One of the most common forms of murder in ven opera and pillow books is poison. The temptation to create an elaborate system for venoms is tempting…
Actually, it isn’t. Not even in the slightest.
Poison kills you. That’s what it does. No risk. No rolling dice. If you ingest it, if it’s injected into your system, you are going to die. Nobody makes a “saving throw” against arsenic. Or cyanide. A drop of mercury. Or a particularly nasty spider venom. Nobody.
In ven literature, this is particularly true. Poison spells death. In all the reference materials I have, there is not a single mention of any hero or heroine who survives poison. Not one. It may take them a week to die, but they die.
Poison has an intention. That intention is to kill you. So, here’s the game system.
If you get poisoned, you die.
Poison for Wimps
Okay, so you’re not that ruthless. You’re not that cruel.
(Why are you playing this game?)
Here’s Poison for Wimps. Enjoy.
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The ven know five poisons. Well, they know and trust five poisons. They don’t fiddle with venoms or toxins that just make you sick. Poison is for murder. Not sickness.
With that in mind, let’s spend a moment talking about how to make and use poisons.
Making a poison is a Season action. The ven know many kinds of poison, but the “big five” are the ones we’ll be using in the game. Other poisons just aren’t toxic enough to affect ven biology.
Making poison costs a Season action. You’ll read about that in the forthcoming Seasons chapter. Using poison is usually pretty risky. After all, getting caught means you get killed—unless you are under the shadow of revenge, of course.
Dropping poison into a cup, without being seen, isn’t covered by any of the Virtues. Waiting for the precise moment to drop a venomous liquid into your enemy’s cup, just at that right moment when nobody is looking. Waiting… waiting…
If only there was some kind of “patience” Virtue. That would cover it nicely. Unfortunately, the ven don’t have that Virtue, so any ven undertaking a risk involving using poison cannot call upon any Virtues for that risk. Unless she sweet talks an enemy into drinking the poison. That would be Beauty. Or perhaps throwing the poison into someone’s eyes. That would be Strength. I’m sure some clever player could also come up with a valid reason why Prowess would be an appropriate Virtue. Even Courage. But sneaking poison into a cup isn’t Cunning or Beauty or Strength. It would require some other Virtue not listed in this book.
Other Chapters
Chapter Two covers the five kinds of poison available to the ven.
Chapter Nine talks about how to make poison as a Season action and how to make yourself immune to poison in the same manner.
Poison Actions
Making yourself immune to a particular kind of poison… the ven immune system is pretty remarkable. You’ll have to spend a Season action making yourself immune to one of the five different poisons.
Arsenic
Cyanide
Hemlock
Oleander
Strychnine
Immunity costs you a Season action. If you are immune to a particular poison, you are immune to it. No risk, no dice. Immunity. If you aren’t immune to a poison, you die. No risk, no dice. Death.
Immunity only lasts for one Season. You can only be immune to three of the five poisons; the ven can’t sustain more than that.