Apprentices Wick and Solder are introduced working in the Candlemakers Spire preparing the ceremonial tapers. They discover that the tapers are suffering from Chromatic Starvation a failure mode where the spectral memory of heat is completely erased leaving them white and inert. This is a new and more dangerous form of consumption than previously observed density or resonance drain. The kinetic pounding from the lower levels is heard escalating to a grating sound indicating a breach near critical thermal areas. Solder proposes using the forbidden and volatile Grotto Resin from a restricted cabinet to manually force a temporary spectral charge onto the failing tapers to protect the Star Seed anchor. Wick agrees that protocol must be abandoned in the face of immediate elemental collapse and they prepare to breach the lock to retrieve the resin.