A Foolish Fools errand

It's settled. Mainland forests are a nuisance and filled with dangerous beings. Me being one of them, now. Soon after our arrival at the edge of the forest, we found a sign written in an ancient language. My companions decided to play me a prank and told me that the writing was just a fancy form of common, warning of "Owlbears". I of course knew of the great and fierce bear, it is one of my totems after all, but an Owlbear sounded like a wives tale. The little man, Nakor, was especially comitted to the prank, so I decided to add to his supposed head injury and tossed the sign on him for him to read. It hit square in the head, just as I knew it would. I am a great thrower of all things wood, it is known. I just wish i had thrown the sign at the thief before he made off with gold from each of us.
 
After heading into the forest and following the tracks a short while, the mercenary proposed that we create a base camp. The mercenary has a way of making everything sound tactically sound and important. I suppose that she calls eating a "tactical producing of essential framework for combat and/or existance" or something equally complicated, but I am not one to argue with constructing a structurally sound camp. So that we did.
It was deemed neccessary for scouts to track the goblins to their lair while two others stayed behind and got some rest. Nakor and the big inventor fell asleep just as soon as the idea was brought up, which did not matter much as the task was best placed in mine and the mercenarys hands anyway.
 
We scouted ahead, foolishly believing that the dark would not pose a problem. On the ocean it is not a problem to light a lantern to find your way around the ship the first days, but in the forest it was adamant that we be silent and stealthy as to not rouse suspicion from the goblins we were tracking. This led to us eventually being surrounded by darkness, barely able to see our hands before us. Around this time there started to come suspicious sounds from within the forest. Heavy steps, not unlike the bears i met on my island. The mercenary explained the concept of the Owlbear to me, which appearantly was not a prank. While I practiced total stillness and extreme tree-likeness, the mercenary tossed a stone out in the woods which drew the Owlbears attention. The Owlbear was within small distance from us, and i could feel the battle-rage bubbling. The thoughts of battling this immense foul beast was almost intoxicating, a thought which I would come to regret later.
 
With the Owlbear distracted, we made our retreat. Our companions was still asleep, and the mercenary took the first watch, keeping a keen eye on the forest. I dreamt fierce dreams of fighting what I imagined a Owlbear to be - a bear with the head of an owl. Hardly a tougher fight than a Bear, but there is still some honor in besting a new beast. The dream was wrong.
 
Awaking a number of hours later by the little man shaking me to conciousness, I was still in the waning feelings of battle-rage against this mystical monster from my dreams. When I could make sense of the little man it was obvious that my dreams had invited themselves into reality as well, as the Owlbear had been sighted. A plan was quickly constructed by Nakor who had heard the mercenary suggesting another rockthrow, and made a stone light up, casting an aura of light on the camp. I quickly grabbed the little stone and tossed it far into the forest. The noise of the Owlbear moved toward the new lightsource, treading into the light, examining the stone and thereafter looking up and staring right at us. The beast was nothing like my dreams. A menacing stare, large razorsharp beak and claws longer than any I've ever seen. It charged at us.
 
Seeing as I am the largest member of our haphazard party, I in a split-second realized that it was my job to make sure the Owlbear did not just simply run over our entire party and completely slaughtering the little man by way of trampling. I therefore charged the charging Owlbear, keeping him at a distance from the rest of the party, so they could help out from a distance while me and the mercenary kept the beast at bay. These hopes were soon quashed when we all heard from the distance another Owlbear approaching. The mercenary quickly tackled this one and was joined by the little man and the large inventor, leaving me all alone against the first Owlbear. Trading blows, i was gravely wounded and thrown to the ground. The spirit of the pure bear kept the fire in me going, and with what I thought would be my last roar I stood up and made a reckless attack against the beast, hoping to hold it for a little while longer so the party could finish their foe first, and not be faced with two angry beasts at once. Soon after my wrathful attack, while grasping my torn stomach, i suddenly saw a bright light and the Owlbear before me fell dead without a head. The originator of this feat was none other than the tiny man, crazily giggling.
Around this time, the party succeeded to fell the other Owlbear, and the forest turned quiet. After a joint effort by the little man and the mercenary my stomach was more or less stitched up. Before falling into sleep, I sourced the bloodiest and longest claw of the beast that i had felled with Nakor, intending to wear it as a constant reminder of how I almost went under, and how I survived. Also to remind me why it's a bad fucking idea to go ashore.