Silver Glowcap

Overview

Silver Glowcap by CrazyEddie via Midjourney

The Silver Glowcap is a mushroom found, cultivated, harvest and traded by the Magmakin dwarven clan. It grows normally in the caves beneath the Emerald Planes and feeds on minerals and deceased things like insects or animals, they don't really care.

In addition to them being in a group or a loner, they have found a way to communicate while not using any kind of mycel network: their spores. In the spores they save every information they have and occasionally spew them out.

Culinary & Taste

The Silver Glowcap has thick and resilient flesh and one needs really sharp knives and a bit of muscle to cut it. But when cutted, the flesh smells like earth and pepper. The ooze coming out of the flesh is thick and is used as a spice because it is exactly that: spicy.

It tastes like umami, flavoured with a metallic hint of minerals. Its structure reminds people of the consistence of fried liver, so it is a hit or miss.

The flesh, cut into small bits, can be used as a spice or, if cooked or fried, as a whole meal. If cooked in a vegetable broth it is gaining a bit of hotness; if fried, the spicyness is more hidden and comes out really, really slowly. Do not get over-confident, even the Magmakin aren't so eager to eat three big fat slices of fried Silver Glowcap in a hurry. There is the story of one Hraundvergur who ate five slices and got so angry because of the spicyness, that he literally burned out.

Besides being used in the Dumpling Exchange the Silver Glowcap is the main ingredient for the Deep Winter Stew. Not that the caves and tunnels beneath the Emerald Planes are that cold, but the Magmakin dwarves use it as a traveling food in their camps. If they are on the surface that is. Besides that they eat it in the more colder months.

Usage beside culinary

Besides being used as spice in their kitchen, the Magmakin use the Silver Glowcap as a good for traveling merchants or when they are on the surface for whatever business. Dried and chopped the Glowcap can also be used as rations for travels.

In a more... dangerous way the ooze of the Glowcap is part of their training. The Hraundvergur use it as a method to hype themselves up when they are too tired for anything after days of fighting and squashing demons: they rub it in their eyes to fuel themselves. Anger is a really good fuel. That they can't see anymore for at least a few hours after it is considered collateral damage.

Also the Silver Glowcap is used in their strong potions, most of it in the healing potions. The ooze itself can bind some of the necessary principles - which are unique to the Hraundvergur - so that the potions are not only restoring their bodies, but also their anger and abilities.

Data

-Height: up to 45cm
-Weight: approx. 2kg
-Lethality: 60% if eaten raw
-Likes: dark and damp places; dead stuff to eat
-Dislikes: hot places and being kicked

Grow & Harvest

The Silver Glowcap grows in damp and dark places. That being said, you need any kind of light in their proximity to let them grow. Be it fire, be it glowing moss or the sun energy used by the Stonekin in Bjarghjarta, they can digest every kind of light. They do like to be grown in large fields, but can also thrive all on their own.