Out of the Abyss

Ghazrim's Ring

The star ruby in Ghazrim's ring has a white, star-shaped core that guides its wearer along the safest, shortest route to Gravenhollow.

Society of Brilliance

If one or more members of the Society of Brilliance are traveling with the party (see the "x" random encounter in chapter 2), they can find the way to Gravenhollow, having found it once before. Any Society of Brilliance member who comes within a day's travel of the library can make a DC 15 Intelligence check to find the passage leading to Gravenhollow. If its check fails, it can try again after 8 hours of searching and contemplation.

Stone Giant Guide

If the characters don't have the ring to guide them, a duergar NPC (for example, Ghuldur Flagonfist in Mantol-Derith) might suggest that they talk to Stonespeaker Hgraam in Gracklstugh. If the characters helped the stone giants by putting an end to the horrid derro rituals in the Whorlstone Tunnels (see chapter 4), Stonespeaker Hgraam is willing to assign them a guide—a stone giant named Jaal—who can lead them to Gravenhollow. As he guides the expeditionary force through the Underdark, Jaal periodically stops to press his hands against ancient stone, as though communing with the rock itself. His mystical connection to the Underdark allows him to find the safest, shortest route to the stone library.

Ulthar

Ulthar is the Keeper of the Past. He sorts and files ancient texts, maintaining the immeasurably vast catalog that organizes them. When not cross-referencing his expanding collection, he composes epic poetry and is responsible for curating and restoring wall carvings throughout the library.

Ulthar is infinitely patient, always welcoming any chance to discuss history with visitors. Of the three librarians, he is the most willing and likely to spend time with the library's guests. He treats surface dwellers as if they were figments out of dreams, but makes it obvious he believes that such dreams have wisdom to share.

Urmas

Urmas, the Keeper of the Present, is the busiest of all the librarians. He commands a vast network of magically augmented subterranean beasts, which he uses as messengers, bringing and sending news from giants throughout the Underdark and sometimes from the "dream" of the surface world. Urmas exchanges messages with Stonespeaker Hgraam (see x), keeping abreast of events as they pertain to the stone giant community in the duergar city of Gracklstugh.

Though Urmas is patient, it quickly becomes obvious that he suffers the characters' questions and presence out of duty and politeness, seeking to return to his work as soon as possible. The giant is distracted by the increasingly dire news brought in by his messengers, including reports from stone giant mystics, as well as elemental servitors such as galeb duhr and xorn. However, if the characters bring news about the demon lords in the Underdark, they have Urmas's immediate and full attention.

Ustova

The Keeper of the Future, Ustova is a seer who spends most of her time in constant meditation, transcribing her visions onto stone tablets as she experiences them. Like Urmas, she focuses her efforts on the fate of the different giant communities and clans, sorting through the various threads of destiny and possibility for omens presaging the resurgence of the giants' once-great civilization.

The irruption of the demon lords into the Underdark has sent powerful ripples of indescribable chaos through Ustova's visions. All she sees of the future is fire, blood, and death, shot through with signs and portents based upon the natures of the demon lords—the bloody spirals and twin-forked symbols of Demogorgon, the excessive growth and rot of Zuggtmoy, visions obscured and clouded by the slime of Juiblex, and so on. She gladly helps any characters who can offer clarity in what she is seeing, treating such information as beneficial visions from the dream that is the world outside the Underdark.

Galeb Duhr Assistants

The library draws in elemental spirits to animate earth and stone, forming galeb duhr to serve as assistants for the keepers. These creatures are humorless but diligent.

Echoes in Gravenhollow

Alustriel Silverhand

This legendary wizard and leader appears as a human female in her early twenties. She interacts with the characters with kindness and a certain whimsy, but doesn't disclose what time period she's from, admonishing characters who try to learn too much of the past or future.

Andarin Zarith

This human Red Wizard of Thay will visit Gravenhollow nearly a century in the future. He treats the characters as annoying apparitions and refuses to deal with them.

Bruenor Battlehammer

The dwarf king's red hair has turned mostly white, and he leans heavily on a thick crystal cane. He is old, frail, and quite senile, and he can't remember why he came to Gravenhollow or what he's looking for.

Elminster

This echo of the future claims to be searching for a long-forgotten spell. If the characters ask the venerable human archmage about the demonic incursion, Elminster reveals that the demonic incursion was the unintended result of a spell cast by Gromph Baenre, a former Archmage of Menzoberranzan. Elminster doesn't reveal what happened to Gromph, for he's reluctant to divulge too much information about the future. If the characters press him for details, Elminster says only that many great heroes were lost to the demonic tide, but several powerful demon lords were driven back to the Abyss.

Graz'zt

This echo of Graz'zt (see appendix D) is gathering all the information it can about the Underdark. The Dark Prince asks the characters what part of the Underdark they come from. If they mention the surface world, Graz'zt eyes widen as his curiosity is piqued.

Hgraam

This younger version of Stonespeaker Hgraam (see chapter 4, "x") treats the characters as spirits and asks them philosophical questions about the nature of dreams. If the characters engage him in conversation, he bids them farewell with the words, "I will remember you."

Jalynfein Oblodra

This young male drow was cast out of Menzoberranzan after he lost his sight, yet he survived and found his way here. The blind drow came to the library hoping to overcome his blindness and take revenge on his family. Characters familiar with drow lore or history know, with a successful DC 14 Intelligence (History) check, that House Oblodra was all but wiped out years ago.

Society of Brilliance

The characters encounter echoes of all five members of the Society of Brilliance (see the "x" random encounter in chapter 2). Any members of the society traveling with the party know that these are echoes from the past.

The Society of Brilliance came to Gravenhollow years ago on a pilgrimage of enlightenment. If the characters mention the demonic incursion and postulate a theory of drow involvement, the Society of Brilliance echoes confirm that such an event is inevitable, "given the drow propensity for demon summoning and the inherent unpredictability of faerzress." These echoes don't have much else to offer, although they can explain how the library works (see the "x" sidebar).

Xetzirbor

This mind flayer regards the characters with interest. Xetzirbor refuses to disclose its timeline but hints that it knows about the demonic incursion. The mind flayer tries to entice the characters into telling it what they have discovered, but of its own purpose, Xetzirbor reveals only that it came to Gravenhollow to find a way to save a dying elder brain it calls Cyrog.

Yauln

A male stone giant from an ancient past, Yauln came to Gravenhollow to seek answers on whether his clan should enter an alliance with the bearer of the Cairngorm Crown (see chapter 4, "x").

Librarians' Quarters

Urmas and Ustova live on the top level of the library, taking up all the living quarters at either end of that level. Their rooms reflect their duties and personalities. Urmas's quarters contain a collection of carved tablets, as well as actual books and scrolls found nowhere else in the library. Ustova's quarters feature a collection of musical instruments and divination tools, including crystal orbs, bags of bones, and a large mithral basin.

Ulthar lives on a lower level that he claims is "near the bottom of the library," though such a distinction is meaningless given how distorted distance and direction can be in the library (see the "x" sidebar). His quarters are a work of art, covered with murals and wall carvings of his own design, along with workshops where he engages in crafting.

Guest Quarters

The guest quarters appear bare until a visitor chooses a room. The next time that room is entered, it is fully furnished according to the character's taste and needs. Characters don't need to make any check to find their guest rooms after exploring the library: they need only wish to return, and the next set of stairs they come to leads them to the appropriate level.

Accessing the Records

The library keeps its records on stone and crystal slabs, monoliths, and stelae fitting neatly in niches carved into the walls of every room. Thanks to the library's comprehend languages effect, anyone can easily decipher and understand the runes and glyphs carved into the stone.

These records contain only what the librarians were able to write down. Even with their network of messengers and informants, and the visions they receive using the powers of the library, the stone giants are still mortal creatures. As such, the giants' own understanding might limit the characters' ability to locate information in the library.

The library's written records deal only with events in the Underdark and the history of giants. Like most stone giants, the librarians consider the surface world a realm of dreams, and what happens there is deemed less important than events in the Underdark.

To acquire information not inscribed in the records (including any events outside the Underdark), the characters need a stonespeaker crystal (see appendix B), after which they must find an appropriate archive to query events in the past, present, or future.

Archives of the Past

Every room devoted to the records of the past has the same inscription carved above the doorway in runes that anyone who knows Dwarvish or Giant understands:

These rooms contain crystals of many colors. Ulthar and his assistants periodically move tablets, cylinders, and stelae from the Archives of the Present into these rooms. Some of the records here date back to the mythic times of the earliest giant gods.

Archives of the Present

The rooms that contain the works of Urmas have inscriptions carved above the doorway that anyone who knows Dwarvish or Giant can translate:

The records in these rooms detail the current state of the Underdark and the giant kingdoms.

Archives of the Future

The rooms with Ustova's prophetic writings have inscriptions above the doorways that anyone who knows Dwarvish or Giant can decipher:

Unlike the other rooms in the library, these archives echo with the sound of running water. The wall niches containing the stone cylinders Ustova favors for scribing are also fountains, where water shimmers over crystals as it falls.

Gromph's Folly

If the characters inquire about Gromph Baenre or the arrival of the demon lords, they receive a vision of how everything started.

If a character receiving this vision has a passive Wisdom (Perception) score of 13 or higher, he or she sees a drow insignia on the wizard. If the character is a drow or otherwise familiar with the iconography of Menzoberranzan's drow houses, he or she recognizes the symbol as representing House Baenre. The character can also recall the symbol well enough to draw it, so that another more knowledgeable character can discern its significance.

Zuggtmoy's Arrival

The characters can inquire about Zuggtmoy or the events in Neverlight Grove.

If the characters visited Neverlight Grove, they recognize one of the myconids as Sovereign Phylo, while somehow knowing that the other is Yestabrod before it became mutated.

Juiblex and the Pudding King

As much as the characters learned from fighting the Pudding King in Blingdenstone, they might decide to seek more knowledge of the mad svirfneblin or his fiendish master, Juiblex the Faceless Lord.

Sundered Blades

The corruption in Gracklstugh slowly rots duergar society from within, leading it toward a brutal fate.

Demogorgon's Altar

One of the first brushes the characters might have had with the demon lords was in Sloobludop, where they witnessed the rise of Demogorgon, the so-called "Deep Father" of the mad kuo-toa.

Fraz-Urb'luu and the Gem

Characters might be curious to know more about the source of the discord in Mantol-Derith, leading to a revelation about Fraz-Urb'luu.

Cyrog Lives! Hail Orcus!

Although Orcus doesn't have a significant role in this adventure, players might wonder what the Demon Lord of Undeath is up to.

The librarians of Gravenhollow know that Cyrog is the name of distant mind flayer settlement. Vizeran DeVir and every member of the Society of Brilliance also knows that Cyrog is named after an ancient elder brain that commands the settlement, which lies deep in the Underdark, thousands of miles to the east.

Baphomet, the Horned King

The demon lord Baphomet doesn't play a significant role in this adventure. However, a character seeking clues to the Horned King's whereabouts receive the following vision.

This vision provides a brief glimpse of the Maze Engine, an arcane device located in the heart of the Labyrinth (see x).

Spawn of Yeenoghu

A character that tries to learn more about Yeenoghu, the Demon Lord of Gnolls, receives the following unsettling vision.

Lolth, Demon Queen of Spiders

If the characters inquire about Lolth, they receive a vision of her home in the Demonweb Pits, confirming that at least one demon lord didn't escape the Abyss.

This vision offers a glimpse of Lolth's plan to drive her rivals out of the Abyss and repopulate its layers with her own demonic offspring. The character experiencing the vision must succeed on a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw or gain one level of madness (see "x" in chapter 2).

Other Visions

The other visions the characters might look for depend on what they experienced during their escape from the Underdark, and what you want the adventure to focus on (including the activities of other demon lords).