Front View
Basement
The second most spacious room in the house, and often the safest, with brick walls and a cement floor. A narrow wooden staircase leads upwards and comes out in the angled space under the sweeping staircase in the front room. There is no longer a door at the top of the stairs. Cots and other shelter supplies are stacked under the basement stairs, and one cot is always set up against the wall opposite the stairs. A trap door in the floor leads to a small earthen space which acts as a combination root cellar and refrigerator.
A wooden worktable with shallow drawers is pushed up against the far wall, under a small window. Since magic season of 1377, the space under the table is stocked with pillows and snacks for upset people, as well as a small painting of an iguana dangling from a tree branch labeled: Hang In There, Lizard. The radio is on top of the worktable, but may be pushed aside or set elsewhere. The speaker box is beside it, but not connected with wires.
A shrine to the Invisibles, shaped like a band shell and made of papier-mâché and found objects, is in the far right-hand corner. Icons of Iron John, Hester Carthage of the Hearth, Lame Anthony, Cousin Violet, Auntie Enora and the Baron Yowie are displayed inside. There is enough space to add a candle and a small offering. Candles of various colors and matches may be found in a worktable drawer.
There are two automatic mage lights hard-stuck to the ceiling. They switch on when they detect movement and off when there has been no movement for ten minutes.
First Floor…
Room 101
Its door opens into the dining room. Its floor is slightly higher and its ceiling slightly lower than Room 102, to account for the basement beneath and the dining room step. There is a single window which looks out on Green Dragon Alley, but the curtains are always closed. It can be mathematically determined to be a bit snug for a bedroom and seems to have been meant as a study or office. Whatever might be on the inside is a mystery.
Room 102
Erik and Mordecai’s room. The wall it shares with Room 103 is a haphazard partition of what was originally a parlor, put in by whoever first decided to use the building as a boarding house. Both rooms’ closets are in this wall, with Room 102’s being closer to the window. If you grab the closet doorway on either side and wiggle, the whole wall shakes and the hangers rattle. Erik and Mordecai receive regular involuntary updates on Calliope’s sex life.
A small mirror has been firmly hard-stuck to the wall beside the closet. There is a basket in the closet for mixed socks and underwear, and another one for dirty clothes. A curtain hangs in place of a door.
A leaded glass window with heavy curtains looks out on Green Dragon Alley. There is a rickety wooden table with a single drawer under this window, usually covered with sheet music. It has been merged back together after mysteriously breaking in half in the fall of 1375, so a scar is visible and the drawer sticks.
Both beds are on the floor, on either side of the window, with Erik’s being closer to 103 and Mordecai’s closer to 101. Covering the floorboards between them is a threadbare Farsian rug, primarily red, with blue, white and yellow accents. Erik has a vintage movie poster above his bed, Mordecai has a drawing of a sandwich that Calliope did. A rotating collection of Erik’s drawings are also on display, and a framed lithograph that may have been original to the house.
Room 103
Calliope and Lucy’s room. This is the largest downstairs bedroom, partitioned from what was originally a parlor. It has a bay window facing Violena Street, making it a frequent target for brick-throwers. Its closet is in the wall it shares with Room 102, and closer to the door. Since Lucy has learned to crawl, it is closed off by one of Milo’s ‘virtual doors,’ and can be accessed by singing or whistling ‘You Are My Sunshine.’ There is a suitcase, art supplies and occasional clothing inside.
The headboard of Calliope’s bed (a double) is pushed up beside the closet, with the side of the bed being against the far wall. A mixed media painting including a polyresin lobster is hard-stuck to the wall above it. Her art table is near the bay window, but pushed against the wall at a right angle to it, with a smaller, secondary window above. A white-painted wicker rocking chair and bassinet are usually in the middle of the room but often moved around for convenience. The bassinet has a mobile made of soup cans and cut-out paper shapes magicked above it.
Calliope has done her own decorating, much of it with old clothing and found objects, and the place has the look of a rummage sale. Her recent artwork and works in progress are also on display. There are several floating paper lanterns which Milo has enchanted to light up, and one novelty glitter lamp which has been rebuilt to work without a cord. The record player, a portable model with a blue bakelite case, has been altered similarly. It is usually in the closet or on the floor, but when in use Calliope will put it on the bed.
Downstairs Bath
The toilet and pedestal sink are of white porcelain, both of them dry and nonfunctional. Due to Barnaby’s machinations, the toilet bowl has been covered in newspaper. There are scars in the walls from the bathtub and plumbing being removed during the siege. The wallpaper has a faded floral pattern, primarily green with white and pink accents. There is an oval mirror above the sink, and a few shelves standing in for a medicine cabinet.
A narrow rectangular window over where the bathtub used to be looks out on what is technically Green Dragon Alley, although at right angles to the main length of it. It has been boarded and offers very little light. A single automatic mage light above the mirror provides most of the illumination. The floor is white coin tile, which matches the kitchen, front room, and upstairs bath. The door opens into the kitchen.
Kitchen
The heart of the house. There are too many doors, or places where there should be doors, and not nearly enough floor or counter space. The back door opens onto a narrow wooden staircase leading into Green Dragon Alley. A large leaded glass window is in the same wall, above the sink, replacing where masonry and cabinetry were damaged beyond repair in the siege. The stove was also torn out during the siege, as well as the plumbing, gas and electrical. The wallpaper is a yellow gingham pattern. The scars of this haphazard remodeling have been patched and painted to match it since magic season of 1377. The floor is cracked white coin tile, with black grout, matching the front room and bathrooms.
The doorway opening into the bathroom usually has an actual door in it. The ones going into the front room and the dining room do not, and haven’t for so long that the doors can no longer be found. The pantry and cabinets are also doorless. Since Lucy has learned to crawl, these are protected by ‘virtual doors’ which can be opened by singing or whistling ‘Good Day Sunshine.’ The washtub is stored in the pantry, converting it from a walk-in design to a step-up-and-stand-in-washtub design. This washtub is used for laundry and baths.
The oven is made of scavenged brick, occupying half of what was once a huge fireplace with a turnspit and using its chimney. Beside it to the right there is a pile of scrap wood. On the left there is a large cement flowerpot with decorative lion heads on the side. The flowerpot was stolen from Strawberry Square, and has water inside which must be hand carried from a pump. The nearest pump is in Strawberry Square with the other flowerpots.
A small camp stove may be on the counter, or else there will be a few jury-rigged burners made with canned heat scattered around. Hyacinth’s doctor bag also has a space on the counter, and there is usually a weird toaster of some kind that Milo has made. Metal appliances and utensils often have holes or damage rendering them useless.
A chalkboard with suggested payment written in block letters, METAL being foremost, hangs on the wall. Since Calliope moved in, she has gifted Hyacinth a framed collage resembling a ransom note which reads: No matter where I sever my guests they seem to like my kitchen best. Since February of 1377, she has added a memorial drawing of a cymbal-banging toy monkey labeled: In Loving Memory, and since August of the same year, a wooden sign which reads: Recovering Arsonists Ltd., and a modified black velvet painting of weeping doves.
A table and assorted chairs take up most of the space in the middle of the room and to get around one must turn sideways and edge against the walls or counters. To exit into the front room, one must remember to step down.
Front Room
This is the largest room in the house. It was meant to be a classy foyer, with sweeping staircase, skylight, and room for lots of seating and decoration, but it has fallen into considerable disrepair. The floor is white coin tile with black grout, like the kitchen and bathrooms, most of it cracked and missing pieces. The peaked ceiling is two storeys above, with a white-painted railing around the open space at second floor height. The skylight was removed rather spectacularly during the siege and the hole is either patched with corrugated metal or covered with a tarp.
There is a large leaded glass window looking out onto the porch, the front yard and Violena Street. The front door also opens onto the porch. As one faces the front door from inside, the wall on your right has a set of shelves which is covering a boarded window that has been forgotten. Spare dining chairs are sometimes placed against this wall when the kitchen is too crowded. The sweeping staircase and the kitchen entry are behind you. The staircase is tiled like the floor.
The basement stairs are tucked in the angled space under the sweeping staircase and no longer closed off by a door. Opposite this space under the stairs is a small slanted closet with a short bookshelf beside it. When facing the bookshelf and closet, the dining room and its entry to the kitchen are to the right and the doors to Rooms 101, 102, and 103 are behind you. The kitchen entry which accesses the front room is in the wall at right angles to the basement door. One must step up to enter the kitchen and the dining room.
Two matching chairs with balding red velveteen upholstery sit to the right of the staircase, in front of the dining room, with an end table between them. All three items are often kicked or moved around for convenience, and sometimes fall over.
The wallpaper here, and in most other rooms in the house, is dingy tan with red and blue stripes. Since magic season of 1377, the scars in the walls from the siege have been patched and painted to match. As a reaction to this repair, Barnaby threw a pot of yellow paint against the wall to the right of the kitchen entry. Calliope added a smiley face and orange highlights. The room is lit from high above by three automatic mage lights stuck to the ceiling.
Dining Room
Too small, dim and unfriendly to make eating in it seem practical, this is the only room in the house where carpeting survives. It is dark green, shaggy, dusty and stained, with holes in it from being cleaned with deconstructions. There is a hole in the ceiling from a complicated gas chandelier which was removed during the siege. Since magic season of 1377, an abstract sculpture that looks like a piece of white coral has been stuck to the ceiling to conceal this hole. Milo has fixed it so it glows. Nevertheless, everyone continues to eat in the kitchen, barring special occasions.
A tiled step leads up to the dining room and divides it from the front room. Since magic season of 1376, a pair of oxblood tassel loafers are stuck an inch deep in the tile below the step, with scorch marks around them from attempted removals. Facing the dining room from this step, you will find a doorway on your left leading into the kitchen, and a door on the right leading to Room 101. Since magic season of 1377, the striped wallpaper has been patched and painted to hide the damage from the siege.
Second Floor…
Room 201
Milo and Ann’s room. As one enters, the closet and dresser are on the left, and the bed and mage light are on the right. A round window is high on the wall opposite the door, offering a little light and no view. This wall has been embellished with multicolored flowers which Milo drew in chalk pastels, sort of by-accident-on-purpose. There is a large mirror with a painted wooden frame on the wall above the dresser, and a mage light made from a repurposed ashtray on the wall within easy reach of the bed.
The closet has no door or curtain and is full mainly of dresses, with the floor a haphazard mass of ladies’ shoes. An exuberant collage including a high-heeled shoe, done by Calliope, has been hung inside the closet, at a convenient height for someone sitting on the floor to observe. There is a zig-zagging clothesline affixed to random places on the walls, usually with one shirt, a pair of pants, some stockings and underwear drip drying on it, but the configuration is idiosyncratic and changes daily.
Room 202
Maggie and the General and occasionally Sanaam’s room. This is the master bedroom, but providing sleeping and living space for three has left it a bit cramped. Maggie prefers to sleep on the cot in the basement when her father is home, for obvious reasons. The beds are easily stacked and pushed out of the way to provide more educational space for Maggie’s lessons. For even more space, furniture may be stuck to the walls and ceiling with magic.
The closet is inadequate for three. Maggie’s clothing is kept in the hall wardrobe, which sits to the right of Room 202’s door at the top of the sweeping staircase. The staircase to the attic pulls down in front of the door to 202 and the bathroom, making it difficult to store anything there.
Inside, there is a small dresser, a closet with no door, a double bed with a low wooden frame, and a single mattress on the floor. In the closet, the remnants of the General’s uniform occupy a neat garment bag and a hatbox. There is a desk against the wall near the door. Calliope has provided an abstract painting of Sanaam which hangs over it. The rest of the wallspace is taken up with bookshelves. Two straight-backed hard wooden chairs face each other in front of the desk, in a good position for instruction.
The mage lights are shaded and have porcelain bases like lamps. The smaller window is square, in a wooden frame with handles for easy removal, just large enough for a human being to jump out of. The larger faces Green Dragon Alley and is permanently shut like most others in the house.
Room 203
Hyacinth’s room. It is small for a bedroom and probably meant as a bonus room, den, or storage. It has a bed, closet and dresser, and she does not feel she requires anything else. When she needs a mirror, she uses the upstairs bath. Dirty clothes get kicked into a pile, along with her single pair of shoes when she’s not wearing them. Clean socks, stockings and underwear tend to be heaped on top of the dresser instead of sorted out in it. There is a single square window high on the wall which provides some light and no view, and an automatic mage light stuck to the ceiling.
Hyacinth does not do much living in her room. Her real room is the kitchen.
Room 204
Unoccupied and being used for storage at the moment, it is full of boxes and dust, with a space in the middle where the cupola stairs can be pulled down. The stairs have had all their metal parts replaced with wood, magic and kludges; they do not work very well and need to be bounced on to get them to lock into place. There is a window opposite the door which looks out onto Green Dragon Alley and one to the right of that which looks onto Violena Street.
Upstairs Bath
This is the master bath, larger than the one downstairs. The wallpaper is the same as the downstairs bath, green floral with pink and while accents. The coin tile is also the same. The toilet is made of white porcelain, dry and nonfunctional. The bathtub and other plumbing were torn out during the siege.
A broken unit of cabinets which once supported a counter and a double sink has been torn apart and rendered almost nonfunctional. A plywood board rests on top of it, which will support a toothbrush and a glass if you wish to use the mirror above. This mirror is small, framed, and obviously a late addition, replacing a much larger one that left a scarred rectangle on the wall.
The single window is rectangular and located high on the wall. An automatic mage light is stuck below it.
Attic
Barnaby’s room. By floor space alone, the attic is nearly as large as the basement, but the peaked roof means much of it is only accessible by crawling. Barnaby does not mind this and stores boxes in the low areas, essentially making his own walls which he decorates with cut papers and notes.
The livable space is about ten feet by ten feet square, framed by boxes on two sides and triangular walls on the other two, all of which are covered with papers, save for one circular accent window at the peak of each triangle. The larger windows beneath them are easier to access and semi-papered. The one facing the rear of the house rests in a wooden frame with handles and can be removed to facilitate chamber pot disposal.
A wardrobe is secreted within the boxes and papers, nearly invisible. A bed with many pillows is pushed against the far wall, beneath the window that opens. A desk is pushed against some of the boxes, with a shaded mage light on top of it. The boxes above it are covered with papers. At the peak of the roof is a second mage light, made of amber colored glass.
The stairs pull down from below, or may be triggered from above with a lever and wound up with a crank; all their metal parts have been replaced with wood and magic and they do not work very well. There is a desk chair, originally the kind with metal wheels, which has no more metal or wheels and also does not work very well. Barnaby does not work very well either, so all this suits him.
Roof
The stairs in Room 204 lead to the cupola, which is octogonal with a conical roof that tapers at the tip like an inverted funnel. The top of the cupola roof has a threaded stone well which accepts the grooved end of a rod for magic strikes, accounting for the odd shape.
A wooden railing encloses the front part of the roof and functions as a widow’s walk, although quite a steep one in places. This was likely meant as a decorative feature which Hyacinth’s first crop of boarders didn’t understand and repaired oddly after ripping out the original metal fixtures. The shingles have been removed for their nails and the roof itself is down to bare tar paper, except in a few hard-to-reach places. The space where the skylight used to be is covered with either corrugated metal or a tarp. Leakage is a constant threat and is dealt with more often by magic than real repair.
Barnaby is able to observe the roof from one of his attic windows, but not well, due to the papers. It is possible to knock on it to annoy him.