Description:
Ribrune Barb is a venomous desert fungus, named for its resemblance to jagged rune-scars along bleached ribs. It thrives in places touched by ruin and memory—battlefields lost to sand, the bones of oathbreakers, or shrines long swallowed by heat. Lying low in the dust, it waits with thorned lips and a venomous breath, punishing the careless and the cursed alike. Its touch wounds, its spores confuse, and its presence feels like the earth itself remembering pain.
Structure & Growth:
- Grows in staggered rows or solitary clusters where stone fractures under sun and time
- Flattened cap with hooked, barb-like edges that curl inward as it matures
- Short, thorn-covered stalk that splinters easily into flesh or hide
- Anchors deep into mineral veins and dried root systems, often breaking tools if uprooted
Color & Spores:
- Outer surface is bone-dry and pale, streaked with faded crimson and greenish veins
- Cap splits open midday to release a faint cloud of red-brown spores
- Spores cling tightly to skin, fur, and cloth—causing dizziness and muscle tremors
- Thorns blacken with age and are sometimes mistaken for broken arrowheads or curse-charms
Scent & Reaction:
- Carries a dry, acrid scent like scorched sage and old blood
- Inhaling spores results in blurred vision, clenched jaw, and disorientation
- Thorn exposure causes spreading heat, followed by slow-onset paralysis
- Used in venom-oils, desert rituals of binding, and the silent trials of oath-marked clans
Folklore:
"The Barb grows in the shape of a curse." In desert folklore, Ribrune Barb is said to rise where guilt was never spoken and punishment never claimed. Seers warn that it spells names in thorns—those who disturb it may inherit a forgotten sin. In times of blood-feud, its thorns are pressed into traitors’ palms so that truth may be drawn out or silence kept forever. Some desert hunters burn the Barb on cold nights to keep lying spirits at bay—though the silence afterward is never trusted."
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