Gloomwing

The gloomwing is the adult form of the tenebrous worm, a giant moth from the demiplane of Shadow. Its wings and body shimmer with geometric silver and black patterns. Big, feathery black antennae with white tips crown its head, and each of its eight legs ends in a pearl-white claw.

Anyone looking squarely up or down at its markings must save vs. spell or suffer the 4th-level confusion spell's effect for 1d4+4 rounds. In darkness, twilight or moonlight the same patterns hide it 50% of the time, and a hidden gloomwing causes no confusion. In darkness or near darkness it gets -2 on its surprise roll.

It usually dives in, gaining +2 to hit. A victim under 3 feet tall and under 61 pounds can be snatched up and pinned in all eight claws and attacked at +4 to hit and +2 damage each round. Bigger prey it fights hovering, with bites and its two forelegs.

From the second round of a fight on, it releases a pheromone in a 25-foot radius. Non-insects there who fail a save vs. poison drop 1 Strength per round of exposure; a successful first save protects for the whole exposure, and several moths do not require extra saves. Strength returns at 1 point per turn starting 1d4 hours after leaving the scent, and anyone reduced to 0 is unconscious until at least 1 point comes back. Each round the scent hangs in the air there is a 20% chance that 1d4 more gloomwings arrive at the round's end and join in.

These short-lived hunters work alone and use various scents to repel rivals and attract mates. Moths of the same sex flee from each other unless combat scent is in the air, and they gather only when it draws them to bring down large prey.

A gloomwing lives just 1d6+3 weeks, spent feeding ravenously and seeking a mate. Half of all females carry eggs, which they lay in the corpse of a creature of small size or larger. In 12 days 1d6+4 tiny tenebrous worms hatch and, unless killed, eat the entire body. A corpse so infested cannot be raised until a cure disease spell clears the eggs.

This giant caterpillar, also native to the demiplane of Shadow, bites with strong mandibles; a bitten victim must save vs. poison at -3 or take double damage. Venomous bristles covering its head and upper body deal 1d4 to anyone whose bare skin touches them, and a save vs. poison is needed to avoid 1d4 rounds of paralysis, after which the victim dies unless given slow poison or neutralize poison. An attacker's chance of brushing the spines is 10% times its base Armor Class, before Dexterity and shield. Striking at the head cuts that chance by 20%, but only one attacker at a time can do so. A pair of mandibles sells for 1,000 to 3,000 gp.