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The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
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."
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
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?"
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
"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."
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
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?"
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
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."
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
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."
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
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."
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
"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.
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
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."
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
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.
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
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."
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
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?
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
Peren leaves the room along with the rest of the group.
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
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'
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
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..."
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
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.
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
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?"
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
"It's backwards! It actually reads, 'Orcus of descendants'. I wonder what it means, though..."
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
Spoiler
Show
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.
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
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."
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
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!"
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
"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.
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
"It's backwards again! Rubilacxe is Excalibur backwards!"
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
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?"
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
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.
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
Vaeron gasps as the vision ends, shakes his head violently and stares at the others, wild-eyed.
"Did any of you see that!?"
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
"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.
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
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."
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
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."
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
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.
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
"Great, after you," Vaeron said distractedly, watching the fighting men. "Ugh, look at that technique. Awful. Leaves himself open after every swing..."
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
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."
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
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?"
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
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."
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
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."
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
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."
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
"If you want to see the carts, follow me."
The elf gets up and starts walking towards a barn. The door was closed.
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
"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."
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
Nera followed after the elf, waiting to see the wagons before making a judgment.
"Generosity always hides something else," he said wisely.
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
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."
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
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.
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
"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?"
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
"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."
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
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."
Spoiler
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Insight check to see if he's keeping anything from us, specifically about the relationship between the Johnroots and the goblins.
[roll0]
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
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."
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
"The Johnroots have been in business a long time. Have the goblins been around that long?"
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
"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."
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
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."
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
"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."
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
"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."
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
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."
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
"We could just say that there are bandits on the road to the goblins, and that we are guards."
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
"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."
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
"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?"
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
"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..."
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
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.
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
"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?"
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
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."
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
"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..."
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Re: The Chaos of Orcus(4e Paragon Tier game)
"It depends on what god you serve. The mob that tried to run him out said it was in the name of Pelor."