Environment: The Poisonous Mushroom Forest

Between two massive spans of treacherous mountains, engulfed on either side by furlongs of rolling mountains, lay the Poisonous Mushroom Forest. The name, as names often are, is horridly misleading however. Not all of the mushrooms are poisonous; in fact, a small portion of the mushrooms will deliver a toxin into your blood that hinders, cripples, or deceives you. The most dangerous mushrooms do much worse than poison you. A more apt name for this place would be the "Forest of Mushrooms That Poison, Burn, Sting, Bite, Melt, and Devour While Being the Home to Every Form of Vile Creature That Can Withstand the Harshness". But that was too long to fit on the signpost.

The mushrooms come in many sizes. Some are smaller than a thumbnail, some are a thousand feet or more. Many of them are thin and bend, while many more are thick and tough as tree trunks. The Golden Mushrooms of Unerden are about 40-50 feet tall, and are often used as homes by many of the denizens of the forest. They are known to have great restorative powers, and often contain antigens to some of the more horrific poisons. For instance, a deep purple mushroom with tiny thorns that underly the bottom of the cap is known as a SlackWrath mushroom. Its poison will infect one creature, and any other creature that gets near it will end up contracting the poison themselves. After about a day or two of passing on the poison, the creature will suddenly break out into a horrible rash, and be dead within a few hours. There is no pain or sensation that the creature feels, not even a slight itch where the rash breaks out, and only a large handful of Golden Unerden Musk is able to cleanse it.

The floor of the mushroom forest is truly a sight, and a sensation, to remember! Every pinch of dirt that your feet lay upon, is covered in fungi. The floor is spongy, and nearly impossible to dig under. The only underground throughout the forest is the underground that the mushrooms allow. In some parts of the forest you will find layers of interlocking myconids as far down as 300 ft. Leaving an object on the mushroom floor will certainly destroy it within weeks. Anything that remains motionless is devoured and a new mushroom starts to grow in its place.

The creatures in the mushroom forest will often make homes within the mushrooms. Some of the larger mushrooms go further into the ground than any would expect, and some of the better mushroom mining species will dig deep into the mushroom to make an elaborate home for themselves, at their own risk. Rumor has it that a certain brand of Dwarf lives deep beneath the mushroom floor, in interlocking tunnels dug out of large mushroom roots. If they do exist though, it may not be wise to approach them expecting a peaceful resolve, for they have had little to no contact with other races for many generations.

The origins of the mushroom forest are quite unclear, and next week you will be introduced to a handful of the more popular theories.

-Lance of the Hill People