Barnaby's Frost Essence

This vial of liquid frost can be thrown up to 20 feet (even if blocked by the target the splash effect will still cause damage) and causes 2d8 cold damage for one round (half damage upon a dexterity save) plus it gives the target disadvantage on any roll for two rounds. 

Components: Cold water, saltpeter, white wyrm dust, sal ammoniac.

• • Yield: 1 Standard Throwing Flask (approx. 4 oz)

  • Prep Time: 1.5 hours (plus 24 hours deep-cellar chilling)

  • Shelf Life: Stable indefinitely if kept sealed in a cold environment; loses potency and warms up quickly if exposed to sunlight.

  Ingredients

  • 2 oz Ice Runoff / Deep-Well Water (The pure liquid base, super-chilled)

  • 1 oz Saltpeter (Potassium Nitrate) Crystals (The endothermic cooling agent)

  • 1 tbsp Crushed White Wyrm-Scale or Essence (Harvested from a cold-dwelling drake or wyrm; the magical anchor for absolute zero temperatures)

  • 1 tsp Finely Ground Sal Ammoniac (Ammonium Chloride) (To supercharge the freezing reaction) Collect this from your stable. Its the yellow-gray creep along the edges (almost looks like dried sea spray but smells of ammonia and horse piss). Boil it down to its essence when it crystalizes on the pan bottom.)

  • A pebble of Rock Salt (To kickstart the rapid temperature drop)

  Instructions

  1. The Glacial Base: Pour the super-chilled water into a heavy lead-lined mixing basin sitting directly on a bed of packed cellar ice or snow.

  2. Dissolving the Endothermic Salts: Slowly stir in the saltpeter and sal ammoniac. Unlike most alchemical reactions that generate heat, these minerals rapidly absorb ambient heat from their surroundings when dissolved, causing the liquid to drop toward freezing temperatures almost instantly.

  3. The Wyrm Infusion: Fold in the crushed white wyrm-scale dust. The fine powder refuses to fully dissolve, instead hanging in suspension like a shimmering, pearlescent frost. This provides the supernatural chill that prevents the concoction from melting or warming up under normal conditions.

  4. The Flash-Freeze Seed: Just before bottling, drop in a tiny pebble of rock salt to act as a nucleation point, forcing the solution to super-cool to the edge of crystallization without turning solid inside the jar.

  5. Bottling: Funnel the biting, ice-blue liquid into a heavy and dark glass flask. The outside of the glass will immediately fog over and frost up.

  6. Sealing: Cork the flask tightly, seal the lip with blue tallow or wax, and store it immediately back into the deepest, coldest corner of your root cellar. Keep out of sunlight, as the potion will sour quickly if exposed to the sun.

  Barnaby's Note: "Don't hold this one bare-handed for too long before throwing, or your fingers will stick to the glass. When it shatters on impact, the sudden pressure drop combined with the wyrm-dust causes the air around the target to instantly flash-freeze into a jagged cloud of rime and frost. Great for slowing down fast movers. You can also tip a drop into your mug of ale to give it an ice cold froth. Just one drop or your lip will freeze to the mug!"

Notes: Damage: Cold, Disadvantage: Attack Rolls Against You, Disadvantage: Ability Checks, Disadvantage: Saving Throws, Combat Potion