“The greatest fear in the world is of the opinions of others. And the moment you are unafraid of the crowd you are no longer a sheep, you become a lion. A great roar arises in your heart, the roar of freedom."

~ Rajneesh

POV - TAD

It only takes one bad experience to completely ‘rock’ your world. To upset your equilibrium in life and make you question what and why you are doing whatever it is you were doing. It may be as small as a thoughtless or mean comment. A throwaway line that belittles your family and makes you want to just jump up and smack his face. Or that half star trolling of something you have put significant time and effort into which totally destroys you. Other times it may be a larger catastrophe or unforeseen accident that derails you and sends you into a tailspin of despair.

Or it could be a series of exploding sheep.

And there is something deeply disturbing about exploding sheep. Why would sheep kamikaze in such a meaningless attack? I had no designs on their lives. And while they were listed as omnivorous, they certainly weren’t starving, and anyway, blowing themselves up like that wasn’t really that conducive to feeding themselves either. It just didn’t make sense.

There was, I realised, so much in life that didn’t make sense. We spend a significant part of our lives searching for meaning, for validation that we matter and that we will make a difference. We try and make sense out of the unknowable, to find our place in it all, to exercise some sort of control over our destiny.

And then the sheep blows up in your face.

But even then I felt a thrill. The Stormsheep had air magic. It helped their movement and, I frowned, had it helped them explode? That seemed somewhat weird. Surely it would be a fire magic needed to self combust like that? Or had they separated the hydrogen out from the oxygen in the water that was entrapped in their fleeces? That seemed to resonate, though I would have thought that was closer to water manipulation. Maybe it was the airborne mist which they had somehow trapped and weaponised? Anyway, they had turned themselves into biological bombs and then the ram had provided the spark. It was, I decided, a coordinated terrorist attack. Ultimately a futile and meaningless gesture, but the pain and potential suffering was undeniable. Had these Stormsheep been the bane of whatever sapient species that had originally inhabited this level? No, my intuition was not agreeing. Maybe a contributing factor though? Yes, that had the tingle of rightness.

I was forewarned. It would be exceedingly wise to steer clear of these Stormsheep. Especially when they were in large numbers. Even just a few more in the flock and I would have been toast. I needed a strategy in case I ran into a larger group.

At the moment I was solely relying on being able to spot any monsters first and concealing myself. That could go wrong on just so many levels. I was not nearly as robust as I had thought. I would need to be ultra cautious. I really needed a secure place which was defendable and where I could retreat to at short notice if I was under attack.

Obviously I would not be able to secure the whole city as the costs were prohibitive. But I should be able to fortify something where I could control the numbers and direction that the attacks would come from. My little crannyfort back in the dump had performed admirably. Something like that, but preferably with a little more ambience, would be fantastic.

I reached the Shop.

It was so exposed. Hmmm. This was not good. I had not really noticed this last time. Maybe I could do a speed shop? But I hadn’t felt at all vulnerable last time. Maybe the System provided some protection while you were enmeshed in the Shop interface? That sort of resonated, but I wouldn’t count on it. No, I stayed where I was crouched in the shadow of the fallen monolith off to the side and considered what I was hoping to buy. All the while I had my [Observation] Skill on full alert. I briefly flicked on [Mana Sight]. There was nothing to see. Absolutely no ambient Essence. Or maybe the amount was so slight my Skill was too low to pick up on what minuscule traces that may be there.

Moving on to my shopping list.

I wanted to buy some Spells. Learn the magic. This was so exciting. Wizard, warlock or witcher? Mage or magician? Artificer, bloodmage, conjurer, druid or enchanter? Sorcerer, Summoner or Spellsword. Ho, I wanted to be them all. Well, I actually needed information on what types of Magic users were possible. Yes, that was absolute top of my list. It would completely suck if I learnt the wrong magic cause I didn’t know any better. Especially if it turned out you could only have one sort. Ever. Yeah, That would majorly suck. Maybe I shouldn’t rush in too fast on this. With a sniff I decided that further education was critical. It may be all a big drag, but this was absolutely something I did not want to get wrong.

Moving on, I sighed, I needed some sort of ranged attack. My spade had a bit of reach but still I had to get closer than I really wanted to. A bow and arrow would enable me to pick off my targets at distance. I could already picture myself as some sort of [Mystic Ranger], infusing my arrows with spells of destruction. Popping those sheep off like balloons. I could see it now. Beautiful.

And lastly I would like to look at Skill books. Skills were hard to get. I had that gimped Award which made it twice as hard to learn Skills and made them twice as slow to level up. If I could bypass this by buying a Skill then that would be awesome. But I had only one free slot. And if magic required a Skill to be used, I sighed again. This was hard. Where was Nige when I needed him? I had questions coming out my ears.

I was just about to venture out from my nook when [Observation] flared. A solitary Waterprowler prowled into the ruined square from the norwest. Hmmm. Weren’t these pack animals? Where there was one, there was likely to be more. And, unlike the Stormsheep, Prowlers actually felt menacing. I shrunk back into the shadows. I was not very well hidden at all. If there was more than one, I would run. But not aimlessly. They might try and herd me into a trap. No, I would head back to the Bank and claim the high ground. If I could get there fast enough maybe I could even light a campfire and conceal myself behind its ward. There was no reason it wouldn't work during the day was there? No, there wasn’t. It was a pity I couldn’t activate it now. But that was out of the question, any movement would be immediately noticed. I stilled myself, hardly daring to breathe.

[Inspect]

CREATURE:

River Monster

SPECIES:

Waterprowler;

LVL:

6

HP:

576

DESCRIPTION:

These playful looking monsters are serious business. Intensely focused and clever they tend to congregate in close knit family groups under a dominant female matriarch.

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An ambush predator, a romp will work together to bring down its prey and is capable of devious strategy.

WIth massive bite strength, high agility and team tactics this is a monster to be feared.

[Improve proficiency to view more and unlock deeper insight]

[Ding]

Congratulations; you have increased your proficiency in the Skill [Inspect].

You are now [Apprentice] level.

You have earned 100xp

Ah, excellent timing. It had been a while since I had a Skill level up and this was just what I needed.

[Inspect]

CREATURE:

River Monster

SPECIES:

Waterprowler;

LVL:

6

HP:

576

DOMINANT TRAIT:

Agility

DESCRIPTION:

These playful looking monsters are serious business. Intensely focused and clever they tend to congregate in close knit family groups under a dominant female matriarch.

An ambush predator, a romp will work together to bring down its prey and is capable of devious strategy.

WIth massive bite strength, high agility and team tactics this is a monster to be feared.

This young mature female has defied her matriarch and, as an unsuccessful challenger, has been ejected from her family grouping. She now faces the challenge of supporting her own young family without the resources of a larger romp.

Additional caution recommended.

[Improve proficiency to view more and unlock deeper insight]

Ahhhhh. It was on its own. That was a very helpful piece of information to have. A pack, or a romp of these would be way too much for me. And while not quite as high level as the original leader I had seen previously this solitary beastie was still a respectable danger.

The Prowler had crossed nearly half the square, and while not coming directly towards me, was now considerably closer. Clinging to the Monster’s back I could now make out two much smaller figures. Oh. Babies. Very cute. I fired off an [Inspect] at the tiny mottled outlines. Both were Level 0 kits. Obviously they wouldn’t be a danger to me but that probably ramped up the danger level of the Mum. At least she hadn’t noticed my [Inspect] Skill.

Even as I had that thought the monster froze. Bother. I quickly checked my HP. It had recovered nearly 27 points since my last disastrous encounter and was now at 657.72HP. Yikes, only slightly higher than the Prowler and she looked like an efficient killing machine. I looked like a noob with a spade.

She was still frozen. Had she noticed me? It didn’t seem like it. Her focus was off to the east. And then I felt the tang of a thunderstorm. But it was coming from the same direction I had come. Oh dear. This was bad. Two smaller groups of Stormsheep entered the square. A group of four exited beside me, coming down the same road I had, while a group of seven came in the northeast. Both flocks fixated on the central figure of the frozen Waterprowler. She had not noticed the group by me and, whirling to flee down the street I had come from, came face to face with the smaller flock who were already charging forth with suicidal intent.

With a remarkable display of dexterity she leapt away in a different direction again, up and over the rubble of destroyed buildings but the other flock had already cut her off. With barely a pause, she scooped her babies off her back and none too gently deposited them in the rubble, leaping away again to take the battle to the approaching Stormsheep.

Holy gamoley. Even as she leaped away she scooped up fist chunk sizes of rubble and with remarkable accuracy threw them hard, flat and fast at the trailing Cerberam. While I couldn’t make out the amount of damage from this distance, it was clear she had hit the ram pretty good. The two outer heads were stunned and the spells they were preparing fizzled out. She leapt towards the closest Sheep and batted it powerfully away even as at the same time she flung herself away. Bang. The sheep blew up. But the explosion was nowhere near close enough to cause her any significant damage.

I was getting a lesson on how to deal with these stupid fluffbombs. She repeated the manoeuvre, this time knocking one sheep into another and causing both to explode. Wow, this was super impressive. Three and a half down. Then things went a little wrong. The other Cerberam launched a [Lightning Jolt] at her while simultaneously blowing up the last three sheep of the other flock with a [Fire Spark].

This knocked the Prowler off her feet and allowed the second flock to close in. With a powerful surge she regained her feet, knocking one sheep away even as the last two blew up right next to her in a gory autothysis.

This time the blasts caught her square on, lifting her up and sending her tumbling down into the street. I fired off an [Inspect]. She was under half health. Hmmm. The blasts were doing more damage to her than I had expected. Even as I watched the two Cerberams pelted her with a barrage of [Jolts] and [Sparks]. The stunned Ram had recovered and was bleating mad even as it charged around her. This latest barrage had affected her mobility. Badly. And the Rams were playing a distance game obviously considering her too dangerous to close and headbutt.

I was wondering whether I should jump in. I owed her nothing. She was a monster who would probably attack me even as much as the poppin Stormsheep.

The two Cerberams were comfortably double teaming her. One retreating as she advanced while the other chased her, cycling their attack spells. They had the advantage in range and though she tried to throw rock missiles her accuracy was screwed.

Against my better judgement I scooped up a baseball chunk of rock with my spade. I couldn’t in all good conscience just spectate this mindless aggression. Especially as her death would consign those cute little babies to death as well. With a strong sideways whipping motion I flung the rock at the closest ram. It didn’t suspect a thing.

It was a great pity I missed.

Darn! That would have done major damage had it hit, judging by the way the rock exploded as it hit the ground beside the Ram, pelting it for a small amount of damage.

The Cerberam obviously didn’t think I was as dangerous as the Prowler. It charged. I flexed and my right hand throwing dagger dropped into my hand. With a flick I threw it and, wonder of wonders, it lodged itself in the nostril of the right head. Hah. And that was the lightning side. Excellent. With two hands on my spade, I scooped up another rock. Instinctively I [Dodged] the [Fire Spark] and the Sheep was less than four body lengths away. I flung the rock, using my spade again to boost the speed. A sling spade. Or a spade sling. I didn't miss this time. I goliathed the central head. Straight between the eyes. The ram blew up in an ineffective, last ditch effort to damage me. Ha! Tad one, ram zero. I was keeping score. I turned my attention to the last ram. It had circled the hobbling Prowler, still pelting it with spells.

I scooped up another rock and charged.

The ram heard me and whirled to face its new foe. I slung my rock. The sheep dodged. Stupid, I berated myself. I should have gotten closer first. The ram charged. Batter up. I shouldered my spade and with a swing deflected the kamikazing deathball. Boom! [-40]. Tad two, down but not out. Rams zero and they were gone-burgers. I gave a roar of victory.

I turned my attention to the Prowler.

And she was pissed. Extremely so. Somehow I had hoped for a bit of gratitude for helping out. Silly me.

I stepped back from the naked aggression pouring off her. I could take her. She was nearly done for already. Come on then, I was ready to throw down and take her on.

Oh, I was in between her and her kits. I held out my arms in a non threatening way. Whoops, I didn’t mean to swing my spade like that. I grabbed the head of my spade and held it out in front of me. I backed away, clearing the way to her babies. I didn’t need to go murder hobo on her if she wasn’t going to attack me.

Watchful, I widened the distance. Equally watchful she made her way slowly to her kits. I checked her out with [Inspect]. She was down to just 84HP. I continued backing away. She refrained from trying to pelt me with rocks. Maybe she realised I meant her no ill will. I carefully edged my way towards the Bank. I would reschedule my shopping trip later. Ducking around the corner I triggered [Run]. It was time to make tracks. Two fights before lunch. This was enough excitement for today.

If I never saw another sheep again I would be pleased.

I had been sheeped out.