Steven slept, and it felt good.

He had slept for long stretches during his numb days, often more than twelve hours at a time. But he’d never really felt rested after those, regardless of how long he slept.

But as he blinked and stretched, he felt refreshed, renewed—all the things a good sleep was supposed to give but never did.

He didn’t know if it was a change in his outlook or due to his new Trait, but he was glad all the same.

That lasted until his mind filled with words.

“GOOOOOOOOOD MOOORRNNING ANCHORAGE!”

“Shit!” Steven swore as the System's voice blasted into his head.

“Ain’t that better than any boring old alarm clock? You get to have my loving voice greet you in the morning. Many can only wish to be so blessed.”

Steven glared at the ceiling and wished the System had a neck he could wring.

“Now, as for why I’m addressing you today, we are entering into our first scenario!”

There was a brief pause before the System continued.

“I was kinda waiting for a shocked gasp, but that’s really on me since none of you know what that means yet.

Normally, you would have a bit longer until your first scenario, but this is just one of those fun surprises that having multiple domes will get you.”

A map popped up in Steven’s vision. Big Mountain Dr and the surrounding neighborhoods were covered with a dark purple filter.

Below them, other neighborhoods were covered in their own filters, the pattern repeating as far as he could see. They all had a spinning circle over them that made a steady “Tick tick” sound with every spin.

“Now, the danger level shifts with the region, with the higher the danger, the higher the rewards. Fair play and all that. What challenges you face will vary depending on what you land on, but this rule remains the same.”

The Systems voice dropped, its humor vanishing for a breath and leaving cold in its place.

“No. Leaving.”

“You’re stuck in your region until you beat it.”

“Now then! Let’s get on to rolling your scenario!” It crowed, it’s cheer back as if it had never left.

Rolling…

Ding! Upper region: bounds… Steamboat to Big Mountain… scenario set.

Classic Monsters

Challenge rating…medium

Static sounded in his ears before being replaced with…an organ?

Yeah, an organ started playing like you’d hear before an old vampire movie. The sound of howling wind joined in. The organ kept playing for a few seconds until it was interrupted by a creaking hinge.

More static, then a voice spoke. It was deep and sinister, and with every word, they sounded like they barely contained a maniacal laugh.

“On a cold mountain, Doctor Markov The Mad has built his foul manor!”

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me!”

“The harsh winter winds wail against his stone walls, where inside he creates…MONSTERS!”

“You, noble sirs and madams, must vanquish the Mad Doctor if you ever hope to see another sunrise!”

A distant laugh echoed through Steven’s mind.

“The only thing in your way? The Doctor himself and his army of abominations! Fight through the hoard, slay his unique creations for bonus acclaim, and defeat the madman. Good luck!”

The music and howling wind ceased, replaced with new words.

Scenario objectives: Vanquish Markov The Mad: 0/1

Sub objectives: Unique creations vanquished: 0/4

Steven scrambled out of the guest bed and raced out the door. He’d slept in his clothes, something he was very glad for now.

He rushed into the living room to find Margie already up nursing a cup of coffee and glaring out her window.

“You got the announcement?”

She grunted. “Yeah. Stupid high pitched.” She trailed off into grumbling.

High pitched? What was she talking…his train of thought derailed as he looked out the window.

There was no dome. Instead, the sky was filled with black storm clouds that crackled with lightning. In the few breaks he could see, a bright moon glowed, casting brilliant beams down to light up the hillside.

“What the hell?”

Margie shrugged. “It said this was a scenario. I suppose it’s like an escape room. We’re in a Frankenstein novel now, I guess.”

Steven studied her. She was wearing a heavy sweater and waterproof hiking pants. She had clearly been prepared for something to happen. “You're oddly calm,” he noted.

She shrugged again. “Panic isn’t going to do us much good, Steven. I can have a good freak out later if I need to. First, we gotta…” she paused while her eyes gained a far-off look. “Vanquish the Mad Doctor. Hmm. How do we find the Mad Doctor?”

It was Steven’s turn to shrug. “I don’t know. And even if we find him, how are we gonna vanquish him? I can make shields appear. Not a lot of vanquishing potential there.”

Margie gestured to the kitchen table. “Guns, obviously.”

The table was piled high with firearms of all shapes and sizes. It wasn’t an insane amount of guns, as these things went. There weren't more than two of any kind of gun aside from handguns, but it was still a respectable hoard.

“Oh damn, Margie. You're making me proud to be an American right now.”

She cackled and walked over to the table.

Something slammed into the window before she got there.

Steven spun, and Buford fell off the couch with a thump.

A man stood at the window, his face flush with the glass. Steven blinked. That…was that a zombie? No, that wasn’t quite right. His skin was a sickly purple and was stretched tight over his skull as if it was sized for a different body.

And he didn’t look like he was rotting.

The thing turned its head, pressing a hollow cheek against the glass. A bright green eye glared at them.

Its hands thumped against the window, and it moaned.

Buford backed away from the window to put himself between Margie and the creature. He growled, the sound making Steven glad the massive dog was on his side.

Margie snatched a rifle and took aim. Before she could fire, the gun shifted and writhed in her hands. They shouted, but the writhing stopped before she could drop it. The rifle had changed.

“A flintlock?” Margie said, her tone incredulous. Words popped up.

Weapon changed to fit scenario

“That’s horseshit!” The System didn’t bother to respond.

“I don’t suppose you know how to shoot a flintlock?”

Margie shouldered the rifle. It was made from dark brown wood and gleaming steel. “I’ve done it a few times at a convention, but I’m not a god damn colonial!”

The purple man bashed his hands against the window again. Steven squinted. Were there more shapes behind him?

“Maybe it’s time to board up the windows? It might be-“ Steven cut off as a dark mass blasted through the window.

On pure instinct, he slammed a shield up in front of the thing before it could slam into Buford.

It struck the shield and rebounded.

Margie fired. The report sent Steven’s ears ringing, and the thing on the ground screeched like something from a nightmare.

“Move!” He yelled, shoving Margie into motion as he threw up his second shield. He angled it to be in the middle of the broken window. It wasn’t nearly big enough to cover it, but the purple man would at least have to maneuver around it.

Steven tried to snatch a handgun from the table, but words flashed across his vision before he could grab one.

Class Restricted weapon

“Shit!”

The mass of dark flesh Margie had shot was starting to gather itself.

Margie reached for a revolver, which morphed into a large flintlock pistol. She fired at the mass as they started for the stairs.

Wait, why are we going for the stairs? The guns are on the table, and don’t flintlocks only have one shot?

“Wait! Just try and keep the table between you and anything nasty. All the guns are here!”

Margie nodded and snatched another weapon.

Buford stayed at her side, his eyes focused on the monsters.

Where was Noodle? The basset hound wouldn’t last a second in a fight.

The dark mass started towards them again, and Steven studied it.

The thing was slightly smaller than Steven, with dark brown skin that looked somewhat burned.

Now that it was slowly gathering itself, he saw that it wasn’t just a blob. Instead, it was a bulky torso covered with…wings? Yes, dozens of bat wings covered the thing like a…Steven had no idea what to compare the thing to, just that it was awful.

A few of the wings closer to the center unfurled, exposing two gleaming red eyes and a circular maw filled with jagged teeth.

Margie shot it again.

The bat abomination screeched and started flapping its many wings. It took off, despite how un-aerodynamic it was.

“Get ready. I’ll throw up another shield!”

Steven quickly banished the shield on the ground, leaving the one in the window, which the purple zombie thing still hadn’t slipped past.

The bat-thing screamed, and Steven’s vision wavered.

His gut churned, and for a second he felt like doubling over and throwing up yesterday’s fries.

He saw a flash from the corner of his blurred vision and immediately threw up a shield. His vision cleared just enough to see the bat slow to dodge the shield as it dove at Margie.

While he hadn’t gotten it to splat against his shield, the bat slowing allowed Margie to crack another shot off.

The bullet slammed into a wing. Green blood sprayed, and It screamed.

It tried to follow through with its dive, but Steven dismissed and re-summoned his shield in front of it.

In pain and enraged, it failed to dodge and slammed into the shield. Its round body wrapped around the hand-sized oval. It gasped, green drool falling from its maw. A second later, the bat recoiled from the shield like it was made of rubber.

It hit the ground, and Buford was on it. He grabbed hold of a wing and shook. The creature wailed as the dog savaged it.

“Hold it in place!” Margie shouted. Steven placed a shield near the bat's bottom, stopping it from rolling that way.

Buford seemed to understand Margie’s words and got a bigger mouthful of wings and twisted his head, forcing the bat to flatten or have the appendages torn off.

Margie had snatched a shotgun from the table, which had morphed into a gleaming bronze blunderbuss.

She marched up to the screaming abomination and shoved the barrel as close to its face as the thrashing wings would allow.

Then she fired.

The boom was deafening, and gore splattered everywhere as the monster's thrashing ended.

Ding! Unique Creations vanquished 1/4

“The first thing we fight is a Unique Creation? What the hell?”

Margie staggered back. Steven spun. “What’s wrong!?”

She waved a hand at him. “Nothings wrong. Just got a lot more words on my sheet now. It seems I unlocked a Class.”