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[TankKit]

Biogenic

[TricMagic]

Glacial. Dig dig dig into the earth.

[mightymushroom]

Tectonic
Let the earth do the digging for you.

[helmacon]

Biogenic

[Murphy]

One picture is worth a thousand words.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Monsters currently on the map:

Dangspunngu, "Horridlurk", and its offspring after it devoured all the goblins in the area. These blob-like beasts can devour enemies to gain their knowledge. Beware if they ever defeat a megabeast.

Triton and goblin remnants. Few in numbers, they live by scavenging the caves. They don't get the benefits of a proper group and act like simple wandering monsters, which is to say, they don't get to roll any dice; they die easily but tend to kill some of the enemy when they do.

The Warped, a small group of dwarves who have returned from the Deep, their minds and bodies twisted to serve an unknown force of chaos.
They are extremely fierce (+2 in all conflicts), but cannot increase their numbers (barring a special event).

Vafig Golast, "The Tenebrous". A living flame twisted into humanoid form. Half of it, really. When dormant, it is smoky and seeps through cracks in the walls in search of food—or rather fuel. Beware its fiery breath!

These are all more or less native to the dungeon. However, starting from the year 61, other groups will begin arriving. Also, those chittering creatures in the trees, remember them? They are building a forest retreat now.

[Murphy]

In the Age of Monsters, the world lay shattered between a myriad of petty factions, no single force holding sway. Three such factions arrived in the spring of 61:

Antlings (delving group). Belonging to a distant hive, they were sent to this valley to scout for resources. Unlike many other delving groups, they had no interest in gold but rather in harvestable plants and huntable game.

Toadmen (breeder group). Close cousins of the Tritons, these toad-people were primitive but numerous. They sought a large body of water suitable for habitation and reproduction and thus settled in a cave under the ruins of Asteshdatan.

Gray Behemoth (alpha predator). A megabeast with affinity to the stone. A solitary powerful being, it sought a natural cave to build its lair, away from ruins or settled areas. Though not made of stone itself, one had better beware when fighting it in a cave.

***

Meanwhile, the surface was being settled as well.

The arboreal proto-elves called Theliiri were one of the younger species in this world. They had prehensile feet, pointy catlike ears and a green thumb (that last one is not literal). Some of them also possessed the ability to draw sustenance from trees as well as mold living wood into any shape necessary.

The Theliiri tended to great evergreens upon the plateau, causing them to grow and shield the tribe from the elements. Eventually it all evolved into a settlement with storage tents, hanging gardens and a thorny green perimeter to ward off intruders, not unlike a fortified stronghold. It was the closest thing to actual civilization since the bitter end of Asteshdatan.

Building a stronghold was wise. Rumors of the Oldlands Valley and its unclaimed riches had been travelling the surface world, and more groups were going to come in search of wealth. The Theliiri should be ready to protect the forest.

Spoiler: Map (click to show/hide)

Note: shades of red = chaotic, shades of blue = lawful, shades of green = hungry (yes, hungry is an alignment). Supplies and loot are generally represented with bags of ☼.

[Glass]

What color are the Theliiri? They just look like a pale brown, maybe with a yellow tinge.

[Murphy]

What color are the Theliiri? They just look like a pale brown, maybe with a yellow tinge.

Surface dwellers and the (beige) wandering monsters are technically without alignment, but for story purposes I consider them hungry.

[Glass]

What color are the Theliiri? They just look like a pale brown, maybe with a yellow tinge.

Surface dwellers and the (beige) wandering monsters are technically without alignment, but for story purposes I consider them hungry.

Ok.
What precisely does the "hungry" alignment entail?

[Murphy]

Alignments are a (very loose) representation of the species' culture and also how others view them. Lawful groups are more benign, stable or cooperative. Chaotic groups are flexible, unstable and prone to conflict. Hungry groups are savage and animal-like.

[Glass]

Got it.
Given this part of the post...

It was the closest thing to actual civilization since the bitter end of Asteshdatan.

...wouldn't it make more sense for the Theliiri to be slightly toward Lawful, though?

[Murphy]

It doesn't really matter since alignments' purpose in How to Host a Dungeon is to determine how group conflict proceeds—and surface dwellers use their own rules. If you are interested in the nuts and bolts of game mechanics, look up the game on Tony Dowler's website (though be aware that I am using heavily modified rules and then may break them anyway because story comes first).

If we consider this strictly story-wise, then alignment is in the eye of the beholder, so you can consider them closer to lawful, while, say, Dwarves would think of them as tree-hugging savages. It's not as if all possible worldviews can fit into 3 broad categories anyway.

[Glass]

Ah, I didn't realize that there was a specific system being used (well, I was pretty sure there was something, but I had no idea what it might be). Ok.

[Murphy]

Half a year later, each of the groups was firmly entrenched in their new holdings.

After Theliiri chieftess Adela Reríth "The Taciturn" brought two minor tribes under her control, their foraging and fishing grounds would be enough to finally be able to sustain the stronghold. Hollows under one of the Great Trees served as an additional dwelling and mushroom farm.

The Antlings, methodical as ever, erected temporary dwellings in the caves to scout around for food. Some of the overgrown tunnels were cleared, the vegetation serving as fresh forage. Tools were unpacked and arrangements made for a more permanent settlement, though there were no finds yet significant enough to warrant sending a messenger back to the Hive.

The Toad tribe exploded into every direction, tearing down old constructions in search of food and loot. These floodgates, masterfully crafted by Zefon Guildlaborious himself, could've stayed the flow of the river for an entire Age, but they were not designed to withstand a mob of hungry toad-men with crude hammers. And thus...
A masterwork of Zefon Guildlaborious has been lost!
The river flew down the abandoned shafts, forever changing its course as it crashed against the bloodied walls of the lower tunnels.

The Gray Behemoth awakened in its new lair, hungry like a thousand wolves. Squeezing down a tunnel, it was assaulted by the forgotten beast Vafig, a burning essence of hunger as ancient as the Behemoth's. Unfortunately for the fire beast, Behemoths are not very flammable. Vafig's ashes made for a paltry meal, and in the summer the Behemoth broke past the ancient tomb-cave in search of more prey. There it chanced upon a few goblins. Food.

Lost treasures of the dwarves lay yet unclaimed in the darkness of deeper caves, where the Warped slumbered—like statues, neither dead nor alive, waiting for a living being to enter their domain.

Spoiler: Map (click to show/hide)

Experimenting with a way to display zones of control for various groups without breaking aesthetic.

[Murphy]

For the rest of the year, the Theliiri continued to expand, adding yet another tribe to chieftess Adela's domain. Bountiful forage, rich pastures and a fishing spot, what else could any of them dream of? Global domination, perhaps. Oh, and they expanded the hollows beneath the roots. Only a thin layer of earth now separated them from the toadmen-infested ruins, way too close for comfort.

The Antlings explored the old Triton tunnels towards the entrance of Yantar'Eryovl ruins, but the wild Tritons had long since moved out. Perhaps sensing danger, some Tritons are psychic, after all. In any case, there was nothing here, and further exploration was blocked by water, so the antlings dug a new tunnel... breaking into the old Dwarven treasury!

The Toadmen swarmed most of the dungeon, seizing what was left of dwarven treasures elsewhere and defacing the surviving art, completely unchecked (though this was about to change, possibly).

The Behemoth rummaged through old goblin dwellings, finding no more food but taking some of the leftover gems long since mined from the gem cave. Then, in search of yet more prey, it clambered down the tunnels, unaware of the tasty toadmen on the river behind just half a span of solid stone.

Spoiler: Map (click to show/hide)

Conflict seems imminent once again. But first, choose two additional events before we proceed into the year 62:

• A band of Goblins wanders down a tunnel from the western edge, barging right into the Behemoth's area of influence.
• Human miners, ever enterprising, set up camp six spans west from Theliiri forests, and begin digging down.
• Stone giants awaken in the ruins of Ngomongong, causing a minor cave-in.
• Manticore, a new alpha predator, builds a nest in the lower tunnels and starts hunting.
• Echoes of the cataclysm: in the spider cave a mutated giant spider appears, and all other wandering monsters are driven into a frenzy for a season.
• Adventurers enter the dungeon in search of glory and loot. This particular adventuring group is of lawful alignment.

Each voter can vote for two different events. Votes are counted separately, and once done, two events will be chosen based on the results.