Creation by an unrecognized genius.

The only real "crime" here is finding the two dragon lairs. Also, considering that

Clavius doesn't take the campfire, which is near the horse lair, and doesn't take the pile of gold (near the red cats). Ivor turns off the road to the left towards the pile of gold (which he doesn't take), instead of heading towards the crypts (for example). It's not a given that Clavius wouldn't have ended up in a dead end, and the situation would have become even worse.

The campfire and the pile of gold wouldn't be enough for a new hero, considering that there were 860 gold. Scouting is more important.
And there wasn't really any "crime" as such. The dwelling was scouted naturally, and Clavius had an army only because there was nowhere else to put it.

If Clavius had gone into a dead end, Ivor would have gone to the cats. On day 117, he would have taken the artifact and been destroyed by the nearest guard. The plan was to get out only from the two griffons and dragons.