Spoiler Alert: Out of the Abyss 5e Adventure

[Shadowbite]

I just picked up the book and have been reading it. My question revolves around the Maze Engine that is encountered in Chapter 14. I'm trying to figure out why it's useful and why the characters should bother with it.

It's mentioned that it can be used as a trap against the demon lords but it seems far too chaotic and just as likely to hurt the PCs. Can anyone enlighten me on this? It also seems to be too heavy to physically move easily.

[rollingForInit]

It can hurt them a lot, yes.

But it can banish a couple of demon lords from the final battle.

[Envyus]

The thing that most people would probably like the least about it. The power to warp you back in time to the start of the Adventure is actually really interesting. The players keep all of their levels, gear and memories. So they can literally do everything right the second time around.

[Shadowbite]

You bring up an excellent point. One additional question, What has Graz'zt been doing during this adventure? There is one succubus that is undercover and reporting for him and that's it. No mention of what he's been up to that I could tell. Orcus is creating a bunch of undead Illithids.

[Goober4473]

The main reason they'd want to use it, I imagine, is to banish Yeenoghu and Baphomet before the final battle, or in case they don't end up going through with the final battle plan.

I guess it depends on what they know about it though. If they know it can send them back in time, that might be an incentive.

Personally, I'm planning to alter the latter half of the adventure a fair amount, so it might not come up, but if it does, I might make the time effect it's main thing.


You bring up an excellent point. One additional question, What has Graz'zt been doing during this adventure? There is one succubus that is undercover and reporting for him and that's it. No mention of what he's been up to that I could tell. Orcus is creating a bunch of undead Illithids.

I think the answer is, "whatever you want him to be doing." Perhaps setting up your next adventure?

[Falcon X]

Hold up, where does it say that Orcus is creating a bunch of Undead Illithids (I'm still reading over the adventure)?

[Brendanicus]

Hold up, where does it say that Orcus is creating a bunch of Undead Illithids (I'm still reading over the adventure)?In Gravenhollow, players have the opportunity to scry on all of the Demon Lords. You find Orcus chilling with Mind Flayers if you spy on him.

[Shadowbite]

Including the Orcus bit made it all the more weird that we got no notion of what Graz'zt is doing? The big rivals of the Abyss are Demogorgon, Orcus, and Graz'zt of course. Anyone want to to speculate on what Graz'zt has been up to? At least until he's warped to the adventure's finale.

[Brendanicus]

Including the Orcus bit made it all the more weird that we got no notion of what Graz'zt is doing? The big rivals of the Abyss are Demogorgon, Orcus, and Graz'zt of course. Anyone want to to speculate on what Graz'zt has been up to? At least until he's warped to the adventure's finale.Hm. That would depend on where he got warped in. Clearly he never reached any major population centers (Given his hobbies, there would be a ton of baby Cambions running around), but has sent an agent to Gracklstugh.

So from what we DO know:

He's too far from the main parts of the Underdark for the party to encounter.
Graz'zt bangs anything that moves.
He's the most cunning of Demon Lords, and may be the only one to see the long-term plan at play.

I would imagine he's at a goblinoid city somewhere, taking advantage of the Goblins' high rate of reproduction to repopulate the city with half-demon goblins. He has no interest in fighting the other Demon Lords, just going from settlement to settlement, trying to spread his cult as much as possible.

[Goober4473]

There's also mention of an echo of him in Gravenhollow, seeking as much information about the Underdark as he can. He's especially interested if the players tell him they're from the surface. Since there's no way to know what time he's from, he could have been there already, be destined to go there in the future, or be there around the same time the players are, at your option.

Or, to throw a crazy idea out there, maybe he's secretly travelling with the party disguised as one of their NPC companions, either having foreknowledge of the role they'll play (he needs to get home to his domain, but not before all the other demon lords are dealt with), or having somehow lost his memory.

[Envyus]

Graz'zt is featured more in the Adventure League Adventuers. Pretty much like Orcus he is really far away from the Sword Coast. Being in the Moonsea area instead.