Page 40 - Lords of Madness: The Book of Aberrations

TYRANTS THE EYE CHAPTER 3

The beholder revealed (numbers keyed to text references) Illus. by E. Cox
by the process of elimination or by their proximity to the as strong as iron. Unfortunately, the material quickly grows
creature’s mouth. A beholder’s digestive system (and its con- brittle upon a beholder’s death. Some alchemists have devised
nected circulatory and respiratory systems) is fairly obvious. methods to maintain the bone’s strength after the creature’s
Beyond these, sages are positive about only the reproductive death, but because this material is only about as strong as iron
organs and the brain. and much more dangerous to harvest, armor and weapons made
Perhaps the most unusual shared feature of a beholder’s of beholder bone remain little more than curiosities.
internal organs is their freakish buoyancy. Even when
separated from the remainder of the body, these organs float Vascular and Digestive System

like balloons, despite the fact that they rarely contain any The most readily obvious set of internal organs make up the
appreciable volumes of air or natural gas (with the exception of creature’s digestive tract. The back of a beholder’s mouth
the lung itself). An internal organ separated from a beholder’s consists of a powerful sphincterlike muscle (1), opening into
body retains this buoyancy for up to 12 hours, or longer if a short esophagus (2) and then into a large, flat stomach (3) that

preserved by magic like gentle repose. This natural buoyancy fills most of the hollow inside its lower jaw. Numerous smaller

allows a beholder to fly, its motions and movement controlled tubes that are similar to intestines (4) branch off from the
by bursts of air expelled from its thousands of spiracles. stomach and coil up the back of the creature. As they continue

to split, they carry the liquefied remains of a meal farther up
Skeletal System into the body. Eventually, these intestines become as thin as
Technically, beholders are endoskeletal creatures, although hairs, and they coil around and through a large, fan-shaped
what passes for a skeleton in their bodies really amounts to organ (5) that contains hundreds of tiny, air-filled channels.

nothing more than a large skull. The material that comprises the This is the beholder’s lung, and the channels constantly mix
skull isn’t bone, though; in fact, it is so similar in construction to air with digested food to produce a frothy, pink fluid.

the creature’s skin that it’s impossible to tell where the skin ends The lung itself is lined with powerful muscles that expand
and the skull begins. The material is hard, inflexible, and, above and contract rhythmically, drawing in and expelling air from

all else, remarkably light. Despite the fact that it is incredibly the spiracles in a beholder’s skin. From the lung, hundreds

porous (a cup of water poured onto a sample of beholder “bone” of thousands of fine arteries branch out to deliver the fluid
is absorbed in a matter of seconds), it remains rigid and nearly mixture to the other organs. This runny material is pumped
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