Adventure of Spanner Few 1

The rusted access wheel turns under Spanner Few's effort, grinding flakes of corrosion onto the floor. The glowing Elfstones cast blue light across the cracked sampling console.

A row of drawers jolts open. Brittle records slide into the dust beside oil-dark sample vials, while a stamped maintenance log catches against the lowest drawer.

Beneath the transparent inspection pipe, black water surges against the rootlike growth. The roots flex through the buried conduit, spreading toward the chamber's old intake line.

A sharp crack runs along the pipe. One seam whitens, then splits a finger's breadth, and a thin thread of black water beads against the glass.

The maintenance log's stamped cover reads CONTAMINATION EVENT 7. Its first brittle page bears columns of dates, well codes, and repeated handwritten marks beside SOURCE UNCONFIRMED.

The Elfstones pulse brighter as the inspection pipe creaks again. The records, samples, and log lie within reach, but the spreading fracture threatens to spill the poisoned water into the chamber.

Spanner Few places the three Elfstones against the inspection pipe, their blue light sinking through glass, black water, and the rootlike growth beneath.

The stones reveal the source at once: a buried intake junction where the spreading roots have wrapped an old chemical feed line and drawn poison into the wells.

He brings wisdom, heart, and spirit together. The Elfstones answer with a silent blue wave that passes through the pipe and reaches the buried junction.

The rootlike mass stiffens, turns pale, and breaks apart into harmless ash. The poisoned feed line collapses inward, sealing the junction beneath a fused shell of glassy mineral.

Black water drains from the inspection pipe, leaving only clear water and dead sediment. The crack seals under the Elfstones' glow, and the samples stop moving.

Determine how far the poison traveled