Series 2 - Episode 10

[Morghanna]

Another memorable episode.
Team 8 were certainly given the hurry-up by the mechanical warrior in the well room.
The first team to agree to serve Mogdred. Possibly their quest was doomed as soon as they did.
Were they the only team ever to do this? I don't remember any other.

Why did they choose that silly dagger? Unlike the previous team, they were not given any reason to take it.

An amusing moment with Olaf being attacked by (invisible) angry bees.

Really liked their demise, in an empty 4-exit chamber, stuck in a kind of loop-of-infinity, until life force ran out.... Presumably without the divining-rod they were in "losing status" and it wouldn't have mattered which exit they tried.
What a pity they didn't try Mogdred's "POWER" spell in their desperation. It wouldn't have done any good, but at least we would have seen what happened.
Rather like team 5, their quest was fairly low-key but had a memorable ending.

Team 9 started steadily. I think the fuse on that bomb got stuck....
Got 3/3 against Igneous, altho had some heavy hints from Treguard.

[Drassil]

Why did they choose that silly dagger? Unlike the previous team, they were not given any reason to take it.

Daggers in consecutive quests. I'd never picked up on that before. There's nothing like a watch-through for noticing trends. Thanks and keep up the good the work!

This variation may be why, in the next series, dungeoneer Scott decided it was worth checking a dagger for markings. It's one of my favourite displays of dungeoneer initiative.

[Morghanna]

Thanks, i will look out for that when i move on to series 3.
The final team in series 1 examined their level 3 clue objects extra carefully. It was impressive that they were being so thorough. On that occasion it didn't stop them from making the wrong choice, but generally attention to detail was a sign of a good team.

[HStorm]

The first team to agree to serve Mogdred. Possibly their quest was doomed as soon as they did.

Were they the only team ever to do this? I don't remember any other.

Yes, they were the only team to 'do-an-Anakin-Skywalker,' so to speak. Team 4 in season 3 were given a spell by Mogdred as well - called GLORY - but he never offered them an agreement to serve him, he just gave them the spell unsolicited, and the team were clearly set at all times not to cast it. That's the closest anyone else came to it, unless you count the 'find-and-fetch' bargains Malice would strike with dungeoneers at the start of quests in season 4. Curious how those deals were never penalised as 'arming-with-the-weapons-of-your-enemies', but then when she demanded allegiance in Level 3, it was almost certainly going to be treated the way Stuart was here. It's also interesting that Lord Fear never tried to corrupt the dungeoneers, but I suppose by the time he arrived, the production team were assuming that everyone had already realised that the dungeoneers should always decline.

Why did they choose that silly dagger?

The likeliest explanation I can think of is that they didn't seem to realise what the divining rod was supposed to be, and thought it was just an ordinary stick. They might even have assumed therefore that it counted as another weapon, and probably a less useful one than the dagger.

[Morghanna]

"Those who arm themselves with the weapons of their enemies are ever likely to fail." Treguard's closing remarks at the end of Stuart's quest possibly refer to two choices the team made, not just one. Explicitly, they're a reference to the dagger they took from the Level Two Clue Room (yet again, your dungeoneer can't see to fight, so why bother with an offensive weapon when you've been given no clue that you should take it?) but implicitly it may also be a reference to the 'deal-with-the-devil' they struck. Even had the team found a way past the Dungeon Roundabout, they were almost certainly going to lose anyway, especially if they cast the spell Mogdred gave them. It's quite obvious that making a deal with Mogdred defeats the whole object of the game - if it's a quest for truth and justice, why do a deal with some tyrannical megalomaniac who, far from championing truth, appears determined to silence anyone who might give the dungeoneer advice contrary to his own e.g Treguard.

Good point. I assumed that Treguard referred to their pact with Mogdred, but yes, it does also apply to their selection of that silly dagger.

Notable that they immediately agreed to serve Mogdred. (Some teams had a few moments of doubt before refusing him, but this lot didn't even seem to consider the possibility.)
However, their reaction when Treguard questioned them about what Mogdred had said/done was telling. The advisors all looked rather guilty and none of them seemed to want to admit that they had agreed to serve Mogdred.

"Dark magic has no unpleasant side-effects." Yeah right, Mogdred. I wish that they had cast his spell, just so we could have seen it's (inevitably unpleasant) effect.

Incredibly, altho it was the obvious red-herring, the dagger actually seemed to be their top choice object as they originally chose that & the "stick", before changing their minds and going for dagger & honeypot.

[HStorm]

According to Stuart, he has vague memories of being told by the production crew that the spell would have turned him into a giant.