Story arc #1: The Castle of Shadows

Castle of Shadows, part 1: The Cave

The start of a choose your own adventure story

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This is the first starter story of the publication — perhaps you could write a follow-up chapter… or the chapter before! It’s entirely up to you. Have fun!

Your eyes open.

You find yourself in a cave. It must be daytime, because you can see sunshine gleaming in through a gap in the rocks at the far side, but at first you don’t recall how you got in here.

Perhaps you had several beers last night, because your memory is hazy and your head still feels kinda fuzzy.

Then, a clear memory comes back to you. Yes… that was it. You were in a small town near the foot of the mountains when you argued with your close friend Jade about the legend of the Sword of Light.

Okay — you can admit that some bits of the legend (the parts involving werewolves and pixies) are a bit far fetched. Those are probably just stories. But you feel certain that the sword itself is a relic from history, and could be found.

How could Jade not believe in the legend? You felt personally insulted!

“I’ve read every book on the subject,” you told Jade angrily as you stood up, scowling, “and I will prove to you that the sword is real. I will go and search for it right now. And I’ll find it, too!”

With that, you drained the rest of your drink, left the bar… and began your trek into the mountains.

Well, it’s true that you’re an expert in the legend of the Sword of Light. And you had a pretty good idea of where to start looking. All the same, it was a bad plan. Or rather — lack of plan.

You walked and walked in the dwindling evening night, soon coming to regret setting off without packing some food, water, and other supplies. But it was too late to turn back.

Eventually, as it got too dark to continue trekking, you were fortunate to stumble upon a cave that you could shelter in overnight.

Well — now it’s morning, and you’ve sobered up.

Do you want to continue your badly-planned walk into the mountains… or crawl back to Jade and admit that you were wrong? Perhaps you could even persuade her to help!

Slowly, you get up. Your body aches, but only in a way that you’d expect from having spent the night sleeping on the stony ground. You move forward with a groan, kneel, and begin to take a drink from a pool.

“Urgh!” You spit out the water, which tastes strangely metallic. It is blue in color, and perhaps rich with minerals.

Just then, something unusual catches your eye.

“That’s strange…” you murmur.

There is something at the bottom of the water. At first you thought it was just a rock, but now you can see that it is some kind of doorway. Yes — it’s a hatch. It is clear enough to see from where you are kneeling, for it is only a yard or so below the surface of the pool of water.

What the heck is an underwater hatch doing in an obscure mountain cave like this? And where does it lead to?

What will you do next? Do you:

• Leave the cave, and begin to head back to town to find Jade?
• Keep walking higher into the mountains in search of the sword?
• Wade in, and investigate the hatch under the water?

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