The Means of Dreaming

The Means of Dreaming

by Anonymous

Of all the keys to the spirit's doors, none are so renowned nor so perilous as the devil's cup, moonsmist, the dreaming drop -- skooma, terrible and beloved. For the dream-breather its song is nigh irresistible. Who has ridden the dream-dragon and can claim they have had a better? Who can awake from the dream, and not feel heart-sick of the grey, the cold, the disharmony? This is skooma's peril: her joys are such that no other joy can hope to touch it.

The Khajiit of Elsweyr are well-acquainted with this peril. They eat the moon-sugar which is the moonsmist's antecedent in a culinary method, and, tasting but a fraction of its fullness, have shied away from its refinement. Perhaps they are wiser for their moderation. Nowhere, even in the dreaming drop's ancestral home, is skooma widely produced but by those poor blessed few whose means cannot stretch to cover their ambitions. This is not for lack of industriousness -- indeed of all the concoctions of alchemists, skooma is remarkable for its ease of production.

Heat is essential. Not that of the kiln or the glass-blower's furnace, but a fine, slow heat, as to avoid the sugar burning itself apart. The instruments must be clean and of the clearest glass. The drop should not be drawn forth from the separation before it is a milk-white caramel. Ingesting this liquid directly, even in the smallest proportions, leads to immediate ejection. Injected or otherwise forced into the body, it leads to death. An ingestible solvent such as alcohol, reptilian crop, or other liquids containing little water can be bound to the sugar-milk: this is when it becomes skooma.

Unadulterated skooma is most potent, but perfection can be disturbing to the unprepared mind. In the northern climes, dread nightshade is alchemically reduced and bound to the concoction. In southern swamps, dragon's tongue is a preferred binding. In some parts, the skooma is watered after binding and drunk, though the ingester must also chew an anti-emetic in order to keep the drink in his stomach. Skooma bindings are as diverse as the races of Tamriel.

Just as it is easy to provoke a bear, and perilous to do so, so must the prospective dreamer treat skooma with care. While its cost to the venturer's pocket may be endured, or the toil of its production forgotten with rest and drink, the toll it extracts from the dreamer's mind and soul can only be accounted for after it is paid. The wise wanderer will know his resources before he takes the road.