Beyond the banquet hall was a botany garden filled with exotic flowers and overgrown trees. The air was as hot and humid as if it belonged to the jungle itself. It had been eons since anyone took care of the plants, the exotic specimens inside were growing out of control. Their roots having cracked and overrun the stone path that once crossed the greenhouse.
Celeria was the first to stroll inside. The remnants of her pants and her belt were gone. Her nether regions were now only concealed by the linen loincloth that she had wrapped around them.
A blushing Liana followed her. The mage had lost her robe and was only wearing her chemise. Since the fabric was translucent, she kept a hand over her chest to conceal her small breasts, and another between her legs, for a similar reason.
A slightly trembling and equally blushing Peonie entered next. Her sword was no longer with her, neither was her battle skirt, for it was cut away from her armor. She held her hand between her legs to protect her hairless sex from intruding eyes, grateful that they at least let her keep her breastplate.
Finally, Min walked into the room. She was almost completely naked except for a short cape that didn´t even reach down to her lower back. She was slightly more comfortable than her companions wearing her birthday suit, but she was still blushing all the same.
The fairies followed behind them and flew close to the ceiling, intent on amusing themselves by watching the party´s struggle as they advanced further into the dungeon. Some were mockingly carrying the party´s former clothes with them. To taunt them with their "payment" whenever they looked up.
"H-hold on," Peonie said before taking another step. "Should we keep going? I mean, we aren´t exactly equipped to handle the task at hand. We are down to our undergarments…or worse."
Peonie took a glance at Min´s nipples, blushed, and then looked down at her own feet.
"H-hey, what are you looking at me for?" Min shyly wrapped a hand around her chest.
"I say we keep going," Celeria replied, also trying to avert her gaze from Min´s exposed privates. "If we turn back now, our embarrassment would have been for naught. Let´s at least find some loot to break even after we return to town."
"Yeah, and we can´t let the livestock keep flocking to this dungeon, right? The farmers are counting on us," Min commented, trying to wrap her cape in a way that would spare her intimates from the not-so-subtle glances of her teammates. It wasn´t long enough to do the job.
"Besides, the worst has to be behind us, right? I doubt there´s anything more dangerous here than those annoying fairie-eep!" The annoying fairies heard Liana´s comment and sent a little wind blast toward her rear to remind her of their presence.
"B-but, I don´t even have my sw-"
"Look," Min clasped her hands, turning towards Peonie. "I already completed a few quests using nothing but my wits and instinct. Trust me, we got this. We will finish our quest even if we lose all of our remaining equipment."
"Oh great, does that mean this isn´t our local idiot´s first naked adventure?!" Liana scoffed. "This has to be the worst party in the world. At least we have a ...huh? Where did the elf go?"
While the group chatted, Celeria pushed forward to investigate a strange noise in the gardens, leaving the trio behind.
Min pretended she didn´t hear Liana and kept talking. "…Fancy gear is not necessary if you know how to improvise. So, watch and learn." The practically naked adventurer grabbed a leaf from the giant bush next to her and attempted to wrestle it out of its branch.
"What in the Sister´s hallowed names are you trying to do?"
"I´m trying to take this leaf to make a skirt for myself, like the ones our gracious fairy friends wear."
"…huh, you got a good idea for once." Liana dropped her staff and pulled onto another giant leaf to copy Min´s idea. Peonie followed suit with a smaller flower that she thought would make for a good skirt. Neither of the distracted adventurers noticed the vines creeping around their feet until it was too late.
The vines snared the girls' ankles like they were lassos and pulled them back. They dragged the adventurers, kicking and screaming, across the floor towards some unknown destination deep into the foliage. But, the journey did not last long. A flurry of arrows cut the vines with pinpoint accuracy. An annoyed Celeria appeared from behind the foliage and approached the trio before they could stand back up.
"For crying out loud, I turned my back for but an instant! What were you doing? We are on a quest, not a tour! You can't stop to smell the flowers!"
"We weren´t-"
Celeria was not abiding any interruptions. She kept talking. "You are lucky those were the vines of a local Tickling Sallow. What if they belonged to an Impaler Oak, huh? You would be already bleeding out on the floor."
"W-we were just trying to…" A quick glare was all it took to shut Peonie up. It was like the elf´s blue eyes were shooting arrows of their own toward anyone foolish enough to try and look at them. "…never mind."
"All your senses must be on full alert on a dungeon, like me. You can't rush at every enemy, stop to smell the roses, or even ask for piggyback rides!" Liana fidgeted with her fingers. It was her turn to receive the elf´s piercing gaze.
"Excuse me, Celeria?"
"Follow my example. Before I act, I carefully survey the surroundings…"
"Err, Celeria. You might want to-"
"Don´t interrupt me."
"But-"
"I said-" While Celeria was busy scolding, she neglected to notice the giant flower blooming behind her. Attracted to the source of the loud noise yelling next to it, the plant opened its petals and swallowed the elf's upper body as if it were a snake eating it´s prey.
Celeria frantically kicked her feet and tried to punch her way out of the flower, but her struggle had little effect. The plant attempted to lift her in the air to eat her whole, but Peonie sprang into action and grabbed the elf´s struggling legs to try and take her out of the monstrous bud. At her insistence, Liana soon joined her in the effort.
The party was involved in a tug-of-war with a flower. They planted their heels on the ground and pulled with all their strength. The terrified elf could do nothing but keep struggling and flailing her legs, occasionally kicking Liana in the face by accident.
Still, the monstrous bulb was the size of a bear, with the strength of one to boot. Celeria was slowly dragged inch by inch inside the flower. It seemed like a fruitless struggle. At least until Min plunged her dagger right into the plant´s stem, cutting a big green hole across it.
Wounded and feeling threatened, the flower spat Celeria out and closed its petals like a turtle retreating into its shell. The elf lay on the floor, breathing heavily and with her upper body covered in a transparent substance that smelled sweet, like tree sap.
The flower had not gone empty-handed, however, as it had taken the elf's cloak and shirt as a token of their struggle, although it was polite enough to spit out her bow along with a handful of the elf´s hard-to-digest arrows.
"Tadadadadam!" Min hummed a celebratory jingle "See? It´s always useful to have a rogue in the party to sneak behind our enemies and stab them!"
"Big deal. Even I could have done that if I had a dagger," Liana retorted.
"Well, if I had your staff, I could cast spells, but you don´t see me trying to belittle you."
"You literally can´t. You tried and failed to do that in our fight."
"That´s only bec-"
"Follow your example, huh?" Peonie went to check on her elven friend. "Should I strip now or wait for a monster to do it for me?"
The only trappings covering Celeria's body now were her loincloth and the linen bra wrapped around her medium-sized breasts. The proud elf quickly sat uptight with her arms folded around her chest, her cheeks burning red.
"Why are you covering? I have already seen you naked, remember?" Liana teased.
"Really? Me too." Peonie replied.
"Surprisingly, I did too!" Min joined in. "When did you girls see her naked?"
"It doesn't matter!" Celeria yelled, getting more flustered by the second at her companion's attention and the memories they were digging up. "Let's just pretend this never happened and keep going."
"I'm going to have to disagree on that first thing, but yeah, let's get out of here before our ever-watchful ranger falls prey to another stationary plant," replied Liana.
Celeria grumbled, biting her tongue to stop her mouth from escalating the argument. This wasn´t the time or place to get into another fight with Liana. "At least no one else saw me lose a fight with an overgrown shrub…" she mumbled to herself.
"What a bunch of idiots. I can't wait to tell the forest fairies about this!" Celeria´s elven ears perked up, hearing the fairies' commentary amidst their giggles. Her blush burned like a furnace. She really should have sniped those annoying fae when she had the chance.