Discovered Plants and Fungi
This is the document which will be utilized to track the different plants and fungi that are discovered throughout The Gates. Each entry will include the location it was discovered, the properties learned and potential items that can be crafted.
Further along in the journey a creek was found with a wide variety of gorgeously colored, water-dependent flowers and fern-like plants along with some reeds and cattails. In this area the Two of Cups was discovered. Two of Cups - A flower that looks very similar to an incan lily, though it has one aquamarine and one sky blue flower each growing from the same stem and pointing away from each other. It was found along the creek and growing isolated from all the other flowers. It caused distrust and a need to focus on one's self. Croak would later show the group how to process this plant into its essential oils for later use beyond the natural life of the plant. Ace of Wands - Found while scouting for vines to help build a fence for camp, it was growing as a catalpa sapling with firey leaf buds at the center of a bunch of different vegetables. It seemed to impose feelings of potential, beginnings, inspiration and unleashed creativity. What exactly this means has yet to fully be explored or analyzed, but we'll get to the bottom of it. Corkscrew Potato - Found a rather bizarre potato while digging up some vegetables for dinner. It spiraled into the ground like a corkscrew, had to...unscrew it in order to free it from the ground. Caused feelings of general discomfort, but when Kaswink broke it up and put it in the stew those feelings went away... We hope it didn't have anything to do with this. The Writer did mention that "it could happen to fruit", but Potato isn't a fruit, so maybe we're fine. Ulunor's Bloom - A flower provided by Croak after he was rescued. It has a rather hard to describe appearance detailed in its own article, and has many medicinal and spiritual uses capable of being unlocked by an apothacarist, culinarian or occultist in their own unique and creative ways. Ginseng - Croak provided a wide variety of Ginseng to try as if showing off the bounty of his forest as requested. Hopefully one of these will satisfy Nicholas...if not, we'll just have to keep looking. Dorcha's Gift - A lily found at night while walking with Frode. Its pedals are all a dark shade of blue with alternating black and white stamen. The stem and leaves of this flower are a shocking neon green. Hysteria seemed interested in it for some Sleeping Poison.
Mysterious Herb - Frode found a strange herb, he nearly cooked with it but he was stopped before doing so as it was incredibly suspicious. More research will be required for this. Spirit Rice - Found some rice while out foraging with Agave. It seems to produce far more grain than any rice seen on the material plane. Though something suggests it may also be quite dangerous to other, non-spirit world plants. Dragonscale Avocados - Also called "Agavecados", this was an amazing find from Agave and improved everyone's fortitude after eating it. They were incredibly difficult to slice open though, and more bizarre tactics had to be employed to break through the scale-like exterior. Vine Beasts - Since it is a strange hybrid of plant and beast, listing this in the plant log, especially since Quince wants them studied to help future tourists. The vines are very poisonous, and the seeds seem to rely on the stomach acid of some poor beast to break free of their shell. More research will be required to find a way to identify them with ease, and hopefully this will also help Hysteria find an antidote to the seeds.
Paincap - Found this while out looking for Wisps with Namina. It caused an incredibly debilitating pain unlike anything I'd ever felt before. This pain was enough to slow down movement, distract from any skill checks, and even prevent the ability to consistently cast spells. It has been harvested and will be presented to Hysteria for future poison crafting. Various Mushrooms - In the same area as the Paincap we found some portabellos, oyster mushrooms, and lots of little white mushrooms that all looked great to cook with. Will need to come back at some point to get the necessary bits to relocate them to camp for the garden. Bird of Paradise - An interesting find thanks to Kaswink while she was logging trees for the expedition base wall. It had the appearance of a flower until disturbed, at which point it transformed into a bird and attempted to fly away. Kaswink managed to catch it and it is being studied. Light does not seem to trigger its transformation, but tremors and other stressful situations do. Removing light, calming the environment and so forth does lead to it returning to its flower state easier. While in its flower state it has roots, but as a bird there are none to be seen. The Field Guide claims that it can be brewed to create a cure for headaches that helps with focus, but killing such a creature seems... unnecessary right now to confirm that.
Nurend 03, 308
These plants were first found near the path when we first arrived, but they've also been seen throughout the forest since then so they must be pretty common. A plant with Person-Sized leaves - Namina needed to be kept hydrated as she had reverted to some sorta sea-form. Found rather massive leaves growing from a relatively small plant. Each leaf was about 8 feet long, roughly 3 feet wide, and had a deep maroon color in the center and towards the stem of the leaf which blended out into a nice forest green at the tips. Quite lovely... The leaves seemed to make up most of the plant's matter, not much of a trunk, vine or anything at all for them to grow from. They seemed to just grow straight from the ground. Based on naming conventions found in the Field Guide I guess it'd be called something like "Ulunor's Fan", will need to work on a scientific name at some point. Does not seem to be poisonous, at least not with simple contact with the skin. Smells kinda nice too, sweet. Vine-like branches - Frode needed his arm tied up as it was still paralyzed. Found these long branches that hung from the tree like vines, similar to a weeping willow but with even more flimsy branches. Was able to weave them into something sturdy enough to act as a sling and keep it elevated for him. Agave ended up helping with the medicinal part of that, not sure if he really helped or not though. The branches are rather strong, might be useful for other crafting purposes... Not sure what to name it, perhaps "Salix babylonica plurusus" or something, though maybe it's not even related to a willow at all, that might be presumptuous.Nurend 04, 308
While traveling through the forest for the first time, some time was spent investigating the few plants that Agave had collected the day prior while scouting. Coffee Trees - One of the strange plants collected by Agave were, much to Anthony's surprise, pods full of ready to drink, delicious coffee. Ulunor's Hair - One of the strange "plants" collected by Agave was actually a mushroom known as Ulunor's Hair. Spicy Mint - The last plant picked by Agave for future analysis was a rather peculiar plant henceforth called Spicy Mint. It smells lovely, and it probably has a plethora of culinary uses. Later on in the day a small patch of pristine forest was discovered with a lone stump surrounded by tall and unharmed trees. In this area several gorgeous, though mundane, flowers were discovered such as Lavender, Chamomile and Frode picked some Jasmine.Further along in the journey a creek was found with a wide variety of gorgeously colored, water-dependent flowers and fern-like plants along with some reeds and cattails. In this area the Two of Cups was discovered. Two of Cups - A flower that looks very similar to an incan lily, though it has one aquamarine and one sky blue flower each growing from the same stem and pointing away from each other. It was found along the creek and growing isolated from all the other flowers. It caused distrust and a need to focus on one's self. Croak would later show the group how to process this plant into its essential oils for later use beyond the natural life of the plant. Ace of Wands - Found while scouting for vines to help build a fence for camp, it was growing as a catalpa sapling with firey leaf buds at the center of a bunch of different vegetables. It seemed to impose feelings of potential, beginnings, inspiration and unleashed creativity. What exactly this means has yet to fully be explored or analyzed, but we'll get to the bottom of it. Corkscrew Potato - Found a rather bizarre potato while digging up some vegetables for dinner. It spiraled into the ground like a corkscrew, had to...unscrew it in order to free it from the ground. Caused feelings of general discomfort, but when Kaswink broke it up and put it in the stew those feelings went away... We hope it didn't have anything to do with this. The Writer did mention that "it could happen to fruit", but Potato isn't a fruit, so maybe we're fine. Ulunor's Bloom - A flower provided by Croak after he was rescued. It has a rather hard to describe appearance detailed in its own article, and has many medicinal and spiritual uses capable of being unlocked by an apothacarist, culinarian or occultist in their own unique and creative ways. Ginseng - Croak provided a wide variety of Ginseng to try as if showing off the bounty of his forest as requested. Hopefully one of these will satisfy Nicholas...if not, we'll just have to keep looking. Dorcha's Gift - A lily found at night while walking with Frode. Its pedals are all a dark shade of blue with alternating black and white stamen. The stem and leaves of this flower are a shocking neon green. Hysteria seemed interested in it for some Sleeping Poison.
Nurend 05, 308
Peppermint Bark Trees - It seems to be an effect of the The Spirit of Christmas and happens to just about any tree arbitrarily. Externally visible thanks to the peppermint dust that is sprinkled on and provides an almost glitter-like appearance...could be confused with frost at first. When bitten into it is definitely chocolate of some variety with peppermint chunks spread throughout. Different trees had different shades of chocolate. Chocolate Truffles - Found throughout the forest, they have the appearance of regular truffle mushrooms, however, when consumed they turn out to be made of chocolate with some variety of filling. Discovered caramel, cherry, chocolate, fruit + nut, and so on. Likely a result of the Spirit of Christmas again. Fruitcake Tree - Discovered while taking a bit of a rest in a grove of what had originally been assumed to be apple trees. While the bark, leaves and branches all suggested that they definitely SHOULD be apple trees, they all had some different fruit on them. Several of the trees throughout had all of the fruits, and, rather than wood, they were supported by fruitcake. Again, likely a result of the Spirit of Christmas. Mistletoe - Growing from the boughs of several of the "apple trees" in the grove where we found the fruitcake trees were bushes of Mistletoe. It came in handy for Frode to brew a nice relaxing tea to help with the impending exhaustion.Mysterious Herb - Frode found a strange herb, he nearly cooked with it but he was stopped before doing so as it was incredibly suspicious. More research will be required for this. Spirit Rice - Found some rice while out foraging with Agave. It seems to produce far more grain than any rice seen on the material plane. Though something suggests it may also be quite dangerous to other, non-spirit world plants. Dragonscale Avocados - Also called "Agavecados", this was an amazing find from Agave and improved everyone's fortitude after eating it. They were incredibly difficult to slice open though, and more bizarre tactics had to be employed to break through the scale-like exterior. Vine Beasts - Since it is a strange hybrid of plant and beast, listing this in the plant log, especially since Quince wants them studied to help future tourists. The vines are very poisonous, and the seeds seem to rely on the stomach acid of some poor beast to break free of their shell. More research will be required to find a way to identify them with ease, and hopefully this will also help Hysteria find an antidote to the seeds.
Paincap - Found this while out looking for Wisps with Namina. It caused an incredibly debilitating pain unlike anything I'd ever felt before. This pain was enough to slow down movement, distract from any skill checks, and even prevent the ability to consistently cast spells. It has been harvested and will be presented to Hysteria for future poison crafting. Various Mushrooms - In the same area as the Paincap we found some portabellos, oyster mushrooms, and lots of little white mushrooms that all looked great to cook with. Will need to come back at some point to get the necessary bits to relocate them to camp for the garden. Bird of Paradise - An interesting find thanks to Kaswink while she was logging trees for the expedition base wall. It had the appearance of a flower until disturbed, at which point it transformed into a bird and attempted to fly away. Kaswink managed to catch it and it is being studied. Light does not seem to trigger its transformation, but tremors and other stressful situations do. Removing light, calming the environment and so forth does lead to it returning to its flower state easier. While in its flower state it has roots, but as a bird there are none to be seen. The Field Guide claims that it can be brewed to create a cure for headaches that helps with focus, but killing such a creature seems... unnecessary right now to confirm that.
Nurend 06, 308
Sweet Kale - This form of kale has an incredibly similar appearance to its bitter material plane cousin, however, the flavor found within its delicious green folds is a delightfully sweet sensation. Frode utilized it for a rather simplistic though delicious side salad, and it appears to provide the same nutrional benefits as Kale though with a much more attractice flavor. Cabbage - Identical in every way to the green cabbage we have on Taranel. Not much to be said about this, but it is important to note its existence. Having something normal to ground oneself in the bizarre nature of the Spirit World is comforting.Nurend 07, 308
Coconuts - They exist! Coconuts can be shaved and pressed with warm water to create coconut milk. This can be used for various recipes or drank on its own, plus if it sets for long enough in a cold area it can separate and make coconut cream which is incredibly falvorful. Orchit - Another one of those "is it an animal or a plant?" moments. Unlike the Birds of Paradise, these flower rabbits don't seem to ever fully revert to a plant form, but they do have a noticable floral aroma when prepared for stew, broths and so forth which is rather nice. Their long, vine-like ears are also notably plantlike. Though they are not infected with anything like a vine-beast. Looking into the plant ears of the creature, I did discover that after about a half-inch from the top of where a rabbit ear would normally "end" the vine is entirely plant matter. More notes on how these vines can be utilized can be found on its own entry. The flowers of this creature seemed to have been...fertilized and germinating for several weeks. Perhaps they could be planted to grow more Orchits. Green Onions(but they're red) - They have a similar shape, size, tecture, flavor and scent as the long and narrow green onions one would find in most grocers, but they're red! A rather vibrant, almost sickly candy-like red. Aside from the color difference there isn't much to be said about this particular onion, though it was one of the first unusual onions discovered. Spicey Orange Shallots - Unlike conventional shallots, these are bright orange and incredibly spicy! The spice level and flavor is similar to that of a serano chili, but it also has a mild shallot flavor. A valuable, useful vegetable that can be used in many dishes while saving time cutting. A consistent crop of these along with the other found onions is reasonable. Wild Potatoes - The multicolored, awkwardly shaped and sized ancestors of the more consistent russet potatoes enjoyed by today's Taranelians. Beyond flavor and dense nutrients they don't bring any special effects to the table, but they are easy to grow and incorporate into just about any meal. A consistent crop shouldn't be terribly hard to manage.Nurend 08, 308
Rye - Found some rye out in the wild, unusual for the current environment, I think, but it came in handy for making some bread and it's easy enough to cultivate thanks to the wonders of magic. Lots of uses to come from this Rye, including ails, whiskeys, breads, and so forth. More Coffee Trees - Another coffee plant was located, and these pods were softer than the first bit of coffee found back on day one, and cutting them open to enjoy the delicious bitter liquid inside revealed a new discovery. The liquid inside was thicker, it had a very mild sweet smell to it which reminded one of a bitter chocolate, and suspended inside the viscous, dark fluid were small fruits which resembled cherries. Their flesh was …odd tasting to say the least, but splitting them open revealed the familiar site of coffee beans. I was able to create an incredibly unique cup of coffee with a flavor that constantly evolved from the usual bitter, into a very mildly sweet chocolate that complimented the coffee perfectly, joined with the undertaste of earthy cinnamon and spice, and ending with just a smooth and robust aftertaste. Spice Reeds - Near the aforementioned bittersweet and chocolatey coffee were some reeds growing from a small pond. They had a color that was similar to cinnamon, and the smell/flavor of the unprocessed, still damp plant was also reminiscent of the same spice. However, there were additional sweet, bitter and earthy tones that reminded me of dandelions, anise, topsoil and tarragon. Truly unusual, though it all smelled lovely especially with the accompanying cinnamon. Red Spinach - Aside from its uncharacteristic red color, this spinach seems to be identical to the material plane green spinach in every way. There seems to be a pattern here... Maybe there's a connection between the red spinach and green onions (but they're red).Nurend 09, 308
Peppers - Located a patch of peppers, some smelled incredibly spicy while others were more sweet. Most of them are red, strangely enough, including red bell peppers and chili peppers. They seem to be entirely mundane, another cooking ingredient. Will be a flavorful addition to the garden. Wild Carrots - Also found a patch of wild carrots. They are a lot smaller, more oddly shaped, and differently colored than regular ol' orange carrots. Another useful and nutrition addition to the garden. Sundrenched Sweetgum - Namina happened upon this tree while helping with construction of the cabin. Was able to confirm that it shouldn't be poisonous, and she eagerly harvested the resin for future incense making. It had a rather powerful sweet and grassy smell, hopefully whatever she makes will lift our spirits a little bit.Nurend 10, 308
Relocated Mushrooms - We brought back the various culinary caps so that Frode can do even more recipes and we can all enjoy more nutrients in the garden. A special location will need to be set up so that they can grow more easily, perhaps this'll be the first crop in the underground farm.Nurend 11, 308
Five of Cups - This plant had the appearance of a wild geranium which normally has flowers with five petals, however, this particular bush had no flowers, just sky blue leaves. It encouraged feelings of self-forgiveness and moving on... Processing them and extracting the oils was easy enough, and the twigs can apparently be dried and powdered for use in incense.Nurend 13, 308
Mothlight Tree - After some strange dreams we decided to head west to find Tympi. Along the way, we stopped and Kaswink tried to focus to get Croak to appear and help us. He did after some time and he used his magic to get us to a Mothlight Tree so that we can enter the The Hidden Village of Mothlights. The trees have spade-shaped leaves reminiscent of Catalpas on the material plane, but the bark is white with black marbling similar to something like an aspen but much wider, and the leaves apparently glow very gently in the dark to help guide Mothlings home. A whole village was built within the light of these trees!Nurend 14, 308
Fuzzy Green Beans - Discovered some seemingly innocent green beans while searching for Tympi. When they were opened, however, they were fuzzy and green! Hysteria claims the beans are still plenty nutritious and not poisonous as long as they are cooked properly and the fuzz is removed. They can apparently make a poison from the fuzz, though. That being said, we now have a plant-based and renewable protein to cultivate back at the base. Moonleaf Tea - As night fell, some stray moonlight illuminated a clearing with a circle of mushrooms. Hysteria warned us against going any closer and performed a small ritual to "appease the fae". They were successful and managed to harvest some of this tea. It seems to only exist in moonlight while it is still on the vine, but after being harvested it behaves like any other plant.Nurend 16, 308
Waterproof Moss - While hoping to build a raft to cross this swamp unharmed, Kaswink found a small clump of moss that is apparently waterproof. It would be useful were the amount not so small, however, we're holding onto it with the hopes of finding a smaller project to work on someday. Perhaps it could be applied to the umbrella. Traveler's Shiitake - Found some unusual mushrooms while traveling through the swamp. They can apparently be used to travel to another layer of the Spirit World if we have enough of them. They look just like ordinary shiitake from Taranel when looked at from above, but the stocks are arranged with an intricate webbing that forms a gate shape. We later learned that the necromancer Božena supposedly created them long ago. Societea - Found rows of this plant growing in the swamp. It almost seemed like farm though there was no home or fence or anything nearby. Frode was still insistent on not taking any though so we made sure to leave more than was taken. Some special plant magic later and the bushes were overgrown. The tea, according to Namina, should be good for spiritual tea parties and other social situations. Death Blossoms - These carnivorous plants attacked us in the middle of our journey through this swamp. Their vines stopped our raft and flipped us over into the mud. While we were rescuing our trapped companions, Hysteria was dragged off into the swamp along with Namina. The resulting fight to escape this plant was very nearly lethal, and The Sinkhole that opened up has provided another lead for Namina's quest. I was able to discern that the plants would be an adequate cure for the illness that they caused, and our companions were able to help us recover with food and potion made from them. We also harvested some of the vines which can be used to make a special whip, shaved into stews/soups to add flavor and health benefits or used in curatives like antitoxins and more.Nurend 17, 308
Creeping Death - More unpleasantness in the swamp. This slime has the appearance of moss but may actually be a completely different type of organism. We didn't do a lot of research into it, and we weren't able to safely harvest any, but when lit on fire it seemed to be more of a solid mass than the usual branching tiny pieces of moss. When touched by an animal or other creature it seems to instantly cover that creature's body as seen when Hysteria interracted with it. Creatures covered in this plant become paralyzed and could die instantly depending on how healthy they are. The moss also, strangely enough, led us to some treasure deep in the swamp. Sweet and Spicy Potatoes - Found some unexpected tubers while traveling through the swamp. Not many potatoes could survive the overly wet environment as the lack of drainage leads to rot and so forth, but these ones seem to be thriving! They had an unusual purple color with a vibrant green marble texture inside that seemed almost unnatural. They smelled delightful and Hysteria didn't seem to think they were poisoned so we mashed them up with the Death Blossoms for their curative properties. It was a delicious meal, kinda sweet and spicy.Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
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