Duskbloom
"Don't touch it, don't look at it, and stay upwind of it. Trust me on this."Anyone traveling to the Faeweald should be made well aware of the dangers, and that includes this simple-seeming flower. The duskbloom is a black-petaled flower which grows in several places in the magical realm, and one might be forgiven for thinking it would make a striking decoration. After all, black flowers are not all too common in Erisdaire. But this is the Faeweald, and it is a bad idea to take anything you see for granted.
When disturbed, the duskbloom's first reaction is to release a concentrated cloud of pollen above it. This pollen produces a hallucinogenic effect in those who breathe it in, lasting for several minutes if nothing is done. The longer a person breathes the pollen in, the more intense and aggressive these hallucinations become. The nature of the Faeweald means those hallucinations can inflict actual damage on those having them, and these wounds appear as though from an invisible enemy. Spending longer than a minute inside the dispersing pollen can escalate this into life-threatening territory, and the time it takes for the pollen to disperse into an inactive state can be as long as five minutes.
Some alchemists who frequent the Faeweald discovered the flower only recently, while searching for another potentially useful plant. Even after learning about the pollen of the duskbloom, there are some alchemists who try to find the flower in order to harvest the pollen. While the hallucinations are dangerous and lack a sense of euphoria, there is a market for such an intense experience. At least one client has likened it to "a really bad trip without the good parts". It is theorized the flower, if properly processed, can be used to lend extra power to illusion magic. However, the hazards of working with duskbloom pollen has led few alchemists to make an educated attempt to work with it. Fewer still have succeeded in doing anything other than complicating their lives for a few days until the flower can be disposed of.
Geographic Distribution
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