Stingfly was a species of nasty insects that fed on blood, found in the western parts of the Vilhon Reach,[1], in the woods surrounding the Dathyl and Dathen Brook in the King's Forest,[2] as well as used as torture implements by the creatures of the Nine Hells.[3]
Description[]
These hellish insects were no bigger than a human thumb and resembled horseflies with long scorpion-like tails ending in barb stingers.[1]
Ecology[]
Stingflies preferred to feed on human blood extracted from gentle areas around ears, underchins, breasts, genitalia, and necks, but never eyes nor crawled into open orifices. The insects used their barbed stingers to break the skin and then soak the blood with a large, spongy mouthpiece. The creatures injected the wounds with an agent that stopped the itchiness. Despite that, being stung by that insect felt like being jabbed with a small weapon, making it impossible to sleep through a bite. The feeding took a mere second as stingflies darted away, leaving bleeding puncture marks behind.[1]
What made them even more devious was their breeding cycle. Stingflies injected their eggs under the warm-blooded animals' and humanoids' skin after feeding.[3]
Stingflies were known to swarm around fields and sometimes carried diseases.[1]
History[]
In the Year of Wild Magic, 1372 DR, Elminster was imprisoned and tortured in the Nine Hells by archdevil Nergal who sought to steal the Chosen of Mystra's silver fire. The devil unleashed a swarm of stinglfies on the old bound mage. The insects fed on his blood and injected their eggs under Elminster's skin.[3]
Appendix[]
Appearances[]
- Novels
- Elminster in Hell
- Referenced only
- The City of Splendors: A Waterdeep Novel • Swords of Eveningstar
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 So Saith Ed May – Jul 2004. (25-11-2021). Retrieved on 25-11-2021.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Ed Greenwood (August 2006). Swords of Eveningstar. (Wizards of the Coast), chap. 6, p. 71. ISBN 978-0-7869-4022-6.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Ed Greenwood (June 2002). Elminster in Hell. (Wizards of the Coast). ISBN 0-7869-2746-1.