[IC] The Narrow Path

[Gardevoiran]

The bandit leader, the same orc that got mad in the bar from the monster city, slowly turned to you with the most annoyed expression. You crushed nobody, broke his wall, and you're standing in that man's dinner. You could barely see the moon poking over the horizon line as the orc looked at you, brandishing his ax.

"Tob'as Skinna. Yashah want'd me t'take yer' head t'him on a spoike." Oh dear.

The orc charged at you, swinging his ax through the air as he aimed to chop you clean in half. A green light appeared behind him and his lackeys as he brought the ax around. Seems like someone's looking out for you.

[Skinner35]

"Oh come on. You of all people!" He said as he rolled to the side, dodging the chop as he saw the green light. Then, as the Orc was recovering his ax, he swung his flaming fist and machete at the Orcs cheekbone... This was gonna hurt.

[Gardevoiran]

The orc grabbed your hand mid-swing as he simply stood, his ax raising into the air and catching the machete. "Yashah loikes reloiabiliteh. Oi ahm dat reloiabiliteh."

Maggy re-appeared behind the orc as a large ball of acid was flung at his back, singeing it as the orc grunted slightly. "MEN. TAKE DOWN TH'MAGE."

The orc sent a headbutt into you, knocking you back a few feet as he smirked. A blue rune on his chest shone as he cracked his neck, ready to bring you to your knees, begging for mercy, before a final slash would come and simply end you.

[Skinner35]

It definitely hurt... He quickly shook out of his pained daze and rolled to his feet, seeing the rune on his chest. He sheathed his machete, and formed two huge balls of fire, and barreled them at the Orc. The balls rolled with blazing speed across the ground.

[Gardevoiran]

The fireballs didn't do much but whir past the orc as he ran up again, throwing a hefty punch your way. A golden ring outfitted his finger, and it was sure to leave a mark for a while unless you dodged it right.

Maggy, on the other hand, had arcane bolts shooting out of her hands left and right, colliding with bandits and sending them to the ground. She slowly walked towards your fight when something else caught her attention.

There was a fire that started because of your fireballs. The shelter above you was ignited and, within time, would definitely fall and separate you from Maggy. You could rush to her side, but the way into the stronghold would be separated from you as well, and you came to save her father. This was a pickle.

[Skinner35]

He quickly dodged the punch, also knocking it to the side with his metal hand, and yelled, "Maggie! We gotta move!" Then, he sprinted towards her, barreling through smaller mercs. He tried to make a hole or path of some kind for them to move forward. If he played his cards right, the roof would cave in, trapping the damned Orc and save them time to save Mag's father.

[Gardevoiran]

As you grabbed Maggy, the roof caved in onto you. Maggy had barely enough time to dodge out of the way before you were separated from her by a wall of flaming debris. A large wall, at that.

Worst of all, the orc was trapped with you.

"Nowhere t'run, wimp," the orc's voice chortled as he raised his ax again, the rune on his chest gleaming against the moonlight. The ax flew down before chopping to your side, dodging you entirely as the orc's attention was grabbed by something else.

An audible roar, echoing from the inside of the stronghold. "Deh hell?!"

[Skinner35]

Realizing that he was just royally screwed, he tried to think of a way out. Then he heard a missed chop, and a roar. While the Orc was distracted, he took his chance and rocketed a white hot punch directly into the Orcs chin, with the hopes of finally killing this douche.

[Gardevoiran]

The punch collided, but the rune on the orc's chest shone again as he simply turned his head back to face you. "Woy yew lil--"

The orc was interrupted, however, by the sudden arrival of a large bear as it rushed out of the stronghold and began to maul the orc. Ripping his chest-rune off, the bear tore tendon and tendon off of the orc until the only movement you could see was from the twitching that occurred when someone was recently deceased.

Well, the orc was dead, but you now have a bigger problem.

There's a giant, enraged bear in the area with you.

[Skinner35]

"WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING?!" He screamed as he rolled back and watched the bear, trying to decide whether to shoot or stab the bear.

[Gardevoiran]

The bear stares you down, its gaze fixated on you as you get a good look at it. The bear clearly is an old one, with gray hairs in patches all over his body, but you can clearly see the torn clothes on the bear's body. His mouth is covered in the blood of the orc, soaking his beard in a nice shade of crimson. You can tell he is distressed but you cannot understand why he is so distressed. Probably due to all of the commotion going on.

You can faintly hear the sounds of arcane magic on the other side of the wall, meaning Maggy is holding her own at the very least. You haven't heard her scream yet either, so that's a good sign. The other good sign right now is the bear's surprising neutrality to you. He doesn't seem to want to fight you, more or less he's just being cautious around you. Clearly, you can tame this beast and use it as a mount.

[Skinner35]

He raises his hands as a sign of neutrality, then runs towards the sounds. He decided not to ride the bear. Once he was out of the burning building, he threw the first merc he saw.

[Gardevoiran]

You tried to escape, but the walls fell down even more around you. You can't actually run. There are flaming barriers preventing you from escaping and getting Maggy. On the other hand, you do see a mook on the ground with his flesh melting into the dirt, so... yeah there's that. You can count that as a victory if you punch him before he's a pile of flesh.

The bear worriedly begins to pace around, trying to find his way out of the area for some reason. Perhaps he was tired of being cooped up the entire time he was captured. That was your best idea right now.

[Skinner35]

Once he realized that he was trapped with a bear, he looked around for a way out. When he ran out of ideas, he looked at the bear. "Uh... Do you have any ideas?" At this point, he had no idea what to do.

[Gardevoiran]

The bear seemed to... nod at you before it looked towards the inside of the stronghold. Seems like there'd be something in there to help you and the bear out. In fact, you can clearly see a wagon of cabbages inside the entrance to the stronghold. It could help provide a way out as a ramp of some kind.

Of course, it would also catch fire if it came into contact with the fiery barriers. You'd have to find another way to use it.

[Skinner35]

As he saw the carriage, he had an idea. "Bear, if we tie that carriage onto you, could you run us out of here?" He said, as he heard a Wilhelm scream from the outer battle.

[Gardevoiran]

The bear nods as he stands on his hind legs, seemingly as if he was stretching. You can see on his underbelly that he's scarred to hell from various sword wounds and stabs, but he's still alive before you. He's been through a ton. Far more than you'll ever be through in the foreseeable future.

From beyond the walls, you can hear the grunt of a girl. Maggy's not doing so great, it would seem. Might be time to go and save her, right?

[Skinner35]

After seeing the bears scars, he looked around. "We need to get to Maggie." He said, looking for a weak point in the wall, he refused to leave her.

[Gardevoiran]

It was a second or two before another grunt caused the bear's eyes to widen. In an instant, the bear rushed for a flaming wall and slammed into it, barreling through the thing and making a hole large enough for you to easily walk through. The flames trickled the bear on his way through, singing the fur but not igniting him as he pounced onto the man who was towering over Maggy, who was clearly bleeding from her midsection, bare skin exposed.

She had a smile on her face though. A wide smile.

"Dad!" she shouted as she climbed back onto her feet, hugging the large bear tightly as he seemed to smile back. It was hard to tell, but the bear was clearly smiling.

[Skinner35]

After the bear crashed through and heard Maggie, he was confused. "That's your DAD?!" He asked, as he quickly began mowing down the enemies, creating space between them. "Anyways, we need to go!"