Side A *************************************************************
Across the woodland
01. Twilight
02. Underworks map
03. Raspberries
04. Quiet swamp under the wooden bridge
05. Village of old adobe houses
06. Streams of water cross the fields
07. Pick axe, lantern and old ropes
08. Crystal pool has become a small swamp
09. Far into the forest among the ferns
10. A swarm of sprites
11. Descending beyond the entrance
12. A fresh breath from deep within
13. Quest begins
Side B ************************************************************
Beneath the subsoil
01. Quiet wind over the moorland
02. Descent under water drops
03. Avoiding a deadly mistake with the anchors
04. Turning on a lamp in the darkness
05. Waterways
06. Reaching the aquifer outlet
07. Candle flame and digging tools
08. A rudimentary diagram on stone
09. By a lever the flood is unblocked
10. Quiet woods
11. Night falls again over the encampment
The Dwelling has a drinking water faucet inside it: lately, this water source has diminished its flow and turned into a little trickle. The pipe that runs under the wall seems clear, I inspected it thoroughly myself last week. You need to check the pipe that starts from this area of the woods. Here, I've drawn you a map.
At this point, you'll find a man-made conduit. Be careful, it's not easy to spot among the dense vegetation. This conduit leads all the way up to the derelict valley. But you don't need to go that far: it's very likely there's some blockage just a few meters from the tunnel entrance. Sometimes small landslides or wild animals can obstruct the flow.
************************************************************
The ground is covered in thick moss, grey and green, clinging to the roots and stones that push up through the soil. Every step you take sinks a little, as if the forest floor was soft, living, breathing. The air smells of damp wood and something slightly sour, like old, rotting leaves.
The cave looks natural from the outside. Inside, it becomes clear the passage is a built conduit. You push through low roots and loose stones until the tunnel opens to a narrow, straight cut in the rock. Marks of tools run along the walls. The floor has a shallow channel carved for water. It is quiet except for the small drip of water. You follow the channel. After a few meters you find a heavy iron door set into the wall. The door is old; rust flakes when you touch it. Behind the door there is a short corridor and then a grate. The grate is bolted but not sealed, and beyond it the space widens into a larger chamber. You can see other doors and grates along the far walls, like a network hidden behind the simple conduit..
We went on, for what felt longer than it was, until the ground slowly sloped down more steeply. The ferns grew much taller, some of them twice as high as a man, and they pressed against us as we walked, like a green wall. The small stream we had been following disappeared, sinking into the ground, and its sound stopped, as if the forest in this place had decided to be quiet.
At a certain point, the trees ended. We stepped from the thick forest onto a low shelf of rock, still covered in moss, but with a harder, stony layer underneath. The air here was colder, and carried a different smell—not just of plants, but something cooler and drier, like stone and damp earth. It breathed up from small cracks and holes in the rock, as if the ground under our feet had lungs.
You check the channel. The flow is low. Farther in, where the channel bends under a fallen slab, water pools and slows. The slab is large—too large to move by hand. You test the slab with your shoulder; it does not budge. You look for a lever. Near the wall you find an old timber beam, half-buried and cracked but long. You wedge one end under the slab and set a stout forked stick as a fulcrum. It takes three tries and a careful push, but the beam slides, then catches. The stone shifts a little. You brace your feet and push again. With a wet, grinding sound the slab rolls free enough for water to pass. The channel draws the pooled water away. The flow returns from slow drip to a steady line. You wait and watch the level drop until the water runs clear downstream. You close the iron door, mark its hinge with chalk, and note the bolts on the grate for later inspection. Before you leave, you walk the short length of the larger chamber and write on your slate: “Found network behind conduit. Flow restored. Slab moved with lever: beam and fulcrum used. Recommend clearing grates and checking upstream deposits.”
There it is.
