Chapter 2: The Sinews of War

[coil23]

Horton hustles up the stairs, exerting far more energy than he is accustomed to doing. Between breaths he offers, I hate to seem ungrateful but the fire-starting means the smoke is heading the same direction we are. He holds a rag over his mouth for several seconds before it occurs to him to wonder if, as a wooden soldier, he even breathes. He can't be sure. The rag stays in place, even if only to console him that he may still be somewhat human.

[mb.]

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

Just as catch up GreyWolfVT: Schroff set the notes on fire already, and everyone is booking it up the stairs...

[Urson]

As Jake runs, only slightly regretting the loss of his chain, he laughs. Ma always said 'smoke follows beauty'. I guess this load is followin' me, then!

[Pulpatoon]

The party springs up the steps, raining marbles behind them. Schroff nimbly leaps over the flailing arms of the prone nutcracker. But wait! They've left Kurt behind! Never the brightest of lights in our gallery of stars, Kurt is tending the fire set by Schroff, kicking more bundles of messages into the blaze.

Maximus, having failed to grab Schroff, turns his attention to undoing the chain wrapped around his legs. In his hurry, he fumbles ineffectively at the tangle, before deciding to strong-arm it. Grabbing two links, he begins to pull. There is an audible creaking—from the links of from the nutcracker's arms?—and the links begin to separate. He may be free very soon.

The nutcracker bellows: "MAXIMUS SMASH PUNY INTERLOPERS!"

The space is a large enough, that the smoke is nothing more than a nuisance, at present.

The party on the stairs has made it sixty feet up, which is about a quarter of the way to the top. The bas-relief dome is alive with reflected light, writhing with a molten pretension of life. Or is it pretension? Are the putti actually beckoning to you? What urgent message are they trying to convey?

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

[kensanata]

Splinter watches helplessly as the giant breaks his chains and at oblivious Kurt. Up here, Kurt! he shouts and waves. Up here! Or out the door! To the army and the rats! Then he turns around, spreads the last of his marbles as he follows the party and heads further up. We really should have a backup plan for shoving him down if he followed us, he says.

[ChubbyPixie]

Wikerus, alarmed by the creaking sound and especially by the giant's promise to pulverize them all mercilessly, continues running up the stairs with all the speed he can muster. It's all he can do to keep his eyes on the steps, he'll worry about those suspicious ceiling decorations later.

[GreyWolfVT]

Kurt & Hans sprint to the stairs...

[mb.]

Deet, caught up in all the excitement, and Schroff's heroics, is unaware of the potential pulverisation below, and pretentious putti above, and stays right behind Jake.

[coil23]

As he continues up the human-sized area of the stairs, Horton tries to gauge safe distance in case the Nutcracker gets free. The steps are giant-sized, i.e. quite wide, so once they are high enough (just a little taller than the pulverizer) then they could hug the wall and likely be unreachable as they continue upwards. He estimates the height of the Nutcracker and then looks to see how much higher they need go to reach that.

The wooden librarian also looks to see if the marbles are on the giant portion of the staircase in case they are followed.

[Pulpatoon]

The giant stairs of even larger proportion than nutcracker. While the nutcracker could scale them more easily than you could, Horton guesses Maximus will take the human stairs. The lower ten stairs or so have marbles on them.

Horton remembers the alarming speed of the Nutcracker when first awoken. It crossed about seventy feet of floor in easily half the time it would have taken one of the party. You're getting a good head start, but you don't feel comfortable with it, yet.

[Urson]

Dammit! I promised Uncle I'd bring back his chain! Jake leans into the job, running faster up the stairs.

[Pulpatoon]

The party continues to run up the stairs, pointedly ignoring the aureate tumult above their heads. The farther they climb, the brighter the light. It shines with a radiance that surely surpasses the reflected firelight from below. Where the light touches your skin, it feels warm and pleasant, the quintessence of every perfect summer afternoon grazing your tired flesh and lending it new vigor. You hear the faint strains of something you can only call music.

Horton and Jake each recover 1 hp.

By my notes, Horton has STR 11 and 1 hp. Jake is at full STR and 5 hp. Everyone else is topped off. If I have this wrong, plese let me know.

Kurt & Hans sprint to the stairs...

Kurt Smithington DEX: 10 [1d20] = 15
Hans Morse DEX: 13 [1d20] = 18
Both are also suffering a -2 penalty to their DEX due to stiffly-painted clothes.

Maximus, still kneeling where he fell, drops his struggle with the chain and handily snatches up both Kurt and Hans.
[1d2] = 2
Holding both men in the air by their ankles, Maximus raised Hans above his head, and begins to lower him towards his great, blocky maw, 12" teeth open to pulverize bone and flesh.
[1d12] = 10
That brings Hans to 0 hp and 0 STR. Sorry Hans!
With a wet crunch, the white teeth bite—very white, and then very red. Hans fairly explodes. Blood and viscera drip down the nutcracker's cheery uniform. Maximus spits gobs of gore as he yells, "SMASH! SMASH YOU ALL! YOU MAY NOT PASS! MAXIMUS STRONGEST ONE THERE IS!"

Kurt, splattered and smirched, dangles upside down in a most undignified manner. Any rolls while so held will be Disadvantaged.

Having spent two rounds running up the stairs, it would take anyone in the party two rounds to run back down them—or one round with a DEX save to avoid falling.

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

[Urson]

Jake glances back in time to see Hans being spat out. Dammit,dammit,dammit! he grumbles as he spins around and heads back, hoping not to lose any more of the party.

Dex 16 [1d20] = 9

[kensanata]

Splinter stops in his track as he hears the crunch and the shout, runs along the giant stair he's on towards the center of the tower to where he has a clear view of Maximus and Kurt, kneels down, takes his musket, aims, and fires.
Musket [1d8] = 5

[GreyWolfVT]

Kurt having come and lost his servant (Hans) and his dear friend (William) tries to dig out the item his father gave him digging for the gavel and trying to use it's powers to hold the nutcrackers mouth open with the powers of the gavel of the unbreakable seal unsure of it's ability being able to work on a giant mouth.

[coil23]

Hearing the musket fire Horton calls back quietly, don't stop! All we can do now is die too. Come back later when it is asleep again and then we have a chance. Horton continues on but is now paying attention to what is ahead/above, concerned they may have a new worry soon.

That greyish, viscous liquid in the jar Horton found- does he have any ideas on what it could be? For example, could it be Greek fire?

[Pulpatoon]

Horton is welcome to experiment with the contents. Common methods include pouring a bit out, sniffing, and sipping. Or feeding to a henchman.

[mb.]

Hearing wet crunching and screams below, Deet stops, looks back in horror, and does a little continue/go back dance before Splinters' cooler wooden head and loud musket shot snap him out of it. He nods at Splinters, brings his own musket to his shoulder, takes a moment (he's well out of Maximus' reach after all) and fires! Flash Bang! Smoke! [1d8] = 4

Pulp:

Or would taking a moment to aim make the shot enhanced by chance? Happy to take a round for that if it helps. [1d12] = 9

[ChubbyPixie]

Wikerus, net in one hand and axe in the other, continues sprinting up the stairs, with no intention of stopping until he judges he is somewhat out of reach. If he gets too far ahead of the musketeers, though, he will slow and stop and turn to nervously watch the action and catch his breath.

[Pulpatoon]

The party reacts quickly in response to the bloody mastication below!

Jake flies down the stairs as fast as his mis-matched feet will allow. He will reach the bottom of the stairs next round.
Shaggy, Mouse, and Vanis follow Jake.
Shaggy Beaker DEX: 6 [1d20] = 16
Mouse DEX: 8 [1d20] = 11
Vanis Huckle DEX: 9 [1d20] = 14
All three trip in their haste, fouling each other's progress, and go tumbling down the long flight of unforgiving, stone stairs. Shaggy takes the worst of it, with Mouse and Vanis landing in a tangled pile upon him. Shaggy and Mouse are both unconscious and bleeding. Vanis is stunned from the fall, but unsteadily regains his feet.
Stair damage:
Shaggy: [1d6] = 5 STR reduced to 11: [1d6] = 1
Mouse: [1d6] = 1 STR 9: [1d20] = 11 Mouse now has a Scar! Extra HD, if he survives this ordeal!
Vanis: [1d6] = 1

Splinter takes aim and fires his musket! Maximus' hat goes flying off his great, blocky head.
Deet takes up position next to Splinter, but spends his time collecting himself for a precise shot. Enhanced shot, next round.

Kurt, despairing over the loss of his friend and protector, retrieves the family gavel, and bangs on the side of the nutcracker's jaw. (Unusual use of an arcana requires a check: Kurt's WIL: 10. [1d20] = 18) This action appears entirely futile, however.
Maximus brings Kurt towards that terrible maw. (Given GreyWolf's departure from the game, I'll forgo an actual roll.) With a single snap, the judge's beautiful son is gone. His gavel falls into the dust beside Maximus.
Maximus yells amid a spatter of viscera, "NUM NUM NUMMY! MAXIMUS NUMMIEST ONE THERE IS!"

Wikerus and Horton continue to sprint up the stairs. The golden light is increasingly intense. The air on your cheeks is stirred by the movement of feathered wings. There is a choir just out of hearing.
Horton WIL: 8 [1d20] = 1
Wikerus WIL: 16 [1d20] = 2
Your feet feel lighter as you run up the stairs. You want to climb higher and higher. You want to ascend. But the grim reality of your situation keeps you grounded.
Langston and Brick, however, lose themselves in the heavenly sussurus. Their feet slow and stop, as they gawp in wide-eyed wonder at the golden ceiling. They begin to float upwards, awash in radiance, where the plump, dimple-elbowed arms of golden putti reach out to receive them.
Horton heals another 1 hp, which brings him back up to full.
Horton and Wikerus will reach the top of the stairs after one more round of running.

Total Damage to Maximus: 5
Actions!
Next post: Wednesday, 10am EDT, 2pm GMT