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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Arkhandus" data-source="post: 2232174" data-attributes="member: 13966">A rare poison in Aleasana, favored by the Black Fist Brotherhood and the Ghost Warriors alike, is the swift and deadly Shadowheart Extract.  Shadowheart Extract is derived from the sap of a rare variety of mahogany tree, which grows in certain parts of southern Aleasana and also in the northern reaches of Ur'Sai.  This sap, from the dark red-brown heartwood of these rare mahoganies, is mixed with the watery oil of the uncommon Forrak herb found in mountainous heights, to produce the sticky Shadowheart Extract, involving a short and careful process of mixing the right amount of sap with a properly small (but not insignificant) bit of the oil and boiled briefly.Shadowheart Extract is a fast-acting contact poison that turns the flesh black at the point of contact, reaching the nerves and triggering a debilitating series of surges in the nervous system.  This stuns the victim first, then causes death after several moments of spasmodic convulsions, when the Shadowheart Extract destroys nerves controlling the heart and lungs, putting them to a stop.  The process is excruciating but the victim cannot scream because their voicebox doesn't work properly while the poison takes effect, and the lungs cease drawing in air except in brief, rapid breaths before the lungs fail altogether and death occurs.Shadowheart Extract is only used for especially important assassinations, for it is quite expensive and rare, and perhaps the deadliest poison known in Aleasana.  It is illegal everywhere, even in the "Wicked City" of Barizar.  The Ghost Warriors of the Shay acquired some of the poison long ago from an Urukh of Ur'Sai, whose family had passed the secret down for generations before his capture, torture, and execution.  However, one of that Urukh's great-uncles knew the secret as well and, though he had no children to pass it on to, he entrusted the secret with a friend that he trusted.  Mistakenly as it happens, for that friend was actually a Black Fist Brother, and decided to share the secret with his master, who made a record of the poison's composition and properties.  The Brotherhood does not seem to find poison dishonorable, though Ur'Sai in general considers it dishonorable; the Brotherhood says that its greater understanding of the Universal Truths is why they don't believe it dishonorable to use poison.((In game terms, Shadowheart Extract has 1 minute of stunning for primary damage, then death as the secondary damage, with a Fortitude save DC of 20; it is a contact poison and costs 6,000 gold pieces per dose, for it is even more lethal and rare than Black Lotus Extract.  The tree that it is drawn from is notoriously fickle and does not survive outside of its most ideal environment, while the poison itself degrades into impotence within a month of its extraction, resisting preservation beyond that point.  A single tree of the needed type can, if harvested all at once, provide half a dozen doses of the poison, but this takes all the sap and kills the tree.  One dose of Shadowheart Extract is somewhat larger and thicker than more typical poisons.))</blockquote>

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