Eye to Eye (2e)

Deep below the surface lies an ancient beholder city called Ilth K'hinax. In times past, hundreds of beholders called it home - until simmering rivalries within their society exploded into warfare. The few survivors fled, leaving the city deserted for hundreds of years. However, the story of Ilth K'hinax's glory was passed down from one generation of beholders to the next. Now, after countless years of self-imposed exile, the beholders are back!

After securing the city, the hive mother of Ilth K'hinax implemented a plan to wipe out all the beings living above it. Unfortunately for the beholders, several facets of the hive mother's plan have been revealed through the exploits of a part of adventurers. Now, this group of heroes must meet eye to eye with Ilth K'hinax's newest occupants in an effort to stop the hive mother's pernicious plan!

"Eye to Eye" is the last of three adventures featuring the nightmarish beholder. It can be played as an individual mission or as part of the series that began with "Eye of Pain" and continued in "Eye of Doom."

*****

Product History

"Eye to Eye" (1996) is the third module in a trilogy of adventures about beholders and also the third adventure in the "Monstrous Arcana" series. It was released in January 1997, three months after the second adventure in the trilogy.

Continuing the Monstrous Arcana. In 1996, TSR came up with the idea of the "Monstrous Arcana" line, to be released in yearly sequences of four books: one sourcebook and a trilogy of adventures. The first two adventures of each trilogy would be 32 pages in length, while the finale would be a denser 64-page book. As the last entrant in the first Monstrous Arcana series, on beholders, "Eye" was the first 64-page Monstrous Arcana adventure. It followed on "Eye of Pain" and "Eye of Doom."

With the beholders done, Monstrous Arcana would cover the aquatic "sea devils," or sahuagin, in 1997, although that series would suffer from serious delays because - ironically - TSR was underwater financially.

Adventure Elements of the 90s. As with its predecessors in this trilogy, there's a lot of backstory and plot underlying "Eye to Eye," along with some NPC machinations, all of which were typical tropes for D&D adventures in the 90s. Unlike its predecessors, "Eye to Eye" is almost entirely a dungeon crawl (or if you prefer, a "cavern crawl" or even a "ruins crawl"), hailing back to the adventures of the 70s. In fact, "Eye to Eye" is most reminiscent of D3: "Vault of the Drow" (1978), as they both involve the exploration of an ancient, monstrous city.

Into the Underdark. When Douglas Niles first imagined the Underdark in Dungeoneer's Survival Guide (1986), the beholders weren't noted as an important culture in that strange underground Realm. Instead, the beholders crept into the Underdark primarily through Ed Greenwood's love of that race. There's one right on the cover of FR1: "Waterdeep and the North" (1987), and they just proliferated from there. By the time Greenwood wrote Drizzt Do'Urden's Guide to the Underdark (1999), he was able to name seven Underdark cities of beholders: Aixlintar, Ginsunlix, Ooltul, Qintaroth, Viksanmaq, Xunqaq, Zokir.

Which brings us to "Eye to Eye." Its magnificent and ancient Underdark city of beholders, Ilth K'hinax, could be used anywhere, whether with the rest of the adventures in this trilogy or not.

About the Creators. Reid worked at TSR, then Wizards of the Coast, from 1991-2001 as a Designer, Editor, Creative Director, and Brand Manager (at various times). He wrote all three beholder adventures in 1996, for the premiere Monstrous Arcana series.

About the Product Historian

The history of this product was researched and written by Shannon Appelcline, the editor-in-chief of RPGnet and the author of Designers & Dragons - a history of the roleplaying industry told one company at a time. Please feel free to mail corrections, comments, and additions to shannon.appelcline@gmail.com.

We (Wizards) recognize that some of the legacy content available on this website does not reflect the values of the Dungeons & Dragons franchise today. Some older content may reflect ethnic, racial, and gender prejudice that were commonplace in American society at that time. These depictions were wrong then and are wrong today. This content is presented as it was originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed. Dungeons & Dragons teaches that diversity is a strength, and we strive to make our D&D products as welcoming and inclusive as possible. This part of our work will never end.