Nhalis

Appearance

Nhalis, commonly called amnesia grass, grows in the Middle and Lower Underdark. Though it resembles long, fine grass, it survives without sunlight and may be closer to a colonial fungus than a surface plant.

Dormant nhalis is almost transparent, with a faint blue-white glow at the base of each blade. Movement causes light to race across a colony in widening waves, like wind crossing a night sea. The light accompanies the release of microscopic spores.

The forgetting

Inhaled spores attack memory in layers. Short exposure causes confusion, lost words and the loss of immediate purpose. Continued exposure removes recent memories, personal identity and learned behaviour. In the densest fields, victims may eventually forget how to stand, swallow or breathe.

The danger compounds itself: the victim forgets the need to escape before becoming physically incapable of doing so. Companions entering the field may forget whom they are trying to save. Potency increases with depth; ancient lower colonies can strip identity within minutes.

Memories can sometimes be restored by specialised alchemy if the victim is removed quickly enough. Such potions are difficult to brew and usually require fresh material gathered from the same region.

The Canyon of Forgetting

The best-known exposure occurred during the Expedition to the Heart of Earin. The Devil awoke deep within a mature field after the expedition fell into a canyon. Marlo, Erynd and Vorstag recovered him despite having already lost most of their own memories.

An elderly Fizz and his wife later brewed the restorative draught that returned the party's identities. Underdark travellers call great fields of nhalis the pale forgetting.

Notes and record

This article combines campaign record, spoken lore and the mythic account preserved in the Earin archive.