November 12, on the way to the bear cave.
At first Ash and Witt are happy enough to walk with you answering you questions. Although only one or the other at a time. The other always stays about 10 yards feet ahead.
The bear you learn appears to be little out of the ordinary, five foot height on its back paws, perhaps little bigger than usual. But the most striking is that it held its ground when they approached banging drums and banging sticks together. Likewise when they pelted it with rocks and stones. It was when they tried smoking it out that it attacked them, emerging from the smoke like a deamon and nearly killing two of their number.
The cave? Well the area is much like this. Visibility is about 30-40 yards with tress every 10 yards or so. There is a small steam about 40 yards from the entrance down a slight slope. Its will be much easier to show you they conclude.
Eventually they motion you to move up quietly alongside them.
"The cave is about 10 minutes from here, down that way. We need to move carefully from here, so Ash and I," for it is Witt who is talking "will go ahead. Stay about 10 yeards behind us and keep your eyes open. There is a place this side of the stream, the cave is one the other side, where you can get a look at the lay of the land. We will take you there first. Its only a minute out of the way."
ooc: The way I see it is that the ponies are not a trained war animals. At the first sign of a bear a pony, being an eminantly sensible animal, would bolt in the other direction. It would take a skilled rider to make them approach one. Ash and Witt will be against taking mounts - you never know when the bear might show up. They will also strongly insist that you agree to leave it behind when you get close to the cave. (ie: here.) Let me know if you do choose to ride.
ooc: When appropriate, please note any bonuses, numbers or effects in an ooc post like this one. I will try and catch everything, but doing so will help ensure that I do, as well as help speed things up. Thanks.