The Lost Book of Whatkin

From the scribbings of Whatkin, a Master Herbalist and member of the Healers, Chemists and Surgeons Guild of Peakshadow; a renown chemist, royal druggist and noble apothecary.

To his eminence, the Prefect of Bolden.

I have undertaken my previous treatises on poisons and assiduously followed the advice of a man calling himself only the Grandmaster, though of what guild, I know not. For while I am a public fellow of the HC&S Guild of Peakshadow, I have never known anyone in any of the related fields who speaks of himself by this title. While he disquieted me greatly, I am not one to live in fear. Therefore, I will reveal to your investigation, the fourth branch of my system of classification and trust that it remain our little secret.

I have previously indicated that the first thing to recognize with regard to poison, is that each and every one of them may be broadly classified using my system of chemical analysis, into one of 22 basic formulas. Each of these 22 may be further classified by the delivery mechanism which is used -- I regard that there are four.

My previous works have enumerated the injectables, ingestibles, and topicals. I have purposefully left off the inhalibles and those which work by a clever combination of the topical, ingestible and inhalible.

So for purposes of this system I will turn my attention to said inhaliables. These are they which must be brought into the lungs and act by displacing good air with bad. They can be added to an open fire or even infused in candle wax.

I have assigned poison types S-V to this branch of inhalibles. Type S being the least lethal known with an onset time measured in hours, and U being fatal to all but the hardiest of bodies within a matter of minutes.

Type V is a unique three part poison, of which I am particularly fond. Any portion of this tripartite formula will not be considered poison in itself, but when mixed with the others will produce the desired effect.

Purchased on the Open Market I have set pricing for my most effective formulas as follows:

• Type S (1000 crowns)
• Type T (2000 crowns)
• Type U (5000 crowns)
• Type V (10000 crowns)