Forum > General Discussion
The Bestiary
GrumpyOldFart:
I'm gonna put this in here because I can't find a specific Bestiary board for new monsters.
Shrewflies: Lvl 1A, Base Move (Flying) 150', AT 1, MS/AQ VF/VF, Hits 5A
Attacks: Bite, Max "Tiny", +50. Add +10 to OB and increase Max result by 1 step for every 100 shrewflies attacking the same target in a given round.
# Enc.: 1 or 5,000 - 50,000
Shrewflies are a species of biting fly, like horseflies. But shrewflies are nearly the size of hummingbirds. They inhabit foothills and high plains, where most of the larva lie dormant for nearly the entire year. Occasionally you'll see a few around concentrations of livestock, but only a few. That is, for most of the year.
For the first two weeks in June, shrewflies swarm. This is when they look for mates outside their swarm, and lay eggs. They lay their eggs in rotting meat when they can, but any rotting material will do. They are entirely focused on eating, mating and laying eggs, as they will all die in the next two weeks. During this time they will strip any food in any form utterly bare, but will always take meat first if they have the choice. Two weeks later, the females who have mated lay their eggs, and all the adults die within a day or two. The grubs will mostly live underground until next summer. If a grub is exposed to the surface and can't burrow back under, it will mature to adulthood within 2 days, and it will die in 2 weeks.
Bats are one of their very few natural enemies. Most are not agile enough flyers and skilled enough hunters to treat a swarm of shrewflies the way other predators would treat a herd of grazing animals.
Basically a cross between locusts and piranha.
rdanhenry:
I would suggest changing the shrewflies to killing without eating. They need carcasses to lay their eggs in and it is not unusual for short-lived adult phases in insects to live on their reserves from eating as larva. As described, the adults are competing with their own young for meat. Killing in the first week and laying eggs in the now rotting victims in the second week of adult life would make a bit more biological sense and this change would not make the flies less dangerous. Furthermore, a region of full of animals killed and left to rot makes an interesting puzzle for a group that arrives a bit too late to fight the flies.
GrumpyOldFart:
Good point. Thanks.
I still think this forum is overdue for a Bestiary thread, though.
GrumpyOldFart:
So let's see.... modify "During this time they will strip any food in any form utterly bare, but will always take meat first if they have the choice" to "During this time they will eat anything living, but once something dies they lose interest." That way they ensure plenty of places to lay eggs.
providence13:
You probably know this but,
This reminded me of the Gallapagos Island blood fenches that developed into "stirges" in AD&D.
And your right! We do need more beasts.
Good post.
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