Chapter 2: The Sinews of War

[Pulpatoon]

Shaggy Beaker is able to requisition some carpentry tools for the party from the Quartemaster. He is informed that they will need to be returned promptly, as these count as essential medical supplies for the Toy Soldiers.

The rest of the camp takes no notice as the party heads out to the Barricade. The great ridge of furniture is blue and indistinct in the gathering mist.

It occurs to one that these conditions would make it hard to notice, say, a white rat.

Do you set a guard?
Everyone who is searching through the furniture, please roll a d20.

[ChubbyPixie]

Wikerus Blume

Wikerus scans the pile of jumbled furniture, suddenly spooked, due to the eerie mist he supposes.

Furniture Scavenging Roll: [1d20] = 13

He supposes he's mainly searching for a wardrobe or cabinet, but also keeps an eye out for wheeled items: spinning wheels, drink carts, baby carriages, hobby horses, etc...

[GreyWolfVT]

Kurt volunteers himself and Hans for guard duty at the barricade of furniture.

[coil23]

Horton will help search for a bit and then will join Kurt as sentry while the others continue.

[1d20] = 3

[mjulius]

Langston pokes about the furniture: prying loose the good bits, teetering among the planks and legs.
Brick, no fool, directs Langston's efforts from the ground.

[1d20] = 2

[Urson]

Jake has gotten much more comfortable with his new leg, and is chafing for some action. He begins looking for suitable planks and wheels with the others.

[1d20] = 5

[Pulpatoon]

With Kurt and Hans on guard duty atop the Barricade, and Brick yelling advice from below, Wikerus, Horton, Langston, Jake, and Deet dig through the furniture looking for building materials.

After about fifteen minutes of digging, the party has uncovered plenty of material to work with: a big wardrobe, several cocktail carts, a broken wheelbarrow, one spinning wheel, and a particularly large, sturdy hat box.

You have also found several items of potential value.
Wikerus Blume: A gold-plated brooch shaped in the form of a dragonfly, worth, according to Mouse, about 30 Shillings.


Horton: A round-bodied glass bottle containing a greasy, grayish liquid.

Langston: A small pouch with 20 copper coins inside.
 The coins a bright little octagonals, marked with a dense net of characters from a language you do not recognize.

Jake: A sewing dummy that is, somehow, inexpressibly more elegant than any human figure you have ever encountered. It's oddly captivating.

Deet: Deet's roll: [1d20] = 5 A very small-sized top hat, maybe fit for a pixie or a leprechaun.

Shaggy: Shaggy's roll: [1d20] = 3 Mouse's roll: [1d20] = 17 A bottle containing an electric-blue cordial.

Mouse: A copper broomstick worth 5sp. All the straw is gone.

Vanis: Vanis' Roll: [1d20] = 13 Twelve rune-inscribed pieces of ebony that look like they should fit together to create a flat, black rectangular frame about four feet square.

Mouse is convinced that there are more treasures to plumb amid the Barricade.

Drama Roll:

[1d6] = 4

Although the lookouts do not see any signs of rats, giant or otherwise, the fog does roil disquietingly in a way that could be the vagaries of atmosphere.

If you want to spend more digging around for more goodies, roll 1d20, again.
You find ample materials to work with—if there's any plausible furniture you'd like to have for your construction, let's just say you find it.
Are you going to preform your construction out here, or elsewhere?
Please describe the process and result of your construction. Feel free to make it colorful.
Lastly, ItO assumes general competence from characters, so there's no mechanical question of whether or not you can build this thing. But, I'm curious which of you think of you characters as being handy with a set of woodworking tools.

[Urson]

Jake takes his dressmaker's dummy out of the general pile of wreckage and puts her in a safe spot.

Seeing some of the valuables the others have turned up, he'll dig a little longer.
[1d20] = 18

Then, he'll go assist with the construction. Jake grew up on a farm- a small, poor farm, so that the family had to do a lot of their own maintenance and fabrication. He's no carpenter, but he's got some idea of how to knock together functional stuff.

[ChubbyPixie]

Not caring for the look of the swirling mist, Wikerus decides it might be best to leave off searching the pile and get to work helping build the cart. He helps Jake affix the axles before they dicker a bit as to which of the oddly sized wheels would best serve for locomotion. They finally decide to use the cocktail cart wheels exclusively, for a smoother ride, though having been the one to uncover the spinning wheel, Wikerus argues for a time in favor of an asymmetrical wheel base before giving in to reason. Instead, in order to "leave his mark," he elects to quickly knock out some ornamental carving around the upper edge of the container, to "fancify" it - cherub faces at the corners with tiny wings. The work is, in fact, the best he's ever done - much better than his stonework. Still, the little eyes point in unpredictable directions and one of the cherubs looks like it suffers from a constant, nagging pain.

"Eyes are hard," he says, standing up from his work.

[Stirling]

'Shaggy' Beaker sniffs at the blue cordial, trying to gain an understanding of full bodied flavour and epth and what it is, rather like a wine bibber talking nonsense about a glass of oaken barrelled vintage.

Mouse takes the copper broomstick, convinced of greater trove, he will poke the broomstick into the barricade and lever a few bits and pieces aside, hopefully not on top of him having previous experience of an almost final curtain closing on him.

[coil23]

Horton, not entirely sure what the project is, nevertheless follows instructions dutifully in order to assist.

[GreyWolfVT]

Kurt remains on guard with Hans.

[Pulpatoon]

Wikerus, Deet, Vanis, and a slightly confused Horton apply themselves to cobbling together a cart, complete with wall-eyed cherubs and Jake's alluring sewing-dummy as a mast-head. They use as the body of the cart a wardrobe capable of fitting a good number of the party, although it will take the strength of at least four to push it.

Jake finds several old quilts (once exquisite, now nearly rotten, but adequate to use as padding in the cart) and a figurine of a pelican carved in feldspar that shines like a blazing rainbow under direct light. Mouse declares that collector might offer a Guilder for it.

Shaggy Beaker sniffs at his discovered cordial. It has a faint but bracing quality. It was probably quite a potent tipple, in its prime. It should still be worth a swallow or two.

Mouse ([1d20] = 11) finds, tucked in the back of a bureau drawers, surrounded by the mummified remains of herbs and flowers, a miraculously preserved white rose. It looks and smells as fresh as if it had just been clipped from the bush.

Kurt and Hans remain perched atop the furniture as look-outs, wincing with each hammer blow from the impromptu-carpenters below, as the sounds rings and echoes through the vast, marble room.

Drama Roll:[1d6] = 2

Kurt and Hans see, amid the swirling banks of mist, definite movement upon the far-off stairs. White rats!

[GreyWolfVT]

Kurt & Hans rush down as best they can shouting to the others below "Incoming white rats! Ready for battle!"

[coil23]

Do we have time to rush back into the camp proper before the rats would intercept us?

[Pulpatoon]

The room is very big (360' square), so the rats are still pretty far away. If the rats Kurt and Hans just saw are the vanguard, you should have a good head start. However:
• You are about as far from the Library as the rats are from the Barricade.
• The rats will be running downhill (stairs) for about 60' of that distance.
• You have a big cart to push. But's empty, so it should be pretty light.
• I wonder what the land-speed of a rat is?
• Wait, did I say something about if those rats are the vanguard?

Schroff, having caught the scent of rats on the wind, begins to bark.

[ChubbyPixie]

Alarmed, Wikerus gets behind the cart, ready to push. "Come now, come! Let's... perhaps we should go... or... if you agree..."

[coil23]

Horton

Let's forget the cart and get back to the soldiers in a hurry. The numbers may be in our favor then. And if nothing else, in the chaos we may be better able to make our escape.

[Stirling]

'Shaggy' Beaker

"What we need is a cat, surely this mansion in the sky has a cat or two. Finding one would be just a 'purr'fect cover." Beaker laughs loudly at his pun and then thinks how the cat would view us, tempting nibbles as well perhaps?

In case of close quarter melee, Beaker loads a pistol and Mouse readies his rapier.

[ChubbyPixie]

Wikerus

Horton

Let's forget the cart and get back to the soldiers in a hurry. The numbers may be in our favor then. And if nothing else, in the chaos we may be better able to make our escape.

"But... this is some of my best work..." Wikerus begins to protest, then, looking over his shoulder at the swirling mist, "Perhaps, yes...let's rally the troops..." He abandons the cart and begins running, clacking awkwardly in his lacquered clothing for the door to the Library.