Chương 78: Chapter 75 – Stone Drift

"Alright, so if you look here, this is to calculate the volume." Alric pointed to a particular section on a page filled with what could best be described as mathematical scribbles.

"Lad…" Stromni began, looking down at the page.

"What language is this?" he asked, glancing sideways at Alric before looking back at the parchment.

"Uh, it's some algebra but mostly geometry, but that's not important, that is—" The page in question was covered in formulae, awful diagrams, circles, fractions, and the pi symbol repeated everywhere. Arrows pointed between shapes that only vaguely resembled still components. Several parts had been scratched out and redrawn so many times that the paper had gone rough beneath the charcoal.

"How have I never heard of this?" Stromni interrupted while staring at him perplexed.

"Lad, people who design mines couldn't do this." The dwarf's expression grew more horrified the longer he stared at the page. Alric shrugged. As far as he was concerned, this was fairly basic.

"Were you raised by woodland brewing fairies who were all maths geniuses or something?" Stromni asked, now looking genuinely worried.

"Pffft. Nothing like that. I… We don't talk histories, remember?" Alric said, trying not to laugh or look smug.

"Aye well, I'm starting ta think ya lead the weirdest life I've ever heard of, lad. I'm worried for you."

"Look, none of that matters right now. The important bit is we can calculate the volumes to work out the vapor—" Alric trailed off as Stromni lifted the page and turned it sideways.

"What's this symbol? A rune or summin?" he asked, pointing to π.

"That's pi. It stands for three point fourteen. It's used to work out the circumference of circles and such. I'm using it here to—""So a mage thing? Like for magic circles?" Stromni asked, suddenly taking a new interest in the symbol.

"If I stamp it on a sword, what's it do?"

"No, no. Nothing like that. It's…" Alric paused, realizing he might not have the vocabulary to explain centuries of mathematics to a dwarf who had just tried to weaponize geometry.

"It's complicated," he finished lamely.

"And we'll probably need beer for that conversation."

"Aye well, this is giving me a headache just lookin at it." Stromni carefully placed the parchment back on the table, as though it might explode if handled too aggressively.

"Let's just get one still working first, lad. We can look at this… after." He paused.

"Speakin' of." Stromni walked toward the corner of the workshop where the previous still sat. It was currently covered with a bedsheet that had once been white but now bore several suspicious scorch marks. With a dramatic flourish, the dwarf pulled the cloth away. He turned and stood beside the apparatus with what was unmistakably a smug dwarven grin. The still looked similar to the previous attempt, but there was a sense of intention to it now.

The copper pot had been straightened and polished enough that it actually reflected the firelight. The lid sat properly in its groove instead of slightly crooked like before. Several clamps had been added around the rim, hinged pieces of metal designed to keep pressure from forcing the lid free. The pipe leaving the pot was also straighter now, curving upward before descending toward the condenser. Stromni had clearly spent hours hammering the thing back into shape. The chambers were properly separated this time.

And there, halfway along the pipe, sat a small secondary chamber. Stromni pointed to it with clear pride.

"That's far too small," Alric said with a grin. The thumper chamber that had been added was about the size of his fist.

"Aye well, probably won't work anyway," Stromni replied casually. He planted his fists on his hips and admired the device like a sculptor appreciating a questionable statue.

"Point is ta see why it fails and where." Alric stepped closer and studied it properly. The firebox now sat neatly beneath the copper pot, leaving just enough room for airflow. The lid seals were reinforced with what looked like hammered copper strips. The pipe joints had been tightened with bands that Stromni had clearly forged himself. His gaze moved to the comically small thumper chamber again before settling on the condenser pipe. Which was currently just… a straight pipe. They'd need a worm.

That realization arrived with the quiet inevitability of a man noticing a missing wheel on a cart.

"Right," Alric said after a moment.

"Well let's run it." Stromni nodded once. They began loading the mash into the copper pot while the dwarf shoveled coals into the firebox. The smell of damp grain and charcoal quickly filled the workshop. Alric was halfway through tightening one of the clamps when something occurred to him.

"I didn't bring filtered water for the thumper." Stromni didn't even pause.

"Lad, ya thinking too hard." He waved dismissively.

"This thing will either explode, make poison, clog, or cause ya t'hear something interesting or weird." The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. He grabbed a tankard and headed to the nearby barrel normally used to quench hot metal and splashed a generous amount of water into the thumper chamber. The water was… not filtered. It was barely water by Alric's standards.

"We'll need to stand back," Alric said slowly, looking over the whole contraption.

"Aye," Stromni agreed.

"Reckon we stand on the other side o' the forge." He struck flint and lit the fire.

"And ya can explain more o' this magic aldegra o' yours." They both retreated behind the forge, putting what they considered a respectful distance between themselves and the still, as well as the forge between them and it. The pair drank mugs of good brown ale while the copper vessel slowly warmed. Alric attempted to explain the mathematics again. Poorly. Stromni grew more perplexed with each passing minute. The still rose to temperature with small ticking noises as the copper expanded.

Most of those noises drew glances from both men, but it was the first burp from the thumper that got a smug grin from Alric.

"See? It makes a thump..." The thump that followed was not encouraging. It was deeper. The hissing noise was the second warning sign. The seal blowing was the third. With a sharp metallic pop, one of the clamps failed and a spray of alcohol vapor blasted from the side of the pot. Small fragments of metal rattled across the stone floor as the still vented pressure violently. That was alarming in and of itself, it was when it reached the firebox that there was a deep whoomp noise followed by a flash of flame.

Alcohol vapor filled the workshop. Both men began coughing immediately. They dashed for the doorway, hands covering their mouths.

"I told you—" Alric tried to say between coughs. They burst out into the cool night air. Alric attempted to speak again but Stromni was already laughing. The dwarf had doubled over, hands on his knees, coughing and wheezing as laughter tore through him. It started as a quiet giggle in Alric's chest. Then he lost the fight. Within seconds both of them were bent over in the courtyard, laughing so hard they could barely breathe. Minutes passed before Stromni finally straightened up, wiping a tear from his eye.

He looked back toward the workshop doorway where the still could still be heard hissing faintly.

"Best damned thing I've ever made," he declared. Alric leaned against the wall, trying to steady his breathing.

"I'd like to order two," he said.

"But I'm scared of what it'd do to the brewery."

"Not for sale," Stromni replied with a chuckle.

"This thing gives me too many good stories."

"Think we need to make it bigger." Alric explained with a small nod.

"More dangerous? Aye, let's do it." Stromni said admiring what was left of it from a safe distance, "Reckon ya need to put it on paper, I'll make it." He added with a shrug.

"Only something we can do together. Next one will be bigger, more dangerous, more complicated" Alric added which got a smile from both of them as they admired what was left of the still. Alric stood beside Hal staring into the open boiler housing where one of the heating stones had gone dark. The water above it was still hot, but the rolling boil had weakened to a sluggish simmer.

"How long has this been happening?" Alric asked. Hal scratched the back of his head.

"About two weeks I think? Jory and I normally just top them up." Alric slowly turned his head.

"Two weeks?" Alric asked. Hal nodded, apparently unaware that this answer was alarming. The heating stones had always been one of the brewery's most reliable components. Once charged, they produced steady heat for a predictable amount of time. The entire boil schedule depended on that consistency. Now one of them had simply… stopped early.

"When you say you top them up?" Alric asked. Hal gestured toward the charging station.

"If one fades we just swap it out and recharge it later. Doesn't slow things down much." That was exactly the problem.

"You didn't think to tell me?" Alric asked. Hal shook his head.

"We just charge them and keep going. It's not such a big issue Mister Alric." Mister Alric. He wasn't sure if Hal had called him that before now, but it seemed to be the case. He let out a slow sigh. Alric reached into the housing and pried the stone from its cradle. It was still warm enough that he immediately shifted it between his fingers before handing it off. Hal took it with a pair of gloves. The stone looked perfectly normal. No cracks. No discoloration. Which meant the problem wasn't obvious.

"Does stirring matter?" Alric asked absently. Hal shrugged.

"Not that I've noticed."

"Any pattern at all?" Hal thought about it.

"Not really… it just seems to happen more when it's hotter. Like outside." Alric frowned. That didn't make sense. These things could boil a full kettle of water without effort. A few degrees of ambient temperature shouldn't matter at all. Unless… No. That still didn't explain the timing drift. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and glanced around the brewing floor. Three kettles were running. One was nearly finished, one was mid-boil, and the third had only just started.

"Show me," Alric said. Hal pointed to the second kettle.

"That one started strong but slowed down halfway through. Jory swapped a stone ten minutes ago." Alric walked over and crouched beside it. Sure enough, the boil wasn't behaving the way it should. Instead of a consistent rolling churn, the bubbles rose unevenly in waves. Not failing. Just… inconsistent. Which was worse. Is the temperature fluctuating as well? Failures were easy to fix. Inconsistency forced people to intervene. And they had been intervening.

"How often are you swapping stones?" Alric asked. Hal shrugged again.

"Whenever the boil slows down." Alric straightened slowly.

"How often?" Hal hesitated this time.

"Maybe once or twice a run." That meant the schedule wasn't stable anymore. Before, the stones lasted long enough that the entire boil happened without adjustment. Now the staff were quietly compensating. Footsteps approached behind him.

"I wondered what the problem was." Seren said approaching. She had apparently been watching from across the room, performing her labour detection duties Alric suspected.

"One of the stones faded early," Alric explained still looking at the stones. Seren folded her arms.

"That's been happening more frequently." He looked at her.

"You knew?" She gave him a patient look.

"I know we have been making more adjustments lately. Hal and Jory handle it. Is it important?" That was Seren's way of saying something was wrong. Alric crossed his arms and looked back at the kettle. The system wasn't breaking. It was drifting. Which meant the workers had begun compensating without thinking about it. Small corrections. Stone swaps. Heat adjustments. Timing changes. The brewery kept running but only because people were quietly fixing things as they went. Seren stepped closer to the boiler.

"Changing stones mid-boil increases the risk of accidents," she said.

"Especially if people rush." Alric nodded. She wasn't worried about efficiency. She was worried about stability. The difference mattered.

"How many swaps per day?" he asked. Seren didn't hesitate.

"More than last month." That was enough of an answer. Alric walked to the nearby chair where Battery was normally fed in the mornings and sat down.

"I'm going to watch for a while," he said. Hal blinked.

"I can keep swapping them Mister Alric."

"I know," Alric said.

"That's the problem." Seren tilted her head slightly.

"I can take notes if you like." He shook his head.

"If there's a pattern, I'll find it." He pulled a sheet of paper from his item box. For a moment he just stared at it. Then something odd occurred to him. This was the first time in weeks he'd needed to write anything down regarding the brewery. He hadn't even noticed he'd stopped. The brewery had been running smoothly enough that problems simply… hadn't appeared. Until now. His charcoal scratched across the page. Stone performance variance?

He underlined it, then sat back slightly as a more uncomfortable thought crept into his mind. This wasn't a broken part. It wasn't a mistake. It was the system itself changing. The stones weren't failing. They were drifting. And if that was true… Tinkering wouldn't solve it. This needed theory.