DavesGaming

We knew next we needed to spend a few days in the sewers, not a thing a person really wants to say. But there were three things that needed attention, starting with the “Unseeing Eye” cult. We needed to find out what *that* was all about.
Then we had been asked to rescue a kidnapped actor. A friend of Aerie’s long tome protector Quale, led a theater here in Athkatla. One of her actors had been taken along with some special gem stone, and that had been traced to a hide out in the sewers.
Finally, more of a long shot, but we had found a key back in Firkraag’s lair that seemed to look right to fit a locked door we had previously come across down there. So we were off.

Yeah, that key slipped right into the locked door. And we hadn’t taken more than a couple steps when we could tell this was Illithid architecture. Aerie cast “Chaotic Commands” on me, and Amyntor used his Green Stone Amulet, both things provide some protection from the sort of telepathic attacks Illithids favor.

Illithid mind control is particularly cruel, the victim knows they’ve been controlled. But all their abilities, including skill at arms and spell casting, can be commanded by the monster. So we were forced to battle a whole army of effective combatants.
Going further we slew a few more illithids, a couple Umber Hulls and an illithid in charge of things. His own journal made it clear he was raising an army. But for reasons unknown. We cleared out the whole enclave, and have hopefully derailed whatever this latest illithid strategem was.

Next we enetered the sanctum of Mekrath, a mage who had abducted Haer’Dalis, an actor. Wierd.
Mekrath detected as evil, no big surprise. We tried to talk to him, but he seemed more interested in justifying himself than releasing the actor. There may have been shenanigans involved with both parties, but Mekrath was a kidnapper and a thief, so we would require him to yield. That led to a brief fight. After which we quickly found the actor.

Worse, poor Aerie seemed smitten. Ooof. I know I can’t protect her from such things, but I shooed off the flaky actor, sent him back to his theater boss and away from us. We would need to search the area for the still missing gem.

We did find the gemstone in an old shrine, locked away and trapped. We recovered it, we will have to stop back by the theater soon.

But now it was into the depths to find the cult that blinds its adherents.

He seemed to have taken leave from all his senses, and I think his blindness is not just physical. But we all felt there was something deeply sinister wrong here. He suggested we might be allowed to keep our eyes for now if we would explore deeper and recover a magic rod of some sort. Well that sounds like it might be leading somewhere.
Not too far off from here came across a small camp of blind *former* cult members. Yeah, they strongly agreed there was something profoundly evil at play. But they also said the “rod” we’d been tasked with finding was something the “Unseeing Eye” had been after for a long time. It feared the rod. And the rod was the key to its destruction. We *needed* to explore deeper and find it, but not to return it. To use it against the Unseeing Eye.

So that was what we did. A great spiral of stairs headed further down. We fought undead, more Yuan-Ti, and beholders!

Even the people seem grey, listless. Beyond depressed, they had lost any hope or spark. They were apparently sworn (cursed?) to stay here, to guard this place for all time.

A small temple was the only source of any light or color, so we entered. It was also drab, faded and neglected.

He seemed insubstantial, fading in and out. He could only speak with a wheeze and a whisper. There was almost nothing left of him. He guarded *part* of the rod we sought. But mostly he mourned the loss of faith among his faithful. He needed their faith to destroy the rod, an artifact of power that could destroy the “Unseeing Eye”. But the Unseeing Eye, among the greatest of beholders in the Realms, held the other part of the rod.
He would offer us his part of the rod, if we used it to fix the rod and destroy the Unseeing Eye. Hey, he had me at “beholder”.
Leaving the temple we caused some excitement, er, a mild notice anyway, among the grey ones that we were leaving with their part of the rod.

The ex-cult members we spoke with earlier knew a back way into the great beholder lair. It passed through a place known as Ghoul Town.

Some more powerful types too, a lot of mummies, some greater ghouls. We might have killed a lich? Yeah, yes we did, we killed a lich in Ghoul Town. I think. Hey it was all fast, we were in a hurry.

Now Beholder lairs are disgusting. They all feel like they’re made of meat. Like you’re walking around inside someone’s throat. Yuk.

This called for a slight change in tactics. Some time ago we’d purchased the “Shield of Balduran”. Imoen says this was stolen from a museum in Baldur’s Gate some time ago. We will need to return it next time we head up north! But for now, its highly useful against Beholders. It makes the user completely immune to effects of Beholder magic (well, to their eyeball sorts of magic anyway).
So when we know we’re facing beholders, I take the shield and run ahead of the rest of the team. They stick close enough to help with some missile fire. And you never know when someone/something else will show up around beholders. But I end up mostly facing the beholder(s) alone. Even against multiple beholders. Its a strange way to fight.

We did find the other part of the rod, worked the parts together. Then we sought out the Unseeing Eye.

Still, he was a large and powerful old beast. The rod did neutralize his magic, which was good because he was the sort who could work powerful magic even apart from his many eye stalks. We all were able to hack him down.

Then we returned back to the grey village, the temple. The now curious grey folk followed us in to face the avatar. He said they all needed to pray to destroy the artifact. A little moment of drama, the sad grey people could not remember their god’s name! Holy smokes! Until one elder seemed to recall. It was Amaunator, the same god of sun and law whose temple we restored a couple weeks ago. And as the people gradually found their prayer voices, the artifact faded away. Wow, it was great to be of service to an ancient deity again. And to know we helped bring about something good.

We returned to the compound of the Unseeing Eye cult. I was pleased to see most of the followers just fleeing. What a waste, so many foolish and desperate sorts lost their eyesight. I suppose some might get it restored? But that tends to be a costly cure. So yeah, what a waste.
We had to battle Gaal and his fanaticle core. It felt good to put this heresy down.

We returned to the Temple of Lathander above to report all that had happened.

*****

The Shield of Balduran is a funny thing. Its a magic item that’s good for pretty much one thing only, fighting beholders. It lowers your strength by one when using it (since Brademante has a Girdle of Frost Giant Strength, it makes her only slightly less giant strong, a small sacrifice). We can call it cheesy, it is. Beholders can be terrifying with their onslaught of powerful magic, and shield completely cancels it. But that’s the thing, beholders ARE cheesy. I don’t object to fighting cheese with cheese.