Gamebooks (Choose Your Own Adventure Style)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

You Say Which Way:  In the Magician's House Finale. . .Not Quite Yet.


Going through the secret door instead of the portable hole in CHOICE #1 or #2 gives me a new item:  a jar of sunshine.  The suit of armor was holding it.  I check the tapestry beside the door before entering, and it only shows a forest with a tower.  The narration notes it's oddly mundane compared to the other decorations in the Magician's house.


Now that I'm in the dusty dark room, I open the jar:  "You take out the jar and unscrew the lid a tiny bit.  Soft yellow light swirls out like smoke.  As the light spreads you can see more and more of the passage".


This leads to CHOICE #7:  Go to the Magician's drawing room, or continue down the passage?


Investigating the Magician's drawing room reveals him to be a narcissist.  Then again, what do you expect from wizards?  "The paintings are all of the Magician.  The one closest to the door shows him performing in a theatre.  He is dressed in purple robes and a pointy hat and is making a great glass orb float in the air.  The next painting shows the Magician sawing a long box in half-there is a person's head at one end and their feet at the other.  Another painting shows the Magician making potions and in another he wears shiny armor and stands next to a dragon."


But there's another quirk of the Magician:  I can never remember what he looks like when I'm not looking at either him or a painting of him.  With the help of the sunlight jar, I find a room with a heavy woven basket inside.  When I pick it up, a POIsonous snake appears!


This isn't technically an ending, because I can still take the other CHOICE #7 path.  But I may put this part in bold because it's worth quoting.  And it's the finale post, so I have to give the Peanut Gallery something.


"The snake in the basket is fast.  Before you blink it has sunk its fangs into your wrist and then disappeared back into the basket.  You replace the lid as a cold heaviness spreads up your arm.  You watch as your hand and arm turn to stone as the poison spreads further.  Before you can rush to the door, your whole body becomes heavy and everything slows down.  Staring across the room you see another picture of the Magician.  He has a flute and he is charming a snake out of a basket, the same basket that is on the table, the same snake that bit you.  The Magician's eyes seem to be laughing.


Sometime later, you hear people coming into the room.  Being a statue, you can't turn to see who is there and the voices seem muffled.  The snake's bite has dulled your senses.  Eventually the gardeners arrive and tip you up into a wheel barrow.  They move you outside by the topiary and fountains.  You watch the moon getting full and then turning into a small crescent again.  Some nights strange creatures come into the Magician's garden.  If you ever change back you'd like to find out more about them.  From time to time the red frog comes and sits beside you.


You finally come back to life during a lightning storm.  Wet and cold, you head back indoors and gingerly head back to your room in the turret.  Maybe someone else will have moved in?  To your relief it still looks like your room.  In the morning you are incredibly hungry and vow to yourself NOT to get distracted on the way to breakfast in the future.  At breakfast everyone greets you like a long lost friend and asks what it was like to be turned to stone.


After breakfast you go out to see where you had been standing in the garden and see that your footprints are still clearly visible on the ground.  You must have been standing there for months".


This Magician may be Dumbledore in his Chamber of Secrets incarnation.  Dumbledore keeps his school open with a snake that petrifies people at large.  The Magician leaves a petrifying snake under a random basket in his drawing room.  Imagine being turned to stone and still conscious if you have to clean his room.  This book led me to believe that this wizard may be an exception to the "Never trust any sorcerer in a Choose Your Own Adventure" rule at first, but now we know the Magician is as bad as any other.


And going down the secret passage directs me to the "herbs or armor polishing" CHOICE.  No new content.  This book is done.  Not many CHOICEs, and what few endings we have are based on a writer I have a personal grudge against.  Not even any Deaths or Bad Non-Death Endings for a sense of danger.  Will Pirate Island be better?  And will dolphins stalk me in yet another Choose Your Own Adventure?


Results So Far


4 Good Endings

0 Deaths

0 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings


EDIT:  There's more to the book because a bad link took me to the wrong page.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

You Say Which Way:  In the Magician's House More Alternate Endings?


A link in one of the CHOICEs sent me to the wrong page!  The 22 Minutos:  Tibicenas references are suddenly more apt than I had hoped.


The secret passage leads behind a blackboard in Miss Spurlock's classroom.  Whenever a picture is drawn on it, people write around it, but it disappears eventually. 


When I go further, I see a painting of Medusa with a peephole.  This room has a bed that may have roots, and "a girl is thumping the pillows" on it.  She has a "green velvet dress" and "her long black hair is arranged in raven ringlets".  She's reading a book and looks "despondent", so I release more sunshine from my jar to learn more about the room.  CHOICE #8 is to either continue through the passageway without getting a new ending, or opening the door and talking to the girl.


She's intrigued by the frog and wonders if it's enchanted.  She asks if I've kissed it because "they do that in stories you know".  Neither of us want to try it.  Her name is Devorah, and she tells me to beware of Baba Yaga.  My character has never heard of Baba Yaga.  (My out-of-character exposure to her comes from a Mystery Science Theater 3000 movie where she's called the "hunchback fairy" for some reason.)  Devorah explains "She torments the country".  Since this is a forest instead of London, I explain that I may not be from this place. 


Devorah's father, the King, once tried to oppose Baba Yaga, but she ended up getting locked in the tower after arriving in her chicken feet house.  Devorah made the door I went through by stealing a small amount of Baba Yaga's magic.  She does this by taking her hair when she climbs through the tower.  This whole sequence in the book is Rapunzel without mentioning the name.  She can't enter the Magician's house through the door because the spell isn't strong enough.


CHOICE #9 is to either look for help in the Magician's house, or return to Devorah's tower.


Going for help leads to this ending.


"You watch Devorah run back to her prison.  There must be something you can do.  You don't think the hole in the ground will help.  You need to find the Magician or someone else who knows magic.  You look behind another tapestry and find a door which leads you to a balcony.  There is a clanking beside you and you turn to see the suit of armor now standing to attention at the start of an ornate flight of stairs.  You know these stairs very well.  If you run down the middle you'll take twice as long to get down them as it would if you skip down the sides.  There is a party in the middle of the stairs-or the house is keeping the memory of one.  If you go down the centre all you'll do is end up saying 'excuse me' and 'pardon me' and 'it's just down the hall' to a host of tittering ladies and mustachioed men and avoiding waiters carrying trays with precariously balanced glasses.


You want to go down fast.  You leap down the stairs hugging the wall and hear banging and crashing in a nearby room but you can't spare time to investigate.  It can't be Devorah because she can't get through.  At last you see the kitchen door.  You burst through and find most of hte household sitting eating their breakfast.  The Magician is sitting there too making short work of a plate of sausages and other good breakfast fare.  The cook, Mrs. Noogles, starts to tell you off for being so late.  It's your job to help.  At the same time you are blurting your story to everyone and repeating the message that there is a girl trapped in a tower by a witch.


'Interesting', says the Magician.  'Appalling', says Mrs. Noogles.  One of the garden boys hesitantly asks whether Devorah is good looking.  You scowl at him and yell in frustration:  "I need some help here!'  There is silence after you yell and then you hear a croaking from a pot cupboard.  Mrs. Noogles opens the cupboard door and out squeezes the red frog.  Everyone stares.  It is now the size of a large dog.  It also seems to be giving off heat and belching.  The smell is not pleasant.  The frog looks at you and then hops to the garden door.  It looks up at the door knob expectantly.  You start to let it out when the Magician calls out 'Wait!'  He crosses over and takes a good look at the frog.  He opens its mouth and peers in.  It doesn't smell good.


The Magician announces the frog has recently eaten something or someone particularly malevolent.  'Was the frog with you at this tree tower?'  You nod yes.  'Well I suspect your new friend won't be having any more trouble from her witch.  This frog is attracted to bad and it's had a bellyful today.'  The Magician turns to the cheeky gardener.  'You'd better fetch a shovel.  What goes in must come out and we'll need a pit digging for this lot.  Still, it might be just the thing to start a nice crop of rhubarb.'


The Magician lets the frog outside and together you head back to the tapestry where you found the passage.  There is no door anymore and the tapestry has changed.  You look at the new scene depicted on the fabric.  Between the forest's trees is a road.  A group of riders is heading off down its path.  All but one of the riders wears armor.  She has long raven hair, and has half turned back on her horse and waves at you.  It is Devorah.  She is going home".


Our hitherto useless red frog companion finally becomes the hero by pooping out Baba Yaga.


Results So Far


5 Good Endings

0 Deaths

0 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

You Say Which Way:  In the Magician's House Finale For Real This Time


Our final ending is similar to the other Baba Yaga scenario.  Or at least she's defeated in the same way.


The sunshine jar runs out about now.  I hear Baba Yaga saying "That's right, my pretty, keep quiet and let me listen to your heart, beating fast like a trapped little bird.  Two trapped birds.  Mmmmm, someone smells delicious.  It seems you've found yourself some taste company."


Instead of re-entering the Magician's house, we're now trapped in the forest due to Baba Yaga's magic.  The frog is growing and shining.  I throw the empty sunshine jar at Baba Yaga because "maybe something good will have an impact on a creature that seems all evil".  A bit of a stretch.  Baba Yaga says "Let's get the oven stoked", and she brings her chicken leg hut.


"Crebbit!'  The frog makes the first sound you have ever heard from it.  It is now the size of a lion.  It jumps between you and the house as if to say 'Don't try it'.  The witch laughs and then several things happen at once.  She raises her hands to throw a spell and the frog opens its mouth.  She opens her own mouth but nothing comes out because the frog's long tongue has shot out and wrapped around her, and she is being dragged into its mouth.  There is a gulp from the frog and then its stomach glows an especially bright red like a furnace.  You imagine you can hear the witch screaming but you aren't sure because there is suddenly so much more noise.


The witch's house is disintegrating and four normal-looking chickens are suddenly freed from the spell that has made them carry her home.  They head off into the night squawking and flying about erratically into the forest.  The tower, Devorah's prison, begins to creak and change too.  The witch's magic is fading rapidly.  The picture of Medusa, which Devorah made into a door, lands near you with a thud.  It is propped against the trunk of what was once the tower but now is a very tall, but ordinary looking tree.  Light is now coming from the sky and you can see the forest around you.


Devorah walks toward the painting.  After meeting the witch, the picture of Medusa with snakes for hair doesn't seem too bad.  You catch yourself thinking she might have been a lonely person if everyone she met turned to stone.  Devorah tries the door, luckily it is still working.  'Quick!  You had better return before the magic is gone', she says.  You try to convince her to come with you but she shakes her head and points up the dirt road.  There in the distance, you see horses and riders approaching.  Devorah waves to them.


'It's my father's men-they will take me home.  This place has been hidden to them by magic but now they've found me.'  The riders carry banners and wear old-fashioned chainmail and leather helms.  Large dogs run alongside the horses.  You are glad they are apparently friends of hers.  Devorah throws her arms around you in a hug and then pushes you through the painting door with the red frog following.  It shuts with a clang and you know it will never open again.  You start to fumble your way along in the passage.  There is a loud plopping sound and then you see a slight red glow ahead at your feet.  The red frog is still glowing and it helps you find a door.


You fall out of the passage and crash into the suit of armor which crashes to the floor of the kitchen.  Most of the Magician's staff are at the large kitchen table having a meal.  Mrs. Noogles, the cook, gets up and tells you that you can clean up that suit of armor as soon as you've had something to eat.  Then she notices the red frog.  It is the size of a very large dog.


'What have you been feeding that frog?'  You reflect that in a normal house people might have been asking where you have been all this time, but this is the Magician's house and people know bizarre things happen.  You bet your weird morning was one of the oddest though.  The red frog hops over to the door to the garden and looks up at the door knob.  You open the door and watch it hop off toward the water fountain.  You wonder if you will find it back in your tower tomorrow.


Mrs. Noogles calls you to the table and you realize you are famished.  You sit down and listen to the others talking.  The Magician looks over to you and smiles and you grin back".


My playthrough is now over, without any more bad links to fool me.  The conclusion is essentially the same as the other Baba Yaga ending, except we get to see the action.  My criticism of the book having no danger to the player character still stands.  "Danger" on Dolphin Island has a similar problem.  At least In the Magician's House has more variety.


There's an Easter Egg section in the volume featuring pre-CHOICE #1 pages of several You Say Which Ways, most of which I've covered in the thread, and others I haven't, such as Island of Giants and Volcano of Fire.


The next playthrough will be Pirate Island, the last in this 4 You Say Which Way volume.


Final Results


6 Good Endings

0 Deaths

0 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Pirate Island will probably begin tomorrow night.  But this post is not about that.  Tonight I found out that repeat offender DM Potter wrote a book called "Writing Interactive Fiction".  I probably won't buy it, but I checked out the free Kindle sample section.


One paragraph stands out in particular.  Sound familiar?


"Before I wrote any interactive fiction, I read a lot of it.  I mapped and color-coded each book.  I looked at how long each section of text was.  I thought about the different sorts of choices I was given.  I came up with an indicator for how satisfied I was with each story track".

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

You Say Which Way:  Pirate Island Part 1


"Your family is on holiday at a lush tropical island resort in the Caribbean.  But you're not in the mood to sit around the pool with the others, you want to go exploring.  You have heard that pirate treasure has been found in these parts and you are keen to find some too.  You put a few supplies into your daypack, fill your drinking bottle with water, grab your mask and snorkel, and head towards the beach."


This opening sounds suspiciously like "Danger" on Dolphin Island, except in the Caribbean Sea instead of the South Pacific.  Complete with treasure hunt.


I have four hours before my family expects me to return.  CHOICE #1 is to either go right to the lighthouse, or left to the rocks and old fortress.


The old fortress is described like this:  "Stone walls rise vertically out of the cliffs almost as if they grew there.  Only the crude joints in the massive stones used to construct the fortress walls give any hint to them being manmade.  The tower at one end of the fortress is still standing, although its roof has long gone.  Along one wall, three ancient cannon point out to sea.  These cannon once protected the fort and the village from pirate raiders that used to sail these seas many years ago."


After taking out my sunglasses from my "daypack", I pass by some tidal pools with starfish, sea urchins, and hermit crabs.  Weren't tidal pools also in "Danger" on Dolphin Island?  Is "daypack" New Zealandese?  I don't think I've ever seen that word before I started reading these You Say Which Ways.


A "fist sized rock" falls from above and lands 20 yards ahead of me.  Despite the danger, I notice an "unusual looking cave" that is well-lit and has gold doubloons nearby.  CHOICE #2 is to either investigate the cave and probably get a bonkus of the conkus from falling boulders, or look for another way to get to the old fortress.


I don't want a Death for my CANONICAL ENDING, so I take the safer option of hopping between rocks while staying near the tide pools.  A nearby cairn has a compass drawn on it, and its arrow is pointing to the jungle.  I follow the arrow and see a road covered in seashells.  My character probably lives in a city, because the narration compares the seashells to painting "the leading edges of concrete steps so they can see where to go at night".


What was once a gate is now only "charred timbers".  The fortress looks as if it had been destroyed during a battle, since more of it is burned besides the gate.  The cannon are still there, but their carriages are deteriorating.  All the cannon are pointing to a small island, unusually for a fortress meant to protect against pirates.


A statue of a saint with arms outstretched is near the turret.  I hug it because a clue in a cave earlier said "embrace the saint".  Nothing seems to happen, but I look at the island and suspect the treasure might be there.  CHOICE #3 is to either go to the island, or continue to look for clues in the fortress ruins.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

You Say Which Way:  Pirate Island Part 2


More investigating leads to a underground passage in the fortress after CHOICE #3.  "A narrow slit in the seaward wall provides you with just enough light to see that you are in a hollowed out chamber below the courtyard, held up with massive stone columns.  More iron baskets are attached to the walls, along with a series of iron rings linked together with rusted chains.  You shiver when you realize this must have been where the Spanish held their captives."


I climb an old rusty gate to get to a narrow ledge.  "What you see nearly makes you fall, because lying on the ledge is a skeleton."  Come on!  When I read the awful Francis Lathom Gothic novel Astonishment!!!, a scene with a room filled top to bottom with skulls made me try to calculate how many were needed instead of frightening me.  This player character can't handle one skeleton?


This skeleton has no clothes, which the narration suggests is odd because if the victim died here, then the corpse should have had rags at least.  But the author didn't account for the possibility of the island being a 16th century nudist colony.   Anyway, the narration suggests that the skeleton was planted here to scare people away.


A window points to the small island, just like everything else in Pirate Island.  CHOICE #4 is to either go back to the resort and take a boat to the island, or ignore Blair Polly's feeble railroading attempts and visit the underground chamber.


But derailing the Blair Polly train is hazardous.


"There is very little light as you head down the next flight of steps into the underground chamber.  Your hand touches the cool stone of the wall as you descend step by step; more feeling your way than seeing.  Dark is closing in on you and the walls are damp with moisture.  It smells musty down here, like dirt and pee and dead animals.  When you reach the bottom of the staircase, you can barely see your hand in front of your face.  The ground under your feet is slippery and sloping steeply off into the darkness.


You are beginning to think this was a bad idea when you hear screeching above your head and you realize that what you smell are bats.  And if bats are hanging on the ceiling, it means the slipperiness under your feet is most likely bat droppings.  You turn to go back up, but in the process you slip onto one knee.  You don't want to put your hand down in the bat poo so you try to get up without using your hands.


As you lurch to your feet you lose your balance and twist around, both feet slip out from under you and you fall backwards.  You reach out to steady yourself, but there is nothing to hold on to.  Your shoulder hits the ground with a thud and you find yourself sliding further down the slope.  The further you slide, the steeper the floor becomes, until it is so steep you couldn't get to your feet even if you wanted to.  After sliding for ages, you smack hard into a stone wall at the bottom of the ramp.


You are wet, bruised, and covered in muck.  A faint light shines back at the top of the slope but the slime covered ramp is impossible for you to climb no matter how hard you try.  You are stuck in the bowels of the fortress.  With luck someone will find you before you die of thirst".


My act of hubris results in an Inconclusive CANONICAL ENDING.  Why didn't my character at least bring a cell phone to use as a flashlight?  Earlier today, I heard several people saying that if the power were to go out during a thunderstorm, they would try that.  Maybe my In the Magician's House incarnation could take pity on the Pirate Island counterpart and bring the sunshine jar.


Blair Polly wasted his opportunity to use the word "guano" instead of "poo" for a change.


Results So Far


0 Good Endings

0 Deaths

0 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

You Say Which Way:  Pirate Island Alternate Endings Part 1


Destiny requires me to take a sailboat in CHOICE #3.  Or CHOICE #4.  Either option has the same effect.


"Sailing is something you've enjoyed for quite a few years.  Your local sea scouts group has regular lessons for cadets your age.  You're not the best sailor in your corps but you are quite handy around small boats as long as the wind isn't blowing too hard".


My "dinghy" has a one sail and a short mast.  Blair Polly makes me say "Ahoy ahoy.  Now don't be pooping on the poop deck me hearty." to a "cheeky seagull" that lands on the dinghy.  Cheeky Seagull sounds like the name of an Earthbound enemy rather than a real animal.  Cheeky Seagull gives me an "aye aye skpper look" and poops in the water before flying off.


The player character is nervous about the cannons, although they probably haven't been used in centuries.  I wonder if Blair Polly sails, because there's a significant amount of detail about it for a kid's CYOA. 


CHOICE #5 is to either walk towards a shipwreck, or explore the inland areas.  According to the narration, the beach is 20 paces wide, and the area opposite from the shipwreck has "steep cliffs" with a gully that may help me climb them.


Fortunately for the shipwreck plan, it's low tide.  I see mussel shells and may get them later.  To get past the channels, I have to use "vines hanging from above as handholds".  The shipwreck itself is surprisingly well-preserved after all the storms in the Caribbean.  A wooden mermaid figurehead can be seen.  I have an idea to go snorkeling to find coins, but I also see a wooden ladder in front of a nearby cliff.  CHOICE #6 is between these two options.


I make several dives, and at first see nothing but an orange lobster and red sea urchins.  A pirate's cutless is stuck in a crack in a rock, with green, red, and amber gems on its hilt.  The sword is too clean for it to have been submerged for centuries, with no "barnacles, algae, and other sea life" attached.  When I hold the cutlass up to the sun, it vibrates and makes a "high-pitched ringing" sound.  A spark flies and I get an electric shock from it.  My character's response is to say "That was so random".  To keep the cutlass from shocking me again, I wrap it in my shirt before stuffing it in my pack.


CHOICE # is to either go inland from the beach, or climb the wooden ladder from before. 


The interior of the island has an uphill "natural path" that seems to be a watercourse when storms arrive.  The rocks are various kinds of quartz, and my character's especially interested in rose quartz, so I pick up a few rocks and stuff them in my daypack.  Rubbing together some of these rocks generates light by friction, which is called "triboluminescence".  My character still should have brought a cell phone for lighting if needed.


I find another cairn with an arrow pointing near trees to my right, though it looks like "a far more difficult route to the top of the island than following the watercourse".  Let's defy the arrows like last time and see if I get a Death.


"You have decided to ignore the arrow pointing you up towards the steeper part of the slope and continue along the easier and less steep watercourse that leads up the centre of the valley.  You've been making good time and can't see any reason to change your strategy.  The watercourse is easy to climb apart from when you need to work your way around the occasional large rock blocking your way.


The creatures on the little island don't seem afraid of you as you go along.  Maybe they haven't seen many people before.  One little bird is flitting quite close by, almost following your footsteps.  The bird has a fat body and a tail shaped like a fan.  It nips around with remarkable speed nabbing tasty morsels.  Then you realize the bird is hunting all the insects that you have disturbed.  As you progress further up the path, the ground starts to rise sharply and more big rocks start to block your path, making the climb more difficult.  As you move around one of the boulders in your way a sound further up the hillside attracts your attention.  You stop walking and listen.  The noise is getting closer.


A large cracking sound startles you.  Whatever it is coming down the hill towards you is moving fast.  Could it be an animal of some sort, or is it something else?  You crouch down, dropping to one knee and try to see under the branches blocking your view.  When you see the tumbling boulder, it is too late for you to move out of its way. 


It is coming right at you.  You scream.  In the split second before it hits, you have the sudden realization that the arrow on the cairn was trying to warn you of rock falls!"


If the cairn were trying to warn me of that, you'd think there would be some writing saying "¡Peligro!  Desprendimientos" at least.


Yes, the previous pages mention the large boulders on the watercourse path, so this is a fair Death.  Expect no mercy if you refuse to follow the clues.  I expected the bonkus of the conkus Death to come if I tried to go in the cave in CHOICE #2, but it's here instead. 


There's already more danger in this Blair Polly tropical island story than the entirety of "Danger" on Dolphin Island.  How did the latter make it into the 5 book Best of You Say Which Way collection anyway?  (The others are Deadline Delivery, In the Magician's House, Stranded Starship, and Mystic Portal.)



Results So Far


0 Good Endings

1 Deaths

0 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

You Say Which Way:  Pirate Island Alternate Endings Part 2


Following Blair Polly's arrow cairn in CHOICE #8 rewards me with this narration.


"You crouch down and try to see under the branches.  What is making all that noise?  Then you realize it's a rock slide.  A big rock from higher up has been dislodged and is coming down the hillside along the path of the dry watercourse.  A flash of grey the size of a car zips past you.  The sound of branches breaking and the rumble of smaller rocks being loosened fill the small valley.  HAd you decided to continue up the watercourse, you would have been squashed like a bug".


I notice an orange tree and eat some fruit.  In an older CYOA, this would have resulted in a Death when the fruit is revealed to be poisonous.  But this orange tree was probably planted by pirates to stave off scurvy.  Unlike in other Blair Polly You Say Which Ways, the protagonist here isn't a supertaster.  "When you bite into it, juice runs down your chin and the orange flavor bursts into your mouth.  This has got to be the tastiest orange you've ever eaten".  No explosions in my mouth this time?


When I'm at the top of the island, I can see the "slight curvature of the earth on the horizon".  A tower that looks like a bit like a tepee is near the edge of the cliff.  It has wood and iron pulleys to lift items from the water below.


I grab onto a rope just in time for an earthquake!  "The edge of the cliff is breaking away."  The rope supports me long enough for a boy named Kai to pull me up.  I tell him "After my close calls today, I think it will be a lot safer exploring with someone else.".  When I tell him about the other dangers I've escaped, he says I need a "minder".  Kai came to the island after seeing me sail there, since he wants some of the treasure too.


CHOICE #9 is to either climb the tepee tower, or take Kai's boat.  I have a suspicion that the former will result in another earthquake as a punishment. . .


But this doesn't happen.  Instead, we get a nice view of the islands, and I explain to Kai how the pulleys work.  Kai says "Wow, that sounds like fun!"  My response is "It could be dangerous". 


CHOICE #10 is to either lower ourselves with the pulleys and ignore the author's warnings, or go with Kai's boat like in CHOICE #9.


Pirate pulleys take us to victory instead.


"When you see what is inside the chest your mouth opens wide too.  You reach in and grab a handful of gold doubloons and hold them out for Kai to see.  'Yippie!' Kai yells.  'But what now?  How do we get it back to the mainland?  It looks heavy'.  You both think for a moment.  'I have an idea', you say.  'Help me get the chest into the basket.  Then we can both pull us up to the top.  Then you get out and go down and get your father's boat and bring it around to this side of the island and wait below while I lower myself and the chest down into your boat'.  Kai grins.  'Aye, aye, captain!'


The chest is pretty heavy, but the two of you manage to slide it out of the cave and down into the basket.  Then the job of pulling the basket back up starts.  The added weight of the chest has made the job harder, but with the two of you it only takes about ten minutes to get back to the top and tie off the rope.  'Right, I'll be back as soon as I can', Kai says as he climbs out.  While he's gone, you sit in the basket and enjoy the view.  After a while the birds forget you are there.  When you hear the steady putt-putt of a motor you look off to your left and see the boat coming around the headland.


You untie the rope and start your way down.  Going down is a lot easier than it was going up.  You are nearly down at water level by the time the boat is below you.  As Kai cuts the engine, he reaches up and grabs the basket to hold the boat in place while you pay out the last of the rope.  The boat sinks a little deeper in the water as it takes the additional weight of the chest.  After getting the chest out of the basket Kai grabs a rope and ties the chest down so it won't move about on the trip back to the village.  Then he turns to you.  'Alright, let's pick up your sailboat and I'll give you a tow back in.  It will be much quicker'.


'Wait.  It might be better for me to take the basket back up and hide it at the top', you say.  'We may not want people to know what we've discovered quite yet.'  Kai nods.  'Okay I'll meet you back on the beach by your sailboat'.  You jump back into the basket and start pulling.  Without the weight of the trunk, you make pretty quick progress.  'See you soon', you yell down as the village boy motors off.  Once you're at the top, you untie the basket and roll it under some bushes.  You pull the rope off the pulleys and hide that too.  Then you head back down the way you came to the beach.


Kai is waiting for you when you arrive.  You tie the bowline from your sailboat onto the back of his boat and jump aboard with him for the ride back to the mainland.  'So what are you going to do with your share of the treasure?' you ask.  'I'm going to get my father his operation to fix his eyes, and then depending how much money is left over, maybe the people of the village can buy the resort from its owners so that they can run it as a business and afford to set up a school for the children.'  'Buying the resort might take a lot of money', you say.


As you sail back, you think about the villagers and the lack of jobs and education compared to how much you and your family have.  'Hey I have an idea', you tell Kai.  'Why don't you take all the treasure to make sure you have enough to buy the resort?'  'But what about your share?'  You lift the lid and take a couple of coins from the top of the pile.  'This will do me.  I just need enough to buy my family a present each.  Oh, there's just one condition'.


'What's that?' Kai asks.  'You have to write me a postcard and keep me up to date, until I can talk my family into coming back for another holiday.'  'If I have anything to do with it, next time, your family's holiday will be free!' Kai says with a big grin.  You put the coins into your pocket.  'Sounds like a good deal to me.'  'Oh, and I want you to have this.'  The boy smiles and lifts the string of shells from around his neck.  'These are cowry shells.  In the old days my people used them instead of money.  I want you to have them.'


You take the necklace and place it around your neck.  'Looks like we've found two sorts of treasure today', you say.  Kai nods his agreement.  'You're right.  Treasure is great, but friendship is the best treasure of all".


BOO!  BOO!  The final line is a cliche from every hackneyed treasure hunt story.  Not even a morality test CHOICE at the end to throw Kai off the cliff to take the treasure chest for myself?


The cowry shells reminded me of Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart, where the Igbo villages use them as currency.


Results So Far


1 Good Endings

1 Deaths

0 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

You Say Which Way:  Pirate Island Alternate Endings Part 3


Taking Kai's boat in CHOICE #9 or #10 results in a lesser version of the first Good Ending, complete with some recycled dialogue.  It's not nearly as long as the pulley ending, though.  I left out the beginning of that one and decided to quote only the later portions.


"You and Kai have taken the safe option.  You have decided to go back down to the beach and take his father's boat out exploring around the island a little more.  The two of you have lots of fun diving at different spots around the little island, but unfortunately you don't find any more treasure.  This is a real shame because the boy and his family could really do with the money that finding the treasure would bring.  The boy explains how his father is unable to fish because of the cataracts on his eyes, and the only thing the family has to live on is the fish he can catch, the vegetables his mother grows, and a few dollars his aunty makes working at the resort.


'How much would it cost to fix your father's eyes?' you ask him.  'More than we'll ever have', the boy replies.  You think about this as the two of you sail back to the mainland.  Kai's story makes you realize how much you have compared to him.  After all, your family can afford to take overseas holidays to exotic places and eat fancy food and swim in fancy pools.  Kai's family is struggling just to put food on the table.


When you get back to the beach by the resort, you are about to say goodbye to your new friend.  Then you have an idea.  You reach into your pocket and hold out your palm towards the village boy.  In the middle of your hand sits a gold doubloon.  'Here you go.  I found this near your village.  You should take it and use the money for your father's operation.  It only seems fair.'


The boy's eyes light up when he sees the coin.  'But that's gold.  It must be worth. . .'  'Please take it', you insist.  'I only ask one thing in return.'  'Sure', Kai says.  'Anything'.  'Send me a postcard from time to time. . .until I can talk my family into coming here on holiday again at least.'


The boy smiles and lifts the string of shells from around his neck.  'These are cowry shells.  In the old days my people used them instead of money.  I want you to have them.'  You take the necklace and place it around your neck, then drop the coin into the boy's hand.  'Looks like we've both found treasure after all', you say. 


Kai nods his agreement.  'You're right.  Gold is great, but friendship is the best treasure of all".


Speak for yourself, narrator!  My character may be able to go to other countries on a regular basis, but I've never done so.  Maybe I should mug my CYOA characters.


I'm American, so I'm obliged to say that the doubloon wouldn't be enough to pay for the surgery.  Maybe it's cheaper in Caribbean resorts.


Results So Far


2 Good Endings

1 Deaths

0 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

You Say Which Way:  Pirate Island Alternate Endings Part 4


The effects of climbing the pole ladder in CHOICE #7 will be familiar to those who followed the Dinosaur Canyon and Once Upon an Island playthroughs. 


"On the deck of the wrecked ship are a group of men dressed in long black shorts and striped shirts of varying colors.  A few of the men have scarves tied around their heads.  One of the men wears white pants, high black boots and a jacket with tails.  He has a black hat on his head and holds a cutlass like the one you found in his hand.  Many of the men hold tankards in their hands and are drinking and singing".


The narration speculates on whether they're ghosts, and how nobody dresses like that except in "a fancy dress party".  But there's no need to be coy.  I've gone back in time for the purposes of a brief subplot.


The shipwreck isn't as damaged as in the present, and the mast still has a Spanish flag, shortly before being replaced by the skull and crossbones.  The fortress cannon are shooting at us, and the pirates are returning fire.


CHOICE #11 is to either watch the pirates by walking around the island, or stay on the shipwreck and observe them.


Remaining in the line of fire is never a good idea.


"The battle is raging.  The fortress is firing their cannon as quickly as they can reload, but the Spanish are fighting a losing battle.  One of the pirates' shots hits the top of the turret on one end of the fortress wall, taking off its roof.  Others smack into the various walls breaching them.


The fortress is beginning to crumble from the vicious attack.  One of the Spanish ships is sinking.  Its mast is broken and men are swimming for shore.  When the fire reaches the powder kegs, the ship explodes sending flames and splintered timbers shooting off in every direction.  The burning timbers hiss as they sink below the water.


You see more puffs of smoke from the fortress wall.  The Spanish are still fighting despite the odds being against them.  It has taken the men in the fortress a while to figure out where the pirate ships are shooting from.  Some of the Spanish turn their guns on the pirates looting the ship on the rocks just below your position.  The old guns aren't very accurate, and unfortunately as the gunners on the fort take one of their last shots, you are in the wrong place at the wrong time.


You never see the cannonball coming."


This Death may be a more optimistic ending for the Pirate Island universe than it seems at first.  If there is also an ending where you survive the pirate battle, it means that time travel is not deterministic, and people aren't slaves to History with a capital H.


When I look at the other path for CHOICE #11, I find that it's another path to CHOICE #9 where I meet Kai.  The way I go back to the present is to hold up the cutlass and then throw it over the cliff.  "The sword is halfway to the water when there is a blinding flash.  When you are able to see again, the pirate ships are gone."



Results So Far


2 Good Endings

2 Deaths

0 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings