MagiStream

Young jellycaps are among the easiest creatures to care for; provide one with a moist, dark environment and an old vegetable, and it will thrive. The mushrooms move slowly and act much like plants most of the time, seldom moving and growing very gradually. Even from a young age, though, they show off their vibrant colors. Turmeric jellycaps are bright orange with the males sporting blue caps, cupric caps are green, and indigo caps range from blue to purple. All grow their mushroom fruits just a few days after hatching, and most individuals also develop the hard buds that eventually exude their famous jelly.

Jellycaps are valuable crops to the Keep's potion makers as their aromatic jelly and sap-like latex can be used in many concoctions. Each variety of jellycap produces a different strength of ingredients, cupric caps producing the most potent jelly and latex, while turmeric caps produce the weakest. All jellycap products can strengthen potions, increasing the effectiveness of cures and allowing rarer ingredients to be stretched between more batches. The Keep's arcanists grow jellycaps and other mushrooms in special underground rooms kept warm and humid, just as the fungi like. To get them to produce their pungent jelly, the arcanists tending the mushroom crop starve each jelly for a few days, then draw the sticky substance into vials for storage. They're careful to cycle each mushroom so it can recover and feed them with ample vegetable refuse afterward. Young magi interested in making potions are encouraged to help in the mushroom gardens, maintaining the spells preventing the Keep's animal residents from getting trapped by the fungi.

Jellycaps are unusual fungi that have fruiting mushroom bodies throughout their lives. They can grow in any dark, warm environments, but are most well-known from deep caves in the Mountains of Me'chuan. There, they can grow up to a foot in diameter and will even gradually wander across the cave floor with their tentacle-like mycelia. Like other fungi, they're detrivores, feeding primarily on dead, rotting materials from inside the cave. However, the larger individuals often struggle to find sufficient nutrients even with their increased mobility relative to other fungi. When food is scarce, jellycaps will invest their resources to create the gelatinous masses that give them their name. These sticky structures form all over the mushroom and exude a powerful odor intended to attract bats, insects, and other cave-dwellers to the fungi. When the unsuspecting prey try to eat the gelatinous globs, they get stuck and their bodies are enveloped by the hungry fungi.

Creepers grow extremely fast; if kept properly maintained and watered they will reach full size within a few days of sprouting and grow their pods about a week after. Creepers do not move as much when they are growing and tend to stay in one general area until fully mature, though if the area is devoid of required nutrients, it will set off to find a more suitable place to stay until fully grown.

Once a creeper has grown its glowing pods, it has reached full maturity. Fully grown creepers stand as tall as a magi's knee. The many colors of the creepers determine which kinds of potions their pods are most useful for. Green is commonly used for healing and various earth potions. Blue is best used in water-based potions, like the ability to breathe underwater, though can also be used for truth and courage potions. Purple, popular among students, can be used for peace-of-mind potions, allowing the person to retain what they are studying better, or just to have a nice day without worries. Finally, red can be used in many potions, like resistance to fire, and even love potions. But for those who don't use them for potion making, they do make great pets as they are easy enough to take care of: give them a bucket of soil and keep them watered and they are happy enough. Many magi who keep them as pets report that creepers seem to actually grow an attachment to their magi, seemingly following them around outside wherever they go and even wilting a bit whenever their magi isn't around - though that could be because they haven't been watered in the time their magi has been gone.

Magi have debated for years as to whether creepers are plant or animal, to no avail. Many believe they are creatures and collect them as pets; others keep them only for the glowing pods that grow from them, as these are highly sought after by potion makers. The glowing pods regrow after each harvest, though more slowly each time. Creepers use their roots to move along, digging them into the ground every so often to gather nutrients and to anchor themselves down from being blown away by strong winds. If left outside in the elements once winter arrives, creepers will drop their caps and their roots will burrow into the earth to lie dormant, regrowing in the spring. Creepers will last year-round, however, if kept in a greenhouse. While the caps of the creepers are poisonous to humans if eaten, there are some creatures that are immune and will try to make a quick snack of the creeper, though they have to catch it first. While they are slow-moving most of the time, they can move quite fast if threatened.