Isolated Cat

Woke up after some weird hallucinatory mumbo jumbo and my friends are dead, which is a shame. Things are getting a little psychedelic but other than that things are more or less fine, I guess. Onward to elsewhere, hopefully someone has a cure. Happened upon some woods of some sort, blue chaps are bumbling about. Encounters - fought a lone wolf, then a mini-pack of the things, several chef-nappers and a trio of Xaurip. Some of these fights were a little protracted without assistance but none were particularly threatening. What's that? A bear? Likely to be a tough character, to be sure, but I see no reason why one bear would accomplish what several armed men could not. Death. Every time. ~ In the spirit of true role-playing, wouldn't opting to avoid this particular battle next time around (Test of Iron) be kind of wrong? I mean, effectively it's save scumming, isn't it? Without the hindsight granted by "previous otherwise identical lives" characters I create would venture in to that cave every single time.