Out of the Abyss

]ORLAN'S GAMBIT

When tht• initial contact between the ad,•emurers and

Lhc other prisoners has been played out.jorlan Duskryn

arranges to bring the: pnsoners their food during

his guard duty. (Shoor delights in givingjorlan such

menial work). Standing at the gme to the slave pen and

passing m bowls. he mutters to the nearest character:

~If l could giH" you a means to escape from here. would

you take it?"

If the answer i-. affirmati\·e.jorlan quickly and quietly

propo~es to leave the gate to the slave pen unlocked.

as well as to create a di!>tractlon during the changing

of the guards on duty. He tell the characters about the

armory. located in the-chamber above the guard post in

the hanging guard towt'r in from of the sla,·e pen. The

escapees can jump down Into the webs below. then over

the edge into the pool. making their escape from there.

Jorlan doesn't particularly care if the prisoners

actually escape, whic·h is why he doesn't offer any

further he lp or warn them about the gray ooze in the

pool. It suits him just as wt'll if the prisoners are killed

during their atlf'mpt to flee. lie simply wants to create

an embarrassing inrident for Shoor and llvara.

jorlan furtively glances around as he speaks quickly to

the character~. If thc>y question him or ask for changes

to t.he plan. hi' insists it is all he can do. U Lhey accept. he

is true to his word. leavmg the gate unlocked close to t.he

next guard ~hift change and delaying the replacement

guard<. for a few manutes.

A FLIGHT OF DEMONS

During a guard change. the prisoners hear a horrible

droning bu.tz echoing through the ca,·ern, followed by

inhuman ~hricking. Alarm horns sound our as four

chasme demon<, pur1.>ue a pair of vrock demons imo the

cavcm from the northern passage. The demons swoop

and bun around. initially if,(noring other creatures as

bo01 groups savagely assnult each mher. The demons'

arrival catch<•!. all of the drow off guard.

The <.I row ru&h to defend the outpost from a possible

attack. The dc•mons inilinlly buzz past the hanging

towers, leaving the walkways and caverns out of range

of the effects of their droning and screeching. However.

drow and quaggoths in the towers are close enough to

be affected. The aerial battle eventually circles around

the platform and the towers of the elite warriors as the

demon!> savagely tear into each other.

The drow move to engage the demons and defend

the outpost. leaving the characters with an opportunity

to escape. You can combine this event with]orlan's

offer to leave the· gate unlocked, making it easy for rhe

character~ to shp away. Ahcrnati\'ely (or if they refuse

Jorlan's offer). the characters can u e Lhe disr:raction

to engineer their own breakout. then decide how m get

down to the cavern floor and where to go after that.

Descr1be the chao-. of the demon anack and the

drow'l> respon-,e as the escaped prisoners try to flee.

The character<; can follow jorlan's suggestion to drop

into the webs and then dive into the pool, possibly

dealing with a giant spider or two and the gray ooze

along the way. Alternatively, they can look for another

CllAl' II K I I I' RISON IRS 0 1 I'll I' IJRO W

way down. Rcachmg th~ lift require!> getting past Lhe

drow clu-.tered on the platform and then attempting to

operate iL during the attack. ..., hich might prove difficult.

If you want to pro, ide an additional challenge for the

characters, a vrock tumbles almost in front of them as

thev reach the-C3\'Crn Boor or mO\'C tOward t.heir chosen

exi;. The demon 1<. badly nounded, but even w ith only

11 hit points rema1n111g and having expended its spores

and tunning scrt>ech abilities. it is still quite dangerous.

It screechc!. at the character!>. but if Lhey do nothing

to threaten u for I round. the demon takes wing and

launches u-.elf back 1nto the light overhead.

If the adventurt>rs take on the fallen vrock and defeat

or escape from it, award them a quarter of irs usual XP

value, or 575 XP. given its weakened stale.

lfjorlan is alive when the demons anack. he might

use the distraction to free the prisoners (as described in

"Jorlan's Gambit"). Any character who asksjorlan about

the demons gets a stern reply: "The demons are not my

doing. Fight tlwrn at your own risk."

LEAVING VELKYNVELVE

The characters have three choices for leaving

\'elkynvelve: the non h. west, and soulh passages.

NORTH PASSAGE

Th1 leach toward ~leruoberranzan (see chapter 15)

and. eventually. Blingdenstone (see chapter 6). )fost

of the characters' ft•llow prisoners discourage rra,·eJ

toward the drow cit}. and the dt>ep gnomes suggest

Blingdenstone as a route out of the Underdark. The

party can abo follow a c1rcuuous route westward

toward the Dark lake (sec chapter 3).

WEST PASSAGE

This leads most directly toward the Darklake (see

chapter 3). although the pnrty could eventually veer

south toward Gracklstugh (see chapter 4).

SOUTH PASSAGE

This leads tClward the duergar city of Gracklstugh (see

chapter 4), following a south-westerly route. Characters

might need to pus!. under the ballling demons, but th e

cavern noor is well out of range of their droning and

screeching. The demons locked in combat ignore the

escaping pri<;oner!>, with the possible exception of a

fulkn vrock (sec ~A Flight of Demons").

Whichever route th<• characters take. chapter 2 covers

their pa~.,agc through the Underdark toward Lheir

eventual destination.

XPAWARDS

In add1110n to the XP awards earned for overcoming the

creatures in thi chapter, escaping from Velkynvelve

earns the characters a special award of 150 XP (divided

equally among all party members).