Tosculi, Hive-Queen

Family: Tosculi

Large monstrosity, lawful evil

Armor Class 17
Hit Points 189 (18d10 + 90)
Speed 40 ft., fly 60 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
17 (+3)	24 (+7)	20 (+5)	16 (+3)	16 (+3)	18 (+4)

Saving Throws Dex +11, Con +9, Wis +7, Cha +8
Skills Perception +7
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities charmed, poisoned
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 17
Languages Common, Deep Speech, Gnoll, Infernal, Tosculi, telepathy 120 ft.
Challenge 12 (8,400 XP)
Proficiency Bonus +4

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If the hive queen fails a saving throw, she can choose to succeed instead.
• Hive’s Heart. The hive queen knows the direction and distance to all members of her hive and the range of her telepathy extends to 20 miles when communicating with a member of her hive.

ACTIONS

• Multiattack. The tosculi hive queen makes four Scimitar attacks.
• Scimitar. Melee Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d6 + 7) slashing damage.
• Stinger. Melee Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 22 (6d4 + 7) piercing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 17 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 1 minute. While poisoned in this way, the target is also paralyzed. A poisoned target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. The hive queen’s potent poison can be removed only by the greater restoration spell or similar magic.
• Implant Egg. The hive queen implants an egg into an incapacitated creature within 5 feet of her that isn’t a Construct or Undead. Until the egg hatches or is removed, the creature is poisoned, paralyzed, and doesn’t need to eat or drink. The egg hatches after 30 days, and the larval tosculi bursts out of the host, killing the host in the process. A creature can take its action to remove the egg by succeeding on a DC 20 Wisdom (Medicine) check. Alternatively, a spell or effect that cures disease disintegrates the unhatched tosculi.

LEGENDARY ACTIONS

The hive queen can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature’s turn. The hive queen regains spent legendary actions at the start of her turn.

• Flight. The hive queen flies up to half her flying speed without provoking opportunity attacks.
• Stinger (Costs 2 Actions). The hive queen makes one Stinger attack.
• Glitter Dust (Costs 2 Actions). The hive queen beats her wings and creates a cloud of glittering, golden particles. Each non-tosculi creature within 20 feet of her must succeed on a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw or be blinded until the end of its next turn.

LAIR

Hive queens make their lairs deep within the most protected part of the hive. Dozens of corridors lead to her lair, allowing the hive’s tosculi to reach their queen at a moment’s notice should she need it. This is also the place where tosculi eggs hatch, making it a critical location for the survival of the hive. When encountered in her lair, the tosculi hive queen has a challenge rating of 13 (10,000 XP).

On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the hive queen takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects; the hive queen can’t use the same effect two rounds in a row:

• Biting Brood. Hundreds of biting and stinging insects erupt from a point on the ground the hive queen can see within 120 feet of her. Each creature within 10 feet of that point must make a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw, taking 10 (4d4) piercing damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
• Healing Pheromones. Each tosculi within 60 feet of the hive queen (including the hive queen) regains 10 (3d6) hp.
• Restraining Resin. The ceiling above one creature that the hive-queen can see within 120 feet of her drips sticky resin. The creature must succeed on a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw or be restrained by rapidly-hardening resin. A creature, including the target, can take its action to free the restrained target by succeeding on a DC 17 Strength check. If the creature is still restrained by the resin on initiative count 20 of the next round, the resin fully hardens, and the target is petrified in amber until freed or until the hive queen uses this lair action again. The resin can be attacked and destroyed (AC 15; 20 hp; vulnerability to bludgeoning damage; immunity to piercing, poison, and psychic damage), freeing the target.

REGIONAL EFFECTS

The region containing a tosculi hive queen’s lair is warped by her presence, which creates one or more of the following effects:

• Aggressive Wildlife. Beasts within 6 miles of the lair are more violent than usual and prone to acts of aggression.
• Buzzing Migraine. Creatures with an Intelligence of 5 or higher within 3 miles of the lair frequently suffer headaches brought on by an insectile buzzing in their minds.
• Eyes and Ears Everywhere. The hive queen can choose to see or hear through the senses of any tosculi within 10 miles of her lair, provided the tosculi is a member of her hive. If the tosculi hive-queen dies, the buzzing disappears immediately, but other effects fade over the course of 1d10 days.

ABOUT

This humanoid wasp’s gossamer wings beat out a soft, droning buzz. Flashing blades sing in each of her four clawed hands, and the air around her shimmers with magical dust. Dozens more humanoid wasps in a variety of iridescent colors surround her, weapons raised protectively.

The tosculi are waspfolk that share the Golden Song of the hive, which unites them under the command of their queen. Each hive has its own song, and most tosculi hives are predatory, dangerous places.

Bow Raiders. Tosculi elite bow raiders are smarter and more capable than drones and common warriors, with midnight black or deep green carapaces that shine with colorful iridescence. Their wings are blood red streaked with dark crimson veins. As rare and prized members of the hive, a bow raider’s life is never thrown away or risked unnecessarily. Seldom does a tosculi warband contain more than a handful of these elite soldiers, and they frequently hold positions of command. Elite bow raiders always lead the honor guard for their queen, both within the hive and on those rare occasions when the queen ventures outside.

Drones. Tosculi drones are the workers of the tosculi hive: the smallest, weakest, least intelligent, and most abundant of the waspfolk. Their carapaces are mostly iridescent blue with gold abdomens and lower legs, and they have vestigial wings, allowing them to glide but not truly fly. Drones function primarily as menial workers but, during times of war, they also act as highly expendable scouts and soldiers. Because the warriors know whatever a drone knows—thanks to the queen—a drone doesn’t need to survive its scouting mission to deliver useful information.

Warriors. Tosculi warriors are overseers of work crews and battle groups of drones, directing activities and relaying commands. Though subservient to the queen’s orders, they are capable of acting independently or following their own best judgment, if necessary. The warriors’ most important role in the hive is procuring live hosts for incubating tosculi eggs. Creatures paralyzed by warriors are brought to the queen’s chamber to have eggs implanted in them, and after a few weeks, the larva hatches, devouring its still-living host.

Hive Queen. The hive queen is the nerve center of a tosculi hive-city, simultaneously one of a hive’s greatest strengths and weaknesses.

The queen serves as a unifying force. She binds her swarm with an ironclad sense of purpose through a psychic web, known as the Golden Song, that links all tosculi within a hive. When the hive queen nears the end of her life, she selects the most promising of her immature heirs and feeds the heir a special concoction. This speeds the heir’s maturation and makes her ready to become a full-fledged hive queen. The daughter’s first action upon her metamorphosis is to devour her mother and all her sisters, absorbing and becoming the emitter of that hive’s song. If a hive queen dies with no heir to anchor the hive mind or if the daughter’s accession is disrupted, the hive-city plunges into chaos. Tosculi bereft of the hive-mind go berserk.

A few fortunate ones might escape and become lone renegades, but their existence without the comforting presence of the hive is miserable and short. Unless one of the hive-queen’s surviving daughters is mature enough and ruthless enough to step in and assert control, the hive is doomed.