The Apothecary · Chapter 10
Modern Toxins and Tradecraft
The poisons of states and their services, from 1939 on. They are made in small quantities for particular operations and are judged by two things: how hard they are to notice, and how hard they are to trace.
Most have long Onsets. The user is expected to be in another country when the first check is made. For the same reason there is time: a team that learns of the exposure during the Onset has hours or days to work.
Nerve gas as a battlefield weapon is in Chapter 13. The devices that deliver these doses are in Chapter 14.
Suicide Capsule
L-pill, the glass tooth, the last resort
5 None Round 5
Ingested 500 Rare Modern Lethal
Effect 4 Wounds
Special A character who bites the capsule by choice makes no resist checks and fails each one
Antidote A cyanide antidote kit and a Severe Medicine check, begun before the Course ends
A thin glass capsule of concentrated cyanide in a rubber sleeve, issued to agents who cannot afford to be questioned. Swallowed whole it passes harmlessly. It is the only entry in this book a player uses on the player's own character, and a table decides in advance whether it is in the game.
Castor Toxin
Ricin, the pellet, the umbrella poison
4 1 day Day 4
Injury, Ingested, Inhaled 5000 Rare Modern Lethal, Subtle 4
Effect 4 Wounds, and these Wounds cannot be recovered by rest while the poison runs
Antidote None; treat and support
A protein from the castor bean, delivered in a platinum pellet the size of a pinhead. The victim feels a sting, goes home, and develops a fever the next day. A hospital that does not think to look for the pellet will not find the cause.
Heart-Stopper
The cardiac agent, the quiet needle
4 1 minute Minute 5
Injury 8000 Rare Modern Lethal, Subtle 4
Effect 4 Wounds
Special Without a successful check to notice it, the death is recorded as natural
Antidote None; treat and support. A hospital counts as continuous care
A compound that stops the heart and breaks down within hours. It is injected with a device made to leave no mark. The victim collapses a minute later, in front of whoever is there, with the user already gone.
Contact Nerve Agent
The door-handle agent, the perfume bottle
5 10 minutes Minute 6
Contact — Military Modern Lethal, Persistent, Subtle 3
Effect 3 Wounds and Disoriented. From the second failed check the victim is also Staggered
Antidote Atropine Injector
An oily liquid made by states and not sold. It is smeared where the target's hand will go. Everyone who touches the same surface for days afterwards is exposed, which is how such operations are found out.
Thallium
The poisoner's poison, rat paste
3 1 day Day 7
Ingested 200 Restricted Modern Lethal, Subtle 4
Effect 2 Wounds, and add 1 Bane Die to Agility checks while the poison runs
Special At the fifth check the victim's hair begins to fall out, and the poison becomes Subtle 0
Antidote A specific antidote, from the 1970s on
A tasteless salt that dissolves in tea. It looks like nerve disease until the hair goes. Secret services and family poisoners both favoured it.
Hot Dose
The radioactive cup, the isotope
5 1 day Day 10
Ingested — Military Modern Lethal, Subtle 3
Effect 3 Wounds, and these Wounds cannot be recovered by rest while the poison runs
Special The dose leaves a trail. An instrument finds traces everywhere the dose and its carrier have been, with no check
Antidote None; treat and support
A speck of an isotope only a state reactor can make. It cannot be tasted and the victim takes weeks to die. It is the most certain poison in the chapter and the easiest to trace to its maker.
Shellfish Toxin
The dart load, red tide extract
5 1 round Round 4
Injury 6000 Rare Modern Lethal
Effect 2 Wounds and Immobilized. A victim already Immobilized by this poison is Paralysed
After Immobilized or Paralysed lasts 10 minutes after the poison ends
Antidote None; an Average Medicine check each minute keeps a Paralysed victim breathing
A refined paralytic loaded into a dart thinner than a hair. It was made to silence guard dogs and for agents who preferred it to capture.
Tranquilizer Dose
Veterinary dart, the capture load
3 1 round Round 5
Injury 40 Restricted Modern None
Effect 3 Strain
Sleep 1 hour
Special Doses are sized by body weight. A dose made for a larger animal also deals 2 Wounds at each failed check and is Lethal
The load for the Tranquilizer Gun in The Modern Armory. It takes several rounds to put a person down, and for those rounds the person knows what was done and who did it.
Truth Serum
Pentothal, the twilight drug, the interview aid
3 1 minute Hour 1
Injury 300 Restricted Modern None
Effect 4 Strain. For one hour, add 2 Boon Dice to social checks made to question the subject, and the subject adds 2 Bane Dice to Deception checks
Special The subject rambles. The GM may spend 2 Bane from the questioner's check to mix in something the subject merely imagines or wants to be true
Antidote None; it wears off
A sedative given slowly into a vein until the subject is half asleep and talkative. It lowers the guard. It does not compel the truth, and what comes out has to be checked.
Carrier Gel
The solvent, the skin-carrier
— — — —
Additive 500 Rare Modern None
Benefit Mixed with one dose of a poison whose Vector is Injury or Ingested, it gives that dose the Contact vector
Special The dose is at 1 lower Potency, to a minimum of 1, and its Onset is at least 10 minutes
A clear solvent that passes through skin and takes what is dissolved in it along. It turns a door handle, a steering wheel, or a handshake into a syringe.