INSTANT KARMA
-1 to all Rolls / 1 day / 4 days

By its nature a perilous substance to both brew and handle, often leaking from even the most tightly stoppered vials, instant karma is a thin, clear blue liquid that contains swirling, viscous ribbons of red. Absorbed through the skin, this poison causes minor neurological “hiccups.” A victim experiences a marginally weakened grasp; extremely subtle tremors; faint, nagging itches; and other distractions too subtle to be noticed (sometimes even by the victim himself), but which collectively make it harder to pick a lock, swing a sword, dance across a floor, or even remember a common fact. With no obvious cause, and no puncture wound to suggest a poisoning has occurred, victims tend to believe they are experiencing a run of ill fortune or even divine retribution for some past wrongdoing (hence the poison’s unusual name).

Approximately twenty-four hours after exposure, the poison will have caused enough neurological miscues to impose a one-point penalty on all the victim’s rolls. This penalty increases to two points after forty-eight hours, three points after seventy-two hours, and four points after ninety-six hours. At the end of the fourth day, all penalties disappear and the victim’s neurological impulses return to normal. Instant karma is never fatal on its own, though enough missteps may place a victim in harm’s way.