Flock of Famine
Another town rolled by, this one scarcely better than the
last. The fields of wheat and corn were picked bare,
little more than twigs stuck in dry dirt. Starving cattle
collapsed upon the barren earth - too weak to stand,
they dotted the expanse as dark furred heaps. The once
merry band felt they’d soon join them if sustenance was
not found soon, but the only sort of abundance to be
found were the swarms that darkened the skies.
Starlings. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of them,
coated the trees and rooftops in a blanket of writhing
wings. Their maddening cries filled the air in a
suffocating symphony that bled into the night. Insomnia
gripped the troop, and terror soon took their deprived
senses. The flock’s dark shapes soon twisted into awful
monstrous forms that devoured what little they had left.
They held to their final thread. Exhaustion weighing
their weary bodies in a fatal embrace, the band looked
to the blackened sky and finally saw… it. A figure of
entropy, a celestial of decay. It hung in the air, countless
ravenous birds giving it form as it simply watched them
from a hollow red husk where its face should be.
The starlings grew bolder now. Decorating the troop’s
limbs, picked clean of what flesh remained, they waited.
For soon the Flock of Famine would have its feast.
Flocks of Famine are horrific entities that, contrary to
their name, most commonly manifest in times of
agricultural surplus. Seemingly drawn to sites of
bounty, these ravenous entities unleash swarms of
starving vermin upon the crops, then turn against the
very farmers themselves as the area and its surrounding
neighbors collapse under the crushing weight of famine.
Unfortunately, divesting an area of its bounty doesn’t
immediately cause the creature to leave - instead, it
turns its sights on the next unlucky settlement, sowing a
path of starvation wherever its insatiable swarms
descend. Only when the creature is confronted directly
does the plague truly lift, and even then, it can takes
year for affected areas to fully recover from the blight.
The Swarm Descends. Regardless of what animals it
manifests as, all Flocks of Famine can be easily
identified by their hungry swarms of vermin that
continually plague local crops and food storehouses.
Common manifestations include locusts, rats, and
crows, but the most obvious sign that a Flock of Famine
is in the area is the presence of a swarm of starlings.
A Plague Upon All Houses. Viewed by some clerics as
divine avatars of vengeance for acts of greed, some
worshipers actively preach sermons of scarcity in an
attempt to ward their settlements against these entities.
To their credit, these messages do seem to work - so
long as there is never quite enough to go around, Flocks
of Famine are more likely to set their sights elsewhere.
Lair and Lair Actions  
A Flock of Famine typically chooses a lush region of
agriculture that feeds neighboring cities to inflict its
withering entropy upon. The presence of great hunger is
all that seems to satiate such avatars of decay.
Lair Actions
On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the Flock of
Famine can take a lair action to cause one of the
following effects (the Flock of Famine can’t use the
same effect two turns in a row):
Ensnaring Thorns. Thorns grow in a 20 ft. circle
within 20 ft. of the Flock of Famine. All creatures in
this space must make a DC 20 DEX saving throw or
be restrained. Any creature that starts its turn
restrained in this way takes 13 (5d4) slashing
damage. A creature can use its action to make a DC
15 STR check to break free from the thorns.
Dense Swarm. The swarm surrounding the Flock of
Faine grows thicker. The area affected by Protective
Swarm is considered lightly obscured and ranged
attacks made through this space have disadvantage.
The damage from Protective Swarm is doubled. This
effect lasts until the next lair action.
Visions of Death. Horrible visions fill the mind of one
creature of the Flock’s choice within 60 ft. The target
creature must succeed on a DC 20 WIS saving throw
or be stunned for 1 minute. The target can repeat its
saving throw at the end of each of its turns.
Regional Effects
The region surrounding a Flock of Famine’s lair is
warped by the creature’s unnatural presence, creating
any of the following effects:
Plant life succumbs to a crippling blight, while dry,
thorny briars take their place and seem to thrive.
Small beasts grow bolder and far more aggressive.
Larger creatures that sleep in this region may awake
to rodents and insects gnawing at their flesh.
Large numbers of carrion birds flock to the region,
behaving in strangely intelligent ways.
Any food brought into this region, fresh or otherwise,
seems to decay at an accelerated rate.
If the Flock of Famine is destroyed or leaves the area,
these effects on wildlife fade within a day. The effects on
plant life persist for 2d6 years. Spells such as Plant
Growth reverse this effect in their target area.
 
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Flock of Famine
JessJackdaw