Page 138 - Monster Manual [11th Print]

FUNGI
With its sky of jagged stone and perpetual night, the
Underdark is home to all manner of fungi. Taking the
place of plants in the subterranean realm, fungi are vital
to the survival of many underground species, providing
nourishment and shelter in the unforgiving darkness.
Fungi spawn in organic matter, then break that matter
down to consume it, feeding on filth and corpses. As
they mature, fungi eject spores that drift on the lightest
breeze to spawn new fungi.
Not needing sunlight or warmth to grow, fungi
thrive in every corner and crevice of the Underdark.
Transformed by the magic that permeates that
underground realm, Underdark fungi often develop
potent defensive mechanisms or abilities of mimicry
and attack. The largest specimens can spread to create
vast subterranean forests in which countless creatures
live and feed.

GAS SPORE
The first gas spores are thought to have been spawne
from dead beholders, whose moldering corpses fed a
parasitic fungus with aberrant magic. Having long since
adapted into a unique plant creature, a gas spore grows
quickly and purposefully out of any corpse, creating a
malevolent-looking mockery of the most feared denizen
of the Underdark.
E y e T y rant's Form. A gas spore is a spherical,
balloon-like fungus that resembles a beholder from a
distance, though its true nature becomes increasingly
obvious as one approaches it. The monster possesses
a blind central "eye" and rhizome growths sprouting
from its upper surface, superficially resembling a
beholder's eyestalks.
Death Burst. A gas spore is a hollow shell filled with a
lighter-than-air gas that enables it to float as a beholder
does. Piercing the shell with even the weakest attack
causes the creature to burst apart, releasing a cloud
of deadly spores. A creature that inhales the spores
becomes host to them, and is often dead within a day. Its
corpse then becomes the spawning ground from which
new gas spores arise.
Beholder Memories. A gas spore that sprouts from a
beholder's corpse sometimes carries within it memories
of its deceased parent. When the gas spore explodes, its
deadly spores cast those memories adrift. Any creature
that inhales the spores and survives inherits one or
more of the beholder's fragmented memories, and might
gain useful information about the beholder's former lair
and other nearby places and creatures of interest.
S H R I E K E R

A shrieker s a human-sized mushroom that emits a
i
piercing screech to drive off creatures that disturb it.
Other creatures use the fungi as an alarm to signal the
approach of prey, and various intelligent races of the
Underdark cultivate shriekers on the outskirts of their
communities to discourage trespassers.