The Game 2
Time for another chance to explore an adventure for a second time! The last time this adventure was run, you found a rather unfortunate end. If you’d like to read the first run in it’s entirety, click here. Now, let’s hope for something more healthy this time!
Read on and, at the end, leave a comment for how you’d like the story to continue=)
The Game
On a whim, you stopped for the night at a random Bed and Breakfast off Highway 50 that you’d never noticed before. You’ve work on Monday but it’s only Saturday and a few days away sound like heaven.
You asked if there was a quiet place you could sit for a while and the owner of the Bed and Breakfast, Ms. Williams, directed you to the attic. You anticipated her to send you to the porch table out back or perhaps the trail that leads from the back of the B&B into the mountains.
“Up the stairs, dear,” she said, “just open the door at the end of the hall and make yourself comfortable. Anything in there’s fair game too, if you want it. It’s where I keep things left behind.”
A stab of disappointment hits you at her words. The attic? Really? But she’s a nice old lady and you don’t want to insult her, so you climb the stairs as they creak beneath your weight and give her a smile as you go.
The door to the attic’s an old relic. Painted a dull red with a crystal handle like you might find in your grandmother’s house.
You find it unlocked and slip inside to find an old style attic, peeked ceiling, wooden floorboards, rounded window and all. There’s a chair by the window and, since you asked for a quiet place to sit, you walk over and sit in the wooden thing.
Quiet’s right. You can just hear the steps of Ms. Williams downstairs as she cleans up from breakfast but after a short while even
Photo courtesy of Sebring’s Snapshots.
that fades and the silence surrounds you along with the dry, dusty smell of attics the world over. You watch the aspen leaves fluttering in the breeze beyond the window until your eyes droop from the warmth of the dry room.
Maybe you snore, maybe not, but something wakes you with a start. You’re eyes blur and then come to focus on an ant sitting on your knee. Its shape is fuzzy from the dusky gray now showing through the window. It’s the only light in the attic.
“Oh dear, I’ve been had.” The ant takes flight and disappears into the lid of an old trunk tucked under the eve of the attic.
You shake your head. It spoke. It’s an insect…but it spoke.
Curiosity gets the better of you. Ducking to avoid the sloped ceiling, you pull the trunk from its spot so it sits in front of the chair and then you flip the lid open as you sit back down.
A cane with a dragon’s head stares back at you. Beneath it is a long brown jacket and a folded letter but no ant. Extracting the letter from under the cane, you find it crinkles at your touch and is browned around the folds. Ms. Williams said to make yourself welcome, so you flip the letter open.
Wear the coat and use the crutch and see the world through a different clutch.
Odd. Not the best rhyme you’ve ever seen. There are two pages to the letter, so you flip to the next page. It’s a map with an ant at one corner and an elephant at the other. Because it’s kind of fun, you pull the cane and coat out and hold them over your arm as you close the trunk and slide it back under the eves.
Then you head for the door because the light from the window is gone and you’re surrounded by darkness.
You open the door and almost stumble into a jungle. A blast of heat hits your face along with a wave of bugs. Yuck. You slam the door shut and try again. You open to sprawling grass land. What the?
“I suggest the grass land,” says a voice.
In the light from the open door, you see the ant sitting on your arm along with the cane and coat.
“Why? why can’t I just go down stairs again?”
“You opened the letter,” the ant shrugs. “Now you’ve got to play the game. Kind of. If you win, you find treasure, if you loose, you either die or get sent back to your boring life.”
“What happened to you?”
“I was made as part of the adventure. No win/loose for me. Just be. I suggest you put on the coat before you step through.”
The ant flies into the air as you swing the coat onto your shoulders. It fits. Perfectly.
“So what’ll it be, jungle or grassland?” asks the ant as you fit the cane to your hand.
“What’s it matter?”
“Grassland you can travel faster but it’s easier to miss details. Jungle’s slower but you have a better chance to pick up on key points of the map.”
You open your mouth to ask more but the ant interrupts. “That’s all you get. I can’t say more.”
You scowl at him.
So do you choose…
A. Jungle?
or
B. Grassland?
Blessings,
Jennifer
(Please post a comment with your choice. One vote per post please but comment as much as you like=) Voting will end at 6pm Pacific Time Wednesday. I’ll post whichever option gets the most votes Thursday and we’ll see how the adventure continues!)
