A Selection Of Potent Alchemical Concoctions

1.  Darkwater

Oh, yes, Kaharid's Darkwater.  Foul stuff, but one cannot learn all without learning all I like to say.  It is an unholy substance - the rendered essence of Demontrumpets.  A whole bushel of the flowers yields a single oz of this stuff. Its use? Why, it's liquid evil! Necromantic spells normally reserved for dark priests become accessible to lesser mortals.

For example, should you manage to drown a creature with it, it will arise again in undead form. Due to the water's cost, this is generally possible only with small creatures, which given their now undead natures, is probably a good thing.  

Those more ambitious can apply it to a fresh grave or corpse, and if the dark beings are paying attention, cause it to  rise up.  This by no means grants any form of control of the undead, but if you are looking for such a creature for test purposes, or general havoc, this may not be necessary.

To most living folks not overly aligned with good magic, it is largely harmless - in fact it leaves a temporary taint that could help hide their living nature from undead eyes. This works only with the most stupid of undead unable to notice the non-rotten nature of the person.  Those attuned to finding undead will also see something amiss with the user.  Drinking this stuff is not suggested, as inviting that much dark power internally may not be healthy(1).

Use or even possession of this substance can subject the owner to attention from beyond the veil.

Beings capable of using dark manna will find this substance able to power spells above and beyond their normal reserves

2.  Theric's Firewater

A totally different danger lies in this grey bottle.  Its warm to the touch, which mildly foreshadows its contents.  One cannot tell at this point just how much protection the bottle is providing to you, for its contents are hotter then any liquid has a right to be.

You see, the firewater has two very interesting properties. The first is it cannot boil, no matter how hot you get it.  This water was heated in a blacksmith's forge and is near hot enough to soften iron. The second is that it cannot transfer its heat  - mostly- to incombustible materials, which allows one to comfortably carry it.

These two features open up a multitude of uses, for it allows you to bring very intense heat just about anywhere.  Yes, it can make a deadly weapon by the simple expedient of throwing it at someone, or by somehow inducing them to imbibe it - though once the bottle is open, there is little subtle about it.

How is it made? Its a very difficult process unifying pure elemental water with pure elemental fire in a very careful balancing act.  One mistake, and the would-be maker will find themselves in a cloud of scalding steam.
Nitty Gritty:

Typically, firewater is heated once created to about 1000 degrees F, though it is possible to make it hotter.  Containers of glass or ceramic will reach a temperature of about 1% of the contained material.  A typical vial will lose about 1 degree of heat per hour until it reaches room temperature.  Metal containers heat up to 10% of the contained water temperatures,and lose heat at 10 degrees/hour.


3. Geldred's Transformifier

If Fire and Death do not whet your whistle, perhaps chaos may be more to your liking, hmm?  Geldred's Transformifier is change in a bottle.  Objects - or even creatures - exposed to this material will become changeable.  Those aware of this can try and direct this through concentration, but the final form is often quite random.  External parties with knowledge of transformation magic will find their magic far more powerful when applied to the subject of the Transformifier.

Now, this effect is not permanent - but it can range wildly on duration from minutes to years, depending on quality, nature of the target, the alignment of the stars and a hundred other factors. Trying to undo the transformation by magic is dangerous, as any spells directed against the victim will be also subjected to its effects, perhaps making a bad situation worse.

The potion itself is unstable, and only safe for its intended purpose for about 3 days. After this period it is liable to transform into some other substance, regardless of the suitability of its container.


4. Kagaard's Liquid Sword

This is an odd one.  What appears to be a large earthenware jar holds something most certainly not edible.  Reaching within the liquid you'll find something that feels suspiciously like a sword hilt.  Your suspicions would be correct as you pulled it out - mostly.  Instead of some bright steel blade drawn from some extradimensional lake, the contents of the jar will be drawn out and form a sword of clear water.  Belying its watery origin the blade is strong and keenly sharp.  

If the liquid is poured into smaller containers, knives of smaller and smaller forms can be drawn from them.

Drinking the liquid is deadly, as outside of a glass or earthenware container it takes on its blade form.

If a water weapon is set down anywhere but a stoneware/glass container, it will revert to normal water.


5. Instant Trolls

This liquid is doubly dangerous.  Its main property is that when a portion of it is placed on any significant quantity of food, it will quickly convert it into an equal mass of angry troll.  As can be guessed, drinking this substance would be a rather painful way to kill one's self.
The process usually takes 3-5 minutes unless a truly large mass of food is used.  Note that the amount of Troll Elixer needed is about 1 oz per minute required to complete the transformation, either dumped on the food at the start, or deployed in small measure as the process completes.
During the process, the food becomes covered in a green goo that shifts and undulates as the troll is created.

Unlike normal trolls, these ones are injured by large amounts of water.  It takes gallons for them to notice, and immersion to kill them, but its probably the easiest way to kill them.

One must take note that the trolls so created are in no way under the user's control - that is a detail the user had best sort out in advance.

6. Utterblack

One of my personal favourites, anything you coat with this becomes black. Completely black - no light at all reflects from this.  While this may be useful for some evil themed decor it is far more useful than that.  For one thing, an object painted with this stuff will not heat up hotter than the air, even under a desert sky.  It does not absorb light - it redirects it elsewhere.

It has its place used in some rituals - such as the creation of Shadows - as well as ingredients in other concoctions.  

Now how would black paint be dangerous, you might ask? Well, my comment about it directing light elsewhere is true - it has a link to realms that devour light and this link tends to thin reality nearby. Used in small quantities there is little danger, but if large expanses are painted, these form weak spots that others could use to enter our reality.

I have heard of Cultists who use this substance in their tattoos - its ties to the dark realms help infuse them with the power of Shadow.

For more on Hachnar and friends, see The_Crystal_Retort and Hachnar_Velstrad