DEATHBANE

Continually growing all year, even in the toughest of environments, deathbane is a small shrub that has spindly, but highly flexible stems, with large, pointed leaves that are heavily ribbed, thick and succulent. Able to survive extremes of environment, it can resist freezing, poor air, blistering cold winds and even an absence of light. When in ideal conditions, cold and either high or deep, it blooms for a Pentawaek, usually during the warmest period of the Dodecate. Usually, however, it rarely has ideal conditions and this causes it to bloom whenever it experiences an intake of nourishment, water, light or a change in pressure (high or deep environments).

One small shrub is often all that is encountered, when this rare plant is encountered at all. But it can grow in clumps of closely-nit plants, especially in underground environments.

The three flowers per stem are small, almost irrelevant, but they produce a pod each, full of hard seeds that when ripe drop to the floor and are either carried away by wind, earth movement or animals eating them. When they have been weathered by the climate or broken down in an animal's stomach they are ready to grow as soon as some available moisture and a medium to sprout occurs. The seeds are so resilient they can even sprout in small rock chips.

The seedling grows to about 6" before it forms its first leaf. This leaf can be lost without hindrance to the plant forming more leaves. Indeed, it seems the harsher the environment, the more it sprouts new stems and leaves. In the absence of light, and even in harsh environments, the plant feeds off the smallest of nutrient and moisture in the air as it blows across the leaf surface. Any animal or plant remains at the base are quickly foraged into by creeping roots and used as grounding and for nourishment. When necessary the plant, after the first leaf has formed, can grow at up to 1" per day, for up to 8 days before slowing down.

When around two and a half feet in height or a foot and a half in width, the plant, several times a Dodecate depending upon its age, has some of its leaves (typically 10-25%) turn red over the course of 15 days. Normal leaves are white, in subterranean settings or green in the presence of light. These white or green leaves are bitter but can give the creatures that consume them some resistance to other poisons that may affect them. As the leaves turn red, however, this poison resistance becomes a strong poison in its own right and kills many creatures that have become used to eating them for its resistance properties, these dead creatures then become seed beds for the next time it flowers. When the leaves are fully red, they then develop the most potent healing properties and any creature that rubs against the leaves with a wound is healed in a very short time. These leaves can be used by skilled herbalists for several and great effects.

For the healing properties the full-red leaves should be rubbed into or wrapped around wounds, regardless of their severity. Within a very short time the wound has healed completely. These fully-red leaves can also be crushed and the oil extracted and combined with a base liquid and boiled down, cooled and boiled down again, and repeated several times, produces a liquid of incredible healing properties that can be applied or taken internally where it acts far quicker than if applied.

The poison can be utilised by the part-red leaves being made into a paste and either placed in food or water, or else applied to weapons and wounding a victim.

The resistance to poison is gained just by eating the normal white or green leaves, although this property is lost if any leaves are beginning to turn, or are fully turned, red. Typically the resistance lasts 3-8 days, the fresher it is the longer it lasts.

Use 1:

Use 2:

Use 3: