Wyndham searches the furniture for anything of value. He'll keep a wary eye on the balled carpet and corridor leading to the rats nest.
"Always the rats..."

Waverlin eyes the carpet warily.

His memory as long as his beard, Derry reminds Wyndham that they have already searched the ruined furniture -- within which they had found Harry's treasure horde (current room) -- and that the suspended carpet had been part of a trap (room to the east) which they had already successfully sprung.

As for the rats nesting in the room that they needed to cross, Derry remembers that they feared fire. He, his hireling, and Wyndham (when he's ready) will brandish their torches as they try to pass through the room (heading to the locked door).

-2 torches

ooc - Didn't we clear these rats already?
Wyndham readies his torch in preparation to barbecue more rats.

Oh, rats aren't so easy to clear out as all that. They will keep coming back as rats are wont to do.

We don't want to fight them if we don't have to.

"I'm ready, too," Devin said, looking at what was left of his own torch.  He hoped that no rats had returned.

The rats droppings were fresh and some of the nests new and perhaps occupied but they saw no rats. They were either not there, not interested in the adventurers, asleep or afraid of the fire.

Nothing prevented the adventurers reaching the locked door. The door stubbornly stood before them.

OOC Actions? Anyone trying to force the door open, make an Open Doors check.

Any of the possibilities were agreeable to Derry. He wasn't down here to be the chief rat catcher although it seemed to be a side line of his.

He offers his crowbar to any who are willing to try and force the door, starting with his hireling.

He speculates that it could likely be opened from within were one of them to descend the well and poke around a bit. It was likely the exit from that subbasement level.

Figuring he'd give the crowbar a shot as he thought he saw a good spot to try, Devin handed off his torch and fitted the heavy metal bar between door and frame.  Setting his feet, he leaned into the bar and listened to the door creak

OOC: Devin Harper rolled 1 using 1d6.  Open Door (+0).

With a crack Devin opened the door. The broken door swung open. Inside was a ten foot by ten foot cell. The ceiling was rippling quicksilver that faintly glowed and lit the room in pale silvery light.

Though he couldn't understand it, Derry surmises they must be looking at the ... bottom of the quicksilver pool?

"Wyndham, you went down the well. Look familiar?" he asks, pointing at the cell.

Did the door and the lock open from the other side?

"Don't think so. The room at the bottom of the well seemed bigger.
Wyndham looks warily at the quicksilver.
"If someone can give me a boost, I'll see if I can tell what's on the other side."

Valerian points at the shimmering ceiling.

"Be careful...I know enough alchemy to tell you that if that's actually quicksilver it's poisonous to the touch. Even the fumes are dangerous!"

The other well of quicksilver hadn't been poisonous but this one could well be. Valerian was right.

Derry lashes his pet rabbit to the end of a 10' pole and thrusts Hazel up into the chemical ceiling, careful to avoid being splashed himself.

If upon retrieval the rabbit shows no untoward effects, he offers his ladder to Wyndham.

He watches grimly as the dwarf raises the rabbit to the glowing metal.

”Not that quicksilver is known to levitate…but it does violate every other rule of metallurgy…”

The door now broken did not appear to be locked from the inside. The rabbit was thrust into the silvery ceiling and then pulled out again. The activity appeared to have no noticeable effect on the rabbit.

Seeing no adverse effects to Hazel, Wyndham accepts the ladder from Derry and props it up under the silvery ceiling. He climbs up and takes a deep breath before ascending through the quicksilver.

Up the ladder Wyndham ascended into the quicksilver like liquid. The liquid was cool to touch; its smell was not pleasant, being faintly of rot.

Wyndham climbed into the upside down pool. The liquid was although cool did not adversely affect Wyndham. It was much the same as being in water with a feeling of weightlessness, similar to the feeling in the chamber with the metal orbs.

Within the liquid Wyndham could discern little through his eyes beside the glowing luminescence of the liquid. He could swim in any direction.

Trying to orient himself, Wyndham continues to move in an upwardly direction.

 "Clearly, this quicksilver has been enchanted so as to violate every law of metallurgy in this world and others..." Brilliance says, looking at the rabbit, and then at Valerian with a shrug.

Chessintra was about to look at it using Detect Magic but thought against if for she might need it later.

"Is there any way of collecting some of it for me ?

 To Chessintra, Brilliance says, "Well, I've got some flasks for oil and one for holy water... I wouldn't like to dump them out under normal circumstances, but if you're considering some sort of research and would be willing to share your notes with me, then I'd reconsider my stance."

"Why is this in here?" Devin said aloud. He hadn't entered the well when they'd first found it and wasn't sure what it was supposed to do.

Wyndham swam upwards until he breached the surface. He was floating in the middle of a simple stone well. The silvery liquid lit the room with a faint glow. On one side of the well was a wooden ladder that led up the well wall.

From beneath the well Derry’s ladder led upwards for anyone that wanted to enter the well or collect the silvery liquid.

Before diving back down to report to the others, Wyndham climbs the ladder out of the well to figure out where he is and if he's been here before.