I know that in the siege of Kirrha, Solon of Athens poisoned the aqueduct leading to the city with hellebore (according to Wikipedia, a genus of 20 species of flowers) roots. This poisoning caused a massive, severe diarrhea outbreak, which softened up the defenses, in addition to their stools
Does anyone know how much of this stuff, either in number of plants, weight or volume, I would need to poison the well of a stronghold containing about 50 soldiers (very evil slave masters). My intent is to sicken them, not kill them, as the slaves (about 300 of them) will probably be drinking the same water. Apparently with high doses it can cause heart failure and death, so the quantity is important and is why I'm posting.
Also, if hellebore doesn't exist in my DM's universe, any other plants I could use? I know the ancient Assyrians used Ergot (similar effects to LSD) which could be fun, but probably much harder to find, and since that doesn't cause the runs, I wouldn't be able to name it "Fenris's Revenge". I want the whole world to fear my name. Bwa ha ha ha hah!
Any suggestions would be useful.
Thanks,
-Fenris
It sounds like you have your plan, from here on you should really ask your DM if the stuff exists and how much of it you'd need.
Although I cannot help you with quantity, you can always fortify the poisons with magic if you are looking for a specific desired effect. Either way, I would just let the story take care of it. Maybe someone knows how to grind it up and treat it so it’s more potent (so you can dump a couple of barrels rather than a dozen or a hundred or whatever). You also need to consider several factors when dealing with poison: quantity of exposure, time exposed, size and health of the person exposed. What could sicken a healthy athletic adult male (soldier) could potentially kill a mal nourished slave child. How big is their water supply? A well that collects rain runoff would require significantly less than a well connected to an underground lake.
I believe in your Kirrha example, the account said the Greeks found a pipe that brought water into the city and used that to poison the water. If you had a similar setup with your stronghold you could poison the pipe and then cut/block the water which would ensure that the poison would go into the stronghold and sit in the remaining water supply. This would probably require less poison overall.
*Edit: Forgot this was the players forum not the DMs forum. I second the above poster, you should pitch your plan to the DM and let them handle the logistics. However, if you are a "good" aligned party this type of action may be questionable.