Venture Into the Forest
Pick Your Peril: The Hero of Mudtown
(This is part of a series of choose-your-own-adventure articles. If you want to start from the beginning, click here.)
The path to safety has been seared into your memory. You only hope that your family is at the end of it.
You make your way out of the village and into the trees. The sun is blocked by the dense foliage, and the path is completely covered in cool shade. You think about the village as you walk, and wonder what could have happened to everyone, your family at the forefront of these thoughts. The sudden change of weather and seeing those dark clouds above the bog was an ominous sign. You suspect that maybe those stories of a mad sorcerer might have been more fact than fiction.
Reality comes rushing back when you realize that you’ve gone off the path. You try to backtrack, and trudge through the trees for several minutes before giving up and going back. The day grows darker. You soon find yourself in a wide clearing, surrounded on all sides by a solid wall of trees. You are utterly lost.
A low snarl from behind catches you off guard.
You turn and see a pack of several large wolves emerging from the depths of the forest. The biggest one approaches slowly, teeth bared, saliva dripping from its fangs. You take a tentative step back, fighting the urge to run away and expose your back to the vicious predators. You once heard a pair of drunken huntsmen arguing at the inn if it was better to run from a pack of wolves, or to stand your ground and face the leader of the pack.
A particularly sharp-looking chunk of stone pokes up from the nearby earth, it could make a good weapon if you chose to defend yourself from the gang of hungry animals.
But then again, there are a lot of wolves. Your best chance at survival might be to run.
What will you do?