Session 95

* Bilehall
* Small Hamlet near Bilehall

**Previously...**

## And Now...

### If An Eye Offend Thee...

The heroes are momentarily shocked into silence by the sight of the weird abomination rising up before them. Before any of them can act, Gorbmaw leaps down from Leshrac's shoulder and darts into the library. The Beholder follows it idly with one or two of its hideous eyestalks, but seems otherwise unconcerned and is still mainly focused on the rest of the group. Seeing our hesitation, the creature drifts closer and offers up a deal - if Dandy and Gar allow the creature to copy all of their memories, it will trade us the gemstone holding Chance's soul. As it does this, it uses a beam of telekinetic force to bring forth a strange artefact that looks like a crown connected to an orb. Dandy and Gar trade glances. Both seem very suspicious of the 'deal' being offered.

Leshrac attempts to distract the Beholder with a series of eye-related puns. At first, the creature tries to ignore them, but finally, its composure cracks, and it sends a blistering beam of energy towards Leshrac, missing him and striking the wall behind him, which immediately begins to show signs of advanced decrepitude - wood rotting and splintering, paint peeling and metal fittings rusting and tarnishing. Frustrated, the monster follows up by charging at Leshrac, only to miss again and plunge through the semi-rotten wall behind him.

### Plans are for Posers.

Gar decides that elaborate plans are overrated and, taking advantage of the momentary distraction, snatches Dandy up on one arm and makes a headlong rush towards the large display case holding Chance's mind. Thinking quickly, Dandy launches a sling bullet at the case which shatters, unleashing a horrid death curse. Leshrac sees this and takes his eyes off the Beholder momentarily, using his abilities to absorb and dissipate the spell before Dandy and Gar can be consumed by it. Before the Beholder can take advantage of Leshrac's distraction, though, Kakeru uses their magic to temporarily blind the Beholder.

### The Great Escape.

Gar hands Dandy the pilfered crystal. She goes to shove it into her satchel, but reconsiders, and puts it into a pocket instead. Everyone decides it's time to bail, but Leshrac pauses momentarily to conjure up a Prison of Obsidian to keep the Beholder busy while everyone escapes.

Everyone starts running like hell through a seemingly random succession of corridors until Gar and Dandy stumble into a room full of sleeping Hellhounds! Gar decides that speed trumps stealth and tries to sprint through the room before the Hellhounds can awaken, however, in his haste, he accidentally disturbs several, whose rousing disturbs a few more. Dandy begins rummaging in pockets for emergency distraction bacon.

Hard on their heels, Leshrac and Kakeru enter just as the hounds are awakening and attempt to fool the still sleep-befuddled monsters into attacking the Beholder on their heels. This is partially successful, but does work to add to the overall sense of mayhem and confusion.

### Fiends in High Places.

The group's escape route winds increasingly upwards with Gar reckoning that pretty much all members of the group can fly (or at the very least, fly-adjacent). Eventually, the trail ends atop a dizzyingly high parapet. Two ornate mechanical ballista, the product of Tovric's gnomish artificer, no doubt, sit on the edge of the tower, pointed outward. Transforming into his Dragonkin form, Gar is able to disable one using brute force but, as he topples it over the side of the tower, he looks down and sees the Beholder emerging from a window and flying upwards towards us at speed.

It projects a ray of anti-magic from it's immense central eye... apparently it's sick of having spells cast at it. Leshrac moves away from the others, drawing the creature's ire and attention, as it smashes into him, tossing him into the air and over the side of the parapet. In response, Gar grabs the second ballista and uses his dragonkin might to tear it loose from its moorings, aiming it like a regular-sized crossbow at the beholder. With the Anti-Magic Ray focused on a now-plummeting Leshrac, Kakeru casts a spell to try and make the Beholder super-heavy. They do so to a degree, but the strain causes them to transform into a crow.

The beholder swoops down and snatches the falling Leshrac in its jaws and begins to worry furiously at his torso, causing gruesome injuries. Seeing this, Dandy vaults the side of the parapet and lands on the Beholder's back, using a paid of ninja climbing gloves to gain purchase on the creature's leathery skin. Several eyes train around to turn on Dandy, but she moves swiftly across its back, using the eyestalks as handholds and is able to evade a variety of beams. As the Beholder attempts to get a better grip on Leshrac, he takes the opportunity top grab a pouch from within his belt sash and thrust his arm deep into the monster's jagged maw. The Beholder's fangs rend the flesh on Leshrac's arm and shoulder, tearing horrible wounds in both as he releases the pouch into its gullet, containing a handful of highly-poisonous Xordyn Berries.

### A Bitter Pill.

As the toxin begins to take effect, the Beholderbegins to retch up a reeking, acidic bile. Unable to get a shot between the creature shaking Leshrac and Dandy crawling all over it, Gar abandons the ballista and swoops down to rescue Leshrac, who is in appalling condition. Finally reaching the front of the Beholder, Dandy reaches into a pocket and grabs and handful of Dragonsbreath Pepperseeds she acquired in the Village of Renewal (Session 88), rubbing them vigourously into the huge, platter-sized eye. To add further to the creature's woes, Kakeru swoops down and pecks off one of the creature's eyestalks (the Ray of Terror).

Cursing Leshrac with its final, choking breath, the horrid creature gives a tremendous final shudder and collapses in on itself like a gruesome balloon. With Gar keeping Leshrac aloft and Kakeru in crow form, Dandy, now in freefall and plummeting towards the cracked earth surrounding Bilehall, begins rummaging in her satchel for her White Dragon Cloak.

At the last minute, Leshrac conjures up a vast, spongy mat of seaweed tendrils which Dandy plunges into at considerable speed.

The group descends and reaches a ground liberally dotted with gooey fragments of dead Beholder. Several uncomfortable moments of silence pass before Dandy emerges from the seaweed, triumphantly holding the Dragon Cloak over her head. Relieved that their friends has survived, the crew set about gathering bits of dead beholder goop while Leshrac dispels the vast mat of seaweed. After several minutes, it begins to become obvious that something has changed with Bilehall. The immense castle is showing increased signs of wear and tear, as though the weight of countless millennia are slowly beginning to settle on it.

### Where Do We Go From Here?

The group regathers at the nearby hamlet to discuss their next step. While everyone's keen to re-unite Chance's mind and body after all this time, there is still the matter of recovering Nordross' scythe from Ilantha. It seems we're destined to meet up with and have a conflict with the ancient elven warlord, and it seems unanimous that we'd rather do it somewhere where her horde of undead soldiers isn't murdering a civilian population.

Dandy has been chatting with Chance, catching him up on what everyone's been up to, since his crystal was recovered and Leshrac recommends consulting him first to see what he would advise, before pursuing other forms of divination to try and discover where Ilantha is and what she's up to. Chance mulls over the situation and, after thinking it through, advises the group to head to The Font at the peak of the Ignoble Mountain. If the group can make it to there, Chance has an ally who'll be able to transport everyone from there.

With this knowledge in hand, Leshrac proceeds to check on Ilantha's progress. However no sooner has he entered his divinatory trance, but his spirit is violently snatched away by a tremendous mystical energy. His body is hurled across the room like a marionette as his spirit is roughly hauled out of his physical form, leaving behind a tangle of seemingly lifeless limbs...