Balms of the Fountainhead
Mastery of these recipes allows an apothecary to brew preparations valuable to ritual magicians versed in the Lore of Spring. With one of these potions a ritualist can wield the magic of the Spring Realm more effectively, but they also become more susceptible to the influence of that Realm.
Vernal Balm
This textured ointment is quickly absorbed through the skin, speeding the blood and enhancing a magicians awareness of Spring power. It is often mixed with pigment and used to draw or paint runes or looping designs on the skin of the face and hands just prior to the start of a ritual; while the balm itself is absorbed, the pigment remains behind.
Some magicians find the almost narcotic sensations that accompany use of this balm to be very appealing. The vernal balm helps to strip away complexity, and allows a magician to see straightforward solutions to problems, as well as freeing them from emotion constraints and encouraging them to express themselves simply and directly.
- Effect: If you possess the Spring lore skill you gain +1 rank to the next Spring ritual you perform within half an hour.
- Roleplaying Effect: You become prone to sudden mood shifts and displays of strong emotion. Your attitudes become more straightforward, and you find complex plans and overthinking frustrating. You would rather take action than talk about it.
- Recipe: One dram each of True Vervain and Imperial Roseweald and one crystallized mana.
Suffusion of Blood
This blood-red elixir allows a ritual magician to exert great power in the Realm of Spring. It allows a ritualist to align their reserves of personal power with the Realm by synchorinsing their emotions and behaviour with that of the Spring. By seeking out the ways that the human spirit most reflects (or is reflected by) the supernatural Realm, they unlock great potential to weave Spring magic.
Some magicians find the sensation of working Spring rituals with the aid of the suffusion of blood to be almost ecstatic. They pursue opportunities to use the potion, even when there are sufficient crystallized resources available. The thrill of directly wielding the power of a Realm, rather than using an intermediary, coupled with the emotional influence of both the elixir and the realm leads to addictive behaviour. Masters sometimes tell their apprentices the cautionary tale of Angelique von Tassato, a League ritualist who beggared and ultimately destroyed her own troupe in pursuit of the freedom she could only find in the arms of the suffusion of blood.
- Effect: If you possess the Spring lore skill you gain the ability to use up to 3 personal mana as if it were crystal mana during the next Spring ritual you perform within half an hour.
- Roleplaying Effect: You become very direct, preferring to go directly to the heart of a problem, say what you think, or deal with immediate problems. You find it difficult to think about the past, or anything more pressing than the immediate future. You also become emotionally volatile, and are especially short-tempered. Anything that frustrates or irritates you is likely to cause you to lash out against it's source.
- Recipe: Three drams of Imperial Roseweald, two drams of True Vervain, and one dram each of Cerulean Mazzarine, Marrowort and Bladeroot.