The new apartment smells of cardboard and fresh sawdust. Maya, Niko’s best friend since elementary school, kneels among half-built furniture, a young adult woman with a sturdy frame, warm brown skin, short curls, and a sunflower-yellow sweatshirt.
A crooked chair leans against the wall while two shelves tilt at different angles. Tools, labeled boards, loose hardware, and flattened packaging cover nearly every clear patch of floor.
Maya
You made it. Please tell me you brought the magical ability to distinguish one tiny screw from another.
She lifts an instruction sheet with one hand and points to three empty circles in the diagram. The matching spaces in the parts tray hold only dust and a single bent washer.
Maya
The hardware packets are empty, the shelves wobble, and I may have assembled this chair upside down. I stopped before making it worse.
Maya spreads her hands over the improvised work area, leaving the replacement hardware list, a phone, and a half-open toolbox within easy reach. The room waits around the unfinished furniture.
✓ Quest Accepted
Assemble Maya's furniture correctly
“I compare the instruction sheet with the labeled boards before touching the chair.”
SUCCESS (Good Reasoning, rolled +0)
Niko takes the instruction sheet from Maya and lays it beside the labeled boards, keeping the chair untouched. The room’s scattered parts become a quiet puzzle.
Niko
The labels match the diagram’s shelf sides, back panel, and seat pieces.
She traces each printed step with one claw, sorting the boards into a usable sequence: long panels for the shelves, the narrow pair for the chair back, and the broad panel for its seat.
Maya
That is already more organized than my entire afternoon.
The comparison takes several extra minutes because one label is partly hidden beneath packing dust. Once she wipes it clear, Niko confirms the correct boards and spots the chair’s pieces in the wrong pile.
Maya
So the chair is not upside down by destiny. I simply used the shelf side where the seat belongs.
The instruction sheet now rests open beside the sorted boards. The bent washer remains unexplained, but the parts needed for the chair and shelves are clearly identified.
“I reassemble the chair using the sorted pieces”
FAILURE (Fair Crafts, rolled -3)
Niko brings the chair pieces together in the corrected order, fitting the seat between the side panels and aligning the narrow back supports with the diagram. Maya watches from the edge of the work area.
The joints hold long enough for Niko to position the chair upright, but the unfinished frame shifts when she tests the seat. One side panel pulls away with a soft wooden creak.
Niko
The frame needs the missing screws before it can stay square.
Niko checks the nearby hardware tray without disturbing the sorted pieces. The required screws are absent, and the toolbox remains just beyond the cleared work area, not in her possession.
Maya
It looks like a chair now, which is a huge improvement. It also looks like sitting in it would be a bold experiment.
Maya reaches toward the toolbox, then stops beside the unstable frame. The chair stays upright only because Niko keeps one hand against its loose side panel.
Maya
Let’s pause here and find the replacement hardware before we tighten anything. At least we know the pieces are finally in the right places.
✓ Quest Accepted
Get the replacement screws