Darkshine Caves

The **Darkshine Caves** is an location known for its areas of light and darkness.

## Areas

* **Base Camp**: The base camp begins already inside the ground for no natural sunlight to reach it. The light is from the fire from the torches put up and from the yellow glowing rocks, which are actually crystals, around the walls. The only way to go is through to Area 1.
* **Area 1**: Three ways branch off. The top leads to the areas of light, the middle leads to mixed, the bottom leads to the dark areas. Not much is here other than that, other than that there are no crystals. Connects to Area 2, 10, and 8.
* **Area 2**: Ones entrance to the light section of the caves is greeted by a sight of colour. Rocks are coloured golden from the crystals in the place, as it is with the other places in this area.
* **Area 3**: Stalagmites litter the floor, them being the same colour as the crystals. Using them this area is useful for mounting attacks on monsters here.
* **Area 4**: Fossilised plants and insects line the walls here, with a large golden bone in the left of unknown origin.
* **Area 5**: A large circular area with a pond of water in the middle, with ground surrounding it in a ring formation. Plesioth begins here, with water pouring from the ceiling in several holes to continuously fill the water.
* **Area 6**: There is a crack in the wall here that leaks water filling up a small pond. Fishing is possible here from that.
* **Area 7**: A quite pretty looking place. The amount of crystals in the area has allowed for lush plant life to grow in here, adding a green glow along with the yellow. There is a tree covered with gold and lime crystals that can be gathered from. Some Sheara Fruit grows here among the branches. Most monsters of light nature or neutral sleep here.
* **Area 8**: Among ones first ventures into the dark section of the caves one shall immediately find purple stalactites above. The walls are covered with dark webbing, allowing one to climb up to reach them by jumping.
* **Area 9**: The crystals in this zone have collapsed and broken, leaving the area very dark in appearance. Bones are seen scattered across the floor along with the crystals, giving an impression a monster did this out of annoyance or protection.
* **Area 10**: The largest area in this cave. Here, the light and dark crystals in the caves both clash with each other in a lightshow.
* **Area 11**: Small sharp rocks poke out from the ground along the floor of the area that will gradually take away health if remaining standing on them. They appear to have been caused due to the walls and ceiling breaking up from inflicted damage.
* **Area 12**: The main shrine of darkness in this place resides here in the form of a pillar of purple and red. It appears to flow strangely, and can be gathered from. There are dangerous plants here that glow a vile purplish black, along with also purple vines growing to the pillar. There is a pile of rubble that can be destroyed that reveals Area 13.
* **Area 13**: A secret area revealed by bombing/destroying the rubble in Area 12. Here is a gruesome sight. All across this place are the mostly skeletal remains of Cantios and Shadow Cantios littered around. It appears a huge battle took place that brought this area crumbling down to seal these masters tombs. It is dark and without any background noise to add to the scene.
* **Area 14**: This place hangs over a large bottomless hole to the right that's end cannot be seen. It is shaped like a curving bridge across to the other side. Being in the dark section it is also dark with only some purple crystals for little light, and also features bones littered across it too.
* **Area 15**: Nest area located in the dark section. Most monsters of dark nature sleep here from the ceiling, or in the carved out circle in the ground. Unlike the other zones the bones here still have flesh on them, having being recently slain herbivores that have been eaten not long ago.
* **Area 16**: A secret area only available via spawning. A strange sight is here as the front halves of a Cantios and Shadow Cantios is seen buried under rubble along with crystals of both kinds. The yellow ones being on the Brown Cantios, and the purple being on the Shadow Cantios, both separate sides from each other. In the centre, some crystals have merged to become red with traits from both kinds. Some shrubs at the bottom edges grow Sheara Fruit, which cures the Undrea Status. The floor appears to have collapsed at the areas bottom, which jumping through leads to Area 11.

## Hazards

* **Deadly Plants**: Area 12 has several of these growing around. Running into or striking them will cause them to burst, inflicting hunters with one of a variety of status effects. These effects are Ailment Down, Defence Down, Poison, Attack Down, Noxious Poison, Blind, Dragonblight, and rarely the status known as Undrea can be inflicted.
* **Sharp Rocks**: In Area 11 there are sharp rocks littering the floor that damage hunters standing on them for too long. Doing large scale actions on them can cause them to do more damage and then soon cause Bleeding.
* **Energy of the rocks**: In certain places, the ore that grows the crystals of the caves lie in sections that are unstable. On walls and ceilings of Areas 3, 5, 10 and 11, enough damage will cause these unstable parts break, shattering the crystals on them. This releasing a short burst of the energy within them. In areas of the light section, it is Aetherblight, and in the dark, Dragonblight.

## Endemic Life

(This lists only unique creatures found in the locale.)

## Trivia

* The Darkshine Cave are located within the Sherin region, explaining why the Cantios species are present here in such a way. Those wyverns came here from the peaks over their transformation period, with some remaining here as a result.
* This is one of the few areas where Cantios and Shadow Cantios can be seen and fought together due to there being no real day and night cycle here.
	+ Many years ago a group of Cantios and Shadow Cantios fought here in the area and brought chaos to the place. In the end the majority of them were killed when their fighting brought a large section of the dark zone crumbling down on them. The few injured survivors then fled the place and never interacted with each other again.
		- Some rumours from people say that the place was just an ordinary cavern until the fight happened which separated the place into two zones.
			* This was proven false as the Darkshine Caves were like that before the battle.
		- From the great battle the area has earned the nickname of *Master's Tomb*.
* Chaotic Gore Magala's have been seen here along with the Shagaru Magala, a dragon very rarely seen outside of the Sanctuary.
	+ It is believed this place's location is why it choose to live here and create more new Magalas.
* Although at first the area is balanced of light and darkness, on closer inspection the dark is more present than the light, including its monsters.
	+ Should a monster be Frenzied or in the Apex status they will fight in and sleep in the dark zone even if they were once exclusively fought in the light zones. This also means that should they be surpassed of their Frenzy they'll return to the light zones until the Frenzy returns. Hyper monsters are not affected and will remain in their own zone.

## Credits

* **ThumbThumb**: For the area icon.
* **Dinoman0310/Democide**: For allowing Mercury Shojorai to be included in this locale.