What goes Moo in the night

The first thing you saw upon opening your eyes was the weird symbols floating in front of you. The level 1 had changed to a 2, and a few had arranged into slightly more definitive words...

Words, what were words? You instinctively knew as the thought crossed your mind, the weird symbols were letters, were words. But how did you know that, a panic filled your mind as a trickle of things you knew you'd never known filled it. Some of the numbers had changed, while some were the same, did they have something to do with why all this new junk was filling your head, make it stop make it stop make it stop!

You gave a low moan of fear as you looked around, not recognizing where you were. It was dark, and there were trees everywhere, a short distance away a small fire was slowly dying. A person was sitting near it, poking it with a stick.

"KYYYAAAH!" A scream split the air, your head whipping side-to-side as you looked for the sound.

You found the likely culprit as a figure appeared from the shadows, diving at the figure by the fire with a knife. The man by the fire was caught off-guard, the knife slipping into his body with a soft grunt. He reacted before the cloaked figure could pull back, grabbing his hood as a bright light erupted from the cloth, lighting the campsite up.

"Bandits! We're under attack!" You recognized the voice, it was Pollick!

"Dammit! I was ight in the middle of a very hot dream with-" Dude/Man complained, rolling out of a tent, only to be cut short as his tent crumpled under a sword.

Three figures appeared from the darkness, swords swinging at Man as he tried to climb to his feet, dodging the second strike, but the third found his arm as he hissed something out in a language you didn't recognize... since when could you tell the difference between languages?!

Pulling out the wooden object he had been messing with all day, he blew a few notes into it as you saw the air light up around him.

"Won't you be a dear and keep me safe?" He said, an untrustworthy smile on his face, but it seemed to work! One of the trio of bandits turned and attacked another, blood flying through the air as Dude ran away, getting as quickly as possible to Pollick's side.

"When you mentioned bandits, you didn't think to mention they were level 3?" You heard Man complain, Pollick growling as he deflected a knife with a shield, his other hand releasing his glowing trinket to grasp Dude's arm, the wound vanishing in seconds.

"They aren't supposed to be! They must have gotten upgraded in the update, I really need to fucking read those patch notes once I log off!" Pollick snarled, smashing his shield into a bandit. "And of course I don't have any attack spells, this was supposed to be a simple mission, I've done it nearly twenty times already! Brandon was the front-liner, I'm the Healer, you support and Kaelynn helps out where needed!" Pollick began ranting, repeatedly smashing his shield into the now downed bandit.

"But somehow, that bull has a Gore attack that inflicts Bleed!, and now we're down a Barbarian, and where the everloving fuck is Kaelynn!?" He shouted, Dude/ Man taking a step back as Pollick's eyes seemed to glow in the darkness.

"Hmmmff!" You heard off to the side, barely able to spot the redheaded female wrestling on the ground as a bandit attempted to hold her down. He looked different, his hood actual pulled back.

But that didn't matter! Kaelynn was in danger!

You tried to help her, only for the lead tied securely around your neck to pull taut, refusing to let you move more than a few feet away from the tree it was tied off to.

Before you could figure out what to do, you saw the uncovered bandits, hand sink beneath Kaelynn's armor, a muffled scream attempting to work past her lips as you saw him raise his hand into the air, a dripping... knife?

No knife you'd ever seen looked like that... but even as this thought entered your mind, an mage of yourself locked in a stall came to mind, the farmer who looked after you in front of you as several ranch hands held you in place.

The farmer offered an apology before dragging the wicked knife across your throat, blood pouring out as you tried to buck free, the ranch hands holding you down as your strength drained away... then a memory of earlier when the axe bit into your side, the fire that erupted as red overtook your vision.

The same anger that filled you now as you tugged once more, twice more, the rope snapping on the thrice pull as you bellowed, going straight into the iconic move of your kind: the charge.

Despite the loud warning, the bandit didn't have time to react as you felt his body be sent flying by your headfirst charge. He flipped through the air before landing on his feet, sliding a few feet further as he locked eyes with you, his curved knife dripping with elven blood, yet still seemed to gleam in the firelight.

Your enemy wasn't dead yet, nor did you consider letting him off with anything less as you circled once around Kaelynn's prone body before going into another charge, although the bandit seemed ready for this one as he danced to the side, his blade slicing down your flank, but it was nothing compared to the axe nor the life essence drained from your body!

Perhaps that was why he looked surprised as you turned, driving your horns through a bandit that suddenly appeared from the darkness, his body vanishing in a swirl of dust as you didn't slow down, barreling into two more bandits, knocking them to the ground as you raised up, bringing your hooves and full weight down on them, their bodies vanishing beneath you as you squared off once more with the revealed bandit.

He didn't look deterred, until you saw his eyes widen as he dove to the side, a familiar axe sinking into the ground where he'd stood moments earlier, a furious Brandon pulling it free.

"It would seem we have overstayed our welcome. Retreat, we'll regroup at base!" The bandit leader shouted, throwing something to the ground as black smoke obscured him, and once it had settled, he was gone.

You gave an angry bellow at your opponent escaping, there was no strength to be derived from retreating! A sentiment that Brandon seemed mirror as he gave an echoing shout, looking between the darkness that contained his enemy and you before deciding that you were the one worthy of this anger.

'Bring it!' You tried to convey, lowering your head as you kicked at the dirt, preparing for another charge to settle this fight.

"Hey, stop it, we can't be fighting!" Kaelynn shouted, charging between us, Pollick right behind her, his shield hanging from his waist, you don't know how you didn't see it there before.

"It would seem that this quest is full of challenges, so we need to rest while we can or else we may find ourselves all back at spawn." He ordered, Brandon seemingly calming down as he lowered his axe.

You snorted, turning away as you walked over to a patch of grass, munching on it as you, perhaps for the first time ever, thought about what was happening to you.