Bowen “Brownbear” Shotridge scanned the mountainside looking for any smoke, movement, or unusual color through the tree canopy. He had just made it to ranger station 121 on the north facing side of a mountain in the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park outside of Scagway Alaska. The two hikers he was tracking down had been reported missing a day ago and although it was starting to warm up in early April, this particular area was being hit with a front of freezing air from Siberia and the mountains were still covered with plenty of snow.

Snow wasn't what he was worried about though. The scariest thing about this part of the world at this time of year were the bears. This was prime wake up time for all the mama bears of Alaska and when they came out of hibernation they were hungry! There was a nice little tributary that ran thru here filled with fish and Bowen hoped these two knuckleheads weren't out here fishing or they would be spotted by a bear for sure.

At 32 years of age Bowen had been working for the parks and the Alaskan Mountain Rescue Group for ten years now. This was his home territory, he had spent most of his summers growing up in these mountains with his grandfather. Although he now lived 6 hours away in Juneau, he knew this area like the back of his hand. Other teams were scouring the area from prop planes and helicopters, but since this was the last area the hikers had been seen, Bowen was called upon to track the area on foot to search for clues. It was what he did better than anyone else.

Bowen was a six-foot-two hulk of a man of Native American heritage. His family had come from the Tlingit (Clink-it) people of the Pacific Northwest coast and were rumored to be descendants of a powerful chief from the 1800s. Bowen was a little slack on the culture of natives. It wasn’t that he was not proud to be a Native, he just preferred to just be another plain American guy like everybody else. He tried his whole life not to stick out. Bowen had long straight black hair that was tied back into a pony-tail and facial features that immediately pegged him as a native, but he dressed and acted like all of his other fellow Juneauians. He didn't like attracting attention to himself.

He had decided a long time ago that he was going to become a park ranger and went to the University of Alaska majoring in forestry and park admin and graduated near the top of his class. Before he had even gotten out of school he was hired by National Park Service Alaska. Bowen loved his job and was living his dream. He married his college sweetheart and had a ten year old son. Life was good.

Seeing nothing unusual that immediately stuck out to him, Bowen decided that he would pop into the ranger station real quick and check with everyone on the radio before going up on top of the roof for a better vantage point.

Bowen picked up his pride and joy, a Ruger Hawkeye Alaskan.357 rifle with a custom made suppressor and slung it over his shoulder. The gun had cost him a very pretty penny, but it was worth it. The synthetic stock and stainless barrel would never rust and the gun was powerful enough to take down any grizzly or even Kodiak. Hell, the gun could take out an elephant truth be told. He patted his grandfather's old .357 pistol on his hip making sure it was secure and walked up the steps into the ranger station.

He walked over to the desk with the ham radio and area's maps and set his backpack down opening it to take out lunch. Rooting through the bag he smiled as he saw the tablet and little external hard drive that his son always made him take with him.

The hard drive had over a hundred different bootlegged TV shows stored on it. A couple of nights a week his family and some friends would all get together and watch a few different shows. Tonight's shows were 7 pm Lost, 8 pm Stranger Things, and 9 pm T.W.D. His son Billy was worried that he wouldn't make it back home tonight and he didn't want his dad to fall behind their strict schedule!

Still smiling he pulled out a ham and cheese sandwich and an apple and took a big bite. He switched on the radio and pulled the map closer to him and said into the mic “Hey Jimmy this is Bowen at 121 you copy?” The radio squawked and he heard “Hiya Bow, we are in the valley at S2 right now. Nothing to report yet.” He grabbed a pencil and traced the quadrants up to the section mentioned and frowned. The hikers couldn't have gone further than that in the current time frame.

He started tapping the pencil out to a beat on the map, thinking about what pass they must have taken, when the pencil slipped out of his fingers and fell to the floor. He growled in irritation at himself and scooted out of his seat and went down to one knee to reach under the desk. As he reached for the pencil a huge blue wall of text unfolded right in front of his face. Jerking up in a startled panic Bowen slammed the back of his head against the bottom of the desk lifting the entire thing a foot off of the floor. He barely managed to glimpse:

Greetings citizen. As a peaceful and organized immersion into the Galactic Council has been declined (extensively and painfully we might add), your world has been declared a Dungeon World. Thank you.

Then nothing but darkness...

2

Bowen slowly opened his eyes, the right side of his face was against the floor and a small puddle of blood was crusting his one eye shut. Pushing himself back from under the desk with a groan he could still see the wall of text floating in front of his face, but all he could focus on was:

Time to System initiation: 3 minutes 35 seconds

Bowen Shook his head back and forth trying to make sense of what was happening. He clawed at the text in front of him and managed to bat it out of his line of sight. As soon as the text went away another popped into his vision! “What the fuck?!” He noticed the top text said:

Congratulations! You have been spawned in the Klondike Gold Rush National Park (level 110+) zone.

He saw something about XP and perks before he batted that away as well. Bowen was starting to lose his cool. He grabbed the back of his head and felt a very tender spot wet with blood, and was sure he had a concussion. He staggered over to the sink and wet a cloth, brought it to the back of his head, and scrubbed the blood away. He opened the cabinet and grabbed a handful of aspirin and tossed them back with a mouthful of water when all of the hair on his body stood up like he took a static electricity hit and he heard a commotion outside.

Bowen went to the door and stepped out to the porch and looked over to his right. The biggest goddamn grizzly he had ever laid his eyes on was tearing his ATV to pieces trying to open the hard box he had mounted on the back of it.

The door he had just walked out of decided to shut right at that moment making a small clicking noise…

The bear heard it and looked over. Bowen and the bear locked eyes on each other and the bear let out a roar that froze Bowen in his track for a second!

Instinct took over and even though Bowen knew better, and he leaped down the steps and took off running in the other direction. The bear's instincts kicked in as well and he started chasing not a second later. Bowen had no idea where he was running to, but he knew he had to put some distance between him and the bear. As he ran he reached down to his hip and pulled out his .357, one of the most powerful handguns on the planet.

Bowen turned and years of eye-hand practice took over, and he fired the weapon perfectly. The huge bullet moving at over 1500 feet per second hit the grizzly right between the eyes! The bear stopped, sat on it haunches, looked at Bowen for one second and let out an even louder roar and charged him! Bowen turned and ran like an Olympic sprinter. Superhuman adrenaline flooded his system and he gained a step on the bear, but he almost cried out as he realized he was headed right for a sheer cliff drop off not fifty feet in front of him.

A memory sprung into his mind, and Bowen veered off a little to his right and started moving along the cliff face. He could hear the bear gaining on him and knew that this was probably his last few seconds on Earth. Bowen could feel the ground trembling as the bear pounded right behind him. With every ounce of strength in his body, Bowen jumped out over the cliff. The bear must have thought that he looked too tasty to give up on, and jumped right with him!

Bowen reached up with his hands and started praying as he saw the rope with the little wooden seat attached to it right above him. His hands snapped onto the swing like steel vices and his feet shot out in front of him. Bowen could swear he heard the bear say, “HUH?!” as it flew past him! As the bear went one direction, (down) and Bowen went the other, (back to the cliff face) Bowen screamed out “AH HA HA FUCK YOU GRIZZLY, NOT TODAY BITCH!”

Bowen swung back to the base of the old Western Red Cedar that was hanging over the cliff, and as he landed he felt like he had pulled both of his arms out of his sockets. He briefly remembered telling Jimmy that he was a fucking psycho for putting up that tree swing and swearing that he would never ever take a ride on the thing. He would have kissed the man full on his lips right now if he was here!

He heard a far off crash over the cliff as the bear apparently splatted, and a blue text notification popped up in front of his vision:

Congratulations!

You have killed the first monster on this planet! Only twenty seconds in and you have already taken someone out! Bloodthirsty much?! You have been awarded the title “Primum Occiditis” Each first damage strike from you do + 25% damage!

For achieving this title you receive a bonus +100,000 XP.

For achieving your first title you receive a bonus +5000 XP.

Congratulations!

You have killed the first monster on this continent! We always knew an American would do it! Thanks for the huge win in the office pool! You have been awarded the title “Expeditious Executioner” All travel speed +25%

For achieving this title you receive a bonus +25,000 XP.

Congratulations!

You are the first of the Indigenous people on this planet to kill a monster! This is a hidden reward available only to indigenous people killing a monster in their own native land! This reward has only been added exclusively to your planet. This is a really big deal to us if you haven't figured that out yet... You have been awarded the title “First of First Nations” All native Americans receive a +25% bonus to ALL defense!

For achieving this title you receive a bonus +50,000 XP.

For achieving this title you receive a heredity advanced class choice.

For achieving this title a perk weapon of our choice has been added to your heredity advanced class choice: The First Nation All-Weapon!

Congratulations!

For being an Indigenous person who recorded the first kill on this planet you receive a very special perk:

A stronghold city with ALL add-ons in ANY location of your choosing in America regardless if the area is occupied or not. The title for this stronghold is your family's in perpetuity and cannot be taken or sold.

The prestige title: Chief of all Chiefs will be added when you place your first city.

+2,000,000 credits added to account (Usable for city purchases only).

A Special one time portal perk is being offered to you to take you to the location of your new stronghold. You have 10 minutes to decide where you want to go before this offer expires.

Level Up! *10

You have been automatically boosted to the advanced class level 10 by the system!

Can't have our first killer and Chief of all Chiefs too low level to escape this park, can we? You have 30 free attributes to distribute. Automatic stat points will be distributed once a class is chosen. Free Attributes cannot be distributed until a class is chosen. We highly recommend you choose your class immediately.

What the fuck was going on?! XP? Perks? Levels? Bowen knew all these terms of course. Even if he wasn't a fan of video games his son was a fanatic as were all children these days. He had to sit many a night and pretend he was having the time of his life as he let his son beat the crap out of him at whatever game was flavor du jour.

In his mind he knew that somehow he was playing a live version of a video game for his life without knowing what the rules were. He did know one thing, and that was that he was out in the middle of nowhere with no help, and being this far out away from civilization meant that the monsters were going to be high level. He needed to figure this shit out fast and get back to his family! At least he had some bonuses now, more speed and defense, and a bonus on his first hit. He needed to get his gear quickly and get back to Juneau.

Bowen trotted back to the station and grabbed his pack. He looked around the room trying to quickly figure out what would be of use to him and spotted a big firefighter axe on the wall. He quickly took it and went back outside. A glowing, flashing ball of light was hovering in mid-air a few steps from the station. He made a guess that this was his portal. He walked up to the glowing orb and said, “I am ready, I choose to portal to Juneau, inside of my house.” A bright light quickly enveloped him and the next thing he knew he was standing in his living room.

He knew right away that no one was home. The house was too quiet. His wife must have just taken his son to school and he just missed them. This was going to be a problem. Bowen lived on the quiet far eastern side of the city and his son's school was all the way across town miles away. Bowen ran across the room and threw open the front door. The first thing that popped into his head when he saw the scene outside was Armageddon…

Bowen's house was backed up alongside of the mountain and so he was on a hillside and had a great view of most of the city. What he was looking at made his mouth drop open in shock. A quarter of the city was in flames and he could feel buildings crashing down in the distance. A constant din of noise was in the air from the buildings crashing to the ground. Screams could be heard off in the distance not far from his house.

He needed to get to his family fast and figured that the fastest way would not be through the city, but instead to head straight south to Egan Drive which followed the waterfront around the city. He started to jog down his street when his senses alerted him that something was wrong. He turned to look behind him and noticed an animal that looked like a mutant dog was silently running down the street about to pounce on him! The animal was about three feet away and instinct kicked in and Bowen swung the axe with all of his might at the creature.

The beast leapt up at him mouth wide open and the axe buried itself right into the side of it's mouth almost tearing it's face in half! Bowen was so taken off guard from the three second encounter that he lost his footing and fell over on his back. He quickly scrambled backwards on the palms of his hands in fright and looked at the creature. It reminded him a Warg from Lord of the Rings! The thing was still barley alive and Bowen quickly picked up his axe and buried it into the side of it's neck killing it. Without another thought he turned and started running back down the street keeping a wary eye out.

As Bowen made his way down to the main road he almost started to cry from the disaster he was seeing before his eyes. Cars were crashed everywhere he went. Bodies were strewn about all over the place. It looked like a bombed out city you saw in the movies except it was happening in real time live in front of him. He saw a couple of men fighting what looked like a werewolf and was about to go help them when the creature tore off the arm of one of the guys and threw it his way. He quickly changed his mind thinking that he couldn't get distracted and had to get to his wife and son.

Bowen had one more block to go to get to the main road when he saw a huge shadow coming his way. He looked up and saw an honest to God Thunderbird flying down at him! The monster seemed to have more than one set of wings and it had blood pouring out of it's mouth, that's all he saw before he dove and rolled under a jacked up Ford F-350 sitting on the street next to him. He was underneath the truck for all of two seconds when it shook with a huge impact and the truck started to lift off of the ground! The Thunderbird was lifting the truck up to get at him!

The vehicle was five feet off of the ground now and Bowen got to his knees like a track star and took off towards the other side of the street. He heard several high caliber gun shots ring out and looked up to see a group of men firing rifles from in front of the Sheraton Hotel. The Thunderbird was taking much of the gun fire to little effect and it flew the truck towards the men and flung it at them crushing several of them to heartbreaking screams.

Bowen silently thanked his rescuers and took the opportunity to sprint up the street to Egan Drive. The two lane highway was strewn with accidents that would provide plenty of cover and Bowen started to jog up the side of the road keeping his eyes peeled for enemies. He had made it about half of a mile when he heard a huge roar from somewhere behind him and Bowen turned and looked back. A massive creature was emerging from the sea...

He stopped running involuntarily, awed from the size of the beast. He wasn't up to date on his knowledge of ancient legends of lore, but all he could think of seeing this creature was the word “Hydra.” It looked like a dinosaur body with ten snake necks and dragon heads attached to them. It had smashed through the harbor and was demolishing the seven story hotel he had left behind him. Bowen had to force his head away from the spectacle and start running away. He needed to get as far as possible from that thing!

Bowen could see flashes of light beaming down into the city and as he ran he theorized that monsters were being ported into his city to kill his fellow Juneauians. He clenched his fists in frustration and kept on running. He was three-quarters of the way to the school when he saw what looked like an army of mermen running in a formation the same way he was headed. Frustration boiled up inside of him as he realized that this was an obstacle that he couldn't get past. There seemed to be hundreds of creatures in this merman army. He looked up into the sky and screamed “Nooooo!” A few of the mermen heard his scream and peeled off of the group heading right for him. Bowen defiantly lifted his axe and shouted at them, “You will not stop me from getting to my son! Get ready to die you bastards!” he started to charge straight for them!

When Bowen was about twenty yards from the monsters and death was all but certain the holo ball appeared out of nowhere next to him. It stated in a loud voice, “City of Juneau no longer considered a “safe” portal. Returning to previous location.” Bowen was once again engulfed in a bright light and transported away...

He found himself right back by where he had started, a little way down the hill from the ranger station in the mountain park. Bowen sank to his knees silently, a tear slid down his cheek. He was so close to his son's school and now it was just gone. His family needed him and there was nothing he could do to help them escape the hell hole that the city had turned into. He couldn't think of what to do next. He somehow had to get out of this park as soon as possible and pray to the Gods that his family was safe.

Bowen started to make his way back up the hill when he saw motion next to the station and he instantly froze. Another bear was sniffing at the ATV remains and it let out a loud questioning growl. The bear stood up on its hind legs and Bowen almost had a heart attack.

This bear was at least double the size of the last one that was chasing him and the way it was searching around reminded him of a mother bear looking for a cub! The bear started sniffing in the air and it zeroed in on Bowen's hiding spot behind the tree. The bear realized that something was there and it started lumbering right at his spot!

Bowen knew at that moment that he had no choice but to run. Running from a bear was about the dumbest thing you could do, but he had a good hundred yard start on it, and he could get very high into a tree and fire at least 18 bullets into its face before it would get anywhere near him. The area south of the station was heavily covered with new growth trees tightly packed together and with the new speed he might be able to squeeze through them and slow the bear down until he found a bigger tree near the bottom of the hill. He started running full sprint into the trees.

The monster took off the second it saw it's prey escaping and rumbled down the hill in a fast lope. Any chance of Bowen might have had to trip up the bear in the trees by squeezing between them was dashed as the noise coming from behind him made him understand that the bear was simply running the trees over like a wrecking ball! These trees were all sturdy Spruce and Hemlock, and about twenty feet tall. They were strong trees full of sap that wouldn't snap all that easily, but the bear sounded like it was tearing through them. He was running for his life on a diagonal line knowing the bear couldn't smell him through all of the thick needles that were packed close to each other making a curtain of cover for him.

Bowen could hear the creature getting closer and he was starting to lose hope when he heard a huge SNAP, CRACK, CRAAACCK! followed by the loudest bear roar he had ever heard and then a deafening cry of pain. The forest went dead silent as every animal for miles froze mid-step or hid. Then a soft mewling whimper of pain started coming from the bear's direction. Bowen knew something bad had happened to it. He slowly made his way back towards the bear making a wide, looping walk to get behind it.

When he finally spotted the animal he had to stop and take a minute to figure out what happened. It looked like the beast had tried to leap thru a tree, but instead of there being one tree, there happened to be three back to back that she had hit. The front tree was knocked over from its roots. The second and third were bent and snapped and the animal had impaled itself on both! The second tree had entered the bear's belly and was thrust all the way through it and was sticking out of its back and the third was jammed deep into its chest. Bowen couldn't believe that it was still alive.

The poor creature looked like it was doggy paddling about three feet above the ground as it tried to get itself off of the skewers with nothing to purchase its feet on. The pitiful sound that it was making made Bowen sick with empathy, so he quickly drew his gun and walked up to it. The bear turned to him and looked him in the eye and mewled like a cub as if to say “Please end me.” Bowen stared back and said “Sorry girl” and shot it through the eye into its brain ending it.

Congratulations!

You have killed a Crazed Dire Grizzly Bear Matron (Level 110) You didn't really kill it now, did you? You stole the kill shot from a tree! Oh well, Carpe Diem!

+10000 XP.

Congratulations!

For killing a monster over 100 levels higher than you, you have been awarded the title “Monster's Bane” All damage dealt to monsters of a higher level than you +15%

Bowen was almost teary-eyed from the agony he had seen in the bear’s eyes. Even though the bear was trying to kill him, no creature deserved to suffer in his book. He looked at the bear and said, “I hope that it is a better place where you are now.” He reached over and lay his hand on the bear's snout and jumped back at the pop-up that appeared. A bunch of teeth, and claws, and meat stacks, appeared with a bear pelt in an inventory!

“I need to figure out how to play this “game” pronto.” He whispered to himself.