Thanks for the Champions of Krynn flashback. 12-year-old me used to love exploiting the item duplication save glitch; the game was practically over once I found a wand of fireball. Character classes were irrelevant after that.
Kobolds? Fireball. Zombies? Fireball. Draconians? Absolutely use fireball. Paladin death knight lich? Believe it or not, fireball.
Cast CROPDUST and watch in delight as the room evacuates due to the stench emanating from your festering bowels.
Unfortunately your party was following the first step. Its their fault for rolling well on initiative, time to fire away
