Being a list of material spell components: flasks, boxes, beads, vials, tubes, and bags containing a bevy of knick knacks of interest only to those with arcane potential.
To get a random result, either use the standard d100 to get an even chance of any result or roll 11d10 (getting between 11 and 110) and take 10 from the result. On average this will move the result to the middle of the table where components for Level 4 spells, then Level 5, then Level 6 and finally Level 7 are situated. This second method makes it more likely that fourth-to-fifth-level components are found when a mage is searched.
1. A mixture of powdered opal and diamond worth about 1,000 gp contained in a wax-sealed rat skull.
2. Hairs from seven or eight different creatures have been inserted into a thin, flat bock of wax with just their ends protruding from it so they can be removed without difficulty.
3. Nail clippings from seven or eight different creatures have been lightly glued between a strip of camphor wood and a piece of glass.
4. A large walnut shell that has been glued back together is the repository of a sparkling dust comprising diamond, emerald, ruby and sapphire. Its value is at least 5,000 gp.
5. Enough iron filings to form ten pinches are kept in a tiny copper coffer.
6. A five-inch-cubed teak box comprises four draws that each holds four forked metal rods. Each rod is a different metal and is scribed with a unique sigil. Seven of them give a bright, clear individual note when struck; nine of them just a dull, flat metallic clank.
7. A small, flat rectangle of polished marble sits in a waistcoat pocket. It is worth a few gold pieces. If it wasn’t so small, it could be a floor or wall tile.
8. A small box made of palm wood holds a dozen tiny balls of bat guano, each firm enough to maintain its shape when moving yet soft enough to burst apart if squeezed gently.
9. A scabbard of extremely soft but unrecognizable leather houses an exquisite model of a sword that is barely an inch-and-a-half long. Examination reveals the blade is made of platinum, with a grip and pommel of copper and zinc. The high-quality work makes it worth about 250 gp.
10. A fist-sized bag made from remorhaz skin has several small chunks of quartz in it. The bag is “inside out” so its interior is cool, as are the pieces of quartz.
11. A magnifying glass, with a lens about the size of the base of a tankard and a handle of heat-resistant mica is wrapped in wool and stored in a balsa box.
12. A hemp bag has a score or so bits of fleece in it. The fleece comes from a variety of animals such as alpaca, sheep, yak and llama.
13. Four bags of soil-associated material are found in a badger fur sack. One bag contains clay, the second loam, and the third sand. The fourth appears to have a mixture of the three other materials but is currently almost empty.
14. A small apple wood box has three forked tongues pinned to its base. Inspection reveals they come from snakes.
15. A bottle made of opal holds enough oil to produce a dozen drops. If tasted, the oil is sweet, although more than two drops leave the person with a nasty taste in their mouth.
16. A flawless sapphire worth about 1,000 gp is fitted snugly into a yew box. Someone with a very fine-tuned sense of touch, or a very experienced jeweler, may just discover there is a word engraved on the gem, although it is invisible and written in an unfamiliar language.
17. At first, this glass bottle clearly holds thick, brownish blood. But if the blood moves at all, anyone looking at it feels mildly confused until it becomes still. Analysis reveals it to be umber hulk blood.
18. A small silver rod worth about 10 gp is tucked in a front pocket. The rod is about the volume of four toothpicks held together as a group.
19. A 13-inch length of sisal string has seven knots on it, each one two inches apart. The knots are just under a third of an inch thick.
20. A sealskin pouch holds an opaque crystal sphere that is cool to the touch. The sphere appears to be coated on the inside with flecks of ice that never disappear.
21. An irregularly-shaped eucalyptus box has enough powdered lime in it to take a half-a-dozen or so pinches from it. The lime has an unpleasant musty smell to it, as if it is from a crypt or catacomb.
22. A hinged length of hardened cactus opens to reveal four black onyxes. Each one looks to be worth about 150 gp. A closer inspection reveals a small skull is scratched on them all.
23. An ivory statue that is a perfect replica of an elf caster is secured in a sandalwood caddy. The carving is exquisite and, combined with the decorative gems studded in it, the piece is worth at least 1,500 gp.
24. A small coir bag has a few pieces of fur in it, perhaps from a particularly fine-haired cat, goat or rabbit. Whatever the source, if the fur is rubbed between two fingers, static electricity can be felt.
25. A cube of glass that seems perfect initially, but a much closer inspection reveals it to have six zigzagging lines that go from its center to the middle of each face. The glass is wrapped in palm leaves.
26. A chunk of amber that has been cut roughly so it has twelve faces, each of which has a stylized “z” carved on it. It is covered by a square of soft blue cloth inside a small tin box.
27. Several tiny pieces of an unidentifiable clear gemstone are held in the bowl of a tool design to crush jewels and capture the resulting dust and shards. If the equipment is opened carelessly, the pieces fall slowly to the ground.
28. A medium-sized box designed to hold art materials has two-dozen different-colored sticks of rare chalk in it. Each of the chalks has tiny slivers of assorted gems in it, making a single stick worth about 50 gp.
29. A square, tungsten tin has nine equally-sized internal sections. Seven are empty while one has a beryl and another a red garnet in them. Each gem is worth at least 1,000 gp.
30. A tiny jute pouch with an image of a doorframe on is holds a few pinches of fresh sesame seeds.
31. A sycamore box, about three inches square and five inches long, holds a block of incense worth something like 250 gp in it. Anyone knowledgeable suggests the block will burn for about ten minutes.
32. A nine-inch-long tube made out of balsa contains half-a-dozen tail feathers from an assortment of birds including an albatross, a hawk, a magpie, a barn owl, a blue parrot and a myna bird. The tips are cut as quills.
33. An olive wood case, about six inches by eight and an inch deep, has thirty two slots in it. Each one holds a tiny rose quartz vial. Most vials are empty, but a few hold enough ink to make a single dab with an index finger.
34. A hippo hide bag holds a rock crystal flask containing water with sand in the bottom. The flask has the Aquan symbol equivalent to the letter “W” engraved on it.
35. A tortoiseshell sphere-shaped box with a brass hinge opens to reveal one half of it holds sulfur and the other phosphorus. The hinge has the Ignan symbol equivalent to a letter “F” on scribed on it.
36. A spruce box, a little over one-inch square and two inches long, is lined with Arctic fox fur and holds a perfect crystal cone that is an inch in diameter at its base and an inch-and-a-half tall. Everything is chilled when held.
37. Within a hand-sized iron box heavily padded with soft chiengora wool rests, rather surprisingly, the complete shells of two drained duck eggs.
38. A palm-sized electrum box, robust in design and looks, hold three small rectangular pieces of phosphorus. Each piece has been decorated to look like a brick wall with a flame at its center.
39. A tiny hinged cube of obsidian carries a small amount of diamond dust worth 100 gp or so.
40. A left-hand pocket houses a small rabbitskin pouch that holds a perfectly formed hemispherical piece of clear crystal.
41. An ordinary-looking kapok sack, knotted shut, contains two thin sheets of lead. The lead is flexible, and both sheets have two small holes along one edge.
42. A small sheepskin bag holds several wads of cotton. They are all different sizes and colors, seemingly so for easy identification.
43. A small pear wood case holds a deep yellowish-green dust. Inspection suggests it is a powdered gem, possibly peridot, chrysolite or a variant of topaz. Because it is hard to say what gem it is from, it’s difficult to value it.
44. A hand-sized sweet chestnut box is divided into twenty sections of different shapes. Fourteen sections are empty, while six each have a caterpillar cocoon in them. The cocoons are all different species and sizes.
45. A moist sack of woven rush holds a selection of bits of green plants from a variety of terrains. All of them are in reasonable condition considering they are no longer in the ground.
46. A rough-and-ready goatskin satchel has eight pieces of stone in it. All the stones are lightly weathered and still roughly formed. They all come from distinct regions, and someone suitably knowledgeable will recognize damage from icy conditions versus heat and abrasive dust versus flowing water, as examples.
47. A miniature terrarium cube, some three inches per side, with a frame of hardened willow and panes made from thin sheets of red garnet glass toughened like steel, holds sufficient vegetation to keep the three fireflies inside it fed for at least a month. The beetles flash softly unless their home is covered.
48. A piece of bone with a few scraps of meat still attached to it is found wrapped in sealskin inside a squirrelskin holdall.
49. A small deerskin bag holds the shells of three varieties of nuts. If the bag is shaken, the shells separate and join to a half-shell of another type. After a minute, they split again and each eventually reattaches to its true partner. A shell trio might include one each of: almond, Brazil and walnut; peanut, pecan and pistachio; hazelnut, macadamia and pine nut.
50. A mid-sized brass box that has the aroma of seaweed and sand is found to contain the tips of three tentacles from a giant octopus stored in congealed ink. They are held by suction to the base of the box.
51. A container formed of woven eagle feathers holds two large clumps of bat fur. One clump has clearly had several bits removed from it in a random fashion.
52. An unpleasant catskin bag holds sixteen items, at least two of which are guaranteed to be distasteful to any adherent of eight of the nine general belief systems or spiritual persuasions. The previous owner must have been a follower of the missing alignment.
53. A mid-sized copper tin that has the aroma of deep, cold ocean depths is found to contain the tips of three tentacles from a giant squid held in gelid ink that doesn’t melt. They are held by suction to the base of the tin.
54. An oddly-shaped glass tube sits inside a length of protective rubber hose. The tube comprises ten teardrops, six of which appear to contain a single drop of water. A teardrop can be taken from one end of the tube, emptied by, and then replaced at the other end as each has an indentation in its base that accepts another’s tip.
55. A tiny flat, circular porcelain compact holds two threads. One is leather, the other cord. If either is inspected through something that greatly enhances vision, both threads are elaborately decorated with canine motifs.
56. Inside a small dogrose wood box rests a tiny whistle made of pure silver. If anyone blows the whistle, it doesn’t seem to make a sound.
57. A one-inch-diameter, one-inch-tall bronze cylinder, rather battered in appearance, hold five small circular pieces of phosphorus. Each disc has been finished to look like a heavy shield with a flame in its middle.
58. A thin, flat box made of horn holds four reasonably long, straight twigs. The twigs have been taken off trees from distinct regions that include marshland, jungle, frozen tundra, and desert.
59. A vial made from a single aquamarine has six small balls along its length, each of which contains a few drops of icy water. The vial is sealed between each ball so one can be snapped off as required.
60. A folded sheet of thick vellum has four pieces of opaque glass inside it. While each of the pieces is a different size, all of them have the sense of being shaped like a window.
61. A small horsehair bag holds several wads of assorted cloth. They are all different types, “feel” and color, seemingly so for easy identification. The only certainty is that none of the wads are cotton.
62. A right-hand pocket houses a small acacia wood box that holds a perfectly formed hemisphere of translucent, hardened gum arabic.
63. A small, locked laurel wood coffer rattles slightly if shaken. It proves very difficult to unlock, but inside is a tiny chest. Although the materials of this chest are worth about 50 gp, the quality of the work is extremely good.
64. A fairly large earthenware pot with a kangarooskin cover and handle holds six good-sized balls of soft clay. Some of them have the Terran symbol equivalent to the letter “E” on them.
65. The inside of what looks like a small silver snuff box is intriguing. It holds twenty four pinches of dust, eight of which are held in by a grid of cold platinum and eight within rotting and crumbling bone, while the final eight are contained in coral.
66. A box made of clamshell that proves difficult to prise open contains four left-hand gloves made of snakeskin. Each is a different breed: a python, a mamba, a boa constrictor, and a rattlesnake complete with rattle attached to the back of the glove.
67. A pine box, a little over one-inch square and two inches long, is lined with softened sealskin and holds a perfect glass cone that is an inch-and-a-half in diameter at its base and an inch tall. Everything is frosty when held.
68. A gauze cloth tied with a hair-fine thread holds a tall, thin, honeycombed cone of incense that looks like it will burn for at least a minute. The cone has the Auran symbol equivalent to the letter “A” stamped carefully into it.
69. An ironwood sphere, the top third of which is removable, has the words “Temp Glamer Disc” carved precisely into it. There are seven sections inside; six hold a different material including: crystal scraps; gem slivers; metal shavings; mithral fragments; plant samples; and stone pieces. One section is empty except for a little fine dust.
70. A two-foot-long bamboo tube holds five ostrich hide bags than all contain a handful of sand. Each sample is a slightly different color.
71. A slim box of sequoia holds half-a-dozen small straight iron nails. Strangely, the nails don’t have sharp points of well-defined heads.
72. A small walrus hide sack contains a selection of five ivory strips. All are half-an-inch thick, but their lengths and widths are different. However, if checked, they all weigh about the same, and each one is worth at least 50 gp.
73. A card box with a sturdy lid and six distinct sections in its lower half hold pieces of eggshell from half-a-dozen different creatures. Study shows two avian types, two reptilian types and two mammalian types.
74. A calligrapher’s traveling case for materials contains a dozen crystal bottles of different-colored rare inks. Each of the bottles of ink has tiny slivers of assorted gems in it, making the contents worth about 50 gp per bottle.
75. A lockable steel box houses a small block of granite that fits in the palm of a humanoid hand.
76. A cool, flat box formed from linked pieces of topaz has a piece of flesh inside it. The flesh has three silver pins push into it. If checked, the flesh is from a behir and unnaturally fresh.
77. A long, thin cedar box holds a six-inch-long crystal rod. The rod has a blue dragon scrimshawed around it.
78. A two-inch-cubed box of blackened hemlock wood has an even blacker powder in it. Analysis proves the powder to be a crushed black pearl; it is worth about 500 gp.
79. A chipped red clay pot, with a hide handle and bone lid, holds a trio of batter pewter flasks, each of which has about a mouthful of brackish water in it.
80. A brown clay pot stamped with a variety of funeral symbols and sigils holds about two pounds of dirt. If inspected, the dirt seems to have been taken from a freshly-dug grave.
81. A rabbitskin bag with four sections. Three of the sections have a couple of handfuls of freshly dug earth in them. All the samples of earth are free of living creatures but does have a few slivers of rock buried in them.
82. Half-a-dozen glass flasks with turquoise stoppers, each of which contains two fluid ounces of fresh water, sit in a bandolier made of stingray hide.
83. A pocket-sized velvet bag licks loudly when moved. Inside are three glass and two crystal beads. They are very tough, resisting any and all attempts to break or shatter them.
84. A modest nickel box with a sealable lid contains a small measure of thick oil. If the oil is removed, traces of brimstone are found in the box.
85. A small sphere of coal carbon twists apart to reveal a measure of brimstone. It retains a hint of heat and sulfurous smell and has a sheen of oil about it. The brimstone also has a portcullis imprinted on it.
86. An ash box that looks like it has three flat discs of incense in it. If removed, each one proves to be a cone as tall as the diameter is wide and made to burn for about ten minutes. They all have a shield motif carved into them.
87. This ornamental orb may be crystal or a more expensive clear gem. Whichever, it is worth about 500 gp. It is hollow, and could be used to contain something, but getting anything into it would be difficult as it is flawless.
88. Inside a hinged clamshell is a four-inch square, one-inch-deep piece of honeycomb. Its apparent freshness suggests it was taken from a hive just a few minutes ago, which can’t be the case.
89. A strangely-shaped shovel with an iron digging blade much wider than would be expected and a short-but-stout hickory handle is found in an old hessian backpack. Also in the pack is about a bladeful of rich, dark earth.
90. A small casket made of bronze and holly holds five paper packets of jade dust. Each one is worth about 25 gp.
91. A padded box made of thick card holds a squat green glass jar that is a little over two-thirds full of a cream that has the aroma of pungent mushrooms, metallic honey and warm hay. It is quite fatty and a rich yellow in color.
92. A hand-sized-and-shaped box of camphor wood has five small models of a mage in it. They look identical, but are made of different materials, two of which come from hundreds of miles away. Even then, each model is worth only a handful of gold pieces.
93. A thumb-sized pewter tin contains a dozen tiny balls of sulfur, each firm enough to maintain its shape when moving yet soft enough to burst apart if squeezed gently.
94. A cube of ivory cleverly unfolds to become a model of an archway or door frame. Despite its intricacy, it is made rather roughly and is worth just a few gold pieces.
95. A spoon from a tea or coffee set is held in a rough cotton bag. Cleaning it reveals it is made of silver and worth about 5 gp.
96. An oval, palm-sized, grey stone rests in a purple silk bag. If anything metallic comes within a few inches of the stone, one end turns towards the item.
97. Half-a-dozen one-inch cubes of flesh from a variety of creatures are held in a small box made of zinc. The box could hold ten cubes.
98. Powdered ruby worth about 3,000 gp is found in a wooden box in two equal amounts. One half of the box is lined with rose petals; the other has an iron lattice holding its dust.
99. Three sticks of phosphorus bound with the hair of a hanged blackmailer.
100. A small crystal vial with a lead seal holds about four fluid ounces of mercury.
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