The Specifics of the Witch's Plan

Stella and Korr finish making themselves presentable and then head out of her chambers and towards the conference room.

She's wearing a tight purple dress with a low cleavage, and her long raven hair is done up in twin buns. Glistening purple makeup surrounds her eyes, and her nails are painted to match.

Korr wears a form-fitting copper-colored tunic embossed with golden spiderwebs, and his long obsidian hair is held up in a long ponytail.

Side by side, they look like a beautiful match.

When they enter the board room, the human noblewoman and the dryad are the only ones present, and they are lost in a seemingly tantalizing conversation. Or, rather, Cherry is telling an intricate tale while Gertrude is politely listening. The noblewoman might very well be truly interested in the story being told, but Korr can't be quite sure; A court-educated spy is definitely able to convincingly fake interest.

Stella takes place on her big central chair, and Korr sits next to her. Wooden mannequins come into the room, bringing breakfast, to the orc's delight.

However, he also notices that some of the puppets have new features. The one that brings him a platter of bread has little branches coming out of its head, some with tiny green leaves. Another puppet brings a platter of crispy pork rind, but then Korr's attention is wholly on the food, and he doesn't notice whether that one had any peculiar growths.

The smell of food must've attracted the little goblin, because she shows up by kicking down the doors and screaming "FOOD!" She jumps one of the puppets, taking the platter from its hands and kicking it on the shin. Korr chuckle at the scene, and then goes back to his food.

Once he's done devouring the content of his plate, his attention goes back to the puppets, some of which are bringing in pitcher with water, fruit juice, and steamy brown drinks.

"Some of your puppets are... leafy," he whispers to the witch, noticing more and more living vegetation over the mannequins' bodies.

"Cherry's influence. Happens whenever she stays overnight. It's not much of a bother, I'll just make the puppets trim each others once she's gone."

Korr takes a moment to admire the gorgeous bark-skinned woman. He wonders just how powerful she truly is.

The mage and the bandit come in halfway through the meal, and take place next to each other. Korr waits expectantly, sure that others will show up, but no one else joins the group. Maybe the others' jobs were simple enough that Stella has already briefed them and sent them on their way? Either way, she has her puppets bring in maps and figurines so the group can properly strategize.

Trudy's mission in court sounds tedious to Korr, but she nods vigorously throughout Stella's entire explanation. She's meant to incapacitate several members of the court, win the trust of others, and gather specific information, a lot of which will necessitate participating in royal social events, and manipulating a bunch of other nobles.

Zikkits and Kazath are on disruption duty, both given regions of influence where they are supposed to harass the armies of both faction. With bandits and mercenaries roaming freely and attacking the armies, it could help both factions remember that there are already so many threats in the world, and sometimes war only make everything worse for no reason.

Sasha's mission is focused on communing with spirits, ancestors of both factions that could help give insight on how to calm the current rulers.

As Stella explains her cunning plans and give orders to her powerful minions, he can't help but admire her. That, and she spends most the meeting bent down over the table, giving everyone, including him, a nice view of her rack. In a way, seeing her magnificent boobs half-covered like this is more erotic than seeing them bare, and it makes him wish he could be holding them, squeezing them, kissing them, sucking on them. Halfway through the meeting, he gets a hard on, and he tries to bring his focus back onto the war planning. It's not easy, considering how fucking gorgeous Stella is, but he manages.

"... don't need to tell you how much of an advantage you'll have over their troops. They'll never expect a dryad in their royal forest. It's supposed to be warded against such magical intrusions."

"Wait wait wait," Korr exclaims, suddenly sobered up. "Her mission will be in the royal forest?"

"Yes," Stella replies, her voice unflinching and cold. She's in a leading mood, and it is a little scary... and a kinda hot. "She'll wreak havoc on the forces there, crippling the fox battalion. Killing his troops probably won't bring out the cowardly prince, but it's better if he and his sadistic troops are busy fighting vain battles, rather than causing harm on the frontline."

"Smart," Korr whispers.

"As for Korr and I," she adds, keeping her head high and placing a hand on his shoulder, "we will meet up with the Shepherds."