User blog comment:Dracosaurian/Discussion of The Week: Cave Dwellers/@comment-5020152-20150201014207

1) Absolutely! Caves are an important biome and support entire ecosystems hidden away from the rest of the world, so including cave monsters in the world of Monster Hunter just makes sense. Of course, cave-dwelling monsters have a certain sense of mystery to them as well, further adding to their appeal.

2) See above.

3) Baruragaru. He takes the snake-like elegance of a Leviathan and twists it into something creepy, then adds in the bloodsucking parasite factor and rounds it off with a dash of "I'm-going-to-temporarily-copy-my-last-victim's-powers". Great, great monster indeed.

On this list, my favorite of the cave-dwellers is the Nerscylla. She's always jumping around, scuttling about, leaping, lunging, and web-slinging. The most terrifying thing about her is that she's so agile, and she can deliver lightning-fast strikes that leave you no time to react. The fact that she's a giant spider makes things even scarier. She looks right at home in the Sunken Hollow, where I can't wait to fight her.

4) Khezu. That horrible, awful, despicable leech wyvern. The memories of grinding for Pale Khezu Steaks on MHFU... the terrible memories...

5) Definitely! Keep them coming!

6) Not necessarily a relative, but something that borrows the creepy vibe from Khezu and Gigginox. Take Baruragaru for example - he's a Leviathan that has a lot of the same features as Gigginox. How cool would it be to have a blind, pale, bloodsucking Bird Wyvern? Or Amphibian? Or Neopteron?

7) Agnaktor would make a great cave-dweller. Glacial Agnaktor, too.

8) I've recently had an idea for a crustacean similar to Taikun Zamuza that grows a stone-like shell around itself. Instead of resembling a moss-covered boulder, it looks a lot like a stalagmite with legs - think of Gigalith from the Pokémon franchise and you'll get the picture.