A bit of an explanation for this: some of these will go into THE FERMI RESOLUTION RPG as vignettes to help with game concepts. This part is going to be about combat.
There were only four of the bear-bird hybrids in the clearing in front of the cave, but they were big bastards. The Dominion loves to make their monsters big. I’d like to think that their mages are compensating for something, but I know they’re not. Dominion breedmasters are just mean.
On the other hand, without their handlers the bear-birds were pretty damned stupid. Bob got them to focus on him right away by putting a crossbow bolt in the biggest one’s eye. That’s not always enough to kill a Dominion monster, but this time it worked like a charm. The other three screamed, and leapt.
While he was dodging their clumsy, yet tree-splintering bows, Yuni was lining up her shot (I’m not saying the rest of us are bad at crossbows, but she and Bob are the only ones who are good at them). Her shot hit just as hard as Bob’s had — the trigger doesn’t care if you’re a halfling — but she didn’t try for anything fancy, just a solid shot in the center of mass that slowed the second bear-bird down something considerable. She dropped the crossbow right off and started pulling out her throwing knives. Damned if I know where she keeps them either.