DMing Chemistry

 Hashtar is a relatively unremarkable plant of small purple flowers, save for one hugely important characteristic: when consumed or brewed into tea, it induces divine visions. Many mystics and prophets used it over the ages, and in most temples there is at least one priest or priestess who specializes in receiving and interpreting these visions. Said visions are most often interpreted as showing other worlds, the Underworld or the dwellings of the gods. Said to be both blessed and cursed by Ei-Hashtar, minor god of madness and prophecy after whom it is named, hashtar is not only addictive but quite toxic as well, and the effective dose for getting visions is quite close to the lethal amount. Habitual users gradually lose their vision, often ending completely blind in just a few years. Brewing the plant into a tea makes it easier to dose, but doesn't actually make it less dangerous. An additional danger of hashtar consumption is that it reacts negatively with alcohol. For approximat...

 Bloodthorn is a rare plant cultivated by the Wood Elves . Normally it grows unassuming leafless barked vines studded with thorns, however it has an unusual life cycle. In order for the plant to bloom, it need to absorb large amounts of blood. It can do this through either its roots, or its vines and thorns. As the plant stores more and more blood, the vines gradually become red, becoming the color of fresh arterial blood just before flowering. A healthy plant needs dozens of liters of blood to be able to flower.  As one can imagine, it is quite difficult for an immobile plant to gather the amount of blood needed to reproduce in any reasonable time frame. As to how these plants managed before, there are multiple theories ranging from them being indigenous to other worlds, having been adapted to steal blood from gigantic animals that have since gone extinct, or just having been a one-off experiment of the gods, demons, or just unusually malevolent sorcerers. Whatever the truth,...