Welcome to Monday=)

Today starts your adventure. An adventure in which you get to choose which way the story will go in the fashion of the Choose Your Own Adventure books.

So after reading how it all starts, pick which way you’d like, posting it in the comments. But choose wisely, you never know what you’ll find deep in the earth where the sun doesn’t shine.

(For those of you who are nerds like me, this is a nod to the Elder Scrolls Skyrim.)

Temple of Night and Wind

Tucked way back in a mass of twisting rocks that sprout like moles from the forest floor sits a mouth to a cave. It’s low to the ground and hard to see but you know what it is as soon as you see it.  It’s the Howling Maw.

People say it eats people. Those who go in rarely come back. But they also say the few who make it back to daylight come back stronger and richer.

You’ve been out hunting but haven’t found anything. No one’s been finding game lately. You and others are starving but you’re from a poor village, so it’s not like you can buy the food you need, you have to shoot it or grow it and it’s a lean year.

Photo courtesy of Sebring’s Snapshots.

You’d never consider going into the Howling Maw otherwise, but if you make it back, you can buy the food everyone needs. And you have your hunting bow and knife. You’re better armed than most in the village.

So you venture down. The Maw surrounds you and then darkness. Trailing a hand along the right wall, your left rests on the bow over your shoulder. The floor slopes downward sharply and gravel crunches on stone at every step. Your breath echoes in your ears. The only other sound besides your stride.

A cool wind picks up, fluttering against your face. You blink but your eyes aren’t playing tricks. There’s a wavering light ahead.

You round a corner and come to a stop. Before you a torch sits burning in a wall bracket. It illuminates two possible ways.

To the left slants down even more with stairs cut deep into the floor. Stairs? In a cave? But there’s no mistaking it. The wind’s howling up those stairs and blowing your hair with its strength. On the wind you think you hear whispered words.

To the right is a heavy wooden door with iron bands. Below it flickers light from the other side.

You swallow. Both ways indicate you might encounter someone.

Do you…

A.Go left down the stairs?

Or

B. Go right through the door?

Blessings,

Jennifer

(Please post a comment with your choice. One vote per person per day please but comment as much as you like=) Voting will end at 8pm Mountain Time. Tomorrow I’ll post whichever option gets the most votes and we’ll see where the story goes!)