Dungeon Encounter: More Fairies!

The party left the broken walls surrounding the fortress and entered the inside of the palace proper, or what remained of it. The halls were more spacious, with the dilapidated remains of furniture lining the rooms. Broken windows allowed natural light to enter the space, so the group no longer had to rely on the magic ball of light.

Their bare feet shuffled carefully forward, taking slow steps between the broken tiles and vegetation that had grown around the cracked floor. Peonie kept leading the way with sagged shoulders, her earlier enthusiasm no longer present. 

"Hey, cheer up!" Min said, walking next to Peonie. "It wasn´t that big of a mistake. The important thing is that we all made it out of there in one piece!"

"N-not quite. We would still have our footwear if I hadn´t been so brash ."

"Eh, it´s not that big of a deal. If anything, going barefoot makes it easier for me to sneak! It´s a net positive on our party!"

"Goddess Tits!" Liana yelled, jumping on one foot while grabbing the other. "Why are there so many damned pebbles around here?!"

"Well, almost a net positive. Don´t be so down on yourself, if not for your panicked swings, we might have lost way more! And besides, I would have done the same thing!"

"R-really?"

"Ack! Who put that root there?!" Liana yelled, having tripped over her feet once more. "It´s like the Sisters put it there to mock me!"

"Of course.  How can you carry a big ass sword and not stab anything? Now, that would be the true mistake."

"...It WAS a lot of fun. Very cathartic even! Too bad about the collateral damage…"

"Don´t sweat it, live and learn, you know? The important thing is that you try to learn from your mistakes and own up to them. And you can start by buying me some shoes and pants when we get out of here!" 

"Heh, I guess if you look at it like th- argh!"  From out of the blue, Liana jumped on Peonie's back. 

"The floor is cold and mossy. Since you are the reason I lost my sandals, the least you can do is to carry me." 

"I, err..." Peonie looked at Min, who just shrugged in response. "I guess that´s fair," Peonie replied, adjusting Liana on her back. "I have to own up to my mistakes, huh? Let´s go!"

"A piggyback ride in the middle of the dungeon?! I swear, it´s like I´m surrounded by children." Celeria mumbled as she watched Peonie trudge onward with Liana kicking her sides as if she was a horse to be spurred on. 

"At least there is another serious adventurer in the party, eh Mi-"

"Hmmm, good training that is. Approve of it, Master Yoda would." Min said, stroking her chin.

Celeria closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. "Never mind. I won´t even ask who that is."

Following the piggybacking duo, the party reached a great hall. A couple of broken-down pillars bisected the half-decayed remains of a long wooden table. It seemed like the room used to be some sort of banquet hall.

While there was no longer any food in the hall, it was not empty. Some twenty lemon-sized women with butterfly wings and leaf skirts frolicked around the room.

  "Called it! I knew fairies were the cause of all this trouble. Stay back, I'll finish this quest with a single spell," Liana dismounted her loyal steed and rolled up her sleeves. 

"Hold on! That might not be a good idea," Min tried to get her to stop, but Liana brushed her off and walked forward. Uh-oh. Hopefully, her magic jamming abilities will not activate for people at her own party.

Liana stood in front of the fairies and began casting the spell. Her staff pulsated with arcane magic, electric sparks formed around her body, her eyes began to glow, and her robe fluttered in the air as ancient energies stirred the wind. 

Suddenly, a strong gust of wind took form and lifted the hem of the mage's robe over her head, interrupting her incantation. A couple of fairies had taken their chance to sneak under Liana´s clothes and had launched a wind spell of their own.

The other fairies quickly took the staff away from her hands and tied the garment over the mage´s head. With the raiment enclosing the uppermost part of her body, the rest of the mage's slender physique came into view, although it was somewhat concealed by a loose see-through chemise that barely reached down her loins. 

The fays laughed at their hapless victim. They mischievously tickled her bare skin and used wind magic to swat her bottom while Liana blindly ran in circles, desperately trying to get away from them all. 

Her upside-down robe was tied like a burlap sack over her head. Liana could not see anything outside, and even her cries for help were muffled.

  "We have to help our companion!" Peonie proclaimed as she brashly rushed forward.

  "Wait!" Celeria yelled, but her friend was already charging, sword in hand. 

  Peonie attempted to cut the fairies down, but the little tricksters flew upward to avoid her swipes. They retaliated by conjuring icicles that rolled down into her armor. The chilly droplets embedded themselves deep within Peonie´s cuirass, more than a few getting stuck inside her cleavage, creating a very uncomfortable sensation for the adventurer.

Soon enough, the brunette dropped her armaments and began jumping in place to try and wriggle the ice out of her clothes, much to the amusement of her tiny tormentors.

Celeria and Min surveyed the situation from behind a broken-down pillar. One of their teammates was flashing her underwear while running in circles like a headless chicken, while the other seemed to be busting out dance moves to a silent flute.

"Ok, this looks bad. We lost the element of surprise, and I don´t think I can snipe all the fairies before they turn their wrath on me," Celeria said. "Maybe now it´s the time for you to sneak behind them and-"

"No need. I know how to disrupt the fairies' magic!" Min declared, standing up and marching toward the middle of the mayhem. Min stretched her arms wide, calling attention to the fae folk.

"All right, magic jamming ability, do your thing!"

The fairies stopped tormenting her teammates to congregate around Min. They flew around the curious human who willingly put her head in the proverbial lion´s jaw. 

"Come at me fairies! Do your worst!"

The fairies shrugged and conjured a big whirlwind that flew around Min´s feet. The wind made her gambeson flutter like a flag in the wind, rolling up her torso as if invisible fingers were peeling it off Min´s skin.

"Argh?! What´s going on?!" The whirlwind forced Min to close her eyes. "Is it working? Ack!"

Min´s gambeson rolled over Min´s head, exposing her lithe body to the world once more. But, unlike what happened to Liana, the fairies weren´t keen to let her keep it. The gambeson flew away from Min´s body, leaving her nude.

"COME ON! I JUST BOUGHT THAT!

The fairies giggled as the tornado subsided. Min's cheeks turned red at the sadly common sight of her pink nipples swaying proud and free.

"G-give me back my clothes! I refuse to go naked again!"

The fairies split into three groups. One kept throwing ice into Peonie´s armor, the other kept tormenting Liana, and the third played keep away with Min´s gambeson while the naked woman ran in circles.

Celeria grumbled, suddenly remembering why she preferred to work alone. But even so, she was unlikely to win this fight solo. The smart play would be to run away, but she also couldn´t let her teammates be at the mercy of the fae folk. 

Maybe there was a third option? Celeria took off her cloak and tied it to her bow. She marched out of her hiding spot while waving it around like a flag. It wasn't white, but hopefully, the fairies would get the idea.

"Wait! Stop! We want to parley!"

"Parley?" A purple fairy and a yellow fairy approached the elf. "You come to our home, attack us, and then have the nerve to try to negotiate?"

"Technically, you attacked first, remember?"

"We interrupted a spell!"

"You didn´t know what the spell was going to do! Maybe Liana was going to make a big ball of light show up to distract you while we go deeper into the dungeon, right Liana?"

"Arck! Make them stop!"

"Right."

  "Pfft, go peddle that crap to the market. Like you aren´t here to kill us and take our wings for some decrepit witch´s potion."

"We are not! We are adventurers hired to find the missing livestock! Don´t tell me you are the ones kidnapping all the animals?"

"Wait, they might prove useful..." The purple fairy tugged at the yellow one´s skirt and whispered something into her ear.

"Urgh, fine. If you are going to get rid of all those smelly cows in our basement, I guess we can let you go… for a price. No way you are going to walk away scot-free just like that."

The fairy snapped her fingers, and her underlings stopped bullying the party. Peonie untied Liana´s robe and ran to Celeria with the mage. Min, meanwhile, was still busy trying to get her gambeson down from the rafter the fairies tossed it at.

The elf explained the situation to her teammates. A still ruffled Liana put her hand on Peonies shoulder. "Alright, you're up. Pay the toll, Miss Noble."

  "I-I don't have any money on me. I spent it all on my weapons and armor. What about you Celeria? Surely you still have some of the gold I gave you to prepare for this raid?"

  "Nope, I also spent it all on my equipment," replied Celeria. "I had to buy everything from the ground up after an unfortunate encounter with a jester."

  "Me too," Added Liana. "Well, minus the clown part. Surprisingly, they don´t pay you for being on the stocks."

  "But you only have a robe and a piece of wood. Surely, you must have some savings tucked away."

  "It's a very expensive piece of wood."

"What about Mi-" Peonie turned to look at her teammate, she was jumping up and down in her birthday suit to try and reach a gambeson at least two stories higher than she was. "Never mind."

  "If you don't have any gold, then perhaps you can pay with some other thing," interrupted the yellow fairy. "Or… maybe you want to resume our fight?"

  The other fairies gave Liana a mischievous grin. She went pale. "N-no, that won't be necessary. We´ll give you anything!"

  "Great! I already know what I want…"