http://ac.warcry.com/scripts/news/view_news.phtml?site=5&id=73027

I guess that is the new alchemy functionality, but it really doesn't tell us that much.

The ingredient list given is the "reed shark nip," the spell seems to be Imperil. There is no real information on whether it uses the thrown weapon skill, though that could in fact be the case, as apparently Aliester feared he might miss. Aliester the Loquacious does strike me as a bit of a rogue, so he may have thrown weapons trained which is could account for him hitting Ardry despite Ardry's attempt to escape.

It would have been nice to know how long the functionality lasted, but the story ended a bit too soon.