Offer to wash dishes

"I don't have any money," you frown. "But I am tired and need a room for the night. How about I help in the kitchen."

"You cook?" Olaf raises an eyebrow.

"Haven't a clue," you say. "But I suppose I could scrub dishes."

"Hmph," answers Olaf. His wife comes bustling out of the back room with another tray of food, her massive mams swaying in her peasant top. Once she has delivered the food to its tables - and endured more than one slap on her plump posterior - she comes over to visit Olaf. He explains your offer and she immediately accepts.

"Helga," she offers you a hand nearly as calloused as Olaf's. "I'll take all the help I can get. And anything to git a fit lass like you away from my husband. More customers than ever tonight. Must be the unnatural cold. Go on back and get on an apron and start wiping down whatever is in the wash tub."

She practically herds you into the kitchen. It's rich with the aroma of stewing meats, baking breads and roasting cuts of elk. The wood-fired stove gives the room its light and warmth - more warmth than you'd care. The wash tub is a wooden-sided tub stacked high with crude clay dishes and wooden and tin cups. You motion Worm over and set him to work, but as Helga returns with more and more dishes it becomes apparent you can't avoid doing a little work yourself. You find the disgusting bits of crust on the plates difficult to dislodge and Worm, distracted by you, keeps fidgeting with his cock.

"Faster, love," Helga frowns at your progress and dumps another tray of dishes into the greasy water. The foul liquid splashes all over your apron and corset.

When you have to carry the astonishingly heavy tub out back to empty it you gasp in the cold. You are so drenched with sweat - hair matted to your face, positively swimming in your bodysuit - that you had forgotten what fresh, cold air felt like. Your entire body steams in the night air. You upend the washtub and refill it from a hand pump, cursing that a skilled monster huntress such as yourself is being reduced to washing dishes for a place to sleep. You struggle once again to carry the sloshing tub back into the kitchen. You're so lost in your grievances you fail to notice Helga entering the kitchen with a serving tray heaped with dishes.

"Last of the night, I th--" She is interrupted by the wash tub smashing into the serving tray. You both cry out in dismay as water and crockery go flying. A dozen clay plates and cups smash apart on the floor of the kitchen. Water slops across the floorboards. You and Helga both fall onto your bums in puddles of water.

The door to the kitchen swings open and Olaf pokes his head in. His eyes bug out at the scale of the mess you've just made.

"Ohhh no," he says. "I'm not cleaning that. I got to be up early."

He disappears. Rather than yell at you, Helga simply laughs. You're soaked, exhausted and angry, but you can't help laughing along with her. Even Worm, hiding under a big soup pot, sticks his head out to add his HEE HEE HEE.

"It's alright," says Helga. "We'll get it cleaned up."

She's much better at this than you and with her help the whole mess is swept and mopped up with another hour of hard work. Exhausted, you work together to carry out the last tub full of dishwater and dump it in the middens behind the tavern. You lean against the fence, panting heavily in the night. Helga's pale cheeks and nose are rosey red in the cold. She reaches into the valley of her immense cleavage and draws out a small metal flask. She unscrews the top and takes a swig before passing it over to you. You sniff and then taste the sweet, strong liquer inside. It warms your belly.

You wince turning to head back to the tavern. Helga sees your pain.

"If you'd like I could work that knot out," she says. "Just takes a little muscles."

"No, I think I'll just head to bed," you reply.

"Really, it would be no problem. I rather enjoy the chance to practice massage."

Well, come to think of it you were looking for a masseuse. As tired as you are the idea of skilled hand massaging your weary flesh sounds quite nice.