Episode 46 - Lord Tyrannakis

Previously on All Drow, All the Time

The party continued eastward, skirting the southern battlefield to avoid the undead–goblin conflict. There, blocking the cavern mouth, stood two massive ettins, each head scanning a different direction—including the one the party had just come from.

Rather than fighting, the party did what any seasoned adventuring troupe would do: they booked an impromptu hootenanny.

The ettins clapped along, delighted by the twang of backwoods tunes.

Hit songs included:

• Two Heads, One Bad Idea

• Stoneshaker Stomp

• You Ain’t Nothing but a Cloud Giant — the crowd favorite

• Ballad of the Two‑Mouthed King

• Giant Jubilee

  
  

After the performance, the ettins lumbered into the cavern and returned with handfuls of gold and platinum—payment for the show. When asked about the passage beyond, the ettins explained that the tunnel did not continue. All that lay deeper inside was someone they called Lord Tyrannakis.

Curious, the party asked who that was.

Moments later, a wounded beholder drifted out of the darkness. His breaths rose and fell unevenly. His central eye was sealed shut beneath a thick, leathery lid carved with a deep gouge—the drow Sigil of Binding, burned into him to suppress his anti-magic gaze.

Lord Tyrannakis explained that he had been lured from the surface by Matron Mother Maelora, who chained him to the Vidrefact Crystal to drain his essence and fuel her unnatural youth. His central eye was branded shut so he could not nullify the crystal’s magic. He eventually escaped, wounded and weakened, and now hides in this cavern between Hammerhand and Holoth.

A tentative alliance formed as a beholder, especially one with working eyestalks, could be a powerful escort through the Underdark. The party decided to attempt removing the Sigil of Binding, but needed to rest and prepare the Dispel Magic spell.

During Lord Tryrannakis's slumber, it groaned and whimpered, as if caught in the throes of a terrible nightmare. Reality bent. From the very fabric of the dream-filled air, a creature took shape: another beholder, its central eye snapping open with malevolent glee as it stared directly at the party.