An Experiment, Part 1 – The Crossroads
You have been walking west through the forest for two days, and the sun is setting. Amber light retreats wearily along the road before you, catching on the tops of the towering trees, seeming to set them aflame. You are tired, and hungry, and dirty. But you know that your journey is far from over. Tomorrow you must keep walking west, for your goal lies beyond the forest yet.
The path is winding, and you do your best to keep the sun before you as you walk, even as it slips below the treeline and out of view, leaving the orange glow of the horizon your only compass. The shadows are lengthening. There is little light through the trees in any other direction.
But as you duck beneath a hanging branch the path opens before you into a small clearing. At its centre is a tall signpost, with arms pointing in four directions: back the way you have come, and down paths to your left, right and straight ahead. There is a lantern hanging from the signpost, though it is long extinguished. You fumble in your pockets for your tinderbox, and manage to light it.
With the lantern, you can now read the signpost. The path ahead is marked with the name of a town, Whetstone. It is twenty miles away, and you cannot hope to reach it tonight. But you are going west. You could walk a little further, and camp for the night in the dark forest as you did last night. Then you could reach Whetstone tomorrow evening.
The sign pointing left – south – says that there is an inn some two miles distant. The sign is old and covered in lichen. If there is still an inn there, it will be dark by the time you arrive, and you will be going out of your way. But the image of even a straw mattress is hard to shake from your mind.
To the north, the sign is marked with the symbol for ‘river’, though there is no indicator of distance. If the river flows west, you could follow it out of the forest – or perhaps even find a boat to speed you on your way. But there is no guarantee you will find anything at all.
Which way will you go?
Leave your answers in the comments. Most votes decides what happens next.
UPDATE: You have until Saturday to cast your votes – any comments from Sunday won’t be counted, because I’ll be writing the next bit!
