The Winner (They who hath done the right thing)
Your prize for surviving is an Untamed Booster Pack!
The story continues below...
Link to First Round's Story - READ FIRST
Great Arianthus' Ghost! I need to get out of here!
As you look around, you can see a stalagmite near the back of the cave that looks about your size and then it hits you...
You quickly take your capes off and tie them to it. Using the bucket of oil, you pour a trail to the base only using about half. You dump the remainder over the top and leave the bucket resting on top.
Not a bad likeness...
You grab a torch from the wall and rest it near the pile of rags and blankets as you conceal yourself underneath. The beast is getting closer..closer.
As it enters the cave, you can clearly smell that it's an Orc, but not one of the civilized Orcs from the Lyverian region. This is one of the wild, mountain Orcs. They say that the wild Orcs collect and preserve the feet of those they kill. In a physical bout, it would easily overcome you. You don't move... yet. The Orc is apparently eager to clobber its prey, because as soon as it sees the person's form, it wildly charges toward the oil soaked stalagmite. As soon as the stinky beast passes, you grab the torch and ignite the trail of oil. You don't wait around to see what happens.
You make a break for it and sprint down the tunnel toward the daylight. Just as you make it outside, a horrendous shriek emanates from deep in the cave. You have no idea if your captor is killed, maimed or just slightly agitated, but you need to find refuge and maybe some clothes so off you blindly run, naked as an Imp.
When you hit the thickets, your first thought is that you wish you were back in the cave.
Once your eyes have adjusted to the blinding daylight, you see that you are surrounded by dense forests. The ground is a muddy mix of brambles and man-eating plants that will make a quick meal of you if you linger too long in one place.
You have heard of this place. As you try to remember some of the most boring lectures from the classroom portion of your warriors' education, you realize where you are: The Thickbogs of Klurokon, in the upper foothills of the Seed Mountains.
Why have they taken me so far from home?
That's when you remember the girl. The lovely red-headed Lyverian ranch hand from the tavern who now seems more like a dream than a person. You are still clutching the lock of her hair, and looking at it now, you can confirm that there is blood on it. You don't know how it happened, but you are the one who got the young lady entangled in all this, whatever this was, and you were the one who has to get her out of it.
From behind, you hear the cry of not one, but a whole small tribe of Orc Foothunters. Apparently they have either extinguished the fire or evacuated their whole cave society in a vengeful rage. Neither possibility is a bright one.
Damn! I'm sinking!
Not only are you sinking slowly, but several carnivorous plants have wrapped themselves around your right knee and are now working together to bring you down. You quickly pull yourself out of their grasp, realizing that if you hesitate in the Thickbogs, you'll be through.
So much for clothes
You wish you would have kept one or two of the woolen cloaks for protection as your hear a terrifying noise from the thickets in front of you. There you stand, completely naked. You are hunted from the back by Orcs who long to chop off your feet as trophies, and fine trophies they would make, thanks to the Lyverian pedicure you received not three days ago when you were in the Kingdom Proper. From the front, you are being hunted by an unknown mystery of the Thickbogs, which you will not be able to see until it is upon you.
To your left is higher ground. A large boulder protrudes from the thickets; perhaps from thence you could see a way out of the green and brown labyrinth.
To your right is a pond. The water is muddy and cloudy, so you have no way of knowing how deep it is. Across the pond is at least fifty yards of water, but on the other side you can see that the land opens up a bit into a grassy field that would allow you to run. You have always been a fast runner.
Suddenly you hear a screech from high above. You pray that it's not a tower eagle to no avail. Tower eagles' favorite meal is Human flesh, and if you can already see the eagle, it can most certainly see you...
What do you do?
Official Contest Rules
1. Follow @SplinterLore and Splinterlore on Twitter.
2. Repost this post - Help us get new followers!
3. Tell us what the hero should do. It can be as long or short as needed. You should use "I" and "me."
4. The 1 winner each day will receive an Untamed Booster Pack!
5. Everyone who is not correct will die. Sorry, that’s the breaks.
6. YOU HAVE 48 HOURS
Have fun! Be Creative!
This is really heavy stuff.
I run for the muddy pond. The sunlight would show off my body especially since I am naked and I would be easy prey. Smearing myself with the mud and hoping that I do not suffocate, I lie down, praying that the muddy water will not enter my insides.
Wishing that I would not be caught, I sight the bird flying off a bit and run towards the grassy field. I run as fast as I can and am soon camouflaged by the tall grass. I pause for a moment and realize that I have come across some dry grass which I bind together in a skirt like fashion and cover myself. The training I got while handling hay helped me and I am now feeling better. After all, I am not a member of the nudist clan.
I also realize I am hungry and move forward, looking for food.
You can hear the Orcs drawing closer as you plunge into the muddy pond. The clinging and clanging of their spears, swords and shields tells you one thing: They mean business. Hopefully you can get to the other side of the pond before they find you.
With the noisy approach of the Orcs, the eagle has lost interest, which is good for you. Just as the battle party arrives at the edge of the pond, the third threat from the dark forest is revealed, and not a moment too soon.
It is an eight-horned korlash, a wretched charging beast of the hills, and it is angry like it's already been in a fight. The korlash bowls through the Orcs as if they're not even there. The sound of the crash is dafening; helmets and shields fly in all directions, as miraculously you reach the other side of the pond unnoticed.
The korlash is busy feasting on the fallen Orcs, and the surviving Orcs are huddling a distance away. Having forgotten about you in the mayhem, they are trying to plan how they will slay the gorlash.
You notice that the grasses would make a good covering for your nakedness. After all, there has to be a town or village nearby, and you can't be giving all the townsfolk heart attacks.
lol yeah. That was really cool.
You win! Thanks for playing @sayee :)
We're experimenting with several different types of interactive story contests. I will continue this story to its conclusion via HIVE posts. There will probably be 2 or 3 more rounds until the story is resolved, so stay tuned!
This is a lot of fun for me, but I'm currently favoring shorter Twitter versions of choose-your-own-adventure content. For example, I am doing a micro-story (pinned to our Splinterlore profile) every day, in which the action is decided by votes.
Anyway, thanks for your support and keep your eye out for more! A booster pack is coming at you :)
Thanks so much. I am glad you liked it and thanks for the pack.
@Tipu curate
Upvoted 👌 (Mana: 3/6)
For the love of Lyannna!!!
I cannot catch a break today!
I briefly think about climbing up onto the large boulder but notice the stains. That is obviously where this Tower Eagle likes to eat his meals. A crimson sheen runs down the sides.
I can hear the Orcs getting closer
I glance upward just as the Tower Eagle dives in for an attack. Luckily I trained with the Children of the Forest and deftly dodge the evil birds talons.
I know where to go.... The pond!
Something looked very familiar about this pond. I have seen ponds like this in Tortisian villages. The farmers use these ponds to grow rakku rice. In its deepest spot it will be no deeper than two chickens.
I frantically plunge my hands into the water and muddy soil pulling up handfuls of redish brown mud. Splat! Splorph! Quickly I smear the mud all over my body hoping that it might deter this crazy bird that seems to have some sort of problem with me. At the very least, it will help against a sunburn in places I don't want burnt.
I slog off through the muddy pond waters as the Tower Eagle circles around and climbs back into the sky....
You dodge the eagle in an incredibly graceful move that you learned in your youth, dancing with your friends at summer camp. Before it strikes again, you make a move for the mud at the pond's edge.
You spread the mud all over yourself for cover from the bird, but you failed to notice a crucial detail of the mud. It's crawling. Mudsuckers are vicious little ants that only survive at a very specific elevation range in the Seed Mountains. Instead of anthills, they make their colonies in mud puddles, where they live in vast concentration. They are also carnivorous, and this particular colony is hungry.
They go for your eyeballs first, whis is just awful. Luckily you black otu from pain before experiencing too many more gory details.
You're dead.
so sad :( My last sight before I succumb to the Mudsuckers.
At the sound of the Tower Eagle's screech I run and dive into the muddy banks of the pond. Afraid of what I may find IN the pond I simply bury myself in as much mud and gook as I can, hoping to evade the eagles, who have no doubt seen me.
I lie still, body, face, hair, everything covered in muck. Hopefully the movement from my new friends, the Orc Hunters, gives me enough time to slither around the outside of the pond to the open field.
Moving carefully and stopping often I can almost reach the green field's edge.
There's movement behind me. I stop. No sound. I move again.
I'm so close.
I hear something close. I stop. Again, no sound. I move again.
I can practically taste my freedom and feel the wind blowing through my now mud-laden hair. Only a few more feet...
I can't get excited. I am clearly being watched. So I wait. No movement. I barely breathe. I wait, covered in mud, partially buried, still gripping the redhead's lock of hair. If I can just make it a little longer while the sun sets...exhausted I start to drift to sleep...