Thirsty Sand

This sand looks like gritty volcanic ash.

When sprinkled on a body of water (or a solution in water), thirsty sand soaks up the liquid and stores it. Each grain can absorb up to 1 gallon of water, thereafter covering a 1-foot cube and weighing about 24 pounds. When a command word is spoken, the water is released again and the sand becomes nonmagical.

An area of water-laden thirsty sand is a mud bog. It costs 2 squares of movement to enter a square containing the mud, and the DC of Tumble checks in that area increases by 2. If the water is not released from the sand within 4 hours, it cannot be released and the material dries into normal, sandy soil over a period of days.

Releasing the water can be hazardous, depending on the volume absorbed. It rapidly fills a depression or pit and might be deep enough to present a drowning hazard, depending on the dimensions of the volume filled. Releasing 10,000 gallons or more at once produces a flashflood effect that lasts for 1 round per 10,000 gallons.

Thirsty sand is usually packaged in a vial containing 1,000 grains.

Prerequisites: Craft Wondrous Item, control water, transmute rock to mud.

Cost to Create: 1,500 gp, 120 XP, 3 days.

Source: Sandstorm, page 135.