Milly POV
”fucking shit he’s late again, ugh”! Milly got up from her table at the guild, recently she started doing some requests together with Kotak and Bron, after she told Dinatka to go fuck a tree, the old crone had finally pushed her too far.
So far it had gone alright. Bron was still molding to his role, he had decided to walk the path of the Berserker in life and the 3 of them had set out together. Bron had reached level 2 yesterday, and Kitak reached lvl 3 a week ago.
Toughness.
Your body and mind are fortified against everything. You shrug of blows and resist ailments
She looked at the feat, almost everyone picked a sub class or secondary clas at level 3, the synergies between different classes well documented. And at first she had been confused. Until Kotak pointed out that with his way of fighting this would allow him twice the staying power. It was so Kotak, to only strike from a defensive position, in his sparring he showcased why this was good for him, so many of the glancing blows he had to take in order to strike back turned inconsequential for him, where before, it withered him down. As usual the no nonsense approach of Kotak showed her the elegance of simplicity.
Both Kotak and Bron served as her defacto shield when needed in a pinch but compared to try and hit Kotak, keeping the wolf or boar population down was more of a chore, then actual combat.
They didn’t feel like rushing, settling for the tried and true bar of all of them hitting level 3 ,before they start with the culling of goblin’s Gremlins or kobolds.
She was Pissed, she knew why Marlin was late, he had gone to gnoll territory again. She understood why but still hated it.
Gnolls kept to themselves but that didn’t make them any less dangerous when encountered. They were just as bad as orc, some Gnolls grew large enough to rival ogres.
She sighed she kept begging him not to go but the fool lost his last screw with that shot to the head.
“That stupid pouting of his when the scar wasn’t ‘cool’ enough whatever that meant”, she fumed.
The worst part was that both Kitak and Bron seemed to understand the sentiment, even felt sorry for him that the scar didn’t turn out better.
“Men! So illogical”!
She had stalked towards the edge of town the sun had almost set,
”Look at me! Like a god damn damsel in distress!” Milly huffed.
The worst part was that the moment Marlin looked at her with those damnable eyes, he would melt all this anger away and she would be that damsel, swooning for her hubby.
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”FUCK”! Milly roared, “is that stupid mistress thing getting to me even after all the changes i made!?”
She went over it again, nope just her being head over heels. She sighed, she knew why she was frustrated, she was afraid of the pain of losing him. He was reckless, he loved danger.
The fear of him betraying her was quelled after he ripped into a woman who had been relentless in her flirting with him, the things he said to that woman, she shivered. No one flirted with him after that.
And then there was that ludicrous game he suggested, she had the brilliant idea of suggesting to use magic. And her first genius idea was to use command: let yourself go completely.
She had been sore for days, and the things he did to her… the worst part was that stupid satisfaction she herself felt afterwards, that warred with her pride, she felt like her pride was at stake here she could never admit it to him. Her anger flared again, he probably already knew.
She looked at her own XP it stood at 432 currently, she had overtaken marlin and was about 1/5th away from her 3rd level.
she sighed “poor marlin, he needs to reach 10 k just for level 2. NO! im pissed at him! ow fucking hell finally, there he is”
she saw him Billy and 3 demi gnolls on top of Billy.
“Holy fuck he did it and he wonders why Tyrants are feared” she muttered shaking her head and heading his way.
Marlin POV
Just as he came around the bend and the town came into view, he spotted Milly almost instantly, she saw him after a minute as well and headed his way.
”she was waiting for me, ow Milly”, he thought. His heart felt light, big smile on his face.
tyrant speech“Garry, Jerry and Barry, you are about to meet the Mistress Milly, sorcereress supreme, you are to give her the same respect, awe and fear you would give to me as your Leader. Is that understood”?
”yes mmasssterr”, they responded in tandem. Yipping in glee. “Yous ssso much betterrr lorrd, yous alredy gotssa mistress”
If Marlin didn’t know any better he would think they were triplets with how in synch they were.
”you will give her a proper greeting, Billy will show you. When me or the mistress is not around you all listen to Billy understood”?
”yesss massterrrr Billy is the ssssecund boss! Y~ip, Yi~p”! They said.
Marlin continued to give them a run down. It was odd, even with the telepathic bond the gnolls speech was slurred.
”Marlin… why are you covered in blood? Is that a head wound”!? Milly shrieked, “ow shit! That’s what i forgot”! Marlin thought.
“Sorry milly i forgot to clean it up, blood loss probably caused me to forget that” Marlin knew the moment he said that. He screwed up.
Billy came to the rescue and deposited all three Gnolls who took a deep bow to Milly with Billy leading the curtsy. Distracting Milly enough from exploding.
”you are lucky with that goat Marlin” she murmured.
“I know, thanks for waiting for me, that was sweet” marlin grinned. He had only lost 10 HP and another 10 from the post bleeding.
He was going to feel it tomorrow but nothing too serious.
Healing in this world consumed 6 stamina for 1 HP. Marlin once asked bron how he dealt with the stamina loss. Turns out the bastard has like + 6 constitution and + 3 strength from his bloody Racial traits alone. And he had dived into his training like an absolute zealot since they first met.
20 con with 3 health perks had been easily reached for him, most of the people that Marlin knew of his own age were level 2 now. Marlin knew that without his minions, or his scary face, Bron would absolutely body him as things stood.
Milly looked at Marlin and sighed. “You gotta stop getting hit in the head Marlin, that’s the second time already”
Marlin said “but using my head works really well”.
”you”! milly slapped his shoulder and Marlin pulled her on for a big smoocher.
Milly struggled at first, but her anger melted. “It’s unfair how good you are at this” she huffed.
”I could say the same for you”, he looked at her tenderly.
”the ‘smolder’ doesn’t work if you are covered in Blood Marlin”. Marlin laughed alright i get it, time to clean up.