Danger and adventure
Brewing and selling contraband
The brewer's side of the underworld: the forbidden ingredients, how a recipe is learnt, the hidden still and vat, selling under the table, and what the watch can do about it.
The ingredients
No merchant sells them and no market buys them: they are gathered by the trades. Only someone who knows a contraband recipe knows what to look for - the forbidden herbs come to their gathering alone, never to an honest gatherer's sack.
| Ingredient | Who finds it |
|---|---|
| Henbane, opium poppy, wolfsbane, hemp, ergot rye | The herbalist, among the herbs - a load in ten together. A herbalist also comes upon them now and then while picking herbs in the wild, straight into the sack (anyone else more seldom). A still takes them from the sack alone: the game's own herb item picked in the wild does not do. |
| Belladonna, mandrake | The herbalist, as ever. |
| Fly agaric | The woodcutter, now and then at an old stump. |
| Saltpetre | The miner, a rare find in the ore. |
| Toads | The fisher, on the riverbanks. |
| Animal fat | The hunter, from a deer, a stag or a boar. |
| Hops, malt, grapes, honey, sage, nettles, charcoal | The usual way: gathered, or bought at an auction house. |
Learning a recipe
- A forbidden herbal
The rarest find of the land: at most one a day on each server, on a brigand's body or in a chest of the land opened for the first time. Read it (from the pack) to learn one recipe you do not know, at random among those your level reaches. It can be traded or sold like any book.
- A brewer who knows it
Stand within 5 m of the still for the whole batch while someone brews it: you learn it as the batch ends, if your level in its craft is high enough. Whoever stands that close learns it - choose your company.
- The staff
may teach recipes, or take them back.
Every recipe, by level
| Draught | Level | Where | Takes | Makes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Henbane Ale | Brewing 2 | a hidden vat (or still) | 3 henbane, 2 hops, 2 barley malt, 6 gr. | 2 a batch |
| Fly Agaric Brew | Alchemy 3 | a hidden still | 3 fly agaric, 1 barley malt, 6 gr. | 1 a batch |
| Hemp Smoke | Alchemy 3 | a hidden still | 8 hemp, 1 honey, 8 gr. | 1 a batch |
| Mandrake Wine | Brewing 5 | a hidden vat (or still) | 2 mandrake root, 4 grapes, 2 henbane, 14 gr. | 1 a batch |
| Miner's Dust | Alchemy 5 | a hidden still | 6 ergot rye, 3 charcoal, 1 saltpetre, 14 gr. | 1 a batch |
| Witch's Salve | Alchemy 5 | a hidden still | 3 belladonna, 1 mandrake root, 1 toads, 2 animal fat, 10 gr. | 1 a batch |
| Dwale | Alchemy 6 | a hidden still | 2 opium poppy, 2 henbane, 2 grapes, 12 gr. | 1 a batch |
| Saint Vitus Drops | Alchemy 6 | a hidden still | 2 ergot rye, 1 wolfsbane, 1 honey, 12 gr. | 1 a batch |
| Wolfsbane Tincture | Alchemy 7 | a hidden still | 3 wolfsbane, 2 nettles, 1 saltpetre, 14 gr. | 1 a batch |
| Poppy Milk | Alchemy 8 | a hidden still | 4 opium poppy, 1 honey, 15 gr. | 1 a batch |
The hidden still and vat
The brewer's bench: a hidden still (every draught) and a hidden vat (the ale and the wine). A carpenter makes them; order one or buy it from another player in the furniture catalogue, or buy it at once for 50 KCD Points.
| How it stands | |
|---|---|
| Anywhere | The only furniture you may set down anywhere: the wilds, a cellar, a town's street, a house, a room - but never in another's house or room. |
| One of each | One still and one vat placed at most for each player: they brew different draughts. |
| A week | It stands seven days, then comes back to your decorations. Take it back sooner to place it elsewhere. |
| Smoke | A batch at work smokes: whoever is within 30 m catches it, and a night watchman smells it from further. |
- Place it
F2 > Illegal brewing > Place it here - moved and set down like any furniture. The same menu finds it (on your compass) or takes it back.
- Work it
The use key on it (within 3 m): Distil on the still opens the Alchemy window, Brew on the vat the Brewing window. A still makes the vat's ale and wine too.
- The doses
come into your pack, each its own vial with a red skull. Drink one from your pack (double click, or Drink it) or in the game's own inventory.
Selling under the table
Nothing forbidden is sold to a merchant. Stand beside someone, open the action wheel (Z) or their menu: Under the table opens a window - pick the draught, how many, and your price. A card comes up on their screen with the draught, what it does and for how long, its crash, how habit-forming it is, your price and their purse; they have a minute to shake on it or decline (/accept works too). The coins and the very vials change hands, and those around see you shake hands on it.
The watch
A member of the watch may, from the action wheel or /search player:
| What the watch does | |
|---|---|
| Inspect pack | A window of the pack and the sack: the contraband set apart and marked in red, the lawful things and the purse beside it. Confiscate all takes the contraband - destroyed, and written down. |
| Check the eyes | Tells whether a draught works on someone now - by what shows (the pupils, the breath), never its name. |
| Seize a still | The use key on someone else's still or vat: taken down for good, its owner told. |