closed.

[heorte]

WHO: ellis, marcoulf, richard and a mustache
WHAT: "it got bigger when we got involved": the log
WHEN: Drakonis
WHERE: Probably the Hinterlands
NOTES: Warning: mustaches

Ellis had seen the missive himself when Commander Flint had passed along the assignment. The complaint had mentioned bears specifically, and the possibility of hostile Venatori not at all, so it's a very unwelcome surprise to stumble into a makeshift camp while being chased by an angry bear.

Though it at least explains why the bears had been troubling the villagers. Who wouldn't be agitated when they'd been displaced from their cave?

"That one!" Ellis says immediately, pointing to the spidery fellow scrambling for his stave. "Don't let him get to his stave!"

In the chaos of bear, mage and disrupted campfire, Ellis has a moment to clock the man bound in the wagon, which is probably also something that needs to be dealt with. But at the moment, there's a bear trying to rip his face off, so—

Comments

[esquive]

As it happens, the fine silvered rapier is excellent for poking holes into people, and rather less suited for doing anything but infuriating large beasts. The mage chasing down their staff is a welcome target.

Marcoulf hurls a rock first. It covers the distance ahead of him, clipping the Venatori in the hip and causing him to stumble in surprise if not pain. And then Marcoulf is on him, sword plunging in the chaos as more Venatori find their bearings - fetching up short swords and the tin kettle from their campfire and whatever else might be convenient to hand for flinging at either bear or interloper.

[nonvenomous]

A rake of boot leather over dirt and stone marks Richard Dickerson sliding to a stop at Ellis’ periphery, his breath haggard, steaming hard and fast through his teeth. His utter disbelief lends exasperation to his dismay.

Marcoulf has the mage; Dick slumps his shoulders as he takes a step back. Like. Behind Ellis.

The Bear splinters through the overgrowth at the cave’s mouth with locomotive force, slinging snow and ice and froth ahead of it into the fray. Venatori and their tents tangle its roaring pursuit, scarred lips rolled back from fangs thick and yellow as apple cores.

Richard has disappeared, stirred into nothingness like a fart in the bear's wake.

[heorte]

Ellis has some sense of Richard in his peripheral vision. Somehow in the amount of time it takes for Ellis to dodge away from the Bear's claws, Richard vanishes.

Alright.

As chaotic as this scene is, it's practically enjoyable for Ellis. As it turns out, fighting Darkspawn nonstop has skewed his sense of danger beyond repair. He grabs the chunk of meat spitted over the fire and flings it in a graceful arc back into the bushes. The Bear is—

Unimpressed. Welp.

Prompted by Richard's disappearance, Ellis turns tail and dashes towards the cage, pursued by bear. Odds are high whoever is in there might be of use. It takes three blows from his mace before the lock snaps off and the door creaks open.

Though in hindsight, the mustachioed man inside probably prefers to stay there rather than come out and face a fucking bear.

[coeurdulyon]

Au contraire mon frère, this mustachioed man would much rather fight a bear, nay, a thousand bears than spend another minute locked inside a cage.

"Thank you, brother."

For a moment, though, he has to steady himself against the bars to keep himself from pitching toward the ground. Has he become so weak that just standing exhausts him? Have his knees always popped like this? Lucien uses the moment, however brief it is, to scan the situation.

The Vint who'd coveted his sword and shield has already become a bear's grisly amuse-bouche, not far off. It's an easy distance to cover, even with the Chevalier's weakened state, and he fetches up both at once and whirls on the bear.

[esquive]

—The bear, which is presently whirling in the direction of a backward scrambling Venatori which scrambles backwards directly into Marcoulf, whose rapier jumps from the strike to his arm, which causes the mage (who is not quite had; give it a few more seconds) to croak in agony as the blade furrows deeper into his guts.

Marcoulf curses. All things considered, it's a pleasantly clear Fuck off in the echo prone atmosphere of the cave before he recognizes the proximity of their furry friend. His subsequent Fuck off is rather less composed.

[nonvenomous]

Crouched in the allegory of the cave styled shadows of the muppet show tonight, Richard is tearing through the contents of a wooden trunk. Candles, parchment, ink, a flask (pocketed), an oil flask. Detritus cast aside, he unstops the second flask and looks back to the fight.

One of the Venatori charging into the fray lurches mid-step from the slap of the flask shattering across his turned back, scattering oil across man and possibly bear.

The vint whips around, sword in hand.

Dick holds fast for half a second, half-crouched. The beat passes; he drops the flint he has in hand and breaks to lunge for the campfire instead. This is a good idea don’t worry about it.

[heorte]

Saddled with a great many things to worry about, Ellis doesn't have much time to consider whether or not releasing the prisoner was a good thing. He seems to be in immediate support, so that frees up Ellis to decide quickly between assisting Marcoulf or assisting Richard.

The decision is momentarily deterred by the burst of fire that narrowly misses Ellis' face, but unfortunately catches his cloak on fire. Instead of being immediately useful, he's forced to try to shove out of his cloak in the same moment as he fends off the offending Venatori trying to press his advantage.

Everyone just. Survive another round.

[coeurdulyon]

The burst of fire catches not only on Ellis' cloak, the Venatori, and a small patch of the bear's fur, but also on the oil that had splattered on Lucien's blade. Quite dramatically, he dispatches the Venatori with a flaming sword in two quick strikes: first to his weapon, then to the man himself.

It's very impressive, but he's a beat too slow to properly parry the enraged bear's next swipe, managing only to avoid being gored by its claws by falling back, further into the cave.