Alchemical Lantern (aka 'Sunrod')

The hapless 'Sunrod,' or Lightstick, or Alchemical Lantern, an item that I only make when I have a specific order for them, since arcane science has long since rendered them obsolete, thanks to the ubiquitous 'Illusory Flame' spell.

To create a Sunrod, a gallon of water that has been evaporated by the action of sunlight in a silver pan, condensed in a clear glass container and allowed to reconstitute is mixed with daisies (White-petaled daisies with golden cores only. The 'Black Eyed Sevens' with yellow flowers and brown cores are not efficacious!), and the tail ends of fireflies, preserved in the clear birthing fluids of a creature with night-glowing eyes (such as a cat).

These ingredients produce the liquid necessary to create a Sunrod with a warm golden glow. Instead of the firefly organs, using certain dark-dwelling fungus can produce Sunrods with an eerie greenish glow. From the land of Nex come Sunrods with a ruddy crimson glow, but the ingredient used has never been determined (some say powdered rubies are an ingredient, others say dragons blood, among other obvious nonsense). From unknown purveyors, but freely available in the markets of Katapesh, Sunrods in both blue and violet have been seen, and rumors abound that they are crafted by subterranean Derro, from strange glowing crystals and fungi, or deep-sea Sahuagin, from phosphorescent fish and corals unknown to land-dwellers. Any alchemist managing to replicate a color other than various shades of yellow and green would no doubt make a name for himself, at least among the fairly small community of alchemists who would have any idea how rare and special such a discovery would be...

Ultimately, thanks to the existence of the Continual Flame spell, few really care about the existence of Sunrods, save as disposable light sources to be dropped into wells to check their depth, although I was once commisioned to craft a hundred of them for a noble party in which they were placed into goblets of wine, to provide the sole light source for the evening's decadence.

Probably the most interesting Sunrod-related development of the last century has been the creation of the 'Sunrod Golem,' a tiny homonculous like creature made of flexible leather-tough tubes of animal intestine, filled with glowing Sunrod solution. The tiny servitor is hardly stronger than a housecat, and about as loyal as a well-trained dog, glowing like a walking torch for it's master's convenience, and, in a pinch, being able to squirt it's fluids out in a stream that affects a single target within a few paces similar to the naturalist spell known as 'Faerie's Fire,' marking that target with a pale light that makes them easy to pick out (and target with other effects). Any slashing or piercing damage to such a creature (which is surprisingly resilient, for it's size) also tends to 'paint' it's attacker with these fluids. Any attempt to make significant use of them in a combat situation is likely only to result in the destruction of a valuable bit of craftsmanship, but the creatures can be repaired, by being 'fed' Sunrods and stitched back together with craft skills (or magical mending cantrips).