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<blockquote data-quote="steeldragons" data-source="post: 5449957" data-attributes="member: 92511">I wouldn't GIVE the party the BBEG being distracted. Distracting him to another part or out of the manor might very well be a nice tactic for the party to try...or come up with.The &quot;villain throws a party&quot; might be cliched...but it's cliched for a reason...it works! It's a great set up for a lot of social/NPC interaction, stealth, et al.That said, could be, perhaps, that the noble is otherwise occupied with other business in town. What does this villain &quot;do&quot;? He's a lord. Does he have businesses under his direct control? Has he ever been implicated in any other strange &quot;goings on&quot; in town?Maybe the guard shows up to question him while the party is casing the place...or there's a disturbance at one of his warehouses or something.That's they're opportunity. If they don't take it, then they're left to making their own distraction to get in.Basically, really, if the party doesn't want a direct confrontation...then it's up to them to make sure there isn't one. How they do that...well, that's up to the wits of the PCs (or rather, the players....Your players do have wits, right? lol.)If they don't or can't get him out of the house...then the noble is unlikely to address a problem head-on in his own house, with his guards all over. Let them take care of it. That's what they're paid/entralled for!If the party runs into his office by mistake, then...oops.There's the whole going in the middle of the night scenario...The noble does sleep, doesn't he? Get past the guards, into the house...don't make any noise or disturb anything...Sounds like a basic &quot;cat burglary&quot; scenario.Get in, get the macguffin, get out. Don't fight or make noise if you don't have to...and if you DO end up in a confrontation or set off some alarm that would rouse the noble...one can never go wrong with a tried and true &quot;RUN AWAY!&quot; and return to fight/filch another day...maybe when the noble IS on vacation...but dealing with an &quot;on alert&quot; guard staff since there was &quot;a breach&quot; a few nights before. You know your players and what they're capable of...are they likely to try to fight their way in and fight their way out? Let them come up with a plan. Why make it easy for them by sending the noble out of town?Just a few coppers. Take 'em for what they're worth.--Steel Dragons.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="steeldragons, post: 5449957, member: 92511"] I wouldn't GIVE the party the BBEG being distracted. Distracting him to another part or out of the manor might very well be a nice tactic for the party to try...or come up with. The "villain throws a party" might be cliched...but it's cliched for a reason...it works! It's a great set up for a lot of social/NPC interaction, stealth, et al. That said, could be, perhaps, that the noble is otherwise occupied with other business in town. What does this villain "do"? He's a lord. Does he have businesses under his direct control? Has he ever been implicated in any other strange "goings on" in town? Maybe the guard shows up to question him while the party is casing the place...or there's a disturbance at one of his warehouses or something. That's they're opportunity. If they don't take it, then they're left to making their own distraction to get in. Basically, really, if the party doesn't want a direct confrontation...then it's up to them to make sure there isn't one. How they do that...well, that's up to the wits of the PCs (or rather, the players....Your players do have wits, right? lol.) If they don't or can't get him out of the house...then the noble is unlikely to address a problem head-on in his own house, with his guards all over. Let them take care of it. That's what they're paid/entralled for! If the party runs into his office by mistake, then...oops. There's the whole going in the middle of the night scenario...The noble does sleep, doesn't he? Get past the guards, into the house...don't make any noise or disturb anything...Sounds like a basic "cat burglary" scenario. Get in, get the macguffin, get out. Don't fight or make noise if you don't have to...and if you DO end up in a confrontation or set off some alarm that would rouse the noble...one can never go wrong with a tried and true "RUN AWAY!" and return to fight/filch another day...maybe when the noble IS on vacation...but dealing with an "on alert" guard staff since there was "a breach" a few nights before. You know your players and what they're capable of...are they likely to try to fight their way in and fight their way out? Let them come up with a plan. Why make it easy for them by sending the noble out of town? Just a few coppers. Take 'em for what they're worth. --Steel Dragons. [/QUOTE]

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