Gloom-Leather (Wermspittle)

Gloom-Leather
Going Price: Three times cow-leather, triple in Autumn, multiplied by 1d10 in Winter.
Availability: Hard to come by, even in the Spring, when Gloomswallows tend to be torpid.
Effect(s): Gloom-Leather can be crafted into various forms of armor (typically +1 or better),

Some examples...

1. Gloves crafted from Gloomswallow hide that is tanned using a portion of the beast's own ichor in the process come out mottled in lavender and violet, with pearlescent undertones, and grant those who wear them a +4 bonus on Saves versus Gloomswallow attacks. Unfortunately, there is a tendency for many who wear these thing for prolonged periods to become increasingly rational and uncomfortable/unable to use their intuition (Make a Save or shift 1 point from WIS to INT for every month of use, limit to a total of 3 points so transferred).
2. Boots fashioned from Gloom-Leather tend to be silent in darkness and easily shifted into the various recorded oneiric regions and zones, enabling apprentices to get their first experiences in dreamwalking and related oneiric practices.
3. Supple, thin and elegant gloves crafted for a surgeon's delicate touch. When properly prepped with Gloomswallow ichor or Dim Ichor in a pinch, these gloves will allow a Surgeon to perform operations on the subtle bodies of their patients, including the removal of oneiric cysts and ectoplasmic parasites. The gloves can also be used to by-pass the patient's physical body just enough to allow the surgeon to perform internal procedures without having to make an entry incision, however this form of usage costs the medical practitioner 1 CON per ten minutes use. There are Outlaw Oneirists who seem to have adapted these types of gloves to use them for violent, transgressive applications best left unmentioned.
4. Books and journals bound in Gloom-Leather have a tendency to bleed across into dreamspaces and are favored by Oneirists for this very reason. There are rumored to be special tomes manufactured from this material that, with a special ink derived from the fluids of Gloomswallows and having been consecrated in the light of the so-called 'Secret Second Moon,' are used by various dream-adepts to capture spells and secret knowledge from the unprotected minds of dreamers from any number of Adjacent Worlds or Parallel Realms.
5. Wine-skins formed from Gloom-Leather are popular among some sorcerers as they can be easily enchanted to preserve the vintage and efficacy of various elixirs and concoctions, or to slowly convert even the meanest, sourest wine into something delicate and exceptional, even if it does sometimes cost them a slight loss in their sanity or senses. (Wine left in such a skin requires a Save to avoid losing 1 point of WIS or INT. The Save receives a -1 penalty for every month the wine remains untapped inside the skin. The loss is not serious and recovery is normal...however those who imbibe this stuff do report some really intense, strange dreams and a few have disappeared for weeks with no memory or recollection of what exactly happened.)
6. The Goules of Latterkamp are known to create masks and other things from Gloom-Leather. The least disturbing of their masks allow the user to reshape their appearance to mimic that of things from their dreams, or to participate in the wild nightly Phantasmagorias and oneiric vistas that fill the streets, alleys and taverns of Wermspittle every Spring.

Questionable Trinkets & Trash (I)

Questionable Trinkets & Trash (I)

1. An over-sized and deeply engraved powder-horn. Even immersed in a bucket of water, this thing keeps the powder dry, at least until you pour it out.
2. A vile-smelling greenish snuff much favored among the women of Pitorria. It turns their teeth green and grants them a poisonous bite. Some say it also stimulates certain occult powers they are alleged to cultivate.
3. A dull and dusty old lens that comes in a faded purple velvet pouch. The lens is looped with a small silver wire and hangs from a tiny white-metal chain. If cleaned-up and used to look at the Moon during a particular phase it will reveal a second moon.
4. (1d4) antique cat-flensing knives in a small wooden presentation case inscribed with a large monogram 'F.' The lid sticks a little bit. They've never been used. Possession of these things causes all felines to have a -4 Reaction to the owner.
5. Mandrake roots packed in shredded birch bark. The seller will mumble various vague hints and such, but they will not inform anyone ignorant of such matters what they might do with the things, aside from a warning to the seriously ignorant not to eat them.
6. A small bracelet of dull bronze worked into a chunky, angular form with sixteen sections. The markings are mostly obliterated, in three instances deeply scratched off deliberately. Astrologers will potentially recognize enough of the remaining symbols to leave the thing alone, unless they have been properly attuned.
7. A small, delicate, wonderfully carved bone pen that can fill 3d100 pages without being re-dipped, if it is used to first inflict 1d4 damage on the user. It will write in any language specified by the wielder, even if they do not know it themselves.
8. A small, blackened ash-wood 'X' on a single upright brace. It is roughly a foot high when set on the floor. Numerous holes have been made by nails pounded into the extreme ends of each of the four arms of the 'X,' and the wood is deeply stained with old blood. It comes with a small lead-headed hammer and a box of silver pins. The seller claims that it is authentic. You're supposed to nail a toad to the thing and leave it near someone afflicted with a pox or plague and the toad is supposed to take-on the illness. If you let it dry long enough, the toad will remove the disease even from someone on their death-bed, or so they say. Toads cost extra.
9. A slightly dented brass lantern fitted with panes of hardened, tinted glass. Three of the panes are purple.
10. A peculiarly gnawed thigh-bone. It twists at the middle to reveal a small quantity of a peculiar blue dust. Each night this bone will attract 1d6 rats. Their numbers will increase by an additional 1d6 each night. They will not be driven off and will need to be killed. They want the blue dust. Giving the bone/dust to the rats will make them stop harassing the party, but it will also result in the spawning of 2d4 Ratterlings.

Black Liquors (Wermspittle/Corruption Trade)

Black Liquors are literally quite thoroughly black and concocted from the fluids of Loathsome Masses that seep through walls, ceilings and floor boards or Mad Houses and abandoned properties in the empty quarters of Wermspittle. Would-be apprentices serve as foragers and go out to collect this nasty stuff that they then turn over to various unlicensed producers who distill these liquors for the Corruption Trade.

“I am writing this under an appreciable mental strain, since by tonight I shall be no more. Penniless, and at the end of my supply of the drug which alone makes life endurable, I can bear the torture no longer; and shall cast myself from this garret window into the squalid street below.”

H.P. Lovecraft

Dagon

Black Liquors Produced by Bootleggers and Other Unlicensed Distillers (D6)

1. Midnight Drizzle: A smoky-smelling obsidian vodka that diminishes the drinker's WIS by one point for every shot imbibed. The effects persist for 1d4 days, after which time the victim recovers normally, only they have no memory whatsoever of what happened during the time they were under the liquor's influence. Persistent use does lead to permanent damage. Heavy drinkers are prone to lose all sense of identity and no longer have memories past five minutes ago. Most of the people destroyed by this stuff thought that they could use it to forget something horrific. They always think that they can just stop. Almost no one ever does. Availability: New batches almost always arrive in mid-winter. Cost: expensive -- only ever sold by the shot.
2. Ebony: A thick, syrupy sort of drink, Ebony is notorious for causing a slight tremor in the hands of those who drink it more than once. People drink this horrible stuff to recover memories lost through magical effects, damage, poison, or disease. They drink it to remember. Some spell-casters dilute this stuff and try to use it to enhance their memorization skills, usually any boost eventually turns to a catastrophic failure. Regular use inflicts a cumulative -1 penalty to DEX for 1d4 days for each shot downed. Three or more shots and the victim must make a Save or suffer a permanent -1 loss to DEX. Drinking the diluted shots will boost memory temporarily, for about a week, then the drinker must Save or suffer a permanent -1 penalty to INT. Availability: Hard to come by. You really need to know someone. Cost: Very expensive.
3. Oblivion: A potent, oily black liqueur that reeks of cloves and pepper with a cloying hint of corruption just under the sharp tang of the pepper. Two shots of this stuff will make a new person of you--literally. Re-roll INT, WIS, CHAR and welcome to life as somebody else...too bad you no longer have a name that you recognize, though there are probably a few 'old friends' around who might like to have a chat with you about things you did in your former life... Availability: Rare. Cost: Very expensive, but for some, it's worth it. (There is a cumulative 20% chance that the drinker succumbs to the latent taint of the Vinum Sabbati and reverts to a Loathsome Mass each time they drink Oblivion, but since they lose all memory of having drank any of the stuff previously, it is not entirely uncommon that they might try it again.)
4. Mummy Bottle: Smooth black elixir that will stave off the effects of mummy rot, gangrene, Achromic Powder, etc. for 1d4 hours per shot. Those who do drink this noxious concoction must make a Save each morning for the following four days, missing any one of those Saves results in their affliction tripling in severity and rate of spread. Further shots of Mummy Bottle will only halt what has been done, and not reverse any of it. Availability: Common. Cost: Cheap.
5. Ravyshed Fortitude: A powerful, glossy black liquid that grants the drinker a +1 to INT, WIS and CHAR for 24 hours, then it causes 1d4 points of attribute damage (the victim can pick how to distribute the penalties) that will persist for 1d4 days. Anyone drinking this stuff must make a Save to avoid the lingering after-effect that causes all healing to be at 50% effectiveness for the next 2d4 hours. Availability: Uncommon. Cost: Moderate. Note: When mixed with Dim Ichor, this substance becomes a potent poison that automatically destroys 1d4 INT or WIS (victim's choice), with a Save at -2 penalty to sustain half damage.
6. Fearphagery: An effervescent black-tinged fluid with the consistency of egg whites, making it rather difficult to toss back. Drinking this stuff totally eliminates the drinker's ability to experience fear. If they make their Save, then the effect is only for 3d6 hours, if they fail the effect is permanent. Availability: Uncommon. Cost: Triple the going rate for rot-gut.

There are other varieties of Black Liquors to be had, depending on the season, what tavern one is in,  and availability based upon the vagaries of the illicit smugglers, peddlers and dealers who handle the products of each clandestine bootlegger and distiller. Every now and again an old case is discovered in a cellar, or one of the local producers tries out a new formula and things can get awfully strange...with an especial emphasis on the awful. Whatever minor benefit any of these bottled spirits might purport to impart, they all come at a steep, drastic price.

"Of the pleasures and pains of opium much has been written. The ecstasies and horrors of De Quincey and the paradis artificiels of Baudelaire are preserved and interpreted with an art which makes them immortal, and the world knows well the beauty, the terror and the mystery of those obscure realms into which the inspired dreamer is transported. But much as has been told, no man has yet dared intimate the nature of the phantasms thus unfolded to the mind, or hint at the direction of the unheard-of roads along whose ornate and exotic course the partaker of the drug is so irresistibly borne."

H. P. Lovecraft

The CrawlingChaos

For more exotic liquors, consult Gorgonmilk's Community Table of Weird Drafts, which Matthew is currently assembling into a nifty PDF over at Rended Press.

Brazen Scales of Ylantru (Back Alley Magic)

Pitted, scored and corroded from untold centuries of neglect and being buried within the dusty confines of various antiquarian shops, curiosity peddlers and similar such venues, the Brazen Scales of Ylantru have become something of a lost treasure, an urban myth and a mildly trivial item of magical contraband that crops up from time to time in the less discriminating quarters of dangerous cities and dubious markets. Most finders catalogues list these scales as being pieces of ancient armor even though there are no holes cut into them and they are usually quite flat. There are allegedly a pair of glyph-like markings in each of the upper corners, but no credible or definitive identification of these markings has ever been made. At least not publicly.

Moriarty & Mortitia's Compendium of Artifacts Both Arcane and Exceptional, The definitive reference of all reputable dealers in archaic and obsolescent oddities, has only a token listing for the Brazen Scales, which states that these 'scales' as they are called are not in fact scales, but rather coins from a transplanar domain dominated by oneirically-inclined abhuman sorcerers who no longer maintain any holdings outside their primary domain ever since a disastrous war with a sub-lunary species known only by a completely unpronounceable name signified by three interwoven light-blue squiggles. There is no mention of the valuation of these coins, nor their worth in terms of any sort of exchange rate, which is a bit of an oversight for such a prestigious reference work as the M&M Compendium.

A decent specimen, unmarred, with the corners intact and un-holed will fetch between 3-12 GP in most markets, though an exceptional one that is in pristine condition might bring as much as 200-300 GP, should a suitably interested buyer be contacted.

But it is rare to find such a thing these days. Very rare indeed.

The Brazen Scales of Ylantru have lain dormant and ignored for many, many long years only to have become something of an overnight marvel and a must-have item among those who delve deeply into the old, buried places of the lost past, be they sanctioned archaeological savants or unlettered tomb looters.

When a hole is drilled through a Brazen Scale and it is suspended upon a length of virgin spider silk (some accounts specify the braided cord made from three hairs from a virgin, others claim a waxed bit of twine works just fine), and passed through the purifying smoke of various resinous incenses, the Brazen Scale will perform as a pendulum capable of directing its user to lost, forgotten or buried treasures, but only if these things are close to dark, brackish waters, usually of the subterranean variety. Most pundits and gossips agree convincingly that the Brazen Scale so used will only properly function in moonlight...but there is no consensus as to whether the light of a full moon, waning moon, new crescent or some other phase is more efficacious or desirable.

Dim Ichor (Wermspittle)

Dim Ichor
Going Price: 40gp/dose minimum. (4D20 for current price)
Availability: Uncommon
Effect: As a poison, this substance does no actual physical damage, however it forces a Save or the victim will lose 1d4 INT for 3d6 days. Every day the victim can attempt to make another Save. Success means that the effect wears off one day earlier, failure means that the effect will linger twice as long.

Certain libertines and other daring wastrels will sometimes add a splash of Dim Ichor to a drink, especially if it is strong liquor. This will produce a powerful euphoria, lower inhibitions scandalously, and cause complete forgetfulness for 1d30 hours. Not even Hypnosis, ESP, or psychometry will be able to recover those memories.

If mixed with Brown Jenkin Whiskey the resulting drink will grant visions of non-euclidean spaces and instill a deep appreciation for hypergeometries in the drinker who will find themself experiencing these things first-hand in their dreams for the next 1d4 nights. When in this curiously excited state, the drinker will either attract the attention of a Gloomswallow (30%), have an opportunity to go exploring the nearby regions of the Oneirium or dream-states (50%), or encounter some sort of lurking thing on the very threshold of consciousness (20%).

Tables to Consult: Oneiric Encounters, and Lurking Things

When distilled into a brandy or schnapps form on its own, Dim Ichor produces a terrible liqueur that can permanently diminish the imbiber's INT. Several people reputed to have a distinct taste for this stuff have disappeared without a trace. But that just makes the stuff all the more lurid, fascinating and sought-after by students, mad-men, and daredevils.

Dim Ichor is extracted from the flesh of a Gloomswallow and as such it is both difficult and dangerous to acquire without taking very special preparations. Those who frequently handle or harvest the raw ichor of Gloomswallows often have a purplish-gray discoloration to their wrists and hands. Frequent usage of the stuff turns the sclera of the eyes purplish-gray, making them look like they are bruised from within.