A Frungy Pod is a fungus that grows in dark places, but rather than producing the typical stalk and cap mushroom, the frungy produces a pod that has a thick rind that is pale blue in color. There are dimples across its surface that allow for gas exchange to keep the pod from bursting prematurely. Ripe frungy pods can be picked from immature pods by the darkness of their color. Ripe pods turn more a turquise or green shade when they are ripe, though once one turns to a more predominantly green color, with even a hint of yellow, the pod is very much overripe.
A Brief History
Frungy Pods have been present for a long time, though their origin is unknown as they do not behave as any normal plant or fungus. They are slow growing, and can be found in dark places growing from rock, or even sprouting underwater. Some speculate that the Frungy is not of this world, perhaps having fallen from the sky from some worm eaten falling star, or to have been carried from another plane by a dirty and careless mage.
It was not long before is was discovered that the pods are not only edible, that they have a very pleasant taste, with some being almost sweet, like a mushroom melon hybrid.Once the pod is ripe, it can be broken open and the thick rind eaten, leaving the released spores to drift away in the wind until they find a suitable place to begin growing new frungy pods.
Fun and Food
The immature frungy pods, usually a whiteish-blue in color are highly soft after by children as the rind is both flexible and resilient. The pods make for excellent balls and once snapped off of the parent stalk, can last for as long as a weak before bursting in a gooey mess of rotten spore mass. There was some fear of infection from this mass, but the spores will not root in human flesh, living or otherwise.
Magic and Mushrooms
As the trend of eating frungy pods grew, some scholars and gourmand-wizards began to test these slow growing treats to see if there was a danger from them. It was discerned that the mushroom sustains itself with materials filtered from the air, oddly by the pod structure itself. Unlike terrestrial fungi, the pod consumed pollen, mold, dust, and other microscopic things floating in the air. those that grew in the wild near flowering plants tended to produce a strange fungus honey that gave the pods a sweet taste.
Hearth and Home
The Frungy is a considered a semi-luxury food as the pods are not commonly found, and they are slow growing. Unlike mushrooms that can sprout to full size in a matter of days, the frungy pods can take as long as 6 months to reach full maturity. It has a mellow taste, and is popular for making sauces for fish and poultry. It can also be buttered and fire cooked, though an overripe frungy pod will explode if heated over a flame.
While rare, sometimes frungy pods can be found sprouting inside homes. This is considered a good omen as the pods will wither quickly in the presence of a corpse, and necromantic magics will cause a pod to peutrify in a matter of minutes to hours. The air in said houses will be noticable cleaner as the frungy pod is actually ‘recycling’ the air after sucking out the tasty lumps from inside of it.
Look at that - The PCs encounter frungy pods, likely for the first time, from a traveling gourmand who extols the virtues of the fungus, and by side effect is spreading them along the path as he travels, knowingly or not. Image the look on a PCs face when the inn serves up a hot buttered mushroom half the size of a softball.
Whoa - While exploring some ruin or forgotten cave, the PCs encounter a veritable windfall of frungy pods growing rampant in the area. They have a good supply of gourmet food for their stay, as well as the assurance that there are neither necromancers nor undead in the area, and havent been for months.
When the Fungus Turns - While attending some function, the PCs see the frungy pod appetizers suddenly turn black and rot. Someone at the soiree has just done some evil necromantic magics, or one of the guests is a lich or a vampire.