Herblore

From MUME

A herblore is a recipe that will provide you with a potion or other item to help you in your travels. They can be learnt by helping certain mobiles or by reading an ancient scroll or book. To make them, you must have the items specified in the herblore instructions, a herbal kit and you must have acquired the lore.

Not all herblores can be learnt by every character. Those who have aligned themselves with Sauron will certainly not be able to gain any herblores taught by Elves.

Herbal kits can be improved by various herbalists and by some other skilled people.

Poisons

In order to poison an opponent you need the poison vial and the envenom skill.

Arachnia

Effects

The poison saps one's energy, reducing mana and movement points. As the poison progresses, it first forces the afflicted creature to sit down and rest periodically, then fall asleep, and finally to fall into a deep slumber as if affected by the Sleep spell.

Recipe

Among the beasts of our lands, the spiders are the most feared, mostly because they sting their victim and inject a poison which slows their moves and their brain. Thanks to a careful study of the grey spider anatomy, we have been able to use the venom sack of this beast to produce a terribly dangerous poison. In a bowl, crush the tail of a young salamander into a shapeless pulp. Add the fur of a bat to stabilize the components, and, most important, the fluid sack of a grey spider. The sack must have been butchered recently from the monster, and kept in a wet sack during its transport. Mix the three ingredients until a brownish liquid is obtained.

Ingredients: salamander tail, bat fur, and grey fluid-sack

Belladonna

The plants of the wilderness have a large spectrum of applications. Those who know the use of three natural ingredients can produce a mild poison. Crush carefully the tongue of a frog in a vial, as base for your concoction. Get a freshly recolted Belladonna, the plant known for its dangerous properties. Use the fruits or the leaves of the plant, for it is where its essence is mostly concentrated. Add then a red mushroom, the sort which gives headache and dizziness when eaten. Mix the reagents and seal the liquid in a vial. That draught will weaken your opponent, who will lose an important part of his skills. It can of course be used to poison your arrows or your blade.

Ingredients: a long, sticky bit of flesh, some violet berries, and a red mushroom

Drake-slumber

This is the recipe of a brew which should be able to debilitate even a very powerful beast - one which would not succumb to ordinary magic or weaker potions and poisons.

The sticky pulp of a fresh milkweed plant will make a ready base for the draught. All parts of thisplant cause weakness and staggering, then prostration, laboured breathing and a profound sleep. This should serve to slow and weaken the creature, despite its strength and size. To the base add some valerian root and the flowers of the mountain poppy - these herbs act to tranquilise and to alter the workings of the mind. They also inhibit aggression, which will be most important in controlling the beast.

Leaves, flowers and fruit of the hemlock plant will weaken the animal, slowing its heart and suppressing its breathing. A single fly agaric mushroom is also needed - the flesh of this bright red fungus is said to bring on dizziness and a lack of coordination, followed by a deep sleep.

To complete the brew one white fruit of the baneberry plant is needed. This strong poison will weaken the creature, and should further assist in bringing about dizziness and poor flow of the blood.

Ingredients: milkweed mass, a foul-smelling root, poppy, hemlock plant, red mushroom, baneberries

Hemlock

The plants of the wilderness have a large spectrum of applications. Those who know the use of the herbs can produce a whole set of curing concoctions, and of deadly mixtures also. This is the formula for one of the worst. Carefully crush the tongue of an old frog as base of your preparation. Take the leaves, the stem and the fruits of a hemlock and add them. Add then a handful of inkberries from Hollin. Mix carefully and seal it in a vial. That draught will weaken all the abilities of the person drinking it, and can successfully be poured over your blade to poison your opponents.

Ingredients: tongue of a frog, hemlock plant and inkberries.

Psylonia

Effects

Drains mana very quickly. Can be somewhat hard to deal with, as even if you have Remove Poison your mana may get drained too low to be able to cast it.

Recipe

Anyone who ate the wrong mushroom knows that the effects of mushroom intoxication can be really surprising. Headache, dizziness, hallucinations are some of the possible symptoms. Some people, like the inhabitants of the remote land known as Yuka Taan, south of Harad, use mushrooms as a drug. Others have found a more warlike usage. The orcs of the east know many preparations based on mushrooms. One of the most efficient, a poison which does not kill the victims, but drains them and stop their concentration, is described here. The base is made by a handful of inkberries from Hollin. A red mushroom is crushed with the berries, to thicken the paste. The third ingredient is the most important: the rare, sickly green, mushroom. It must be added before the concoction is mixed. Few people have ever found this mushroom: it is rumoured to grow in humid caves or in the darkest forests of the land.

Ingredients: inkberries, red mushroom and sickly green mushroom.

Venom

Extremly lethal poisons can be prepared with natural ingredients found in the wilderness. The following recipe uses the venom sack of the feared rattlesnake. Make a base with the tail of an adult salamander. Add a freshly butchered bat fur, to thicken the paste, and the small venom sack of a rattlesnake. The resulting liquid will kill a cow in a few minutes, and even the strongest fighter will risk death in a few hours.

Ingredients: salamander tail, bat fur and small fluid-sack (from a rattlesnake).

Potions

Antidote

Poison is often deadly, and requires immediate action. Nature has provided us with certain herbs to defend ourselves from this vicious danger, if we know how to use them. Unfortunately, any remedy we hope to make will be very complex. The simplest, and most effective, is outlined below.

First, a base is made with two handfuls of blackberries, because of their healthy juice. Water lily petals,to purify the blood, and figwort, to purge the stomach, make that a thick paste. Finally the healing properties of the kingsfoil make it really efficient.

This mixture will not only cure most of the poisons that can be find in plants and water, but as well purge your body from the somewhat annoying effects of any potions.

Ingredients: 2 x blackberries, water-lily petals, figwort and athelas.

Clear Thoughts

To create this wizard's brew, you must obtain juniper berries for promotion of higher thought. Mix these with the mystical mauve petals, to boost creativity, and sage to clear the mind. Finally, some thyme is needed to aid the memory. This brew will give the mage more energy, and replenish his energy at a faster rate. However, when the beneficial effects expire, he will be mentally exhausted.

Ingredients: juniper berries, mauve petals, sage leaves and thyme leaves.

Healing

The philtre made from this recipe will greatly aid the healing of one who is wounded, mending bones and staunching blood flow. With this, even one close to death can become functional over time.Begin the concoction by mixing two parts of sage. The sage helps against infection, and forms a base for the other herbs. Add crushed foxtail petals to help close the wounds. Mix in fresh blackcurrant berries; these also protect against infection. Finally, leaves from the kingsfoil plant must be added, so that their healing properties may staunch the blood flow and stimulate the healing.

Ingredients: 2 x sage, foxtail, blackcurrant and athelas

Orc-balm

To make this, you have to first put in a salamander tail and a bit of bat fur for consistency. Then mix in some cardamom powder, some swamp-lily petals, and a little bit of sage. Mix this all up, and the result should be a viscous brew.

This brew makes the drinker heal quicker for a while, but it burns and so the snaga can't concentrate well enough to regain much mental energy. After that wears off, the orc still heals, but not as fast, and his muscles are slightly tired, making his rest uneasy.

Ingredients: salamander tail, bat fur, cardamom powder, water-lily petals, sage leaves

Orkish Draught

Any snaga who wants to raid the western plains and rid them of pansy elves will need some extra stamina from time to time. The draught described below is really what you need in these cases.

Begin by getting some blood. Elf blood gives the mixture a better flavour, but if that's not available the blood of any creature will do. Just make sure someone mixes in it some preserving herb, or your brew will quickly spoil.

Dissolve in it the preserved blood the tail of a salamander and some bat fur, to give strength to your paces, and some tarragon leaves - they are narrow and smell of licorice. Shake well and gulp it down when needed.

Ingredients: tarragon leaves, salamander tail, bat fur, vial of preserved blood.

Seeing

In the wild strange plants with strange properties can be found. One of the strangest is the phosphorescent moss which covers the walls of a few humid caves. It is believed that this light is emitted by a fungus which lives in symbiosis with the moss. What matters is the possibility to use it to prepare a draught which gives a limited vision in the night. The base of this concoction is the brown powder of a cinnamon stalk. In it add a handfull of rosemary leaves, to make mind more attentive. In this dry mixture put shreds of humidified phosphorescent moss, and mix carefully the whole, until you get a phosphorescent liquid. When quaffing it, you will feel more able to perceive your environment, specially during in the darkness, thanks to the moss. A side effect of its activity, as it draws its energy from your body, is to weaken you for a while. The whole lasts for several days.

Ingredients: bag of cinnamon, rosemary leaves and phosphorescent moss.

Shadows

In parallel to our world is the world of the Shadows, where undead and lost souls walk. Potent magic can create gates to this world, and Sauron the Necromancer has servants who live on the edge of the two worlds. Other undead creatures, such as the skeletons animated by foul magic, live also on this edge and their bones an be used as key for the Shadows world. To concentrate the potency of these bones, you need to make a base with the powder of a cinnamon stalk, mixed with a few rosemary leaves which make the mind more receptive. Take then the dried rib bone of a formerly undead corpse, break it in small pieces, and add it in the crucible. Crush carefully the three ingredients with a mortar of white marble, until an homogenous powder is obtained. Once slipped in a bottle of water, you will have a potion which will give you access to the shadow world for four nights.

Ingredients: bag of cinnamon, rosemary leaves and rib-bone.

Skillful Oil

This oil, when made, will make the drinker limber and energetic, in combat he or she will be more able than normal. The base for this recipe is a tincture of oil. Add paprika for stimulation of the muscles, and rose petals to warm them. A vanilla bean will cause the blood to circulate more quickly, and two parts of rosemary will quicken the mind and speed up reactions. The user must be warned; after the exertion, his muscles will be tired and stiff for several hours.

Ingredients: tincture oil, paprika, rose petals, vanilla bean, 2 x rosemary leaves.

Soothing Draught

In the art of making a soothing draught, one must first make a base of honey. Often honey comes in the form of honey-combs, which must first be broken up into a thick pulp. Into that you must mix sage, for healing of the wound, and thyme to prevent the infection and partially numb the pain. Next, add a handful of blackcurrant so that the reagants can act together, and finally add the petals of a water lily, so that the blood may be purified and the wound may close. When this draught is swallowed, for a while the recipient will experience a healing effect, and his wounds will heal up. The fight against the infection will induce a spiritual weakness for a short duration.

Ingredients: honeycomb, sage leaves, thyme leaves, blackcurrant berries and water-lily petals.

Traveling

One who chooses to travel is greatly aided by this brew. It adds endurance to the muscles, and speed to the legs. For all of the walkable daylight, the imbiber will be able to travel farther and gain more benefit from rest. This simple concoction is made by mixing in tarragon leaves, to give spring to the step, ginseng root, to give energy to the muscles, and clover, to aid the blood in its travels.

Ingredients: tarragon leaves, ginseng root and clover.

Walking

One who chooses to walk between the towns of Eriador is greatly aided by this draught. It adds endurance to the muscles and speeds the legs, for the small cost of some loss in concentration and adress. To prepare this brew mix a handfull of tonifiant juniper berries with some clover as a base. Add a few crushed leaves of marjoram and freshly bought cloves, to clean the blood of its toxines and stop cramps.

Ingredients: clover, juniper berries, marjoram leaves and cloves.

Food

Baker

To make bannocks light and brown, all that is needed is one pound of flour, three eggs, and the sweet golden treasure of a freshly crushed honeycomb.

Mix the flour and the eggs in a large dish. When this has been transformed into a homogenous mixture, crush the honeycomb and add it to the paste.

Mix carefully!

If the paste gets too thick, you may have to add a small quantity of water or milk. Then form the dough into small round balls, and use all your talents to cook it in a pan. This will give you enough bannocks for a week.

Serve with a cup of tea, beautiful crimson bread and rich free butter.

Ingredients: sack of flour, 3 x egg, honeycomb.

Leaf-Cake

There are some situations when one needs all the courage and strength he can muster. In those critical situations, even the most common flu can turn a fearsome warrior into a dull mass of flaccid muscles. As the most prompt to ill race, humans have soon learned how to use herbs to cure the flu, among them thyme and sage were the most renowned. Later, one particular flower, formerly raised by the Entwives, appeared to have even greater healing virtues. From this flower, often called coneflower, a very effective treatment can be made to heal the average flu.

First of all one has to use honey as a base, but also to relieve the inflamed throat. Thyme and sage leaves should then be added, as their healing powers will greatly help the patient. The whole coneflower should then be mixed into the paste to help fight the infection and strengthen the body. Finally, the large leaves of the coneflower can be used to wrap the mixture, producing a sort of leaf-cake.

Ingredients:

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