Reviewing D&D Monsters - 5E Monster Manual, Pt 18 (Unicorn to Wyvern)

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The monsters in this page actually were shafted the worst during my original review batch, with me barely acknowledging any of the monsters. Not even the Vampire! Why did I do that? Why did I not sit down and talk a bit more about the Wraith and Will-O-Wisp and Yeti and assumed everyone knew what they are? And even if they do, the whole point of reviewing a basic Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual is to sit down and look at the tropes that D&D is drawing for the iconic-mythology monsters.

I do realize that this article actually runs a bit longer, but we actually only cover eight 'entries' here. The length is fully because of me giving the Vampire its due, and I talk a lot about the new Vampire variants introduced in the 5.5E Monster Manual. Between 2019 and 2025, I have grown to really, really appreciate Vampires a lot after experiencing a lot of how they are used in fantasy beyond just Dracula. Fiction like Penny Dreadful, Skyrim: Dawnguard, The Witcher III: Blood and Wine, re-experiencing Innistrad, and, yes, D&D's own Curse of Strahd have really gotten me to appreciate these vampire tropes, and I am quite delighted at the large expansion we've gotten in 5.5E. 

So yeah, it is a bit of a bulkier article, but consider that this, the next article and parts of the previous part were all stuffed into a single big article where I rushed through all the monsters. Honestly, the original version of this and the original version of the demons/devil page was what convinced me to do a full rewrite of my old Monster Manual reviews.

[Originally published on December 2019; Updated in December 2025]

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Unicorn

• 5.5E/5E: Large Celestial; Lawful Good; CR 5

We get another good 'fantasy horse', this time the Unicorn. Where the Pegasus is portrayed as just a flying horse, the Unicorn is considered a full Celestial, tying with the Middle-Eastern mythologies and heraldry depicting the Unicorn as a near-holy animal associated with purity and goodness. D&D 5E's Unicorns might not be the most powerful beings at CR 5, but the writeup really does make them feel like badass. 

A Unicorn's power, of course, is tied to its horn. Its horn has the ability to heal the sick and injured, and they have the supernatural ability to sense the goodness and pure-hearted. They allow good creatures or beasts to enter the woods they dwell in, but evil creatures are driven out or slaughtered by the Unicorn itself. It is quite interesting where a lot of the real-world legends surrounding the Unicorn does paint it with language that resemble a lot of the themes that D&D's Fey explore... but the Unicorn itself is considered a 'Celestial', a remnant from when the game didn't really codify the Fey all that much. 5E handwaves this by noting that Unicorns were placed by the gods, but they hang out naturally with fey due to their duties of guarding locations.

Most commonly, these Unicorn Forests grant the celestial equine has supreme knowledge. Unicorns inherently know every single thing that transpires beneath the trees that it resides in, every creature and every plant. This translates beautifully to the 'regional effects' mechanic, where the Unicorn transforming the region around the Unicorn and causing nonmagical flames to instantly extinguish, its allies to be obscured by foliage, curses on good beings to fail and healing effects cast in its domain always triggering the maximum possible effect. In a Unicorn's forest, the beasts feel more tame, and many of the non-hostile Fey find it a capricious haven to keep to themselves, away from both industrial civilization as well as evil. 

As it is with real-world myths, a Unicorn's horn is a font of divine magic that contain powerful magic, making the horns a potential for plot hooks. A Unicorn might be targeted by much more powerful evil horses who want to use the Unicorn's horn for some dark ritual, or simply to use it as a crafting tool for a powerful magical item. Or perhaps this choice is granted to the adventurers, who have to decide whether to slaughter this majestic and very sentient being for its horn just for the chance to get a powerful artifact. Even ground unicorn horns are potent magical catalysts.

The Unicorn is another creature that was absolutely wrecked by the 5.5E Monster Manual's random truncations, going from having a full page's worth of behaviour, habits and legends detailed to two short sentences that really give you nothing other than "they are good horsies that like nature". Shame. 

The Unicorn feels like a well-crafted creature to be a NPC, or at least an early-game boss that turns out to be benevolent. They themselves are a type of spellcaster enemy, but a lot of the description in the 5E Manual description really hints at a creature capable of doing much more than the dozen spells it knows is able to do. I've never really honestly cared about Unicorns in general until D&D made them pretty cool mysterious celestial-fey patrons and even potentially coming with its own ready-made 'dungeon'. 

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Vampire

• 5.5E/5E: Medium Undead; Lawful Evil; CR 13 (Vampire)
• 5.5E/5E: Medium Undead; Neutral Evil: CR 5 (Vampire Spawn)
• 5.5E: Small or Medium Humanoid; Neutral Evil; CR 3 (Familiar)
• 5.5E: Small or Medium Undead; Neutral Evil; CR 8 (Nightbringer)
• 5.5E: Small or Medium Undead; Lawful Evil; CR 15 (Umbral Lord)

I love vampires. You could make an entire bestiary just on vampires alone, and the idea of what a vampire is has evolved so much within the fantasy culture that you've got entire games and settings revolving around vampires only, without the rest of the 370 pages of the Monster Manual. And in Dungeons & Dragons, vampires have been identified as one of the premier monsters for quite a while, with one of the most iconic villains (particularly in 5th Edition) being Count Strahd von Zarovich, of Curse of Strahd fame. 

A lot of the basic lore about Vampires are shared with all the common tropes for everyone's favourite gothic undead bloodsuckers. Vampires are immortal, they are charming and can look like regular humans, and they feed on the blood of the living. They hide in the day in coffins or similar resting places, and roam in the night, and when needed, they can turn more lesser mortals into their own.

The original 5E Manual gave us quite a significant chunk of writeup for just a regular 'Vampire', the minions, the 'Vampire Spawn', and even some nice tidbits on making your player characters into vampires (which are kind of bare-bones, similar to the lycanthrope one). But the 5.5E Manual expanded this heavily by giving us three new Vampire variants, meant to represent different levels in a Vampire's 'growth' and 'evolution', so to speak. And since we've got that distinction going on, we'll talk about it from the weakest to the strongest...

The absolute weakest minion of a Vampire isn’t even a ‘proper’ Vampire yet, the CR 3 Vampire Familiar being actually just regular, living humanoids that serve vampires. It’s most definitely a nice little lore gap that is usually filled with stat blocks like ‘cultist’ in previous 5E work, but I like that we’re actually filling in this little niche in vampire stories, of servile butlers and maids that work under the vampiric aristocracy. 

Depending on the story you are telling, these Familiars are either fanatics who serve with the hopes of receiving the gift of immortality from their vampire lords, or are scared, cowering and pitiable people for our heroes to rescue. As the 5.5E art and the prose notes, Vampire Familiars show signs of their vampiric corruption, such as evidence of feedings (look at the puncture wounds on her neck!) and a more corpse-like complexion.

This also translates to greater power than an average humanoid, too. Familiars are still ‘regular’ humans, but they are tied supernaturally to their Vampire lords (who can perceive through their Familiar’s senses, just like wizards and their own familiars) but also possess enhanced reflexes.

Described in both Monster Manuals are the Vampire Spawn, standing at a CR 5, and are meant to represent newly-created vampires that are still a bit more feral and consumed by their thirst for blood. Both versions show their respective Spawns to have glowing eyes and a more feral expression, and again, this serves a nice little piece in fantasy vampire lore, of the new convert – not quite human, not quite a lesser undead like a ghoul, but slowly transforming into the intelligent monster that is the full Vampire. In 5E, Spawns are still under a control of their 'parent' Vampire, and only by drawing blood from the parent can the Spawn transform into a fully-fledged Vampire. This is something that is noted to be rare, due to the fact that the parent Vampire would relinquish control. 

It's at this point that I think I can start talking about abilities. Vampire Spawns have most of the abilities that a Vampire has. They have the ‘bite’ attack that allows them to drain blood from the living and restore their own health. They can scuttle and climb on walls, and in 5E they are able to slowly regenerate as long as they are not in the sunlight. 

The keystone of many vampire media is that despite all of the badass strength, intelligence, charm and magic that vampires have, they all have weaknesses. In D&D, ‘all myths are true’ and the Spawns are harmed by all of these weaknesses: they burned by the sunlight; they take damage if they cross running water; they are destroyed if any piercing weapon is driven through their heart; and they cannot enter a home uninvited. 

5.5E adds a slightly stronger ‘lesser’ vampire, the CR 8 Vampire Nightbringer. Between Dracula and Nosferatu, there is always a bit of a demand on two different kinds of vampires – the ones that parade around in noble clothes, or the near-feral blood-guzzling bat-monsters. The Nightbringer’s art is a nice representation of that latter bit. He’s still an intelligent being, showcased by knowing how to accessorize himself with golden accessories, but the hunched-over state and that excellently drawn set of eyes and fangs really does imply a vampire that doesn’t really care to hide amongst nobility and cares only to feed. 

5.5E’s lore is a bit minimal, noting that Nightbringers are ‘born of necromantic rituals and planes of existence suffused with negative energy’. Are they not connected to the ‘regular’ Vampire hierarchy, then? Can a Vampire Spawn become a Nightbringer, or can a regular Vampire ‘devolve’ into a Nightbringer if it’s obsessed with just feeding and dark energies? Are the Nightbringer more primal, more natural variants? 

Notably, the Nightbringer doesn’t have much of the ‘classic’ weaknesses that the Spawn or even regular Vampire has. It can enter your house uninvited! The only thing the Nightbringer fears is the sunlight. I do like this little change, showing that there’s a lot more variety among Vampirekind. It really reminds me of the more monstrous, more animalistic lesser vampires from Witcher III. 

And of course, we come to the main course, the ‘Vampire’, standing at a respectable CR 13. Vampires are portrayed as pale humanoids dressed in fancy regalia, with prominent fangs and glowing eyes. A lot of the tropes that matter in more ‘social’ interactions with the Vampires also come into play here. They do not cast shadows or reflections, and combined with their sensitivity to sunlight (which damages them, not annihilates them) makes them prefer dark, dismal castles and remote locations. 

Vampires can retain memories from their past life, but any that do tend to be a bit twisted by undeath. Love turns into obsession; and emotions turn into fixations of physical symbols… and in D&D’s lore, none, perhaps, embody this better than Count Strahd mentioned above, whose eternal torment was caused by unrequited love. That bit of tragedy and twisted romance is what makes Vampires so enduring and sets them apart from a lot of other horror monsters. 

All Vampires are also chained to a location, where they rest in the day. It is often a coffin or a crypt; but 5.5E notes that other locations could be a suit of armour, a stagnant pool, the roots of a great tree, a space accessible by shapeshifting… something that connects it to its nature of undeath. I love the little description of how some Vampires have set up multiple resting places by just… moving huge chunks of their grave dirt to new locations. That’s fun. 

Vampires, of course, are one of those powerful monsters with a ‘Lair’, which tends to be a grand-but-well-defensible location. It’s a castle or a manor, it’s always a castle or manor. Around a Vampire’s lair, there is an increase in the populations of bats, rats and wolves. Plants become twisted and thorny, shadows are unnaturally gaunt, and there is an unnatural fog around it. In other words, it becomes the setting of Dracula. 

What can a Vampire do? Full Vampires still have the weaknesses of their Spawn, but they have a much more significant power boost. In addition to the classic vampire bite, they are able to shape-shift into either bats or mist, particularly using the latter to escape. They can also summon swarms of bats or rats, which isn’t very useful in actual gameplay but the vibes are definitely awesome. Vampires regenerate health while not in sunlight, and are able to temporarily charm their enemies to fight for them.  

5E has a little sidebar that I completely forgot about talking about ‘Warrior Vampire’ and ‘Spellcaster Vampire’. Which is fair enough; some Vampires are formed out of powerful individuals in life. But this sidebar was fully translated to a proper statblock, the CR 15 Vampire Umbral Lord, which adapts the spellcaster variant. Umbral Lords are able to cast powerful spells like Sickening Ray and Hunger of Hadar, only requiring no spell slots or components. 

A bit more dangerously, similar to Liches and Mummy Lords, Vampire Umbral Lords will teleport to their resting place instantly upon being reduced to zero where it can recuperate. It’s basically the climax of Dracula, isn’t it? So you need to either trap the Vampire Umbral Lord in sunlight or running water, or get ready to hunt down the coffin and be ready to take down the Umbral Lord permanently there. 

I really like Vampires. I loved the parts of Witcher III that deals with Vampires, and Innistrad is my all-time favourite Magic: The Gathering setting. I really like that the expansion to vampires has catered quite a bit to various tropes of Vampires in fantasy... cool, badass, immortal covens of vampire nobles are as valid of a vampire story to tell as the ones of a feral vampire who lurks and picks off prey like a beast. Quite happy to talk about them, as you can see from the length of this Vampire segment. 

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Water Weird

• 5.5E/5E: Large Elemental; Neutral; CR 3

Water Weirds are kind of weird! 'Weird' is an archaic term for fate or soothsayer, before it morphed into the meaning that modern English uses it for. 5th Edition have severely trimmed down a lot of the variants of the basic elementals, but there are still some classics that remained, like the Invisible Stalker and Water Weird. Water Weirds are almost always depicted as being serpentine, with 5E's versions being particularly chunky and looking more moray-eel-like or even draconic instead of the water snakes the older editions depicted them as. The two trailing Chinese dragon mustaches also give them a nicely distinct look, too. 

Water Weirds are bound to a specific watery location such as pools and fountains (and I love the koi fish and lilypads being drawn into the Water Weird's body in its 5E art). It's invisible when it's immersed in water... probably because... it is water? But when someone tries to come and disturb it, the Water Weird rises up, coils around the unfortunate interloper and tries to crush and/or drown them. Water Weirds are then essentially a more limited and weaker version of the Water Elemental, having a lot less tricks and are used mostly for ambush purposes, like a wet, serpentine guard dog. 

How sentient these Weirds are vary from edition to edition. 5.5E mentions that they are 'nature spirits' that protect a site for generations and are sentient/sapient enough to learn from their surroundings; and can even be respected as oracles... even though they can't speak and communicate through pantomimes or water tricks. 5E seems to focus on Weirds more as beings summoned by wizards, and notes that Water Weirds often adopt the alignment of the source of water it's bound to, whether it's good or evil. Hilariously the Monster Manual sees the need to emphasize that 'Purify Food and Water' works to purify the evil of a corrupted Water Weird. 

I would like to note that 3E briefly reimagines 'Weird' as just a classification of all four basic elementals who take the form of naked women made up of the corresponding element. This feels utterly redundant since these editions also already have beings like Nereids and Sylphs, who are also women made up of the elements... 2E's Water Weird, actually, poses alongside the 2E Nereid, both known as part of the 'elemental water-kin'. 

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Wight

• 5.5E/5E: Medium Undead; Neutral Evil; CR 3

Wights are this game's answer to the 'replicating zombie plague' style of undead. Actual zombies and skeletons fulfill the role of weak undead minions that are raised immediately and are likely to shatter as easily; but Wights are a slightly more powerful than that. Wights as according to 5E are evildoers who were consumed by dark desires and wickedness in life, and is resurrected by a dark power to be granted a second chance at undeath. This means that Wights are a fair bit more intelligent than something like a ghoul, and a lot less tied to a single mission like a revenant. 

Wights fully possess all the memories they had in life, although they will also serve whatever dark god or powerful necromancer that brought them to life. They are, in a sense, the perfect place to be a 'smarter minion', independent enough to not be driven merely by base instincts, but also without grand ambitions as to fight its masters. 5.5E gives a bunch of other potential Wight motivations that caused them to rise from the dead, including obeying the cult it served in life, seeking its stolen treasure, prove that it's the greatest warrior, continue the crimes it was executed for... all nice little variations of the theme. 

Visually, Wights have been inconsistent over the various editions, being portrayed as essentially 'ghouls with clothes' in older editions, with constantly wild hair. 5E gives the Wight a redesign that keeps it more in line with the 'elite zombie/elite skeleton', with 5E seemingly having a thin skin stretched over the skull; while 5.5E just has it be a glowing skull with hair. They are always armoured and clothed, however, able to fight better than the lesser, brainless undead zombies and skeletons. Either way, I feel like 'Wight' is defined more by the circumstances of its undeath more than anything.

In combat, Wights are driven by a 'hunger for the spark of life', being able to drain life and restore itself with its attacks. More importantly, humanoids killed by a Wight will actually be transformed into Zombies! This is where the zombie plague is... but the transformation takes 24 hours, and so isn't actually that useful in the middle of a fight. It would be a fun twist for role-play, though, where a Wight attacks some random townsfolk and retreats, for them to rise from the cemetery as zombies the following night to sow chaos. Wights are also sensitive to sunlight, another mark as to why they can't hang out with the truly powerful undead like the Mummy Lords, Liches and Death Knights. 

As a side-note, the 5E entry opens with a note that says that 'wight' used to mean 'person' in the olden days. That is true for real life, by the way. Wight used to just mean an unfortunate person in old English, but then Tolkien used 'Barrow-Wight' to describe his version of undead, and the term stuck – and more recently Game of Thrones used it for its own version of undead. I've grown to appreciate Wights quite a bit after dismissing them as 'yet another undead' in my original monster reviews; I really do appreciate the need for different 'tropes' of undead horror being represented. 

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Will-o'-Wisp

• 5.5E/5E: Tiny Undead; Chaotic Evil; CR 2

I love the Will-O'-Wisps. Part of European mythology, real-life Will-O'-Wisps are essentially just a natural phenomenon caused by swamp gas, but are associated with evil spirits or fey that lead people to their doom. In the real world, of course, these Will-O'-the-Wisps being located in swamps probably caused curious, jumpy travelers to pay less attention to their surroundings as they rush to investigate or flee the creepy shining light, and fall to the hazards of your average swamp. 

This is D&D, though, so the Will-O'-Wisps are actually undead spirits. Will-O'-Wisps are portrayed to be balls of light, and it's only until 5.5E that we get a little twists of faces either crude or fully-formed appearing within the wispy smoky light. Will-O'-Wisps are noted to haunt lonely places and former battlefields, and are able to become invisible or turn into light at a whim. Hey, it's a friendly light, after all! Perhaps it's a friendly fairy, offering hope and safety. But Will-O'-Wisps lure fools to hazardous locations. Quicksand, monster lairs, a cursed ruin, patches of hazardous fungi... all to feed. 

See, Will-O'-Wisps feed on suffering and death screams as whatever hazard they bring you to causes you to die. The Will-O'-Wisp itself can't really fight back that well, with a minor 'shock' attack and being able to slowly drain life... but it's not there to kill you. It's there to bring you to the things that will kill you, like a pack of ghouls or the nest of an owlbear or the ruins haunted by a banshee. 

The 5E Manual notes that Will-O'-Wisps are fully sentient, they just prefer not to speak, probably to maintain that illusion that they are just floating cute light blobs. When they do, their voices sound like distant whispers. The Will-O'-Wisps form symbiotic relationships with stronger, intelligent beings like hags, oni or black dragons, happily bringing these victims to their partners because all the Will-O'-Wisp needs is to drain the suffering and pain from their tormented victim. 

All of this, by the way, is fun and fascinating to me. Most undead creatures either run the gamut of 'mindless being', 'being driven by a single obsession' or 'intelligent powerful person, just dead'. And that's fine, since all undead by definition are raised unnaturally from living things. But Will-O'-Wisps behave in a manner that reminds me of some strange animal that lives through a weird, dependent symbiosis with larger, more powerful partners; wholly dependent. It's similar to how some clownfish would draw larger fish to swim into the deadly stingers of its anemone partner. I really have grown to like them in this regard.

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Winter Wolf

• 5.5E/5E: Large Monstrosity; Neutral Evil; CR 3

The Winter Wolf is another creature that was previously stuffed onto the appendix of the original 2014 5th Edition Monster Manual, but was given a full page now. Winter Wolves are horse-sized supernatural predators with... well, general Ice-type Pokemon abilities, to be blunt. Immunities to cold, an aura of frost from their mouth, and they live in the icy terrains of the world. Older editions have just drawn white wolves, but 4th Edition onwards have really emphasized the difference in size of the Winter Wolf, and 5E gave it increasingly supernatural ice features such as an ice mist, glowing blue eyes and ice fangs. It makes them feel a lot less boring, as compared to the many, many 'just a regular animal but big and maybe an extra attack' dire beasts that older editions like so much.

Also, not instantly apparent but very much highlighted in 5.5E is that Winter Wolves are intelligent enough to speak. They still only have an intelligence score of 7, lower than all humanoids (which tend to be around 10) but that's enough for adventurers to try and negotiate with them. Winter Wolves also know the Giant tongue and some of them serve Frost Giants.

And... that's it, really. There's not much to note with this one, it's just a beast with some extra features to make them fantastical. Not much more you need than that, but it sure is a bit more interesting than just a pack of regular wolves. 

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Worg

• 5.5E/5E: Large Monstrosity (5E), Fey (5.5E); Neutral Evil; CR 1/2 (Worg)
• 5.5E: Huge Fey; Neutral Evil; CR 10 (Dire Worg)

The Worg are, of course, the copyright-friendly versions of Lord of the Rings' Wargs, the giant demon wolves ridden by the orcs of the setting. The Worgs take a lot from the Wargs, including the fact that they are fully sentient and can talk with prey, taunting the weaklings they hunt and coordinating attacks with their goblin or orc riders. The appearance of the Worg across D&D's history has thus changed quite a bit, from looking like just weird, malformed wolves in the first couple of editions (with a dash of that 'disturbingly human features on a beast face' in 1E)... but 5E decided to take a page out of the Lord of the Rings movies and tried to take the idea of a 'monstrous, larger wolf' and give it a somewhat unique design. 

Like the Winter Wolf and Death Dog, the Worg was just stuffed with most of the animals and humanoid stat blocks in the appendix of the original 5EMonster Manual, but was given a full page for itself, as well as the more powerful 'Dire Worg' variant who gets a frightened-inducing howl and a teleportation ability. 

5E's basic Worg has the main body of a wolf, but the face that I think can be most charitably described as a skinless, elongated feral baboon. 5.5E then gives both its Worg and the new Dire Worg stat block a bit of a revamp, making the fur spikier but also concentrating it on the front end of the beast, giving it a lion-like mane. I do like the weird, sinister faces of the original 5E Worg, though, which marks it as something a bit different from 'just' a talking wolf.

Rather interestingly, while classified as monstrosities before, 5.5E also retcons the Worg into being Fey, probably to tie-in with their slow moving of the goblinoids towards being Fey-oriented as well. I'm still of conflicting opinions about this; while I can see the goblinoids having Fey descent, I'm not quite feeling it for their sentient talking wolf-companions. 

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Wraith

• 5.5E/5E: Medium Undead; Neutral Evil; CR 5

This is turning into an undead-heavy segment, yeah? Whereas the Wight is the 'middle of the road' smarter cousin of the Zombie, the Wraith fills in that slot for the incorporeal undead like the Specter. The various versions of the game have never been consistent with what the Wraith looks like, other than 'dark ghostly figure' and 'glowing eyes'. I am particularly a fan of the 3rd Edition's more wretched-looking affair, looking like ragged, animated clothes. 5E and 5.5E goes for beings made up of shadow, their lower bodies and arms trailing into smoke while they have aspects of the crowns and armours they wear in life still present. 

Wraiths are noted by the 5E Manual to be 'malice incarnate', negative energy and emotions concentrated into an incorporeal form that seeks to quench all life. Passing through the world causes fires to go out, animals to flee, and plants to be blackened. The original 5E origin for the Wratihs is metal as shit for a mere CR 5 monster. Sometimes, souls that are supposed to be consigned to hell 'is so suffused with negative energy that it collapses in on itself and ceases to exist the instant before it can shuffle off to some horrible afterlife'. You're so evil that you collapse into a singularity of negativeness in the shape of the form you had in life? How metal is that? And the description of their abilities are Wraiths leading entire legions of the dead, and even if they are forced to retreat, the lands they attempted to conquer would be so blasted and devoid of life. Awesome. 

But as mentioned, the Wraith itself is ultimately a 'mere' CR 5 creature. A tough fight, to be sure, for lower-level adventurers, but not exactly deserving of the epic origin it has. 5.5E gives us a bunch more options on how Wraiths can be formed, although the 'single very powerful soul' origin is still there. Other options include some regular standbys like 'a cursed location' or 'a powerful necromancer', and of course the Lovecraftian 'the dreams of a vile slumbering god'. But I absolutely love some of these potential origins for wraiths. 'The exorcised soul of a redeemed villain', which sounds very anime, and fits with the origin of a whole mass of negative emotions that needed to go somewhere. 'The memory of tragedy', 'locals' fear of a superstition' and 'a profane piece of lore' also implies that Wraiths don't even need to be formed out of a soul, but just enough negative emotions to coalesce into a hideous smoky ghost-man. This ties to negative emotions really does help to differentiate the Wraith from the half-dozen other 'ghost made up of someone's soul'. 

That said, other than being incorporeal, Wraiths are able to drain life from their prey, and their special ability is to create Specters, which we've covered before. I suppose being killed by a mass of negative emotions would count as a traumatic death! 

But anyway, I do think that the writeup in the original 5E Monster Manual and even the tables of potential origins in the 5.5E Manual are terrific examples of how a monster can really feel a lot more impressive than they actually are. This is a similar problem I mentioned with the lesser Hags, where the description really does imply a much more powerful creature. I do find them a lot more interesting thanks to that writeup, even if stat-wise they aren't the most impressive. 

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Wyvern

• 5.5E/5E: Large Dragon; Unaligned; CR 6

Speaking of monster tropes, there is always the trope of dragons as 'just' a large, monstrous beast without all of that intelligent, immortal spellcasting schemers that the 'true' Dragons are. And there are many words for Dragons throughout various mythology, and so some of them have been utilized in D&D to represent lesser dragons. Of those, 'Wyvern' has stood the test of time as the most enduring. Wyverns have the intelligence of beasts compared to the fully-sentient dragons, essentially being the 'chimpanzee' equivalent to a human. 

In D&D, all Dragons have four legs and two wings (other than the excellent new redesign for the Gold Dragon), but Wyverns are always depicted with two wings, two legs, and a tail. It's somewhat similar to that of a bird, and media that needs technical sophistication to depict less-complex dragons (like Skyrim and Game of Thrones) moving like a natural beast tend to utilize this body plan as it's easier to model. But we're not talking about how dragons are depicted in other media, we're talking about Wyverns!

Wyverns are very simple fighters, with their resemblance to dragons honestly just being superficial. They fly and bite you, and D&D Wyverns have a scorpion-like stinger on its tail (a lot more obviously scorpion-like in older art) to deal poison. This is something that the Pseudodragon also has, and I really wonder what made the older D&D designers decide that scorpion tails are something that many lesser dragons just have? Again, notably Wyverns do not have the breath weapons that True Dragons are so famous for. 

Wyvern behaviour is honestly quite typical of other large predators, where despite their might,, they tend to be opportunistic hunters that attack primarily livestock and undefended travelers, taking advantage of strafing attacks and their poison tail to finish off enemies. Notably, though, a Wyvern's venom is actually highly valuable for alchemists, making Wyvern-hunting a potential aspect of society in a setting. Wyverns are noted to be smart enough to take advantage of their flight when harassing prey, but are no more intelligent than that. It is kind of boring as other than the visual (or theater-of-the-mind 'visual') spectacle there's not much to a Wyvern other than being a wild animal, but I do appreciate its existence. 

Let's Play Pokemon Legends Z-A, Part 23: Ghost Stories of Lumiose

This is another big sidequest mission before we jump into Vinnie's summons! And we'll start off with my favourite -- the Litwick quest. Remember how I complained how a lot of the side-quests don't actually 'properly' feature the Pokemon they are supposedly spotlighting? Well, there's still a lot of those here, but the Litwick one I've got no complaints about. 

A kid called Consei is panicking, because his little sister wandered off after Litwick. In case someone doing this quest isn't familiar with the creepy smiling ghost candle, Consei reiterates that Litwick is a Pokemon that sucks out your life... life force! Consei is worried "what if she never comes back?" Yep, implied child death! 

The Litwick appears nearby, and the game does its best with its limited graphics to show Litwick being creepy. This involves its model seemingly glitching in and out of existence, and teleporting to another part on the screen. It's perhaps not the most ideal effect to give to a candle-ghost, but they actually put some effort into it instead of just a simple, quick teleport. So kudos for that. 

(Also, I started this quest during the in-game day and had to quickly find a bench to make it night, otherwise the theme is kind of lost)

Litwick leads me through a bit of a run throughout the city, and there's a point where it stands on a railing overlooking a river, ghost-shuffles backwards... and seems to fall (or I guess, float) down. I thought that was unintentionally funny. Litwick's little cries, which is a bit more cute than creepy, keep playing through all  this. 

As we chase the Litwick into an area in the sewer, at the terminus is a little girl who asks "who are you... so you came to find me...?" and the camera rotates unsettlingly around her and me. "My brother worries too much..." and her hair covers her eyes... and... and it's not a jumpscare, not really. It's just a the little girl saying a creepy thing when she shouldn't. Turns out the little girl is okay. We've got five Litwick surrounding the little girl as the camera angles returned to normal.

The little girl says that she came upon the seemingly weak Litwick, and gave it her own life-force to sustain it. I... I don't think that Litwick was actually wounded, based on its Pokedex entry at trying to deceive travelers, but okay. Consei is rightfully angry at the little girl for feeding several candle-ghosts with her SOUL. And there are five of them! Did the other hungry Litwicks come after realizing there's someone willingly offering up their soul as food? 

The quest ends with the siblings exiting the sewer since Litwick is okay... but then we get a cutscene of the Litwick slowly inching towards the camera... and then BOO JUMPSCARE! It's cute.

And just to be clear, it's still very tame. It's very kiddy. No one above the age of like, eight or whatever will be actually spooked by the jumpscare or whatnot. They picked Litwick with its cute face and cute cry, and not something that would actually be properly unsettling. Even the anime's got a lot of scarier episodes than this. But within the constraints of the format of a game that needs to appeal to all ages, I felt this was really good! Compare this to the Phantump or the Dedenne quests, for example. 

And besides, I still think the Litwick was really just stringing that girl along. I don't trust that smile. 

Another really good one that follows the spooky theme is a mound near a tree... and a Froslass peeks out from behind the tree. The Froslass goads me to follow her, and I do. It's a simple run-around mission (also, again, best to do this in the night) and leads me all the way to a familiar top of a building... it's the same location where I fought the Rogue Mega Froslass with Naveen. The Froslass shines brightly... and disappears, leaving a Dawn Stone behind. 

Now while this is 100% an epilogue to one of the Rogue Pokemon similar to what we got for Mawile and Hawlucha, it is gloriously a lot more ambiguous whether this Froslass just wanted to say thank you and disappear... or if it actually died and it's its ghost saying thank you one last time. Yes, Ghost-types can have ghosts, too. It's... it's weird. 

New wild zones appear, 18 and 19. 18 is just another scaffolding-covered alleyways... although I do like that you needed to scramble up the side of a building to get to a good 80% of the zone. A giant Alpha Salamence is just menacing the actual streets, though. The rest of it is filled with fliers like Altaria and Noivern. So I guess the idea is that it's 'high rise' to reach Flying-types? Still kind of lame, but I suppose  there's only so much you could do with the urban setting. 

19 is a fun one, it's the gazebo where we fought Venusaur, I think? It's got rows and rows of... it's France, so I assume those are grape vineyards. A colony of Kangkaskhans have taken over this place, and at night a group of Clefairy and Cleffa show up in the gazebo. That is adorable. 

Here's an example of a quest that technically 'spotlights' a Pokemon but doesn't have anything to really do with it. A dude with a Heliolisk gives me a long riddle about where he wants his new house to be. It needs to have a view of the Prism Tower, of the river, must be near a Pokemon Center, must be near a river... and must be on a rooftop for his Heliolisk. It's such a small detail, a small insignificant detail, that doesn't really bring the Heliolisk truly to focus. It's a cute quest and I like the riddle, but I really want these sidequests to be about these strange, interesting creatures instead of just... just bland random setting-agnostic quests, you know?

Another sidequest has Andi, the lady with a Pancham from the first quest of the story, arguing with one of her clients. She's working as a tour guide or something, but her client is an asshole who demands Andi carry his entire Aggron. Excuse me, sir, that is a metallic Godzilla right there. Rude tourist, must be from Unova. The rude tourist is apparently here to join in the Z-A Royale and challenges me to a battle. He doesn't even use a Mega Aggron! These side-quests would have been perfect to show off some of the minor Mega Evolution! 

It actually is a 2-v-1 battle, even if the Pancham isn't much of a help compared to my Mega Slowbro making a joke of his team. We send the rude tourist packing, and Andi thanks us and has a little reminiscing moment about our first meeting and how she's still technically the first trainer I fought in Lumiose City. That's cute. 

Speaking of which... doing the battle zones at night now has random B- and A-ranked trainers actually mega evolve their final Pokemon, which I found out with a Mega Lopunny. That's so cool! Again, I feel like they could've shown it off a bit earlier in the tournament rounds, even if it's as a 'don't fight this uber-trainer' style like the early Pidgeotto dude, but I'm happy they're around now. 

A charming little quest is atop some rooftops, and I must admit that it took me longer than I should to get up there. A dude called Nett is trying to get me to show to his lazy Clauncher how to shoot a Water Gun at the piles of sludge. He really wants his Clauncher to help out,  but Clauncher is having a bit of an attitude problem and refuses to do so. After I demonstrate the Water Gun via Slowbro (instant move relearning is the best), Clauncher then shows off how powerful it is... by one-shotting a rock. The trainer then decides to... let's just go clean up rocks instead.

Funnily enough, I'm pretty sure the real-world pistol shrimp actually can probably destroy rocks their size.

An annoying side-quest I feel I have to highlight is a kid who's trying to get his Honedge to be a bit 'sharper', Becuase Honedge is looking down. His grandpa tells him that the only solution is a Pupitar, and for some reason I have to fight his stupid level 50+ Honedge with only a Pupitar in my team and win. Just... just sharpen your blade, man. Getting my Larvitar up to evolve is already annoying, but to keep it at the Pupitar level and not turn it into Tyranitar... thank goodness I have a lot of candies left over, let's just say. 

Another quest involves an Emolga that goes around stealing pecha berries. I have to chase it around as it flies around the rooftops. It's basically a showoff of the Roto-glide thing, isn't it? Again, not the best showcase for Emolga and it could've been replaced with any remotely flying Pokemon and it would've been the same quest. 

A Rust Syndicate Grunt tasks me to investigate some strange mounds of earth that have appeared in the boss's zen garden. Those things are expensive! Tracking it down, it leads me to a Drillbur. That alone is whatever, but the grunt's mannerisms as he finds the Drillbur, and gives it a dressing down and demands that it make penance to society by cleaning its mess is cute. The Grunt calls the Drillbur his new underling, and mutters about needing to give it a Poison or a Steel move... and after the quest, he is delighted to learn about the existence of the Rock/Steel Excadrill. That's nice. 

Finally, I did Restaurant Le Wow. 

And this time, it's TEN battles without healing. Ten! Each trainer only has three Pokemon each, but without healing, and the way these trainers are designed? I really like it. I really like this, and I find this way, way more entertaining and challenging gameplay-wise compared to Jacinthe's stupid tournament. The Pokemon aren't really individually strong, but they are designed to wear you down. Even if their little gimmicks don't hit you, getting hit by one or two moves really can be damaging even if it keeps your Pokemon at yellow. I have access to Mega Evolution, true, but Mega Evolutions get reset with every trainer. I like it. I lost the first time around at around battle 6 because it didn't register to me how long the fights were going to be; and for the second time I lost at the final Pokemon. But let's break down the Pokemon in Restaurant Le Wow's ten-course meal, because it's actually fun.

Of course, my little secret weapon is my Meganium, who is a tanky dinosaur with Giga Drain, and being able to heal is really good. But I still didn't want to rely on her as a crutch and it's challenging using her as little as possible. 

The first trainer starts off with a trio of Pokemon that all open up with Toxic. Garbodor, Victreebel, and Scolipede. Again, I should've started off with my own Scolipede out to prevent my party-members from being poisoned, but I love that the debilitating Toxic really does build up over time. The second trainer does the same with Fire-types (Camerupt, Pyroar, Talonflame) and tries to inflict Burn. The third trainer? She starts off with a dual-screening Carbink, which was where I realized the wearing-down tricks.

The fourth trainer abuses moves like Curse to raise defenses. Avalugg's defensive, Sableye's got weird typing and... Noivern's there I guess. Not the worst, but as I find out in my multiple runs, all his Pokemon run Rocky Helmet. More chip damage! The fifth one just hits hard and fast. Kangaskhan has all the elemental punches. That Gengar will get off a Shadow Ball, and as I find, even if I can OHKO the Gengar with my Chandelure or Malamar, that Shadow Ball will shave a chunk of my health. And that Steelix also quite quick to spam Earthquake as well. The sixth one uses Steel-types, but ones that hit hard: Scizor, Lucario and Aegislash. 

The seventh uses really speedy ones: Aerodactyl, Starmie and Froslass. Again, it really odes wear you down over time, especially when you're not expecting if this is going to be a type-themed trainer or not. Switching out not being a free move in this game really does force me to be a bit more on my toes! The eighth spams Giga Drain and Leech Seed and Synthesis, with Arbok, Roserade and Gogoat. She knows the trick! 

The ninth battle is where in my final run half my team gets wiped out. Gyarados, Dragalge... and Dragonite. Yeah, putting the fear of pseudo-evolutions back in me. It's vaguely Dragon-themed, but it's not really friendly to picking a specific type and spamming it, yeah? Dragalge can really screw up Fairy-types! As I found out, when it took out my Mega Meganium! I underestimated Poison. 

And the final battle? A Drampa, a Skarmory, and a Tyranitar. Another pseudo evolution, but... but a MEGA pseudo-evolution. I audibly cheered when Mega Tyranitar is formed, even if at that point I've only got the very unsuitable Chandelure left during the run that I lost. It is a bit less of an achievement that I felt when I beat Le Wow in the third run, because I was expecting certain troublesome Pokemon in the climb. But I really do like the idea of this endurance-type fight without healing... and things like how speedy moves are and how some moves can still hurt you even after the 'caster' is knocked out is a nice little gimmick unique to this gameplay.

That's all the sidequests available to me at the time. Next up, we begin the endgame!

Random Notes:

• Some more of the less-interesting side-quests:

• Furfrou barber is back at it again, this time wanting a Pokemon to show Scyther the move Psycho Cut. Can... can Scyther even learn Psycho Cut? You know, for a Furfrou-themed NPC, I really wished that at least we got to see the quest showing off the Furfrou hairdos. 
• One of the morons from the SBC tells me that the SBC is made up of all Dragon and Fairy-type users, and that's probably why Lebanne always has a disadvantage against Jacinthe. I mean, it's not like Jacinthe's playing fair either, having a random Aurorus that seems to be there just as a middle finger to Lebanne's team...  Anyway she fights me with a Dragon party. Sure. 
  
• There's a nervous taxi driver? That one was kind of... cute, if short? She only knows a single destination despite me being able to pick from a large menu. She gets so nervous over it that she promises to make up for it with an entertaining battle. A bit odd and doesn't actually have anything to do with Pokemon, but I didn't mind this as much as it feels a bit more Lumiose-coded and relatively short. 
• Four Beldum are attracted by magnets and block a holovator. At least they're doing something thematic with the holovators instead of 'random Pokemon in front of it!'
• At this point, I think I've evolved all the pokemon that could evolve by stones, and am just slowly evolving those that need levels. Man, this game has so many pseudo-legendaries it's not even funny. 
• Wild Zone 19 also has Eevees, in case you didn't manage to grab the ones that spawn in the overworld. 
• Do you know what random Pokemon I realize I haven't gotten, and spent way too long during this sidequest session trying to get? Motherfucking Dedenne of all things. Hawlucha was difficult, too, but with a new mega and whatnot I expected some difficulty in getting him. Dedenne just refuses to spawn in the rooftops for me, I don't know why!
• How fucking cool is that full-art Twilight Masquerade Froslass card? 

Let's Play Pokemon Legends Z-A, Part 22: Down With the Richness

Final Rogue Mega Evolution is Froslass, the new one. I do actually like that Naveen makes some character-appropriate comments about how he's going to take some fashion inspirations from Froslass. Mega Froslass is... it's neat! Her 'fake body' has extended into  a full on towering body that expands out like a cloud at the base, her arms and 'sleeves' have became longer and wavier, there is some long chunk of snow/flesh that acts as a weird 'hair'. That bit is weird, but I appreciate that it's there to make Froslass less 'just the base design stretched out'. Oh, and she's got ice oni horns now. 

Notably, despite all the big deal being given about him getting a mega stone, Naveen does not mega evolve his Scrafty. The Mega Froslass unleashes giant blizzards and summons icebergs that crash down from the sky, while I dodge around with Chandelure... but I actually die to the gimmick! At one point she summons some giant pillars and unleashes a blast of icy wind that freezes Pokemon... but damages the humans! I didn't realize that I was supposed to hide behind the pillars. 

So yeah, my soul was reaped by Froslass. I realized what I had to do and beat the Mega Froslass with my Mega Chandelure, but I did like this fight. It was quite frantic and a lot more fun compared to the relatively easy Altaria and Venusaur fights. 

Like a wart that won't go away, Jacinthe pops up again, actually acknowledging that Rogue Mega Evolutions are a threat to the city... but then goes straight into how important it is for us to join her stupid dumbass tournament so we can go back to protecting the city. This is worse than her being a rich airhead, she is a rich bitch who completely knows that the Rogue Mega Evolution is a danger to everyone, but who cares, right? Her rich people tournament is more important than the plebs. "My tournament is of equal -- if not greater -- importance!"

Naveen tells Jacinthe that our plate is full, and Jacinthe, in her infinite dickery, turns it around and rambles about how her own 'plate' is full of patience, totally, and that will not last forever. What an entitled spoiled twit!

We return to Hotel Z and everyone rightfully bitches about that dipshit Jacinthe. Taunie was fully willing to go back to Hotel Richissime to get things over with, but suddenly the bright sounds of a Battle Zone starting up happens, and we run out... to find that a purple battle zone. Lebanne, two of the SBC rich twits, and holo-Jacinthe show up. Yep, that's the rich dipshits for you. At least the mafia were more direct and had some sense of class about them! Jacinthe talks about how she has personal-use holo-walls and it totally matches her holo-avatar... what an utter asshole! She keeps going on and on about how we wouldn't do 'what is right', to participate in her stupid tournament. This honestly goes on for a bit, before holo-Jacinthe disappears. 

Lebanne sighs, and tells us that consequences await those who defy Lady Jacinthe. The two goons go and fight me. It's a lady with a Mawile and Klefki, and a dude with Dragonair and Shelgon. For all its hoity-toity reputation, the SBC sucks balls. Between each round Lebanne offers to heal my Pokemon, but that would require my Pokemon getting a single point of injury. No such thing happened.

Lebanne fights, and she suddenly hypes things up, yelling and being happy that she can cut loose in a REAL battle. She starts flexing, yells at Taunie and calls her a punk, and she starts doing some awesome feral poses. I like her. She summons a Noivern, which clashes with my Malamar. It's a contest of brute attack as I unleash Psycho Cuts and Night Slashes, and the Noivern unleashes Dragon Pulses. We have a double knockout as moves hit each other at the same time, something impossible in turn-based Pokemon but absolutely anime-accurate here. 

Next up is a Tyrantum, which faces off against my Meganium who Solar Beams it to death. Then a Garchomp appears, and I respect Garchomps. Cynthia has traumatized me enough. I mega evolve Slowbro and one-shot it with Ice Beam before it can do anything. Respect, Garchomp. 

Lebanne then unleashes her final Pokemon... a... Dragalge? That's not the Kalos Dragon-type I expected you to Mega Evolve, but fuck yeah. Lebanne does some more poses, and mega evolves Dragalge... and I think this might be my favourite new Mega. Dragalge's 'hair' expands into like an awesome, over-the-top anime cape, which makes sense since it's a seaweed monster. Its horns become like giant fake eyes, and the general look feels like a great idea of the 'exaggerated features leading to a unique silhoeutte' principle that a lot of the best-looking Megas have. 

It is unfortunately up against Mega Slowbro, and between Psychic and Ice Beam it goes down like a punk, but a very cool punk. 

Lebanne gives me a thumbs up... before assuming a feral pose and yelling that she's going to heal up her Pokemon and battle me as many times as it is needed to drag me to the hotel. The idea of abusing potions is a great little gag, but Taunie stops it and says that we're already planning to go. Lebanne sits like a punk on a rock and starts ranting about how we should've led with that last time, but Taunie points out that they were the ones that waltzed in and trapped people in Weird Zones. 

Lebanne rants a bit, but then shrugs it off, saying that she enjoyed cutting loose for once. She used to be a fighter, and the kind that seeks out strong opponents until she lost a fight to Jacinthe and was... uh... forced to become her maid and talk proper. So... uh... slavery? Or at least Lebanne got harassed into compliance? That's kind of disturbing, actually. Free Lebanne! Apparently, if I lose to Jacinthe, I become a maid? Well. 

Jacinthe clearly then pays off the organizers of the Z-A tournament and sets herself up as the next promotion match. Rich people are evil! 

Lebanne does a huge, embarrassing, cringey 'heart' pose to shut off the Jacinthe Zone, before giving me a fist-bump and meeting us back at Hotel Richissime. Lebanne greets us, back 'in character', and takes a photo of me. I do the most uncooperative expression, which is sad. We get up, and Canari informs us that apparently Jacinthe trapped everyone in the forcefield. Beat the bitch up, holy shit. Corbeau! Phillippe! You two are mafia! What are you doing? Come on.

Jacinthe yaps about her tournament and how perfect it is and stuff. The tournament bracket is on, and while it does look like everyone is participating, it becomes quite obvious that I'm just going to fight every previous promotional match again. So okay. Of course, Jacinthe and her over-inflated airhead ego has put herself as the ultra exclusive rich seed to fight whoever wins. 

We get the Canari fight, and this is the third time we've fought her. I like Canari, but at this point I just kind of try and get through the fight as soon as possible. I really also wished that Canari's roster has became expanded a bit. I just pop up my Meganium, who learned Earthquake, and quake her Heliolisk and Ampharos; Giga Drain her Stunfisk; and we get a mega rumble between Mega Meganium and Mega Eelektross. Canari, you're all right. She curses up a storm and walks off. 

Next up is Ivor, who reveals that it was Lebanne who beat him up and inspired him... but then declines to say any more. You have a crush on the big scary maid, Ivor? Ivor's team is also the same. Chandelure fries Heracross, then Malamar psycho-cuts Machamp and Medicham, and finally Mega Slowbro one-shots Mega Falinks with a Psychic.

Third is Corbeau. There's a bit of a cute moment where Phillippe is yelling encouragement from the sidelines, and apparently Corbeau has been fighting the Steel specialist to train against me, since Steel is defensively powerful against Poison. That's nice. I take down his Arbok with my Slowbro, but get blindsided with Gyarados again. Hawlucha comes out to take out the Gyarados with Thunder Punches, but ends up getting severely wounded by Bounces. Malamar Psycho-Cuts Roserade, and finally, the moment I am waiting for... Scolipede vs. Scolipede! No! MEGA Scolipede vs. MEGA Scolipede! That was fun. That was cool. I won with Iron Tails and Megahorns, but it was a bit close. I loved this moment, just to see two giant centipede-knights clash against each other. 

Jacinthe yaks on about how the final battle of her superspecialawesomeidiot tournament is going to happen... and suddenly, an interruption! God bless!

It's Zygarde!

L walks in behind Zygarde, and I love how this shuts down Jacinthe's grandstanding. Tarragon recognizes Lysandre as the missing leader of Team Flare, and gives a recap of who he is. Phillippe also recognizes him and gets excited for Corbeau's sake, but Corbeau wants to play it super-cool and not be embarrassed in front of his hero. Canari is shocked that the guy that fired the Ultimate Weapon is there, and poor Gwynn just wants to go home. 

Lysandre tells me that Zygarde wants to forge a bond, a bond that cannot be severed against me. Lysandre also drops the fact that he is amnesiac and remembers none of what he has done, which is news to me! but the Zygarde thing is important, because it's crucial for Lumiose City- and then Jacinthe opens her stupid mouth and yells about how this is totally great for her superspecialawesome tournament, and she randomly slaps Zygarde onto the tournament board as a competitor. Shut up and fuck off, moron. Vapid twit. Rich bitch. 

Suddenly, a bunch of squishy things started moving in from all parts of the room, passing the spectators' feet. It's a Zygarde Core and a bunch of Zygarde Cells! To people who aren't well-versed with Pokemon lore, Lysandre gives us a bit of a backstory and context about them, telling us that Zygarde gets stronger and stronger as more cells are gathered. It's a colonial organism... and Zygarde merges into... the best form, the serpentine Zygarde 50% and the original design that Zygarde debuted in. 

TIME TO FIGHT!

I respect Zygarde, so I fight him with Meganium. Giga Drains and Dazzling Gleams surprisingly only chip off on his health, so he's clearly scaled with Mega-Evolved Pokemon rules. So I Mega Evolve my starter, and charge up a Solar Beam to take out the legendary Pokemon.

Zygarde then zips off in his dog form. No capture, unfortunately. Lysandre tells me that Zygarde was pleased, and tells me that Zygarde has a bit more to go to become Zygarde 100%, or Zygarde Complete. Lysandre then goes off to gather all the remaining Zygarde Cells, because that's apparently what he's been doing off-screen as Zygarde 'has commanded him'. Okay? Weird way to incorporate that collection quest, but sure. Lysandre then tells me to continue growing as a trainer to be worthy of Zygarde, before addressing the assembled trainers of Lumiose, telling them that... 'the time has come to consider why Zygarde has came today, I pray all of you find the right answer'. Very vague and not informative at all, is it, old man? Silly Lysandre. 

Lysandre walks off, and all the fuzzy feelings I get from a cool meeting is crushed immediately when Jacinthe opens her stupid mouth and starts ranting about how the exceedingly incredibl(y annoying) host of this terrific(allly poor) tournament to begin the final round. Come, bitch, fight me and end this already. 

Jacinthe rambles about her plans at Rank A, which is a stupidly vague 'make each trainer strong' because that's her duty as an influential socialite. Just... just fuck off and go to your room, rich twit. 

Jacinthe is a Fairy-type trainer, and she starts off with Carbink. Come on. Meganium one-shots Carbink with a Giga Drain. She sets up Stealth Rock... at the corner of the room. What an idiot. Next up is Mawile. Chandelure, Flamethrower. Next. Jacinthe then sends out Aurorus, which isn't even in the Fairy Theme. Hawlucha, Brick Break. Next. A Gardevoir? Hold up, you're Diantha if Diantha was unlikable, huh? Anyway, Malamar. Night Slash. Next. 

Her ace is... CLEFABLE? Okay, I kind of expected her mega to be a Fairy-type, but I expected a Generation VI Fairy-type. For Clefable to get any attention... that's neat. Jacinthe gives some stupid 'responsibility to guide the masses', and turns Clefable into Mega Clefable... and hahaha what a stupid design. I like the big butterfly fairy wings, but the ears become ugly chunky tubes and she's got... a... beret? A flesh beret? Not feeling it. Mega Scolipede, Gunk Shot the shit out of that Mega Clefable. 

Nope, not a single piece of effort was given in the fight against Jacinthe. I am promoted to Rank B, and Jacinthe claims everyone is pleased. They are all clapping, but I think they're clapping because the tournament is over more than anything. Jacinthe gives some self-centered bullshit about how they have learned something about deep bonds between trainers and pokemon, but the only deep bond is the depths of your ignorance and stupidity and annoyance. She says a bunch of more stuff but if you can't tell, I found her extremely insufferable. Good writing, Pokemon team, I guess, in making her so unlikeable. My guy and Jacinthe do a fist-bump, but I choose to interpret it as me trying to punch her in her smug face and missing. 

We go back to Hotel MZ, and, uh, Naveen is so traumatized he's eating curry croissant? Or, well, he claims this is in the spirit of celebration, but it is a bit surprising for him. Taunie handwaves that she's going to catch up to me soon because she has a promotion match. Please beat up Jacinthe too, Taunie. The team notes that Floette and AZ are absent...

...And we cut to a scene with the two of them at the rooftop of the hotel. AZ overlooks the Prism Tower and mutters about someone called "Ange", who was meant to be the guardian of the city, towering and watching over 'her' always. I think he's talking about the Prism Tower? So maybe there's a Legendary sealed within? AZ then mutters about a 3000-year-old desire, foolishly held, a 3000-year old mistake, foolishly made... one that costed Floette's life... and mutters that young bright lives must pay his remaining debts. Ominous stuff!

The next day begins with AZ, again, ominously noting that 'Lumiose trembles'. As this happens, Vinnie summons us to Quasartico. I feel like we're going into the endgame now, and it's quite exciting! Certainly more exciting than this nonsense with Jacinthe!

Random Notes:

• These two Jacinthe-centric parts were... a bit tough for me to write and edit. I really, really found Jacinthe to be utterly insufferable especially compared to our previous focus characters of Corbeau, Canari, and even Ivor -- who I found stupid but in an entertaining way. I just really didn't enjoy her story at all. 
• I will admit that Jacinthe's battle theme is quite well done. That's something that did make the fight a bit more entertaining, and that's coming from someone who doesn't like electro.
• Naveen, on the SBC: "that sure was quite a thing we just witnessed. I'm not sure WHAT thing, exactly, but quite a thing." Same, bro. 
• I am actually surprised that the Zygarde cell gathering wasn't a fetch quest that runs throughout the game. Even if it's going to be plot relevant, I expected there to be like a couple of huge gathering missions for the cells, or at least a separate encounter with Zygarde core. 
• Not going to lie, with Lebanne's colour coordination, I was sure she was going to use a Mega Noivern. With Noivern being quite popular among the Generation VI Pokemon, I was surprised! I wasn't really thinking what mega that Jacinthe would use; but I kind of expected a pseudo-legendary like Dragonite or Goodra since all her goons used pseudos. 
• So for the bracket... I beat Canari to fight Ivor (who beat Tarragon) to fight Corbeau (who beat Taunie and Gwynn, and Gwynn beat Tarragon). Poor Taunie, she just can't stand up against the mob, can she? 
• I did chuckle that apparently Zygarde, legendary Pokemon and protector of nature, actually was a good boy enough to sit down and have his photo taken for the tournament. 
• In-between the Canari, Ivor, Corbeau, Zygarde and Jacinthe fights, we can talk to all the other people. Nothing is interesting other than Gwynn simping over Canari and Tarragon not giving a shit and caring more about taking away the posh food. That's a bit of a writing crime, honestly. 

Let's Play Pokemon Legends Z-A, Part 21: Riche Connasse

Last we left off in the main story, AZ finally gave Lida and Naveen mega rings and mega stones, and they wanted to fight in some battle courtyard. Lida is the first to face off against me, being confident that she can do something with her li'l Staryu. Lida at least has a somewhat more evolved team, having a Clawitzer and a Vanillish, plus a brand-new Emolga... but her ace is still a Staryu and there's only so much that a Staryu can do against a Mega Meganium. 

After Lida loses, she mutters that she might really need to evolve Staryu after all. Naveen tells Lida that she needs a water stone to evolve Staryu, before challenging me himself. Naveen's team hasn't really changed much, he still has Ariados and Sableye. He adds a Krookodile into his team, but I have a Hawlucha. Who's there jumping up in the sky? Iiiiit's Hawlucha!

Naveen then mega evolves Scrafty into Mega Scrafty... and it's all right? Mega Scrafty's discarded skin becomes fully pale-white, and the half that forms the 'hoodie' resembles a hoodie more. I think Mega Scrafty might be a bit taller, too? And he's got an 'arms in the pocket' pose. I kind of get a bit of a 'thematic' joke here where Naveen's a tailor and so his Scarfty has the clothes change, but it's also not the most interesting design alteration. I really hoped that the hoodie and stuff got a bit more elaborate. Regardless, Mega Meganium one-shots the Mega Scrafty with a single Dazzling Gleam. 

After the fight, we go off to Nouveau Cafe, and Naveen is glad to be dining in a location that keeps its croissants and curry separate. The unique-model staff member at Cafe Nouveau gets a bit angry because Lida and Naveen keep making separate orders instead of doing it all at the same time, which honestly is a fair enough thing to be a bit angry about. 

As we discuss Naveen's new Mega Scrafty, an anime maid with long green hair shows up and introduces herself as Lebanne, a representative of the Society of Battle Connoisseurs. Right, the asshole rich kids I beat up with the mafia. Naveen gives some info-dump about the SBC, noting that it's a group for the children of elites and socialites. Lebanne tries to talk up the badassery of this group, saying that they do more than just do mock battles, and invites myself and Taunie on behalf of Lady Jacinthe, their leader. We are to meet at Hotel Richissime, which is a nice little location callback. Lebanne then departs, with a slightly ominous 'who knows what might happen otherwise' if we don't show up. 

Lida and Naveen then get utterly disgusted at Taunie's declaration that she'll just show up at Hotel Richissime dressed with her normal outfit. Lida says it's a 'hard no', because this is a chance for us to rub elbows with the big shots. If nothing else, it would be great for Hotel Z. Naveen also agrees, albeit surprisingly less-vehemently than Lida. I suppose even though he's a fashion designer, his deal is more street-level? 

So we go shopping! Naveen, Taunie and I arrive in front of Boutique Culture, who sells the most expensive clothing in Lumiose City both a decade ago and now. And they have been refusing to do business with my plebeian self! The owner steps out, a Furisode Girl called Asami, who gives a long speech about 'people are free to pick out whatever clothes they wished to wear, but it would be grand if the clothes picked the person'. Okay, true, but you also literally refused entry to me, like, every single time I tried to visit your store. 

Asami then decides that we could be worthy by having a battle with her, with a stipulation that we beat her with a mega evolution. I oblige. She uses a Florges. I use my Mega Scolipede, making use of the brand-new Mega Stone and the Gunk Shot TM that Corbeau gave me. I one-shot the Florges, and Asami... waxes lyrical about how beautiful and stylish my victory was. I mean, Mega Scolipede is a cool design, sure, but Gunk Shot literally has it manifest a ball of icky green glob of refuse and chuck it at your flower fairy. I don't think it's pretty at all. This is the sort of trendy, avant-garde Pokemon battle she wishes to see, though, so who am I to judge the tastes of the bourgeoise?

Taunie is 100% done about this, and even Naveen isn't feeling Asami's attitude, but the two agree that returning to face Lida's wrath is even worse. Asami then decks me out with a fancy suit with floral patterns and a nice little cravat. Oh, and fancy opera leather shoes, too. I mean, it actually is a lot more stylish than what Naveen is wearing, at least! Taunie refuses to change into a fancy outfit of her own, though, noting that the jacket is a memento from her mother and she doesn't do any other styles. I mean... fair enough. 

Asami then name-drops the fact that she has overheard a mysterious up-and-coming mysterious tailor called Naveen. Naveen and Taunie share a knowing look, but they don't reveal his identity to Asami. Probably because Naveen isn't happy to collab with someone who thinks my Scolipede's Gunk Shot is stylish. With some new clothes in tow, we return to meet the SBC. 

Hotel Richissime has gotten a bit of a glow-up since I was last there a decade ago, and Taunie has a brief bit of jealousy as she compares Hotel Z to Richissime. Lebanne the maid is waiting for us in the lobby, and she keeps noting how bad it is if we were a no-show, and she doesn't even want to think what would happen to us. This really does feel a bit more yakuza/mafia-ish in the same vein that the Rust Syndicate comes off as. 

The SBC is set up at an upper floor, a posh and nauseating upper-class-twit location. Almost all the other previous named NPCs are around. Canari and Gwynn walk up to greet me, with Canari being very much willing to get a vengeance in a 'comeback' fight. Tarragon, Ivor, and even the mafia bros Corbeau and Phillippe are around. 

Jacinthe arrives, and she's... very pink. She keeps fluffing her two giant hair, too, but other than the gag of being over-the-top noble (and I don't necessarily think she does it that well) she's kind of... bland. At least at this point in time. She gets very irritating later on. I do think this is the intended reaction, so good job on the game for portraying a rich upper-class twit that isn't insufferable because she's mean and rude, but because she's so utterly oblivious to everyone else's feelings. Jacinthe starts off innocently enough, introducing herself as the host, thanking everyone and introducing the SBC. Jacinthe name-drops one of their recent guests, Leon from Galar, who delivered a lecture and a fight in the invitation. I actually like this, and it does make sense... Leon feels like the type of dude that would jump at the call at any invitation to battle. 

Jacinthe does a bit of a roll call of everyone, setting up the battle tournament. Pretty neat setup, a roll call before we introduce the Le Super-Tournoi de Jacinthe.

Of course, at this point Vinnie calls in and tells us that a bunch of Rogue Mega Evolutions are around and need to be stopped. Taunie and I immediately have to go, of course, and we even apologize to Jacinthe for the inconvenience, and to tell her to just mark us off as losses. I mean, the tournament sounds fun, but we need to protect the city. Jacinthe is confusedly surprised, while Lebanne sighs with a 'I knew this was going to happen' expression. 

As Taunie and I walk to the hotel lobby, Lebanne walks up to us and gets a bit angry and tells us to watch ourselves after that display. She tells us to reconsider our actions, to return to the venue, and nothing can be more important than a bunch of rich people's private party. This is out of concern for our well-being! Taunie even gives a nice reason of 'we need to keep protecting the city so you all can keep enjoying your tournaments'. Lebanne yells out at us, but we ignore the maid and run off. 

Lida and Naveen give some comments about how the 'other half' lives, and we set up our three mega evolutions! We've got a Venusaur, an Altaria and a Froslass. Froslass is our new Mega Evolution, and I suppose it makes sense and is kind of overdue since Glalie got one all the way back in Generation VI. It is also kind of odd that Venusaur got a Rogue Mega Evolution, but not the other two Kanto starters.

And then suddenly, Jacinthe joins in on the conversation, giving in random bullshit comments like 'when opponents become more formidable, one needs to train to match them' or some stuff like that, which eventually goes around to her suggesting that I should join her tournament to power up. We get the anime trope of the other characters replying to her comments as if she was there all along... and it isn't even funny because these kind of jokes are cute when someone says one or two sentences before realizing someone who's not supposed to be around is there. But the game overplays it with too many lines of dialogue. 

It gets a bit more annoying as Lida actually blurts out Rogue Mega Evolution and even starts explaining it 'because someone isn't paying attention'. Jacinthe gets caught up on it, and she wants to escort Taunie and myself back to the SBC tournament. Naveen and Jacinthe bond briefly over her fancy clothes, and Jacinthe insists that we are friends. Taunie insists that we most certainly are NOT. Jacinthe keeps prodding us to rejoin the tournament, but we told Lebanne to disqualify us because, you know, fate of the city.

But Jacinthe, the posh twit, keeps talking about how the tournament she planned was perfect in every way and anything less would be unacceptable, and the two of us are indispensable in making the perfect dream into a perfect reality. An utter twit, aren't you? I would use much stronger language, really, but what an unlikable dipshit she is. Lida even points out that a 'perfect' tournament wouldn't have guests waiting around for the host. Team MZ splits up the missions as usual, and Taunie even points out that we're going to ignore the SBC tournament. Jacinthe walks off, insufferably polite, and says that she doesn't take kindly to those who make light of her tournament. What a clod.

Anyway, mega evolution fighty-fight time. First up is a Venusaur, just frogging it up in a random gazebo. Mega Venusaur evolves, my big flower frog boy, and I face off with my Meganium. Grass starter against grass starter! ...and it backfires terribly, because Mega Venusaur has Poison against both of my Meganium's types. Its Sludge Wave attack is quite wide-reaching! So I swap to Chandelure and start launching Flamethrowers at Mega Venusaur. In a quasi-Frenzy-Plant kind of deal, Mega Venusaur causes giant bramble-thorns, similar to the ones that pop up in the city, to burst out all around us. 

Interestingly, the brambles also serve as a way for Mega Venusaur to gain health, and I can either go around unleashing AoE attacks on the brambles (Heat Wave was good at this) or just keep piling on damage to Mega Venusaur. Mega Venusaur also has an insane Solar Beam attack that follows me around, which visually looks spectacular. 

Venusaur is taken out... and a holographic Jacinthe appears behind me, jumpscaring me and going 'absolutely marvelous', congratulating my strength and giving some bullshit talk, again, about how she wants us for the tournament. Fucking lunatic stalker! She promises/threatens to haunt us as long as we keep avoiding her. 

Next Rogue Mega Evolution is Mega Altaria, atop of a roof and Lida fighting alongside me. Lida has a brief moment where she's asking if the three of them are a help to me, and of course I have to say yes... but if we're really being honest, Lida, you leading with Staryu really isn't the most useful. But she's nice. Mega Altaria is gloriously big and fluffy, and there is a bit of a problem that she keeps flying around, so I have to use Pokemon that have ranged attacks or can fly. 

Ultimately, though, other than those two gimmicks, Mega Altaria only unleashes some relatively rather easy to dodge Twisters. I Mega-Evolve my Scolipede, and take down the fairy dragon. Mega Altaria's cool, though. Always a supporter of that big fluffy design. No complaints about it from me. 

Jacinthe, of course, pops up again and asks me about Rogue Mega Evolution and my rapid rise up the Z-A Royale... mind your own business, lady! She keeps saying that my strength belies my lack of grand ambitions... I mean, grand ambitions are not synonymous to your tournament, you crazy crazy! She just gets even more insistent that we will be part of her perfectly perfect tournament, and even threatens to buy out Hotel Z. What a nitwit!

Anyway, I'll save the Mega Froslass and the rest of this insufferable arc for the next segment. 

 

Random Notes:

• Oh hey, some of the new Z-A originated Mega Evolutions have new TCG cards now! Yay! Not all of them, but it's nice to have Mega Scrafty's card art be the opening for this let's play. 
• Lida does make a bit of a grumbling point about how she doesn't want to lose what made Staryu so adorable, which is honestly a fair point. This could be a Pikachu-doesn't-want-to-evolve-into-Raichu storyline. You know, Lida, you could get another mega-evolving Pokemon! 
  
• The clothing options apply to both genders, so the suit-with-cravat set would also be given to a female player character. 
• I also did finally end up finding an Alpha Gogoat, which allowed me to finish a minor sidequest where an ex-Gogoat-Shuttle owner is trying to pivot away his business to become a Gogoat delivery service. Not sure how a Gogoat that towers all over the other Gogoats is going to be particular in this front, but hey, as long as the Gogoats are well taken care of! Alpha Gogoat is seriously much larger, though, with the regular Gogoat maybe reaching up to slightly above its knee. 
  
• I do gloss over this in some of my previous side-quest writeups, but the Gogoat Shuttle service being given a quiet sendoff is both a nice nod to XY but also kind of sad. 
• One of the random hotel guests: "staying long-term at a hotel makes for a nice minimalist lifesetyle!"
  
• For the game to justify us traveling without Taunie between locations, they just keep having Taunie go "I have a request to help someone!" ...which would be nice to see more of these before, y'know, the arc around Taunie getting into trouble for helping the wrong people. 
• I suppose that explains why the two Charizardites and Blatoisite were available in the Stone Emporium, but not the Venusaurite... but you'd think if they'd pick a Kanto starter to give a Rogue Mega Evolution to, they'd pick the one that has a spare Mega Stone...
• Notably, Taunie does not actually mega-evolve her starters.  Come on, you've got both Feraligatr and Emboar!