Rime Slick

Rime Slick
"There ain't ice in the 'greal, don't go touchin' no iced-up trees." - Woodsman' Advice #4

Summary:
Erupting outwards from certain species of evergreen conifers within the upper heavy-rainfall regions of Sangreal, appears a white fungus. It appears almost crystalline, jutting outwards in spine-like structures that tend to group in clusters of five to seven. It is this appearance and similarity in structure to ice crystals of the far north that have given it the moniker, 'Rime Slick'. Wet to the touch, and visibly almost transparent, this fungus is particularly aggressive towards conifer trees, The main tactic of this aggressive fungus is a progressive girdling of the conifer's bark, and once accomplished this inexorably leads to the death of the trunk. Once deceased, the entirety of the tree will be consumed from the bark, inwards. It is an off-white, translucent color being much like the ice of its namesake.
   
Word-of-mouth tails warn of extremely large examples of Rime Slick being capable of expressing digestion processes that can erode and progress through living tissue. That being said, scholars do not believe in the validity of a fungus being able to infest or deal much damage to living tissue beyond contact with toxins. Younger samples of Rime Slick do not seem to exhibit much toxicity, and there has been little success in alchemical cultivations of the plant to an age great enough to investigate these claims. 
   
Basic Description:
Rime Slick is a surface-dwelling fungus that exclusively infests the bark of conifer trees on the island of Sangreal. It maintains the appearance of a crystalline, frost-like structure upon the bark, often forming structures of spikes in clusters of five to seven. Similar in translucency and appearance to rime frost of the far north, the crystals are generally off-white in color. Texture is similar to to that of tofu or cheese, firm but able to be crushed and pressed between the fingers.

Rarity: Uncommon

Location:
General throughout the Sangreal. It is a fairly common fungus when small, and larger sizes in the progress of girdling trees are typically rarer. Most have been destroyed due to association with folklore, but rumor is held that there was once an entire copse of trees in the Goggledol that were infested by fully-grown Rime Slick. Allegedly destroyed by an expedition, there have been no appearances of colonized rime slick organisms.
   
Properties:

• Spongy, ice-like appearance.
  
• Inedible, high water volume, invasive fungus.
  
• Exclusive to conifer trees.
  

   
Special Properties:

• Extremely large and mature varieties of Rime Frost may be capable of digesting living tissue.