Immersive Ink

"Did the goat spider protect the puffballs in some way?" Noh wonders alloud, stroking Carc's head to calm him.

Dougal motions for Douglas to follow him as he makes his way to the ravine. He wants to get a look down it to see what it looks like after the fire...

Dame Simonetta doesn't know much about mushrooms, but she does pause while the investigation is underway.

The damage to the puffballs definitely looks like it could be from bite marks. (From a very large mouth!)

Dougal peeks down the ravine. He doesn't see any lights, but the noises from below seem louder and more active than before. He can hear the grunts, hoots, and hollers of the deep cavern fauna. It's kind of like being in the forest at night, except none of the noises are animals he knows. The sounds are coming from far below and don't seem to be threatening in any way. Dougal gets the sense that the creatures of the Underdark probably haven't noticed the little Hobbet peering down through the crack in their ceiling.

OOC: "Robur quite curious about the puff ball, and considers its properties for mead making."

(In the "real world") I've never had any fungus-flavored alcohol, have you? I did recently try some coffee flavored with wild mushrooms. It wasn't bad!

Bilfur tries to exam the puffballs as well. Is there now more light coming down which could spurt their growth

OOC I've never heard of mushroom mead, and unfortunately found on the Internet that it exists as "magic mushroom" mead. That is not what Robur really wants. I was more inspired by this because I have seen a mushroom tea which is made from regular mushrooms, and took this as my inspiration.

Bilfur thinks the puffball patch will probably survive. This batch of puffballs was badly damaged, but a new crop should sprout again. The puffballs grow from a carpet of "mycelium" that lines the cavern floor. Bilfur can see the healthy mycelilum running through the cavern like a network of roots, absorbing moisture and nutrients. An apple tree can lose its whole crop of apples, but it doesn't kill the tree. Same thing here: The puffballs are the "fruit" of the fungus and will regrow from the mycelium.

There isn't any light filtering down from the surface world.

The puffball mycelium look like this:

Bastet1002 wrote: ↑

Tue May 10, 2022 10:53 pm

OOC I've never heard of mushroom mead, and unfortunately found on the Internet that it exists as "magic mushroom" mead. That is not what Robur really wants. I was more inspired by this because I have seen a mushroom tea which is made from regular mushrooms, and took this as my inspiration.

OOC: I've had tea from a wild fungus called 'chaga.' Delicious!

I have my doubts that mushrooms contain enough sugar for fermentation. They're mostly water and proteins. You'd probably have to start with mead or fruit wine as the base, then infuse it with the mushrooms for flavor. Mushroom and wine flavors go well together (for example in a pasta sauce) so it could work, why not?

Funny story, my childhood dungeon master's family belonged to the Church of the Latter Day Saints (Mormon), a religion that forbids alcohol. His mom used to yell down the stairs to us while we were playing, "You'd better not be pretending to drink imaginary mead at the imaginary tavern!"

Douglas says to Dougal, "Hey Dougal, are you a good climber? Maybe we should climb down and find out what is making those noises? Sounds like... some kind of animal."