Highland Hauntmoss

Don't pet the damn thing! It's.. moss, I think?

— researcher

Highland hauntmoss is not actually a form of moss, though easily confused for one. It is instead a wide-spreading saprotrophic and parasitic fungus that grows usually in rocky, moist areas upon Takawaoku, most commonly in Nahazan.

Botanist's Sketch by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

Unlike most fungi, hauntmoss is intelligent to a low degree. It would not be capable of speech if it had the ability to speak, but its intelligence is enough to provide it with direction.
Combined with its ability to (very slowly) move around, hauntmoss is a regular source of confusion for travellers who do not realise that the plants and fungi around them may simply move if they have cause to do so.
Hauntmoss is edible when very well-cooked. It provides an earthy, bitter taste when eaten raw, owing to mild natural poisons that are nonetheless too weak to have any significant effect on most sapient beings. Careful preparation and cooking it at high heat neutralises the bitterness and provides a faintly sweet taste, instead.
Its mossy spongelike texture softens when cooked, and those who harvest hauntmoss for its taste praise it for its varied uses, albeit at low nutritional value.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Wiggly squiggly fuzzy green guys! Just lil fun guys!!

— excited traveller

Highland hauntmoss is a pale green fungus that spreads over rocks and wood in a branching pattern as it locates new sources of nutrients. Its fruit bodies are large and fan-like in shape, and their surface is covered with a moss-like green texture. The underside of these fan-like shapes is where one can find their white gills, which lend a pale outline to each fruit body, and which glow in the dark when night falls in a display of mild bioluminescence.

This bioluminescence is best displayed in extremely dark conditions while the viewer's eyes are not light-adjusted. The gills and fan edges are the brightest parts of the fungus, and their level of luminescence is an indication of their age.
Particularly old hauntmosses are faint and barely visible even with darkvision; when young, a hauntmoss may be bright enough to read one's notes by. Large spreads of hauntmoss can illuminate entire paths in their prime.
Hauntmoss grows in a wild, branching fashion across any surface that allows it to draw nutrients, with their fruit bodies often forming overlapping clusters. If it cannot find nutrients in its current location, it undulates its entire branching body to slowly move towards a new source of nutrition.
This odd movement, especially when the fungus's bioluminescence is on display, can prove haunting, and is responsible for the term 'hauntmoss' after a number of hunters and explorers thought it was supernatural in origin.

Bioluminescence by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

Dietary Needs and Habits

Why does everything cute need to be so... yeah...

— no longer excited traveller

Hauntmosses are saprotrophic and parasitic, meaning they form a key part of the natural lifecycle in breaking down dead or dying organisms and recycling nutrients into the earth. It is not particularly discerning in hosts: hauntmosses will attach to any stationary, nutrient-giving life, and will immediately begin colonising whatever they find.

Aged Sketch of the 'Moss' by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

They are commonly found draped across rocks in hunt of lichen or mosses, which form a major part of their cycle, but flourish best with plants or trees. Their usual method of attack is to spread a form of white rot through the organisms they have found. This decay seeks out the organism's central workings and gradually eats them away until the remaining husk is free of nutrients and may simply crumble into the ground.
If the organism is particularly healthy, the hauntmoss simply latches on and does not leave them.
Unlike most species of fungi, hauntmosses are not restricted to specific organisms. It is suspected that the same power that grants their mild intelligence and travelling nature is also what enables them to be so much more discerning in what they eat.
It does render them a special kind of danger, as whilst they starve quickly when removed from a food source, they can live easily if in nutrient-rich areas.

Care must be taken to prevent hauntmosses spreading beyond their natural habitat. It has become something that most exporters check for when looking to export goods elsewhere.

Additional Information

Uses, Products & Exploitation

Is that... safe?

— uneasy traveller

While the methods to cook and eat hauntmoss are well-established, its potential use in herbalism and alchemy has long been a draw for the experiment-minded. Years of attempts at synthesising hauntmoss into usable poultices had historically proven challenging until the advent of Gaia's Lament, which drove herbalist innovation out of dire need.
It does indeed turn out that when soaked and wrung out to dry under heat, the evaporative residue of hauntmoss can be distilled further with alcohol to produce a distinct and potent poison that amplifies the hauntmoss's effects by a significant margin. Lesser doses of this poison, often termed the Ghost's Tears, cause nausea and stomach cramps. Greater amounts cause stronger symptoms alongside an odd sense of hunger for a few days - and ultimately culminates in a messy death from liver destruction. The poison is incredibly rare and hard to synthesise, and can be identified by its green glow and earthy scent.
Some druids consider it murder to consume or distill hauntmoss, as it has its own intelligence. They consider it exploitative to attempt to farm it by providing nutrient sources only to harvest parts of the plant, and protest this fungus abuse. Most don't exactly take them seriously.

Highland Hauntmoss by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

Conservation Status

Least Concern

Geographic Distribution

• Takawaoku

Warning!

Smaller beings, such as fey and small children, should avoid eating hauntmoss. Though its natural toxins do not affect most mortals, they are nonetheless significant for smaller beings with weaker immune systems.
Symptoms of accidental hauntmoss poisoning mimic milder cases of the ghost's tears poison; severe injury or death may occur if enough is consumed.

Mysterious Green Mossy Soup by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

DID THAT MOSS JUST MOVE?!

— early discoverer