Corpse Grub Swarm

Senses: Senses warm bodies within 30 feet through soil and corpse-heaps

Carrion Tide. The swarm can occupy other creatures' spaces. It takes half damage from single-target attacks; flame and area effects deal full damage and are frankly encouraged.

Gorge-Stench. A creature that begins its turn adjacent to or inside the swarm makes a Toughness Save DC 12 or is nauseated, taking Disadvantage on its next attack or check.

Consuming Crawl. Melee Attack: +3 to hit, reach 0 ft., one creature in the swarm's space. Hit: 1d6 piercing damage, or 2d6 + 2 piercing damage against a Prone, Grappled, or unconscious target, and the target makes a Toughness Save DC 12 or contracts grave-blight, losing 1 Vitality per hour until treated.

Erupt From the Pile. The swarm bursts from concealment within a corpse-heap, drain, or grave. Each creature within 10 feet makes a Willpower Save DC 11 or is Frightened until the end of its next turn.

Morale: None; it is digestion in progress, dispersing only when burned or when nothing warm remains.

Tactics: The swarm is slow, so its weapon is placement: between the party and the objective, under the floor they must cross, inside the mass grave holding the evidence. It punishes anyone knocked down or left behind.

Loot / Evidence / Hooks: The bodies feeding the swarm still carry their tags, keys, and last orders — retrieving them is the mission, and the swarm is the filing system.

A Corpse Grub Swarm is what mass graves produce when the Munitorum falls behind on burials: a pale, heaving tide of flesh-eating larvae that has stopped distinguishing between the dead and the slow. It smells like the worst thing the party has ever ignored.

Use this enemy in charnel sites, plague pits, and battlefield aftermaths — anywhere the bodies were stored badly and the party must go anyway.

Swarm resilience, slow movement, disease-laden bites, nausea and Morale pressure, dangerous mainly to the trapped, prone, and unwise.

Carrion Tide. Half damage from single-target attacks; flame and area effects deal full damage and are frankly encouraged.

Gorge-Stench. Creatures beginning their turn adjacent make a Toughness Save or are nauseated, taking Disadvantage on their next action.

Consuming Crawl. Slow engulfing attack; against prone, restrained, or unconscious targets it deals brutal damage and forces disease saves.

Erupt From the Pile. Bursts from concealment within corpse-heaps or drains: surprise attack with a fear check attached.

Morale: None; it is digestion in progress, dispersing only when burned or when nothing warm remains.

Tactics: The swarm is slow — its weapon is placement. Put it between the party and the objective, under the floor they must cross, inside the mass grave holding the evidence. It punishes anyone knocked down or left behind, and it makes fire the obvious answer in places where fire is a terrible idea.

Full Stat Block Priority: Low