Colossal Ox

This is a **Meadow** exploration event. It occurs once per playthrough and offers the chance to acquire an  Orichalcum Bead,  Sage Powder,  Raw Meat, potentially at the cost of inflicting  Depression or the  Heartless trait. Additionally, it can give the player a  Fire Crystal (at the cost of a significant amount of  Depression) or the chance for a participating survivor to gain a significant increase to their Strength skill.

## Inspect

You stumble across a massive ox lying on the ground. You've never seen a beast this fat. Its legs are so tiny in comparison that you doubt it will ever stand up again. How much time has it been lying here? You wonder. And how could it not starve to death? Lost in thought, your eyes wander on the big red rune carved into the animal's belly.

## Check the Carving

Relevant Skills: **Courage, Wisdom, Intelligence**

The carving is rather deep. The redness and puffiness of the skin around it suggest an infection. The animal doesn't react as you touch the area.

* **Decipher the rune.** (**Wisdom**)

Failure
You dig deep into your memory, but you fail remembering the meaning of this rune.
+  Depression
Success
You remember this is the \*FEHU rune. The old texts give it a meaning of property, wealth, power, abundance... How did the poem go again? "Wealth is the source of discord among kind..." You can't remember the rest... There's no doubt that this ox is a symbol of abundance. More specifically, its fatness. You wonder if there's an artifact hidden in its belly?
* **Finish him off softly beforehand.** (**Intelligence**)

Failure
You get your knife out and approach it from the withers of the ox. The animal slowly turns its head toward you and stares with empty eyes. You gulp... You feel it knows you're going to kill it... You can't help but feel very guilty about it... You... decide to leave the beast alone. As you step away, the animal moves its head back into its initial position, staring at the void.
+  Depression
Success
You get your knife out and approach it from the withers of the ox. The animal slowly turns its head toward you and stares with empty eyes. You gulp. You close your eyes as you slide your knife across the neck of the miserable beast. It dies without a sound. You then open its belly in two. You find a bag with the \*FEHU rune embroidered on it. That's what you were looking for! You open it and discover a small golden bead.
+  Orichalcum Bead  Sage Powder
* **Butcher the beast.**

Now that you killed the beast, it would be disrespectful not to eat it. You take some time to cut the best parts of the ox, and bring them back to camp.
+ Hunting Experience
+  Raw Meat
* **Leave.**

You leave the poor ox behind, hoping that it found peace in death.
* **Open the belly right away.** (**Courage**)

Failure
You get your knife out and approach it from the withers of the ox. The animal slowly turns its head toward you and stares with empty eyes. You gulp... You feel it knows you're going to kill it... You can't help but feel very guilty about it... You... decide to leave the beast alone. As you step away, the animal moves its head back into its initial position, staring at the void.
+  Depression
Success
The ox screams an awful cry of agony while you gut him alive... You manage to find a bag embroidered with the FEHU rune between its intestine. It holds a small golden bead of Orichalcum. That's what you were looking for! Sadly, the ox is still alive and agonizing. You feel ashamed of yourself.
+  Depression
+  Orichalcum Bead  Sage Powder
* **Finish it now.** (**Intelligence**)

Failure
You finish off the miserable beast, at last. You leave the poor ox behind, hoping that it found peace in death.
Success
You finish off the miserable beast, at last. Now that you killed the beast, it would be disrespectful not to eat it. You take some time to cut the best parts of the ox, and bring them back to camp.
+ Hunting Experience
+  Raw Meat
* **Leave.**

You leave the screaming ox behind and come back to camp. You are heartless.
+ The participating survivor gains the negative trait  Heartless permanently.
* **Leave the beast be.**

The beast looks beaten... It's kind of sad... You don't have the heart to hunt it... You decide to leave it alone. As you step away, the animal moves its head back into its initial position, staring at the void.
* **Touch the belly.**

Note: this option requires a survivor to have successfully deciphered the rune. It returns the player to the above options regarding what to do with the ox.
## Approach the Ox (x1)

Relevant Skills: **Strength**

You approach the fat ox. It seems to start noticing you just now, moving its large heavy head slowly toward you. It looks at you with the emptiest eyes you ever seen, as if its soul has been scrubbed a million times before leaving for good.

* **Leave it alone.**

The beast looks beaten... It's kind of sad... You decide to leave it alone. As you step away, the animal moves its head back into its initial position, staring at the void.
* **Open its mouth**

You open its mouth and put your arm into it, searching for something. Anything. The process is disgusting, but the animal doesn't seem to mind at all. While rummaging through its interior, you get closer to the eyes of the sad beast. You're starting to feel a deep, ineffable sadness inside your heart. You are bewitched by the two empty black globes. Deep inside, you're feeling an emotion that wasn't here before. The sensation of having EVERYTHING. Everything, but joy. You possess so much... nothing is of any value for you any more, nothing tastes good, new nor exciting. You've lost the will to live, and the will to die at the same time. You're stuck, like the ox, in a numbing state. You're full of nothing. You snap out of this lucid dream when your hand reaches something solid. You grab a warm red crystal from inside the mouth of the ox, with a sigh. That's not what you were looking for, but it's something valuable, at least.
+  Depression
+  Fire Crystal
* **Lift the animal** (**Strength**)

Failure
You put all of your strength in it, but the bulky animal won't budge a rib.
+  Fatigue
Success
You put everything you have and manage to roll the fat a bit, only to discover worms and a musty smell. You're sure that there*s nothing hidden under the ox... You don't want to check further anyway.*
+  Fatigue
+ 5 Strength