We decided to leave. Or, Mike and Sam decided to 
leave, and Isabel and | realized we didn’t have any 
choice but to follow. | mean, what difference did it make? 
Stay or go, the outcome would be the same. But | figured 
trying to find something out there might be better than 
staying in the car until we all starved to death. We 
grabbed the flashlight from the glove box and headed 
out. 


We couldn’t have walked more than a mile before we 
reached the town. | almost bumped into Mike when he 
stopped walking after shining the light onto the 
“Welcome to Clear Water” sign. He didn’t say anything. 
What could he say? We turned around, starting walking 
the other way. Not sure how far. Two miles? Three? We 
didn’t pass the car but it didn’t matter. We ended up back 
at the sign. The city. 


Sam turned, walked off the highway and into the 
farmland surrounding it. We followed. We knew it 
wouldn't work but we followed anyway. On the other side 
of the field, we found ourselves back on the highway, in 
front of the sign. 


Mike insisted he wasn’t going back in. No fucking way. 
He'd rather take the risk out in the rain than spend 
another second with whatever was in that city. We 
pointed out that whatever was in the city was pretty 
clearly outside of it too, and at least the city had food. He 
wouldn't listen. So we started walking and three minutes 
later he caught up. Didn’t say a word. 


The lights in the town were all on but there were no 
people. No cars. A few times | thought | saw movement, 
but it was always just a branch or piece of trash picked 
up by the wind. We were on alert the whole time but 
nothing happened 


We decided to hole up in Dirk’s Sporting because it had 
guns and was right next to the grocery store. Sam and 


Results: All punctuation used to simulate the shading of the original 
work is replaced with the letters "F", "r", "e", and "d" (in upper and 
lower case). 


Notes: When questioned about the extent of its ability to completely 
modify textual representations of imagery (as opposed to merely 
substituting characters), SCP-423 acknowledged the possibility, 
responding with "| guess so, maybe, but I'm not really good at art." 
Further inquiry is suggested. 


Date: / / 
Test Material: SCP-085 


Results: Pending O5 approval. 


Date: / / 
Test Material: the Frequently Asked Questions document for the 
Usenet newsgroup "alt.adjective.noun.verb.verb.verb" 


Results: A sentence is added to the section of the document which 
describes the newsgroup's genesis, stating 
"alt-anomalous.Fred.perplexed.baffled.moderately-amused". 


Date: / / 

Test Material: fi B3i# ("Lion-Eating Poet In The Stone Den"), 
by Yuen Ren Chao. "Lion-Eating Poet" is a 92-character poem 
written in Classical Chinese, in which every syllable is pronounced 
"shi" (albeit with varying tones). 


Results: SCP-423 demanifested from its journal, but did not manifest 
within the test document. After 10 minutes, researchers were about 
to report a containment breach, when SCP-423 remanifested within 
its journal, stating that it had "got[ten] lost trying to find the way in". 


Date: / / 
Test Material: World War Z, by Max Brooks. The book consists of 
multiple small interview-like stories told from the perspective of 


Mike went and grabbed food while Isabel and | 
(meaning, just l) took stock of the store. When the others 
came back we started working out shifts to sleep in. Two 
awake at the same time. | volunteered for the first shift 
even though | felt like | wanted to collapse. | just couldn’t 
stand to dream again. 


Mike shot himself. And we're a lot more fucked than | 
first thought. For a while, | was still holding onto the idea 
of survival. That there was some sort of exit to whatever 
fucked up situation we’d found ourselves in. There isn't. | 
don’t think there ever was. This is the only ending | could 
have hoped for. 


But if | Keep thinking about that I’m going to go fucking 
insane so. Mike. He’s dead. We were on shift together 
when he got up and said he’d be back in a minute. 
Figured he was just going to the bathroom, until | heard 
the gunshot. 


| got there about twenty seconds before Sam and Isabel. 
His body was slumped against a wall, shotgun barrel 
stuck in his mouth. There was no blood, and | thought 
he’d missed or accidentally discharged it until | saw the 
hole in the back of his skull. Then | realized there was 
something splattered on the wall behind him, but it 
wasn't blood. It was water. 


Isabel screamed when she saw the body. | heard her 
gasping and ignored her. Sam knelt next to me, close 
enough that | could feel her trembling. For a moment, the 
only noise was her ragged breathing and Isabel's 
whimpers. Then Sam reached out and ran her fingers 
along the rim of Mike’s skull. She drew them back, 
stared. A small noise rose from the back of her throat. 
Her fingertips were coated in water. 


Before | could react she thrust more fingers into the 
wound. Water ran down her hands as she dug through 
what should have been his brain. Water sloshed in the 


chalice of his skull. When we lowered his body to rest on 
the floor it was water that pooled on the wood. 


Sam leaped up, ran to the counter. Snatched a knife 
from its sheath and held it to her arm. We stared at each 
other. | didn’t want her to do it. Didn’t want to see what 
would happen. 


She sliced open her arm and water spilled from the 
wound. 


We stared at the injury, too distracted to notice Isabel 
calling to us. It wasn’t until she ran over and yanked on 
my sleeve that | remembered she existed. 


“Outside,” was all she said. 


Hundreds of people had gathered outside the window. 
Unmoving silhouettes staring through the darkness, 
filling the street. When lightning flashed, | saw the faces 
of strangers, soaked by the rain. 


They’ve been there for two hours now. Haven’t moved 
an inch. They’re outside every window, every exit. | don't 
know how long they’re willing to wait but I'm damn sure 
it's longer than we have. 


Maybe Mike had the right idea. 


Sam left and we didn’t bother to stop her. She muttered 
something before she stood and marched out of the 
door. | remember thinking, as | watched her leave, that | 
should do something. | should reach out or call to her or 
block her exit. But the thought wouldn't make it past my 
brain, like there was a wall between my nerves my body. 
So | just stared as she stepped into the rain. 


The silhouettes shifted as soon as she was outside. 
They opened up to let her through and she vanished into 
them. Into the dark. 


“I don’t want to go back.” That’s what she said before 
she left. 


In my dream | am the storm, and | am screaming. The 
wind whips at me like razors raking through my body. 
The frozen rain bites at my skin. Except | don't have a 
body, | don't have skin. The wind is a part of me. The 
rain is from me. Every second | rip myself apart and 
reform, rip and reshape, until | am scattered over miles 
of storm. Trapped in the roil. Around me, | hear the 
screams of my village. | feel their presence against mine, 
just as much a part of the storm as I. We fight, struggle, 
but the storm cannot be broken. It hurtles over the land, 
dragging us in its wake. And then | am falling, rushing to 
meet the ground. For a moment the Earth embraces me. 
| remember what it felt like to feel the dirt beneath my 
feet and the sun on my skin and the crisp air in my lungs. 
Until the storm steals me again, and | am pulled back 
into the screams of my comrades. | woke up and Isabel 
was gone. Just a puddle of water on the floor. | think the 
rain is speaking to me. | can hear it ever since | woke up. 
| don’t know what it’s saying but the whispers in my ear 
are getting louder. When | cover my ears it’s still there. If 
| scream it rises over the screaming. I’m trying to write 
just to focus on anything else but the FUCKING voice is 
still there and | know what it wants me to do. It wants me 
to join it. ’'m its child and it misses me. It can’t bear to be 
apart. What can | do? What can | do? The strangers are 
still outside, watching me, waiting for my choice. 
Because they know what my choice will be, don’t they? 
There’s only one way this can end. | can wait and starve 
or shoot myself or slice my wrists or walk out into the rain 
but it’s all going to end the same way. The water is 
eternal. The water will remain no matter how polluted it 
becomes. At the end we all become rain. 


| don’t want to go back. 


SCP-3301: THE FOUNDATION 


Special Containment Procedures: SCP-3301 is to be stored within 
a standard small containment locker at Site-19 when not being used 
for testing. Testing is only to be authorized by the SCP-3301 head 
researcher, currently Dr. Benjamin Cole. Testing may only be 
carried out at the Site-19 E Wing Storage Warehouse, which has 
been renovated specifically for this purpose. 


It is a requirement that all staff members assigned to SCP-3301 
must be versed in the rules and protocols of the game. As such, a 
detailed explanation is available in Addendum 3301.2. 


SCP-3301 is a Class IX information security hazard, and its full 
repercussions are being studied by the Foundation Information 
Security Department. 


Updated Containment Procedures: Per the special memorandum 
detailed in Addendum 3301.4, testing of SCP-3301 has been made 
available to all qualified personnel, and is available as an approved 
extracurricular activity in the Foundation Employee Benefit Program. 


Personnel are required to submit detailed testing logs for each 3301 
Activation Period. Full log is available here. 


Description: SCP-3301 is an ornate, silver box with a latch and 
silver key. Inscribed on the lip of the box is the following: 


THE FOUNDATION 


A GAME BY CRYOGEN STUDIOS 


A DIVISION OF DR. WONDERTAINMENT 


Contained within the box is a board game with the aforementioned 
title, as well as game pieces and other miscellaneous game parts. 


The game comes with a small instruction manual detailing a fairly 
simple resource management board game. However, within the box 
is a small gold key in a velvet lined drawer, which fits within the lock 
on the front of the silver box. Inserting the key and turning it while 
the game box is closed will cause a sliding hatch to open on the top 
of the box, revealing a flat, purple button inscribed with a white letter 
“Ww”. 


Pressing this button, labeled within the manual as the 
“WonderButton”, activates the primary anomalous features of 
SCP-3301, and begins a game of “THE FOUNDATION”. The 
following information pertains to the anomalous version of the game. 


The baseline properties of SCP-3301 are as follows: 


* Opening the box will reveal a large game board of differing 
size, shape, and design. 

« Accompanying this game board will be 8 place markers of 
differing size, shape, and design. 

¢ Each game board, regardless of shape, features a slot in the 
middle of the board where a smaller silver box is placed. This 
box is a smaller version of the larger game box, and bears the 
inscription "DRAW ONE" on its lid. If the game is not in 
session, or if it is opened by a player out of turn, it appears 
empty. If opened by a player on their turn, it will produce 
between one and three random game cards, which have 
differing utility within the game. 


For full description of setup, rules, and gameplay, see Addendum 
3301.2. 


Addendum 3301.1: Discovery 


SCP-3301 was discovered on the desk of Director Tilda Moose at 
Site-19 on July 3rd, 2017. Attached to the exterior of SCP-3301 was 
a letter in a silver envelope bearing the word "Foundation". The 
contained letter reads as follows: 


Dear SCP Foundation, 


Sentient creatures so often seek purpose within their 


own lives, whether it be mundane or extraordinary. There 
are some who would dedicate their lives to healing the 
sick, or feeding the hungry. Others would try to resurrect 
their broken gods, or sail through the stars on the arms 
of a cosmic starfish. Some would rid the world of the 
unnatural, or foster it in the halls of their Library, and 
some are just in it for the memest. 


You seek to protect the world from the anomalous, 
categorize and classify the strange and unique, and let 
humanity bask in the light. We seek to make people 
smile, and give people a reason to be happy, if only for a 
short time. Despite our differences, we cannot help but 
respect your motives. You've no doubt saved us a dozen 
times over, so we want to return the favor. We want to 
make you smile! 


Contained within this box is our greatest toy yet. There 
are no jokes here, no gaffs or plotting. Everything we 
have at our disposal, every scrap of information and wisp 
of arcana is contained within this game. We made it 
because, at the end of the day, we feel like you have the 
most interesting story to tell. We sincerely hope you 
enjoy it! 


Yours most splendidly, 
Dr. Wondertainment 


P.S. We are very excited about this product, and believe 
it is nearly ready for production! But it wouldn't be 
acceptable to ship a product without playtesting it. So 
this version we're sending to you, our sole playtester, in 
the hopes that you'll be able to give us feedback on how 
we can make our game better! If at any point you stop 
playing for more than a few days, we'll know that you're 
done testing it and we'll go ahead and put it on the 
shelves! If you don't think it's ready for the shelves, then 
just keep on testing it ;) 


P.P.S. Please submit all playtesting suggestions to: 


111 Wondertainment Way 
Wondertainmentville, Wondertainmentland 10101 


Tt Yes, children, we see you there. We hope you're 
having fun too. 


Addendum 3301.2: Gameplay 


The following is information pertaining to the proper gameplay of 
SCP-3301. In order to maintain containment of the artifact, monthly 
testing of SCP-3301 is required. Personnel assigned to SCP-3301 
are required to maintain a thorough knowledge of the rules and 
regulations of the game. 


Introduction 
+ Access Document 


The following is an introduction copied directly out of 
“THE FOUNDATION” gameplay handbook. The 
handbook is a leather-bound pamphlet with embossed 
silver print displaying the name of the game, the 
production studio, and the words “SOTH ANNIVERSARY 
EDITION”. 


THE FOUNDATION 


A GAME BY CRYOGEN STUDIOS 


A DIVISION OF DR. WONDERTAINMENT 


Welcome, weary researcher, to THE 
FOUNDATION! A board game only for the 
strong willed and mighty of heart. But beware! 
For danger lurks around every corner, and foul 
things are creeping in the night. Do you have 
what it takes to stand betwixt humanity and the 
darkness? Or will you too be lost to the chaos 
eternal? Only time will tell! Become Mr. 
Collector, or maybe Mr. Containment! The 
choice is yours! 


Setup 
+ Access Document 


SCP-3301 is played between 2 to 8 teams of two 
players. Each primary player chooses a secondary 
player, to act as their representative on the game board. 
The primary players are all selected when each set of 
players places their game pieces! on the board. 


The board contained within SCP-3301 varies depending 
on which version of the “game” is being played, and is 
random. Gameplay is similar between each board, 
though the setting is different (i.e. The Land of the 
Unclean, Echoes of the Mariana, Bigfoot’s Jungle, The 
Cosmic Starfish, etc.), and different hostile entities 
appear as opponents on different boards. Testing has 
revealed at least twenty-three different game boards, 
though there are possibly more.