Culex
CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Any
FREQUENCY: Uncommon
ORGANIZATION: Swarm
ACTIVITY CYCLE: Any
DIET: Carnivore
INTELLIGENCE: Non (0)
TREASURE: Nil
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
NO. APPEARING: 2-20
ARMOR CLASS: 3
MOVEMENT: 6, Fl 24(B)
HIT DICE: 7
THACO: 13
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-8
SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Nil
SIZE: L (9' long)
MORALE: Elite (14)
XP VALUE: 975
Female adults have long proboscises equipped with internal sty lets for seizing prey; the males' proboscises have no stylets, but males do have sharp claws on their front legs. Otherwise, adult males outwardly resemble the females of their species. All giant mosquitoes have two wings, six legs, and compound eyes. When flying, they can hover, take off and land vertically, and fly backward at one-third speed.
Culex mosquitoes have mottled gray thoraxes. Their abdomens have black and gold bands. Culex wings are clear and scaleless, allowing them to fly faster and farther than Anopheles mosquitoes.
Combat: Females stab victims with their proboscises. If a female giant mosquito inflicts six or more points of damage in a single hit, she has grabbed her victim with her sty lets and will begin draining the victim's blood the next round. Each round of blood drain robs the victim of one point of Strength and gives the female mosquito one hit point. When the mosquito has drained as many points of Strength as she has hit dice (seven points for a culex, eight for an anopheles), she detaches herself and flies away to lay eggs.
Lost points of Strength are regained at the same rate as lost hit points, either through rest or magical healing. However, all Strength losses must be restored before any damage can be cured., A victim drained to less than three points of Strength falls unconscious. A victim drained to a Strength of zero dies.
Many giant mosquitoes carry a horrible disease with variable effects. The chance that a mosquito carries a disease varies with the climate: Arid/tropical 25%, non-arid/ tropical 50%, temperate 10%, sub arctic 5%, arctic 1%. A creature bitten by a diseased mosquito must save vs. poison or develop the disease in 3d12 hours. A victim can acquire the disease only once during a single encounter with a group of giant mosquitoes. When the disease appears, roll 1d4 for the effect: 1. The victim becomes incapacitated by alternating fever and chills which persist for 1d3 days. These bouts of fever and chills recur every 1d4 + 1 months for the rest of the victim's life or until the disease is cured. During the initial attack, the victim must make a Constitution check each day or die. The recurring attacks, if any, are painful but not deadly. 2. One of the victim's limbs (determine randomly) swells to four times normal size and becomes useless. The victim loses one point of Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma; if the limb is a leg, the victim's movement is slowed by half. The swelling and penalties persist until the disease is cured. 3. The victim's eyes and eyelids become swollen, causing blindness. A cure blindness spell temporally restores sight (ld4 days), but the condition persists until cured. 4. The victim's Strength and Constitution drop by five points and the victim falls into a coma for 2d12 hours. If either ability score drops to zero or less the victim dies. The bouts of coma recur every 1d4 + 1 months for the rest of the victim's life or until cured.
Habitat/Society: Culex mosquitoes most often dwell in urban areas, where the supply of human and demi-human blood is abundant.
Female giant mosquitoes lay eggs every time they drain their fill of blood-10-30 eggs per clutch. A single female giant mosquito can lay as many as 300 eggs in her lifetime. About two-thirds of the eggs hatch and become wrigglers. Adult males live about one month, females live two or three months.
Giant mosquitoes travel in swarms of assorted individuals of the same species. To randomly determine the size of a swarm, roll once for males and once for females according to the entry in the Number Appearing entry. The swarms lair in hollow trees, caves, or abandoned buildings. If the temperature drops below freezing, most giant mosquitoes die, but some hibernate, especially wrigglers, who bury themselves underwater.
Ecology: Adult mosquitoes eat only blood. In addition to nourishment, females need large quantities of blood to stimulate their ovaries to produce eggs. Many insectivorous animals prey on giant mosquitoes, including giant bats, frogs, toads, and dragonflies; giant mosquitoes are too stupid to fear these creatures.
