Beholder's Maze

The Gorge of King Xorbb, also known as the Beholder's Maze, is a narrow collection of gulleys and ravines that are very similar to those in Highpass Hold. Unlike its southern neighbor, this area has much less friendly occupants. The nearby goblins of Runnyeye Citadel keep a vigilant watch on all who pass through, and a western variety of minotaur makes this area their home. Also, this area is known for its most dangerous occupants, the evil eyes.

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Level of Monsters: 8-25 Types of Monsters: A Goblin Lookout, A Goblin Veteran, A Goblin Sentry, A Muddite Minor, A Muddite Elder, A Gorge Minotaur, A Chasm Minotaur, An Evil Eye Notable NPCs: King Xorbb, Lord Syrkl, Lord Sviir, Lord Soptyvr, SpinFlint, Brahhm, Yymp the Infernal, Qlei, Goblin Alchemist Unique Items: Polished Bone Bracelet, Minotaur Ribcage, Humerus Handled Mace, Lens of Lord Soptyvr, Labyrinth Talisman, Ring of Xorbb, Slime Crystal Staff Related Quests: The Bones of Darak Lightforge, The Summoning of Terror Adjacent Zones: Eastern Plains of Karana, Runnyeye (formerly Runnyeye Citadel) Name in /who: beholder Zone spawn timer: 6:40 Succor/Evacuate: -513, -22 (Zone line to East Karana) ZEM Value: 75 128 (171%)

Map

1. Temple with Lord Syrkl, Lord Soptyvr, Lord Sviir and other evil eyes 2. Rune Stone

Dangers

The most obvious danger in this area are the creatures. Every single one is aggressive and very strong, and narrow gorges make any combat here even more dangerous, as your enemies buddies will happen to walk by sometime soon, almost guaranteed. The muddites are very strong for their size, and these living blocks of clay are generally a bit tougher than they /con to you, as they can deal out and take a large amount of damage. The minotaurs are also very strong. The evil eyes are the pinnacle of dangerous. They are armed with many spells and one of them was able to kill my 11th level ranger with one spell. They are enchanters, and are notorious for charming a groupmate and killing off your whole party. I've heard that these evil eyes are weaker than the ones in Runnyeye itself. Be very careful around these creatures.

In order to avoid these creatures, especially if you are just passing through, the common method is to run high up on the wall to get from one end to the other. By staying as far up as possible, you will be out of the range for monsters to notice you. The downside to this is falling damage. The route from Runnyeye to Eastern Karana involves staying to the left and up on the left wall the whole way, but there is at least one spot where the slope vanishes as you round a corner and you will take some damage. This is enhanced greatly by any speed-enhancing spell, so you people possessed by the Spirit of the Wolf or singing Accelerando might want to slow it down a bit or face taking the absurd amount of falling damage you might take.

Benefits

This area is just plain good hunting. Most of the people either sit at either entrance and draw creatures to the entrance (Runnyeye side more than Eastern Karana side) or are sitting around the King's Throne. Lower level adventurers can actually hunt quite well on the low level goblin lookouts while higher level adventurers can pull muddites or minotaurs to the edges. The evil eyes are usually taken out by groups near their spawn spots. In addition to these traditional camping areas, the farther regions of the zone provide some very good, out of the way nooks in which a party could camp and pull creatures out of the main path, and without a great deal of competition. I haven't seen any groups taking advantage of this, perhaps because it's scary to not have a zone edge at your back here, but it is certainly possible.

Traveling To and From

From the west, adventurers would pass through Eastern Plains of Karana and through the pass into the southwestern corner of this zone. From the east, adventurers would need to pass through the Halfling city of Rivervale and Misty Thicket, and then make a brief run through Runnyeye Citadel, home of the goblins, to reach the southeastern edge of the Gorge. Passing through Runnyeye to reach here involves taking every right turn and quickly leaving the Citadel.