Pathfinders: Egging You On

The creature peers at you in silence as you begin to move your hand toward the nest; then, as your fingers pass the rim, explodes in what seems to be an alarm or a warning, wings partially extended, head bobbing, eyestalks waving, scales puffed out away from its body, the once-pleasant chirruping sound now harsher and higher. Hunger outweighing sympathy, you remain unmoved by the display, and redirect your gaze into the nest, targeting the largest of the eggs there, while concentrating on keeping a tight grip on your rather precarious perch. The alarm call is repeating faster, now...louder, too...much louder...and as your fingers curl around the first egg, you notice that the sound is no longer directional, but seems to be coming from all around you, and there is another sound behind it, a rustling, like storm winds blowing leaves. You retrieve your prize and glance up at the enraged creature, realizing with a start that there are dozens, perhaps hundreds of similar creatures who have taken up the alarm call and come to the aid of the aggrieved parent, and they are covering all the branches within reach. More can be heard approaching from all sides. You are surrounded.

Do you:

Try to flee?

Replace the egg in the nest?

Break the egg into your mouth? Blog one

Attempt to scare off the creatures?

Drop the egg?



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This post is part of Porky's Fantasy Blogwalk, a collaborative cross-blog Choose Your Own Adventure narrative, as well as a part of the April A-Z Blogging Challenge. If you have an idea for what comes before, write it, post it on your blog, and link to this post in one of your action options. If you have an idea for what happens next with one or more of the options (or if you have an idea for what happens with another action not yet listed) write it up and leave the link in the comments here. I will add the link to the appropriate option. The main adventure begins here.

Pathfinders: B is for Bold...or is it for Bottomless?

The call of that tunnel is too strong.

Cautiously, your heart beating in your throat, you grasp the edge of the hole, slide a foot down, ready to spring back at once should anything seem amiss. You feel the cool firmness of the earth under your hands, steadying you, and your toe touches a pipe. The pipe holds beneath light pressure, and, emboldened, you ease more weight onto it. You can feel a low, steady vibration, like the hum of distant machinery, transmitted through the pipe, but the pipe itself stays fast.

The vibration is oddly comforting, and you begin to relax. All your weight on the pipe now, you bring your other foot down, feel your footing still solid on the rounded surface of the pipe. You release the breath you hadn't realized you were holding. Sure of yourself now, you reach out for a handhold on pipe that juts out just below the edge of the hole, grasp it, and gingerly begin climbing down, maneuvering around and through the maze of pipes, edging closer and closer to the tunnel, struggling not to look into the dizzying void. The vibration in the pipes grows stronger, and your hands and feet begin to tingle and go a little numb. Is it from the vibration, or something else?

The pipes feel moist and slick now under your hands, getting hard to hold on to. Sweat? Oil? The tunnel seems closer now than the top of the hole, and you resolve to make quickly for its relative safety. You release your grip on the pipes to wipe one hand on your clothes, the other hand sliding on the slickness now, but still keeping a tenuous grasp, and you realize that your movements seem slow and heavy, like moving through water. As you shift your weight to take hold of the next pipe, you catch a glimpse of the star-filled void, and dizzied by the view, feel yourself sliding forward. You grab for the pipes to steady yourself, but your arms and legs fail to respond in time, and your fingers just brush the edge of the pipe as they swing past. Your feet slip off the edge of the pipe and the jolt pulls your other hand free from the pipes.

You are falling toward the void, into the stars, banging against the pipes as you struggle in vain to reach them. You abruptly stop, your body slamming against an invisible barrier. The impact leaves you dazed, your nose bleeding...do you burn from the impact, or from the barrier itself? Amazed, relieved, but terrified, disoriented, gazing into the impossible starry void, you push frantically against the barrier, manage to raise yourself up, and feel a sickening sensation of vertigo. You collapse, trying to fight back nausea, and you realize with horror that the barrier is softening, has ceased to hold you up, and that you are slowly, inexorably, sinking into it. The burning, prickling sensation increases as the field begins to close over you.

Do you:

Call for help? Blog 1

Struggle against the field?

Close your eyes and accept your fate?




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This post is part of Porky's Fantasy Blogwalk, a collaborative cross-blog Choose Your Own Adventure narrative. If you have an idea for what comes before, write it, post it on your blog, and link to this post in one of your action options. If you have an idea for what happens next with one or more of the options (or if you have an idea for what happens with another action not yet listed) write it up and leave the link in the comments here. I will add the link to the appropriate option. The main adventure begins here.

Pathfinders: What's cooking? (Porky's Fantasy Blogwalk)

The door flies open, revealing an athletic, dark-haired woman in a flour-dusted red, white, and blue apron wielding a wooden spoon in one hand and a large chef's knife in the other. The tiara and heavy bracelets she wears, encrusted with what appear to be spatters of flour and molasses, are oddly out of place with the rest of her garb, which seems more suited to humble housewife than princess or noble. The kitchen behind her is cluttered with innumerable dishes in various stages of completion. The mat lies rumpled on the floor beside her, twitching and growling, seeming to advance and then retreat at irregular intervals. She looks you up and down imperiously. From beneath arched brows, she asks, as if talking to an errant child, "Well, what are you waiting for? Come in. You're late."

Do you:

Follow her inside?

Try to explain that you are not who she is expecting?

Attack?

Flee back down the corridor?


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This post is part of Porky's Fantasy Blogwalk, a collaborative cross-blog Choose Your Own Adventure narrative. If you have an idea for what comes before, write it, post it on your blog, and link to this post in one of your action options. If you have an idea for what happens next with one or more of the options (or if you have an idea for what happens with another action not yet listed) write it up and leave the link in the comments here. I will add the link to the appropriate option. Be sure to check out some of the other paths.

Pathfinders: The Pause That Refreshes. (Porky's Fantasy Blogwalk)

Your path brings you back to the quiet spot high in the tree where you first felt so rejuvenated. The leaves emit the same gentle, soothing light which felt so healing before. Your aching muscles and your weary mind respond with relief again, perhaps even more quickly this time. As a sense of peace and contentment pervades you, you feel like you are coming home.

Do you:

Stay awhile?

Return to the base? Blog one

Leap from the tree?

Explore further? Blog one


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This post is part of Porky's Fantasy Blogwalk, a collaborative cross-blog Choose Your Own Adventure narrative. If you have an idea for what comes before, write it, post it on your blog, and link to this post in one of your action options. If you have an idea for what happens next with one or more of the options (or if you have an idea for what happens with another action not yet listed) write it up and leave the link in the comments here. I will add the link to the appropriate option. Be sure to check out some of the other paths.

Pathfinders: Out On A Limb ( Porky's Fantasy Blogwalk)

Refreshed now, you feel the urge to explore the tree further. Everywhere you turn, your senses are soothed and delighted. The softly luminescent leaves release a sweet, spicy scent that is both calming and invigorating. The bark on the younger limbs here is smooth without being slippery, and you are able to move easily through the broad canopy of the tree, almost without thinking. The sense of belonging and well-being that you began to feel earlier is deepening, and it seems you can hardly imagine wanting to be anywhere else. As you follow intricate, interlacing natural paths through the immense span of the branches, drinking in the beauty of the foliage, immersing yourself in the half-seen patterns all around you, you notice small clusters of soft, silvery berries scattered here and there among the leaves. You can't quite tell whether they are growing from the tree itself or from the numerous small vines that trail along the branches here. You are suddenly aware that it has been hours since you have eaten.

Do you:

Keep exploring?

Sample the berries?Blog one

Look for a bird's nest in hopes of finding some eggs? Blog One

Return to the area where you rested before? Blog One

Go down the tree? Blog One

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This post is part of Porky's Fantasy Blogwalk, a collaborative cross-blog Choose Your Own Adventure narrative. If you have an idea for what comes before, write it, post it on your blog, and link to this post in one of your action options. If you have an idea for what happens next with one or more of the options (or if you have an idea for what happens with another action not yet listed) write it up and leave the link in the comments here. I will add the link to the appropriate option. Be sure to check out some of the other paths.

Pathfinders: The Hole Thing (Porky's Fantasy Blogwalk )

As you climb over and between the roots of the tree, you find yourself descending into what appears to be a natural opening in the earth, and notice that it gradually widens out, slowly showing signs of being worked. Moving down the tunnel, which has widened to about 6 1/2 feet high by about 4 feet wide, you begin to notice buttresses and braces supporting the roof every few feet, then, further in, brickwork on the walls, and finally flagstones on the floors. A faint smell of warm apples and cinnamon wafts through the tunnel. It intensifies as you continue forward, until you reach an iron-bound oaken door which bars your way. There is a brightly-colored rectangular mat lying on the floor in front of it. You can hear a voice coming from the other side of the door, muttering in sing-song repetition: "Apples or prunes? Apples or prunes? More importantly, how many spoons?"

Do you:

Knock on the door?

Try the handle? Blog one

Kick the door in?

Stand and listen?

Retreat back down the tunnel? Blog one

Look under the mat? Blog one


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This post is part of Porky's Fantasy Blogwalk, a collaborative cross-blog Choose Your Own Adventure narrative. If you have an idea for what comes before, write it, post it on your blog, and link to this post in one of your action options. If you have an idea for what happens next with one or more of the options (or if you have an idea for what happens with another action not yet listed) write it up and leave the link in the comments here. I will add the link to the appropriate option. Be sure to check out some of the other paths.