The crown never approved of my work with the Brotherhood of Bones. The Brothers and I have long been forced into exile.

Before our presence was perceived as threatening, I studied the Brothers' rituals in the libraries of Thais. After the king declared our exile and sought to execute us, so too all of the necromantic manuscripts in the bookshelves of Thais were burned. We have tried to recreate these texts for the Drefian archives, but this project remains a work in progress.

While in exile, rumors circulated amongst the brothers that the beholders harness a unique power capable of manipulating both the earthly elements as well as the bodies of the dead. Beholders, like the Brotherhood, are not so easy to find. Some occupy cave dwellings in the dark caverns of Dura. So too do some of their species assemble en masse. It is said that the beholders, like the mighty oaks of the forest, grow in power with age. While their bodies may grow gradually more discolored and decrepid, their attunement to time and the elements grows stronger. Gha'Khor, my mentor amongst the Brotherhood, believed that the oldest of the beholders, known by some as the "Dreadseers", preemptively apply their own reanimatory magics to their own bodies. Themselves reaching a state of interdimensional undeath, they do not expire with the passage of time as mortals do. These Dreadseers curse the light as they do the flame, but wield unimaginable power.

Gha'Khor believed that there may have been a great assembly of the beholder species deep in the prisonlike recesses of the earth known as Hellgate. The tunnels of Hellgate ooze with magical, evil energies, that pass between dimensions. Wicked beings notoriously visit to and from the void through the portals found there. I am told that this area is in fact so feared that the elves of Ab'dendriel banish their criminals to its tunnels, with no way of return. Needless to say, few have entered such a place willingly.

Gha'Khor sensed my reckless ambitions, and cautioned me against traveling to this cursed prison. Beholders, he advised, are hostile to surface folk. The only humans known to have communicated with their kind were driven mad in the process. The Brotherhood may be cunning, but a Brother may not be well received in such a place. To the inhabitants of Hellgate, my flesh may be equally satisfying to that of an elf.

Despite the renowned hostility of the Hellgate prison, the potential knowledge of the beholders was too alluring for my ambitions to resist. I slunk through the streets of Ab'dendriel under cover of nightfall and found my way to Hellgate's entrance. The elves take great care in securing the entrance, so as to keep the foul inhabitants of the prison from escaping. Fortunately, they also take great care in securing the prisoners who are exiled to the prison. I lurked amongst the shadows, waiting for an opportune moment.

Eventually, the guards arrived with a Dwarvish prisoner - -  apparently a drunk from the surface charged with disturbing the peace. A classic misstep amongst the elvish kingdom... As the grand doors to the Hellgate portal were opened, I took my chance and dove inside. 

My dwarvish comrade likely did not last long. At first, he cursed and yelled obscenities into the darkness... These yells quickly evolved to screams of terror as his volume only attracted the shadows. I abandoned him quickly, hearing eventually only a series of whimpers and prayers as I escaped his earshot. I wandered the labyrinth of this area for many days, or nights, or however long. Time tends to lose its meaning in such a place.

I emerged from my wanderings in a strange open chasm. The air was filled with a more putrid stench of decaying flesh. A low but pervasive hum echoed off of the cavern walls. I heeded Gha'Khor's cautions, not knowing if I would be received in this place as friend or food. I slipped from shadow to shadow, hiding behind various crags and stalagmites as I surveyed more and more of this ominous space. In the distance, ghoulish creatures and skeletons waddled to and fro, with no apparent purpose. Whether due to my skill in stealth or in chance, these creatures seemingly paid me no attention. I continued on.

Shortly thereafter, I glimpsed a strange flicker in the aether. The dim light near a particular series of secluded stalagmites seemed to waver as if smoke were passing through, yet the air seemed otherwise free from evidence of fog or gas. 

I then felt a strange presence, as though I were being watched. One second I saw nothing but a few pebbles on the ground. I felt a strange prick in my eye, as though a small bug had collided with my retina. I closed my eyes and rubbed them to remove the intrusion. When I opened them again, a massive creature had revealed itself before me. A large, green, spherical mass with an eye larger than my skull at its center. Protruding from the mass were numerous tentacle-like appendages, each flagellating around and tipped with smaller optacles. This creature gazed deep into my soul, evaluating my intent.

I felt strangely confident, yet more conscious of myself than I had ever been -- the rhythm of my heart pumping echoed between my ears as I drew each breath. I felt a strange sensation coursing through my veins as this creature peered at me. Despite my limited number of eyes, I stared back at the creature, unintimidated by his scrutiny. It seemed to nod - or bow? - its bodily mass back at me in some form of strange approval. It then turned and floated slowly deeper into the chasm, as if beckoning me to follow. Enchanted by this creature, followed it I did...

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The creature led me with deliberation into a strange structure. While the chasm heretofore was highly earthly and rich with crags -- shaped by the dripping and passage of water over hundreds of years -- I suddenly found myself instead before a work of architecture. The creature beckoned me inside what appeared to be a library. I could not believe such a place existed. If only Gha'Khor...

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