True Name |
Musbara |
Frequency |
Uncommon |
Quantity |
1d10 |
Locale |
Mountains |
Form |
Flowering Bush |
The common "street name" of this plant is slumber weed, although it's actually a fruit bearing, flowering bush. It's many branches and leaves are dense, growing in thick clusters. The slumber weed plant bursts with color in the late spring when it bears hundreds of blue flowers. It also has numbers of small dark purple berries. The slumber weed plant grows about 1.25 meters tall and tend to grow in small groups. It is only found up in the mountains.
The small purple berries of this plant can be pressed to obtain a clear oil. This oil is a very strong natural depressant and sedative. It must be consumed orally. Three drops in a mug of ale will cause a peaceful, euphoric state of mind. Ten drops will cause a deep sleep to overcome the imbiber. In much larger doses (50 drops or more), it can cause coma and even death.
Due to its euphoric properties, "slumber sticks" as they are known on the street, have become an expensive, but popular, drug throughout Ithria. It is usually sold in single doses as a dried powdery white residue on a stick (costing 5 silver pieces) which can be quickly and easily dissolved in any liquid. A single stick contains the equivalent of one drop. Such a dose will leave the user in blissful euphoria for an entire night. Because of its cost, most addicts tend to be merchants, craftsmen, ladies, nobles, lords and other people with the money to enjoy such an expensive habit. Slumber oil is highly addictive.
Beyond use as a recreational drug, there is a strong demand for slumber oil in the underworld market. Thieves, assassins and other rogues purchase the oil in small metal vials (which hold 100 drops each) for around 50 gold pieces. A few drops slipped into a guard's drink will allow a thief to slip by in the night. Even assassin's have been known to put a full vial into a dish or drink to cause coma and death to the victim.
Slumber oil is illegal in most civilized nations, but it can be found sold in the underworld market, especially in Vorrik, Normidia and Drakkel. It can also be found less frequently in the east lands and even some nations in Qeshir.
Because it is a painless (some would say pleasurable) way to die, it has become the poison of choice for suicide. Some nobles have been known to keep a vial of slumber oil on hand as an insurance policy against some great and unforeseen misfortune.
Frequent users of the drug have a partial tolerance to it. Some guards have been known to purchase slumber oil and take it in very low doses to build up an tolerance to it.
This flowering herb can be found at 1,000 to 3,000 meters in mid latitude mountain ranges in western and northern Ithria. It grows primarily in the Northern Tusks, the Dragonclaw Mountains and the Thunder Peaks.
Rangers and woodsmen gather the small dark blue-purple berries of this plant knowing that they can be sold in town for a good price.
This website was last updated February 29, 2024. Copyright 1990-2024 David M. Roomes.