Ted rubbed his temples, quickly dismissing the red box. Right, first things first, go get help to deal with the zombies. Then deal with the fact he seemed to be having a slow breakdown. He staggered over to his bedroom door, and passed over the threshold into his kitchen/living room. He quickly noted to his dismay that his front door seemed to be hanging open.
He was...fairly sure it had been shut last night. He'd assume the creature had opened it, but...
Ted glanced at the wreck that was his bedroom door. The ghoul clearly lacked an understanding of how doorknobs worked. He shook his head. Don't get distracted Ted, you're a man on a mission. March straight to the neighbors, borrow their cell, call the cops.
With steel in his spine, Ted stepped outside his apartment...
And froze in horror. Standing the hallway were not one, but six of the horrible monsters. Two were pounding away at his neighbors doors, two were staring in front of the stairwell, one was just shuffling around, and the last was standing in the corner. Menacingly.
Ted took several steps backward and shut his door. Right. Time to panic. The officeworker let out a high pitched noise of terror while his mind raced. Oh god, I'm trapped! Trapped on a floor filled with monsters! No, strike that, trapped in an entire building with monsters!
What am I going to do?! I can't fight my way past, I'm an officeworker, I haven't fought a day in my life! He continued like this for a good five minutes, until the sheer exhaustion of being absolutely terrified managed to counteract the dread he was feeling.
Walking over to his old, beat up couch, he began to think. Right. Panicking isn't going to work. I need to come up with a plan. Step one, figure out what assets I have at my disposal. Well, that was easy. He had enough food to last a good week, a first aid kit in the bathroom, and no actual weapons beyond maybe a frying pan, some kitchen knives, and his lamp.
He stood up and walked over to his window, noting to his dismay that it didn't seem to want to open. He could try bashing it in, but...
Well, that would be very noisy, and at the moment noise was the last thing he wanted.
Okay, so. Assets, some food, a first aid kit, and a handful of not-really-weapons. He could probably stretch the food if he stopped feeding Tortoise, but he immediately discarded the idea. For one thing, eating alfalfa pellets was the opposite of appetizing. For another, he wasn't going to intentionally starve another creature, especially after he had just rescued said creature. Ted was many things, but cruel wasn't one of them.
Right, what else, what else...
Electricity seemed to be working fine, and so was the water. No idea how long that state of affairs would last, but for now, they were quite a boon. However, just to be on the safe side, Ted quickly went to his bathroom and began to fill up the tub. If the water shut off, he'd need something to drink.
With that sorted out, now Ted had to begin planning. He couldn't just sit and wait. After all, he had no idea what was going on outside his apartment. Was whatever did this worldwide? Was help even coming? No, he couldn't be complacent like that, he needed to ACT.
Unfortunately, he had nothing to act WITH. No applicable skills, no tools to help him get out, not even someone to work with. He was on his own, and thus, completely boned.
It was at that moment Ted recalled something. The red boxes mentioned skills, right? What if...What if that wasn't me hallucinating? What if those boxes were actually there? What if they're related to...whatever happened?
On the one hand, disturbing implications that Ted didn't want to think too hard about. On the other, it meant that when the boxes said he was gaining skills, Ted was actually gaining skills.
"Okay. Okay okay okay, I can use this. I can definitely use this. Each time I gained a skill, it showed it as being rank one, which means there are more ranks, which means I can improve them, which means I'm only MOSTLY boned." Ted struggled to remember what skills he had gained. Sneaking, something to do with animals, hitting stuff with a lamp...
Name
Level
XP
An average office worker. Suffers from insomnia and slight depression. No other discernable features.
Ted J
1
10/100
STR
INT
AGI
WIS
PER
SPRT
CHA
END
LUK
4
10
3
7
11
1
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
6
3
1
Affinities
Black
White
Blue
Red
Green
2
0
1
0
1
Skills
Skill
Rarity
Rank
Description
Hiding
Ubiquitous
1
The skill concerning the ability to go unnoticed while staying still. At this rank, you're marginally better at going unnoticed!
Stealth
Uncommon
1
The ability to move around unnoticed. At this rank, you are minimally harder to notice!
Sneak Attack
Uncommon
1
The ability to strike enemies unaware. At this rank, sneak attacks do slightly more damage!
Improvised Weaponry
Rare
1
The ability to utilize as weapons things that aren't intended to be weapons. At this rank you do moderately more damage with improvised weapons and they're moderately more durable.
Animal Empathy
Rare
1
The ability to communicate with animals and be understood by them. At this rank, animals are marginally more likely to understand you and moderately more friendly.
Bureaucracy
Common
10
The ability to manipulate the bureaucracy to your own ends. At this rank, you’re an expert at cutting through the red tape.
Perks
Wyld
Rank 1
Increased Green Mana affinity, ???, ???, ???.
Office Drone
Rank 3
Years of working in an office under terrible conditions has blackened your heart. At this rank, you have +2 Black Mana affinity, moderate resistance to tedium and despair, and +5 CHA when dealing with office politics or close analogues.
Educated
Rank 2
You’re well educated, having attained a degree in college. At this rank, skills rank up faster, you gain +5 INT in Academic settings, and you have +1 Blue Mana affinity.
Oath of Care
Rank 1
You’ve dedicated yourself to caring for a particular creature. At this rank, +1 to all stats when acting in the defence of another.
Holy swiss cheese that was a lot of things. Okay. Well, he had a list of skills. As well as everything else. Ted took a moment to process all the information. I don't know what XP is or what level refers to, but I assume its important. Going by the context provided by my perks page, STR, INT, and the rest are probably my raw attributes. It...shouldn't be that hard to guess what means what. STR is probably strength. INT intelligence. PER...perception? AGI might be agility. LUK is obvious. Really, the only one I'm completely clueless about is SPRT. Sprint? No, that would be covered by AGI.
No idea what mana affinity means. Mana, mana... Ted briefly recalled a trivia night, so long ago when he was in college. The subject of Polynesian Culture came up, and during that question...
Mana, Ted remembered, refered to the polynesian concept of supernatural power, of influence and authority, not limited to just people but also something held by places and objects. He had no idea what it meant in this context, however. Something to try and figure out.
The perks weren't immediately useful for his situation. He noted that they were also ranked. Skills he figured he could raise by practicing them, but how did one raise a perk?
Regardless, he had enough information to make a plan. He'd need to raise his skills, and maybe his stats and perks, and use them to escape the building.
First step, I need supplies. Food to help prolong how long I can last in here, and other things, like weapons, armor, tools I can use to help me escape. The only question was "how" and, to Teds dismay, there was only one method he could think of.
He'd have to venture into the hallway and breach his neighbors rooms.
----------------------------------------
Ted stepped out, giving a dry swallow. He had to be quick about this, in and out. He quickly surveyed the hallway, noting that it was exactly as infested as before. He carefully crept over to the ghoul banging on his leftward neighbors door, and raised his castiron, bringing it down on the creatures head with a CRUNCH and a loud THUNK.
Shambler slain. 10 XP gained! Sneak Attack rank up! Stealth rank up! Improvised Weapon rank up!
Leaving no time for the ghouls around him to turn and notice his presence, he quickly opened his neighbors door, unlocked to his relief, and stepped in.
Okay. He had gotten more XP, and his skills had ranked up. That was...useful. He briefly considered bringing up his information again to look over the change, before discarding the idea. He'd do it when he was back in his room, safe and sound.
"Erm, hello? Anyone...alive, in here?" He asked to the apartment, looking it over. The ceiling light had some faulty wiring, judging as how it failed to turn on when he flipped the light switch, leaving the room rather dusky, its only illumination coming from the dirty, fog covered window.
After a moment of no response, Ted stepped forward. Right. Real horror movie vibe here.
Whoever had lived in this place was clearly gone. The living room was filled with clutter, but to Teds dismay, said clutter consisted mostly of childrens toys, primarily lego and action figures. I hope the kid made it out alright, at least. The kitchen was...little better. There were a few knives, another first aid kit, some food in the pantry and fridge. A few books. Nothing major. He turned to the two bedrooms.
Okay, eenie, meenie, miney, moe. Stepping through the door on the right, Ted found himself in a childs room. Bunk bed, toybox, computer on one side of the room, wall full of photoes on the other. One of these kids had an interest in photography.
He quickly began searching around, starting with the desk. Okay, a couple flashlights, a small camera, one of the old ones that print their pictures out for you. Oho, whats this?
Reaching in, Ted pulled out a pair of binoculars. Those would come in handy in the near future.
Stepping away, he looked over the rooms closet, finding, to his delight, a backpack. It'll make transporting supplies easier, certainly! He quickly adjusted the straps and slipped it on, noting that SOMEHOW it fit. One of the kids must have been in highschool, thus explaining the photography. He quickly gathered up the various items he had collected and began to exit the bedroom...
Only to find a tall, dark figure standing in the living room, waiting for him.
Rager
Level 5
Undead
Information Locked
Oh shi-
End Chapter 1.2