The Mycologists

The Mycologists as seen in Act I.

> Two into one! Two into one!
>
> The Mycologists before fusing cards in Act III

**The Mycologists** are characters in *Inscryption*. They serve major roles in Act I and Act III, and a minor role in Act II.

## Background

The Mycologists are a pair of heads fused onto the same body, with the main head appearing to be a doctor, and the smaller head appearing to be a mushroom of some kind. They are not actual doctors or mycologists, but they are obsessed with experimenting on cards to figure out the Karnoffel code. They appear to possess some level of power compared to other characters, being able to infest Leshy's Cabin with mushrooms and remotely hijack P03.

### Personality

The main head appears nervous, frequently stuttering over their words and often relying on the smaller head to elaborate or finish its sentences.
The smaller head often speaks in short, blunt sentences, and despite its size, it appears to have more influence over the main head than the other way around.

During Act III, most of these character traits appear to be dropped, as the main head no longer stutters, and the smaller head speaks more clearly.

### Relationships with other characters

The Mycologists are never seen directly interacting with other characters, as they seem to be an independent force within the game.
In the console-exclusive ARG, however, P03 requested them to experiment on James Cobb so that it might be able to turn him into a card and NPC. So it is possible that they have some level of co-operation with the Scrybes, but how much and to what extent is unclear. It can be assumed they are quite knowledgeable about the Scrybes as well, being able to hijack Leshy and P03's campaigns.

## Act I

### Event

Mushrooms and an operating table with two slots for cards will appear on the table, and Leshy will don a mask of The Mycologists.

The Mycologists will offer to fuse a pair of duplicate cards, merging their stats and Sigils into one. For example, if the player has two Wolves, one of which is a 3/2 with the Airborne Sigil, and the other is a 4/2 with the Mighty Leap Sigil, The Mycologists will combine them into a 7/4 Wolf with the Airborne and Mighty Leap Sigils. Cost will remain unaffected.

Pelts can also be fused together, which can be traded to The Trader in exchange for fused cards replacing all the options for that kind of Pelt. For example, if the player has 4 Rabbit Pelts and fuses 2 together, they will be able to choose 3 fused cards from the 8 fused cards presented from The Trader, even though they only have one fused Pelt.

If the player doesn't have any duplicates, the Mycologists will give the player a random card that the player already owns. This can range from a Bullfrog to a Mantis God, however Deathcards, Talking Cards, the Caged Wolf, and Ouroboros cannot be duplicated this way.

During card selection events, a small mushroom will appear next to any cards which the player already owns, indicating that selecting that card will give a duplicate.

After interacting with them, several mushrooms appear around Leshy's Cabin. They can be clicked to produce a sound but provide no gameplay effects.

### Kaycee's Mod

In Kaycee's Mod, the Mycologists act the same, although if you manage to get 2 Ijiraq and merge them, it may show that the stats have been added, but due to the peculiar nature of the placement of the card, the buff does not carry over when you play it. This is likely more of an unintended side effect than a bug, as the Ijiraq was not meant to be buffed.

They also have great synergy with Goobert's Event, as he will duplicate any of your cards, possibly with an altered infused Sigil.

## Act II

After defeating 2 Scrybes, The Mycologists can be found in their hut between Leshy's Cabin and Grimora's Crypt

Duplicate cards may still be merged, but they will ask for specific ones in the following order:

* Gravedigger
* Field Mice
* Sentry Drone
* Blue Mage

When merged, these cards will turn into a 'Spore' form. While their stats remain the same, their Sigil will be duplicated and occur twice.

If the player wishes to quickly obtain the required cards, it is advised they farm Foils at the Training Dummy and 'cycle' through The Trader's inventory in each area by buying cards until the desired ones are found. The four they ask for are always in the bottom left slot of her shop.

Once the player has merged four pairs of cards, a key will appear, which can be used in Act III.

## Act III

The Mycologists can be encountered as a secret boss. This requires the player to discover a hidden path diagonally from the Eastern Botopia waypoint, and to have obtained the key from Act II. Upon unlocking the door and entering the room, the table fills with mushrooms before The Mycologists hijack P03, filling the factory with giant mushrooms and starting the battle.

### Battle

#### Phase 1

The Mycologists' side of the board changes both visually and mechanically. The 3rd space gains a symbol on it, and the other 4 spaces gain arrows pointing towards it.

At the start of the player's turn, their cards on the 2nd and 4th space will fuse into a new card on the 3rd space, and all cards on the 1st and 5th space will move to the 2nd and 4th spaces respectively. The fused card will have all the Sigils and combined stats of all cards merged into it. If a card is already present on the 3rd space, it will have the cards merged into it, further enhancing its stats.

#### Phase II

After beating their first phase, The Mycologists remove all cards from their side of the board and fuse all the players cards in the same way theirs were, then play and fuse an Explode Bot and an Alarm Bot.

For the rest of the fight, cards on both sides of the board will fuse together in the way previously described.

#### Strategy

The Mycologists' boss fight can be a tough challenge, and it is advised the player defeats 2 or 3 Uberbots before attempting it. Explode Bots can be useful for destroying The Mycologists fused card, as it often has very high Health. The Adder form from Transformer may also do well, although it is advised you put it on a card with Nano Armor so it may survive the potentially very high Power of the fused card.

If the player wishes to obtain a powerful Mycobot as a reward, they should note that the card in the middle takes priority for the Cost, so a 1 Energy card is ideal, with a free Build-a-Card being the best choice for this. It is recommended that cards with good Sigils are also on the board so the Mycobot can obtain it. If the player has a strong Ourobot, it is advised to be placed before Phase 2 to ensure it becomes merged instead of instantly winning. It should be noted, however, that the opposing merged card will always have the Detonator sigil. Because of this, it is best to ensure your Mycobot will have more than 10 health upon the start of Phase II so it can survive the explosion when the opposing card dies.

#### Post-Battle

After the player wins, the Mycologists merge a Gem Detonator with The Daus into a fragment of the OLD\_DATA, which they take before disappearing, leaving P03 confused about what happened. If the player had a surviving merged card, it is added to their deck as a Mycobot.

## Trivia

* The Mycologists may be based off of Josef Mengele, a nazi physician infamous for his human experimentation and was particularly interested in twins, at one point stitching two of them together.
* A possible reason as to why The Mycologists are obsessed with doubles might have to do with the fact that, in the wild, fungi also reproduce by sending out spores which end up creating exact clones of themselves.
* The Mycologists share many visual similarities with Jeremiah from *The Hex*, another game made by Daniel Mullins.
	+ Both of them have similar skin tones.
	+ Both of them appear to be old, having white or graying hair.
	+ Both of them are connected to mushrooms, having a large one growing out of the side their heads.
	+ Both of them wear golden eyewear, with Jeremiah having a monocle and The Mycologists' glasses.

## Quotes

### Act I

* Starting Event:
	+ **Leshy:** "You found yourself among a grove of thick and pungent mushrooms. You squint to see a figure through a thick cloud of spores."
		- **Main Head:** "We are **The Mycologists**, yes?"
		- **Small Head:** "Yes."
		- **Main Head:** "A-and we are performing our experiments far from- from-"
		- **Small Head:**"We are not welcome elsewhere."
		- **Main Head:** "We will experiment on your flock, yes? We- we need **2 of the same** creatures?"
		- **Small Head:** "One for each of us."

* Fusing cards:
	+ **Main Head:** "I- I think this could get messy."
		- **Small Head:** "Look away."

* After fusing cards:
	+ **Main Head:** "Th- The <card name>.. It is now one?"
	+ **Main Head:** Wh- what have we done?

### Act III

* Start of battle:
	+ **Main Head:** "We have gained control of the robot!"
		- **Small Head:** "Complete Control!"
		- **Main Head:** "We must now experiment."
		- **Small Head:** "We must play a card game."

* During Battle:
	+ (fusing cards)**Main Head:** "Two into one!"
		- **Main Head:** "Two into one!"

* Player wins the battle:
	+ **Main Head:** "Could it be?"
		- **Small Head:** "it is!"
		- **Main Head:**" Our experiments... paid off!"
		- **Small Head:** "They did!"
		- **Main Head:** "It appears to be a fragment."
		- **Small Head:** "...Of the OLD\_DATA."
		- **Main Head:** "We must study it."
		- **Small Head:** "The Robot must forget."

* Player losses the battle:
	+ **Main Head:** "The Experiment is incomplete."
		- **Small Head:** "We need more time."
		- **Main Head:**" We must restore The Robot."
		- **Small Head:** "We must return."

* Rematch:
	+ **Main Head:** "We are back!"
		- **Small Head:** "We are back."

## Achievement

Achievement

The easiest way to gain this achievement is with Pack Rats, which can be reliably obtained by visiting the backpack event with a full inventory. Once you have one pack rat card, it is easier to maintain a full inventory and get more at these events.

## References

1. ↑ "A-and we are performing our experiments far from- from- We are not welcome elsewhere." -The Mycologists initial dialogue in Act I.
2. ↑ "Look away." -The Mycologists small head before a card is fused in Act I.
3. ↑ **Big Head:** J-James Cobb? We... we... **Little Head:** We operated on him. **Big Head:** Oh... oh no... **Little Head:** The Scanner doesn’t do flesh so we worked on him. **Big Head:** B- but... he volunteered? **Little Head:** 25% bot, 54% bot, 75%... Mm. That’s when he started to get crazy. -The Mycologists talking about experimenting on James Cobb in the Act II during the console-exclusive ARG.