Headache cure - rosemary and lavender !

[Andre]

Zane frequently mentions that he's getting a headache,normally when the PC's are arguing with each other - all good RP'ing far as I'm concerned including Zane's headaches but since Zane's mentioned them more than once it occurred to me that we should make the herbal remedy Zane mentioned he'd look for part of the campaign .. or to quote Zane from the August 2nd FG chat log

Draug: "You need admit Princess. It real funny"
Udyr: Yet you are jugde all humans on that act, that i was not present for?
Draug: "If you see Dragon army fall in shit you laugh no?"
Zane begins to hold his head again..
Serinda: "I am not that easily amused.."
Zane (muttering): I really need to find some plants for headaches.

So here's what I came up with - see the first post by "tasmyo" here at :

forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/herbal/msg0715574521167.html?26

I looked up the two I recognized right off the bat, rosemary and lavender - see the "medicinal uses" sections of these web pages at :

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosemary

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavender#Medicinal_use

Rosemary seems to have medical uses for brain-related stuff (lowering free radicals, improving memory) if you believe in herbalism to begin with - which I'm going to assume "works" and is alive and well in the world of Krynn given that people were relying on it when divine magic vanished from the land (though herbalism for the most part is no match for miraculous "cure" spells, " remove disease/poison/blindness/deafness" spells et cet) ... and they mention lavender relaxes you.

Though it's hard for plants to grow up in the icy near-winter mountains where you guys are right now (well you guys are in skullcap right now as of last - Tues Aug 16th - FG game session but skullcap is in the mountains ) , you passed through some warm marsh areas surrounding skullcap

(see whatifdragonlancedm.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=worldinformation&action=post )

Where Zane could have, in fact, grabbed those plants if he likes... alternately if Zane makes a trip to the valley the refugees are temporarily "housed" at for some reason (to visit Laurana maybe? Possibly with Serinda's help via a teleport spell?) he's able to easily grab such plants given his ranks in knowledge-nature.. as a matter of fact Udyr and Draug would be capable of the same .... lavender and rosemary plants can also be found, oddly enough, in the dwarven city of Thorbardin once you guys are able to make your way there and can be picked up as you travel by any one of the above mentioned PC's easily enough ..

So, unless someone has some other suggestions or comments, here's my "official" in-game ruling - if you're in one of the above mentioned areas (or other areas in the future where plants can be found, just ask me if you're uncertain) assume you can grab lavender and rosemary "for free" without making any skill rolls - also assume that steamed over a fire (like the fires you guys are probably lighting each night you make camp - with zane and his flame breath around that makes it kind of easy ) it produces a nice compress that does, in fact, help to relieve headaches ! How much it relieves exactly I'll leave up to Zane as an RP sort of thing ....

Who knows, years into the future perhaps someone (A Rin-Zane team ? Rin can handle marketing ) will start mass-producing them in Krynn and you'll end up with something like this

[deepfrey]

If I am not mistaken willow bark was brewed as a tea to relieve aches and fevers. The chemical salicin helps relieve these symptoms; Essentially the brewed tea would act as modern day aspirin/tylenol.

[deepfrey]

I also think White willow had a higher concentration of salicin within its bark making it more effective.

source "Possibly my biology or chemistry textbook"

[Andre]

Thanks for the post deepfrey .. wikipedia sez:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willow#Medicine

The leaves and bark of the willow tree have been mentioned in ancient texts from Assyria, Sumer and Egypt as a remedy for aches and fever , and the Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates wrote about its medicinal properties in the 5th century BC. Native Americans across the American continent relied on it as a staple of their medical treatments. This is because willows contain salicin, a substance that chemically resembles aspirin. Salicin is metabolized in to salicylic acid in the human body, which is a precursor of aspirin.[10]

In 1763 its medicinal properties were observed by the Reverend Edward Stone in England. He notified the Royal Society who published his findings. The active extract of the bark, called salicin, was isolated to its crystalline form in 1828 by Henri Leroux, a French pharmacist, and Raffaele Piria, an Italian chemist, who then succeeded in separating out the compound in its pure state.

In 1897 Felix Hoffmann created a synthetically altered version of salicin (in his case derived from the Spiraea plant), which caused less digestive upset than pure salicylic acid. The new drug, formally Acetylsalicylic acid, was named Aspirin by Hoffmann's employer Bayer AG. This gave rise to the hugely important class of drugs known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)."


So yep willow bark would in fact work even better - assume it's available at the above places I mentioned where you can find lavender and rosemary ..

Thanks again deepfrey, give yourself 30 RP for that observation

[deepfrey]

duly noted Andre