This chapter marks the midpoint of Out of the Abyss and sees the characters finally make their way out of the Underdark. Before their final push to freedom, however, the vengeful drow pursuing the adventurers catch up to them, intent on dragging them back to their domain of perpetual darkness.
If they survive this final confrontation, the characters reach the surface in a place of your choosing. After all their arduous adventures, they are finally safe to return to their homes, and must say goodbye to many of the NPCs who’ve been traveling with them. Though the characters don’t yet know it, their exploits in the Underdark will bring them to the attention of the dwarves of Gauntlgrym, setting the stage for chapter 8 and a new call to adventure.
By the time they reach this point, the characters should be at least 7th level, having overcome countless challenges in their wild and dangerous journey through the locations described in chapters 1 through 6. They should also have reached a terrible conclusion: multiple demon lords of the Abyss are at large in the Underdark and could soon threaten the surface world.
The Way Out
Since their escape from Velkynvelve in chapter 1, the characters have sought a way out of the Underdark. Given the somewhat free-form nature of chapters 2 through 6, which the characters can undertake in any order, it’s up to you to determine how and where the adventurers finally find their escape route, as best suits the story of their journey through the Underdark.
Finding the Way
Escaping the Underdark is no simple matter. Characters who try to find their own way out might wander for years without stumbling upon the right series of passages to take them to the surface. As the DM, you determine where and when they find the way out. The characters can visit the places described in chapters 3 through 6, using the interconnecting material in chapters 2 and 3, in virtually any order. This makes it problematic to put the way to the surface world in a particular place, since the adventurers could just as easily bypass it as stumble upon it prematurely. Instead, the characters' escape is made possible by a set of conditions that you can implement when the time is right.
Blingdenstone
The deep gnome settlement (see chapter 6) has the most dealings with the surface world of any community in this region of the Underdark, and the adventurers can find the resources there to guide them out. However, the deep gnomes are dealing with a number of looming threats to their settlement, and they can’t afford to help the characters unless the characters help them first.
Since Blingdenstone is the most obvious and reliable location from which to find a way out of the Underdark, you might want to steer the campaign to other locations first. This can be done by treating the other chapters as side adventures to the characters' main journey, with many of those side adventures focused on the characters helping their NPC companions return to their homes in the Underdark.
Gracklstugh
The duergar of Gracklstugh have fewer dealings with the surface world compared to other Underdark races, relying more on trade flowing through Mantol-Derith (see chapter 9). The paranoid duergar are reluctant to share known routes to the surface world, so the adventurers need to cultivate considerable influence with the gray dwarves to earn such a prize.
The Wormwrithings
The drow of Menzoberranzan know of several tunnels in this region of the Underdark that lead to the surface world. Characters lucky enough to find one eventually emerge in the Lurkwood, a forest south of the Spine of the World mountains. For more information on the Wormwrithings, see chapter 13.
Farther Afield
Various other tunnels and passages wend their way to the surface in places around the Evermoors or even more remote locations. You can place these wherever you like, if an opportune time for the characters to depart comes along before exploring any of the previous options.
Portals
A number of ancient portals can be found in the Underdark. A functional portal is a magical doorway leading to some other specific location in Faerûn. If the characters' choices during the adventure leave them unable to secure escape with the help of the NPCs they meet, you could place a portal in or near one of the locations explored in chapters 2 through 6. If the portal is damaged, the characters might need to repair it. The characters also need to figure out how to activate the portal, or find the key or spell necessary to activate it. A portal can be one-way only and send the adventurers anywhere you want.
Gaining Access
By the time they have visited the locations detailed in the previous chapters, the characters should have knowledge of a route to the surface world and a map or guide to help them navigate it. These two goals should serve as tools to help motivate the players throughout the earlier chapters of the adventure. As a reward in one chapter, the characters might learn of the existence of a potential route out, leading them to another location in the Underdark where it is supposed to be. Then they need to find a map or guide for the potential route, which could involve them in what is happening in the new location. To complicate the search, they might then discover that a route or guide isn’t all they had hoped for, but instead leads them to more promising options.
As an example, the characters might hear of a potential route to the surface from Gracklstugh. They go to the duergar city and become embroiled in events unfolding there, only to be denied access by the gray dwarves. However, meeting a group of wandering myconids in the city reveals that the myconids of Neverlight Grove know a great deal about the hidden ways of the Underdark.
Clues and leads should become more plentiful and substantial as the characters approach 7th level, leading them toward their eventual escape route-and with many adventures and encounters happening along the way. If you hand out these hints and opportunities carefully, the characters' path through the Underdark should feel like a smoothly escalating series of discoveries, no matter what order they chose to explore the locations and deal with the challenges of the previous chapters.
Bidding Farewell
When the characters finally reach the surface, it’s likely that some of their subterranean companions will choose to remain in the Underdark rather than face the perils of the surface world.
Underdark Natives
Knowing that many of their NPC companions have homes in the Underdark can be an important part of the decision-making process that guides the characters through the early chapters of this adventure. The Underdark is a dangerous place, and characters might be reluctant to let their newfound friends fend for themselves. Helping some of them return home makes a good incentive to visit locations in the Underdark. Shuushar, Topsy, Turvy, Stool, Rumpadump, and Glabbagool would rather remain in the Underdark than suffer sunlight.
Surface Dwellers
Companions such as Eldeth and Ront, who prefer to live on or near the surface, gladly follow the characters all the way out if they can. Eldeth wishes to return to Gauntlgrym, and her presence there can provide a connection for the characters when they visit the dwarven settlement in chapter 8. If Eldeth didn’t survive, she might have charged the characters with returning her body or effects to Gauntlgrym. Ront might wish to rejoin his tribe or seek a new home elsewhere, based on how the events in the earlier chapters of the adventure have influenced him. Depending on how he was treated, the orc most likely parts from the characters in peace-out of respect for their battle prowess, if nothing else.
With Friends Like These…
Buppido, Prince Derendil, and Sarith might be gone well before the adventurers are ready to return to the surface, having already revealed their dark secrets and treacherous natures.
If Buppido or Sarith are still around, either NPC could go mad and attempt to kill the adventurers before they reach the surface world. Derendil might still hold to his delusion of being an elf prince wanting to return to his forest kingdom. However, the quaggoth is poorly suited to travel on the surface, needing shelter from the light during the day. He becomes increasingly irrational and erratic, seeing enemies and plots everywhere, until he eventually accuses the characters of colluding with his enemies and attacks in a mad fury.
Confronting the Drow
The drow from Velkynvelve have pursued their escaped prisoners throughout the first half of the adventure. Along the way, they might have engaged the characters in combat or set up a number of near-miss encounters. At times, the adventurers might have believed they had shaken off their pursuers for good, only to have the drow show up unexpectedly. The characters' departure from the Underdark offers the final opportunity for them to confront their pursuers and settle the score.
The possibility that her prey might escape drives Ilvara onward. In turn, she relentlessly pushes those under her command to redouble their efforts to catch the characters. At this point, the pursuit level tracking set out in chapter 2 is no longer relevant. Ilvara and her warriors catch up to the adventurers just before they reach the uppermost level of the Underdark. The adventurers can choose to lead the drow on a risky chase, or stand and fight.
Drow Chase
If the adventurers flee from the drow, use the chase rules in chapter 8 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide to play out the pursuit. The drow are on foot. If she gets close enough to do so, Ilvara tries to cut off the party’s escape by casting web across the tunnel ahead. In addition to giving chase, the drow in the pursuit party pepper the characters with poisoned crossbow bolts, hoping to render some of them unconscious.
Chase Complications
Each participant in the chase rolls a d20 at the end of its turn and consults the Drow Chase Complications table. The result (if any) affects the next chase participant in initiative order.
If the characters escape from the drow, they can exit the Underdark unopposed. Ilvara returns in disgrace with nothing to show for her considerable efforts, although she and others from Velkynvelve might reappear when the adventurers return to the Underdark (see chapter 15, “The City of Spiders”).
If you want to extend the chase, the drow could pursue the characters onto the surface, which places them at a disadvantage once the sun comes up (see “Evening the Odds”).
If the drow catch up with the characters, the chase becomes a combat (see “Stand and Fight”).
Drow Chase Complications
| d20 | Complication |
|---|---|
| 1 | Uneven ground threatens to slow your progress. Make a DC 10 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check to navigate the area. On a failed check, the ground counts as 10 feet of difficult terrain. |
| 2 | A fissure, rocky outcropping, or debris threatens to trip you up. Make a DC 10 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. On a failure, you fall prone. |
| 3 | You disturb a swarm of bats that makes one attack against you before quickly scattering. |
| 4 | A colony of piercers hangs 20 feet overhead. As you pass, one of them drops and makes an attack against you. |
| 5 | You have to dodge around stalagmites and columns. Make a DC 10 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. On a failure, you take 1d4 bludgeoning damage from running into an obstacle. |
| 6 | A mass of webbing blocks your path. Avoiding it requires a successful DC 12 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. On a failure, you are caught in the web and restrained. As an action, you can make a DC 12 Strength check, bursting the webbing on a success. The webbing can also be attacked (AC 10). |
| 7 | A patch of green slime drops from the ceiling, requiring a successful DC 10 Dexterity saving throw to avoid. On a failure, you are struck and take 5 (1d10) acid damage. You take 5 (1d10) acid damage again at the start of each of your turns until the slime is scraped off or destroyed (see “Dungeon Hazards” in chapter 5 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide). |
| 8 | The floor beneath you is smooth and slick with moisture, requiring a successful DC 10 Dexterity saving throw to navigate. On a failed save, you fall prone. |
| 9 | The floor beneath you is littered with sharp rocks and debris, and you must succeed on a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw to cross it. On a failure, you take 1d4 piercing damage and the ground counts as 10 feet of difficult terrain. |
| 10 | The chase kicks up a cloud of dust, sand, or spores. You must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw to pass through the cloud. On a failure, you are blinded until the end of your turn. While blinded in this way, your speed is reduced by half. |
| 11-20 | No complication. |
Stand and Fight
If the characters stand and fight, or if the drow catch them, they’re in for a tough battle. Ilvara alone is a challenge for a group of 8th-level characters, and she is accompanied by her most powerful servants. The attacking drow force consists of the following:
- Ilvara, drow priestess of Lolth, armed with a tentacle rod in addition to the usual equipment
- Asha, junior drow priestess
- Shoor and Jorlan, drow elite warrior (Jorlan has disadvantage on attack rolls, Dexterity checks, and Dexterity saving throws)
- Four drow warriors
If any of the named drow were killed in chapter 1, they have been replaced by other drow with similar statistics.
On her first turn in combat, Ilvara casts conjure animals to summon two giant spider to fight alongside the drow, while Asha casts
If Ilvara loses more than half her hit points, she attempts to summon a yochlol demon.
Evening the Odds
The characters might have a couple NPC companions around to help them defeat the drow (see “Bidding Farewell”), but if they need more assistance, consider the following options:
- Having pushed themselves to catch up to their prey, the drow all have one level of
exhaustion . - Ilvara and Asha have already expended some of their spell slots.
- The characters make it to the surface before being intercepted by the drow, and the dark elves follow them into daylight. Under the light of the sun, the drow have disadvantage on their attack rolls and on Wisdom (Perception) checks relying on sight. The drow can pursue the characters for 1 hour before their armor and weapons are destroyed by the sunlight.
- Asha chooses the confusion of combat as the moment to betray Ilvara, attacking while the elder priestess’s back is turned. Ilvara instantly turns her attention to eliminating the traitor, distracting her and weakening the drow side if she succeeds.
- Wanting to deny Ilvara the triumph of recapturing the adventurers, Jorlan turns against his fellow drow, attacking them until he’s slain. If he survives, he turns against the characters in his self-destructive fury once all the drow are dead.
- One or more NPC companions whom the characters left behind in the Underdark show up to help, having spotted the pursuing drow and followed them.
Treasure
The characters can claim any equipment and treasure carried by the drow, although drowcraft items don’t survive exposure to sunlight. In addition, if the characters fled Velkynvelve without retrieving specific magic items or valuables, Ilvara can be carrying those items, allowing the adventurers to finally reclaim their property.
XP Awards
Each character earns 300 XP if the party makes it to the surface.
Further Adventures
The end of this chapter of Out of the Abyss forms a break between the first half of the adventure and the second half, which begins when the characters are summoned to an audience with King Bruenor Battlehammer of Gauntlgrym (see chapter 8). You can use the break between the two halves of the adventure to deal with any or all of the following.
Overland Travel
Once they reach the surface, the characters must still travel some distance to reach civilization. Most of the tunnels that connect to the Underdark in this region lie in or near the Evermoors or the Lurkwood-wild regions filled with ruins and monsters. You can choose to narrate as much of the party’s overland travel as you wish, setting up encounters en route. If Eldeth is still with the characters, she wants to set off for Gauntlgrym as soon as possible. If the characters accompany her, this journey can easily form part of the bridging material between this chapter and chapter 8.
Recovery and Downtime
After their harrowing experiences in the Underdark, the characters might need time to recuperate, ridding themselves of madness and find the means to break curses and cure diseases. Other downtime activities are also possible (as determined by you, the Dungeon Master). For more information on downtime activities, see the “Downtime Activities” sections in chapter 8 of the Player’s Handbook and chapter 6 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide.
Resupply
Characters can visit a surface community or trading post to acquire proper equipment and supplies in exchange for some of the treasures they bring out of the Underdark. By the beginning of chapter 8, they should be properly and fully equipped for the first time since the start of the adventure.
Warnings
The events the characters have witnessed during their harrowing escape are likely to make them want to warn the world that demon lords have come to the Underdark. It’s only a matter of time before these fiends find their own way out of the depths, threatening the existence of the surface world.
Characters belonging to factions might feel compelled to report to their superiors. Others can share what they’ve learned with well-connected NPCs who can get the word out. The attention gained by the characters as a result leads into the events of chapter 8.
Level Advancement
The characters should be 8th level by the start of the next chapter. If they’re not there yet, plan additional encounters so that the characters can earn more experience points during their overland journey to Gauntlgrym.
If you’d rather skip the encounters and jump ahead to chapter 8, assume that the characters survive a few harrowing encounters en route (which you can describe or not) and gain enough XP to advance to 8th level by the time they reach Gauntlgrym.