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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Theo R Cwithin" data-source="post: 5635206" data-attributes="member: 75712">The gelatinous dewcap is a nearly transparent toadstool that grows nearly anywhere, though it prefers domestic fallow fields.  When moonlight strikes the dewcap, its rootlike rhizomes are stimulated to swell into pale lumpy tuber-like growths.  Certain fey folk raise a a particular species of echidna, the azure spine-snuffler, which has an affinity for the ripest of the dewcap's tubers.  Trained spine-snufflers can seek out the the toadstools during blue moons, and gently dig up the swollen growths in the same manner that trained pigs are used to unearth truffles.  When collected, the dewcap's pale tubers are allowed to dry in rainbow-bearing sun for a few days, before being painted by trained fey folk artisans to look like miniature bald human-folk.  These freshly painted fungal tuber dolls are dressed in bonnets, bibs and booties, then dispersed to favored villagers. (Broken, withered or otherwise imperfect tubers are distributed to villagers held in lowest esteem).  While the fey-folk see this as a grande joke, the human-folk inexplicably usually view the peculiar gifts as a boon.Eventually these fungal tuber poppets take on some of the facial and personality characteristics of their new "parents".  When provided a healthy diet and exercise, the human-fungi slowly expand over the course of two decades into full-fledged human-folk.</blockquote>