Trust the Mercenary

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. If you want to revisit the previous chapter, click here.)

The night is late, and the Mercenary and his group of followers are the only people offering to help you out. With your clouded perception, you are in no position to navigate the town alone. You fall in with the warrior and his entourage, and continue walking down the cobblestone road.

“That’s the spirit!” The Mercenary takes you under his arm with a chuckle. “We’ll find you a place to sleep in no time.”

A few minutes of walking later, you find yourself standing with the gang outside a dark building with large windows. Through the thick glass, you can see the glittering of trinkets in the moonlight. It appears that you’ve ended up in front of some kind of jewelry store.

The Mercenary turns to you with a smile, and you suddenly notice that everyone in the group has their eyes on you.

“You know,” The towering warrior ventures, “I think I deserve a gift for taking such good care of you.”

The Mercenary taps the window in front of an ornate gold necklace encrusted with enormous rubies.

“I like this one.” The Mercenary says. “What do you think?”

The sword-for-hire guides you closer to the window. You have no choice but to lean in and take a look.

Suddenly, without warning, you are lifted up by the mob and violently shoved forward through the glass, over the display, and into the shop. The breaking glass shatters the silence and provokes your instinct to flee, but in your dazed state the only thing you can do is lie on the floor and look back through the window as the Mercenary’s minions start snatching up jewelry and scampering off into the darkness.

The Mercenary himself grins as he plucks the rubied necklace from its stand and drops it into his pocket. He cups his hands to his mouth and shouts down the street.

“Guards! There’s been a break-in!” The clamor of running footsteps on cobblestone can be heard and a pair of armored guards soon appear outside the window.

“There was a group that ran off, but I managed to catch this one.” The Mercenary lies to the guards as he smiles smarmily down at you. “I’ll go see if I can chase the rest of them down.”

Before you can bring yourself to your senses and explain the situation, the duplicitous scoundrel has turned tail and run off into the night, leaving you to deal with the guards.

“All right.” One of them says wearily. “Come along, let’s not make this more difficult than it needs to be.”

What will you do?

• Submit
• Resist