A battle between the Oregon Cannibals and Klamath Militia typically ended in favor of the NCR Milita, who, although they did not know the terrain as well as the enemy did, not only worked quickly, but used small-unit tactics similar to that of the tribes'. And of course, they had guns and (light) armor. So, with exceptions, most encounters with the cannibals were lopsided in the Klamath Militia's favor. 

However, the Klamathians were not out to massacre the tribes; no, they were better than that. Rather, they would force the tribes to submit to their authority instead, cowing or killing their leaders and forcing the Cannibals to 1.) pay tribute, and 2.) give up Cannibalism. This would in turn be enforced by spies recruited from tribal ranks, as well as the establishment of 'trading posts' which would get the former Cannibals dependent on NCR goods, including alternative sources of meat, and slowly, along with 'teachers' from the NCR, 'civilize' them, albeit on terms more acceptable to the natives.

And of course, additional scouts were always a blessing.

Lieutenant Jessica Rodgers, as well as two dozen men and women, were now being led by one of those scouts, known as Blade-of-Blood, further north, pressing onwards to the former Winema National Forest, where there was a cave of Yao Guai, Mutated Grizzly bears with immense strength and stamina. Getting rid of those monsters would, further win them more prestige, honor, and, of course, bearskins and meat.

Hopefully Blade-of-Blood didn't plan to betray them; several 'scouts' had done that, and got themselves shot and beheaded for their trouble; other commanders were less forgiving, and sometimes skinned any traitors alive. Either way, the group were approaching the cave, where, true to form, two of the bears were prowling; were they mates?

"Train your guns on their eyes," she told the snipers as she readied her own (Edit: Assault Rifle), which had a grenade launcher that would probably be needed, considering the monsters' strength and size. "Hit them with everything you have; spare nothing. Blade," she spoke to the former Cannibal, ready your spear. A few seconds of preparation later, Jessica yelled: "FIRE!" sending out a blast from her grenade launcher as she did so.

The Yao Guai were easily alerted by the shout, and may have even smelled out the attackers; said attackers had taken steps to conceal their smell, with mixtures of stinkweed, but it wasn't enough, it seemed. Anyway, the Yao Guai rushed towards the hunting party, running through the wave of fire as though it were nothing, and reached the troops' cover, roaring in wild rage, ready to tear apart those who had violated their lair.

Jessica was no Ranger, and certainly no Chosen One, either. But she would not give up, not when the troops' initial strategy of shooting failed. Every third person among the militia drew out their machetes, trying to pin the bears in place so that they can be shot further. A brave, but foolish effort, as six of those men and women were torn apart, bitten in half, or just smacked away by the Yao Guai's claws. Jessica, however, only drew her battleaxe at the sight of her people falling, roaring her own scream of rage. With a downwards strike, she clove through one of the front legs of one bear, crippling it so that Blade can spear it in the eye. One down.

The other bear, meanwhile, was posing a problem; it was no longer inflicting casualties, but it was also scattering the men and women arrayed against it, enduring all their shots. Jessica rushed it like an ancient berserker, covered by Blade-of-Blood and several milita, and plunged her battleaxe to the small of its back, breaking the spine. The bear roared, lashing out with a paw and bowling her over, before turning to bite her head off - only to be stopped by Blade-of-Blood, who again speared it in the head.

Victory, at the cost of six dead, two wounded. After setting two medics to work with said wounded, Jessica extracted her battleaxe from the bear's body, and gathered ten men and women around her; the cave didn't [i]look[/i] as though it were part of a larger system, but it was best to check whether more of these monsters were around. And so, she rushed into the cave.

------

"These are monsters," one of the men, Andrew, spoke at the sight of the six bear cubs gathered in a pile around the bottom of the cave. "Best to kill them before they grow into more beasts."

But Jessica had other ideas.

"That would be a waste," she spoke. "If we can tame them, we'll have..." she searched for a word, "war-beasts, animals that can be used in battle. We've heard rumors of communities that refuse to be annexed to the NCR, and tribes much more...crafty than the cannibals. Not merely that, but being the first people to have tame Yao Guai in our ranks; we'll be unstoppable!"

"Hmm..." the other militiamen began to see the merits of the idea, although Andrew asked more questions:

"How will we feed them? If they grow up to be like their parents, they'll be pretty big..."

"We feed them Brahmin Milk," spoke Jessica, "and not the Barons', either; we use our own. When they grow larger, we'll feed them meat, honey, and grains. I'll offer the crops of my own farm for this," she continued, not entirely unselfish; already, she can see herself as a bear rider, roaming the northlands...