Memories of Ivershill: Trial by Mushrooms

Game Master: Andrew
Game Edition: AD&D 1st Ed
Players: Elijah and Adam
Starting Level: 3
Current Level: 3

Introduction

My cousin Adam is a regular guest of JADE, and often joins us for our impromptu rounds of Ivershill.

His favourite memory comes from one of the very first games we played, and I have to admit it is one of mine to!

This is the story he told me.

Trial by Mushrooms

Like the lead-up to a terrible joke told by a drunken bard, a Gnome, a Halfling and a Farmer sneak up to a Giant-Mushroom-infested Cabbage Patch. Silently.

Some Context: Strombo (a Gnome Fighter) and Nallo (a Halfling Thief) had been looking for some paid work in Ivershill when the distraught Farmer John cowered up to them, asking for assistance. He told them he needed some help getting rid of two Giant Mushrooms that had set up shop in his cabbage patch, and were ruining his harvest. He and his dear wife couldn’t afford another month without any crops to sell in the marketplace, he explained.

Nallo and Strombo were excited – their first job in Ivershill! The Farmer was a little nervous about the size of his new hired help, hoping for adventurers of a more heroic stature, but these fears were assuaged by Nallo, who assured the Farmer that despite their size, they wouldn’t fall short (Disclaimer: They do. Epically).

Arriving at the cabbage patch, our adventurers swa it was just how Farmer John had described it. But Strombo noticed something deeply troubling about one of the Mushrooms – it was purple, which he was able to identify as a Shrieking Mushroom. If anything falls within a 10-foot radius of a Shrieking Mushroom, it begins to scream, which in addition to being really annoying attracts all manner of wild, dangerous beasts. Perhaps most terrifying among these creatures, a Shambling Mound.

But Nallo didn’t seem too worried. Let’s deal with the Red Mushroom first, he said, and then we’ll figure out how to deal with the Shrieker after. The farmer invited them inside his house to plan, and this was Nallo’s first and last sensible idea of the day. His second idea: Let’s throw pots and pans at the Red Mushroom to weaken it!

To be fair to Nallo, Strombo did not protest and actually seemed pretty pumped to throw some kitchenware at a Giant Mushroom. The Farmer and his Wife began to silently doubt the competence of our two adventures but Nallo and Strombo didn’t seem to notice. Perhaps it would have been better if they did.

So Nallo threw the first pot. Even for a Halfling, this throw was pretty half-assed, missing the Cabbage Patch entirely. But the Shrieking Mushroom remained silent. No harm done. Next it was Strombo’s turn to throw.

Sometimes in Ivershill, you succeed. Sometimes, you fail. And then sometimes you throw a pot right at a Shrieking Mushroom and it screams like death itself, which attracts a Shambling Mound, which slaughters the kindly farmer you were supposed to be helping, leaving his poor, widowed wife alone in tears. This was one of those times.

Needless to say, Nallo and Strombo did not get paid.


Written by: Adam Gregory and Andrew Gregory