Gamebooks (Choose Your Own Adventure Style)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Ultimate Ending:  Treasures of the Forgotten City Alternate Endings Part 15


When DONOVAN YOUNG uses the red "lense" in CHOICE #24 to turn the SAPPHIRE's light purple, "Waif raises an eyebrow".  After acquiring the star jewel, CHOICE #27 in the brick Underhalls follows.  DONOVAN YOUNG and Waif can either turn left on Page 41, or Right on Page 119.


Going Left leads to a room with clay tiles in White, Black, and Red that are "randomly distributed" in "no distinguishable pattern".  These colors in CHOICE #28 are Pages 170, 61, and 113 respectively. 


Stepping on the White tile makes the party fall for a common trap in pulp adventure stories.


"You decide to try a white tile.  Gingerly you press down on it with your foot. . .and nothing happens.  'White's safe', you guess.  'Let's try red'.  You step on a red tile,  Then a black one.  There's no reaction at all.  You can't help but feel silly.  The whole thing is nothing more than a fancy tiled corridor.


'Well that was anti-climactic', you tell Waif.  'Let's go'.  The torchlight bounces gently as the two of you make your way toward the opposite end of the hall.  You're about halfway down when. . .CLICK!


'What was that?' you ask nervously.  'I-I'm not sure', Waif says.  'All I did was step on this white tile and-'.  A grinding noise erupts from your left and right, followed by a loud hissing sound.  The room begins filling with-'SAND!'


Dozens of small doors have opened in the walls on both sides of the hallway.  Sand pours in from all directions.  It piles rapidly all around you.  'Quick, Waif!' you shout.  'Get back to the-'  You can't hear him.  You can't see him.  Everything is swallowed by darkness as Waif and his torch are swept beneath several tons of cool desert sand.  You stumble backward in the blackness, trying to feel your way along the wall until you can no longer move.


Your feet are buried.  Then your knees.  You struggle against the rising sand, hoping for a miracle but realizing this is probably THE END".


This conclusion must have been written to confuse my ending category system.  The false hope at the end sounds like it could be an Inconclusive Ending, but there's no hint as to what the "miracle" could be.  In La Isla de los Dodos, Inconclusive Endings included scenarios like being thrown overboard, yet with the faint possibility of being rescued.


I'll rule this as a Death for now.  Chances are nobody cares about these distinctions anyway.


Results So Far


1 Good Endings

10 Deaths

2 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

1 ULTIMATE ENDING


I checked the free Kindle sample for Rescue from the Valley of Chaos, and it appears to be set in the present because DONOVAN YOUNG has a computer.  As for why Waif uses a torch instead of a flashlight, this line could explain it:  "Your friend's resistance to any sort of higher technology is something that still baffles you".

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Ultimate Ending:  Treasures of the Forgotten City Alternate Endings Part 16


Black and Red are correct answers for the CHOICE #28 tile puzzle.  No riddle from the journal is referenced here, making me wonder if CHOICE #28 is one of the dreaded Let's Make a Deal decisions.


Using the SAPPHIRE in CHOICE #14 continues the alternate route to the ULTIMATE ENDING, instead of merging with the RUBY path that I took.  As much as I might make fun of this book, I can't accuse it of lacking variety.


An alter in the center of the next room has "an opening in the top, and several smaller holes cut symmetrically into all four sides".  Glyphs cover the rest of the altar.  "Two ancient braziers" still function when Waif lights them with his torch.  Waif translates the Atraharsi glyphs, so this isn't in the Murdoch journal.  Atraharsi writers were poets if they could make lines from their riddles rhyme in an unrelated language:


DEATH BY FIRE
WATER, LIFE
YET EARTH IS KEY
TO END YOUR STRIFE



"The ceiling feels suddenly lower. . .or rather, the floor beneath you is grinding upward!"


CHOICE #29 involves putting out the braziers on Page 46, pouring water into the altar on Page 60, or "scooping sand" into the altar's hole on Page 151.  Wonder if "end your strife" is a euphemism for perishing here. . .


Pouring water into the altar does nothing but waste both characters' canteens, and gives another chance at CHOICE #29.  A more sadistic CYOA would have DONOVAN YOUNG and Waif die much later when they're walking through the desert without any water.


Putting out the braziers, as the riddle suggests, is Death.


"When Waif lit the fires, the floor started moving.  Maybe putting them out will stop it.  'Douse the braziers!'  Waif grabs his canteen while you pull yours from your rucksack.  Upending them onto the coals, you put both fires out in no time.  But nothing happens!  The chamber grows dark again.  The ceiling is sickeningly close. . .


Death by Fire. . .


'Quick, light them again!' you cry.  'Light them so we can search the room for another way!'  But it's no use.  The coals are much too wet now.  As you struggle for an answer the room grows smaller.  Darker.  Waif's torch goes out, and that's when you realize this must be THE END".




Results So Far


1 Good Endings

11 Deaths

2 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

1 ULTIMATE ENDING

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Ultimate Ending:  Treasures of the Forgotten City Alternate Endings Part 17


The star jewel branches must converge after each trap after CHOICE #17.  After scooping sand into the altar in CHOICE #29 on the SAPPHIRE route, the floor rises to the ceiling, but there is an opening large enough for the party to fit through.  A glyph says "Water" nearby.  Advance to the CHOICE #19 hexagon room.


Heading right instead of left in CHOICE #27 enters a room that "might have once been a sub-basement or an antechamber, but now it appears empty".  "Three moldy, decrepit sacks are stacked in a rough pile", and CHOICE #30 is either to inspect them on Page 98, or abandon them on Page 152 (i.e. CHOICE #28 tile puzzle).


Waif should leave the moldy sacks where they lie.  If you check them out, they turn out to be spiders' nests! 


"Waif strikes at them with the torch, singing all the hair from his forearms and burning himself in the process.  The spiders themselves go up in waves of flame, like tiny pieces of dried paper".  A Dave Morris gamebook would keep track of Waif's burns with a codeword, but Ultimate Ending is more lenient and these injuries are cosmetic.


CHOICE #31 is to either burn the remaining spiders off of Waif's body on page 83, or set the nest on fire on Page 130.  Taking the latter option like any sensible player reveals "a large pile of red and black tiles.  On top of them is a smaller stack-this one of silver ingots".  This is the clue to the CHOICE #28 tile puzzle, which players will deal with immediately after this decision. 


So the only way to avoid a Let's Make a Deal scenario is to go right in CHOICE #27, investigate the moldy sacks even though the book hints that they're dangerous, then watch as Waif burns his arms.  There's no suggestion to go right in CHOICE #27 for that matter, only Waif saying "The halls run left and right here.  Which one do we take?"  THE ONE RIGHT WAY IS NOT THE LEFT is meant for the (pointless) CHOICE #1, and you have to go left in CHOICE #10 just to reach the SAPPHIRE path.


But most of my viewers are probably here because they want to see DONOVAN YOUNG torment Waif, rather than read discussions of CYOA plot structure.  What happens when you sear him with the torch some more?


"Quickly you sweep up the torch.  Then, trying to hold Waif as still as possible, you use it to get the spiders off his body.  'Oooww!'  The flames are hot, and the spiders go up quickly.  But in the process, Waif is also burned.  His clothes are in tatters, and the skin of his arms and legs are bright red.  As you pull him to the opposite end of the chamber, the spiders stop their advance.


'You okay?'  Waif doesn't answer-his face is too contorted in pain.  He'll be alright eventually, but right now he needs some definite medical attention.  'I have some antibiotics back in my tent', you tell him.  'And salve'.  Your friend nods.  Those two things sound great to him right about now.  Continuing on right now isn't possible, but you're comforted by the fact that you still have one of the star jewels!


If you escape Atraharsis, get back to camp, and make it out of the desert?  You'll be able to save your grand-uncle's estate!  You never did find the Hall of Kings, but that's okay.  You and Waif had an amazing adventure, even if this happens to be THE END".


It's a setup to a Good Ending, until you notice the "if".  That suggests the possibility of dying, turning this into an unusually hopeful Inconclusive Ending.



Results So Far


1 Good Endings

11 Deaths

2 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

2 Inconclusive Endings

1 ULTIMATE ENDING

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Ultimate Ending:  Treasures of the Forgotten City Alternate Endings Part 18


Searching the oasis in CHOICE #4 seems to be a dead end.  DONOVAN YOUNG places his hand in "the statue's outstretched palm", and an amethyst appears in its mouth.  This purple gem does NOT appear to do anything, as "amethyst" is never mentioned again according to a Kindle search.  Advance to CHOICE #6.


We might have a chance of finding the EMERALD path in CHOICE #3 by visiting the palace.  "The cracked walls sport carvings and mosaics, and the floors are set with tiles of jade, jet, and lapis".  Waif hears a moaning sound and "traces a sign of warding in the air with one hand".  CHOICE #32 appears to be a solo quest, as Waif wants nothing to do with the palace.  DONOVAN YOUNG can either search the palace on Page 132, or turn back to the street on Page 55.


The sound that Waif fears is "nothing more than the wind blowing through the large ceramic mask", and DONOVAN YOUNG picks up a "threadbare pouch of silver and gold coins".  This leads back to the Page 55 streets.  No minor treasures count towards the ULTIMATE ENDING, so the coins are pointless.


Waif mentions that "somehow the kings and queens of Atraharsis avoided war", despite the city "being the center of all trade".  This should have made it an obvious target for invaders, but then again historical logic does not apply in this CYOA.


Both characters fall into "a basement of chiseled sandstone", where "a pitch black tunnel yawns to your right".  Rats are about to attack, and CHOICE #33 is whether to walk down the tunnel on Page 110, or listen to Waif and stay still on Page 75.


There is no tunnel.  DONOVAN YOUNG charges "full speed into a wall", or so Waif tells him.  The player character at first sees a "blinding white light" and suspects he's in the afterlife.  After drinking much of his canteen, DONOVAN YOUNG feels "seventy-five percent better.  Maybe eighty".  On to Page 13.


Obeying Waif's order "Don't move!" has the same result in game mechanics, as weird as it sounds.  Waif throws his torch to the player character, who scares the rats away with it.  Waif then pulls out his rope and pulls both characters up through the hole.  He has the rope in the other CHOICE #33 path as well, and even DONOVAN YOUNG doesn't know how Waif found it.  Maybe he bought it from the La Isla de los Dodos Retroactive Supply Store.


This section makes me believe that this first Ultimate Ending book was meant to be an RPG gamebook similar to Heart of Ice or Down Among the Dead Men, but the idea was scrapped during development.  You can find various treasures that don't do anything, like the amethyst and the sack of coins.  These would be used for money in an RPG.  And characters take injuries in CHOICEs that have no consequences.  Think of Waif being singed with his own torch, or DONOVAN YOUNG probably receiving a concussion from running into a wall.  In a Dave Morris book, these injuries would make you lose several Life Points.


Back to CHOICE #34.  Our heroes read another passage from the journal when they see a "crude structure" made of "several large stones fitted carefully together".  This riddle is:


SIX SPOKES AROUND A BURIED WHEEL
THREE GLYPHS OF CERTAIN DOOM
TREAD WISELY DOWN THE PATH OF KINGS
STEP WRONG AND SEAL YOUR TOMB


This is a clue to the CHOICE #19 hexagon room.  Two towers that have toppled over have the Horse and Hawk glyphs, and CHOICE #34 is whether to risk injury from a "dangerously unstable" tower and find the 3rd glyph to avoid at the end.  Toppling the 3rd tower is Page 128, and to "leave well enough alone" is Page 41.


CHOICE #35 after deciding to topple the tower is a "flip two coins!" scenario.  Two HEADS is Page 80, and at least one TAILS is Page 32.  Once again, you don't want HEADS.


"You scream out a warning but it's already too late!  Waif gets only partially out of the way as the tower of stone comes down.  His arms go up defensively as it crashes over him, knocking him to the cobblestone avenue and pinning him to the ground.


You're there in just seconds, kneeling beside him.  He's alive.  Still breathing.  But right now he's unconscious, and there's an enormous gash on his forehead.  You're no physician but your friend is going to need stitches-and lots of them.


'D-Donovan?'  Relief floods over you as Waif wakes up.  He's groggy, woozy.  His eyes have a glossed-over look to them that doesn't feel right.  He probably has some sort of concussion.  'Don't worry', you assure him.  'I'll get you help'.


You wrap his wound and sit him up.  In time, he even stands.  Retracing your steps, you lead Waif slowly back through the city gates and toward the safety of your camp.  But as you look forlornly back over the city of Atraharsis, you begrudgingly realize your adventure has reached THE END".


Another Bad Non-Death Ending where a character is wounded without any treasure to make up for it.


Results So Far


1 Good Endings

11 Deaths

3 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

2 Inconclusive Endings

1 ULTIMATE ENDING

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Ultimate Ending:  Treasures of the Forgotten City Alternate Endings Part 19


Flipping at least one TAILS on the CHOICE #35 coin toss makes DONOVAN YOUNG warn Waif to dive out of the way of the falling tower.  The glyph revealed by taking this risk is the SERPENT, so players will know to avoid it in the CHOICE #19 hexagon room.


Both the successful coin toss in CHOICE #35 and leaving the tower alone in CHOICE #34 lead to CHOICE #36.  What seems to be an "exceptionally tall" human can be seen among stone pillars that "form a ring around a central depression".  Waif says no one from Sullivan's team is as tall as this person.


CHOICE #36 is between sneaking up on the figure on Page 16, or shouting at the figure on Page 101.  DONOVAN YOUNG shouts "Hey!  You!", but Waif laughs as he discovers the figure is a shadow.  Traveling east in CHOICE #37 puts you on the SAPPHIRE path via the CHOICE #24 lens puzzle.  West in CHOICE #37 is an alternate way to the RUBY and CHOICE #10.


Sneaking up on the shadow in CHOICE #36 goes to CHOICE #37, with only some different narration and dialogue.  Waif taunts you with "He's over there.  If you hurry you can still catch him!"


It seems that to reach the EMERALD, the player must find the East Gate starting in CHOICE #2.  Waif suggests going through a "crack in the rubble" on Page 134, and the alternate CHOICE #38 path is to follow the East Gate road.  One hint is that "you swear you detect a hint of movement somewhere high on the parapets".


This time, listening to Waif is a bad idea.  "It appears the tremors have opened a-'  Your friend's sentence is interrupted by a great sucking sound.  The sand and stone shifts all around him, and before you can do anything Waif is sliding downward into what looks to be a giant sinkhole".


Uh oh!  CHOICE #39 is to either grab Waif on Page 141, or not be a dope and "explore other options" on Page 64.  But this is an Alternate Endings post, so I have to take the stupid option once.


"Waif, quick!  Grab my hand!'  Sprinting forward without thinking, you extend your arm.  Your partner reaches back, and then suddenly you're both sliding into the sinkhole!


Sand rushes past you.  It fills your ears, your mouth, your nose. . .Somehow you stay on top, doing your best to avoid the rock and rubble tumbling past to fill the gaping hole.  The sand-slide begins to slow, and then eventually, stops altogether.  You're buried up to your waist in the newly-shifted desert.  It takes you a good minute or two to pull yourself free.


'Waif!  WAIF!'  your voice echoes against the empty horizon.  There's no answer.  Your friend is gone, buried beneath the sands of Atraharsis.  You hardly knew him, but you're overcome with a profound sense of sorrow and loss.  Unwilling to face the city alone, you reluctantly accept that this is THE END".


Just for once, I'd like to see a CYOA where the protagonist thinks "More treasure for ME!" when their companion dies.


It's a Bad Non-Death Ending because Death is specifically for the player character.


Results So Far


1 Good Endings

11 Deaths

4 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

2 Inconclusive Endings

1 ULTIMATE ENDING

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Ultimate Ending:  Treasures of the Forgotten City Alternate Endings Part 20


Waif's rope is not spontaneously generated for CHOICE #33.  DONOVAN YOUNG pulls him to safety with it in CHOICE #39, if you "explore other options".   Go to Page 133 as if you had walked along the East Gate road in CHOICE #38.


CHOICE #40 is another "pick your direction" decision.  North goes to Page 90 and "some sort of movement in the early morning shadows".  West on Page 82 leads to a "hole or well".  And south on Page 167 is an avenue to a "broad, spacious area".  Turns out the East Gate is the way to the Queen's Tower, home of the EMERALD.  DONOVAN YOUNG finally tells the story of how his anonymous grand-uncle got Murdoch's journal in the first place:


"I mean, he bought the map from someone who knew a guy whose second cousin was once married to a member of Murdoch's crew, so. . ."


Or more likely, the grand-uncle stole it.  That's my speculation.  Dark Helmet's relation to Lone Starr is less convoluted than the origin story for Murdoch's journal.


South is the fastest way to an Alternate Ending, so let's do that first.  All the buildings in this area are dilapidated due to frequent tremors, and one of them is about to fall on our heroes.  CHOICE #41 is a 1d6 roll with no warning in advance that the "broad, spacious area" would be dangerous before CHOICE #40.  Rolling 1-2 is Page 63, 3 is Page 137, and 4-6 is Page 115.


Every number except 3 eventually takes the party to Pages 105-107, except DONOVAN YOUNG receives a purely cosmetic sprained/broken leg for 1-2.  "Whatever it is, there's there's not an X-ray machine for hundreds of miles anyway.  We have a few hours before the whole thing swells up, so let's not waste them".


 
Even the writers react in disbelief if you roll a 3 here:


"The rumbling gets louder.  The tremors get more violent.  Waif yells something over the chaos, but you can't hear him.  The giant chunk of stone hurtles downward.  It's coming straight for you!  There's no time to avoid it!


A sunburst of white sparks explodes somewhere in the back of your vision, then everything goes black. . .


Yikes.  Did you really roll a 3?  Tough one.  Are you sure you didn't roll something else?  Well, okay.  Maybe next time you'll do better.  But for now, as premature as it seems, this is going to be THE END".


The last few lines sound like they were stolen from You Say Which Way epilogue text.


Results So Far


1 Good Endings

12 Deaths

4 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

2 Inconclusive Endings

1 ULTIMATE ENDING

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Ultimate Ending:  Treasures of the Forgotten City Alternate Endings Part 21


Upon reaching the bazaar on Page 105 after surviving the CHOICE #41 die roll, Waif mentions that Atraharsi people "valued knowledge above everything else, even gold and gems", providing the answer to the ULTIMATE ENDING.  Our heroes pick up useless items like "an ancient bowl, intact and valuable" and "a polished onyx statue of a woman petting a cat".  This book really needed a score system for other treasures you can find.


But Waif must know in advance that there will be a giant slug in CHOICE #23, so he picks up some rock SALT.  Using that item to turn to Page 52 generates this reaction:  "The salt strikes the slug with exactly the desired reaction.  It recoils in pain, halting its advance and rearing back in confusion".  When Waif throws more SALT, "soon the slug is twisting and writhing on the far side of the cavern".  It's a trade-off:  survive a 1d6 roll in CHOICE #41, and you can have CHOICE #23 for free.  Salting the slug goes to CHOICE #17.




As soon as the party gets the SALT, they have do deal with "red desert ants!"  Mark Trail made a volcano erupt and destroy an island just to prevent invasive fire ants from reaching Hawaii.  What will DONOVAN YOUNG and Waif do?  Fighting the ants is Page 140, and the alternative is a 2d6 roll.  3, 5, 7, or 9 goes to Page 88, and all other numbers land on Page 150.


The single digit odd number die rolls cause another ending where Waif is injured by arthropods.


"Back away', you tell Waif.  'We can't fight them all, there are too many!'  Carefully you retreat, but with every step you take the ants advance that much further forward.  Tons more spill forth from the fissure in the ground.  Soon they're crawling over one another just to get to you.  'Run!'


The ants move in a wave.  You stay ahead of them, but only barely.  Waif, of course, is ahead of you.  Nimbly he steps through Atraharsis's rubble-strewn avenues, leaping and springing over obstacles until suddenly. . .


Waif trips.  He falls hard, knocking the wind out of himself.  You're running so fast you actually pass by him, and by the time you turn around the lower half of his body is already swarming with insects.  'No!'


You pull off your rucksack.  Using it as a club, you beat most of the ants from Waif's body.  There are fewer of them now.  You've traveled a good distance from their hive, and rather than pursue you many have turned around.  You beat the ants until your arm hurts, until finally you've driven away the last of the intruding insects.  But Waif still hasn't recovered.  He's covered in bites from the waist down; dozens of angry red bumps that look agonizingly painful.


Waif writhes around on the ground for what seems like forever.  Eventually you help him to his feet, but his wounds are swelling up fast.  His skin feels hot.  He needs medical attention.  Fortunately you're still close to the city gates.  If you leave now getting Waif help should be easy.  Unfortunately however, this means your adventure in Atraharsis has reached THE END".


Which is more painful for Waif?  Red ant bites and rucksack bludgeoning, or spider bites and torch burns?


Results So Far


1 Good Endings

12 Deaths

5 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

2 Inconclusive Endings

1 ULTIMATE ENDING

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Ultimate Ending:  Treasures of the Forgotten City Alternate Endings Part 22


Moving west in either CHOICE #40 or #43 gives you the chance to send your love down this well:  "A ring of beautiful gray stones is cut into a raised circular pattern, while four larger keystones are inscribed with symbols to represent the points of a compass rose.  The well shaft itself is smooth and featureless.  It leads down into a darkness so thick, not even the morning sunlight can penetrate to the bottom".


DONOVAN YOUNG wants to make a wish by throwing a quarter in there, but Waif is uneasy about this.  Making a wish in CHOICE #44 is Page 17, while being "spooked" by Waif and refusing is Page 33.


Instead of good luck, what you get for throwing a quarter in the well is a clue.  (It would have been nice if it allowed you to cheat one die roll or coin flip. . .)  With the help of Waif's torch, you see "an owl eating a snake eating a rodent" in symbols.  Ignoring the well also goes to CHOICE #45, except without the clue.


A mausoleum is close to the road, and "is decorated with beautiful columns and cornices".  CHOICE #45 is to investigate it on Page 86.  "If you're pretty sure Waif would faint if you did, skip it and:" either travel along the avenue on Page 43, or visit a side road to the right on Page 97.


Besides pictures of old Atraharsis, some "hieroglyphs" say BEWARE OF FALSE KINGS when translated.  You'd think Atraharsis would prefer cuneiform.  Unfortunately, DONOVAN YOUNG is as destructive to his surroundings as the comic strip character Mark Trail.  As soon as he leans on a wall, "one entire side of the mausoleum caves outward". 


DONOVAN YOUNG's damage to the mausoleum is funnier when compared to a line from the sample of Rescue from the Valley of Chaos:  "John Sullivan was always more of a hack than an archeologist.  The type of man who would destroy a thing of great beauty, driven purely by the curiosity of what's inside".  As if our "heroes" are any different!


Return to CHOICE #45 with the new clue.  BEWARE OF FALSE KINGS could refer to how the CROWN means Death in the hexagon room, but I'm not certain.  This time, let's try the avenue.  It takes the party to a city square near the Queen's Tower.  Waif doesn't like this area and says "this was a place of suffering" after warding with his fingers.  Was it a slave market or something?   


CHOICE #46 is whether to look at some markings on Page 27, or run as fast as possible to the Queen's Tower on Page 91.  One notable glyph can be translated.  It's the constellation Hydra, known as "The Serpent" in Atraharsi.  DONOVAN YOUNG says the "number two and number four stars are missing", which may be used in a puzzle.  The player character jokingly asks if there was anything Atraharsis was not great at, to which Waif replies "Longevity".


Waif translates glyphs near statues of male and female scholars.  At first DONOVAN YOUNG thinks they're "the Sultans, Khans, and many rulers of Atraharsis".  He should have studied his ancient history if he expected khans and sultans in a 4500 year old city!  (Or perhaps the authors as well:  remember the "minarets" in one ending?)


GOLD, JEWELS, ARMIES, LAND-FALSE TENEMENTS OF TRUE POWER
CITIES FALL.  KINGS PERISH.  DYNASTIES CRUMBLE.  LINAGE [SIC] ENDS.
THESE THINGS ARE CONSTRUCTS OF MAN.  ALWAYS FLEETING
ONLY KNOWLEDGE IS FOREVER


CHOICE #47 is at the Queen's Tower itself.  It's described as looking "almost like the queen on a chessboard".  One staircase on Page 147 is stone, while another on Page 71 is "green jade". 


"The grinding beneath your feet alerts you just before Waif's warning.  The jade steps have begun tilting downward!  They disappear into themselves on an angle, turning the entire staircase into a spiral slide!"  It's a viper pit trap, but all the snakes have died long ago.  It reminds me of some Lawrence Watt-Evans short story where the traps in a "dungeon" have decayed, in a sort of parody of RPGs.  No injury or any consequence from the jade staircase, so CHOICE #47 is pointless.  Off to the stone stairs.


CHOICE #48 occurs when the party finds a "puzzle box" with "a smaller object made of delicate green glass" inside.  The options are either a 2d6 roll where ODD is Page 79 and EVEN is page 23, or to put the box in the rucksack and advance on Page 122.


Don't gamble on this decision.  ODD causes this to occur:


"You pull and push on a series of slides and buttons, advancing your way through the puzzle box.  Its glass pieces move beautifully, even after dozens of centuries buried beneath the sands.  You're pretty sure you're getting close when all of a sudden. . .


CLICK!  'That's it!' you cry out in triumph.  'I did it. . .'  But then you look down.  A bright red dot blossoms up from your index finger.  You hold it out curiously, then you see the needle.  The pinprick happened so quickly, the needle so insidiously positioned within the box you never even saw it.


'Why are you bleeding?' Waif asks.  'What's. . .the. . .'  His voice is suddenly slow.  Like he's talking with a mouthful of marbles.  Or maybe it's just that the room is moving.  The entire tower is spinning now, faster and faster until the next thing in your field of vision are the cobbles of the flagstone floor.  'Doooonnooooovaaaannnnn. . .'


Waif must've left the room, because now he seems miles away.  Or maybe, you realize with a growing horror, it's you that's leaving. . .You were so close to the top of the tower.  But you'll never see what's up there, because this is THE END".


Atraharsis's greatest technology must have been preservatives.  How else could a poison needle function for so long?




Results So Far


1 Good Endings

13 Deaths

5 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

2 Inconclusive Endings

1 ULTIMATE ENDING

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Ultimate Ending:  Treasures of the Forgotten City Alternate Endings Part 23


The prize for rolling EVEN in CHOICE #48 is. . ."Inside, resting on a crushed pillow of red velvet, are two snake-sculpted rings of bright yellow gold".  Remember that the only treasures that count in this book are the star jewel and the ULTIMATE ENDING scrolls.  Go to Page 122 and CHOICE #49.


At the tower's peak is a column with "three square holes" guarding the EMERALD.  The right hole is already filled with a silhouette of a rodent, and you have to select which two animal silhouettes go in the left and middle holes.  The options are: crocodile [1], fish [2], bird [3], snake [4], and lion [5].  This puzzle is different from other ULTIMATE ENDING "guess the page".  In CHOICE #49, the left animal's number is the tens column, and the middle number is the ones column.


Making the wish at the CHOICE #44 well reveals the answer:  Page 34.  But if you listened to Waif then and chickened out, there is still a way:  "flip two coins" and send Waif to climb the column.  BOTH HEADS is Page 100, BOTH TAILS is Page 136, and HEADS and TAILS is 169.  BOTH TAILS gets you the EMERALD. 


It's worth looking at the HEADS and TAILS path just to see the results.  Waif fails so dramatically that he causes more archeological devastation than Sullivan ever could:  "From a safe vantage point, you and Waif watch the strange yet beautiful sight of the Queen's Tower collapsing in upon itself.  A wave of harmless dust rolls over you both, and then you're staring at nothing but a large pile of rubble".  It goes to Page 131, but that is for another post.


If you flip BOTH HEADS, it's off with yours:


"I don't know which blocks go where', you say forlornly.  'And I'm afraid of trying the wrong ones.  Knowing the engineers that built this city, who knows what would happen?'  Waif has no choice but to agree.  Together you turn to face the marble column.  You really think you can climb that thing?


'Guess we'll find out', Waif says.  He starts up it, and at first things seem okay.  Waif's fingers find cracks you can't even see with your own eyes.  His feet find tiny toeholds.  Slowly but surely, he makes his way upward.  But then, for seemingly no reason, he stops.  'Hang on. . .' Waif says.  His voice seems shaky.


'What is it?'  'Is the column moving?'  You look down.  Sure enough, the entire column is rotating.  Waif is being pulled away from you, clockwise, with the grinding of stone on stone.  Abruptly the cylinder lurches downward.  Sinks another ten or fifteen feet.  'Jump!' you tell him.  'Get down!  Now!'  BOOM!


Something deep inside the tower shifts.  Or maybe it collapses.  There's a hollow, rumbling sound followed by what seems like it could be rushing water.  And then. . .Everything falls away.  Waif, the column, the emerald-the whole world is a mass of whirling, falling stone as the entire Queen's Tower comes apart from the bottom up. 


You don't cry out.  You don't even have time.  All you have is one last perfect view of Atraharsis as you cartwheel downward through the morning sky.  For you, as well as for Waif, this is regrettably THE END".


Waif should have jumped often while instantaneously eating food.  If that's good enough for Breath of the Wild, it's good enough for Ultimate Ending.


Results So Far


1 Good Endings

14 Deaths

5 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

2 Inconclusive Endings

1 ULTIMATE ENDING

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Ultimate Ending:  Treasures of the Forgotten City Alternate Endings Part 24


Getting the EMERALD, however you do so in CHOICE #49, moves you to CHOICE #27 as if you got the SAPPHIRE.


If you accidentally destroyed Queen's Tower in CHOICE #49 by flipping HEADS and TAILS, the book is merciful enough to give you a chance at the RUBY starting in CHOICE #11.  Murdoch's journal offers a clue to the pointless CHOICE #16 levers when Waif and DONOVAN YOUNG visit a ruined grove:


GOLD AND RED OR YOU WILL BE DEAD
HEED THESE WORDS AND LIVE INSTEAD



Hurrying through the square in CHOICE #91 is a bad move, since Waif's advice is unreliable.  A fissure at least 10 feet wide requires you to pass a "courage check" by flipping 2 coins in CHOICE #50.  2 HEADS is Page 127, 2 TAILS is Page 39, and HEADS and TAILS is Page 104.


2 HEADS ensures that Waif pulls you up to the other side of the pit, and moves the party to CHOICE #47 on the way to the EMERALD.  HEADS and TAILS is functionally the same, except DONOVAN YOUNG makes a clean jump over the gap.


And 2 TAILS ends thus:


"You mark off a pretty good distance.  Then you take a running start, keep your eye on the gap, and at the very last moment, jump. . .Only you don't jump.  You trip!


You're focusing so much on your footwork that your eyes and body betray each other.  Half a meter before the jump you realize your front foot is going to come down too far forward.  You try to make a last minute adjustment but your heel slips off the edge of the chasm.  Tumbling wildly, you fall backward into the hole!


Waif cries out for you.  The sunlight disappears.  The last thing you remember is a growing darkness as you fall and fall and fall. . .Sorry to say it, but you have reached THE END".


DONOVAN YOUNG falls for the old Super Smash Bros. Brawl mechanics.


Results So Far


1 Good Endings

15 Deaths

5 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

2 Inconclusive Endings

1 ULTIMATE ENDING