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Lost in the Jungle


Shadow

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In an attempt to dispel my 'lurker' status, I thought I'd have a go at trying my own CYOA. I know fledgling CYOA's are 10-a-penny, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, eh. Hopefully it's interesting enough to capture people's interest, and open ended enough for me to give it some reasonable longevity.

Lost in the Jungle

On the grassy, dry plain that lay adjacent to the forest, a woman was kneeling in front of her campfire. She was garbed in the simple clothes of an adventurer – tight grey top, relaxed brown skirt… knee-high leather boots – and by her side hung her sword, secure in its scabbard.
With the light from the fire catching her long, blond hair in a rather alluring way, the woman set about her incantation. For almost an hour she chanted, with no visible effect… until the very end. From the ground around her rose one, two, three, innumerable black spheres – spirits of the underworld – each glowing with a powerful dark malevolence. Slowly they approached, drawn in by the power of the spell.

It was entirely the wrong moment to sneeze.

With that simple, instinctive action the woman’s concentration was shattered, and the spell broken. Freed of their bonds, the spirits sought shelter in the only host available - the one kneeling in front of the campfire before them.
“No!” cried the stranger, but it was too late – all the orbs flew as one towards her, and where the struck her body they were instantly absorbed, before together seizing control of her mind. Gasping, the unfortunate sorcerer collapsed, her head striking a protruding rock on the ground. Everything went black.

Several hours later, with the sun shining down from the clear blue sky, Eve (for that was her name) awoke. The spirits within her found themselves in complete control – all sensory input fed into their collective consciousness, they had full access to their victim’s memories, and motor control seemed fully functional.
Scanning through her memories, they learnt that she had attempted to summon and control the spirits to provide her with the power to proceed unharmed through the jungle ahead… in search of a legendary shrine, said to bestow god-like knowledge and wisdom on all who prayed before it.
Ah. ‘Unharmed’ being the key word, thought one of the chattering minds. The jungle was rumoured to be crawling with all sorts of dangers, some more obvious than others. Still, a second voice added, god-like wisdom and knowledge is a worthy goal, even for powerful spirits… and now they had the vessel to get them there…

Guided from within, Eve steps into the forest. Trees soar on all sides, yet the undergrowth, full of thick leafy plants sitting on a layer of detritus, is dense. In the distance she hears birds calling and insects chirping, the sounds of life. Then the humidity strikes her; it’s overbearing, bringing her out in a sweat and draping moisture along the edges of her clothes. Still, she ventures forward through the undergrowth, taking care to be stealthy – its broad daylight and it wouldn’t do to draw unwanted attention.
Eventually she comes to a small river. She knows the temple she seeks, whilst far away, lies beyond this water…
Option A) Simply swim across the river. It’s not very wide, it’s not very fast-flowing, there’s nothing in sight… What’s the worst that could happen?
Option B) Follow the path of the river round. There’s bound to be some kind of natural bridge over it eventually, and it’ll save us the bother of getting wet.

A quick overview of the rules. If HP hits zero, Eve dies, and the spirits (that's you guys!) will have to possess what ever killed her. Which might provide a nice change of pace at some point, I suppose.
Being a sorcerer, Eve is capable of magic spells. At the minute she can use Fire Bolt I, Thunder Bolt I and Heal I. They're fairly self-explanatory, and each a blast of each uses up 10 MP points.
Corruption is can be raised in a variety of ways, most of which will become apparent later. As corruption increases, Eve becomes more unrecognizable as the spirits start to take over; it might manifest as horns, or wandering shadows, or what have you. Every time corruption passes a unit of 10, Eve becomes even more unrecognizable, and as spirits you become more powerful (which generally translates as new spells, greater manipulation of simple minded beasts around you, that sort of thing).

If you think of an idea that isn't suggested as an option, feel free to suggest it. At the minute decision taken is based on the number of votes, although at some point I might introduce a Head Spirit feature (similar to the Overlord in the Tentacle Lair Evolution! CYOA).
This being the Linemarvel forum, I assume it's understood that the story might contain... morally questionable elements.

HP: 50/50
MP: 100/100
Status: Fine
Eve is Corrupted.
Corruption: 5/?
 

Iggy

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Re: Lost in the Jungle

A. It's not like she'll be assimilated by a large turtleshell symbiote thing that will provide her with shell, body armor in exchange for pleasure administered by internal shell dildos near the crotch region of the shell~? God damnit, now I need to get that commisioned.
 

Tassadar

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Re: Lost in the Jungle

Welcome newcomer!

A! WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG!? :D
 
OP
Shadow

Shadow

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Re: Lost in the Jungle

Welcome newcomer!
Thank you kindly. :)

-------​

A) Swim across the river.

Sitting down on the bank, Eve slid carefully into the water. Ripples spread out as she entered, but there seemed to be no other sign of movement. In fact, the water felt lovely; it was cooling and soothing after the draining humidity of the air.
Enough. Eve kicked off from the bank, and using a smooth, powerful breaststoke crossed the river in no-time. At the opposite bank a protruding root offered adequate purchase to climb out; with a final heave, Eve was clear of the water.
"Huh." murmed a spirit. "That went better than expected."
Though her clothes were tripping with water, Eve knew that in the sweltering heat of the jungle they'd dry quickly. Onwards!

Several minutes later, after navigating a particularly thorny patch of undergrowth that left some alarming scratches in her skirt, Eve stumbled upon a small clearing. The ground was fairly clear - brown soil, a light covering of small ferns - but the biggest concern was the gigantic beetle resting in the middle. By some divine mercy, it was facing away from Eve and didn't seem to have noticed her - it seemed more interested in a large fungus in front of its face - but the thing really was huge. Its main body was at least as long as Eve was tall, and its head sported some fine antennae and a pair of wicked-looking mandibles.
Drawing her sword, slowly, silently, Eve observed from a distance...

Option A) It's not aware of us; now would be an ideal moment to skewer it with the sword. That exoskeleton would make a very fine shield.
Option B) Holy crap, run. It's a gigantic beetle, how could we possibly hope to defeat it?
Option C) Sneak away slowly. God, we don't want it to notice us.

Status: Alarmed
HP: 50/50
MP: 100/100
Corruption: 5/?
 
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Courage Wolf

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Re: Lost in the Jungle

A: Rend its body asunder... Its flesh will make fine armor.
 

GargantuaBlarg

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Re: Lost in the Jungle

But but but jungles are humid and bad at drying things.

C.
 

the_taken

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Re: Lost in the Jungle

C Bugs... Bugs... Bugs...
 

xgkf

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Re: Lost in the Jungle

C.
 
OP
Shadow

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Re: Lost in the Jungle

Option C) it is!

Keeping her breathing shallow, Eve began to back away from the monstrous insect. One step, two steps... treading ever-so-gently so as to avoid rustling the detritus on the ground. She could feel beads of sweat forming below her still-damp garments - a combination of the steamy heat and knife-edge tension. One step, another... slowly she began to slide her sword back into its scabbard.

Crunch. A twig snapped beneath Eve's foot, and she froze. The beetle's antennae flashed into the air and began to wave... but thankfully it didn't turn around. Still hardly breathing, Eve continued her slow, careful escape.

Eventually, with the beetle out of sight, Eve breathed a huge sigh of relief. God, that was nerve-wracking - her hands will still shaking, and her heart was pounding in her chest. Phew! Taking a couple of minutes to calm herself, she continued east through the endless Jungle, still in search of that elusive shrine.
Nothing ever goes to plan, however. After just another couple of minutes of winding her way around trees, Eve stumbled upon a Goblin, scavenging among the undergrowth. It hears her steps and looks up.
"Ah, human-woman!" it croaks. Eve can barely hide wrinkling her nose in disgust. The Goblin is a particularly ugly creature; a wide trapezoid-head with an equally wide mouth, moss-green scales and thin, gangly limbs. Although in height it is only up to Eve's waist, she soon spots it is a male specimen - it wears only a simple loincloth, and that garment is begining to develop a tell-tale bulge. Intriguingly, however, on its back is carried a large sack - and protruding from the top was a gold-bound book Eve heavily suspected was a book of magic, containing the secrets to a variety of interesting spells.
"You help me, human-woman?" the Goblin gargles.

Option A) Kill the Goblin and take his book. It's not like he can use it...
-> Option A1) Kill the Goblin with a swing of your sword.
-> Option A2) Kill the Goblin with one of your magic spells - it'll be safer from a distance.
Option B) 'Persuade' the Goblin to give us his book on magic. This route is less certain - if we mis-judge the situation he might not give us the book at all, it's hardly in his interest to have powerful sorcerers roaming the forest.
Option C) 'Persuade' the Goblin to tell us what he knows about the Shrine - that's our overall aim, after-all.
Option D) Other. Remember, this is always an option.

Status:
Status: Thinking
HP: 50/50
MP:100/100
Corruption: 4/? - ran away from an encounter.
 
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Courage Wolf

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Re: Lost in the Jungle

A1! The book would do us a great deal of good, and i sincerely doubt powerful spirits from the beyond care much for the life of a goblin
 

GargantuaBlarg

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Re: Lost in the Jungle

Perform the age-old ritual of killing people and taking their stuff.

Sucks for that gobbo. Or us, if it's some kind of deadly wizard. Or a servant, carrying some deadly wizard's stuff.
 

the_taken

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Re: Lost in the Jungle

D Casually ask him to tell us anything he knows about the Shrine. It's just a place that's nearby, it shouldn't be a big deal. No need to be rude, even if we don't like him.

If he asks for sex, be a little resistant, but ask him for the book first. Also, he has to do it doggy style, (since we don't like looking at his face.) And no hair pulling or boob mashing!
 

Termite

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Re: Lost in the Jungle

D Casually ask him to tell us anything he knows about the Shrine. It's just a place that's nearby, it shouldn't be a big deal. No need to be rude, even if we don't like him.

If he asks for sex, be a little resistant, but ask him for the book first. Also, he has to do it doggy style, (since we don't like looking at his face.) And no hair pulling or boob mashing!
I'm gonna agree with this.
 

xgkf

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Re: Lost in the Jungle

3rd'd. the_taken's D.
 

Darkboy

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Re: Lost in the Jungle

Going with the_taken's D.
 

Tassadar

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Re: Lost in the Jungle

D Casually ask him to tell us anything he knows about the Shrine. It's just a place that's nearby, it shouldn't be a big deal. No need to be rude, even if we don't like him.

If he asks for sex, be a little resistant, but ask him for the book first. Also, he has to do it doggy style, (since we don't like looking at his face.) And no hair pulling or boob mashing!
I approve of this plan!
 

Courage Wolf

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Re: Lost in the Jungle

D I change my vote, it is a good plan
 
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