The party find and fight the bears.

Military: Battle

The party eventually follows the tracks all the way to a small cave in the woods with a small stream running into it, as described in Dericka's brief. They take off their backpacks and travel into the cave through the stream to cover their scents, lit only by Ruben's Light cantrip and the stars above. As Heothun hops into the stream, he lets out a squeal due to how cold it is, accidentally waking one of the bears, but this is not explicitly known to the party yet. They slowly enter the cave, where they come face to face with the two bears, and combat begins. Maeralya immediately takes a large hit and is forced under the water, Heothun manoeuvres to the back of the party to stop a backline ambush, Cameo inspires the party with words and dances, Ruben throws a deadly Ice Knife and is forced to wander around in circles to help the others see, and Juniper fires arrows blindly off into the dark with surprising accuracy. After Maeralya regathers her footing and sets a bear alight, the party begins to make some progress, killing one bear and then the other shortly after.