The liquid is high up in the well, only a couple of foot from the top. High enough that it can be touched by anyone without climbing into the well or using the ladder. The wooden ladder extends downward into the silvery liquid and below the surface.

Since she did not have to climb into the well, Kara remained outside, at the edge of it and just reached down to fill the flasks. "Maybe mercury, or something similar? Perhaps this will be as valuable to Dagunn Rakel as the slime was."

If she was able to do this without being attacked by the liquid or something in the liquid, she would then dip the tip of her pinkie into the liquid in the well. If it did not dissolve her hand or otherwise cause damage, she put it in her mouth to see if it had any effect other than poison.

Derry remembers what Kara had said a few minutes ago, "I'd recommend we take one of those two, rather than the northern door. North goes to Harry's chamber."

"It might have become Harry's lair," Derry tardily comments. "But the lair might have been Modnar's before that. This well would have been quite conveniently located for a wizard such as himself."

Derry waits for Kara to finish going about her business. If there were harvesting to be done, the little magic lady would brook no interference.

"I don't think it's for drinking," he sighs. "It's not that kind of well. Couldn't it be some kind of component he needed for his magicking?"

If he'd brought a bowl, he might have offered some to his pet rabbit, Hazel.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:35, Tue 22 Mar 2022.

In reply to Derry the Dwarf (msg # 43):

Wyndham gives Hazel a sidelong glance. He stares and drifts off into a daydream. A dream of feasts from long ago. Feasts shared with family and friends. Feasts with roast beast, potatoes and carrots. And rabbit. When he suddenly notices Derry giving him the stinkeye, he shakes himself out of his reverie and focuses once again on the well.

"I would think it more likely Modnar had his room on the tower's upper levels, but it could be," she acknowledged. "Harry probably already went through it pretty well though. I don't have objections to going back that way if you want, but again, it is the direction Harry wanted us to go, which would not be good."

As for the well, if she was not dead, she responded, "I don't think it's for drinking either, but I also don't know that it isn't. In either case, it might help me discern what it is for if it reminds me of anything I studied as an apprentice. But it's also a test to see if it is going to kill me." She pointed at the ladder. "That's out of place and unnecessary if you can just reach in and collect the fluid. That makes me think of three possibilities." She ticked them off.

"One- the fluid level used to be lower. That's very possible, since without Modnar and his apprentices using it, it could have built up. But one would think they would have used a bucket and rope to retrieve it like with a regular well instead of climbing down to collect it."

"Two- it's for soaking in, like a hot tub, and the ladder is just to get in and out. If so, it won't be very deep. I have a rope and grappling hook we can use to check the depth if this isn't corrosive. But if it's deep, that lead to..."

"Three- there's something hidden down there out of sight below the fluid level, either hidden at the bottom, or maybe in a hollow in the wall near or behind the ladder. If so, I want to check, but don't want to submerge if it seems deathly toxic or paralytic."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:46, Wed 23 Mar 2022.

The liquid was heavier than water, a quicksilver like liquid. Kara scooped up flasks of the silvery liquid. Her hands came to no discernible harm and she was able to dip her fingers in. The liquid was cool to touch, its smell and taste were not pleasant, being faintly of rot.

Derry finds the second of Kara's three possibilities for the well to be the stuff of fancy. Surely, a wizard would have a tub for his own private usage with his servants seeing to its filling and heating. The ladder meant that they needed ready access to the lower half of the well. To clean up after accidents, fatal or otherwise?

"Do you want us to tie a rope around you and pull you back up after five minutes?" Derry asks. He might have overestimated the fey lady's lung capacity.

Wyndham steps to the edge of the well and sniffs. "Smells like death. Sure you want to hop in there? Could be full of skeletons, dead or otherwise. Might be good to drop some rocks in first, or poke in a stick."

Had Derry voiced his doubts aloud, Kara would have corrected his misunderstanding. But as it was, she was unaware of it, so the dwarf would have to remain mistaken on her point.

On the spoken parts, she responded, first to Wyndham. "When I check the depth with the grappling hook and rope, that should suffice to test that. Skeletons are not a bad guess, since the ones in the other room had to come from somewhere, although I didn't see any drips outside the well to the door. But if they are there, the hook might catch on one, so better than a rock test."

Then to Derry, "Yes, that was what I planned, if it is deep enough to need a rope. Five minutes would be too long though. I'll give the rope two tugs every thirty seconds. If the tugs do not come, or if they do not stop or become a prolonged pull, then pull me up."

She then tested depth with the rope and grapple. If nothing attacked, emerged, or happened to the rope, then she would recover it, and leave all of her equipment save a dagger and a sack before climbing down the ladder to enter the well.

If it was shallower than her chest, then she would simply get in, and feel around the walls and the floor of the well for anything that might be hidden by the fluid- items, or openings in particular.

But if it was deeper than her chest, then she would first tie a rope to herself before entering, taking a breath before submerging and feeling around and behind the ladder area for openings or anything unusual, giving the signal as she went, and coming up for air as necessary.

The grappling hook and rope when lowered into the well did not disturb anything. It was hard to estimate the depth using the grappling hook as the sense of weight of it seemed to vary at times which made it hard to judge exactly when it had reached the bottom. Roughly half the rope was used.

Boldly or foolishly Kara climbed into the pool of quicksilver. The liquid was cool to her skin but she did not suffer any adverse effects. The feeling was much the same as being in water with a feeling close to weightlessness. She found the ladder ended just beneath the liquids surface. Then she submerged beneath the surface.
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:52, Thu 24 Mar 2022.

As soon as Kara has become fully submerged within the chemicals of the well, Derry begins his count to thirty.

One magic lady...

Two magic lady...

Three magic lady...

Half the rope was definitely higher than her chest, and that would be a long way down. Briefly she wished she did not already fill the flasks- maybe she could have used them for air to extend the submerged time. But if need be, she could always resurface, empty them and fill them later. But for now, just go as is.

The ladder ending so quickly was a definite surprise. But there had to be a reason for that as well. A deep breath and she continued down, using the wall to keep her bearing and feel for openings.

She gave the 'still okay' signal at the correct times. While petite in frame, she had a fair enough constitution to hold her breath for some time.

As Derry began to count he felt little weight on the rope as Kara swam about in the water, her body weight suspended in the water. Then suddenly he was jerked forward toward the well and he lost about ten foot of the rope. When he had re-established his grip on the rope, it felt as it had done before that there was some weight attached to the rope.

PM

PM

Derry decides that the jerk counts as a "prolonged pull" and hoists up the rope double-time, his muscles bulging with the effort.

Derry heaved and pulled at the rope to bring Kara back up the well.

Kara felt herself being pulled back upwards.

OOC Will Kara allow herself to be pulled up or will she react? Feel free to respond to each others pulls and tugs as appropriate.

Kara doesn’t fight the pull. Searching down here alone isn’t something she is going to fight to do. She just takes a deep breath before being submerged again, and when in the quicksilver, she tries to swim up to make it easier on the others pulling her out.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:47, Fri 25 Mar 2022.

The pulling for Derry gets suddenly easier and then Kara emerged from the pool of quicksilver.

OOC Kara the change is permanent, feel free to describe anything you feel would be noticeable in you posts.

Wyndham waits with eyes wide open.

"Incredible!" she exclaimed when she reached the surface. "It's some sort of rejuvenation pool. I've recovered all the strength the serpent men's rituals tore out of my body!"

She demonstrated the new ease she could heft the coinage around, although the others would clearly notice that this 'ease' was a relative thing- she was still only a 5' woman with a very slight build, so was still considerably less strong than the average person was. But for her, it was quite a cause for celebration.

"Also, the water ends right at the footage you felt the rope pull, and there is a chamber of air below to drop down into. The quicksilver sheds light, so I could see it was a 10' empty chamber with one door. But I was pulled back up before being able to check what lay beyond the door. No matter though- there is enough to do on this level before proceeding to deeper sub-basements."

She recovered her rope and grapple as she spoke.

"Luck is a little lady," Derry exclaims. "And she stands before us right now!"

He shudders to think what might happen were he to descend into the well. If luck were a lady, it couldn't also be a man? What if luck started as a man and turned into a lady, would it swim better then all of the original ladies? That wouldn't be fair.

"Your turn will come," he reassures Hazel, with a look at the well.

DM, through the NW door in the chamber of the 7 rats with the hireling leading the way.

Derry and Eadwynn left the chamber with the quicksilver well and opened the other door. A short corridor was revealed that when west then turned north.

Kara gathered up her backpack, rope and grapple her strength returning to once atrophied muscles.

In reply to DM (msg # 63):
Wyndham scratches his head at the goings on, shrugs, then follows along.

Through the newly revealed corridor in marching order -- unless Kara chooses another destination for us.