Xaeyruudh's Index

Merenthe

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This information is intended for use with the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.


At a Glance

Merenthe is an opaque, deep purple, watery liquid; a potent sleep-inducing substance which quickly causes slumber regardless of pain. It’s useful for keeping a wounded patient still, but it’s also effective for keeping prisoners or hostages quiet and easily concealed.

Merenthe is easily obtained in Calimshan, where the witch Merenthe Iyrdril first sold it some three hundred years ago. The details of its brewing have spread to Tashalar, the Vilhon Reach, Amn, and Waterdeep, but outside those regions it is still very rare.

A standard potion vial of merenthe, if consumed by an adult human male, will bring about five-and-a-half days of slumber, and costs as much as 60-80 gp in the lands where it is still a novelty. It’s effective on more than just humans; it will work on any intelligent mammal. (So, unfortunately, Republicans are immune… zing!)

It can be mixed with some alcoholic drinks (but not others) and with all other liquids… though dilution is still a factor of course. Heating beyond a certain point renders it inert.


Campaign Notes

Here’s a quick & dirty formula for the duration of sleep for any appropriate recipient:

5.5 days * 160 / X, where X is the weight (in lbs) of the patient/victim.

Using this formula, a full dose of merenthe will knock out a 2-foot tall, 16-lb, rock gnome for almost two months… a 160-lb human for the aforementioned 5.5 days… or a 90-foot tall, 40,000-lb elder titan for about half an hour.

Note that merenthe does not provide sustenance. Due to the lack of physical exertion, even the gnome who is unconscious for two months should survive… provided that there’s some way of hydrating her. More than 7 or 8 days without water, and death becomes very likely.


Source


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