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Night Below has a goal, and there is little to distract the player from that end until at least the derro enclave. Even so, there is still room for the DM to add new lairs and encounters to the underworld system. In general, the wandering monster table should complement the "side treks", and vice versa.
"Upper Caverns" really applies to the two long tunnel networks on the hither side of X1, not to "30 miles of the starting point". If the DM hasn't handed out enough XP's yet, the "Lower Caverns" between X1 and area 16 are where to put them.
The deepspawn, writes Aardy DeVarque, is a killer. Use it as the upper standard for these encounters. The encounters should challenge but not be stronger than the party. Ropers, for example, are too powerful for beginners.
When the party is ready, add some mind flayer kidnapper patrols to the wandering monster tables in the Upper Caverns. Handout 13 places an illithid party four days behind the grell nest on a southward journey, that is, four days to the north. They also show up to help (or replace) the Bloodskull orcs (I.63, II.2). But by all means wait until the PC's have (1) opened up a gap in the monster table by slaughtering some stray Bloodskull orcs, say, and (2) gained some XP.
The "purple worm" encounter ought to be treated as a special worm encounter. In the derro demesne beyond area 16, the encounter really is a purple worm. For other "purple worm" encounters, use a worm appropriate to its sector. In the Lower Caverns between the gnomes and area 16, I use tunnel worms (see below).
The Rockseers know of bulettes and umber hulks (II.31), and one of the latter might lair near X4 (II.35). The grell hunt (II.13); take them from the ranks of II.14 room 5 and have them return to it when wounded if possible. The rakshasa-led hook horrors are defensive and territorial; they will not hunt to the same range as grell and quaggoths (II.17-18). But the party might meet one of the rakshasa's horror scouts looking for the ruhk. Add to the tables at will.
The derro and kuo-toa don't bother policing the system beyond area 16, and the deep gnomes don't venture beyond X1 (II.3), at least, not since they drew Handout 12 (II.11). Historically, the gnomes and derro competed for living space and resources. Now, the illithids hold X2 against the gnomes, and the aboleth just hold the derro. All sides shun the hazardous system between X1 and the Juiblex shrine where possible. Besides, it does a good job filtering out intruders on its own.
As for the quaggoth absence from the Lower Cavern tables, see under "Quaggoths and Drow".
There are other svirfneblin tribes in the Underdark (III.33). Haranshire's limestone caverns do not support the gem-mining a gnome would want. The local svirfneblin are presumably extracting lead and copper from below just as humans and dwarves work from above (someone's gotta do it...). These gnomes haven't heard of the Rockseers even in their legends; and, contrary to most deep gnomes (Monster Mythology p.71) and despite that they do know of drow (III.3), their race enemy is not drow but derro (II.11-12). In addition their burial grounds are barely populated. In other words, they arrived here at a late time, when the drow had already started avoiding this sector of the Underdark. If expanding the gnome presence, place living caves north of X1 and derro-sacked ruins anywhere.
Night Below's grell are Second Edition, which are different from those of Fiend Folio - and Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. In the latter Monte Cook granted the rogue grell a high constitution. In NB, the "Champion Philosopher" has extra hit points, so give it the high constitution and Fortitude of the rogue. Otherwise consult this conversion.
If there are other sedentary creatures in this region, they keep to themselves. While a dragon may seem an ideal reclusive sentient, in my opinion they're represented enough in the first two books. There are already two big ones in area 17 and a green dragon above ground. I would wait for an offshoot of Book III to add more. You can also make the lack of spiders a conspicuous absence (see the "Quaggoths and Drow" section below).
A better sentient addition would be pech. They don't appear in the encounters, but according to the MM supplement some Rockseers are on good terms with them. One could even use the pech as a link to S4, Caverns of Tsojcanth, and the single-hex pech encounter from the rear of the GDQ1-7 compilation book. Make them the pranksters the deep gnomes should have been. And give them an exiled deep tinker gnome. (Tinker gnomes are engineers and inventors. Incompetent ones.) Playing these guys off against the svirfneblin will inject some comedy into the campaign.
The most glaring example of a wandering monster with an off-map lair is the gargoyles. These are magical constructs and must derive from a source. There's no need for them all to be traditional gargoyles; John Baichtal's article in Dragon #223 pp. 20-23 can help you diversify them.
I mentioned earlier that ledgeway and wormhole hazards double as map-extensions. The two upper-level wormhole hazards are unconnected and thus host different populations (if not species) of purple and/or tunnel worms. Since X4 contains purple worms, I suggest the wormholes in the Lower Caverns should lead to tunnel worms. The 1e Monster Manual II has the tunnels as only two feet high, but gnomes can manage it. This encounter covers that and leads to the gargoyles as well.
While you're stocking the expanded dungeon with encounters, remember to add hazards as well. To diversify natural hazards, try unstable ceilings, floods, bad air (and gas), sinkholes, tight squeezes, and derro-set traps. Additional fungal hazards could include the Chromatic Mold (Keith Strohm, Dragon Annual #1 p. 39) and the Carapace and Fireweed (Wolfgang Baur, Dragon #227 p. 24, 27).
Past the grell lair and surrounding warrens, the curse which wiped out the Rockseer clan in area 15 has not been explained (I.33), but it won't figure into the party's quest until at least after they have all met the Rockseers. By then the party will have taken out a number of derro warrens beyond area 16.
The Rockseer clans of those cursed caves had been dabbling in magical wards against unnatural evil; in area 15, the Lifestone still remains in a prominent location. (II.21, 33) It may not be irrelevant that their former home is now infested by ropers, whom Rockseers know and fear as twisted parodies of overworld trees (III.3, 4). Drow also fear ropers, according to Johnathan Richards; he also says that this is why Lolth's yochlol appear in roper form (Dragon #232 p. 46).
Now, this interpretation deviates from the text. Carl Sargent claimed that the ropers came here because of the gems, with the xorn. However, unlike xorn, ropers do not eat nor have any other use for gems. Ropers are found with gems only when they've killed and possibly digested those who own them, and this according to the Monstrous Manual (p. 304). Nor are they using the gems as bait; this region has been known to be cursed and flat-out interdicted to gnomes for some time. They could be collecting the gems to use as bait elsewhere, but the xorn are preventing that. I have elected to associate the ropers with the curse; a curse Lolth and her yochlol levelled against the Rockseers for an unspecified offense before the days of Pajarifan (their original neutrality? a later "betrayal"?).
Related to this, there are bound to be more Rockseer clans, or evidence of such, hidden away. In the Book II maps, these have been preceded with glassrock, flux points, and possibly razorrock (described in II.19 and DM Reference Card #3). If there are or were gems present, the Rockseers generally set up an antipathy against gnomes, and probably xorn too (II.19). Abandoned caves may additionally have been affected by the aforementioned curse. Only a "cursed" cave or a creature who has robbed such a cave may hold a Lifestone or similar item.
Now to integrate this with the plot of Book II. For a good portion of that section (and possibly beyond, if they didn't follow up some of the obvious clues), the party will know of the Rockseers not at all; or, some will know them as a dimly-remembered dream, but those will conceal even this from the rest of the party. Therefore area 15 should be the pivotal Rockseer ruin. Lairs before that should be a total mystery; lairs after that won't reveal much more than did area 15.
If some of the PC's have met the Rockseers, they will be geased to spend a lot of time searching for the sapphire dragon. Logically they will waste time ransacking every Rockseer cave they come across, starting with area 15 (a place Rockseers haven't looked, thanks to the "curse"). This is a point where good role-playing will run against party cohesion. ("Abbathor's beard! We just WENT there! $#%^ elves...") The present Rockseers suspect - accurately - the statuette to be somewhere on the way to the City of the Glass Pool; they are watching that area (II.33-34). The DM should add to area 15 a few clues pointing generally downward.
These hints can't be too direct. The Rockseers never dealt with derro and do not know that the derro hold the dragon statuette, or they'd have taken it by now. And the derro need not have stolen the statuette directly from the Rockseers; in fact, given that the derro arrived recently and show no evidence of knowing the Rockseers - the renegades don't even know the aboleth (II.41) - I doubt they could. Finally, the statuette went missing centuries ago (II.45), possibly even before the derro arrived. (As for its current location, I think it far too convenient that the dragon just happens to be in the clutches of those derro on the way to the City of the Glass Pool. Especially since the PC's will end up backtracking to the Rockseer cave anyway. This extra legwork will strike the PC's as boring, time-consuming, and over-linear. This is another good reason to expand the derro section, but more on that elsewhere.)
Only when the dragon has been found will all the party be introduced to the Rockseers; and only then can the party take note of the "curse". To keep PC's from stumbling into this subplot by accident, and finding out too much too soon, II.45 offers the perfect plot barrier: the pivotal lairs will not be accessible through mundane travel at all. As mentioned in Night Below's "Monstrous Manual" supplement, any living clans will be in caverns entirely sealed from the rest of the system. These are reachable only by flux points or by physically passing through the seal. The "three-mile stretch of glassrock" between the City of the Glass Pool and the Sunless Sea (III.7) could be one example of such a seal, if the PC's are clued in enough to notice. On the other hand, the Rockseers may have done it to trick outsiders.
Now to expand on the relations between Rockseers and the rest of the world. The Rockseers once had some contact with the drow and svirfneblin; the former is stated directly in the text (as hatred in the MM supplement), and the latter is implied by the antipathy spell on their old home (although these were not the gnomes of area 10!). Drow inhabited the isle of the Sunless Sea now called Sunkenhome, but since its sinking few drow have ventured beyond the land of the aboleth (III.2). And the deep gnomes here arrived after the drow had left and the Rockseers had hidden themselves. The Rockseers are not keen to re-establish ties with either race.
I've stricken all mention of Sunkenhome off the Rockseer map Handout 21. The Rockseers haven't had to hear "tales of a sunken elvish city"; many were alive at the time it sank. The map implies that the Rockseers think Sunkenhome disappeared forever (as, I'm sure, do the quaggoths and deep gnomes). I personally don't think the PC's should be given all the secrets of the Great Cavern at once, so I suggest the Rockseers will not think to inform the PC's of its former coordinates unless the PC's specifically ask for them. While you're at it, feel free to simplify the mention of illithids and especially the mad derro on that map. They can get that information from III.2 and II.41.
At any rate, few denizens of the depths have seen or even know of the Rockseers, and fewer of those care to discuss their information with elves from the surface. On those extremely rare occasions, the surface elves naturally assume that they are referring to good-aligned drow, lost elven adventurers, or fungal hallucinations. Individual Rockseers have seen surface elves on occasion, but their shame is so great that they refuse to accept what they've seen. The glouras may know of the Rockseers, but they are if anything even more reclusive (Wolfgang Baur, Dragon #227 p. 28).
Note that quaggoths - Underdark humanoids - are currently ranging much closer to the surface than they normally like. Presumably they were pushed out of the Lower Caverns by the hook horrors, and out of other areas by the illithids. There may be an additional, temporary quaggoth lair in the upper caverns. If so, it will look more like a refugee camp than a home. Otherwise, the DM could alter the midlevel encounter tables to take the quaggoths of area 15 into account. It could even be that the quaggoths use their own accessways to the upper levels with their own encounter tables; if so, connect area 15 with the troll-less area 12 by secret tunnels, such that the passage passes over or under the illithid bypass. Because these tunnels bypass the grell, treat wide stretches of them as a "hazardous footing" hazard for non-quaggoths, and throw in some traps.
The quaggoths may be a fallen surface civilization, but even so, not from here; they came to Haranshire as servants of the now-departed drow. (Fiend Folio, Monstrous Manual, Dragon #265) These quaggoths' language will be an Underdark creole vaguely derived from drow. The quaggoths are too far away and in too precarious a position to be working for the drow now.
Given the quaggoths, the curse, the Rockseer contacts, and the presence of an anti-drow sword (Finslayer), it is certain that the drow once maintained a presence above room 16. Sargent included all of two dark elves in Night Below. One is a mad exile in an optional encounter, and the other is undead; both are in Book III. In my opinion there should be an overt reference closer to home. The DM is encouraged to add an abandoned drow outpost; here's how I'd do it. It will be minor and even the banshees will be dead, but there remain house insignia connected to Sunkenhome. The quaggoths of area 14 do not venture into area 15, and it's safe to say that when their drow masters were still here, the drow avoided it too.
Because the quaggoths have been so thoroughly isolated from the Great Cavern, they remember little substantive about their lives as drow subjects. The quaggoths and the extremely rare drow in the area did on a few occasions mention their "sunken home" (one of many drow terms that the quaggoths picked up) to the derro, and derro navigators subsequently gave that name to the submerged drow city (see below). What its original name was, what the quaggoths currently remember, and what the Rockseers, kuo-toa, illithids et al. are calling it now, I leave to the DM.
These quaggoths hate surface elves as do all others, but may be desperate enough to let it slide for the time being.
For area 16, some background: before Night Below, Carl Sargent wrote DMGR4, Monster Mythology. That "Rules Supplement" is important for understanding Sargent's views on the gods worshipped down here, or at least his earlier views. For example, in 1992 Sargent had not yet thought of the Blood Queen; an aboleth semi-priesthood instead worshipped Juiblex (DMGR4 p. 67), believing that the slime demon kept their skins moist when out of water. Unfortunately, Juiblex is insanely chaotic and the aboleth are rigidly lawful. Sargent realized this and backtracked in Night Below, but he still planted a shrine to the reclusive tanar'ri in what amounts to the aboleths' back door. He also took it seriously enough to make it a compulsory encounter. In game terms, it appears the shrine was built and is maintained by past and/or present "heretics" within aboleth society. The Blood Queen is cynical enough to tolerate this minor apostasy as long as the shrine remains useful, that is, as long as it eliminates unwanted guests.
Since the aboleth built the shrine, why not include a hint of aboleth presence? The savants - loyal to the Blood Queen - won't want their chaotic allies in area 16 to go marauding among the derro. Wolfgang Baur (Dragon #222, pp. 90-94) has some ideas on the glyphs and sigils the aboleth might use to keep the oozes and demons where they are. These should also serve to foreshadow the glyphs used in Book III. The Glyph of Enfeeblement is popular in Great Shaboath. The aboleth would also use the Glyph of Watching, and possibly the Glyph of Creeping Horror. I'd earlier recommended the Glyph of Enslavement, but I suggest the Glyph of Nightmare as a less detectable alternative.
If the party has not defeated the rakshasa of area 14, the party might encounter hook horror scouts in area 16. After that point, there will be a migration of the entire horror lair into 16, to hunt down the renegade ruhk.
Past area 16, there is at least one illithid watch point, at X6. Aboleth glyphs can be used here too. If you're really feeling cruel, the mind flayers should particularly enjoy the Glyph of Devouring the Mind.
The aggressive purple worms of X4 may also be an illithid plant. They've certainly come into contact; unfortunately for one illithid in particular they are not easily trained. There will be an egg chamber. There may also be a Neothelid (see Cordell's Illithiad), lurking deep within the caves. You may even be able to link the wormholes with the derro regions, of which more below...
Here, I have to go over the origins of the derro, as it does have an effect on the campaign. I (now) consider the Third Edition Monster Manual to be standard AD&D canon, followed by other hardbound materials intended for the game at large. After this comes the campaign set in question, supplemented by its author's preference gleaned from other material he (in this case) may have written. Where they conflict, I judge based on how integral the author's deviation is to the campaign. To give two examples: Carl Sargent wrote that ropers like gems, and that aboleth have a priesthood. This page ruled against him on the former and for him on the latter.
In Monster Mythology, Carl Sargent changed the derro savants from sages into sorcerors (my spelling). The second-edition Monstrous Manual, released a year after DMGR4, did not go as far; it left the question open. Sargent appears to have accepted this ambiguity for Night Below, which barely mentions Diirinka. The current edition of Monster Manual takes the middle ground: it defines the savant as a Sorcerer, but there are Clerics too. My conversion of Night Below's savants into 3rd edition appears here.
Also in dispute are derro origins. According to Second Edition canon, the derro were created by Suel wizards on the planet Oerth, of some race of dwarf and humans. These degenerates emerged from the dungeons of the Sea of Dust some five centuries ago, when a party of illithids met them in the caverns of some world, which one matters not. It was actually the drow of that world which first found them, but it was through the illithids that word spread to nearly all the worlds of the Prime Material. (Monstrous Manual p. 96, Dragon #241 pp. 40-43)
Recently Driz'zt Do'Urden of Faerun has been quoted, "some speculate that the legendary (sic) derro may the result of illithid breeding experiments between [Clan D]uergar and humans" (Drizzt Do'Urden's Guide to the Underdark p. 19). Contradicting both views, the legendary saga of the loss of the Axe of the Dwarvish Lords involves a hideous thing called the Abomination of Diirinka, wreaking havoc long before the derro supposedly arose.
Carl Sargent did say that the derro "powers" featured in the deep gnome creation myths. However, there are other hints in that campaign that derro did not appear in the region's understanding until after the drow had already gone. One of these hints is that the gnomes are focused so much more on derro than on drow, contrary to DMGR. Another is that Finslayer, a centuries-old sword, is conversely focused on drow and does not care about derro at all. I conclude that derro belong to the legendary cycle(s), not the myth cycle.
Also, Diirinka is the one true god of the derro. Only the renegade chieftain-savant knows better (II.41; Monster Mythology, p. 59), although there will certainly be horror stories of the gaunt, mad derro who stalks the caverns every fifty years. The gnomes may even have guessed the mad derro to be one of the derro "Powers", but not its name nor its true nature. They do know that this derro is not worshipped. By the same token, they may assume that the evil dwarven deities Abbathor and Laduguer are also derro, possibly even Urdlen, despite that none of these are worshipped by derro. (II.12) Legends are always contradictory.
Finally, the Abomination may not have been of Diirinka at the time it first appeared. It is apparently a xorn twisted by chaotic energies. The derro powers probably discovered a way to recreate it - or harness it - during their mad magical researches. That it needs be killed in its home dimension hints at contact with dimensions alien to the space-time of this realm.
Whichever world Haranshire happens to be on, however the derro arrived in the area, and whenever in the last 500 years they did it, the Haranshire derros' first "Uniting War" hit the svirfneblin particularly hard. It continued to hit them hard every twenty years, with the kuo-toa too often caught in the middle, until the aboleth finally subjugated the derro.
Back to the adventure. The "Kraal Nexus" of Dungeon #67 was suggested for Night Below; if it's used, it should be placed around X5. (The myconid could have been kidnapped from the optional area of Book III.) I encourage the DM to expand the derro caverns by any means possible; here are reasons and ideas.
The derro know more than Book II credits them. They have sailed the Sunless Sea and are smart and (possibly) willing enough to share information on it. However, they arrived late enough that they don't know the history. They do have one over on the Rockseers; in their taverns some of their explorers have whispered eyewitness accounts of a sunken, haunted city in the midst of the lightless ocean, guarded by cunning flying spiders. As for the other derro power: it should come as a surprise in Book III when the PC's find the Isle of Derangement, with evidence of Diirinka's tormented, betrayed twin brother Diinkarazan. All derro know of the Isle, but few know its origin; none speak of it.
For Book III and final comments, to next page
20 February 2001 - latest editions. 24 June 2001, moved this site from the old location and fixed up the derro history. 14 July - link to derro savant prestige class. 1 August - link to Glyph of Nightmare. 4 August - split off less-specific suggestions. 18 August - looked at worms, split page to two sections. 10 November - tunnel worms are ready for the big time. 18 Nov, 5 Dec - Better organisation.