"I'm not sure what all the rest means, but here..." He reads off,
"Stirges form nest-like colonies in attics, dungeons, and copses of trees. Although they resemble birds, they hang upside down when sleeping, indicating that stirges may be closely related to vampire bats.
'Stirges mostly kill low-level humans, animals and children, so the arrival of these predators in any civilized territory is always a cause for alarm. '
Flip flip,
'Characters who protect their entire bodies with special leather or better armor (this special armor costs two to three times more than normal armor) can safely approach a stirge. Even the slightest gap in the protection is seen and smelled by the creature, and a successful attack roll means the creature has broken through the weakness and locked on.
...He mutters a bit, going past a chart, and concludes, "After a stirge has gorged itself by draining blood, it sleeps for one day, plus one day for every 2 points of blood it drank (the maximum sleep period is after drinking 12 points of blood — seven days). During this period of rest, silent attackers can impose a -2 penalty to the stirges’ surprise roll, as the beasts wake slowly and remain drowsy for a few moments. They are most vulnerable at this time.
While certain species of stirges prefer to dine on human blood, most are content with any large mammal, like cows, moose, and deer. Experienced druids and rangers usually recognize the traces of a stirge colony by the occurrences of mysteriously drained and dead animals in the vicinity."
