Gamebooks (Choose Your Own Adventure Style)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Treasure Diver Alternate Endings Part 1


Macaulay lives when I winch him up 30 minutes later on Page 68.  Guess sharks take their time if the player does.  Beech gives me "what looks like a chunk of black rock", which he found under the cannon.  An ending ensues on Pages 106-107.


"What is it?' Kate asks.  You put the black rock on the deck and tap it with a hammer.  It breaks open.  Inside, silver flashes in the sunlight.  'It is-or was-a bunch of silver coins in a wooden chest.  See how the lump has square corners?  The sea water disintegrated the container and oxidized the sliver, turning it black and sticking it together'.  'Does this mean we've found the treasure?' Macaulay asks, his coral cuts forgotten for the moment.


'We can't be sure yet', you answer.  'We have to clean these coins up and examine the dates and mint marks.  We also have to check that cannon closely.'  You heft the chunk of silver.  'We definitely found the treasure.  This could be from one of the warships guarding the fleet and not from one of the treasure ships.  It could even be from an entirely different wreck.  We have a lot of work left.'


'Oh, don't be a spoilsport,' Kate interrupts.  For an answer you just smile back at her, and the next thing you know you're dancing around in a circle singing, 'We're in the money, we're in the money!'  THE END".


Now I'm remembering Homer Simpson imagining King Kong with the dancers singing "We're in the money!"  Is my character now going to shout "You heard the monkey!" when they're about to spend the coins?


This sounds like a modest Good Ending.  No swimming pools of gold coins, but old silver is nice.  The illustration shows a mattock lying beside the "rock", which has lighter shades of gray than it should.  


Endings So Far


1 Good Endings

0 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Treasure Diver Alternate Endings Part 2


Beech's plan of having everyone dive at once with no backup plan in CHOICE #4 is as bad an idea as it sounds.  It takes 10 minutes to find the cannon again, which is still hidden among the coral.  I "bang" on the air tanks with my probe rod to get everyone's attention.  Beech gives the Spanish "It stinks!" sign and starts to put the cannon in a sling with Macaulay's help.  Kate draws a picture of the sea floor on her slate in case we look in the area again.  Her artwork is a wasted effort.


Remember the fishing crew that hates the Ocho Reales divers?  They dropped bloody chum into the water as bait just in time for this dive.  "You recognize the species-tiger sharks.  They move so quickly it is hard to count them, but it looks as if there are at least eight".  There's an illustration of one tiger shark glaring at the reader on a black background. 


"The rest of your diving group watches the sharks as you join them.  You know that the sharks will go on a feeding frenzy in minutes, and that you'd better be out of there.  You have heard of sharks so crazed by blood in the water that they'll continue to feed even while another shark eats them.  You motion to the others to follow you away when one of the sharks darts toward a chunk of fish.  Suddenly they're all around you.  The water turns red with blood as the sharks tear at anything they can get their teeth into-including the four of you.  THE END".


So much for sharks being "terribly overrated as a diving menace" on Page 43!  They don't care about humans calculating the odds in this Death.  It's one of the fairest Deaths in any CYOA.  Having everyone dive at once is so incompetent that you expect to lose somehow.  And it was stated that the fishing boat was lingering in the area.  The sharks even had foreshadowing in a drawing!


Endings So Far


1 Good Endings

1 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Treasure Diver Alternate Endings Part 3


Climbing onto the diving platform in CHOICE #3 is fatal, and Julius Goodman did warn me about it.


"Stay here', you say to Kate, who is now hanging on to the side of the Ocho Reales.  'I'll swim over and see what's going on'.  Using the breast stroke, you swim away.  As you reach out to grab a corner of the diving platform, you hear the engines of the other boat.  There is a strong stink of diesel fuel; then you are violently shoved by the wake of the departing fishing boat.


Your hand grabs nothing but air as you clutch for the platform, and your head slips under, giving you a noseful of water.  You try not to panic and kick upward, thinking that in a moment the surface will be calm enough for you to try for the platform again.


Suddenly you're moving rapidly through the water, tangled in a line from the fishing boat.  You twist like a top as the boat drags you face forward through the water at twenty knots.  You cannot reach your scuba mouthpiece, and you rapidly drown.  THE END".


Do you think the player character would have survived if they tried the butterfly stroke?  This is an aquatic innovation on the "dragged behind the car" style of Death.  The protagonist looks male in the picture, with pale skin and stringy hair.  The lower part of their face is darkened to represent drowning.  Bubbles are everywhere around the tangled hero.  The sequel to Treasure Diver must be Wrongful Death Lawsuit from the fisherman perspective.


Endings So Far


1 Good Endings

2 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Treasure Diver Alternate Endings Part 4


Back in CHOICE #2, I write "EXPLORE" on the slate.  Katy agrees to continue exploring rather than rise to the surface with the buoy holding the cannon.  Both of us prod holes in the reefs with our probe rods while listening for wooden or metallic noises.  Outside of the main reef are "huge. lacy gorgonians" and "tremendous lumps of brain coral".  We have 45 minutes of air left when Kate lifts her arms for a "now what gesture".  She's stuck in an underwater current and "tumbling out of control"!


CHOICE #6 is how to save Kate.  On Page 53, I could enter the current that trapped her.  This sounds like a bad idea considering it already tripped up one diver, and the narration warns of being at 120 feet and losing air faster.  The safer option might be to retrieve air tanks from the Ocho Reales on Page 36.


This is a hard CHOICE, and there are likely consequences for both decisions.  Returning to the surface gives me the bends.  "Your lungs feel as if they'll burst from the excess air.  Your joints are on fire.  You know that if nitrogen bubbles form in your brain or spinal cord, paralysis, blindness, or convulsions will result".  I also can't yell for help at the Ocho Reales 100 feet away. 


CHOICE #7 is to either remain on the surface hoping my boat's crew will save me on Page 60, or "try to repressurize by diving" on Page 73.  This is Alternate Endings anyway, so why not try for a Death?


"You pray the Ocho Reales is on the lookout for you and Kate.  You double up again from cramps.  'C'mon, Beech, Macaulay,' you think, 'you've got to spot me.'  A nitrogen bubble forms in one of your carotid arteries, cutting off blood circulation to half of your brain.  You go into convulsions and die.  Beech and Macaulay find your floating body ten minutes later.  Kate too is lost.  They have no idea where she is, and their searching is fruitless.  THE END".


I've already seen the worst possible ending.  This one only kills half the Ocho Reales crew.  Still a grisly way to go.  The illustration shows my character's head with eyes closed floating on the surface near the boat, and is placed between the "You go into convulsions and die." and the "Beech and Macaulay find your floating body ten minutes later." lines.


Endings So Far


1 Good Endings

3 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Treasure Diver Alternate Endings Part 5


In CHOICE #7, I dive to 20 feet and the pain from the bends is reduced.  The Ocho Reales happens to have a spare pencil and slate below, so I "painfully scrawl" the words "GOT BENDS.  KATE IN TROUBLE."  Beech shakes me awake just long enough to draw a map on the slate.  It's shown in the illustration.  One arrow pointing northeast is labeled CURRENT, the CANNON is in the upper part of the southeast region, and the words KATE CAUGHT IN CURRENT are on the bottom.  After finishing the crude drawing, I pass out again.


"The next thing you know, Beech and Macaulay are by your side.  'Kate!' you cry.  'She's in a current!  Quick!'  Beech puts his hand on your shoulder.  'It's all right,' he says.  'Relax.'  You look at him, then around you.  You're in a hospital bed.  'You'll be okay,' Beech says.  'At least that's what the doctor said.  You might have a limp, but it may go away.  You were lucky.'


'Kate?' you ask in a whisper.  'We never found her,' Beech says softly.  'She must have been swept away.'  He shrugs sadly.  'There was no trace.'  THE END"


No illustration reward for the ending where Kate dies but the protagonist survives.  CHOICE #7 is the dreaded scenario where both decisions are tragic, but not so unfair as climbing the mountain in Lost Jewels of Nabooti.



Endings So Far


1 Good Endings

3 Deaths

2 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Treasure Diver Alternate Endings Part 6


Being in the current that killed Kate in two endings feels like "being hit all over with rubber hammers", but I don't spin out of controls.  The bottom is now at 150 feet, until both Kate and I are pulled into a "huge, gaping black hole".  I think of shining a flashlight in her direction, but she might have "rapture of the deep".  CHOICE #8 is whether to swim after her and risk nitrogen narcosis myself on Page 88, or try the futile flashlight on Page 102.


The flashlight's beam extends for 15 feet, and all I can see are "white particles" which are actually millions of shrimp.  A "slow movement" beneath me isn't Kate, but the predator of the shrimp.


"The arrow-shape continues moving.  It's a squid!  But not an ordinary squid; it's a giant squid.  It must be eight feet across!  Its body keeps rising, rising until it's as tall above you as a house.  Now you can see the tentacles below you, stretching out beyond the length of the light beam.  They're moving, shoveling up food and pushing it toward the squid's huge beak.  A giant sucker attaches to you and directs you into the gaping mouth.  THE END"


Anyone hoping for a Paul Granger drawing of the player character looking in panic at the squid's mouth just before being eaten will be disappointed.  There's no illustration of any kind.  Kate's fate isn't mentioned, but she must be dead.  I'm looking through my old Journey Under the Sea posts, and can't find any giant squid Death in that one.


Endings So Far


1 Good Endings

4 Deaths

2 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Treasure Diver Alternate Endings Part 7


One more ending should do for tonight.  While swimming in Kate's direction, I start suffering from nitrogen narcosis.  "You feel like taking a deep breath and holding it before diving deeper to look for Kate, but you know you shouldn't.  This thought makes you want to laugh".


I remember Beech's training and pinch my nose with my fingers, which helps "equalize the pressure" in my ears.  At 220 feet, the rapture of the deep sets in "This is fun!' you think.  'The tunnel looks like a carnival ride.  I'm even dizzy!'  You giggle a little.  'What am I doing here?'  Well, at least my character is living up to the player's pseudonym.


CHOICE #9 is to keep going deeper and ignore the "something is nagging at your to turn around and ascend" feeling on Page 24, or follow my character's intuition on Page 104.  Let's wrap this up and kill off the Treasure Diver.


"Deeper for Kate.  Deeper for Kate', you think, as you kick downward.  The water becomes even darker; you can hardly see.  Your legs continue to kick, but they feel rubbery and not really a part of you.  You giggle; then you laugh.  'Of course I can't find Kate; it's too dark,' you think.  'I'd better call to her.'  'Kate!' you shout, until you realize she can't hear you with the silly rubber thing in your mouth.  You pull it out and call again.  'Kate!'  The bubbles of your last breath of air rise to the surface 280 feet above.  There is no answer to your shout, but you don't care.  THE END".


At least I die happily this time.  The illustration is of bubbles rising from dark water to the surface, where two seagulls are flying overhead.


Endings So Far


1 Good Endings

5 Deaths

2 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Treasure Diver Alternate Endings Part 8


What happens if I don't give in to the nitrogen narcosis in CHOICE #9 and seemingly leave Kate for dead on the sea floor?  On Page 104, my character thinks "I've got to get back to the boat and get Beech and Macaulay.  Together we'll find Kate".  Kate lives-she's unconscious but breathing when I see the stripes on her wetsuit.  I ensure her regulator works and ascend slowly.


Can't go to the surface, as I'll get the bends unless I stay for two more hours.  (This is never a problem in Subnautica.)  "You sure hope Beech has those extra air-tanks hanging in the water!"  My main supply of oxygen runs out, so I breathe the reserve.  Even that runs out, and I have to drop the weight belt.  "At the same moment something grips your flipper.  You can't ascend!"


It's not a tangled fishing line, but Beech.  I'm safe after this one page cliffhanger as he rescues me, and Macaulay helps Kate.  She goes into the "recompression chamber" first, and my character is "thankful now that you spent the money to get one".  Are there cheap Treasure Diver expeditions out there that don't have one and give all their divers the bends?


"It feels good to you when you can move up to the 20-foot level.  Some more time here, than some more at 10 feet, then back on board.  It almost feels like you've made it already.  In addition to fresh bottles of air, Macaulay keeps sending down notes on a slate tied to a line.  Some of them are short jokes.  Most are designed to be morale boosters while you wait and worry about your diving buddy.  But the best morale booster of all is the one that reads:  'KATE'S OK.'  THE END".


When the best ending on the "explore further" path in CHOICE #2 is "You don't get any treasure, but at least you both survive!", you know you're in a bad timeline.  This is a classic example of the Neutral Ending.  The illustration shows the KATE'S OK slate with two different fish looking at the back. 



Endings So Far


1 Good Endings

5 Deaths

2 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Treasure Diver Alternate Endings Part 9


Now I'll have to rewind time all the way back to CHOICE #1, and find out what's up with the fishing boat in another timeline.  It still ignores the "divers down" flag with a large red square and diagonal white stripe.  The fishing boat captain that killed me with chum and fishing line in two endings is "a tall thin man, his eyes are hidden beneath a white cap".  He says "Listen, get this floating trash heap out of here.  These guys paid to fish here and they will, or my name ain't Bill Rounder".  A picture shows Bill Rounder pointing a finger accusingly from Page 9 towards Page 8.  The rest of his crew sits in "fighting chairs", and I have no idea what those are.  Is that a real type of fisherman furniture?


Beech stares at me in amazement when I offer advice to Bill Rounder:  a school of greater amberjack was seen yesterday away from the diving site.  Bill Rounder smiles and tells me that an old anchor is located half a mile south of where we are.  Of course, that's also where Captain Jack sails.  Macaulay's worried about the pirate, but Beech says "That's all hooey.  He's a myth.  There's no such person." 


Maybe I should save Captain Jack for the end and complete the minor timelines first.  Based on CHOICE #2 and its sole lesser Good Ending, it seems Treasure Diver is like those You Say Which Ways that have a main timeline and a side timeline.  (e.g. Dinosaur Canyon and its time travel vs. smugglers in the present plots)


Julius Goodman writes a much more consistent CYOA than R.A. Montgomery, as diving in the same place leads us to the cannon again.  Kate and I are the divers as in CHOICE #2.  The cannon weighs 1 ton.  Kate dives again with Beech the sling expert.  Macaulay and I are hoisting the cannon when we see a "large gray boat" coming our way.  It's not Bill Rounder's fishing vessel. 


"You realize this is a dangerous position.  The wake from this fast-moving boat will start the cannon rocking, and a ton of loose cannon can be lethal".  Julius Goodman probably planned for months to fit a "loose cannon" pun into Treasure Diver.  I had to follow another strange page-flipping sequence to get here:  17, 22, 18.


While trying to avoid Captain Jack, I run into him.  Julius Goodman knows just how to trip up Herman Gigglethorpe.  Macaulay points out that we can't escape with the cannon weighing us down, but we can cut the cable and drop the cannon into Captain Jack's path.  This could cripple his boat if the plan works.  CHOICE #10 is to take Macaulay's suggestion on Page 109, or drop air tanks for Kate and Beech on Page 72.


Ignoring the companions still underwater fails the partially concealed Morality Test.  "There is a tearing noise as the bolts holding the hoist down to the deck start to tear out.  The hoist starts toppling.  The Ocho Reales tips sideways.  The wheel won't respond!  You're foundering in Captain Jack's path!"


This is such a spectacular failure that it has a two-page drawing on 112-113.  Captain Jack runs into the side of the Ocho Reales, making it tip over to the side.  My character falls off on Page 112, and Macaulay must be the dark-skinned man falling on Page 113.  Captain Jack is nowhere to be seen.  The ending is on the last page of the book.


"As you are thrown to the deck, you realize the Ocho Reales is already starting to sink.  You wonder where Macaulay is.  You don't spot him before the Ocho Reales is blown apart as the gray boat explodes.  The pressure wave from the explosion travels swiftly through the water to alert Kate and Beech.  They swim over as fast as they can, but it's too late.  There are no survivors.  THE END".


At least we managed to take Captain Jack down with us?  This ending was Macaulay's turn to come up with a plan that would kill me, since Beech already did so with the "everyone dive at once and get eaten by sharks" ending.  Will Kate have a similarly bad idea?


Endings So Far


1 Good Endings

6 Deaths

2 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Treasure Diver Alternate Endings Part 10


In the non-violent approach to CHOICE #11, we send air tanks to Kate and Beech and simply cut the cannon loose rather than trying to send it to Captain Jack.  The Ocho Reales is much faster than the pirate's converted shrimper, and we see a white boat to the north while getting away.  The white boat has an armed crew, as Macaulay realizes when he looks at them with his binoculars.  I call the Coast Guard, and the code is N89FPY if that means anything to my readers.


Although I never mentioned Captain Jack by name, the Coast Guard recognizes his boat from the description.  However, they're 30 minutes away, and CHOICE #12 doesn't have the option of waiting that long.  My character's suggestion is to escape through a coral maze on Page 37, which Macaulay thinks will tear open the boat's bottom.  Macaulay's idea?  "I saw something on TV once.  It was the same kind of situation.  Two chase boats were closing in from opposite directions on this other boat.  The other boat kept in the middle until the last possible second, then pulled away.  The two chase boats rammed each other".  As soon as he said he got the idea from a TV show, I knew it was trouble.  To pick Macaulay's plan, turn to Page 78.



"Macaulay, we'll try your plan', you say.  'How did this boat keep the two chase boats headed toward each other?'  'I don't know.  They just sort of kept zigging and zagging.'  'That's not much help, Macaulay.'  In spite of your situation, you both laugh.  Then you say, 'I guess we can give it a try.'  You try zigging to the left.  Both boats change course and keep heading right at you.  Then you zag to the right.  The gray boat changes course first; then the white boat follows.  Both boats are much closer now.  Even without binoculars you can see men with rifles on the decks.


'I don't think this is going to work,' you say to Macaulay as the first shot rings out.  'Duck!' he answers.  You duck, but now you can't see too well.  The Ocho Reales continues straight ahead.  You need to change course again for Macaulay's plan to work, but every time you try to get to the wheel, a bullet whizzes near.  'Macaulay, can you fire a flare?'  'Sure, but why?'  'Just do it,' you order.


At the instant the flare shoots into the sky, you rush to the wheel.  You're gambling that everybody will be distracted enough so that you can safely change course.  They are distracted-all but one of them.  Just as the Ocho Reales responds to the steering wheel, you hear a shot and feel a terrible pain in your midsection.  You slump to the deck.  It's up to Macaulay now.  THE END". 


I'll put this in the Inconclusive Ending tally since to me it's implied that the protagonist may just be unconscious and severely injured rather than dead.  Macaulay's ideas have been awful so far, so maybe feeding him to the shark in the CANONICAL ENDING was preemptive subconscious revenge.  This ending has an unusually high word count relative to other conclusions in Treasure Diver.  The player character seems to be clutching their chest in the drawing while touching the ship's wheel with the other hand.


Endings So Far


1 Good Endings

6 Deaths

2 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings