Water is an essential element of the alchemical process. Water sources in Elanthia include wells, fountains, pools, vats, basins, brooks and streams, and lakes, but in Elanthia it is one thing which defies predictability; the discrete locations equal discrete properties of the water found therein. Not all bodies of water can be used as sources to fill containers. The Julge Dolen Zaldeni stream near Horse Clan is lovely to swim in, but efforts to fill containers proved fruitless. The Goblin Brook west of Crossing proved likewise except for a spot southwest of the pool beneath the waterfall. The swimming hole in Arthe Dale never disappoints. Fill any container, even large ones, while standing in the water. Simply fill <container> with water repeatedly until the jar will hold no more. Oddly, counting the water in the jar will return the message "There is only one part of water in the jar," but count jar returns "There are twelve non-ammunition items inside your clay jar."

Being one of the cheapskates Olwydd mentions in his notes on alchemy, I carry one or more containers with me to collect free water as needed. I don't recommend carrying large amounts of water as it increases burden. A silver vial from the cleric shop is perfect for carrying a small amount of water for that salve or potion you might need at a moment's notice.

A silver vial is also useful for filling larger containers, such as jars and large vials. A large jar from an Alchemist Shop or one of the stoppered clay jars from Horse Clan holds 45 parts of water, but fill jar with water results in the capture of only one part of water (except as noted in regard to the Arthe Dale swimming hole). Further tries to fill jar result in the message 'the water is already in your jar'. Using the silver vial to capture and pour works well, but if you're holding both containers, you only transfer water from one to the other after capturing one part from the source. To avoid the inevitable frustration, stow the larger container. Fill the silver vial with water from the source, then pour silver vial in jar/vial in my <default stow container>.

Suffice to say, there are inconsistencies when dealing with water and containers. I was surprised to see that shaking my stoppered up clay jar containing several parts of water yielded 'A wisp of steam' and the evaporation of one part of the water. Shaking only one part of water resulted in the exclamatory admonition "You can not mix some water with itself!" By far, my funniest (in retrospect, of course) experience involved a 'bottle of water'from Corik's Quest in my open backpack. I was trying to drag a deader across the stream east of El'Bain's, in vain it seemed, as I could not 'go water' to cross. The mechanics of the game defaulted to my 'water' in my backpack. Closing the backpack solved the problem, but not until I was reduced to a whimpering idiot.

-- Caelfind