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]

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.

[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.