Chapter 2: The Sinews of War

[Pulpatoon]

Splinter: No problem. You are guarding the stairs, Maximus. And the papers are processed in order. But you don't guard the stack of papers. I'm going to put these here on the pile of garbage and then the note Kurt is writing will be the only one. and with that he dumps all the old notes onto the garbage heap.

Maximus: "DO NOT DO THAT. MESSAGES VERY IMPORTANT TO WIZARD. WILL BE ANSWERED IN ORDER IN WHICH THEY ARE RECEIVED."

Kurt "uh ok." he sets down the note on the pile trying to move it closer to the front of the stack.

Maximus: "THANK YOU. YOU HEAR BACK AT SOONEST AVAILABLE OPPORTUNITY."

The party considers their options in the flickering dark. Dust settles gently all around them. Wikerus digs through refuse.

Maximus remains still at the foot of the stairs. After a few quiet minutes, a gentle snoring once again emerges from his chest.

Wikerus:

You find a small, very corroded silver vial. A few swallows of something swishes around inside it. A motto was once engraved on it, of which only a few letters are still legible: Oil d* *olygl*t.

[kensanata]

Splinter follows Maximus' command and looks at the others. From his backpack he gets a bunch of marbles and puts them in his left hand. With his right hand, he points at the chain one of his newfound friends is carrying. It's hard to read his wooden expression but his helping hand looks like it's ready to grab one end of the chain and start running.

[coil23]

Horton nods at the idea of wrapping the giant's feet in chain. He pantomimes a question of how to attach the two ends once wrapped to make sure the feet stay wrapped?

[ChubbyPixie]

No reaction to Wikerus' suggestion that the giant help in the battle? Just making sure it was ignored (by him) and not missed...

[GreyWolfVT]

Kurt looks at the stairs and points and shouts at the nutcracker "Is that a fire on the stairs?"

[mb.]

In the huddle, Deet's eyes go wide at the sight of the marbles. He grins hugely and nods emphatically at Splinters, more or less whispering, "yup yup YUP! With marbles behind us, we don't need no chain! He'll be slipping and falling and we'll be up the stairs!" He scratches his chin, humming for a moment, "but we gotta get him away from them stairs..."

Schroff yips and tugs at Deet's pants with his teeth. Deet cocks his head as if listening, then smiles down at Schroff, "you're the best pup a boy could have." He hold his lit torch down low, Schroff grips it with his teeth and trots purposefully off towards the message pile. Deet grins around at his friends, "that'll get the Big Wood Man moving."

If no one loudly objects or moves to stop him, Schroff will shortly drop the torch on the heap of garbage and messages. WOOMF!

[Urson]

When the giant starts snoring again, Jake moves as quietly as possible to his feet, cautiously wrapping the chain around the Big Guy's ankles. Twenty feet should go around several times. The chain has hooks on both ends, so securing it to itself will not be a problem.

[coil23]

Horton monitors the giant while the chain-wrapping commences. He whispers, we still need the chain, methinks. He is so big we don't want to find out he just crushes the marbles with nothing else in place.

[mb.]

Oops, looks like we've gotten out of sync. If Jake's makin' with the chain, Schroff will wait with the message immolation until he's done.

[Pulpatoon]

No reaction to Wikerus' suggestion that the giant help in the battle? Just making sure it was ignored (by him) and not missed...

Ah! I'd meant to have Max respond to that. He wouldn't have gone for it. It's not his job to worry about the rats. He's here to guard the tower.

[Pulpatoon]

The party securely wraps Jake's chain around Maximus' legs, while Splinters scatters marbles. Schroff the dog is holding a torch in his mouth, which is adorable. Maximus continues to snore, gently.

Everyone onboard with the plan? Ready to go?

[kensanata]

Aye!

[mb.]

Yup yup yup! Only thing: I was imagining Splinters dropping the marbles behind us, after we reach the stairs, so we don't have to run through them ourselves...

Seeing Jake's thumbs up, Deet moves towards the bottom of the stairs and nods at Schroff, who drops the torch - WOOMF! - and begins barking for all he's worth, springing back and forth by the heap.

[Pulpatoon]

Maximus springs back to life, wooden limbs already racing to put out the fire, only to be held tight by the chains. The nutcracker tips over with a resounding crash that shakes the stone and sends up a wall of dust. He bellows, "FIRE BAD!"

Seeing the party collected at the bottom of the stairs, he continues, "YOU MAY NOT PASS! STAIRS ARE FORBIDDEN! BURNING MESSAGES CAUSES CONFUSION AND DELAY! ORDERLY PROCESSING NO LONGER BE GUARANTEED!"

The great arms flail around, ready to catch anyone nearby. Because he was turning towards the fire, he fell away from the stairs, and can't reach those of you at the bottom steps. I'll need a DEX save from Schroff to make it past Maximus to join the rest of you at the stairs.

Actions!
Next post: Wednesday, 10am EST, 2pm GMT

[kensanata]

Splinter shouts, RUUUUUN!! and waves everybody past him. Then, when everybody has gone, he follows, dropping marbles one by one as he goes.

[Urson]

Jake scampers for the stairs as best he can with one animated wooden leg tock-tock-tock-tock-tock!

[coil23]

Horton is amazed at what a travesty this "quiet escape" has become. None of us had any business leaving town, he thinks in disgust. Hustling up the human-sized stairs his mind wistfully conjures images of quietly reading manuscripts by candlelight, contentedly sorting and filing books into an orderly mass, drinking a relatively unsour wine alone in the wee hours of the morning- not enough people awake and about yet to have ruined the day for him. *sigh* And now I'm an AWOL wooden soldier, as incompetent as my compatriots, and running circles in a deadly madhouse.

[mb.]

Schroff, scrappy mutt that he is, charges straight at the fallen Big Wood Man, springs surprisingly high in the air ([1d20] = 7 vs DEX 16) with a yip! and lands with a clatter of claws on stone near the base of the stairs. He takes a moment to lift his leg and pee against the bottom step, then trots jauntily up the stairs with his head held high and a gleam in his eyes.

Ain't he just adorable?

Deet watches this with a gaping mouth, then yells, "YAH!" when Schroff lands safely. As everyone scrambles upwards, he elbows Jake ecstatically, "have you ever met a better pup, Jake? Anyone? Never! There ain't any! Nopenopenope!"

[ChubbyPixie]

Wikerus is both shocked and delighted that the plan seems to be working. He's also vaguely terrified. "I wonder if that big fellow'll be able to right himself? We'd best hurry and hope we don't have to return this way... giants, soldiers and rats for enemies...." He scrambles up the stairs with the others as best he is able.

[GreyWolfVT]

Kurt will attempt to light the notes on fire to further distract the large nutcracker again...