The Burrowers

Plot points/Scenes

Before the collapse of civilisation, there were a few who predicted disaster at the sighting of the ki-rin descending, that began to plan to save themselves by digging underground lairs to hide away and begin anew when the world came back to life. These groups of various races and religions are collectively know as the wise burrowers, those who dug to safety. Most are lost to the world, with the exception of the one that constitutes the sewers of the capital of the valley.
The Dwarven Hideout - Upon the mountains to the West of the valley lay the ruins of the old dwarven settlements, mines and forts. Currently invested with demonic creatures remaining from the great collapse, they were once home to the largest group of pureblood dwarves. Those who predicted the end begged that mines be disconnected, allowing them to be protected from encoming disaster, but they were ignored. On the day that Yeenagu and his armies swept the mountains, most dwarves attempted to defend their forts and cities as they had for thousands of years, but they were soon overrun. Those that attempted to hide in the mines were followed and massacred. A few managed to block off this mines by causing a collapse. One mine collapsed the entire shaft and all inside were crushed to death. Another soon run out of food and attempted to dig out towards another tunnel, but were mistaken for gnolls and massacred in an ambush, with the few survivors blocking the exit and both tunnels starving to death after eating one another. One tunnel continued downwards in an attempt to reach the underdark and strike a bargain with a faction beneath the surface. When they reached the caverns of the underworld, and surviving assaults from hungry predators, they were enslaved by a faction of drow, over centuries becoming the druegar, a twisted mockery of their former selves. Only one tunnel had properly stocked enough food in storage to be able to survive. Over time they leaned the secrets of underground farming, growing mushrooms on cavern walls, berries in underground streams, and rearing small moles as food and for their hides or leather. This settlement flurished underground until a rivalry for the leadership became violent and a skirmish caused a collapse sealing off some settlers and one of the food stores. In an attempt to resolve the matter, one faction of roughly half the group dug to the surface and left the tunnel into the world, their descendents make up the majority of the continent's dwarven population, although they never returned home after unexpectedly running into some gnoll witherlings upon exiting. The dwarves had spent days absorbed in as much bright light as they could muster, and yet some never fully readjusted to the sun, leading them back to form new mines across other mountain ranges. The ones who remained continued to expand until some disaster occurred and they were never heard from again.

Quest from a remote settlement is to discover the farming methods of the dwarven underground settlement, whilst uncovering the ill-fate of the dwarves. The answer is that a dwarf who dug into an old crypt uncovered a vampire who in a bloodlust slaughtered the entire settlement before returning back to their coffin and returning to rest. Over centuries the vampires became vampiric mist, which still lingers on.

The druids of the woods were a band of primarily wood elves who created an underground lair in the depths of the cedarwood forest, using trees as secret magical entrance ways, and using druidic magic to create secret passages below into an underground base that resembled a forest itself. Natural light was used by creating one way light passageways through tree roots and bushes, allowing food to be grown underground on trees, with apples, pears and blackberries making the primary diet. Some deer and other animals were raised and slaughtered in accordance with the needs of the tribe, and over the centuries the beliefs of the forest druids became stronger and stronger into something alike a cult mentality came into being. Since the re-emergence the druids have remained headquartered within their lair, but have expanded their influence throughout the forest. Following the instability of the political factions, the draconic influence look to regain woodland territory from the druids as their access to some old mountain bases and forts is hindered with a lack of supplies, thus leading to a pitched battle with the dragonbloods and their kobold allies torching swathes of the forest nearest the mountain in an attempt to clear a highway, building a palisade during the night, and repulsing a counter-attack the following morning by mercenary allies of the druids. This bought enough for the main druidic force to assemble, and in the late afternoon a second assault lead by magical creature riding druids broke the palisade, and the combined force routed the dragonbloods, but not without sustaining losses and the destruction of some ancient trees. This attack sways the druidic elders into a more aggressive military expansion and a combined forces doctrine, with the human mercenaries being formally inducted as an auxiliary regiment and given housing within the great forest. A new dictatorial leader is elected and given the title of supreme commander, who authorises raids on the mountain forts both as retaliation and to confiscate useful supplies for their allies. The druids reach out to new age overlords who the druids see a potential co-existence with. A formal alliance is sealed in the following weeks, with the druids supplying patrols with food and supplies, and creating forest outposts for the soldiers, in exchange for the overlords supplying coin for the auxiliary corps and training them.
A community of humans developed in the mountains in isolation during the collapse, having crash landed in escape pods during a failed observation run of the planet. They didn't land with any weapons, and their fuel was used or burned up, but some circuitry still remains which can reused or salvaged. Their hideout in the mountains is the remains of their shuttles built together to create a defensive fortification, They

Parent Plot

The Return of the World Enders

Related Organizations

• Cult of the New-Age Overlord
• The Cult of the Druidic Mastery