ZEITGEIST Question on Cauldron-Born

[iserguy]

Maybe I've overlooked something, but in the adventure Cauldron-Born why does the King state that the party must find a way into the Bleak Gate before Lya arrives and the banquet scene? The way the adventure is presented seems to assume that the infiltration of the bleak gate happens after the banquet.
My party is about to take down Kell the early morning before the banquet (which they haven't been invited to, yet) and I am trying to think of a reason why they wouldn't be able to use his information to get into the Bleak Gate before the banquet that evening, as the King asked of them at the beginning of the adventure.
Should I just have them go on the infiltration mission and skip the banquet, (which has a lot of great character moments presented that I feel my party would enjoy), or should I come up with some reason for the infiltration to not work until after the banquet (thus putting into question the reason for taking Kell down before the banquet).
Like I said, maybe I missed something, but I am curious what others think.

 

[arkwright]

Yeah, my party ran into this problem.

Best solution: the PCs can use Kell's information to perform a brief set-up infiltration with a small number of operatives, so that the larger assault with Asrabey can better succeed when the King can send a larger force into the Bleak Gate at a later date.

Hint-hint, rappelling down the exhaust vents is likely to let the party skip straight to the heart of the facility.

 

[iserguy]

Ran the session of catching Kell and interrogating him, at this point I think they will need to rest before being able to do anything anyway. They are coming off of the subrail assault that same day and haven't had a long rest. I'll have the king suggest they rest and take whichever route they prefer the next evening after the banquet. I could probably say something like the canal route only works at night, to really limit them.