Love's Labors, Part 3
"This will be much easier if we can quietly convince her weaker allies to help us," you finally decide. "We can afford to let her have a head start if it means we get someone on the inside. Let's see if we can't lure away that wind elemental of hers."
Ceriss nods. "Just a word of warning, Niko: they're all fiercely loyal to her," she says. "Most elementals are be mercurial enough that they might switch sides on little more than a passing whim... but not those four."
The tiefling pauses. But then her expression turns sly. "Still, I think we can make a pretty good case that this will all be for Nevati's benefit in the end. And that's what Aila will really care about. Especially if we can get her alone, and explain it to her in depth."
You smirk back. Then, with that settled, the two of you start making your preparations, embarking on a whirlwind of activity over the next few days. Consulting with Iskro to determine the village best positioned to serve as bait. Gathering your horses and provisions. Spreading word of your destination to those known to be loose-tongued, knowing that it will spread out through the population.
In particular, you include hints that there is some mysterious purpose to this trip. Something to do with the other heroines. You keep it tantalizingly ambiguous, with enough conflicting information that it could be some kind of plot that you're pursuing there, or—just as easily—that you're going there to hide some kind of secret weakness.
Every reason you can give Nevati to justify sending someone to investigate (in addition to her heartsick yearning of wanting to know how Ceriss is being treated) will nudge her toward the decision you want her to make.
Then, once all that work is finally completed, you're ready to set out. This time you're not departing for a foreign nation, but rather heading deeper into Kovora. Your course takes you through the very heart of the orcish settlement that has sprung up around the fortress, sprawling out across the plain. The orcish structures here are all small, light wooden affairs, clearly designed to be impermanent, able to be disassembled and moved without difficulty. It's a stark contrast, set against the towering stone edifice that you've just emerged from.
Even as you and Ceriss trot your horses through the bustle, you see that some groups of orcs are departing, even as new groups arrive. The fortress stands as a gathering point, attracting different families and clans that seem to come and go. Some of those groups are small, while others are large caravans.
Many of the orcs' eyes follow you as you ride past. Some looking at you with hope, some with fear, some with uncertainty, some with awe. Many with a mixture of some—or all—of that.
It takes a while to meander your horses through the outer settlement, but eventually you emerge out the other side, and spur your mounts to a gallop, covering distance much faster now that you're in the open plain, away from the crowds. It still takes another day of travel, but by the next morning you catch your first glimpse of the village that you've chosen, as you crest the hill in front of you.
This village looks more permanent than the encampment set up around the fortress. You can see quite a bit of farmland here, struggling to eek out a crop from the hostile soil. The villagers look like a ragged bunch, most of them women and children, with only one or two warriors to be seen. There are no clear clan markers, something unusual from what you've seen so far of orc habitation.
According to Iskro, the doctrines of the Church of Melca paint full-time farming as dishonorable. And so, quite often, it often falls to unwanted widows, orphans, outcasts. The discarded and the rejected, thrown together and told to labor toward a goal that the very earth itself resists.
You approach riding your horses at a slow trot, not looking to spook anyone. The farmhands look up from their work, even as the paltry few guards hurry in your direction. Their jaws drop as they see you; apparently, word of who you are has reached out here as well. You dismount, then turn and face them, projecting utter confidence.
"Greetings," you say. "I come in the name of her majesty the Witch Queen. I will need to call on your hospitality, until my task here is done."
The warriors are very old male orcs, clearly past their prime. They're wearing rough hide armor, which they probably filled out better in their younger days. They still wear it with pride, though it's mixed with a despondent clinging to their glory days, out here in a posting no one probably wanted. They glance at each other, taken aback by your unexpected arrival... but another speaker interjects before they can figure out how to respond.
"Welcome to Karoz." The new voice is that of an orc woman. She sounds jaded, with more than a touch of outright suspicion. Turning, you see that she is tall, buxom, fit and broad-shouldered, wearing clothes that are simple and plain. She carries a hoe slung over her shoulder as she strides toward you. Her right eye regards you warily, while an old scar seals her left eye shut. It doesn't look like a weapon wound, though, more like the blow of a fist.
She gives you a bow, albeit one that doesn't take her eyes off you. "It's always an honor to entertain her majesty's people," she continues. "The name's Dura. What can I do for you?"
You incline your head, returning the bow. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Dura," you reply smoothly. "Hopefully, we shouldn't be much trouble. We'll need accommodations for a while, until we finish taking care of some business in the area."
"What kind of business?" asks Dura bluntly. "The kind that might endanger my people?"
You raise your eyebrows slightly, surprised that she's bold enough to speak so frankly to a royal emissary. But you're pretty sure it's an—attempted—show of strength. One way or another, this Dura has very little true power in the grand scheme of things. But if she can stake out ground in the encounter by sheer daring and force of will... it's at least something she might be able to work with.
And you get the sense that she fundamentally doesn't believe in passivity.
Of course, you doubt that any heroine, or her agents, would do anything to endanger these farmers. Her worries are, at their core, unfounded. It does raise a larger question, however. You probably have some time before your prey arrives, time you can use to prepare. How do you plan on ensnaring the elemental you're trying to bait? And also, how do you intend to interact with the villagers here while setting it up?
The most direct method for taking your prey would be a straight-up trap. Lure Nevati's scout in close, then jump her and capture her, putting her at your mercy. Ceriss alone should be more than a match for Aila, given that you know she's coming. Not to mention your own summoning power, which would let you drop tentacle monsters on her with impunity.
They nearly caught the air elemental at your last clash; this approach would let her truly experience the euphoria she missed out on back then.
Of course, there are also sneakier ways to handle it. Once you locate the spy, you could approach her in the shape of one of the other elementals. Someone she trusts, to whom she might lower her guard. This would play to your primary strengths, but it would also be a bit more dangerous, given how passing your acquaintance is with the ones you'd be impersonating.
It might require you to think on your feet a bit. But if you pull it off long enough to get some good physical contact, it could allow you to claim the elemental in a less-confrontational way.
Finally, you could let Ceriss take center stage in the effort. If you gave her a Corruptive Boon, you could try to trick the elemental into "rescuing" her, creating the impression that your "control" had worn off and leaving an opening. That would put your heroine in the perfect position to start working on her "savior".
Then, of course, there's also the question of how you want to pursue your interactions with this small community while you're here. Already you're attracting attention, with more of the workers clustering around, talking in hushed tones. Most of them are plain at best, though there are a few more comely ones in the young women or late adolescents. They regard you with a mixture of fear and amazement, not sure what your arrival portends for them.
Ultimately, whatever you do, it shouldn't be too much of a distraction either way. But just in terms of your own agenda for how you want to influence Kovora—and how your influence and notoriety spread—it is worth considering how you pass the time while waiting.
You could conduct yourself with complete restraint, limiting yourself to Ceriss in terms of your sexual needs. That would be the most neutral choice. Any stories that do spread will, if anything, simply indicate that (for an incubus) you're able and willing to temper your desires in the service of getting the immediate job done.
A bit more aggressively, you could pursue a bit of temptation as you go about your business, taking up only those who seem interested. The stories that spread will tell of the pleasure that you can bring, and that you offer it freely in ways that could offer a new way of seeing things to all who feel that way.
Or, if you wanted to make an even more insistent effort, you could start by taking Dura herself into your and Ceriss' bed while you wait, showing her how misplaced her attempts to aggressively bluster you were. She might be a bit reluctant at first... but you're entirely confident that you can win her over. And one she's on your side, fully corrupted, the rest of the village will inevitably fall with ease. The stories that spread will tell of the overwhelming carnal pleasure that you are bringing to Kovora, a groundswell of change that has the potential to create a fundamentally new world for them.
The question is what kind of influence you—currently—want to aim for. This particular village will be a step toward that.
