This was the first time my party had to deal with a proper dungeon. They had a mini dungeon back up in Jigow at the end of the Festival. But it wasn’t terribly dangerous – just two short fights. It was more about speed than exploration. This dungeon definitely has some “professional flair” to it. I don’t know which authors wrote which parts of the module, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Mercer had a hand in this, at the very least. Dangerous rooms, not traps, confusing riddles, and deadly enemies. It was delicious. And they’re only halfway through.
We definitely slowed the pace from last week. The party moves carefully, looking for traps that don’t exist. Investigating puzzles. Occasionally making things more difficult than they actually are. Which is great, I’m taking one of their ideas and adding it in next week, depending on what happens.
Naturally, I had to up the fight difficulty for my party, but the chosen monsters were pretty dangerous already, so I did so sparingly. I still haven’t killed anyone (yay!), but I got to do some real damage this week, and the fights lasted longer than two rounds, so I got to use everyone’s abilities properly. The speed leveling of this campaign has me scrambling, but it seems to be going well.
The party, however, is learning about resource management. They’ve only once before had to have more than a single fight in a day. So far they’ve had four today, and they still have the other half of the dungeon to go. Several of the members are vying for a long rest, they’ve already had two short rests today at the behest of the fighter/monk (and their damaged bodies). Oh, and they’ve just been cursed, so, might best take care of that first. I’m excited for them to rest, though, I can repopulate the dungeon with things if they do (so sayeth the book).
Back to the dungeon itself. There is a fast path through it, and I was a bit concerned they’d take it. This experience group of gamers, though, was absolutely terrified of the room that would have taken them quickly through the first level. Dancing flames and colorfully swirling stained glass is all it takes, I guess. They were much more comfortable in the fight rooms where they knew what to do. Even when they got the clue in one of these of how to get through the glass, they avoided it, afraid of where it might send them. One even suggested the riddle meant they would have to go through trials of each one of the mentioned gods before they could get through.
This is an idea I’ve latched onto. Aside from the room where we left off, there are two more rooms on the lower level of the dungeon that they can complete. I really want (time-wise) for them to complete these two rooms. However, reading the module as written, they could solve the room they are currently in and get right to the end of the dungeon. So, instead, I’m taking the above idea, and if they do that, they’ll get two new rooms I’ve made on the theme of the two they skipped, to complete the pattern. Using example extra rooms from the module, with my own little tweaks, of course. I’ve got several different paths mapped out now, depending on what they do next.
I’m also looking at the end of the dungeon. The module just says “they can make their way out,” but something very specific happens that would make that difficult. Not to mention, if they do end up taking a long rest at any point and more demons come out of the rift. My group hasn’t even found the rift, yet. And they might not at all, but it’s still there, pumping out baddies. So, I’m working on mechanics for their escape, as well, depending on the paths they choose.
I love dungeons and dragons! But especially dungeons today!