Light

Adventure Awaits! - Prompt Voting CYOA (Always Open)

> Inspect the illuminated table on the right. <

---

The soft clapping sound of your boots against the cold stone floor echoed through this entry chamber as you made your way to the table. Your eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, the very edges of the room barely coming into view in the corners of your vision, beyond any genuine reach of the torch. The table however, sat squarely underneath the wall sconce, the contents of it cast under the amber glow. A small stack of three books sat in the corner of the table, the sides collecting a fair coating of dust. The top of this stack was oddly clean though, explained by the presence of a fourth book, opened to a page somewhere near the middle in the center of the table. This book looked to be moved recently and the cracks in the parchment of the open page confirmed that the book hadn't been opened in years. Peering down at the page, the scrawling within was faded, and the parts still legible were scribed in what you could only guess was a much older dialect of the Daldoran tongue, the language used by the peoples who live in the empire that rests at the base of these mountains to the west. Despite your familiarity with the modern form, this ancient passage shared only a few meaningful words with the lexicon you knew, leading to your deciphering to be cryptic at best, if not outright useless:

... war...
... Zorkuth... beast... rime...
... sealed... unity... man...

As little as the book could divulge to you, it seemed no coincidence that the namesake of the temple itself appeared here. You wondered if Aika had read from this passage too, in your attempts to follow any evidence of her presence. You thumbed the book over in your hands, looking through another few pages for anything more useful, but similarly vague was the best you could get. Still, it seemed like someone more familiar with historical linguistics could glean more from it. With a bit of a shrug to yourself, you slipped the book into your bag before turning your attention to the shelf to your side. You noted a few spaces on the shelf as empty, four to be exact, the rest was lined with other books and scrolls of a similar age, forgotten by time.

Further past the shelf, in the darkened far corner away from the entrance, a hallway had come into view from this angle. It seemed to delve deeper into the temple, and the initial march through it was shrouded in the pitch black that seemed to take dominance throughout the temple. It was impossible to tell how much farther the hall reached from here, especially without a source of light to guide you there.

---

• Light your own torch and follow the hallway.

• Take the torch off the wall and follow the hallway.

• Return the books to the bookshelf.

• Try something else.
[Write in: briefly describe a reasonable action.]

Adventure Awaits! - Prompt Voting CYOA (Always Open)

@Light I misclicked, was just a duplicate of the above post.

@Kassarock

Oh ok no worries then.

Adventure Awaits! - Prompt Voting CYOA (Always Open)

@Kassarock Ah yeah I see you posted in the character tab. That was an accident I guess? Or did you have a character idea?

Adventure Awaits! - Prompt Voting CYOA (Always Open)

> Rest here for a bit to catch your breath before continuing. <
[Spend 1 hour resting: Reduce harm to minor, "bruised legs"]

---

A short but strong breath escaped your lungs, as you returned the little vial to its slightly-less-little leather strap affixed to your armor. Your head tilted back, the stars between the cliffs coming to view as you slumped a bit further into the rock. Every part of you screamed to stay here, to stay still and rest. You were inclined to agree but, out in the open like this wasn't the best spot. There was always the threat that this wasn't the only troll nearby. Reluctantly, you pushed yourself to your feet, your legs wobbling as you slowly carried yourself further down the pass. You weren't looking to make it to the temple like this, instead scanning the corners again for somewhere dark and quiet. Luckily, one such place came into view around the next bend, and you carefully slipped between the large crack in the wall. A wave of relief washed over you as you lowered yourself once again onto the ground. Just an hour or so would be enough, you figured, eyeing the angle of the moonlight outside to mark the passing of time. Hopefully Aika had that much time to wait as well.

When you awoke from your short respite, the soreness coursing through you was certainly still present, but at least it wasn't nearly crippling. It only hurt quite a bit instead. The cold and rough stone around you didn't exactly make for a luxury nap though, something your neck and back scolded you for as you began to move but quickly wore off as you stretched in the open.

The remainder of your hike through the pass was- thankfully- less than eventful. Your footsteps were the only sound for several minutes as you made your way through, breaching the other side and finally bringing the temple's face into view. The only problem was, the final peak upon which the entrance sat put the rest of the mountain range to shame, tall and wide enough to once again shield you from the glare of the moon. A staircase before you granted you a delayed ingress to the temple, if you could conquer its many flights which wound around the peak several times on the way up. Nowhere to go but up, you redoubled your resolve, putting as many steps of the stairs behind you as you could- one at a time.

Along the snaking set of layered and leveled bricks, many small altars sat adorned with age-old decorations; offerings of visitors past in the forms of dried and dead wreaths, flowers, and meats, all too cold and stagnant to decay further, as well as miniscule sums of coin, pendants, and rings. Even an old and rusted sword laid propped artistically against one such pedestal, undisturbed likely for decades if not longer due to the wear of the now unusable blade. Worst of all, though, were the bodies of those who failed to make the pilgrimage in full, either from exhaustion or- by the look of most of them- done in by the cruelty of gravity. Your eyes rose to the flights above, noting that each lap around the mountain left the stairs more deteriorated than the last. As you might have expected, inspecting these corpses offered little, any possessions not plucked clean from them already were ruined by time. Nevertheless, you cautiously pressed on, determined not to let yourself or Aika end up like them.

If you had thought the view standing beside Umildraen was remarkable, looking back across your journey's path from the entrance to the temple was simply breathtaking. The edge of the platform faced south, meaning that the forests of Vatiir now sat on your left in the far distance. From this elevation, you were certain that in the day you might be able to see the rainbow flower fields beyond that marked the center of the Gelish Kingdom. Before you, the snow-covered tops of the cliffs you walked though once again were visible, eerily flat planes of white untouched by the prints of passage, and beyond them the smaller peak you had stood at when your guide left you. Further down the mountain was somewhat obscured by the mountain itself, but you could reasonably assume in which direction Umildraen's cottage sat nestled into the snow, much further south and down the roads that winded toward the world below.

As you turned to face the temple, you were met with several stone pillars in pairs that supported archways to walk under as you approached the entrance. Perhaps to your surprise- perhaps not- the doors to the temple itself were open, humanoid sized stone slats emblazoned with the depiction of a dragon on the right side, and several small humanoid figures on the left both bowed inward to allow you to slip through. This was it, the Temple of Zorkuth. You took a deep breath, checked your gear once over, and turned to sidle your way through the doors and into the temple.

Near darkness engulfed you immediately as you set foot into the temple. The shimmering, almost magical silver light outside only reached so far into this first room, but the difference was made up for by a dull and mundane orange that beat with a sporadic and waning flicker. To the right, on the far wall, a lone sconce sat with a lit torch, illuminating a table and bookshelf upon which several items laid across. Too far for you to inspect from here, but looking between the space revealed that the ground between was marked with small formations of ice, likely footprints of snow dragged in from outside, melted by body heat and refrozen by the frigid infrastructure of the temple itself. To the left, the faint glow of the torch barely scraped the walls. Shapes of some objects could barely be made out in varying sizes, but...

---

• Inspect the illuminated table on the right.

• Draw and light your own torch, and inspect the shapes to the left.

• You can see more clearly in the dark than humans, inspect the shapes to the left without need of a torch.
[Write in: Define your race as one with dark vision]

Hello! :3

Gaia Online oh my god what a step in the Way Back Machine! Welcome to RPG!

Adventure Awaits! - Prompt Voting CYOA (Always Open)

@Light
*Rest here for a bit to catch your breath before continuing.

If I may add on to this, maybe we could make sure that we're hidden while we rest so we don't get attacked again.

@Guardian Angel Haruki

Mhm that's probably smart. The landslide was pretty loud so, anyone or anything nearby might have heard it.

The Glynwood Institute For Thaumaturgical Studies

---

Apollo's inquiry of the small town just outside the college seemed to respark the banter between his new classmates. Was it really something so divisive? Or perhaps it was that this lot had yet to find common ground. Or, maybe they just liked to throw verbal jabs at each other- the one named Blake seemed like he did, anyway. Apollo's eyes trailed down to Blake's gauze around his arms as he seemed to strike a nerve with Theo, and wondered if it was related, but kept that idea secluded away from the possibility of prying into another hurtful subject. Instead, he pivoted both his eyes and head to the two girls on his other side, as he seemed just as intrigued as Dionysia that Iris would find a simple bed to be so luxurious. "Well, I'm glad to hear that you slept well, at least!" He released some of the tension between the five of them with a small laugh, just in time for a sixth student to approach. Someone he hadn't seen in during the opening ceremony; did he come from somewhere else in the crowd? Or was he late? Apollo shrugged when the student asked permission to join, offering a bit of clarity with "I don't think its up to us, we were all assigned into cohorts. But uhh, I don't see why you can't chat with us until we're all sent off to our dorms."

Apollo's hand lifted to the new student, accompanied by a warm smile. "I'm Apollo, and these are-" he looked over his shoulder at the others in the conversation, taking a second to coagulate their names in his head. "Iris, Dionysia, Theo, and Blake," he listed from left to right, before facing back to him. "And you are?"

@Scribe of Thoth@Crowvette@Ignorancebliss

The Glynwood Institute For Thaumaturgical Studies

Is this still taking applications?

@Ignorancebliss

Might get a faster answer on the discord.

Adventure Awaits! - Prompt Voting CYOA (Always Open)

> Shoot the fragile cliffs above. <

---

A blood-curdling roar bellowed from the grotesquely fanged maw of the troll, its hands balled into fists high above its head as its strained and red eyes glared down at you with an angry hunger. Its arms began to swing down just as you fired one final arrow, which whistled over its head and climbed high toward the edge of the cliffs. While the metal arrow tip itself only made a barely audible "plink" off the loose stone between the cracks, the impact was enough to release them. A low and loud rumble shook the troll from its final attack, saving you from its crushing blow as it twisted its head up to the sky. Neither you nor the troll had much time to react, though. As quickly as you struck your target, rocks and snow began to slip from the edge of the cliff and rain down upon you both, followed soon after by a cascade of earth and ice as the wedge between the cracks slipped further and further out from the wall it sat in.

The troll rose its hand to its face, shielding its eyes from the collapsing debris and backing away from you. Now was your chance! You quickly stood up, and even more quickly felt a surge of pain strangle your legs, causing you to collapse onto your hands and knees. The frozen stones striking your back grew bigger with each passing second, trying to keep you pinned under the impending landslide. Fighting past the crumbling cliffside and the weakness in your body, you picked yourself up again and began to limp away from the danger zone before it was too late. Unfortunately, doing so only lured the monster to follow you, it too seeking refuge from the harassment above. It growled and roared, stumbling after you while suffering the same battering and bruising that you were. Luckily, it was just barely too far away to strike you, and its attempts to hold its arms out to you were met with falling chunks of cliffside swatting its hands back down.

You wouldn't dare look behind you. Every moment wasted was life or death. You pressed on against the pain, the glistening clouds of powdery dust and snow that obscured your vision, the rumbling, roaring and growling behind you. It all culminated in a earth-shaking crash behind you. An explosion of stone as you were certain the massive wedge finally met the ground. What followed was near-silence; the pattering of smaller pebbles sounded like pleasant rain in comparison to the storm of earth you suffered through as the dust settled both metaphorically and physically. Notably- the visceral roars of your foe were also absent, evident as your looked over your shoulder to see a single large, fur coated claw, stained red and poking out from underneath the colossal boulder.

Were you to feel remorse for killing this troll? You pondered if it would have felt the same while it bit into its dessert had things gone the other way. The quandary didn't last much longer in your mind, as the sting of your body returned you to reality. Regardless of how you felt, standing here wouldn't change it. In the silence following the fight, you lowered yourself against a newly fallen boulder to recuperate and make sure you were still in one piece. Nothing was missing- that's good. Nothing looks like it's bent the wrong way- also good. The pain from just moving though, like whip cracks against your knees and shins- not good. You pulled at the bandolier across your chest, plucking from it one of three small vials with a glimmering red fluid sloshing about inside. These potions were expensive, but putting you back to form was worth the gold. Rolling it between your thumb and index finger, you pondered if it was worth drinking. On the one hand, you could still move. On the other hand, it hurt like hell.

---

• Drink the health potion, and continue on your way.
[Spend 1 of 3 health potions: return to a healthy condition]

• Press on without drinking the potion.
[No cost: Maintain harm at moderate, "weakened legs"]

• Rest here for a bit to catch your breath before continuing.
[Spend 1 hour resting: Reduce harm to minor, "bruised legs"]

Adventure Awaits! - Prompt Voting CYOA (Always Open)

> Bow and arrow. <
[Archetype - Rogue]

---

One of your hands snapped to your bow, pointing it at the mountain troll as your other hand lifted an arrow from your quiver and nocked it in place. You always came prepared with plenty of ammunition, but the thick fur and hide of this thing meant you'd have to aim your shots well if you wanted to make it through alive. With a careful poise, you kept your weapon between you and your potential foe, waiting for the perfect moment. The troll however, was far less patient. A low and gravelly mixture of a roar and screech tested your resolve as the monster picked itself up from its dinner. With the howl of the wind far behind at the entrance of this pass, the battle cry of the beast was unfiltered in its predation as it leaned forward and began to charge.

Where the beast claimed superiority of strength, you claimed superiority of dexterity. The moment it sprung into action, you loosed your arrow with impeccable reaction, sinking the projectile into the shoulder of the hulking behemoth as it trampled its way toward you. To both your expectation and dismay, a single shot of this caliber was not enough to slow the stampede. Your eyes risked a brief moment away from the troll as you scanned to your left and right for an escape. There was nowhere to hide fully, but plenty of crumbled cliffside nestled where the walls met the floor on both sides; rocks and boulders of varying sizes laid about, perfect for climbing atop. Hesitation was deadly at the moment, and so you took the opportunity presented to scramble onto the high ground just in time to avoid a swipe from the troll.

From your new perch, you were not fully out of reach, but you did have time to sink a few more arrows into your attacker as it recovered from the miss. Another intimidating roar bellowed as it turned and rose its arms to reach you. As best as you could, you led the monster astray, hopping across the uneven and treacherous shelf of cold earth. Each jump and roll you made dodged the slashing of claws, piercing of teeth, and crushing of limbs that each sundered any stone your feet crossed. Even a single successful strike against you would spell disaster, leading you to only take retaliation shots when you believed it to be absolutely safe. That was, until you ran out of running room at the top of these rocks. The next set of toppled stonework was far beyond the range of a leap, and almost instantly as you spent searching for somewhere closer to run or jump to, you felt the air in your lungs vacate from a mighty impact against your back. The troll's fist launched you off the boulder and onto the ground in a rough tumble across the cold stones.

Your body was wracked with pain; scratches and bruises from the landing only intensified the soreness of your back and legs from the swipe that knocked you down. As you turned onto your back and reclaimed your bow, you looked up just in time to see the beast looming overhead. Both of its arms rose high, clenched together in an overt desire to turn you into crimson paste against the ground. Looking past the arrow-filled monster, you saw high above it a large crack in the cliffs, splitting near the top to barely support a massive chunk of earth that looked like even the slightest nudge could set it free.

---

• Try to get out of the way.

• Shoot the troll.
[Write in: Choose a part of the body]

• Shoot the fragile cliffs above.