[MW Voidsea] Deep Gazer - CR 11 Large Aberration

“Such pretty lights. Some mage is sending us a message, a plea for help with his cantrips. Surely there’s no harm in checking. We… we should go over there… yeah… pretty lights…”

—Gulliver Glib, Starry-Eyed ‘Til He Died

Twinkling lights dance in the pitch black water, playful and enticing, but seasoned sailors know better than to be lured by the mesmerising display. Perhaps it could be treasure this time, yes… but no amount of gold is worth the risk of wandering into a deep gazer’s lair. Never trust the lights in the darkest places of the world.

Creatures of Madness. The distinctive anatomy of deep gazers—with several eyestalk-like lures arranged around a large, central eye—marks them unmistakably as the devolved kin of eye tyrants. As it turns out, not even these fearsome Aberrations can withstand the mutagenic madness of the Voidsea indefinitely. In time, the ceaseless tide of corruption causes them to regress into a more primitive, bestial state, driven not by an eye tyrant’s usual schemes and paranoia, but raw hunger alone.

Glimmer in the Dark. As the mind of an eye tyrant succumbs to the Voidsea, its body follows suit, rapidly reshaping itself to suit its new environment. Its many eyes, useless in the lightless abyss, become glowing lures with which a deep gazer draws its prey—and through which it channels powerful enchantment magic in place of eye rays. Even those that recognise the danger nonetheless find their limbs betraying them, inching ever closer to the blade-like teeth of the gazer’s maw and the suffocating gaze of its one remaining eye.

Dreamcatchers. A deep gazer’s lures draw in more than prey. Likely a remnant from before their descent into madness, these gazers lure in the hopes, dreams, and memories of nearby creatures. These fragments of thought float through the water near the oblivious gazer, drifting until they fade into obscurity. Those who survive a tussle with a deep gazer sometimes recollect things they’d forgotten long ago, or even “remember” tales and experiences from people who died centuries before.

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