Scorched Campaign

16: What's In A Name

.^^ Spectator ^^

— Cassidy —

I couldn't help but be a little horrified at the state of the city, once a semi-thriving village of Dwarves and Gnomes, now a molten wasteland, 10 miles wide. The city portion was only 3-4 miles wide, situated like the hollow portion of a fat crescent moon, snug up against the entrance.

The river was gone now, but the deep pockmarked riverbed that went straight from the Steps to the tower, then around it, and to the far wall to create a lake, that still existed, a smoldering white scar in the black and gold landscape. The stalactites were gone from the roof, having been liquified by the blast, and now littered the ground, creating large piles almost like giant petrified shits.

The door to the tower opened as I explained Karma to Sandy again, this time with an example, and I pointed my spear at it instantly.

A deep voice spoke from the shadows inside, where I could see a floating orb lurking. "Duchess Thomas Gunnar Skøll of the Golden Coast... and entourage... Your wish for an audience has been graciously granted by the Hive-Mother." The spectator said calmly in common, then turned and began floating away.

Tommy grinned and crossed her legs, floating after him with her tongue out at me childishly. "I'm the cooler Twin again!!!" She smirked infuriatingly.

I frowned and followed, keeping my spear on my shoulders warily, the girl's and Glade following behind me, though I noticed Glade slip into the shadows and then go invisible, crawling up a wall like a spider and following us on the ceiling. Sandy hummed, and nudged Kiri and Iris, speaking mentally no doubt, and they each went invisible as well, sidling away and walking on either side of the hall, out of anyone's like of sight.

'Good idea. This could get ugly...' I frowned. Sandy nodded and patted my butt, pushing me forward, as I'd started to fall behind a bit.

We went up four sets of stairs, and I noticed the windows get smaller each floor, until they were clearly too small to jump through, though Kiri could likely squeeze through, as she was the skinniest one.

At the top of the stairs, we reached a large room, taking up this entire floor of the tower, 200ft across in a near-perfect circle, with a throne on the far side, the raised Dias almost ten feet above everyone else.

I smelled instantly almost twenty Beholders in the room, invisible, hiding in the rafters, as well as an equal number of humanoids that smelled oddly similar, which I assumed to mean they were ocular adepts. A number of Spectators and Duergar lined the walls, visible but inactive and staring ahead. Floating around the room freely were dozens of the tiny Beholderkin that were only 6in in diameter, their eye-stalks completely useless.

I relayed everything I could sense to the others mentally, and I sensed Glade alter his course along the ceiling to avoid the Beholders who had done the same as he had, while the girls simply moved up behind us again, staying invisible for now.

In a moment of inspiration, I told Glade to attach a silver disk to the roof, and open it if anything went wonky, relaying to Kiri, Iris, and Sandy that they should make themselves immune to fire immediately.

But with all the invisible enemies, there, in plain view above the throne, was the Queen, I was sure of it. A full 12 feet diameter, triple the size of the normal Beholders, but this one had no eye-stalks. All her eyes were embedded in her body, flicking calmly to and fro, with her singular central eye gazing at us.

I noticed that the pieces of Kiri and Iris's invisible forms that came out from behind me became briefly visible, and instructed them to hide better.