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Lost...and Found?! A Surprise CYOA

Started by Ph0ny, January 24, 2022, 05:04:26 PM

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Scaramouche Fandango

#15
It should have the front page headline on the Phonyland Gazette: MISSING PHONIES POSSIBLY ALIVE! For many in Phonyland, the headline brought unbelievable relief and a new surge of hope. It had been years since the tragic mountain picnic party had disappeared, gone without a trace. But now, one of them had returned- and all in one piece! While her tale of a hollow earth was strange, it was enough proof for several phonies that a rescue attempt would be worth it. They would go to the center of the earth if they had to, and they would rescue their lost friends and family.

But it wasn't. It wasn't front page news. Maybe people had given up hope. Maybe they didn't want to believe, that they'd already grieved and wanted to just... stay moved on.

But one phony couldn't move on. She'd lost more than many. Her wife, father-in-law, one of her children, and multiple grandchildren had all disappeared that day. End of an Era had haunted her own house since that day, but with this news she felt more alive than ever. (Which was questionable, since. You know. Ghost.) Armed with maps and spelunking equipment, she held a meeting at the town hall to assemble a rescue party. Despite the potential danger, she was excited- oh so excited- to think that her lost loves were soon to be found. She would lead this expedition and she would bring them back, no matter what.

And she wouldn't be doing it alone. A small group had rallied around her, and she was so grateful for all of them. As they gathered on the mountain, they donned helmets and spelunking harnesses, and prepared for a...

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARPH

ROUND ONE: THE MOUNTAIN
The group gathered around Paper Tiger's exit point. It was a small hole, not even big enough for the adult phonies to get through. A few hits with a pickaxe made it bigger; the wall was thinner than it looked (or perhaps the gathered Phonies were stronger than they thought). Per Paper Tiger's report, the way down was... well, it was there. A rough, rocky path– but a path nonetheless. With End of an Era in the lead, the shared light from unicorn horns and non-unicorn flashlights meant that the group could see what was directly ahead of them.

And precious little else. The cavern opened up almost immediately to something enormously vast, with complex shadows dancing across the tiny spheres of light put forth by the adventuring party. The group was quiet, listening for any noises- but what they heard was unsettlingly silent. Drips of water, the occasional flapping of leathery wings, but nothing that sounded like cries for help.

As they journeyed deeper and deeper, an unusual phenomenon picked up. Wind, blowing at a strange angle. The group was traversing a ridge, with a chasm on each side. Nobody wanted to look down for long, not even those who could fly. Experimental flapping showed them that they would get sucked right down if they tried to go left or right. Perhaps that's what happened to the original party, the phonies they were all attempting to find?

After an uncomfortably time walking in the dark, the path stops abruptly, a huge boulder splitting it. The treacherous path is now broken into two: one path, going to the right of the boulder, dips down below it. The other path, the left path, goes above the boulder. It seems longer and more challenging, but safer.

"We shouldn't split up," End of an Era says, shaking her head. "The only way we get through this is together. Which way should we go? We'll put it to a vote."

Which path do you want to take?
A: Right
B: Left

You have 24 hours from this point to make your choice. If you don't answer, it's assumed that your phony got too nervous and went home. No shame- this is a scary cave! But you won't be able to participate in further rounds if you don't respond.

@Syrcaid @Nym @Ruriska @Yasha @Huni Pi @Blinded By Silence @thy @purpleroses @FrostyPeaches @Maxx @moonstonedazzle @Jun

purpleroses

Torte Bar had no problem speaking up quickly. "Might is right! Or well, right is right. We should go right!" she declared. A thrillseeker to her core, she was excited to be part of an adventuring party. There was phonies in trouble, and maybe they'd want a lawyer after their terrible, awful no good ordeal. A girl can dream, of course.

(Torte picks A!)

Nym

Weatherly was not such a thrill seeker as Torte Bar, even though he had pushed himself to join the expedition in hopes to help reunite families together, similar to his own experience. He shifted foot to foot, nervously tugging at his mane.

"Left, I think -- it's safer."

(Weatherly picks B!)

Blinded By Silence

#18
Sworn-Sword was so hyped for this adventure! Yes, of course, it was scary and everyone was nervous, or at least she assumed they were because somehow no one was talking about it? But this was it! Her chance to be A Real HeroTM. She was going to be just like Stefan Galaxy, off to save the world! Or rather, these lost Phonies!

"I don't know about safer, but I do know that all good adventurers go left!"

(Ess picks B: Left!)

FrostyPeaches

B: Left.

Bullseye had been quietly trotting along with the small crowd and did not say a word until they had reached the opening of the cave. "Oooo," she said playfully moving her hooves in front of her face shielding her eyes, "a cave, how spooky..." and kept on walking forward with the others ready to explore the inside of this mountain and see if any ponies were to be found.

The paths didn't look bad to her at first but when the strange wind blew against only her tail, she wondered what could possible be living down below, if at all? Like a curious adventurer, she peered down into the darkness before inching back against the cave's wall. "That boulder, reminds me of this movie I have seen...something about this biiiig round ball rolling down a corridor flattening anything and anyone in its path...."

She chuckled as she imagined herself in that one movie scene and being squashed flat as paper. "I think both paths have their dangers waiting upon on. but... the safer way, in my eyes for this moment anyway, is to go....left," and she hopped on over to the other path.

so sleepyyy ;-;

Ruriska


There was always something strange happening in Phonyland but this was easily one of the biggest and oddest of happenings. Itsy Bitsy had unfurled the paper and read the details, giving soft shakes of her head in distress, imagining all those poor souls, lost in the mountains. 

Itsy Bitsy didn't personally know any of the Phonies involved but she knew there were children and the arrival of sweet little Paper Tiger, her tear-streaked picture in the paper, pleading for others to help, had touched her heart.

A child in need? Itsy Bitsy couldn't turn away.

So she packed her supplies, slung on a backpack and said farewell to the many spiders that shared her home. They would do well enough without her but Itsy Bitsy still felt a pang of distress as she left. She'd never gone far from home.

And very soon she found herself very far from the web, Following End of an Era into the earth. She didn't mind the dark. In fact, it was quite comforting.

She would have been quite content with the strange stroll if not for the children. Why were they here? How had they been allowed to participate in such a perilous journey?

"Do stay close," she urged the foals of the group, hanging back to keep a watchful eye(s) on them, hoping they wouldn't be scared by her presence. "Be very careful."

Their first decision as a group soon arrived. Her natural inclination was to follow the decision of the first two foals that piped up, they're reasoning more than agreeable.

"Haste makes waste," she said softly. "It's best we take the safer route."

( B. Left! )

Syrcaid



Nightvine figured this adventure would lead to interesting, dark places.  Which would make it substantially easier for him to stay awake throughout the whole trip!  One long, continuous night sounded lovely to him.  He had absolutely no trouble seeing anything in it.  It was wonderful to see others traveling with him instead of all hidden, tucked away in houses and beds.  This must be what it felt like to be amongst the diurnal!

"I can see quite a ways, but even I can't see the end of what's to the right," he admitted.  "Even with proper gear, it would be a huge risk going right.  I agree with going left."

(Nightvine votes Left!)


Maxx

Paper Tiger had decided to bravely come along after her low-key rescue back into Phony civilisation, but didn't seem to be of much help besides her initial skimpy report.

"I don't remember much anymore," she said, glancing about the cave as they journeyed, pressing a little closer into the group away from the chasm on both sides, "it must be the trauma."

Perhaps it was also the trauma that called her to the sucking, yawning gap, which also led her to be attracted to the path that would lead straight down. Was that hole made for her?

"Maybe right," she suggested, "but don't take my word for it. We might die."

A: Right

Jun

Diamond had quickly realised she was in over her head - which wouldn't be the first time, she didn't know why she kept turning up for these dodgy expeditions. It was like a omnipotent hand controlled her and she couldn't protest.

"I've read stories like this," she said, hushed, in case speaking normally might set off an avalanche or something, "even if we take the safer path, we'll inevitably be plunged into peril and end up having to take the scary path. I vote we save ourselves the extra peril and turn right."



A: Right

thy

Lemma didn't really know what she could contribute here, but as an unemployed filly she really had nothing better to do with her time, and it just seemed wrong to not look. They were in an amusement park, right? Everything should be just fine!

Still, even if this was all scripted somehow, the steep fall below the boulder seemed daunting. But she couldn't say that - it'd be cowardly! Instead, she voiced her vote to go left with different reasoning: "We'll have a better vantage point from above," Lemma declared. "Left makes more sense to me."

B. Left

Scaramouche Fandango

[blockquote]Rolled 1d9 : 9, total 9[/blockquote]

Scaramouche Fandango

Ender nodded gravely. "Left it is, then." The group inched forward, going step by step. Their progress was slow, but slow and steady wins the race. Looking over the side brought lurches to everyone's stomach; there seemed to be no end to the chasm below. It was enough to drive some phonies back to base, to await the group's return.

The path seemed to go on for absolute ages. It was Love's Lemma who noticed it first- the contours of the path didn't really match what the outside of the mountain should have been, and after some careful observation, something isn't right here. The size of the cavern is too large to be any kind of natural cavern- it's more like the mountain itself is a shell covering something else. And as the path swoops closer to a wall, it suddenly becomes clear that this mountain isn't a naturally occurring phenomenon. Natural mountains, after all, aren't hollow. Not even volcanoes have this kind of cavernous emptiness. As the path angles downward, some shapes can be made out in the darkness. There's scaffolding on the side, and as the path runs right up against the wall, it suddenly becomes obvious what's going on here.

The "stone" of the mountain isn't stone at all. It's tough, but at the same time... kind of springy. Almost... almost like  plastic.

Helmet and horn lights reveal that it is, in fact, multicolored plastic, potentially the result of thousands of factory errors and melted-together sprue. Down, down the path leads them, until they're walking on a floor made of compacted plastic in various forms. There's what appears to be injection mold runoff, filament from rapid prototyping... even some long, colorful strands of nylon that look like... hair. Twisted scraps of blister pack plastic litter the floor like leaves in this graveyard of ideas. Stalagmites have even formed from where plastic was dumped from somewhere up above. This isn't a natural mountain- it's industrial waste! This entire mountain is one big garbage dump!


At least it's a remarkably well-preserved garbage dump. At the bottom of the path, caught on a screw sticking out of the scaffolding remnants, is hair. Real, genuine phony hair. "They were here," Ender says. "This area looks pretty stable, so we can probably guess that they followed the same path down that we did, or a similar one that led down here. I think we should search this area before we go further. Let's spread out, but not too far. Stay within shouting distance, and if you get disoriented, yell for help, stay put, and shine your light straight up."

What does your phony do? You have 24 hours from this post to answer! This is not an elimination round, but if you don't post, you don't get points!

A: Look for a path.
B: Look for tracks.
C: Look for signs of a camp.
D: Look for other clues (describe what those are, please!)

@thy @Jun  @Maxx @Syrcaid @Ruriska @FrostyPeaches @Nym @Blinded By Silence @purpleroses



Ruriska

How strange, how curious! Her many eyes flicked to and fro, assessing the strange plastic cavern that surrounded them. Finding oneself in a graveyard of waste, a place where one could have potentially been one defect away from joining, was quite confronting.

It seemed like a terrible health code violation but also a very good place for spiders. There were many crevasses one could hide and plenty of places to string up a web. Only the sterility and lack of other insects might be a problem. 

Itsy Bitsy had thus far kept her many extra legs to herself, tucked in, her position at the back watching over the youngsters, a task she took very seriously. But as the ground leveled out and their leader announced it was time to search, she stepped forward.

One leg uncurled as she passed by Paper Tiger, very gently patting the poor traumatized darling and offered a gently toothy smile.

"Don't worry," she assured softly. "We will find the others." Pat pat. "And we will all leave here together."

Then she continued on past, wandering into the dark, her torch off to assist her eyesight, in search of any remains of a campsite. Surely they would have stopped somewhere to rest.

C: Look for signs of a camp.

( @Maxx Itsy Bitsy offers her support! )

purpleroses

Wow! This was all so strange! The mountain was hollow, filled with discarded garbage? And who knows what else... Hopefully the other missing phonies. Torte Bar started pacing around, inspecting the ground.

"I'm going to see if there's any evidence of tracks. Maybe we can find exactly which way our missing friends went." The pegasus slicked her hair back with a hoof, and began focusing.

(Torte picks B!)

Blinded By Silence

"It's like a set," She said, mostly to herself, her wide grey eyes shining, "'Journey to the Middle of the World' or something, wow..."

It was super creepy, but she did her best to stay in character. She looked around. This seemed like a good place to take a Short Rest to regain some HP or even a Long Rest for some Spell Slots. Ess looked around for any signs of a campsite.

(Ess chooses C!)