Page 55 - Lords of Madness: The Book of Aberrations

Drider (3): hp 45 each; Monster Manual page 89. All three The rift’s ceiling stretches nearly 400 feet up, but there are
cast spells as 6th-level sorcerers and know the same spells as no other exits from the chamber larger than a few inches
listed on page 90 of the Monster Manual except that lightning in diameter.
bolt is replaced by major image. The ropers have no treasure, nor is there anything of value
hidden in the mulch below the violet fungi.
3. DINING ROOM Violet Fungus (24): hp 15 each; Monster Manual page
This large room is empty except for a bowl-shaped depression in 112.
the middle of the fl oor. A narrow channel runs from this bowl Roper (3): hp 85 each; Monster Manual page 215.
down the passageway to the southeast. The inside surface of the
bowl and the channel are stained a dark red-brown and smell of 5. PANTRY (EL 8)
CHAPTER 3 THE EYE TYRANTS rotten meat. This large chamber is ringed by six 10-foot-wide pits. Stacked in
the center of the room are six large wooden discs, reinforced with
This is where Sekarvu eats its victims. After the mess that
bands of metal. Several 1-inch-wide holes are drilled into the
resulted from its first few meals, the beholder used its dis-
center of each disc.
integrate eye ray to create the bowl-shaped depression and
channel to capture blood and other material. Once Sekarvu Sekarvu keeps its captives here, trapping no more than one
finishes eating, it uses telekinesis to sluice the remains down creature per pit if possible. Each pit is 50 feet deep, so the

the channel and into the violet fungi farm in area 4. beholder can observe the contents of the pit with its darkvision.
If the PCs manage to infiltrate the lair this far without alert- The walls of each pit are smooth and cannot be climbed by

ing Sekarvu, there’s a 20% chance that the beholder is here, creatures without a natural climb speed. The wooden and
eating one of the still-living prisoners from area 5. metal discs in the middle of the room are lids; each weighs
300 pounds. Whenever Sekarvu drops a prisoner into a pit, it
4. THE SKITTERRIFT (EL 15) uses telekinesis to move a lid and cap the opening.

This massive rift in the surrounding stone stretches up into the When the PCs reach this area, they might find prisoners in
darkness. Below, a softly shifting and slightly phosphorescent the pits—perhaps someone they’ve been looking for or charac-
violet mass seems to writhe. Several ledges protrude from the ters caught by the driders in area 2. As a general rule, Sekarvu
edge of the rift at various heights. A thick stink of rotting meat keeps prisoners in a pit for only one or two days before eating
wafts up from below. them, since to keep them any longer requires the beholder to
feed them. In the rare cases where it wishes to keep a prisoner
This large rift is where Sekarvu grows its precious violet fungi alive, either Ilirik or the denizens of this room provide food
to satisfy its hankering for fungi-tainted flesh. To prepare a and water as necessary.

meal, the beholder uses telekinesis to lift a prisoner from a pit Sekarvu has managed to charm five ethereal filchers, and

in area 5, carries him out to this area, and dips him into the these creatures stay here as guards when not out on duty. Their
fungi below until he’s nearly dead. Sekarvu then retires to ability to ethereally jaunt makes them valuable gatherers for the
the dining room (area 4) to eat. Waste left over from the meal beholder, which sends them out to distribute more of Ilirik’s
is drained back into this room to feed the fungi; as a result, false treasure maps or to gather food and water for the other
the plants are particularly thick in the northeast end of the creatures in the lair.
chasm. In all, twenty-four violet fungi grow on the rift floor. Ethereal Filcher (5): hp 22 each; Monster Manual page

A cautious party should be able to avoid the hazard these 104.
fungi present, but anyone who comes within their reach is
in deep trouble. 6. ILIRIK’S QUARTERS (EL 11)
The beholder is terribly protective of its fungus farm and has A single freestanding torch leaning against the west wall inef-
posted three charmed ropers on the ledges that overlook the fectively lights this chamber. The contents of the room include
bulk of the fungi. These ropers are located at the areas labeled a single bed, a desk and chair, and a large barrel that seems to
A, B, and C on the map (there is no roper at location D). The contain water.
ropers have been commanded not to attack the violet fungi,

driders, ethereal filchers, Ilirik, the beholder itself, or anyone This is the home of Ilirik, the illusionist Sekarvu charmed
Sekarvu accompanies, but any other creatures they spot are several years ago. Ilirik’s long servitude to the beholder has left
fair game. him a hollow, joyless gnome who spends his free time studying

Ledges A and C are 50 feet above the rift floor, ledge B is magic and slowly researching new spells. Sekarvu collects
20 feet above the rift floor, and ledge D is 180 feet above the these notes on new spells as they are completed, promising to

rift floor. Squares shaded in tan indicate a square of the rift keep them safe and return them when the gnome’s servitude

floor that the ropers can attack with their strands. Ropers A to the beholder ends sometime in the future.

and C can attack any adjacent square on the rift floor (these In truth, Sekarvu uses Ilirik as a constant source of new

squares are colored a darker shade of tan). Since roper B is 30 magical writings to observe and absorb. It also uses the
feet closer, it can reach any target in any of the shaded squares. gnome to shore up the defenses of the lair with illusions, and
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