The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)

[Mindfreak]

The world is sliced in half. One half that is ruled by evil, the other by good. It is a fine line that divides everyone. And in the border itself lies those who are neutral. Evil constently tries to get a firmer grasp on the world, and one particular demon is heading their progress. Orcus himself. Evil long since exterminated two of the powerful races. The dragonborn and goliaths. It may seem peaceful on either side, yet even now good and evil are poised to fight. We begin the tale of a group of heros, set to help in any way. They are meeting with one Reginald Ashenstep, the Baron of the town of Kenderbol. He is a well built man, muscular, and in his 30s. He has short brown hair, and a set of blue eyes. The only real flaw you could find on him, is a nose broken by a childhood squabble, yet it somehow gave him a humble look that made many agree with him. He was sitting at a desk, and looking squarely at you. He then spoke in a deep, rich voice.
"So, will you help us raid the nearby goblin camp for our stolen weapons? With our current production rate of steel, we will only be able to pay you a paltry sum. But you would forever have the town's gratitude. We will need those weapons if our town gets overrun by the nearby hobgoblins."

[Skybound Fencer]

Nara was a young man, of dark complexion and completely shaved, not a trace of hair remaining on his body. He was a tall man, but his body, wrapped up in elaborate robes of prismatic colors, hid an athletic body honed by years of training. Around his right eye was a black tattoo, representing a dragon.

He had listened to Ashenstep calmly, his eyes closed and his arms crossed as he did so. Once he was done, however, the Monk opened his eyes again.

"Are there any particular weapons we should be on the lookout for?" he asked, his voice calm and toneless. "Or are none of these enchanted?"

[Mindfreak]

"There is one in particular that you should be warry of, even though many consider it to be a legend."
He got up, and pointed towards a large painting on the wall. It was of a blond headed human wearing plate mail, he was holding a sword up in the air, a stone of jet black stone was at his feet. The painting was labeled: 'The Rise of Orcus'
"Orcus the demon once lived here, back before he became a demon and all that. He once drew a sword from a stone, you can find this stone in the woods, and he later got rid of it. The sword was called 'Rebilacxe', and is rumoured to be quite powerful. It is said that Orcus discarded it, because he wasn't able to corrupt it. It would be a miracle if you were able to find it. Also, be on the lookout for the Armor of Filptwig. Also once used by Orcus. It is said that he was indeed able to corrupt it, and that it is able to protect against elemental attacks. But the possibility of goblins having it could be a billion to one."

[Conundrum]

Vaeron

Vaeron's eyes lit up with excitement. The tall half-elf had always loved the legends and tales his father told him as a child, and had never really grown out of his fantastic imagination, despite his mother's disapproval.

"Rebilacxe, you say?" he asked, his voice barely concealing his eagerness. "I can hardly pass up an opportunity like this, can I? But I have to ask... if these hobgoblins were able to raid the town's weapon supply, what kind of resistance are we expecting to come up against?"

[Mindfreak]

The baron looked downfallen.
"I don't know my boy, they could have hundreds of poorly trained goblins, or some poorly trained goblins, an elite squad of goblins, some goblin casters, and a mighty chief. You understand that legends do outwiegh the actually knowledge we have about the goblins? All we know about them is that their chief is a renowned lover of fine wine, and recieved shipments of it from human winemakers in this town everyday. In fact, they are selling some of their old carts in town. They haven't found a buyer for them yet though."

[Lemonus]

Peren was staring out the window, entranced by the ways the shadows played upon the wall. When Ashen step spoke, he was jarred out of his daydream. "Of course I shall help. Goblins have no respect for beauty or grace."

[Conundrum]

Vaeron

A momentary cloud of confusion crossed Vaeron's face. "I assume you mean the winemakers are selling carts, not the goblins..." He paused for a moment, considering. "Well, I think we should definitely go talk with them when we're done here. I'm curious as to what kind of people would willingly trade with goblins, though."

[Mindfreak]

"Well, then you would need to go down to the J&R farm. They live there, grow the grapes there, and bottle it there. It is run by a Mr. And Mrs. Johnroot. I wish you luck in your quest heros."
Reginald bowed, and walked out of the room. Leaving everyone by themselves.

[Dan2]

Warryn nods slowly as Ashenstep leaves. Quite an interesting story we have here, my friends. Let us be on our way to see the Johnroots. At the least, they would be able to tell us where the goblins are encamped.
After a moment of thought, he continues, "That's a clever idea, if you think about it. You'll always have customers if you're the only one selling to them."

[Mindfreak]

The room you are currently in has a desk with drawers and a chair. There is a painting on the wall of the rise of orcus, and the room is windowless. On the wall opposite the painting of the rise of ocrus is another painting that covers the entire wall. It makes the room look as if it opens out into a large courtyard with several beautiful women in it. It looks incredibly realistic, and at one point you could swear one of the ladies blinked. On the third wall left of the desk is an empty scabbered hanging on the wall. On the bottom it is labeled: 'Rebilacxe'. On the floor near the desk is a large chest. Finally, there is a closed door. And on top of the door is a glint of gold in the lamplight of the room. All is quiet.

[Skybound Fencer]

Nera stood up from his chair, and turned towards his companions.

"If we are all in agreement," he said, heading towards the door, "we shouldn't waste any time. Let us go see those Johnroots. They have buisness to answer for."

[Dan2]

Taking another look at the gigantic artpiece, Warryn chuckles to himself, "Wouldn't mind giving one of those ladies a tumble..." before following Nera through the door.
As he leaves, he notes a curious thought, I wonder how good old Reggie got the scabbard for rubilacxe?

[Lemonus]

Peren leaves the room along with the rest of the group.

[Mindfreak]

You enter a large hallway. It is shabby, yet well worn. You can tell by looking at the walls that it used to be lavished with gold ornament. But in recent times, the duke has sold the gold to pay for better tools for the workers in town. Down the hallway is a door to leave the manor. It is solid oak, with the words 'sucro fo stnadnecsed'. While on the other side it reads 'stnadnecsed fo sucro'

[Conundrum]

Ever curious, Vaeron runs a finger along the carved lettering in the door.

"Can any of you read this?" he asked. "It doesn't seem to be elven or dwarven..."

[Dan2]

Warryn pauses at the door for a few moments, murmuring, "It bothered me on the way in. It doesn't make any... oh!" He leaps up, excitedly, drawing attention to himself. "It's common!" he shouts, pointing at the inscription on the door. He stands there, beaming with pride, waiting for someone to make the mistake of asking so he can explain it.

[Skybound Fencer]

Nera examined the writing for a while, but was equally unable to decipher it. He shook his head in denial, then calmly turned towards Warryn, raising an eyebrow.

"Tell me, my friend," he said, incredulous, "how can it be common when none of us can read it?"

[Lemonus]

"It's backwards! It actually reads, 'Orcus of descendants'. I wonder what it means, though..."

[Conundrum]

Oops, ninja'd..

"Or, on the other side, 'Descendants of Orcus'. That's a bit foreboding, actually, isn't it? Are we sure about this job?" Vaeron looked to each of his companions in turn, his face clearly showing his concern.

[Skybound Fencer]

Nera stared at the others, and shook his head in disbelief, temporarily losing his calm behaviour as he realized his own mistake. Soon, however, he regained his composure.

"Descendants of Orcus?" the monk repeated, seemingly unimpressed. "And before, that was the scabbard that held the sword, was it not? Mayhaps there is more to our employer than we could have bargained for."

[Dan2]

Warryn deflates a little when Peren explains, but jumps back into the conversation, "Reggie seems like a nice guy. Everyone in town has a lot of respect for him. He probably got the house while looking for rubilacxe. Which..." His idea stops cold for a bit, as if someone threw a stick into the gears in his head. But just as suddenly, the stick snaps and the gears whir back to life, "I wonder if rubilacxe is related to Ecxalibur. Or maybe they're the same thing!"

[Conundrum]

"Baron Ashenstep did say that Orcus pulled Rubilacxe from a stone... but that painting in there depicted a horribly evil looking black sword."

Vaeron raised himself up, squared his shoulders and put on his deepest, most resounding voice. The effect was less than impressive. "Excalibur is a force for all that is good and just! They cannot be the same sword, surely. But, perhaps, it's evil twin?"

He looked around, smiling widely, obviously proud of his theatrics and amazing deductive reasoning.

[Lemonus]

"It's backwards again! Rubilacxe is Excalibur backwards!"

[Conundrum]

Vaeron gave Peren a withering look, accompanied by an exaggerated sigh.

"Yes, very good, I think we'd all made that leap of logic already. Well, I think our best course of action is to go on the Baron's errand, see if we find any legendary swords, and then decide what to do with them. We might be able to find out more about any possible involvement with Orcus from the wine merchants or the goblins themselves. But I don't think we should mention this to the Baron just yet, in case he reacts... badly."

He shrugged. "Thoughts?"

[Mindfreak]

Vaeron recieves a vision of everyone he ever cared about rotting away and himself full of maggots. He then sees everyone rise and do the bidding of Orcus. Then, he saw the face of a balrog, it said in a dark voice of demons:
"Stop saying Orcus' name. He has too much to worry about then having to worry about some lowly mortals saying his name. It really ticks him off."
and then the face was gone.

[Conundrum]

Vaeron gasps as the vision ends, shakes his head violently and stares at the others, wild-eyed.

"Did any of you see that!?"

[Dan2]

"Yes, and I couldn't agree more. They guy that walked past with a yellow jerkin with green trousers? He might as well have rolled around in vomit. What a ridiculous color scheme. I'm glad someone else noticed.

[Conundrum]

He laughed nervously, shaking his head.

"Well, I think we should avoid saying Or- uh, his name. It seems to draw his attention, which could be bad if we're gonna be messing with his sword. Let's go see those wine sellers at the farm."

[Skybound Fencer]

The bald monk closed his eyes, as he went to open the door regardsless and get to the farm.

"We have no other lead," he said as he did so. "We can only hope that the wine sellers can give us more information, but needless to say, I do not trust this Ashenstep anymore."

[Mindfreak]

Outside in a clearing were two men fighting. They were using wooden swords though, and it looked as if the shorter one was winning. A man walked up to the open door.
"Baron Reginald asked of me to escort you to the J&R farm. Please, follow me."
The man walked away. He has green eyes and orange hair. He also had many freckles and has pale skin. He is wearing a regular tunic and pants.

[Conundrum]

"Great, after you," Vaeron said distractedly, watching the fighting men. "Ugh, look at that technique. Awful. Leaves himself open after every swing..."

[Lemonus]

Peren holds up his hand, the walks over to the fighting men. He watches them for a second, then speaks. "Your form is sloppy. You leave yourself open after every swing, and your movements have no grace. Try this." Peren the executes a graceful arc of his sword, which he turns at the last minute into a slash to the side. "See? Try that."

[Mindfreak]

The tall man imitates Peren, but the shorter one counters it easily. The tall one is about 6'3" and the shorter one is about 5'9". They are both wearing armor as part of their training, and they are also wearing helmets. The short one then easily disarms the taller person, and pushes him to the ground. The person then thrust their sword at the man's neck and said in a muffled voice:
"Do you yield?"
"I do!"
The man on the ground takes of his helmet, and his brown hair is short, and his eyes are blue. He is human, and looks quite like the Baron. The short person took off their helmet, and her blond hair cascaded down. She looked at Peren with her blue eyes. She was a half-elf.
"First, thanks for watching me kick this kid's butt. Second, who are you?"
The pale man with the orange hair and freckles spoke up.
"Miss Beatress, your father hired these men for a job. I am sure they have much to do, so we should be off."
The man looked at you.
"Now come along, J&R Farms is close by, right over that hill."
He said this while pointing and lead them to the farm. He brought them to a man and a women working in a field. The man stretches up and wipes the sweat of his brow. He was bald with green eyes, but was an elf, and the women mirrored him. He opened his mouth.
"What business do you have here? Do you want to buy one of the old wagons?"

[Dan2]

Warryn steps forward and pulls himself up to his maximum height before offering a handshake to the man. "Mr Johnroot! It's a pleasure to meet you sir, and your lovely wife as well. We've heard remarkable things about your business here. Best wine in the town, or so we've heard. The reason we're here is actually related to your wine, not your carts." Warryn gestures toward a nearby building smiling disarmingly, "We may wish to continue our conversation in private. I'm not sure how much is public knowledge and how much you want to be public knowledge."

[Mindfreak]

The elf looked indifferent.
"First, she is my wife. Secondly, I am not Mr. Johnroot. He is currently up at the house behind me. If you want to speak with him you will have to go up there. And thirdly, we are selling the wagons for next to nothing. Great condition, all you need to do is put on a new coat of paint. He just got our new wagons today."

[Dan2]

Warryn looks taken aback for the briefest of moments before continuing, "I'm terribly sorry for the misunderstanding. We were expecting to meet with Mr Johnroot. Though, I have to applaud your integrity. There are many that would have tried to take advantage of the mistake."

Warryn assesses his surroundings, looking around for the carts mentioned earlier, "As for those carts, you couldn't expect us to be interested unless we could inspect the carts ourselves."

[Mindfreak]

"If you want to see the carts, follow me."
The elf gets up and starts walking towards a barn. The door was closed.

[Conundrum]

"I am kind of curious as to why he'd be selling the carts so cheap... we can always go and talk with Mr. Johnroot immediately afterwards."

[Skybound Fencer]

Nera followed after the elf, waiting to see the wagons before making a judgment.

"Generosity always hides something else," he said wisely.

[Mindfreak]

The of opens the bar door, showing a perfectly good wagon. Nothing in the least was wrong with it. On the side, the paint was still in good condition. It read: "J&R Winemakers. Est. 1152" it was of course the year 1352, so it seems they have been in business for a long time. The elf looked back at you.
"The reason we are selling them for so cheap is because no one wants to buy from the Johnroots. Not many people are comfertable dealing with Drow."

[Dan2]

Warryn walks over to the wagon and tries to find a way to gain a higher vantage point as he inspects them. "Well this raises a number of questions," he says. "I hope you won't take offense at any of this, but don't elves typically have, um, severe reservations about drow? Also, Johnroot doesn't seem to be a typically Fey name. Would you mind shedding some light on this for us?"

As he finally gets atop the cart, where he can inspect it closely, Warryn casts light on his holy symbol to get a better look.

[Conundrum]

"Well, the Baron neglected to mention that the Johnroots are Drow. That might explain the other odd thing we've heard - that the Johnroots sell a lot of their wine to the goblins nearby. Can you tell us anything more about that... business arrangement?"

[Mindfreak]

"The Johnroot family has been dealing with Goblins ever since they were established. No one else will buy their wine, since drow have a reputation for poison."

When Warry. Inspects the cart, he would find that it is in peak condition. Nothing is wrong with it at all.

"I have only the utmost respect for Mr. Johnroot. He helped me pull my life together after a problem with Brothels."

He wiped his brow again.

"As you might expect, the Johnroots had to leave the underground after they decided to be good. They left their Drow names behind, and started a new life."

[Conundrum]

Vaeron furrowed his brow.

"So, they left the underdark and their evil brethren behind, came to the surface, and... consort with a tribe of evil goblins? That's certainly not going to endear the local village to you, even ignoring their inherent distrust of drow."


Insight check to see if he's keeping anything from us, specifically about the relationship between the Johnroots and the goblins.

[roll0]

[Mindfreak]

The elf frowned.
"You seem to be forgetting a key fact, Mr. and Mrs. Johnroot only started selling to the goblins because they almost went broke because no one would buy their wine. It's disgusting, to me, that people can't get over a person's looks, and decide to avoid them all together."

[Lemonus]

"The Johnroots have been in business a long time. Have the goblins been around that long?"

[Mindfreak]

"They have. I'm the one who always drops off the wine. They pay fairly, and they don't give me trouble. I think they are told to be courteous by their chief, I've only met him a few times, but he loves wine."

[Dan2]

Warryn finishes his inspection of the cart just in time to catch the end of the conversation. Hopping off the cart, Warryn approaches the elf and says, "You make the deliveries yourself? All the way into their camp?"
A grin splits Warryn's small face ear to ear, "I'm confident we can find a use for these carts. If you would allow it, I need a moment to speak with my friends in private."

[Mindfreak]

"Yup, been doing it for years. In fact, I have to bring in a shipment today, which is a shame because today we plant a new bunch of grape vines, it's my favorite job. And go ahead and talk to your friends, Mr. Johnroot will be happy to be rid of the wagons. Their only 10 gold pieces per, and I'll even throw in horse to pull it if you shell out an extra 30 gold."

[Dan2]

"Excellent! Thank you for the offer."
Warryn begins gathering the team at the rear of the building but stops short, turning back to the elf, "Oh! If you would please stick around. I have a feeling we may need to ask you a few more questions for you."

Once the groups is gathered at the back, Warryn quietly says, "I have an idea. We could do this the old fashioned way; get directions to the camp, go there ourselves, and fight them all as we search for weapons that they could easily move as they retreat. Or, we could work with the people here to get to the bottom of this. If our elf friend takes us along on his delivery, we get a free ride directly into the heart of the territory."
Warryn pauses to let the idea take hold before continuing, "Furthermore, if trading with them is possible, negotiating may also be possible. Keep in mind, Reggie's the one that sent us on this mission. He's not yet above suspicion. We should talk with the Johnroots and get the history of the situation before we make any real decisions."
Warryn gestures back to the carts, "Besides, I have some great ideas for the carts."

[Conundrum]

Vaeron was getting excited again.

"Ooh, subterfuge!" he said eagerly. "I love it. What's your plan, hide us in the wagons? Because we can't exactly stroll in there fully armed. But, if we're in the carts, there won't be room for the wine... and then our friendly elf there might get in trouble. I'd rather keep civilians out of danger if I can."

[Lemonus]

"We could just say that there are bandits on the road to the goblins, and that we are guards."

[Dan2]

"Clearly, we need to discuss the particulars of the delivery with the elf to know the details, but it seems clear to me that we're going to want to match the conditions of a normal delivery. If there aren't normally guards accompanying the shipment, adding guards would be suspicious, no matter the reasoning. If it comes down to it, we can displace some of the cargo to hide. If everything goes well, we can personally make an extra delivery to the camp with the carts we're going to buy. If things go poorly, there shouldn't be terribly many goblins left over to miss the extra wine."

[Conundrum]

"We could all conceal our weapons, though we'd still have to come up with a convincing reason for being there."

Vaeron's face suddenly lit up, and then he smiled smugly.

"Or, we could use the distraction of the wine delivery to sneak inside?"

[Dan2]

"I don't know how many of us could actually make it in that way. Besides, I'd rather be up front about speaking with them... Uh, once we're done using deception to get in..."

[Skybound Fencer]

Nera remained silent for a long moment, before chiming in calmly:

"The elf said that he does his deliveries himself, which implies that he does not need escort - why would he, when the goblins have been shown to be friendly? I do believe that we are going to have to displace some of the cargo, assuming our elf...friend...doesn't spot us. I doubt he'd agree to that plan."

He paused. "Of all of you, I am perhaps the one that could afford to stay out. I need no weapons but my body, no armor but my mind, and who suspects a monk?" He smiled faintly.

[Dan2]

"I don't think our friend over there is going to have a problem with what we're doing, especially if we explain that our primary goal is talking with them."

Warryn steps away from the group to speak to the elf once more, "We'd love to buy a cart from Mr Johnroot, but we also have something we will need to discuss with both you and him. Could you take us to see him please?"

[Mindfreak]

The elf frowned.
"Fine. But only one of you may come along. And you may not bring a weapon with you or wear your armor. Mr. Johnroot gets frightened by that sort of thing, when he first came here, people tried to run him out of town, because he was a drow."

[Dan2]

"Certainly, my good man. As you can see, I wear no armor. It is not a weapon, but if it makes him uncomfortable, you may also take my holy symbol."
Warryn looks to his team and continues, "Unless any of you have an objection..."

[Mindfreak]

"It depends on what god you serve. The mob that tried to run him out said it was in the name of Pelor."

[Lemonus]

"Perhaps Nera should go. He needs no weapons or armor, but can still battle."

[Mindfreak]

The elf looked over the monk.
"Yes. He looks alright. Now, if you don't mind me asking, why was the baron's personal messenger escorting you here?"

[Dan2]

Warryn smiles and says, "Actually, I think Vaeron or I should go. It's likely to need a measure of social finesse. While admirable, battle prowess probably won't aid us just yet."
He turns back to the elf and says, "To answer your two questions:
I worship Avandra. Though I'm surprised that the church of Pelor would do that.
We were brought here by the baron's personal messenger because there have been a number of reported weapon thefts and they suspect the goblins. Furthermore, they suspect that hobgoblins are massing for an attack."

[Mindfreak]

The elf laughed.
"The hobgoblins have been saying for over a hundred years that they are going to attack us."
His gaze then turned serious.
"The Barons right, the goblins did do it. Went up last month with the wine with some guards because there has been some banditry, and I met with the chief and I had noticed that all of the goblins had shiny new weapons. And the chief himself had this powerful looking blade, and he was wearing an evil looking armor. There were letters on the blade. I didn't see it well, but it looked as if it was the Supernal word for Valor and Glory. The sheath didn't seem to match the blade either."

[Conundrum]

He's very forthcoming with that information, Vaeron thought to himself.

"As you can imagine, the townsfolk are not entirely comfortable with the goblins being well-armed - especially at the cost of the town's own armaments."

He paused for a moment, seeming to consider something.

"And, of course, your master's involvement with the goblins is well-known. Any hostile acts by the goblins would also bring renewed hostility towards him from the townsfolk. Please, let us talk with Mr. Johnroot so that we can do something about this issue before it gets out of hand."


Don't know if Bluff or Diplomacy is more appropriate here, so take your pick.
Bluff: [roll0]
Diplomacy: [roll1]

[Mindfreak]

"I never said I wouldn't bring you to him. Remeber, only one of you may go. I may be able to get Mr. Johnson to allow more of you in there with you friend."

[Conundrum]

"Well, the more of us the better, as we must communicate the gravity of the situation to Mr. Johnroot. However, if pressed, I think Warryn and I could do a good job of convincing him."

[Skybound Fencer]

"In any case, we would like to talk to Mr. Johnroot now. Your help is welcome, but we cannot go much further without him."

[Mindfreak]

"Fine, follow me Mr. Monk."
The elf walks out of the barn and towards the house.

[Skybound Fencer]

Nera followed after the elf, gesturing for his companions to follow as well, his step still calm and sure.

[Dan2]

Warryn begins following the group heading toward the house, smiling, "I'm sure we can make something work out of this."

[Mindfreak]

The elf holds his hand up.
"Only the Monk may come in the house."
He opens the door.
"Ezekial! You have customers!"
A drow walks down some stairs.
"I always have time for customers."
He said this with a twinkle in his eye.

[Conundrum]

Vaeron takes a respectful half-step forward before addressing the Drow.

"Mr. Johnroot, a pleasure to meet you. My name is Vaeron, and my companions are Nera, Warryn and Peren," he said, indicating each in turn.

"We have a matter of some import to discuss with you. Your good man here has made it clear that you do not normally allow many strangers into your home, and with good reason. However, implore you to reconsider in this case, so that we may communicate to you the gravity of the situation."

He paused for a moment to let his words sink in before continuing.

"We would, of course, leave our arms at the door as a gesture of good faith."


Diplomacy: [roll0]

[Mindfreak]

"Alright then."
Ezekiel waits for them to put down their arms.

[Conundrum]

Vaeron removed his greatspear from it's place on his back and leaned it against the wall, then waited for the others to follow his lead.

[Mindfreak]

"Pat him down J."
The drow says this, expecting that Vaeron still had some weaponry on him.
The elf moved to pat down Vaeron to check for weapons and patted him down.
"Just to check if you have any more weaponry on you. Drow society taught me to always have a hidden weapon."

[Lemonus]

Peren puts down his sword and shield, then asks, "May I keep my holy symbol on me?"

[Mindfreak]

The drow studies Peren. He is silent for a vouple minutes as if he was reliving a past event. He nodded. And the elf patted down Vaeron and found nothing hidden. He then patted down Peren and found nothing hidden.

[Dan2]

Warryn takes off his holy symbol and fishes the magic orb from his pocket and deposits them in his haversack before stepping up to be confirmed weapon-free.

[Mindfreak]

The elf pats down Warryn. And finds no weapons. The drow spoke up.
"Well, we don't need to check the monk, since he doesn't use weapons. Shall we talk about this in my study, gentlemen?"
He opens a nearby door.
"J, stay with their gear and polish it."
"Yes Mr. Johnroot."

[Conundrum]

Vaeron walks into the study and waits for the others to join him.

[Skybound Fencer]

Nera walked after them as well, his hands hidden in the folds of his robe.

[Lemonus]

Peren walks in after the rest of the group, making sure that his sword and shield are taken care of.

[Dan2]

Warryn gives a small, solemn nod to the elf before entering the side room. Once inside, Warryn bows and says, "Our pleasure to meet you, Mr Johnroot. I believe introductions are in order. I am Warryn."

[Mindfreak]

"Let me be frank gentlemen. I don't know who you are, and I frankly don't give a crap. Tell me what you want, then I will answer you, then you will leave. Unless you wish to stay and be my wive's torture buddy. She never really got it out of her system."

[Conundrum]

"Then let us be frank also, sir. You are aware that the goblins with which you trade have recently stolen a large amount of weaponry from the town. You are aware that this is most likely the precursor to some kind of attack. You are aware that should this occur, your association with the goblins would be... unfortunate for you, in the eyes of the villagers."

Vaeron pauses, gaze firmly locked on Mr. Johnroot.

"Now, to the crux of the matter. Baron Ashenstep has sent us with the authority to make a deal with you. You and yours have intimate knowledge of the goblins - their routines, the layout of their camp - and you have their trust. With your help, we could stymie their plans before they can rally for a full-scale attack on the town. In exchange, the Baron would help you establish legitimacy in the town. Your years of being an outcast would be at an end, and you would no longer need to trade with goblins. You would receive the highest honor the Baron is able to bestow upon you."


Bluff: [roll0]

EDIT: Crap. A natural 1, really??

[Mindfreak]

The drow is angered.
"You think that all of their predujice will disappear just because the Baron bestows some honor on me!?! Hell, just give me 2000gp and I'll tell you everything you want! I don't need any honor!"

[Dan2]

Warryn's face lights up in a crooked smile before stepping up, "I'm glad to hear that, my good man. You see, we already have a plan to deal with these goblins. The only reason we really need to speak with you is because it involves your trading shipments with them. Allow me to explain," Warryn makes little walking motions with a hand, "we are going to travel with, or likely in, one of your shipments of wine to the goblins. Now that we know that 'you don't need any honor', there shouldn't be a problem regardless of what they might think."

[Mindfreak]

"Fine. J always brings along 4 mercenaries with him to protect against bandits. You could pose as them to get in to the goblin's caves. You would have to talk to J for more information."

[Skybound Fencer]

Nera raised an eyebrow.

"That man needs 4 mercenaries to protect him from bandits? So we are to wait for heavy opposition, I take it?"

[Mindfreak]

"Well, banditry is high in this town."
His face softens a bit.
"Could you please leave? I have to finish the papers for a large shipment of wine."

[Conundrum]

Vaeron gratefully steps back and allows Warryn to take the stage after his amazing failure of a lie.

"Well, perfect then. 4 mercenaries is close enough to 5, and if need be one of us can hide in the cart."

He gives the grumpy drow a sour look. "Thankyou for your time, sir."

Then he turns to leave.

[Dan2]

Warryn nods and says, "It is just as he says; thank you," before leaving.

[Skybound Fencer]

Nera nodded at the drow, then left as well.

"I do not trust this man one bit," he whispered to his companions as he left, being as silent as possible and making sure they were as far away from him as possible.

[Conundrum]

"Never mind trusting him, I just don't like him," Vaeron said, almost sulking.

"Let's just go talk to the elf... J?... so we can get out of here."

[Lemonus]

"I don't trust him either. It seems like he has something to hide."

[Dan2]

"Perhaps, but for the moment, we should begin the mission. We will have plenty of time to think about what's wrong while we travel."

Warryn finds J to get back the equipment the group left behind, "Ah, there you are, my friend. We have good news for you. We will be your escort during the delivery. There is only one caveat: we may have to wait for longer than usual once we have made the delivery before heading back to town."

[Mindfreak]

"I figured as much."
He gives them back their equipment which had been polished and all stratches and other blemishes were removed.
"Here you go."

[Dan2]

Warryn waits for his companions to gather their equipment before asking, "Is there anything else we must do before we head out?"

[Skybound Fencer]

"We have postponed this trip for too long," the monk said, closing his eyes again. "We have done everything we can here. Let us be on our way."

[Mindfreak]

"We have postponed this trip for too long," the monk said, closing his eyes again. "We have done everything we can here. Let us be on our way."

"Get in your armor then and get in my wagon, the goblin's camp is a couple miles away."
He waits until everyone gets in the wagon and he drives off. You make it a mile out until an hour comes whizzing out of nowhere and hits the elf driving the wagon in the head. He falls down dead, and his blood slowly drips off of the wagon as the horses come to a stop. Several archerers appear out of the bushes on both sides of you, a man with a scar and two bastard swords on his back directs his attention towards you.
"Take off your armor and weapons and valuables, and step away from the wagon and we might let you live."
((Now would be the time for everyone to roll for initiative. Remember it is 1d20 + your dex mod + half level(rounded Down). There are 7 archerers on each side of you and there is the scarred man on the left side of you. Speed won't matter here, since it is a small place unless you guys choose to book it.))

[Mindfreak]

An elf with messy black hair draws his bow and lets a shot out at Warryn.
Attack is Dex vs Ref
[roll0]

The arrow wizzes by Warryn. The Scarred man shouts: "Give up!"
((It is now Warryn's turn))

[Dan2]

Warryn quickly snatches his orb from his pocket and begins concentrating on a spell. Centered on the scarred man in the back, shadowy illusions of assailants crop up, threatening those nearby.
Casting Enemies Abound. Targets: Scarred Man, 3 archers in front of him.
Attack vs will SM [roll0], A[roll1], A[roll2], A[roll3]

Damage: [roll4]

Effect on hit: targets tak -2 to attack rolls and my allies treat targets as allies for purposes of flanking

I made a grid of my own, so I can keep track of things: https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AiLR-KX5XAZOdGs1UmhWd3l1SmVRV0dSbWU1N0gzRXc&hl=en_US&authkey=CLDsqMoL.

[Mindfreak]

Those three archers scream, as if there were seeing people attacking them, the Scarred Man looks uneffected. Archer number 3 fires a shot at Warryn, he was unfortunately one of those effected by the attack.

[roll0]

The arrow wizzes by Warryn's head.

[Skybound Fencer]

Nera took a step forward, just five feet, it was all he needed. He looked at the screaming archers, and raised his fists in defiance, before closing his eyes.

"The Storm will take you," he declared.

Not bothering to open his eyes, his fists flew in all directions, putting the confused archers out of their misery.


I move one square forward and will use Five Storms, my At-Will Power, against the 3 archers in front of the Scarred Man. I believe the archer right in front of Nera is flanked. It is VS their reflex.

Archer rolls: [roll0] [roll1] [roll2]

[Mindfreak]

The archers in front of the Scarred Man fall to the ground dead, he looks at two other archers.
"Get them you idiots!"
The archers responded by notching arrows and aiming at Nera.

[roll0]
[roll1]

Their arrows whizz by Nera, harmlessly.

[Lemonus]

Peren walks up to the scarred man and in a very calm tone, he says "I think that you should surrender now." He then executes a graceful arc of his sword, which confounds and slows the scarred man.

I Move in front of the scarred man, place my Divine Challenge on him, and attack him with Elegant Strike.
Attack Roll: (CHA vs. AC)
[roll0]
If it hits, he takes [roll1] damage and the scarred man is slowed and cannot shift until the end of my next turn.

[Mindfreak]

The attack hits the Scarred Man, slowing him down. 4 Archers notch their bows against Peren. They shoot their arrows and.....

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]

The arrows whizz by his head, without even grazing him.

[Conundrum]

Vaeron takes a smooth step towards a group of archers, and channels psionic energy into his greatspear. He pivots on one foot and stabs at each of them in one fluid movement.


Move one square southwest (to E9 on Dan2's map), and use Demoralizing Strike augment 2 (close burst 1, should hit the three south-westernmost archers), vs AC.

Archer 1: [roll0]
Archer 2: [roll1]
Archer 3: [roll2]

On a hit, they take [roll3] damage, and take a penalty of 5 to all defenses until my EONT.

EDIT: Wow, I rolled three 2s? Hope their AC is low..

[Mindfreak]

Vaeron hits all of them, and their minds reel at his power. The archers who's turn is now flee.
Now it is the Scarred Man's turn. He yells to his men fleeing:
"Get back here! If I ever see your faces in camp, I will kill you!"

[Dan2]

Seeing the archers slowly backing away from the group, Warryn presses the advantage. At the feet of the three archers on the left, dark forms begin swirling. Suddenly, the shadows in the area leap up and begin scratching at their legs.

Attacks vs Will
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]

Damage:
[roll3] and anyone hit is slowed

There is a zone starting at the archers and extending to the left. Any creature that enters will take 11 damage.

[Mindfreak]

The scratching was swiftly noticed, and the three archers effected were killed. The remaining Archers fled. It was just the Scarred Man left.

[Skybound Fencer]

The Monk closed his eyes, and followed his instincts to navigate through the corpses, ignoring everything else. When he opened his eyes again, he was next to the Scarred Man.

"Make peace with your gods, fool," Nera suggested, his fist flying out in order to connect with the Scarred Man's face, breaking his jaw.

Were this blow to connect, his knee would become a blur, and hit the man in the ribs, making a nasty cracking noise.


I move next to the Scarred Man (on the right square), then attack normally:

[roll0] for [roll1] damage.

If this attack connects, I use Centered Flurry of Blows in addition, and the Scarred Man takes 6 extra damage.

[Mindfreak]

The Scarred Man falls to the ground, his ribs are cracked in several places. He forces his chest to rise and fall with shallow forced breathes.
"He's fooling you, you know."
And then he died.

14 Archers x 40 exp +120 exp = 1,340 exp
1,340/4 = 355 exp
You all gain 355 exp.

You can see a goblin encampment far up the road, about a mile away. You look around you and see that the archers had many nice things. The Scarred Man himself seems to have quite a hefty coin pouch.

[Conundrum]

Vaeron moved over to the scarred man lying on the ground. He bent down to rummage through his possessions.

"Well, yes, we already figured there's something more going on here. Pity you couldn't give us more details. We should have tried to take him alive."

He placed the coin pouch to one side, then searched more thoroughly, hoping to find something that might provide them with more information about the man or who he was working for. Or some nice magic items.


Perception to search the man for relevant documents or something:
[roll0]

[Mindfreak]

Vaeron finds 200 gold, a document sealed with a familiar seal, and a bracelet that is strangely cold to the touch. A backpack on one of the archers begins to thrash around.

[Lemonus]

Peren quickly moves over to the thrashing backpack. He the opens it with his sword at the ready.

[Mindfreak]

Peren quickly moves over to the thrashing backpack. He the opens it with his sword at the ready.

Out pops a metallic shape. It gets up and stretches. It turns out it is a warforged cat. It looks at the adventurers and purrs, it then burps fire.

[Conundrum]

Vaeron inspects the bracelet quickly, wondering if his limited arcane knowledge might be enough to identify the strange object.

Arcana to identify the bracelet: [roll0]

Then he turns to the document.

"I think we've got something here, guys!" he calls excitedly. "Ashenstep's seal."

He carefully breaks the seal and opens the document to read it.

[Mindfreak]

Vaeron inspects the bracelet quickly, wondering if his limited arcane knowledge might be enough to identify the strange object.

Arcana to identify the bracelet: [roll0]

Then he turns to the document.

"I think we've got something here, guys!" he calls excitedly. "Ashenstep's seal."

He carefully breaks the seal and opens the document to read it.
It reads:
'Dear Bandit Leader,
Can you please stop killing people on the road to the goblin camp? It's quite hard to find people willing to go. I'll be sending a group of adventurers down that today, please take the 50 platinum enclosed as an incentive to not kill the adventurers.
-Baron Ashenstep'
A smaller note flutters off of the document. Upon inspection it is a map to the Bandit's hideout. It has a note on it detailing the exact way to get into the Bandit's Special Loot Vault.

The Warforged Cat begins to rub its head on Vaeron's leg, wanting to be pet.

[Conundrum]

Vaeron absent-mindedly pets the adorable artificial kitten while he reads the note aloud to the others. Then, at the sight of the map, his eyes light up.

"Treasure! Treasure! Ok, we have a choice to make. Do we want to go and investigate this bandit camp before we bother the goblins?"

[Skybound Fencer]

Nera frowned, not bothering to look at the corpses of the men he dispatched easily.

"This message is...curious," he said. "And what the scarred man said was even stranger. Fooling us? Perhaps there are some there that can tell us what he meant more precisely. It might be worth the side trip, especially if that was the best they could send."

[Mindfreak]

The warforged cat gives a small meow and a disc on his head glows. It now has Vaeron's name in Draconic on it.

Vaeron now has a pet.

[Conundrum]

Vaeron gives a little grunt of frustration, still a little distracted by the bracelet. He turns to Warryn.

"Any idea what this is?" he asks, tossing the bracelet to the gnome. He then stands up, holding the little kitten in one hand while it purrs happily, and turns to Nera. "I agree - a few bandits are hardly going to cause us any issues. We might not even have to fight them. We should find out what they know."

[Dan2]

Warryn takes the bracelet and concentrates on it as his companions discuss the pending trip to "visit" the bandits.

Arcana: [roll0]

Absently, Warryn says, "This does not bode well for us one way or another. Ashenstep is very clearly involved in something entirely unbecoming of one in his position."
He thinks for a moment before continuing, "J, my good man, I presume that your delivery to the goblins is currently a high priority. I think that we may want to continue with this delivery first. The bandits are a given problem, however the goblins might still be useful to us. How do you feel about this?"

[Mindfreak]

You find out that it is a bracelet of storage. You can store one item(up to 10lb) in it. If it is a weapon, when it comes out it will be unsheathed. If it is a shield it will come ready in your hand. Storing an item is a standard action, removing it is a free action.
Warryn feels that there is another bracelet to go with this one. He knows without a doubt that it is a paired set.

When Warryn asks J a question, J doesn't respond. This is because he was shot in the head with an arrow at the beginning of the attack so that the cart would stop. J is dead. But the horses that are hitched to the cart look fine. And the wine looks fine too.

[Conundrum]

Vaeron glances around when J doesn't reply to Warryn's question, having completely forgotten that the poor man was shot.

"Oh man, that's a buzzkill." He sighs. "Well, look, if we go into the goblin camp and end up having to fight them, we might find out at the bandit camp that we shouldn't have. My personal opinion is that we should find out as much as we can about what's going on here before we risk a confrontation with the goblins."

[Dan2]

Warryn's face clearly reflects that he doubts anything will go wrong as he says, "Either way, we should get a move on. If you all decide to brave the bandits first, I'll not desert you. It is a shame that we do not time to give our elven friend a proper burial."

[Skybound Fencer]

"Let's go to the bandits, then, if we have a majority," the monk said, turning away from the corpses, not bothering to even look at them as he simply readjusted his clothes.

[Conundrum]

"Shall we take the horses and cart with us, then? Not much point leaving them here... but yes, let's head out."

[Mindfreak]

You arrive at the bandits camp in shadows. It appears to be completely deserted with the entrance to the camp being on the ground. It is a large log door that is about 7 yards high and 8 yards across. There is evidence of a giant having been here recently, what will you do?
((Sorry guys, I must have forgotten myself.))

[Dan2]

Warryn sizes up the situation and turns to the group. "Nera, I think you should do a quick sweep of the area. Try to keep to the shadows; we have no clue what may be lurking around.
Can anyone see anything from here?"

Perception to spot anything particularly important (from where we currently sit).
[roll0]

Nature to try to figure out more precisely when the giant might have been here, whether it was actually a giant, what might have happened to the bandits.
[roll1]

[Mindfreak]

Warryn sizes up the situation and turns to the group. "Nera, I think you should do a quick sweep of the area. Try to keep to the shadows; we have no clue what may be lurking around.
Can anyone see anything from here?"

Perception to spot anything particularly important (from where we currently sit).
[roll0]

Nature to try to figure out more precisely when the giant might have been here, whether it was actually a giant, what might have happened to the bandits.
[roll1]


The is blood literally everywhere, and the body of a giant and bandits are inside. You can only see one thing that might be important, a katana stuck in a pole. The pole itself is over 50 feet tall and the Katana is at the top. The sheath for the Katana is on the ground beside the pole, as is two circle weights on rope.

[Skybound Fencer]

Nera nodded, and went around the camp, making sure to walk among the shadows as suggested, looking for things that were out of place. He would stop at any sign of danger, however.


Let's see. I guess it's Stealth to walk around in the shadows...
[roll0]

...and Perception to notice things that aren't supposed to be there.
[roll1]

[Mindfreak]

Nera nodded, and went around the camp, making sure to walk among the shadows as suggested, looking for things that were out of place. He would stop at any sign of danger, however.


Let's see. I guess it's Stealth to walk around in the shadows...
[roll0]

...and Perception to notice things that aren't supposed to be there.
[roll1]


You again notice a tall poll that is high above the camp that has a Katana lodged at the top. There's bandit bodies everywhere and the large body of a giant. There's also blood everywhere. There's a sheath for a Katana on the ground next to the pole. There's a large building labeled: 'INN' that is completely demolished.
The way to the secret loot vault will be hard to decipher now.
The map is:
Go ten paces into camp.
Go inside the INN.
Go into the cellar.
Say the password: 'Super Strawberry Funtime'.

[Skybound Fencer]

Nera frowned, and headed back to his comrades.

"There is not a single living soul left, and the Inn is destroyed," he said. "I have found nothing obvious besides. That katana sure is curious, however. Perhaps I could try to retrieve it?"

[Lemonus]

"I shall retrieve the Katana."

[Conundrum]

"How on earth are you going to reach it?" Vaeron asked perplexed. "It's 50 feet up! However, it's fairly obvious someone beat us here... I wonder what happened. Let's look inside?"

[Mindfreak]

The INN is a husk of what it once was. Made of pure oak, it must have been ruined by the giant. You could probably pick your way through the wood and even move the wood.

[Lemonus]

"This is how I'll get it." Peren the walks over to the pole, and begins to hack at it with his sword. His goal is to make the pole fall so he can inspect the Katana.

[Mindfreak]

Peren's blade bounces off of the pole. Perhaps he is not meant to chop it. Maybe he should try something more vertical.

[Skybound Fencer]

Nera grasped Peren's shoulder and shook his head.

"This is not a matter brute force can solve," the monk said, before he jumped on the pole, graspe it with both of his hands and began to climb, his eyes fixed on his goal.

What kind of roll would that be?

[Mindfreak]

Nera easily climbs up the pole, reaching the Katana. He sees that it is rusty.

[Skybound Fencer]

Nera attempted to pull the katana out. Assuming he managed to, he went down the pole again and held out the rusty katana for his companions to see.

[Mindfreak]

The rusted Katana looks like new in the monk's hands. Even he can feel a power inside that feels like it's untamed.

[Skybound Fencer]

Nera frowned, and examined the weapon closely.

"The blade was rusty and damaged when it was stuck in the pole," he commented, "but now it looks new, and I can feel the magical power inside. If anyone is versed in the arts of the occult here, he would do well to examine this."

[Dan2]

Having watched Nera's impressive display of athletic ability, Warryn steps forward, working out a crick in his neck and loosening up as if he were about to do something equally athletic. It might be sad were it not funny.
"I think I can figure this thing out. Let's see what we have here..."
Taking the katana, Warryn turns it over in his hands, even swinging it about a couple of times as he studies the markings and searches for any identifying marks or auras.

Arcana:
[roll0]

[Conundrum]

Oblivious to the arcane tinkering going on outside, Vaeron begins to pick his way through the remains of the Inn, searching for what might once have been the entrance to the cellar.

Perception: [roll0]
Yay! Nat 20!

[Mindfreak]

Oblivious to the arcane tinkering going on outside, Vaeron begins to pick his way through the remains of the Inn, searching for what might once have been the entrance to the cellar.

Perception: [roll0]
Yay! Nat 20!

He will find a round trapdoor with a couple of beams of wood on top that could be moved. He can barely hear whispering from underneath the trapdoor.

Warryn will find no markings on the blade but can feel a vast amount of power in the blade, but that's about it. The katana's sheath is still by the pole, it appears to have writing on one side, further examination could prove useful.

[Conundrum]

Vaeron is about to try to move the beams of wood off the trapdoor when he hears the whispering. Not knowing whether the voices belong to friend or foe, he goes back outside.

"Guys, we've got a situation in the Inn. I found the way down into the cellar, but there are people whispering down there. Who wants to come help me move the beams?"

[Skybound Fencer]

The situation with the katana being handled, Nera turned to Vaeron.

"I will come," he said. "Be on your guard."

With that, he moved towards the inn to help move the beams, though he prepared himself for a fight nonetheless.

[Mindfreak]

Nera and Vaeron are able to move all three beams of wood. They can now open the trapdoor to the cellar. The voices behind the trapdoor sound like they are young. These voices become silent when Vaeron and Nera move the beams.

[Conundrum]

"Well, here goes nothing," Vaeron says, reassured by the apparent youth of the voices. With that, he pulls open the trap door.

[Mindfreak]

A young boy around the age of 8 rushes at him, missing him with a rusty dagger. Down further is even younger children. He seems to be the oldest. He has faint stains on his cheeks from crying.
"St-stay away! I w-won't let you hurt them!" he says, trying his hardest to be tough. There's got to be at least 20 children down there!

[Dan2]

Drawn from his concentration on the magical sword, Warryn rushes over, handing the sword to Peren along the way.
"Oh goodness! You found survivors, children at that!"

Once he sees that the young man is holding a dagger, Warryn slows holding up his empty hands to show the child that he means no harm.
"Calm down now, it's ok... You've been incredibly brave, protecting all those others. It's ok now, we're here to help. Why don't you put away the knife and tell us what happened?"

[Mindfreak]

The boy faced towards Warryn.
"D-dad said not to l-let anyone take t-the dagger......"
His face showed he was scared out of his mind and was trying to be brave, poor kid.

[Dan2]

Concern etched into his face, Warryn consoles the kid and tries to move slightly closer and get a good look at the rest of them.
"Don't worry, you don't have to give it to us, just put it away. Is anyone down there hurt? How long have you been hiding?"

[Mindfreak]

"D-dad told me to g-get all of the kids and p-put them in the cellar s-so the giant w-wouldn't get them. We've b-been down here for a c-couple hours."
He still brandished the rusty dagger.
"D-dad also said not to p-put away the dagger!"

[Conundrum]

"Oh!" Vaeron exclaimed suddenly. "Your dad... is he about yay high, balding.. with a beard?" He was getting tired of the kid's stubbornness, and had decided to try a trick - with a vague enough description, the kid was bound to believe that he knew the father.

"Yeah, we saw him on the road, on his way to get more help! It was him who sent us here!"

Bluff: [roll0]

[Mindfreak]

The kid dropped the rusty dagger(which when it hit the ground seemed to look like a normal, clean dagger) and rushed up to Vaeron and grabbed at his clothes, his eyes began to tear up again(he was only 8).
"W-was he okay?"

[Lemonus]

Peren runs up to the kids. "Are any of you seriously hurt? I can help."

[Mindfreak]

Peren runs up to the kids. "Are any of you seriously hurt? I can help."

The kids go further down into the cellar at his approach.
"Dan's Dad said not to talk to strangers."
"Said that they might be from the slavers-"
"-that pose as wine merchants! They're-"
"-drow! The leader got a letter from the nearby Baron that adventurers were coming by!"
"Dan's dad said that the people would be with the slavers!"
They kids go silent and the cries of another child of the age of 6 is heard down in the cellar. He's screaming in pain and his leg is twisted at an unnatural angle.

[Skybound Fencer]

Nera's eyes widened a bit at that.

"The truth always comes out of a child's mouth," he commented, quickly regaining his cold composure. "We've made a terrible mistake."

[Conundrum]

"Well, this is a right mess," Vaeron said, glancing curiously at the no longer rusty dagger. "There's still something else going on here. Can someone go look after whoever's hurt downstairs and then we can investigate further."

[Mindfreak]

The 8 year old boy was on the floor near the trapdoor. He finally looked up at the damage done by the giant.
"There's a kid down there who's leg is broken. The giant picked him up by his leg and tossed him."

[Lemonus]

"I can heal him, if you'll let me."

[Mindfreak]

The kid looked at Peren.
"Please help him."
Once Peren got to the bottom of the cellar, he would see shelves and shelves of preserved food and a large glowing door.

[Lemonus]

"Can one of you please investigate this door?" Peren asks his companions, as he kneels down and puts his hands lightly over te boy's leg. He then transfers some of his own life energy into the boy.

((Using Lay on Hands on the boy the heal his leg.))

[Mindfreak]

The boy's leg is healed! The boy hugs Peren.
"Thank you, Mister!"
Peren's god will now let him feel the aura of a demon inside of the 8 year old boy, it is very faint and seems to be a part of the boy.

[Lemonus]

"Excuse me, but may I inspect you for serious wounds? You seem a bit hurt." Peren asks the 8 year old boy. If the boy let's him, he will on fact inspect the boy to see if he can learn anything more about this demon.

Diplomacy to see if the 8 year old will let me inspect him. [roll0] If the boy let's me inspect him, Religion to try to learn more about the Demon. [roll1]

[Mindfreak]

The boy allows Peren to examine him. Peren will learn that the boy is part daemon, but hasn't manifested any powers yet. The boy looks at the Katana.
"What are you doing with my father's Katana?"
He said, reaching to grab it and succeeding because DM says so. Everyone in the room will feel the energies within the sword react to the boy. Peren will see that his daemon part is reacting to it, taming the wild energies with in.

[Lemonus]

"Who was your mother?"

[Mindfreak]

"Who was your mother?"
:smallconfused:"Dad said mom died after she gave birth to me."
He held onto the Katana tightly in his hands, his dad was probably dead.

[Lemonus]

Peren takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. "I believe that you mother is a daemon. You are part daemon, I sensed it when I met you. You haven't manifested any powers yet, but you may soon. If you do not receive special training, you may hurt a lot of people."

Diplomacy to try to make sure no one freaks out. [roll0]

[Mindfreak]

All the kids that are in the cellar flip out!
The kid that Peren told the news to is relatively calm.
"So why don't I come with you? You can help me, you guys are tough, right?":smallfrown:

[Lemonus]

"Yes, I believe I can help you. You seem like a very calm young man. You didn't act like the others when I told you."

[Mindfreak]

"It's because I'm 8 and they're all under the age of 6. Plus, legends say that Daemons mature faster."
Dan Nay joined the Party! Controlled by me. Let's just say that he's a striker.

[Skybound Fencer]

For his part, Nera went near the big glowy door and began to examine it.

"Before we do that, though," he answered, cracking the joints in his fist. "I believe we have to pay a visit to an old friend."


Let's see, uh...Perception?

[roll0]

[Conundrum]

At the revelation that the boy is part daemon, Vaeron gave a cry of protest.

"Hey, come on! That's the kind of thing that we should really discuss before we go telling everyone! Oh well, not much for it now," he adds, looking around at the panicked children.

"Now... Dan, was it? Can you tell us anything about this door? Or about why that dagger isn't all rusty anymore?"

[Lemonus]

Peren tries to remember anything he knows about daemons that he could use to help the boy.

Religion: [roll0]

[Mindfreak]

Peren will remember that those who are part daemon manifest powers at the age of 9, and that a diamond can help then concentrate when those powers manifest.
Nera will realize that those nice drow wine merchants that helped them get this far are actually slave traders!
Dan shook his head at Vaeron's question.
"I don't know anything, my dad does though. If you saw him on the way here you could probably find him again. The last time I saw him he had lost an arm and was bleeding."

[Skybound Fencer]

The monk looked the door up and down, then sighed and turned to his companions.

"This door is opened using a password, or in any case, a spoken sentence," he said. "We have no means of opening it otherwise; unless somebody here does know the password, it will stay locked."

[Dan2]

Warryn raises his voice and adopts a slightly higher pitch, trying to catch the children's attention, "Come over here, kids. Let's get out of this dank cellar. I'm sure we can find something to do up there."
As he tries to lead the kids out of the cellar, he whispers to his group, "We need to get these kids somewhere safe. I think we need to take them back to the city."

[Mindfreak]

The kids come out of the cellar and followed Warryn.

[Skybound Fencer]

Nera followed after them, and leaned over Warryn to whisper:

"Shall we pay a visit to our 'friends' once the children are safe, then?"

[Dan2]

Warryn nods to Nera, "I think that would be best for them. Though, we'll need to be quite careful about who knows that we're bringing them into town. If the stuff about slavers is right... Just a moment, I think I have an idea for the carts."

Warryn turns around for a moment and looks down into the cellar.
"Dan, could you join us up here? I need to know everything your dad told you about the slavers."

[Mindfreak]

Warryn nods to Nera, "I think that would be best for them. Though, we'll need to be quite careful about who knows that we're bringing them into town. If the stuff about slavers is right... Just a moment, I think I have an idea for the carts."

Warryn turns around for a moment and looks down into the cellar.
"Dan, could you join us up here? I need to know everything your dad told you about the slavers."

Dan was up there. :l
"My dad said they were drow and they had the last name of something like John or Root. They kidnapp small children around my age and sell them. The younger ones they use for sacrifices."

[Dan2]

Warryn jumps a little when Dan speaks from behind him, "Oh! There you are. Something with 'John' or 'Root', you say? It's probably the Johnroots. We've recently... 'acquired' their cart and their wine shipment. It'll only be for a little while, but to get you guys to somewhere safe, you'll need to ride in the cart. Don't worry, I've got a trick up my sleeve to confuse the people that wanted to take you."
He stands up and speaks a little louder, now addressing all of the kids, "It's time for us to go for a ride in a cart!"

[Mindfreak]

"To the cart!"
"Cart Trip!"
"On the Road!"
"Cricketnap!"
"....Jim you never make sense."
As the children rush out and get in the cart you see that most of them are human, a few are elves, there was a drow child, and there was a dwarf child. They pile into the cart.
"Smooth wood...."
"Good paint job!"
"Cricketnap!"
Dan looks up at Warryn.
"Where will you bring them?"

[Dan2]

Warryn, already standing eye-level with the young lad adopts a somber expression, "I intend to, with the rest of my group, take them somewhere where they will be cared for. That may yet involve taking them to the very city where the Johnroots live. Rest assured, I do not intend to leave you all until I'm confident in your futures."

[Mindfreak]

"Alright, there is an orphanage in that town. Most of their parents are most likely dead. Can you show me how to use my father's Katana?"

[Dan2]

A hearty laugh bubbles up from inside Warryn at the request, "Hahaha, I'm afraid not, my friend. You see, I know little about the use of weaponry and, oh!"
A wave of realization crashes into him, "I suppose you mean to learn about its magical powers! While I have studied the sword, I haven't been able to glean its secrets yet. Should you come along with us, I could continue to try if you'd like..."

[Mindfreak]

"Actually I meant how to swing it about and such, I already know what its powers are. You just unsheath it like so......."
He had it on his side and he unsheathed it, it was bigger then it looked before! It seemed to be some sort of Great Katana! It had fur at the handle as well.
He then seemed to focus. He brought it upwards like a boxer throws an uppercut. A great swath of wind seemed to form around it and shot off. It hit one of the wooden beams and cut through it.
"When my dad does it it's bigger."
If anyone else were to try that, it would be a normal Katana for them.

[Dan2]

Warryn stands back, arms crossed as he watches the short display. "That's quite impressive. A little training, and you'll be a swordsman in no time. Unfortunately, I can't really be the one to teach you. It isn't quite my idiom."

[Mindfreak]

Dan frowned.
"I just wish my dad was here to teach me. Where did he go after he talked to you guys?"
Yeah, Vaeron shouldn't lie.

[Lemonus]

"I know how to use swords, although I am more proficient with longswords."

[Dan2]

Warryn becomes clearly uncomfortable after hearing the question. He stumbles over words for a couple of seconds before saying, "I... I didn't really see your dad out there myself... It's possible that I wasn't paying attention at the time, though. I have had a number of magical baubles to study recently. Vaeron would probably know the answer though..."

[Mindfreak]

"I just hope I find my dad soon, tomorrow's my birthday."
dun Dun DUN!

[Conundrum]

Vaeron gives Warryn a withering look.

"Well, when I saw him he was headed to get more help," he says easily. "I'm sure he'll turn up."

[Mindfreak]

"That's what my dad said after he told me my cat ran away."

[Dan2]

A curious look flickers across Warryn's face as he asks, "What kind of cat are you talking about?"

[Conundrum]

Vaeron puts his hands protectively over a small bulge in his pocket.

"Oh, I'm sure he means a different cat," he says, glancing around nervously.

[Mindfreak]

"It was this warforged cat. She had her kittens and then ran away, according to my father. The kittens disappeared on their own to be claimed by an owner. See, a warforged cat is claimed for life."
Dan stood and stretched.
"Unless you guys got a piece of paper that has the phrase that opens the vault door down there, there's nothing left here. Behind that door is our armory for our best weapons and armor."

[Skybound Fencer]

Nera frowned at this, crossing his arms.

"A piece of paper that..." he muttered.

That is where he stopped to think. Then, he brought his palm to his face, and rubbed his temple.

"As a matter of fact," he commented, turning back towards the door, "we do have a piece of paper with the password on it."

Once the monk reached the door, he looked at it and then pronounced, deadpan:

"Super Strawberry Funtime."

[Mindfreak]

Nothing visible happens for a whole minute. From behind the door you can hear multiple locks coming out and steam hissing. The glyphs on the door fade, and it then opens slowly. The room is dark and you can see a candle but that's all, no matter what your vision is.

[Skybound Fencer]

Nera carefully approached the candle, pacing very slowly inside the room. He didn't see anything, but that certainly didn't mean he couldn't feel anything.


I'll roll Perception anyway, see if Nera feels anything.

[roll0]

[Mindfreak]

Nera feels nothing inside the room. The lone candle is all you can see, it is right at the front of th vault as well. He does also notice a tinderbox on the ground next to the candle.

[Dan2]

Warryn meanders up to the opening of the chamber and whistles, "Impressively dark in here. Let's see what's inside."
He looks down at the candle and tinderbox on the floor and says, "Let's not light that just yet. I can think of hundreds of materials that explode when exposed to fire, but very few that explode when exposed to magic."

Warryn has low-light vision. If that isn't enough to see clearly, he'll cast light on his holy symbol

[Mindfreak]

Like said before, it is dark no matter what your vision is. It's a magical darkness. Warryn's vision cannot pierce the darkness and neither can his light from his holy symbol. The candle and tinderbox looks special.

[Dan2]

Huh! They must have had a specialist come in here. I guess we have to use this candle... Try not to set anything on fire."
He pats Nera on the shoulder a couple of times before backing up a number of steps.

[Skybound Fencer]

Nera sighed, and picked up the tinderbox. He opened it and, using the flint and the firesteel inside, tried to set the candle aflame by sending a spark flying on it. He was not afraid of any eventual explosion, though waited for Warryn to step out before beginning.

[Conundrum]

Vaeron watched with baited breath, not game to enter the darkness himself. Truth be told, he'd always been a little afraid of the dark.

[Mindfreak]

The candle lights and the room is lit. A stark white longsword and a grey longbow are on the wall. Plus 5000 gold strewn about the floor.

[Skybound Fencer]

Nera turned towards his companions, and shrugged before crossing his arms.

"If you're quite done cowering from the darkness like children, pick up the loot, will you?"

[Conundrum]

"Uh, normally I'd be all for that," Vaeron says a little nervously. "But doesn't this seem a bit too easy? What if there's another trap on the loot?"

[Skybound Fencer]

Nera stared at Vaeron. It was funny, really, how an aloof guy like Nera could express such exasperation with just a gaze. With that, he picked up the candle and turned towards the rest of the room, raising the light high to dispel the darkness.

"I may have confused who the children and the adults are in this cellar," he snarked.

Then, he began checking around the room for traps, mostly focusing on the sword and the bow on the walls.


Perception to check for traps:

[roll0]

[Mindfreak]

Nera finds a single trap on the items. The most he can glean from them is that they will either cut off your hands when you touch one of the weapons or they will put a watch on your arm.

[Skybound Fencer]

Nera nodded, and kept away from the items, turning to his companions again.

"The sword and the bow will snap your hands off if you touch them, apparently," he said. "I don't suppose anybody bothered to take some tools along with him? Our other solution is a long stick, I suppose."

He managed to say all of this with a perfectly straight face on.

[Conundrum]

"See! That's the only problem with treasure. It tends to try to hurt you. Everything else about it is fantastic. The gold is safe, then?"

[Dan2]

Warryn straightens up and says, "Let's see how firmly they're mounted..."
Warryn makes a couple of gestures and a spectral hand appears.
He cast Mage Hand.

It floats over to the weapon on the wall and tries to lift it.

[Skybound Fencer]

"I did not spot any trap in the gold, at the very least, no."

[Mindfreak]

Warryn straightens up and says, "Let's see how firmly they're mounted..."
Warryn makes a couple of gestures and a spectral hand appears.
He cast Mage Hand.

It floats over to the weapon on the wall and tries to lift it.

It plucks the weapon off the wall easily. For a whole 2 minutes nothing happened. Then, a sharp looking blade poked out of the wall and sliced over the spot where the sword was.

[Conundrum]

"Hah, look at those silly old traps," Vaeron laughs, instantly regaining his confidence.

He walks over to the bow still hanging on the wall and quickly removes it, then jumps back three steps, just in case.

[Mindfreak]

"Hah, look at those silly old traps," Vaeron laughs, instantly regaining his confidence.

He walks over to the bow still hanging on the wall and quickly removes it, then jumps back three steps, just in case.

This trap didn't even go off at all!
Now that Vaeron is holding onto the bow, he feels the overwhelming desire to never give it to anyone else and to protect it against any harm. He also believes that it is his father's bow and that there's nothing wrong with it. He will only be able to see that it is cursed by removing the curse.

[Conundrum]

"Heyyyyy..." Vaeron says suspiciously, looking more closely at the bow. "What's my father's bow doing here??"

He looks around suspiciously, but of course the children are already back above ground. "Remind me to ask that Dan kid about this later," he says as he slings the bow over his back.

Is the bow actually a weapon? Could I use it to shoot things if I wanted? What are its stats? :smallbiggrin:

[Dan2]

Still holding the sword aloft, Warryn lowers his head and shakes it slowly. "Oh..." Warryn says quietly, " that's not good. Let's see if we can get this sword into a scabbard without someone else discovering an old family heirloom, shall we?"

He walks back out of the room and lays the sword on the ground before using the disembodied hand to help sweep up the rest of the gold.

I have a question for you, Mindfreak. Would you allow me to change the size of the ritual Tenser's Floating Disk? What would it take to do so?

[Dan2]

Once the gold has been collected, Warryn carefully wraps the sword and hands it off to Peren. "I think you might find use for this, but be careful."
He then heads back up to the surface where he left the children and leads them to the cart, reassuring them that soon they'll be safe and looked after.

[Mindfreak]

Neither of them will feel any ill effects by touching it wrapped in cloth. The children are very excited.

[Skybound Fencer]

Nera thanked his Monk training for giving him very high patience and tolerance, and then prepared to depart, waiting for the rest of the group.

[Lemonus]

Peren carefully attaches the sword to his belt, then joins the others outside.

[Conundrum]

Vaeron also heads outside, guarding his bow jealously.

"Ok, pack the kids in the carts and let's get moving."

[Mindfreak]

The Stark White Sword doesn't have a sheath. But when it comes into contact with his belt a sheath suddenly forms around it, attaching it to his belt. The sheath seems to be Stark White as well, and as hard as steel yet as flexible as leather.
The children are already in the cart!
Where are you going to go?
(First to say where is where you're going)

[Dan2]

Dan mentioned that the town from whence we came had an orphanage. It isn't perfect, but that is where we are headed. (Unless there are any objections)

[Mindfreak]

Since there are no objections, you make your way to the town you were previously in! A large party greets you when you come in and the baron walks over.
"You're back! I bet those goblins didn't stand a chance!"
The baron looked in the cart and saw only children.
"Where are the weapons?"

[Lemonus]

Peren pulls the Baron over to one side. "Listen. You wouldn't happen to know anything about any slaver rings, would you?" He asks in a menacing tone.

Intimidate: [roll0]

[Mindfreak]

"What? Slaver rings? What are you talking about? Are you insinuating that I'm a part of a slaver ring?!"
The baron is quite offended.
Intimidation Check: Failed

[Skybound Fencer]

"We found these children," the Monk commented, "in a bandit's hold. They were to be sent as slaves."

[Mindfreak]

"This is news to me! What's the names of these slavers? They shall not live to see another sunrise!"
He looks pissed.

[Skybound Fencer]

Nera turned away from the Baron and approached Dan, who was presumably still on the cart.

"Why don't you tell the Baron about the people who took you captive?" He said, his voice still neutral.

[Mindfreak]

"Well, no one took us captive really, my dad just warned me about the drow slavers that were also wine merchants."
"The Johnroots?"
"Yeah! That's their name!"
Nera will be able to see the female elf that they saw on the Johnroot's farm running away from the crowd towards the Johnroot's farm.

[Skybound Fencer]

"If you'll excuse me," the Monk said, before bee-lining through everyone else and chasing after the elf girl.

[Mindfreak]

Elf Girl's Streetwise Check:
[roll0]
The elf girl is very good at weaving through town, hopefully Nera won't lose her.

[Skybound Fencer]

Nera was surprised at the girl's skill, and soon began to lose his momentum, but kept chasing after her, hoping not to lose her from sight.

[Mindfreak]

He's able to keep up with the girl, but barely, she seems to be getting further away.....
[roll0]
She trips and falls!

[Skybound Fencer]

Briefly wondering who he had to thank for his luck, Nera takes this opportunity to try and catch up, even attempting to jump on the girl if necessary.

[Mindfreak]

The girl doesn't provide any resistance when he jumps on her.
"P-please don't hurt me!"

[Lemonus]

Peren does not try to follow the elf girl, but instead stays to protect the children. He is still suspicious of the Baron.

[Skybound Fencer]

Nera grabbed the girl by the collar, and dragged her back towards the group, staying silent.

[Mindfreak]

The girl is dragged without any resistance.
"Please d-don't hurt me. I d-don't want a-any trouble."

[Skybound Fencer]

Once they arrived next to the group, Nera dropped her next to the rest of them and waited for a reaction.


So, uh...you guys gonna do something?