Gamebooks (Choose Your Own Adventure Style)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  The Horror Of High Ridge Alternate Endings Part 17


CHOICE #17 is the most hostile part of The Horror Of High Ridge.  Climbing the cliff is as hazardous as climbing Mt. Nabooti, and both of its endings kill you.  It's officially "An R.A. Montgomery Book" on the title page, even if he isn't the author, and situations like this mean the label is earned.


"You decide to leave the rifle where it is, so you don't mention it to Lisa.  The path up the cliff is steep, but after about a half hour you finally reach the top.  You step up out of the shadows into the yellow moonlight flooding the cliff top.  'Hey, move over,' you hear from below.  'You're blocking the way.'  Ricardo and Lisa step up together and stand next to you.


'Uh-oh,' Ricardo says.  Standing in front of you, three old prospectors see shimmering in the moonlight.  Each aims a rifle at you.  Your silent questions about what to do are cut short by the bullets.  THE END"


Ricardo really would win the Worst Companion award if I still held mock awards ceremonies in this thread.  Best Companion would either go to Millie in Planet Of The Dragons for her one book competence, or Dr. Vivaldi for her long career.  If you listen to Ricardo, you're either dead or in a coma.  Even Finnegan from The Tower Of Never There gave you a chance of survival if you jumped off a high floor with him!


The illustration shows three cartoon prospectors with evil stares.  One wears a cowboy hat, one doesn't have a hat, and the third looks like he's also auditioning for the role of wizard with his beard and hat.


Endings So Far


1 Good Endings

7 Deaths

2 Bad Non-Death Endings

4 Neutral Endings

4 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  The Horror Of High Ridge Alternate Endings Part 18


On the side of the road after CHOICE #16, we feel as if a presence is watching us, but we don't see anyone.  Lisa "almost gives you a heart attack" when she touches my character.  As for Ricardo, "being right doesn't appeal as much to him now as it usually does."  CHOICE #18 is whether to continue the lookout as Ricardo says on Page 77, or leave like Lisa wants to on Page 65.


Let's get killed by Ricardo's bad decisions again.  We hide behind a boulder, and I rub dirt on my face so it will be harder to see in the moonlight.  "Nothing!  You report the absence of any Indians."  Ricardo says he sees at least two people, and possibly some on the road.  He's right, as three "figures" are on the road and two are on the cliff.  One seems look at me, and CHOICE #19 is whether to leave on Page 89 or stay on Page 119.  The decision isn't as obvious as it sounds in this post, since there are some lines to make you have doubts:  "You want to leave-urgently-but you wonder if you were really seen.  Maybe leaving will attract too much attention."


Is that advice a trap?


"Let's stay right here.  There's no telling if he really saw me.  Besides, we might make more noise leaving.'  Lisa and Ricardo agree.  You all sit down, wishing you weren't there.  Your heart pounds loudly; your limbs feel like lead.  You listen intently but hear nothing.  After ten minutes, you take another peek.  Still nothing!


'Let's get out of here!'  The others can hear the quaver in your voice.  You all leave as quickly and quietly as ghosts.  You decide you're not coming back here for a long, long time.  THE END"


"Quietly as ghosts"?  All they do in this book is shout and moan!  Besides, High Ridge should be safe eventually, as long as you stay away in years that end in -89 or -39.  There's another knife drawing, but with a different hilt.



Endings So Far


1 Good Endings

7 Deaths

2 Bad Non-Death Endings

5 Neutral Endings

4 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  The Horror Of High Ridge Alternate Endings Part 19


The sheriff returns when we decide to leave our stakeout (sooner) in CHOICE #19.  A mutual game of Grand Theft Auto results in another Neutral Ending.


"Let's go!' Ricardo says.  You nod, and the three of you start silently filing back the way you came.  Nothing happens, even though it seems as if the world is going to come crashing down on you.  When you get back to the slide you are astounded to find the jeep gone.  Lisa discovers a rock with a note on it:


Have taken jeep.
County will reimburse expense.
Sheriff


'What do we do now?' Ricardo wails.  'The sheriff must have gone up to town in our jeep.  Let's take his car,' you say.  'I'm sure it's on the other side of the slide.  We can go to Barton City and send a highway crew up to clear the road.  Besides I'd just as soon get out of here.'


'Same here,' says Lisa.  Ricardo looks relieved too, and you are sure you made the right decision when you read in the newspaper the next day about the disappearance of the sheriff-and the other horrors that happened in High Ridge during the night.  THE END"


I gave a similar conclusion the label of Bad Non-Death Ending because we effectively sent the sheriff to his death by lending him the jeep.  But in this timeline he steals our jeep instead, so we don't cause his demise directly.  Wonder if the sheriff survives in any timeline, because even if we go back with him, we fall off a cliff.



Endings So Far


1 Good Endings

7 Deaths

2 Bad Non-Death Endings

6 Neutral Endings

4 Inconclusive Endings



Only about 7 more endings left.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  The Horror Of High Ridge Alternate Endings Part 20


One more ending for today.  This time it's Lisa that leads us to a bad fate in CHOICE #18 when we leave the road after catching the figure's attention.


'Let's leave,' you whisper.  Ricardo lets out a sigh of relief.  You can see his breath in the cold.  The three of you turn back.  Ricardo is now in the lead.  Before he even takes a step, he peers up for a last look around.  Instantly he stiffens.  You can see his face getting whiter and whiter in the moonlight.  His eyes bulge and his mouth drops open.  Then he faints dead away.  Before you and Lisa can move, two hands reach down and grab you by your collars.  You and Lisa are hauled up by strong arms to face whatever it was Ricardo saw.  THE END"


I can't assume this is a Death, especially since Ricardo fainting implies that the party will be comatose like in the newspaper ending.  Still, we can't know for sure.  It's an unusual Inconclusive Ending in that you know the outcome is bad, but you don't know precisely how.  The illustration shows two pale arms yanking the mouth agape hero and Lisa by the collar.



Endings So Far


1 Good Endings

7 Deaths

2 Bad Non-Death Endings

6 Neutral Endings

5 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  The Horror Of High Ridge Alternate Endings Part 21


The next branch to explore is what happens after we stay in the cabin after CHOICE #12, instead of getting in the jeep and encountering the rockslide.


"I'd say from the spot on the wall and the broken window that even disappearing arrows can kill.'  Thus says Ricardo, and this makes Lisa shudder.  I blow out the kerosene lamp to make it harder for the archer to aim at us, and Ricardo says "Don't forget bullets", anticipating the prospectors.


Lisa shouts at me to not look out the window, but I do it anyway and see a red glow behind the "Shaws' house" which has never been mentioned before.  CHOICE #20 is to leave Lisa behind in the cabin as Ricardo and I  investigate the red glow, or make Lisa come with us on Page 17.  Splitting up the party now would probably cause a Bad Non-Death Ending where Lisa is either the sole survivor, or the victim when the other two survive.


Ricardo convinces Lisa this way:  "Oh, stop it, Ricardo!  Okay, I'll come with you.  But if I die, I'll never speak to you again!"  Even in the situation of a reincarnation where both of you lose your memories between lives?


All three of us "burst into laughter" after we stare at each other for a bit.  My character suggests walking to the "Hubbard place" (L. Ron?  Mother?)  because we can watch from afar without being spotted.  No Hubbard lives there now:  "The Hubbard place is an abandoned, weathered, two-story house you've explored before".  I tell Ricardo and Lisa to avoid "the creaky fourth step".  Is there some other Choose Your Own Adventure in this timeline due to the oddly specific detail. . .or is this the original House Of Danger?


A "prospector vs. Indian" battle ensues, and the former loses to a tomahawk in the chest.  Both ghosts vanish.  Ricardo has this to say about the fight:  "Well, it's not anybody ordinary-I think."  Lisa replies with "Brilliant, Ricardo".  My character breaks up the mutual insults by saying "We've got enough trouble without you two bickering."  Could the Horror Of High Ridge hero deal with Tina Warrior Princess and Wizard Zim from  Dungeon Of Doom, who routinely have worse arguments?


CHOICE #21 is yet another "stay or leave" decision, but this time the jeep isn't involved.  Why?  "It doesn't feel right" is my character's only justification for that.  Page 45 is to leave on foot, and Page 59 is to hide in High Ridge.


A prospector grabs all three of us from behind.  The "strong arms" imply this ending is the same as the previous one I labeled Inconclusive.  "Scream your heart out.  It won't help."  The prospector drags us to the local cemetery.


"There you are tied to stakes in front of a smoldering fire.  A dozen or so Indian braves are also tied up.  Nearby stands a group of prospectors who seem to have just stepped out of a museum exhibit.  They are oblivious to your pleas for mercy.  One of your captors stoops by the fire and picks up a long stick-no!  It's a piece of steel, one end glowing fire-red.  Slowly he advances, holding out the hot iron toward you.  THE END"


This Death is different enough from the others that Paul Granger made a special drawing for it.  A scowling prospector holds the red-hot iron on the right side of the page.  My character is tied to the stake on the left side with mouth agape.  I'm still wondering if he's related to John Kerry.


If this were a standard burning at the stake, I'd make some El Extraño Retorno De Diana Salazar joke about reincarnating with psychic powers powered by yellow colored contacts.


Endings So Far


1 Good Endings

8 Deaths

2 Bad Non-Death Endings

6 Neutral Endings

5 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  The Horror Of High Ridge Alternate Endings Part 22


Electing to remain in town in CHOICE #21 gives us the decision of the library on Page 81, or my cabin on Page 70.  This book certainly could have benefited from fewer endings and more story pages considering how redundant many of the routes are.  The clues for this CHOICE are that we'd have to sneak over to the library, or return home where we've already been shot at.


A picture says that the library was built in 1873, which casts doubt on my idea of the -89 and -39 year cycle.  I have to enter in full moonlight, since the back door is bolted.  "You wonder what a knife in the back feels like."  A player of Charlie Foxtrot And The Galaxy Of Tomorrow could probably tell you.  It seems fatality in that game is "So this is what [CAUSE OF DEATH] feels like!"


Mrs. Grundy threatens me with a gun as before, and she provides an ending which isn't a Death.


"Swiftly your story tumbles out.  When you're done, Mrs. Grundy adds, 'It all seems to fit.  I heard noises around my house.  I didn't see anything and headed next door to Lottie's-Mrs. Howard's house.  The door was open.  She was sitting in her front parlor, and her face was a mask of horror.  She looked dead, but she was only in shock.  I laid her on the floor and covered her with a blanket.  I tried the phone, but it was dead, like mine.  I took her rifle and came here.'


'Does the phone work here?' asks Ricardo.  'No.  Somebody must have cut the wires.'  'Somebody or something,' says Lisa.  'Young lady, there are no such things as ghosts.  There is a perfectly rational explanation for everything.'


'Uh, okay,' says Lisa.  She doesn't sound convinced, and you aren't either.  'The police will be here soon, I'm sure,' says Mrs. Grundy.  'I suggest we wait comfortably in the reading room.'  There's not much you can do.  Mrs. Grundy always gets her way.  You settle down for what you are sure will be a long, cold, scary night.  THE END"


Can you assume that Lisa would mention ghosts, Mrs. Grundy?  Perhaps she was implying that Bigfoot was involved.  Mrs. Grundy doubts her materialist views in another path, but maybe that's because the heroes meet her later in the night than in this ending.  I'll label it an Inconclusive Ending as it's never said that you last until dawn in the last line.



Endings So Far


1 Good Endings

8 Deaths

2 Bad Non-Death Endings

6 Neutral Endings

6 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  The Horror Of High Ridge Alternate Endings Part 23


One more ending for today.  I'll probably finish this book on Saturday.  Let's hide in the cabin in CHOICE #22.  This definitely has better results than the library as it's confirmed that the heroes live another day.


"Let's go back to the house,' you say.  'Okay with me.'  'Me, too.'  Stealthily you creep back down stairs.  Creak!  You almost faint when Lisa steps on the squeaky fourth step.  Nothing happens, though.  No glowing arrows or disappearing prospectors.  You make it back to the house.  Without lighting any lamps, you grab some blankets.  You huddle back-to-back in a circle in the middle of the floor, away from the windows.  Every noise, imagined or real, makes you jump.  The night is long and cold, and it seems endless.


Sunlight on your face wakes you.  It's morning!  You stand up and stretch.  Ricardo and Lisa are still curled up asleep.  You wonder why you slept on the parlor floor.  Then you remember.  The events of last night seem dreamlike-until you glance at the broken window.  You decide to return to the library today; only instead of asking Mrs. Grundy about books to help your search for Great-Uncle Rush's buried fortune, you're going to ask for books on disappearing Indians who shoot disappearing arrows.  THE END"


After looking through the Arthashastra, the Bhagavad Gita, and Lives Of The Jain Elders, our hero failed to find what he was looking for.  Where would "disappearing Indians who shoot disappearing arrows" fit in the Dewey Decimal system?


NOTE:  "Neutral Ending" means that either the adventure might as well not have happened, or that you survive without gain or loss.  Neutral Endings can be happy, as in this case.  



Endings So Far


1 Good Endings

8 Deaths

2 Bad Non-Death Endings

7 Neutral Endings

6 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

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[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  The Horror Of High Ridge Alternate Endings Part 24


When we ditch Lisa in CHOICE #20, Ricardo asks if we are going to check out the red glow on Page 26.  CHOICE #23's other option is to follow the moaning sounds to the tower on Page 36.  The narration is intended to express my character's doubts:  "It might be-who knows?-just a creaky gate and some colored outdoor flashlights."  It never is.  "A hand grabs your shoulder and pulls you roughly into a dark, narrow alley."


Wait, isn't High Ridge a small mountain town?  Why would it even have narrow alleys like a city?


"It's Ricardo!  'What are you doing?  You scared me half to death,' you say.  'Shh!  Keep still.  I was walking behind you, checking things out.  Everything was copacetic.'  You can't help smiling.  'Copacetic' is Ricardo's special word this month; he uses it whenever he can.  'But suddenly, I felt this need to hide.'  He pauses, then violently whispers, 'Shh!  Stay back!'


You slip farther back into the shadowed alley, keeping an eye on the street.  Then you hear faint footsteps.  You see a flicker as someone walks past the alley.  An Indian!  He is followed by three others, all hard to see.  Then follows a procession of what looks like old-time prospectors, tied together and moaning horribly.  You look closer.  Some of the prospectors have arrows protruding from their bodies.  The others have tomahawks buried in their backs.


You glance in terror at Ricardo but cannot see him in the darkness.  You look out onto the street.  Another Indian flies past, with a ghastly grin on his face.  Slung over his shoulder is a decapitated head.  He holds it by its long, dirty hair, while blood from its neck drips down his back.  A low moan escapes your lips as you faint and slump to the dirt of the alley.  THE END"


The word "copacetic" is slang that I'm too young to remember.  A search tells me it would have been dated by the time The Horror Of High Ridge was written, however.  Ricardo only says it in this ending even though it's supposed to be his catchphrase.  The illustration shows a Western cliche version of a Native American with a feather in his hair giving an evil open-mouthed smile at the bottom-right of the page.  He holds a prospector head behind his back. 


When I used to read old Gothic novels, I joked that the characters were an extinct subspecies of human that had weak constitutions.  That was the only way to account for their constant fainting and weak constitutions.  Perhaps the player character is the last Homo Gothicus alive?  


Endings So Far


1 Good Endings

8 Deaths

2 Bad Non-Death Endings

7 Neutral Endings

7 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  The Horror Of High Ridge Alternate Endings Part 25


The moaning seems to change directions after CHOICE #23, since I have a dispute with Ricardo over it.  CHOICE #24 must be the last in the book because there are only two endings left:  follow my intuition on Page 49, or Ricardo's on Page 60.  I'll let my blundering companion get the last word, so let's go in the direction my character believes is the source of the moaning.


A "prospector vs. Indian" battle ensues.  They run around counterclockwise in the park, and each ghost revives shortly after being "killed".  The prospectors are the losing side at first, but their counterattack looks more successful.


"While you watch this scene, an Indian breaks away and-chased by a knife-wielding prospector-runs directly toward you.  You are paralyzed by fear.  The prospector catches up to the Indian just two yards from you and sinks the knife into his back.  The Indian falls, moaning loudly.  His blood sprays in an arc, drenching you and Ricardo.  It burns like fire!  You scream in pain.  Now you and Ricardo are caught in the same deadly game you were watching.  THE END"


I should have saved this ending for last, as it has the most gruesome picture in the book.  You can see the prospector stabbing the victim's arm and the pool of blood oozing out.  The black spots on my character's face must be the splatter.  It's really Paul Granger who salvages this book, not so much Julius Goodman.



Endings So Far


1 Good Endings

9 Deaths

2 Bad Non-Death Endings

7 Neutral Endings

7 Inconclusive Endings