Keptolo, Mushrooms, and Essek Thelyss’ Polyamory Panic
Let’s talk about Keptolo, consort of Lolth and the drow god of hedonism and male fertility. He is representative of the “ideal upper-class male drow,” and exemplifies “flattery, intoxication, rumor, and opportunism.”
And his symbol… is a mushroom. 🍄😏
Okay, amusing for obvious reasons, but bringing this over to Exandria I was reminded of the fact that mushrooms are a staple crop in the Dynasty, present in many of their dishes. This led to a conversation on a much beloved discord server about whether whole mushrooms would be a food with a sexual connotation, much in the same way some people still consider oysters an aphrodisiac. Perhaps they grind mushrooms into a powder for more versatile use, like with chaga powder, or they just chop them up so that the shape isn’t really noticeable.
And then it occurred to me: the Mighty Nein wouldn’t know any of that.
And Caduceus feeds them a lot of mushrooms.
What must poor Essek think when this pack weirdos of invites him over, asks him increasingly personal questions, asks if he thinks any of them are attractive, and invites him to get naked in a hot tub with them, and provides a dinner of deliciously grilled whole mushrooms?
…anyway the Essek-tells-Verin-he-thinks-the-Nein-are-all-propositioning-him fic is 2k words so far.