Hi,
I agree with everyone that people should figure their own way out of the DR (and that they should experiment with the Planeshift world in general) but my problem was that a staircase I needed was completely black (and so invisible.) I don\'t think anyone should need to experiment with completely invisible staircases early on in the game, and especially not in the DR, where the noobz are just trying to grok what the heck is going on in this game.
If you are standing on the red platform that seems to go nowhere, try going up an invisible staircase to your left. Hug the wall to your left closely enough not to fall, but also walk far enough away from the wall so that you can progress up the (what was for me) invisible staircase without running into the wall on your left. After I reached the top I was able to see everything (no invisible walkways!) so now you can have fun exploring the DR and finding your way out.
If you fall or otherwise get stuck in what seems like a permanent way, try typing /die or /unstick (or is it /unstuck?) into your chat box.