Gloomwasp
Gloomwasps are large, shadow magic-infused wasps that emit a toxic radioactive violet light known as "blacklight".1
Appearance
A gloomwasp is a dark violet wasp that can grow to become as large as a dog in size. Its stinger and antennae are luminescent with its radioactive blacklight.1
Abilities
A blacklight's sting corrupts those it strikes with blacklight, which causes the injured foe to emit the same violet light. They can also focus their corrupted light to imbue other objects with the same glow, or emit it as rays of ultraviolet light that can bypass many means of defense and are especially harmful to fungi, molds, oozes, the undead, and light-sensitive creatures.
Their relationship with shadows also makes them more difficult to strike when in dim light.1
Ecology
Gloomwasps mutated from mundane vermin exposed to radioactive energies in the Darklands. If migrating gloomwasps are not controlled upon entering a new region, they can quickly form radioactive nests of up to two dozen gloomwasps in cavern ceilings, tunnels, and hollow stones.
Gloomwasp grubs are about the size of rats and feed on blood regurgitated by mature gloomwasps of their nest. As the grubs grow, they encase themselves in hexagonal cells within the nest and mature until they emerge weeks later as fully grown specimens.
They possess a rudimentary, if not sapient, intelligence; they communicate through pheromones, dances, and light displays to cooperate and hunt larger creatures—including humanoids—as a cohesive unit. When they attack, they prefer to strike only a few times before retreating, allowing the debilitating effects of their blacklight radiation to weaken their foes over days until the prey becomes helpless.1
Known examples
Individual gloomwasps have been encountered on the Blighted Path in Nar-Voth.2
References
Gabriel Almer created gloomwasps for the Top 8 round of RPG Superstar 2015.3
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 . “Appendix 2: Monsters” in Down the Blighted Path, 55. Paizo Inc., 2016
- ↑ . “Chapter 2: Winding into Darkness” in Down the Blighted Path, 29. Paizo Inc., 2016
- ↑ . “Appendix 2: Monsters” in Down the Blighted Path, 52. Paizo Inc., 2016