This would not be the first time I heard of such behavior from players, [@Metadude]. My old company did the exact same sort of things when I first joined and started playing with them. Why? Because the Dungeon Master always made the random event somehow magical or obscene powerful. For example, the fight would have been over petting the hamster at first, until something about it was hinted to be magical, then they would all kill one another, make new characters almost instantly, then go on their way. Fortunately you had a restart as you did!