Samuel was able to hide the
evidence stains
for now and he and
Loren made a very effective team! Something they might have already known, of course, but they were both strong and steady enough to shift the bookshelves from the Ladybug Room without mishap. They would be able to be used in their new location downstairs for better-preserved books than the ones Loren had initially found on them. The table could remain – one less thing to add to the room later – but Sam’s Broken Room was another matter. The broken table was levered out easily enough in its two pieces, but the bookshelves were soft and spongy, difficult to grip and prone to slipping – or crumbling – at the worst possible moment. The men would get them downstairs only with great difficulty, and both bookshelves were reduced to debris by the time they did.
Rance might not have been the strongest member of the group, but with
Amalia to help him they were able to wrangle the shelf to its new home. When they returned, Amalia would be able to find the missing planet from the orrery, a swirled green orb with streaks of emerald and ivory. Moving the orrery itself was a far more difficult task, but this time luck was with her and with Rance’s assistance they were able to shift the strange device to wherever Amalia directed them to go. No more pieces fell in the process, and some study would reveal how to glue the broken pieces back into place later. In comparison, the Farmer’s Room was cleared with almost surprising ease. The pigeonhole racks were built into the wall and couldn’t be moved, but perhaps would provide a useful space for a future tenant to store odds and ends. The bookshelf made it down without incident, leaving one table behind as a desk and another that could be moved to one of the other rooms without one.
Ronin had the most work ahead of him – both of him – and the most chance of disaster, for there were six shelves to shift. Luckily for him he was both strong and dexterous; there was a sense that had he been less so, things might not have gone as well as they did. A stumble towards the bottom of the stairs resulted in one shelf cracking under its own weight and rusted nails that snapped one after another, but the other five made it down, most without even a scratch to show they had ever been elsewhere.
Quanil ‘s room wasn’t too difficult to divest of its shelves; the table and chair remaining for some future occupant to use. The youngest loreseeker was wise to let Jigano go down the stairs first, though, as they struggled with their grip twice and two of the shelves showed some scuffs and scrapes before they were re-homed to the first floor. The skitters were another matter, but Jigano exercised his Beastmaster ability to coax out as many as he could reach, and compelled the intrusion of mutated carnivorous cockroaches outside. Perhaps the vampire gourds would get them, or perhaps they’d get the vampire gourds; he didn’t care too much, so long as they were away from Sanctuary.
As they finished placing the last of the shelves Jigano grinned brightly around at all of them. As he noted the dirt, the smudges, the bits of moldy books, the straw in hair, and everything else his grin turned a bit rueful.
”Thank you so much for all of your help so far. The last item on today’s agenda is moving some basic furniture in. I called in some Guild favors to have some simple pieces made; they’re in the cart outside. Every room should have a bed, a desk, a chair, and a chest for clothes and belongings.” He nodded to Quanil with a smile.
”Thanks to Freina we also have bedsheets and curtains. If you’d like to change rooms, now is the time, or you can stick with what you’ve been working so hard on. I’m going to see about getting some oil for those lamps,” he added with a nod for the Mystic Room’s lighting problem.
Almost done!
List of tasks for this round:
Move beds (and tables, where necessary) into the rooms – two people
Move the chests into each room – one person
Move chairs into the rooms that need them – one person
Make the beds after they’ve been put into position – one person
Hang curtains – one person
No posting order, though the person making beds should wait for the people carrying them in to post first.
