How to properly abort a node.js promise chain using Q?

This is a case where you will need to branch, which does mean either nesting or creating a subroutine.

function doTask(task, callback) {
    return Q.ncall(task.step1, task)
    .then(function(result1) {
        if (result1) return result1;
        return Q.ncall(task.step2, task)
        .then(function(result2) {
            return Q.ncall(task.step3, task);
        })
    })
    .nodeify(callback)
}

Or

function doTask(task, callback) {
    return Q.ncall(task.step1, task)
    .then(function(result1) {
        if (result1) {
            return result1;
        } else {
            return continueTasks(task);
        }
    })
    .nodeify(callback)
}

function continueTasks(task) {
    return Q.ncall(task.step2, task)
    .then(function(result2) {
        return Q.ncall(task.step3, task);
    })
}