Chapter 2, Days 8-10

Corban snaps out of his hesitation and dashes toward the two owl bears, standing over Ghunril to keep the prone dragonborn safe.
He wields his longsword in one hand and swings viciously at the beast.

Seeing one of the creatures flee after the death of the other, I give a deep sigh and lower my sword as I turn to my companions. "Is anyone hurt?"

"Kaiakas, over here. Ghunril could use some help." I look him over to see how bad the wounds are.

"Move!" says Pawetha, hopping from her perch to run over to the dragonborn. She slides to her knees at Ghunril's side and places her hand on his snout, whispering a request to Baervan to extend his blessings upon this distant relative of a forest lizard.

As soon as his eyes are open, I shove a healing potion into his hands. "Here you go! Let's try to stay alive, shall we?"

Barely getting two steps in, I smile at Paw's exuberance and assistance. With the conclusion of our little skirmish, I notice my own wounds and heal them. "Are we ready to continue?"

Pawetha sighs in relief as Ghunril stabilizes. "Owlbears," she says again, in a tone indicating the group should have understood her meaning. "Figured you all would have tried to find cover or distance. Just one is enough reason to do anything else but stand your ground. Two? Probably find better odds against a single dragon."

I shrug. "They're all the same to me."

"Perhaps it would be wise to have Pawetha scout ahead so we aren't surprised like this again?" the wizard muses aloud.

"I definitely underestimated their battle prowess. Must have been all the feathers. Thank you for saving my life." Ghunril nods at each of his companions and slowly stands up, checking his side and shoulder for any restriction on his movement.

"What should we do with that?" Ghunril points at the Owlbears corpse and then stows the healing potion in his pack.

Pawetha folds her arms and hmphs. "I was scouting," she mumbles. "Told you what it was before it got here, didn't I?"

I search the owlbear's body for anything useful. I also take some feathers as mementos.

"Umm, yes. You let us know what it was. How lucky for us," Zaris says with a slight tinge of sarcasm. "I certainly don't mean to be rude, but a surprise like that could kill one of us."

"Certainly, your honor," says Pawetha, cheeks puffed with hands on her hips. "I shall prepare a dossier for you to look over documenting the various capabilities of the beast we encounter so you can properly decide the proper course of action to undertake. Perhaps a manual of monsters, with pretty pictures?"

"Ah-hem!" I give a stern glance to the grumbling duo. "Thank you, Pawetha, for the warning. We would be wise to react more quickly to your warnings, I think."

"I most certainly will next time you name a creature i haven't encountered before."

I give Paws a shrug. "They're new to this. Should we continue?"