I was actually wondering about the back door to the pudding king - the side that was supposed to get blown open.

The thing is - Rodolfo is able to transform stone into wood at the rate of 1 cubic foot every 10 minutes. With some woodworking tools and/or intense fire there might be a way to borrow our way through instead of needing to blowing things up. Or was the blowing-up part meant as a distraction/draw of oozes anyways?

Found the post with the map and battle plan: https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/play-by-post/27393-official-thread-out-of-the-abyss-by-kerrec?comment=3966

Looking at the map - there seems to be a connection from Inner Blindgenstone towards the Pudding King also between the red and green area. What I'm thinking of is that we might be able to spend the remaining time trying to find a way into the Pudding King area/tunnels from an angle that bypasses the Bane problem. If not that exact path then maybe something approaching from above or below or something like that.

 The gnomes would not be open to burrowing a tunnel connecting the area infested with oozes to Inner Blingdenstone. 

1. By blowing/burrowing an entrance from the Rockblight, the strike force would be as far away from the oozes as they can get, and opposite the distraction the rest of the population of gnomes will be creating.
2. The restored Menhir is now hallowed grounds, which might act as a stopper preventing the oozes from crossing into the Rockblight, and
3. Even if the Menhir does nothing to stop the oozes, then the oozes will be able to freely roam the Rockblight, which is not a habited area anyway.

If you want, you can spend your 2-3 weeks exploring the northern passes of the city to see what there is to see.  Maybe with some exploration, your party can discover another way.

Quote from Kerrec >>

 If you want, you can spend your 2-3 weeks exploring the northern passes of the city to see what there is to see.  Maybe with some exploration, your party can discover another way.

If others agree, then I'm good with that.

For now, looks like other options (Bane, PK) are on hold.

Hmm, might we then borrow through the "BOOM HERE" place to see what's on the other side? If I understand correctly then nobody knows. A small tunnel doesn't prevent the BOOM later on, but might give us valuable intelligence.

I'd really rather not go outside of Blindgendstone, especially due to the drow encounter we just had.

Barring any other ideas we might be able to do both the borrowing and the exploring - the borrowing should not take too long.

Just for clarification, when I said, "Explore the northern pass...", that doesn't mean going outside of Blingdenstone.

Yeah, sorry, same here. I meant that I'd still rather not undertake the trek to either of the other two cities.

I'm seeing two options:

1) Burrowing into the area occupied by the oozes (to explore?)

2) Swinging around through Goldwhisker territory (to the north) to explore around the area occupied by oozes.  Hoping to find an alternate way to the Pudding King, so Ogremoch's Bane won't be let loose out of the Rockblight?

With Holidays around the corner, things are going to be slowing down for me (and I suspect for all of you too).  I will try to keep an eye on the threads and move it along when I can.

That being said, as far as I'm concerned, I'm waiting for all of you to come up with a plan so I can move things forward.

Quote from Kerrec >>

 If you want, you can spend your 2-3 weeks exploring the northern passes of the city to see what there is to see.  Maybe with some exploration, your party can discover another way.

This sounded good to me.

Like Winenose said, we shouldn't venture outside the city, so staying in the northern passes is okay.
Exploring sounds like looking for more resources, rather than worry about a specific threat. Maybe we find a magic pole-arm for Skameros, or maybe even a legendary McGuffin of Pudding King Slaying.

Yeah, probably not.

BUT, I'm willing to go off the rails from what the module says to do to accommodate how you all decide to approach this problem.  I will improvise so that whatever you do, it isn't for nothing.

hehe McGuffin of Pudding King Slaying

it's just a really big +1 Spoon 

I like idea of exploring, but I’m not bent on that. Seems like we wasted our efforts going after the entremoch though

It's not wasted effort.  The usefulness of the discovery just hinges on taking care of Ogremoch's Bane.  

As the gnomes have said many times, none of them are soldiers or fighters.  And the reason for that is their Earth Elementals were supposed to be their front line fighters.  Being able to rely on their elementals once again will greatly empower their ability to protect and defend themselves and their city.  Having access to even greater (and more reliable) elementals is a huge boon, as long as those elementals don' t get turned on them.

I thought you had just detailed out how we can’t possibly make that happen.

We need to be higher level, but we can’t manage any other major assistance in the amount of time we have left, thus hindering our ability to reach level 7 very quickly. 

If there’s still a chance, well good lol

Yup, lets go explore.

Quote from nschrock >>

I thought you had just detailed out how we can’t possibly make that happen.

We need to be higher level, but we can’t manage any other major assistance in the amount of time we have left, thus hindering our ability to reach level 7 very quickly. 

If there’s still a chance, well good lol

Misunderstanding I suppose.

When it's time to begin the battle for Blingdenstone, your party WILL BE level 7.

Currently, you have 3 weeks of in game time (that we can just hand wave away) until the battle of Blingdenstone.

Quote from ArgentTheWise >>

it's just a really big +1 Spoon 

If we can use this exploration to get a +1 Maul or Warhammer or Glaive, reinterpreted as an oversized spork, I'm good for that.
As long as it is a weapon that won't acid melt when Skameros uses it.

I am still around.  Just being inconvenienced by COVID again.  My kids are in isolation after an outbreak at their school/daycare.  Fun fun.

I will pick this campaign up again after the holidays (or maybe during, if I can find some personal time).  There hasn't been much feedback besides proposing to explore the northern passages of Blingdenstone, so that is how I will proceed when I write up my next post.

I'll keep an eye on the threads, but family and holidays are definitely a higher priority.
Thanks again for DMing the campaign, and Happy Holidays!

I am going to be back to my 'normal' routine, whatever normal is during these Omicron lockdowns. 

I've set the stage in the main thread, so now tell me what the plan is as you explore the areas of Old Blindenstone looking for another path to The Pudding King?

• Marching order?
• Are you attempting to be stealthy?
• Who is doing what, as you explore?

(Unless Grithik pops up suddenly, assume he splits from the group and is no longer with you.)