During a quiet period in her Mystara-trotting entertainment career - she'd been banned from everywhere in the Known World except the Five Shires, who desperately wanted her to visit so they could give her a free tryout of their new maximum-security dungeons - Enigma lay low under an assumed name ("Mystery Smith"), and studied the art of magical botany in Wendar under the Floral Mage, Daphne.

Seeking a method of creating quick-growing plants which throve in any soil (for fast, cheap turnover and maximum profit), she accidentally created the Dung Rose, a bush with gorgeous indigo petals which, when planted in manure, grows from seed to bloom in three days and has the sweetest smell imaginable - or so it seems.

Due to her magical tinkering, the Dung Rose grows only in dung - and smells strongly of it. Enigma established an empathic enchantment on the Rose-seeds, so that they apparently emit a scent commensurate with the feelings of the last person to touch them, figuring that, as love-tokens, they would always smell sweet. Unfortunately, she neglected to realise that the course of True Love never runs smooth; to give one example, if one's lover is believed to be less than faithful, the Rose begins to emit the scent of wild oats...

The most unfortunate problem, however, arises when the Roses are cut from the bush; after two days, the enchantment fades, and the Rose - indeed, probably the entire house (castle, palace...) - will reek of "Eau de Toilet"...for weeks!

This material copyright 1999 Carl Quaif, based on material copyright TSR, Inc. All rights reserved. Webmastered by Jennifer Favia Guerra.