Bellekanian fungus

Nothing is quite as frustrating to a magician as their hard work being undone by the biological cycle of a mere fungus.

— Austur Ericson, third king of Wie

Basic Information

Anatomy

The Bellekanian is a type of fungus that stretches out an enormous web of roots underground. It stands about 30 cm tall with a translucent, ivory white stem that carries both flowers and 'fruit' at the same time.
Its flowers, which hang down, have ten petals that are purplish-pink in colour with a long yellow stigma and stamen. If the flower wilts, it transforms into a blue and purple cocoon-like spore container that is no more than 7,5 cm in length. This 'fruit' only bursts open to release its spores in the wind if it is given the right stimulus.

Biological Traits

Bellekanians absorb magic from their surroundings and are thus effective, long-term countermeasures to magical problems. On the other side, they are also a menace to any magic casters.

Counterspell

If someone casts a third level or higher spell within 30 feet of a Bellekanian the fungus reacts by absorbing the spell and opening one of its spore containers. DnD addition

The effect is similar to the spell 'counterspell'. If the spell level is higher than 3rd, the DM must roll 1d20+2 to make the usual DC check mentioned in counterspell. For clarity, the Bellekanian does not react to Cantrips or spells of 1st and 2nd level.

Difficult terrain

If the Bellekanian detects the magic aura of a magic item its roots begin to move to try and find it for sustenance. Although the roots can't extend from the ground, it makes it feel as if one is walking on a wobbly bridge. A person carrying the magic items will experience the Bellekanian's area as difficult terrain.

Defences

By all accounts, the stalk of the Bellekanian is rather fragile and like all living things, it needs a way to defend itself. To do this the fungus has two major traits.

Bad taste

The first defence is meant to keep creatures from eating their stalks and roots. If you think the honey made from Bellekanian is bad... A small number of brave souls, or idiots, have reported that the plant itself tastes three times worse.
Therefore there are very few beasts and insects that would be willing to eat the Bellekanian itself. Of course, there are exceptions. For example, a Bellekanian growing on necrotic magic will taste like corpses and attract maggots that normally live in dead bodies.

Immunity

The second trait is that the Bellekanian is invulnerable to the damage of spells and magic arrays. A handy feature for a thing that slowly absorbs all the magic in its surroundings. In fact, if a spell is directly cast onto it there's a 20% chance it will grow faster.

Bellekanian honey tasted like a corpse dipped in a thick layer of caramel. The plant itself like someone distilled a corpse into its purest form and gave it a mushroom texture.

— Bard the Barbarian, a brave soul

Genetics and Reproduction

The Bellekanian fungus grows flowers and spore containers at the same time, all year round. Its flowers slowly grow from a white, lantern-shaped but into a pastel pinkish-purple flower with a yellow stigma and stamen. This flower is mostly pretty and has no smell detectable for humans.
Small insects collect the Bellekanian's nectar and pollinate the flowers. A single flower can blossom for as much as two months before wilting and slowly growing a cocoon-like container filled with tiny black spores. If the container is triggered by nearby magic, such as a spell, it bursts open and releases the spores in the wind.
Most of the released spores never grow into a plant of their own as it needs magic to feed off. If a spore does manage to land in a suitable area it takes roughly a year to grow its roots before sprouting stalks and restart the cycle.

Growth Rate & Stages

Bellekanians expand their roots with increasing speed. If a spore lands it takes a year before signs of stalks growing can be seen and from there the surface of its roots double with each year. Due to its exponential growth and problematic characteristics it can be quite a problem to remove if discovered too late.
Simply removing the stalks on the surface is not enough to keep the Bellekanian from regrowing. To altogether remove the fungus you'd have to dig away at least 1 meter of dirt to remove the web-like root system.
At the end of the Bellekanian's lifecycle, when all magic within the soil has been absorbed, the fungus slowly dies off. Its enormous and deep running root system provides plenty of nutrients for new plants, often leaving behind lush fields.

Ecology and Habitats

Since it thrives on magic, the Bellekanian grows in areas rich in magic such as a piece of land altered with the spell 'plant growth', or perhaps an abandoned wizard's tower. Other than that the Bellekanian isn't very picky. It grows both in lush forests and scorching deserts, soaked swamps and baren rock walls. As long as there is a tiny bit of dirt or sand to bury the beginning of its roots in, it will grow.
However, it does not like the cold. A Bellekanian growing in a cold climate with lots of snow and ice grows at a much slower speed, about 1/4 of normal, and its stalks are halved in size.

Additional Information

Uses, Products & Exploitation

by MPoel

Not much is known about the properties of the Bellekanian and much of it has been discovered by luck. There are only three commonly known uses of the magic-devouring fungus.

Curse-Removing Honey

The honey made from Bellekanian tastes terrible. Depending on the magic it lived off of, the taste may vary from burned ashes to even rotten corpses. Still, the honey is well suited for other purposes.
Bellekanian honey retains the fungus's property of absorbing magic. If a cursed or magic item is covered in it the magic will be absorbed over time and the honey's taste changes to fit the type of magic it absorbed.

Not for consumption

The honey isn't well suited for consumption by humans. One reason is its taste, the other is that the honey will try to extract all magic inside the body until it has passed through the body. This causes intense stomach cramps for an entire day and especially magician are sensitive to the effect.
DnD information

The time it takes to remove the curse or spell is 1d6+ the item's tier (+1 for each tier above common) hours.
_{NOTE: The honey does not differentiate between a curse and a magic effect on an item and will absorb all of it. For example, if used on a cursed +1 sword it will leave a normal sword.}
Not for consumption: If a creature consumes the honey they must make a DC15 con safe every two hours or be incapacitated. Those with a spellcasting class (DM discretion) have a disadvantage on the safe.

Patient cleanup

One of the few groups of people that actually appreciate the Bellekanian's natural properties are archaeologists that regularly explore ancient ruins with magic defences and the cleanup crews that work for wizards.
There are several archaeologists who specialised in the controlled growth of this fungus so it does not accidentally 'escape' to other places. The Bellekanian can negate the magic defences without damaging the ruins themselves. Besides, anyone working for a wizard is more than happy to throw Curse-Removing Honey at potentially dangerous waste from a distance before picking it up.

Spores

Contrary to what had been thought for a long time, there's still magic to be found in the Bellekanian itself. To sustain its spores long enough for long travels and protect it from potentially harsh climates, the Bellekanian stores a tiny amount of magic in its own spores.
A person who obtained a spore container can crush its shell easily in their hand and (re)gain a single-use third level spell slot using the spores as a material component. A person who casts a spell in this way gains one exhaustion level.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

The Bellekanian can be found in many places of the world if one is unlucky but is extremely plentiful in the kingdom of Wie. There are so many that it is an enormous task to remove it all, which by extension means that the government doesn't bother and instead promotes science and the exportation of Curse-Removing honey.

Civilization and Culture

Common Taboos

The world of Thieve is a medieval-style world with an abundance of magic. Many powerful organisations, kingdoms and public figures rely on the existence and functionality of magic. A grand sorcerer to protect the capital, a magic formation to obliterate intruders or an academy full of young wizards.
Many researchers are also either wizards or artificers who had to spend a lifetime learning to manipulate the fabric of reality either through spells or magic items. They naturally don't look kindly upon a plant that can even undo their most powerful work by simply existing.
These researchers have clear interests and push their researches towards getting rid of the Bellekanian. Even going as far as to suppress whatever research they can if it is about utilising the fungus's magic-negating properties. Due to this mess, there are very few practical appliances of the Bellekanian available to the public.

This plant is published under the OGL rules for 5e. The spells referred to fall under their SRD content.

Bellekanian

by MPoel

The anatomy of a single stalk and a spore container.

Scientific Name

Magia enim non boleti, fungus

Average Height

30 cm (1 feet)

The kingdom of Wie

The kingdom of Wie is the only country that uses the Bellekanian to its fullest potential. At least when it comes to military uses. Where most other cultures mainly perceive it as a threat that must be eliminated, the Wie kingdom doubles down on its natural lack of magic users* and items.
The kingdom's special bee farms for the production and export of Curse-Removing Honey are the most well-known. But in its early days, the government commissioned inventors and strategists to find ways to exploit the Bellekanian's magic disrupting abilities. One of these results is magic-resisting walls infused with Bellekanian roots around important cities. These ward against large scale invasions from its much larger and more powerful neighbours.
Or a bomb modelled after the Bellekanian spore-container that bursts open to release a toxic gas if magic is cast near it.
_{*NOTE: since the appearance of the Bellekanian, natural magic-users have been few within the kingdom. Those that do exist usually leave when reaching adulthood in order to learn magic without stray fungus stalks interrupting their spells.}

Secret benefits

The benefits of the Bellekanian in the ecological cycle is far greater than most people are aware of. It transforms all the magic it absorbs from the ground into energy for its own growth and new nutriënts for the soil. If a patch of Bellekanian has withered away it leaves behind incredibly fertile ground for other plants that would only have to worry about water and sunlight for the next few centuries.
During its growth, its deep root system even helps already existing plants in the area to draw up water and nutrients from deep underground those plants couldn't reach.