HotPizza

Tachi celebrated too early. While Haru was busy taking care of the arachnids below her, a spider had jumped from above and slammed right into the back of Haru's head, knocking Tachi off her. Haru's left arm held tightly onto a beam, preventing her from falling, but also left her with only one free arm to deal with a spider on her head. In an attempt to dislodge the spider, Haru reaches for it with her right arm and tries to grab it and yank it out. An unsuccessful attempt, for not only does its legs remain tightly wrapped around her face, it opens its mouth in a loud hiss and sinks its dripping mandibles into her scalp. "Aaaaaaaa!" Haru screams in pain. "Tachi do something!" "I'm trying!" Tachi shouts back, as he clings onto the edge of a wooden beam. After managing to clamber back onto the beam, he starts hopping up the rafters with mouse like agility. In a good leap, Tachi throws his body at the spider, knocking it off Haru's head and into the depths below. "Thank you, Tachi." With little time to spare, Haru hops onto the criss-cross rafters and continues climbing.

But when I eventually have to do my own renovations, I'm the one getting beaten up by robots.

I don't think mine needs any explanation.

My upstairs neighbour is having renovations. Very loud renovations. I can barely think enough to write, and I still have 8 posts left on my quest.

Standing at an intersection, Haru braces herself against a vertical wooden beam to remain steady. She wraps her left arm around the beam, to prevent herself from falling off the rafters. Haru flicks her calligraphy brush, which has been tied to her right wrist with a short length of rope, into her right palm. Looking below her, she faces the impeding group of spiders that are currently climbing up walls and rafters in their attempt to reach her again. Haru stretches out her right arm, and with one smooth stroke paints a short line of ink. It suspends in the air for only a brief moment, before it transforms into a long gleaming blade that floats in the air. Incidentally, Tachi is glowing a bright gleaming white now. Directed by a subtle gesture from Haru's right hand, the blade floats towards the hostile spiders. In one big clean sweep, the blade slices their exoskeletons apart.Some of the spiders lose their legs, while the less fortunate ones get their torso torn in half. As Tachi stops glowing, the sword disappears in a puff of smoke. The spiders below are left either incapable of moving, or outright dead. "Nice job, Har-"

"Woah!" Tachi exclaims as the legs of one of the spiders knock into the small mouse, nearly knocking him off Haru's shoulder. Tachi manages to cling on by gripping Haru's yukata tightly, and then crawling back up onto his regular perching spot. "Hold on tight," Haru says in between gasps, her breath short due to all the running and climbing she's doing now. Even as she dashes along the rafters, she keeps her eyes peeled for more spiders above her. But there are other spiders she should worry about, as Tachi quickly finds out. Looking downwards from Haru's shoulder, he sees the spiders on the lower rafters have managed to roll back onto their feet, and are scuttling back up towards their target. Unlike Haru, these s spiders have little difficulty walking up wooden rafters and smooth walls alike. "Haru, I think the spiders you dodged just now are getting back to you." Tachi takes a quick peek above Haru as well. "And if you don't take care of them, you could find yourself in a spider sandwich." A highly unpleasant one where Haru's getting eaten up. "I have an idea," Haru announces to Tachi.

Upon Tachi's warning, Haru quickly snaps out of her fear to raise her shield and block the group attack. The large spiders slam into the thick shield, nearly breaking their mandibles off their mouths. The spiders fall off the shield and roll onto the wooden beams on their backs, their spidery legs shaking about frantically as they attempt to get back on their feet. This gave Haru the space to continue her climb. Haru hurriedly clambers onto a set of rafters, placed in a vertical criss-cross pattern that sufficiently resembles a ladder. Grabbing the rafters tightly with her hands, she climbs by lodging her feet into the nooks and crannies of the beams. Silently, Haru hopes that the spiders do not attack while both her arms are busy. Even mid way through her climb, more of the spiders appear from the seemingly never ending ceiling above. She races to get to the end of the makeshift ladder before the spiders get to her. Soon, she reaches the next horizontal rafter, and jumps onto the 'walkway' just before the spiders make a leap at her. She makes her dash, and the arachnids miss her by inches, falling down to lower rafters. The chittering of spiders continues to fill the dusty air, and it was not to end any time soon.

Haru stands still at the intersection, her head pointed upwards, her dark brown eyes slowly sweeping side to side. Her attention is focused on the wooden beams spanning the ceiling above her head. For a while, there seems to be nothing up there, even as the omnious *chit, chit, chit* sounds grow ever louder and louder. But then they appear. Long insect legs, dark as the dusty surroundings, start to appear. They wrap themselves around the wooden beams, yanking the rest of the spiders' bodies into view. Only now, does Haru realise why Leveah was calling for adventurers to help out. These spiders, far from being ordinary spiders, are as large as one would expect a house cat to be. But house cats have soft fluffy fur, not hard exoskeletons and insect legs. House cats do not make loud and creepy *chit chit chit* sounds. House cats may have great climbing abilities, but they do not literally scuttle down smooth walls to face you. House cats have two eyes, not eight blood red eyes at stare at you unblinkingly, or wriggling mandibles that drip with... something. And without provocation, they do not suddenly jump at you in groups of three, mandibles spread out to- "HARU!"

Haru finds an intersection in the rafters, where wooden beams connect and there's enough space to stand still without danger of falling off. As Haru pauses to look for the way through the maze of rafters, she catches soft but distinct chittering sounds, coming down from the distant rafters above. "Tachi? Did you hear that?" "Yeah, I did too. It sounds like quite a few of them, too. Didn't Lev say they were big and dangerous?" "You mean, spiders? Can't be that dangerous to anyone who can do any sort of fighting," Haru chuckles. "I should get prepared, though." Haru flicks her right wrist, causing a calligraphy brush to slide out of her long sleeve and into her right hand. With a quick swipe, she drenches her brush in an ink pot she had hung on her belt. Haru holds out her left hand, and uses her brush to paint a circle of ink around her left hand. As soon as the circle is complete, the circle of ink suspending mid-air around her hand turns into a large, round wooden shield. Haru holds tightly onto her shield as the chittering grows louder and louder, until the spiders show themselves.

Haru climbs to the top of the tall ladder, and steps off onto the lowest rafter of the Tavern. As she begins to walk slowly from the low corner she started from, she lifts her chin and peers upwards at the numerous rafters above her head. Wooden beams that stretch across the vast ceiling of a vast tavern, the rafters connect to each other in criss-cross patterns. "Wow, I never realized how the ceiling itself is a place all on its own," Haru remarks. "It's... like a maze, even." Tachi looks down from his perch on Haru's shoulder. "We'd better not get lost, then. Or fall off." On Tachi's prompt, Haru looks down as well. Which turned out to be a mistake, as Haru suddenly wobbled back and forth from the dizzying height beneath her. Luckily, Haru got on her knees and grabbed the wooden beam with her hand as well. "Or look down," Haru gasped, slowly getting up to continue her way up the rafters.

"The direction of the problem? Take the ladder over there." Leveah points to a shoddy wooden ladder in a far corner of the tavern. It is dirty and dusty. "Then, climb up." Leveah flicks her hand upwards and points upwards, at the rafters of the Tavern of Legend they are in at this very moment. "It's right there. Good luck, Haru." "The... what? Really, here?" Haru boggles. She slowly follows Leveah's pointed finger, craning her neck up to look at the rafters above her. These rafters were seemingly boring and mundane, but that was back when Haru gave the ceiling little more than a mere glance, before she got into petty arguments with Tachi and decided to focus on a farmer, his corn field, and a giant hamster from space that was bent on destruction. But now? The rafters are a place unto themselves. Mysterious and shrouded in darkness, both literally and figuratively. How deep is it, and how far up does it go? Haru blinked and gluped. "Regretting your decision yet?" Tachi teases her. Haru snaps out of her thoughts, and shakes her head. "No, no! I agreed to take on this job, to help people. I'm sticking with it." She heads to the ladder and starts climbing.

There is quite the spider problem going on, perhaps a side effect of recent events. As overheard by Levhea, the spiders have become quite numerous as of late and the limited staff are having a tough time keeping up with the pests- it seems an egg sack must have hatched. You will be tasked with heading up into the rafters and not only exterminating these spiders, but also finding the queen in getting rid of her. By the way, was it mentioned that these spiders are the size of house cats and have a venomous bite that causes malaise, swelling, and intense pain? Well, that should be mentioned. Also, the queen of this swarm is likely much larger. Note from the Tavern Caretaker As this is a level 1 quest, it has a requirement for 15 posts. As a level 1 quest, this has the a word minimum of 75 words- about three average sentences. This quest will present only a minimal amount of challenge. The rafters go much higher than one might first expect. So much so, you really can’t be sure if you can see the ceiling at all- it makes one realize that few people ever do stop to think about what the interior limit of this place actually is. How far up do those rafters go and just how many spiders could be lurking about, lying in wait? Well, there is only one way to find out- best you start climbing, and make sure you bring some good bug spray. Post written by Acies ab Vesania.

"Ah, that was a good sleep!" Haru stretches her arms out as she walks back into the Tavern of Legend. "Glad you rested so well," Tachi squeaks. "Considering where you slept." "I like sleeping in nature." Haru looks around for anyone who might be in need of help. "Even then, there must be better and safer places to sleep than 'up in a tree'." "It is a perfectly good and safe place, thank you very much. A nice resting spot for breaks between helping people out with their supernatural issues." "You sure are persistent. And is this how you look for those people?" "Well, I think it's worked out." Haru looks over to a lady sitting at a bar, twiddling with her long braided red hair. Well, mostly red hair, since there were a few shiny grey stripes in all that bright red. She looked rather worried. "S-spiders... infested..." the redhead murmured. "Look at her. She's so worried, her hair's even turning grey." Haru approaches the red-haired lady. "Hello there, I'm Haru. I can help you with your spider infestation problem." "Oh, thank goodness! I'm Leveah. The thing is..." Leveah goes on to explain the situation. The spiders in the rafters, the eggs, and the spider queen. "No worries! I can handle anything thrown at me," Haru assures her. "Just point me in the direction of the problem and I'll get it done."

Oh, thank you Acies!

Are Acies and Mickey Flash the only people who can declare quests to be completed? I'm not sure what to do now that I've completed my quest, apart from getting ready for my next one.