Lvl 2 PCs Kill Mugdulblub In 1 Round
I thought my players came up with a good plan to use what was readily available to them inside bittermold keep to defeat Mugdulblub in one round. I'm curious though if others think the adjudication on my part was too lenient or not since it seemed unlikely that this should have happened, but here's how it went down...
A group of four level 2 PCs found wrathbolt (the dagger that does d100 damage if you try to take it from its previous owner). Then they found the carved tentacle stalagmite, and were very curious about its function. So, when they tried chopping it up I ruled that the magic users could sense that it had a slight magical aura that went away upon desecrating it. My thought being that this was a sort of shrine to Mug., whose nearby presence was enough to cause this effect. After that they moved further west and found the floor to ceiling stalagmite/tight with teeth pressed into it, and started adding more teeth that they had collected. I ruled again that it was so close to Mug. that doing so was akin to worshipping it, and since it was only a couple rooms over I thought I'd allow it to start telepathically communicating with them. It answered in a few short words, and one of the questions they asked was what it wanted to be fed. I said something "new" and "different". Then they asked if there was anything it really didn't want to eat and I answered something that "won't dissolve".
The party backtracked a bit to the north and found the room with the illusory wall, and then the crypt with the glass coffins. They carefully opened a couple coffins and one awoke as a wight to attack the party. They defeated it. Then they went back up to the howlers to find a small empty ale barrel so they could fill it with the liquid that was inside the coffins. I ruled that the liquid was akin to formaldehyde, which I hadn't earlier thought of even being in the dungeon when I answered that Mug. wouldn't like something that it couldn't dissolve.
So, the witch in the party puppets the wight along with them while the wight carried the barrel now full of formaldehyde. They enter the room to find Mugdulblub, and offer to feed it something new and tasty. The witch puppeted the wight over for Mug to dissolve and when it crushed down on the barrel it let loose all the formaldehyde. I thought it was good plan and wanted to reward it so I ruled it did 2d10 damage, but now Mug's angry at them. I had previously established that it couldn't read their minds even though it could communicate telepathically.
Now its Mug's turn, and before it attacks it screamed in anger asking what that was they had fed it and why. The person who had the wrathbolt dagger answered that they had thought Mug would have liked it because it was new, and that they were sorry. Then that player put wrathbolt on the ground and said, "for the record. I'm just setting this down. It's a rare item of great magical power that is probably very tasty." So, I figured I would allow the ruse to work and Mugdulblub tried to dissolve wrathbolt, which I ruled was akin to trying to take it from its previous owner and they rolled the d100 damage and got 78, causing Mugdulblub to explode and shower the room with starry viscera and tentacle chunks.
So, that's how my level 2 PCs defeated Mugdulblub in one round. I think I was pretty lenient in allowing the final wrathbolt moment to go down like that, but they were having fun and using their brains to attack it in ways I had not predicted. And it was all in line with what I had established earlier. So, I wanted to reward that. They loved it, and for me, its fine, kill the eldritch space nightmare thing if its fun for them.
Curious though what others think of those various rulings. Too lenient or a good use of what was made available to them in the dungeon?