Areas that are not solid rock are cavern systems connected by numerous hallways, pits and chimneys. It is however too difficult to make a map of such a complicated area. Several monasteries have very detailed maps of the area that surrounds them but these maps are not readily available as these give away too much information about any weak spots in the monastery’s defense. Also not specified on the map are the several resource areas like fungus groves, copper and iron ore veins and waterholes (except for the two underground rivers).
There are several areas of influence where the exact location of a main building is unknown. Therefore you can see a lot of areas of influence belonging to monasteries or Troglodytes without any real building in it. Few people really know where the building is. We do know that there are several tribes of Troglodytes in each danger zone, but again no one really knows where.
Toadsbury and Trog’s Delve are two dwarven cities, Undersands is a human city. Toadsbury is built in the stalagmites, stalactites and pillars of a gigantic cave with numerous walkways connecting one building to another. Compared to the corrupted Undersands and the entrenched Trog’s Delve, Toadsbury is probably one of the safest places underground. Originally build by dwarves almost all the architectural designs in this city are practical and purposeful.
Dwarves wouldn’t be dwarves however if they didn’t have alcohol (made from certain roots and yeast) and a lot of bars to drink it in. Every bar has its own special liquor but one drink in particular is very popular in all of the bars: Devil’s Eyeball. Devil’s Eyeball is made by an independent brewer who could probably be the richest dwarf in town if it weren’t for the fact that he loves drinking so much that he couldn’t stand the idea of asking a copper too many for his beer and then end up not selling enough so that not everyone could drink it. He is kind of weird like that but you won’t hear any dwarf complain.
Trog’s Delve is an old dwarven fortress, it was originally built to defend the nearby mines from the Troglodytes that live beyond. Nowadays it is more a penal institution than a fortress. A lot of criminals from Toadsbury end up here to be punished for their crimes. A few lucky prisoners of Undersands can also be found amongst the ranks of the soldiers. (They are the ones that committed a crime that wasn’t severe enough to put them in the arena to fight for their lives.) Trog’s Delve holds about 50% dwarves, 35% brutes and 15% other (humans, graw, kobolds). Although when you walk through the mining community you’ll only see dwarves and brutes. The other races can all be found in the garrison of the fortress. Any non-dwarf or –brute wandering around is automatically eyed with suspicion and thought of as a criminal who belongs in the garrison. The only exceptions to this are merchants (who don’t wander around) and some well-known delegates from Undersands who can easily be recognized by their insignia (a cut off hand).
The Shroud monastery lies in the influence area of Undersands. They are pretty secluded but aren’t hostile towards the people from Undersands. They view the people of Undersands as disillusioned, blinded herd animals that form no competition whatsoever to their superior code of conduct. Of course, this is the belief of most monasteries towards outsiders that aren’t from a rival order. Its inhabitants occupy themselves with death and the afterlife. They dress in a black shroudlike robe with both hand and foot wrappings of consecrated black leather. Around their monastery is a cemetery, commonly called the ‘gravegarden’ for its combination of beauty and the macabre.
The Hidden Light monastery is located near Toadsbury in a small cave that is connected to the big Toadsbury cave with an easily defendable passageway. They have a good understanding with the dwarven rulers of Toadsbury knowing that a strong ally at its front door is the best defense one can wish for. The Hidden Light often trades goods with Toadsbury and is rather open to outsiders. Any non-graw monk is most likely to come from here. The Hidden Light doesn’t occupy itself much with the guerilla warfare between the other monasteries, which leaves more time for social relations. Their monastery is build much like a gothic cathedral with lots of detail like perched gargoyles and stain glass windows (imported all the way from Shady Sands). They dress in red and purple robes when they come out in public and brown and purple robes when they work in the monastery.
The Inner Sight is build on the side of a cliff southeast from Toadsbury. Not much is known from these monks except that they aren’t very aggressive and that they can sometimes be seen running up and down small ledges along the cliff wall. This in itself wouldn’t be as impressive as it sounds if it weren’t for the fact that they do it while wearing a blindfold! Nobody knows how they do it because no one has ever visited the monastery. There aren’t any paths that lead to it and the few daring travelers that did get near the monastery claim that there isn’t a door or window to be seen in the entire building. The few (two or three) eyewitness reports say that the monks wear gray, loose-fitting robes and white blindfolds.
The Silent Chain is a corrupted monastery known for its many raids of nearby monasteries and even Trog’s Delve. It is also said that uttering their name out loud will get you a certain death within a week. Everyone fears these graw and even the strongest monasteries call them respectable foes. Their monastery is said to be a spider’s web of chains with iron mines at the bottom, mined by captured slaves to extract more and more metal.