In the heat of battle, perhaps prior to the fight, Jonimir decided to make himself invisible. Wait, that wouldn't make sense. There wasn't a Jonimir there at all, absolutely no signs of a Redguard sorcerer anywhere, no magic, no flowing robes and no sixth set of footprints. Where he went, Edith knew not. She was honestly surprised at the sneak Jonimir was. Luckily, the group handled themselves alright with one man missing. Between Lucex's excellent marksmanship, Tennant's sheet strength and Relmyna's rapid knife strokes, Edith was happy to say they defeated all six Forsworns. Five of the six were dead, only one, the mage immobilized by Lucex earlier was now restrained by Tennant.

“Please, let me go.” The Forsworn, who's companions called him Sean, begged as he was forced on his knees and both arms bunched up in Tennant's massive palm. “I'm not suppose to be here, just release me and you won't ever see a sliver of me.”

Edith, Lucex and Relmyna were a little further away from the spectacle. They concentrated on getting the rusty, but somehow still locked doors open. Tennant looked to Sadri as he stomped Sean nose first into the dirt.

“Well?” The wrestler shrugged to Sadri. “Live or die?”

After Sadri chose the fate of Sean, and given proper treatments according to his decision, he could see the door finally cracking open. Turns out, the trio was pushing a door that was meant to be pulled. No wonder that despite all three putting their weights forward, it only budged back. 

“Not so bright, Bright-Wings.” Relmyna laughed as they entered the poorly lit cave.

“Someone was following me though.” Edith snorted. Relmyna wanted to fire back, but Edith stopped dead in her tracks and pressed the Dunmer girl backward. Not too distant ahead was a moving torch.

“Sean? Is that you?” The voice came from a Forsworn woman. “What took you so long, you were suppose to clean Smokey's litters.”

Edith went to a crouch and asked the others to do the same. Lucex knew what he had to do. With an arrow notched and pointed to the moving shape, he released and watched as the torch extinguished. Taking down just one target didn't put him at ease. Indeed, he and Edith both wondered the same thing.

“Smokey?” Lucex asked nobody in particular.

“Not sure.” Edith shook her head. She took the group forward and they found a table. Embalming tools, knives, scalpels, linen and various surgery type supplies splayed about. However, the table was devoid of blood, flesh or any organic matters, save for one massive heart-like organ bigger than any human hearts. To the knowledgeable types, the clues pointed not to necromancy. Perhaps alchemy, but the table also lacked major herbs. One thing for certain, the Forsworns left zero notes.

“Look, over here.” Proceeding faster than everyone else, Lucex beckoned. He stood on the edge of a rectangular pit, about two meters deep, twelve meters across and five meters wide. There were one makeshift ladder on their side and the opposite side of the pit. Several chains were nailed into the pit's side, and a covered hole on one side stenches of animal waste. 

Bear wastes, Smokey was grizzly bear.

Not just any grizzly, a grizzly implanted with a briarheart. Smokey was three meters in length and half of that at shoulder height. It was currently sleeping, muscles no doubt augmented artificially rose and fell, make the hastily stitched briarheart visible under torch lights.

“No way around it.” Tennant stated. He's right, the slumbering bear took up most of the width, sneaking five armored people around is going to be tough.

“Don't tell me we have to fight that thing.” Relmyna stuttered. Her voice shook with fear, and the realization of what they have to go through made her eyes wide open. “No, no, no, that thing will smash us like watermelons.”

“What's next? It'll breath fire?” Tennant said, only half joking. Even he, seven feet of brawn, paled compared to the bear.

“Shor's beard, it better not.” Edith clenched her teeth. She carefully walked along the edge of the pit, looking intently at the bear. She knew there got to be a weakness. The heart, if only they could cut it out, or pierce it, or set it on fire. “Lucex, can you hit the bear's heart?” 

“It's going to be a narrow window.” The Imperial estimated. “Only the side is showing, and only when the bear breathes in.”

“Try, the rest of us will go in and try to cut it out.” Edith nodded. “At least, we can get it stirring so you have a better shot.”

With that, she got the five of them in the same position they had earlier. Lucex perched on top of the pit, Edith led the rest as they jumped down, feet first. Sufficient to say, she's got a bad feeling about this. Who wouldn't? Even Dumhuvud wouldn't do something as dangerous, if he had the choice, that is. 

She didn't have a choice, and the best Edith could do was let Lucex take the first shot. Arrow whizzed above her, finding the target against the bear's side, missing just short of it's heart. She could hear Lucex cursing, but a deafening roar drowned out the rest. Smokey came to life, it reared up to full three meters and emitted a growl so thunderous that the cavern roof shook. Seeing the situation worsen, Tennant sprung into action and sprinted straight at the bear. He dove and tackled the bear to the ground. Two giants, man and animal, grappled with each other. The Imperial started with the upper hand, he landed on top of the bear and dug one hand into its face. The other reached for the heart, stretching every fiber to the limit in a bit to remove it from the host. However, he never got to finish. The bear leaned back and slung one paw back, then forward, connecting with Tennant and sending him crashing into the rocks. A dull thud could be heard as Tennant's skull went into the wall. His body followed suit and in a moment's notice, the man fell limp on the ground.

“Holy fuck!” Relmyna screamed. She panicked, but knew she had not time to climb back up. Instead, she hurled one dagger at the beast, impaling it in the belly. Against a normal animal, damage would have been significant. But this unnatural being barely flinched at the blood leaking out of its core, anger rising and barreled towards Relmyna. The Dunmer girl backed against the wall, she closed her eyes as the bear came crashing in. It never hit her, as Edith stepped in front and intercepted the blow with her shield. More than three-hundred kilograms came down on her left arm, but with years of conditioning and a proper stance, she somehow still stood. With the bear recoiling slightly, Edith followed up with a sword slash. Her blade caught the bear's paw, in fact, the edge embedded into it. This means the bear had a grip on the weapon, and it viciously swiped it away.

Safe to say, everyone was panicking now. Lucex had another arrow and launched it into the bear's spine. The arrow bought several seconds by causing Smokey to stumble on its side.

“Sadri!” Lucex blurted out while scrambling for more munition. “This is your chance, do something!”