The water drawn from a well has suddenly acquired a slight bitter taste. The nearby residents are of course alarmed, and feared to drink from it. As they rely on the well as a source of water, the adventurers are requested to find out what is amiss with the well.
- A well-meaning healer has planted a form of water moss on the underground lake which feeds the well. The moss adds a substance to the water which improves the constitution and helps to combat the effects of a plague sweeping the lands. Afraid that some may mistake the bitter tang in the water as poison, he has left an inscription on the wall. However, the one edging the adventurers to investigate the source of the bitterness in another water is a well-respected healer too. Whom should they trust?
- The well is located in the manor house of the rich quarters of a large city. Attempts to locate the source of the water will led the adventurers through the sewers and the ruins of an older city, before they finally locate its source – a tranquil garden where a magical tree somehow bloomed without the aid of sunlight, from which a strange liquid drips from its leaves. That liquid has mixed with the well water, giving the bitter taste, and it actually grants the power of prophetic dreams. It is just at this point that an ancient evil cult is attempting to locate the tree as well, to destroy it, for they believe that someone who drank of the water from the tree would foil a plan centuries in the making…
- The water is bitter precisely because it is added as a deterrence to discourage people from drinking from it. Drinking three times from this well would change one’s fortune and destiny for the better, but it only holds for the most recent drinker. This Fountain of Destiny, as some text would describe it, would remain “fresh” for a century before drying up, and it is said to one of the Trickster God’s attempts to restore balance to the world. Someone has just drank from the well not long ago, and he is determined to ensure that it is sealed for another fifty days before it loses its enchantment. Who would that someone be, and why does he intend to do with his change of fortune? How ruthless would he be in ensuring that no one else drinks from it?
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