Gamebooks (Choose Your Own Adventure Style)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  The Abominable Snowman Alternate Endings Part 8


In the other CHOICE #11 ending, the player can meet Yeti and bond over their mutual hatred of nice alien robots.  Or at least they were nice in the other timeline. . .


"No, we can't go.  We must finish our expedition.'  You feel fear begin to creep back.  You don't trust this thing.  Suddenly three Movidians turn on their light beams.  Wham!  Carlos is hit with the beam, and he vanishes.  The head Movidian says, 'Earth creature, don't be foolish.  Join us.  You will never regret it.'  You start moving toward the side of the trail.  No fast moves, just slow steps that don't seem to bother these strange creatures.  You keep talking the entire time.


'Tell me more.  I mean, what's it like up on the Planet of the Seas?'  'Oh, it is beautiful.  You will like it.  It is one of the higher realms.  Only successful Earth creatures ever get to go there.'  You ask, 'What do you mean successful Earth creatures?  What makes Carlos and me so successful?'


The Movidian glows a brighter color orange.  You reach down, picking up a fist-sized rock, and, in a sweeping move, hurl it at the glowing blob.  Just at that point several Yeti come running.  They are swinging great clubs.  They slash rapidly in the air next to the Movidians, dodging the light beams.  With a frantic gurgle, followed by a high-speed whoosh, the blobs depart.


Carlos reappears, and, knowing the Yeti are now your allies, the two of you start to learn to communicate with them.  The End".


Do the Yeti have bladed clubs?  It's unusual to use the verb "slash" when referring to a blunt object. . .



Results So Far


7 Good Endings

0 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  The Abominable Snowman Alternate Endings Part 9


In CHOICE #2, I go above the base camp to look for Carlos.  Runal warns me just in time so we can avoid seracs, or moving blocks of ice.  Carlos is playing with his camera behind one serac, and asks "Hey, what are you guys doing here?"  Carlos says he found what looked like Yeti tracks and followed them, only to get lost later.  Snowstorms prevented his radio from sending a message to us.  Runal recognizes the tracks as blue bear footprints, not those of a Yeti.  


We visit the Sherpa guide Sangee Podang Sorba's shop after returning.  While Carlos gets the permits with Runal, I talk to Sangee.  He's an experienced mountain climber who worked with expeditions on Pumori in Japan and Mt. Everest.  CHOICE #12 is to either take him with me, or talk to Carlos first.


Sangee lights 2 incense sticks and starts speaking cryptically.  "You see, as one fragrance merges with the other we do not know the difference between them.  Only when the shorter stick burns out will we know which stick was the fragrance of rose and which was the fragrance of magnolia."  Asking him to explain this parable doesn't work.  "It does not mean anything, it only IS".


CHOICE #13 is whether to think Sangee is crazy and decide not to take him, or try to make sense of his dialogue.


The incense sticks were meant to be a test rather than a koan or anything like that.  When I correctly answer the longer stick is "Kashmiri Rose incense", Sangee bows and says "Namaste, bara sahib.  I am at your command, Master".  Is Sangee really who he says he is?  He talks like a Hindi speaker in a colonial India adventure story rather than the "Sino-Tibetan" Sherpa language.


Sangee offers 2 suggestions for CHOICE #14:  the less-explored Annapurna region, or the famous Everest area.  Annapurna sounds more interesting to me.  Carlos, Sangee, 12 porters, and I set out for a village named Dhumpus.  We eat brown rice, lentils, onions, and garlic while we sit outside our red tents and admire the mountains.  A light on Annapurna flashes repeatedly.  CHOICE #15 is to either believe it's a signal from the Yeti, or another climbing party that may need help.  RA Montgomery probably knew readers would guess these CHOICEs would create alternate timelines based on how the page is worded.


Traveling to the signal would require moving through the valley to an area below a glacier.  Sangee offers to return to Pokhara to send a helicopter to help if it's another climbing party.  The other CHOICE #16 option is to go to help ourselves even though it may be slower.  We complete the mission by advancing forward.


"It takes you most of the night to thread your way down steep, tricky trails to reach the valley floor.  Once there, you start up the immense Annapurna, scrambling over rocks and skirting the glacier.  It is cold, and the night seems long to the three of you.  Several more times you see flickers of light.  Now you are sure you have done the right thing.  Someone needs help.  Near dawn, Carlos says, 'Stop.  I think I see something.'


Before your eyes, you see what you had come for.  Dancing around a large fire are eleven Yeti.  You have stumbled into a Yeti celebration at the end of the monsoons.  You quietly watch, taking pictures and making notes.  You have proved, at last, that the Yeti really exist.  Months later in Paris, France at the International Explorers Conference, you and Carlos are given their highest award for your work.  Success is both exciting and lonely.  Good luck.  The End".


Why do the last 2 sentences imply that this victory is depressing?  Anyway, there is an illustration of Yeti happily dancing around a fire to accompany the ending.


Results So Far


8 Good Endings

0 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  The Abominable Snowman Alternate Endings Part 10


Evidently CHOICE #15 isn't the only CHOICE that determines whether or not you enter a timeline where you see Yeti on Annapurna.  CHOICE #16 alters reality too when I send Sangee back to get help.


But Carlos and I investigate the signal anyway when Carlos says he feels selfish waiting instead of helping directly.  Before beginning the climb, we eat bread and cheese like characters in Victorian novels.


"Soon you are at a vertical wall of rock.  Above it you see the face of the ice.  Carlos drives the spike in; you both rope up and proceed slowly up the rock.  Over the rock, you meet an expanse of firm snow.  But under it lies hard, cold ice.  On with the crampons.  You lead the way, probing carefully with your ice axe to seek out any hidden crevasse.  The climb seems endless, and even though you are only five thousand meters up, the air is thin and breathing is hard.


By mid-morning the sun is like a blast furnace.  It reflects off the ice that surrounds you, and in the thin air the ultraviolet rays burn your skin.  You both put white zinc ointment on your noses and lips.  You had taken a sight bearing when you saw the flashes, but that was at night.  Now, in daylight, it is not easy to be sure just where the flashes came from.  But you have a good sense of direction, so you keep going.


Near noon, you gain a crest, and then you see it.  It's a Pilatus Courier aircraft, one used for mountain flying.  It lies in the snow, crumpled like a forgotten toy.  The tail section is twisted, but the wings are intact.  The engine is buried in the snow.  Reaching the plane, you open the cabin door.  Huddled in the plane are the pilot and two passengers.  One of the passengers is unconscious.  You do what you can for the people; later that day a Royal Nepal Airlines helicopter finds you.  All is well.  It was the right thing to give help in the mountains.  Congratulations for a job well done.  The End".



When I saw the words "Royal Nepal Airlines", I checked the publication date for the slightly-altered Chooseco version.  It's 2006.  Nepal abolished its monarchy 2 years later.  Not relevant to the CYOA, but hey, I was curious enough to look it up.


The last few lines of this conclusion sound like the protagonists are trying to reassure themselves that this is a Good Ending, even if they have their doubts.


Results So Far


9 Good Endings

0 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  The Abominable Snowman Alternate Endings Part 11


When I assume the lights in CHOICE #15 come from "someone playing with a flashlight", I'm quickly proven wrong.  Of course the timeline where I assume it's not a Yeti leads to the CHOICE branch where all the solutions involve Yeti.  You can never figure out RA Montgomery CYOAs. . .


A noise that sounds like "Yeeeeeee Ah, Ah, Ah!" is right outside my tent.  CHOICE #17 is to either take a picture, or try to defend myself with an ice axe.  The latter is a shorter path, and I need to take a break for a bit.


"You raise the ice axe.  The Yeti, with eyes flashing, grabs it from your hands, snaps it as though it were a twig, and hurls it over the cliff.  The Yeti speaks in controlled tones.


'Leave us alone.  Your world has enough.  If we wanted what you have, your cities, your crimes, your wars, we would join you.  But we don't want these things.  Leave us alone.  This is a warning.'


With that, the Yeti leaves.  You stand and look at the fleeting figure.  What will you tell the International Foundation For Research Into Strange Phenomena?  The End".


The illustration for this ending shows an angry Yeti snapping an ice axe in half while glaring at the reader.  If the Yeti wanted to talk rather than fight, why did it make the "Yeeeee Ah, Ah, Ah!" sounds instead of speaking English earlier?


Long before I read this book, I saw this ending on a (no longer updated) blog called Lose Your Own Adventure.  The text is exactly the same in the original version, but the illustration only shows the broken ice axe.


It's an Inconclusive Ending because we don't know how the player character will report their discovery.


Results So Far


9 Good Endings

0 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  The Abominable Snowman Alternate Endings Part 12


Trying to take a picture of the Yeti in CHOICE #17 moves the reader to CHOICE #18 and 2 disappointing endings.  The Yeti is charging directly at me while making noises that sound like growling and gurgling.  I can either run away or flash the camera strobe light to scare the Yeti.


Running away has this result.


"Run!  You run for your life!  You dash for the trees at the edge of the cliff.  Maybe you can hide there.  The Yeti is fast, faster than you ever thought.  Then you are falling, slipping into space over the cliff.  Miraculously, the Yeti reaches out and grabs you, saving you just in time from certain death.  He carries you back to your tent, puts you down gently, and slips off into the night.  The End".


Another case where all signs point to the Yeti attacking, but the CHOICE result is a bait-and-switch.  Might as well flip a coin for some of them in this book.


I'll rate this as a Good Ending because you get to see the Yeti and possibly take a picture of one.  (The Chooseco version uses a digital camera clumsily grafted onto a narrative designed for older technology.)


EDIT:  The illustration shows a concerned Yeti reaching down for a gloved hand over the edge of a cliff.


Results So Far


10 Good Endings

0 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  The Abominable Snowman Alternate Endings Part 13


Flashing the camera's strobe light in CHOICE #18 causes this ending to occur.


"The digital camera keeps on flashing its strobe.  The Yeti stops in its tracks, searches frantically for something, a friend perhaps, and then turns and, with amazing speed, vanishes into the night.  Unfortunately for you, the shutter in your digital camera mysteriously jams.  The End".


The Yeti standing on the edge of the cliff doesn't look frightened or angry in the illustration at all.


The shutter in the camera failing sounds like a Neutral Ending to me, because it feels like you went on the adventure for nothing.  Though you do know that Yeti exist now.  (Distinctions between ending categories aren't always clear, so you could make a case for this being a mild Good Ending.)



Results So Far


10 Good Endings

0 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

2 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  The Abominable Snowman Alternate Endings Part 14


In CHOICE #14, I abandon the prospect of Annapurna to go to the tourist trap Mt. Everest instead.  The fact that there aren't large crowds here betrays the 1982 publication date.  Sangee allegedly comes from this area.  But the "Namaste, bara sahib" line makes me think he's actually from New Delhi, and is merely passing himself off as a Sherpa to gullible Americans and Europeans.


We all stay in a small village at Sangee's friend's house to acclimate ourselves to the altitude.  The page just before CHOICE #19 implies that Death awaits me, according to Sangee's dialogue.  "It is long and hard and dangerous in the icefall.  Great pieces of ice tumble from the glacier and pile up like children's building blocks.  The ice may crack and give way when you least suspect.  Many have died in these icefalls".


CHOICE #19 asks whether I want to "take the risk", or "if you can't decide".  But "can't decide" is itself a decision, as far as game mechanics are concerned.  


"You go onto the icefall.  The sun turns the Khumbu Icefall into a giant solar furnace.  You squint, even though you're wearing your dark glacier goggles.  Your down parkas are stuffed in the rucksacks, and you are in shirt sleeves.  Sangee leads the way, cautiously skirting the huge, overhanging blocks of ice, constantly probing the snow with his ice axe for a hidden crevasse-sure sign of a dangerous snow bridge.  You three are linked by a slender red-and-yellow rope that stretches between you.


Suddenly, with a whoop, three Yeti jump from their perch high above you and push a great ice block.  It quivers, and then it begins to tumble, slowly at first, then it picks up speed as it rolls toward you.  Other seracs start to tumble around you, and you are locked forever in a sea of ice.  You didn't even have a chance to see the Yeti.  All that remains is their eerie cry, echoing in the ice-filled valley.  The End".


For a book whose premise is looking for a mythical creature by means of an extreme sport, there must not be that many Deaths.  This is the first, found over halfway through the book.


The illustration shows a fully-equipped mountain climber attempting to cover their forehead with their hands, probably in a futile attempt to block the serac. 


Results So Far


10 Good Endings

1 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

2 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  The Abominable Snowman Alternate Endings Part 15


The other Mt. Everest ending based on CHOICE #19 is disappointing, but not fatal for the protagonist.


"Let's think about it, Sangee.  The icefall is dangerous.  The rains have weakened the ice and snow.  Maybe it is a warning to us to leave this creature alone?'  Sangee nods his head.  'As you wish, bara sahib, as you wish'.


That night, all your supplies mysteriously disappear.  It is further warning to leave things as they are in these high mountains.  The Yeti have their own way of life, and they do not want you or anyone else to disturb it.  Regretfully you decide to withdraw and leave the Yeti to their lives in the high Himalayas.  You know that it's the right thing to do.  The End".


What would be a Neutral Ending becomes a minor Bad Non-Death Ending when the protagonist's supplies are stolen.  No illustration this time.



Results So Far


10 Good Endings

1 Deaths

2 Bad Non-Death Endings

2 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  The Abominable Snowman Alternate Endings Part 16


Trying to back out of Sangee's cryptic incense test in CHOICE #13 has harsh consequences.


"I don't think I understand.  Before you come with us, I'd better talk with my partner.  He's not far away.  I'll go find him now.  If I don't come back, don't wait for me.'


You move slowly toward the door; the incense smoke gets dense.  In an instant it is so thick that you can't find the door.  Gradually you lose consciousness and drift into a lifelong coma.  The End".


No illustration.  Sangee had better hope he can bribe the Nepali authorities, because otherwise he's facing prison time for sending the player character into a coma with his poisonous incense.  What's the rule for categorizing lifelong comas?  Wasn't there one in No Me Llames Tami?  *Checks Word document*  No, that hospital ending was Tamara being conscious, but only being able to communicate by blinking her eyes.


I'll rule this as a Death.


Results So Far


10 Good Endings

2 Deaths

2 Bad Non-Death Endings

2 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  The Abominable Snowman Alternate Endings Part 17


In CHOICE #12, the other option is to talk to Carlos before bringing Sangee with us.  But the results are a little different.  While shopping for climbing supplies, I notice a purple parka with a strange skull in one of the pockets, and a map of a road between Kathmandu and Nagarkot.  An X is near an abandoned Shiva temple.  


My character thinks "Carpe Diem" because it's too interesting to wait for Carlos.  I ask Sangee about the parka, and he demands I give it to him after saying "that is a mistake to have it here".  This is Sangee's parka, and he threatens me with an ice axe.  To throw him off, I toss the parka at him.  Before I can get away, "two tough-looking men" draw near:  one who has a beard, and one with no beard but shoulder-length hair.  If this were a Mark Trail comic strip, the bearded man would be punched immediately, but I have to settle for moving to the back of the store to grab an ice axe.


Sangee grabs me, snarls, and says "Foolish one.  Now you have gone too far.  Why are you here?  What do you want?"  The bearded man points an automatic pistol at me.  He orders me to trick Carlos into coming by sending him a letter saying I found a clue.  "If you don't, we'll kill you on the spot".  Sangee and the others want us to help them smuggle "packages wrapped in brown paper" out of the country.  Because you can't have a CYOA without smugglers, poachers, or counterfeiters.  CHOICE #20 is whether to agree to the demands, or refuse.


To warn Carlos about the trap, I scratch 3 marks on the paper with the pen and pretend the pen doesn't work.  This is based on a signal where 3 tugs on a rope mean danger.  The bearded man asks me "Tell us now what you know about the map" in a German accent to fulfill the action movie cliche.


CHOICE #21 is to either make up a "fantastic story", or say I know nothing.


"Well, you see, it's like this.  I am the prince of a tribe of superior beings from the lost continent of Atlantis.  We live under the sea off the coast of Africa.  Now we are ready to join forces with the Yeti, a tribe from the planet Borodoz which has been in the high mountains for the last three hundred years.'


The three look at you and begin to laugh.  One of them says, 'Sure, and I'm Julius Caesar, and here is Cleopatra.'  They all laugh at the big joke.  This gives you time to whip out your Swiss Army knife.  You cut some cords hanging from the ceiling.  A mountain tent on display falls down on top of your enemies.  You scoot out the door just in time.  You forget about supplies for now, and go to the police.  Later you decide to cancel the expedition for this season.  There will always be another chance.  The End".


Are the smugglers arrested?  Is the player character telling the truth about being an Atlantean prince?  If the claim sounds ridiculous, you haven't read many RA Montgomery CYOAs.  The protagonist's gender is confirmed to be male in this ending.  I guess this is a Good Ending.


Results So Far


11 Good Endings

2 Deaths

2 Bad Non-Death Endings

2 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings