Water of Waters

This water may be used to find corpses which have been buried or hidden, for example to expose a murderer.

If a pitcher or bowl of it is left overnight, in the morning any corpses in the area will be found, as if someone had dug them up. It is believed that the water is so refreshing that corpses instinctively un-bury themselves in an attempt to drink it. The spirit of the departed is not called back into the corpse. Rather the water works directly on the animal instincts which are stored in the cells of a body, and last after death until the cell itself decays. If a body has lain so long that it is mere bones, with no flesh or organs, this water will not work. Corpse-flesh will last 50 days to a year for a body left above ground; the more hot and moist the climate, the less time taken. Bodies last longer underwater (up to a few years), and longer still in the ground (up to several decades). However bodies buried in shallow graves, as murder victims tend to be, are usually dug up by predators. Mummified bodies, and those preserved in other ways, for example peat bogs or being frozen in ice, may last longer still.

The owner of such water will feel a great temptation to drink it themselves. If they do so they will enjoy a temporary increase in vigour. But for a long time afterwards all other water will taste so foul that it will be difficult to drink.

Dehydrated water may be used on this water. It will double in volume, but it will be merely very pure water, with no special powers.

There is rumoured to be a way of preparing Water of Waters so that, if it is poured in the eyes of a corpse, the eyes will reveal the last thing the deceased saw.