Thanks so much for the kind words linny. I'm always as honest as I can be, as anything else gets you into trouble (and I get into enough of that without adding to it!)

The difference between softcore and hardcore attitudes is always interesting, but I've always played softcore with a desire to not die anyway, so it's never been fun getting jumped by a beastie. Especially not when you find the red one first, as you don't have Einhar there demolishing everything else around it!

Yeah, the giant bird much like the phantom dogs is just a special attack that one of the red beasts has. And those attacks suck so much more than just the heavy hitting red beast types