A shrieker was a variant of the violet fungus known for the strange and loud noises it emitted to attract prey.[2]
Description
Shriekers were human-sized mushrooms. They were similar in appearance to violet fungi, but they lacked the ability to move and did not have tentacles with which to poison prey. They could produce a loud, piercing, screaming sound that tended to attract curious creature (or adventurers) to the area.[2]
They were immune to the poison of violet fungi.[2]
Habitat
Shriekers thrived in dark underground environments.[2] Besides being found in large numbers in the Underdark, shriekers also grew on the illithid homeworld.[3] The Flooded Forest was a dark enough environment for shriekers to grow there as well.[4]
Behavior
Shriekers could sense nearby motion or light and would respond with their namesake shriek. Each such screaming sound lasted between five and fifteen seconds. A patch of shriekers relied on violet fungi to kill prey with their poison, since a shrieker could not attack or move on its own. Like violet fungi, shriekers gained their nourishment from the breakdown of organic matter that had fallen nearby.[2]
Uses
In the Underdark, shriekers were sometimes placed intentionally to act as intruder alarms. House DeVir planted a shrieker among every fifth mushroom surrounding its compound to ward off potential attackers.[5]
Shriekers were poisonous to most creatures as food; however, the stomachs of hook horrors had adapted to digest them without issue.[6]
Appendix
Appearances
- Computer Games
- Novels
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford, Christopher Perkins (2014-09-30). Monster Manual 5th edition. Edited by Scott Fitzgerald Gray. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 137–138. ISBN 978-0786965614.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Skip Williams, Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook (July 2003). Monster Manual v.3.5. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 112–113. ISBN 0-7869-2893-X.
- ↑ Stephen Inniss (October 1989). “The Dragon's Bestiary: All life crawls where mind flayers rule”. In Roger E. Moore ed. Dragon #150 (TSR, Inc.), p. 12.
- ↑ Ed Greenwood, Sean K. Reynolds, Skip Williams, Rob Heinsoo (June 2001). Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 3rd edition. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 297. ISBN 0-7869-1836-5.
- ↑ Template:Cite book/Homeland (1990)
- ↑ Michael Persinger (March 1988). “The Ecology of the Hook Horror”. In Roger E. Moore ed. Dragon #131 (TSR, Inc.), pp. 42–46.