"The unsettling stink of rotting flowers surrounds the large, bloated figure that floats lazily in the air. The demon is hardly more than a malformed face the size of a wagon. Where its ears should be are instead a pair of atrophied arms with hands ending in tremulous digits. Instead of a body, everything below its neck is a writhing nest of puckers and stalks. It is tethered to the surrounding ground by four steel chains that end in razor-sharp spikes."
Ed Stark, Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss
Ok this is a bit of an odd one for me. The sibriex is a creature from a much later edition rulebook. It's first appearance is in the above quoted Fiendish Codex from 2006. I usually like to stick to early 70s & 80s era D&D for my inspirations but who could resist a disgusting giant mutated head?!
The original illustration was done by Tom Baxa (whose gambado illustration I really love) and then there's this completely disgusting and amazing version by friend of the blog Christopher Burdett!
I think I find this creature so compelling because I love a big monster head. It goes back to my love of Madballs or old creature features like The Brain (1988), The Brain From Planet Arous (1957) or the giant Kandarian demon from the end of Evil Dead II (1987).
Speaking of which, check out this amazing concept art for the Mandarin demon by Tom Sullivan (left) & Doug Beswick (right)!
Tomorrow is our last D&D monster (for now) and it's another contemporary one that's truly bizarre!
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