chest open?”
might not be the right approach to this.
Note the ladder. It means we enter from the top. If there’s a way up in the very next room, it still means whopping 5 turns to even get there (right, up, up, left, down – and all new rooms, no running through).
And we don’t know if there’s any way up in the next room. Every additional “one more to the right” until we find a way up means 2 more turns to get to the kobold+monster room.
What about possible holes in walls which is possibly provide more short path to some places? So 5+- I think
Yes; and: there is also a ladder leading down from the mines, i.e. even more rooms there. The warrens
are hugehave a significant size (Moria is huge).I’m going to guess the Warrens are a -|| (133) shape with 7 rooms, like how the Chapel had 7 rooms in a 241 shape. It’s possible that the bottom right isn’t a room to connect furthest right and middle down, since this corridor could loop back into the mines. I would be surprised if there was no upper right room to connect the middle up with furthest right, it’s possible with some diagonal back tunnel but every rat tunnel has gone vertical or horizontal.
Looking forward to seeing what Dash does for us here.
Ricki: move to the right.
Kamau: ask if they can loot these chests please. Also see if you can push it at all (for science!). Move right to join Ricki after.
Lara: join up with ricki
Not a command or anything. I just want to say that Ricki’s optimism and friendliness toward the kids is so refreshing. She’s just the sweetest.
As opposed to Lara. I think she has high chances of scarying the person she talks to. Good that kobold is friendly and not stressed out.
I think we should keep Lara away from talking to someone if we don’t WANT to scare someone at some point… She has got a right clothes for the task.
Ricki is the best to talk to natives as they know her.
Lara: sit on the corner of the bed and tell a bed-time story to the little kobold that is supposed to go to sleep. If still possible afterwards, head right (if possible, twice to catch up with Ricki).
Kamau: Ask the Kobold what the oldest daughter looks like, and/or what her name is, so we can identify her, if we run into her. Then head right twice to catch up with Ricki.
Ricki: head right.
EDIT: Added that Lara should try to catch up with Ricki, if possible. Not sure if “telling a bedtime story” counts as an action or possibly takes the whole turn.
So far I didn’t spot any traps yet, that’s good.
The creature with the dolphin tail seems to have bested the gang member that took the ball, it might be very dangerous (see the skeleton next to the ball).
Also, I guess the sign is about the copper rings, in which case Paws was right to some extent. It is kind of obvious where they will be useful, but not HOW. Not yet, anyway.
There’s also the thing about colors. At first it looked similar the color of the ring we have in inventory, but I checked – all three colors are yellowish-gold, but they are different colors, the rings are a bit brighter than the monster, so probably no relation.
However, it may be an indication that the monster has an iron hide.
If we reach that big monster we could try to take the ball (?) with only Kamau interposing and Ricki taking it. Both have rings so it is possible the monster won’t attack them (because of rings).
That may be a bad idea if this is, in fact, a rust monster. Kamau’s armor would be a very expensive snack. My thinking is that the copper ring could be used to distract the rust monster similar to how the moldy cheese is used to distract rats.
Kamau doesn’t have to use the armour when walking past. Swapping out for someone’s leather and using the shield would still give him 6 non-metal defense.
General reminder: instead of Kamau Interposing so that someone else can go by and do something that Kamau can do… Kamau can just do it himself.
Now, there are many things that Kamau can’t do, so Interpose to cover one person can still make sense. Picking up an item, though? Save the action.
How about a story about children losing their ball, thieves stealing that, thieves hiding away, thieves being eaten by a monster, then a group of heroes finding that ball
…and selling it to Paws
Alright, maybe too realistic. Let’s change selling to returning the ball to the owners. It’s a fairy tale, not documentary, right.
I think the scary spider lady shouldn’t read the bedtime story. Unless it’s about spiders.
Ricki is definitely the one to do anything with kids. She’s not so big as to be intimidating, and as a goblin kobolds will feel some solidarity.
“Lara: sit on the corner of the bed and tell a bed-time story” I fear that Lara’s stories are of that type, which keeps kids awake and screaming for a week and with a need of therapy; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_fiction .
Lara loves kids! They’re so sweet, and tender, and juicy.
Vote:
-1 to Lara action (no need to frighten the kid)
+1 to Kamau action (need more information)
Upd. Kamau has to ask how to get to the point where the eldest went to.
That yellow monster screams rust monster to me. Those guys destroy everything thats metal. I could be totally wrong though :p
If we pick up a Magic Lens, we need to use it on the monster to find out the mechanics. These things are brutal on metal weapons and armor.
> She went to talk to the new fellow who moved in recently.
That fellow may be ours fourth candidate.
We should try asking the Kbolds around the dungeon about that big (rust?) monster. Surely someone must have encountered it or has knowledge of it. Someone other than the persn who got killed and is a dead skeleton on the ground now.
Kamau: ask about the chest if it is theirs or someones else.
Upd. If it turns out that the chest can be opened without any (legal) problem then Ricki should do the job, collect the loot (give some things to others if there are more than she can take) then all go right.
Also I think that Kamau (and possibly Ricki) need to be the one(s) entering the third room at the first place. If there is no real danger then Lara should follow them.
Also ask/check if there any holes or hidden passages in the wardrobe (or behind any furniture for that matter)
What kind of secret passage do you expect to find in someone’s wardrobe?
One that leads to Narnia, duh 🙂
Observe how there was no problem with Lara handing off cigarettes. If we needed to convince the characters to go along with our suggestions, then this would be a very different game. Kamau wasn’t happy with wearing a bucket on his head, but he trusts the voices in their heads, and so does Lara now that she joined the party.
It looks like Lara is just wearing crit greaves and not boots.
According to Wikipedia it should be possible to wear greaves and boots. Lara: If you can wear both, please do so!
Kamau: sit on the corner of the bed in the topp level and tell a bed-time story to the little kobold that is supposed to go to sleep. If still possible afterwards, head right (if possible, twice to catch up with Ricki).
Lara: Ask the Kobold next to the oven what the oldest daughter looks like, and/or what her name is, so we can identify her, if we run into her. Also ask in which direction this “new fellow” she went to meet, lives. Then head right twice to catch up with Ricki.
Ricki: head right.
Note: since I can’t edit my previous post anymore, I made a new one here, to react to the various input/suggestions of people who replied to my original post. (not having Lara tell the bedtime story and get more info where the oldest daughter might have gone)
Lara: Tell only her that she should tell him about dark elves slavers and how they may take restless children that dare to live in a dangerous places, then “look” and him, then wink at her and leave.