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I have a small character in the book I'm writing who is a member of the Fae. We're talking old school folklore, Horned King, Oberon, changeling level Fae and not Peter Pan teeny tiny wings type.

One of my main characters has been massively slighted by her and is going to put something in her drink to make her sick in front of lots of people. Not kill, just embarrass.

Any ideas as to what I could use?

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An iron tablet.

Fae don't like the touch of cold, manufactured iron. What is more cold and manufactured than iron that comes in a pill, to help people with iron deficiencies and heavy periods?

They could find out from books the dosage needed to make the fae feel raw and burnt inside, and not kill them.

St John's Wort.

Known to have protective properties against the fae, it's commonly used in herbal medicines and drinks, and so would make a great poison to add a bit of punch to the drink.

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    $\begingroup$ Iron tablet to supplement deficiencies is not metallic iron, though. This would also make the faeries allergic to dyed clothing, leather, ink and some woodworking, since those are all medieval applications of ferrous sulfate. A better alternative would be ground metallic iron in a drink or something $\endgroup$
    – Juliana Karasawa Souza
    Aug 5, 2021 at 11:08
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    $\begingroup$ Maybe they are allergic to those things. I don't know what's up in their story. $\endgroup$
    – Nepene Nep
    Aug 5, 2021 at 11:38
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    $\begingroup$ @Juliana: Fairies can reportedly be kept at bay by tying a red ribbon on a baby's crib. . . So maybe the dyed clothing is not so farfetched as you think, most red dyes being iron-based. I never heard about an ink aversion, though it wouldn't surprise me. $\endgroup$
    – Ralf B
    Aug 5, 2021 at 16:46
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    $\begingroup$ @RalfB No. Red color is actually very rarely an indicator for iron. Carmine? Aluminium core. Minium? Lead. Alizarin? Just a hydrocarbon. madder plant root? That's Alizarin! Red Hair? Pheomelanin, no iron there either. Only Iron-II-oxide is red, Iron-III, like in medicine is more often black. $\endgroup$
    – Trish
    Aug 5, 2021 at 19:54
  • $\begingroup$ @RalfB Clothes dyed with iron are not red, they're blue or green, and leather is blackened with iron $\endgroup$
    – Juliana Karasawa Souza
    Aug 6, 2021 at 6:33
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Get another Fae to make them sick.

From what I remember of the Fae from Changelings, you're not about to make one sick with a mere human trick. Arcadia is far too capricious for that.

However, another Fae may know a weakness to exploit. It may come in the form of an adulterant to a drink. This particular adulterant would be extremely specific to the individual Fae being targeted.

That being said, there will most certainly be a price to pay. Whether your character understands the price before it's too late is entierly up to you.

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Holy water can have an effect in some stories. Salt is also supposed to dispel fae magic

Either of these could be used to poison a few. Perhaps in the case of salt it could be made to look like an accident.

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