Sporemageddon

Death Cap - Thirty-Two - Life Gives your Great Rewards and Greater Challenges

Death Cap - Thirty-Two - Life Gives your Great Rewards and Greater Challenges

Death Cap - Thirty-Two - Life Gives your Great Rewards and Greater Challenges

You recognize it? Terrence asked.

No, I admitted as I lowered the [Ghoul Button Mushroom]. Actually, that brought up a question. Why is it labelled as a Stockholmes Flesh Eater?

Thats its name, he said.

I have an identification skill thats giving me a different result. Telling him that much didnt seem like too much of a risk.

Thats normal then. The name on the label is attributed to the person who discovered or pioneered a use for an herb or fungi. Its a great honour to be one of those though it is of course quite difficult. He pointed to the other two boxes, specifically at the labels. Alchemists, potion makers and herbalists will usually memorise these names, especially since different skills might give the same plant subtly different names.

How different? I asked.

Some skills would call what youre holding [a mushroom] and leave it at that, he said.Updated from

That made sense. Id keep using the names my [Druid Sight] gave me for my own use though, seeing as how that was what Id used so far, and I didnt care much for some stuffy academics honour.

The [Ghoul Button Mushroom] didnt seem immediately useful to me. I dont think the Ditz dungeon had any undead to worry about. It was possible that some combination of this mushroom and another one of mine would lead to something good, so if I could afford it. How much are these? I asked.

Three halfpennies per hundred grams, he said.

That wasnt much at all, really. Ill take two mushrooms please. Fresher is better, but I mostly care about the cap.

He nodded and went to the front only to return a moment later with a few brown paper bags and some tongs which he used to pluck the mushrooms out of their case. He put that onto a scale which ticked up. Then he wrote something down on a sheet of paper next to the scale. A receipt?

I checked the other two mushrooms while he worked. I didnt want to waste his time.

Finnegans Stinker--which was quite the name, was next. They were rather small, reminding me of puffballs but without the size

[Skunks Lament] - Common

A small mushroom that, when squeezed, releases a cloud of minuscule spores which emit a potent foul odour. Has some use as a revitalising reagent.

Need to be careful with those, Terrence said. They stink. I wont have you driving out clients because you miss-handled them.

No worries, sir, I said. Of course I wanted some. The spore dispersal was similar to my best, which meant a whole new round of new, potent weapons. I think Ill take three of these, please. Do you have something less squishable than those bags?

I suppressed my gag reflex even as my eyes watered, and Nibbles just outright lost his lunch on the floor next to me.

Working fast, I plucked some spores out, shoved them into a vial, then reclosed the box and ran out of my farm.

Two hours later, after walking around the block a few times, I discovered one new advantage to that particular sort of mushroom. No one wanted to be on the same street as me, not even the seediest, most disgusting people living in the slums.

I wouldnt be able to grow those in my farm, not if a tiny spritz from one mushroom was enough to make the place smell like death rotten over for hours. Id have to find a place nearby to grow them. I... could use the mushrooms as a security measure. They would certainly work as a deterrent against the average person.

Unfortunately, they were working to deter me at the moment.

I opened the door to my farm and sniffed around. The smell had faded, a little, but it was still lingering like a bad after-taste.

Id have to see if dusting the room out would help. The smell came from spores after all, and those were just particulates.

I cursed my own stupidity. I shouldnt have opened the box in my farm. I was too excited about the [Healing Chime] to think straight. Nothing I could do about it now. I cleaned up as best I could, leaving the door open a crack to let in fresher air.

Then, once everything settled, I pulled out the bag with the [Healing Chime] and all the tools Id need to extract its spores.

I went very carefully, taking my time and moving as precisely as I could. Still, it wasnt easy. The cap on the mushroom was tiny, and its bell-like shape made reaching the underside where its spores were hidden difficult.

Grabbed a few, I filled three vials with different starting elements in each. Some rotting meat, some old wood, and some cloth. I hoped one of those would be good enough for the spores to settle on.

Then I was left with a tiny mushroom, gutted of its spores.

I shrugged, checked it with my poison-based abilities, and when those came back blank, I tossed the mushroom back and chewed on it.

With how poor my health was at the best of times, that could only help. I sealed the vials, then placed them on a rack where Id be able to observe their growth.

The [Healing Chimes] were my hail-mary. If I could start growing these, then a lot of things would get a lot easier. Selling them as-is could be profitable. The Union would certainly be interested in healing, even if it turned out to not be super effective.

I sat down on my stool, then welcomed Sir Nibbles onto my lap where I scratched at his rough bristly fur. Things might be going okay, I said to the badger.

With a bit of luck, things would only get better for me.

And a whole lot worse for the rest of the city.

***