Bailey looked around frightfully.

She had never been good with scary things, always the friends who never wanted to watch horror movies (no matter how cheesy) and scared of the dark longer than she would care to admit.

Every creak and groan of the strange building she had been transported to left her just a little bit more uncomfortable.

Of course there were practical reasons to be nervous too - or so Bailey told herself - as since her stats were so awfully balanced, she struggled to fight alone. A single hit was often enough to take half of her total health. Bailey had leaned into that of course, her starting stats already so skewed that she felt it would be more harmful to try and balance them out than just focus entirely on her magic.

As a result though she couldn't do anything except her magic - of which she was quite proud.

Bailey, Piper and Jess had managed to get quite a lot of money together by hunting and selling monsters. Jess and Piper had spent their gold on weapons while Bailey had chosen to keep her beginner staff, but learn new skills - those being two new water magic spells:

[Water Blade (1) (E): Launch a single blade of water. Damage and cutting power scale with INT and skill level]

[Icicle barrage (1) (D+): Launch a barrage of icicles. (5*skill level) number of icicles. Damage scales with INT and skill level]

Both skills were great and exceptionally fun for Bailey to use, especially [Icicle Barrage]. Even at level one it was a great AOE, especially when Bailey's buff from [Chilling Soul] came into effect as it not only increased the power of both water and ice magic, but allowed the skill to inflict the [Freeze] debuff even though it normally would not.

She had quickly become the main damage dealer of the party, even if she was a glass cannon.

Bailey began to walk around the foyer, taking a closer look at the things in the room only to make a confusing discovery. Besides the sign, everything in the room was... Fake?

There was a set of table and chairs near a window in the corner; only as Bailey ran her hand along them she found that the table and chairs were plastic and the window was a large sticker. Looking around she found that everything was like this, the candles lining the wall were entirely fake and plastic, even the large rug that went up the stairs in front of her was painted onto the ground.

"This place is creepy..." Bailey muttered, only to let out a scream as she heard a childish giggle right up against where her ear would have been. She spun around as fast as she could, but saw nothing that could have possibly let out such a noise.

Not willing to take any chances Bailey activated [Storm Call] and heavy rain began to fall, hitting the building like bricks against tin. Bailey slightly regretted that though as while she could feel herself getting stronger the rain had also increased the spooky atmosphere of the doll house.

"At least I'll be able to increase my skill." She muttered to herself, smiling as she remembered the discovery she had made. Using [Storm Call] was not the only way to increase the level of the skill as using water and ice magic while having it active was what really increased its level; and since Bailey had almost nothing but ice and water magic the skill level was increasing quite rapidly - more so than even Piper and Jess's skills.

Bailey began to walk around, knowing that just sitting in the place she had first appeared would not get her any closer to escaping.

It was a strangely ironic and funny sight in the dollhouse. The boatsman race was one with a fearsome appearance, despite their role in helping souls, being shaped like skeletons with deep black bones and dull brown cloak draped over them that would allow one to look upon them just briefly. From beneath the cloak, spectral mist continuously billowed like smoke from a chimney; causing many they guided to attack them at first.

For such a terrifying creature to be timidly walking around a strange dollhouse, flinching at every noise and squeak around her.

Bailey wandered for a while, finding a number of different and fake rooms. A master bedroom, a kitchen and even a fake library full of bookshelves with no books, but rather book stickers.

The strangest thing was that each room she found was never in the same place. She would walk down a hall and open a new door to find a room, only to then find that same room downstairs.

Bailey, not understanding what she was supposed to do finally noticed a new change she hadn't before. While walking around on the third floor Bailey noticed something from the corner of her eye (or lack thereof) that she was certain hadn't been there before.

The reason she knew it hadn't been there, besides the other moving rooms, was that the change was not plastic or fake. It was a real set of wooden stairs leading upwards. The rain continued to thunder down onto the dollhouse as Bailey stared at the stair, knowing full well that was where she needed to go - but desperately not wanting to.

It was like walking into the jaws of a beast and she was just a little rabbit.

However, Bailey finally relented, taking each step with a creak despite her body weighing almost nothing due to being spiritual in nature. Soon she reached the top of the stairs finding herself in a dingy attic, the kind that one would find in a children's encyclopaedia when looking for a haunted attic, especially when considering the large ornate door at the end.

The top remained pristine and clean, while the bottom was both covered in dirt and deep scratches - ruining the wood entirely.

Against her better judgement Bailey approached and placed a skeletal hand on the door knob, attempting to turn it only to be met with stern resistance. After a while of trying she finally managed to turn the knob and the door opened with the most stereotypical creaking sound that Bailey wondered if it had been lifted from a soundboard. 

Despite alleviating some fear with the joke she had made to herself in her head, it all came rushing back as she looked into the room.

It was completely empty besides one thing, one horrible thing that left Bailey with chills.

A real, circular window allowed moonlight in to envelop a large rocking chair upon which a tiny ornate, porcelain doll was sat. It wore a frilly, pink dress and beautiful, golden curls with a face so immaculately painted that Bailey could have believed it was a real girl. Despite being quite dusty, Bailey could tell it would be a very expensive toy; if not for its flaw.

Along the left side of its face was crack. A large, black crack that ran from halfway down its forehead to the right edge of its lips - the crack had likely resulted in the eye falling out as the doll stared blankly at Bailey with one sapphire-blue eye; an eye not coloured like a sapphire, but made of one.

If not for that crack, it would have been beautiful and Bailey wouldn't have been scared. She knew something was wrong - she was simply waiting for it to present itself.

And so she waited, silently watching the doll until it finally happened: A giggle. The same childish giggle she had first heard, but now it didn't stop - echoing out through the house with its epicentre being the doll.

Bailey watched, frightened and unable to move despite wanting to run so badly, as the doll's head turned to the side and up - staring directly at her. Its mouth dropped open like a ventriloquist dummy even though it was clearly not made with such a feature; and as its mouth flapped up and down it spoke in a horribly distorted and childish voice.

"Do YoU wAnT tO pLaY?" It asked, its flapping mouth out of sync with its words. Bailey remained silent, unable to speak as the giggling got louder until she finally squeaked out a reply:

"... no..." The moment she spoke the giggling stopped entirely. The house was silent except for the patter of rain, but this did not last long.

"Hehaeeehaheehahehahehheahhahehae!" A horrible cackling began, no longer childish with that hint of innocence and kindness it once had; black spectral chains erupted from beneath the doll's skirt, binding Bailey in manacles as cold as ice. The chains disappeared, but the manacles remained as a reminder of their connection.

"HiDe AnD sEeK!" The doll screamed, numbers following closely behind as it counted down from thirty.

Bailey's fear had reached new heights and she was unable to comprehend the situation, luckily she didn't have to as the system had done it for her:

"I didn't accept to play!" Bailey sobbed as she ran back down the stairs as fast as she could, the numbers echoing throughout the house.

She didn't even know where she could hide as the house would not stop changing. She quickly returned to the third floor and dashed to the next set of stairs, arriving at the foyer as the doll reached 15.

She looked around, finding a door that thankfully led to the kitchen and ducked inside - only for a change to have occurred: The room was no longer empty.

Inside was what appeared to be a marionette doll dressed like a french chef with a curled moustache and everything. It laid flat, like it was dead, on the counter; and as Bailey stepped into the kitchen, approaching it slowly the counting reached 0.

"ReAdY oR nOt, HeRe I cOmE!" Bailey heard the doll whisper, turning behind her as it seemed it was spoken directly into her ear only to feel something digging into her wrists. As she turned back the doll was alive and dancing around on the counter with a pair of knives in hand. Inspecting the creature resulted in:

[Haunted Doll - Marionette (30) (Monster)]

Coming from its back were a set of strings, just like those that were floating above it and directing its movements, that had bound themselves around Bailey. She felt a sharp tug and was pulled closer to the counter where the chef plunged one of its knives into Bailey's boney hand. She felt little to no pain, being a spiritual creature, but between the wire and knife she was pinned.

Just as she believed it couldn't get any worse the puppet began to sing. In a distorted and childish voice the puppet began loudly singing a song that Bailey didn't recognise in french; causing a giggle to ripple through the mansion, one that seemed as though it was getting louder.

It knows where I am! Bailey panicked. Tears would have burst from her eyes if she was capable or had eyes, but she quickly regained herself and acted.

She pulled the knife from her hand and before the chef could stab down with another knife, shot it with a [Water Bullet]. In order to break free from the wire binding her she used her [Water Blade] skill, cutting herself free.

The puppet continued to sing, but also began attacking - trying once again to bind Bailey and keep her still for its master. But Bailey was too fast, letting loose an [Icicle Barrage] that pinned the, still singing, puppet to the wall of the kitchen. The singing didn't even stop as she made use of [Water Blade] to cut it into pieces; with the giggling getting louder, Bailey had no other choice, but to rush over to the door in the corner.

Almost praying she pulled it open and was overjoyed to see what was behind it. Depsite opening a door that was clearly meant to lead to a freezer (plastic or not) Bailey had found herself staring into a room full of fake wine barrels.

The giggling was incredibly loud now, but as Bailey stepped into the new room and closed the door behind her, both the singing and giggling stopped entirely.

Bailey let out a brief sigh of relief before raising her guard once again - having already figured out the nature of the quest.

Only the doll can kill me, but every room has a monster in it that will try and bind me in order to keep me there. Bailey said to herself, looking around the room with her staff held high. It didn't take long for the threat to present itself:

[Haunted Doll - Hand Puppet (30) (Monster)]

From behind one of the barrels was a stupidly dressed puppet, like the kind of puppet used in old kids puppet shows. It was entirely made of felt, even the little bottle of wine it had in its hand.

As it stared at her it let out a hearty chuckle. Bailey was less frightened of the latest puppet, but that was mostly because it was made of excessively bright colours. However, Bailey still knew it was out to catch her so she didn't hesitate to activate [Icicle Barrage].

With icicles flying towards it, the stupid puppet brought its felt wine bottle to its equally felt lips and took a swig of imaginary drink, however, what came after was certainly not imaginary. Like bullets, a number of purple shots flew from the puppet and crashed into the icicles - destroying them entirely.

Another came, but Bailey was just able to evade it, the attack instead leaving a sticky purple splotch on the wall behind her.

The puppet let out a laugh as it took another drink from the bottle and so Bailey wasted no time in attacking with her fastest spell [Water Bullet]. She was able to disrupt the attack and knock the puppet backwards slightly - but instead of continuing to fight it simply ducked under one of the wind barrels before appearing on another one.

This pattern repeated itself until Bailey finally hit a [Water Blade] right on its head, cutting it in two. This action set off a chain of events that while meaningless in the bigger picture, did have some immediate ramifications.

The laughter of the puppet didn't stop, but another sound did join in - the giggling of the forgotten child approaching once again. This allowed Bailey to figure out another rule of the game: killing, if she could even call it that, any of the puppets would alert the boss of her location.

The next change came in the form of a level. Bailey reached level thirty and so gained a new skill, but it was of course not just that.

[Bubble Bomb (1) (C-): Launch a slow moving, but highly powerful explosive bubble. Damage scales with INT and skill level]

Bailey of course didn't hesitate to accept the class advancement. By doing so not only did her [Mana Bolt] skill immediately evolve into [Water Bolt (E)], which was exactly as its name indicated, but she also received a new skill too:

[Water Walking (E+): Allows the user to walk on water. +50% AGI boost when walking on water]

Bailey was a little disappointed with the skill, but could still recognise its uses. She then realised she had been standing around staring at the system for far too long - the indication of this coming as a door swung open.

Stood at the threshold was a figure that struck fear into Bailey's heart.

"FoUnD yOu." It laughed, the doll's body twisting and changing to become even more fearsome.

Black chains extended from its back and blades peeked out from beneath its porcelain skin; despite its tiny size the doll moved with such speed that Bailey could hardly react - using a random skill in hopes it could protect her.

By pure chance she was able to let out what was likely the only skill that could have stopped the doll's charge: [Bubble Bomb].

Moving at such speeds the doll was unable to evade the projectile, setting off a small explosion. Despite its changes it was still just a doll and so was knocked into a wall, allowing Bailey to get away - black, metal chains whipping around behind her in an attempt to bind and crush her skeletal figure.

The doll screeched as it threw itself into the hall, following after Bailey. 

Bailey had never been more scared in her life, moving as fast as she could while releasing bubbles the moment she was able as if leaving a set of landmines behind her, but the doll seemed to have learned. It weaved in between the bubbles or made use of its chains in order to set them off safely.

The doll was closing in on Bailey and she didn't think she would make it until she spotted a door ahead - that was likely her only chance, the shifting rooms of the mansion hopefully saving her.

She pushed herself as fast as possible, chains writhing desperately in an attempt to catch her. She had to literally throw herself through the door so that she was not caught - barely managing to get back up and close the door behind her before the doll got in. In an instant the tension faded and the giggling stopped - the only sound remaining being the fall of rain; at least until the room's guardian began to move - or rather, guardians.

Looking around Bailey found herself in what seemed to be a child's bedroom; and crawling out from every hiding place were a number of toys:

[Haunted Doll - Stuffed Animal (10) (Monster)]

Even if their level was lower, the pure number of them would be enough to hold her down until the boss arrived. Not even attempting to fight she pulled open the door and returned to the hallways, thankfully different hallways.

And so that was how Bailey spent her time, ducking from room to room, fighting whatever remained inside and running as fast as she possibly could from the terrifying mini-boss.

The clock ran down and as Bailey rolled down the stairs only a minute remained, but she was cornered. The chains of the forgotten child lashing out at her and keeping her from rushing into another room.

Her back was slowly being pushed against the wall with little more to do than pointlessly fire off skills - her mana draining faster than it ever had until this point.

The giggling became louder, even as time seemed as though it would run out, the doll knew it had won; but Bailey refused.

As chains flew towards her with the intent to kill, the gears of her brain spun faster than they even had when an idea came to mind. Using her limited agility she jumped as high as she could, creating a bubble below her.

She had found she could not set off her own bubbles and that the blast was less effective on her, but she didn't need to set it off or for the blast to be all that strong.

One of the chains that had been intended for Bailey collided with the bubble and with the boatsman in the air the blast was enough to send her above all other attacks. As she landed a chime of a bell rang out and the doll remained still; she had run out the clock.

If her avatar had face muscles she would have smiled, but settled for laughter instead as she had overcome the trial.

As Bailey laughed she didn't even fear as the doll's head turned creakily to face her; her mouth flapping up and down as she spoke again:

"YoU wIn!" It shouted, followed by its awful cackle.

"YoU wIn!" "YoU wIn!" "YoU wIn!" "YoU wIn!" "YoU wIn!" ...

Over and over it repeated those words along with its terrible laugh, becoming more distorted as time passed. The doll's head soon began to melt, its body following closely behind but never stopping its laugh or its degrading celebration until the creature was nothing more than goo on the floor along with two objects.

Before Bailey could even try and look closer at them, the fake door began to fill with cracks, eventually shattering to allow Bailey out into the rain. With an invisible smile, Bailey casually walked out - items in hand and ready to keep going.