An Act of Hubris or Guile

Aisha follows at a distance knowing her chainmail also will make noise as they move, her eyes darting around looking for any signs of danger.

Kasbis stays hidden as he follows the tracks. It is now nightfall. The forests is extremely lush with fragrances from flowers wafting through the air. Fireflies begin taking flight.

Do you continue to track through the night.

Kas pulls up and hunches down with Duncan and Aisha.  “It will be much harder to track in the dark.  Should we rest here for a bit?  I hate to, but I feel like it might be wise.  I need a rest.  How do you two feel?”  Kas looks for their ideas about staying and resting vs continuing to track through the night.  

"It would be much easier to track during the day as well," Duncan says, straining to see by the torch light he holds.

Aisha's frustration can be heard in her voice, "I want to keep going but I know that catching them in the dark will not only be difficult to accomplish. It will also be dangerous for those we're trying to rescue if we can't tell friend from foe in the dark while we're weary."

“Let’s find a suitable place a take a short rest, then continue following.  If neither of you need to rest, keep your eye on the tracks and make sure we don’t lose them.  I need the rest and to be at my full power to face this bastard… when we meet him.”  If there is no opposition, Kas finds a suitable spot, will look to rest his back against a tree, and go into medication / relaxation for an hour.  

An hour passes and its still dark with a hint of light on the horizon. The parte continues on and off in the distance you see large tree topple. As if felled by a mighty axe or something else.

Kasbis heads off in that direction, trying to stay quiet and find what made that noise, asking Duncan and Aisha to follow him.

There in the clearing is a massive bear. You see it easily push another tree down with ease.

Aisha whispers to Kasbis and Duncan, "Do you think it's knocking down trees as part of the search process?"

Kasbis moves to get a good look at it to see what it is doing, what it is trying to accomplish.  He says to himself “What are you doing, little Ori?”  He says to Aisha and Duncan, “How should we approach it?  Any ideas?  It looks massive…. and formidable.  Battle master, do you have any stratagems?”  

Kasbis looks around where the bear is knocking over trees for any other beings around it, also listening for voices or other sounds of additional combatants.  

Perception : 19 

"Even with my glaive I'm afraid its paws will be able to reach me. Though I did pack that shield from before, and if you loan me your staff again I could likely hold it at bay for a while if we need to hunt it," Duncan says, pondering the potential battle. "But... We should see if it's actually dangerous or not."

"Elder Bruth said the Chiracki tree was disguised as a regular tree." Aisha whispers the reminder. "If this M doesn't know for certain which tree it is they may be testing the trees until they find it. Not only will that mean eventually finding the tree but also the destruction of this grove. Duncan I can add to your protection with a shield of faith. If you return my cross bow I can help cover from a distance with it and some spells, but I want to be careful not to exhaust myself in casting in case one of you needs healing."

As you discuss the bear again knocks down a tree looking for something. Seemingly unsatisfied it moves on to another tree.

Know that if you come closer the bear will see you or smell you with its keen senses

What do you do?

Duncan hands the crossbow back, readies the shield and quarterstaff in his hands as he looks to the beast and says, "Well... shall we see what this thing is made of then?" 

Aisha loads the crossbow before preparing to cast, "The shield will last ten minutes as long as I keep focused. When we're ready I'll cast it as we begin."

Once the decision is made, Kas nods with the plan, gets in position within 120 feet of the large beast and launches a bolt of energy at it.  “Let’s see if we can force little Ori to change back into his normal self…”

Eldritch blast : Attack: 18 Damage: 6 + 2 thunder damage.  

Then,

Initiative : 20 

Aisha lets a crossbow bolt fly before casting Shield of Faith on Duncan covering him in a soft pink glow giving him an additional +2 to his AC.
Crossbow Attack: 23 Damage: 8
Initiative: 3

Bear Initiative 15

The eldritch blast hits slightly injuring the bear

The bear lunges at Duncan and attacks 3x

Bite

Attack: 26 Damage: 11

Claw 1

Attack: 8 Damage: 16

Claw 2

Attack: 10 Damage: 11

Before the bear charged at him, Duncan moved forward some just to put distance between the others and himself. Holding his ground ready for the creature, Duncan reacts as it enters his range, and then after dodging, or blocking, each of the attacks, retaliates with the quarterstaff, surging, to anger it as much as possible.