Beholder Cave in Underdark

The Underdark area auto map notes marks the location of the "Southern Tunnels". These tunnels connect to the Beholder Cave in Underdark. Note that the Beholder Cave is not actually referred to in any text or dialogue in the game explicitly. As far as the player would know, the Southern Tunnels is the only name provided, although Phaere and the Matron Mother Ardulace Despana will tell the party about the existence of these tunnels.

Description[]

Gather the party and transition into the Southern Tunnels when ready to enter. The party appears in a system of interconnected chambers and tunnels. The tunnels are not uniform in shape, but generally roundish in form. Lumps, bumps, cracks, crevices and protuberances of stone are evident on all surfaces. Phosphorescent fungi glows and reflects soft light amongst the shadows. The tunnels smell of damp decay and mineral waters. Faint hissing of steam and sucking mud sounds can be discerned.

On the map[]

This area has no Automap Markers.

Creatures within (all hostile)[]

Beholder (×4)
Drow Warrior (Underdark) (×4 - 5)
Elder Orb (Underdark) (×2) - UDELDER and BEHELD01
Gauth (×5)
Mind Flayer (×3)
Plus spawned extra (based on PC's XP) Beholder and Gauth (×2 to 5)

Gameplay[]

Upon entry into the Beholder Cave, is a roundish room with a pulsating mud orifice in the center. Also, immediately visible and in detection range is an ordinary Beholder and an Elder Orb. They are hostile and will initiate attacks on any visible party members - the closest to either of them will likely get their targeting attention.

Expect immediate beholder blast rays from the beholder. The Elder Orb will probably self-buff with a Stoneskin and Spell Trap to begin, and then either another spell cast, or a beholder eye ray such as the Anti-Magic Ray. If any party members are invisible - expect a True Sight.

If they are defeated, the party will discover that the Orb has three items of loot, and one of them is the Eyestalk of an Elder Orb. This is a quest item asked for by Matron Mother Ardulace Despana for her planned summoning ritual. It is also necessary in order to progress in the The Drow Summoning Ritual quest. If desired, the party could just depart the entire tunnel complex now - and bypass this dungeon exploration. Further delving will of course lead to more adventuring, battles, as well as loot and experience - but it isn't necessary from a quest completion standpoint.

If progressing further into the tunnels the next encounter will be a group of five Drow Warriors, fully armed and armored - confronting a standard Beholder. If observed, the creatures may pause their battle and turn on the party. If the player desires the maximum potential XP gain, then attack all the opponents, lest they potentially kill each other and 'rob' the party of that experience. Play this as desired.

Note that the drow are skilled in combat and can engage in competent melee attacks. Their Armor Class is quite good. The drow carry loot and equipment items if defeated.

Several forked tunnels lie ahead, and the party can move through the passages in more than one direction. In one location will eventually be observed another battle going on with three Gauth creatures in a tussle with three Mind Flayer opponents. As was the case with the previous drow and beholder situation - if the gauths and illithids observe the party they could (and will eventually) turn their hostilities upon the party.

Again - if the party desires the maximum experience, then intervene and slay the creatures yourself to ensure they don't kill each other first.

In another tunnel will be encountered two gauths (near the T4 treasure niche).

They will immediately fire off various eye beams at any detected party members in range.

Carry on further past these two monsters, and meander in a general northern direction.

A tunnel snakes around leading to a circular chamber with a pulsating mud orifice (near the T3 treasure location). There is a proximity spawn point (spawn point no. 3) in the chamber that will introduce a variable number of gauth and Beholder creatures based on the PC's experience level. There will be at least one gauth in here.

Also within this area is a map feature that displays the following text: "This stair is incomplete and leads nowhere."

In one seemingly empty area is another hidden proximity sensing spawn point - which will introduce more gauth and beholder creatures depending on the PC's experience level (ref: spwnbeh.bcs).

At the furthest point from the Dungeon tunnel entrance in a dead-end round chamber with a central pulsating mud orifice - here are located two beholders and the second Elder Orb.

If a party member is hidden or invisible the Elder Orb will cast a True Sight, as pictured in the screenshot to the left.

Treasure[]

See the "Notes" map on the InfoBox for the T1-T5 treasure locations.

Elder Orb: Amulet of Spell Warding, Eyestalk of an Elder Orb, Blade of the Equalizer
T1: 9 Gold, Garnet Gem
T2: Sling of Arvoreen, Horn Coral Gem
T3: 5,601 Gold, Rainbow Obsidian Necklace, Silver Ring, King's Tears (×3), Emerald (×5)
T4: 1 Gold, Potion of Healing
T5 : Greenstone Amulet, Sphene Gem

Mod content[]

This section is about unofficial content that is only available via fan-made mods.

Installation of Sword Coast Stratagems Mod and the "Smarter Beholders" component will change beholder intelligence and some other abilities in your game. From the Mod Author:

This component upgrades the AI of the beholders, gauths, elder orbs and hive mothers in SoA and ToB. It basically tries to do it non-cheesily, but it's hard to define this exactly since beholder powers are almost all scripted. Beholders get to use their eyestalks about once per ten seconds each, but they will tend to manage to get through more of them in a round; their targeting has also been drastically improved (the new scripts are about 150 times the length of the old ones!)

In accordance with the 2nd edition rules, beholders are now immune to most (not all) of their own eyestalks, which makes them more willing to bombard their way through Spell Deflection. I have added a Telekinesis eyestalk (more for fun than for increased challenge). And I have borrowed, with thanks, the Quest Pack component which allows beholders to lose their eyestalks when damaged. Beholders are also unable to use eyestalk powers when blinded (although their allies may use anti-magic rays to remove the blindness).

Hive mothers use the same range of powers as in the original game, but use them more efficiently, and use their eyestalks in the gap while they're waiting to cast spells again. Elder orbs were tricky because of the rather inconsistent range of powers they show in the unmodded game, but I have interpreted them as casting spells just as standard mages do, and as knowing 2 spells of each level. Their choice of spell, and of Contingency, Spell Trigger et al, has been optimized more, and they too use eyestalk powers while waiting to cast again (and show a preference for short-casting-time spells, so as to allow more eyestalk use.)

It might be worth noting that, even in the unmodded game, hive mothers can see through invisibility (though elder orbs cannot. except for the Unseeing Eye).

In addition, SCS beholders use an alternative form of their antimagic ray. In pen-and-paper D&D, a beholder's eyestalk blocks all magical effects, beneficial or otherwise, on the target for as long as it's targeted. In BG2, the eye is more powerful: it removes all magical effects, blocks spellcasting for several rounds, but doesn't block enemy magic attacks (including the beholder's other eyestalks). If this component is installed, the beholder antimagic ray blocks all magical effects, including harmful ones, for one round, and also disables magical activity (spellcasting etc) by the target for one round; this is supposed to simulate the beholder bathing the target with its antimagic ray for one round.

This component is sensitive to the difficulty setting:

BASIC: Beholders use mostly their less-lethal eyestalks (Charm, Fear, Domination, Paralysis, Cause wounds, Slow) and do not use their magic-suppressing central eye. Hive Mothers use only their weaker magic.
IMPROVED: Beholders also use their central eye against mages and party defenses. Hive Mothers use their full range of spells.
TACTICAL: Beholders use their Death, Petrification and Telekinesis eyestalks; they use the Telekinesis eyestalk to steal some party items (notably the Shield of Balduran, if you have it).
HARDCORE: Beholders steal items slightly more quickly.
INSANE: Beholders use their Disintegrate eyestalk.

Installation of the "Tactical Challengers for BG2" Component will add an Improved Beholder Hive. From the Mod author:

This component (adapted from Quest Pack) adds a few extra beholders to the hive in the Underdark, notably including a Hive Mother.

This component is sensitive to the difficulty setting:

BASIC: The Elder Orb moves to a more sensible place in the hive, but there are no other changes.
IMPROVED: A beholder is added to the hive.
TACTICAL: A Hive Mother and a beholder are added to the hive.
HARDCORE: A Hive Mother, a beholder, and two Death Tyrants are added to the hive.
INSANE: A Hive Mother, three beholders, two Death Tyrants, and two gauth are added to the hive.

Note:	Attention - this area will have all the creatures in the unmodified game, plus the extra one's the SCS mod adds as determined by the game difficulty setting. So, there will be two Elder Orbs and a Hive Mother plus other beholders and gauths. Be prepared!