A black stone bowl, engraved with gothic script

Amongst the various potions and powders in the chest, you find a small black bowl, carved from some sort of stone. It is cool to the touch, and you can feel, more than see the gothic lettering carved into the sides of the bowl, so black is the stone from which it is carved.

Carefully lifting the lid, inside you see there is a small amount of something resinous, faintly glossy, yet darker even than the bowl containing it. It almost seems to draw light into itself. You look through the book to see if you can find any information on what this substance could be, but find nothing, until, right at the back, tucked into the very binding of the book you find a rolled-up scrap of parchment.

Unrolling it reveals a sketch of the bowl in front of you, along with some carefully written text in an elegant hand, much of which is obscure by frantic scribbles in red, warning of the utmost peril to the soul from this substance. You do not recognise either set of handwriting from anywhere else in the book or the other belongings. One thing in particular grabs your attention, the elegant writing contains one piece of information not obscured by the other writer, the substance inside the bowl is named <i> Aquae Mortis <\i> and allegedly has the power of enhancing the potency of alchemical concoctions. Care must be taken when... And then the writing is once again obscured.

You put the bowl aside for now. And turn back to the contents of the chest.