The ceiling of the sewer tunnel arched in a shallow curve above the passageway. A foul-smelling liquid flowed in a deep channel about a step wide in the middle of the floor. Elevated walkways lined both sides. Two men traversed the sewers, hunched over and cautious. Their mining helmets glowed from within, magically illuminating the darkness like lanterns. An enormous improvement over the old oil lamps. It had taken weeks of negotiations to acquire the expensive magical equipment from the academy. Ultimately, the sewer workers had gone on strike. Not without first sealing off the drains of the mage academy, of course.

The two prodded the water with long poles, searching for debris that had settled on the bottom and could eventually block the channel. The younger of the two, barely in his twenties, pondered as he ran his hand thoughtfully along the canal wall: "Hey, Arnheld, why are the tunnels down here constructed so much better? The upper level isn't bad, but the clay bricks are already crumbling in places. This wall is constructed almost seamlessly from small stone blocks."

"Do I look like I studied architecture?"

"You did start your apprenticeship as a builder. I mean, before..."

"Before I started drinking. You can say it. No one works in the sewers if they have a chance at a better job."

"Hey, I wanted to work here. Someone has to keep the sewer system running. For the common good!"

"Sure. It has nothing to do with the fact that you've practically angered every guild. Anyway, I can answer your question. This level still belongs to Muln’Nathan, the mighty fortress city that once stood here. Until it was destroyed during the Demon Wars. Mulnirshome was built centuries later on the ruins. Down here, they mostly had to shovel out rubble and dirt and had the perfect foundation for a sewer system. Without it, we'd have open channels in the streets at best, and we'd be collecting our sewage in barrels to transport it out of the city. The penny-pinchers in the city council would never have afforded such a huge project."

"Like in Dornhain?"

"When have you been in Dornhain?"

"For my sister's wedding. Of course, it had to rain then. Four days on that damn mud road. It would have been too much to ask for one of the old Kathurian roads along the way. Since moving so slowly, we traveled until nightfall until the next inn appeared." Albus paused in his story and groaned. "Damn it. So much for a timely end to the workday."

"What's..." Arnheld fell silent as he also recognized the problem. The water level was noticeably rising in the slightly sloping channel. The worker took a piece of somewhat glowing chalk from his pocket and made a note on the wall. Then, he marked the water level with a line directly above the wastewater and placed his staff in the water. The workers' staff served not only to poke around in the wastewater for blockages and defend themselves against smugglers, crazy homeless people, and the occasional creatures in the sewers but also had etched rings at regular intervals. Arnheld read the water level on the staff and also noted it on the wall, along with the date. "It must be something huge. You can almost see the wastewater rising. We need to take care of this immediately before we need potions for underwater breathing to reach the blockage."

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"Gods forbid. I went through that once. It took two weeks to get the taste out of my mouth. At least it wasn't so bad that they wouldn't let me into any taverns because I smelled like a clogged toilet during a diarrhea epidemic."

The two hurried a bit faster. Just a hundred yards further, the problem was visible. They stopped. Arnheld scratched his head in confusion. "And here I thought I had seen everything down here. Including the three dead pigs and the stuffed crocodile last summer."

The wastewater was already backing up to the edge of the channel. The cause was clear to see. A wall made of seamless gray stone, about two fingers wide, reached just above the surface of the walkable ledge. Water was already sloshing over the walkway. Albus cautiously put his foot on the wet surface and took a few yards along the wall: "This can't be. Across the passage and about five yards wide. I was here three weeks ago, and it wasn't here. It makes no sense at all."

Arnheld also climbed onto the wall. He went about halfway and stamped firmly a few times: "Madness. A thin wall would have sufficed for a dam. This is rivaling the city wall."

"Nonsense. The city wall is even thicker. What's this doing here? But more importantly, how did it get here?"

"Even more important is, how do we get rid of it?"

Albus looked at the stone, puzzled. Where the dam connected with the wall, no transition was visible. He examined the walls of the canal. Everything seemed normal here. Or... He took off his glowing helmet and handed it to his colleague. Then he leaned close to the wall: "Something is glowing here..." He ran his hand over it and looked at his fingertips, now faintly phosphoresced in the darkness. He wiped his fingers on his pants: "Some kind of algae or moss. I'll have to ask the guild master if there's a way to cultivate it. It would be handy if we could illuminate the entire sewer system with it."

"With our luck, it would only attract monsters. Or spread toxic spores in the air."

Albus nodded thoughtfully: "You're right about that too. Now give me the stonemason's tools from the backpack."

His leather backpack contained the tools the two usually used for minor sewer repairs. When he turned around, Arnheld took out a hammer and a long chisel and handed both to his older colleague: "If you can do anything with that, I'll sign you up for the Ulgather Pioneers. They always need someone who can quickly tear down a city wall."

"I don't want to tear it down, just take a sample. This appeared so quickly; it must be magical. If I show up at the mage academy without a piece of it, it'll be an eternal debate until one of the mages comes down here. Without magic, we won't be able to move this huge stone out of the way. It was probably one of those completely drunk adepts again. Like the story with the spiderwebs two years ago. At least we could just burn those."

Albus knelt about in the middle of the stone, where the water was already flowing over it ankle-deep. "Don't you want to try it at the edge?"

"No. Then, the stone will fall into the water as soon as I chip it off. I don't feel like fishing around for it. Besides, this obstacle could be hollow."

Arnheld set the chisel and began hammering vigorously on it. After a few blows, he set the chisel down and felt over the spot.

Albus stood beside him, looking over his shoulder, but he couldn't see anything through the murky water: "And? Is it hollow? Have you broken through yet?"

"Just a fine scratch. This stuff is harder than granite. It doesn't sound hollow in the least. I..." He fell silent as the ground beneath them suddenly dissolved, and they fell helplessly downward. Followed by a torrent of wastewater. They waved their arms briefly, then struck the hard stone floor. The floor turned out to be mirror-smooth and sloping, so they took some of their momentum and slid down the steep passage. After a few dozen meters, the passage ended in a hole in the floor. The two tried to hold onto something, but there was nothing on the seamless walls and the smooth floor. Arnheld threw himself flat on the ground and literally tried to brake with his face. However, carried by the rush of water that had entered the passage with them, it didn't work. Only their helmets illuminated the surroundings as they fell through a large room and struck again. This time on a straight floor of solid stone. A leg broke with the crunch of a rotten twig. Then silence descended on the dazed workers, who now lay under the steadily falling water.