***Thwak!***

  "Bloody stupid trees!"

  *For the third time in five minutes, Borric was hit in the face by a low hanging branch.  The first one had been from a squirl jumping from one tree to another, bringing the branch it landed on low enough to hit Borric square in the face.  The second and third were similar incidents, a deer running close by through the bushes, and a stray gust of wind respectively.  None of the incidents were too suspicious on there own, but three in five minutes was pushing incredulity.*

  *Borric focused on his witch-sight and brought the magic of the forest into view.  Jade winds blew through the leaves, trunks, and branches of the trees, something to be expected of a magical forest.  The slight tinge of celestial blue should not have been unexpected, as a divine beast of some kind was rumored to live in these mountains and forests on them.  Not every god used celestial magic, but the wind of Azyr was of the stars, sky, and fate, so many divinities used it in one capacity or another.*

  
  *Borric cursed vitriolically as he noted the strands of blue circling around him.  Clearly the forest, or god of the place, did not approve of him and his fiery volcanic attunement.  The magic was also not affecting him directly countering his duardin resistance to magical interference.  It merely circled him, effecting the surroundings to make things as uncomfortable and annoying as possible.  By the look on Borric's face, it was also clearly working.*

  *Shadrack Three Fingers snickered almost too quietly for Borric to hear.  Borric had hired Shadrack the day before in Timberhaven as a guide.  The shifty long-limbed ex-lumberjack, had been Borric's last hope of finding a guide.  After a day of attempting to hire every reputable guide in Timberhaven to no avail, he had been forced to work with Shadrack, an ex-lumberjack so bad at his job he had supposedly lost all but thee fingers on each hand.  How someone managed to cut four of his fingers off Borric would be at a loss to tell you, and Shadrack was clearly touchy about the subject.*

  "Oh, you shut your gob umgi." *Borric grumbled testily.*  

  *"*I din say nothin, master dwarf.  I'm just making sure you don't get lost.  No remarks from me, on hows abouts you are having the worst luck I've ever see in these here woods.  Least we haven't been attacked by the King o' the Mountain yet,"  *Shadrack replied.*

 *"*Would be lucky if the beast did show up, then I could take care of it and... Bah!"

  *In the midst of Borric's aborted reply to his annoying companion, a large paw came out from a clump of trees and swatted him straight off the ground.  He flew through the air about thirty feet and bounced of several trees and rocks like a bright red and gold pinball in a machine.  Were Borric of another dwarven people other than the Fyreslayer Duardin, that would have surely been his end.  Luckily the Ur-Gold Runes pounded into his flesh were always active and protected him a surely as any magical set of plate mail.  Additionally, his duardin resilience meant that while he was slightly battered, no real harm had been done on his impromptu flight through the trees.*

  *While Borric cursed and sputtered to his feet, from the trees lumbered a bear.  Standing on all fours, the beast was about twenty feet tall from foot to shoulder, almost half of the bears glossy brown and green fur was burned off.  The burns were still smoldering and some bits of smoke still drifted off of them.  It's one good eye glowed with a menacing spectral blue-green, and was locked on Borric.*

  *It roared.*

 *Bouncing back to his feet Borric could see the determined and frightened face of Shadrack as he fled silently into the forest towards the Forward Logging Camp, and supposed safety.  The bear charged, and Borric aware of the massive size and mass difference between him and his ursine opponent counter charged.  Massive slavering jaws opened and snapped shut like a steel trap as Borric slid under the beast and unleashed a torrent of flame into the half crisped belly of the beast.*

  *The bear charged forward uninjured by the flames, crashing into and knocking down a large oak tree.  Borric's face screwed up in confusion as he hurled one of the throwing axes on his belt with his left hand.  His flames had clearly rolled over the bears flesh and fur like water off of a ducks back.  Borric routinely forged or smelted steel and other metals with those same flames.  What could have burned so hot as to injure the bear in this forest?  Witch-sight told him that the bear was clearly magical, and while it might have some magic resistance, his fire should have at least singed some of the un-burnt fur.*

  *The throwing axe lodged into the rear of the bear, but was clearly not penetrating enough to even really draw blood.  It's runic enchantments worked to slow the bear down and weaken it's magic resistance over time.  The beast spun around and charged Borric again, and this time as Borric counter-charged he leapt up.  The bear having anticipated that Borric would slide underneath it again, was surprised as Borric's leap placed it firmly on it's head.  Teeth sheared through the loamy earth and roots like pudding, as the duardin grabbed hold of it by one shaggy ear with his left hand and swung his Latchkey Axe down into the burned ruin where its left eye once was.*

  *Glowing gold, green, and red blood showered outward as Borric wrenched his axe back out.  As Borric's muscles strained to raise the giant axe back up into a position to swing again, the bear screamed in pain and thrashed it's head wildly back and forth.  Borric's grip on the ursine ear was lost and for a third time he was hurled into the brush and dirt leaving a divot in the ground over ten feet long.  As he scrambled back to his feet once again, Borric caught sight of the bear rushing away into the denser and darker forest up the mountain.  A trail of divine blood the only clue to where it had passed as the vegetation seemed to move out of the bears trail and close back up behind it.*

  *Borric raised his hand and called the throwing axe before the runes traveled too far for him to feel and he lost the weapon in the wilderness.  A singing whine as the fyresteel axe flew unerringly back to thwap satisfyingly into his meaty fist.  Ur-Gold runes lost the white hot glow of activation as the fight ended.*

  *"*Now, that was a proper fight," *Borric announced to the still silent forest.  "*You can't just run when the fight is getting started you daft bear!"

  *Laughing, Borric started jogging after the beast.  Now that he knew what to look for, the magical signature of the bears blood left a clear trail for him to follow.  This was what Borric lived for.*

Contract: King of the Mountain (Into the Woods)