If the characters have come to talk, Karazikar
hears them out. The beholder is supremely arrogant.
and it speaks and understands only Deep Speech
and Undercommon.lf any of the characters bluff
about having information of interest to the beholder.
Karazikar mentions the Maze Engine. either to see
if the adventurers know of it. or in a scoffing wne to
suggest they can't possibly know anything that it has not
already learned.
Killing Karazikar is the only way to claim the
beholder's central eye for Vizeran. At the first hint of
violence, the beholder uses its disintegration ray to
disintegrate a 10·foot section of the bridge. hoping to
plunge one of more party members into the chasm. Tt
then targets enemies with its other eye rays and makes
full use of its lair actions (see the Monster Manual).
Against characters who attempt to hide from it. the
beholder uses a l~lir action to cause an eye to open up
on a wall with line of effect to a hiding creature, then
attacks with one of its eye rays.
Karazikar's slaves fearfully scatter during any
confrontation, but if Shedrak is alive. he protects his
"god'' as best he can. If the beholder is reduced to 45 or
fewer hit points. it attempts to flee. ordering Shedrak (if
he's still alive) to cover its retreat.
When the beholder is reduced to 0 hit points, its
corpse slowly sinks. falling 10 feet at the start of
every turn until it reaches the bottom of the chasm. A
character within reach of the beholder can use an action
to gouge out its central eye. There is also a 10 percent
chance at the end of each turn that the beholder's corpse
lands on a bridge.
FREED SLAVES
If Karazikar and Shedrak are defeated, the beholder's
slaves emerge from various tunnels. file out onto the
bridges, and kneel in supplication. worshiping their
liberators as gods. Each s lave bears the brand of
Karazikar on its forehead a scar shaped like an open
eye. The slaves are unarmed and include the following:
- 21 shield dwarf commoners
- 17 human commone rs
- 11 moon elf commoners
8 female drow and 1 male drow
- 5 deep gnomes
23 goblins
15 orogs
All of the slaves have four levels of exhaustion (see
appendix A of the Players Handbook) and can't do much
more than cat and follow simple instructions. They join
the party's expeditionary force if urged or ordered to
do so, but they aren't effective combatants until they've
rested and reduced their exhaustion level.
The slaves know several intriguing bits of information:
- Karazikar hid its treasure in the uppermost reaches
of the chasm. The only way to reach the treasury is by
levitation or flight.
- The beholder was preoccupied with finding an arcane
contraption called the Maze Engine.
- The beholder recently captured a strange mechanical
c reature that might know where the Maze Engine is
lOST FRIENDS
The liberation of the Vast Oblivium makes a useful bit
ofbackstory for introducing or reintroducing a character
mto the party. If an adventurer or NPC was lost in
the Underdark, or if you want an NPC left behind at a
settlement to put in a reappearance. have that character
appear as a slave taken by Karazikar. Depending on the
circumstances. the char;~cter might even join up with the
adventurers during the final battle to defeat the beholder.
Similarly, a new player character joining the party might
start out as a prisoner of the beholder, now freed.
located (sec "Modron Prisoner" below). The creature
is locked in a room sealed with a rolling stone door.
The beholder used its telekinesis eye ray to open and
close the door.
Any slaves that don't join the party arc anxious ro
make their way tot he nearest peaceful Underdark
settlement. The drow are eager to return to
Menzoberran?.an, the deep gnomes to Blingdenstone. Tf
the characters urge the slaves to leave the Vast Oblivium
and make their own way home. they arc all killed
while trying to escape from the Wormwrithings. If the
characters assign members of their expeditionary force
to lead the slaves out of the Wormwrithings. the slaves
stand a much better chance of making it to safety.
MODRON PRISONER
One or more slaves can lead characters to a small room
on the uppermost level of the complex. The room is
sealed off with a 6-inch-thick circular stone door that
can be rolled aside with a DC 20 Strength check or
opened with a knock spell or similar magic. The room
holds a damaged duodrone that Karazikar recently
captured in the hopes of unlocking more information
about the Maze Engine.
The duodrone has I hit point remaining and speaks
its own language of clicks and whirs. always referring
to itself as "we" or ··us." The demonic madness as
scrambled its memory, but if a greater restoration spell
is cast on it, the mod ron remembers two things:
"We were part of a great march. We were separated.
Then we were lost. Then we were captured. Then we
started freaking out. Then you found us ...
- ''We know nothing about a 'Maze Engine.' However.
we can detect an Orderer approximately 289 miles
south of our present location." (The "Orderer:· claims
the mod ron, is a device that brings order to chaos. It
is, in fact, what others refer to a:> the Maze Engine.)
TREASURE
The beholder used its disintegration eye ray to carve
a rough likeness of itself in the ceiling of Karazikar's
Maw a great stone beholder face glaring down upon
the gaping chasm. its central eye a hollow shaft that
leads up to a hemispherical vault where the beholder
hides its considerable hoard: 15.000 gp, 1.300 pp, ten
assorted gems worth 500 gp each. a gem of seeing, a
necklace of adaptation, and a robe of eyes.
Cl!APTF.R 131 I liE WORM\\JUTHT1oiC S
