The nice thing about stirges is their ability to subvert expectations for what some players might steel themselves for during an evening spent out under the stars.

For a nighttime random encounter, stirges don’t come crashing out of the bushes with a roar or a war cry. Certainly not when, under the cover of darkness, they can simply glide into a camp with advantage on their Dexterity (Stealth) check if the sentry doesn’t have darkvision. Sleeping prey aren’t likely to be aware of their peril until something lands on them.

Stirges are especially fun after a previous combat, because they’re attracted to the scent of blood and target wounded creatures.

So, if there are characters sleeping off their injuries with a long rest, you can ratchet up both the tension and the ick factor when the stirges disproportionately target them, trying to poke their proboscis’ into fresh wounds.

A character alerted to an incoming stirge attack might be raise the alarm after spotting movement in the darkness, the silhouettes of the beasts gliding into the campsite or, since they’re a foot long with a two-foot wingspan, the beating of their wings as they approach the camp.

Maybe it looks something like this:

The night is still, but for the whisper of wind through the trees. The campfire crackles merrily, a stark contrast to the unnervingly cold silence of the surrounding woods. The stars above are sharp and clear on this moonlit night – a small comfort in the vast, dark expanse of the forest.

Suddenly, a soft, almost imperceptible fluttering sound drifts in from the darkness. Then another, and another. A scan of the trees detects nothing visible – yet the gift of fear makes the hairs at the back of your neck stand up.

More fluttering. The sound intensifies, now a low, continuous thrum, louder closer by the moment. Your breath catches as the first of the creatures appears: tiny, insectile, with leathery wings and glinting, needle-like proboscises. More follow, their silhouettes visible in the moonlight as they descend from above.

A thirst of stirges is upon you.

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