Mortis and Helga

"Every woman goes far away from a mass brawl, but Helga does not. She hides under a table like a child during a thunderstorm. And all I wanted to do was enjoy the show," Mortis thought as he carefully made his way towards Helga's position so as not to provoke any further conflict. But it wasn't long before he received a fist to the face. "That's enough!" he shouted, and immediately struck back. With a quarter turn and a sideways punch, he catapulted the attacker across several tables. Satisfied, Mortis stomped on.

His caution was now over, and anyone who came even a little closer to him he met with a well-aimed blow to the temple or a kick to the solar plexus. Mortis was no ordinary reaper. In his former life, he had been a boxer and kickboxer, which now stood him in good stead when it came to fighting.

But soon Mortis was noticed by many, and the problem was that no one knew which faction he belonged to. He became a target for everyone. After sending six thugs to the realm of dreams with just one hit, the Big Fish took notice - and one of them was Tommy, a young man in red gear.

T ommy, a pugilist, eagerly made his way toward Mortis. Close to Mortis, he accosted him, but Mortis ignored him and continued to thrash his way through the middle. Tommy got angry and jumped forward to grab Morti's shoulder - a big mistake.

Mortis grabbed Tommy's hand with his left hand, turned it around, pulled him forward with a quick jerk, and then kicked him under the chin with his left knee. He then took him by the head from behind and smashed his head on the floor.

The bystanders fell silent, and a brief hush hung in the air. Mortis' gaze, however, was fixed on Helga, who covered her ears and looked lost. He hurried to her table on the other side of the room just as one of the thugs crashed into it, almost dropping it on Helga. Mortis managed to pull it away just in time and save her from further harm.

"Come with me, I'll take you out, don't let anything else happen to you," Mortis said worriedly to Helga.

"Thank you," she replied, immediately clinging to him.

As the pub slowly quieted down and many were lying on the floor, Morti made his way back to take Helga to her room. Once there, he set her down on her bed while she just stared at him. "Are you really the cripple Mortis, my husband?" she asked uncertainly.

"Yes and no. Yes, I am Mortis, but no, I am not your husband. You know that better than I do," he explained to her.

Helga apologized, "I'm sorry. But I..."

Mortis interrupted her and comforted her, "Let it go. I know you didn't choose this."

While Mortis freshened up a bit, Helga withdrew a bit and hid behind a blanket. "I'm not ready for this," she said sheepishly.

Mortis smiled understandingly and said, "I see. Just go to sleep then. Tomorrow morning we'll go shopping."

Helga asked timidly, "Don't you hate me anymore?"

Mortis sighed and replied, "I don't know what to think about you. I can understand that you didn't want to marry a cripple, but I don't understand why you got involved with my brother and married me just for him."

Helga revealed her painful past, "I am a foundling and came to you six months ago as a maid. Your brother was very kind at first, gave me gifts and showed me everything. But when I learned that he had a wife, I tried to stay away from him. But he wouldn't let me and raped me for several nights. I just played along, knowing how he treated you, and I realized that in his eyes I was nothing but a whore."

Helga began to cry, and Mortis tried to comfort her. He couldn't stand to see women cry, especially when they had such a painful history.

After she calmed down, Helga fell asleep in Mortis' arms. He gently laid her down in bed and got ready to go to sleep himself.

The next morning, Mortis woke up and felt Helga almost suffocating him. He felt like he was being crushed by two melons and could already hear the souls singing in chorus, "Lay her down, don't worry, she's already pregnant."

He helped Helga up and told her they were going shopping. Helga was happy as a little child, as she loved to rummage and Mortis promised her good food. Mortis decided that he would take Helga with him to Grünheim.

Mortis visited a tanner while Helga browsed in the grocer's store. The tanner immediately recognized the exceptional quality of Mortis' equipment and repaired it professionally.

The tanner brought out white powder and black leather and quoted the price of 2 gold to repair all the equipment. Mortis agreed and the tanner put the equipment in a round pot, sprinkled some powder on it and closed the lid. Magic symbols lit up on the pot while the tanner added mana to the pot. After 10 minutes, the lid opened by itself, and the equipment was like new.

Behind a curtain, Mortis changed his clothes and immediately felt much better. He set off to collect Helga. In front of the grocer's store stood a blond young man with red equipment - it was Tommy who was looking for Mortis.

"Well, I guess you can't wait to be sent back to the boards," Mortis taunted.

Tommy calmly replied, "It's not like that. I'm looking for you for something else. My group and I want to clear a dungeon and would need another melee fighter with stats of at least 180. I've seen how you fight, and I think you're just the guy for the job."

"Which dungeon is it and where is it located?" asked Mortis.

"It is the dungeon of Bärenbaum, at the southernmost point of Kleinfranken to the border of Franken," Tommy answered.

"Ah, in the territory of Jochen von Grünheim, then," Mortis stated.

"Exactly. I was going to Grünheim anyway, but I'm still rank E and have a few quests to do. When do you guys want to leave?" asked Mortis.

"In three days we want to leave. We'll take a carriage," Tommy explained.

"Wait, I'll take Helga to Grünheim if that's okay with you," said Mortis.

"No problem. But one question: what class are you? I've never seen such equipment," Tommy remarked curiously.

Mortis took out his scythe and said, "I'm of an unknown class, but I can use special abilities with this weapon."

Tommy was astonished, "What, that can't be, unless you're a spearman."

Mortis smiled and replied, "Like I said, it's an unknown class, or are you hard of hearing?"

"All right, then prove it!" challenged Tommy.

"No problem. Just tell me when and where, and I'll show you," Mortis said firmly.

"Okay, then we'll go to the guild. They have a room where we can test our skills without killing each other," Tommy suggested.

"Let's do it that way, but not until after lunch. I want to have lunch with my wife. Just wait there," suggested Mortis.

Mortis Level 24 Reaper

Strength 60(+25), Agility 61( 38), Int 33, Vitality 37, Stamina 50, Mana 50, Charisma 45

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