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Dearest Falutrav,

It has been some time since our last correspondence, my friend. I hope all is well and that business is good for you. With the unseasonable weather we have been having here I am afraid to say that my supply has been outstripped by demand. It is getting harder and harder to find herbs of good quality much less in the quantities I require for my work. In any event, that is not really the reason for this letter. I do have need of some supply from you but not in the normal manner. I also thought you would be intrigued by the following and I do hope that you might be able to enlighten me on something most confounding.

About a week ago I received into my shop the most peculiar patron. Clad in a nasty blue cloak he entered, not bothering to remove the hood so I could get a good look at him. I immediately took him for a traveler of some kind, up to some sort of shady business, and quite expected he would attempt to purchase a poison or two and be gone from my establishment as quickly as he had come. He, however, did not ask for anything at all. Instead he just stood at my counter and waited. I asked him if I could help him find something. Mumbling something I could not make out, he took a wrinkled bit of paper and slid it over the counter. It was a list of ingredients and I immediately knew from what was listed that this was no common fool. He is certainly up to something too, but for the life of me I cannot figure out what. Now, you know me and my expertise better than most. I can usually divine from a customer's list what sort of potion or poison they are trying to concoct. Even from a single list I can often discern three separate brews for entirely unrelated ailments with a high degree of accuracy. But I have tried for a week to determine the intended use of these items and while I have a couple guesses for a few of them, the list as a whole makes no sense. Perhaps the key is the ingredient that I have never heard of, but I digress.

My friend, the items he asked for were quite expensive. Wanting to be rid of him, I told him he would have to pay the entire sum up front and that there was no guarantee I could even find all of the ingredients. To finish it, I also told him he would not be able to expect me to collect his order in less than a month's time. I thought that this would certainly dissuade him from attempting to transact in my establishment. But wouldn't you know it, without a single word he pulled the exact amount in gold coin from his knapsack and placed it on the counter in front of me! I was dumbfounded and knew I had certainly no idea what kind of man I was dealing with. He simply paid and turned and walked out. I fully expect that he'll return in a month's time to collect and a man of this sort of means is not one to be trifled with. (The gold he produced could feed a family for the entirety of the winter season.)

This is now where I must ask a favor of you. I had told this mystery customer I needed a month, but in truth, I had all of the supplies he requested except four. (As you well know, I am one of the better stocked alchemists in the reach.) Further, these four ingredients I knew I could not acquire locally. This being the case, I quoted a month so that this letter might reach you and your quick and highly valued reply would have time to make it back to me. I am sending this by the swiftest carrier I could afford. It is my hope that you will be able to supply me with the four ingredients I do not have, one of which I have never even heard of before. As learned as I am, I know that you have far greater knowledge into the arcane and archaic ingredients lost to the ravages of time. If anyone can tell me what this unknown ingredient is, much less acquire it for me, I know it would be you. I also thought you might be able to discern the eventual fate of these supplies and succeed at this curious puzzle where I could not.

Below is the list of supplies. I have marked the ingredients that I do not have and I am sending ample payment that should more than cover the cost as well as your troubles. If you find that you cannot come up with some of them, feel free to send me the equivalent in cavelwort fronds, as these are increasingly difficult to keep in stock these past few seasons.

The List:

3 bundles sableleaf

1 pouch favel gum powder

3 crystal vials

5 bundles redgrass

1 whole cervac root

1 pouch each of olivine, garnet, & beryl-tektite stones

1 vial fellwood sap

12 rockbird eyes

5 dried blacktail lizards

5 spiderlok roots *

20 reddew stalks *

5 vials catliph spider venom

7 murkwood pods *

20 eyeblight mushrooms

1 vial glowdust

15 mayrot mushrooms

5 Celiflora meloflondrakin - whole plant * ?

I know that having read this list you are probably as disturbed as I when I first saw it. Some of these ingredients, especially in the quantities requested, can be used to cause great deal of grief. It just so happens that I have an entire cervac root on hand. It is requested so rarely that the one plus a half roots I had obtained a while back are still sitting on my shelves, mostly unused. My first impulse was to inform the town guard that a strange man was attempting to acquire an entire cervac root. However, as you well know, our patronage is often maintained due to the promise of discretion. However, should an entire village (or several villages for that matter) be killed by his hand, it would likely mean my head on a spit! Such is the risk of our profession. I would deny him this quantity, but... I am as hesitant to cross this stranger as I am to jeopardize my livelihood. Perhaps you could council me further in this matter.

Spiderlok and reddew are impossible to find in these parts. My supplier of exotic substances, as well as his bodyguard, has not been seen for some time. It is feared that bandits may have accosted him for his wares somewhere along the road. As for the Murkwood pods, I am sure you have more than a few you could part with, living so close to the only grove in thousands of miles. With regard to the Celiflora meloflondrakin plant; I have never heard of any herb, shrub, or tree by that name. Indeed, I wouldn't even know it was a plant if the customer hadn't specified that he wanted the whole of the organism. Surely you can find some mention of it in that vast library of yours.

I look forward to your speedy reply and hope that all is well. Perhaps I will be able to travel someday soon and we can once again share stories of years past and compare new discoveries as we used to. And as always, you are ever welcome to brighten my door.

Till then, my esteemed colleague.

~Duvelen