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