Eilwy intervenes

Eilwy stepped from the shadows and aimed her wand.

The orc spotted her immediately and reacted with impressive speed. With a growl he rolled away from the cleric and was quickly on his feet. He glared balefully at Eilwy for a moment, but then turned and ran - as if he'd recognised her. Eilwy considered zapping the fleeing creature with magic anyway, but decided to save her strength.

"Oh thank you, thank you!" gasped the young cleric with relief, pulling herself up from the floor. "I thought I was sure to be ****..." She noticed who had saved her and her face paled. "Black Reaver! I didn't realize it was you!" She hurried to her feet and gave a little bow. "I am Primal Lelana. I thank you for your assistance."

"Yes, yes," Eilwy said, dismissing the girl's thanks with a contemptuous wave of her hand. She hadn't saved the young cleric from the goodness of her heart, after all. Anyone foolish enough to get caught by an orc deserved their fate in her opinion! She'd rescued the girl only because she might prove useful, and she wanted to get on with business. "I'm curious. Who is this Deprecia the orc mentioned?"

Lelana picked up her mace and secured it at the belt around her slender waist. She sighed. "Deprecia runs the brothels at the Western Quarter. She has risen quickly to power since you were last in the city, Black Reaver. She is a mage like you, but she has used her powers to unite the brothels under herself. Now she is a formidable power, and very rich indeed."

Eilwy snorted. Riches were such a base ambition - her own desires went much higher! "She can't be that powerful if she still uses orcs for her... dirty work."

Eilwy placed a light but meaningful emphasis on her last two words, and Lelana blushed a satisfying deep red. Eilwy noted coldly that the young blonde girl was deeply attractive. She would have many admirers in the Temple.

"The orc is called Gunt. He's one of her special agents," Lelana said finally, still red faced. "He's no push over. It's a particular threat of Deprecia's, you see, to keep women in line. If you cross her, she sends the orc to **** you. You don't know when he'll strike, but at some point you find his hand going over your mouth and you get dragged into an alley for some private time...." She shuddered. "At least it's a private ****, and you get to keep some of your dignity. Deprecia keeps it quiet if you stop bothering her afterwards. It's basically ****. You fall in line, or the world gets to hear that you had a tumble with her orc."

"An effective tactic," Eilwy nodded appreciatively. "I bet it keeps opposition from the Temple down. I can't imagine Primals like being on the receiving end of an orc cock, especially if their peers and enemies might get to laugh about it."

"It's not all," Lelana continued glumly. "Deprecia has captured a number of my order who refused to give in, and she has **** them to work in her brothels. Primal Tylla was her recent aquisition. She taunts us with it. We can't rescue them. They're there now, servicing Deprecia's customers like whores. I can't bear to think of Primal Tylla like that."

Eilwy was starting to appreciate Deprecia's style. Still, competition from other mages wasn't good, and it was important for her own aims that she remained in the Temple's good graces. If Deprecia was vexing the High Priestess, perhaps this was a problem that Eilwy could help resolve for her own advantage.

"Come, girl," she said briskly. "I'm on my way to the Temple right now. We will talk to your High Priestess, and then set about teaching a lesson to this... Deprecia."