Framing

Framing day is loud. Saws scream. Nail guns go pap-pap-pap like tiny dragons with hiccups. Walls lie flat on the slab, then the whole crew grabs on and yells "Up!" and the wall stands, and for one second the building has a shape. Everybody stops to look. It never gets old.

The Framer is in heaven. The Framer is also covered in sawdust from head to boot. The skeleton of the tower rises stick by stick, and every other trade is already circling it, waiting for their turn.

But this chapter isn't really about walls. It's about eyes. On a jobsite full of moving pieces, the most powerful skill isn't swinging a hammer. It's noticing. A cord running across a walkway. A missing guardrail on the second floor. A ladder that looks a little too relaxed.

So the Guild gives your crew a new quest: report hazards. Three of them. And here's the part that makes this chapter heartfelt: close calls count. The "whoa, that almost happened" moments. Nobody gets in trouble for saying it out loud. They get XP. They get a thank-you.

Skegy, who usually only cares about paperwork being perfect, reads every hazard report like it's a love letter. Because it kind of is. Every report is somebody saying, "I want you to go home the same way you came in."

The bones are up. The eyes are open. The tower is starting to look like a tower, and everybody's still in one piece. That's a good framing day.