Honeysap
3 Duan 679 - Afternoon I lost half of my expedition crew today. We unknowingly wandered close to a honeyed sakatrap, and the whole left wing caught its scent. We reacted too late, they were already entranced when we noticed something was wrong. I am partly to blame, but share this burden with Reg Porter who is in charge of the scouts and the late Mael Stern who led this wing. Her failing cost us greatly, but she cannot be held accountable any more, for she was among the first to succumb. I considered harvesting the honeysap from the deadly plant, but we lack the equipment and protection to partake in such an endeavor, let alone carry some with us. We barely escape with our lives, I am not willing to risk any more into this uncertain venture. Reg sent three men to recover what they can from our fallen members, whatever gear they can salvage. We are currently waiting for them at a safe distance from the danger. If they do not rejoin by the hour, we shall consider them lost too.
Honeysap is one of the most potent hallucinogenic substance existing in the wild, produced by the terrifying honeyed sakatrap. A single sniff of this perfume is enough to plunge even the massive saka into a catatonic state, during which it will be inevitably drawn to the endless mouth of the plant, to be dissolved into its powerful acids. If no container has even been able to contain the melting substance, harvesting honeysap is a perilous but rewarding process, regularly carried out by multiple group throughout the jungle.
The aroma of death
This scent, how can I even describe it to you? It is unlike anything I had ever smelled, incomparable. Not a flower, nothing like honey either. It was both the most tantalizing perfume, sweet and delicate, but at the same time dreadful. I tried not to give in, to resist its call. It was no use, I felt my eyes close and my mind shut down, one thought at a time, until you brought me back
The plant secretes its sap on the border of its leaves, letting the wind carry the pervasive scent to nearby preys. It inevitably attracts every species with a sense of smell, save for a few animals that evolved to protect themselves from this specific fragrance. Once entranced, the victim's mind go blank and will slowly walk into the source of honeysap, usually the acid belly of the honeyed sakatrap.
There is no snapping out of it. Even if the source of the aroma happens to be nothing more than a bowl of honeysap, the victims will converge towards it and drink the viscous fluid, which is often lethal. There have been reports of animals tearing each other open to extract the precious substance in a disquietingly slow display of brutality.
Making the source disappear is not enough to save the victim. If there is no path to follow, they will simply wander off or become lethargic, their mind long gone, until they die of dehydration or famine. Once someone catches the smell, it is already too late in most cases.
Very few people have ever smelled honeysap and lived to tell the tale. Their accounts are often discordant, like it was different each time, even using the same drop of honeysap. However, none of them is able to compare it to any known smell and they all associate a feeling of terror to it.
Harvest
There is only one surefire way to counter the effect of honeysap: it is to avoid smelling it in the first place. Face masks, even makeshift ones, may work but proved to be unreliable. The substance does have a weakness, however. Smoke neutralizes the smell and its hallucinogenic effects, making it safe for people to cross a zone under its influence, or even to harvest the drops into hermetic containers.
The principal issue with that method is that it needs a thick smoke to saturate the air, a difficult task in the heart of a jungle. What was thought to be a protective measure at first has become fertile ground for blooming business once uses were discovered for the honeysap.
Applications
The first use found for honeysap was to make it a weapon. During sieges, it was common to throw rocks coated in honeysap into the city or castle, which would either be vanquished in a few hour or smoke themselves to escape this fate, with hefty casualties ensuing. The spread of this practices led to a rise in warcrimes, especially the capture of innocent hostages that would be kept not for political or monetary value, but simply to be kept alive and prevent the use of city-wide honeysap attacks.
After a century and a half of catastrophes and whole city razed in a day, most leaders joined in a common meeting and signed the Venejerr treaty, a set of rules to explicitly exclude a list of practices recognized as too brutal and susceptible to endanger life itself if they were to be allowed.
The second and current application of honeysap is as a tool to harvest other difficult plants, the main one being Giantborn fungus. Exposing a few drops of honeysap to the vine is enough to make it lose its grasp on the giant bones and fall to the ground, where it can be safely collected. The full process requires precision and is not without risk for the gardener, but is still a better alternative to the traditional method that harmed the plant.
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