The Guild's Village Idiot is Actually the Strongest.

The Unstable Lever

Dawn in Stonegrave found Silas a full-fledged Guild member of Branch C, standing before the main Quest Board for the first time. The bronze token from Torvin felt cool in his pocket. The board was a riot of parchment, but his eyes went immediately to a notice with a crisp City Council seal, written in neat, urgent script.

< CITY COUNCIL CONTRACT: PRIORITY >

Location: The Grand Baths of Stonegrave.

Problem: "Unnatural buoyancy event." Water in the central mineral pool has become hyper-buoyant, causing bathers to float uncontrollably to the surface and become trapped against the ceiling. Two incidents, no serious injuries, but public panic is rising.

Required: Identification of cause and safe resolution.

Reward: 20 Silver Crowns, 75 GMP.

Special Note: Assigned to Branch C Specialist Silas, per Guildmaster Torvin's recommendation.

Silas took the parchment. The f*e was substantial, the GMP significant. This was no longer a probationary copper-bit job. This was a test of his new status.

< GUILD MISSION: C-007 >

Objective: Resolve the buoyancy anomaly at the Grand Baths.

Success Parameters: Public safety, restoration of normal function, identification of root cause.

Secondary Objective: Demonstrate effective field leadership.

Note: The Baths are a public utility. Your actions will be highly visible.

The Grand Baths were a place of steaming, sulfur-scented opulence, funded by the city's hot springs. Now, they were in chaos. The vast central pool, usually full of relaxing citizens, was empty save for a few inches of water that shimmered with an odd, internal luminescence. High above, on the vaulted mosaic ceiling, three terrified-looking men and a woman were stuck, spreadeagled as if pressed against glass by an invisible force. A net had been strung below them, and Guild guards were attempting to talk them down. The bath master, a portly man named Theron, was wringing his hands.

"Specialist Silas? Thank the stones you're here," Theron babbled. "It started two days ago. The water just... stopped letting people sink. Then it started pushing them up. Now it's like being in a bubble of air! We drained the pool, but the little water left is still doing it! The City Council is furious—this comes right out of the public coffers. My reputation...!"

Silas approached the pool's edge. His [Empathic Diagnostics]—the ability gained from the Chime-Hound—flared immediately. The pool didn't feel "sick" or "cursed." It felt overcharged, like a bell that had been struck too hard and was vibrating at a frequency that repelled flesh. His [Eyes of the Root Cause] scanned the water. The shimmer was familiar. It reminded him of the iridescent scum on the Ditchwater amalgam, but subtler, purer.

He knelt and dipped a finger. The water felt normal to the touch, but when he tried to push his hand in, an immense, gentle pressure resisted him. It was like pressing against a firm, invisible membrane an inch below the surface.

"This isn't magic in the traditional sense," he murmured to himself. "It's a physical property that's been altered."

< IMPOSSIBLE CHALLENGE #014 >

Objective: Safely extract the trapped bathers from the ceiling without causing them injury or panic.

Reward: Title - [Subtle Hand].

Hint: Their problem is a lack of weight. You cannot fight force with force. Redistribute it.

Silas looked at the four people stuck high above. They weren't in immediate danger, but fear and embarrassment were mounting. He couldn't just have the guards pull them down; the buoyant force might tear at their limbs.

He needed to understand the mechanism. "Theron, has anything changed recently? New construction? Repairs to the spring vents?"

The bath master's eyes widened. "Yes! A week ago, we had a tremor. A small earth-shake. It cracked one of the old lead inflow pipes from the hot spring. We had a Branch B earth-mage seal it with a mineral-fusion spell. Cost a fortune! It's been fine since!"

A tremor. A cracked pipe. A mineral-fusion spell. Silas's [Practical Theorist] mind connected the dots. The earth-mage's spell hadn't just sealed the pipe; it might have catalyzed a reaction between the mineral-rich spring water and the lead or the surrounding rock, producing a gas or altering the water's density in a stable, surface-level layer.

He turned to the Branch B guards. "I need two long, sturdy rolls of canvas, like sailcloth. And four volunteers who aren't afraid of heights."

While they fetched the materials, Silas approached Pell and Liana, who had come to observe, curious about his first major assignment. "I need your specific talents," he said quietly. "Pell, I need you to 'listen' to the ceiling where they're stuck. Tell me if the force feels even, or if there are weak points, fluctuations."

Pell, a thin man with nervous hands, nodded. He placed his palms on the marble wall nearest the trapped bathers and closed his eyes, his sensitivity to vibrations and structural stress extending upward.

Liana stepped forward. "And me?"

"Take a sample of the water. Don't touch it directly. Use a clay cup. Tell me if it tastes... different. Not just of minerals."

Liana, who could detect the most subtle changes in aqueous solutions, took a cup and carefully skimmed the shimmering surface.

Pell spoke first, his voice distant. "The force... it's like a cushion. It's strongest in the middle of each person's back. It pulses, very softly, in time with... with the flow of the hot springs underground. It's tied to the source."

Liana sipped the water and grimaced. "It's not just mineral water. There's a... slickness. A metallic aftertaste that coats the tongue. It's like the water has been charged with a repellent energy. It's not poison, but it's not wanting to be contained."

Silas's [Catalyst's Touch] synthesized the data. The buoyancy was a sustained, reactive field generated by the altered water. It was tied to the geothermal flow. Fighting it was impossible. But he could interfere with it.

The guards returned with the canvas. Silas had them unroll the first sheet. "We need to get this directly under one of them, then raise it carefully. We'll need leverage—poles and ropes."

With a system of poles and a team of ten guards, they maneuvered the first canvas sheet horizontally over the net, directly below one of the trapped men. "We're not going to pull them down," Silas announced, his voice carrying in the echoing chamber. "We're going to give the force somewhere else to go."

He took a bucket of ordinary, non-buoyant water from a secondary tap and poured it slowly onto the center of the canvas. The water soaked through, creating a heavy, damp patch. "Now," he instructed, "raise the canvas gently until the wet patch touches the man's back. Slow and steady. The weight needs to be transferred evenly."

Confused but obedient, the guards raised the sheet, using poles to keep it flat. The moment the sodden canvas made contact with the trapped bather's tunic, the shimmer in the air around him flickered. The uniform buoyant force now had a competing pressure: the weight of the water-soaked fabric, distributed over a wider area.

"Feel for a change," Silas called up to the man. "Try to push against the ceiling with your hands, gently."

The man, trembling, did so. His palms, which had been firmly stuck, now peeled away with a soft pop. A collective gasp went through the onlookers. "I-I can move!" he stammered.

"Don't fight it. Let the canvas take your weight. We'll lower you."

Slowly, the guards reversed their poles, lowering the canvas. The man descended, the buoyant force now negated by the focused, damp weight on his back. He landed in the net, stunned and grateful. The process was repeated for the remaining three. In twenty minutes, all were safely down, being checked by a healer.

The immediate crisis was over. But the pool was still unusable. And Silas had a Challenge to complete.

As the last bather was helped away, the system flashed.

< CHALLENGE #014: COMPLETE. >

< TITLE GRANTED: [Subtle Hand]. >

< Effect: Your interventions involving precise counter-pressure or redistribution of force have a marginally higher chance of success. You are better at finding "leverage" in physical systems. >

Theron was effusive in his thanks, but Silas held up a hand. "The cause is still here. The water is still charged. We need to break the reaction at the source."

He needed to find the repaired pipe. And for that, he needed to follow the energy. He had an idea, but it would require using his new title in a way he hadn't before, and it would involve going into the baths' underbelly—a maze of ancient, steaming tunnels.

He turned to Pell and Liana. "Will you come with me? I could use your senses down there."

Pell looked apprehensive but nodded. Liana gave a firm, curious yes. They were, for the first time, not just observers. They were a team.

As they followed Theron towards a service entrance, a figure watched from the Baths' colonnaded entrance. Sir Alaric, dressed in casual but expensive attire, observed the scene with cold, analytical eyes. He had heard about the assignment and come to see the "Specialist" at work. He saw not chaos, but a methodical, clever resolution. He saw Silas commanding Guild guards and utilizing the oddities of Branch C. His lips thinned. He's not just solving problems. He's building a following among the defective. He's creating a faction. The thought was intolerable. The Aberrant was constructing a foundation in his Guild, and foundations needed to be tested to destruction.

Alaric turned and walked away, already composing the formal complaint in his mind. The Arcane Oversight Committee would be very interested in unauthorized tampering with Branch B work.