Beltaine Bells
It's not too difficult to tell them apart but getting wrong is deadly, so some rulers ban the consumption of Beltaine Bells in their lands, or at least ban them from their kitchens. Though if you are really paranoid, you can always default to magical poison detection spells if you aren't sure."-Aleesia the Satyr, priestess of Nami and expert in hearth wisdom.comissioned portrait of Aleesia the Satyr by Zeta Gardner"The Beltaine Bells refer to two mushroom species that grow in the southern and central forests of lFumaya amd the northern and central forest of Swynfaredian. They only pop up about a one month a year, around Beltaine and they are vaguely bell-shaped. There are two types of Beltaine Bells,:"Dinner Bells" and "Funeral Bells". One type is quite delicious and the other type is quite poisonous. They look identical until you flip them upside down. The bottom of the cap of a Dinner Bell is light yellow and the bottom of a Funeral Bell is reddish orange. Once steamed or baked, the color difference disappears as they both turn brown. Once cooked, the colors fade rapidly, so you can no longer tell by looking. To a trained nose, you can tell by scent, but a lot of humans can't do it. Since coloration is the main way people tell them apart, there are tales of illusionists changing colors to fool people, both ways. Making a poisonous mushroom look like a tasty mushroom can of course be used to try to murder someone but making a tasty mushroom look poisonous is a good to keep people from stealling your food.
Mechanics & Inner Workings
-Lloyd the Physicianby Me with Hero Forge"If ingested, a Beltaine Funeral Bell attacks the liver. Depending on the quantity, you might be able to save a patient without magic by inducing vomiting within two hours. Otherwise, magical healing is necessary. Purification will save someone's life, but if the magic is applied in late-stage poisoning the subject will live but will have permanent liver damage that can only be fixed by guru level regenerative Healing theurgy which is hard to find. Now if you have Belltaine Dinner Bells, I'd recommend steaming them or frying them in butter. It doesn't need any spices, so as not to cover up the natural delicious taste. Also, Beltaine Funeral Bells have a bitter acrid taste. No one will accidentally swallow one unless the bitter taste is concealed with lots of spices and flavorful sauces. Another reason not to put too many foreign flavors your Beltaine Dinner Bells, just in case the mushrooms were misidentified."
Significance
-Tanoa, gnome tailor's wifeby me with Hero Forge"There is a gnomish proverb that Fumayan humans have picked up. 'It looks like you have some Beltaine Mushrooms'. Which means 'It looks like you have a very important decision to make, and bad things will happen if you pick wrong.' Unfortunately, just like many humans throw away perfectly good mushrooms out of an overabundance of caution, many humans faced with a metaphorical set of Beltaine Mushrooms, they choose to do nothing."
Ahh the ever present danger of mushrooms. Always there are some that like to hide as if the edible ones only to pack a truly unpleasant surprise twist.