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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 458646" data-attributes="member: 143">I had three guesses for who the "boss" monster was: Halaster, a beholder, and a mind flayer.  All good guesses, but keep in mind, the last two both use charm monster which wouldn't be strong enough to make someone bash his own head in to keep from revealing information about his leader.I guess my clue back on page 7 was too obscure.  Remember:If my memory serves me correctly, those citations (they refer back to book and part numbers from earlier chapters of the story) are to updates that featured, respectively, perytons, a deep dragon, a beholder-kin, and finally, baneguards.  All four are from the Monsters of Faerun softcover, as is, of course, the Master of our little band of bad guys...And here, of course, is the cliff-hanger.* * * * * Book VI, Part 35  The heavy doors resisted for a moment, then swung open at the insistent tug of Lok’s augmented strength. Beyond the huge portals lay a broad hallway, brightly lit by a dozen torches set in sockets mounted high along the walls.  The main portion of the hall stretched out before them, running directly away from the doors.  The hall was a good twenty paces across, with twin rows of ornate stone columns supporting a vaulted ceiling high above.  The columns had once been detailed with intricate designs, but now many of them were cracked and broken, a few fallen completely into piles of jumbled rubble.  The central hall was flanked by galleries ten paces deep to either side; these side areas were about eight feet above the level of the central floor and accessed at several points along the hall by wide, sweeping staircases strewn casually with rubble.  These side galleries had once been observation areas, perhaps, and were scattered with the remains of what might have once been stone chairs and benches in scattered piles.  The hallway continued ahead of them for at least eighty feet or more, its farthest reaches lost in shadows where the light of the torches faded.  The companions took in those details all at once, but their attention was drawn to the center of the place, where several adversaries were waiting for them.  The three of them noted peripherally the trio that stood in the center of the hall between the rows of pillars, twenty paces away, facing the doors.  They were familiar faces: the elf archer, an arrow nocked to his bow; the hobgoblin warrior with the spiked chain; and finally the robed wizard that they had tussled with once before.  There were also hints of movement in the galleries to the side, indicating that other adversaries might be lurking there, in the cover of the shadows and scattered debris that cluttered the raised areas flanking the central hall.  But the stares of the three companions focused on the center of the place, behind the three humanoid defenders.  There a pile of coins and other treasure formed a sizeable heap in the middle of the hall.  And rising out of that pile was the Master of the community that had taken control over this particular section of Undermountain.“What in all the hells...” Benzan breathed.Its body was a fat ball of heavy, wrinkled flesh, a sphere easily fourteen feet across.  Thick tentacles protruded from its mass, some twisted around the pillars that flanked it, others holding a variety of nasty-looking weapons, still others ending in vicious, snapping jaws full of sharp teeth.  Other smaller tentacles appeared to end in eyes, several of which were trained on the three of them as they entered the place.  As they stood there, amazed and horrified at the sight of it, the... thing emitted a keening screech that sounded like fingernails drawn across a slate, a sound that resonated in their very bones, a sound dripping with hatred and anger and malevolence.  “By the gods, a deepspawn,” Cal whispered.  For a brief moment the two sides faced each other in silence, both groups overshadowed by the sheer presence of the huge creature behind them.  Then the wizard raised a slender rod, and pointed it at them.  “You could have joined us, and become part of something greater than the pettiness of mortal lives.  Instead, you have chosen your destruction.”“Yeah, we’re always doing that,” Benzan hissed.  “You are an abomination, that must be destroyed,” Cal said boldly, directing his words toward the bulbous monster behind the three defenders, his voice echoing in the cavernous expanse of the chamber.    The tentacled creature seemed to pulse, and a wave of mental energy seemed to fill the room.  The companions heard the words in their minds, as clearly as did the minions of the deepspawn.“Destroy them!”And with that, the battle began.</blockquote>

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