Greenfield
Adventurer
There are two ways to view a volcano. One would be from the geophysics of it, and the other would be the classic/magical viewpoint.
From a geophysical point of view, your suggested approach would vent lava someplace other than through the cinder cone. But the goal was to stop it from spewing smoke and ash. Changing the direction of the flow doesn't do that.
In addition, the Move Earth spell specifically suggests that the area is up to 750 feet square, and up to 10 feet deep. A ten foot deep excavation isn't going to open the kind of vents you're talking about. It specifically says it can't be used for tunneling, nor can it be used to collapse rock formations.
Over all, the big challenge is in the fact that a volcano is, well, big. The sheer size and amount of energy involved makes either triggering or shutting one down a massive effort.
The other view of a volcano is the classic/magical one. That is, treating them as a supernatural force or being.
The very name "volcano" comes from an island in the Mediterranean named, appropriately enough Vulcana. It was believed to be the forge of the Roman god Vulcan, i.e. a magical place that housed a supernatural being.
So we could look at a Volcano as a path to the underworld, as was done in ancient Greece, or the home of a deity of fire, as was done in the Polynesian islands like Hawaii. We could treat it as a portal to the Plane of Fire, in strict D&D terms, or call it the prison of some powerful fiend.
And, in a game world with more than a few volcanoes, there's no reason to limit ourselves to any one of these things. We could mix and match, applying a geo-physics approach to the imprisonment of an Elemental in one case, while another might be the home of a benevolent (or not) deity.
The one they went to, it was determined, houses a powerful spirit. At one time, imprisoning a Efreet there (and thus enraginghim) had a sympathetic effect on that spirit. This time they skipped the middle man and tried an enchantment to affect the spirit more directly. (Last time the Efreet got loose and took off after the one who had imprisoned it, as well as the ones who had refused to free it even when it offered them "Anything you want. Three times, I will give you anything you want!".
(Personally, if I had an offer like that, I'd take it. And my Wish would be, "I wish you and I could be good friends." Remember, Efreeti can grant a Wish to a non-Efreet every single day. I wouldn't expect such a thing every day, of course, but I'll bet that Birthdays and Christmas would be great!.)
Next volcano they try to shut down? I haven't got a clue how that one will operate. I probably won't be the DM for that one. And I do hoe they cross things up and make it a challenge.
From a geophysical point of view, your suggested approach would vent lava someplace other than through the cinder cone. But the goal was to stop it from spewing smoke and ash. Changing the direction of the flow doesn't do that.
In addition, the Move Earth spell specifically suggests that the area is up to 750 feet square, and up to 10 feet deep. A ten foot deep excavation isn't going to open the kind of vents you're talking about. It specifically says it can't be used for tunneling, nor can it be used to collapse rock formations.
Over all, the big challenge is in the fact that a volcano is, well, big. The sheer size and amount of energy involved makes either triggering or shutting one down a massive effort.
The other view of a volcano is the classic/magical one. That is, treating them as a supernatural force or being.
The very name "volcano" comes from an island in the Mediterranean named, appropriately enough Vulcana. It was believed to be the forge of the Roman god Vulcan, i.e. a magical place that housed a supernatural being.
So we could look at a Volcano as a path to the underworld, as was done in ancient Greece, or the home of a deity of fire, as was done in the Polynesian islands like Hawaii. We could treat it as a portal to the Plane of Fire, in strict D&D terms, or call it the prison of some powerful fiend.
And, in a game world with more than a few volcanoes, there's no reason to limit ourselves to any one of these things. We could mix and match, applying a geo-physics approach to the imprisonment of an Elemental in one case, while another might be the home of a benevolent (or not) deity.
The one they went to, it was determined, houses a powerful spirit. At one time, imprisoning a Efreet there (and thus enraginghim) had a sympathetic effect on that spirit. This time they skipped the middle man and tried an enchantment to affect the spirit more directly. (Last time the Efreet got loose and took off after the one who had imprisoned it, as well as the ones who had refused to free it even when it offered them "Anything you want. Three times, I will give you anything you want!".
(Personally, if I had an offer like that, I'd take it. And my Wish would be, "I wish you and I could be good friends." Remember, Efreeti can grant a Wish to a non-Efreet every single day. I wouldn't expect such a thing every day, of course, but I'll bet that Birthdays and Christmas would be great!.)
Next volcano they try to shut down? I haven't got a clue how that one will operate. I probably won't be the DM for that one. And I do hoe they cross things up and make it a challenge.
