The Return of the World Enders

The incorporation of gnollls and yeenagu into the world, posing as the destroyers of ancient civilisation, fated to return when the battle of the gods returned to the material plane,

Structure

Exposition

Eons ago, long before any living memory, there was a series of great ancient civilisations around the world, with the reminants clear to see in some current great cities and the like. These ancient peoples formed kingdoms of different races, with the elves taking the forests, the men the land, the dwarves the mountains, and the others forming stronghold settlements in the midst. They eventually fromed some neutrality agreement and prospored in the ancient peace. It was after several centuries of true peace that cracks began to immerge, the orcs, driven crazy from their bloodlust and tired of raiding the underworld, turned on the halfllings who were almost helpless to defend themselves, in a matter of months they were hunted and enslaved en mass for the greed of the orcs. The goblinoids, long oppressed and tired of heavy rule, mostly left the continent, but the few who remained went into hiding, launching raids on small settlements. From the great above came a magical creature of legend -  a ki-rin, a messenger of the gods. It floated down from the heavens and attacked the evil of the world where possible, gifting the powers of leadership and combat once more to the world. It was in this moment that Yeenagu, lord of the gnolls and archdemon, swept through from the abyss and entered the material plane. A three pronged attack lead by the three captains of the demonlord swept through the world, destroying swathes of land and ruining the order of the world. The ki-rin was slain by yeenagu himself, whipped to death by the three headed flail. It was only a grand ritual held by many representatibrs of the gods that rose from their slumber a host of dragons and other mighty beasts. In a great pitched battle yeenagu was defeated by an elven mage, champion of the world, and banished back into hell with his army destroyed. Following the battle the elven mage made a bid to take control, to sieze power, and the ritual backfired. The mosters destrroyed what little was left, and the world returned to a dark ages for many a millenia.
In the last century, there have been over a dozen forecasts of disaster by prophets of most religions, although unverified after the gods removed direct contact and control over the world.

Conflict

The secrets of the ancient ritual are located on the private island of a morkorth, a true agent of chaose and collector of strange artifact throughout the mulitverse. A scrying is required to seek out such a private island.
The trail leads to a crashed morkorth asteroid in the depths of the world pier, which was the cause of an extinction event before the great collapse. Kept safe within this minature world on the magical island is a merchant caravan from the ancient civiilisation that may have an item of great sacrifice or sentiment, perhaps a sword with a dark historry, or a family heirloom. Swimming to the depths of the crater and breaking the magical seal of the morkorth's world by gifting it an item of significance or intrigue to the morkorth will grant a short access period, as this morkoth relies on carriers after the asteroid crashlanded. The creature may at some point investigate the visitors but will not attack, unless it sees the party taking anything from it's prized collection. 
This item can be used by a drow seer in a ritual to see into the past to look into the magical weave of the object and plot a time when a major distrubance in the weave could be felt, or more specifically when yeenagu invaded and what the magical disturbances where. This information can be used in drow predictive prophecy to begin to prepare for the second coming. In return from this they will provide direction into the shadowfell where a different morkoth can be found and a different item can be found in the great bay. This is not a fruitful endevour, as nothing can be found from around the time period. Finally, into the feywild where a third and final morkoth has inside it contained a dead priest of the lost empire, a half-elf, and hence under the guidance of a powerful magical identity, those that could provide warlock bonds, can return the soul into a new body as a guide to find the astral plane where the cursed elven mage is hides.

Rising Action

The first morkoth island is one of a tropical nature, making medium or heavy armour uncomfortable to wear. This island is sand around the edge, with a brilliant, dazzling blue sea which curves upwards like a tidal wave, but never falls. In the water are fish the size of dogs, with humanoid faces of various races, elven, orc, hobgoblin and so forth. The fish are brightly coloured and slowly change as they move, making the water in places look like a swirling rainbow. The largest of the fish throw themselves onto the beach, struggling to move up towards the great bank and the grass beyond. When they reach some half way along the beach, they begin growing limbs, some eight legs, some four, some two and two arms. They fast mature until they hit the bank where they become a different creature altogether. Conversely, elderly creatures, frail grey spiders, old elves, saggy skinned panthers and some scaly looking beasts, return slowly towards the ocean. Upon touching the sand, they slow to a crawl as they move toward the warterline. With no warning or indication, they beging shrinking, losing any feature that may distringush themselves from any other, and return slowly to their old form, a great fish, with a strange face. The plants rise and shrink at random, some familiar, the oak and birch and pine of the surface world, some seaweed and riverweed, bushes and thickets, thistles, holly, parm trees, catcii and fruit trees. They ripen and wither, bloom and shrivel, whole lifecycles happening in minutes. In the sky which loops high from coast to coast, the beaming lights come from five or more circles, each an irregular changing of colour pattern. In the centre, a great mound is topped by a wooden barricade, ramparts and towers covering almost every small part of it's circumference. Around the base circles a mist, unlike any other, almost beyond discription. The island is dotted with ruined buildings of different designs and purposes, each filled to the brim with strange artifacts. To enter the lair one must knock on each of the doors of these houses, which opens a doorway upon the inner mound, which rotates at irregular intervals. Inside is a sprawling maze of tunnels and storage rooms, containing the most valuable treasures horded by the Morkorth.

Subplots

• The Burrowers