Having a home in the richer part of Sky Peak Village doesn't mean Astrid never goes into town. It's strange to call a place where she spent so many nights on the streets her real home now, and the irony of her situation hasn't gone over her head at all. Not that she minds. Sky Peak is familiar, and in some small way, she's glad she gets to stay here on the off chance that maybe... just maybe a familiar face might reappear. 

On this day, Astrid is in town running errands with Blue Raspberry, and when she glances up from her list, her eyes land on a run-down building. "Ah, shoot," she says under her breath. The state of the building isn't exactly a surprise. It never was the nicest gathering place in town, but that dilapidated aspect was part of its charm in some odd way. This was once a place she always wanted to explore in the past if she ever had any coin to spend.

A sort of weird mashup of buildings, it was both a supply house and tavern. She remembers watching workers going in and out on the daily, collecting materials and even sharing a drink. She thought they might have something interesting for her to work with. Instead, it seems to have gone out of business and threatens to fall down with a gust of wind at the right angle. 

"Well, that stinks," Astrid says with a sigh. "Didn't realize it wasn't open anymore..."

SPOILER: Click to show

Quest Name: Rebuilding and Remodeling
Reward: +10 Security for selected Region (+10 more if your home region)
Chapter: One
Description: Defending and protecting your region is important, as well as your citizens having a safe, dry and sturdy place to call home. You can help your region by lending your skills to our construction workers, carpenters and builders. Helping to build all kinds of buildings or structures to help build up the region. Simply assist the region in its construction and help further the progress of your home.
Requirements:
Requires exactly two people (you and one other, if the other participant does not qualify, they will not gain the reward)
You must make at least 5 post to complete the mission with each post being at least 200 words
Must build or assist in the construction of a region building
Once you complete this mission, you have completed this quest and may turn in the mission
Can be repeated for a different region

Blue Raspberry stopped behind Astrid as she looked up at the building in front of them with a big "CLOSED" sign on the front. The wooden walls looked downright rotten, some chunks of different boards missing. Shutters hung crooked, one or two of the hinges broken. The door looked like it would fall right down if it was given one good push. The whole building looked like that, really.

Unfortunately, the ooze couldn't read and so had no idea what the sign said. They walked right up to the door that Astrid had stopped in front of, thinking she wanted to go in and get something else along with all of the other supplies and errands they had been helping her run in town today. One good push on the door really was all it took.

With a loud groan, the entire building collapsed right in front of the ooze, a cloud of dust and debris spreading in every direction. Nothing was left of the building except a giant pile of broken wooden boards and what little furniture had remained inside. Blue Raspberry turned around and looked at Astrid, pointing a thumb over their shoulder at the rubble behind them.

"Um, I didn't mean to do that..."

When Blue Raspberry starts to approach the building, Astrid puts her hand out to stop them, but by the time words escape her mouth, the ooze has already stepped onto the creaky porch and pushed on the front door. Her face fills with dread as the wood creaks, snaps, and collapses before her eyes. A huge cloud of dust rushes past her, blowing her hair out of her face and pelting her with tiny bits of debris. 

Astrid wipes dirt from her face and looks somewhat despondently at the big mess. "Well..." What do they even do in this situation?

The collapse brought forth a lot of concerned bystanders. Folks rush over to see what happened, wondering if anyone was hurt, and seem relieved to see the ooze knight standing unharmed just in the threshold. 

"What happened 'ere, lass?" a dwarf asks hurriedly. 

"Uhm..." At first, Astrid hesitates to speak, having had a lot of bad experiences with people in Sky Peak in the past, but she's no longer a beggar street rat, she's a bonafide citizen. "The place just kinda... fell?"

The dwarf wipes his brow, letting out a deep sigh. "Aye, we were gettin' ready te demolish it this week." 

"I thought people used this place all the time?" she asks, looking at him thoughtfully. 

"Aye, they did. Popular joint it were," he confirms. "'Til a support beam clocked ol' Johnny on top o' 'is 'ead. Civil engineers shut it right down after that. If I'm bein' rightly honest, the poor structure made the gamble o' goin' inside an adrenaline rush. Part o' its charm, though."

Astrid looks back at the fresh pile of wooden rubble. "What were ya gonna do with it after ya tore it down?" she asks. 

"Oh, probably nothin'," the dwarf replies with a shrug. "Ain't no one decided what te do with the ol' plot yet."

An idea comes to Astrid's mind. "What if we rebuilt the place? It was the best place fer weird an' interestin' stuff, I heard." 

This surprises the dwarf. "Eh? Are ye outta yer mind, lass? Them horns got yer brains scrambled?"

"People liked ta come here before right? Maybe we can make it again, just make it better!" 

The dwarf rubs his head. "Er... I ain't in charge o' none o' those kinda decisions."

Astrid puts her hands on her hips, raising her head proudly. "Well, I can be! I'm a dig nut teary!"

"...A... A whut, lass?"

She doesn't elaborate. "C'mon Blue! Let's go find some plans an' some hands!" 

"Right!" Blue Raspberry replied enthusiastically and started following behind Astrid.

"Alright everyone, I guess we need to move the plans up a bit! Let's get clearing all this debris out! Bring the wheelbarrows. Got a lotta mess ta clean up!" The Dwarf started to call out to some of the others in the crowd that must have been part of his crew. What he said got Blue's attention.

Blue Raspberry looked back at the giant pile of wood that used to be a building. True, it was garbage. A huge mess that needed to be cleaned up, the debris carted off and disposed of. But, to the ooze, it looked quite appetizing!

"Astrid! Why don't I stay here and help clean up while you go? I think I'd be better at eati- I mean, cleaning! Right?" they asked, trying to hide their real intentions and likely failing miserably, but what they said had some truth to it. They really would be better at clearing out the debris than finding plans or a building crew. They didn't know the first thing about building and were less acquainted with the people in the village than Astrid was. They really wouldn't be much help at all.

In her rush to leave, Blue's calling makes Astrid stop suddenly, and she turns around to face the ooze. If they could drool, she images they would be. Looking past them at the pile of scrap wood then at the ooze's pleading face, she looks conflicted. Her voice falls into a whisper as she steps close. "Blue, if ya eat a buncha scrap wood in front of alla these folks, they might get suspicious of ya," she warns. "An' ya don't want 'em suspicious of ya. Trust me."

Stepping back, she puts her hands on her hips and sighs again. "But yer right. I won't be all that long. Mostly I'm just gettin' permission from someone. I can get the plans easy!" With that, she whips out a rolled up piece of parchment from her bag. When gravity unfurls it, the page is blank. Then a devious grin spreads across the girl's face, and slowly ink begins to manifest on the page in the form of blueprints. When it finishes, she turns it around and looks at it with a satisfied smile. "That's pretty close! I'll get their opinions on it first!" 

Astrid quickly rolls the paper up and looks at Blue. "Just be careful, alright? We can always go find the scraps in the dead of night." With a nod, she rushes off to go find someone of authority to approve the plans. 

---

Wanted Poster

Blue gave Astrid a thumbs up before turning and rushing back to the ruined building. They'd make sure to be extra careful not to do anything suspicious! He went up to the Dwarf that was giving out orders and stood before him with their hands on their hips.

"Hey there, I'm Wolfe! I'll help clear the debris with you!" they volunteered with far too much enthusiasm for someone about to do a bunch of heavy manual labor.

"Uh, sure. The more hands the better." The Dwarf shrugged. He didn't know this Wolfe guy very well, but he'd seen him in town often with Astrid and he seemed nice enough. More help would make the work go faster anyways, so why not let him join?

"More hands, you say? No problem!" Blue said, and a second pair of arms grew out of their sides beneath their first pair, the fabric of their white shirt seemed to just open up to make way for the new arms.

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...." The Dwarf just stood there staring in disbelief, his jaw hanging open. "What the f- how? I-" He stammered.

"Magic!" Blue replied simply before running off to start helping.

"Hmm. Weird guy, but okay." The Dwarf shook his head and got back to work giving out orders.

Blue Raspberry was incredible at not being suspicious.

After a while, Astrid rushes back to the site where some amount of progress for the impromptu project has been made to clear the foundation. She runs up to the dwarf, this time with a fresh copy of the plans her magical vellum originally made for her, which she presents to him. She also hands over a stamped piece of official-looking paper. The secretary at town hall called it a permit. 

"Here ya go!" she says with a proud smile. 

"What's all this, lass?" the dwarf asks, unfurling each sheet. His thick eyebrows arch in surprise. "Ye got alla this in that short time??"

"Aye! Sure did! Now we can rebuild this place right proper!" 

The dwarf looks at bit exasperated but appreciative as he rolls the blueprints and permit both up. "Who are ye, anyway, lass?"

Astrid looks at the dwarf and offers her hand to shake. "Astrid Stormstone, at yer service!" 

The dwarf takes her hand and shakes it firmly, surprised by her grip. "Couple o' grabby grubbers ye got there," he laughs. "Call me Kirdon. Have ye been around these parts long? Ye seem a bit familiar, but I don't know no clan Stormstones."

"Aye," she says and points at a particular crossroads not far down the way. "Used ta sit over there waitin' fer me mum ta show up."

There's a light of recognition in the dwarf's eyes. "Oh, ye were the little devil child sittin' on the corner!" Astrid's expression shifts slightly to give Kirdon one that's a bit unimpressed. "Ah, er... 'scuse me," Kirdon stammers, embarrassed as he pulls his hand away. "Well, ye seem te be doin' better fer yerself, lass. Got a bit o' meat on yer bones now."

"Got a proper home now too," she adds, letting the smile creep across her face again. "Anyway, there's work ta do!" With that, Astrid heads over to the cleanup crew and helps with particularly heavy lifts with other dwarves to help haul away broken support beams. 

By the end of the day, the majority of the foundation has been cleared, and everyone is exhausted, ready to turn in for the evening. It seems like this is going to be a long project, but the progress is promising! 

Blue Raspberry helped clear the rubble, sneaking snacks where they could of bits of wood, and lifting heavy bits too big to easily much on without drawing suspicion. The extra arms made the work easier, though they got a few odd looks here and there. The workers quickly seemed to get over the strange sight though as they lifted beams on their own that would have taken two or three people normally. They wouldn't complain about someone helping out so much. The same occurred when Astrid showed up and surprisingly lifted equally heavy rubble like it was nothing. The gathered workers didn't complain, but they did start to develop a bit of an inferiority complex to the four armed man and the child showing them up so badly.

In the end, there was less debris carted away than the foreman had expected, not knowing that a good portion of it had ended up in the ooze's stomach. The foreman took Astrid's plans and looked them over, figuring out what materials they'd need to order for the project and making sure it was all structurally sound. The blueprints seemed to pass their inspection, meeting their standards.

"Alright, it'll take a while for the materials to come in. Head home and we'll call you when it's time to start construction. I assume you and your friend will want to assist with that?"

He kept his composure, but he really hoped they would help with the construction as well. They had both been incredibly helpful in the clearing, their strength both absurd. They'd make construction much easier, even if all they did was help move materials around.

Astrid pats the battle hammer hanging from a belt loop. "Of course, we'll help!" she says cheerily. "I love buildin' stuff! I've got a whole workshop in me basement."

Kirdon looks surprised by this, but he's not going to question it. "Well, we'll be seein' ye in a few days then." He waves the two of them off, noticing that they're heading toward the part of town with the newly built mansion. Wow, the kid really moved up in the world. His mind starts to wander, wondering if this Wolfe fellow has something to do with it. Maybe he's a rich patron with a newly adopted kid? Who knows? 

---

A couple of days go by, and Astrid and Blue Raspberry head back to town. They spent those days resting and telling Cantio about the antics of the deconstruction, but they're eager to get back to rebuilding! When they arrive on the scene, Kirdon has all the materials organized by his workers, and they've already gotten started on a fresh foundation.

Astrid cracks her knuckles and conjures up two duplicates - about all she can manage to maintain for most of the day after all her practice thus far. Kirdon does a triple take, stammers, and gives her some directions about where to work: he wants the strong child(ren) and the four-armed man doing a lot of the heavy lifting. With their assignments, the group heads off to get to work.

Framing the building alone takes a few days at least, and each rest is well-deserved. Usually, Astrid and Blue Raspberry are fighting monsters, but helping out with their own home has been a new, fun challenge!

The construction went by quickly, the workers able to focus on the actual building thanks to Blue Raspberry and Astrid with all her replicants doing most of the heavy lifting. The ooze had no skill in construction, really, so the assignment works just fine for them. They carried stacks of wooden planks on their shoulders, delivering them to the Dwarves busy nailing them in place to construct the walls.

The floor and the framing were nice and solid and a staircase was in the middle of construction. Once it was finished, the building would be even bigger and better than the previous one! The walls went up, Shutters were attached to windows, and the door was put in place. Railings were added to the stairs and porch. The whole thing was painted a bright, cheerful blue with white accents. When all the work was done, the building was completed and even had its own lightning rod. Furniture was handmade and brought inside.

All that was left to do was officially open it and let the people inside! The town had been buzzing with anticipation for the new gathering spot to be completed, the void left by the old one's destruction to be filled. Even Ol' Johnny showed up, a bandage still on his head, excited to see the place.

""I used ta see people enjoyin' themselves here all the time! Now that we've got it properly rebuilt, ya can have all the fun without all the worry! Dilapidation Station 2 is officially open!" Astrid announced with plenty of enthusiasm, and the doors were flung open to allow the crowd inside. Some people murmured to each other when they heard the name, but otherwise everyone was ready to go!

Blue Raspberry gave Astrid a cheerful pat on top of her head and a big, toothy smile, happy to have helped do something good that wasn't just killing monsters. Though they did miss the eating part that often followed, it was still really fun and they could see just how happy everyone was. It was a job well done!