A few miles south of a bucolic neighborhood located at the end of a cul-de-sac there was a lot bordered on one side by a cracked, rarely used side road. On the other three sides the surrounding woods slowly encroached on a parking lot that had fallen into disrepair long before The System had arrived.
In the middle of the lot sat what could, only in the most generous of terms, be called a hotel. It sported three floors with the same pride as that of a mother proudly affixing a test with a 'C+' written on it onto a fridge with mismatched magnets.
Inside the hotel sat a pool filled with water that was somehow wildly over-chlorinated while also tinged green.
At the bottom of the pool, surrounded by gently floating detritus, bobbed Lady Tutu, her compact form bouncing gently off the bottom like a miniature hippopotamus. Her tongue, permanently hanging from the side of her twisted snout, drifted lazily in the water. She wasn't aware that she had rolled into the pool days ago, the three feet of water above her seemingly having no effect on her nap. All Lady Tutu knew was that she was sleeping, and sleeping was good.
Her fluffy pink tutu drifted around her with ethereal grace. She would have torn it off long ago, but her short legs couldn't reach the offensive fabric. Somewhere in the deep recesses of her mind, a thought flickered. Tutu bad. Eat tutu. But that would come later. For now, Lady Tutu was content to dream about the important things in life: food, more sleep, and, of course, destruction.
If self awareness was power, Lady Tutu was a dead battery. She had no knowledge of why she was here, or why her mother - a woman with more money than fashion sense - had brought her to this place. She was unaware that she was to be entered into a Best in Show competition, category 'Cutest Ugly Dog.' She'd never seen her reflection and would have had no idea what she was looking at if she had. Her breed was well hidden by a body that resembled an unholy trio of Chihuahua, Pit Bull, and anvil. Her only adornments were a tuft of hair that was in a perpetual mohawk, random patches of hair that sprouted across her body like a wire Chia Pet, and a fluffy pink tutu that seemed impossible to dislodge, no matter how many walls, desks, or bodies she exploded through. Her mind had three modes: sleep, eat, RAGE, and it only had enough space for one at any single moment in time.
The hotel lobby was silent, save for the occasional drip of water echoing through the vast, empty space. Dusty chandeliers hung overhead, their crystals refracting what little light remained from the world outside. If there was a piece of furniture that was still intact any visitor would be hard-pressed to find it. The lobby - the entire hotel, really - was a battlefield, long since conquered by the most unlikely of tyrants.
A tinkling of shattered glass scraped the ground as a group of three survivors cautiously stepped into the hotel, looking for a safe place to rest. They were worn down from days of scavenging and fighting off creatures far beyond their level, and the sight of an empty hotel seemed too good to pass up. One of them, a lanky man named Bryce, squinted at his System Interface as they approached the front desk. As a Tracker he had a skill that allowed him to identify living beings within a certain radius, and something had just appeared on his mental radar.
"Wait... there's something here. Something... small? A Level 10? What the hell?" Bryce said, incredulously. He shared his screen with his two companions, a burly man with a thick beard and a woman in armor. They peered at the screen with raised eyebrows.
"A dog?" the woman muttered. "It's just a dog. How is it Level 10?"
The burly man cracked his knuckles. "It's probably some weak System glitch. Let's take it out. Free experience."
Bryce grinned. "Yeah, how tough can a little dog be?"
At the bottom of a dirty pool a small dog opened its eyes. If reasoning was a library, she was a single page torn out of an unfinished coloring book.
If rage was a fire, she was an atomic bomb without a 'cancel' button.
Something. No, more than one something - but far more than she could count - had entered her domain. The water around her began to ripple as her rage grew. Her teeth, perpetually bared even in sleep, glistened in the dull, underwater light. She twisted her little body in place, her muscles coiling like springs. Her feet found the bottom of the pool.
"What is that?" the woman asked, pointing to the bubbling pool on the other side of a series of thin windows.
The answer came in the form of an explosion of water. Lady Tutu shot out of the pool like a pinkish-gray, snarling torpedo, tongue lolling, fur soaked and sticking up in all directions like a bedraggled porcupine. Windows shattered as she cleared the pool deck to land in the lobby, skidding to a stop as glass showered around her.
There was a moment of stunned silence as the trio stared at the small, dripping creature that was glaring at them from across the room.
Bryce blinked. "That's the Level 10?"
"That thing is fucking ugly," Jonathan said.
"But it's kinda cute." Adrienne had always had a soft spot for animals that looked unlovable.
"It's free experience," Bryce said, the tip of the arrow knocked in his bow beginning to glow a hot red.
Lady Tutu let out a deep, menacing growl, her tiny chest puffing out as she sized them up. She huffed and snorted, bouncing in a small circle, pawing at the ground, eyeing them. Honestly, she couldn't have made it any clearer.
They ignored her warning. "She's just a little dog," Bryce said, laughing nervously. "This'll be easy -"
He never finished his sentence. Lady Tutu exploded forward, a blur of wet fur and fury, crashing into the Tracker with the force of a cannonball. Her tiny body slammed into his chest, knocking him off his feet and sending him sprawling into a nearby potted plant. She snarled viciously, sinking her teeth into his arm as he screamed in shock.
"Get her off me!" he yelled, flailing as Lady Tutu clung to him like a rabid koala.
Jonathan rushed forward, swinging his sword at the small, squirming dog, but Lady Tutu was already gone. She was a ping pong ball in a bathtub during an earthquake.
She leapt from Bryce's chest and bounced into Jonathan like a pinball, using his face as a springboard before launching herself at the woman, who barely had time to raise her shield. Flesh fell from Lady Tutu's maw as she flew, Jonathan screaming in pain at the patch of missing skin that used to be his nose.
Clang!
Lady Tutu's tiny, gnashing jaws clamped down on the edge of Adrienne's shield, her growls vibrating through the metal. Her body hung in the air so she should have had no leverage, but she whipped her head back and forth so savagely that the woman almost dropped her shield. She staggered back, trying to shake the dog loose, but Lady Tutu's grip was a vise.
"Get this thing off of me!"
Bryce stumbled backward, clutching his chest where Lady Tutu's claws had raked him. "She's insane!" he shouted.
The woman, now fully panicking, swung her shield wildly, trying to dislodge the enraged dog. "Get her off! Get her off!"
With a final, feral snarl, Lady Tutu released the shield and spun in mid-air, landing on the woman's back. She latched onto the back of her neck, jagged teeth yanking with wild abandon as the woman screamed and flailed. It was a chaotic ballet of snarling, shrieking, and wildly swinging limbs. If Lady Tutu had been aware of such things she would have felt the surge of energy entering her body, but the only thing that registered was the snapping of a spine inside her jaws.
"She's a demon!" Bryce howled as he attempted to cast a fire spell. Before he could finish the incantation, Lady Tutu sprang from the woman's back and collided with him again, knocking the wind from his lungs. He hit the ground hard, his spell fizzling out as Lady Tutu stood triumphantly on his chest, her tongue flopping out of her mouth like a grotesque victory banner. Bryce barely had a moment to scream before her jaws went berserk, digging into his chest, quickly followed by her entire head.
Another surge of energy went unnoticed.
Suddenly she yipped with pain, Jonathan's boot sending her flying into a far wall, her head pulling out of Bryce's chest with a wet pop. She bounced off the wall, falling behind the lobby's front desk.
Jonathan stalked carefully toward it, sword held in a two handed grip.
"Come on, you fucking Tasmanian Devil," he whispered as he rounded the corner in a rush, sword pointed at the spot where she'd landed. He saw the dent in the wall where she'd impacted, but the devil dog was nowhere to be found. He bent and swung the sword through the lower level of shelves but caught nothing more than stacks of old paper and a styrofoam cup with lipstick on the rim.
"Where are you?" His voice was shrill with fear and frustration.
A crashing sound - well, a series of them - gave her away. He sprung up onto the counter, landing in a crouch, sword held in front of him. In the middle of the lobby the dog stood, body heaving with wet, heavy breaths, muscles spasming and skin twitching. Every inch of its freakish body was poised to attack.
It was also facing away from him, snarling at what used to be a couch. It charged, disappearing into the couch. Tufts of foam and fabric exploded out of it as the dog ripped it apart from the inside.
Fuck this! He dropped as silently as possible from the counter and rushed toward the entrance.
The tinkling of glass underfoot made him pause. "Well fuck me."
Lady Tutu's head popped out of the couch, a spring in her jaw. They eyed each other, one with fear, the other with the promise of unprecedented violence.
He ran. She leaped. The couch got dragged across the lobby.
With a graceless flop, Lady Tutu plopped down at the edge of the pool, phlegmatic snores starting even as she rolled back into the water, sinking to the bottom once more. Her eyes slowly closed as she drifted back into a peaceful sleep. The hotel was hers, and as long as she remained its queen, no one would dare challenge Lady Tutu's reign.
Lady Tutu the Terrible, Level: 11
Class: Berserker
Core Stats
STR: 25 AGI: 22 END: 18 INT: 2 LUC: 8 CHA: 1
Combat Skills
Melee Combat: Intermediate 4 Ranged Combat: N/A Defense: Basic 1 Tactics: Basic 1 Attack: 21 Defense: 15
Magic and Technology
Magic Affinity: N/A Tech Savvy: N/A Spellcraft: N/A Enchantments: N/A
Ancillary Skills
Leadership: N/A Survival: Intermediate 3 Crafting: N/A Stealth: N/A
Special Attributes
Iron Body: Your skin is like iron and creates a natural armor. This attribute will grow with you. Domain Control: Lady Tutu's Hotel
Skills and Abilities:
Unstoppable Frenzy 3
Berserker Bounce 2
Teeth of the Tornado 2
Bloodlust Regeneration 1
Name: Unstoppable Frenzy
Type: Rage Skill
Level: 3
Description: The user enters an escalating state of rage during combat. Each successful attack increases the user's movement and attack speed by 5% for 10 seconds. This bonus can stack up to five times. As the user's rage builds, they become more unpredictable and relentless, with attacks bypassing 10% of the enemy's defenses. The user's fury becomes a force that no defense can fully repel
Name: Berserker Bounce
Type: Movement Skill
Level: 2
Description: The user moves unpredictably in combat, ricocheting off walls, objects, or even enemies. Upon making contact with a surface or target, the user bounces to another point, making their movements difficult to track. The next attack following a bounce has a 20% chance to stun the target for 2 seconds, disorienting enemies and giving the user a strategic advantage.
Name: Teeth of the Tornado
Type: Offensive Skill
Level: 2
Description: The user becomes a whirlwind of teeth and claws, attacking all enemies within range for 10 seconds. Each strike during this period deals continuous damage, and enemies hit are knocked back by the sheer force of the attacks. The user's rapid, chaotic movement during the skill makes it difficult for enemies to defend against the onslaught.
Name: Bloodlust Regeneration
Type: Passive Skill
Level: 1
Description: For every enemy the user successfully kills in combat, they regenerate 10% of their maximum health over the next 5 seconds. This effect can stack if the user kills multiple enemies within a short time, allowing for continuous regeneration while in battle. The user's bloodlust fuels their body, keeping them in the fight longer as they feed on the chaos of combat.
Domain Control Bonuses:
Bonus Name: Territory Awareness
Description: While inside her domain, the user is passively aware of any living creatures that enter her territory. This awareness extends through all floors of the hotel and can alert the user to movements or sounds within a 100-foot radius. Stealth-based skills and abilities are significantly less effective within her domain.
Bonus Name: Domain Dominance
Description: The user gains a 20% boost to all stats while within her domain. Her natural agility, strength, and defense are enhanced as her connection to the environment fuels her already formidable combat skills. This bonus reflects her role as the uncontested ruler of the space, making her even more dangerous when defending her territory.
Bonus Name: Aura of Dread
Description: Enemies within her domain suffer from a growing sense of dread, reducing their accuracy and movement speed by 10%. This effect grows stronger the longer intruders remain within the hotel, with a maximum reduction of 25%. The ominous aura radiating from Lady Tutu makes it difficult for opponents to focus, increasing the chances of panic or mistakes.