Dragon	-	Monsters	-	Dragon #120
-	-	Notes	-	-

From the journals of Shulheddin, Master Thief, founder of the "Soft Hands"
B r o t h e r h o o d :

"… Kedulkin, who was always the eager
one, claimed the right to descend first,
since it was he who had discovered the
shaft. If it was indeed a way into the Lost
City, there would soon be treasure enough
for us all, and so we agreed. Taking a deep
breath of fresh air, Kedulkin drew one of
his throwing blades and a dropline, and
vanished through the opening without
fanfare. The fighting-men crowded close
around, trying to peer down into the
gloom, but Mairclyn and I were too cynical
to stay that close, and too old to be taken
by surprise from behind in such lawless
country. We were eyeing the tumbled
rocks all about with ready weapons when
there came the muffled thud of an explosion beneath our feet, followed by startled
cries from the warriors. Kedulkin made no
sound as his body, tangled with the rope,
was flung high into the air like a child?s
doll, coming down to sprawl torn and
lifeless on a high rock. Mairclyn and I
were well away on the next rise when the
fighters began stumbling about in a
spreading yellow cloud of spores, coughing and crying out. Some were blinded,
some shivered uncontrollably, and all
seemed dazed and witless. We decided to
leave that place ere a breeze came up to
carry the spores our way. . . "

From the  Bestiary of Creatures Strange
and Wonderful,  a tome of unknown authorship presently in the library of Piergeiron?s Palace, Waterdeep:

?One of the deadliest deceivers in nature
is the  aniatha,  or gas spore, a creature
which precisely resembles the dreaded
beholder. If an aniatha is struck and
pierced, it explodes violently, injuring all
within seven paces or so. Here follows all
that is presently known of the true nature
of this odd and hazardous creature.

?An aniatha is a large, mobile, fungoid
plant of unusual sophistication. It derives
energy from visible light, particularly
sunlight, and feeds on other plants to gain
chlorophyll (necessary for this process)
and cellulose (which it uses for structural
growth and repair). In this, it is no different from the luminescent ?crawling nightmoss? and other ambulatory fungus
growths found in the forests and thickets,
and it is just as unintelligent. But an aniatha has the unusual natural ability of
levitation and floats slowly about, turning
so as to absorb the maximum amount of
light in the vicinity ? sunlight, if above
ground, or torchlight or phosphorescence
if in subterranean regions. Areas of  continual light radiance often serve as underground lairs for gas spores. The false eye
of an aniatha (so-called because of its
external resemblance to the central visual
organ of a beholder, whose magical
powers the aniatha does not share) is
indeed an eye, which is sensitive to all
l i g h t   a n d   e n a b l e s   t h e   c r e a t u r e   t o   o r i e n t
itself so as to gain the maximum possible
available light, identify food, and navigate
through its surroundings.

?The gas spore also has 10 tentacle-like
arms which resemble a beholder?s eyestalks. These arms, sometimes called rhizome growths, are actually the feeding
organs of the gas spore. With them, an
aniatha sucks molds and lichens from rock
walls, leaves from treetops and aerial
plants, and duckweed or pond scum from
the surface of pools of standing water. The
arms also help the aniatha ?walk? delicately along rock walls, tree trunks, and
the like, keeping the central body of the
gas spore from injury against such obstructions. Under certain conditions, the
arms also discharge rhizomes. Gas spores
often group together where food and light
are plentiful, but they have no apparent
intercommunication, and never attack or
feed on each other.

?The danger to adventurers lies in the
aniatha?s asexual means of reproduction.
The interior of a gas spore is a hollow
cavity filled with gas, in which a cloud of
rhizomes is suspended (in whirling motion), nourished, and protected. These
reproductive spores are produced on the
i n t e r i o r   s u r f a c e   o f   t h e   g a s   s p o r e   a n d   r e leased into the gas storage bladder when
fully developed. Here, they whirl at a
constant temperature and pressure, until a
t e n t a c l e   o f   t h e   g a s   s p o r e   t o u c h e s   t h e   f l e s h
of a warm-blooded mammal of gnomish or
greater size (for such are the aniatha?s
minimum needs for a reproductive host
c r e a t u r e ) .   U p o n   s u c h   c o n t a c t ,   t h e   f l e x i b l e
tentacle exudes moisture to create a temporary airtight suction-seal with the flesh
of the mammal, and a jet of rhizomes is
expelled through the hollow tentacle,
where they stick to the hapless victim?s
skin, thus infesting the mammal. The
t e n t a c l e   c o n s t r i c t s   t o   p i n c h   i t s e l f   s h u t   a t   i t s
base (within the spherical body). The
creature then withdraws from the mammal. Adventurers report that severing
tentacles does not cause the central body
to leak or explode.

?Warm-blooded creatures of sufficient
size are located by a gas spore?s infravision. The aniatha will pursue such a prospective host until the creature is
contacted or until pursuit is ended by the
d i s a p p e a r a n c e   o f   t h e   c r e a t u r e ,   b y   a   b a r rier, or by the availability of other food.
(Being unintelligent, an aniatha will break
off pursuit immediately to ingest plant
material.)

?Unless the rhizomes are destroyed by
magical means, an infested host creature
dies, sprouting 2-8 gas spores from its
b o d y .   I n   t h e   l a s t   f e w   h o u r s   b e f o r e
t h e i r
emergence, the growing spores eat away
and absorb surrounding bodily fluids and
tissue material, leaving only the empty
husk of the host.

?If the tough, fibrous epidermis of a gas
spore is ruptured and its gaseous interior
contents are mixed with air, it will explode, as mentioned earlier. Accidental
c o n t a c t   w i t h   b r a n c h e s ,   r o c k ,   f l e s h ,
a n d
other obstructions rarely splits an aniatha?s skin ? it must be pierced by a thorn,
spike of rock, or the cutting edge of a
weapon or similar object in order to rupture. It is the violent reaction of the gas
spore?s internal gas with air ? ?a mere
accident of nature,? as the eminent naturalist, Gessage of Neverwinter, puts it ?
that makes the gas spore infamous and
dangerous. It is thought that the tiny jet of
gas exposed to the air when rhizomes are
ejected at an intended host does not explode because it is chemically altered by
cells within the tentacle, so as not to react
with air. There is certainly no truth to the
belief that a gas spore must die (that is,
explode) to reproduce.

?Any aniatha that lacks sufficient food
and energy to remain fully active will
hibernate, floating motionless or drifting
aimlessly in air currents with its bodily
processes halted, eye closed, and tentacles
curled in upon itself. Such suspended
h i b e r n a t i o n   c a n   l a s t   f o r   c e n t u r i e s ,
until
nearby light, heat, noise, or movement
revives the gas spore. Truly, it is a curiosi t y   o f   o u r   w o r l d ,   i f   n o t   a   s e n t i e n t   c r e a t u r e
proper in the sense that others in this
b e s t i a r y   a r e . ?
 

Notes



1. The explosion of a gas spore does 6-36
hp damage to all beings within a 20' radius
(half damage if a saving throw vs. wands is
made). Warm-blooded mammals within
this range must also save vs. poison at +3
to avoid being infested with rhizomes (see
note 5 for effects). Any creature in direct
contact with an exploding aniatha (i.e.,
touching the aniatha physically or with a
held weapon) takes full blast damage with
no saving throw, but saves normally versus
rhizome infestation due to the force of
the blast, which tends to drive most rhizomes
past the victim. This saving throw
vs. rhizomes represents the possibility
of being infested at any time while a character
is within the spreading, dissipating
spore cloud -- creatures within the
vicinity need not roll for a saving throw
each round.

2. A gas spore?s levitation is a natural,
spell-like ability, and is  not,  as is popularly
believed, linked to buoyant internal gases.
Instead, this ability is the result of an
independent power which is not fully
understood at present. In this way, the gas
spore?s  levitation is akin to that of the
beholder, and it is perhaps magical in
nature. Such  levitation is an ability held
only by the living plant and not by dead or
severed portions thereof. It enables the
aniatha to move 3? per round in any direction (horizontal, vertical, lateral, and at
any vector or angle), and is a strong force,
capable of resisting normal breezes (although a  gust of wind can often hold one
at bay), and is thus unaffected by  dispel
magic or  reverse gravity. A push or  repulsion spell is effective in fending off a spore
in most situations.

3. A gas spore?s eye has 12? infravision
and is sensitive to all forms of light and
heat energy. Presumably, it can also detect
vibratory and pressure-fluctuation disturbances, for a gas spore can detect noise
and movement within 6? (although how it
does this is unknown). It should be noted
that a gas spore?s eye cannot be blinded or
dazzled by sudden or intense bursts of
light, such as those produced by explosions and some creature and spell effects;
these are merely absorbed by the gas
spore.

4. A  cure disease spell cast upon any
rhizome-infested creature within 24 hours
automatically destroys all the  rhizomes.
Note that from 20 hours of infestation
until death (when the rhizomes hatch), a
host body is being eaten away from within
(see below).

5. Rhizome-infested creatures are  feebleminded within two rounds of initial infestation and cannot grasp objects, perform
tasks, or even move without aid. This can
only be cured by the application of  cure
disease as noted above. An affected person
could stand, for example, but could not
fight, defend himself, climb stairs, walk, or
even push open a door unaided. If the
character fell, he would lie unmoving until
helped up. After 4-7 turns (3 + 1d4), the
victim slips into a coma and remains
therein until cured or killed by the hatching spores, regardless of external stimuli.
(Application of a  temporal stasis spell
affects both victim and rhizomes normally,
effectively freezing their activity.) After 18
hours of infestation, a victim ravaged by
the spreading rhizomes must make a
successful system-shock survival roll to
avoid death. At 20 hours of infestation
(and every hour thereafter), a host victim
loses 1-4 hp. These losses accumulate until
death occurs, whereupon 2-8 spores erupt
from the corpse. These effects occur unless curative spells are used to halt the
growth of the proto-aniathas. A  cure disease will destroy the rhizomes at this
point, but will not cure any internal damage. By attaching themselves to such hosts,
the proto-aniathas provide themselves
with protein substances not found in plant
life ? substances which are essential to
their growth and survival.

Expelled, fledgling spores hatched from
a host are of small size (4? diameter), do
only 2-16 hp damage if ruptured, and are
otherwise identical to a mature spore.
They grow to full size at whatever rate
available food and light energy permit
(usually within the first one to five years
of life).