Silverbells and their Toll
14th of Glade 121
The air among the deep woods was oppressive. The cheerful early spring bird calls were muted. Even the gentle rustle of animals and the buzz of insects were hushed as the researchers and their guard ranged out from their camp. The group would be leaving soon, but there were a few more places among the deep growth that they hoped for some new specimens. Huong Ming suspected that the older portions of the wood held aetherically dense spots. Where better then there to look for dread mist tainted growth. One of the problems or perhaps the benefits of dread mist taint was that it could affect fully grown organisms, not necessarily just new seedlings.
Hui Ming trailed behind the others. He was... uncomfortable. Living on the road and away from modern convenience did not suit him well. He just felt tired from taking watches and eternally grimy, from his clothes to his skin. He wished he could visit one of the public bathhouses. Hui was sure he stank to high heaven. He gently pushed aside a fern that nearly whipped him in the face when the researcher ahead of him brushed past it. This deep into the forest the large titane-sque branches that held aloft the canopy left much of the understory in perpetual twilight. Even though it was noon, the little light that made its way through to the ground was scattered and diffused. Strange how beech and pine and fir could exude such an aura of discontent to the intruders in their midst. He looked up from his musings, his nerves on edge the longer they stayed in the Wildking's forge, their group had stopped to cluster around a new find. A flickering ochre light drew the eye as Hui Ming made it to the group. Nestled into the crook of a fallen log were several mature caps of an orange and yellow glowing mushroom. Thin fibrous filaments supported clusters of delicate caps attached to a central stalk. A thin mesh seemed to flicker like red and yellow flames that extended from central stalk that emerged from moss covered breaks in the wood, almost like protective dress. One of the six researches, an assistant named Yoshiru if Hui wasn't wrong, was eagerly chattering away and gesturing to the peculiar mushroom.
"I am just sayin!" She went on, "Look at it, it has to be called a candle cap. Look how perfectly round the thing is, almost like an Enoki mushroom." The woman was short, only slightly taller then Hui Ming himself and was nearly bouncing with excitement. Perhaps she was the first to spot it. Huong cut into the conversation with a, "No. We will not be naming anything until we get back to the laboratory." She turned to her personal assistant. "Please get the gill sampling paper. We should at least get the spores if we can't get the mycelium to take in the greenhouse." The young man, Dimn, the annoying but obedient stork of a man swung his pack around and rifled through for the sample container. Hui on the other hand was circling around the log to see if he could find more growths in the wood. Using his belt knife he pried up a scale of the bark and found thin traceries of light but no other forming caps.
Well, they did not need his help. They would fuss over the thing for next few hours. The guard gave Hui a smirk and saluted to him his perch atop another fallen tree. The man was getting annoying. Constantly teasing and flirting with him, he probably traded something with the other guard to take this excursion instead of staying back at the camp and guarding the cook. Hui merely rolled his eyes and moved out of line of sight of the man. If the others wanted to look at the admittedly interesting looking specimen, he would leave them too it. Hui would have to test for its properties later, so he was not in any hurry on that front. Provided it did not require aether to sustain it. Always a concern with dread mist changed flora.
Hui wandered off through the towering wooden monoliths, ferns and vines and shrubbery coating the ground and reaching towards the dim sun above. Often where there was one magical mutant, there was another nearby. Assuming the "candle cap", though he would have used the term candelabra cap personally, was in fact tainted by wild magic and not simply an undiscovered naturally magical plant. His eyes scanned the floor of the forest, the thick carpets of greenery and leaf litter announcing his presence. He could still hear the muffled excitement of his party as he ranged further and further away. He was just about to turn back when a sliver of light shifted down from the canopy and something gleamed among the dense undergrowth. He oriented on the flash as he drew closer.
Very fascinating.
Nestled in the among the dense foliage was cluster of what must have been at one time blue bells. Or something similar. Instead before him were not the tiny and round blue flowers but something that gleamed metallic, not to mention nearly three times as large. In the dim light he could make out the same shape in pattern but gilded in glittering copper and silver. It seemed that not only where they metallic but of different metallic colors on the same plant. Very unusual indeed. He reached out to touch the flowers but paused as a rustling stopped him. He slowly looked up, his belt knife coming to his hand. He hoped he did not need to use the thing, he disliked fighting. But if it was a predator... His eyebrows knitted together as a figured emerged from the undergrowth and they were not one of his fellow party members.
