mordenkainens tome of foes

0RCUS

Orcus is the

Demon P rince of Undeath, known as the

Blood Lord. He

takes some pleasure in the sufferings

of the living, but far

prefers the company and service of

the undead. His desire is to see all life quenched and the

multiverse transformed into a vast necropolis populated

solely by undead creatures under

his command.

Orcus rewards those who spread

death in his name

by granting them a s mall portion of his

power. The least

of these b ecome ghouls and zombies who serve in his

legions, while his favored servants are the cultists and

necromancers who murder the living and then manipu-

late the dead, emulating their dread master.

Orcus is a bestial creature of corruption with a dis-

eased , decaying look. He has the lower torso of a goat,

and

a humanoid upper body with a corpulent belly swol-

len with rot.

Great bat wings sprout from his shoulders,

and his head is lik

e the skull of a goat, the flesh nearly

rotted from it. In one hand, he wields the legendary

Wand of Ore us, which is described in chapter 7 of the

Dungeon Master's Guide.

0Rcus's LAIR

---

Orcus makes his lair

in the fortress city of Naratyr,

which is on Thanatos, the

layer of the Abyss that he

rules. Surrounded by a moat fed by the River Styx,

CHAPTER 6 J ll£STIARY

Naratyr is an eerily quiet and

cold city, its streets often

empty for hours at a time. The central

castle of bone has

interior walls of flesh and carpets made

of woven hair.

The city contains wandering undead, many of which are

engaged in continuous battles with one another.

LAIR ACTIONS

On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), Orcus can

take a lair

action to cause one of the following effects; he

can' t use the sa

me effect two rounds in a row:

• Orcus's voice booms throughout the lair. His utter-

ance causes one creature of his choice to be subjected

to power word kill (save DC 23). Orcus needn't see the

creature, but he must be aware that the individual is

in the lair.

• Orcus causes

up to six corpses within the lair to rise

as skeletons, zombies,

or ghouls. These undead obey

his telepathic commands , which

can reach anywhere

in the lai r.

• Orcus causes s keletal arms to rise from an area on

the ground in a 20 -foot square that he can see. They

last until the next initiative count 20. Each

creature

in that area when the arms appear must succeed

on

a DC 23 Strength saving throw or be restrajned until

the arms disappear or until Orcus releases them (no

action required).