[PQ] Home Is Where the Books Are

The room Amalia finds herself in is strikingly beautiful beneath all the grime, and it doesn't take long for the Shield to immerse herself in it. Wondering and wide-eyed she goes straight to the strange structure in the middle. Reverently the Shield traces slender fingers along metal and stone, gently wiping away decay to reveal everything beneath. There are books, too. Reluctantly she steps away from the planets, turning her attention to the tomes. Gently Amalia begins to leaf through the pages, trying to parse the looping script- immediately too distracted to remember she's supposed to be bringing the books to Jigano. Ama wipes off the orrey, then gets distracted reading one of the books, oops a m a l i a You were young and you'd stare With a reverence unimpaired Searching in your dark eyes to find the stars already there

The gourds were repulsed by the collective efforts of the Loreseekers and their friends, leaving the group to contend with the dust of ages in their chosen rooms – and sometimes worse than dust. Ronin, Loren, and Rance were able to bring out their piles of books without any problems. Jigano collected them as they were deposited on the broad wooden walkway that encircled the second floor and carried them downstairs, managing to do so without further damaging even the delicate scrolls and older tomes that were being rehomed to the tables and shelves in the impromptu lecture area

Loren was able to save roughly half the books in room one The Ladybug Room before the rest began to crumble too badly at a touch. His goose-feather arms served as perfectly functional featherdusters, sweeping the dirt from the shelves successfully, but stirring it into the air and clinging unpleasantly to the Launceleyn’s vanes. With the shelves and table unearthed from their grimy prison, however, it just left the dirty floor and the impressively-filthy window with its generations of dead beetles to tackle.

Rance ’s room two The Farmer’s Room had no answer for him, but he was able to open the windows with a bit of elbow grease, and they swung wide with a creak of unoiled hinges without breaking. He was able to remove 90% of the books and 70% of the remaining scrolls without mishap, but when he begins to wash down the shelving he will find a nest of mice in one of the pigeonholes, hidden behind one of the scrolls. Seven small, grey-furred mouse pups were wriggling about and just starting to open their eyes as their mother crouched over the nest, fur bristled in defiance of this intrusion to her home.

Room three The Mystic Room, chosen by Quanil , was lit only by the light that filtered in from the door. The shadows were especially oppressive and played tricks on their sight. Though the chair moved easily, the table was far harder to drag, as though it was made of very dense, dark wood. It scraped noisily across the floor, leaving scratches behind in the softer floorboards. As Quanil turned their attention to sweeping there were other things moving in the dark beyond the arc of light provided by the open door… a door that didn’t remain open much longer as a gust of wind from newly-opened windows up and down the hall caught it and slammed it shut, leaving the young Loreseeker in total darkness – not even a crack of light beneath the sturdy door providing direction as a susurrus of insectile wings and a soft chittering filled the air, closing in on Quanil from all directions.

The Stargazer’s Room Room four held beauty, but it was a delicate beauty. At Amalia ’s touch one of the planets of the orrery breaks off, taking its moons with it and the small spheres shatter when they hit the floor, rolling off in different directions. The planet and one moon end up beneath the bookshelf while the other moon becomes lost in the remains of the rotted pallet. The books are sturdier, at least, and though no harm comes to them from being picked up the writing is as foreign as it is beautiful, and utterly unreadable. Some pages are more colorful, however, revealing pictures drawn in faded inks detailing the movement of heavenly bodies, some of which will look familiar to the Natural while others are utterly alien.

Samuel , sometimes you just can’t win. Room Five The Broken Room did not seem to like having an intruder mucking about within. Three of the chairs that he tried to move broke apart as he tried to shift them; the back snapped off of one, the legs buckled under the second when he set it down, and the third disintegrated to splinters when he closed his hands around it. The table had been pressed up against one of the bookshelves, and when Sam went to move it the shelf was jostled and tipped, spilling the rest of its books on the Ascended and covering him in moldy clumps of cardboard and paper in his hair, clothes, and smeared on his exposed skin. At least he didn’t need to breathe, for there was no telling what spores had been stirred up by the jostling. Attempts to sweep up the leaves were only slightly more successful, as the breeze from the broken window joined in his sweeping and broke apart his pile more than once before he was finally able to corral the leaves more or less out of the way. Indeed, the revealed stains were mostly black against the wood, but his sharpened senses would pick out the faintest remnants of red at their centers. One was smaller, perhaps the size of a large plate, while the other stain a short distance away spread out in roughly rectangular area. Closer inspection would reveal a handprint left on the edges of it, the wood beneath scratched with shallow furrows as if from blunt claws.

At least room six The Genealogy Room seemed to behave itself for Ronin. The shelves were dusted and the books were stacked without too much trouble. Though the earliest records crumbled when he went to move them, the Dark Star would be able to safely move around 70% of the records outside. Two windows opened easily for his projection, and could be cleaned with little fuss. The central window, however, resisted his initial efforts; the hinges appeared to have rusted in place. And no sooner does he go to wash one of the open windows than an enterprising crow flies in the other and lands on a bookshelf, watching him with an inquisitive black eye for a moment before diving for the mummified robin and beginning to tear it apart in a gleeful mess of feathers and small bones.

---

Some of you are almost done with the initial cleaning while others still have quite a bit of work to do to clean these rooms out! And a few are having some unfortunate luck all around >.> Don’t give up!

No Post Order this round!

loren

Coughing slightly from the dust, Loren waved a hand in front of his face. After seeing the books begin to crumble he'd immediately stopped touching them, hoping that something could still be salvaged from them. Peering at the slightly cleaner room, he let his gaze get drawn to what might be a window, or might just be a wall decoration. It was hard to tell under the dirt and grime.

Frowning, he let the feathers dissipate. As skin rippled along his arms, he raised his hands. A carefully controlled torrent of water streamed out of him, washing the maybe-window as best her could (and sweeping up the ladybugs as he did so).

---

Loren uses mastered water magic to try and wash the window.

Never judge a book by its cover.

Recently Sam had just been having the most awful luck when he was trying to help people; he was beginning to wonder if he had upset some spirit or deity (moreso than usual) and been cursed as a result. The chairs fell apart, the table knocking it's books nearly crushed him, the air was full of horrendous smelling spores...and he revealed what looked like a murder scene on the floor. Eyes widening as he saw what appeared to be blood, Sam knelt down to look closer then stood and walked to the door, sticking his head out. "Jigano? I think you should see what's in here. It's...not good." It might have just been the death of some rodent, but Sam had an uneasy feeling in his belly and there was more blood in the room than made sense for a rat. -- Sam calls Jigano in to look at the blood stains! Samuel He took a step but then felt tired He said, I'll rest a little while But when he tried to walk again He wasn't a child

They could almost make out what was gleaming beneath the dust when the door slammed shut on them, causing them to jump and turn towards it. They huffed and were headed for the door when they stopped and listened to the quiet, steady noise.

"Better NOT be paper wasps," they muttered darkly, raising their broom. They swung the broom end at the door, to try to clear it of insectoid intruders and put their back to it. "Whatever you are, you're not getting past me to get into the rest of the guild hall," they informed the susurrating sounds around them.

They held the broom like a staff, planted their feet the way the provost had taught them. They made occasional quick swats with the broom end when the sounds seemed worth striking at, but their eyes were still adjusting; they couldn't see their opponents yet, and they didn't want to just flail about.

Well, actually, they did just want to flail about but they weren't going to. "DON'T be paper wasps," they murmured again.

This was the first time Rance had handled paper so old that it fell apart, so it was no surprise that he wasn’t able to keep them all in one piece. Then again, if they really were that old would they be relevant anymore? Crops and weather changed all the time, what good would records old enough to crumble on their own be?

The squeak of the window hinges had him making a mental note to find grease later, but it was the small squeak of another kind that drew his attention as he was cleaning the shelves. Eight small mice hiding in the last place he’d taken a scroll from, their nest a pile against the back. Rance wrinkled his nose in annoyance. His first instinct was to transform and kill the little pests, but the mice were too far back and the pigeon hole too small for a large, adult raven. So, grumbling, he reached in with a rag draped over his hand, intending to grab the nest. What he’d do with it then was anyone’s guess, he hadn’t really planned anything beyond immediate action.

---

Rance reaches in to try and scoop the mice and nest out with a rag!

Welp, so far so good. Humming tunelessly under his breath, Ronin returned to the room just in time to watch the crow fly in, and the Dark Star closed the door behind him in a subtle effort to say no, you are not having the rule of this library. Then again, crows and libraries were all very dramatic, so maybe Jigano wouldn't mind the addition? Still, he needed to get all windows open and operational before trying to shoo his new guest.

Together, he and the projection added their efforts to the window, hoping to slide it open enough to get some airflow through. He could grease them up once they were clean.

However his efforts turned out, Ronin then turned his attention to the crow. "Oi," he said, creating a small and dazzling starbolt near the open window. "This is a lot shinier than a robin. Come get it."

---

Ronin works with his projection to open the central window and creates a shiny starbolt to try and distract the crow to fly back outside.

The sound of something shattering makes Amalia jump, her eyes widening in alarm, body tensing like a spring. But oh, it's only the beautiful structure, pieces of it now lying on the ground. "Vi's beard," she curses shakily, putting down her book and falling to her knees to try and collect the pieces. First she searches for the moons beneath the bookshelf, carefully setting them on top of the shelf before going towards the pallet and investigating it for lost treasures. Amalia tries to collect the broken pieces, ending up at the pallet a m a l i a You were young and you'd stare With a reverence unimpaired Searching in your dark eyes to find the stars already there

Loren ‘s arms became covered in dust and grime as his dirty feathers shifted back, and if that had been the worst of it he would have been fine. Alas, using water magic as a jet might have seemed like a good idea at the time, but the result was… unfortunate. Water pressure shifted the dirt around somewhat without doing much to actually clean the glass, but the rebounding spray sent the beetle carcasses flying around the room. Instead of collected in one spot, they were now scattered and sticking to various surfaces. Dirty water splashed and pooled, already beginning to drip down through the floor and onto the shelves of books on the first floor. The books in the room that had been too damaged to save were further reduced to sodden lumps of wet, disintegrating bricks as Loren made more of a mess than he’d started with.
Sometimes Lady Luck just wasn’t on your side.

Samuel managed to catch Jigano as he was loading up another armload of books, and the Provost glanced down the length of the railed walkway with a wry smile for his friend as he started down the stairs again. ”I trust you to handle it, Sam. If you need help moving any of the heavier or larger shelves we’ll get to those just as soon as everyone finishes their cleaning.” With that he was off on another trip, working away at six three rooms’s worth of books.
And Sam was left to deal with the problem he had been presented with on his own, just like everyone else.

Quanil might not have been able to see, but they could hear just fine. Several of their sweeps connected with somethings, knocking the creatures away. They hissed as they were struck, and scuttled off. Definitely not paper wasps, from the sounds of tiny feet scurrying more often than the buzz of wings could be heard. The room was still pitch dark, so Quanil couldn’t see what they were, but after a few moments the room returned to silence. It seemed the denizens had been routed…
For now.

Rance was luckier than he had any right to expect, the mother mouse freezing in terror rather than lashing out in protection of her pups. Protected by the rag he was able to retrieve nest, pups, and mother all in one fell swoop. They weren’t even harmed, and the nest was still intact when he pulled it out. He might be able to feel the warmth of the small snacks rodents and the staccato roll of the mother’s heartbeat against his hand if he paid close enough attention to it.
But now what was he going to do with them?

Ronin would struggle with the window, and only the assistance of his projection proved enough to finally get the ancient pane to budge. A full six inches, before it became stuck again. It wasn’t catastrophically stuck, but it was apparent that much more brute force would break the hinges if they weren’t finessed first. Still, a little airflow was better than none, and it could still be cleaned. The crow, at least, was very impressed with the shimmering starbolt and paused in its gleeful mutilation to hop towards it, croaking the corvid equivalent of ’oooh, sparkly!’. It hesitated for a few moments, torn between its chew toy and the starbolt, but curiosity (and greed) won out in the end and it flapped out the window after the new treasure, leaving Ronin alone with himself and a small but dry mess of an ex-robin.
So far, so good?

Amalia was able to fish one of the moons out from beneath the bookshelf, but the planet had rolled to the back, beyond reach until the shelf was moved. The pallet held no treasures for her seeking hands to retrieve, but neither did it hold any traps. The ancient straw was dry and dusty, and the blanket and pillow crumbled at being disturbed, but it would be easy enough to sweep up with a broom. Her luck failed her in her search for the second moon, unfortunately, and though it had certainly rolled into that area it had lodged too deep into the remnants of the bed for easy retrieval.
Maybe if she cleaned the room up a bit she might be able to get the missing pieces back?

Jigano huffed and puffed as he carried another load of books down, trying not to cough as dust collected in his throat and urged a sneeze. He was 75% through with the Great Book Migration and things were almost ready for the next stage. ”Give me a few more minutes to get these – achoo! – last few books taken downstairs and then we can pair up and begin dragging the shelves out,” he called, assuming (ha!) that all books had by now been brought out from the rooms, as initially requested. ”Then we can scrub the floors and move some furniture in.” Simple, basic stuff, but it would do for temporary housing until they had time to barter for or construct better.

---

Last round of initial cleaning, then the PQ will be moving on!

Loren was very unsuccessful at cleaning his window with water magic.
Rance was very successful at retrieving the mouse nest!
Quanil was very successful at shooing away the mysterious vermin!
Amalia was somewhat unsuccessful at finding the orrery pieces.
Samuel made no progress this round, but was very successful at it.
Ronin was somewhat successful at opening the window and successful at luring away the raven.
Jigano was somewhat successful at moving books.

No posting order

loren

Cursing as his water magic backfired spectacularly, Loren immediately called all of it back to him that he could reach. He'd dash around the room, gathering the water up as best he could. As he went, he'd also use his telekinesis to grab all the beetles that had become scattered throughout the room.

Once he'd gotten all the water and beetles he could (assuming he was successful in that), he'd freeze the water, leaving it in a corner for now, and putting the beetles on top of it. Approaching the window, he summoned a scrap of leather. Creating a bit more water to wet the leather, he tried to scrub at the window the old fashioned way.

---

Loren gathers up the water he'd sprayed everywhere with his water magic, and the beetles with his telekinesis. Freezing the water, he leaves the ice and beetles in a corner. He then creates a scrap of leather and wets it, before scrubbing the window.

Never judge a book by its cover.

Quanil might not have been able to see, but they could hear just fine. Several of their sweeps connected with somethings, knocking the creatures away. They hissed as they were struck, and scuttled off. Definitely not paper wasps, from the sounds of tiny feet scurrying more often than the buzz of wings could be heard. The room was still pitch dark, so Quanil couldn’t see what they were, but after a few moments the room returned to silence. It seemed the denizens had been routed…
For now.

They waited as the scurrying and buzzing went away and died down. "That's better," they declared to the room, then made sure the door was open wide and got back to work.

They gathered up the books, as many as they could at a time, and began bringing them out. "Provost! I have very interesting books here! Ughf. And, uh... and locked ones at that! There-there's more, but I... phew! I have to make another trip." They set that load down and, while catching their breath, relayed, "Oils need new lanterns... I Mean! Other way around... lanterns... need oil. And there's a... a lot of little intruders in there not covering their rent."

They went back in as soon as they could to bring out the rest. Two trips out (in total) to get all the books and then back to sweeping up dust, not just from the gleaming... whatever, but from the floor in general. And they kept their ears open for any more buzzy busybodies.

Jigano didn't seem to understand the seriousness of the situation and brushed him off, which irritated Sam a little; surely the bard, one of his oldest friends, would know he'd only call him for something important? Sighing he stepped back into the room, looking at the stains on the floor and making a face of disgust and trepidation. He supposed he may as well discover just how bad the situation was. Sam set about to real cleaning, moving out any debris or junk he could, with the aim of finding any further stains or...body parts, bones, anything spooky, so he could work out how to deal with it from here. Moving the table parts as best he could and clearing away the dirt and dust, he prayed with each movement he wouldn't find anything gruesome. -- Sam cleans the room and takes out junk, keeping an eye out for anything else suspicious (more blood, bones..??? body parts...?? spoopy) Samuel He took a step but then felt tired He said, I'll rest a little while But when he tried to walk again He wasn't a child

It was a shame, that brute force wouldn't do the trick. Panting and angry that he couldn't jimmy the window open without breaking it, the only saving grace was that the pesky crow had followed his shiny starbolt and was now out of the room. "Fine," he told the window. "Be that way."

Leaving his projection to continue cleaning up, Ronin went into the hallway to search for something that he could use to encourage the hinges to loosen up. Unfortunately, libraries were not really the places to find oil or grease, so he eventually returned to finish sweeping and dusting.

---

Finding nothing to be able to open the window further, the Ronins rid the room of the robin corpse and finish sweeping, dusting and cleaning the windows.

Rance had been fully bracing himself for the feel of small teeth on his hand. When none came and he pulled out the entire nest, he silently thanked Gan. The luck god might not be able to hear him here, but old habits were hard to break.

Luck wasn’t going to help him actually get rid of the little things, however. His expression still scrunched in irritation, he folded the rag around the next and it’s occupants, tying it into a messy bundle and stepping to the door. There was a small debate as to whether or not to just leave it in the hallway, or turn around and just drop it out the window, but he decided ultimately that there was no good option. With a huff, his turned into a raven, gripped the knot he’d made with his talons, and flew awkwardly back to the Atheneum’s entrance, avoiding any of the hungry gourds or their remains. He went out, deposited his package of pests outside, and shut the door. If the mice were gone by the time the cleaning was finished, more power to them. If not, Rance would deal with them later.

Flying back upstairs, Rance returns to dusting the crumbled scrolls out of the pigeon hole shelves, just in time to hear Jigano’s too-cheerful (in Rance’s opinion) announcement.

---

Rance flies the mice downstairs, deposits them outside, then returns to finish clearing the shelves.