Let's Play Pokemon Legends Z-A, Part 43: Lumiose Foodies

More side-quests as I grind towards the finale of the Mega Dimensions DLC, and pulling back the curtain a bit on the production of these articles, there's a bunch more side-quests while doing the DLC's "post-game", such as it is. Some of them may be merged together here, since I took notes/screenshots and am just following the order of how I experienced these events. 

Most important is meeting another new Mega Evolution... and this time, it is Golurk! I wasn't as excited about this as Golisopod, but I love Golurk and I love that its Mega Evolution ties to its Pokedex entry noting that the seals around its chest is holding in its true power. Mega Golurk is a design similar to Mega Banette where this seal is removed, and its power is just overflowing out... taking the form of... butterfly wings? I do like the extra bits of glowing light around Golurk's 'chains', and the X across his chest. Pretty cool design, I have no complaints about Mega Golurk. 

Another Mega Evolution is one from the newer games, Mega Glimmora... which is also a design that I feel is quite logical considering how it looked like before. Glimmora is a very dynamic design that's meant to be appreciated as a moving 3D model, with the flower closing and opening, and Mega Glimmora takes it up to eleven by showcasing the impressiveness of the 3D model the way Mega Steelix did back in Generation Vi. It has got six huge chunks of petals rotating and moving in synchrony around the main body, Pretty cool design, and one that's quite enjoyable to look at. I don't really think that much about Glimmora, but it is a pretty fun design. 

The last of the 'hyperspace scuffle' events where we do a double battle against a pair of characters from the same faction is Grisham and Griselle, on top of a random building. Emma is the one that shows up here, asking some questions to them. Grisham and Griselle are happy to oblige, and we get another double battle. This one was very easy for me becuase my donut is particularly overleveled for this rift. Yay, Donut crafting and berry gathering skills being more important than the core gameplay, woo.

Emma asks Grisham and Grisellle about Xerosic in particular, querying why he was working for Team Flare. Grisham explains that Xerosic was working on ways to enhance humanity's abilities in a way not dissimilar to mega evolution, and the result of this research was the Expansion Suit. Grisham and Griselle were apparently planned to be the original test subjects, but those plans ended up shifting and Emma became the one to bear the Expansion Suit instead. 

Emma notes that Xerosic was always kind to her (despite the... brainwashing?) and she wanted to know more about who Xerosic was as a person. Grisham notes that while Xerosic valued research over all else, the exception was when Emma was involved, because he showed kindness to her. I have the options to say 'remember him hoow you wish to', and 'I don't think his kindness was a lie'. 

Which... I dunno. It really did feel that when I was playing through XY that Xerosic was fully villainous, and was playing Emma like a regular manipulator and that he just didn't have the guts to go through it all the way. Don't really like the idea of him being portrayed in this more positive manner, but maybe I have to rewatch the XY Emma story again. 

Canari has a quest for me that asks me to last 30 seconds in a 'dodging' little minigame. Which I thought was kind of cute, where I dodge around in the Racine Construction garage while Ampharoses and Hippowdons shoot attacks at me. It's not difficult, but it's a cute little minigame that's a nice little diversion. 

Cafe Introversion is besieged by a random Nacli on the rooftop that launches salt into people's coffee. Who does that? I have to run up to the rooftops to chase tthe Nacli, and this is kind of interesting becuase I need to catch it. Okay? Like a criminal on trial, Cafe Introversion's barista brings up the Nacli and shows it to the customer... who ends up actually liking the salted coffee. Oh, I guess it's like those salted coffees from Vietnam? That's kind of a cool little twist, and not one that I expected when this quest started. 

The barista ends up being a bit surprised, but very quickly decides to work this salted coffee into their secret menu for 'those in the know'. 

A differrnt cafe, Cafe Triste, wants to have less customers and its proprietor Suzie wants to find a way to reduce the crowd that comes to her store, without losing all of her customres. She wants to offer what's essentially weird hipster food, food that's weird enough to attract a certain clientele, but to turn off most of the masses. Her solution? Sushi coffee. Sushi would clash horribly with coffee, and so it will 'attract only a modest crowd of true enthusiasts'. For this, she wants me to show her the three Tatsugiri forms. 

I end up eating the sushi alongside coffee as a reward... and as I do so, I got bamboozled by a random food blogger, with pretty fun streamer dialogue as 'Brenda's Besties' notes what a bold and strange and interesting cuisine innovation Kalos is doing right now. This leads to a mssive crowd gathering around Cafe Triste, a brand-new 'hidden gem', much to the distress of poor Suzie. 

Speaking of coffee, Brula, one of the baristas in the most expensive coffee places in Lumiose City, gives me a quest to come and taste her 1,000,000 Poke-Euro coffees, the Ultimate Beans of Ultimate Supremacy. This quest is a lot of dialogue and a lot of zooming in to Brula's face as she keeps asking me if I'm sure, if I'm truly a coffee gourmet, and all that. It's just a huge money sink disguised as a side-quest, but I found the little jab at super-expensive, super-posh coffee (and wine) culture to be funny enough to enjoy this. 

Another quest has a rather atypical Pokemon choice. A rich boy is struggling with getting his stinky Pokemon to take a bath... but instead of like, a Garbodor or a Mabostiff or something, it's the adorable Wigglytuff, who gets some cute angry expressions in protest. I need to use bubble beam in a battle against him, but Wigglytuff gets wise to his tricks, slaps him and floats off. Bad Wigglytuff! Baths are for your own good! 

A rather long sidequest involves a dude called Adver, who offers to give me one of Charcadet's two evolutoinary items. He, however, then goes into a long tirade about how he wished since he was a child to have this over-the-top elaborate backstory about having a rival that also has a Charcadet, and that he and his rival would grow up with different evolutions and backstories and it's all angsty and very shonen anime. It's actually quite cute, particularly with the zoom-in and giving the sidequest more cinematic proportions. 

Ultimately I pick Ceruledge and fight his Armarouge, but not before he goes through a whole LARP session of meeting me under the bridge, going 'oh, my rival from the past!' and because everything is just made-up, I can say whatever I want about the outcome of our past and he has to basically roll with it. It's actually quite neat. I didn't level up my Ceruledge so it gets beaten down by the Armarouge, but I still complete the quest regardless because all the guy wants is a LARP partner. That's cute. 

I also finally collect the 999 Gimmighoul coins to evolve Chesty into Gholdengo. The dude I bring Gholdengo to has the gall to ask if I want to give Gholdengo to him and I'm like... no, that's my Pokemon. He has some words talking about how he's going to resolve himself to evolve a Gholdengo of his own, which... is a bit of an anticlimax to such a long quest. Seeing Gholdengo surf around is cute, though. 

Speaking of another endagme money-sink grind, in addition to the TM vendor to sink my mega crystals to, the proprietor of Cafe Ultimo, Brula, has created a super-duper expensive coffee. Instad of the $100,000 Ultimo Brew, Brula introduces a brand-new super supreme cream of the crop coffee that can only be harvested at a select area, and a few can be grown at any time... etc etc etc to make it feel exclusive. And this brew costs... one million poke-euros! That sure is a money sink all right!

A guy shows up and asks me if I know about the now closed-down Cafe Lysandre, being rather sad that his favourite cafe is closed for good. After a call with Grisham, he directs me to some of his Team Flare Nouveau allies, leading to a barista called Trois who brings in her old master, Mait. Mait has retired, but both he and Trois used to work for Cafe Lysandre. They then challenge me and the client to a double battle. Rather interestingly, Trois uses Liepard and Flareon; while Mait uses Scrafty and Houndoom. Scrafty and Liepard are actually the two Pokemon used by the two nameless Team Flare Grunts that were disguised as the waiters in Cafe Lysandre in Pokemon XY, and this is a nod to those grunts. I appreciate the continuity nod!

This quest ends rather wholesomely, with Mait revealing that he has retired completely from cafe-making, but doesn't tell the client that. He lets us drink coffee in Cafe Lysandre, before revealing that it's his protege Trois that brewed the coffee and they are pleased that the taste of their coffee was passed down to a younger generation. That was a nice little conclusion, I think, to two previously nameless NPCs. 

Finally, we'll close this off with a fun little sidequest. A Rust Syndicate Grunt is yelling around the sewers, having heard a deathly scream. Just like Corbeau, he's a good guy and actually wants to investigate, but is too scared and frames it in a way that he's simultaneously trying to intimidate me while also begging for my help. 

In the sewers, we get to see Cofagrigus floating in its full sealed coffin form. Punching it causes it to go "guh wuh wuh wuhh!!!" and float away. I basically have to clear the Cofagrigus from this side of the sewer, beating up the floating sacrophagi while dodging the local wild Pokemon. There's an Alpha Cofagrigus at the end that fights me... but the one that abducts a person is actually floating on the ceiling, tucked neatly a bit away from sight. It took me a fair bit to find it!

This Cofagrigus actually did trap someone in it, dropping a Canatic fan, who ended up being attacked by the Cofagrigus when he yelled in excitement at seeing the newly-arrived sarcophagus Pokemon. The Cofagrigus's insides is apparently so comfortable that he... fell asleep. Yeah. You could fall asleep permanently, being sealed in a coffin like that. All that's well ends well, but the Rust Syndicate Grunt gets a funny little jumpscare when the Cofagrigus appears behind him. This one is cute. With some extension, I actually could see this being a 'Cofagrigus spotlight' chapter of the manga or episode of the anime. 

Anyway, next up we'll conclude the main story of Mega Dimensions, although there is still quite a fair bit of content to grind through. 

Random Notes:

• More Infinite ZA battles! I fight Emma! And... some others! I think I'm slowly running out of opponents before I trigger the final quests. 
• This particular blog was written in conjunction with the other two 'main story' ones, so some of these quests may be unlocked after I defeat the final DLC boss... but it's the order of me doing the side-quests, if that makes sense. 
  
• More side-quests that I don't have much to say about:
• The author man is back, with a new set of Pokemon (a Fairy, a Dragon and two Alphas) he wants to see, and makes a silly love-romance story that devolves into Romeo & Juliet... apparently, despite the cheesy writing, his script ended up being adapted into a movie, starring Sabrina and Brycen of all people. He then has another set of Pokemon and makes it a locked-room Sherlock Holmes story. He offers to repeat the story with different Pokemon, but it's such a poorly-done quest in general that I really don't care. 
• A waiter wants a classy and gallant Pokemon to serve at his cafe, and wants me to give him an Indeedee. The Indeedee ends up serving giant Lumiose Galettes the size of half the table, which was a genuinely funny punchline. 
• A terrible quest that barely has anything to do with Pokemon has a lady ask me to watch her store for a while, and I have to memorize item prices while people run in and go 'give me 3, uh, fizzy drinks and 2, like, the water one, oh wait...' At one point a Grumpig comes up and it's kinda funny, but the whole quest is super boring. 
• Someone trying to set up a 'sweet dreams' service with his Musharna asks my aid to help put a customer's Flamigo to sleep. It's a bit short and bland, but at least it ties to the lore of Musharna. 
• Hidden on top of the roof is also a quest with Rotoms, where a guy fight me on a 1-Pokemon-battle with all forms of Rotom. It's the way to get the Rotom Catalogue, but dear god, can't he just have all five forms in the same party? You can make the terrible puns (which I admit are fun) without having to reset the battle every single form!
  
• A guy goes on a date with a lady who really likes Purrloin, and keeps asking me for questions about Purrloin trivia. Sounds like a terrible way to get to know a date, since he doesn't actually know a lot of the stuff he's discussing with her. 
• Suzie does actually highlight that serving curry would put Cafe Tsite in the shadows of Hotel Z, so despite the team bullying Taunie about it all the time, turns out that her curry is well-known enough to have a reputation! 
• To be honest, Charcadet, Armarouge and Ceruledge are so under-showcased in Scarlet/Violet, and they were games that spotlighted most of their new Pokemon relatively well. I always found their designs to be silly Mega Man immigrants, and this is probably the first time I've ever really cared about them in-game and that's through the silly chuuni quest. 
• "Knowing the bitter taste of defeat teaches one how to draw out the bitter notes in their coffee." Okay, Trois. 

Let's Play Pokemon Legends Z-A, Part 42: The Lava Dome Pokemon of Jaune Plaza

So last we left off the main story, we dealt with some lazy writing regarding Jacinthe and Griselle, just to randomly handwave another cross-factional battle. And next up is another rogue mega evolution in hyperspace... which is a very unexpected Mega Meowstic!

As much as I do think that Mega Dimensions is a massive step-down from the base game of Legends ZA, at least the new mega evolutions are still pretty cool. It is also a huge shame that after the Mega Tatsugiri fight happening in a giant sushi stadium that we're back in the formless void... really, how difficult would it be to put Emma's office here? Or even like, the sewers or something? Anything, really. Korrina even lampshades that the area feels the same with the arena where we fought Mega Staraptor and Mega Absol Z, and do these arenas reflect the subconscious thoughts of the afflicted Rogue Mega Pokemon? We don't get an answer, of course, which is a shame. 

There is a brief discussion about the male and female Meowstics looking different and having different moves, and Korrina explains that the Meowstic in front of us is the male variant, which are more defense oriented... and then Meowstic mega evolves. It's... it's got the colours of the male and female combined, with the body being split down the middle similar to the mascot of Danganronpa (I've never played the games, but I recognize the mascot). The eyes in its ears are in full display, and it's got a blue and yellow eye.

Normally, I really find it lazy when developers try and shove the same model to account for a single Pokemon's multiple forms. We see this in Gigantamax Appletun/Flapple and Mega Pyroar... but Mega Tatsugiri and Mega Meowstic are so stylish about it. I love them. 

The Mega Meowstic fight is another one that's a bit difficult, but I find it quite cool. Its little Zelda boss fight mechanic is to summon four walls, like a Trick Room, and we have to break one of the walls (which is always the one furthermost to us) and get into the room otherwise we get blasted. That last bit, by the way, was not communicated well and I was confused because I thought it was my Pokemon running in and damaging Mega Meowstic that's the trigger. I felt like a smart cookie when I figured it out. 

Anyway, I used another lower-powered donut than I'm supposed to, but since this is a plot-relevant fight, I could continue with the HP shaved off. Anyway, after this sequence we've got another -sigh- butter, it's called Supreme Butter, and we go through a whole song and dance with bringing it back to Ansha. 

In the dinner, Lida mentions that the pressure from Jacinthe is getting to her. Ansha notes that Jacinthe is kind and keeps her company at mealtimes since she didn't have many friends. Korrina then asks and very casually name-drops Diantha as Ansha's mom... which is such an anticlimactic reveal and considering these post-mission curry dinners have mostly been fluff, it's probably easy to miss. No one, by the way, explains who Diantha is, too -- so anyone who didn't play Pokemon XY wouldn't get the reference or why everyone in Team MZ is so freaked out. It's bad writing, GameFreak. You can't have your cake and eat it too -- you can't write for a 'new audience' with minimal references to older continuity, and then weave in a huge drop like this without explaining it. The base game averts the problems reasonably well by explaining Team Flare, Lysandre, AZ and a lot of the plotline quite well if and when they become relevant, but at no point did Diantha's impact is really explained to the audience. 

Anyway, le gasps here and there, and Ansha explains that Diantha taught Jacinthe how do do battles. Which does makes sense, Jacinthe also uses Carbink and Gardevoir, and randomly has an Aurorus in her party which she shares with Diantha. Lida is of the same mind with me, noting that Jacinthe's  skill must be impressive... not because of her battling prowess, but because she was patient enough to take someone like Jacinthe under her supervision. 

Ansha explains that Diantha is off shooting a movie in a faraway region and won't be home at some time. Boo! Boo absent mama leaving the poor child in the hands of an irresponsible nitwit! Korrina brings up the possibility that Hoopa could use her powers to send Ansha to Diantha, but... apparently this is impossible? Why not? Hoopa is a legendary Pokemon! Ansha tells us that Diantha taught her how to make donuts, and it's this donut-making skills that allowed her to befriend Hoopa.

Not much answers are given to us, before some bad dreams happen. More 'stay away' and 'stop', and my character just begins to run around in the empty void. The mysterious voice tells me that it 'only want stay here', and that I should 'stay way stAy Away STaY AWAY'. Some really nice angles as I walk around this empty void being confused and in all directions like a cartoon. More of these instead of samey backgrounds, please game. 

In the next day, Lida mentions that she has the same creepy dream, and Naveen refuses to listen to any creepy dreams. Emma shows up and notes the adorable donut shop that's been set up in Hotel Z. Emma thanks Ansha and Hoopa for their help in the whole hyperspace crisis. Most importantly, Mimi gets a donut! Mwarp! Emma notes that there are a lot of Pokemon like Gulpin that's been appearing out of Hyperspace, and she's had her hands full dealing with them. Gee, if we could see some of those instead of dealing with the same old same old grind... 

There was a discussion then about what kind of a man AZ is, since Ansha never met AZ before. Emma describes AZ as a man with 3000 years of regret, who is determined to prevent others from suffering. We also get the origin of Hotel Z, where the land was given by someone in the ancient past as reward for creating a guardian over Kalos, and he left it in the care of friends over his long, long life. The hotel ended up becoming something that these friends set up to help cover costs. Anyway, after that bit of reminiscing and so on, Corbeau calls in and summons us to Rust Syndicate HQ. 

Canari and Ivor are somehow besieging the Rust Syndicate, and Canari is going ballistic. She wants to drag Corbeau out, because Corbeau dragged Ivor into the Hyperspace Dimension thing, and because that happened, Gwynn is also involved. It's a very nice moment for Canari; but also nice to see that even though it's off-screen (why is it off-screen?) Corbeau is enlisting the other powerful trainers of the city to help out in the crisis. All of this is causing Gwynn to want to go off and hide out in her nonexistent world... which is alarming and honestly quite sad for the poor girl who keeps getting dragged into nonsense. 

Corbeau shows up and tells Canari in his typical crime boss fashion that 'whatever is decided between Ivor and Gwynn is between them'. Which is actually fair enough, Canari should be beating Ivor up. But this is a much better setup for a battle compared to the Griselle/Jacinthe handwave. I team up with Corbeau to fight Canari and Ivor, although there was a funny bit where Canari's angry that I am not fighting alongside her. 

After the fight, Ivor explains to Canari that the Hyperspace threat has led the Fists of Justice to be re-galvanized to fight a new threat, particularly with so many random new Pokemon appearing from Hyperspace. It's a nice callback to the Fists of Justice's original mission. I still agree with Canari looking out for Gwynn's wellbeing, but this answer and the battle convinces Canari to at least help out -- help Gwynn, at least, so she doesn't have to deal with Ivor all on her own. That's nice. 

Corbeau replies very blithely: "Hooray. Your newfound team spirit helped you patch things up." Bless you, Corbeau.

As they leave, Korrina notes how Corbeau really should be more transparent when he's helping people out... but he does a pretty cool edgy-emo thing where he notes that he's not here to play hero, and he doesn't mind being hated. Okay, although in this particular case it's not really benefiting you in any way. But Corbeau's cool, so I don't mind. 

We get another show of the mini-map for no reason (was there supposed to be animation here showing the rift getting bigger, perhaps?)

There's another hyperspace research nonsense here, which again, this game is grindy as fuck and these grinds are nowhere as interesting as the Z-A battles or the Wild Zone researches. All the Pokemon are thoughtlessly thrown into samey locations, and I keep having to make fucking donuts just so the fucking timer doesn't run out. It's miserable. I'm not going to keep bitching about it. Anyway, a lot of the grinding happened concurrently with the side-quest material. 

And the next Rogue Pokemon is... a legendary Pokemon... HEATRAN!

God bless. This is a bit of a deep cut, because back in Pokemon XY, due to a random freak mistranslation, two NPCs talk about the 'Lava Dome Pokemon' that's rumoured to be found in Jaune Plaza. This was a mistranslation of the original Japanese script being of the two of them having a lark about mimicking Heatran's cry, but it was mistranslated into dialogue that looked like a hint. 

Ten years later, and Heatran is actually in Lumiose City. 

Korrina notes that the appearance of a legendary Pokemon in Hyperspace is a good thing for Ansha's dream, since it does mean that at least legendaries can appear in Hyperspace.

Heatran Mega Evolves... and... whoa, is all I can say. Its rear body has melted to the ground, its front legs turn into pillars supporting it, smoke is ejected out of its back, and most importantly, its mouth is permanently agape in a manner similar to a dripping volcano shaped like a cannon. The end result is a body that particularly reminds me of the Digimon Raremon, but lava-themed. It looks dreadfully painful and uncomfortable for Heatran, but I think that's the point -- it's half-melting, it's out of control, and it looks awesome. 

Mega Heatran is, ironically, a lot easier of a fight compared to Mega Tatsugiri and Mega Meowstic, for the simple reason that it stands in the center of the battlefield. It's a bit tougher in terms of attack and HP/defense, but by dint that my Pokemon doesn't have to run around the arena chasing the rogue megas while a stupid donut clock is ticking down, it means that I can hyperfocus my attacks on him. Zygarde is my Pokemon of choice in this fight, and there's just such a nice feeling being able to stay as Complete Form Zygarde for an extended amount of time, firing off Zygarde's four signature moves, Mega-Evolving into a giant cannon for short bursts, before continuing flying around as a Gundam to fight this volcano kaiju.

It also really brings to mind how bad Heatran's original design looks, doesn't it? I know it's a sprite designed for the NDS, but it really does highlight that the random orange and silver bits really do look like fragments of rice crispies on Heatran's body instead of the solidified slag and lava that they're meant to be. Mega Heatran's model looks so much more badass. 

Anyway, after all this bit we get another blah moment with butter. It's Hyperspace Butter, now, allowing me to add like, seven berries or something now? I really don't care. Taunie and Ansha find the butter good enough to make their supreme 'dish du jour' for Naveen... which is... a donut on top of the croissant curry. Naveen notes that 'combining two good food does not always make a masterpiece'. And yes, it does look horrifyingly bad. In-game, Naveen appreciates it, however, and the game does a whole overdramatic thing of showing him spinning around in the void. 

Similar to Naveen finding Gulpin in his room, this night is interrupted by a loud yelling from Lida's room. All the characters converge on her room and barge in, afraid that something bad is happening... but Lida and Mega Starmie is doing some sleepwalking.... or rather, sleepdancing. Korrina 'mega-wakes-up' Lida and she goes into a rather bland recap of how she has been dancing since she was a child, and there's some mistake or other between 'Staryu' and 'saw you'. The pun probably worked better in the original Japanese script. 

Most importantly, however, is the lore drop that Lida came from Hoenn! Does this mean that Tierno also came from Hoenn? Does anyone care about Tierno more than Lida now? I sure don't! 

After we all had to deal with the consequences of Lida's dreams, I get more ominous nightmarish messages going 'stay way, stop' and this time I find myself... in a creepy Alan Wake style forested cliff. Oh! Oh! Are we going out of Lumiose City's borders at last? Look! It's actual terrain! Actual terrain with rocks and trees and steps and a non-urban overworld! Floating before me is a glowing sphere -- the portal to Lumiose City, but it's shining brightly like a full moon. As if this is... a Full Moon Island of some sort. Eh? EH????

"It hurts... help..."

So yeah, the mysterious dream voice is suffering. Unfortunately, it'll take some time -- and lots more soulless grinding and donuts -- before we can help it! 

Random Notes:

• There is a bit of an unfunny running gag from this point on that these morning discussion end up with someone mentioning Corbeau's name, and he calls immediately after. It's not as funny as the game thinks it is; and honestly the game did it already with Jacinthe in the base story. 
• Korrina does mention that Mega Meowstic has elements of both male and female combined. Wonder if Mega Meowstic actually becomes genderless? 
  
• "The holes in your donuts aren't empty - they're full of love!" - Korrina
• So yeah, the nightmares in this leg of the game and that Full Moon symbology basically confirms that it's Darkrai that's causing the nightmares, so a Mega Darkrai seems to be the final boss? That's really the only legendary that makes sense, other than maybe Mega Cresselia or Mega Hoopa Unbound at a stretch. But it is surprising that we didn't get any of the other Kalos legendaries as the primary big bad!
• Emma also gives me like 5 hyper tamato berries, which is nothing. In this game's grind, I really genuinely wish some of the NPCs would give me some of the lesser hyper berries in like the dozens. I don't mind doing the gameplay, but fuck farming berries is a soulless, boring grind. 
• Actually, since this mission has revealed that at least Ivor and Gwynn (and implied to include Canari soon) are involved in hyperspace missions, couldn't some of the other Hyperspace battles featuring rogue mega evolutions have them show up? Fuck, that would've made it a lot more fun at least than 'hey, here's a Mega Scovillain and nothing else, deal with it'. 
• "It's culinary chaos!" No, seriously, curry with donuts or croissants sounds utterly vile. 
• During the Mega Starmie incident, Naveen wonders how someone would revert Mega Evolution if it happens out of battle. The answer, Naveen? In this game, you're forced to wait for the clock to run out. 
• Heatran has joined Mewtwo, Diancie and Zygarde as the legendaries in my party that can mega-evolve and be a bit more useful in these side-content.

Ironheart S01E04 Review: Surprise Magic Infodump

Ironheart, Season 1, Episode 4: Bad Magic

This one is a bit of a rougher episode, and two things really make it a bit of an odd episode to watch. Firstly is the rather random introduction of Zelma Stanton and the 'Dr. Strange' portion of the world. Now it's admittedly a very tangential crossover, but it really did feel like we get a whole section set up just to give a bunch of magic-relation info-dump... and done in a rather inelegant way. The only real foreshadowing to this, if you can even call it that, is that Riri's mom had superstitious friends over as a joke in the first episode. As it is, as much as the scene had some fun jokes, it also felt like we're missing the setup. It's not even like Zelma appeared in a different show or something, which at least I could excuse. But she's a new character that seemingly shows up to give some exposition, and disappears as awkwardly in the middle of it. I would even take it if the episode gave any indication that, as Riri's mother pointed out, that Riri had some inkling that one of their local friends was a true-blue magician, but it just seems like it was done by pure dumb luck, which felt really off.

(Also, the magical enlightenment and explanation from Zelma essentially adds up to 'it's evil', which really did feel like we wasted our time as much as when Riri broke into Zeke's base and started experimenting with the hood-scrap).

The other problem is one where Riri... isn't the most likable character at this point in time. Which, by the way, narratively is a good thing. A protagonist being fallible is a great! A protagonist having panic attacks, and being stubborn and hurting the people around them, if done well, is much more interesting than a vanilla-boring heroic-hero-helps-people-because-heroism.

And I do feel like all of the scenes in this episode where Riri struggles with the terrible things she's done are all very strong. The moment when she brushes off her mother was amazingly acted by both actresses; where Mama Williams is absolutely done with Riri's bullshit and she understands that her daughter is essentially full of shit. Zeke/'Joe' being utterly disgusted and angry at Riri for landing him in jail is also done extremely well, and I think that side of the story -- Zeke's rise of villainy -- is actually done amazingly well. Even the scene at the end, with Xavier and Riri's argument about AI!Natalie, while lacking the punch of the other two scenes, is another great scene. 

You notice I have been praising all these scenes. And they are great! The problem, again, is that... I am supposed to be, in some way, rooting for the main heroine of the show. We are four episodes in a six-episode season, and Riri... doesn't really give off anything that wants to make me root for her and not nod my head strongly and agree wholeheartedly with Mama Williams, with Zeke, and with Xavier. I really did feel in the show trying its best to showcase Riri 'wanting' and 'trying', they never really stop and tell us who Riri really is, and why we should root for her. This is crucial when making a flawed hero, and why 'jerk' superheroes like Wolverine or Punisher or Deadpool work. I don't know. It's not a problem that I think was as bad as Echo was because the acting and scripting here is a bit more engaging, but it really does feel like we're just watching a trainwreck and it's hard not to think "she kinda deserved it, with what she's done".

(I also don't buy that Shuri wouldn't help Riri, by the way... or that NATALIE wouldn't call Shuri anyway)

None of this is any rag against Dominique Thorne, who does a great job at portraying someone whose life is spiraling out of control. That panic breakdown, and the fight against her mother, are all done well... it's just that the writing and how fast we're pinballing from one corner of the show to the next that I have a problem with. 

Other than Riri's constant humiliation and having all the cast pick apart all of the bad decisions she's been doing throughout the season, we do get a bit of focus on our primary antagonist, Parker "The Hood" Robbins. He's mourning the death of his loyal cousin John, and throughout the episode it's clear that he knows who is responsible. Unfortunately, other than shots of him brooding, we also barely spend any time with the Hood. 

Around halfway through the episode it's revealed that he's scouted out Zeke Stane in jail, and arranged both his breakout and stealing all of Zeke's technological resources from wherever the cops impounded them. The two antagonists teaming up together to fight Riri is cool, and I can understand the motivations, but it does ring a bit hollow considering how much Riri has been shown to be at the back-foot. I do like the rather grim origin story of Zeke, though, partially as Hood and Slug seem to be double-crossing him by altering the specifics of the cyborg upgrades. 

Marvel Easter Eggs Corner:

• Zelma Stanton is a supporting character in Doctor Strange comics who was helped by the doctor and later became his librarian. As far as I can find out, Zelma and Ironheart aren't associated in the comics. 
• MCU!Zelma notes that she is associated with Doctor Strange and Kamar-Taj. Zelma's mother 'dropped out' of Kamar-Taj, which is just as well considering it became a war-zone in Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness.
• In the episode, Zelma's lair has 'brain maggots'. The case that introduced the comics version of Zelma to Dr. Strange is connected to the Mind Maggots, which infested her. 
• Riri lists Wakandan, Kree, Stark and Pym as four of the power source types she compared the Hood's energies to. 
• Shuri and Riri's participation in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is brought up during the discussion of what Riri should do. 
• Zelma and her mom briefly brings up 'witchcraft' as a specific breed of magic, referencing all the witch-y magic associated with WandaVision and Agatha All Along.

Reviewing 5E D&D Monsters - Volo's Guide to Monsters, Pt 5 (Spawn of Kyuss to Yuan-ti)

And so, with surprisingly minimal delays, we're done with Volo's Guide to Monsters. Not really needing to go back and forth between two books and discussing changes really did make the production and remastering of my review of the Volo monsters a lot faster than I thought I would be. 

While we didn't really cover many of the 'spotlight' monsters in Volo's this time around -- we will in an appendix that I'll do after Mordenkainen's -- I still really loved the amount of content we got in Volo's in describing the society of the nine creatures they decided to highlight. I'm perhaps not the biggest fan of the Orc segment (which is well-written but very specific to the Forgotten Realm pantheon and roles based on the gods) and the Gnolls are quite samey (admittedly, it's hard to have a lot of depth about a race whose whole point is ultraviolence). 

But I really liked getting into the depths of a Beholder's twisted view on reality; the alien life cycle of the psionic Mind Flayers; the ordning of the Giants; chaos regimented into order with the Goblinoid hordes; the twisted deals and extremely personal torment that Hags inflict; the wacky little Kobolds; and the ancient and strange flesh-warping cult of the Yuan-ti. A lot of them expand on what was there in the original Monster Manual in a way that these beings feel so much more interesting. 

I have gone a couple of times in noting that Volo's really elevated Hags into being one of my favourite monsters, and gave a fair amount of depth to my least favourite monster subgroup: the Giants. I'm already somewhat aware of Yuan-ti, Beholder and Mind Flayer lore from previous editions, but it's always nice to see a description of them. This is, again, where the 2024 Monster Manual really failed in my opinion, where so much description and flavour text is pared down to almost nothing. Sure, those might be 'iconic' monsters from D&D history, but these flavour text is really what differentiates just another encounter and jumble of statblocks to memorable adversaries with a story, culture and behaviour that make you lose yourself in the game world. 

• Click here for the previous part.
• Click here for the next part.
• Click here for the index.

[Originally published in April 2020, revised in March 2026]

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Spawn of Kyuss

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

The 'Worm that Walks' Kyuss is a personal favourite of mine, an 'Elder Evil' that is a necromancer-turned-demigod that represents a very unique breed of undeath... that of decay, incorporation, and lots and lots of worms. Kyuss wants to bring to fruition the 'Age of Worms', a writhing mass of decay and rot that would remind the Warhammer 40,000 fans among us of Nurgle. But the most important aspect of Kyuss that's relevant for this monster here is that he doesn't just turn his victims (and minions) into undead, he turns them into a mass of worms wearing a zombie for a husk. This little flair really makes Kyuss a lot more distinctive than just another regular undead apocalypse.

Kyuss himself hasn't really debuted properly in 5th Edition as far as I know, but I am very delighted and surprised that the Spawn of Kyuss (which debuted in 1E's Fiend Folio!) makes its appearance quite early in 5E's release. The statblock in Volo's Guide to Monsters doesn't really give us too much detail on who Kyuss is, which is just nice and well -- this statblock could be utilized without the Kyuss labels as just a particularly nasty mutation of undead, something that I felt was always missing among the lower-tier undead minions. 

As shown in that picture. Most Spawns of Kyuss look just like a regular zombie (or wight, or revenant, or ghoul, or any other corporeal lesser undead...) with maybe just a bit more worms crawling around its mouth and eyes. Which... considering that zombies are corpses, it's probably the rule rather than the exception when you find a zombie with maggots and worms on it. 

However, get close to a Spawn of Kyuss, and the Spawn erupts in the manner of the far more epic being in the foreground, with worms bursting out of the zombie's flesh. These 'Burrowing Worms' are counted as undead, and similar to the Rot Grubs, will burrow into the flesh of their prey and kill their victims from the inside, burrowing up their brain. Like the 'plague' version of the zombie trope, those killed by a Spawn of Kyuss worm will themselves turn into a Spawn of Kyuss.I do really like this trope, though, and anyone that has read through my Resident Evil reviews will know that I am such a huge fan of the parasitic zombie trope, particularly in Resident Evil 4. The Spawn of Kyuss is that, but with a mass of worms that animates zombies.

Spawns of Kyuss are particularly resistant, too, and unless they are hurt with radiant, acid or fire, they will keep regenerating their health -- flavoured as the worms reproducing and replicating within the body.  Interestingly, due to the more supernatural nature of this particular type of parasitic worm, there are a lot more ways that a cleric can purge this disease or curse from a victim's body... and casting a spell that cures disease or removes curse will instantly purge all the worms within the Spawn of Kyuss, freeing the trapped soul within. Overall, I always found that this is a nice way of ratcheting up the horror without going down the route of 'more gore'. 

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Tanarukk

• 5.5E/5E: Medium Fiend - Demon; Chaotic Evil; CR 5

The Orcs are one of the races that get a bunch of special new statblocks, which I'm going to cover in a separate appendix section for 'job' variants. Interestingly, all the other Orc statblocks do not get reprinted in Monsters of the Multiverse, probably because of the soft-reboot of Orcs in 5.5E... but also those statblocks were very tied to the Orcish pantheon of the Forgotten Realms and I've never found them particularly memorable.

The Orc Tanarukk, however, makes it into both editions, and it's a pretty neat artwork, showing a monstrous demonic orc with extra spikes and horns. Sometimes, Orcs end up worshipping demons (which is a bit more Warcraft-y) and this worship of their demonic masters is rewarded in the creation of Tanarukks. In Volo's, this is only done to unborn babies of the tribe that are transformed upon birth, and in Multiverse, any 'subject' can be morphed into a Tanarukk. Again, a bit of a difference where in Volo's the creation of Tanarukks is associated with the demon prince Baphomet (hence the minotaur horns, I suppose) while Multiverse also adds the Orcs' evil deity Gruumsh as a potential source of Tanarukk powers. Volo's also notes that Tanarukks that breed will always create Tanarukks, leading most Orc tribes to hunt down and slay these demons. 

Regardless of what the origins are, Tanarukks are volatile beings. They are fearsome on the battlefield, but they become a threat to their allies off the battlefield and are often kept imprisoned to keep their urges in check. Tanarukks that break free try to take over by force and turn the tribe into one of mindless rage and conquest. The idea, I suppose, is that Tanarukks are 'super-orcs' that are far more violent, bringing them to bear to their traditional 'always chaotic evil' roots compared to the more intelligent spin that most fantasy media portrays them as.

The statblock and artwork of a demon-corrupted Orc is quite cool and a nice trope to represent, but the lore about the Tanarukk bloodlines and heritages is admittedly a bit off due to the simple fact that it is being introduced to a world where Tieflings exist, let alone other types of 'part-demon' lineages like Cambions. It's just a bit odd, and this is a case where I almost wished that they gave us more explanation as to why some 'fiend-corrupted' beings and boodlines lose their minds and turn into Tanarukks, while others would theoretically become just a regular Tiefling. 

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Tlincalli

• 5.5E/5E: Large Monstrosity; Neutral Evil (5E), Neutral (5.5E); CR 5

The Tlincalli Scorpionfolk debuted in 2E's Monstrous Manual as the 'Manscorpion' (which I am currently also going through!) and I am very happy to see them updated with such a gorgeous artwork here in Volo's Guide to Monsters. The concept is quite simple, a scorpion-centaur. And the design of the scorpion half is just pretty cool for the simple reason that scorpions are just that visually cool. But the upper body? The Tlincalli's humanoid half is segmented like a knight's body, and its head is a mixture of a helmet shape and buggy mandibles and beady-eyes. That is such a cool visual overall even without counting the Tlincalli's badass chunky sword and spiked flail. A special shout-out goes to 2E Tlincalli, which has a flayed man for the human half, and a vertebra for the scorpion tail. It's not common for 2E to have the grislier design!

Tlincallis in 5E are described as being austere nomads that live, of course, in the desert. They wait out the day's heat and the night's cold, burying themselves in sand or lurking in caves. When the temperature is ideal at dawn and dusk, they emerge to hunt. They settle only as long as prey is plenty, otherwise they move on to a different hunting grounds, returning to settling locations only when it is time for them to lay eggs, which they bury in the ground. Tlincalli are carnivorous, as you might imagine from being giant scorpion-men and being hunters, but they also take the time to poison their prey and drag them towards their nests when they have new mouths to feed. 

We don't really learn too much about Tlincalli culture beyond that, with 5E only noting that they do not build and merely scavenge what they can find, knowing enough to melt down metal to create crude weapons and tools. They are also prideful hunters, and when they find a much more powerful hunter (such as a blue dragon... or your adventuring party), the Tlincalli will have to consider whether to fight, move on or become subservient. 

The Tlincalli is most certainly very cool as a setpiece, again, thanks to the badass artwork and concept, but as a monster species the lore we get is honestly quite a simple combination of 'beast that brings prey to their young' and 'generic primitive hunter-gatherer tribe' mushed together, and both tropes appear a lot in D&D. It is a bit sad that we didn't get just a bit more about their behaviour and culture. 

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Trapper

• 5.5E/5E: Large Monstrosity; Unaligned; CR 3

Infamous in the original 1st Edition Monster Manual are the 'Trapper' and 'Lurker Above', both beings that are essentially just there to be 'ha ha, gotcha' monsters that are honestly just part of the environment that attacks you. There are quite a lot of these 'parts of the dungeon that attack you' monsters, with their most famous member being the Mimic, while the Cloaker has since gotten more respect after its manta-ray-esque 3E redesign. Rather unnoticed, the rather cool Darkmantle is essentially a rebooted Lurker. 

And yes, there is a certain silliness of the old artwork showing parts of the architecture sprouting goofy eyeballs and enveloping knights. But I do enjoy that after so many editions of being absent, the Trapper makes a quiet return in Volo's Guide to Monsters. Its statblock is quite simple, essentially still retaining its lore as 'it hides, then it tries to smother its prey' and I am frankly surprised that they released the Trapper so early in 5E's lifespan. 

Equally surprised is the fact that they didn't try to make the Trapper connected to the Mimic, Darkmantle or Cloaker at all, unlike the lore-merging they did for the Roper and Piercer. The Trapper is still described as a 'manta-like creature' that can only alter the colour and texture of its outward-facing side to blend in with its surroundings, while its inwards-facing side clings onto ceilings and walls. They can only transform to stone, earth or wood, however, and cannot mimic, say, snow or grass. They can creep around surfaces, essentially making the 5E Trapper both the 'Lurker' and 'Trapper' monsters rolled into one. 

Trappers apparently need to feed once a week, otherwise it enters into a state of hibernation that's only awakened when a prey draws near. I suppose they don't have to always feed on adventurers, but on any local dungeon creature like the odd Grick or Rust Monster that stumbles upon its corridor. Like oozes, Trappers dissolve absorbs the fleshy parts of their victims but leaves bones and treasure behind, and they are intelligent enough to either use them as bait or to cover them up with their bodies. 

It is remarkably faithful to the original concept, which I can't fault since I am a champion of both the goofier monsters as much as I like the grislier ones. However I must confess that I have a bit of disappointment that they didn't do more to it in a similar manner of what I have with the Tanarukks above... the setting already has Mimics, Cloakers, Darkmantles and whatnot, so the Trappre feels rather redundant, sadly. 

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Vargouille

• 5.5E/5E: Tiny Fiend; Chaotic Evil; CR 1

Here comes the Vargouille, one of the more disturbing creatures thanks to their insane reproductive methodologies. Vargouilles bring to mind myths such as the Balinese Leyak or the Malaysian Penanggalan, but as far as I can tell the term 'Vargouille' is original to the earliest days of Dungeons & Dragons. Vargouilles are fiends that resemble disembodied heads with massive bat-like wings instead of ears. Which in itself is already spooky, if a bit goofy. They may have some extra horns or tiny tentacles as well, but it is still ultimately a flying head. 

However, each Vargouille carries what is essentially a fiendish disease. A Vargouille itself isn't a particularly powerful being other than being annoying as it flies around your party, and they emit an awful paralyzing shriek. Not an uncommon trait among monsters. However, they reproduce with an accursed kiss, inflicting their curse into their victim. If the curse runs its course, the victim slowly loses their Charisma score (which is how the game depicts a hideous transformation as they grow fiendish aspects like horns or tentacles) until they die... at which point their head twists off, grows wings and becomes a new Vargouille. As Volo's describes, this happens in a 'shower of blood', at which point the newborn Vargouille eagerly laps up the fluids of its past body. 

I think that's the creepy little twist (heh, twist) that makes the Vargouille so memorable. The design itself is already distinctive, but the fact that they reproduce by going around, kissing people, and causing their heads to pop off and fly away? That's memorable. 

Also, in a fun twist, this Vargouille curse is delayed by sunlight, and of course could be removed by a cleric's spell. I would like to note that older editions (particularly 3E) try to play up the monstrous and grotesque transformations, and those are really cool artwork... but I find the Vargouille to be a lot more unsettling when they are just slightly different heads of their victims flying around.

Lastly, Vargouilles are noted to be beings that are essentially just pests in their home in the Lower Planes, but end up becoming an invasive, uncontrollable species when they cross planes into the Material Plane. The Vargouille in planes like Carceri or the Abyss are so beneath notice and are treated like mosquitoes or flies, since they do even the weakest fiend (like a Dretch) no harm. However, their weakness means that they can latch on to a fiendish summoning, described to arrive 'like a tick' on a much more powerful fiend, which I thought is such a clever and fun twist for this little flying head. 

Overall, I love them. I love the presentation, and I love the juxtaposition of horror and campiness in the same breath, and they just present such a fun plot hook, I feel, secondary to a larger fiend or cult-related campaign. 

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Vegepygmy / Moldfolk

• 5.5E/5E: Small Plant; Neutral; CR 1/4 (Vegepygmy), 2 (Chief)
• 5.5E/5E: Medium Plant; Neutral; CR 1 (Thorny)

The Vegepygmies are fungal creatures introduced in Adventure to the Barrier Peaks, the same UFO-crash-landing classic adventure that also gave us the Froghemoth. These guys would make their way into 2E's Monstrous Manual and other bestiaries...  and while I like the design of the Vegepygmy in 5E (where the head looks more like a wacky turnip), I would like to acknowledge the very... unfortunately stereotypical design of the original designs, let alone the name, with 'pygmy' being considered rather derogatory. I have seen some D&D tables call them by their 2E name (Mold Men), or my personal favourite, Vegemites, which recalls the infamous Australian spread. 

Volo's also calls them Moldfolk or Moldies, which is the term that I'll use for the rest of this review. The Moldfolk are fungus creatures that live in simple tribal units, inhabiting locations that are warm and wet where fungi grow. They coexist well with other fungal and plant creatures such as Myconids. Moldfolk can consume nutrients from the soil but prefer to eat flesh. Despite their humanoid shapes, Moldfolk can't speak, only make hissing noises by forcing air out of their 'mouth'. They can sometimes scavenge and use tools in mimicry of humanoids. 

The Moldfolk are created from a particular type of mold called Russet Mold, which is reddish-brown in colour and can spread even over metal. If you can't tell, this Russet Mold is the thing that came from the flying saucer from Barrier Peaks. Far more dangerous in older editions, those that come into contact with Russet Mold gets infected continually as the mold grows in their body, and Moldfolk (or Thornies) will arise from their corpse. Russet Mold, uniquely, is difficult to destroy and you need either acid, necrotic... or just plain sunlight. Moldfolk that grow older, the 'Chiefs' of their tribe develop spore clusters that they can utilize to poison foes with the Russet Mold infection.

The very cool four-legged beast behind the Moldfolk is a Thorny, which arises when the Russet Mold infects a quadrupedal beast like a hound or a horse, and I really like the depiction of it in 5E with a wide flat mouth, multiple tongues and at least two pairs of eyes. Really love the mass of tiny stalks across its dorsal section as well.

The Moldfolk's origins and ties to strange UFO's is implied very much by Volo's noting that the origins of the Russet Mold is often associated with strange metal cylinders or meteorite impacts. 5E's Quests from the Infinite Staircase would remake the Barrier Peaks adventure, giving us several additional Moldfolk variations, including a weaker 'Scavenger' and a more powerful 'Moldmaker' that manipulates waves of mold. 

Anyway, despite that messy bit of disclaimer, I do like the concept of the Moldfolk a lot, this strange, sci-fi infectious mold from outer space that somehow creates strange fungal mockeries of humanoids and beasts as they are slain. 

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Wood Woad

• 5.5E/5E: Medium Plant; Lawful Neutral; CR 5

A relatively newer monster that debuted in 3E, the Wood Woad in 5E fills in the niche as a smaller 'tree man' that defends nature with a bit more sense of purpose than something like an Awakened Tree or a Shambling Mound. The Wood Woad is a pretty cute design, too, a tree in the rough shape of a man, with its right hand holding a club, its left hand actually growing into a shield, and the best feature being two glowing eyes staring out of the darkness in the hole in its trunk. A very cute little design, and a stark contrast to the 'man made up of wood' designs of the previous two editions. 

Wood Woads are plants that carry the souls of people who gave up their lives to become an eternal guardian of a natural location. The ritual is a secret passed down druid circles, and is noted to not necessarily be an act of evil if the victim, or volunteer, is willing. Their heart is removed; a seed implanted into the heart; and the heart embedded into a tree, with the body buried in the roots of the tree. This ritual will cause a Wood Woad to grow out of the roots in its humanoid form, ready to do whatever the ritual directs it to do. 

It's an interesting take on the 'deathless duty', and I imagine that druids that do this would be those that might approach the end of their lives but see the need or desire to defend their glades. The Wood Woads are noted to trade in their sentiment for supernatural strength, and spend most of their time rooted into the ground like a good little tree. They are undying warriors of duty, and are completely immortal. Sometimes, the Wood Woad outlives their original purpose, at which point they roam to find a new place (usually a place strong with natural or fey influences) to watch over. 

From an above-table standpoint, Wood Woads, again, fill in the role of thematic, plant-looking warriors as guardians or servitors of Dryads and Treants. The statblocks are simple fighters with some extra regenerative and tree-stride abilities, nothing particularly special for such an elaborate in-universe ritual. But I do like the idea of these long-lived communities of druids being so in tune with nature that they are willing to sacrifice their immortal lives as tree-people that guard their forests.

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Xvart

• 5.5E/5E: Small Humanoid (5E), Monstrosity (5.5E); Chaotic Evil; CR 1/8 (Xvart), 1 (Warlock of Raxivort)

I continually forget that the Xvarts exist, and... for the life of me, I am not sure what the real 'fantasy' of this species is supposed to be. They get more than a whole page's worth of text to them, which is quite surprising. Debuting in the 1E Fiend Folio without much personality beyond 'underground slaver race', the 5E's take on the Xvart tries to combine a lot of the lore they've gotten over the ages. And... I just really don't find them particularly compelling. 

As Volo's tell it, Xvarts are humanoids spawned by a cowardly demigod called Raxivort, and mimic their creator's appearance in being blue-skinned and orange-eyes. Raxivort used to serve the demon price Graz'zt as treasurer, but grew greedy and stole a bunch of powerful artifacts from Graz'zt, one of which is an artifact that allowed him to ascend to godhood... but briefly, before Graz'zt unleashed his vengeance, putting news of the powerful artifact in his possession. Raxivort then traveled across the Material Plane, creating the Xvarts in his wake. Xvarts look identical to their creator, and are essentially just dummies that foil any magic used to track the original Raxivort down, as any spell that targets Raxivort just points to the nearest Xvart. Xvarts themselves revere their creator, and everything that happens in their life is treated as an omen that they might have displeased Raxivort sometimes.

All of this is a large mouthful of lore that I've truncated quite a bit, but none of them really matter to the Xvarts because they themselves aren't all that interesting. Even being split from a god and meant as a decoy just means that... they can't reproduce, because they are all clones of the same deity. They are all greedy, they all know they are flawed, and because of this they end up having a gigantic inferiority complex against most other species. 

The Xvart statblock is a relatively simple humanoid (later monstrosity) with the extra trait that helps them to kidnap people. Their leaders are 'Warlocks of Raxivort' with an assortment of spells, who somehow managed to attract the attention of their craven patron and have promised to give Raxivort more treasures. Raxivort is described to sometimes show up, take all their treasures and just teleport away, leaving nothing behind in compensation. Perhaps the only neat aspect of them as enemies is their 'Raxivort's Tongue' ability, which makes them able to communicate with vermin... or, well, bats and rats respectively. 

Not a huge fan of them, and despite having a whole lot of lore, so much of it is specific to just Raxivort himself more than the Xvarts themselves. I do find the concept of a whole species that are spawned as clones of the same assholish guy to be a neat one, but they don't really do enough to make the Xvarts particularly memorable in my opinion. 

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Yeth Hound

• 5.5E/5E: Large Fey; Neutral Evil; CR 4

The Yeth Hound is based on the mythological creature of the same name from Devonshire folklore, also sometimes simply known as 'The Black Dog'. Debuting all the way back in 1st Edition, Yeth Hounds are reinterpreted in 5E as Fey, granted by evil, powerful Fey to individuals who please them. The Yeth Hound is another stat entry that feels made to function as a Hag minion.

Yeth Hounds are essentially evil versions of Blink Dogs in terms of flavour. Their appearance is a massive dog with a disturbingly human-like neck and head, glowing red eyes, a body that blends into the darkness, and an odour like smoke. It... it really could be weirder, honestly, especially after this book also features the Leucrotta as another quadrupedal beast with a human head. 

The Yeth Hound is notable in that they must have a master, to whom they are bonded. They can telepathically communicate with their masters from any distance, and behave like sinister hunting dogs. Yeth Hounds make a ghastly 'baleful bay' that can be heard all around, with an insane radius that instills fear in those around them. Yeth Hounds then delight in chasing and tormenting their prey, before going in for the kill. Their fey nature gives them immense durability, as any non-magical, non-silver weapon just passes through them harmlessly. However, the Yeth Hound can't stand sunlight and are repelled by it, with their fear of the sun being the one thing that they will disobey their master for. Yeth Hounds disappear away into the ethereal plane when the sun is up, only retrievable by their master once the sun is set. 

To be honest, this is another one that I don't really feel particularly inspired by. Perhaps it's because it did come in a book that already features four other monstrous hounds and hyenas (the Shadow Mastiff, the Barghest, the Leucrotta, the Shoosuva), and I feel like they could have had a bit more to make them a bit creepier. They just feel like Fey versions of the Shadow Mastiff with some abilities swapped around, and I really wished that they had added a bit more to the 'Fey' part beyond being a reward to supplicants, which I feel is a missed opportunity.  

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Yuan-ti Malison Variants

• 5.5E/5E: Medium Monstrosity; Neutral Evil; CR 4 (Mind Whisperer), 4 (Nightmare Speaker), 5 (Pit Master)

We will close off Volo's Guide to Monsters with the Yuan-ti, which are given a lot of love in the book. In addition to a segment about lore and history, the Yuan-ti Pureblood is made available as a playable race. The Yuan-ti segment also adds a table of 'unusual abilities' you can give to the base Pureblood and Malison monster statblocks, which range from abilities like 'chameleon skin', 'shed skin', 'acid slime', 'snake antipathy' (i.e. fear), the ability to turn sticks into snakes, the ability to turn themselves into snakes, and the ability to turn enemies into snakes. Pretty fun stuff. 

Not content on just a couple of extra actions, the monster segment gives us three more elite Malisons, each associated with a different snake god (Sseth, Dendar and Merrshaulk respectively). The Yuan-ti Mind Whisperer is shown as a particularly cool reptilian design with a lot of scales on his body, and are those... gills on his shoulders? Mind Whisperers use their spells to befuddle enemies, and are elusive manipulators. With spells like Detect Thoughts, Suggestion and Minor Illusion, the Mind Whisperer is noted to often be manipulators between multiple factions, and not just humanoid factions, but even their Yuan-ti allies. All the elite Malisons have a special move, and the Mind Whisperer can heal itself by slaying enemies.

Nightmare Speakers, represented in art by the female Yuan-ti with a serpentine lower body, specialize in fear and nightmares. Their god gives them nightmares, which the Nightmare Speaker interprets as prophecies... and proceed to make these prophecies true by inflicting the nightmares on the world. Not how prophecies are normally defined, but these are crazy snake people. Nightmare Speakers have the ability to inflict fear and nightmares on their victims, and are noted to be particularly sadistic and often employ undead. 

Pit Masters are a particularly cool take on the 'snakes for arms' Malison. Instead of their arms ending in snake heads, the Pit Master's two arms ends with a cluster of around a dozen snake tails each, functioning as snake-themed tentacles. I really like the artwork mixing in jewelry and scars into the design, too, making the Pit Master look quite cool. The Pit Masters are more traditionalist ones that are super-into sacrifices to their snake gods, and their special ability is to force their god's slumber onto their foes. This is reflected in their goals for the Yuan-ti people, where they prevent their allies from acting rashly and brashly. 

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Yuan-ti Broodguard

• 5.5E/5E: Medium Monstrosity; Neutral Evil; CR 2

Another 'variant' of Yuan-ti is the Broodguard, which you might note doesn't really look like a proper snake-person. The Broodguard looks more like a hunchbacked Lizardfolk, with massive claws on its arms and legs, and only the long neck and tail marks it as maybe being serpentine. This disjointed visual identity is because the Broodguard stands apart from the primary Yuan-ti variants in that the Broodguards are actually humanoids that are transformed into mockeries of themselves, as their body and mind are warped by hideous processes that turn them into these reptilian beings. 

The Yuan-ti forces their captives to ingest their toxic brew that turns them slowly over the next couple of days into these beings. While a Broodguard-to-be can be restored if a cleric gets to them in time, a fully-transformed Broodguard can only be restored by a Wish spell. Also known as 'Histachii' or egg-watchers, the Broodguard is reduced to being a slave race that mindlessly obeys the Yuan-ti and instinctively attacks any non-reptilians.

The Broodguard themselves really only serve as a simple brutish minion with simple attacks. There are enough Yuan-ti variants that mechanically, the Broodguard isn't really bringing anything new to the table, but it does add a layer of horror for both the adventurers and the players. I actually like that the Broodguard looks so different from the 'snake cult' vibe of the rest of the Yuan-ti. Considering the Yuan-ti regard the snake form as perfection, it seems like they're deliberately turning the slave race into something that is not 'snakey' at all because they want to make them different from what they view to be perfection. 

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Yuan-ti Anathema

• 5.5E/5E: Huge Monstrosity; Neutral Evil; CR 12

So what is perfection, then? In the Monster Manual, the strongest Yuan-ti variant is the Abomination, which is essentially a giant snake with the only humanoid parts being the arms and the rough shape of a torso. Well, 3E introduces the Anathema, which is like a super Abomination. In 3E and 5E, the Anathema is essentially even more snakes on an Abomination, having the same body layout but with five extra snake heads. 4th Edition's Anathema remains my favourite Yuan-ti art, however, where its entire body and arms are all made up of writhing, undulating snakes. 

A Yuan-ti Abomination's quest for godhood often has it perform a ritual that makes it turn into a Yuan-ti Anathema, which requires the sacrifice of hundreds of snakes and the blood of many of its enemies. The transformation is quick, painful... and despite being the most snakey of the snake-people, paradoxically the other Yuan-ti are loathe to see one of their own turn into an Anathema, since Anathemas brutally subjugate the lesser Yuan-ti. Really, Yuan-ti? The whole point of becoming, embodying the serpent is to be as evil and emotionless as they are portrayed to be! Although I suppose the other Yuan-ti are probably jealous that they don't get to be the Anathema. Anathemas don't age and are immortal, giving them ample time to spread their influence over multiple Yuan-ti cities. 

Anathemas consider themselves a demigod that's just on the cusp of divinity, of becoming a proper snake god, which is why they are so brutal and demand so much obedience and sacrifices from their minions. They want more slaves, more sacrifices, more glory, more riches... more resources for the Anathema to achieve divinity. Not all Yuan-ti like the Anathema, but those that are wrapped up in their bosses' divine fervour tend to be extremely fanatical and way more aggressive. 

Standing at a respectable CR 12, the Anathema does everything that an Abomination can do, and then some. Its six heads allows it advantage on resisting statuses like fear, blindness or charm. It has an aura that causes ophidiophobia on those around them, giving them irrational fear of snakes. It has a set of more powerful spells, including Darkness, Suggestion, Divine Word and Polymorph. Overall, the extra heads and the god complex does make the Anathema a fun final boss for a Yuan-ti themed dungeon. I feel like the Monster Manual gives us quite a nice batch of varieties, but with how the Yuan-ti flavour hinges so much on their snake grafting and transformation, I love that we get a lot more variations added as an expansion pack. 

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And with this big snek, I bring to a close my revision of Volo's Guide to Monsters, updated to their Monsters of the Multiverse statblocks as part of the switch to 5.5E. I am reasonably happy with the speed that I did this revision, and I always find it a good time to revisit Volo's Guide to Monsters, still one of my favourite books from 5th Edition. As I've mentioned several times throughout this review run, most of the 'job' monster variants will be covered in a Monsters of the Multiverse appendix alongside similar statblocks from Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, and the removal of those from the monster pool really did galvanize me in blasting through these, since every monster entry ended up being a pleasure to read and talk about.