Revisiting an old creature design from like, 12 years ago. Even though my creature artwork is hardly well received.



From beneath the shallow, murky liquid rose the tentacles of a great beast, impossibly large for the depth of these waters. It was only when the beast revealed its head, that I realized we were up against an inconceivable horror from beyond the realm.
-Adventurer Wizard

Octopus snake.
-Adventurer barbarian


In its original setting, Aasidos was a dungeon boss, lurking in a pool of acid atop an abandoned tower. (Maybe I should apologize to Dark Souls 2 for Old Iron Keep? Then again, I was like 12). It would have been a pretty standard kraken fight, with the only difference beings the creature's appearance. There were quicksand and lava variants too, which would appear later. In my first Tristones reboot, it appeared as the sand variant, as the first major boss monster.

In the current iteration of the setting, I have leaned into the creature's bizarre and eldritch appearance, making it a being from beyond the mortal realm. However, Aasidos is not known to inhabit any discovered planes of existence, but rather, it exists between dimensions. Whenever a portal is opened between two worlds, Aasidos may come to investigate. Wizards are warned not to leave their portals open any longer than is necessary, lest one of these creatures find their way into the mortal realm.

Aasidos always remains partially within its home between dimensions, reaching through portals with its tentacles in search of prey, and revealing its head to strike. Because of this, most of the creature's body is unknown.



This was inspired by monster artwork from TTRPG rulebooks.