| Dragon magazine | - | Monster Manual III | - | Dragon #83 |
From an address by the naturalist Elm-
daerle to the assembled Guild of Naturalists
in Arabel:
“. . . Understandably, little research has
disgusting and dangerous creature, the
been done on the life and habits of that
stirge. I have endeavored to learn what
I
can of them, and have, as you can see,
brought along a specimen.
"No, no, it's quite dead. . . . The
stirge, as we all know, subsists entirely
on a
diet of blood, and will attack all warm-blooded
mammals, although it seems to
prefer man. Quite often, stirge swarms
follow herds of domestic or nomadic
animals -- cattle, caribou, and sheep being
most often afflicted; and where such herds
are, one should always expect to meet,
and
be prepared for, these little fellows.
Caravans,
traveling pilgrims, and even armed war-bands
have been harried through wilderness
areas by large flights of stirges;
we've all heard the gruesome stories of
drained, white victims and a few lucky,
narrow escapes. I've studied these creatures
for some time, to get at the truth -- and
the
tales and legends, I fear, are not far
wrong.
“In flight, the stirge is highly maneuver-
able(1), and groups of
them are capable of
cooperative unison attacks and mid-air
actions. As you can see, it is really little
more than an expandable blood-bag with
wings, eyes, and claws — for clinging onto
prey — and a long, hollow needle-beak or
proboscis, admirably suited for drawing
blood. This specimen appears to be of about
average size, measuring just under one
foot
from top of head to tip of tail, and with
a
wingspan of just less than three feet.
The
wings may look unusually large, but if
they
were smaller, the stirge would not be able
to
maneuver as well as it does when its body
cavity is filled with blood.
“The proboscis, properly treated, can
serve as a sharp but brittle stabbing
weapon, much favored, I am told, by gob-
lins and similar unpleasant creatures.
When
the stirge is alive, the proboscis contains
at
its tip a supply of clear liquid, produced
in
the stirge’s body and steadily replenished;
this is an anti-coagulant, which mixes
with
a victim’s blood to keep it from clotting
in
the proboscis or in the stomach where it
ends up. The stirge, because of its diet,
can
transmit diseases —malaria, for instance
—
from one victim to the next. (2)
“Ingested blood passes straight into the
stomach. This serves as a storage bag which
the creature always tries to keep at least
partially full. From this reservoir the
crea-
ture draws small quantities into lesser
cavi-
ties located just beneath its backbone.
There its body processes convert blood
sugar into body energy, and ingested blood
into plasma balanced for its own bodily
use,
so that it can replace its own lost blood
and
hasten its recovery from wounds. (3)
“The interior of its wings is interlaced
with thin-walled blood vessels. By flapping
its wings, the creature fans air over these
surfaces, and thus cools its body when
in
hot sun or volcanic steam. Much of the
tissues of the stirge are liable to be
tainted
with disease, but the knots of muscle here
and here, just behind the head and atop
the
spine, at the bases of the wings, are humanly
edible. I would have liked to bring a
prepared, sample meal with me tonight,
but
I was uinable to procure more fresh stirges
-- and
once a stirge's legs have stiffened after
death, no part of its body is safe to eat.
“The creature’s claws are not strong
enough to be effective weapons for the
beast, but they are firmly embedded in
its
legs and at the midpoint of the leading
edge
of its wings, and they enable the creature
to
maintain; tenacious hold once it has attached
itself to its prey. The claws serve
some cloth-makers and workers for carding
wool, brushing away hairs and garments,
and so on. They are not strong enough for
the fanciful uses attributed to them in
the
tales of thieves -- they are far too brittle
and small to serve as grappling hooks for
climbing-lines.(4)
"Stirges swarm to attack prey, which is
why they are so feared -- one can be a
formidable foe, but a large group can be
deadly to even well-defended creatures.
Stirges usually lair in forests, disused
castles,
or caverns, and may incidentally possess
treasure from victims who have fallen
to them therein, or from hoards laid down
before their arrival, but they are not
intelligent
enough ot value, or bargain with,
treasure as we know it. A ranger of my
acquaintance tells me that stirges in deep
woods like to drive prey into tangled ravines,
so that the victims cannot escape
readily, or find steady footing, room,
and
balance to defend themselves properly --
and any treasure carried by these unfortunates
may well be found among their bones
at the bottoms of these ravines.
"Although a thirsty swarm of stirges may
seem endless when they're all swooping
down at you, typically only three to thirty
nest together in a colony, from which they
fly out in all directions to find food,
usually
in groups of three. By means of wagging
their probosci, stirges can communicate
that
food or a dangerous enemy has been found,
its direction, size or strength, and a
degree
of excitement or urgency regarding the
desired reaction of the whole swarm. If
a
flight of three sitrges finds prey, they
will
circle to observe it, and then two will
harry,
chase, or if it is strong merely fly along
observing it, while the thrid stirge flies
for
home. Its message will spread via all the
stirges it meets, and to all who call in
home
at the nest, and they will gather in a
group
to seek out the prey and kill it. Small
prey is
merely attacked by the hunting threesome
for their own gain, and they gives its
location
only later, if blood yet remains for their
fellows. (5)
“Winter cold does not seem to affect
stirges in any way, and they breed freely
throughout the year. They reproduce by
live
birth, in litters of one to three young,
with a
gestation period of six months. Males and
females are outwardly identical in size
and
appearance to our eyes. The tiny young
cannot fly properly, but only glide, and
are
carried on the mother's back for up to
four
months, until their blood-drinking from
prey (6) provides sufficient
nourishment for
them to grow to about half of adult size.
Then they can maneuver on their own, and
in another three months at most they reach
full adult size.
"I suppose that most of you have never
seen a young stirge, and I regret that
I
could not procure one to bring as a specimen.
The adults, however, you all should
know: pests feared by man and beast alike.
My colleagues Ainsbrith and Bremaerel of
Westgate are experimenting with poisoning
stirges, but so far report limited success.
Just as they are apparently immune to the
diseases they transmit, so are they unaf-
fected by the same poisons that harm us;
the creatures seem both adaptable and of
rugged constitution.
“And that, fellow naturalists, is a brief
look at the stirge. As more information
becomes available, I will share it with
the
group, and I will expect each of you to
do
the same.”
-
1. Stirges are flight class
A; if their wings
are damaged and/or they are fully bloated
with blood, and/or they have only 1 or
2 hit
points, they may be reduced to Flight Class
B or C and 16” or 12” aerial movement
rate, at the DM’s option. A mother with
young on her back (see text and note 6
below) is penalized even further, dropping
down one more flight class and another
4”
in movement rate, compared to what she
would be if she were not so encumbered.
2. Diseases
contracted from stirges will
almost always affect the “blood/blood-
forming organs”of the body (see DMG),
and be of the acute type. There is a 5%
chance for any adult stirge to transmit
a
disease to its victim on a successful hit.
3. Stirges can always regenerate
lost body
parts (over a period of 1-3 months) or
heal
even the most severe wounds (replacing
up
to 4 lost hit points every 24 hours), so
long
as their heads and spines remain relatively
undamaged, and food — i.e., fresh blood
— is plentiful.
4. Stirge claws resemble
the better types
of fish-hooks, in that they are both hooked
and barbed, curving to a point, which has
a
side-fin or point projecting backward from
its tip toward its shaft, in the same way
that
the edges of an arrowhead form two points
facing back toward the flight-feathers.
In a
live (un-stiffened) stirge, these barbs
are not
rigid, but can be retracted into the claw
by
means of strong cartilage-and-muscle link-
ages —thus, a stirge can hook itself into
a
victim through gaps in metal armor or by
simply piercing leather or lighter clothing,
so that it cannot be torn free except by
also
tearing away parts of its victim’s flesh
(1-2
points of damage per claw torn out, 4 claws
per stirge). In determining whether or
not a
stirge’s attack is successful, consider
a
missed “to hit” roll as indicating that
the
creature’s claws failed to latch on to
the
intended victim or victim’s clothing/armor.
If a stirge hits successfully, it has grabbed
on
with its claws and struck with its proboscis
in the same round; generally, a stirge’s
proboscis can strike into or through any
surface on a victim that its claws can
attach
to. Immediately after death, a stirge’s
mus-
cles relax, and it ceases both to drain
fur-
ther blood and to hold its barbs in — but
if
it is not removed from its victim within
4-6
turns, and is allowed to stiffen while
at-
tached, the barbs will have been extended
again as the stirge’s muscles convulse,
and
the body of the stirge will then have to
be
torn free of its victim, doing damage as
specified above. If it is attached to armor,
but not flesh, then the creature will be
easily
shaken or pulled loose by normal movement
when its muscles are relaxed.
5. As many as six stirges
can comfortably
(for the stirges, that is) attach themselves
to
the body of one man or other M-sized crea-
ture at the same time. Sometimes more
than six will do so, but usually only if
the
entire swarm is very thirsty, if the victim
is
a solitary creature, and if the victim
has
enough blood (i.e., hit points) so that
each
of the attackers can drain at least a little
blood. A charitable DM might rule that
each stirge after the third one attacking
a
single target does so at a cumulative -1
“to
hit” (-2 for the fifth, -3 for the sixth,
etc.),
because the target is, in effect, smaller
since
other stirges are already attached.
Stirges will attack the trunk of a victim’s
body in preference to the extremities,
since
the target area is larger, and those who
sink
their claws into a victim’s back will be
virtu-
ally immune to counterattack by the victim
himself. A companion can try to attack
the
stirges on a victim’s body, but if he misses
such an attack and rolls 4 or more under
the
number needed “to hit,” he hits the victim
instead of the stirge, and the weapon strike
will do half normal damage (round down)
to
the victim. The first successful attack
by a
stirge will be upon a victim’s back 66%
of
the time (4 in 6 chance), or else on the
front
of the torso. If the first attack hits
the front,
the second successful attack will always
be
on the back. After that, other stirges
will
attach themselves to the extremities —
but
must always hit the victim’s original armor
class (not AC 10, even if the arm or leg
being hit is unprotected). This “hit loca-
tion” determination is useful in knowing
whether a stirge’s claws are embedded in
armor or flesh.
A stirge filled with its quota of blood
can
subsist on that nourishment for as long
as
72 hours, and can go another 24 hours
without food after that before starving
to
death. However, stirges will instinctively
seek out new prey starting 36 hours after
their last “full meal,” at which time they
will have digested half of their full capacity.
6. Although a litter of
young stirges.
(stirgelings) can number as many as three,
a
mother can only carry two offspring on
her
back while they mature. The other one
must survive on its own, or perish; other
stirges will not transport the young in
place
of the mother. For every eight stirges
en-
countered in a single group, whether in
their lair or otherwise, one of those crea-
tures will be a mother bearing 1 or 2 young
on her back. When a mother carrying
stirgelings scores a hit on prey, the young
on
her back can begin attacking on the round
following her initial hit. Attacks from
young
are at -2 “to hit,” they do 1 point of
initial
damage from the proboscis, and drain 1-2
hit points of blood per round on following
rounds, becoming sated at 6 hit points’
worth. The mother must be detached
(killed) to stop the young from draining.
If
she drains her full quota of blood, she
will
remove her proboscis but remain attached
to the victim until she feels her young
also
pull free, signaling that they have also
drunk their fill. Stirgelings can easily
be
torn free from their mother’s back, and
typically have only 1-4 hit points. Stirges
who fall from their mother’s back without
being slain will die unless they can find
food
(usually by crawling into burrows to attack
young woodland animals).
OUT ON A LIMB
-
Right and wrong
-
Dear Dragon,
-
In the article on the stirge (issue #83), I
noticed
some differences between the description in the
magazine and in the Monster Manual. The
manual says "The feathers of a stirge
are rusty
red to red brown," and it also says, "The dangling
proboscis of a stirge is pink at the tip,
fading to gray at the base." The picture in the
magazine showed the wings to have no feathers
and the proboscis is shown as a straight beak.
Mike Peters
Curwensville, Pa.
(Dragon #87)
Sometimes, the authors of our ecology articles
draw conclusions that are different from assertions
in the Monster Manual, but
we don't worry
about the differences very much as long as
they're logically explained. Our illustration of the
stirge depicted a bat-like creature with feathers on
the crest of its head, but not on the wings. This
goes along with the passage in the article about
how the stirge cools its body by flapping its
wings. If the blood vessels in the wings were
insulated from the surrounding air by a layer of
feathers, this cooling process would not work as
described. A stirge's proboscis can be "dangling"
(pointing downward) and rigid at the same time,
which is how we tried to portray it -- and it must
be stiff, or the creature wouldn't be able to penetrate
the skin of its victims.
-- KM
(Dragon #87)
| Dragon magazine | - | Monster Manual III | - | Dragon #83 |