Quick facts
Type: Subterranean realm · Known entrances: the Saline Coast Sewers, a manhole in North City · Notable places: Coghaven, the deep dragon’s waterfall · First visited: Session 59
The Underdark is the vast network of caverns, rivers and mushroom forests beneath Arlia. The FAM crossed it twice, first from the Saline Coast to North City behind The Whisper, and later back the other way to reach the gnome city of Coghaven.
The first crossing
After the deaths of Thalorian Valedriss and Lazra Vant, the party met the Whisper at his hidden abode in the sewers of the Saline Coast and declared they were ready to leave for North City and the Cell Games. The mood was tense. Nelda was mourning her father while Ellery was focused on getting to the tournament, and the two argued as they followed the Whisper down.
Along the way the party met:
- An Armanite in a mushroom clearing. The party killed it, with Wilbur landing the final blow, and looted a pass to the “Renegade Club.”
- A Beholder that rose out of a subterranean river. Its central eye shut down the party’s magic, and it put Ellery to sleep and flung her into the current. Nelda finally used a thunderwave to shove it into a lingering cloud of daggers, which shredded it.
- A glowing gnome city seen from a plateau. The Whisper brought Wilbur there and told him the gnomes were held against their will by their government. Wilbur found a soot-covered metal flower that triggered visions of his father. This was Coghaven.
- A sleeping deep dragon inside a waterfall, which the party snuck past.
The party came up into North City through a manhole cover.
The second crossing
After the Cell Games, the party sent their ship ahead to the Saline Coast as a decoy and went back underground on foot. They retraced their route through the North City sewers, steering clear of the Rat King and his swarms of rats, alligators and crocodiles, and picked up the Whisper’s old path.
Near the waterfall where the deep dragon had slept, a horned, hooded figure blocked the way. He said the party had passed through before without paying the toll, with the Whisper’s help, and that the Whisper had always known about it. He demanded 2,000 gold, double the usual fee. Arguing, mourning and offering Wilbur’s bits and bobs in trade only annoyed him, and he turned into a dragon, promising to take the gold off their corpses.
Wilbur put a hand on Kip’s chest, recited his full name, told him he believed in him, cast warding bond on him, and ran away, which left Kip in tears. Ellery grabbed Nelda and fled too, leaving Kip to face the dragon alone. The battle turned, and when the badly wounded dragon tried to fly off, Ellery leapt from a rock, rode it into the ground with a flying kick and slid off as it lay dead. Its lair behind the waterfall was piled with gold, rubies, gems and magic items.
From the ridge where the Whisper had first shown Wilbur the gnome city, the party walked down to Coghaven’s gate. After freeing the city they left the Underdark through a teleportation circle to Udon Heights.