Mordenkainen’s Mayhem: Monster Madness
Come take a look at monsters in the upcoming Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes–as they fight each other to the death!
Mordenkainen’s Mayhem kicked off on Monday, beginning a bracketed brawl that will pit some of the toughest foes from Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes against one another in a head to head fight to the finish. Spectators from across the multiverse have come to bear witness to the bloodshed (and to get a preview of the monsters in the book. So come and join them. Step into Mordenkainen’s Dome of Foes.
First up this week is the ArchDevil Moloch (CR 21), who originally appeared as an idol in the 1st Edition Player’s Handbook.
I knew taking that eye would do *something*
And now he’s back, ready to prove himself against the demonic Sibriex (CR 18) and her fleshy servants, the Wretched.
Now the Sibriex is an ancient foe. Back when they first appeared in 3.x edition, Sibriexes were these fleshy face orbs that were members of a demonic race known as the Obyriths–demons that predated the tanar’ri. In 4th Edition, where they had a significant lore rework, Obyriths were these horrific, Great Old One-esque demons, with terrifying forms that could drive thise who looked upon them insane.
Their lore is really cool, here’s a quick sample:
Obyriths are entities of unfathomable evil from another universe. After consuming or destroying everything in their universe, the remaining obyriths fashioned all of their hatred and hunger into a single, horrific shard of pure evil, which they used to pierce the veil between universes. The shard was found (in the default D&D universe) by Tharizdun, who was instantly corrupted by its evil and used it to create the Abyss. The twelve surviving Obyriths fled their dying reality and entered the new plane, where they dueled several primordials- the beings who would eventually become the likes of Baphomet, Demogorgon, Orcus, and Yeenoghu– for control. The Abyss warped both the obyriths and the primordials into demon lords.
Some demon lords (notably Dagon and Pazuzu) were Obyriths–but this is all lore that might be thrown out of the window with this new book.
But it might not. This particular Sibriex definitely had an evil ancient outsider demon kind of feeling. With an aura of corrup to on, the abilitynto warp and graft the flesh of other living beings (or at least the wretched, who proved to be surprisingly clutch) and an array of domination/mind control spells, including Feeblemind, she was able to shut down many of Moloch’s abilities.
Though Moloch was still a beast in his own right, with three hard-hitting multiattacks, including a lightning whip with a 30ft. reach and a number of innate spells including fly and flamestrike–and that’s not even including whatever legendary actions Mploch might possess. Sadly those were stripped away for the fight to streamline things–but, holy cow when they say higher level monsters, they mean it. Both combatants hit hard–in the end the ancient Sibriex won the day thanks to the Wretched and their auto-damage.
Watch the Whole Fight Here
But all this is just round one. Be sure and tune in next week for a new matchup featuring two more of the creatures from Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes!
Sibriex made a strong showing, can she go all the way? Find out over the next few weeks of Mordenkainen’s Mayhem!
