Aswadim Cave

The **Aswadim Cave** is a secluded location filled with neopterons and the race known as the Vuemards.

## Areas

* **Base Camp**: Trench shaped, the camp is a carved out bridge along the wall. It was built by hired men from the hunters guild to reach a place they took interest in, which is whats beyond the entrance. To the left is a wide bottomless ravine that's end cannot be seen, and it is covered with mist.
* **Area 1**: Immediately upon entering the cave hunters will see the special appearance of the location. There are banner like material across the walls made out of a Neopteron known as Deloid. Blue glowing mushrooms called Faltia Mushrooms and vines grow from the ceiling and in small quantities on the floor. The entrance to Area 2 has spears pointing from the walls as the monsters within see as a last warning towards trespassers.
* **Area 2**: Upon entering this big open place, hunters will quickly see the caves main dominant inhabitants, the Vuemard's. They are lizard-like Lynians wielding weapons made out of the chitin of the Deloids and even wearing random pieces of armor also made of the chitin. They have made scaffolding structures out of the chitin too, along with the materials that can be found here. They are also tunnel like pods on the walls near the ground that Vuemard emerge from if danger approaches. The area itself contains a water stream, not deep enough for hunters to go underwater in, but enough to have a waterfall that splits the area in two. In order to get up there and cross over the rock bridge to continue on into the location, hunters must fight past the Vuemard to get into the curving tunnel to reach it. Sometimes a barricade will have to be destroyed to get in the tunnel at all, and there can often be a trap inside. The water currents on the top section of the area will push both hunters and Vuemard towards the edge under they fall off it and actually take damage from the fall.
* **Area 3**: This is more of a passageway type area. Vuemards have built three scaffolds at the edges of the place to have the advantage over anything that comes running in. It is well defended to ensure nothing gets any further. Surrounding the entrance to Area 7 is a growth of Faltia Mushrooms over hanging, presumably as a method of trying to blind intruders or escapees. The entrance into Area 4 previews a darker place, showing that it will get harder to get past the Vuemards further past here than it already was before.
* **Area 4**: Vuemard's have cut down the majority of the Faltia Mushrooms here, reducing the light here. There is strangely a pile of them growing in the side corner of the area, presumably leftovers from the cutting, or just in a pile to be used as food. There is also a bright glow coming from the tunnel to Area 8, as it contains an abundance of the mushrooms. Vuemard structures are heavily present here, with chitin hanging like banners and carving all over the rocks. There is a small trail of green and red blood leading into Area 5, with two skulls on spears next to the entrance. There is a separated scaffolding that is always present protecting the way to Area 9, with spikes lining the walls behind it. A Mollusk known as a Sencragen might be present here feeding on the mushrooms.
* **Area 5**: Here, this is the Vuemard's drag their defeated attacks and Deloid's unfit for use to. Here, different shades of blood coat the stones of this dreaded place, as the remains of monsters, mostly of Deloid's lie upon slates to be carved up and crafted into decorations, armor, traps and much more. Deloid's have nothing that go to waste, other monsters however are either cut up and fed to the Deloid's still healthy and the Vuemard's themselves or left on the walls to hang until they rot away to nothing. Hunters can see everything here, they can even manage to see a whole process of a Deloid caught trying to escape/failed to turn into a Vendani/too old being dragged to the area to a slate and quickly killed, where they begin carving its chitin for use. Then the chitin is carried to different shaped slates to be carved into a random thing, mainly weapons, but can be sometimes armor or a new decoration. A small gated off cell in the top right of the area is where Vuemards dump some defeated beings for use in future to prevent easy escape. Most disturbing of all is that sometimes there can be Vuemards themselves among the corpses, which can be imagined as either traitors, weak, or attempted to usurp the Vuemard leader's title.
* **Area 6**: The water from Area 6 flows into here into a long thin crack in the wall. Large monsters can still appear here, so hunters must be aware of any potential traps located in the water and the tight spacing to fight in.
* **Area 7**: This is where Deloids lay their eggs and swarm around in, although under control by Vuemards. The way the area is shaped in suggests that this is more of a farming zone instead of an actual nest. It can be told by the entrance having a significantly high ledge above it and it having an actual fence across it with two platforms to its sides that Vuemard see that none of them escape. Vuemards have also created fences to segregate Deloids in different stages of life, the Hazi Deloids are in the first section after the fence, next the Deloids, then the Vendani Deloids and chrysalises containing them, and then the main egg clusters and Vendani Deloids bearing eggs are. It has been mostly cleared of Faltia Mushrooms to keep the place dark, the only samples there are in bowls that are used as feeding.
* **Area 8**: Faltia Mushrooms dominate this lengthy place, which grow everywhere here. The only places where they don't grow are around the Vuemard tunnels as they are created from chitin. Under normal circumstances three Sencragen will be found here eating the mushrooms in peace, despite them technically being under the watch of the Vuemard. This is the only place where they can respawn in, from a gooey crevice in the bottom wall that is their nest. Rocks all over here are covered with slime.
* **Area 9**: This is the lair of the Vuemard's. Its grounds are covered with thinned chitin, and thats what makes up the majority of this area. There are huts across the areas borders, where the Vuemards sleep and eat. They also contain their weapons and armor. The area is entirely crafted by the Vuemard's, carved into what they think perfect. In the bottom center of the area is where the Monger Vuemard lives, who is the leader of them all and bigger than the rest of them, thus having the tallest hut that hides away a throne carved from rock that it sits upon when addressing the Vuemard's. There is a difficult to see pathway in the right corner of the area that Vuemard's travel through into an unreachable depths below the cave, but the hunters cannot.

## Hazards

Across the areas are randomly generated traps that are placed randomly across the map with each quest. There are normally only triggered once, but players can rework them to use on monsters. They are listed below.

* **Bone Trap**: Sometimes there may be fences made out of bones and string that line across tunnels or entrances. Walking into them just breaks the fence, but will make a loud noise that will alert all the monsters in the area to the hunters presence.
* **Claw Trap**: Activated by a tripwire, the "claw" is made out of four pincer shaped spikes made out of Deloid legs and fangs melded together. When triggered, the claw will swing from its beginning position and move until it cannot physically go any further, resetting it to its original position. Always found on walls, most often on the sides but can be from the ceiling on low heights areas like in entrances. This does moderate damage to hunters.
* **Dart Trap**: Activated by a tripwire or stepping stone, this trap consists of several blowguns placed around each other containing several darts readied to fire. Immediately upon it being activated, all the blowguns begin shooting in the direction they aim at with rapid fire shots to pelt the victim. Once activated, it cannot be used again. Hunters only take small damage from a single dart, but they can take far more if not careful.
* **Spear Trap**: Hunters may notice lumps in the ground in some quests where they weren't before, however its well advised not to go near them. If they walk on one thinking its a platform then they will be in for a bad surprise. They will fall through the dirt and land in pitfall state into a hole of spears. This causes Bleeding to the hunter affected, and they will take rapid damage until they escape. If they touch the trap after its use, they'll just be knocked away and take damage.
* **Rock And Net Trap**: Exclusively found in Area 6, it can be triggered by standing on a stepping stone often hidden away. Several near invisible wires located under the stone attach to a net above the stone, containing a rock. Should something step on the rock, the wires will be severed and the net will give way for the rock to fall on whats below. If a hunter is hit by the rock they will be put in a pitfall state and begin drowning immediately from being caught off guard. They must break free as soon as possible to avoid the draining of health and the monsters that may be there.
* **Sleep Dart Trap**: In a very similar set up to the Dart Trap, a blowgun is set upon a ceiling and is aimed at a tripwire to activate it. When something runs over it, a single large dart is shoot from the blowgun that will put whatever it hit to Sleep instantly doing moderate damage in the process. If there are Vuemards around, they will drag the hunter or monster to Area 5, or rarely, Area 9. Hunters get taken there instantly while a monster is taken there gradually.

## Trivia

* It was originally named "Darkwater Cave", it was soon renamed because it sounded almost exactly the same as its source inspiration.
* Most of the Vuemard structures can be destroyed or heavily damaged, which can prevent frequent spawning of them or stop them from having an advantage over hunters.
	+ If the tunnel pods are destroyed then they can only spawn from entrances to other areas. If the scaffolding is destroyed, then they have no chance but to engage hunters melee style, mostly completely eliminating archers from the area. If Vuemard traps and other symbols are destroyed, then other monsters will be far more likely to appear in that area instead of them. If the huts are destroyed in Area 9, then others will rebuild them should the hunter leave. Should most of the areas have been cleared of Vuemard's by hunters, then the huts won't be rebuilt and the Vuemard's will be lacking weapons, or if bad enough, will make a full retreat into the tunnel to the unreachable depths and seal off the entrance.
		- There are even further interactions involving the monsters the Vuemard's have under their control. If hunters break down the fence keeping the Deloids from escaping, they will do exactly that. Should hunters tear down the barriers separating the different Deloid's then they will join together and begin fighting their way to the Vuemard lair. Should hunters destroy the protected crevice of the Sencragen, then they will panic as the Vuemard's rush in to take away the young ones to Area 5 to lock them up to prevent escape. The Sencragen themselves can make a long drawn out escape if the Vuemard barriers across the path to the base camp are broken and there aren't any Vuemard's left on that path. Once they make it past Area 1, they will even go through the Base Camp and crawl all the way along the bridge until they go out of sight.
* There is a chance that if a hunter faints due to a Vuemard, they will thrown into the cell hold in Area 5 instead of the base camp like usual.
* Due to there being no true meaning for large monsters to fly into the location, this is the first area the author has made that doesn't feature the Cantios species being present there in any way.