Many know Helm to be a person of free will.

He has both the caring heart of a man and the

strength of an orc.That he was a wanderer, one with nature and held his axe to protect
everything that he trusts.

But few know him by the name given by his mother. "Little Gnarg". That's what she called him.
Glasha, his mother, was a warrior of great fame among her horde. They called her Glasha, the
jawbreaker.

He clearly remembers the day when he returned with his human uncle, after a day of training
and fun in the forest, to watch in shock at the devastation of what was once their camp.

Gnarg shouts, “Uncle Helm!!, Look.“

Helm makes Gnarg hide in the bushes, and leaves to investigate. But little Gnarg, in shock as
he was, walks to find his mother, laying on the mud, still clutching her axe.
He runs towards her and asks her to wake up. But she has passed.
Hearing his scream, his uncle rushes back to him, and comforts him. But he quickly carries him
on his back, takes her axe, and moves into the forest before the raiding party might hear and
come back.

Helm and little Gnarg have been on the move since that fateful day. Never resting at a place for
more than a few days. Helm used to often disappear from time to time to nearby villages and
cities to find out more about the raid, but he always came back without answers.

So Gnarg grew as the son of the outlands. His uncle trained him well as he grew.
Soon Gnarg realised that he had grown stronger than his uncle; and in his playfulness,
challenged his uncle from time to time.He learnt that strength alone isn't enough pretty quickly.
as his uncle always won.

As years passed, Gnarg would instinctively tap into his orcish rage that would often cause more
harm than help during their hunting sessions. So a season passes, as Helm, realising this,
trained gnarg to stay in control as he raged.

Gnarg had utmost respect and love for his uncle. Helm would tell stories of the kingdoms and
deities at the campfire, stories of great battles and kindness that exists in the world.

One day, as they travelled, Gnarg goes to the river bed to fill water, where he notices an elf
chasing a human girl. Just as he drops his bag and rushes to help, his uncle puts a hand on his
shoulder to stop him. Helm smiles at Gnarg, and says, " They are courting ".
Confused, Gnarg asks, " What is qorting?". Helm picks up the bag of water and motions Gnarg
to follow him. Gnarg, looks one last time at the couple and sees them smiling. He is so very
confused.
As days pass, on a night hunt, Helm and gnarg are after an Elk. Gnarg is in his prime, joy at the
experience of the hunt to come, jumps without a moment's notice. He leaps out of bushes and
runs at the elk, smiling; almost gurgling with joy. Alas, the elk runs away leaving gnarg behind.
Helm walks up to gnarg, whacks gnarg on the back of his head and asks, "what was that?", to
which, a confused gnarg replies, "Gnarg was qorting!".

Helm breaks into a laughter that gnarg hadn't seen in a while. Gnarg also laughs nervously with
visible confusion. Helm shakes his head, and kisses gnarg on the forehead and asks to follow
him to the camp. Gnarg follows, smiling at the compassion of his uncle.

At the campfire, as gnarg cleans up, Helm, with his back to the boulder, looks at gnarg and
asks, "Do you want to hear the story of how your mother and father met? "
Gnarg looks up with rolled rags in his hand and says, “Gnarg knows the story. Father came to
challenge the camp. Mother broke his jaw. Mother took care of father and gnarg was born.”

Helm laughs even harder this time and asks, ” who told you that?“.
Gnarg replies ”Mother said” .
In the flickering light of the campfire, Helm looks at gnarg and smiles at his innocence.
“I bet she did!” Helm says. “ But that is not the full story.”

Gnarg almost trips on the fire, shakes the embers off his legs, and rushes to Helm, almost falling
on him. “ Tell me uncle Helm, what did mother not say to gnarg? “

Helm could not believe that as big as gnarg was now, reaching 7 feet and muscle to pull a
loaded cart all on his own, could sit hunching so low, arms around his knees; as he sat with
gleaming eyes looking at him. Helm ruffles gnarg’s head and begins.

“ Your father was Reiner; my brother, and a gentle soul from the northern lands; a group of
nomads, who were under the oath to help the Hammerhand clan of the dwarfs.
He was a man of many things but he hated battle. He had wisdom beyond his age and always
found ways to avoid a tussle. He chose to be a scout for the clan, as he could be himself and
still help the people in ways that would avoid harm.”

“ On one of his errands, he was to scout for goblins that had made home in the mountains near
the mining areas of the dwarfs. I still remember him waving at me as he set out. It was a
dangerous mission, yes, but he had no fear of the wilds. After days of investigating, he had
finally found the cavern the goblins used. He camped there for 2 days to observe their comings
and goings.It was during this time, on the second day, as he lay on the tree branch scouting, he
heard the rumblings of the orcs beneath him. It was the horde that your mother led to hunt the
goblins that were stealing their meat by hunting nearby animals. He stayed on the branch,
without a breath, waiting for them to pass. Glasha, becokend her horde and made way towards
an undergrowth where they camped, a few hundred feet away from where he was. It was time
for him to move. He decided to leave in the cover of the dark, and as he climbed down, there
she was. Glasha, in front of him, just as surprised as he was.
She, in her instincts, swung her axe.”

Gnarg lets out a “hurgh??”

Helm smiles and continues, “ Reiner dodged backwards with ease and looked her in the eye for
the first time. He described her to me when he first saw your mother. He said, “ As I looked upon
her face brother, she looked confused. She must have hated me for surprising her, as she could
not see or hear my presence. She must have felt that I outsmarted her and she wanted to get
back at me. “

Helm laughed, “ Only my brother had the calm in these situations to determine the emotions of
his enemy.”

Gnarg, by this time, had his mouth wide open with excitement. He punches his hands together
and says, “ And then, mother broke father’s jaw!!! “

Helm laughs harder and catches gnarg’s fists and says,” No. No no no… “ shaking his head.

Helm continues, “ After being in the wilds, reiner liked the excitement of finally coming into
contact with another thinking being. And typical of my brother, he fled; smiling as he turned to
look at your mother. This enraged Glasha, and she began to chase after him”

“ Reiner was a nimble foot, and took the lead. Glasha, now raging, was fast upon his heels. He
covered a considerable distance, and seeing that the she-orc would not give up, he set a trap of
pungent odor that he gathered in his journey. Your mother fell for it. As she coughed at the bad
smell, she could hear Reiner laughing as he ran. This enraged her even more and began to
chase after him. She chased him though the forest, though the vine covered rocks, sometimes
tripping over uprooted trees and sometimes falling over unseen puddles of mud and rain water.
Soon, as she ran farther, her rage subsided as she could not know where Reiner was. She
slammed her axe onto the tree that almost brought it down, and started to walk back to her
camp. As she walked away, there was Reiner, hanging onto the tree branch that your mother
almost brought down, smiling! As he hung from the branch, he said to himself that he would
never forget the she-orc that almost killed him.”

Gnarg, looking at Helm with an oval mouth,mumbles, “ Dada … “ as he tries to sink in his new
found story of his father.

“Yes!” , Helm replies. “ Your dada was more of a man than I ever was. And he returned to us
with the information about the goblin’s paths and his encounter with the orcs. In a matter of few
days, a party of dwarfs and men was formed, and Reiner was asked to lead the way. I was
happy to join him and we set out. “
“After a few days of journey, Reiner finally got us to the edge of the cavern. He pointed out the
caves and said, ‘ If the paths i saw are correct, that's where the goblins are’ . A call to arms was
called out and we ventured into the caves. What we saw there shocked us. All the goblins were
killed and amongst the corpses lay the orange corpse of a Hobgoblin, with his jaw shattered to
his side and a cleave across his chest. Reiner stood over the corpse and looked at me. “That's
her! “ he said, pointing to the wound on the hobs chest. “ Only she could have struck him so
hard.”

As the party finished scouting for more goblins and gathered at the entrance of the cave, the
leader of the group, Armli Broadchin, the dwarf, called upon everyone and said, “ The gobs are
done for lads. From the proof of the wounds, Reiner is correct about the orcs. We should pay
‘em a visit to thank ‘em in person. What say lads? Gather what's left of ‘em and light a fire to
their corpses. Now, we hunt the orcs.”

Gnarg stood up as dust broke from under him. “ No! “ he yelled, as birds from the surrounding
trees flew, scared and chirping at the sudden loudness.

“Now, now, my little Gnarg, calm down.” says helm as he looks up at the towering gnarg.
“Don’t you want to hear about how you were born? “

Gnarg sits with a thud and looks at Helm.

Helm continues, “ The party started climbing down the cave, and as I looked at Reiner, he was
grim. For all the years I knew him, I could guess that he didn't like the idea. That night, when we
made camp, I asked him what was bothering him. He said nothing. The next morning, he was
gone.”

The dwarf captain beckons me for an answer. Realising that I didn't know any better, he calls for
the party. “ Reiner is gone. Has he fled? Then he will answer to our wrath. If he has gone
scouting ahead, then I call upon Helm to track his footsteps, for he is your brother. Do not fail
us”; he looks threateningly at me. “

“ I did not bother about the threats or the task given. I wanted to find my brother. But somewhere
in me I understood that Reiner wouldn’t have wanted us to find him.”

“So, I led them. For 3 more days until near the water drop. I looked around and said, “ I have
lost him.” This didn't please Armli but he had no reason to continue. His task was accomplished.
The goblins were done for. He cursed under his breath, “Head back Lads. This stokes my fire
but we must return.” As he turns, he grabs me by the hand and whispers, “ Not you. You will find
your brother and bring him to us. This smells like a work of a duergar to me. I pity the family
back home who await your return. “ he shoves me aside and marches.

“So there I was left, free to find him. And so I set out. “
“Elsewhere, 3 days prior, Reiner made his way to the undergrowth where the orcs had made
camp. He began to track back from whence the party of orcs had come. Within 2 days, he had
come across a steep ravine that led to a clearing, where the high rocks gradually met the
grasslands. There he saw, a small orc camp, some 30 in strength. He made his way closer while
hiding.”

“From where the forest cleared, he began to observe.”

“The orcs were at their usual self. Spoke heartily, argued more often, a fight would break out but
ended up in a merry slaughter of the boars and elks at the fire. And amidst all this muscle and
tusks, there she was, your mother, an aura around her that demanded respect. She would
punch harder than any around her but would care for a youngling as would a cleric, if not more.”

“Reiner was full of life; and of what life he saw, his resolve grew stronger. All life needs to
subsist. He didn't dare to venture ahead. So he dug and was happy to observe.”

“He would spend hours scouting the dwarf party to see if they had made way to the orc camp.
And return with berries and insects to survive the night. Reiner’s rations were gone by the 4th
day. He had to move and hunt if he had to stay or return. So he made his way into the forest
behind. He later said to me, “ Berries could only quench my thirst. I needed to eat. But, there
was nothing around that I could hunt that could last. I was weak by the end of 6th day. I had to
return but I kept at it. By the next full moon, i was hungry beyond my wisdom.”

“Reiner made his way in the twilight, famished and eager to hunt. As he tracked a badger, he
heard a twig snap close by. He took cover hunching behind the roots of a tree and froze. Not a
few feet away, he could see a dark staggering form of your mother, equally frozen amdists the
boulders.

She laid eyes on him with equal surprise as he did upon hers. Fate had its way of them
meeting.. but he could see, she was afraid of something far greater.