{"id":493,"date":"2025-04-23T12:42:47","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T10:42:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.wyrdingmedia.org\/?p=493"},"modified":"2025-10-10T15:42:45","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T13:42:45","slug":"descent-into-the-underdrake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wyrdingmedia.org\/index.php\/2025\/04\/23\/descent-into-the-underdrake\/","title":{"rendered":"Descent into the Underdrake"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Some are born to sweet delight,<br>Some are born to endless night.<br>&#8212; William Blake<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.wyrdingmedia.org\/index.php\/2025\/04\/25\/the-city-of-dundrake\/\">Dundrake<\/a>, capital of the kingdom of Celidon, is famed far and wide as <em>Dundrake the Deep<\/em> or the <em>Twice-Built City<\/em>, due to the ancient subterranean undercity below. Despite its importance and wealth wealth, many of its destitute inhabitants live short, brutish and often violent lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dundrake stands as an ancient metropolis built upon limestone foundations of enigmatic prehistoric settlements. Through centuries, its inhabitants carved extensive mines into the bedrock, extracting stone that rose to form majestic walls and towers crowning the emerging capital. When the vast network of cavities beneath the burgeoning city began causing dangerous sinkholes and structural collapses, mining operations ceased. Throughout the years the city&#8217;s pestilent and overcrowded cemeteries were emptied and the countless remains relocated into the abandoned tunnels below. Today, these extensive labyrinths of quarries, catacombs, and ancient ruins beneath are known collectively as the &#8220;Underdrake&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Above, the cruel city offers you only grinding poverty. Below, in the darkness of the Underdrake, lies opportunity. You are a <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.wyrdingmedia.org\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/scavs\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"529\">Scav<\/a>\u2014tomb reaver, relic seeker, catacomb crawler\u2014one of the desperate few chasing fortune and glory in the forgotten depths. Grip your torch, draw your steel, ready your spells. Forge your legend in the labyrinth below, or die trying!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A mini-campaign for <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/yF7lkKilVnI?si=AhYrBMPLjsVKY7Cm\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/yF7lkKilVnI?si=AhYrBMPLjsVKY7Cm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Shadowdark<\/a> starting soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;69eb8ff9d4f6c&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core\/image\" data-wp-key=\"69eb8ff9d4f6c\" class=\"wp-block-image size-full wp-lightbox-container\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"943\" height=\"1048\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.wyrdingmedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/piranesi_catacomb.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-495\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.wyrdingmedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/piranesi_catacomb.jpg 943w, https:\/\/blog.wyrdingmedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/piranesi_catacomb-270x300.jpg 270w, https:\/\/blog.wyrdingmedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/piranesi_catacomb-921x1024.jpg 921w, https:\/\/blog.wyrdingmedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/piranesi_catacomb-768x854.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.wyrdingmedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/piranesi_catacomb-900x1000.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 943px) 100vw, 943px\" \/><button\n\t\t\tclass=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\taria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n\t\t\taria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n\t\t\t\t<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some are born to sweet delight,Some are born to endless night.&#8212; William Blake Dundrake, capital of the kingdom of Celidon, is famed far and wide as Dundrake the Deep or the Twice-Built City, due to the ancient subterranean undercity below. Despite its importance and wealth wealth, many of its destitute inhabitants live short, brutish and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,20,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gaming","category-lore-bits","category-worldbuilding"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wyrdingmedia.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wyrdingmedia.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wyrdingmedia.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wyrdingmedia.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wyrdingmedia.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wyrdingmedia.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":665,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wyrdingmedia.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493\/revisions\/665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wyrdingmedia.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wyrdingmedia.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wyrdingmedia.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}