Allizsah took charge again as she led the grouop, “Unlike you all, we actually came to the Abyss with the plan of fucking things up and smiting some demons.  That plan has been temporarily disrupted, but we’re not going to be stopped.  Fortunately these gnolls are pretty lazy and dumb.  There was a map we crossed, planning out the parade or navigation of this monstrosity.  It didn’t look very precise, but at least gave us a general idea of our course and relative location here.  Obviously this is Yeenoghu’s Realm,” the tiefling’s voice dripped with condescension, “so this is a bit deep in the Abyss.  Walking our way up layer by layer would take forever, so we’re looking for any shortcuts.  You girls came through the Gathering Gate, where the gnolls buy slaves from the material plane.  That’s not open any more though.  To the ‘north’ of the Realm are the Screaming Peaks, they lead to a higher level, the White Kingdom, which belongs to Doresain, King of the Ghouls.  I’m not a fan of being eaten.”<br/><br/>“Now Alli, that’s not fair of you, they’re not mindless zombies!” Jhessail objected.  “They’re just as intelligent and civilized as us, they just have different dietary needs…”<br/><br/>“We’re talking about a whole kingdom of Abyssal ghouls, Jhess.  I don’t think they’ll appreciate your tolerance for nuance when they’re dining on your paralyzed flesh.”  Jhessail frowned, but didn’t argue the point.  Renilda just smiled at her and licked her lips.  “Anyway, to the east is the Curswallow Sea, or at least the endless expanse of water that passes for such in the Abyss.  The waters of the Abyss could lead to many different places, though finding passage would be difficult.  Then there’s the west, the Seeping Woods, which seems to be a border of Yeenoghu’s control.  It looks like there may be some sort of logging camp that direction, and even if we ignore that, there’s escaping into the forest and seeing where it takes us.  In any case, we’re looking to find the Infinite Staircase, the only relatively safe path we could find cutting straight past all the layers and up out of the Abyss.<br/><br/>As they discussed, sometimes Allizsah would pause at a corner or bottom of a staircase, look side to side, and gesture for them to move forward.  It seemed most of the gnolls here were either indolently lazing about, gorging themselves on food, booze, and sex, or very begrudgingly marching on their way to some duty.  In any case, it was fairly simple to avoid notice or wait for a wandering monster to pass by.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Escape Routes</div><div class="spoiler_body">Sketchy choices include:<br/>North to the Screaming Peaks and a gate to the civilized kingdom of ghouls<br/>East to the Curswallow Sea, looking for any waterway shortcut<br/>West to the Seeping Woods to escape the Realm directly, bound for any bordering layer</div></div>