Firethorn

Also known as the sea rose, the firethorn looks like a short, wide rosebush carrying about twenty vivid scarlet flowers. Thorns grow only right beneath each bloom, 1 to 10 per flower, leaving the main branches and most of each stem smooth. Its rich, distinctive scent carries several hundred feet. After dark the blossoms give off a glow like banked coals.

The plant has no mind, but it defends itself three ways. Its scent affects anyone who comes within ten feet and fails a save vs. poison, leaving them confused, as the spell, for 2-8 minutes. Confused victims often stumble into the bush. In ground thick with firethorns, only one save is needed per half hour spent there, and each later save in the same area gains a cumulative +1 as the victim builds a brief tolerance.

Brushing against a bloom or picking one makes 1 to 10 thorns shoot out at the offender for 1d2 damage each. The victim then makes two saves, no matter how many thorns struck. A failed save vs. paralyzation means each thorn also burns for 1d3 fire damage, which fire protection prevents. The poison is far worse: a failed save vs. poison kills instantly, and a successful one still costs 20 points of damage.

Because the plant soaks up and stores the sun's heat, neither normal nor magical fire harms it.

Firethorns grow only on tropical and subtropical seashores. A few dot seasonal grasslands, but they more often form thick, tangled carpets across salt marshes. They are truly abundant only on certain far southern islands, especially one pirate-held isle named for them. Whether they are natural or the work of some wizard with a taste for botany is unknown.

Their confusing scent gets them mistaken for the fabled roses of forgetfulness, but they act far more like weeds than prized blooms. They refuse transplanting and cultivation, yet pollinate themselves and spread widely when conditions suit them.

By day they bank heat in their thorns and release it only at night, which some think is vital to their growth and spread. One bush gives off about as much warmth as a small lantern, and a cluster can match a bonfire. Druid spells that affect plants work on them normally.

Firethorns help hold the soil of salt marshes together, and careful harvesters take several products from them. The blossoms yield a striking scarlet dye that blends into shades from pale pink to dark crimson; it is the leading export of one coastal city. An attar from the petals goes into strong perfumes or, properly prepared, a potion of dreaming. Harvesting all the thorns of one bush yields 1-6 doses of type E poison, which breaks down into something harmless after about a week.