Lostlings are black colored birds that are about the size of parakeets. A group of them is called a Jury. They are not magical, but their effect is. They are encountered in underground structures. They have a patient wisdom. They attack and eat people/humanoids. When they attack they generally don’t fly per se, as they just kind of fall onto their single intended victim. Their food selection is not dependent on appearance, weakness, or the rank in marching order or any particular thing, but when they move they move as one single group. Creatures with more than 2 arms or 2 legs would certainly not be a target; this would be hard to determine for a party member, and is for DM info.
Each Lostling of a Jury has just 3-5 hit points. Each Lostling causes 3-5 (claw/claw/bite) damage. However there are generally 20-30 Lostlings in an attacking Jury.
During the attack of a Jury, the Lostlings move about the victim quickly, nipping and scratching. This causes huge amounts of disorientation even to a seasoned adventurer. Lostlings will cover the eyes of the victim with their incredibly black wings, blinding them. They are small enough to get into cracks of armor, under armor causing the victim to strike themselves in an attempt to stop the small pains. Almost always in the dark underground this will cause the victim to flee and run in a random direction for a random amount of time. Of course it is nearly impossible for a humanoid to remain silent and will begin to scream from the constant and seemingly random bites and scratches. When one or two of the Jury have been dispatched, the Jury will move to the head of the victim. The victim will likely continue in whatever activity the victim was engaged in that has killed a few Lostlings. It is assumed this is likely due to dropping weapon or whatever was in victims hand and striking themselves. If you hit yourself hard enough to cause 3-5 damage to a thing on your face, you will likely cause some amount of damage to your face. DM mileage may vary. They eat unconscious, but alive victims. Circle of life kids.
The only way for the attack to end is for the victim to move a distance to be determined by DM away from the initial point of attack. Divide your party as you choose. The Jury will select a place to stage the attack that is likely to be successful for them. They are not territorial. Lostlings move nearly silently when moving from place to place. And will lie in wait for days before choosing a new prey. They have complete confidence moving among creatures when going to a new place, as they are not patrolling, they are merely travelling to a different location and may walk or fly. Think of this as opossum intelligence.
Once the victim passed out from lack of hit points or struck themselves hard enough to cause unconsciousness, the attack will stop. The Jury will seek the darkest or highest point for them to observe the victim for 20 mins. Lostlings don’t have watches, but their evolution has taught them that it takes about that long for the coast to be clear so to speak. If no other humanoids show up, then they will eat the humanoid as a parakeet would, bite and tear. Some amount of time later the other non-hunting Lostlings will show up to join in the feast. If they are disturbed in the 20 min window they will abandon the prey. If others show up after the 20 mins, the family members will continue to eat while the Jury attacks a new single target.
When the prey is dead, it is abandoned. The Jury wont eat again for several weeks, as people is slow to digest. They do not attack out of spite or vengeance or disturbance. They are animal in intelligence and will deftly avoid conflict by mere avoidance.
