Ransley was making his way silently in his chosen direction, one hand resting gently on the hilt of his sword. "Stupid Eoln..." is all he could think of as he moved forward. He had by no means made any attempt to hide his hate for the elf. Along his path he had carved, "Eoln is a sissy elf." into various things. It wasn't long till he arrived at a river. The bank would be a perfect place to carve another message for the stupid elf. He drew his short sword and dropped to a knee and began to carve 'E-O-L-N I-S A S-I-S-S-Y E-L-F'. He then seathed his short sword as he rose back to his feet.
He streched his arms and looked forward. "That's interesting..." he thought as he noticed a yellowish-brown bear fishing on the opposite end. He looked at it for a while, fully aware that the bear too knew of his presence. The bear however kept fishing, seeing no reaction Ransley decided to cross the river but the moment he put a foot into the water the bear turned to him and growled. "Ah... how damned." thought Ransley as he withdrew his foot, careful not to look the bear in the eye.
He begin to move into the river slowly and steadily, both hands away from his swords. No point making the bear think he was a threat. Animal evasion came natural to Ransley and a bear was an easy one. He knew well enough it would be a waste of energy to charm a beast such as this when he could just get away from it in a snap of his fingers, not literally but around that easily. He took a deep breath and repeated the steps in his mind, "Walk backwards and away from the bear slowly, keep speaking calmly and loudly and do not look into its eyes." All check.
He would need a way to get across though. He had not thought of that, luckily there were a couple of thin tress on the bank. He did not want to but had little choice at present. He drew his sword and cut one of the thin trees from the bottom, letting it fall diagonaly across the river. He fell a few more and placed them the same way forming a makeshift bridge leading diagonally away from the bear. "Here goes..."
Ransley put a foot onto the bridge, he was aware that his steps would have to be quick and light and all the while he would have to concentrate on not looking the bear straight in the eye and speaking calmly and loudly. The odds were not quite in his favor, just how he liked it. So he began, barely letting a foot touch the ground as he made his way across. Looking at the bear but not into it's eyes while speaking calmly and loudly, "I am only an illusion, pay me no heed. Go back to your fishing as I vanish into the distance. Look at yummy salmon, mmm tasty, go on and reach in. Pick one up and take a bite."
By now Ransley had reached the other end of the river, the side where the bear was. The bear had still not diverted it's attention from Ransley just as he had suspected but it was no need to worry all he had to do was keep doing th... oh damn... the bear had started to advance towards him. Well there was still no need to worry, plenty of trees around. "If thats how you want to play you big lagoot..." He drew his metallic sheet. "Come and get me."
Ransley ducked behind a tree as the bear approached him, turning away from the bear as it turned towards him. He kept moving from tree to tree whenever he found an opening as the bear kept cricling each tree Ransley passed. A couple of minutes later Ransley had completed a complete circle and found himself behind the bear. Not exactly something he had wished to do but the bear just did not seem natural to him. It was trying too hard, he drew his short sword as the bear began to circle the tree and impaled it in the top right corner of his neck taking a pot shot to his head with his metallic sheet after that.
The bear stumbled forward a bit and dropped to it's side. Ransley put the sheet back in his bag and moved over to the bear slowly. He searched around for and medicinal plants and then soaked them in the river. He then pulled his sword out of the bear's neck and pressed the plants against them. It was a tough animal, it would make it through. Once he was done nursing the bear he went over to where it was fishing and found a few salmon there. He picked them up and dropped them down near the bear. "You'll need these, champ."
He smiled at the bear and went back to the river drawing his short sword. A few fish wouldn't hurt him either. He waited there for a while and caught a good number of them himself. He looked them over, almost twenty of them. He grinned and placed just one in his bag. "They spoil fast, this will do for dinner." He then went over to the bear and dropped the rest of the fish by it. "You'll need these too, champ." To his surprise the bear raised his head and nodded letting out a low growl as to say thank you.
Ransley nodded back at the bear. "And remember Eoln is a sissy elf." With that Ransley headed off, continuing his journey till nightfall.
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