A poison that can kill an adult male in a few seconds is generally a product of modern chemistry. Some snakes are supposed to have have venom that toxic, but snake venom dosn't store well (if at all) without things like refrigeration.
Apparently most of the poison recipes that were used by the famous poisoners in 15th (or so) Italy are really not that toxic. There are really deadly plants out there, like wolvesbane (aconite), but they didn't seem to be the ones used. And they take a while to work. Arsenic has been a popular poison for a long while, but isn't exactly fast acting.
I'd say that any really fast acting (like under a minute) posion that has a good chance of killing someone hit by it on a weapon is magical in nature. (or imported a very long way) And it will cost quite a bit.
Unless you want somebody to be refining HCN in a basement somewhere, that is. But if you want to frame someone, anyone with a bag of of carefully sliced up aconite in their pocket would make me pretty danm suspicious. Particularly if, for example, they were meeting someone important for dinner in a dark resturant when caught.
Kevin
Powered by hypermail