Quanlos

Quanlos, sometimes misidentified as abyssal wasps were insectoid creatures that lived in hot swamps and procreated by injecting their carnivorous larvae into living creatures.

Description
Quanlos were approximately a size of a dog, long and had two sets of loudly buzzing wings with the wingspan of. Their chitinous abdomens ended in long dangerous-looking stingers.

Behavior
Quanlos were drawn to bright shiny trinkets such as coins. It was the only type of treasure that could be found within the quanlos territory. When they enthralled humanoids, the abyssal wasps commanded their victims to drop any and all shiny objects to be added to the quanlos' hoard.

Abilities
These insects possessed the ability to see in the dark, limited to. Quanlos produced a type of strong magical venom that, when injected via the singer, acted like dominate monster spell. This venom destroyed the victim's will and made them susceptible to mental compulsions issued by quanlos—this compulsion was greatly limited by the creatures' intellect. The only commands quanlos could give out were basic ones, like attack, bring food, flee, etc. A single quanlos could control a number of victims via its venom. The older and more powerful a quanlos was, the more creatures it could keep enthralled. The venom's effects ended immidiately when the quanlos that injected it was killed.

Perhaps the most danger when facing quanlos came from their devouring larvae. The larvae were injected via quanlos stingers and could infest a single creature with several larval quanlos. Such injection, if successful, doomed the victim to be consumed from the inside by the insectoids' larvae. The devouring began as soon as the larvae were injected and continuously feasted on the victim's insides until the host died or received curative magics, such as remove disease spell or someone successfully surgically removed the larvae. There was a way of stopping quanlos from injecting its opponents with the larvae – by dealing a certain amount of magical or mundane cold damage. It prohibited the quanlos from producing larvae for 24 hours.

Combat
Quanlos avoided direct confrontation when possible. Instead of entering battle, they sent enthralled creatures forward while watching the scuffle from a hiding spot, waiting for an opportunity to pounce in and inject the poison into the attackers. The only time quanlos were extremely aggressive and attacked their prey on sight was when they lacked thralls.

Society
These monstrosities were territorial and solitary, only sharing their domains with enthralled creatures that defended the territory, hunted for food, and, eventually, became incubators for their young. Most commonly, quanlos used beasts as their thralls, such creatures as wolves and bears.

Ecology
Quanlos could be found infesting wetlands in tropical regions and, more seldomly, in tropical jungles or forests. They reportedly emerged from the jungles of Chult, eventually spreading to the Great Swamp of Rethild in Halruaa, and even have been witnessed in the Marsh of Tun on the western border of Cormyr. Quanlos avoided cold climates as low temperatures slowed their larvae and stooped the reproductive cycle.

The creatures' diet included small beasts like birds, snakes, and mammals. They rarely attacked larger prey when hunting for sustenance. Quanlos never made nests or made other types of shelters, and they were not known ever to sleep nor hibernate.

Quanlos were an oddity among insects, forming one-specimen hives that never included more than a single quanlos. The monstrosities reproduced asexually; their horrific reproductive cycle culminated in grown quanlos eating their way out of the host. A single quanlos could produce from fifty to five hundred eggs per breeding season (from the late fall to early winter). These eggs were stored in an eggsack underneath their abdominal chitin. The eggs hatched in late winter. The larvae were worm-like, and those who hated first went on devouring all the un-hatched eggs within the parent's sack. When the larvae were mature enough to be infected into hosts, in late spring, there were usually only ten to fifty specimens still living. During this time, the parent quanlos was aggressive, injecting the larvae into the first living creatures that crossed their paths. A single host could contain five to ten larvae, always injected into the victim's stomach. From a week to a month later, the larva was feasted and grown to its adult size. The quanlos youth emerged from the host and embarked on a journey to find its territory. Quanlos reached maturity and were able to procreate a year after hatching.

Thankfully, quanlos populations were small, as about three-quarters of the youths killed each other off while trying to establish their territories or were slain by bigger and stronger predators.

Usages
Quanlos stingers were precious and could be shaped into ornamental daggers and enchanted into daggers of venom. An undamaged stinger could be sold for as much as 1,000 gp. Quanlos venom was quite valuable and was valued at 50 gp per dose. A single quanlos could be harvested for between one to four doses of the venom.