Gamebooks (Choose Your Own Adventure Style)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure Journey Under the Sea FINALE


My character doesn't even pretend to be a spy for the Nodoors in the other CHOICE #47 decision: 


"Okay, Ill do it.  I'll join you and spy on the Atlanteans.  Who knows, maybe they aren't as bad as you think.'  The Nodoors are delighted.  They give you a room in a large building where most of them live.  It is gray and forbidding, more like a prison than anything else.  That night when all are asleep, you sit sleepless and realize that you are caught in a trap of your own making.  It comes to you that the Nodoors are from a different planet and are unhappy outcasts.  The Atlanteans want nothing to do with them.  You chose the wrong side".


I knew it!  I knew Atlantis discriminated against them!  Though I suspect this story was a Cold War allegory in the original version.  Picture a potential CIA recruit in the 1970s saying "Who knows, maybe the East Bloc aren't so bad as you think".


"If you don't like this ending, turn to page 107".


R.A. Montgomery uses the gimmick for a second time, but I'll suffer a worse fate here.  An appropriate finale:


"During the night, you are awakened by the sound of voices whispering.  Listening, you realize that a group of Nodoors is planning an escape.  They want to join the Atlanteans.  They believe that life in Atlantis can be better for them.  You join them and listen to the stories of fear and darkness.  They seek light and friendship.  It sounds simple, but nothing is easy.

And on the next page, even though most of the space on 107 is blank. . .

Suddenly the door bursts open.  Three guards armed with special weapons rush in.  They fire the weapons and in a flash of brilliant light you and your companions are vaporized.  THE END".


We're treated to a two page spread illustration of three Nodoor guards shooting laser pistols to the left off-page.  All three are wearing shark head helmets, and one is standing on a large stone cube.  That's what you get for trying to climb the aquatic Berlin Wall.



Final Results


15 Good Endings

8 Deaths

10 Bad Non-Death Endings

8 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings



Unlike the Journey Under the Sea map linked to in the Atlas Obscura article, the fraction of negative outcomes is 3/7 by my standards rather than more than 3/4.  Still risky for our hero, but not as grim as you might expect.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure Journey Under the Sea CHOICE Map


 
CHOICE #1, Page 2
-Canyon on ocean floor, Page 4:  Go to CHOICE #2 (CLEAR)
-Ledge where Seeker is, Page 6-7:  Go to CHOICE #16 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #2, Page 4
-Bubbles on starboard, Page 3:  Go to CHOICE #3 (CLEAR)
-Round grotto on port, Page 8:  Go to CHOICE #24 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #3, Page 3
-Analyze bubbles, Page 9:  Go to CHOICE #4 (CLEAR)
-Depth readings, Page 14:  Go to CHOICE #43 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #4, Page 9
-Drill, Page 21:  Go to CHOICE #5 (CLEAR)
-Collect bubbles to refill air tank, Page 25, 6-7:  Go to CHOICE #16 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #5, Page 21
-Attempt to surface, Page 33:  Go to CHOICE #14 (CLEAR)
-Explore, Page 38:  Go to CHOICE #6 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #6, Page 38
-Have Atlanteans take you back to surface, Page 52:  Go to CHOICE #11 (CLEAR)
-Enter Atlantis, Page 54:  Go to CHOICE #7 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #7, Page 54
-Be injected with serum, Page 71:  Go to CHOICE #8 (CLEAR)
-Refuse serum and become prisoner, Page 72:  BAD ENDING (CLEAR, paralyzed by laser for 23 years and 61 days)
 
CHOICE #8, Page 71
-Work in Atlantis, Page 89:  Go to CHOICE #10 (CLEAR)
-Travel through space and time to alien homeworld, Page 90:  Go to CHOICE #9 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #9, Page 90
-Remain as a human, Page 100:  BAD ENDING (CLEAR, give talks on Earth life for 2 years, become energy being, but you think it’s horror)
-Become an “energy shape”, Page 102:  GOOD ENDING (CLEAR, become time traveling energy being)
 
CHOICE #10, Page 89
-Farmer, Page 101:  GOOD ENDING (CLEAR, grow sea plants, tend fish, have to beware of predators)
-Musician, Page 103:  GOOD ENDING (CLEAR, become greatest musician with electronic instrument)
 
CHOICE #11, Page 52
-Second expedition, Page 74:  Go to CHOICE #12 (CLEAR)
-Retire early, Page 75:  GOOD ENDING (CLEAR, use money for space research)
-BONUS ENDING, Page 75, 106:  GOOD ENDING (CLEAR, about to scuba dive, only for Atlantis to fly above water)
 
CHOICE #12, Page 74
-Shoot panel with laser, Page 92:  DEATH (CLEAR, repeated laser reflections destroy the Seeker)
-Wait to be invited, Page 93:  Go to CHOICE #13 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #13, Page 93
-Follow 3 Atlanteans, Page 104:  NEUTRAL ENDING (CLEAR, can never return because it’s secret marine biology research lab, spent all money on second expedition)
-Refuse to follow Atlanteans, Page 105:  BAD ENDING (CLEAR, prisoner of secret lab, hypnotized)
 
CHOICE #14, Page 33
-Struggle through brown kelp to surface, Page 51:  Go to CHOICE #15 (CLEAR)
-Try to think of a plan, Page 53:  Go to CHOICE #40 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #15, Page 51
-Dive again tomorrow, Page 67, 6-7:  Go to CHOICE #16 (CLEAR)
-Rest for a few days, Page 68:  BAD ENDING (CLEAR, Seeker is lost, Maray’s instruments damaged, expedition runs out of money)
 
CHOICE #16, Page 7
-Hide from giant squid, Page 10:  Go to CHOICE #17 (CLEAR)
-Flee from giant squid, Page 12:  Go to CHOICE #39 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #17, Page 10
-Shoot giant squid with spear gun, Page 17:  Go to CHOICE #18 (CLEAR)
-Rise on platform and get the bends, Page 19:  Go to CHOICE #37 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #18, Page 17
-Quit expedition, Page 31:  NEUTRAL ENDING (CLEAR, while interviewed on TV, Dr. Marcello discovers Atlantis instead)
-Return to sea, Page 32:  Go to CHOICE #19 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #19, Page 32
-Explore ancient Greek ship, Page 47:  Go to CHOICE #20 (CLEAR)
-Return to report existence of Greek ship, Page 48, 50, 8:  Go to CHOICE #24 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #20, Page 47
-Descend into bottomless shaft, Page 63:  Go to CHOICE #21 (CLEAR)
-Return to surface to report new information, Page 66, 31:  NEUTRAL ENDING (CLEAR, Dr. Marcello ending from #18).
 
CHOICE #21, Page 63
-Descend through giant atoms, Page 87:  Go to CHOICE #22 (CLEAR)
-Retreat to surface, Page 88:  NEUTRAL ENDING (CLEAR, instruments and sonar damaged, but know chance to discover Atlantis has ended)
 
CHOICE #22, Page 87
-Try to leave timeless area, Page 94:  DEATH (CLEAR, drown slowly with no hope of rescue)
-Travel in “thought-time-space”, Page 95:  Go to CHOICE #23 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #23, Page 95
-Leave thought travel and go back to Earth, Page 110:  GOOD ENDING? (CLEAR, deindustrial future with overgrown cities)
-Continue thought travel, Page 111:  GOOD ENDING (CLEAR, thought travel forever, enjoy peaceful region of universe)
 
CHOICE #24, Page 8
-Cruise into the grotto with Seeker, Page 13:  Go to CHOICE #34 (CLEAR)
-Laser light, Page 18:  Go to CHOICE #25 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #25, Page 18
-Enter submarine, Page 28-29:  Go to CHOICE #26 (CLEAR)
-Ignore submarine, Page 30:  DEATH (CLEAR, POIsonous sea snake)
 
CHOICE #26, Page 29
-Hurry in to the secret passage, Page 44:  Go to CHOICE #27 (CLEAR)
-Try to get back to Seeker, Page 45:  Go to CHOICE #32 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #27, Page 44
-Search for king, Page 59:  Go to CHOICE #28 (CLEAR)
-Help human Atlanteans escape, Page 60-61:  Go to CHOICE #30 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #28, Page 59
-Work for king as advisor, Page 80:  GOOD ENDING (CLEAR, king is good, become wealthy and solve Atlantis’s food and housing problems)
-Refuse king’s offer, Page 82:  Go to CHOICE #29 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #29, Page 82
-Work with Atlanteans to stop flood, Page 112:  GOOD ENDING (CLEAR, save Atlantis after 72 hours of pumping)
-Escape from Atlantis during the chaos, Page 114:  NEUTRAL ENDING (CLEAR, get back to Maray without trouble)
 
CHOICE #30, Page 61
-Become rebel leader, Page 81:  Go to CHOICE #31 (CLEAR)
-Plan rebellion and later escape, Page 84:  GOOD ENDING (CLEAR, rebels capture king and guards without any harm done, player accepted as Atlantean)
 
CHOICE #31, Page 81
-Let soldiers capture you, Page 116:  BAD ENDING (CLEAR, thrown in prison)
-Run away, Page 117:  GOOD ENDING (CLEAR, shout ‘Help me!!!’ and everyone including the soldiers overthrows the king)
 
CHOICE #32, Page 45
-Ditch Seeker and swim for surface, Page 62:  BAD ENDING (CLEAR, safe, but permanently damaged eyesight)
-Wait on Seeker and hope Maray helps, Page 64:  Go to CHOICE #33 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #33, Page 64
-Try to escape, Page 62:  BAD ENDING (CLEAR, same as Bad Ending for #32)
-Ride whale, Page 83:  NEUTRAL ENDING (CLEAR, rescued by helicopter after floating for a couple of days)
-Don’t know what to do, Page 86:  INCONCLUSIVE ENDING (CLEAR, other submarine pulls you to surface, but you never know if Maray shows up)
 
CHOICE #34, Page 13
-Blow up metal hatch, Page 24:  BAD ENDING (CLEAR, destroying hatch floods Atlantis, people can be seen entering escape hatches)
-Send radio signals through hatch, Page 27:  Go to CHOICE #35 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #35, Page 27
-Enter Atlantis, Page 42:  Go to CHOICE #36 (CLEAR)
-Turn back, Page 43, 6-7:  Go to CHOICE #16 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #36, Page 42
-Gill operation, Page 57:  GOOD ENDING?  (CLEAR, enjoy new life underwater, but some regret about never being able to revisit the land)
-Become a zoo exhibit, Page 58:  BAD ENDING (CLEAR, become a zoo prisoner, horse looks at you with “sorrow and understanding”)
 
CHOICE #37, Page 19
-Dolphins, Page 34:  Go to CHOICE #38 (CLEAR)
-Swim without dolphins, Page 36:  DEATH (CLEAR, eaten by Mola Mola sunfish)
 
CHOICE #38, Page 34
-Quit expedition, Page 49:  NEUTRAL ENDING (CLEAR, taken to US by helicopter, might have another adventure months later)
-Dive again, Page 50, 8:  Go to CHOICE #24 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #39, Page 12
-Propulsion device, Page 20:  BAD ENDING (CLEAR, get bends and can never go underwater again)
-Wait and hope shark swims away, Page 22:  DEATH (CLEAR, eaten by shark)
 
CHOICE #40, Page 53
-Kick like crazy, Page 69:  Go to CHOICE #41 (CLEAR)
-Dive into the vortex of whirlpool, Page 70:  Go to CHOICE #42 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #41, Page 69
-Shoot whirlpool with laser pistol, Page 96:  NEUTRAL ENDING (CLEAR, ride on whale, binoculars on Maray see you)
-Keep struggling, Page 97:  DEATH (CLEAR, escape whirlpool, but drown when helicopter ignores you)
 
CHOICE #42, Page 70
-Return to surface, Page 98:  NEUTRAL ENDING (CLEAR, whirlpool shoots you into air near Maray)
-Explore “strange area”, Page 99, 54:  Go to CHOICE #7 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #43, Page 14
-Descend into center of Earth hole, Page 23:  DEATH (CLEAR, water pressure crushes Seeker)
-Surface, Page 26:  Go to CHOICE #44 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #44, Page 26
-Shoot Seeker’s laser cannon, Page 39:  GOOD ENDING? (CLEAR, Atlanteans disable Seeker, forced to join peaceful and advanced society)
-Assimilate into Atlantis society, Page 40:  Go to CHOICE #45 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #45, Page 40
-Live with Nodoors, Page 55:  Go to CHOICE #47 (CLEAR)
-Plot escape while living with Atlanteans, Page 56:  Go to CHOICE #46 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #46, Page 56
-Atlantis historian, Page 78:  GOOD ENDING (CLEAR, Atlantean farmer in utopia, forget about Seeker)
-Escape from Atlantis, Page 79, 51:  Go to CHOICE #15 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #47, Page 55
-Escape from Nodoors, Page 76:  GOOD ENDING (CLEAR, defect to Atlantis, hope for either escape or a good life)
-“Double agent” for Nodoors, Page 77:  BAD ENDING (CLEAR, wrong side, Nodoors are alien outcasts living in a “gray and forbidding” building)
-BONUS ENDING, Page 77, 107-109:  DEATH (CLEAR, shot by Nodoor guards’ laser pistols)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Mystery of the Maya Part 1


"Your best friend Tom goes missing on assignment in Mexico.  You have to help find him.  Will it require you to take a potion that sends you back in time to the world of the mysterious Mayan Civilization?  Or is Tom still here in the present day?  Can you trust Manuel?  Depending on your choices, YOU may become a great Mayan ruler or a double agent fighting a modern revolution.  The wrong choice could turn you into a human sacrifice on a bloody altar".


We're going to be seeing all these options because I'm one of the few who does 100% playthroughs of these books in text.  If the text asks whether or not to trust someone, the answer is definitely "No".  But since it's an R.A. Montgomery book, he may help you in one ending and kill you in another.  The split between time travel and present day plots reminds me of Dinosaur Canyon's branches of time travel vs. stopping smugglers. 


(If there's one constant in gamebooks, it's petty criminals like smugglers, poachers, and counterfeiters as villains.  Chances are the only reason there weren't illegal whalers in Journey Under the Sea was because it was one of the first.)


Human sacrifice will appease Realms Beyond's bloodlust, so let's go for that ending!


The book begins at night while I'm standing on a pyramid.  Men in green robes "chant and sing", but unlike in Journey Under the Sea I don't magically understand the language.  Tom is tied to the altar, saying "Help me.  Please!" as the Maya priests start to cut his throat.


It's only a dream, and I "lunge" awake from the nightmare, which is something that only happens on TV.  But is it a clairvoyant vision?  Tom hadn't called me for the past three days while he was in Mexico, according to Amanda his assistant.  Tom's goal was to film a TV show on Chichen Itza.  Amanda tells me the Mexican police found "fresh blood" on a sacrificial altar.  Amanda's information is third-hand to me, since she learned this from Manuel the guide.  Don't think a time travel alibi will work in court, even if this were a Televisa telenovela.


Tom's been my friend since kindergarten, so of course I need to rescue him.  (In real life, I've already given several of the R.A. Montgomery books indirectly to a daughter of a friend I knew when I was in kindergarten. . .)  Now I'm flying to Merida in the Yucatán peninsula, and have the sense to read books about the Maya during the trip.  R.A. Montgomery tries to explain Maya history and geography:  Tulum is by the Caribbean, Tikal is in the south, and Chichen Itza and Uxmal are inland.  The Maya civilization is portrayed as a "kingdom", but if I'm correct it was closer to city-states like the Greeks had.


An illustration on Page 4 showing a jaguar standing in front of an overgrown pyramid highlights the Maya cities' disappearance.  Amanda says Manuel often visits Merida University, where many Maya history scholars study.  But Amanda tells me this warning about Manuel:  "Tom suspected he might be the reincarnation of an ancient Mayan shaman".  If a reincarnation of Dracula could be a nice kid, why not Manuel? 


The date given for the Maya civilization collapse is "800 years ago", which seems far too late.  Manuel greets me, and his features suggest he's at least partially Maya himself.  Manuel offers me CHOICE #1, talk to Dr. Lopez, a "leading expert on Mayan sacrifice", on Page 7, or move directly to Chichen Itza on Page 38.  Both options are tempting.  Dr. Lopez may be an "expert" because he's a practitioner of Maya religion along with Manuel.  But going to Chichen Itza would make me the perfect victim since I'll have no idea what I'm doing.


Let's see Dr. Lopez in case Manuel needs an accomplice.  He works on the 4th floor of Merida University, and my character thinks they would be grounded if their room were as cluttered as his.  Maybe they're in high school?  Dr. Lopez has carvings of "snakes, monkeys, jaguars, and fierce-looking half-human, half-animal forms".  Are any of them feathered serpents?


(I've wondered whether the Egyptian goddess Wadjet has any relation to the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl. . .or the Maya god Kukulkan.)


Dr. Lopez tells me Tom is not the only person who's vanished while studying the Maya.  "He was keen to learn so I offered him a special and dangerous approach".  The method?  "A time-travel potion developed by the Maya hundreds and hundreds of years ago".  Okay, there's going to be one ending where the Maya cities had disappeared by being teleported into the future.  Or else I've spent far too much time playing Tokyo Jungle.  


Dr. Lopez is either a crackpot or a poisoner.  Maybe he drugs his victims so they can be sacrificed on a pyramid later.  CHOICE #2 is whether to drink the dubious potion on Page 11, or talk to the Chichen Itza police on Page 38.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Mystery of the Maya Part 2


Manuel and I go to Chichen Itza by bus, and drink the "thick and slimy" potion.  This sends us 1500 years into the past, but we're in Uxmal, not Chichen Itza.  "Women are carrying clay pots that look heavy in their arms, while men in the green robes from your dream walk through the streets".


The Priest Clan comes out of the local temple, which consist of "five men and one woman in gold and red robes, carrying silver spears and wearing bright green feathers in their hair".  Warriors wielding swords and knives appear in the courtyard.  Manuel may not be a reincarnation, but a Maya spy who traveled to the present!  Some of them are bowing to him.  CHOICE #2 is to go with either the Priest Clan on Page 34, or the warriors on Page 40.  Manuel suggests either of them might lead me to Tom.  To be sacrificed, I'll probably need to stay with the priests.


The next illustration shows a priest holding a staff with a skull on the tip.  Another bad omen is that the priests' hair has "a sticky evil-smelling substance", which is blood, or "itza" in Maya.  Manuel explains it's from the victims of sacrifices.  He warns me not to "show fear".  On the pyramid's summit, the priests say I'm going to become one of them, and they may have known me somehow.  Is this an R.A. Montgomery time loop that's acknowledged in the plot?  I can hear screaming from below.  CHOICE #4 is to either become a Maya priest on Page 14, or flee on Page 16.  Cowardice is sure to lead to defeat!


Priests order me to be captured, but Manuel's friend Zama wearing "bright green with yellow beads" insists she's Manuel's friend and that I come with her inside the pyramid.  We climb down through the Temple of Magicians for 15 minutes until we reach a trap door and end up in the jungle.  Manuel and Zama are secret opponents of human sacrifice and the priesthood in this timeline.  Maybe he'll become the Maya equivalent of Ce Acatl Quetzalcoatl?


Zama hides me in a temple to the rain deity Chac in the village of Kabah.  I eat "maize, squash, and hot chili peppers" and see an old Dr. Lopez at dawn.  He claims one of the reasons that the Maya collapsed was human sacrifice, and says I'll be safe in Kabah if we obey him on Page 19.  Or I can risk a journey to the island of Cozumel, where the priests won't each me, on Page 31.  This is CHOICE #5.  But the Priest Clan can still interrupt my journey.


I never make it to Cozumel, but not for the reason you think.  An illustration on Page 30 shows a Maya sailboat being tossed by waves.  Zama and I trek through the jungle, home to many POIsonous snakes and jaguars.  Of course THOSE don't kill me in Mystery of the Maya, even though there was no warning of danger before the sea snake bite in Journey Under the Sea!  The sailboat from a fishing village sinks, and tasting salt water is the cure to the time travel potion.  Next page?  38.  The same as if I had never visited Dr. Lopez in CHOICE #1, or talked to the police in CHOICE #2.  My character has forgotten everything except the mission to save Tom.


CHOICE #6 must therefore be the top left branch on the map on the back.  There are several dotted arrows leading from different decisions to that point.  Interestingly, two of those come from ending squares.  It's a good place to stop for tonight.


EDIT:  No indefinite time loops like in Journey Under the Sea or Lost Jewels of Nabooti.  Once you're on the Page 38 or CHOICE #6 path, you're committed to stay in the present until an ending according to the map.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Mystery of the Maya Part 3


Manuel explains that Chichen Itza is the largest Maya ruin, with a pyramid, an observatory, a "cenote" (water hole), and the "famed and feared ball court".  Manuel says the losers of the Mexican ball game were sacrificed, though I'm not sure whether it was the winners or the losers in real history.  However, Uxmal may be a better place to look than Chichen Itza because it's an older city.  CHOICE #6 is Chichen Itza on Page 46 vs Uxmal on Page 44.


Uxmal is where we went when we time traveled, so let's revisit it in the present.  The Temple of the Magicians is still there, but now I see another building that's called the "Nunnery".  In Spanish, that site is called "Cuadrángulo de las Monjas" in real life, or "Las Monjas" for short.  CHOICE #7 has the option of "get thee to a Nunnery" on Page 52, which is tempting.  (Not a real quote from the book!)  But I'm trying to get sacrificed, so it's off to the Temple of the Magicians on Page 50.


Tourists are gathering around the Temple of the Magicians to take pictures, and yes, there's a man in the illustration wearing a Hawaiian shirt.  He must be competing for the Golden Stereotype Award.  An elderly man wearing a Maya shawl wants to show me a secret cenote, and he tells me that water is scarce in this area, so I'm bound to find something interesting at that source.  Manuel is absent.  CHOICE #8 is whether to follow the old man to the cenote on Page 71, or wait for Manuel on Page 76.  The former sounds like a good way to be pushed down a hole at least.


But the CANONICAL ENDING for this playthrough is. . .Inconclusive?  That's a rare occurrence!


"You have always been an adventurer, so  of course you follow the old man to the secret cenote.  The trail is a faint path through the tangle of bushes, and within fifteen minutes you are completely lost.  'Hey, old man, where is this cenote of yours?'  He turns and smiles at you.  'Here it is'.


But instead of a cenote, you find yourself surrounded by three men.  One of them holds a gun, and the other two have knives.  They do not smile.  'Give us your money'.  You fumble for your wallet.  There are two American ten-dollar bills and 300 Mexican pesos.  You hand them over to the men.  They tie you up with a rough hemp rope, load you onto a donkey, and move off into the jungle.


'We will hold you for ransom.  Your people will pay and pay plenty.  If they don't, you die.  We have another hostage, you will keep him company.'  You hope that your family will be able to come up with the ransom money.  You also hope that the other hostage is Tom.  THE END". 


Have we entered another CYOA book?  One of the last installments from the original series is named "Hostage"!  I was right to be suspicious of the old man, who probably bought his Maya shawl at a Halloween costume store.  A realistic scenario, but we wanted gore!  We don't even get to see my character riding a donkey, since there's no picture.



Results So Far


0 Good Endings

0 Deaths

0 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Mystery of the Maya Alternate Endings Part 1


The old kidnapper doesn't try to attack when I ignore him in CHOICE #8.  Instead, I find a note wrapped around a stone at my feet.  This is the entire note:


"RETURN TO THE NUNNERY.
MEET WITH US IN THE SEVENTH ROOM"


It has a "red handprint" as a seal.  Isn't that the logo of the Lodge (La Logia) in the Argentine soap opera Rebelde Way?  In that show, the Lodge is a society of rich students who wear black hooded cloaks and speak with a voice distortion effect in order to harass and attack the scholarship students (becados).  One of the "becados" is named. . .Manuel.   Mexico aired a remake of Rebelde Way called Rebelde, but I've never seen that version so I don't know if the Lodge exists there.


Manuel thinks the note is a trap.  CHOICE #9 is to listen to his advice and talk to the police on Page 78, or ignore him and confront the Lodge on Page 81.


"The red handprint is ominous.  What can it mean?  You enter the seventh room in the Nunnery building.  Although it is dark inside, you see a face.  It is luminous, and glows with a soft, yellowish light.  A person clothed in silver with golden armbands stands in the middle of the room. 


'You and three others have been chosen to journey to far space.  Uxmal is our earth base.  Join us if you have the courage.  The earth as we know it will no longer be safe'.


You listen in amazement to all that he says.  It sounds like the prediction made by Mayan priests hundreds and hundreds of years ago.  It is scary, because maybe they were right.  Tom suddenly appears, and it is clear he has already been to space and back.  'Come with us', he tells you.  'It is time'.  You decide to go with them.  THE END".


The Mayan calendar as interpreted by Roland Emmerich disaster movies is right.  Or those magazines sold at the grocery store checkout that have a flying saucer hovering over a step pyramid.  My Argentine soap opera fanfic scenario is more creative.  The illustration shows the handprint seal.  This will be a Good Ending because the criterion is "Is it positive for the protagonist?" rather than "Is it good for Earth?"



Results So Far


1 Good Endings

0 Deaths

0 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Mystery of the Maya Alternate Endings Part 2


When we give the alien note to the cops in CHOICE #9, they summon their captain in a helicopter, who says the red handprint is a symbol of "revolutionaries".  Those are probably not the PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional), the governing party of Mexico at the time of Mystery of the Maya's original release.  He asks if I know an American named Tom.  You'd think he'd at least mention Tom's last name for clarification!


CHOICE #10 is whether to work with the police on Page 98, or whether "you just want to get out of this mess of the 'red hand" on Page 99.  Manuel does have a way to escape, but it's not what you'd hope for.


"You start to run but soon you are surrounded by angry policemen.  Manuel comes up to you and whispers in your ear.  'If you take this time potion now, you'll get out of this mess.  Here'.


He hands you a small bottle and you drink it.  The police are amazed because one moment you are there and the next you are gone.  'What happened?  Wh-wh-where did the prisoner go?'  It's too late.  You are back in the past.  They will never find you.  But how will you ever return to the present?  THE END".


Better drink some salt water!    No indication as to whether our hero ever finds out about this, so it's uncertain he'll survive the Maya civilization without Manuel's guidance.  It'll be in the Inconclusive Ending column.  No illustration.


Results So Far


1 Good Endings

0 Deaths

0 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

2 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Mystery of the Maya Alternate Endings Part 3


The police interrogate me for a while after  CHOICE #10, but tire themselves out.  The captain finishes smoking his "evil-smelling cigarette" and asks me to become a "double agent".  Unlike Atlanteans, Mexicans know their espionage terms.  They need me to join the revolutionaries to end their rebellion.  My character replies "But how can I do it?  They'll find out that I'm working for you and they'll kill me".  The captain says Tom agreed to a similar request and notes that the risk is part of the job.


The two places to begin the mission are the revolutionary headquarters of Merida where Tom may have been on Page 114, or Cancun the "hotbed of revolutionaries" on Page 115.  If you think you get to relax on the beach in Mystery of the Maya, you're wrong.


"Cancun is like a giant amusement park-crowded, noisy, filled with tourists.  You don't know where to begin looking for Tom or for the Red Hand gang.  Your only lead is the head bellman at the ritziest hotel on the strip.  That night you contact him.  Big mistake!  You vanish into the angry sea!  THE END".


The next day, the Mexican authorities make the Red Hand gang "disappear" for disruption of the flow of gringo dinero lana tourists.  Or at least that's what would happen in a different book.  Cancun seems like one of the worst possible cities in Mexico to start a revolt because of all the security used to defend the clueless spring break visitors.


The illustration shows the handprint on a shabby brick wall.


Results So Far


1 Good Endings

1 Deaths

0 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

2 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Mystery of the Maya Alternate Endings Part 4


While on the bus to Merida after CHOICE #11, it appears everyone on the bus is staring at me, as if they know I'm a double agent for the cops.  "You get a creepy feeling up and down your spine".  Julio of the local jewelry shop is a "contact for the Red Hand gang".  There's a twist, since my character thinks the Red Hand is a "fine group of people" because they promise to deliver farmland to the poor.  Perhaps they're Zapatistas, even though the narration never mentions that name.


CHOICE #12 is the "pick a faction" decision:  Red Hand gang on Page 120, or Mexican police on Page 121.  The Red Hand option is described as a "triple agent", and the narration is suspicious:  "So far you have only heard talk, you have seen no proof of their dedication to the poor".  Both paths end immediately afterwards, so let's see the Red Hand side first.  Neither faction gets an illustration.


"You started out in search of Tom, but now you are a member of the revolutionary Red Hand gang.  You and your group do not use violence to reach your goals.  You don't kidnap people; you don't hijack planes; you don't blow up buildings.  Instead, you talk with the people.  You encourage them to demand elections, to demand land reform.


You teach them about Mexican law and how to use it.  You give them hope and belief.  But the work is dangerous.  There are people who want to stop the Red Hand at any cost.  Your life is in constant danger.  But you are committed to your work as a revolutionary.  THE END".


The Red Hand members are pacifist in this ending, contrary to CHOICE #11 where they throw you into the Caribbean in one of the largest tourist destinations in Mexico.  This "Red Hand vs police" branch seems like it should have had its own book with a consistent story, but it's a throwaway set of endings in Mystery of the Maya.


Results So Far


2 Good Endings

1 Deaths

0 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

2 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Mystery of the Maya Alternate Endings Part 5


Tom isn't in the "peaceful Red Hand" timeline, but he reappears in the "informant for the cops" timeline.  The player character's relationship with him has turned for the worse since kindergarten:


"You have heard of revolutionaries before, and you don't believe this group is really interested in the people.  You suspect they keep the money they collect at the meetings.  When you refuse to go on a mission chosen for you, they suddenly turn on you.


'You are a spy!  You are our enemy'.  They tie you up.  The ropes bite into your wrists.  Blood dampens the hemp.  After two days, when your bones ache and your body wants to cry out for help, they come to you.  'You are too dangerous to let go.  We have held a meeting.  We are sorry, but you must die.'


To your amazement Tom appears with the leader.  'This one is no threat.  I'll be responsible'.  You are freed and Tom says, 'Leave.  And don't come back.  THE END".


It's a Neutral Ending because you're safe, but Tom refuses to return, so you might as well have stayed home instead of drinking amnesia-inducing time travel potions.



Results So Far


2 Good Endings

1 Deaths

0 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

2 Inconclusive Endings