A Song for Winter: Faedin, World of the Mushroom Forest

    As the swirl of colors and vertigo from the portal faded William found himself falling from the sky. Below him, trees and large fungi covered the landscape that was rapidly approaching. Grabbing at his dagger, William tried to find a note to whistle but the wind rushing past him stole the notes from his mouth before they could conjure any magic. The colorful landscape was getting closer by the second and William was getting desperate. Stowing his dagger the folf pulled out his ax as he started praying to the Allfather for guidance. William swung with all the force he could muster, whilst falling from the sky, he dug his ax into the nearest tree.

 

    William hung there from the tree for a moment angrily gathering his strength back up. From his vantage point at the top of this tree, William could see all of his surroundings for miles in the light of a setting sun. Not too far away appeared to be some sort of civilization. All around the hanging folf different colored fungi sprouted from the tree. Not one of them looked like the edible variety William had scavenged back home. After swinging to a nearby branch William tied his rope around the trunk before rappelling down to the ground. Growling at the realization that he had no way to retrieve the rope William walked away towards the buildings he saw off in the distance.

 

    The setting darkness of the night was only broken up by strange glowing clouds that drifted through the night illuminating small patches of the sky. Strange monster cries could be heard off in the distance. William didn’t know what kind of creature was making these noises but they didn’t sound predatory so he ignored them and continued. Nighttime was firmly set as William entered the Olearius Spaceport. Lights from the spaceport cut through the night like a sword through an adversary’s throat. Even at this late hour, there was noise and movement all around William as if it was the middle of the day.  Ignoring all of this William found a cheap inn with a spare bed and slept a well-deserved sleep. 

 

    In the morning William ate a quick meal before setting out through the spaceport. Whistling a nearly silent note while thrumming his fingers on his witch knife. The magic from this particular note of the Wintersong caused a small bit of wind to bring the voices of people around him to come to William’s ears. Using this method of eavesdropping was quite a bit more of a subtle way to listen for rumors while staying incognito. For most of the day, nothing interesting was heard. There was talk about Kag Manta squadrons taking unusual migration routes or some people exchanging theories on which color spore clouds give you the best experience if you inhaled them. After buying a new rope with a grappling hook, William was about to give up hearing anything interesting when a curious bit of information was carried on the wind to him. While others laughed at a poor bedraggled-looking man he desperately begged them to believe about strange scraping and moaning noises coming from beneath the cathedral outside of town. Taking this as his clue to where he needed to be William stopped whistling and left for the Cathedral immediately.

 

    Just outside the spaceport stood the massive wooden Cathedral. From what information William had been about to gather the building had been carved from the trunk of a massive tree that had fallen some time in antiquity. The folf had never seen any other Cathedrals but the sheer size and intricately designed details of the building was enough to impress William. Colorful windows that at first glance appeared to be glass but upon closer inspection appeared to be different colored translucent fungi that were carefully grown in spectacular patterns. Weird people in robes wearing strange symbols on their necks and on their clothes gave weird looks to William as he entered the building. When asked about any strange noises or a basement the robed inhabitants muttered a strange blessing to a deity William didn’t recognize before insisting that he leave. Knowing he wasn’t going to get anywhere while these strange priests were wandering around, William left and waited till nightfall. 

 

    There was no massive door to the Cathedral just a massive open arch carved into the wood. Under the cover of night, William threw his talisman dagger through the arched opening into the dark building. Before the dagger hit the ground it started to hover as the notes William was whistling caught up with the thrown blade. Air radiated out from the witch knife allowing William to scan the interior of the structure like a radar. Once he was satisfied that there was no one in the immediate area the folf ran inside, retrieving his hovering dagger as he moved. Moving to an interior rear wall, William used the same trick he had used to listen for rumors to listen to the walls. Moving along the walls at first he heard nothing but then it began faintly before growing louder as William moved towards a dark corner. Feeling around on the carvings in the dark he managed to find a hidden switch that opened a secret door. 

 

    With a creak, the hidden door opened up into a hidden stairwell carved from the wood lit with torches. Descending the spiraling stairs carefully, William was not prepared for what he found at the bottom. There was a massive stone chamber filled with weird fungi of bizarre colors and patterns. Amongst the fungi, tending and harvesting the mushrooms, were the same strange priests William had encountered during the day. Cages along the back and sides of the chamber were filled with what looked to be decayed bodies with the strange fungi sprouting from their skin and exposed flesh. The moaning that had been heard was coming from these cadavers as they were still moving and making noises despite their lifeless appearance. 

    Despite being as quiet as he could be William was spotted almost immediately by the mushroom tending priests who were not particularly thrilled to see him. Leaping the last few steps down William drew his sword as the priests advanced on him with various gardening tools. A gardening hoe was parried quickly and its owner dispatched by an expertly wielded sword tearing through his chest. Gardening sickles were disarmed with their owner finding himself choking on his blood as a new hole was cut into his throat. Whilst cutting open the stomach of the priestess wielding a flat spade the sound of metal on stone sound all around the chamber as the cages holding the decaying fungi corpse all fell open. 

 

    The few remaining clergies tried to flee up the stairs but a swift whistle and a burst of air sent them hurtling back into the stone chamber proper. William knew he was in danger of being mobbed so he had to think quickly. With the fungus zombies closing in the humid chamber was starting to feel claustrophobic. Backing away from a group of mushroom corpses William realized that if these abominations were anything like the fungi that sprouted from them then they should have the same weakness to the cold. Throwing his dagger high William began whistling a cold and broken version of the Wintersong. Cold air began swirling around his witch blade as began swirling in the air as frigid air began filling the chamber. William cut down some of the shambling fungi aberrations as they began to slow down before finally collapsing as all the mushrooms in the room died from the frigid air filling the chamber.

 

    William swiftly disposed of the remaining mushroom priests before ascending the spiraling stairs to the surface. Slamming the secret door close, the blood-covered folf used some cold air to make the wood contract and jam the locking mechanism. Hoping it would hold permanently or at least until he was far away, William turned around to find a new portal waiting for him. Murmuring swears to himself William walked through the gateway praying that he would turn out on solid ground this time.