Bob Bobbin arrives in the copper mine's waiting room, where lantern smoke hangs beneath the timbered ceiling. Miners crowd around his battered still, eager for the food-and-drink stop before returning underground.
The apparatus bears blackened seams and a crooked copper pipe from its latest explosion. Bob tightens fittings while spilled mash glistens across the stone floor.
The overboss, Durnan Kettleback, a broad elderly dwarf man with a braided gray beard, rust-red coat, and missing left eyebrow, plants himself beside the workbench.
Durnan Kettleback
That still works before the shift bell, Bobbin. The miners need a drink and a bite without climbing out of my mine.
A chorus of tired miners mutters agreement. One taps a dented cup against his palm while another peers at the warped coil as if willing it to mend.
Durnan Kettleback
Copper shift ends soon. If this contraption cannot pour by then, I will have you serving water, and nobody comes below for water.
the nearest miner
Careful, overboss. His last batch made the lantern flames turn blue. Tasted terrible, but it kept three fellows awake.
✓ Quest Accepted
Get the still working
Director's note
though mostly it's a mini still that you have and take parts from
Director's note
it is a melon
“fix the still, you always carry spare parts, you then put in mushrooms, a sugar cap and a thing you were told was a banana from good old barf the bard all those years ago and make some moonshine”
SUCCESS (Legendary moonshine brewing, rolled -2)
Bob unrolls his spare parts, replacing the warped seal and crooked pipe with fittings from his pouch. The compact still settles into a workable shape beneath his strong hands.
He feeds mushrooms into the small copper chamber, adds a sugar cap, then drops in the old yellow melon Barf the Bard once claimed was a banana.
Bob Bobbin
The melon is softer than a banana should be.
The repaired still rattles, exhales sweet vapor, and begins filling a waiting crock with clear moonshine. Its aroma carries earth, sugar, and an unmistakable melon sharpness.
A burst of hot steam spits through the fresh joint and scalds Bob's left palm before he clamps the valve shut. The leak stops, but the skin reddens.
Durnan Kettleback
By the deep roads, it pours. Strange as swamp rain, but it pours. Get those cups filled before the bell.
the nearest miner
That smell is worse than the blue flames. Give me two cups anyway. I have a shift to survive.
Quest Complete
Get the still working