Tempest Peak, Portal out

[Yurie]

Would it be possible to add a portal out from Tempest Peak? Was trying a playthrough without the Rod and realised I was stuck. :/

[Mewtarthio]

Urkis will drop the Rod if it hasn't been dropped already. You even get an achievement for it.

Unless you meant that the Rod did drop, but you just refused to pick it up?

[Yurie]

Urkis will drop the Rod if it hasn't been dropped already. You even get an achievement for it.

Unless you meant that the Rod did drop, but you just refused to pick it up?

I played Skeleton, killed the first boss. Left the area without looting the corpse. Didn't notice anything until I was about to leave the next area. I then continued playing until I got stuck here.

Master didn't drop next item in quest chain either so the game was for all intents and purposes impossible to complete.

[bricks]

As a historical note, the rod used to drop specifically from Urkis. You can still see this reflected in some of the quest dialogue. I think it would be reasonable for killing Urkis to reveal a portal back to Maj'Eyal (or even Derth).

What's a rodless run like? I've never really considered it a reliable or useful escape option, so it's never occurred to me to play without it.