4/9/09

Choose your own adventure: 17

The story so far:
You awoke on an island after a night of binge drinking with friends because of a shitty day. You don't know how you got there, so you go off to find how to get home. After a few adventures you find a village where the natives, a bunch of otters, have all been slain. You follow the trail of whoever killed them and find a secret lair in a cave in the cliff wall. There you sneak around until you find a secret passage, and overhear some leader and his underlings discussing the deaths of the otters, and that there is some spy (aka you) in the cave. You find a passage to a prison where there are three captives, a huddled furry thing, a penguin with a cool hat and a scary sounding thing in a corner. You talk to the penguin, who encourages you to escape with him down a secret escape passage that another prisoner made in the cell next to his. You free a young otter who is too afraid to speak, and a scary jaguar, who guards the exit while you escape. After escaping, the penguin, Pierre, volunteers to bring you and the otter child to Ellestria if you go with him to his ship, last seen due west in Edgeton. While walking west through the forest of fortune, you stumble into some lizardmen on patrol and get into a fight. You manage to disarm one of them, but reinforcements arrive and chase you all to a marsh, which the lizards are afraid to approach. You and Pierre row a canoe you find out towards the island in the middle of the lake, but while doing so a gigantic black lake monster attacks your boat and sends you all flying. You and Pierre manage to swim to the island, but the otter child is nowhere to be found.
You search a small cave you find and inside is the otter child with a mysterious winged creature. The creature seems to know you both and offers you food and answers tomorrow after allowing you to rest underground. But things are not all they seem, as both the otter child and Pierre are a bit creeped out by the winged one.

Now begins Time is a Loop: Episode 17

You try your best to reassure Pierre and the child that the winged one is not going to harm them. You worry your explanations ring hollow in their ears, because you yourself are not sure you believe yourself. But you feel this may be a way to get home and out of this nightmare, or at least to find out more of your situation. So you tell them both to calm down, and that they are making a big to do over nothing.

But you notice that neither of them fall back asleep.
And neither do you for that matter.


Morning comes, and with it a knock on the door. In shuffles a strange, grotesque small creature carrying a large silver plate filled with all sorts of beautiful fruits. The fruits look to be the most exquisite food you have ever seen, but this may be because you are comparing them against the strange creature carrying them. The creature seems to mumble out: "For the honored guests of her lordship," leaving the food by the door and scurrying off.
You look at the food and realize that it has been even longer since you have eaten anything. Pierre and the child stare at the food like it has grown wings and is threatening to eat them, but to you it looks like the most generous present from the lady of the house. You reach down to pick up one of the pears, and as you take a nice juicy bite the otter child jumps at you, whacking the pear from your hand. What the fuck was that for? you ask.
The otter child remains silent, but looks at you frantically.
Pierre also looks at your face, puzzled. "You look different from yesterday," he says. "Thinner, almost like a ghost."
You look at your hands. They actually seem more colored to you, and your nails cleaner than they have been in years.
"I worry about you, sir. I would recommend we try to escape this place. It is doing horrible things to you."
You reply that you do not know what Pierre is talking about, and you go to open the door.
As you open it, you see floating there the winged lady. She seems to smile at you, despite not having a mouth, and beckons for you all to follow her. You walk behind her, and Pierre and the child follow behind. You return to the grove from last night, and take a seat right next to the lady. Pierre and the child remain standing.

"Why do you not sit down? Have some food too," the lady says to you all. Fruits of all shapes and sizes appear around you, and goblets of sweet smelling liquids. You pluck a nice, juicy grape from a vine that grew beside you and pop it into your mouth. You have never tasted anything so sweet. Yet for some reason, you feel more hungry than you did before.
"We prefer to stand, ma'am. In fact, we would prefer to be on our way," Pierre replies.
"No, stay. Keep me company. Tell me of your travels and I will reward you..."
"Another time, perhaps. Come Mike, we need to be on our way."
You argue against Pierre's decision, but your argument comes out all strange and confusing. "Perhaps you shouldn't try to talk with your mouth full, dear," the lady says to you. You realize that your mouth is full of grapes.
You turn to the lady to ask her a question. You know that there is something you need desperately to ask her, but for the life of you, you cannot remember what it is.
"Ma'am, we appreciate your hospitality, but we do need to be going, and we would like to take our friend with us."
"Why such a hurry? Surely I can be of some benefit to your travels..." the lady politely replies.
Just then you remember your question. You stumble out the words: How... how doo eye... more drink plees!
The lady turns to you, her magnificent eyes stare down at you. You feel like you can see the world in her eyes, and never want to stop staring into them, but just as that they turn away.
"Get ahold of yourself Mike! Look at you! Look what she is doing to you!" Pierre yells. You look down at yourself. Your skin is glowing, almost golden, your cudicles, which were once scratchy and bloody from being constantly picked at, now look pristine. You look back up at Pierre. You think that he is the one that looks different. Ugly and covered in feathers and... nothing like the beautiful lady. You pick up another grape. You notice that the two ugly creatures are muttering to themselves, but you really don't care anymore about the conversation. You much rather care about the grapes.

Just then the larger creature jumps forward and throws a spear he was using as a walking stick at the beautiful lady. You cry out in shock as the lady cries out in pain. All around you the fruits and mushroom chairs disappear as the grove turns from a beautiful place to a dark, dank brown hole. The lady screams out and grows... larger. You turn and look as the lovely lady's wings grow sharper and less colorful, and her eyes, which you had thought reflected the seven suns, now look terrifying to you. Pierre yells "run Mike, run!" and for once today you decide to listen to him. You try to stand up, but your legs refuse to support your weight.
"No! He is mine! He has drank of my cup, he has promised his life to me! You cannot take him away, you cannot break the rules!" the winged creature yells.
"I care not for your damn rules," Pierre yells back. He and the otter child grab your arms, help you to your feet and run for the cave entrance. Behind you you hear the creature yelling and screaming about the rules, and the rumbling seems to make the rock walls crumble. As you all run out of the cave, Pierre and the otter carrying you, the cave collapses behind you. Pierre lays you down on the sand, and the sun envelops you.
You look about you and notice your hands. Your healthy fingers now look like a 95 year old's wihtered hands, and your nails are all covered in gangreen. You worry what the rest of you looks like, as you close your eyes and...



...The next thing you remember is waking up in a small hut. The otter child has a bowl of dark, dank broth which it is pouring down your throat. You jerk up, and spew the contents from your mouth.
"Ah, you had us worried there, friend." Pierre says, sitting to your left. "You almost gave in to that witch's spell."
You sit up and look around. You are in a small hut. You feel frail, but alive. You look at your hands. They no longer look aged, but still don't look healthy.
"It will take longer to heal fully. but these past weeks have been good for you. We worried you wouldn't make it at all. You have the child to thank for your recovery. It seems to know a thing or two about medicines."
The child nods.
You ask where we are.
Pierre replies: "After you collapsed, we carried you off and found an abandoned shed further down the island. We styed there for a while, the child tended to you and I built a small raft. We found a small river that looked too small for that black monster to follow us down and we took the raft down it to Ladon Fields. We are currently in a small farming village south-east of Edgeton. The villagers have been kind to us and let us stay here while you healed. We need to be on our way soon though. If you want to wait, one of the villagers is going to Edgeton to sell wheat on Friesday, or we can hike it out ourselves. The road path will take us around the farm, but should be safer. Or we can walk the beach to Edgeton. Opinions? I know you just woke up, but we need to make a plan."

What will you do?
A: Stay til Friesday and travel with the villager to Edgeton along the road.
B: Travel the road with your companions today.
C: Travel the beach to Edgeton.
D: Know better than to stay the night in an evil underground Fairies' lair next time!


(Vote by monday.)

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