Chapter 1: Prisoners of the Drow - Out of the Abyss

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...