Refined Black Tasim

Black tasim is a poison — chew the raw leaf and it will double you over with cramps for a day. But someone, somewhere, learned to boil the sickness out of it, and what remains is a pale grey powder with a sharp, almost burnt taste, and a gift: it makes exhaustion simply stop. One dose and the sleepless soldier stands straight, the aching dockhand works through the night, the tired courtier smiles as though she'd slept for a week. The weariness doesn't leave — it only waits, held under the surface while the powder lends you strength you haven't earned.

It is cheap enough to find in any city and dear enough to ruin you slowly, and it does not lend for free. The strength is borrowed, and the body keeps its own accounts. Those who lean on it too long come to know the twitch behind the eye, the temper that turns on friends, the long grey mornings when the debt is called in. On the street they call it nothing so grand — just "the black" — and the sharper dealers are not above selling the raw poison to those who don't yet know the difference.

Effects of the drug

While on Black Tasim, you ignore all effects of exhaustion, except dying to maximum exhaustion. The drug keeps you fully awake and energetic, but it does play tricks on your mind. Taking a dose of the drug increases your level of Burden by 1. Effects of Burden persist until you no longer have it (see Getting Clean below). You only ignore exhaustion on the day you take the dose. The drug makes you Restless, disturbing your sleep; on the night after you take the drug, your exhaustion will not lower as the result of a long rest - you still get all other effects of the long rest.

Burden effects

The Jolt — at the start of each combat, make a Wisdom saving throw at the DC on your current row. On a failure you are confused, as if hit by the confusion spell; at the end of each of your turns you repeat the save, ending it on a success.
Always Active — these effects are active at all times.

Getting clean

Each morning, if you do not take a dose, make a Constitution saving throw at the DC on your current level of Burden. On a success your Burden drops by 1. On a failure, apply your row's failure entry plus every failure entry for lower burden levels.