Although he knew the thing before him was incredibly powerful,
He Xi still quickly steadied his pounding heart.
His hand swiftly reached into the side pocket of his backpack and touched the Personal Monster Quick Reference Manual he always carried with him. His fingers slid rapidly over its scale-patterned cover.
He began searching his mind for the creature's characteristics.
"One eye... floating... tentacles... eyestalks...
Found it!"
[Beholder] Adventurer Level: 70+ Characteristics: A spherical body, a huge central eye, and eyestalks growing around it, each with a small eye at its tip... Habits: An extremely evil, paranoid, and narcissistic creature. As a highly intelligent aberration, it knows the Underground Common Tongue and several other languages, and can communicate with targets through telepathy. Every beholder considers itself the most perfect creation, while all other creatures—including other beholders—are inferior beings that must be destroyed or enslaved. They usually occupy complex underground lairs, controlling large numbers of servants through charm, coercion, or parasitism. Skills:
"Level 70? What a joke."
Seeing the minimum adventurer level listed above and the despair-inducing list of skills, He Xi felt his heart sink.
He had only managed to skim the characteristics. He hadn't had time to look closely at the long list of specific skill effects that followed.
There was no point in looking anyway. Against a level 70 monster, they didn't stand a chance.
They had almost no hope of even escaping.
From its habits, a highly intelligent creature like this would never let any being that had offended it get away.
As He Xi wondered how a powerful creature that usually occupied an underground lair deep in the Underdark had inexplicably appeared on the surface,
He suddenly received a message from Trist: "Mister Galen, get out of here! I'll hold it off!"
Hold it off?