Session 9

Heroes: Aldym, Gondriel, Raubahn

Inside the shell, the Heroes must contend with man-sized crabs, before reaching the center of the colossal conch. There, they find a gargantuan slug coiled around a black shell. When they disturb the slug, the monster attacks them with its ferocious bite, and its poisonous gas. The Heroes manage to defeat the creature, and crack the black shell open. Hundreds of ghostly spirits fly out of the shell, disappearing in the distance. Also inside the shell, they find a pulsating red eye... one more of the Queen's Eyes!

When the Heroes return to their ship, they find dozens of pixies harassing their crew with magic and pranks. They soon realise these where the grey "islands" dotting the ocean surface, and asking them for help. But there's no time to ponder much, as a thunderous sound spreads across the room. The Heroes pilot the Skyrunner back to the main chamber, and witness the cause of the commotion.

The gigantic stone plates dotting the inside of the asteroid are detaching themselves from the rock, and converging into the middle of the room, to form a huge sphere of stone. At the same time, the ten tunnels leading to the ten minor rooms are also sliding away from the rock, and attach themselves to the globe, to form something that resemble a colossal beholder! At the end of each tunnel, a crystal tops the "tentacle"; some of the crystals are alight with power, while those originating from the rooms where the Heroes recovered one of the Queen's Eyes are dim and powerless.

From the top of the asteroid, the huge ten-sided crystal that illuminated the main chamber begins to float down, to go and take its place in the center of the globe. A sentinel statue stand on one of the sides of the crystal.

While these titanic assembly takes place, a voice thunders through the asteroid... Capt Tobart, now calling himself Shazogrox the beholder, mocks the Heroes and invites them to witness his triumph, as he takes the Ravager into space to exact his revenge.

The Heroes fly the Skyrunner inside the globe before the last plate closes off any chance of entry, set on facing Shazogrox before he can harness the power of the Ravager. Above them, the asteroid opens up, and the Ravager flies into the void, where he finds a beholder fleet waiting at the ready.

While the Ravager fights the beholders' ships, the Heroes find their way inside the crystal, where they can face Shazogrox himself. Before they can get to the beholder, they have to disable his sentinel armor. The fight takes its toll, as Raubahn and Aldym lose their lives to give Gondriel a chance to use the magical beholder-slaying arrows they found on the Skyrunner.

When Gondriel pierces the beholder with his last remaining arrow, Shazogrox screams in pain and frustration. As his terrifying form crushes to the crystal floor, the beholder takes its last breath and dies.