Stirge Traps?

[Nifft]

Anyone got any ideas about how villages would deal with an overpopulation of stirges? I'm thinking nets and bloody chicken parts... but does anyone have any better ideas?

The setting is medium magic, lower-medium wealth.

-- Nifft

 

[Hand of Evil]

Tennis rackets Gaint spiders

You could have them use a form of wind chime, the sound from it acts like a mating call. In the center is a charged item with burning hands spell (or another) on it, they touch it and die.

 

[the Jester]

Heh... I thought you were posting some sort of traps that used stirges to kill pcs...

Good plot idea, though I have no idea how you'd deal with 'em... a few of the little buggers are bad enough, lots would suck.

 

[Rybaer]

Heh... I thought you were posting some sort of traps that used stirges to kill pcs...

That was my first thought, too. They are nasty little buggers in the right circumstance. In my game, a 4th level cleric and wizzie wandered off on their own and came upon a group of 6 stirges. Two rounds later, two dead pc's. Later, I loosely used stirges as a basis for some giant leeches...which took down an 9th level dwarven cleric again in 2 rounds.


As for how a village would deal with them...hmmm, I think I'd ask the local ranger or druid to find and import a natural predator or two. Presumably something eats stirges.

 

[Xarlen]

Here's something.

Devise a poison. Start, in very, very small doses, feeding it to chickens.

Do the same thing to the next generation of chickens.

Now, feed the next generation a lot of it, and set them loose into the wild.

 

[Xarlen]

Remember, Stirges don't start draining until the round AFTER they bite.

 

[Nifft]

Okay, so far I've got:

• Tanglewing Nets -- like tanglefoot bags, but the sticky stuff is applied to a mesh.
• Web Tubes -- like a vertical Roach Motel with a chicken at the bottom.
• A magically electrified cow.

Anybody got more ideas, especially alchemical ones?

-- Nifft

 

[the Jester]

[*]A magically electrified cow.
-- Nifft

LOL... oh stop, you're killing me!

Oh wait, no, you're killing stirges...

 

[Ferret]

Flesh golem?

 

[Buttercup]

Perhaps a trail of bloody chicken parts into a small, pitch-soaked outbuilding of some sort. Once the stirges were inside, throw a torch in and slam the door.

You know, you could modify that for an evil-aligned village. Let's say you have a cutpurse in the local lockup. Let's say this lockup is made of stone. Smear the prisoner w/ chicken blood, and throw lots of dead chickens in there. Put plenty of pitch soaked kindling in there too. When the stirges flock to the building, throw in a torch and seal the door. Come morning you have lots of dead stirges and one dead cutpurse.