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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Brakkart" data-source="post: 1781717" data-attributes="member: 19617">DM's Log of Session FiveAfter one hell of a hectic morning, the group decided to rest at their new Inn, as they reasoned that investigating (breaking and entering), Broca House's compound would be a lot easier after nightfall. All that is except Aeron, who headed out to purchase some scrolls of Mage Armor, so that he might omit that particular spell from his day's selection in favour of more offensive magics.On waking and eating, Zamtap announced that he would not be joining them, excusing himself to attend the High House of Gond in the city, for some festival or other. He told the group that he would meet up with them in a couple days time at Kelvin's Thorp, a village a day or so's travel along the Trade Way between Baldur's Gate and Waterdeep.Bereft of their primary cleric, the group nevertheless decided to go ahead with their mission, and set off through the streets drawing little to no attention at that time of the evening, the streets filled with the throng of thirsty Gate's folk seeking one tavern or another. Reaching Balduran Avenue, they ducked into the shadowy cover of an alleyway, and observed their target, the large walled headquarters of Broca House across the road. Surrounded by a 10' high brick wall, topped with imbedded shards of glass and nails, with a three storey building visible beyond, and a couple other rooftops as well, plus clearly seen lighting in the yard, it was a daunting prospect.Undeterred though, and following Gylippus's strategy, the group decided to wait out the rest of the evening, and spy the joint. Aeron took the opportunity to walk around the block, and check out the back side of the compound, to find that the rear faced onto The Circle, a circular road surrounding the Ducal Palace itself. He duly reported back to the group that stealth was of the utmost concern, as any undue noise or flashes and they would be up to their necks in Flaming Fist guards before they knew what  had hit them. The others had also noted that a patrol of the Fist went down Balduran Avenue every 15-20 minutes, leaving them with a narrow window of opportunity in which to get over the wall.Their reconnaissance done, the party waited until 1am to make their move, the streets having cleared of revellers by then, as well as most of the lights in the compound itself having been turned off. Darting from their hiding place, they crossed the broad expanse of Balduran Avenue and Ki made an attempt to hurl a grappling hook up to the top of the wall. Alas, his attempt was pititful and shaking his head in disbelief, Aeron simply grabbed the hook from his hands, and levitated to the top of the wall, using the ability given him by his genasi heritage. Placing a bundle of the cloaks the group had taken from their assailants in the Inn that morning over the spikes on the wall, they all clambered up the rope and dropped quietly into the yard on the other side, removing the cloaks and hook in the process, so as to leave nothing visible from the street as to their unlawful entry into the premises.Sneaking about, they quickly assessed the layout of the place, noting only three guards outside. While Noob headed off after one, Aeron and Gylippus decided to bring the others low via Sleep spells. Unfortunately, while Aeron's spell worked perfectly, the humans mastery of the arcane arts was somewhat lacking, and his had no effect on the guard he had targetted, who upon noticing his companion slump to the ground, called out an alarm.Deciding that haste was of the utmost importance now, the group surged towards him, Jebodiah at the forefront, as missiles fired by Elena and Ki bounced off the guards shield and the wall behind him. Noob meanwhile, used several parked waggons as cover, whilst peppering the other awake guard with arrows, but to little effect.Charging into the guard, the dwarf swiftly laid him low, even as a doorway in the main building nearby opened, a series of guards bustling out, to be met by an onslaught of axe, swords and spells, three of them being put to sleep as Aeron worked his magics to great effect. Amazingly, the noise of battle did not bring the entire household running, and whilst they fought well, the guards were soon ovewhelmed. Gylippus ran to help out Noob as the guard he had been harrying, had finally spotted him and closed to melee. Between them they finished him off, even as the rest of the party did away with the sleeping guards.Entering the main building of the compound, they investigated the room the guards had come from, finding little more than bunkbeds, and a table and chairs, the groups intrusion having disturbed a games of cards and dice. Scooping up the coinage on the table, they also dragged the bodies into the room and went through them for anything of value, Noob being extremely thorough in this. As he busied himself with the wealth, the rest peered in room after room on the ground floor of the building, putting a chair under the door handle of the servants quarters, and then taking the opportunity to butcher a half dozen men in their beds as they slept, after seeing the weapon belts and such in their bunkroom, and recognising them as more of the assassin type of Fang's that they had done battle with several times before.They also found an office, and after searching through it, discovered one locked drawer. A quick Detect Magic from Gylippus determined that it radiated a faint abjuration aura. Figuring this to be an Alarm spell, the group conferred and decided on a fairly ruthless course of action. Reasoning that if they opened the drawer, it would call down the rest of the compound on them, they decided to wipe out the remainder of the household before doing so, so that none would be left alive to answer the alarm.With this in mind, they headed to the stairs to the upper level, and with Elena and Jebodiah in the lead, headed up to the second level, and straight into two well armoured guards posted in the corridor. Rushing them, battle was joined in the corridor, as any pretense at stealth was thrown to the wind, with wands, arrows, axe and cutlass being brought to bear against these new defenders. The house guards were competent enough fighters, but against this sheer wave of attacks, were soon overmatched, even with the addition of a third defender to their ranks, as an archer joined them from out of a guest bedroom. With many doors facing them, the party continued to move through the house, intent on eradicating the threat posed by the Yuan'ti's minions entirely...DM's Notes:Well the group finally raided Broca House, and in style too. I will admit to being a bit caught off guard at their strategy. I had truthfully expected them to break in, battle a half dozen guards or so, find the office, yank out the drawer, grab the contents and leg it out of the compound post haste. The idea that they might seek to eliminate the entire stronghold before seeking to open the drawer had not crossed my mind. I will have to keep in mind in future this ruthless streak that my players possess. Still, I can't fault their tactics (and my dice rolling for Listen checks for the rest of the household sucked!!), so the group do well and truly have the drop on the cultists. Still I doubt Buckman will be too happy at their methods, even if they do return with incriminating evidence.</blockquote>

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