We're only a matter of weeks away from the next Dungeons & Dragons 5e adventure, Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk and we had a chance to hear from Amanda Hamon, Lead Designer, and Bree Heiss, Art Director about the update and expansion of Lost Mines of Phandelver, teases on the Alternate Cover, and even hear about new Phandelver and Below Mutant enemies.
While the first third of the book will have you progressing through the main quest of the Lost Mines of Phandelver, with a variety of updates, once Chapter 3 begins things will start to get strange around Phandalin. Part of that includes strange Mutant enemies that you'll begin to run across as Phandalin becomes more and more corrupt.
One of the new enemies that will appear is the Gemmuel, a large pyramid-like creature with multiple limbs. These creatures are hatched from a larger creature, that looks suspiciously like a brain, called a Encephalon. The Gemmule burst from pods on the Encephalon before growing to gigantic sizes.
Phandelver and Below Mutant Enemies
On top of the goblins that you'll already know to experience another strange creature is a cow with different horns and even tentacles extending out of its back and sides. This artwork by Hex Sharpe indicates the kind of alteration powers that the green energy of the Obelisk contains. A mutant cow will likely be the least of your worries once you begin to witness how this corruption will affect the town and other enemies that you'll encounter.
Some other 'mutate' enemies are shown including a ball of eyes, called the Oculorb, and a Cloaker whose head has been replaced with that of a decaying Dwarf (skeleton still attached). Hamon revealed that there was also a mini already being made of this creature. These enemies are just a few examples of further mutated enemies that will be included in this sourcebook.
The last of the "big bads" that were shown off was the Flesh Meld. This creature is pink and fleshy with a variety of long mouths across its body and at the end of pseudopods. Each mouth is filled with a series of razor-sharp teeth.
