MagiQuests [A Magistream CYOA] [Ch3 up!]

[Chuckeh]

Chuck likes this so far.

~Chuck

[Piney]

Chuck likes this so far.

~Chuck

Thanks. :3 Will Chuck vote on which path to take?

[Niada]

I choose A. Lets tempt risk.

[MageLorelei]

I'll pick A. Again, it seems more exciting.

[Duragi]

A, I think the Ashen Shaa want us to leave. I think staying will foil their plan!

[Lunaheart]

B cause the Ashen Shaa might lead them to the temple

[Chuckeh]

I choose A.

[freakazoid]

Ooh, I love Choose Your Own Adventure stories. :3
Let's go with A.

[Piney]

A. Stay on your guard and let Hendrick continue looking.

Chapter 3

You decide that the Ashen Shaa weren’t a big enough threat to warrant a retreat and let them be. Hendrick continues to be unaware of the danger, happily walking around and waving his mechanical contraption over the sand. He doesn’t notice that you and your creatures are staring off in the distance, keeping an eye on the feral Shaa pack. After a while, you almost wish that they would attack or chase after them or do something. The moon is starting to sink over the horizon and nothing exciting has happened all evening.

Suddenly, Hendrick lets out a loud whoop. The doodad in his hand is flashing violent colors and letting out a piercing trill. You immediately straighten up and run towards him.

“Did you find something?”

“Yes! This is probably indicating an echo of an ancient security spell, meaning that the temple is indeed down there!” The enthusiastic researcher pulls a shovel out of his pack and starts digging. But you clear your throat and point to your crystalwing.

“Allow us.” You say, and your hands begin to glow a light blue. Your Crystalwing’s gems are shimmering with the same color, and the ground beneath you trembles.

“What did I say about using spells?!” Hendrick cries out suddenly.

“Relax. I’m not casting anything on the temple. Just the sand.” You chant something under your breath and the land shifts and shakes. Handfuls of sand are being pushed aside as you ‘dig’, and soon mounds as tall as a person begin to form at the edge of the pit you’re creating.

Sand digging is not the easiest spell to cast, and soon you start to tire. Even though you push yourself forward, the grains just keep tumbling back into the hole through the slightest cracks of your magic. Your Crystalwing is not as weary as you are, but you can feeling less and less power coming from it too. And all of the sudden, its stream of magic just stops, leaving you to carry the burden of the spell. You crumble under the invisible weight and fall down. Without the digging spell, sand rushes back into the pit you’ve created and soon it looks like no work was done at all.

“What happened?” Hendrick asks. The Crystalwing chirps in reply, which you have to translate.

“The Crystalwing felt a powerful defensive spell. Even with all of our magic, the temple was never going to be dug out.” You take a moment to regain your breath, and in that moment the man starts at the area with his shovel again.

“Don’t waste your time! The spell covers manual digging too!” You tell him, although you had to repeat yourself several times until the researcher stops.

For the first time since this expedition started, Hendrick had a frown on his face. Actually, it was more than a frown. It was a look of frustration, a person feeling on the verge of defeat.

“So what are we to do? What’s the point of finding this temple if we can’t uncover it?”

“We can go back to the Keep, enlist more powerful Magi to help break the spell and any other security spells that might cause trouble.” You say. You wonder how he feels about this option, since he made clear that he opposed any magical tampering. But this might be the only way...

Hendrick sighs, throws down his shovel, and glances around, as if he’s going to find the answer around him. And perhaps he did, because he finally catches sight of the Ashen Shaa pack and a brilliant grin breaks out on his face.

“Jeweled warrior... or maybe...” He pulls out the scroll and a magnifying glass. His face is so close to the parchment than his nose was touching it, and a look of intense concentration replaces his look of frustration from before.

“Yes! This rune, it does mean jeweled warrior, but it’s also the rune for the Ashen Shaa! They’ll point the way!” Before you can stop him, the researcher runs out towards the pack, who immediately stiffens at the approach of the strange human.

The biggest Ashen Shaa takes a step forward, its horn starting to glow with a light not unlike the sun. You can only watch in horror as a beam of intense light bursts forward from the horn and towards Hendrick. But the man is not alone, and instead of being incinerated your Sacred Scarab launches itself from his shoulders and takes the hit. The beetle falls to the ground, wings crumpled as it lands on its back, motionless.

“NO!” You shriek and throw aside any regard for safety. You start running towards the body of your fallen companion and your Crystalwing, sensing your anguish, grabs you and flies you over to it. You never had anyone or anything die on your adventures, and the shock of losing a friend is a heavy blow to your spirit. You break down and start crying, tears dripping onto the cold jeweled carcass.

Hendrick stands there, as still as the Scarab. You are sorely tempted to punch him in the face right now and leave him for the Shaa. But your limbs are still paralyzed with grief. Your Temple Dog and Crystalwing cuddle around you, offering a kind of comfort only animals can give. Even the Ashen Shaa stay back, as if they were mourning too.

Suddenly the ground rumbles, like you were casting your digging spell again. But your hands aren’t glowing, and neither is the Crystalwing. You feel yourself sinking and sand is being poured over your head as you fall through the vortex of sand.

…

…

When you wake up, Hendrick has lighted a torch and is kneeling over you with a concerned look. You however are more relieved to see that your two remaining companions have followed you through, as well as the scarab body you’re still clutching.

“I’m sorry.” are the first words out of the man’s mouth.

“Get away from me.”

“I wish I could, but we’re trapped...” He swings the torch around, letting you get a good look at the new scenario. Stone walls, engraved with strange symbols, surround you, and the ceiling is a little lower than you’d like it. The floor is covered and sand and it feels like the air is filled with the vile stuff too. Ahead of you is a dark corridor, and when your eyes have adjusted you can see it splitting into three paths.

“I’m truly sorry for your loss.” Hendrick repeats. “But we have to get moving sometime. Who knows how much air is down here? Once we leave, we can go our separate ways, but I ask to put the past behind you just for now so we can get out of here alive.”

As much as you’d hate to admit it, the man is right. You stand up and put the dead beetle in your pack, determined to give it a proper burial later. The brief walk down the dark hall is silent, and soon you’re faced with three choices on the path to take.

“The scroll doesn’t come with a map does it?”

Hendrick shakes his head. “It looks like we’re going to have to take a guess...”

A. Take the left path
B. Take the middle path
C. Take the right path

Just saying now, this story has a lot of potential for injuries/death. Cause it's a temple of DOOM.

[freakazoid]

Let's go B.
And baww. Poor beetle. :c

But violence/injuries = yus. /nodnod