(S049) Back to the Beholder

Teaming up with a disillusioned bugbear named Ratlok Darksky, the party scales a hundred-foot shaft to storm the beholder's sanctum. Amidst petrifying eye rays, a blinding obsidian transformation, and Artie's crushing eagle pounce, they slay the beast, cure Bastion from stone, and secure the cracked purple orb.

📝 Session Summary

The Wild Cards were called The Menagerie by some until they came up with the name The Wild Cards.

• Barlo: A grizzled tabaxi barbarian who has been doing some work for a network that one should be wary of.
• Bastion: An orphan human who spent his life studying magic and blades, even though his elder pushed him away from the sword. He replaced Reginald.
• Calliope: This bardic faun joined the party late when she needed to find help to save her homeland.
• Reginald: A leonin cleric who was off to show his family's royal background and would later find out there were secrets leading to him becoming a king.
• Sas: A tortle hermit was given an item of power and a quest.
• Shadow in the Snow: This tabaxi got a coin, and her curiosity set her on a path.

🎬 Scenes

• Scene 1: Barlo's Backstory — From The Bronze Canyon in Kampos. Gave up Tabaxi name, "Smiles". Help move people. On way to Eushia to help Black Road with a client. Currently on ship near Carrune.
• Scene 2: Bastion's Backstory — When Bastion Bladesinger was very young he lost both of his parents to a plague. He took care of himself as he taught himself how to use the rapier his father once wore. He lived in Dyrt and watched all of the great knights. He also had an interest in the ways of magic and he wished he could do both – use swords and excel in magic – like many elves he had heard about.
• Scene 3: Calliope's Backstory — Calliope was born into the nestled highlands of the Oraniad Mountains. The Skola Vale, wild and free, blessed by the gods and inhabited by whimsical Satyr and Faun. Deep within it among the lush valley, reside the Dawngreets, a long generational line of storytellers and lore keepers.
• Scene 4: Reginald's Backstory — He was born at home, a modest-sized mansion where his family lived a modest means – even though his father could never stop talking about how they were royalty and yet this was the only lands they currently possess. His childhood was generally a happy one full of several friends. He was an only child.
• Scene 5: Sas' Backstory — Sas was born on the continent of Oth'Mar – a content mostly inhabited by Tortles and is far to the south of the Carrune Isles.
• Scene 6: Shadow's Backstory — Deep in the snowy mountains high in the north, there lived a large group of Tabaxi, The Blinding Wild Clan.

📜 Missions & Quests

• Completed:
  • Established individual party origins and initial connections to the world of Dierde.
• Active / Discovered Threads:
  • Barlo's ties to the smuggling rings and the Black Road.
  • Bastion's mysterious past and fallout with Grognard.
  • Calliope's quest to save the Skola Vale.
  • Reginald's pursuit of his family's royal mint commission and claim in Neyer.
  • Sas's vision of the Cat Goddess Bast and journey to find her lost lands.
  • Shadow's golden coin and mystical calling from her clan shaman.

NPCs

S049: Back to the Beholder

Date: 2023-04-15

Short

The party's ascent to the beholder's sanctum began with an unlikely alliance. Near a magically conjured fire below, a bugbear named Ratlok Darksky emerged from the shadows, introducing himself as a former thrall whose mental chains had weakened enough to act of his own will. He warned the party that the beholder's charm over its servants was at its lowest point in years and offered his magical assistance, accepting the group's blunt terms — betray them, and he would be the first to fall. Using potions, flight, and Barlo's primal climbing ability, the party scaled the hundred-foot shaft into a vast, grim chamber: a graveyard of dead and decaying beholders, petrified adventurers lining the walls, and at its center, a massive tilted black obelisk topped by a crackling orb of purple and blue energy. The living beholder hovered nearby, its great eye fixed on the orb and momentarily unaware of the intruders.

The battle was fierce and costly. Shadow in the Snow moved with blinding speed to restrain the beholder with spectral vines, while Barlo tore into it with slashing claws, Calliope struck with a concussive burst, and Ratlok Darksky made good on his word by scorching the creature with a fireball — revealing a mysterious green scale hidden in its hide. The beholder retaliated with terrifying efficiency, petrifying Bastion mid-fight and assaulting the minds of Calliope and Sas with visions of their deepest fears. Ultimately, Shadow's companion Artie delivered the killing blow, crashing into the creature and bringing it down. In the aftermath, the obelisk turned jet black, the dead beholders dissolved, and Sas used a scroll of greater restoration to free Bastion from his stone prison. Shadow recovered the cracked, pulsing orb from the treasure pile — something moved within it, tentacle-like and unsettling. Before the party could fully process their victory, the room vanished and they found themselves briefly in a vast desert, where an unknown voice calmly declared it had spent years setting things in motion. The vision ended as abruptly as it began, leaving the group with Bastion's account of a separate presence he had sensed during the fight, a preserved beholder corpse too large for the bag of holding, and far more questions than answers.

Summary

The party's path to the beholder's sanctum began with a strange discovery near the fire-lit corridor below. Investigation revealed that the front portion of the blaze burned without any fuel source, a telltale sign of magical conjuration, while the back of the fire consumed real material and billowed thick smoke into the southern chambers. As the group debated how to prevent the smoke from alerting the creature lurking above, a bugbear appeared seemingly out of nowhere, wearing a rope and standing just ten feet away. He introduced himself as Ratlok Darksky, a former servant of the beholder whose mental chains had weakened enough for him to think with something resembling a clear head.

Ratlok Darksky explained that many of the beholder's other thralls were too frightened to act, content to wait and see how the battle unfolded while hiding behind a veil of plausible deniability. He had come forward alone, knowing full well the party could have cut him down on the spot, and offered what magical assistance he could muster. He warned them that the beholder's charm over its servants was at its weakest point in a very long time, and that the sanctum above had never been accessible to any of them — only the creature itself had ever passed through the tunnel at the top of the shaft. The party made their position clear: if Ratlok Darksky betrayed them, he would be the first to fall. He accepted the terms without argument, muttering bitterly that he had only come to this wretched place to help someone with a mining job and had ended up enslaved for his trouble.

With Ratlok Darksky's information in hand, the party turned their attention to the ascent. The shaft stretched nearly a hundred feet straight up before opening into a tunnel that led further still to the beholder's sanctum. Using a combination of magical potions, innate abilities, and sheer physical strength, the group made their way upward. Barlo called upon a primal connection to his wild nature that allowed him to scale the stone walls with the ease of a creature born to climb, while others relied on enchanted draughts and the power of flight. As they climbed, the stone walls around them seemed to ripple and drip like melting wax for a brief, unsettling moment before snapping back to solid rock, leaving a faint ache of psychic unease in those who witnessed it.

They emerged into a vast chamber so tall that its ceiling vanished into darkness far above. The room was a graveyard of beholders — dozens of the creatures lay dead across the floor, some already decaying, others slowly turning to stone or crumbling into dust. Petrified figures lined the walls, the frozen remains of adventurers who had come before them and never left. Gray dust blanketed everything, making every step feel like wading through shallow water. At the center of the room rose a massive black obelisk, tilted slightly as it jutted from a mound of accumulated treasure, and above it floated a small, crackling orb that pulsed with purple and blue energy. The living beholder hovered nearby, its enormous central eye fixed intently on the orb as strange lightning tore at it, seemingly oblivious — for the moment — to the intruders who had just crawled up through the floor.

The party wasted no time. Shadow in the Snow used his extraordinary speed to dart through the field of gray dust and dead bodies, positioning himself behind the creature before loosing an arrow wrapped in spectral, grasping vines that snaked around the beholder and held it in place. The creature, though restrained, was far from helpless. One of its many eye stalks swiveled toward Shadow, and for a moment his body began to stiffen and harden at the edges before he wrenched his willpower back and shook off the effect. Bastion teleported himself into the thick of the fight, blades ready, but the beholder's eye found him almost immediately, and this time the magic took hold — Bastion's skin turned gray, then pale, then hard as marble, and he stood frozen in place, a statue in the middle of the battlefield.

Barlo threw himself at the creature in a fury of slashing claws, and the beholder snapped its massive jaws at him in return, though Barlo twisted aside and the bite found nothing but air. The creature then turned its great central eye toward the group, and the anti-magic field it projected washed over Shadow, unraveling the spectral vines that had held the beholder in place and suppressing the enchantments woven into his equipment. Calliope struck next, unleashing a concussive burst of sound that rattled the beholder despite its resistance, and the impact seemed to agitate the orb above the obelisk — purple light and crackling electricity began leaking from it in greater quantities. In retaliation, the beholder turned one of its eyes on Calliope, and she was suddenly overwhelmed by a vision of her deepest fear: the crushing certainty of being utterly useless, of mattering to no one.

From behind the creature, Ratlok Darksky made good on his word. A fireball erupted from his hands and engulfed the beholder's backside, and as the flames faded, they revealed something remarkable — a single green scale, no bigger than a coin, hidden among the creature's hide. The beholder turned another eye on Sas, flooding her mind with visions of Abu Grock's disappointment, a fear so personal and so sharp that it cut through her like a blade. The entire room then seemed to exhale at once, a wave of psychic pressure washing over the party and leaving a dull ache behind — all except Barlo, whose Cowl of Ungodliness shielded him from the mental assault entirely. Artie, Shadow's companion who had taken the form of a great eagle, had been circling and striking throughout the battle, and now he launched himself in a full running pounce, talons outstretched, crashing into the beholder with the full force of his body. The creature buckled, shuddered, and fell, crashing down into the gray dust with a sound like a collapsing wall.

In the silence that followed, the obelisk transformed. The strange, translucent crystal shot through with dark tendrils became solid and opaque, turning jet black like a slab of obsidian. The cracked orb tumbled from the air and landed somewhere in the pile of treasure below. All around the room, the dead beholders seemed to deflate, their bodies collapsing inward and dissolving into flat, gray remains as though whatever force had sustained them had finally been extinguished. The party then turned to the grim task of restoring Bastion. Sas dropped her wild shape and retrieved a scroll of greater restoration from the bag of holding, reading the words aloud with careful precision. As the final syllable left her lips, the scroll dissolved into nothing, and Bastion's stone skin cracked and fell away, leaving him blinking and bewildered in the middle of the chamber.

Shadow retrieved the cracked orb from the treasure pile, turning it over carefully in his hands. Where the crack ran along its equator, purple and blue energy crackled and pulsed, and every so often something moved within it — something that looked almost like a tentacle, though it was impossible to say whether it was lightning or something alive. The party also noted the petrified figures along the walls, old adventurers frozen in their final moments, and wondered briefly if anything could be done for them. Sas cast a preservation ritual over the beholder's enormous corpse to keep it from rotting, as the party had been asked to return the body intact, though getting it back down the shaft was going to be a considerable challenge given that it was far too large to fit in the bag of holding.

Then, without warning, the room fell away. The entire party found themselves standing in a vast desert, the light strange and flat around them, and a voice spoke — calm, deliberate, and utterly unfamiliar. It said that it had taken years to put things into motion, and that there was no time to explain. And then, just as suddenly as it had come, the vision ended, and they were back in the sanctum, surrounded by dust and dead things and the faint smell of scorched hide. No one recognized the voice. Bastion mentioned he had heard something in his head during the battle as well, a different presence entirely. The party exchanged uneasy glances, gathered what they could carry, and began making their way back down, the cracked orb and the beholder's preserved corpse in tow, and the weight of unanswered questions heavier than either.

Scenes

Recap and the Prisoner Debate

The DM recaps the party's recent activities and raises a discussion about character alignment following a controversial decision regarding a prisoner.

• The DM recaps the party's recent activities, including joining the Bloodhand orcs and capturing a prisoner to find a treasure room.
• Barlo's decision to release the prisoner by kicking him into a deep hole is discussed in the context of character alignment.
• The DM warns the party that performing evil acts could shift their alignment and cause complications.

The Fire and the Bugbear

The party observes a strange fire and discusses how to prevent smoke from alerting the beholder, when a bugbear named Ratlok Darksky suddenly appears.

• The party observes smoke from a fire and discusses how to prevent it from alerting the beholder in the lair above.
• Investigation reveals that the front portion of the fire appears to be magical, producing little smoke, while the back of the fire burns on actual fuel and produces heavy smoke.
• A bugbear named Ratlok Darksky suddenly appears near the party, wearing a rope, claiming to be a deserter willing to help them.

Negotiations with Ratlok Darksky

The party interrogates the bugbear Ratlok Darksky to determine his intentions and what assistance he can provide against the beholder.

• Ratlok Darksky explains that his compatriots are too scared to fight but are waiting to see the outcome of the party's attempt.
• Ratlok Darksky reveals that the beholder's charm over the inhabitants is currently at its weakest, allowing him to think with a clearer head.
• The party learns that the beholder's sanctum is located through a hole in the ceiling, roughly a hundred feet up, with a tunnel continuing further beyond.
• Ratlok Darksky mentions he has access to magic, including polymorph, and offers to assist the party.
• The party warns Ratlok Darksky that if he betrays them, he will be the first to go down.

The Ascent to the Beholder's Sanctum

The party prepares to infiltrate the beholder's lair, debating tactics and using magical aids to climb a vertical shaft.

• The party discusses various magical means to reach the sanctum, including gaseous form, climbing potions, and a potion of flying.
• The party identifies a potion of flying among their supplies, though it is only good for one person.
• Barlo uses his Beastial Soul ability to gain a climbing speed equal to his walking speed, allowing him to scale the walls.
• Shadow uses his ranger abilities and Artie accompanies the party upward.
• Sas uses wild shape to assist with the climb.
• During the climb, the party experiences a strange magical phenomenon where the stone walls appear to drip like water, causing minor psychic distress to those who witness it.

The Beholder's Sanctum

The party emerges into a high-ceilinged chamber filled with the remains of past victims and confronts a living beholder.

• The party emerges into a large room filled with decaying beholder corpses, some turning to rock or disintegrating.
• The remains of previous adventurers are scattered throughout the room, likely those sent by a gnome contact.
• In the center of the room stands a large black obelisk surrounded by a pile of treasure.
• A living beholder floats near the obelisk, focused intently on a small orb floating above it, tearing it apart with lightning-like energy.
• The party identifies that the beholder's central eye creates a massive anti-magic cone that suppresses magical items and abilities.
• The party positions themselves to begin their assault while staying out of the beholder's direct gaze, noting the room is covered in gray dust making it difficult terrain.

Battle with the Beholder

The party engages in a high-stakes combat against the beholder within its lair, navigating difficult terrain and the creature's deadly eye rays.

• Shadow in the Snow uses his enhanced speed to maneuver behind the beholder, navigating through a field of gray dust and dead bodies.
• Shadow fires a magical arrow that restrains the beholder in spectral vines with an ensnaring strike.
• The beholder uses a legendary action to attempt to petrify Shadow with an eye ray, but Shadow resists the effect.
• Bastion Misty Steps into the fray but is struck by a petrification ray, beginning his transformation into stone and becoming restrained.
• Barlo engages the creature in melee, dodging a bite attack and slashing at its hide.
• The beholder activates its anti-magic cone, suppressing Shadow's active spells and magical effects in the area.
• Calliope casts a shattering spell that causes the beholder to take damage despite its successful resistance, and strange purple light and electricity begin to leak from the orb floating above the black obelisk.
• The beholder targets Calliope with an eye ray that induces visions of her deepest fear of being useless.
• Ratlok Darksky assists the party from behind the beholder, launching a fireball that scorches the creature's backside, revealing a single green scale.
• The beholder targets Sas with an eye ray that fills her with visions of her greatest fear — disappointing Abu Grock.
• The entire room experiences a brief moment of psychic disturbance, causing minor psychic damage to most party members except Barlo, who is protected by his Cowl of Ungodliness.
• Artie, in the form of a giant eagle, pounces on the beholder with a running jump, gripping it in his claws and delivering a killing blow, bringing the creature crashing down.

The Obelisk and the Aftermath

Following the beholder's death, the party investigates the strange magical artifacts in the room and discovers that Bastion has been fully petrified.

• The central black obelisk, which previously looked like a see-through crystal with tendrils inside, suddenly turns into solid, jet-black obsidian upon the beholder's death.
• The mysterious orb falls from above the obelisk into the pile of treasure.
• Numerous other beholder bodies in the room begin to deflate and disintegrate like balloons losing air, turning into flat gray remains.
• The party discovers that Bastion has been fully turned to stone during the conflict.
• Shadow retrieves the cracked purple orb from the treasure pile, noting the strange purple and blue lightning and tentacle-like energy pulsing within it.
• Sas drops her wild shape and uses a scroll of greater restoration from the bag of holding to return Bastion to his flesh-and-blood form.
• The party discusses a mysterious voice Bastion heard in his head during the combat, which was not recognized as anyone they know.
• A sudden, brief vision transports the entire party to a desert landscape before they are snapped back to the lair.
• The party casts gentle repose on the beholder's corpse to preserve it for transport, as they were asked to bring the whole body back.
• The party prepares to descend back down, using the potion of gaseous form and other means to exit safely.

Memorable Moments

Artie the giant eagle delivers the killing blow to the beholder by launching into a full running pounce, gripping the massive aberration in his talons and bringing it crashing to the ground.

After a grueling battle with the beholder, Shadow's companion Artie lands the final blow in spectacular fashion

Bastion is fully turned to stone mid-battle after failing to resist the beholder's petrification ray, leaving the party scrambling to find a way to restore him.

Bastion Misty Stepped into the fray only to be struck by a petrification ray, becoming a statue in the middle of the fight

"I came out here to help a stupid freaking guy with his mines and I got captured. Well, maybe when this is all done I can finally get paid for that stupid job."
— Ratlok Darksky

The bugbear Ratlok Darksky, a former slave of the beholder, ruefully explains how he ended up in this situation while negotiating with the party

The entire party is briefly transported to a desert landscape by a mysterious vision before snapping back to the beholder's sanctum, with an unknown voice claiming it has taken years to put things into motion.

Immediately after the beholder's defeat, a strange force whisks the party away momentarily, hinting at a larger power watching over them

NPCs

Ratlok Darksky

A bugbear wearing a rope who appears suddenly near the party. He is a former servant of the beholder whose charm has weakened enough for him to think clearly. He offers magical assistance, including spells like polymorph and fireball, and provides information about the beholder's sanctum. He claims he originally came to the area to work in some mines and was captured.

The Beholder

A floating aberration with thin, long, smooth eye stalks and a central anti-magic eye. It was found intently focused on a small orb floating above the black obelisk, tearing it apart with lightning-like energy. It used various eye rays including petrification and fear-inducing rays against the party, and was ultimately slain by Artie.

Arktos

Shadow's companion, currently polymorphed into the form of a giant eagle. He delivers the killing blow to the beholder by pouncing on it with a running jump and gripping it in his claws.

Locations

Beholder's Sanctum

A high-ceilinged chamber at the top of a vertical tunnel approximately a hundred feet above the lower area. It is littered with decaying and disintegrating beholder corpses, petrified former adventurers lining the walls, gray dust covering the floor making it difficult terrain, and a central pile of treasure surrounding a large black obelisk. The ceiling is so high it cannot be seen from the floor.

Rivers Keep

A location the party recently dealt with, mentioned in the recap as one of their prior activities.

Items

Potion of Flying

A silver-colored magical elixir found among the party's supplies. It allows the consumer to fly and was identified as useful for getting one party member up the hundred-foot shaft to the beholder's sanctum.

Potion of Gaseous Form

A potion found among the party's supplies that transforms the drinker into a misty, ethereal cloud. It was discussed as a means to help Artie ascend the shaft and later considered for the descent out of the lair.

Potion of Climbing

A magical draught found among the party's supplies that grants the user the ability to scale vertical surfaces.

Black Obelisk

A large, dark monument standing at an angle in the center of the beholder's sanctum, surrounded by a pile of treasure. It initially appeared as a see-through crystal with strange tendrils inside, and transformed into solid jet-black obsidian upon the beholder's death.

Cracked Purple Orb

A glass-like sphere that was floating above the obelisk and fell into the treasure pile upon the beholder's death. It features a cracked equator with pulsing purple and blue energy that resembles either lightning or small tentacles. Shadow retrieved it from the treasure pile.

Scroll of Greater Restoration

A powerful magical scroll stored in the bag of holding. Sas used it to reverse the petrification effect on Bastion, turning him back from stone to flesh and blood. The scroll faded away after use.

Cowl of Ungodliness

A magical headpiece worn by Barlo that protected him from the psychic damage and mental effects experienced by the rest of the party during the encounter in the sanctum.

Bag of Holding

A magical storage bag used by the party to carry their gear, including the scroll of greater restoration used in this session.

Beholder Corpse

The large body of the defeated beholder, preserved with a gentle repose spell to prevent decay. The party intends to transport the whole corpse back as requested, though it is too large to fit in the bag of holding.

Spells

Ensnaring Strike

Cast by Shadow in the Snow through his bow as a bonus action, successfully restraining the beholder in spectral vines. The beholder, as a large creature, had advantage on the saving throw but was still restrained, granting advantage on attack rolls against it and imposing disadvantage on its own attacks.

Misty Step

Used by Bastion to teleport instantly into a better tactical position near the beholder during combat.

Shatter

Cast by Calliope targeting the beholder. The creature resisted the full force of the spell but still suffered some damage from the sonic vibrations. The spell's impact also seemed to agitate the mysterious orb above the obelisk, causing purple light and electricity to leak from it.

Fireball

Cast by Ratlok Darksky from behind the beholder, enveloping the back of the creature in flames and revealing a single hidden green scale on its hide.

Greater Restoration

Invoked by Sas via a scroll to cure Bastion's petrified condition, restoring him fully from stone to flesh and blood. The scroll faded away as the final word left her lips.

Gentle Repose

Cast by Sas on the beholder's corpse to preserve it from decay, allowing the party to transport the body back without it rotting.

Gaseous Form

Discussed and planned for use on Artie to help him move through the shaft, and later considered for the party's descent out of the lair.

Classic

Last we left off, our intrepid band of adventurers found themselves at the threshold of something terrible and ancient. A strange magical fire burned without fuel in the corridor below, and as the party debated how to press onward without alerting the horror above, fate delivered them an unexpected ally — a bugbear named Ratlok Darksky, a former thrall of the beholder whose mental chains had, for the first time in a long while, loosened just enough for him to act of his own accord. He came forward alone, unarmed in every sense that mattered, offering what aid he could and warning the party that the creature's grip over its servants had never been weaker. The party accepted his help with a simple and unambiguous promise: betray them, and he would be the first to die. He agreed without hesitation, muttering bitterly that all he had ever wanted was to help someone with a mining job.

With Ratlok Darksky at their side, the party ascended nearly a hundred feet up a stone shaft — through climbing, flight, and enchanted draughts — and emerged into a vast and terrible sanctum. The chamber was a graveyard of beholders, dozens of the creatures dead and decaying across a floor blanketed in gray dust, while petrified adventurers lined the walls like grim monuments to every soul who had come before and never left. At the room's heart rose a massive black obelisk, and above it crackled a small, wounded orb of purple and blue energy. The living beholder floated nearby, its great central eye fixed upon the orb — and for one precious moment, it did not see them. The party did not waste it. Shadow in the Snow moved like a ghost through the dust and loosed an arrow wreathed in spectral vines that seized the creature in place. What followed was a brutal and desperate battle — Bastion was turned to stone, Calliope was struck by a vision of her deepest fear, Sas was flooded with the crushing weight of Abu Grock's disappointment, and the beholder's anti-magic field tore through Shadow's enchantments like paper. But Ratlok Darksky made good on his word, a fireball blooming across the creature's hide and revealing a single, strange green scale hidden within. And in the end, it was Artie — Shadow's companion in the form of a great eagle — who brought the beast crashing down into the dust with the full force of his body.

In the silence that followed, the obelisk turned to solid obsidian, the dead beholders collapsed into nothing, and Sas carefully read the words of a greater restoration scroll to crack the stone from Bastion's skin and return him, blinking and bewildered, to the living. Shadow retrieved the cracked orb from the treasure pile, its fractured equator pulsing with energy and something that moved within it like a tentacle — or perhaps like lightning. The party preserved the beholder's enormous corpse as they had been asked, though getting it back down the shaft was going to be a problem for very soon. And then, without warning, the room vanished. The entire party stood in a vast and featureless desert, a calm and unfamiliar voice telling them that it had taken years to put things into motion, and that there was no time to explain — before the vision snapped away and left them standing once more among the dust and the dead, with the cracked orb in hand, unanswered questions pressing in from every side, and the long climb back down still ahead of them.

Middle English

Lythe and listin, good folk all,
To tales of battle fierce and dread;
A party brave did heed the call,
To face the beholder's lair ahead.

Through smoke and flame they made their way,
With Ratlok Darksky freed from mental chain,
Up shafts of stone they climbed that day,
Through psychic ripples, fear, and pain.

A chamber vast with corpses strewn,
Dead beholders turned to dust,
The living creature, mad and soon,
To fall before the party's thrust.

With arrows swift and claws that tore,
With magic's might and eagle's strike,
The beholder fell upon the floor,
And all its thralls dissolved alike.

Yet mysteries remain untold,
A voice from desert, strange and deep,
And questions dark and manifold,
As down the shaft they homeward creep.

Snarky

Welcome to the most chaotic beholder fight ever staged in a graveyard of its own dead relatives, featuring a bugbear named Ratlok Darksky who showed up wearing a rope and basically said "please don't kill me, I just wanted to help with a mining job." Truly the most relatable origin story for accidental cult membership. The party climbed a hundred-foot shaft into a sanctum so dramatic it had a tilted black obelisk, a crackling purple orb of mysterious energy, and dozens of dead beholders slowly turning to dust on the floor — because apparently the beholder was so powerful it killed its own species for décor. Shadow opened the fight by pinning the thing down with spectral vines before it could even notice them, which is exactly the kind of audacity that gets you either killed or a ballad written about you. Bastion got turned into a marble statue almost immediately, which is less of a ballad and more of a cautionary tale.

The beholder hit the party with personalized psychological warfare — Calliope got a vision of being utterly useless, Sas got Abu Grock's disappointment beamed directly into her brain — because nothing says "boss fight" like a creature that does your therapist's job but maliciously. Ratlok Darksky, to his enormous credit, fireball'd the thing from behind and accidentally revealed a single mysterious green scale hidden in its hide, which is the kind of detail that means absolutely nothing right now and will definitely mean everything later. Artie the eagle finished the job with a full-body pounce, the orb started leaking tentacle-shaped lightning, Bastion got un-stoned via scroll, and then the entire party got teleported to a desert by a mysterious voice that said "no time to explain" and then immediately left. The beholder's corpse is preserved and needs to go back down a hundred-foot shaft. No one has a good plan for that yet.

Limerick

A bugbear named Ratlok Darksky appeared,
His mind from the beholder's grip cleared.
He offered his aid,
Though wary and afraid,
And warned of the tyrant they feared!

Up the shaft, nearly a hundred feet tall,
They climbed — some by potion, some by wall.
The stone seemed to melt,
A psychic dread felt,
Then a graveyard of beholders met all!

Shadow struck fast, vines snaring the beast,
But Bastion turned stone — a statue, at least.
Barlo slashed with his claws,
Calliope gave pause,
And Ratlok Darksky's fireball joined the feast!

Great Artie the eagle came crashing down hard,
The beholder collapsed in the dust of the yard.
The obelisk turned black,
Dead beholders fell slack,
And Sas read a scroll to restore the poor bard!

Then the desert appeared with a voice cold and plain,
"I've set things in motion" — then gone once again.
The orb cracked and pulsed,
The party convulsed
With questions, and started back down through the slain.

Exported from GMAssistant on 2026-08-16