A poison made from the toxin of the rare brothersbane. The mushroom is, unlike its sisters in the inky cap family, extremely poisonous. It produces one of the seven legendary toxins of the deep woods. Mature brothersbane deliquesces into a purple liquid, which is fleeting and filled with spores. It can only be gathered in a narrow window and must be stabilised in the field. Finding a flush at the right time, that is an adventure which can span months. The journey to the corners of the world is draining. Rangers are often hired as guides or might even venture out on their own, to collect and sell the gathered haul for a steep price in shady stores and markets.
Compared to the mushroom hunt, the refinement from raw resource to finished poison is relatively easy. After stabilising the substance the compound is brought to a lab (the chemists in Ammaburg are specialised in this field) and refined in cleaning steps. The finished product is a viscous extract with a concentrated spore count. This goo is the Commoner’s Wail. It is used to coat the blades and tips of daggers, arrows, and darts. Once applied the weapon is regarded as “etched”, tainted for the rest of its existence, as even the smallest molecular spore traces can still be contaminating.
Commoner’s Wail is quite effective at what it does, but the outcome is uncontrollable. The toxin targets synapses in the brain, where it works like a stimulant, with the sinister effect of completely shutting down any signal of thirst or hunger (green types are immune to this side effect). The victims operate in overdrive while their bodies wither away from the inside. After a brief manic period, marked by the confused ramblings of a deteriorating mind, the victims often drop dead on the spot. As with any of the poisons based on one of the legendary toxins, there is no known antidote. Even when the symptoms are caught early and the victims are force-fed, they lash out against the help and the body rejects the nourishment. It is not surprising that Commoner’s Wail is often used in political assassinations. However, those are often not of the freeing kind, but rather ones which aim to destabilise. It is almost never the tyrant who must endure the Commoner’s Wail.