Nesting, scavenging, and mob defense. Ticket Gnats react strongly to sound, food, and anything shiny. They can be distracted with tossed sweets, bribed with glittering trinkets, or driven off by fire, smoke, or loud music. Individually they are petty thieves, but together they become a coordinated, biting cloud that strips travelers to the bone and summons larger threats when disturbed.

Ticket Gnats hatch in the dead spaces between carnival routes, feeding on sugar, grease, blood, and the glue from poster paper. They decorate their nest with stolen charms, false coins, ribbon knots, and bits of glass that catch moonlight. Larger horrors in the carnival sometimes tolerate them because the gnats act as living tripwires, raising a shrieking alarm when prey approaches.

Their lair is a hanging nest of bunting woven through broken wagon ribs and signposts, lined with ticket stubs, candy wrappers, false mustaches, cracked bells, and whatever shiny objects travelers have lost. The whole structure rustles loudly when touched, making it nearly impossible to approach quietly.

Defend the nest, steal bright objects, and alert the larger carnival predator when strangers cross the route.

After the swarm is destroyed, its nest can be searched for a hidden cache of half-burned tickets, tarnished trinkets, and one or two useful curios. The paper scraps often point toward the larger menace in the carnival route, making the swarm a warning sign as much as a threat.