Recipe: Mushroom Stew (DO NOT GIVE TO NICE HUMANS, IT WILL KILL THEM; WE CAN EAT IT FINE)
Cooking time: 35-50~ mins
Serves 3-5
750ml water
1tbsp charcoal powder (use charcoal tablets if raw powder cannot be found)
15g-30g wild garlic, whole plant diced
40g dried common wormwood bark, powdered
150g poultry/avian meat, diced (doesn't matter which one, headcrab can act as substitute)
Equal parts (50g) mushrooms:
Fly agaric, fresh (can be dry if being transported)
Fool's funnel, fresh (same as above)
Scotch bonnet, dried in powder form
Clouded agaric, fresh (only the caps, can be dried but prefer fresh)
Jew's ear, made into paste (can be substituted with similar jelly-like mushrooms)
Salt & parsley to season
Step 1: Set the water to a medium heat. If unable to precisely determine heat,
yellow to orange flame.
Step 2: When bubbles start to form, add the meat and the fool's funnel. Reduce heat to medium-low if possible. Allow to simmer.
Step 3: Add the fly & clouded agaric, and the wild garlic. Their forms should start to loosen up and soften.
Step 4: In a separate container, mix the Jew's ear, Scotch bonnet, 20g wormwood, and the charcoal powder together. This will become a crimson-brown paste with a pungent odour.
Step 5: Add the fool's funnel, then add the above paste. Stir until there are no clumps of paste. The stew should be a dark brown colour with a distinct scent.
Step 6: Add salt & parsley. For a stronger flavour, add the remaining 20g wormwood.
Step 7: Let it stew for 20-30 minutes. Longer stewing means deeper flavours, and makes the voices quieter for longer.
Step 8: Serve.
Can be stored unrefrigerated for up to 72 hours before effects diminish and it becomes merely a nutrient source. Can be frozen to prevent effects from diminishing. If frozen, consume within 3 months (6 full moons).
This stew is lethal to humans (or at least very toxic and will make them very sick). Can be used as a poison added to other dishes. 100ml is enough to kill 1 person. Remember, 100ml per person.
If the voices are getting too much, drink some. Standard serving will be relaxing for 2-3 hours, inducing a state of euphoria and making the voices be quiet. It does not restore the vortessence or any vortal links; the green-ness is the delayed visual input of motion, and any other voices are probably people with you,
not kin speaking to you via vortessence. You will also feel fatigue and experience strange hallucinations; this is normal, they cannot hurt or help you. The people aren't real, it's you having memories of the attack, just wait it out and they'll go away. Try not to panic, it doesn't help. Drinking more won't make them go away, it will only make you feel more detached.
If I'm feeling down and unable to communicate properly, make this but DO NOT DRINK IT. Seriously. If you're reading this, then I probably don't want you to die, or you've already killed me. The picture is
The Enchanted Piper by William Holmes Sullivan. I found it in a leaflet for a museum, and found it nice.