Itash Against Buffalo Castle - Delve #2

Before setting off on his next adventure in Buffalo Castle, Itash went shopping. He traded in his old suit of leather armor for a customized suit of armor. This new suit gave him almost twice the protection with only a 50% increase in weight! In game terms the different pieces take 11 hits total, require 6 ST, weighs 300 wu, and cost 300 gp. He also picked up some silk rope, a delvers package (you just never know), and one days provisions just in case he got hungry.

Name: Itash the Grim
Type: Wizard
Kin: Human
Level: 1

ST 14
IQ 14
LK 14
CON 9
DEX 12
CHR 10

ADDS +4

Treasure: 165 sp, 75 gp, 1 jewel (300 gp)
Adventure Points: 197

Weapons: Kukri (2D+5, 20 wu, 15 yd), Haladie* (2D+9, 15 wu, enchanted), Common sling w 100 stones (2D+0, 60 wu, 100 yds)

Armor: Back and breast (5 hits, 200 wu), Greaves (2 hits, 40 wu), Gauntlets (2 hits, 25 wu), Greek helm (2 hits, 35 wu) [Total 11 hits, 300 wu]

Equipment: Warm clothing and pack, calf high boots, 5 torches, 20' silk rope, Delvers package, 1 days provisions

Weight carried: 455/1400

Languages: Common, Elven

Magic: Detect Magic, Knock knock, Lock Tight, Will-o-wisp, Oh There It Is, Take That You Fiend, Vorpal Blade, Oh-Go-Away, Hocus Pocus, Teacher

After a little rest and relaxation in town, Itash became bored and headed back to the ominous castle. A short hike found Itash standing before the three doors once again. Itash decided to continue his exploration of the area through the left door. He opened the door and stepped into the familiar corridor. Itash arrived at the first chamber where he faced a troll and took his first treasure. Nothing remained of the troll or his empty chest. Two more doors now faced him, one leading north, the other west. The door leading north was familiar, so instead Itash opened the door leading west.

Itash walked into another simple chamber. Simple with the exception of the two swarms of bees buzzing around. As soon as Itash entered, the two swarms of bees attacked (MR 10 each). Itash raised his daggers and began swatting bees out of the air. With a little effort Itash was able to kill every bee without a scratch (Two combat turns, won by 15 and 24). Looking around the room, Itash saw no sign of treasure, only a door leading north and the door leading back to the east. Itash decided to continue his new exploration and went north.

Itash traveled down a short corridor until he came to an intersection with passages leading north and east. Itash continued to make his way north until he entered a small chamber. Standing in the chamber was a evil-looking character dressed in leather armor. He demanded that Itash pay him 1 gold piece or fight him. "One gold piece?" Itash said with a laugh. "You do not think very highly of yourself do you? Why don't we fight." Itash decided to save his strength and deal with this nuisance with his blades. The leather-clad man (MR 20) rushed Itash but the wizard easily side-stepped him and drove both daggers through his soft armor. The man, now heavily bleeding, pleaded for his life but Itash lived up to his nickname and finished him with a clean strike with his haladie (Two combat turns, won by 16 and 27). Quickly searching the man, Itash discovered a sack containing 400 gold pieces! "Thank you my friend," Itash said to the corpse, "that will be quite useful." The content wizard now walked out of the chamber through the northern doorway.

Itash strode down the corridor until he came to a 4-way intersection. Standing in center of the intersection was a dust-covered and rather frail-looking mummy (MR 16). As Itash drew closer, it howled weakly and began to shamble toward him. Itash worked quickly, easily dodging the mummy's clumsy attaks and soon knocked it's hollow head from it's desiccated body (Two combat turns, won by 15 and 28). Finding nothing of value on the mummy, Itash was faced with four directions; he chose west and found himself facing yet another door. "Odd castle," he muttered.

Entering the room Itash found it filled with spider webs. "Uh oh." Before he could make a quick exit, a giant spider was upon him (MR 16). Itash staggered back and stumbled into the webs. Itash flailed about struggling to get his arms free as the spider drew closer and attacked. Panicked but trusting in his armor, Itash shouted the words that unleashed a bolt of energy that exploded in the spiders ugly mouth but not before it was able to strike. Fortunately for Itash the spiders mandibles only found the steel of his new armor. A quick thrust with his haladie finished the smoldering arachnid (Two combat turns, lost first by 2 but delivered 14 hits with TTYF, won second by 16). With the spider dead, Itash was able to cut himself free of the spider webs. Itash made a quick search of the room a found a sack containing 130 silver coins among the scattered bones of less fortunate delvers. As Itash searched for valuables he was surprised to see no doors other than the one he came in through. Itash began a more thorough search for secret doors. In the end he found none, but he did begin to feel some of the strength he lost by casting his spell returning (Regained 1 ST). Itash left the room returned to the intersection and traveled north.

Itash soon arrived in a chamber with a chest sitting unguarded in the center of the floor. Itash approached the chest and carefully opened it; he'd had nothing but good luck with chests thus far after all. Looking inside the chest, Itash was at a loss for words. There was a massive ruby inside that must have been worth at least 1000 gp. What luck! Itash took the ruby from the chest and stored it carefully in his pack. (Note: This ruby is cursed and will cause any monster fought to fight with double strength.) Itash decided to continue his treasure hunt just a little while longer and exited the room through the north door.

After another short walk down a corridor Itash entered what looked like a bank vault. It seemed odd considering where he was, but the northern wall of the chamber was lined with safety deposit boxes. Somehow Itash knew that he could only pick one box and that he would then be forced to leave Buffalo Castle and could never return to this room again. There were 25 boxes to pick from. Which one? Itash had always been partial to the number 10, so he opened that box. Inside he found a neat stack of stocks and bonds. Rifling through the documents he determined that they were worth 100 gp. Itash stuffed these into his pack then felt himself hurtling toward the castle exit.

"Wonderful trick," Itash said now looking at the door leading outside. But Itash was not able to leave just yet. "Now that is weird," Itash said. In front of the door was a giant jellyfish. "Shouldn't you be in a nice ocean somewhere?" Itash asked the jellyfish. Instead of replying the monster attacked. As the attack came Itash realized that the creature was being excessively aggressive (MR 10 doubled to 20). Itash dodged a stinging tentacle and went to work. Despite the berserk fury the jellyfish fought with, it was still just a jellyfish. Itash's daggers sliced it up into small, harmless chunks of goo in a manner of minutes (Two combat turns, won by 14 and 23). The jellyfish had no treasure but it did leave a sticky residue on his daggers. Itash spared a few minutes to clean the blades wary of any other wandering creatures. None had stumbled in by the time he finished so Itash once again walked out into the sunlight. He had plenty of coins, some stocks and bonds, and a massive ruby to show for his efforts. "I could get use to this," Itash said. A smile briefly broke his normal grim countenance. "Who knew delving could be so easy and profitable."

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Itash survived his second foray into Buffalo Castle! He earned 96 AP for slaying five opponents and walked out with a little over 1600 gp in treasure. Unfortunately until Itash goes up a level and has access to some second level spells he has little to spend this money on. Maybe some poison? Or perhaps he could hire a warrior to watch his back or a pack bearer to carry all of his treasure?

I'm finding the fights in Buffalo Castle to be rather easy. In his first delve the troll with a MR of 40 was the only real challenge. In the second delve the giant spider could have ended Itash's career due to the fact that he was ensnared in the spider's webs. This reduced all of his combat rolls by half. Luckily Itash had TTYF at his disposal and a good amount of armor. All of the other battles have been simple, facing monsters with MRs of 15-20. Two daggers seem to be all you need in Buffalo Castle; so far at least.

I'll plan one more delve into Buffalo Castle with Itash before moving on to a different solo. Perhaps "Sword for Hire." Any other suggestions? No meat grinders please.