The city lay in ruins. The orcs marched valiantly on, each holding their own share of the plunder: gold, succulent foods of all kinds, gleaming weapons ripped from the grips of the defenders, and – for those who were most adept at fighting – captives from among the survivors. Goblins rushed behind the orcs, everything their hands could grasp was taken, from baubles to small treasures. Whatever valuables were left by the orcs were quickly snatched up. The hobgoblin sergeants rushed to contain their more wily kin. But there was no containing the dashing masses as they stripped houses cleam.

One lone bugbear surveyed the chaos below her. Her dusky brown frame towered over any man in her army, and indeed, any bugbear she'd ever met. Clad in the torn red mantle of a general she'd defeated the previous day, she smiled at the destruction her horde caused. Of course, she wouldn't permit it to last for too long. They had more cities to capture, more armies to crush. Those kingdoms wouldn't conquer themselves.

She felt a bit sorry for the “civilized” humanoid that got stuck running this place after she was gone.

Her assistant – a half-elf, wearing nothing more than a simple tunic, and a red cloth around her neck denoting her special status – was more than a little upset by the vast, chaotic ruin the city had turned into. Wringing her hands as the city burned around her, she obviously didn't yet get the appeal her mistress had with debauchery and anarchy. And perhaps she never would.

The bugbear warlady wasn't entirely apathetic to her servant's feelings. She knew that the three-year-long campaign of conquest she'd spread across the coast had worn hard on the girl, who hadn't received a moment's rest since she was pulled out of her general's uniform and into the warlady's service.

The warlady paused, before turning to her assistant. “Senn!”

The sudden exclamation had broken the half-elf out of her stupor. She snapped to attention reflexively. “Y-yes, Lady Urzha!”

“For your years of service and dedication, I've decided to give you a little time off.”

She pulled a handful of gold coins out of a pouch hanging off of the belt around her waist that constituted her only other clothing item, and held them out in front of the slight half-elf. Senn looked down at the coins, a blank expression on her face.

“... Why are you giving me these?”

“Isn't it obvious? We've got plenty of gold, and we haven't been spending any of it. Taking things for free will eventually lead to there being nothing left to take. If I'm making an empire, I'm not propping it up on ashes. Now go out and spend it.”

With that, Urzha turned away from Senn, still watching the fires burn below with some kind of distant fascination.

That line of thought was much more rational than Senn would have guessed. She pulled the gold out of Urzha's hand, staring down at it, before taking a bow and counting out the coins she held.

Senn wondered what to do with her new-found wealth. Obviously, find somewhere that hadn't been looted and burned, and spend the gold... on what? All the good food's been snatched up already. Clothing's probably burnt. Jewelry's probably melted down by now. Her and her mistress weren't directly on the battlefield under most circumstances, so weapons and armor weren't necessary. Now that she had thought about it, a bath might do her good, especially after all this time. Yeah. A nice, relaxing bathhouse would be just the ticket.

For all of Senn's tactical wit and in-depth cultural knowledge, she had a rather glaring flaw: any time she was distracted, say by a pile of gold coins in her hands, she'd start talking out loud. And talk out loud she did.

Urzha's ears twitched at hearing her assistant's suggestion of a bathhouse, and a thought suddenly crossed her mind. A rather interesting thought, one that made her chuckle at its suggestion.

“Now that I think about it, Senn, I've never been to a bathhouse. I should tag along.”

Urzha walked up to her much smaller servant and placed a hand on her shoulder. Senn, most likely for a good reason, was a bit uncomfortable with this gesture. And she was more uncomfortable when her large bugbear mistress leaned down to her face, grinning wickedly.

“In fact, I will tag along. Why don't you lead the way?”

Something about how the sentence was said didn't sit well with Senn, to the point that she no longer cared that her day off had been taken over by her mistress. But she didn't really have a choice in the matter. Snapping her heels together and saluting, Senn turned, and marched her way through the city.

Past the crumbling marketplace, where orcs sat under the shades of broken stalls, drinking bottles of looted liquors. Through a side street, where the doors of every house had been splintered. Down an avenue of ruined foliage and broken tiles, and into the town square, where a riot was in progress. The buildings here were old, but sturdy. The doors here were barred from the inside, the survivors of the town desperate to keep themselves out of the clutches of the slathering raiders waiting outside.

“I'd wager that building would be the bathhouse, considering the sign and the chimney,” said Senn, pointing towards one building that a team of goblins were ramming.

At the order of their sergeant, the gobling rushed forth, crashing against the door. Many of them were falling down in the process, and a good number of goblins sat on the sidelines, covered in bruises. The warlady shook her head, and slowly advanced towards the group. Upon seeing her, the hobgoblin leading the unit waved his hands, and the goblins ceased their activities and stood at attention.

“Overlord on deck, grunts!” the hobgoblin barked, and each of his troops saluted Urzah as she approached.

Urzah was not amused by the display.

“Sergeant Raugur! Is this what you call an efficient use of the troops?”

“... I do not understand the question, sir.”

Urzah snorted, looming over the hobgoblin in front of her. “Of course you don't. Give me your sword.”

Sergeant Raugur slowly reached down, pulled his sword from its sheathe, and presented it to Urzah. His superior carefully snatched the weapon from his hands, glared down at him for a moment, and walked towards the door to the bathhouse.

“I'm going to assume you're not entirely stupid, and are aware that doors are made of wood. In some doors, such as this one, it's an assortment of slats fastened together.”

The bugbear felt along the surface of the door for a few moments, before marking out a spot with her claw.

“These slats are usually too tightly bound together to pry apart. However, there are usually spots where the seal is weak, and so...”

Urzha stabbed at the spot she had marked, shoting the tip through. She worked the blade, eliciting a series of creaking and cracking noises from the door. As she pulled back, a resounding crack pulled one of the boards out of alignment, and snapped the tip of the sword off. Tossing the sword on the ground, Urzha grabs the tip of the board, wrenching it the rest of the way off with her bare hands. As she opened up the door and began to wrench away the barricades, she turned back towards Sergeant Raugur, who was still unflinchingly standing at attention.

“Let no one enter until I say so. Anyone that does will be served as rations. Oh, and get your sword fixed.”

With that, Urzha pulls what's left of the door open, and steps forward. Senn, awkwardly surveying the scene before her, hesitantly follows her mistress through the threshold.

In another time, the bathhouse would have been a serene, well-lit place, fit for the upper class to luxuriate in. However, the middle of a siege doesn't create a very relaxed atmosphere inside a bathhouse. Candles were unlit, decorations were pulled off of the walls. Desks and shelves were overturned. And an eerie silence persevered throughout the bathhouse.

“Now that I think of it, perhaps coming here was a bad idea. I mean, I didn’t really need a bath...”

Urzha held her hand in the air, a rather clear signal for Senn to stop talking. The bugbear was turned towards a door near the back of the building. Her hand was on the doorknob. Senn  was never more than a few feet behind her. As she turned the doorknob, she took a step back... and rushed at the door.

There were people inside the room. One, a half-orc man who had hidden behind the door, was currently slumped on the floor. Another, a human woman, rushed at Urzha with a hammer, and was cracked in the face with a large fist for her efforts. An elven woman tried to ambush Urzha at this point, rushing her with a knife, but Senn caught her by the wrist, slamming her hand against the wall until the knife was dropped, and then twisting her arm behind her back. Seven more were in one corner of the room, each holding improvised weapons.

Urzha and Senn exchanged glances. Obviously, it seemed like this bathhouse wasn't accepting guests. Shaking her head, Senn let go of the elven woman's arm, and pushed her away.

“I'll handle this.”

Urzha waved her arm indifferently as Senn cleared her throat. The half-elf looked at the assorted, panicked faces of the people whose office she'd just burst into with a stern and unyielding expression.

“Listen up. Your city has fallen. Out in the streets, there is looting and rioting. The door to your bathhouse is gone, and it is all due to my mistress's grace that you are not all huddled within a prisoner camp, waiting for death, or a fate far worse.”

Senn holds her gold coins within a single fist, the coins poking out between her fingers. “We are paying customers, and we demand respect. Now show us to the baths.”

The faces of the bathhouse's serving staff were painted with shock and disbelief. The elven woman whose arm Senn had twisted took a deep breath, and turned to her. “On one condition. If we serve you, none of the staff comes to any further harm.”

Senn motioned towards Urzha, who cracked her knuckles. “Don't worry. If you don't serve us right now, I can guarantee you'll be hurt.”

The elven woman nods her head nervously. “Fair enough. Let's get you ready for the bath.”

They were escorted down a hallway, its tiles decorated with sea motifs, strongly-scented flowers sitting in vases at every alcove. Urzha huffed. “You didn't tell me it would be pretentious.”

Senn smirked and shrugged her shoulders. “You wanted to come here.”

Sneering at her assistant, Urzha draped an arm over her shoulders. “It was your idea to come here. You must be more of an elf than I thought.”

Senn gave an unamused pout. She always did wonder why pretty much everything hated elves, to some degree. Yeah, they were pretentious, but so were humans. And they made some fantastic wine.

“Senn. You're doing it again.”

“I should really learn to control what I say.”

The elven woman leading the way smiled at Senn. “I'm thankful for the compliment.”

Urzha motioned forward, a tone of annoyance in her voice. “No one cares.”

They arrived in one of the bathing chambers. The bathing pool sprawled across the room, large and crystal clear. As the serving staff lit the sconces in the room, light spilled out, illuminating the mosaics on the walls, the  Urzha nodded, a smile on her face. “Impressive. Well, time to test it out.”

With that, the bugbear pulls off her mantle and belt, tossing them to the side, and advances towards the edge of the bathing pool. The elven woman that had led them here quickly intercedes.

“I... I'm terribly sorry, but you don't just walk into the bath. You need to scrub down first.”

Urzha turned to Senn, frowning. “I thought the point of this place was to get clean.”

Senn crossed her arms over her chest, an amused expression on her face. “If you just want to be clean, I'm sure we can find a washtub somewhere.”

Urzha glared at Senn, and then turned her glare at the maids that had led them in, sitting down on one of the stools. Her thick, eight-and-a-half-foot-tall frame causes the stool to buckle under her. “Very well then. But the ruler of this city doesn't need to scrub herself.”

Once more, Urzha glared at the three maids that were in the room. Without another word, she pointed at each individually, and then pointed at herself.

The signal was received.

Senn scrubbed in the corner, her curly brown hair now flat and slick with soap and cold water. As she poured another bucket of water over herself, she turned to Urzha, who was still being attended to. “So, how do you like bathing so far?”

The strong, musty smell that Urzha carried with her was fading away, and the maids scrubbing her down, with practiced hands and firm strokes, relaxed and invigorated her. With a content sigh, she leaned back in the stool, and looked down at a maid that was in the process of scrubbing between her legs. “Go a bit higher.”

The maid paused, and then moved higher, from the knee to the thigh.

“Higher.”

The sponge continued up, reaching the hip.

“Now, move to the right until I say stop.”

The maid worked, slowly, to the right, until she bumped against the cleft between Urzha's legs.

“Stop. Now, scrub harder.”

Hesitation. The maid looked up at Urzha, and then back down at the spot before her. Finally, with a deep breath, she began to scrub.

Leaning back a bit further, Urzha sighs, taking in the sensation of the soft, cool sponge as it rubbed against her sensitive area. Her foot tapped against the ground, and she gave a satisfying grunt as the maid worked, and her co-workers proceeded to scrub the rest of her. But it wasn't enough.

“Harder.”

The maid redoubled her efforts. Urzha felt a pressure at the base of her spine as she worked, the sensation spreading out from her clitoris and running up her spine. Her breath became heavy, and her grip on the stool was pushing her claws into the wood. The two other maids stood back as her coworker continued scrubbing, their part of the work finished. Urzha threw her head back, curled her toes, and gritted her teeth, smiling with a pleased expression as she quietly reached orgasm. She panted, looking down at the maid and waving a single clawed hand.

“That's enough. I'll get myself rinsed off.” With that, Urzha stood, knocking the maid on her feet. Before any of the serving staff could move, she walked over to the metal trough containing the cold water, lifted it, and dumped the water over herself. Shaking off the excess moisture, Urzha stretched and turned towards the bathing pool. “Stay by the door. I'll call when I need you.”

Senn, who had been sitting in the bath for a few good minutes, was facing away from Urzha. She knew better than to comment on her mistress's proclivities. Still, the sight of the vicious bugbear warlady that had lain siege to ten cities being rubbed off by a serving maid was a bit... jarring, to her. Not as jarring as when that same warlady plunged into the water next to her, and wrapped an arm around her.

“Well... it seems it's just you and me, enjoying a nice bath. I've gotta say, this was a much better plan than I thought.”