With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

[Windona]

Well, I think OL just said "Huh, Ivy told the Accala to stay away, that does not apply to me." (I kid, I kid.) Though if Ivy and Euthane have fallen to Anti-Life, well, this is going to be a hell of a boss fight.

Oh, don't worry, those aren't specific to Australia. We Californians imported them.

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Gotta have that wonderful Eucalyptus oil, huh?

 

[Prince Charon]

Oh, don't worry, those aren't specific to Australia. We Californians imported them.

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... the state with lots of wildfires imported the plant that explodes when burnt. It's sad that I can't be surprised by this.

 

[Mr Zoat]

... the state with lots of wildfires imported the plant that explodes when burnt. It's sad that I can't be surprised by this.

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I was thinking this, but thought it might be a bit Rule 8.

 

[GhostKing 666]

Hugo himself is sitting cross-legged on the top of a ancient flat-topped pyramid. Tourism has become a lot more difficult since the Accala and Euanthe destroyed the interior's road networks. A few brave souls still make the journey, but otherwise they're mostly used as meeting points. The Accala aren't Aztecs after all, and their culture has diverged quite a lot from the Mayans.

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Just... how? I thought the Accala were in Brazil. How the hell are they descended from the Mayans(a people who lived 3000+ miles further north in southern mexico) much less built a Mayan pyramid in the middle of the Amazon Rainforest.

 

[PDV]

Gotta have that wonderful Eucalyptus oil, huh?

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No, this was earlier, pre-1900. They wanted to turn scrubland into forests quickly to beautify the views out their windows. Good news: Eucalyptus grows quickly, so this worked. Bad news: It produced large forests of Eucalyptus.

... the state with lots of wildfires imported the plant that explodes when burnt. It's sad that I can't be surprised by this.

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We have successfully cleared it away from the residential areas in most cases. The worst cases for wildfires, exurbs unwisely built in the middle of the forests that periodically burn, are okay on this front. They didn't have a eucalyptus problem even to start, because it was only planted near the 1800s boomtowns. But yeah, it doesn't help; the Oakland Hills still have a lot and managing them is a difficult job.

 

[Windona]

I was thinking this, but thought it might be a bit Rule 8.

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Is stating a geographical feature rule 8? Maybe I need to familiarize myself with how it works more.

No, this was earlier, pre-1900. They wanted to turn scrubland into forests quickly to beautify the views out their windows. Good news: Eucalyptus grows quickly, so this worked. Bad news: It produced large forests of Eucalyptus.



We have successfully cleared it away from the residential areas in most cases. The worst cases for wildfires, exurbs unwisely built in the middle of the forests that periodically burn, are okay on this front. They didn't have a eucalyptus problem even to start, because it was only planted near the 1800s boomtowns. But yeah, it doesn't help; the Oakland Hills still have a lot and managing them is a difficult job.

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ah, it's the "oh kudzu and English Ivy look great!" and then 100 years later 'aw hell' problem. Though at least it doesn't sound as bad as kudzu.

 

[Stsword]

Just... how? I thought the Accala were in Brazil. How the hell are they descended from the Mayans(a people who lived 3000+ miles further north in southern mexico) much less built a Mayan pyramid in the middle of the Amazon Rainforest.

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That would be less weird to me if Zoat had used the Lost World connection.

In the comics, you see, the Dannered tribe lives in Arthur Conan Doyle's Lost World, with the dinosaurs and the ape-men.

Geographically inappropriate lost civilizations are apparently completely normal to find in such places.

Lost Roman colonies seem particularly popular.

 

[xSieg]

"God, yes."

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This is unbelievably pedantic, but assuming that Hugo's speaking portuguese nowadays, he'd say "by God, yes." instead.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Just... how? I thought the Accala were in Brazil. How the hell are they descended from the Mayans(a people who lived 3000+ miles further north in southern mexico) much less built a Mayan pyramid in the middle of the Amazon Rainforest.

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Well, there are several possible reasons. The first would be that I don't actually know much about South American geography. The second, that Accalacan actually covers a good chunk of northern South America, and the third, that the Accala come from a small plateau covered in dinosaurs and so culturally could come from anywhere.

 

[Mr Zoat]

This is unbelievably pedantic, but assuming that Hugo's speaking portuguese nowadays, he'd say "by God, yes." instead.

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Huh. I'm not sure that he would. I don't think an American of his generation would have learned it in school, and he was mostly living in the jungle. He probably knows some Portuguese, but he'd be better at native languages.

He was speaking English to the SI.

Is stating a geographical feature rule 8? Maybe I need to familiarize myself with how it works more.

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You wouldn't think so, but it relates to the policies of the morons who signed off on planting the stuff and then complained about the fires.

 

[Coda]

gained that capacity; to lie, to feel lust

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Semicolon should be a dash or a colon.

 

[Mr Zoat]

31st December 2012
19:17 GMT -3

For a confused moment I think it's dragged me down into the city, but what I initially thought were plant-covered ruined tower blocks are… Actually rotting trees, towering over the streets even as the inside of their trunks rot and great fronds of fungus sprout from their sides. Vines wrap around them and hang between them, but they don't look all that healthy either. Their leaves have holes in them and the vines themselves seem shrivelled and woody. The ground is hard and dry earth, dead roots poking through here and there to break up the surface.

I… Think I'm in the Green. Looks like a mess.

"Hello?"

Metal shield and its associated seeds -interesting choice of projectile- didn't come through with me. I've still got my armour and rings, so I generate construct armour, and…

A branch falls from high above, hitting the ground in front of me and exploding into dry rot.

Oh, this isn't good.

I'm not going to try manipulating the Green from inside the Green, but if I get a little height I might be able to spot Euanthe or Isley. If they're here.

Well, someone fired those seed pods at me, and low-lethality isn't the way Apokolips does things. So, presumably, someone wants me here. And if there are Apokoliptians here, somehow, then fighting them is part of my job so them finding me just saves me time.

"Orange Lantern T-. Illustres here!"

I look over at the closest dying tree as I float upwards. It's alive but barely, and in parts. But while this is more the idea of a tree than an actual tree, I should be able to patch it up. I look around to see if there's any obvious point of interest but it really just looks like more of the same. Dingy, too, as the plant's idea of the sun is obscured by the plant's idea of rain clouds.

Okay, time to fix the plant. Fixing the inner wood is pretty simple, it's the outer bark that's the complex part. And I've got no idea what these… Spiritual reflections of trees are supposed to look like outside of their general structure. Should I make… Side branches? Leaves? Are they trying to mimic the structure of buildings, or is this a model of a successful tree, choking out all rivals in a show of strength of the sort every plant wishes it could replicate?

Let's just fix the obvious stuff and hope that-

"No."

-it-.

A wave of dark specks pass over me, each one settling into a self-created divot on my construct armour and… Spreading out, polluting and draining it. I part the armour away from the direction of the attack, flying back and thrusting the construct away before dismissing it and creating a replacement.

Where did that-?

Another cloud descends from above, and it-. Moves like dust, moving with impetus-.

Construct fan, blow it back the way it came. The dust is somewhat affected, but where it touches either the vines or the tree it starts eating at them. Okay, not what I wanted. Wide-beam maser construct, wait for-. There, movement near the top of the tree. I fire the maser, which-. Does nothing because the Green has no concept of microwave radiation. Switch to chemical flame thrower and back up back up, transmute fuel, aim and fire!

My fuel spurts out, the dust cloud igniting a moment later, and-. And that was highly flammable! I fly back and then up, trying to spot whatever it was that I saw a moment ago. Just more manky-looking wood, but-.

"Rot."

Warning: spell eater temperature increasing.

And I see it. Looks a little like the fungus person I saw on Alstair, only partially submerged in rotten wood.

"Oi! You!"

"Wither and die, feed-."

I lash out with an orange beam. I mostly want to grab… It? And try interrogating it, rather than just kill it. If that's even possible here. But my target ducks back into the wood and disappears before the beam can reach it.

Okay, if that's how you want to play it.

I trace the outline of the tree it's attached to and insert filaments into the trunk-.

A new.. spore cloud, bursts from one of the fungal growths. That simplifies matters. I open up with my flame thrower again, allowing the relatively normal burst of heat to waft over my construct armour. Then I send construct cables into the frond and tear it free, setting my ring to work on fixing the tree beneath.

Good. Now, if I guess right and the fungoid can't move through healthy wood, it should-.

Another cloud, another burst of flame to incinerate it. If I was a druid myself I'd consider some sort of burn off ritual to renew the area, but since I'm not I'm going to have to do it a little slower. Can't.. see the fungoid, but I don't need to see to repair the tree.

"Decay from within."

Warning: spell eater temperature increasing.

Sound coming from there, keep up the flame throwing and send cables to make repairs to the wood here and here.

And then-.

"Die-"

The flames billow and something lands on me as I try to evade. I'm seeing damp rotting wood and fungal growths in a humanoid shape, black-glowing talons which-

"-and feed me!"

Pull the cables back and bind its arms!

-is disturbing, but perfectly-.

The weakened wood of the arms falls apart, releasing a new wave of spores at point blank-

Backupbackupbackup!

-range!

Abandon construct armour again, cables constrict further and assimilate, because you're a rot creature and you're trying to kill everything.

"Decay from without!"

Connection lost.

Then increase the temperature on the flame thrower.

Compliance.

"GYAAAAAGH!"

Wood crackles and burns, flames clearly visible under the exterior wooden shell as damp rot loses moisture!

"Constructs don't burn. Your choice. Assimilate."

No resistance detected. Identity theft complete. Nameless fungoid of the rot, you belong to the Orange Lantern Corps.

And…

And the flames die down, and I see the rest of them.

 

[Vanbers]

No resistance detected. Identity theft complete. Nameless fungoid of the rot, you belong to the Orange Lantern Corps.

Click to shrink...

Hey, at least things will be far more lighthearted with such a fun guy around. Eh? Eh?

 

[Old Knife]

... This sounds like the Black/the Rot

 

[Handlewithcare]

So my guess is the Anti-Life got into the Grey, which has logically little resistance to it's memes, and then attacked the others.

And Euanthe wants Paul as her Friendly Neighbourhood Exterminator

Edit: Never mind, I thought the Grey covered rot, but Old Knife is correct I think

 

[Stsword]

So my guess is the Anti-Life got into the Grey, which has logically little resistance to it's memes, and then attacked the others.

And Euanthe wants Paul as her Friendly Neighbourhood Exterminator

Edit: Never mind, I thought the Grey covered rot, but Old Knife is correct I think

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I doubt that.

The Rot is post flashpoint, and is decay, not fungi.

The Grey is fungi.

Most likely Zoat is giving fungi jurisdiction over the process of decay, since in point of fact it's fungi and bacteria that cause decay in actual reality, and calling it the Rot.

Bacteria and fungi being responsible for decay was a plot point in Swamp Thing- Swamp Thing decided to destroy the Rot, and convinced the Grey and the Divided to pick up the slack.

 

[Chojin Patriarch]

31st December 2012
19:17 GMT -3

For a confused moment I think it's dragged me down into the city, but what I initially thought were plant-covered ruined tower blocks are… Actually rotting trees, towering over the streets even as the inside of their trunks rot and great fronds of fungus sprout from their sides. Vines wrap around them and hang between them, but they don't look all that healthy either. Their leaves have holes in them and the vines themselves seem shrivelled and woody. The ground is hard and dry earth, dead roots poking through here and there to break up the surface.

Click to shrink...

Oh, that can't be good. Is it the Anti-Life doing this, or... Oh, shit. Fungus? Looks like another elemental Kingdom is taking a shot while everything else is distracted. Shit piling on shit...

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

I… Think I'm in the Green. Looks like a mess.

"Hello?"

Click to shrink...

The Green itself must be seriously sweating, if it's pulled a living entity nominally tied to the Red into its' spiritual realm... Then again, OL is so full of Avarice that he's not really a being of just meat anymore...

Metal shield and its associated seeds -interesting choice of projectile- didn't come through with me. I've still got my armour and rings, so I generate construct armour, and…

A branch falls from high above, hitting the ground in front of me and exploding into dry rot.

Click to shrink...

I'm guessing Swamp Thing is elsewhere, fighting off an attack by the Rot. Otherwise, he'd be out here...

Oh, this isn't good.

I'm not going to try manipulating the Green from inside the Green, but it I get a little height I might be able to spot Euanthe or Isley. If they're here.

Click to shrink...

I figure Euanthe might have some spiritual presence here, being a creature of plant-kind. But Ivy, not so much.

Well, someone fired those seed pods at me, and low-lethality isn't the way Apokolips does things. So, presumably, someone wants me here. And if there are Apokoliptians here, somehow, then fighting them is part of my job so them finding me just saves me time.

"Orange Lantern T-. Illustres here!"

Click to shrink...

Well, there goes any kind of stealth. I mean, as stealthy as a glowing orange human could be in a realm of plant-beings...

I look over at the closest dying tree as I float upwards. It's alive but barely, and in parts. But while this is more the idea of a tree than an actual tree, I should be able to patch it up. I look around to see if there's any obvious point of interest but it really just looks like more of the same. Dingy, too, as the plant's idea of the sun is obscured by the plant's idea of rain clouds.

Click to shrink...

After all, Intent can count for a lot in such an eldritch realm.

Okay, time to fix the plant. Fixing the inner wood is pretty simple, it's the outer bark that's the complex part. And I've got no idea what these… Spiritual reflections of trees are supposed to look like outside of their general structure. Should I make… Side branches? Leaves? Are they trying to mimic the structure of buildings, or is this a model of a successful tree, choking out all rivals in a show of strength of the sort every plant wishes it could replicate?

Click to shrink...

Which makes me wonder what the giant redwoods and mega-plants in various parts of the world look like here...

Let's just fix the obvious stuff and hope that-

"No."

-it-.

Click to shrink...

Ah, the villain of the piece. I wonder if it's an actual being, or merely a condensation of Anti-Life factors...

A wave of dark specks pass over me, each one settling into a self-created divot on my construct armour and… Spreading out, polluting and draining it. I part the armour away from the direction of the attack, flying back and thrusting the construct away before dismissing it and creating a replacement.

Where did that-?

Click to shrink...

Ugh. Because of course here, the manifestation of decay and consumption is capable of affecting conceptual things like Lantern Constructs.

Another cloud descends from above, and it-. Moves like dust, moving with impetus-.

Construct fan, blow it back the way it came. The dust is somewhat affected, but where it touches either the vines or the tree it starts eating at them. Okay, not what I wanted. Wide-beam maser construct, wait for-. There, movement near the top of the tree. I fire the maser, which-. Does nothing because the Green has no concept of microwave radiation. Switch to chemical flame thrower and back up back up, transmute fuel, aim and fire!

Click to shrink...

Yeah, now, fire, it understands, both Green and Black alike. Probably going to be your best weapon here, OL.

My fuel spurts out, the dust cloud igniting a moment later, and-. And that was highly flammable! I fly back and then up, trying to spot whatever it was that I saw a moment ago. Just more manky-looking wood, but-.

"Rot."

Click to shrink...

This might be the absolute best place for 'Kill it with Fire' to be applicable.

Warning: spell eater temperature increasing.

And I see it. Looks a little like the fungus person I saw on Alstair, only partially submerged in rotten wood.

Click to shrink...

Hmm... Merely a minor spirit of the Rot, or an empowered aspect? Or worse, a New God?

"Oi! You!"

"Wither and die, feed-."

Click to shrink...

...And apparently, it does not like you at all.

I lash out with an orange beam. I mostly want to grab… It? And try interrogating it, rather than just kill it. If that's even possible here. But my target ducks back into the wood and disappears before the beam can reach it.

Okay, if that's how you want to play it.

Click to shrink...

Time for some surgery, tree-lopper-style?

I trace the outline of the tree it's attached to and insert filaments into the trunk-.

A new.. spore cloud, bursts from one of the fungal growths. That simplifies matters. I open up with my flame thrower again, allowing the relatively normal burst of heat to waft over my construct armour. Then I send construct cables into the frond and tear it free, setting my ring to work on fixing the tree beneath.

Click to shrink...

Heh. set yourself on fire, because then they can't grab you.

Good. Now, if I guess right and the fungoid can't move through healthy wood, it should-.

Another cloud, another burst of flame to incinerate it. If I was a druid myself I'd consider some sort of burn off ritual to renew the area, but since I'm not I'm going to have to do it a little slower. Can't.. see the fungoid, but I don't need to see to repair the tree.

Click to shrink...

You like your mod-cons too much to play a Druid, OL. Best stick to a Wizard for now.

"Decay from within."

Warning: spell eater temperature increasing.

Click to shrink...

I hope the spell-eater's conceptual protection is a lot more effective here.

Sound coming from there, keep up the flame throwing and send cables to make repairs to the wood here and here.

And then-.

Click to shrink...

Carving out the cancerous growth, one spot at a time. This really is surgery.

"Die-"

The flames billow and something lands on me as I try to evade. I'm seeing damp rotting wood and fungal growths in a humanoid shape, black-glowing talons which-

Click to shrink...

Okay, no godspeech, so likely just a Rot-creature. And now I'm picturing a Myconid...

"-and feed me!"

Pull the cables back and bind its arms!

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I can see OL being a lot tastier looking. Fungi do like animal tissues more than plants.

-is disturbing, but perfectly-.

The weakened wood of the arms falls apart, releasing a new wave of spores at point blank-

Backupbackupbackup!

Click to shrink...

And even though fungal spores can find it harder to take root in living animal flesh, it can happen...

-range!

Abandon construct armour again, cables constrict further and assimilate, because you're a rot creature and you're trying to kill everything.

Click to shrink...

Likely to be super-effective, since its' only desire seems to be to consume.

"Decay from without!"

Connection lost.

Click to shrink...

...Including consuming things like Spectrum energy. Yikes.

Then increase the temperature on the flame thrower.

Compliance.

Click to shrink...

Ooh, toasty. Like, bread toasted till it's starting to get that ashy scent. Love that. ...What? I like my toast dark.

"GYAAAAAGH!"

Wood crackles and burns, flames clearly visible under the exterior wooden shell as damp rot loses moisture!

Click to shrink...

...And every plant nearby quivers in fear. Especially since many of the local wildlife remembers the loggers...

"Constructs don't burn. Your choice. Assimilate."

No resistance detected. Identity theft complete. Nameless fungoid of the rot, you belong to the Orange Lantern Corps.

Click to shrink...

New Construct Lantern get! A more fitting replacement for Fatty, certainly. Albeit a nastier one.

And…

And the flames die down, and I see the rest of them.

Click to shrink...

...Well, spit.

Well, that is definitely bad. And now I think I can guess why Swamp Thing isn't here. He's probably dealing with his own flood of fun-guys. Let's hope it's only localised, though. Wonder if this was an intended effect of the Anti-Life broadcast, though? The fact that a Green-aligned being like Black Orchid was involved... We assumed it was just to use geomantic channels, but what if...

 

[BlueMangoAdea]

Rot construct. That's going to be fun to play with.

 

[Z000]

oh wow, when was the last time Paul actually got a summon, he keep dumping them or not bother making any because of personal reason

let hope this level 1 shroom live long enough

 

[Old Knife]

Paul taking control of all fungi does not sound sexy at all.

 

[theaceoffire]

but it I get a little height

Click to shrink...

If.

Maybe this is how it got global reach, by infecting the green...

 

[Mr Zoat]

If.

Click to shrink...

Thank you, corrected.

 

[mastermenthe]

If.

Maybe this is how it got global reach, by infecting the green...

Click to shrink...

I fully expect that an Antilife broadcaster was smuggled into Brazil, one way or the other.

We would have seen the same general result if one had been built in Themyscira: Constantine's barrier would have been useless to a spread from within.

 

[Windona]

Well, that certainly is bad. Though there's potential for a lot of the fun guys to be part of the same being.

No wonder Accala is having a bad time.

 

[Abandoned Account]

Welp, time to go on a mass assimilation spree.

 

[Ardy]

Damn, this is the most dangerous+highest stakes episode Paul has had in a while.

I appreciate it.

 

[Bramble Thorn]

No resistance detected. Identity theft complete. Nameless fungoid of the rot, you belong to the Orange Lantern Corps.

Click to shrink...

Normally it takes at least some time, but the antilife had apparently already brought down their defenses.
And that's how I co-opted a significant fraction of the local "Elemental Colour Court" ecosystem.
And the spot formerly colored grey is now a shade of Mustard Gas.

 

[SpiritualSlacker]

Hey, at least things will be far more lighthearted with such a fun guy around. Eh? Eh?

Click to shrink...

Get out. Right now.

 

[Vaermina]

No resistance detected. Identity theft complete. Nameless fungoid of the rot, you belong to the Orange Lantern Corps.

And…

And the flames die down, and I see the rest of them.

Click to shrink...

Why did he Assimilate something infected with Anti-Life?

Didn't he just get directly told this was a bad idea?

 

[Mr Zoat]

31st December 2012
19:21 GMT -3

Dozens of lumpy fungoid faces staring at me from their perches in the rotten boughs of the Green. I mark their locations as I slowly gain height. There doesn't seem to be a 'roof' to this place, but at a certain point there are fewer tree-representations trying to reach for it.

I create a giant construct of myself.

"Yeah?! You want some too?! This is the Green!"

I continue making repairs to this tree while I still have their attention.

"And you're invaders! Leave, or be cast out!"

Most vanish back inside their trees, with a few staying on lookout duty. The trees they're in don't seem to be getting… Notably worse, so I assume that they're building something to fight me. Still not seeing Euanthe or Isley, but the tree I'm working on is almost back in a functional state. In fact, that's the last of the rotten sections gone and all the bark is connected up.

But it still feels… Incomplete.

I wince as I form the mandala. Okay, what could I have been doing wrong? Everyone I know who does this is a weird plant person either naturally or by adoption. I try to command plant life. Does that sound like something that Euanthe would do? No. Euanthe considers herself to be part of the plant continuum. She nudges and encourages, she doesn't just restructure piece by piece as she will.

The body is earth, the blood is magma. Think like a tree-. No, feel like a tree.

Not blood. Desires. The world is the soil where my roots grow and feed. Those concepts that I need to form the shape of myself flow up my skin and to the parts of me that need them. I reach out, taking what I need to grow.

I want to be… A tree.

Ah. I think that's working.

I mean, I've got no idea how to do anything complicated, manipulating it this indirectly. But for just getting the whole thing started up again, that appears to be doing it. I can see the tree looking more… Alive, than it did before. Parts that I didn't know what to do with are sprouting, small branches growing and leaf buds appearing.

One down, an entire plane to go.

"Tree, have you got any idea where Euanthe is?"

The tree says nothing.

"Fine. Fungoid, your name is now 'Gary'. Confirm directive."

"I confirm."

"What's going on, Gary?"

"We are led to a land of food which enriches the soul, nourishing us."

"This food would be… These living spiritual representations of plants?"

"They were alive. We struggle to eat the living wood. But something made them smell of death, taste of death. Taste of food."

I remember a film reviewer once saying that when the squids arose from the sea to dominate the Earth, Hellboy would serve as evidence of our casual anti-squid racism. I don't want to be racist against fungi. I'm sure that they serve a very useful ecological niche, and the fact that they're usually found on dying trees isn't proof that they made them die, any more than finding maggots in rotting flesh is proof that they made it rot.

But still.

"What has to happen for your kind to leave?"

"We will leave when there is nothing to eat."

"The place you were before this. What was it like?"

"Waiting, as a spore waits to germinate. Sometimes we would hear food and we would extrude one of us to consume it. But all there are as we are."

Ah, it's the old 'rabbits in Australia' problem. In a creature's own ecosystem there are all sorts of other creatures that live in balance with it, eating it or otherwise using it. Take it out of that, and it reproduces uncontrollably.

"How mentally complex are you?"

"What?"

Right. It's never been anything else; how would it know how to compare itself to anything else? It's an elemental creature, not a normal person who happens to be fungus-based. Even if it can engage in conversation, that doesn't mean that it can be persuaded to act out of its element any more than Euanthe can.

"Am I correct in assuming that you're some sort of fungus elemental?"

"Yes."

"Do you know what it was that made this place feel edible?"

"No."

"What were those decay-related abilities you used on me?"

"An extension of my nature. I am decay to things that are not like me."

"You can induce decay, and not just feed on it."

"It is tiring. But I am well-fed." For the first time it forms an expression. I think it's confused. "I was well-fed."

"Are there intelligent beings here who are not like you?"

"Yes."

"The tree I healed. Does it feel tasty to you?"

"Not… Now. But if I was not like this…"

Its structure changes, odd fronds projecting from its head and neck and waving in the air.

"Yes."

Which means that I can't leave it to the mercy of the others… Wait.

"Using your abilities on things that aren't rotting uses your strength. Whatever it is that made this place feel edible didn't actually make it edible. You had to use your powers to fully rot these trees, didn't you?" It nods as it pulls its fronds back in. "So how come you aren't all starving to death here?"

"There is more to eat."

Then… They have to be a symptom. Or possible a distraction. Magic loci resist being changed; you can't just take one and then add its strength to your own without losing something. Did something… Magnify their ability to rot things? And if so, where is the connection to this realm?

I want to defend something I've built, but I don't think that's the correct thing to do here. I need to find something more significant to work on.

"Take me to where you came in."

"Yes, Master."