Rooroot Beer
The Rooroot… A plant among the most searched for – Not only is it sacred but it possesses a thousand and one medical and magical properties, which we would not be able to list here all, not the least since most of them are unknown… – The Rooroot essentially grows in mildly warm and humid swamp areas of the inland highlands of Kalimantan and, to a lesser extent, in the whole region as far as Eastern Guinea, on the tabulary peninsula of the Bird's Head. It is even, in Kalimantan and on Djavavava, more or less intensively cultivated in terraced flooded fields on the middle slopes of the mountains but the specimens with the best properties belong exclusively to wild kinds of the plant.
The Rooroot, as its name does not point at, is not only but indeed a complete plant, of which however mainly the underground part is used. It has roughly the look of a beetroot… but actually blue from the tip of the leaves to the extremities of the rootlets! The bloom is, for its part, of an intensive blue which entices all insects and birds of the surroundings… but also Man, who collects it.
That blue is the sign of the « Lwa Factor », as the people call it, which transmits its magical properties to the Rooroot and makes any additional Voodoo treatments superfluous for the preparation of magical products based on it. Some Bokor implement whatsoever complementary Voodoo Rituals to add other active properties to the products made out of that naturally magical plant.
Rooroot Beer
Rooroot is toxic when fresh (and then not only for Ghosts and other Were-Points…) but it can be put to ferment. That process transforms or modifies the toxic substances and produce new ones with various good properties. From Rooroot Malt one can, of course, make a beer, very bitter, the famous Rooroot Beer of blueish colour…
And since the Rooroot Malt can be dried, ground and stored in casks for navigation at the deep sea before being mixed in water to make the Rooroot Beer wherever one wants, it goes without saying that that product rapidly conquer almost the whole Known World, including such places as Nip'On or the Island of the World's End, where is moreover prepared, in the greatest secrecy, an even more vertuous beverage than the Rooroot Beer: the (almost) legendary and jealously kept Whitchkiss…
So Rooroot Beer is almost everywhere produced in an artisanal fashion, which is the best way but then the amounts are rather small and prices high. One can find greater quantities for a more reasonable price but at a lower quality level in supermarkets or in small local shops (everything the same but more expensive) or even in automatic vending machines (noteworthy enough even on the most remote Curry-Bean rocks), produced and bottled or canned by big global brands: Kro-k-Odile of Mattink Island, Inboots'Wizard of Guinea or Hain Akin of Kalimantan; or regional ones (such as Sanetori of Nip’On, Chili-Rooroot of Hattea or Fatal-Z of Tortuga…). Last - but not least - it is to be found as a draft beer in all respectable pubs.
Let us come now to the main properties of the Roorote Beer: it is first of all light for the digestion, not so extremely making drunk and can help to lose weight with a regular consumption… Only that is already impressive!
But above all: it dissolves Ghosts – in a very litteral way! – and inflict heavy Damages to all creatures (more or less) impregnated of Voodoo Sorcery or, in other words, of Lwa Factor: Were-Points, Zoo’p, Zombie, etc.
That said, beware! Indeed Rooroot Beer can also heavily damage Talismans, Puppets and the other Strange Voodoo Things, to the point of dissolving the Charm which was loaded into them by Voodoo Ritual… So again, be careful!
Of (flawless) Ghost dissolution…
It goes without saying that no Ghost would sustain a Rooroot Beer bath even for a second but in practice, that is not the best method to clear a Ghost off because (1) one would need ruinous quantities of the powerful liquid, (2) one would need to be able to force the ectoplasmic victim in the fatal bath…
The idea of mixing Rooroot Malt in a meal seems a seducing one at start but Ghosts easily detect the scent of Rooroot and then don't even taste the poisoned food. Moreover, food goes essentially through the Ghost just like that without interacting with its almost immaterial substance and it would thus require the Ghost to eat a lot of it before he starts dying of it!
Well, many other ideas were tried from the bucket's method du seau to that of the soaked cloth, not mentioning many an other one, until a concrete and serious solution was found: the spray! Take a simple sprayer, such as one for a glass-cleaning product for an inexpensive work or a firefighter water gun (with a big tank) for a massive Ghost slaughter, and it's in the pocket: Ghosts are dissipated, sweet dreams!
With that type of systems, it is enough to manage inflicted Damage to Ghosts like any other inflicted Damage in a « normal » Encounter. The same principles apply to other Voodoo Hot Spots but greater quantities or a greater concentration are necessary (or some Whitchkiss or even Rooroot Grog…) to get the same result; Rooroot Beer is actually above all active on Ghosts… (Shifting down the Damage Level by one Level will be proper for Were-Points and Zombie, by even two Levels for Zoo’p; Whitchkiss and Rooroot Grog would increase Damage Level by one compared to Rooroot Beer.)
Last but worth noting: Ghosts are indeed only dispersed by Rooroot Beer. They are not killed since they are already dead! Besides, Beer doesn't release them from the reasons which made them what they are: it means that they will come back to haunt the place, sooner or later. However, an very big amount of Rooroot Beer would dissolve them so well that it may sometimes take up to several years for them to recover!