It's like something out of his own wilder and drunker stories. The creature right about to take a bite out of both Varric and Bianca suddenly launches forwards, gets to an impressive height and speed and then violently hits the nearest wall. Varric first lies down abruptly to avoid getting smacked in the head, then ends up following its progress upside down, head tilting comically without getting up.

"Well--"

And then a girl who looks like a perfectly normal human to Varric - who aggressively lacks all supernatural attunement - pulls him to his feet. She's unarmed, so either this was magic or someone's been eating her eggs and bacon in the morning.

"Don't have to tell me twice!"

Running with a giant crossbow in your hands is a struggle, but not much more of one than running with it on your back, so Varric doesn't bother to stow it.

"Can you do that again if you need to?" he asks, breathless with adrenaline as he runs in the opposite direction of the critter, looking for a door or something they can put between them and it.