(The weary bandits)

Sid and company can only let out a groan as they follow their enthusiastic boss back into the depths of the dungeon that tormented them so, Sid lead the group back to the center of the woodland where the girl with the red hood resided, on the way the way to their destination Keith explained his plan to them “okay so long story short the adventurers association should be arriving here in a few a hours to set up shop near the mana and the duchy and kingdom should be arriving not long after them, so we go in take the dungeon and hightail it before they even know what’s up.”, Sid and company is rightfully slack jawed at this information they had just gone through hell and now the world’s three biggest superpowers are converging on their location.

Upon arriving at the first landmark which was the clearing, they could feel the glowing eyes of the wolves piercing them, Keith only let out an a laugh as the wolves charged at the group again, but this time the fight for the bandits went smoothly, with Keith leading the group they were more focused and fierce with Keith leading them despite their exhaustion.

The hammer and swords danced slashing through the wolves effortlessly, with Keith now leading, the group had turned into a well-oiled machine, the fact that the wolves were made out of paper did not faze Keith as he continued to order the merciless slaughter of the wolves. It took only half the time for the group to drive of the wolves than before, “Hah these maggots are what held you guys up, pathetic when we settle in the north you guys are going through some special training.” there was a huge grin on Keith’s face as opposed to the others whose eyes where now dull at the promise of hell.

“The birds truly are a thing to behold.” Keith says as while they were now headed to the hooded girl he started humming, to this surprise the birds sang back the tune and so started a little game of back and forth with Keith humming ever more complex tunes and the birds singing it back, “it is truly a shame that we're gonna destroy this place, I was excited at first but this is the first time I’ve felt at peace in years” letting out his inner thoughts while the others jokingly poked fun at him, the rough and tough self-proclaimed lord of the bloodied plains was now going soft, but for Sid, Zygore and Bonz, who was currently stand in leader of the bandit group with Keith absent was supervising the others to make sure their plan goes smoothly, that has known Keith for a long time knew that this was his actual personality from before the incident.

Upon arriving at the location where the hooded girl resided, this time instead for goring her with his twin swords, Sid this time decided to take her up on her offer, giving off the biggest smile he has ever seen the hooded girl thanks him before setting off at her own pace, while she was certainly fast it was still the rate of a brisk pace which the bandits had no problem keeping pace with her.

Along the way Sid noticed that they seemed to be unaffected by the trees illusions which plagued them before, instead of thinking about it Sid just chalked it up to weird dungeon things, before asking the hooded girl for her name, in which she replies in a cheery voice, “I’m little Red riding hood.”, the bandits only let out a chuckle before Sid decided to ask again, “ah that’s a nice nickname but am asking for your given name little miss”, Red answered this question while prancing and without looking back at the bandits following her, “everyone forgot my name even me”, there was a chill in the air as Red continued prancing on, the Bandits tried to liven up the atmosphere but to little effect, luckily enough this akward atmosphere was cut short.

“Tch more wolves”, the bandits ready their weapons as wolves charge at them from seemingly all angles, at first everything seemed to be going smoothly, like the last encounter with the wolves’, but after some time passed the wolves’ started acting differently, they stopped using their usual hit and run tactics and instantly switched to human (ahem I guess wolf) wave tactics, as the frenzied wolves started to pile onto the bandits clawing and biting at them the group still managed to hold their ground despite that.

But that wasn’t the wolves’ true aim, what they were aiming for was Red the person leading the bandits through the fairies illusionary forest, “shit!”, Keith was the only person close enough to protect her, without any hesitation he pulled out his sword for the first time since he entered this dungeon, instantly killing the wolves rushing at Red before throwing out another command, soon enough after Keith pulled out his blade the wolves were driven back into the woods.

“Well that was a close call.” Sid says as stretches in a lackadaisical manner, as if the encounter never happened, instead of paying attention to Sid’s comment however the other bandits attention where on their bosses sword, it was a weird sword, while its base was that of a normal longsword, what made it weird was the pipes that ran along the blade and the removable red vile that was inserted into the handle of the blade, the bandits hounded their boss asking him various questions about the blade as they continued on with Red guiding them all the while they protected her from numerous smaller scale attacks made by the wolves’, this only lead to them angering their boss, and moments later they reprimanded, which shut them up immediately.

After a long trek they finally made it to a small house, which could only be called quaint, the group along with Red headed forward into the house and to a small bedroom, which on contrary to the outside which was modest and quaint, the inside was damp, dreary and messy. There were bits of rancid meat strewn about the room and large shelves that ran along the walls of the small house that reached the ceiling stocked with a seemingly infinite amount of jars, with meat in them floating in a strange liquid honestly making it very cramped inside the house.

Red walked up to her grandma’s bedside and after exchanging pleasantries with her grandma started asking some questions concerning her grandma’s appearance, which sent a chill down the bandits spine’s, {something’s very wrong!}, that’s what Keith’s, Sid’s and Zygore’s instincts yelled at them and it got louder with each question followed by a reply.

“My what big ears you have eye you have?”

“The better to hear you with my dear.”

{Somethings really wrong!}

“My what big hands you have?”

“The better to hug you with my dear.”

{somethings definitely wrong!}

“My what big teeth you have?”

“The better to eat you with my dear!”

{WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING MOVE!}

With that the beast masquerading as the young girl’s grandmother pounced from the bed and swallowed the girl whole, it was a gruesome sight as the beast’s jaw opened up to a nightmarish degree, the bandits who can only stare wide eyed at the scene before them quickly pulled out their weapons and got into formation, well the best they could as the room was so cramped it was clear they at a disadvantage, as they couldn’t properly swing their weapons and that their eight person party was consider pretty big for dungeon diving, where the adventurers association has recommended only a group of max five people to reduce the risk of a situation like this occurring.

The beast whose face was now sagging and melting was slowly trudging towards them as if it was hindered in some way, quick on his feet, Keith locked eye’s with Zygore and came to an understanding, “everyone duck!” he ordered as everyone quickly dove to the floor as Zygore tensed up and swung his hammer in a horizontal circular fashion, destroying the bed and shelves and piles of meat, clearing the room and freeing up more space for them to at least swing their weapons, there was a sickening splat that came from the beast when Zygore’s hammer hit it and sent it crashing into a wall, the flesh from its body was splattered against the wall revealing not bone but fur, what came out of the messy pile of flesh was a wolf that stood on two legs, with a heinous face, glowing red eyes and a pot belly that seemed to be where Red was currently being held.

“Everyone up!” Keith shouted as the beast now rushed at them with speed that was not present before when it was covered in meat, it was a fast paced battle with the beast as it quickly hopped of the walls attacking the group from all angles causing the group to have to communicate with each other to make sure the current location of the wolf, this back and forth went on for what seems like forever as every time the beast showed signs of exhaustion it would sallow some of the rancid meat whole and regain its energy like magic.

The group was at a stalemate with the beast, but at the rate they were going the beast would consume all of its supply of meat, “it’s over here!”, “it’s over here now!”, “it just crossed to the other side!” the bandit’s continued their action of communicating with each other, that was until “it’s over here!”, shouted one bandit, “aight Lyra!”, the moment he ended his sentence the beast was upon him crushing his neck with its sharp teeth before swallowing him whole as it dashed away from the group, “what the hell Lyra!”, the others chastised her, “I didn’t say anything!” was her only response before concentrating on the beast again, the groups formation was now broken with the death of their comrade using this chance the wolf came back for another feast killing and consuming another bandit, “damit the thing can mimic voices everyone back up against the wall, keep your eyes on it at all times!”, Keith shouted out angered by the death of his men.

The beast’s pot belly was huge, it looked more like it was a balloon, but that didn’t last for long as it’s body started to shrink down back to its pot belly, “it’s powering up for a big one!” it was fairly obvious to the remaining bandit’s that the beast could instantly turn food into energy from its action through the fight, “everyone back!”, Keith starts to walk towards the wolf, red mist now starts to raise form it’s body as the beast takes Keith up on his challenge it digs it feet of the ground and pushes off with unimaginable power, each time it’s feet touches the ground it leaves indents in its wake.

With the beast charging at him Keith slashes his sword at it, there was a loud bang that came from Keith’s blade as flames gushed forth from it, engulfing everything in front of him, what was left was a sea of flames, *bang*, even than the beast, who was heavily injured and burning continued its charge raising its claw to reap everything in front of it, “not so fast!”, Sid and Zygore was already in position to strike the beast, Zygore was first matching the beast’s attack with his own and Sid followed up cutting at the beast legs cutting its tendons throwing it off balance, ”thanks guys!”, Keith not missing a beat slashed his blade, which was red and steaming from his previous attack, struck at the beast neck.

The blade went straight through the beast’s neck burning its fur and the paper that made up its body decapitating the beast, there was one finally howl before it’s head was fully cut off, as it’s body went limp, dropped to the floor and dissipated leaving behind Red and an old woman which was most likely her grandmother, the group helped them to their feet. Both Red and the grandmother thanked the group rewarding them with a flat piece of metal shaped like the head of a wolf and a book.

Since they were in a rush they immediately said their goodbyes and went out the back door like Red’s grandmother had instructed them to if they wanted to move forward.

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(Curator POV)

The Big bad wolf was impressive to say the least, but I don’t remember him using meat to disguise himself as the grandma, but never the less it played out the scenario perfectly more or less, I could only admire it as I remember the encounter playing out, the atmosphere was amazing and the wolf played his part well as did Red, I get lost in thought for a minute when suddenly it hit me. They beat the big bad wolf. That means the next room is. Well crap.

“Alice help!” I yell out in desperation, Alice tries to say something but can only mutter out a few words, “could, level, low”, was all I make out from her mumbling. That was when a clicking sound as heard as the large stone door that was the only barrier between me and them opened up, I was finally meeting heart to face with my visitors.

They immediately rush towards me, “Stop! Stop please!”, I can only scream, not that they could hear my pleas, I can only float there as I wait for my demise, as one of them attempts to grab me.

Lore Dungeon rank 2 unlocked.

“Stop!”

“Stop!”

Two voices ring out as a little girl holding a book as large half her size who I don’t know and the female visitor called Lyra throw themselves between me and the group, “the hell Lyra we don’t have much time left before the Adventurers Association gets here!”, the woman take off her leather armor to reveal that she was wearing expensive looking cloth armor, “their already here” she announces much to the surprise of the other party, “shit she was traitor all along”, one of them shout.

Keith who looked to be the leader of the group looked unfazed, “so what? What stops us from just killing and making off with the dungeon heart?” he spits out with a smug grin, like he already won, “that may be so, but I think you should know I already confirmed the existence of the mana dungeon to the A.A(adventurers Association). So Keith the grand betrayer, the flame of the west, the lord of the bloodied plains I don’t think even you can continue to hide if you make the A.A your enemy, along with the other two, all three of the worlds superpowers will be hunting you, the only reason the Duchy and Kingdom haven’t found you yet is because the A.A has kept your existence hidden.”, this time it was Lyra’s turn to grin.

“Shit!”, was the only thing Keith could utter hearing this, “but if am going down I can certainly take you with me”, this was the last act of desperation he could think off, “ah that well, I have a deal for you than, you just head north, leave me alone and I don’t reveal what you were planning to do with the dungeon heart”, his last act had paid off, even though he was a bit sour he couldn’t get me was the mildest I could put it.

Without a word Keith and his crew turned around and left, watch their retreating backs Lyra turned towards the mysterious girl, “it’s a pleasure to meet you, I assume you are this mana dungeons avatar?”, Lyra asks her a strange question, my avatar? I had no idea what she was talking about, “yes my name is Alice.”