#michichec

“Chichimec” © Wizards of the Coast, by Larry Dixon. Accessed at the Epic Level Handbook Art Gallery here

[Commissioned by @justicegundam82, who requested the CR be brought down from 21 to 15. Why the name change? Well, the Chichimecs are a real ethnic group from Mexico, and using their name to refer to any fictional creature, let along a sadistic monster, is weird and bad. I wonder if this was an intentional reference, or an accident. The Epic Level Handbook is old enough to have been written in the early days of search engines. ]

Michichec This creature appears as a misshapen clot of feathered wings. The thing moves swiftly despite its mad flapping. A large tail emerges from the mass.

A michichec is a strange creature native to the Plane of Air. Their bodies are a small irregular mass studded with eyes, mouths, and more unusual sensory organs all barely visible beneath the clot of wings that stretch in every direction. They feed not on meat or plant matter, but on the mental energy of living things, which they sap using an appendage that is part tail, part tentacle. Michichecs are both cunning and cruel, and they delight in spreading suffering and leaving their victims alive but mentally scarred.

In combat, michichecs are forever on the move, twisting and spiraling though the air with uncanny precision. Their primary motivation is to feed, and they thus try to make slam attacks against as many opponents as possible. Michichecs have a number of magical abilities, which they use to disrupt enemy formations. They are especially fond of summoning air elementals to trap enemies in a whirlwind, then sampling the personalities each of these unfortunates like a gourmet samples fine delicacies.

Michichecs are hated by most of the denizens of the Plane of Air. Genies and giants alike fortify their strongholds against michichec incursions, and cloud dragons organize hunting parties to try and flush these monsters from their territories. Just about the only creatures that michichecs get along with are divs, which appreciate their dedication to inflicting pain and anguish.

A michichec has a diameter of about five feet. They are capable of living for centuries.