Flyby. The blood hive wasp doesn't provoke opportunity attacks when it flies out of an enemy's reach.
Infestation. When a creature fails a Constitution saving throw against the blood hive wasp's Infesting stinger action the creature is afflicted with the infestation condition. Creatures with the infestation condition suffer 1 level of exhaustion and do not recover after a long rest. After 7 days the Infestation condition changes to the Advanced infestation condition. A creature can be cured of the infestation condition with the use of 5 points of the lay on hands ability, lesser restoration, or greater restoration. The level of exhaustion caused by the infestation condition can only be applied once and does not stack with consecutive stings from the same or other blood hive wasps while the condition is applied. Infestion has no effect on constructs, undead or creatures immune to disease.
Advanced Infestation. A creature that has had the infestation condition for 7 days causes the infestation condition to be replaced with the advanced infestation condition. The level of exhaustion caused by the infestation conduition is still in effect. While a creature is afflicted with the advanced infestation condition, every 3 days since the advanced infestation condition was applied the creature gains 1 level of exhaustion. Once a creature reaches 6 levels of exhaustion the creature dies and their body is turned into a hive where 1d8 blood hive wasps may spread from. A creature can be cured of the advanced infestation condition with the use of the greater restoration spell.
Multiattack. The blood hive wasp makes two attacks, one with its bite and another with its infesting stinger.
Bite. Melee weapon attack: +2 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. 2 (1d4) piercing damage.
Infesting stinger. Melee weapon attack: +2 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. 2 (1d4) piercing damage & 2 (1d4) poison damage, and the target must make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or be afflicted with the infestation condition.
Description
Description. The blood hive wasp is a large insect closely resembling a hornet, a sturdy carapace carried by swift wings. On its thorax red and black stripes, its torso blanketed with small thorny growths much like that of a barbed flower. At its head two sets of insectoid eyes dart searching for a potential host, beneath them lies a set of vicious mandibles, giving off a dark glossy shine, sharp enough to sever blood vassals and arteries alike with a doctor's precision. At the tip of its body lies its deadliest weapon, a silvery hollowed stinger, thinner than a singular hair lies almost invisible as it darts around the air ready to infest its next victim.
Origin. It is believed the blood hive wasp was the creation of an obsessive botanist, a druid whose love of nature entwined with his desire to create his own life even if that life was made through dark and insidious means. Scholars are sure the blood hive wasp was the result of a long process of infusing the common wasp with magic intended to safeguard nature from humanity's reach. A flying protector of flora, but this goal was shifted, and in place of a humble buzzing protector came forth the birth of a ravenous swarm, twisted and unyielding, it is thought that the blood hive wasps creator became the first hive from which all of their kind now flow into the wilderness.
Life cycle & Reproduction. Blood hive wasps are hive-minded creatures, and as such reside in hives formed by the remains of those unfortunate enough to have encountered one. The process in which the blood hive wasp reproduces is ghastly and unnatural. It begins life as an egg, floating in the bile of the wasp's thorax ready to be injected into a host from its infesting sting. Once injected the eggs immediately begin to incubate, kept warm by the host's blood which carries oxygen and nutrients to the egg against the host's will. The eggs eventually find themselves latched onto the host's soft tissue, safe from the elements.
After roughly seven days the eggs have swelled with enough blood and grown into larvae which burst free and begin feasting on the flesh of their host, these larvae however hold magical properties, after consuming the flesh of its host they will begin to regurgitate it shortly after, transformed into a slimy, waxy like form which hardens over time. Slowly and painfully, as time passes the host is rendered more hindered as muscles are devoured and replaced with a honeycomb-like structure, covered with waxy struts connected to bone to support the larvae's new home, blood is imbibed and returned a slimy ooze, causing the hosts breathing and movement to become almost naught.
Soon the host is unable to move, barely able to breathe. Their flesh nearly a complete hive hosts a swarm of blood hive larvae and his skin, burst and hollowed like a living nest, from each grim portal the writhing larvae can be observed, nesting and producing the sickly red bile which seeps from the hexagonal cavities of the host's body. Finally, as the host perishes, their body completely transformed into the nest, a queen is born from the larvae, spreading its pheromones to its children to find a new host and complete the cycle anew.
Products of note. Even though the blood hive wasp is a menace to travelers everywhere, it is to be noted how its by-products can be of use in some, morbid fashion. The wax the larvae produce is slow hardening but once it does is harder than bone and can even resist several blows from metal tools and weapons before cracking. As such it has been known for a foolish or brave soul to collect this wax before it has hardened, storing it in an air-tight container devoid of moisture which seems to be the source of the wax hardening and using it to coat wooden shields, seal locks or even restrain captives before they wake.
Additionally, the slimy bile produced from the host blood is a potent poison to entities outside of the blood hive's species, if coated on a weapon or arrow and allowed to enter the bloodstream of an unsuspecting victim, it has been seen to effectively render the target sluggish, almost as if they have become lethargic and slow and as such, is a highly sought after ingredient for the shady denizens of society and there criminal masters.
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