Rats, they got in!!!

As the characters were exploring the now abandoned eastern wing of the Razor hill mines they came upon a locked ironclad oak door...

By the way, there's a method to what they're doing now: the rogue explores three squares (30 meters) ahead, while the fighter follows behind with a light. If combat ensues she drops the lantern and joins as the rogue drops back. The players have cracked the basic dungeon code!

Anyway, locked door. They were down to one lockpick, so they decided to bash it down. I told them the door had 50 hitpoints, and they started bashing away - it took them some seven rounds or so, and was rather boring...

Rules for common dungeon activities
So standardised rules for common but uninteresting things that happen in dungeons are needed. In this case the following criteria needs to be met: fair amount of time needs to pass, risk of breakage, risk of detection. 

Here's what i came up with:

• Inanimate objects has hitpoints.
• Each character hitting a thing automatically does half of their maximum damage each round.
• During this, the GM rolls an encounter with double chance.
• There is a 1 in 12 risk that a weapon breaks when used as such.

The throne room

Beyond the door was a large, dark room, unspoilt by goblin nastiness. As they explored they realised it had been the centre of power for the dwarfs here - it had impressive wall paintings, chiselled pillars and a raised throne in the far end. They also discovered another door leading out, again locked.

The rogue thoroughly explored the throne but found nothing. But as they were about to leave the players became suspicious of the game master, for unknown reasons. So they searched the pillars.

At this point (and I know my players will not believe me, but it's the truth!) I had no intention of having anything in this room, and that's probably an oversight on my behalf, but since they seemed to insist I decided they did indeed discover something: hidden on a ledge on one of the pillars was a large, rune clad key!

Meta game note

Before this addition this would've been a room of unfulfilled promise. They had finally found a place not yet sacked by goblins, and yet nothing was in it! Now they will remember this room as the turning point, when they finally got ahead and created a chance for themselves to succeed... Rewarding exploration is good.

Further exploration

I now expected them to turn to the treasury again, but they wanted to continue exploring (I guess I rewarded them for it so I had it coming). Without the goblins here though, this section was quite boring, so I tried to speed them on, something that probably was a mistake in the end.

As they examined some living quarters they disturbed some Yellow mold, and got poisoned. I described it as spores falling from the ceiling, and initially it only hit the rogue. I told him he coughed and felt ill and as if there was a weight over his chest.

The fighter took a torch to the mold, and managed to kill it in a couple of rounds. However, she also inhaled spores while doing this.

At this point they were both poisoned, but neither seemed to take any notice of it! As they explored on, they suddenly took damage from the poison (it damages every turn until they have saved against it twice in a row, or are otherwise healed), and that sure woke them up!

With the aid of Viggo, the trusty but strangely silent cleric, they managed to stay alive, coughing up blood, suffering, but alive. And in the end they beat the poison, however not without difficulty.

They pressed on, investigating more living quarters, and as they opened the next door, they were attacked by giant rats! This was a bad fight from my perspective - I didn't want it, and I didn't take time to come up with anything interesting in the area, and consequently the fight was a string on "I hit it, it hits you", and quite uninteresting.

I should've made it harder for the players to fight in the confined spaces perhaps, so that they had the option to fall back and get more room (but then also be surrounded by the rats), or something similar. 

The rats bleed effect turned out to be good though, and it kept the players on edge through the fight.

After searching all the quarters they found some lockpicks (in my infinite goodness), and they decided to take an extended rest before heading to the treasury to try their key out.

Rats, they got in!

Said and done, they scouted the main hall, which seemed suspiciously empty, and then quietly went to the treasury door. They put Viggo on guard, and the rogue tried the key...

It fit, and heavy mechanical sounds ensued from within the walls, and then the door slid quietly open. they peered in to a narrow corridor. On the far side of it were two iron doors, one on either side.

The rogue stepped in, and immediately triggered a darttrap! He dodged it, and cursed himself for his carelessness... 

What followed was an exercise in why you need an explorer in your dungeon adventures! The rogue disarmed, avoided and detected three different traps, and picked two locks as they made their way into the heart of the treasury. I think that the player of the rogue found it really interesting and fun, but that the warrior was less enthused. 

However, in combat the table is turned, and it's good that everyone gets a chance to shine!

The last trap, when they were in the treasure room, actually able to see a closed chest beyond the trap, proved too difficult to disarm. It was a pressure plate, so the party thought of triggering it safely, then prevent it from resetting. 

Said and done, the warrior stood in the hallway outside, pushed down the pressure plate with her warhammer, and the room was engulfed in flame! Noone was hurt, and as she kept the plate down the rogue went past and to the chest.

Finally, some treasure! Oh, look, GOBLINS!!!

After picking the lock he opened the chest, and was met with a mass of silver coins!!!  He made a makeshift sack and stuffed it full, and then the party slipped out of the room.

As they did, Viggo came running shouting "They're coming! Goblins!!"

The group moved to the original corridor, the rogue started on the second door while the warrior and cleric got ready to defend their position. It was their reasoning that beyond the door there might be a secret escape route. They knew the door was trapped and that they couldn't figure out how to disarm it, but the rogue went for it anyway! 

As the rogue started picking, a coarse goblin voice screamed outside: "Give us the treasure or we will kill you!"

The rogue started picking, setting the trap off. He got electrocuted and reduced to 0 hit points! As stated last week, this means unconsciousness and death within <level> rounds, with death saves each round to not die sooner. As a level one character this gives you exactly one round to get help, or you die.

The players scrambled at this point,  Viggo casting a healing spell on the rogue (he rolled 3 and 4, so one success, just) and saved his life, the warrior suddenly in charge of all the goblin threat!

We left them there, desperate, rich but without much chance for escape, to let them mull over their options until next week...