Just wanted to give spoiler warning incase someone doesn't want to read it who hasn't played it.

Anyway - I wanted to make sure we did this right - as I as the OL stomped the living crap out of the heroes tonight - so much so - they abandoned the dungeon in the first level, even though it was a rumor worth 2500g.

So - to be sure I did all this right. There is the demon you summon in this dungeon - each adjacent sorc gets you 1 heart - once you have 13 - boom, summons the demon. I picked option 1 - which has 5 sorcs (4 normal - 1 master) - and on my third turn - the demon was able to be summoned. (Interestingly enough - the heroes had not even opened the door to the area - so me putting all the sorcs in there around it wasn't even necessary - could have pulled 1 out to help attack for the heck of it. Hindsight and mattered not.)

So - before this dungeon - I upgraded all the eldritch to silver. My main question is this. Obviously all the Eldritch creatures are now silver - does this also apply to the dungeon level main monster? I presume it does - I had wanted to clarify, as off the top of my head - my demon (with the level description boost) had like 31 health, 7 armor (i think) and 3 or 4 fear. All 4 of them tried to hit (all of them took 2 battle actions) and they took off like 3 bits of health. I then proceeded to kill 3 of the 4 heroes on my next turn - as all the sorcs got a +1 to the already good level of sorcery (which was +3 I believe... cause again - they were all silver.)

Oh - and to add insult to the injury - I pulled DOOM in my first draw - had Lord Merick? (which ever gives the +15 threat when you fortify a dungeon) so I was able to play doom on the very first hand. 2 hands later I pulled the card that let me draw an extra card each time - but it was a moot point by then.

So - was I just really **** lucky as the OL this time? As the demon was just way too hard for them this early into the game? Or did we play the silver upgrade improperly? (This was their second dungeon of the campaign.)

Thanks! Appreciate the feedback. If we played it right - was a fun night for me.

To add additional insult:

1 hero - normally worth 3 - had 2 items with curse and an additional curse
1 hero - normally a 2 - had a curse
1 hero - was worth 3 as well

plus I'm da great worm - so +2 more for the treasures they opened - I got 14 xp for them not even getting through the first floor of the dungeon.

You played it right. The dungeon level leader uses the current upgraded stats of the creature he "is" (usually a Master something or other). If the demon monster is upgraded to silver, then the level leader uses the silver demon as the base stats.

Sounds like your heroes had decent Copper items, what they need to do is learn a few tactics for these tough creatures. Our group was very scared to take on a silver Dragon in one level, but they did a lot better than they thought. Their tactic: use weapons with Pierce and use *full* aimed attacks. By full, 5 gold dice (if possible). Usually that meant drinking a Power Potion and burning all your fatigue in one attack. Depending on the weapon, that can really add up, since you can either get a lot of damage or a lot of surges.

-shnar

Did you read the level description to the heros as per the rules, so they knew what was coming?

My party always quickly sweeps into the summoning room and kills as many sorcs as possible - the demon never appeared in my runs. I don´t think the level was drawn with freshly upgraded silver eldritch, though.

Parathion said:

Heck, you don't even need to kill the sorcerers. Just stepping into the circle breaks the summoning IIRC and they have to restart. Killing or knocking back one sorcerer is enough to create a gap that a hero can run through.
No matter how many sorcerers there are the heroes are guaranteed to have at least three full turns to prevent the demon appearing. Hero turn 1. OL turn (<7 sorcerers so <7 counters). Hero turn 2. OL turn (<7 sorcerors so <13 markers). Hero turn 3...
With no boss and many or all of the starting monsters being sorcerer's conducting the ritual, the heroes have fairly easy run at things...

I've never seen the demon successfully summoned on this level. It requires gross incompetence and/or extreme bad luck (or not being read the requirements) for the heroes to allow the demon to be spawned.

They were read the descriptor card - so they new a ritual was going on.

They also saw me adding hearts to the summoning circle - obviously working on something. I had 4 skeletons in the room before the door they had to open - so they chose to kill them - take a rest so as to regain all their fatigue and then pop the door open. Ultimately this level boiled down to them moving way too slowly. (which is crazy as 3 turns just doesn't seem to be that slow when in this case it was the death of the party.) In actuality - had they have also noticed the door behind the demon was not a red door - they could have killed a sorc or two - enough to get by and simply run through to the next level.

I of course being the sinister OL I am - didn't point that out to them. Can't spoon feed them everything... Besides - getting wiped like this will help them to think about the next time they hear chanting in another room around a summoning circle.

SoylentGreen said:

The part they should have been read specifies all details of the ritual. What is happening (the sorcerors placing hearts), what is required to complete the ritual (13 hearts), what the ritual does (summon the demon) and what is needed to break the ritual (step into the circle).

Either they weren't read the card properly, they didn't listen even a little bit, or they are utter morons.

Unfortunately they way you describe things still points to them not being read the right card - its not just a descriptor, it is a detailed breakdown of the ritual. It sounds more like you read them the map descriptor, not the level card.
RtL pg17
Finally, the overlord reads aloud the dungeon level description (found in the Quest Guide, next to the map), as well as the entire Dungeon Level card , including all “special” and “leader” text.

Corbon said:

Would this include any special abilities given to the leader as well? I thought that was not needing to be shared... that little extra "surprise"?

*Everything* is shared for normal dungeon levels in RtL, nothing is hidden/surprise.

-shnar

SoylentGreen said: