Wylan and wynter made their way back to the Armada. They didn't really get a chance to finish exploring gale Gorge, but neither of them seemed to mind. They had a great story to relk about the moose, and outwitting the silly creature. We're moose always so aggressive?


They had just hit the red forest when the scent of a polar bear hit him. He'd caught a couple polar bears by now and had wrestled with glacier most of his life. But he still preferred not to tussle with them.


“Let's try to go around--” he started to say when the polar bear emerged from the woods in front of them. He wasn't looking at his paws, all his attention was on the bear. So he didn't see the rabbit hole and his paw hit it back, sinking in deeply and when he tried to wrestle his paw back out it didn't budge. “Wynter!!”

Wynter walked away from the gorge laughing and grinning proudly at how she and Wylan had out smarted the angry moose. In truth, that had been way more fun than any exploration or walk they could have had otherwise. Normally she didn't like when her plans were disrupted, but this time she'd happily take this exception. They were heading back to the Armada, chatting and enjoying their time together, when Wylan seemed to notice something on the air which made her pause and take notice as well. A polar bear. She had never tangled with one herself, but their presence in the north was something none of them could ignore so she was very aware of their scent.

Wylan had just begun to make the suggestion that they go around, which Wynter was ready to agree with, but before either of them could adjust their course the large white bear came out of the trees in front of them. She was immediately on high alert and trying to think of a plan, but then they hit another snag in the form of Wylan's paw sinking right into a hole and getting lodged in the dirt. "Dang it!" she muttered under her breath as she immediately rushed to try and help him get it free, but the bear saw clearly saw this as an opportunity to ambush them both and it started charging forward. Without much other choice, she abandoned trying to get Wylan's leg free and instead ran forward to met the polar bear head on, snapping her jaws onto its front leg and biting down as hard as she could manage. It roared as her teeth cut into skin, but it was strong enough to toss her off with a hard fling of its leg. She got tossed a couple feet and hit the ground, but she quickly recovered and got back to her paws, squaring off with the bear with a growling snarl. If she could just buy enough time for Wylan to get his paw free...

"Wynter Carpathius"

Wylan struggled with his paw, thus feeling of helpless frustration was new. He watched as wynter intercepted it. Knowing she was keeping it off him. If it went for him he'd be an all you can eat buffet. But watching Wynter, he realised his sister hadn't tussled with a bear before. 


“Its eyesight isn't great, and it likes to fight with its front paws. But they're slow and heavy! Set up in front of it and when it goes in to grab you, duck under it! It's weak points are--” he paused, struggling and writhing with his paw as he fought to free it. Of all the awful timings…

Wynter kept her eyes on the bear as it continued to stalk toward her, but her ear turned toward Wylan as he started quickly giving her tips for how to deal with this bear. He obviously had way more experience with this than she did and she was certainly not going to turn down the help. Bad eye side, slow paws, duck under it. All of that made sense. Right before Wylan could tell her what the weak points were though, the bear did exactly as he said it would and it reached for her with its large paw that had some very dangerous looking claws coming out from it. She quickly ducked to avoid its attack, the paw wizzing by over her head. "What are the weak points?!" she called out to her brother, hopping back to give herself a bit of space form her opponent.

"Wynter Carpathius"

His wings unfurled on either side of him, spreading out an impressive distance as he reared back as much as he was able to. Attempting with everything he had to yank his way Out of the muddy hole.


He was watching Wynter even as he attempted to free himself. Assessing her fight and his situation on equal measures. He was going to need to dig the hole wider. He set his spare forepaw to work, scrapping at the earth as he spoke. “Behind its knees, it's groan, and if you can climb it, the base of its neck! The rest Of its fur is incredibly thick! If you can climb its back you'll have to move fast to get to its neck. Go for the point where the neck connects to the spine!”

She had just enough time for Wylan to point out the bear's weak points–the back of its knees, its groin, and the base of its neck. She gave a quick nod to show she understood and then as soon as the bear–who was quickly looking more and more agitated by the fact that she was dodging all of its attacks–lifted his paw to swing for her again she sprung into action. She ducked and dodged under its paw again, but this time she went all the way under its leg instead of backing up again and then spinning around so that she was fully behind it. Luckily it was far larger and less nimble than she was so she had time to bite into the back of its knee before it had time to turn around to try and figure out where she went. She shook her head to try and do as much damage as she could with that one bite, making the bear roar and causing its leg to buckle under its own heavy weight.

That probably would have been enough to let them get away, but she couldn't be sure how long it would take to get Wylan free so as soon as the polar bear was partially collapsed to the ground she decided to double down on her attack and hit another of the bear's weak points that Wylan taught her. Clambering up onto the polar bear's back, she wished yet again that she had inherited the feline claws that many of her family members had. It would have been really helpful in this situation. Regardless, she moved fast and scrambled up onto the bear's back and the moment she was within range she found the point where its neck and spine met just like Wylan said and she snapped down around the vulnerable point. She had to ride it like an angry bronco for a bit, biting deeper and deeper the longer she was up here, until she finally won out and the bear gave out under her.

She blinked and let go when she was very sure it was dead and then looked up at her brother as she slid down off of the bear's back, panting and giving him a little grin. "How was that?"

"Wynter Carpathius"

As Wynter struck the killing blow, Wylan pulled his stupid paw out of the mud. The hole he had dug around had finally allowed it to loosen enough to slide free. He was splattered with mud, and his paw was completely encased in. He wiped the back of his across his face, just spreading the mud around rather than cleaning it off.


Ignoring the mess, he trotted back to his sister as she slid from the bears back. “Exactly like that. That was incredible, Wynter!” He congratulated her. “did you want to harvest any part of the bear for yourself?” they would struggle to bring the whole thing back, but he would if she wanted him to.