My level 6 party is going to the underdark, I am looking for inspiration

[BloodSnake'sCha]

Hello guys :)

The group I DM for in Friday is going to the underdark after finishing a quest.

The aftermath of the quest will be this week, they helped a council to retake control over the country by infeltration and sabotage so the army will be able to enter quickly and take hold over the low quality ruler of the country.

I am searching for ideas for encounters and places, peaceful and hostile.

Any ideas?

I also look for a table I saw in this forum in the past about the state range every CR should have.

[JustIgnoreMe]

Veins of the Earth, but it’s not 5th Ed.

[FabulousFizban]

Myconids! psychedelic mushroom people. avoid using the drow, they are played out. Try Duergar instead.The party can think they are dwarves at first. The Duergar encounter the party and pick a fight. If the Duegar win, they can take the players prisoner and use them to kill/clear out a myconid colony. If the party win (which they should, these creatures don't want to die) the Duegar beg for their lives, saying it was all a mistake and you have to be aggressive in the underdark. They say party is strong and ask if they can help the "dwarves" clear out some monsters from a cave near the "dwarves" home. These monsters are actually the myconids.

Myconids are peaceful, and are being eradicated by the Duergar for sport and territory. However, the myconids cannot speak and have to communicate their predicament to the party using visions induced by psychedelic spores. It will be up to the party to decipher the meaning of these visions and decide whether to help the Duergar, who will just turn on the party once the job is done, or the peaceful myconids, who can be a tremendous help in guiding the party through the underdark.

[iTreeby]

Run the out of the abyss campaign?

[BloodSnake'sCha]

Veins of the Earth, but it’s not 5th Ed.
I will check it out, I have no problem with doing some homebrew (this is for a homebrew game I am running).

Myconids! psychedelic mushroom people. avoid using the drow, they are played out. Try Duergar instead.The party can think they are dwarves at first. The Duergar encounter the party and pick a fight. If the Duegar win, they can take the players prisoner and use them to kill/clear out a myconid colony. If the party win (which they should, these creatures don't want to die) the Duegar beg for their lives, saying it was all a mistake and you have to be aggressive in the underdark. They say party is strong and ask if they can help the "dwarves" clear out some monsters from a cave near the "dwarves" home. These monsters are actually the myconids.

Myconids are peaceful, and are being eradicated by the Duergar for sport and territory. However, the myconids cannot speak and have to communicate their predicament to the party using visions induced by psychedelic spores. It will be up to the party to decipher the meaning of these visions and decide whether to help the Duergar, who will just turn on the party once the job is done, or the peaceful myconids, who can be a tremendous help in guiding the party through the underdark.
It can be helpful, I am not sure that the party will go and help the Myconids based of their character and the world they are in.

Run the out of the abyss campaign?
I never run an official campaign.
I tried running one model in the past, the official content is not something I enjoy.

Isn't Out of The Abyss about the plane of evil? I am working with the underdark here.

[iTreeby]

Isn't Out of The Abyss about the plane of evil? I am working with the underdark here.

Nope it's an underdark campaign

[BloodSnake'sCha]

Nope it's an underdark campaign

I will check it out. Thank you.

[Temperjoke]

Out of the Abyss centers around demon lords being set loose in the underdark, as the party tries to escape the underdark. What's really nice about it is that it does a good job of filling out the Underdark itself, like with challenges and friendlies, resources, etc.

I second having the Duergar being more of an enemy focus, as Drow have been used a lot. Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes does a good job of providing information about the Duergar.

[FabulousFizban]

I will check it out, I have no problem with doing some homebrew (this is for a homebrew game I am running).

It can be helpful, I am not sure that the party will go and help the Myconids based of their character and the world they are in.

I never run an official campaign.
I tried running one model in the past, the official content is not something I enjoy.

Isn't Out of The Abyss about the plane of evil? I am working with the underdark here.

they dont have to help the myconids, that is the great part. the party makes a choice, and lives with the consequences.

[BloodSnake'sCha]

they dont have to help the myconids, that is the great part. the party makes a choice, and lives with the consequences.

I made them encounter a fight between:
Duergar Despot
*2 Duergar Warlord
*3 Duergar Keeper of the Flame
*7 Duergar Xarrorn
*8 Duergar Stone Guard

vs:

*3 Duergar Spore Servant
*5 Myconid Sprout
*8 Myconid Adult
Myconid Sovereign

They got there after talking with followers of Eilistraee that tolled them that the Drow are starting to disturb because the Duergar are not fighting them over territory.

They saw the Duergar party overpowering the Myconids. They failed the knowledge check about who are the Myconids so they didin't know who was the greater and lesser evil in the fight(They were able to see the Myconid Sovereign create Duergar Spore Servants).
They started by attacking the backlane of the Duergars. after that only 3 Myconid Adult were still alive from the Myconid side + 2 new Duergar Spore Servant.

After communicating with the Myconid Adult they were invited to the Myconid home. The party wanted to block the Duergar way to the Myconid home so the Duergar will have to resume the fighting with the Drow.

it end with all the myconid and Duergar dead after 6 almost TPKs in the fight.



Thank you for your help :) It was a great game today :)