You remember the stone. The scrape of it on your claws. The mountains. The caves. Pockmarked entrances across the horizon where the night rains have begun, sweeping toward the village. You are the Other Bear. The Demon Bear. The Cold Bear. Your lungs fill with the scent of blood. A dollop of red on a leaf continuing the trail. You sniff. You take your time. The orc has been running a very long time. Desperate. You can see it in the way the brush is folded.
Soon, however, you realize there is another that picked up the trail.
You can’t see them, but you know they’re there. Hunting, like you. You are close to the town now. Your claws bite into the dirt, then tree bark as you climb for a better vantage. The town’s firelight jangles in the distance through the forest canopy. You can almost hear the whispers of the Other Bear. The Remorseless Bear. The Cold Bear.
The other hunter, now you see. A wolf. Its head glides through the underbrush, searching for you. You are careful. You drop down, hands splayed, palm out toward the creature. You do not speak. Bears do not speak. You run a claw through the wolf’s mane. You look fully into its yellow eyes. You are the same. Bears do not fear wolves. The wolf acknowledges its mistake, and disappears into the forest to find more prey.
The orc, though, fears you. You can almost taste it in the air. He is so close to the town. He bursts out of the brush running for the town walls, but it is only a dream. Your claw grabs by the leg, takes him down. The guards on the wall point, shout, but the only thing to see is an orc being dragged back through the brush-line…
You rest in a cave as the night rains fall harder. Sheets of water over the entrance. You are the Guardian Bear. The Solitary Bear. The Cold Bear.
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Rumors about the Cold Bear around Trunau:
1. A horrified traveling merchant shakes you by the shoulders, ”The thing’s as big as a house! Some horrible experiment gone wrong I tell’s ya! It won’t stop until all of us are dead!” Partially true. The vigilante known as Cold Bear is large and imposing, but its powers did not originate from experimentation, nor is its goal to destroy Trunau.
2. Loggers coming back from a hard day’s work say, ”I seen it once. Stopped a pack of wolves from getting’ the drop on us one day last winter. I think it was protecting us.” True.
3. Two old Trunau residents scoff at you. They make sure you’re not any sort of paladin and say. ”I hear it was summoned long ago by a witch, using her own blood. From where? I don’t know, some hellish dimension I reckon.” False.
4. A boy tells you, ”I saw a feral look on old Mr. Coldwater’s eyes when I knocked over his whiskey at Cham’s Ramblehouse. Heck, scared me more than stories of the Cold Bear, you know?” True.
5. A pack of youths have it all figured out. They say, ”It’s a werebear, obviously!” False.
6. A town watchman says after his shift ends, ”I’ve seen that Halren Coldwater heading out of the gates after dark. Don’t know what he does out there, but I bet it ain’t farming.” True.
