The upper shelf · Velstraven · Morass Games Wiki

An optional room of chapter 1. When you walk in, the room card reads: A student memento sits out of reach on the upper shelf.

Narrated walkthrough

The upper shelf from its entrance — The upper shelf: how to solve it

Getting there

Chapter 1, optional, first upper floor. It opens off the west end of the sagging gallery (R02), which you reach by the winding stair after the dark frieze. It gates nothing.

What is wrong

"A student memento sits out of reach on the upper shelf." The Folio's card: "The student's sealed memento sits on the sill of the upper shelf, above any reach; a clear ramp runs from that sill down to the desk tray."

What you can work

Folio: The sealed memento on the sill of the high shelf, about 3 m up, above a ramp down to the desk tray.
Rear folio: The memento seen from the rear maintenance shelf behind it.
Wall: Bare masonry up to the rear maintenance shelf.

Solution

A nudge

Draw pulls the memento toward you over the sill, and the ramp below carries it down to the desk tray in about four seconds.

The full solution

Aim at the Folio and cast Draw (Wind + Will + Water).
Draw pulls the memento toward you over the sill, and the ramp below carries it down to the desk tray in about four seconds.
What you see: "The sealed memento moves over the sill toward its supported descent ramp." Its card: "The memento is sliding down the ramp toward the desk tray."
When it rests in the desk tray, Handle the Folio.
In the tray it is within ordinary reach.
What you see: "You retrieve the optional student memento." Then "The upper shelf settled."

Other ways that work

Cast Climbing growth (Will + Water + Water) on the Wall ("Frozen holds reach the rear maintenance shelf."), climb to the shelf behind and Handle the Rear folio.

Watch for

Before it arrives a hand answers "The memento remains out of ordinary front reach."
The Reading lamp (Handle it, or Heat it) and the Reading shutter (Handle or Orient it) stand in every room. They only light the room to read by and work none of its fittings.

If it goes wrong

This room has no failed state. To put it back as you found it, hold R for one second (pad: Start, then Restart from autosave); that reloads the autosave made when you entered the room.

Achievements here

The Upper Shelf: Optional: solve the upper shelf.

Spells used

Draw, Climbing growth.