The path that Taerinar and Valeros follow quickly gets much thinner than that of the other path but they continue on regardless until the path ends at a wide stone well. This well is 10 foot wide with the circular stone wall of the well coming up a little under 3 feet. The stone wall has two broken wooden pillars on either side which at one point in time may have held a roof over the well. Now though they are rotted and falling apart and there is no longer any remains of a roof. The fog for about 10 feet around the well appears clear finally giving some clarity on the scene.
Valeros goes first kneeling on the wall and peering into the well. The water is dark but fairly clear and he can just see all the way to the bottom. There is a blue glowing gem at the bottom of the well sitting next to a motionless humanoid shape. As Valeros stares into the water trying to get better focus on the figure at the bottom he suddenly becomes aware that there is a faint image of a woman's face peering back at him from the surface of the water. Her face is a blue grey with long black hair that is tangled with seaweed. Her eyes are a creamy white colour with no definition. Before Valeros is able to react she rises out of the water, wraps her arms around his head and drags him 20 feet under the water.
Taerinar gets glimpse of this as it happens. The woman, who appears to be almost human, has black arcane runes all over her arms and legs. Her skin is blue and blackened in places. She wears a dark blue dress that is shredded into ribbons that flow with the water. Her arms and legs are skinny. As she drags Valeros under the water Taerinar dives in after them in order to help his friend.
As Taerinar swims down he watches as Valeros tries to free himself. The small woman somehow managing to overpower Valeros perhaps because he was barely able to take a breath. Valeros finally manages to get free for a second but only manages to swim 5 feet up before he is grappled again and dragged down. Taerinar reaching the pair stabs at the watery witch with his dagger. He makes several good jabs and the woman's black blood starts to fill the water. Again Valeros manages to pull free and finally draw his sword but before he can strike he sees the woman's hands glow as she draws arcane runes in the water and suddenly she looks like an identical copy of Taerinar. Neither of them are idiots though and keep swinging at her until she reaches out and grabs Valeros head blanking his memory of the last few minutes. As the second Taerinar pulls his hand away from Valeros panic sets in. The last thing Valeros can remember is walking along the path with Taerinar, he's now under water, running out of breath and looking at two Taerinar's who seem intent on attacking each other. Valeros not knowing what to do starts swimming to the surface to take a breath. Taerinar tries to follow him but is quickly grappled by Taerinar.
As Valeros head breaks the surface he takes a desperate breath as a black flash smashes talons first into Valeros face, clawing at and narrowly missing his eyes. The witches familiar, a twisted shadow falcon is attempting to blind Valeros. Desperate to save Taerinar Valeros ignores the falcon and dives back down to try and save Tae. The bird does not stop attacking though, diving several feet into the water talons first and striking again and again getting in one last good hit with both talons and rending a chink of flesh from Valeros' back.
Watching the fight Valeros first sees Taerinar stab Taerinar quickly followed by Taerinar stabbing Taerinar. In angry confusion Valeros jabs his sword at a random Taerinar. Proving the old saying that a quick incorrect decision is often better than a late correct decision Valeros gets lucky and the false Taerinar falls unconscious and transforms back into the sea witch. At this point the remaining Taerinar is on the verge of drowning. Grabbing onto a partially collapsed ladder against the well wall both of them pull themselves up. Taerinar rolls out of the well onto the floor gasping for breath, as Valeros looks around for the bird, apparently nowhere to be seen.
Realising there is some significance to the blue gem, after taking a moment for both of them to recover, Valeros dives back in and retrieves the gem. He is quick no taking the time to inspect the body at the bottom of the well. The falcon still makes no appearance. Valeros chugs a potion to heal his wounds and both of them move back along the path in search of Deet and Mathias.