"Dan do you hear that?", Jim whispered, the scratching continuing, quiet and slow.

Suddenly it seemed as though Danny was shocked out of a stupor, his head quickly swivelling to look toward Jim.

"Bro I picked one of these Perk things, and it gave me skill. I got to pick even, and...", his head slowly turned toward the door, finally catching the scratching. "What's that noise man?"

"Jesus Dan, I've been trying to tell you, and skill? What skill? Like a video game, some kind of spell or something?!", Jim whispered in a rushed tone.

"No man not a spell. I picked the Fortitude path, got this skill called 'Hardened', says it hardens my skin or something, and-", Danny was cut off by the scratching at the door turning to a dull thudding, it appeared whatever was on the other side had picked up on their conversation. "Jim that's really not sounding good man you should probably pick something before the shit hits the fan."

"Uh. Uhhh. Well christ man I have no idea what to pick, that skill sounds cool, maybe I'll just pick Fortitude too or something?", Jim said in a flustered tone, the rush was too sudden. The day had already been incredibly long and both men were thoroughly worn out.

"C'mon Jim I thought you had more Intelligence than me man, everyone knows you shouldn't stack the same class, RPGs are all about having a rounded out party. Haven't you ever played WoW man?", Danny muttered as he stood and walked toward the boxes in one of the corners of the room. "I'm gonna try to find a weapon, figure your stuff out man, and do it as quick as you can."

"Right okay. I got this.", Jim nodded, a little shaken.

Perks, he willed.

Potential Perks: (0) Touched with Quickness: +2 Dexterity and Perception per Level Up (0) Touched with Fortitude: +2 Vitality and Strength per Level Up (0) Touched with Mentality: +2 Intelligence and Wisdom per Level Up

So do I go Rogue/Fighter or Magic. I always loved Magic in books, and it would meld well with Danny's start. Screw it.

Perk 'Touched with Mentality' Aquired Congratulations on the first choice on the road to fate. Do to being an advanced Perk you are being given an oppurtunity to choose 1 of 3 skills related to the Perk chosen! (0) Arcane Missile (0) Power Word: Pain (0) Flash

So what to pick now... Doesn't seem like I get to know what they do beforehand in this case. Well Arcane Missile is pretty typical, I bet it shoots some kinda magic bolt or something. Power Word: Pain could be anything, most likely some sorta attack or curse though. Hm, and Flash is probably Illusion magic, or a speed enhancement of some kind. Right!, Jim had made up his mind.

He willed it, Power Word: Pain!

Skill Power Word: Pain Aquired

A dull thudding slammed into Jim's head, his hands shooting up to grip it tightly.

"Picked something huh? Mine made my whole damn body tingle and itch, still hasn't quite gone away to be honest.", Danny mentioned. He was now holding what looked to be a small metal T-ball bat, and was poised and staring at the cellar doors. The thudding at them had now developed into full blown pounding.

Power Word: Pain (First skill of type bonus tip: Power Word skills are a rare type of high mana cost, high reward skills, use them wisely and they can turn the battle of a skirmish; use them poorly, and they can cost you your life. They have a higher mana cost than most skills as a trade off of only needing to speak a single word to activate them, as well as only needing a target to be within the casters senses, and be able to hear the caster.) Power Word: Pain causes an enemy to be wracked with overwhelming pain, to the point of causing bodily harm. Power Word: Pain is a skill that acts based on a contest of the caster's Intelligence, and the targets wisdom.

"Alright Dan, I think I'm ready.", Jim said through gritted teeth, the aching in his head still rebounding through his mind. He stood up from the couch and positioned behind Danny. "Let's see what the hell is going on out there."

Danny just peered back and nodded, and walked to the shuddering door. Taking a rooted stance on the steps in front of the doors, Danny sucked in a breath and started a countdown.

"3. 2.... 1!", Danny threw open the bolt lock on the inside of the doors, and heaved his leg up and slammed it into them.

The doors flew open with a puff of dust, and a dim blue light in the skys outside the cellar filtered down into it. There crouching in the doorway to the outside were two, mangy looking people, a man and a woman.

Both Jim and Danny stood still, staring at the two individuals with feral looks in their eyes. One of the two had a massive gash acrossed his chest

Information suddenly blasted into Jims mind.

Just-turned Zombie

Lvl: 1

HP:45/52

Just-turned Zombie

Lvl: 2

HP: 24/60

Immediately Jim's eyes locked on to the lower health enemy, the man, quite a large burly guy at that. Right about that time the smaller, blonde haired woman lunged at Danny with an inhuman gurgling.

"DIE DIE DIE! DIE AND FEED ME!", she screeched as she wrapped around Danny, a pus-like liquid foaming from her mouth.

Danny held her her gnashing face inches from his own with one of his hand around her neck. His other hand was wrapped around his bat, as he beat her frail looking body mercilessly, his fear clearly glinting in his eyes. Small red -1's and -2's floated away from the small woman's body, nearly peaceful in the night's blue light.

The male zombie began to stand and claw its way into the tight walkway down into the cellar, inching toward Danny.

"Holy shit! Uhhhh.", Jim stuttered. "PAIN!", he screamed his focus still on the brute.

Mana: 12.5/27.5, flashed in Jim's vision.

"GREEEEEEEAIIKKKKK", what started as a deep groaning quickly escalated into an unearthly screech, easily surpassing that of the first smaller zombie. The giant man turned zombie began shaking violently, thick viscous blood poured from its wound on its chest as it collapsed to its knees, a large -30 floated from its body, and it slumped to the side, dead.

Good one down, Jim thought as he looked toward Danny and his predicament.

Just-turned Zombie

Lvl: 1

HP:20/52

Danny had done quite a lot of damage rapidly hitting at his zombie with the short bat. He now had her pinned against the wall of the hall leading into the cellar. The zombie's claws were scraping thin red lines across Danny's arms and shoulders.

"Danny aim for her head they're zombies man!", Jim called, desperate because he couldn't help more.

Danny's bat arm came back, high above his head, and he swung it down violently, sinking the bat into her head with a wet *schlunk*.

Danny released his grip on the bat first, and it slowly slipped out of its spot nestled into the now dead zombie's head. He then released his grip on her neck, and she collaped to the stairs he was standing on with a heavy *thump*.

Just after Danny fell back to the other side of the narrow hall, shoving himself as far away from the zombie as he possibly could.

Congratulations on your victory! +25 Life Points

"Shit shit shit shit! WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK MAN! Meteors or asteroids or whatever the hell they were, a video game takes us over, and now we're being attack by zombies! Man I think these people were some of our neighbors man! What the actual fuck...", Danny's last few words came out as a defeated whisper.

"I don't know either man, either way we need to figure something out. If there are gonna be zombies running around sitting in the cellar waiting to be overun isn't a good idea.", Jim muttered staring at the two dead people resting before him on the staircase.

I hope their souls rest easy now, the thought flittered through Jim's mind.