High in the frozen mountains of The Delicester Ranges, an adventuring party approaches the cavern lair of a young silver dragon. The goliath leading the group silently calls signals them to stop as they all freeze in place.
Between bellows of wind, a faint buzzing is heard within the cave above. The frostflies got here first. Trying to step back, the dwarf at the rear trips and curses. The rest of the group look in horror as the buzzing rises to match the volume of the wind, revealing a swarm of white and blue bursting out from the cave.
There's no time for a careful descent, as the party throw themselves from the heights of the mountain, hoping that the wizard remembered to prepare feather fall today...
Menace of the Mountains.
In everything but name, frostflies are much more like giant bees or wasps than they are like flies. They resemble honeybees, with blue and white stripes of fur across their body. The adults are up to two feet long, and incredibly aggressive.
Frostflies make their home in burrowed hives in the ice and snow and hunt in large swarms. They use their numbers and icy cold bodies to envelop their prey, creating a ball of frostflies that suffocates and freezes the creature to death.
Once they have killed their prey, the frostflies suck nutrients from the dead creatures body, turning it into Frostfly Sap, a bloody and sticky ooze that resembles the texture of honey, but is highly poisonous. This frostfly sap is sometimes used to lure unsuspecting creatures to the swarm.
When hunting, older frostflies scout ahead of the swarm alone, finding and attacking new prey. Generally these scouts will be defeated by the prey, a feature that is by design. When they die, frostflies release a scent that the swarm can detect from up to a mile away. Within two minutes, the swarm will descend upon the location, attacking and killing the prey.
Swarm Tactics
When engaging groups of enemies, such as an adventuring party, frostflies will typically form three to five "swarms" which will attack. One or two of these swarms will focus on balling around singular enemies while the remaining frostflies will swarm the other enemies, stinging them, and exposing them to their frigid air ability.
You can find stat blocks for the Frostfly and Frostfly Swarm on DnDBeyond
Mandatory Nicholas Cage
This post is part 15 of my series for Whumptober 2021. The prompt for this post is "Feed A Cold, Starve A Fever."
View other parts here.
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