You Say Which Way: Dragons Realm Alternate Endings Part 19
The only routes remaining require me to go all the way back to CHOICE #1 and decide to hide in the trees instead of going for the park.
My character decides to duck under a bush and wait out the Thomsons. They try to trick me by saying things like "Yeah, let's go to the bus", even though they're still waiting in the woods. Bart's still there when I crawl out of the bushes, and shouts "Got you!"
A different dragon voice shouts "Help is on its way!" The dragon grabs me and takes me through a world gate. The dragon is "brilliant-blue" and is currently flying. It has a leather strap underneath it, hinting at a rider.
CHOICE #21 is to either trust the dragon and stay still, or be suicidal and try to "wriggle" free. The leather strap is an obvious hint that it's not hostile to humans, so let's pick the 2nd option!
Trying to break free of the dragon's grip is useless. It takes me towards a forest, and chuckles when I'm almost "impaled upon the spike of a dead tree".
The dragon flings me over the river, and I land in a haystack. "Hay is much harder than you thought."
The rider shouts "Good luck!"
I have no idea where I am. A bizarre description of the landscape says "Water chuckles over jagged rocks lining the riverbanks".
CHOICE #22 is to either take a "slimy raft" down the river next to a sign saying "Use at Your Own Risk", or walk along the riverbank. Selecting the latter leads to CHOICE #3 with Master Giddi and Hans, so I'll take the raft trap.
The raft is quite dangerous, and the water soaks all my food. (Including the canned tuna?) I start to fall asleep, only to notice that the raft's going over a waterfall.
CHOICE #23 is to either hold onto the wood and go down the falls, or take a world gate that suddenly appears.
Taking the latter gives us another standard "humbling the bullies" ending.
I go through the world gate and land next to school, still soaking wet. The Thomsons are sneering as usual, but they aren't so tough when the teacher comes.
"That's what they all say!' The teacher glares. 'Look at that backpack. It's ruined.' The teacher takes Bart's backpacks off him and passes it to you. 'I'm sorry they did this. You can have Bart's lunch. run to the bus. You don't want to be late for the picnic.'
Your watch hasn't stopped at all. Time is just different where you've been. 'We didn't do anything! It was a dragon', says Bart. 'I saw it. I swear!'
'Bart Thomson. We've had enough of your bullying. And as for you two. . .', says the teacher leading the Thomson twins away.
You rush for the bus. Bart's backpack is heavy. You open it and discover all the snacks and money that Bart has stolen from other kids. When you give everybody their stuff back, they treat you like a hero. The school picnic is fun, but from that day on, you are careful around water, especially in rivers. You often wonder what would've happened if you hadn't wriggled and tried to get out of the dragon's grasp. Perhaps you would have had a completely different adventure altogether".
The epilogue text suggests it was a bad decision to take the raft and wriggle in the dragon's talons. Not many Good Endings criticize the readers afterwards.
Results So Far
18 Good Endings
2 Deaths
0 Bad Non-Death Endings
0 Neutral Endings
0 Inconclusive Endings
"I wonder what that even looks like, a robot body with six or seven CatClaw daggers sticking out of it and nothing else, and zooming around at crazy agility speed."
You Say Which Way: Dragons Realm Alternate Endings Part 20
Let's commit to the suicide raft in CHOICE #23!
"Clinging onto the wood, you fly down the falls in stinging water, into a deep pool. The force of the water submerges you, turning you over and over until you no longer know which way is up. As your breath starts to give out, you wonder what would have happened if you hadn't struggled with the dragon or if you'd taken the trail along the river.
The wood you were holding flies towards you, hitting you on the head, and everything goes black.
You are never found. Although Bart explains that a dragon was involved, no one ever believes him. But there is a positive ending to this story, because the Thomson twins never bully anyone again".
Finally, some new content! I have to admit I liked the "silver lining" line, even if the humor wasn't intentional.
Results So Far
18 Good Endings
3 Deaths
0 Bad Non-Death Endings
0 Neutral Endings
0 Inconclusive Endings
"I wonder what that even looks like, a robot body with six or seven CatClaw daggers sticking out of it and nothing else, and zooming around at crazy agility speed."
You Say Which Way: Dragons Realm Alternate Endings Part 21
Only a few more decisions left! For this episode, I'll trust the dragon instead of falling down near the raft.
Other blue dragons open portals and grab the Thomsons with their talons. Only blue dragons are carrying people this way, and all are about the age of the player character. Marlies greets us and takes me ot the "imprinting grounds". Please tell me this won't be Breaking Dawn werewolf imprinting!
But these plans are interrupted when Bart tries to struggle out of the dragon's claws, and now he's holding onto a cliff.
"You look down the steep cliff side at the valley far below. If you do nothing, Bart will die. He'll never bother you at school again. You're all here in Dragons Realm, miles away from home. No one will ever know. But your family has taught you to be kind to others, even if they aren't kind to you".
The "leave Bart for dead" ending of CHOICE #24 will be an appropriate finale for this book, so I'll save him this time.
I pull Bart up, with some assistance from Becks and Bax. Marlies and her dragon Liesar join in later.
Bart says "You saved my life. I owe you. We'll never hassle you again".
Marlies compliments me, saying "Quick thinking is just the type of quality dragon riders need". But dragon riders twiddle their thumbs all day, so they don't need any qualities!
My new dragon comes by: "At last, you've come. I've been to the imprinting grounds many times and never met my rider. I'm thrilled you're here. My name is Neronya". I fly with her for a while.
"I'm afraid you'll have to wait. We've been summoned.'
She lands in a grassy clearing near the edge of the lake. A dragon rider with dark curly hair and green eyes, astride a magnificent bronze dragon, much larger than Neronya, blows the horn again. 'That's Hans', says Neronya. 'He trains new riders'.
Dragons drop out of the sky onto the grass. Bax is riding a red, Becks is on a green, and Bart has a purple dragon. They grin and wave at you. Other newly imprinted riders wave too. Everyone knows you, because they saw you save Bart.
'Liesar mind-melded and showed me how you saved that boy. You'll always be my hero too', says Neronya, raising her head proudly. 'You've saved me from being riderless and given me great joy'.
Your heart swells until you think it will burst. This is much better than a school picnic. 'Who is that boy you saved? And the other two?' 'The Thomson twins', you say. 'They used to bully me'.
'Even more noble of you to save him, then', Neronya says in your mind, sounding puzzled. 'What is it?' you ask. 'You called them twins, but there are three of them'. 'Oh yes, they're actually triplets', you say. 'But don't tell them that. They can't count!'
Yet another dragon rider ending, and we still have no idea what they do besides acrobatics.
Results So Far
19 Good Endings
3 Deaths
0 Bad Non-Death Endings
0 Neutral Endings
0 Inconclusive Endings
"I wonder what that even looks like, a robot body with six or seven CatClaw daggers sticking out of it and nothing else, and zooming around at crazy agility speed."
Will the "leave Bart for dead" ending be as grim as the "take Cristina as a hostage and murder Blas" ending of La Prisión?
"You watch him silently. The blue dragon he flew on scrabbles, trying to grab Bart, but rocks obstruct it. It roars. Bart's hands slip: .
I only interfere when Marlies is about to slip too after she grabs Bart. Becks grabs a rope out of a saddlebag and throws it to Bart. When Marlies asks if it's true that I would have let Bart die, I nod my head.
"None of you have shown the maturity needed to overcome your grudges. . .I'm afraid you must all go home. Liesar, create a world gate", says Marlies.
"Their feet pound behind you. You spurt forward. Although you make it to the bus, the school picnic is miserable. The Thomson twins throw your lunch in the river, put beetles in your backpack, and shove you every time no adults are looking. You apologize profusely, but know that Bart is never going to forgive you".
Dragons Realm isn't even going to let me live with the consequences of a cold-blooded decision like that route in La Prisión? Boo! Boo!
I'm glad this one is over. Most of the endings are too similar to each other, apart from the rare Death. And the highest stakes seem to be petty bullying. Give me a few pounds of chocolate, and the Dragons Realm universe will be mine. Those dragon riders will have to WORK for a living under my rule!
Results So Far
19 Good Endings
3 Deaths
1 Bad Non-Death Endings
0 Neutral Endings
0 Inconclusive Endings
"I wonder what that even looks like, a robot body with six or seven CatClaw daggers sticking out of it and nothing else, and zooming around at crazy agility speed."
-NO SCORE. The only ending is victory, so failure is a minor setback at worst.
You Say Which Way: Deadline Delivery
-GOOD ENDING. I saved the under-city from the slave trading Piranha gang by crashing the Rusty Rhino into a concrete column before they could destroy Big Pig's Wall. I'm still a Deadline Delivery courier, but I have enough money to buy almost-new shoes and dinner, and I don't have to pay Big Pig's toll.
La Prisión: Elige Tu Propia Aventura
-GOOD ENDING (possibly the best). I got ingredients for Félix so he can send a message rocket to his friends outside of prison. ARTUS's conspiracy is unraveled, and both of us are set free. It's implied that we retire to a tropical island by finding Félix's gold stash.
Isla de los Dodos
-BAD ENDING. Vijay tricked me into going to a house full of Mauritius mobsters who bound and gagged me. My final fate is unclear, but the line about being a "pawn in a game of mafia chess" isn't promising.
You Say Which Way: Dragons Realm
-GOOD ENDING. I become a dragon rider. Not that such a feat is hard to accomplish in this book, where most of the endings are in your favor. Anyone playing this book should get points for finding a Death instead.
The next gamebook will be You Say Which Way: Creepy House, by D.M. Potter. My only justification is that it's so short it'll be a nice break before the next long story. Dragons Realm takes up the 55-94% portion of my Kindle YSWW collection, while Creepy House only uses the final 6%.
"I wonder what that even looks like, a robot body with six or seven CatClaw daggers sticking out of it and nothing else, and zooming around at crazy agility speed."
(May 9th, 2019, 07:17)Herman Gigglethorpe Wrote: Now that I think about it, the wizards in Dragons Realm don't much apart from setting things on fire.
You wouldn't?
Of course we all want to set things on fire with magic!
The problem is that you have to hug trees for hours while someone shoots arrows at you to even get so much as a spark out of your fingers.
Neither the wizards nor the dragon riders do anything with their skills apart from impressing people. It doesn't seem like they get paid for that either.
If I go to Dragons Realm, I'll hand out candy bars to everyone, get them addicted to chocolate, then start smuggling more through world gates.
As for the Monty Python reference, you'll need to look at one of the worst quotes from Ready Player One, courtesy of Wade Watts: "Over the past six years, I'd watched Holy Grail exactly 157 times. I knew every word by heart".
"I wonder what that even looks like, a robot body with six or seven CatClaw daggers sticking out of it and nothing else, and zooming around at crazy agility speed."
"Your family got a cheap deal on a bigger house, and the day you move in you find out why. Right next door is a creepy old place with ripped drapes and peeling paint. It looks like the set for a horror movie. Your family says it has character, but you think it might have rats. Or worse".
Protagonist's family buys a suspiciously inexpensive house and weird things start to happen? That's the setup for modern horror in general.
I don't appreciate moving away from everyone I know, so my parents got me a cat from the animal shelter as a "bribe". Her name is Ghost.
There's an odd tapping sound on my window, which seems to be a branch wrapped in some wires. My parents yell "Dinner's ready!", but I can't come yet, because Ghost is gone! I see her going through a window into the Creepy House.
"Through tattered drapes you can make out an old-fashioned bed in the room over there. A movement catches your eye and makes you jump, and then you recognize yourself reflected in a long grimy mirror".
CHOICE #1 is to either go to the Creepy House to look for Ghost, or leave the window open and hope the cat returns.
There wouldn't be much of a story if I stayed home!
I get a flashlight and leave my house. The Creepy House has a wooden fence around it, and "an overgrown hedge" means there are loose boards nearby. The fence is so old, even the graffiti is disappearing. The narration suggests I could crawl through, but also says it's better to knock on the door to avoid breaking and entering charges.
I walk up to a rusty iron gate, and see a path leading to a "rickety front porch".
CHOICE #2 is an "Are you sure you want to do this?" scenario. The options are listed as "Turn back" or "Keep going".
Since I'm a horror movie character, let's investigate this possibly-haunted house!
The iron gate shuts behind me, prompting the narration to say "There's no turning back now". A bit odd given what CHOICE #3 will be.
The porch smells like "a pile of rotting leaves", and I can't see my own house. When I knock on the door, I don't hear anyone, not even Ghost. The door opens by itself. CHOICE #3 is to "Turn back" or "Step inside", basically a repeat of the previous decision.
When I pick the latter, the title for this section reads "Keep Going (You're really, really going to go inside that house)". Why would I read a book called "Creepy House" if I don't want to know what lies within?
"I wonder what that even looks like, a robot body with six or seven CatClaw daggers sticking out of it and nothing else, and zooming around at crazy agility speed."
"Drawing a deep breath, you push on toward the house. The very creepy house. The house that creepy things could happen in".
Okay, we get it! It's a Creepy House! Somehow I don't think it'll be the Mystery of Chimney Rock caliber.
When I start hearing "Bump" sounds, my character says "Oh, come on', you think. 'Not when I just thought of bumping. Note to self, don't think of anything worse than bumping". Perhaps the player character is an exile from the Judge Parker comic strip. And that's not a compliment.
"It's gloomy inside. Actual gloom that sucks up the light of the setting sun and makes it vampire-ready. Agh! Why did you just think about vampires? Think about happy bunnies. And lambs. Cute lambs running and bumping. . .oops, bumping".
Who's scared of vampires anymore? Most people want to sleep with them these days.
Eventually, I hear a sound that reads like this on the page:
C
R
E
A
K
The bumping sounds appear to be coming from the hall. CHOICE #4 is to either go there, or climb the stairs.
I need to entertain my readers, so let's charge towards the bumping sounds to maybe get a bad CANONICAL ENDING!
Someone cries for help, who turns out to be "a guy wearing glasses and a striped t-shirt". He warns me not to come in, because "he's fighting off a huge washing machine that is taking up the walk space in a narrow laundry room and squashing against him".
The bespectacled man tries to push the washer back, only for it to go into the spin cycle. (Does that make it move faster if it's haunted?)
With quick thinking, I pull the plug on the washer and stop it. However, the cord "starts to wiggle like a snake towards the outlet". We rush out of the door when the washer turns on again, but it doesn't try to chase us once we're outside the room. Instead, it moves back and pretends to be a normal appliance.
Our man is "Harkness Keptic-ghost shunter". Is there a "skeptic" pun here? He leaves the Creepy House to "get more equipment". CHOICE #5 is to go up the stairs, or return home.
The hand rail feels like it's about to fall off as I'm climbing the stairs. My flashlight lets me see a bathroom that has a "nest in its sink". I call for Ghost, and the cat meows. She is in the bedroom I could see from my house at the beginning. I hear a few "Clink" noises, and see a reflection in the mirror. But not an ordinary reflection, because it's trying to summon me towards the mirror instead of mimicking my motions.
CHOICE #6 is to "Run home!" or "Touch your reflection". It seems like you actively have to try to get a Death in Creepy House, so it'll probably be a sort of perverse victory for the Scoreboard.
"I wonder what that even looks like, a robot body with six or seven CatClaw daggers sticking out of it and nothing else, and zooming around at crazy agility speed."
You Say Which Way: Creepy House Part 3: CANONICAL ENDING
"You can't help reaching out your hand to touch your reflection. But when it makes contact with the mirror, coldness rushes through your body like you've fallen into freezing water.
You stumble forward into a weird room with icy walls. Behind you is the mirror. You look back through the mirror and see the tree and beyond it your own bedroom. Your reflection is in there too. Then Ghost walks in. Your reflection bends to stroke her but Ghost puts up her back up [sic] and hisses.
You bang on the glass, but it's no use. You're trapped. The reflection looks up, sees you inside the mirror, waves, and then walks away. THE END".
Hooray! I got a Bad Ending! Some books make it difficult to lose, so it's more of an achievement when you do so. (e.g. Think of how much effort it takes to get the worst ending in Luigi's Mansion. . .) I didn't just manage to find an ordinary Death, but a Bad Ending where my character is trapped in a mirror for eternity, only to watch as my demonic reflection steals my identity.
The epilogue text says "Come on, you know that wasn't the best decision to make. It could have been worse-you might have been eaten by alligators. Maybe you want to be eaten by alligators? You do? Okay well here's the link then, and a few others too". But the journey's important too! I want to see precisely what series of bad decisions lead to Death by alligator.
Results So Far
0 Good Endings
0 Deaths
1 Bad Non-Death Ending
0 Neutral Endings
0 Inconclusive Endings
"I wonder what that even looks like, a robot body with six or seven CatClaw daggers sticking out of it and nothing else, and zooming around at crazy agility speed."
