Concoctions

Below covers many of the mundane and exotic things that characters may want to purchase from the many varied shops, smiths and other sellers of Tellene.

HERBALIST/ALCHEMIST

Herbalists and alchemist may use their skills to either heal or harm, harnessing the natural qualities of plants and animal products to bolster the body’s ability to repair itself or to diminish the body’s normal capacities. Integral elements of civilization, they provide indispensable skills that sustain small settlements and improve the quality of life in large cities.

Herbalists and alchemist who use their skills to harm others are usually healers who let greed overcome their benevolence. They prepare mixtures that cause minor afflictions for craftsmen who wish to inconvenience a competitor, rejected lovers seeking revenge against a rival, or adventurers wishing non-lethal revenge on a deceitful employer. Their creations, while not necessarily illegal, are often dangerous enough to cause trouble for characters caught with them and some are not, for various reasons, concerned with non-deadliness or legality.

HERBAL HEALING

Tellene offers another hazard to adventurers: disease. Disease, plagues and pestilence are common in medieval realms such as the Sovereign Lands. Fortunately, certain diseases may be treated with herbal remedies that will cure the afflicted, or at least reduce the likelihood that the disease will progress.

POISONS

Not every rogue who uses poison is a dishonest murderer, and not every corrupt murderer is a rogue. Regardless of who uses it, poisons are invaluable for their ability to kill, weaken, or otherwise incapacitate a person or creature.

The Sovereign Lands are rift with rogues, saboteurs, spies and assassins. When outright attack proves ineffective, the subject is too careful to stroll into a dark alley, and no other opportunity for harm is apparent, a clever criminal can always rely on poison to get the job done. A surreptitiously dose of poison can bring an enemy down without the risk of a prolonged battle. Assassins routinely make use of poisonous concoctions, and even some rogues are willing to accept the risks involved in using such substance, but poisons are not readily available.

Poisons are legal except in Eldor, Par’Bor, Pekal, Zoa and various elven kingdoms. Fhokki , Dejy, and Kalaarans consider it cowardly and dishonorable to use poison. In most cities, poison is heavily taxed and thus very expensive. Untaxed poison can be found on the black market in virtually every community.

Poisoning rats, unwanted plant life and other vermin is fine, but using it on your neighbor or your neighbor’s horse can bring financial or pecuniary penalties down upon the user, if discovered. Even where they may be legal, their purchase often brings unwelcome scrutiny. Thus, it behooves those who would make frequent use of poisons to brew their own. Simply possessing poison is rarely a crime, but possession places the owner at the top of any suspect lists when crimes are committed using poison. Thus, it is best to keep the purchase, make or sale as well as the ownership of poison secret, whether it’s legal or not.

Characters can brew these creations according to the Craft Skill rules.