“Talina? Where the hell are you?" “Whuzzgoinon?" Janette awoke to rub her eyes and look around.

“I'm right here, master," Talina said.

Janette screamed at the sound of the voice coming out of nowhere and quickly scrambled herself up to her knees on the bed. She cast a shapely leg over the side to put her foot on the floor in an effort to stand. Unfortunately, this leg just happened to be the same one that Gregory had been laid on and had completely gone to sleep. So when she tried to put her weight on it by springing out of bed she instead rapidly collapsed into a heap on the floor.

Ww," she groaned.

‘Oh! I'm so sorry, Janette! Here." A gulping noise was soon followed by Talina materialising in front of everyone, still stark naked and looking a little dirty and dishevelled. "Is that better? I'd forgotten about taking Valise's potion. I was in something of a hurry at the time."

Having a beautiful woman materialise out of the blue wearing only her birthday suit might have been quite a shock for some people. However, there had been so much crazy shit going on in his life as of late that Gregory barely blinked at the appearance. Instead, his expression became concerned when Talina didn't look her usual sublimely well-kept self. On closer inspection, he saw a few little cuts and bruises marring her alabaster complexion.

“Talina, are you ok? What's going on?"

“I am quite well, master." She bowed with a sincere amount of grace at his concern for her. "I took an evening run through the jungle, and practiced dodging some incoming fireballs, but thankfully I have a talent for such things."

Gregory rubbed his hand across his face at that. He would have chewed off his own hand for a shot of espresso right then. This new world might have given him a more solid constitution, and a lighter sleeping pattern, but even he wasn't quick on the uptake after being awoken in the middle of the night to that story.

"I think you should probably start from the beginning," he said.

“Excellent idea, master! I'd been planning on starting three quarters of the way through, but once again you show yourself to be at the pinnacle of organised thought." She maintained that serene little smile.

A pillow hit her squarely in the face. Algra had also been awoken by the ruckus and was even less of a morning person than Gregory.

Talina blinked at this, clearly unused to being so brazenly assaulted by feather-stuffed items. It was the first time so far in the conversation that her gaze actually flickered away from Gregory's erection, albeit not for very Long.

“What did you want to talk about, Talina?" Gregory asked; his tone distinctly strained as he reached over the side of the bed to help Janette back up to her feet. She wobbled only slightly whilst the blood flowed back into her leg.

“Master, there seems to be some sort of conspiracy targeted at you by an orcish elder who wants you dead. I feel there might also be some sort of plan involving demonic creatures to overthrow the leadership of the orcs here in the Embervine Forest and bring about the end of the world as we know it." Talina had spoken all that out awfully quickly, so she punctuated her final word with a steadying breath of air.

Gregory blinked at her, the haze of sleepiness disappearing from his gaze as he came to realise that his eccentric friend was completely serious in her report. Algra and Janette both turned to look at her with similar expressions of dawning dread.

“Talina that's... that's a hell of a thing to drop into someone's Lap at holy-fuck-o'clock in the morning.”

She nodded with dutiful understanding.

“I'm sure master's lap could rise to the challenge." The encouraging words were offered whilst she Licked her Lips and continued to stare at his erection.

“Talina, honey?" Janette spoke up. "Could you maybe stop staring at my boyfriend's dick like a hungry dog eyeing up a juicy sausage, and maybe elaborate on what you just said? The end of the world is a big thing to handle before breakfast.”

The dark-haired woman nodded in agreement with her response and did as she was asked, lifting her attention to look at Gregory's face. Although she did this somewhat more slowly than she should have, and took the time to enjoy the sight of the rippling contours of his hardened, sun-kissed body until she was looking into his eyes.

“Master, a few months ago I began observing The Berserker alpha, Rolk Stormbane. I hoped to offer you some information on his pack that might help you in the provings. One night, I followed him to a conversation with his father, Wren Stormbane. Wren is on the elder council, and I discovered that he and his son were plotting to kill you."

She paused there for a moment and looked between the three of them, hoping that Algra wouldn't Lunge at her for keeping that information from them.

“Right, ok, so why didn't you tell me about that?" Gregory's tone was surprisingly neutral about the matter.

“I spoke with Emmet about it. He always knows what to do, and I'd been talking with him for a while. Part of the reason I began spying on Rolk was to try and figure out who was responsible for Letting your prisoner get free to nearly burn down the camp around us with that magical ring of yours. Emmet advised me to keep the matter to myself until I could prove it. Forgive me, master. We both thought you had enough to deal with without worrying about Rolk and his pack.”