The trapdoor

Yeah. The new thing that you knew nothing about sounded smart. No, really. The meadow was something you knew all to well. You knew that the heroes you could reasonably expect to show up would still be beyond your level. And the meadow was a bad spot to be caught in, it was just open space. Yeah you could charge now, but it didn't mean diddly dick, you were still a critter.

With that settled, you scooped up the lesser acid vial in your mouth and carried it over to the trapdoor, launching it downwards with a sharp jerk of your neck. You recoiled as quickly as you could, loathe to get any on you, but it proved to be unnecessary. The vial contained just enough acid to melt through the lock on the trapdoor and a bit of the surrounding wood.

If that was the weakest acid vial, what the fuck did the rogue throw at you earlier?

Well at least you'd have something to grab on to now. Once the acid was neutralized that is. All this hero junk usually vanished from existence if you just left it alone for long enough.

While you waited for the puke green ooze to dissipate, you needed to find a way to carry the rest of the potions. Fiddling about with them quickly yielded no results and it seemed that you were far more likely to break them, rather than discover how to activate your inventory. Assuming you even had an inventory.

"Maybe I can find something around this place." You mutter out loud to yourself. The new quieter tone lent a kind of powerful sexiness to your voice.

There wasn't anything on the first floor beyond what you could see, so it was on to the second floor.

It was a bit of work to pull open the end tables, and you just flat out pushed over the dresser, but they were all barren. The desk was literally just a piece of wood on four flimsy legs, and aside from the carpet of dust, there wasn't anything on it. The trunk was the biggest challenge to open, but after a lengthy fight you managed.

At first the trunk seemed empty, but you were eventually able to glimpse a cloth. Dragging it out you found it to actually be a dusty burlap sack. It wasn't an inventory pouch, but you could drag it with you.

Getting back down the stairs without jumping was also a challenge. While it wasn't a tremendous drop, it would yield fall damage, probably not nearly as much as the rogue since her girth and over stuffed inventory probably multiplied the fall significantly. Still, you didn't have any defense and you hardly had a hero's level of health, you didn't even compare to a beginner hero.

With time you managed to make it down though. Your sheep limbs weren't made for walking down stairs, but with some thinking on your part, you were able to awkwardly totter down.

After piling the potions into your new – well, relatively – bag, you dragged it over to the trapdoor and inspected it for acid. It looked clean. Not just clean of acid either, there wasn't any dust on it, aside from dust bunnies, which you probably kicked up. Its cleanliness wasn't the only thing you noticed either, the wood wasn't the same kind as the rest of the floor. The wood wasn't rotten either.

The trapdoor must have been put in by someone recently. Someone who didn't realize trapdoors were supposed to be hidden, since the lock jutting out of the ground made it pretty conspicuous.

Worrying about it wasn't going to help. Plus, you already used up an acid vial on this, it'd be better to move forward rather than chicken out and really waste a potential tool.

Grabbing the melted hole on the door with your mouth you were able to flip it back, it's hinge keeping it from slapping against the floor.

"Great, a fucking ladder." You couldn't keep yourself from spitting.

It was a rope ladder and there was no way you could climb down it. You could, however, see the bottom, it was about as far away as the top of the staircase was from its bottom.

If you were going to move on with this plan, your only choice was to jump. But there was no way to guarantee you could survive. But maybe...

You did have the hardheaded ability.

Fall damage was physical right?

Unless the dirt was magic or some shit it must be.

That was that. You weren't going to be stuck in this meadow a second longer, it was time to move forward, you had a chance at life and you were going to take it, and the first step was down.

Snapping up the burlap sack you leaped head first into the hole, your heart racing up until you smashed into the ground.

...

...

...

You survived. You were in immense pain, you were dizzy, but you survived. Looking at your health it was no wonder you were in pain. If it wasn't for you hardheaded ability you'd have bitten the big one. You were in no condition to to handle trouble should it come your way.

You however decided against taking in one of your health potions, you might need it later, like for a final boss fight or something.

You didn't have much health anyways, so natural health regen would take care of things in no time. You weren't like the heroes, or even some of the high ranked monsters, many of them had to sleep to fully heal. You couldn't even imagine needing to sleep.

The thought made you realize just how small time you really were right now. It wasn't helping that you could barely see a step ahead of you in the darkness.