"I feel like you're mocking me now, which is unnecessary."

—Freely

Watch Eye of the Beholder | D&D Beyond Heroes: Episode 1

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The Cast of Beyond Heroes, currently level 8:

• Todd Kenreck as the Dungeon Master
• Keen Dayeprath - Eladrin Eldritch Knight Fighter played by TJ Storm
• Briv Steelmarrow - Half-Orc Oath of Heroism Paladin played by Adam Bradford
• Penelope Half-Pint - Halfling Circle of Land Druid played by Hope LaVelle
• Alyndra Alexandria Garanahil Sarrbarand, Lorekeeper of Rime Spiro, Kinscribe of Clan Monkeymouse, Daughter of Oblivion - High Elf Cleric 1/Wizard 7 played by Jen Kretchmer
• Orkira Illdrex - Dragonborn Light Domain Cleric played by Lauren Urban
• Freely - Halfling Bard 2/Paladin 2/Sorcerer 2/Warlock 2 played by B. Dave Walters

Full Summary

A fearsome storm rages high above the city of Waterdeep. Between the bolts of lightning, a massive airship plows through the clouds as it tries to catch up with its quarry. Somewhere on the smaller vessel is a dangerously powerful magical artifact, and Avren has hired the Heroes to track it down and retrieve it before it falls into the wrong hands. They don’t know what the object is, nor who currently has it, but everyone has become accustomed to this lack of information over their time as heroes for hire.

The strong winds blow a tarp off their balloon to reveal the symbol of Acquisitions Incorporated, and at the helm Rarv confirms everyone’s fears that this vessel was stolen. This is more concerning to some than others, but with the enemy fast approaching everyone turns their attention to the side of the ship to peer out into the rain. Orkira looks wistfully down at Waterdeep and mentions her desire to return to say hello to some friends. Keen grabs a spyglass to get a better view of the deck of the ship. There are many figures visible but instead of a cohesive crew a battle between two factions is taking place. As Keen relays what he can see, Penelope is too excited to get going and leaps off the side towards the other ship! Orkira is quick to dive after the halfling and make sure they both land safely, while Freely and Briv rig up some rope to more safely swing over.

On the enemy ship, a collection of Tiamat cultists are in a heated battle with a group of deathlocks. Keen uses one of their ships green flame cannons to offer cover fire as Freely and Briv also land on the deck. With the two factions distracted with each other, Briv suggests they sneak into the cargo hold to search for the item. Lightning continues to arc across the sky, striking Orkira even as the group move past the battle and head into the bowels of the ship. A quick examination of one of the offices reveals this ship belongs to the Tiamat worshipers. Orkira casts detect magic to start searching for the item, while Freely activates his divine sense to pinpoint any celestial, fiend, or undead. Both senses lead the group into the hold.

The battle on the deck continues as a stray fireball is launched into the rigging, and the vessel suddenly lurches to one side as it is hanging by half the remaining ropes. Navigating the sideways passages with care the four discover a chest that clearly contains the powerful magic item they were sent to find. With her detect magic Orkira can see the chest is protected by the Tiamat cultists, so Penelope happily uses dispel magic to remove the evil wards. Inside is a yellow green eye on the remains of a cord, and while none of them recognize the object Freely can sense it as undead.

Worried for his friends, Keen leaps onto the enemy ship to search below decks. Quickly reunited he immediately recognizes the object they’ve discovered is the Eye of Vecna. He relays that it is the eye of one of the most powerful, evil liches in known history and is filled with devastating power that should never fall into the wrong hands. As they dash back out of the hold one of the remaining dragon cultists targets the balloon holding the ship in the air, and everyone began to plummet towards the city below! Grabbing the two halflings, Orkira spreads her wings and glides away from the wreckage, while Keen casts feather fall on himself and Briv, and everyone manages to safely land on the ground.

Because of the explosion the ship falls into smaller pieces and the flames are being quickly put out by the rain. Still there is concern over innocents being harmed by the falling debris so the heroes keep an eye out for anything they can do to help. Keen is worried about the Eye being discovered while they are giving aid so Briv offers to give it to the Eladrin to guard, but when he reaches for the box he finds it missing! The group spot a goblin rushing off with the box, ducking into a pet store just as the roof is caved in by falling debris. Quickly heading to the building Briv begins to free the caged animals and heal the shopkeeper. The thief that took the box is splattered by the caved-in roof, but with detect magic still active Orkira can see a displacer beast kitten has eaten the Eye before it dives into the sewers. All the heroes are quick to follow!

Keen uses misty step to charge forward and grab the kitten, then returns to the group as they try to figure out how to get the Eye out of its stomach. As the Eladrin holds the beast still, Freely uses his mage hand to reach down into the gullet and pulls out the Eye, then Orkira casts cure wounds to heal any damage. With the Eye back in the box and safely tucked in Keen’s pack, the group continues down the sewer with the intent on getting away from the wreckage and any remaining dragon cultists before going back to the streets above.

Eventually they discover a door, strangely situated in the middle of the sewer passage. Out of curiosity Briv opens the door to see an entire underground city patrolled by flaming skulls. Before they can back away one of the sentinels notices them and suspiciously starts to ask questions. Briv attempts to distract the flameskull by claiming to be on a lovers tryst with Orkira, who becomes offended when the flame skull finds that idea gross. After some attempts at deception fails to convince the guard to move along, Orkira simply shuts the door on the conversation and everyone attempts to retreat. But before they can get far a psychic blast stuns Freely, Orkira, and Penelope as the heroes are surrounded by Mind Flayers! The illithids insist that the group follow them to meet their boss, the Xanathar, or else they will be killed. Forced to follow, the group is lead through the city of Skullport to the lair of the Beholder known as the Xanathar, surrounded by a motley collection of ruffians.

The powerful crime boss introduces himself, as well as his goldfish Sylgar, then announces it knows they have the Eye of Vecna and demands it be handed over. It threatens to turn them to stone at the slightest provocation, and as the group try to both deceive and persuade the beholder, Penelope casts speak with animals on Sylgar. The goldfish warns her that the Xanathar is extremely dangerous, but there’s a tunnel right above them that they should try to escape through. The druid takes this information back to the group.

As Orkira tries to talk to the Xanathar, Briv quietly convinces his friends that they should give the Eye to the dragonborn as she’s the only one who can fly to safety. The half-orc then slowly moves towards Sylgar, intent on taking the beloved fish hostage, while Keen stealthy removes the Eye from the box and slips it into Orkira’s hand whispering for her to escape with the dangerous item. Orkira puts the Eye into her satchel, pulling out a small bag of marshmallows to cover the movement and offers the Xanathar one. Just then Briv makes his move, yanking the goldfish from the safety of his bowl and threatening to kill him if they are not allowed to leave. Panic engulfs everyone as the Xanathar threatens to burn Waterdeep to the ground, Keen dashes off in an attempt to distract the guards, and Freely yells for Orkira to flee. Unwilling to abandon her friends or let the beholder burn Waterdeep, Orkira casts banishment on the Xanathar who promptly disappears!

With only a minute before the crime boss returns and mass confusion taking over the assembled ruffians, Keen snatches up whatever valuables he can find, Freely mocks the mind flayers, and Penelope convinces Briv to put Sylgar back in the water and take the whole fishbowl. They finally exit the lair and dash up the stairs, the druid using stone shape to break through a wall and then close the passage behind them, finally reaching the city streets. Rarv brings the airship close for them to climb on board while Freely uses mage hand to deposit Sylgar’s bowl safely on the ground, and then the balloon rises into the sky to safety before finally teleporting back to Sigil where they started.

As the battle balloon lands, the heroes debate if giving Avren the Eye of Vecna is a good idea considering his untrustworthy past. They ask Rarv what he thinks will happen, and their pilot believes Avren will just stash the artifact in a vault for safety. Freely has a bad feeling about handing it over and insists that if they end up going after the Hand of Vecna that they never relinquish that object, but Rarv assures them that Avren already knows who has the Hand.

Inside the Inn, Avren is more than happy to pay the agreed sum for the Eye, and when Orkira asks what he plans on doing with it he insists he is only trying to keep it safe and away from both Vecna and Arkhan. He then invites the group to enjoy relaxing and a meal after their adventure. As they leave Freely takes a moment to divine sense, but does not pick up anything suspicious. Meanwhile Keen inspects everything he nabbed from the Xanathar’s lair only to discover it’s useless fish styled paraphernalia. 

Back in his comfy chair alone, Avren examines the Eye before saying, “Now I just need the Hand.”

The next adventure has been voted on and it's called The Pickle! Join us November 20th at 2pm PT to see what's next for our Heroes!

Lauren "Oboe" Urban is the Community Manager for D&D Beyond, as well as a professional classical musician on oboe and English Horn. When she's not playing a Bard in real life she's a prolific Dungeon Master and player on a variety of livestreams and podcasts. She lives in Seattle, Washington with her husband Luke where they spend their free time playing video games and drinking tea. The best way to keep up with Lauren's busy schedule is to follow her on Twitter @OboeLauren