Gloomwing

Large monstrosity, neutral

Armor Class 12
Hit Points 75 (10d10+20)
Speed 10 ft., fly 40 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
14 (+2)	15 (+2)	14 (+2)	2 (-5)	12 (+1)	10 (+0)

Skills Perception +3, Stealth +4
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages –
Challenge 2 (450 XP)

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Implant. As an action, a gloomwing can lay eggs inside a Small or larger helpless or dead creature. A creature implanted with gloomwing eggs must make a DC 12 Constitution save each morning; on a failure, the creature takes 10 (3d6) necrotic damage and its maximum Hit Points is decreased by the same amount. A creature whose maximum Hit Points are reduced to 0 or below dies. Within 24 hours of a creature’s death from this damage, 1d4 young tenebrous worms emerge from the corpse, devouring it completely in the process. The eggs can be destroyed via any effect that cures disease.
• Pheromones (Recharge After a Short or Long Rest). As a bonus action, the gloomwing can activate its pheromones. At the beginning of its next turn, it emits a strange, musky scent in a 30-foot radius. All creatures within this area (except for other gloomwings or tenebrous worms) must make a DC 12 Constitution saving throw at the beginning of each of the gloomwing’s turns to avoid becoming weakened by the pheromones. A creature that fails it saving throw has disadvantage on Strength checks, Strength saving throws, and attack rolls based on Strength for 1 hour. Creatures that are immune to being poisoned are unaffected.

ACTIONS

• Multiattack. The gloomwing uses Hypnotic Wings. Then it attacks with a bite and claws.
• Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8 + 2) piercing damage.
• Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d6 + 2) slashing damage.
• Hypnotic Wings. The eerie shifting of patterns on a gloomwing’s wings is hypnotic. Any creature within 30 feet that does not avert its gaze from the gloomwing must make a DC 12 Wisdom save or become confused for 1 round. Gloomwings and tenebrous worms are immune to this effect. An affected target can’t take reactions and must roll a d10 at the start of each of its turns to determine its behavior for that turn.

d10	Behavior
1	The creature uses all its movement to move in a random direction. To determine the direction, roll a d8 and assign a direction to each die face. The creature doesn’t take an action this turn.
2-6	The creature doesn’t move or take actions this turn.
7-8	The creature uses its action to make a melee attack against a randomly determined creature within its reach. If there is no creature within its reach, the creature does nothing this turn.
9-10	The creature can act and move normally.

Gloomwings are strange, moth-like natives of the Plane of Shadow. Despite their appearance, they are not vermin and possess a crude but serviceable intelligence.

Some gloomwings are conjured via magic to serve as guardians or even mounts, and occasionally a gloomwing will slip through a tear in the fabric of the planes and make the journey to the Material Plane on its own.

A gloomwing loose on the Material Plane is active for 2 to 3 hours at dawn and again for 2 to 3 hours at dusk, preferring to spend the remaining hours of the day hiding in abandoned buildings, caves, or deep canyons or foliage where the shadows are thickest. During its periods of activity, it flies through the sky on the hunt for creatures to attack and implant its eggs in—the gloomwing does not need to eat, leaving this urge to propagate its species as its primary drive.

Lethal Larvae. For all the dangers a gloomwing presents, it is the creature’s young that pose the gravest threat. These creatures are known as tenebrous worms, and despite being the larval form of the adult gloomwing, are much more dangerous creatures.

The fact that a gloomwing can lay several eggs a day if presented with enough living hosts makes them dangerous not for what they can inflict themselves, but for what they can spawn.