Enemies coming down stairs

[seraph0]

What are the chances that a unique and his whole entourage appear and instantly surround you when you step on a tile adjacent to the stairs?

Seriously though, are there any options here? Is there any way to predict this or is it just bad luck?

Character dump attached

[archolewa]

What are the chances that a unique and his whole entourage appear and instantly surround you when you step on a tile adjacent to the stairs?

Seriously though, are there any options here? Is there any way to predict this or is it just bad luck?

Had that happen once when I fired off a staff near the stairs to try to identify it. Turned out to be a staff of monster summoning (which I thought was possible, hence standing near the stairs so that I could see it do something). Summoned one of the orc uniques and his whole entourage. I *thought* standing next to the door would be enough to fall back into the hallway if something nasty was summoned.

It wasn't.

Took a long break (that's still ongoing) from Sil after *that*.

[MicroChasm]

That's rough, not a lot of options there. I do think that this sort of thing is rare-- I don't remember ever getting surrounded by a group coming up or down stairs this badly. I did lose a game right at the end recently to a large pack of werewolves and a unique spawning on the stairs just as I went up, but I didn't get completely surrounded the way you did.

I believe that the groups using stairs is part of the solution to the fact that stairs are so strong in Sil. If there was no incentive to keep away from stairs, you could scum them and game would be safer but less interesting. Because of the possibility of monsters showing up you shouldn't heal or hang out near stairs if possible. Of course, it is also possible for this situation to happen and it is no fault of your own, as you have to use the stairs sometimes.

If you were later in the game you might have used an Herb of Rage or invested points in Stealth and purchased Exchange Places. In your character's situation though, the only thing I could think to do would be to invest 5 points into Song and then purchase Elbereth, and hope that enough orcs run to make a pathway out. Definitely not a guarantee though.