Kith knew that Dire Bears in general were feared both among the
people of Morhurst and most creatures that called it home, but a
Ghallens towered above a Dire Bear by at least five feet or in some
cases, more. This bear had to have been at least twenty-six feet in
length and was abnormally large in size. Its paws were so large that
they could easily crush Kith's skull or body if she got too close to
it. The claws on the beast looked as though they could shred through
plate armor with ease. Two of the unique aspects of the Ghallen was
not only its abnormally large canine teeth that resembled a plains
tiger's, but it was the only recorded bear in Morhurst to have small
bony protrusions growing in reverse behind its ears. Though they
weren't considered horns by scholars, they weren't just knobby
plates either. Most people bickered over what to call these oddities
on the bears, so most people just ended up calling them horns out of
ease. This bears horns in particular, were large and gnarled to prove
to all who saw them that this bear had done battle with many other
beasts of the forests and lived. The Ghallen continued to thrash and
roar out in pain, all the while Kith couldn't figure out why, until
she looked on towards the dusted ground that was splattered with
blood. She could not see any wounds on the beast until she inspected
the left hind leg of the Ghallen from a safe distance and to her
shock she saw a large, anchored trap that was designed specifically
to catch and disable a Ghallen. Kith knew a little bit about some of
the hunting laws in Morhurst and that this trap had been outlawed a
few years ago for its cruelty, though that hadn't stopped poachers
from acquiring them through certain trading venues or making their
own versions of these sinister traps through reverse engineering.
Cogs and springs cranked and whirled about as the teeth of the vice
trap sank deeper into the flesh of the Ghallen the more it thrashed
about and Kith realized that at this rate, it would more than likely
die due to blood loss in less than an hour if nothing was done about
it. "Cowards, to use such a trap to catch a beast like this. If
they were after the pride and glory of taking this beast, then they
should gather arrow and spell and track it like any other hunter
would, without fear and cowardice." Kith desperately wanted to
help the bear, but with a beast of its size and ferocity, there was
very little that she thought would help. Being as stubborn as she
was, she decided to do what she could to help it. Kith knew that the
bear would not be able to move much due to the anchor and teeth of
the trap, so in hopes to garner some sort of alliance with the bear,
she decided to make herself known but at a safe distance. When she
came out from behind the brush, the bear mistook her as an enemy and
immediately began to lash out at her, gouging marks in the dirt and
swiping violently until it collapsed from the pain of its injury.
"Calm down! Calm down big guy" She kept saying to the bear
to pacify it as best as she could. "I'm not going to hurt you, I
just want to help you." Kith thought to herself for a moment
that this bear wasn't going to cooperate easily with her since it was
already on the war path. Kith dug deep into her mind, looking for an
answer to this problem and an idea sparked. She decided to use a
spell that she had learned when she was younger. The spell in
particular was used to subdue small animals and calm larger ones but
she had never tried it on anything this large before. She knew that
it worked on large wolves due to a previous encounter so she decided
to give it her best. Kith became focused and began to channel her
energies for a moment until it pooled into her hand, shaping a sphere
of bright swirling energy that spun and flickered at such a pace that
it produce a faint hum in ones ear. "Now, please calm down and
let me help you." She held her hand out to the bear, hoping that
her idea would work. The bear roared as best it could to hopefully
deter Kith from approaching, but it did not. It's roars began to fade
as the bear gazed deeply into the swirling sphere of lights. Soon its
eyes lit up as if it had been caught in a trance. The bear began to
slowly calm its heavy breathing until it relaxed. It then looked
right at Kith and it raised itself up off the ground as best as it
could and limped towards her. The bear pressed its cold, wet nose
into her other hand, signifying that the it was being submissive to
her. Kith was amazed that her spell actually worked on this beast but
now wasn't the time to think
"Good boy, now just stay calm for a little while and I'll see
about getting that nasty contraption off of your leg." Kith
walked around the massive beast and saw where the trap had been
anchored to the ground and then gazed upon the massive vice like jaws
that had ensnared the Ghallens leg. Kith could almost feel the pain
of the bear just by looking at the horrific scene. The serrated teeth
of the trap looked as though they were piercing deeper into flesh by
the minute and saw that the ground had been stained with a
significant amount of blood that was being lost from the bear. She
rushed over to the site of the anchor of the trap while trying to
keep the bear calm. "I know this is going to hurt and please
don't bite off my head. I'm just trying to help you." Kith
stroked the bears leg and moved some fur out of the way to see
the jaws and look for a way to pry it open but it was no use. The
springs were tightening quicker than she anticipated which meant that
even with her own strength, it would be next to impossible to bend
the jaws back and unlock it that way. Kith decided to search the trap
more thoroughly and found what looked to be a releasing pin of sorts
for the jaws. “Sorry big guy, but this looks like our only option.”
Kith took in a deep breath and uttered a barely noticeable prayer,
gripped the pin and told the bear to be strong before she pulled with
all of her strength centered on thin pin. The bear roared out in pain
from the movement and pressure on the trap but after what seemed like
a lifetime for the both of them, the pin gave way, launching Kith a
few feet back and knocking her to the ground. Now that the springs
were at rest Kith could freely manipulate the jaws carefully but not
without great difficulty. The jaws were still deeply embedded in the
bears leg which took more force from Kith to dig them out. Once the
jaws were free of the flesh and the leg was well away from the trap
it began to pour forth blood at a rapid pace. Kith noticed this and
quickly grabbed a small blue potion from her side pocket and uncorked
the bottle with her teeth, spitting the stopper to the side. "I
am really sorry for this" she said to the Ghallen as she poured
the viscous blue liquid over the deep gashes on the leg. The eyes of
the Ghallen flared up as it roared out in pain, knocking Kith out of
the way as it began to thrash about. The potion went to work quickly
though as it had alchemically stitched and healed the puncture wounds
along with halting the flow of blood. Within a minute the Ghallen had
calmed down and started to lick its wounds like it normally would,
sneering a bit as it tasted some of the potion in the process.
