A Taint Tendril on the ground.
The Taint Tendril is an item dropped by Taintacles and occasionally by the flora of Tainted Lands. Although a good source of Auram, Desiderium and Vitium, it is dangerous to handle, as carrying a Taint Tendril in your inventory will cause it to eventually dissipate, destroying the item and leaving one with Taint Poison for 5 seconds, which will inflict one point of damage approximately every 2 seconds. The more Taint Tendrils that are carried, the faster, in general, it dissipates. This means that it is most practical to use a Magic Mirror or Magical Hand Mirror to send it to a safe place as opposed to keeping it on one's person and having it slowly dissipate and damage the holder. It has no uses in any recipes as of yet. Despite dissipating quickly in one's inventory, it still has 5 minutes before it decays on the ground. They share many properties with another Tainted item, Tainted Goo. They, arguably, are more difficult to obtain than their cousin, however.