Fantasy Monster: Pyre Moth

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Pyre Moth

A big, black and red moth, with some orange and yellow markings.

CR 2; XP 600

N Tiny Vermin

Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., keen smell; Perception +2

Defense
AC 14, touch 14, flat-footed 12 (+2 Dex, +2 size)
hp 22 (4d8+4)

Fort +5; Ref +3; Will +3

Resist fire 10

Offense
Speed 10 ft., fly 40 ft. (perfect)

Melee bite +7 (1d3 plus 2d4 fire)

Space 2-1/2 ft.; Reach 0 ft.

Special Attacks implant eggs

Statistics
Str 3, Dex 14, Con 12, Int –, Wis 15, Cha 11
Base Atk +3; CMB +3; CMD 9

Feats Flyby Attack^B, Hover^B, Weapon Finesse^B

Skills Fly +14, Perception +2

Ecology
Environment cold forests, plains, and urban
Organization solitary, pair, or a funeral (3–12)
Treasure incidental

Agile Flier (Ex) A pyre moth can make Fly checks in place of Acrobatics checks when trying to avoid attacks of opportunity because it moves through threatened or enemy space.

Implant Eggs (Ex) A pyre moth can implant a corpse or an incapacitated but still living corporeal creature with its eggs as a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity (a successful hit interrupts the action, even if it fails to inflict damage). The eggs excrete chemicals that cause the dead body to slowly incinerate from inside, burning the flesh of a Medium corpse into ash over the next 2d6 hours. If the victim is still alive, the eggs remain dormant until the host's death, when the process starts, or removed with a surgery that takes 1 hour and a successful Heal check (DC 20), or remove disease effect. Gentle repose spell renders the egg dormant for its duration.

Keen Smell (Ex) A pyre moth can smell decaying dead bodies, fresh ashes, fire, and smoke coming from burning bodies from a mile away.

Pyre moths show a strange adaptation—their eggs slowly incinerate bodies in which they were laid, and their maggots feast, grow, and pupate in the ashes of the dead. They are often attracted to unburied bodies and funeral pyres, laying eggs in corpses to burn, or fresh ashes alike.

Some cultures and religions see them as messengers of the underworld, freeing the souls of the dead from prison of impure decaying flesh, and others view them as filthy defilers and soul-stealers. A few have little regard for the moral and theological implications but considers them from purely practical point of view, either as a way of disposing corpses, saving the trouble of going through the costly process of cremating the bodies, or as pests that destroy corpses that should be interred with respect and reverence.

In extreme situation, when there is an overabundance of corpses, or corpse ashes, pyre moths can form pyre moth swarms (CR 6) with 16 HD, 88 hp, Fort +11, Ref +7, Will +7, and distraction ability (DC 19), dealing 2d6 points of damage plus 4d6 points of fire damage with its swarm attack.

A pyre moth can be kept as an improved familiar (requires caster level 3), though its eggs are sterile, incinerating corpses, but never hatching into more pyre moth maggots.