(Curator POV)

This is not going to end well.

A giant fire pillar just erupted on the first floor of my dungeon and was quickly spreading and burning down everything in its path.

“Hey, Alice. The dungeon’s on fire.”

“Yes,” she replied in a deadpan manner.

“I can still alter the dungeon around even if there are people inside. Right?”

“Yes, but at three times the cost,” Alice replied again in a deadpan manner, though this time contrary to her tone I can tell she’s pretty anxious about the situation, her hands were slightly shaking as she took small sips out of her teacup.

Alright, let's see what we can do.

“first off Alice please go gather up the fairies on this floor, and see if they have any fae tricks that can help us out, also please try not to indulge them too much in their antics we're a bit short on time.”

Giving me a nod she summoned a wolf from her tome and rode off to the fairy’s den..... where ever that is. In the past I’ve tried looking for it by keeping an eye on the fairies but failed every time, they always seem to disappear behind tree trunks or inside of bushes. It’s likely they’re using their fae magic skill to enchant certain areas in the dungeon to hide things, similar to what they did to the trees to mess with people’s sense of direction.

“Big Bad Wolf if you can go to the first floor and try to deter the others from continuing their fight and to retreat down to the second floor or to at the least stay away from the flames” hopefully their instincts of not wanting to burn to death outweighs the hoods effect.

“oh and try to keep it on a level where only the wolves can hear you, the last thing those people need right now is another wolf howling,” I added as the big Big Bad wolf sprinted off running on all fours.

With the Big bad wolf and Alice running off to fulfill their duties it was now my turn.

The first order of business is to deal with the smoke. I need to vent the dungeon out, they do say the most direct is sometimes the best, so let's try excavating a hole in the ceiling my current dp is topped off at 1505 so let's test the waters a bit by making it one at a time.

....

...

..

.

Not needing to fully concentrate on excavating the hole I let my sight wander.

Alice was currently being played with by the faeries, they were playing pranks on her left and right doing anything they could to get a reaction out of her, but as usual, she didn’t show a bit of emotion. Riding onward her wolf jumped and weaved through the pranks set up by the fairies.

Little grass knots, branches falling from trees, leaf curtains Alice and wolf skilfully dodged them all, much to the amazement of the fae spectators who giggled in amusement seeing her performance, after a while, those little pranks started to escalate becoming full-blown obstacles courses for her to race through.

Realizing what was going on Alice came to a full stop and just sat there on her wolf, and did nothing and nothing and nothing, by this point the wood had calmed down to the point you could hear the slightest gust of wind rustle the leaves.

But I can tell the fairies were restless they wanted to see more, this was probably one of the more interesting things to happen in their neck of the woods in a while.

They tried to urge her on by playing pranks on her again.

but she wouldn't move an inch.

They tried dropping obstacles near Alice.

but she wouldn't move an inch.

Finally, they appeared in front of her and asked her.

“Hey, Hey why won’t you move anymore?”

“it’s so boring!”

“can you please move...... pretty please.”

“can we ride on the wolfy!”

.... as the fairies were voicing their opinions to Alice, I noticed that I had finished the first vent with DP to spare and moved on to another.

Hearing their pleas Alice responded.

“I might consider riding a bit more and might even consider letting you ride on my..... wolfy too”

the fairies gave a little “Yay” in unison.

“But you have to help me out with a little something first, and you’ll get to meet a lot of new friends too.” Alice continued adding a little extra incentive, I could almost sense a wave relief coming from her, or maybe that's just me projecting my own feelings on her.

“promise?” asked a fairy, holding out their pinkie fingering.

Maybe that's the head fairy for this group. I wonder if the fairies on the first floor have a leader too?

“promise” Alice replied holding out her pinkie finger letting the fairy curl theirs around her, not wanting to hurt it accidentally.

With the promise made Alice motioned to the fairies telling them it was okay to ride with her to the first floor, they were ecstatic clambering around Alice and her wolf finding places to sit, once everyone settled in Alice rode off to the first floor.

Checking back on my progress the second hole was just about done, with smoke spewing out the two vents, I continued to make a third vent which I should have just enough DP left to make.

Checking in on Big Bad Wolf’s progress, he had just made it to the first floor and rendezvoused with the big bad wolf from the three little pigs event, after a bit of an exchange between the two they let out a low pitched whistling in unison. It wasn’t a sound any normal wolf could make, I suspect it had something to do with Big Bad Wolf’s mimic skill and for the other big bad wolf they used their increased lung capacity to create the high pitched sound using wind pressure.

Soon the wolves that were mildly effected to the hoods effect due to their distance to it heard their bosses calls and returned to their senses and retreated from battle, making their way towards the stairway to the second floor.

Finishing their task the big bad wolf from the three little pigs event retreated down to the second floor leaving Big Bad Wolf, the one I sent, alone on the first floor....... I really need to give these guys nicknames or something.

it’s getting kinda confusing referring to them by what they are, both are called the big bad wolf in their respective stories, but the Big Bad Wolf, the one that guards the door to my dungeon room, is named Big Bad Wolf well at least according to his status screen.

Name: Big Bad Wolf

Type: big bad wolf/fairy tale

Race: wolf

Skills: mimicry; rank 3, wolves instinct; rank 3, gluttony; rank 1

Maybe I should call the one residing on this floor the first-floor guardian for now. Yeah, that’s a good way of differentiating them, at least until I come up with another idea.

In any case, the first-floor guardian retreated to the second floor. Now Alone, with his task finished Big Bad Wolf lingered around staring at something in the trees before suddenly mimicking different animal cries, chirping, yipping, squeaking. Hearing this I remembered about the little critters that roamed the floor.

Damn, I completely forgot about them.

Soon the critters scurried out of their hiding places, crowding around the Big Bad Wolf, the birds sang as they preached on top of his head and shoulders, squirrels found safety clinging on to his fur and foxes gathered around his feet.

Ushering the critters downstairs Big Bad Wolf stood vigilantly by the second-floor entrance watching wolves funnel through as they arrived.

It was around this time that Alice and her group of fae came barrelling up the stairs right past the Big Bad Wolf and into the woods.

Riding through the illusory woods Alice and her fairies became the object of interest for the fairies that lived on the first floor, they were familiar with Alice already but she had always been passive, an observer, this was the first time Alice had really sought them out, to talk to them, it also helped that she had some fairies they’ve never seen before.

The feeling was mutual between the two fairy tribes as the danced in the sky as they mingled with their counterparts talking about games and poking at differences between the two, really the biggest difference was that the fairies from the second floor were paler more ethereal looking since it’s always night-time where they reside.

The moment would look magical if it wasn’t for the smoke and smog filling the floor.... actually maybe it enhances the scene. Fairies dancing in the misty morning does sound pretty magical...

“Ahem!” Alice lets out a commanding cough bringing everyone back to the situation at hand.

The fairies whined about her being a bore, but once she brought up her little wolf riding stint a few moments ago that was backed by the stories (that might’ve been a little exaggerated) from the second-floor fairies, they quickly fell in line after that and followed her orders.

Well, that was after they got her to promise them the same as she did for the prior group of fae.

With proceedings done and promises made Alice now had the support of the Allied fairy force, it was finally time to attend to the whole fire problem.

“So Alice do the fairies have any ideas to deal with the fire?”

“yes, Curator they do. Some things they are suggesting are out of the question, some are within reason and there are some in line with what I suspect you are thinking of.”

“have them go with that I one, I'll feed you additional information as we go on.” there’s no time to try to work out the kinks for the other ideas, the fire has already spread through most of the floor, I just got to go with the one that's been stewing in my mind.

“Alice have them spread out we need to cover as much ground as possible”

Seeing what the fairies on the second floor have done, I'm certain that the fae can control nature using their fae magic skill or at least they can control nature in the dungeon. I suspected they could from my memories about stories where fairies are involved.

more and more things keep popping up that I need to look into.

In any case, the fairies started using their magic to control the tree roots to up earth the ground creating large mounds of dirt that stood against flames, and as I expected the tree roots that grew deep into the ground also brought up the strange red mud with it.

Good now we have some damp mounds of mud and dirt acting as a barrier to subdue the flames on the ground, but now we need to do something about the trees themselves.

“Alice, can you ask the fairies if they can use their magic to make the treetops bend back and away for the fire?”

after the message was passed along like a telephone, the trees tops bent and curved back away from the fire as if held back many invisible hands, or maybe just one big hand.

Okay both land and air have been covered, the fire should be stopped by the mounds of mud but the air defenses were looking a bit lacking, the embers emanating from the inferno heading our way threatened the treetops, it’s not the best but all we can do is keep the trees as far away for it as possible and keep a close eye on them.

“Big Bad Wolf get the first floor’s guardian and head over to Alice and help her and the fairies with fire watch duty, we can't let the fire spread into our lit blockade.”

With that last order, I think we’ve done all we can, at least for the preparation for it, all that's left is to keep a close eye on the trees in the enclosure, though am sure with Alice, the fairies and the twin boss wolves there every will be okay.

The wall of fire enclosed upon us, its base met with our mounds of dirt and came to a stop not able to set fire to the damp red mud, but just in case... “Alice can you ask some fairies dig up more mud, the piles are looking a little dry.”

Now that's taken care of, looking up top the fire reached out to grab at the trees but they were just out of its reach, but embers danced from the inferno’s hand crossing the small gap and nibbled at the tree leaves threatening to consume it whole but the Big Bad wolf quickly put a stop to that affair stuffing the embers out before they can dine.

We fought the flame to a standstill mud was flying left and right, the first-floor guardian huffed and puffed and blew indiscriminately suffocating the gluttonous embers before they could feed, and Alice, stoic as always kept an eye on the whole operation coordinating everyone's movements.

Some fairies were even helping out with the embers flying into the treetops to protect the place they called home.

After what seemed like forever the flame started to die out, having eaten everything it could, it starved and shriveled up unable to sustain its own size. Growing ever so smaller until it was naught but a tiny starving ember itself.

I let out a sigh and all the anxiousness that had been building in my core out, it was finally done and over with, the first floor was black and grey as the night itself but we’ve survived. We were worse for wear but alive... but I do worry for the Big Bad Wolf, like the fire that starved and shriveled up, he was as thin as a skeleton expending all his calories keeping the embers at bay.

Talking about everybody being okay, that reminds me I hope the kids are alright, with everything going on I couldn't do anything for them.

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(Dungeon first floor, Zhenya POV)

*cough*

*cough*

“uhhhhhhhhggggggggg” waking up I find myself face down in a pile of ash with Virgil’s arm wrapped around my waist, from the other side of Virgil I can hear Rudi stirring as his body unconsciously tried and failed to move.

Unable to find the strength in my arms and legs to stand up I settle with just rolling over, staring at the sky that now has a hole in it, trying to remember what happened.

I was running alongside Virgil and Rudi as we tried to outrun the wall of fire while the wolves bit at our ankles it looked like we weren't going to make it.... than.. than Virgil suddenly grabbed both me and Rudi and jumped towards the flames head first.

After that things get a little hazy, the sudden jump into certain death made me reflexively close my eyes but it was still pitch black once I opened them.

we sailed through the darkness for a while....oh yeah I swear Virgil was mumbling something but I just can't quite remember what he said, while trying to listen to him I passed out and now am here, also I think Rudi threw up at some point but maybe am remembering it wrong.

As I was trying to recall what happened Virgil woke up and unlike me and Rudi he somehow still had enough strength in him to stand up.

Looking down at us, he certainly saw that I was awake but when I tried to say something he immediately cut me off.

“Save your strength,” he told me while giving a wary smile.

He made note of where we ended up and picked me up in an underarm carry and hefted the still unconscious Rudi over his shoulder.

“Neat” was the only thought that ran through my mind as he carried both me and Rudi through the charred remains of the dungeon, heading back to our campsite which was now apparently a black and brown lump.

The trek was mostly silent and uneventful with all the trees and monsters being burned to a crisp, it also helped that Virgil was giving off that am in ‘deep thought so don’t talk to me vibe’

It didn’t take us long to arrive at the campsite apparently, the lump turned out to a makeshift wall that the others made to shelter from the flames.

Setting me and Rudi on the ground Virgil started to tear down the brittle and burnt wall, crumbling underneath the slightest touch we found the others huddled in the center and in various states of..... undressed and in various states of.... wetness, I wonder what went down here while we were gone.

Seeing Virgil they scrambled for their armor and to dry off, though a girl with pretty hair tied up in a ponytail who was unfazed by Virgil’s sudden appearance walked straight up to him and started giving him the rundown on went on.

Apparently, after we left a hoard of wolves came out from the woods and attacked them, during the intense fighting they found the wolves weakness to water and managed fend off their assault. Right, when they were taking control of the situation a pillar of fire emerged from somewhere in the woods causing the remaining wolves to run off.

I don’t know how he could but Virgil managed to keep a straight and neutral face at the mention of the fire, acting as if we had nothing to do with. The girl did give him a nasty glare but that was as far as she went before continuing the story.

That was when they started working together to build the wall out of the remains of the wolves, and from there they took shelter from the flames, shedding their clothes whenever it got to hot and dousing themselves with water whenever the heat became unbearable.

All in all, I had to say I was pretty impressed, in how they handled themselves apart from some moderate injuries and some blisters and burns they were mostly okay,

the next few moments passed in relative in silence you could feel the exhaustion emanating off of everyone as they ambled around trying to find their belongings.

“Hey, Rudi you awake yet?” I asked him, not expecting an answer. We were dumped on the sidelines by Virgil who left promising to bring back our stuff for us.

“Yessssss,” Rudi replied groggily.

Sound likes he just woke up.

“We’re gonna be in a lot of trouble once we get back aren't we?”

“we? I’m the one who started the fire to begin with.”

“well I was the one dragged you along to begin with, so I'm partially to blame too” It just wouldn’t feel right if Rudi took all the blame for this, the reason he even created that pillar of flame in the first place was to help me out.

And I mean. Virgil isn’t blame free either he was supposed to supervise us “newbie” adventurers after all. The more the merrier I say!

“T- T- Thanks.” Rudi’s voice cracked as he spoke softly giving me his thanks.

I fairly surprised, I didn’t think sharing the blame in this incident was such a big deal to him, maybe I'm wrong but it really does seem like he’s genuinely relieved.

I stayed silent after that it just kinda felt like the moment to do so.

...

..

.

After awhile steeped in silence Virgil came and picked us up again he and others had finished gathering their things, the trek back was uneventful.

It was night time when we reached the surface and apparently, we made quite a ruckus down there since it looked like half the town was asking what went happened.

They were quickly silenced when a lady who looked like a big shot started walking through the crowd, she looked pretty upset as she berated Virgil. The crowd quickly broke up as she started to take control of the situation.

We were ushered back into town by her guards, our group got smaller as we went on some went back to their inn others back to whatever tent they had set up and decided to call home. By the time we got to the A.A, it was only me, Rudi and Virgil left.

He dropped me, Rudi and our belongings down in the nice cozy corner that I called home and left the room without saying a thing, I wanted to say something a big yawn came out instead, my eyes started drooping I was starting to drift in between sleep and drowsiness.

As I fell asleep I couldn’t shake the feeling that maybe we forgot about something, something in the dungeon, forgot to bring something back, but that was as far as I got before falling completely asleep.