Bellicose Knot

A Bellicose Knot is a type of flora native to Morytania, but originated from the plane of Vampyrium. It's two primary uses include being inhaled as a recreational stimulant, and boiled into a lethal poison (as well its antidote).

Appearance


Sustaining themselves in the wet, nutrient-rich soil of Morytania, the Bellicose Knot is most definitely a shade-loving plant with colors to reflect its nature.

The "bell" structured blossoms of this flower grow in a bushel, usually varying from shades of deep, deep violet to a darker shade of pink. Red, however, is not uncommonly seen amongst the color-scheme. The stem and leaves are a very faded green, and the thick roots beneath the soil a muddy brown.

The "bells" are soft to the touch, though the out-jutting leaves are thin and sleek.

The entire plant itself has only been known to reach a small height apex of two feet, that being 1.2' for the stem, and 10" for the cluster of buds. The aforementioned height is usually reached in its second year of life.

Natural Habitat
This is a very rare breed of flora, given that it only grows in one distinct location: along the bottom, and outside edges of the great Vyre Wall surrounding the Sanguinesti. Having been brought by the vampyre race (originally from their home plane of Vampyrium) to Hallowvale during its besiegement, seeds no doubt found themselves all over the Hallowed Lands; however, they only seemed to grow in the shadow of the prior mentioned city wall.

Known Growing Locations:
Along the outermost (and bottom) edges of the great Vyre Wall surrounding the Sanguinesti Region, Morytania.

Buds
Within the "bell" shaped blossoms of the flower, there is a indigo or violet shaped bud which has a but a single medical use: it is used to create a very potent and lethal slow-acting poison. When ground and boiled in water to create a liquid variant, the Bellicose Knot produces the following symptoms when ingested by a human, depending on the severity of the dose, the measure of poison used is going to either speed up or slow down the effects:

The poison itself takes two days to digest in the (human) body, which is why it is classified as slow-acting. The symptoms that one would play host to are nausea, vomiting, and always xanthopsia (in which the vision is made yellow and blurred); these usually occur within the first two hours of being poisoned.

The final blow occurs about a day and a half after the poison was administered, and one of two outcomes is determined by the nature of the victim's heart condition. They either suffer decreased heart rate to the point of total heart failure, or increased heart rate to the point of a severe heart attack.

If the cure itself is not ingested by the end of the first day of poisoning, the victim is not likely to survive the last half-day (even if they are given the antidote within that time period).

The effects would range a much longer span of time for races with more advanced immune systems prone to lengthier longevity; such as Elves, Icyene, Mahjarrat, etc.

Roots
The antidote for the poison mentioned above is created from the roots of the exact same plant; the Bellicose Knot. Grinding them up and boiling them down in water produces a liquid form which can indeed be used to treat the bud venom. A wise herbalist would never dare take the poison and leave the antidote when harvesting one of these plants.