Chapter 1: Prisoners of the Drow

Deep beneath the surface of the world lies the Underdark, a realm of endless labyrinthine tunnels and caverns where the sun never shines. The Underdark is filled with races and creatures too numerous to count or list, and foremost among these are the dark elves - the drow. Hated and feared even by their fellow dwellers in darkness, the drow raid other settlements in the Underdark as well as the surface world, taking prisoners back with them. Rendered unconscious with drow poison, then collared and shackled, these prisoners are eventually sold as slaves or entertainment in the dark elves' subterranean cities.

The adventurers have all had the misfortune of falling to such a fate. Captured by the drow, they are prisoners at one of the dark elves' outposts, awaiting transportation to Menzoberranzan, the City of Spiders. Whether they came into the Underdark seeking knowledge or fortune, or were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, they were ripe prey for a drow raid.

The setup of Out of the Abyss is such that the characters need have no connections with events in the Underdark, or with each other, prior to the start of the adventure. They can meet and get to know each other as prisoners of the drow. Players who would like their characters to have a stronger Underdark connection can choose from the background options in appendix A.

“Prisoners of the Drow” assumes the characters start at 1st level, and that they will achieve 2nd level (if not 3rd) by the end of this chapter of the adventure. Given the challenges of the adventure and the dangers of the Underdark, you can start the characters at a higher level (2nd or 3rd) to make things a bit easier for the players.

Escape!

The characters' goal in this chapter of the adventure is straightforward: escape from the drow outpost of Velkynvelve, with an eye toward escaping from the Underdark. However, this goal is complicated by the adventurers' lack of familiarity with their surroundings. Even if the prisoners can get away from the drow, where will they go and how will they survive?

Restraints

All the drow’s prisoners, including the characters, wear iron slave collars along with manacles connected to iron belts by a short length of chain. This leaves the prisoners restrained, but doesn’t affect their movement or speed.

In addition to being manacled, spellcasters don’t have any spell components or focuses, initially limiting their spellcasting ability. (Wizard characters don’t need their spellbooks to cast spells, but will be unable to change their prepared spells without them. As such, give wizard characters some leeway in determining which spells they had previously prepared before being captured.) Moreover, spellcasting isn’t possible inside the slave pen because of its magical wards (see area 11).

Slipping out of manacles requires a successful DC 20 Dexterity check, while breaking them requires a successful DC 20 Strength check. A character can unlock the manacles using thieves' tools with a successful DC 15 Dexterity check. The manacles have 15 hit points. The iron collars can be broken with a successful DC 20 Strength check. The collars have 12 hit points. A character who fails a check to break a collar, break a set of manacles, or escape from a set of manacles can’t attempt checks of that kind again until he or she finishes a long rest. A character can still use the Help action to aid another character, however.

The Adventure Begins

The characters begin the adventure in the slave pens of Velkynvelve. Stripped of everything but their underclothing, they are at the mercy of the dark elves and in the company of other prisoners, many of who aren’t what they seem.

Captured by the drow! You wouldn’t wish this fate upon anyone, yet here you are-locked in a dark cave, the cold, heavy weight of metal tight around your throat and wrists. You are not alone. Other prisoners are trapped in here with you, in an underground outpost far from the light of the sun.

Your captors include a cruel drow priestess who calls herself Mistress Ilvara of House Mizzrym. Over the past several days, you’ve met her several times, robed in silken garments and flanked by two male drow, one of whom has a mass of scars along one side of his face and neck.

Mistress Ilvara likes to impress her will with scourge in hand and remind you that your life now belongs to her. “Accept your fate, learn to obey, and you may survive.” Her words echo in your memory, even as you plot your escape.

Assume that each player character has been a prisoner in Velkynvelve for 1d10 days. (Roll separately for each character.) The characters spend most of this time locked in the slave pen, emerging occasionally under heavy guard to perform menial chores for their captors' amusement (see “Hard Labor”).

Feel free to play out any interaction between the drow, the player characters, and the other prisoners. This is an opportunity to reveal who the characters are and to flesh out their backgrounds and personalities through roleplaying, even as you introduce some of their fellow prisoners. Ilvara’s newest consort, Shoor, wants to impress his mistress, while Jorlan, her former consort, sullenly does his duty but casts a curious eye over the prisoners. Any hostile move is met with poisoned crossbow bolts from the drow, and possibly a strike from Ilvara’s scourge or a ray of sickness spell. The giant spiders attack and poison anyone who attacks the drow. The drow don’t kill any of the prisoners (leaving them unconscious at 0 hit points) but have no compunction about beating them.

Scavenged Possessions

The player characters have not been idle during their captivity. Have each player roll a d20, and add the number of days (1d10) that player’s character has been imprisoned in Velkynvelve. The result determines what, if anything, the character has in his or her possession when the adventure begins.

Scavenged Possessions

In the Slave Pen

Velkynvelve’s slave pen is closed with a heavy iron gate bolted into the stone. See area 11 for more information about the slave pen, including options for opening or breaking through the gate.

The prisoners are provided with clay chamber pots, and one of the duties of slaves is to empty them into the pool during their shift. There are no other comforts in the slave pen. Prisoners must sit or lie on the stone floor, and are fed only once each day-a thin mushroom broth served in small clay bowls passed through gaps in the bars of the gate.

Fellow Prisoners

The characters are held with ten other prisoners, captured during various raids and likewise awaiting transportation to Menzoberranzan. Some can expect to be sold as slaves, while others await death at the hands of the drow or their pets. Regardless of what they might think of the adventurers-and each other-outside the slave pens, all the NPCs have good reason to cooperate in order to escape and survive.

A Motley Crew

The other prisoners who manage to escape with the player characters are likely to become their companions for a substantial part of the adventure, so it is good to lay the groundwork for those relationships early on. Some of the NPCs might not survive the initial escape attempt. Others might be lost to the dangers of the Underdark-or might reveal their true colors and betray the party. A few could become true companions. Keep in mind the other prisoners have their own personalities and goals, but are generally willing to cooperate for their own benefit. Their knowledge of the Underdark should encourage the player characters to keep them around at least initially.

Since managing such a large cast of NPCs can be quite involved, enlist the aid of the players if you wish, having each of them take on the role of managing one or more of the party’s companions. The player generally decides what that NPC is doing, with the knowledge that you, as Dungeon Master, can overrule them as needed by the story. Not only does this make the secondary characters easier to manage, it helps the players get to know them and strengthens the bonds between the NPCs and the adventurers.

What the Prisoners Know

Allow the characters to freely mingle and interact with their fellow prisoners or even the drow guards, although the guards rarely talk to the “surface-dweller scum.” Of all the prisoners, only Eldeth and Jimjar speak fluent Common. The others speak Undercommon (or at least understand it). Ront knows some Common, while Derendil speaks Elvish. Stool’s rapport spores can establish telepathic communication to allow everyone to speak freely. The guards aren’t observant enough to notice.

You might wish to consult the social interaction rules in the Dungeon Master’s Guide, in which case the other prisoners are initially indifferent toward the characters. Handle the interactions using roleplaying, Charisma checks, or a balance of the two as best suits your group and the way the adventure unfolds.

The characters can learn the following things from talking with their fellow prisoners, some of who have been captives of the drow for a tenday or two:

• There are nineteen drow at the outpost, including Ilvara, Shoor, and Jorlan, as well as another priestess named Asha. There are also a dozen quaggoths and a number of giant spiders.
• Three drow guards watch the slave pen from the hanging guard tower across the rope bridge, visible through the locked gate.
• The cell has some sort of antimagic effect on it (see area 11 for details).
• Jorlan the drow warrior suffered disfiguring injuries recently. Before then, he seemed more in Ilvara’s favor. Now Shoor seems to have displaced him.
• Jorlan used to have a wand that shot globs of sticky material able to trap targets. Now Shoor carries it, as another sign of their change in status.
• It might be a matter of days or tendays before a contingent from Menzoberranzan arrives to take prisoners back to the drow city.

Additionally, the drow Sarith Kzekarit knows the following:

• A gray ooze lives in the pool. It’s harmless, feeding off waste unless disturbed.
• A supply patrol from Menzoberranzan is a few days overdue, which is unusual.

Hard Labor

The drow divide their prisoners into three roughly equal-sized groups and put them to work for a third of the day, supervised by the quaggoths. Their menial tasks include filling and hauling water barrels, operating the lift, cleaning any or all parts of the outpost (whether they need it or not), emptying chamber pots, food preparation and service, washing dishes, and laundry. The prisoners are also given cruel or pointless tasks to occupy them, and for the dark elves' amusement. Such labors include moving or stacking rocks, coiling ropes, and organizing supplies, with prisoners forced to redo work that doesn’t meet the drow’s arbitrary standards.

Characters might or might not work together, depending on how the drow split them up. Prisoners known to be friendly to each other are usually kept apart, and no more than two or three prisoners are allowed to work at a single task at once.

The drow and quaggoths are cruel and capricious, but also somewhat bored and looking for amusement. The quaggoths are poor conversationalists, hateful and mistrustful toward the prisoners. The drow are more inclined to talk, if only to boast of their superiority. Characters might trick them into dropping useful bits of information, such as how long the journey to Menzoberranzan is expected to take, or that the outpost is relatively close to the Darklake.

Bad Dreams

The characters' sleep in the slave pen is troubled and fitful, filled with strange dreams and disturbing images. Dark shadows seem to move and reach out toward them as the characters wander lost through endless mazes of tunnels. Oily tentacles slide to brush up against them, while a great buzzing and howling rises in the distance. Suppurating wounds burst open in clouds of spores or crawling masses of maggots or insects. At least one or more of the characters should wake in a cold sweat from these nightmares after every rest, feeling as though something is out there in the dark depths-something far worse than the drow.

You need not explain the cause of these dreams and images at this time. Characters can chalk them up to the conditions in the slave pen, or to the aftereffects of drow poison, but they are omens of what is happening in the Underdark. Spellcasters, particularly clerics and warlocks, might be most prone to these dreams, but they can visit any or all of the characters.

Fight!

Most of the other prisoners aren’t looking for trouble, and even killers such as Buppido are careful to bide their time. Still, both Derendil and Ront have quick tempers, and Sarith the drow is prone to bouts of violence as Zuggtmoy’s spores take over his mind. It’s possible the characters could provoke a fight. If they do, some of the prisoners (including the deep gnomes) egg on the fighters while others keep their distance or even try to break up the brawl. Any violent conflict draws the attention of the drow guards, who initially order any prisoners to stand down from a fight, threatening them with hand crossbows from outside the gate. If necessary, they shoot prisoners with poisoned crossbow bolts to incapacitate them. (See chapter 8 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide for information on drow poison.) The guards let any fight play out for their own amusement as long as the prisoners don’t seem likely to actually kill one another.

Feeding Time

If a prisoner becomes too much trouble, or if the drow need to mete out a lesson on the price of disobedience, they make a gruesome spectacle of feeding a malcontent to the giant spiders in the webs beneath Velkynvelve. Drow guards or quaggoth servants throw the bound prisoner over the edge into the webs, where the spiders quickly converge to bite the victim, injecting their venom. Once the victim is paralyzed, the spiders wrap their meal up in webbing.

This event is a convenient opportunity to get rid of one or more of the other prisoners before the escape attempt if you don’t want them around. As well, you can drive home the cruelty and threat of the drow by eliminating an NPC with whom the characters have formed a bond.

Buppido

A male derro, Buppido is surprisingly gregarious and talkative, demonstrating a keen mind and a disarming manner. This pleasant facade conceals the soul of an insane killer. Buppido secretly believes he is the living incarnation of the derro god Diinkarazan-an avatar of murder offering bloody sacrifices to create a path of carnage through the Underdark for his people to follow to glory. He rationalizes any setbacks (including his capture and imprisonment) as part of his “divine plan.” His killings are carefully ritualized, following an exacting process of cutting open the victims and arranging their organs.

Although mad, Buppido is cunning and capable of hiding his true nature to serve his own ends. Because he believes he is a god, he is convinced that he can’t be killed (or at least that the death of his mortal form means nothing to him), so he is completely fearless. He assumes everything is part of his divine plan, and enthusiastically participates in any plot to escape from the drow so he can continue his holy work. Buppido is happy to consider his fellow prisoners allies until such time as he no longer needs them, or becomes convinced that the omens point toward the need for one or more of them to be sacrificed to his greater glory.

Prince Derendil

This hulking quaggoth is the most menacing-looking prisoner in the slave pens, and the other prisoners give him a wide berth. If any of the characters speak to him, however, the quaggoth replies in urbane Elvish. He explains that he is not, in fact, a quaggoth, but a gold elf prince polymorphed into quaggoth form by a curse. He claims to be Prince Derendil of the kingdom of Nelrindenvane in the High Forest. His crown was usurped by the evil wizard Terrestor, who trapped him in this form and exiled him from his people.

Although Derendil behaves like the highborn prince he believes himself to be, he responds to stress-and particularly threats-like a quaggoth: violently tearing foes limb from limb and rending their flesh with sharp claws and teeth. He comes back to himself only after battle, or when someone reinforces his “true identity” to snap him out of it. Derendil laments that he is slowly but surely losing himself to the savagery of his quaggoth form.

In fact, Derendil is simply mad, touched by the delusions of the demon lord Fraz-Urb’luu. The kingdom of Nelrindenvane doesn’t exist, and all of “Derendil’s” recollections and personality are an illusion created by the Demon Prince of Deception. The quaggoth refuses to believe the truth, and any incontrovertible evidence as to his real nature sends him into a murderous rage.

Eldeth Feldrun

A female shield dwarf scout from Gauntlgrym, Eldeth is high spirited and proud of both her heritage and her people’s achievement in reclaiming the ancient dwarven kingdom; she suggests Gauntlgrym as a destination to escape from the Underdark. Eldeth is stubborn and hates the drow and all other “corrupt dark dwellers” such as the derro and duergar.

Eldeth wants to get back home, but she is also defiant and self sacrificing-and therefore among the most likely prisoners to perish before getting the opportunity. If that happens, Eldeth asks a character she trusts to promise to carry word of her fate back to her family in Gauntlgrym, along with her shield and warhammer if they are recovered. This might win the characters the approval of Eldeth’s kin when they later visit Gauntlgrym.

Jimjar

A male deep gnome spy, Jimjar is a feckless rogue with a devil-may-care attitude, a fondness for coin, and an obsession with betting on virtually anything and everything. Once he knows the characters, Jimjar regularly offers them bets on things from their own efforts (“I bet you ten gold you can’t get past that sentry without being seen”) to the outcomes of random events (“I bet you twenty gold this tunnel is the right way”). He sometimes uses betting to goad others into doing things, but characters can easily turn the tables knowing that Jimjar finds it difficult to refuse a wager. His behavior is unusual for the dour deep gnomes, and others of his kind (including Topsy and Turvy) find Jimjar annoying at best, and unstable and potentially mad at worst.

Jimjar is always true to his word, and he manages to keep exact track of his debits and credits in his head, paying up on his bets (or demanding payment) as soon as possible. He’s not above pocketing a little extra coin when no one is watching, and he has an amazing ability to secret significant wealth on his person.

Jimjar feels as though there’s something odd about the twins Topsy and Turvy, but he keeps his opinion to himself unless asked. He does his best to get along with everyone, although some find his gregariousness and constant wagers grating.

Ront

A male orc from the Iceshield tribe, Ront fled from the slaughter of a band of orcs at the hands of the dwarves, falling down a shaft and wandering in the Underdark before being captured by the drow. He’s ashamed of his cowardly act and knows that Gruumsh, the god of the orcs, is punishing him. But he also doesn’t want to die, or at least not in drow captivity. Ront is mean, stupid, and hateful, but he also knuckles under to authority and threats. He especially hates Eldeth, as his tribe is at war with her people.

Ront engages in threatening behavior and bullying toward the other prisoners unless someone stands up to him.

Sarith Kzekarit

A male drow, Sarith is sullen and keeps to himself, rebuffing attempts to talk to him. He is disgraced by his imprisonment but is resigned to his fate, since there doesn’t appear to be anything he can do about it. Sarith is accused of murdering one of his fellow drow warriors in a fit of madness, but he has no memory of it. He varies between believing the whole thing is a setup to discredit and destroy him, and fearing that it is all true-which, in fact, it is. He is being held until he can be sent back to Menzoberranzan as a sacrifice to Lolth and an example to others.

Unknown even to the other drow, Sarith is infected with tainted spores from myconids corrupted by Zuggtmoy, the Demon Queen of Fungi. The initial infestation of the spores caused Sarith’s bout of madness, and his health and sanity continue to deteriorate as the spores grow within his brain.

Shuushar the Awakened

A kuo-toa, Shuushar is likely to be one of the more unusual creatures any of the adventurers have met. The aquatic hermit is a calm and peaceful presence. He is aware of his people’s well-deserved reputation for madness, and claims to have spent a lifetime in contemplation and solitary meditation to overcome that legacy. He appears to have been successful, exuding an aura of enlightened balance. Shuushar is even calm and accepting of his current imprisonment, merely saying that it is what it is, and who can say what end it might eventually lead toward?

Although Shuushar is by far the most sane, stable, and honest of the adventurers' fellow prisoners, he is also the most useless to their immediate goals. The kuo-toa hermit is a complete pacifist. He doesn’t fight or cause harm to any other creature, even refusing to defend himself or others. He gladly accompanies the party if permitted to do so, however, helping them in any way he can other than violating his most sacred vow.

Shuushar is familiar with Sloobludop, the kuo-toa town near the Darklake, and has navigated the twisting routes of the Darklake for many years. He hopes to share his enlightenment with his fellow kuo-toa, although he isn’t aware of recent events in Sloobludop (see chapter 3 for details).

Stool

Stool is a myconid sprout captured by Sarith Kzekarit. Stool is lonely and frightened, wanting only to return to its home in Neverlight Grove. If befriended by the characters, Stool gladly offers to guide them to its home, promising them sanctuary with its folk, although it isn’t aware of the dangers posed by Zuggtmoy’s influence on the myconids (see chapter 5).

Stool uses rapport spores to establish telepathic communication with other creatures, and it does so to communicate with characters who are kind and friendly toward it. The myconid will also help establish communication with Underdark denizens with whom the characters don’t share a language. Once it becomes attached to one or more of the adventurers, Stool behaves somewhat like an enthusiastic and curious younger sibling, sticking close to the characters and asking all kinds of questions.

Topsy and Turvy

Twin deep gnomes, Topsy and her brother Turvy are originally from Blingdenstone in the Underdark. They were captured by the drow while out gathering mushrooms in the tunnels near their home. Like most other svirfneblin, Topsy has a stringy mop of hair while Turvy only has a few tufts of hair atop his otherwise bald head. Topsy is by far the more social of the two. Turvy constantly mumbles and mutters darkly, with Topsy repeating or translating what her brother says.

Topsy and Turvy hide the fact that they are wererat. Infected with the curse of lycanthropy, neither deep gnome has entirely embraced it yet, and they struggle to control their wererat instincts and urges. They are fearful of what potential allies might do if they learn the truth, and are looking out for each other and their own survival. With their transformations controlled by the unseen cycle of the moon, you can use the twins' impending change as a wild card in the adventure. They’ve been prisoners for less than a month, meaning the full moon is coming.

The Drow

The garrison at Velkynvelve consists of twelve drow, five drow elite warrior, a junior drow priestess named Asha (use the priest stat block in the Monster Manual, but add the Fey Ancestry, Innate Spellcasting, and Sunlight Sensitivity features of the drow stat block), and the outpost’s commander, a senior drow priestess of Lolth named Ilvara. The drow have the assistance of a pack of twelve quaggoth and six trained giant spider.

Roleplaying the Drow

The drow are arrogant, cruel, and vicious, viewing their slaves as little more than livestock and treating them with cold disregard. Even the lowest drow understands the inferiority of other creatures, behaving toward the prisoners like sneering nobility. With their superiors, however, the drow are fawning sycophants with a passive-aggressive edge. The males defer to the females, the rank-and-file warriors defer to the elite warriors, and everyone defers to the priestess Ilvara.

Ilvara Mizzrym

The commander of Velkynvelve is an ambitious drow priestess looking to rise in the esteem of Lolth and her house. She considers command of a mere outpost a stepping stone in her ascension. The posting is beneath her, and she treats both it and her prisoners with contempt. But she also knows the posting is temporary, and she intends to wring every advantage from it in the meantime.

A member of a drow house with a long history as slavers, Ilvara is a cruel mistress who enjoys taunting and tormenting enemies and underlings alike. In addition to a scourge, she wields a tentacle rod. Although she has taken Shoor Vandree as her lover, Ilvara cares no more about him than she did about Jorlan Duskryn, the lover she discarded due to his crippling injuries.

Asha Vandree

A junior drow priestess under Ilvara’s guidance, Asha initially considered Ilvara an example to emulate. That changed after she saw how Ilvara treated Jorlan Duskryn, a seasoned drow warrior who was the commander’s lover up until he was badly wounded. Ilvara discarded Jorlan without a second thought, showing Asha the foolishness of expecting any reward for loyalty.

Asha is ambitious enough to know she could assume command of the outpost if anything was to happen to Ilvara, but not courageous enough to challenge her superior openly. She also knows that she would have to impress her superiors in the City of Spiders for any such field promotion to become permanent. As such, Asha moves cautiously, fanning the fires of Jorlan’s hatred while keeping her own hands clean of any plotting.

Shoor Vandree

This drow elite warrior has assumed the role of Ilvara’s lieutenant and lover after the injuries suffered by his predecessor, Jorlan Duskryn. Shoor is relatively young and quite arrogant for a drow male, proud of his abilities and accomplishments. He is still flush with his success in winning the favor of Ilvara and advancing his position within the outpost, which shows in his swagger and the way he lords it over every other male in Velkynvelve, particularly Jorlan. Still insecure in his position, Shoor feels the need to demonstrate his skill and effectiveness to his mistress and to find ways to please her.

As Ilvara’s lieutenant, Shoor carries a wand of viscid globs, which once belonged to Jorlan and is used to capture and restrain prisoners.

Jorlan Duskryn

Jorlan turned a talent for inflicting pain into skill as a warrior, and a certain roguish charm into a way to ingratiate himself with his female superiors. He quickly made himself useful to Ilvara Mizzrym as both the field commander of the Velkynvelve garrison and as her lover, enjoying all the benefits that came with both roles.

Jorlan thought that Lolth favored him, or at least that his charms had deflected her malice, until he had the misfortune of a run-in with a black pudding on an otherwise routine raid. Ilvara’s healing magic saved his life but couldn’t undo the terrible damage wrought by the ooze’s acid. With his once-handsome face melted and scarred, and his sword hand twisted and missing two fingers, Jorlan was no longer the warrior he once was.

Ilvara relieved Jorlan of duty during his recuperation, replacing him with the young bravo Shoor Vandree. When she then took Shoor to her bed, Jorlan realized his recovery would never be sufficient to regain what he had lost. His heartbreak and loss has since become a virulent hatred for Ilvara and Shoor that slowly eats at him. Jorlan finds the idea of suicide or reckless self-destruction beneath him, however-unless he can find a way to take Ilvara and her new lover with him.

Jorlan knows full well that the sympathy the priestess Asha shows him is an attempt to manipulate him. But he’s willing to play along for the time being, hoping to draw Asha closer and potentially use her against Ilvara when the time is right.

Because of his injuries, Jorlan has disadvantage on attack rolls, Dexterity checks, and Dexterity saving throws.

Drow Warriors

The remaining drow males garrisoning Velkynvelve are named Balok, Bemeril, Guldor, Honemmeth, Imbros, Jaezred, Jevan, Kalannar, Malagar, Nadal, Nym, and Sorn.

Velkynvelve

The drow outpost is located high in a cavern, built 100 feet above the rocky floor. The outpost consists of a series of small caves in the cavern walls and four “hanging towers”-hollowed-out stalactites connected by walkways, stairs, and rope bridges. The towers are concealed by the thick webs of giant spiders stretched below them, so that only the lowermost parts of the stalactites are visible from the cavern floor.

With the small amount of dim light used in the outpost shielded from the cavern floor below, one might walk the entire length of the cleft without becoming aware of the outpost overhead, hidden in the darkness above the range of torches and lanterns. The giant spiders also serve as guards, dropping down on their web strands to prey upon creatures that find their way into the cavern. Similarly, drow warriors can drop to the cave floor on lines of spider silk to ambush enemies.

Three caves and two hanging towers surrounding a platform make up the main part of the outpost for the drow warriors. The largest of the hanging towers is reserved for the priestesses and the shrine of Lolth, while the other is a guard tower opposite the cave used to hold slaves. North of the slave pen is the den of the outpost’s quaggoth servants. Watch posts lie at either end of the outpost, near the northern and southern entrances to the cavern.

Velkynvelve: General Features

The following features apply throughout the outpost.

Light. The interior spaces of the outpost are dimly illuminated by lanterns containing phosphorescent fungi, while the exterior is dark.

Sound. A small waterfall pouring into the cavern creates a constant background noise, negating the cave’s tendency to amplify and carry sounds. Checks made to hear things in the cavern are made normally.

Stairs. These 5-foot-wide stairs are carved into the stone sides of the cavern between several of the cave entrances.

Bridges. Bridges of spider-silk rope connect the walkways to the guard tower and the entrance to the priestess’s tower. The swaying bridges are difficult terrain for non-drow.

Falling. A creature pushed off the stairs, a bridge, or the edge of a platform must attempt a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw. On a failure, the creature falls, landing in the webs stretched beneath the outpost. On a successful save, a creature grabs hold of the edge and hangs there until it can climb back up with a DC 10 Strength (Athletics) check made as part of its movement. A failed Strength check means the creature is unable to move and must check again, while failure by 5 or more means a fall to the webs.

Webs. The dense webs of giant spiders kept by the drow conceal the outpost from below. A creature falling into the webs becomes restrained. As an action, a restrained creature can attempt a DC 12 Strength check to break free from the webs. The webs can also be attacked and destroyed (AC 10, 15 hp per 10-foot section, vulnerability to fire, and immunity to bludgeoning, poison, and psychic damage). Each foot of movement in the webs costs 1 extra foot, and any creature other than a spider that enters the webs or starts its turn there must succeed on a DC 12 Strength or Dexterity check to avoid becoming restrained. Any movement in the webs attracts the attention of the giant spiders, which attack and feed on trapped creatures.

A creature falling from the webbing to the cavern floor takes 10d6 bludgeoning damage.

1. Southern Watch Post

Near the southern passage from the cavern is an alcove used as a watch post.

Two drow are stationed here at all times, keeping watch over the passage and noting the approach of any creatures. The duty is long and dull, so the watchers are sometimes distracted. A successful Dexterity (Stealth) check made against the guards' passive Wisdom (Perception) score of 12 allows characters to pass unnoticed. Any light from the passage or the cavern below automatically draws the guards' attention, however.

The drow guards are under orders to report intruders immediately, and to keep them under observation. They take no other action unless ordered or unless they see signs of a significant threat. In that case, they blow a high, shrill note on a warning trumpet to alert the whole outpost.

2. Barracks

Stone steps lead from the watch post to a 1-foot-thick platform of zurkhwood (see “area Fungi of the Underdark") extending between two of the hanging towers and into three adjoining caverns.

The two southernmost caves serve as barracks for the rank-and-file drow warriors of the outpost. Six warriors dwell in each barracks, each set up with a pallet, a small zurkhwood chest for holding personal possessions and equipment, and a side table. Spider silk rope webbing on the cavern walls is set with hooks for hanging lanterns and other items, but the barracks are rarely lit.

One drow is present in each of the barracks caves at any time, resting in a meditative trance. A resting drow rises at any significant light or noise, ready to attack.

Treasure

The equipment of the resting drow is stored under his pallet: a shortsword, a hand crossbow with a case of 20 hand crossbow bolts, a chain shirt, and a 100-foot coil of silk rope with a small grappling hook at the end.

Each of the six chests in each barracks contains a flask of drow poison used to treat crossbow bolts. One flask has enough poison to treat 20 bolts. Each chest also contains two sets of clothing and 1d4 items from the Trinkets table in chapter 5 of the Player’s Handbook.

3. Main Hall

This cave serves as a gathering and eating place for the drow warriors of the outpost. It has four circular tables carved from zurkhwood, each surrounded by five chairs. Part of the hall is used as a food preparation and storage area, containing stocks of dried and fresh fungi, dried fruits, cheeses, preserved meat, and a few clay jars of spices. A heavy iron brazier provides heat for cooking along with dim light, but much of the food is served cold.

At any time, there is a 25 percent chance that 1d4 drow are in the main hall eating or entertaining themselves with dice or card games. If any drow are present, 1d4 quaggoth are also on hand, serving and cleaning. If there are no drow in the main hall, there is a 25 percent chance that a lone quaggoth is here performing its duties.

Treasure

There is nothing of value in the main hall apart from what the drow have on them, but characters can loot the larder for the equivalent of up to 30 days of rations, limited by what they can carry. Each day of rations for one character weighs 2 pounds.

4. Elite Barracks

The two hanging towers flanking the platform are the quarters of the elite warriors of the outpost, except for the commander’s lieutenant (currently Shoor Vandree) who has his own quarters in the priestess’s tower. Each hanging tower has two chambers, with a rope ladder running between the upper and lower chamber through a zurkhwood trapdoor. The elite warriors have finer furniture, including zurkhwood chairs and small tables around which they sit.

One off-duty drow elite warrior rests in one of the chambers here at any given time. There is a 50 percent chance that one quaggoth is also present, carrying out chores such as cleaning up or delivering water. Either reacts hostilely to intruders, but they might choose to flee and warn the outpost rather than attack, depending on the odds.

Treasure

The equipment of the resting drow warrior is stowed beneath his pallet: a shortsword, a hand crossbow with a case of 20 bolts, a chain shirt, and a 100-foot coil of silk rope with a small grappling hook at the end.

Each of the chests in the four chambers contains a flask of drow poison used to treat crossbow bolts. One flask has enough poison to treat 20 bolts. Each chest also contains two changes of clothing, 2d6 sp, 1d8 gp, and 1d4 items from the Trinkets table in chapter 5, “Equipment,” of the Player’s Handbook.

5. Lift

Attached to the edge of the barracks platform is a winch-and-basket device consisting of a large swinging arm that carries a thin cord of strong spider silk. The cord runs through a series of pulleys from a hand-cranked horizontal spool to a heavy woven basket suspended at the end. The basket is kept up on the platform except when it is in use.

Two quaggoth attendants remain by the lift to watch for a signal from below for the basket to be lowered. They are on guard in case anyone other than a drow or one of their own kind approaches.

Using the Lift

Up to four Medium creatures can fit somewhat snugly in the basket, which is swung out over the edge of the platform and lowered to the cavern floor below by turning the spool using attached handles. This requires a successful DC 18 Strength check, normally provided by two quaggoth servants (one of which makes the check while the other assists with the Help action). Once on the cave floor, the basket can be loaded with other passengers or up to 800 pounds of cargo, then lifted back up to the platform in the same way. It takes 4 rounds for the basket to move between the platform and the floor under normal operation.

6. Shrine to Lolth

A steep rope bridge leads from the walkway ledge to the uppermost level of the largest hanging tower, called the priestess’s tower. The floor of this circular chamber is covered by dark silken mats with a pale webstrand pattern woven through them in silvery thread. In the middle of the chamber (at the center of the web) stands a broad pedestal carved from zurkhwood, with a 10-foot-high sculpted spider at its head. The carving is so lifelike that anyone initially entering the chamber and seeing it in dim light must succeed on a DC 12 Wisdom (Perception) check to recognize it. On a failure, a character mistakes it for a real giant spider.

This place is a shrine to Lolth, the drow’s spider goddess, and also serves as quarters for Asha, the junior priestess. She tends the shrine, overseeing routine rituals and offerings to Lolth.

Roll a d6 when the characters enter the shrine to determine who they might meet.

Shrine Activity

The back half of the chamber, behind the altar, is piled with a semicircle of pillows and cushions. Resting among these is a giant spider trained and kept by the priestesses. The cushions give the spider sufficient concealment to hide from anyone entering the tower from the front. A character must succeed on a Wisdom (Perception) check contested by the spider’s Dexterity (Stealth) check to spot it before it moves.

Treasure

The altar is flanked by a pair of heavy silver candlesticks worth 25 gp each. They hold thick black candles, lit only when a ritual is being performed in the shrine.

The eight “eyes” of the spider statue are eight pieces of polished jet - four small ones worth 5 gp each and four larger ones worth 10 gp each. Any non-drow who possesses these gems falls under a curse from Lolth. All spiders and spiderlike creatures attack the bearer of the stones on sight, and such creatures have advantage on checks to detect the possessor of the stones. The curse lasts until all the stones are given into the safekeeping of a drow worshiper of Lolth or the gems are subject to a remove curse spell.

7. Ilvara’s Quarters

A rope ladder leads down from the shrine into this chamber, which serves as private quarters to Mistress Ilvara, priestess of Lolth and commander of Velkynvelve.

Inside, the walls are hung with black mesh resembling a spider’s web, extending from a central spot on the ceiling out to the walls, then draped down like curtains. Thick, woven mats cover the floor, while a low platform is covered with cushions and pillows to make a broad, divan-like bed. One side of the chamber contains a small table and two chairs, while the other holds a small shrine to Lolth, draped in white silk. A heavy chest of black-stained zurkhwood sits at the foot of the bed.

Ilvara’s Quarters

Ilvara retreats to her quarters for privacy, rest, and meditation. Roll a d6. On 1-2, the priestess is here. On a roll of 1, Shoor Vandree is also here with her. Ilvara is furious if anyone dares to enter her quarters unbidden. If the characters catch her here, she casts web, conjure animals, or insect plague to bedevil them while she flees and calls for help. If Shoor is with Ilvara, he attacks to cover her escape.

Trap

The chest is locked, and Ilvara keeps the key in a hidden pocket on the inside of her belt. The lock is trapped with a poison needle tipped with drow poison (see “Poisons” in chapter 8 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide), which is activated if any attempt is made to open the lock without the proper key. The victim takes 1 piercing damage and must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 1 hour. If the saving throw fails by 5 or more, the target is also unconscious while poisoned in this way. A successful DC 20 Intelligence (Investigation) check reveals the trap. A character using thieves' tools can make a successful DC 15 Dexterity check to disarm it. Picking the lock requires thieves' tools and another successful DC 15 Dexterity check.

Treasure

The side table holds a small silver-framed mirror worth 10 gp. The small shrine to Lolth is carved of zurkhwood and bone, and inlaid with semiprecious stones. It is worth 50 gp if the characters can find a buyer for it.

The chest contains a variety of silken garments and personal items. There is a silver chain headdress set with small onyx stones, worth 50 gp, and a drawstring bag containing two potions of healing. A small leather purse contains 24 gp, 30 sp, and a small moonstone worth 20 gp, while another purse is Ilvara’s spare spell component pouch.

Additionally, the chest contains any valuables once held by the characters and NPCs, including any spellbooks, components, focuses, and magic items lost to the adventurers.

8. Shoor’s Quarters

The lowermost and smallest chamber of the priestess’s tower belongs to the commander’s lieutenant, the leader of the elite warriors of the outpost. Shoor Vandree, Ilvara’s current favorite, is the present occupant. The area’s former occupant, Jorlan Duskryn, has been displaced to the elite barracks after his recent injuries.

The chamber contains cushions laid out across floor mats, a small carved table with two chairs, and a sturdy zurkhwood chest.

Shoor spends most of his off-duty time in Ilvara’s quarters, attending to his mistress or awaiting her. Unless you wish him to be found here, his quarters are unoccupied.

Trap

The chest is locked, and Shoor keeps the key in his belt pouch. The lock is trapped with a poison needle trap identical to the one in Ilvara’s quarters. Picking the lock requires thieves' tools and a successful DC 15 Dexterity check.

Treasure

The table holds a pewter pitcher and a pair of matched goblets, worth a total of 1 gp.

The chest contains Shoor’s personal items and clothing, as well as a small purse containing 20 gp, a black velvet mask stitched with silver thread in a spiderweb pattern (worth 25 gp), a set of bone dice engraved with Elvish characters (worth 10 gp), a small black velvet bag containing a spider-shaped onyx brooch (worth 50 gp), and a flask of strong, syrupy blue liquor (worth 10 gp). The liquor leaves anyone who drinks it pleasantly poisoned for 1d4 hours.

9. Waterfall

Water vents through a crack in the ceiling near the eastern wall between the stalactites of the priestess’s tower and the guard tower, creating a small waterfall that pours down to the cavern floor and forms a natural pool (see area 14). Quaggoths gather small barrels of water from the head of the waterfall to serve the outpost’s needs.

The water makes the stone wall within 10 feet of it difficult to scale. Any creature attempting to do so has disadvantage on checks made to climb. Any character who falls lands in the pool below, taking no damage.

10. Guard Tower

The fourth hanging tower, connected by rope bridges to the slave pen and the walkway alongside the priestess’s tower, serves as a guard tower for observing the cavern, the western passage, and the slave pen.

The lower chamber of the tower is occupied by two drow and one drow elite warrior on guard duty. It contains a zurkhwood table and three chairs, a smaller side table, and spider-silk webbing set with hooks for hanging equipment.

As at the watch posts, guard duty here is a dull affair, and the guards are usually distracted enough (talking or passing the time with dice games) that prisoners can move or act unnoticed with a successful Dexterity (Stealth) check contested by the guards' passive Wisdom (Perception) score.

The tower’s upper chamber stores extra arms and armor for the outpost. Characters who gain entrance to the armory can easily loot it (see “Treasure”).

Treasure

The contents of the armory include the following:

• 6 chain shirts
• 6 suits of studded leather armor
• 6 shields
• 6 hand crossbows
• 20 cases of hand crossbow bolts, each case containing 20 bolts
• 6 shortswords and 10 daggers
• 6 bags of caltrops (20 caltrops per bag)
• 4 100-foot-long coils of silk rope
• 2 building hammers (not usable as weapons)
• 2 bags of iron spikes (10 spikes per bag)

11. Slave Pen

This cave is built to hold captives until they are sent to Menzoberranzan to be sold as slaves.

The gate to the slave pen is kept locked. A character using thieves' tools can pick the lock with a successful DC 20 Dexterity check. A character using makeshift tools can attempt the same check but has disadvantage. A lock-picking attempt might draw the attention of the guards, requiring a Dexterity (Stealth) check contested by the guards' passive Wisdom (Perception) score to carry it off without notice. Each of the guards on duty in the other areas of the outpost has a key to the gate hanging from a belt ring. Breaking the gate’s lock and forcing it open requires a successful DC 20 Strength check.

Magical Wards

The drow have placed powerful wards on the slave pen to inhibit spellcasters and shield the area against scrying attempts.

Spells cast within the slave pen have no effect, and any slot or magic item charge expended to cast such a spell is consumed. The wards don’t suppress or negate spell effects that originate outside the slave pen. For example, a creature under the effect of an invisibility spell remains invisible when it enters the slave pen.

Creatures inside the slave pen can’t be targeted by any divination magic or perceived through magical scrying sensors.

12. Quaggoth Den

Beyond the slave pen and down a set of stone steps, this cave is used as a den by the dozen quaggoths that serve the drow of Velkynvelve. The interior is littered with nest-like mounds of debris and the scattered bones of the quaggoths' past meals.

These servants of the drow use the den only to sleep and eat, with 1d4 quaggoth resting here at any given time. The quaggoths attack any creature that comes into their den that isn’t a drow, a spider, or one of their kind. They don’t initially attack unknown quaggoths or drow on sight, but they know all those assigned to the outpost and will question strangers. Derendil and Sarith’s status as prisoners is known to them.

13. Northern Watch Post

This small alcove just past and below the quaggoth den has the same features as the watch post at area 1.

Two drow are stationed here on watch, typically hating that duty for its proximity to the quaggoth den, the slave pen, and the pool.

14. Pool

Water pouring down from the waterfall at area 9 forms a 20-foot-deep pool before flowing out into an underground river that travels several miles before spilling into the Darklake. Since the drow take the water they need from the top of the waterfall, they use the pool to dump waste and garbage. Although this fouls the surface of the pool, the constant flow keeps the water beneath the surface clear.

A gray ooze lurks in the pool’s shallows, blending perfectly with the dark, wet stone. It feeds on the waste dumped into the pool, along with the occasional creature that finds its way into the cavern or falls into the pool.

The inhabitants of Velkynvelve remain unaware that the recent arrival of the demon lord Juiblex in the Underdark has made this ooze particularly aggressive and malevolent. In addition to attacking any creature in the pool, the ooze surges up to 10 feet out of the pool to attack creatures at its edge. When it does so, creatures within 30 feet of the ooze telepathically sense a voice cry out, “Flesh for the Faceless Lord!”

Means of Escape

Unless they want to spend the rest of their lives as drow slaves, the characters should quickly begin looking for ways they can escape. Though the task will not be easy, the characters can take advantage of certain opportunities if they use their heads.

Acquisitions

One or more of the characters might have useful items in their possession (see “Scavenged Possessions” heading in “The Adventure Begins”), and working outside the slave pen creates new opportunities for the characters to acquire and hide small items, including makeshift weapons or tools, or even lift a key to the slave pen from a guard. What they can acquire depends on the work they do and where they go. Use the description of the different locations throughout the outpost as a guide to opportunities. Taking something without being noticed requires a successful Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check contested by the Wisdom (Perception) checks of any active observers, or using an observer’s passive Wisdom (Perception) score as the base DC. A prisoner that fails the check is commanded to relinquish the item, on pain of death.

What equipment and treasures the characters claim during their escape depend on how much of the outpost they are able to explore before fleeing. For some characters, it might be a fun challenge to escape into the Underdark with little more than the clothes on their backs. For others (including spellcasters who need spellbooks or components), consider placing the party’s captured equipment (normally in Ilvara’s quarters) in an alternate location if the characters are intent on escaping without exploring all of the outpost, such as the elite drow barracks (area 4) or the armory (area 10).

Jorlan’s Gambit

When the initial contact between the adventurers and the other prisoners has been played out, Jorlan Duskryn arranges to bring the prisoners their food during his guard duty. (Shoor delights in giving Jorlan such menial work). Standing at the gate to the slave pen and passing in bowls, he mutters to the nearest character: “If I could give you a means to escape from here, would you take it?”

If the answer is affirmative, Jorlan quickly and quietly proposes to leave the gate to the slave pen unlocked, as well as to create a distraction during the changing of the guards on duty. He tells the characters about the armory, located in the chamber above the guard post in the hanging guard tower in front of the slave 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, which is why he doesn’t offer any further help or warn them about the gray ooze in the pool. It suits him just as well if the prisoners are killed during their attempt to flee. He simply wants to create an embarrassing incident for Shoor and Ilvara.

Jorlan furtively glances around as he speaks quickly to the characters. If they question him or ask for changes to the plan, he insists it is all he can do. If they accept, he is true to his word, leaving the gate unlocked close to the next guard shift change and delaying the replacement guards for a few minutes.

A Flight of Demons

During a guard change, the prisoners hear a horrible droning buzz echoing through the cavern, followed by inhuman shrieking. Alarm horns sound out as four chasme demons pursue a pair of vrock demons into the cavern from the northern passage. The demons swoop and buzz around, initially ignoring other creatures as both groups savagely assault each other. The demons' arrival catches all of the drow off guard.

The drow rush to defend the outpost from a possible attack. The demons initially 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 demons 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 Jorlan’s offer to leave the gate unlocked, making it easy for the characters to slip away. Alternatively (or if they refuse Jorlan’s offer), the characters can use the distraction to engineer their own breakout, then decide how to get down to the cavern floor and where to go after that.

Describe the chaos of the demon attack and the drow’s response as the escaped prisoners try to flee. The characters 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 way down. Reaching the lift requires getting past the drow clustered on the platform and then attempting to operate it during the attack, which might prove difficult.

If you want to provide an additional challenge for the characters, a vrock tumbles almost in front of them as they reach the cavern floor or move toward their chosen exit. The demon is badly wounded, but even with only 11 hit points remaining and having expended its spores and stunning screech abilities, it is still quite dangerous. It screeches at the characters, but if they do nothing to threaten it for 1 round, the demon takes wing and launches itself back into the fight overhead.

If the adventurers take on the fallen vrock and defeat or escape from it, award them a quarter of its usual XP value, or 575 XP, given its weakened state.

If Jorlan is alive when the demons attack, he might use the distraction to free the prisoners (as described in “Jorlan’s Gambit” above). Any character who asks Jorlan about the demons gets a stern reply: “The demons are not my doing. Fight them at your own risk.”

Leaving Velkynvelve

The characters have three choices for leaving Velkynvelve: the north, west, and south passages.

North Passage

This leads toward Menzoberranzan (see chapter 15) and, eventually, Blingdenstone (see chapter 6). Most of the characters' fellow prisoners discourage travel toward the drow city, and the deep gnomes suggest Blingdenstone as a route out of the Underdark. The party can also follow a circuitous route westward toward the Darklake (see chapter 3).

West Passage

This leads most directly toward the Darklake (see chapter 3), although the party could eventually veer south toward Gracklstugh (see chapter 4).

South Passage

This leads toward the duergar city of Gracklstugh (see chapter 4), following a south-westerly route. Characters might need to pass under the battling demons, but the cavern floor is well out of range of their droning and screeching. The demons locked in combat ignore the escaping prisoners, with the possible exception of a fallen vrock (see “A Flight of Demons”).

Whichever route the characters take, chapter 2 covers their passage through the Underdark toward their eventual destination.

XP Awards

In addition to the XP awards earned for overcoming the creatures in this chapter, escaping from Velkynvelve earns the characters a special award of 150 XP (divided equally among all party members).