*bloop*
The towering vine, growing up from the main body of the Terse Elements dungeon vine, pushed its highest branches through into a new worldlet. Bright sunlight shone on the leaves. A slight breeze pushed white clouds around the worldlet space. A vine fruit detached from one of the branches and plummeted down through the portal back to the main worldlet.
A woodlark was the first dungeon creature to discover the new portal at the top of the towering vine. It perched on a branch and cocked its head to get a clearer look at the space. Observing from several branches, the woodlark decided this situation was good. It flew a few circles around the vine-tree and sang its song. A few other songbirds joined the woodlark in the safe and sunny worldlet. Eventually, the ravens noticed the songbirds’ excitement about something and investigated. One raven pair immediately claimed the top of the vine-tree for themselves, bullying the smaller birds.
<hr>
“Violet Danderpuff, Nature Dungeon Fairy. Dungeon Nature Fairy. Assigned dungeon nature fairy. Dungeon assigned nature fairy. Dungeon fairy of a nature… nature. Bah!” Violet, the nature fairy assigned as dungeon fairy to the Terse Elements dungeon, put down his pen and crumpled a piece of paper into a ball. He crushed it in his fist and use one of his recently acquired nature fairy abilities to instantly compost the paper. He brushed the dirt off his hand, picked up his pen, and signed a nearby letter with, “V. Danderpuff, Terse Elements”. The wizards and the nearby hill lord had reported about the recent events in the dungeon and the inter-world trade taking place. Those reports had somehow gotten around to the fairies, and now Violet was obligated to send periodic reports to no less than three agencies—the wizards, the adventurers, and the dungeon fairies.
“I’m a nature fairy, not a paper fairy.” Violet complained to the letter. It did not respond. He picked it up and read through it again, even though he knew for certain it was correct. He checked the entries against a chart he had hung on the wall after he accepted his paper-work related fate. The chart was composed of lists of things currently in the dungeon.
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td width="312">
Creatures
</td>
<td width="312">
o Millipede
o Beetle(?)
o Frog
o Salamander
o Spider
o Bat
o Fish
o Floating jellyfish
o SnakeThis narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
o Butterfly
o Peafowl
o Swamp gremlin
o Lesser squid
o Lesser clam
o Tree spider weasel
o Mini winged horse
o Blood grass snake
o Tree spider moon cat
o Songbirds (various)
o Worm
o Lizard
o Snail
o Owl
o Tortoise
o Rabbit
o Dragonfly
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="312">
Plants
</td>
<td width="312">
o Apricot tree
o Moss
o Mushroom
o Grains of all kinds
o Flowers
o Onion
o Carrot
o Fruit trees
o Oaks
o Cedars
o Ironwood
o Melons
o Cactus
o Herbs (culinary and medicinal)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="312">
Magical Plants
</td>
<td width="312">
o Lightning weed
o Antidote flower
o Glowing moss
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="312">
Treasure
</td>
<td width="312">
o Amber piece
o Frost pole
o Leather belt
o Custom art pieces
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Several months had passed and the seasons of both connected worlds had changed. Animals had wandered into the dungeon from both sides, and the trade caravans had been creative in bringing “plants the dungeon doesn’t have”. Violet had actually laughed when one grumpy cook had been pressured to give up an onion to help pay for passage. The fact that the dungeon didn’t have a way to enforce payment had not caused a problem yet.
Speaking of payments, I should go get the latest batches. Violet thought. He tossed the letter in his “out” bin so he could send it later. He blinked to the pair of tables in the main worldlet and gathered up a few materials. He blinked behind the main vine, climbed down to the underworld entrance and stepped through. The continuous and concentrated mana flow through the tunnels made his blink spell a bit unstable, so he set off on a walk through the terrifying darkness and often uncomfortable dampness of the dungeon underworld. It was a long walk, but it was better than paperwork.
Violet popped up into the otherside worldlet and jogged over to the tables and crates of payment. He perused the plants, just to be sure he hadn’t missed any with the visual scanners, but his main interest was the painting, sculpting, and other crafting supplies. He happily hummed as he gathered up all the canvases, paint, clay, needles, ink, yarn, and more. In one of the crates he found an odd little ball. He rolled it around between his hands as he considered it. It looked like old bronze, but the density was off. The ball was hollow, perhaps. It didn’t look like any sort of crafting supply. Maybe it was included by mistake.
As Violet fiddle with the ball, a patina section flaked off to reveal something that looked like a button. Violet pushed the button. The ball split on many lines and the pieces rotated in complicated ways to resemble a very spiky flower. Unfortunately, Violet had been holding it upside down and the spikes stabbed into his hand.
“Ouch!” He shouted and dropped the ball. The ball snapped back into ball shape as soon as it hit the ground. Violet kicked it as hard as he could. A wave of nausea swept over him and he didn’t see that the ball sailed out the dungeon exit. “Ugh. What’s this, a mental drain curse? Some curse or something?” His speech slowed a bit and he slurred a few words. He walked slowly over to the underworld entrance, careful not to stumble, and called down for Yrryth. He put his hands over his eyes and shook his head, mumbling to himself. He climbed down into the underworld tunnels, then called for Yrryth again. She arrived a few minutes later.
“I don’t feel so good.” Violet told her from where he was lying on the ground. “Can you carry me?” Yrryth raised an eyebrow at him, but since he didn’t see, she grunted inquisitively. “Curse, or something.” Violet replied. “Gotta sleep it off.” He closed his eyes. Yrryth rolled her eyes and picked up the green fairy. She couldn’t enter the area around the dungeon core, so she carried the sleeping fairy to the underworld art studio she had made him.