Myceliaweave Circlet (Patreon)

Wondrous item, legendary (requires attunement)

This fungus-covered wooden circlet is riddled with a tangled web of mycelia. While wearing it, you are always under the effects of the speak with plants spell. This version of the spell only allows you to understand and speak to fungi, instead of all plants. In addition, your Constitution score increases by 2, to a maximum of 22, and you are immune to poison damage. Whenever you would take poison damage, you can instead spend one Hit Die to magically regain hit points (no action required). When you do, roll the Hit Die, add your Constitution modifier, and regain a number of hit points equal to the total.

The circlet can also be used to cause new fungal growth to spring forth under your command. While wearing it, you can cause a patch of mushrooms and other fungi to grow from a 5-foot square of soil that you touch over the course of 1 minute. Alternatively, you can use this property to grow this fungus on a Large or smaller corpse. When you do, you can choose to reanimate that creature. This creature uses the statistics for a shambling mound, regardless of its previous form or abilities, with the exception that it has immunity to poison damage and regains hit points when subjected to poison damage, instead of lightning damage. It remains for 8 hours or until it's reduced to 0 hit points, at which point it collapses and can't be used as a target for this property again.

The reanimated creature is considered a fungus for the purposes of being able to communicate with it and is friendly to you and your companions. It obeys any verbal commands that you issue to it (no action required by you). If you don’t issue any commands to the creature, it defends itself from hostile creatures but otherwise takes no actions. In combat, it shares your initiative count, but takes its turn immediately after yours. Once the circlet has been used to reanimate a creature in this way, it can't do so again until the next dawn.

Curse. Once you attune to this magic circlet and wear it, you can't remove it unless you die or are targeted by the remove curse spell, as the fungal growth and mycelium network latch onto your body. When your attunement to the circlet ends, your Constitution score is reduced by 2 (to a minimum score of 1) until 2d6 + 6 days have passed or until you attune to the circlet again. Further, a creature reanimated by the circlet becomes hostile to you and your companions and no longer obeys your commands if your attunement to the circlet ends.

I watched the shambling rot tear him apart. I made it tear him apart. And I knew I'd wanted it to, but I knew the circlet craved that violence more. To spread. To grow. To consume.

I couldn't stand it. My hands gripped its edges, tearing with all the strength in my shaking limbs. I felt it tearing away, the roots beneath my flesh ripping free. You can't imagine the pain, but even as my vision flashed I knew I must be free of it.

I awoke, the pain still barely faded hours later. Reaching up, I felt the rotting wood still weaving its roots into my skin, into my mind. And I knew it never belonged to me.

I belonged to it.