OotA - Changing the Drow Prison

[Devcon1]

I have taken a liking to Out of the Abyss, as it combines two of my favorite D&D things: Underdark and Demons. As such, I have decided to run my own Out of the Abyss game. However, I have decided to change a few things around....okay, a lot of things, but that's besides the point.

The first of many changes to come is to the drow prison the players start out captured in, as I wish to have the drow not be worshipers of Lolth, but rather Kiaransalee, drow goddess of undead, necromancy and I believe slavery. As such, I wish to change things around to fit the new goddess these drow worship. The quaggoths, in my opinion, can be simply replaced with ogre zombies or minotaur skeletons, and the giant spiders with ghouls or specters. However, the drow are up for debate, as drow in the service of Kiaransalee are different than those that worship Lolth. So I wonder if I can simply reskin the drow and change around their spells, or if I should homebrew some Kiaransalee drow.

I was wondering if any of you guys had any suggestions on how to transform Velkynvelve into a prison of undeath. I would love to hear any ideas you guys would have.

[Nishant]

perhaps alter the spell lists and weapons? have more spell casters, then have more low-cr minions to compensate via numbers? have the bottom pit be a animated pit of bones sorta like a spawning pool. if the characters drop in it, they have to roll to resist being pulled in, killed, and brought back as an undead X for their new drow lords.

[Falcon X]

Great idea! I really can't think of a reason not to do this, and it adds loads of potential for plot points. My only hesitation is that it might make Velkenvelve TOO hard to escape from.

A few thoughts on Velkenvelve:
- Prisoners could be kept sedated with banshee shrieks instead of drow poison. Why not psychologically torment your prisoners?
- The structure of Velkenvelve could be the hollowed out skeleton of something gigantic (I say leave it ambiguous). Could even be the skeleton of an aberration so you can shape it in whatever insane way you want to. Instead of spider webs going to the various stalactites, you have rib bones.
- Kieransalee might turn prisoners into undead. You could hang this over their heads like a countdown. Heck, maybe you should let the party's bodies become zombies while their spirits rise as revanents.

A few notes on the game:
- There are two kinds of undead: Those with bodies and no spirits, and those with spirits and no bodies. I think Kieransalee might lean more on the spirit than most necromancers would. Still, it is said that she loves unintelligent undead that are easy to manipulate.
- I'm assuming you are already thinking this way, but this opens up loads of opportunity for Orcus plot points, seeing as the feud between them is so great.
- A long-shot, but worth thinking about. Orcus is an ancient Obyrith from other realms of existence. So are Mind Flayers. Mind Flayers might be manipulating things here (Gromph Baenre was taught the summoning spell by a psion). this whole mess could have an ancient connection between Obyriths and Mind Flayers.

[Nishant]

Great idea! I really can't think of a reason not to do this, and it adds loads of potential for plot points. My only hesitation is that it might make Velkenvelve TOO hard to escape from.

A few thoughts on Velkenvelve:
- Prisoners could be kept sedated with banshee shrieks instead of drow poison. Why not psychologically torment your prisoners?
- The structure of Velkenvelve could be the hollowed out skeleton of something gigantic (I say leave it ambiguous). Could even be the skeleton of an aberration so you can shape it in whatever insane way you want to. Instead of spider webs going to the various stalactites, you have rib bones.
- Kieransalee might turn prisoners into undead. You could hang this over their heads like a countdown. Heck, maybe you should let the party's bodies become zombies while their spirits rise as revanents.

A few notes on the game:
- There are two kinds of undead: Those with bodies and no spirits, and those with spirits and no bodies. I think Kieransalee might lean more on the spirit than most necromancers would. Still, it is said that she loves unintelligent undead that are easy to manipulate.
- I'm assuming you are already thinking this way, but this opens up loads of opportunity for Orcus plot points, seeing as the feud between them is so great.
- A long-shot, but worth thinking about. Orcus is an ancient Obyrith from other realms of existence. So are Mind Flayers. Mind Flayers might be manipulating things here (Gromph Baenre was taught the summoning spell by a psion). this whole mess could have an ancient connection between Obyriths and Mind Flayers.


Building off your boneyard idea, perhaps they coud be making a composite zombie and flesh golems? They've found a dragon skeleton, and are planning on a ritual to make it their sentinel or hound. So rather than having the traditional hunting party post the escape, you could have a young or adult zombie dragon and its handlers.

[mgshamster]

If you bring in Orcus as the main demon instead of Demogorgon or one of the others, and your players kill him, then you can use OotA as the perfect tie in to a run of Dead Gods, which also features Kairansalee and drow in chapter 6.

The campaign already has a tie in to The Great Modron March - seems fitting. :)

[Falcon X]

If you bring in Orcus as the main demon instead of Demogorgon or one of the others, and your players kill him, then you can use OotA as the perfect tie in to a run of Dead Gods, which also features Kairansalee and drow in chapter 6.

The campaign already has a tie in to The Great Modron March - seems fitting. :)
That sounds great! If only somebody would do conversions of those modules to 5e...

[Goober4473]

You could also have Ilvara be a revenant, or become one if the PCs have a chance to kill her on the way out. That would lend extra reason for her to be hunting them all over the Underdark.


If you bring in Orcus as the main demon instead of Demogorgon or one of the others, and your players kill him, then you can use OotA as the perfect tie in to a run of Dead Gods, which also features Kairansalee and drow in chapter 6.

The campaign already has a tie in to The Great Modron March - seems fitting. :)

I'm gonna be running these next. :smallsmile:

Though note that killing him on the Prime just banishes him back home. My plan is to have Lolth's armeis already be going to town on the Abyss, and when Orcus gets home without his wand, he gets taken out by Kiaransalee (one of Lolth's daughters).

[Devcon1]

perhaps alter the spell lists and weapons? have more spell casters, then have more low-cr minions to compensate via numbers? have the bottom pit be a animated pit of bones sorta like a spawning pool. if the characters drop in it, they have to roll to resist being pulled in, killed, and brought back as an undead X for their new drow lords.

Thanks for the suggestion! I am probably just going to do that for making them worshipers of Kiaransalee. The bone pit idea sounds interesting, but I hesitate to use it for that seems a bit more powerful than a single grey slime. May retool it to be less powerful.


Great idea! I really can't think of a reason not to do this, and it adds loads of potential for plot points. My only hesitation is that it might make Velkenvelve TOO hard to escape from.

A few thoughts on Velkenvelve:
- Prisoners could be kept sedated with banshee shrieks instead of drow poison. Why not psychologically torment your prisoners?
- The structure of Velkenvelve could be the hollowed out skeleton of something gigantic (I say leave it ambiguous). Could even be the skeleton of an aberration so you can shape it in whatever insane way you want to. Instead of spider webs going to the various stalactites, you have rib bones.
- Kieransalee might turn prisoners into undead. You could hang this over their heads like a countdown. Heck, maybe you should let the party's bodies become zombies while their spirits rise as revanents.

A few notes on the game:
- There are two kinds of undead: Those with bodies and no spirits, and those with spirits and no bodies. I think Kieransalee might lean more on the spirit than most necromancers would. Still, it is said that she loves unintelligent undead that are easy to manipulate.
- I'm assuming you are already thinking this way, but this opens up loads of opportunity for Orcus plot points, seeing as the feud between them is so great.
- A long-shot, but worth thinking about. Orcus is an ancient Obyrith from other realms of existence. So are Mind Flayers. Mind Flayers might be manipulating things here (Gromph Baenre was taught the summoning spell by a psion). this whole mess could have an ancient connection between Obyriths and Mind Flayers.

Many thanks for the suggestions! The banshees are a great idea, I might just use them instead of poison (though I think it might cause the prison to be, like you said, a bit too hard to escape). Love the idea of it being a prison carved out of a skeleton, I'll definitely go with that. I do enjoy the idea of the ticking timer of being turned into undead, but I don't think I'll actually have them become revenants. I did indeed have some ideas about doing something with Orcus later on after the escape, so I'll have to think about that. As for the Mind Flayers, I don't think I'll be having them be the cause of this, though I might if I can find out how to pull it off well. (Also, Orcus is a Tanar'ri, not an Obyrith)


If you bring in Orcus as the main demon instead of Demogorgon or one of the others, and your players kill him, then you can use OotA as the perfect tie in to a run of Dead Gods, which also features Kairansalee and drow in chapter 6.

The campaign already has a tie in to The Great Modron March - seems fitting. :)

Interesting idea. I'll have to think about that,and try and get my hands on the Dead Gods adventure in case I decide to use that.


You could also have Ilvara be a revenant, or become one if the PCs have a chance to kill her on the way out. That would lend extra reason for her to be hunting them all over the Underdark.

Nice idea! I already was thinking about having her be some sort of undead, and I especially like the idea of her becoming the revenant after being slain. Not only does it fit the undead theme and an actual reason to go out of the way to pursue the players (the drow described in OotA seem to be, at least to me, way too obsessed with the party's recapture than would be believable), but it also fits in with Kiaransalee being a goddess of vengeance in addition to slavery and undead.

[Goober4473]

Nice idea! I already was thinking about having her be some sort of undead, and I especially like the idea of her becoming the revenant after being slain. Not only does it fit the undead theme and an actual reason to go out of the way to pursue the players (the drow described in OotA seem to be, at least to me, way too obsessed with the party's recapture than would be believable), but it also fits in with Kiaransalee being a goddess of vengeance in addition to slavery and undead.

For my game, I made the drow leader an NPC from my last campaign, who really botched a huge, interplanar job, and got relegated to this little outpost for it. Any little screw up and it would probably be her head. That, and she started to become demon madness infected as time went on. Eventually, she should have cut her losses or just went rogue, but she was obsessed by then.

Still, the revenant hook makes it a lot less subtle, and gives her a magical way to always be able to track them.

[Devcon1]

Alright, I've been thinking over my own ideas and the ones you guys suggested.

First off, I believe I will be using Banshees to keep the prisoners in check, but I'll probably homebrew somewhat weaker versions in case the players end up confronting them. Probably use the spectre as a base and go from there.

Next, I took a look into Curse of Strahd to see if it had anything usable, and I was delighted to see some useful material in there. The phantom warriors and strahd zombies will definitely work well as more undead minions for the drow. I also took a look at the mongrelfolk, and though their appearance descriptor wouldn't work, their stats, with a few modifications of course, could make some good variant drow in the service of Kiaransalee, at least in my opinion. May use one of the CoS magic items to replace the leader's tentacle rod, but I don't know quite yet if I wish to do so.

Finally, I came up with an explanation for why the drow don't just kill the party and raise them as undead. Though they would under normal circumstances would do so, they are currently doing some vile experiments to find a way to create a zombie "disease" that would work like lycanthropy, transforming those bitten by the zombie into another zombie, thus lessening their work and quickening their production of undead. They are still working to create it, and are using the prisoners as guinea pigs for their experiments. It takes them time between such tests to look over things and evaluate what to do next, giving the players time to escape before they or their companions become the next victims of their horrific experiments. I believe this to be a good explanation, but I was wondering what you guys thought.

So, that's what I got so far. Feel free to give me any more suggestions if you have any.