"Welcome back, Mortaxe! ... Your time has come again!"
- Petra to Mortaxe (with a typo fixed to use the right your)
Mortaxe is a giant skeleton Beast wielding a scythe. A mighty Avantian warrior reanimated by the dark wizard Jaitar, Mortaxe refused to serve the wizard and became a mighty ally of Avantia, only to fall under Jaitar's control and be slain by Tanner. Centuries later, he was returned to life by Petra to aid her in defeating Tom and Elenna. Mortaxe's skull is covered in a huge horned helmet, with a second pair of smaller horns sitting on the forehead and every other bone making up his form being a charred black (as it is unknown how Tanner beat Mortaxe, this may be from burning). Mortaxe's arms and shoulders are covered in spiked silver armour, however his legs and torso are covered in a darker coloured, weaker armour (likely being leather) with a long red cape billowing behind the Beast.
First Resurrection and Battle Against Tanner[]
Originally the warrior Tarik, who served in the Avantian army, he was considered one of the mightiest warriors in the army. His power and fame made him the target of a curse from the dark wizard Jaitar, who desired to control a Beast, and hoped to create one from Tarik. The curse meant that when Tarik was killed by an unknown foe, he would be returned to life as Mortaxe. The curse was supposed to make the Beast a minion of Jaitar, however the noble nature of Tarik overpowered it and Mortaxe became a powerful ally to Tanner. The two would fight against evil in Avantia as partners until Krindok the Rabid Bull, an Evil Beast who began to cause havoc in the Central Plains, became known. The pair travelled to fight the Rabid Bull and defeated him. Jaitar managed to retrieve Krindok's heart, which was cursed either by the bull's wicked nature infecting the organ or by the hand of the wizard. Jaitar plunged the heart into Mortaxe's chest cavity, making the Beast pure evil and bringing him to his intended purpose as he became a servant of the dark wizard. Tanner was forced to fight his former ally, which ended in Mortaxe being slain. Due to the respect and friendship the two shared, Tanner ordered Mortaxe's body to be placed to rest in the Gallery of Tombs and the Beast was honoured as one of the greatest heroes of Avantia. When Tanner was corrupted by Koba's eye, his fake stone coffin was placed alongside the real one of the Skeleton Warrior due to their former bond.
Mortaxe the Skeleton Warrior[]
Believing his apprentice was adequately skilled with dark magic to aid him for the first time, Malvel sent Petra on a mission to make an attack on Avantia to help secure his rule. Either on her own or from help from her master, Petra settled on reviving Mortaxe to aid her in the attack. Travelling to the Gallery of Tombs below the City, the explosion she made to enter alerted Tom, Elenna and Aduro, who descended into the crypt and quickly engaged her in battle.
Mortaxe rising from his coffin.
Mortaxe looming over Tom.
Mortaxe slashing at Tom with an improvised grip.
Mortaxe batting Aduro's attack back at him.
Struggling to fight off her foes, Petra struck Mortaxe's coffin with a resurrection spell, returning the Skeleton Warrior to life, who becomes loyal to Petra. Mortaxe grabbed the edge of the tomb and lifted himself up, groaning as he rose to his feet. The Beast stretched, snapping his bones into place, and turned to face Tom, climbing nimbly from the tomb and towering over the Avantian. Mortaxe detected his scythe entombed in the wall nearby and turned to face, smashing his hand through the stone and grabbing his weapon. The Skeleton Warrior passed his scythe between his hands with a cackle and turned to Tanner's fake tomb, raising his weapon to destroy it (presumably out of anger for his former defeat). Furious Mortaxe would sully the tomb of a famous warrior, Tom leapt forward and parried the attack, redirecting it and causing the Beast's scythe to smash into the rock floor next to the tomb. Roaring, the Beast thrust his weapon forward, freeing it from the floor and throwing Tom away. Elenna fired a volley of arrows, but they bounced off the Skeleton Warrior's armour or sailed through his exposed ribs. Mortaxe lowered his weapon to keep Tom away, however Tom slashed it aside and charged, only to be kicked away by the Beast. Having ran out of arrows, Elenna began to throw rock at the Skeleton Warrior, tearing off chunks of bone and earning a roar of rage. Mortaxe slashed at Tom, who leapt over the attack. The Beast changed grips and rotated his weapon to slash again instantly, however Tom ducked and the Beast only slashed through some of his foe's hair. Tom lunged for the heart of Krindok, but Mortaxe stepped back and the attack bounced off of a rib. Aduro, free of Petra's spell as the young witch retreated, fired a magical orb at the Skeleton Warrior, who used his scythe to bat it away, smashing it into the wall near the wizard while laughing. With his foes distracted by the debris of the orb, Mortaxe fled with Petra through an archway.
Mortaxe sitting on the arena's stone throne.
Mortaxe and Petra continued on towards the Central Plains, finding the ruins of an ancient arena where the Skeleton Warrior could use his power to control the Good Beasts. As Petra prepared to raise the ruins, Mortaxe (either on his own or with some assistance from Petra) added an extra slab of armour made of leather and stone to his own, covering the exposed heart of Krindok. The Beast took his place on a throne in the arena, emerging from the ground with the arena as the Good Beasts of Avantia were summoned to him. On Petra's signal, Mortaxe lifted his scythe and struck it thrice on the side of his stone throne, bringing Storm and Silver under his control. The Skeleton Warrior then spun his weapon over his head thrice, ordering the Good Beasts to begin their battle and bringing Elenna under his thrall as well. Mortaxe intently watched the fight between the Beasts, laughing when Ferno raked his claws down Arcta's back. When only Ferno and Epos remained, Mortaxe began eagerly thudding his scythe against the ground to create a rhythm, however Petra, who was challenged by Tom, called off the fight.
Mortaxe advancing on Tom, raking his scythe along the ground.
Tom striking Mortaxe's skull.
Mortaxe drawing his scythe back after being stabbed in the knee.
Mortaxe shoving Silver and Storm aside.
Mortaxe striking Tom with the end of his scythe.
Mortaxe holding Tom victoriously.
Mortaxe being accidentally shot in the eye by Elenna.
Tom cutting through Mortaxe's arm.
Tom ripping Krindok's heart out of Mortaxe's chest cavity.
Petra had Mortaxe fight Tom in her place, and the Evil Beast rose from his throne and entered the arena, striding towards Tom while raking his scythe across against the ground. As lightning flashed across the sky from the magic of the arena, Mortaxe turned to look upwards, which Tom took advantage of and struck the Skeleton's Warrior skull, breaking off a chunk of bone. Bellowing, Mortaxe swung his scythe, which Tom rolled away from and was quickly attacked by Storm and Silver. The Beast advanced, striking Tom with his arm and throwing him through the air, peering at the Avantian with a growl as he struck the wall of the arena. The Skeleton Warrior slashed his weapon again, but barely missed Tom as he rolled away, further angering him. Tom lunged and stabbed his blade into Mortaxe's knee, who hissed in pain as he fell to one knee from the attack and swung his weapon at Tom, which was blocked by his foe's shield. As Tom retreated away from the Beast, Mortaxe followed, swinging his scythe once more, which Tom leapt over and stabbed at the leather breastplate, the attack bouncing off. As the warrior tried to circle around the Skeleton Warrior, Mortaxe turned to match Tom, preventing the strategy. The Beast aimed a kick at Tom, which struck his shoulder and spun him around, slamming a limb into his back and knocking him to the ground. Tom chose to retreat to the edge of the arena, pursued by Mortaxe, who began to wildly swing his scythe. Leaping to catch his foe at the edge of the arena, Tom taunted his foe to come and get him, causing the Skeleton Warrior to charge at him whilst swinging his scythe, however Tom ducked underneath it and fled to the other side of the arena. Mortaxe pursued Tom, who began running from each end of the arena as the Beast neared him, beginning to exhaust the Skeleton Warrior. Storm and Silver inadvertently blocked Mortaxe's path as they watched, who violently shoved them aside to reach Tom. The Beast stopped and raised his scythe, to which Tom lunged and cut through the leather section of the armour, striking the stone behind it and causing Mortaxe to laugh and twist his body before throwing Tom aside. The Beast slashed again, which Tom dodged and rushed to recover his dropped sword, reaching it as the Skeleton Warrior attacked again, blocking the attack with his shield. Mortaxe reached to grab Tom, but was slashed by his foe's sword, making him redraw in pain, then being struck in the foot by Tom's shield, stumbling backwards into the arena wall. As Tom tried to attack again, Mortaxe thrust the end of his scythe out, which smashed into his opponent's chest. The Skeleton Warrior drove his foe back with a flurry of attacks which the Avantian was forced to block, making the Beast laugh. Tom pretended to fall and was quickly grabbed by Mortaxe as he hoped, who lifted his foe for the spectators to see. Petra ordered the Evil Beast to crush Tom, which he did so while Tom put his plan into action: mocking Elenna to make her fire an arrow at him and dropping his sword to hold off the Skeleton Warrior's attempt to crush him long enough for the archer to fire. When the corrupted archer fired her arrow, Tom jerked his body upwards and broke Mortaxe's grip, allowing the arrow to sail into the Skeleton Warrior's eye socket. With a roar of pain, the Beast began aimlessly swinging his scythe as he panicked, accidentally slashing through his breastplate and exposing Krindok's heart partially. The call of Petra and the Good Beasts for Mortaxe to finish Tom caused the Beast to snap out of his panic, and he furiously tore the arrow from his eye and tossed it aside. Tom fled to the edge of the arena and sagged against the wall to pretend he was too exhausted to continue, causing Mortaxe to advance. The Evil Beast raised his weapon and slashed down, missing Tom as he dodged aside at the last moment and lodging it in the stone wall. With Mortaxe temporarily trapped, Tom slashed through the upper right arm, cutting it off and making the skeletal Beast howl in pain as he stared at his severed arm and trapped scythe in shock. The Skeleton Warrior tried to crush his foe with a stomp of his foot as Tom took the scythe, missing and allowing the young warrior to use the scythe to cut through the breastplate. With a bellow of agony, Mortaxe lifted his remaining arm to punch at Tom, who rushed forwards, climbed up to the breastplate, and tore Krindok's heart out. Mortaxe stared down in horror for a few seconds before his body fell apart, freeing the Good Beasts from his power and forcing Petra to retreat.
Mortaxe's scythe in the Gallery of Tombs.
Due to the danger he presented, Mortaxe's bones were not returned to the Gallery of Tombs. However, his scythe was recovered from the collapsed arena after it had been destroyed by the Good Beasts of Avantia following his defeat. The scythe was put on full display instead of returned to a hidden compartment behind the wall, to ensure Mortaxe remained honoured there in the absence of his body.
Powers, Abilities and Weaknesses[]
Powers and Abilities[]
- Possible Beast Control: Mortaxe has control over the Good Beasts of Avantia, forcing them to bend to his will. It is unknown whether he can control any other Beasts. It appears this ability stems from the arena in the Central Plains and as such is unclear if he can exert his will on others outside of the arena.
- Mind Control: Mortaxe can also control other people's minds, as seen with Elenna.
- Enhanced Strength: Mortaxe has enhanced strength, as he can swing his scythe with enough force to break through stone and can send Tom flying with a kick.
- Enhanced Durability: Mortaxe has enhanced durability, as he can survive having his arm chopped off.
- Weapon Mastery: Mortaxe is very skilled with a scythe.
Equipment[]
- Giant Scythe: Mortaxe wields a giant scythe which he is very skilled with. It is unknown how he got it, but it was likely his main weapon he used when he was alive as Tarik.
- Armour: Mortaxe wears armour which protects his entire body. It is likely the armour he wore when he was alive as Tarik.
Weaknesses[]
- Exposed Heart: Krindok's heart is exposed in Mortaxe's chest, so it could easily be ripped out.
- Heart Removal: Mortaxe is defeated when Krindok's heart is removed from his chest.
A - Z of Beasts[]
"Mortaxe resides in the Gallery of Tombs. In life, he was three times the height of a normal man, and the casket he lies in is one of the largest there. Although Mortaxe was once a brave warrior, he was turned to evil and held the power to control the Good Beasts of Avantia."
Compass Text[]
"The Gallery of Tombs is found down a long staircase lit with crystals."