Elock III

<h>ELOCK III<h/> After outgrowing the resources of earth, humans had to find minerals on alien planets outside our solar system. ‘Elock III’ was one such planet. Found in the nebulous system, this ‘earth-like’ planet is home to a mining colony, stripping the planet of any valuable minerals. These are then transported back to earth for consumption. Rumour has it that on this planet lies evidence of a once intelligent, civilised lifeform. However, there is little evidence to prove that. Today wildlife can still be found on this planet. wildlife on this planet is mostly docile, and has proven itself to be dangerous. Not to mention the planet’s increased oxygen supply allowing for much bigger creatures. Alien creatures that resemble insects have been reported to be more than 2 meters long. These reports came from many miners who have worked in the colony but quit and returned home. You are Mondo, alien treasure hunter extraordinaire. You came to this planet in search of evidence of intelligent life and to obtain priceless artefacts from the ancient civilisation. You land in a clearing in an alien jungle, a few miles south of the mining colony. Much of this planet has yet to be explored. The jungle is much less dense around the mining colony but gets much deeper as you go out further. For that reason, the dense alien jungle was deemed too dangerous to explore. Before you exit the ship, you decide to gear up. The surrounding jungle can be hostile and it is best to be prepared. Do you take the shotgun to protect yourself from close range attacks? Or do you take the sniper rifle to scout out your targets and take them out from a distance? [[Take shotgun]] [[Take sniper]]

You take the shotgun. (set: $shotgun to true) [[Get off the ship]]

You take the sniper rifle. (set:$sniper to true) [[Get off the ship]]

You exit the ship into a clearing in the alien jungle. Luscious plant life surrounds you. All colours of the rainbow are represented. Some of the plants have grown to massive proportions, some with single leaves the size of small trees. You remember that the day / night cycle on this planet is much shorter than on earth. five hours day/ five hours night. Night is soon approaching. Do you want to wait out the night and traverse the jungle in the day time? Or go now because treasure hunters aren’t afraid of the dark. [[Wait in the ship]] [[Go on in the dark]]

(set: $day = true) You return to the confines of your ship. As you lay your head down for a quick nap, you notice the plant life surrounding the ship, changes colour. Vibrant luminescence ignites the jungle. Your eyes fall shut, reopening to the rays of sun hitting your face through the cabin window. This time you’ll make it to the colony for sure. The colony is to the north of the clearing. Which way do you go? North to the colony, or explore the dense jungle to the south? [[Head north | continue]] [[Head south | die]]

(set: $night = true) You decide to not waste time and choose to go into the jungle. However which way should you enter? The mining colony is 3 miles north but the south of the jungle is dense and unexplored. [[North | continue night]] [[south | die]]

You head north into the jungle. The mining colony is just 3 miles from here. The jungle is packed but not too dense to walk through. You look around at some of the wildlife and notice it’s strange features. Tentacles, fangs, wings and other mismatched appendages adorn the lifeforms. Suddenly you hear a noise. A kind of growling with loud footsteps and wet slobbering. (if: $shotgun is true) [ You cautiously advance into the jungle toward the sound. Shotgun at the ready in case of attack. You rustle through the undergrowth in search of the source. Unfortunately, by that time it’s too late, the source becomes apparent. You find yourself staring into the eyes of a massive creature. Locally known as a Tentabeast. This creature can grow to the size of an elephant and is best described as a tiger like creature with tentacles shooting form its back. Hence the name Tentabeast. These creatures are formidable in close combat. You can either stay and fight or you can try to run away. [[Fight | shot fight tentebeast]] [[Run | shot run tentebeast]] ] (if: $sniper is true) [ You decide to have a look deeper into the jungle with your sniper rifle to see what the noise came from. Through your scope, you spot a massive creature. Locally known as a Tentabeast. This creature can grow to the size of an elephant and is best described as a tiger-like creature with tentacles shooting from its back. Hence the name Tentabeast. These creatures are formidable in close combat. You can either try to kill the beast with a clean shot or try to evade its detection and sneak by. [[Shoot | snip shoot tentebeast]] [[Sneak | snip sneak tentebeast]] ]

You enter the southern jungle. It is dense and dark. The plants bio-luminesce and light the way. Quickly however, you find yourself lost in the depths. You try to find a way out but only get more lost. Not only that, but attract the attention of the local wildlife. The wildlife here isn’t used to seeing humans and is eager to get a taste for it. Before you can fight back, you are overwhelmed by the wildlife. You die a horrible death. [[Restart?]]

(goto: "start")

With your fully loaded shotgun you begin to pump shells of buckshot into the face of the Tentabeast. With each shot the creature howls in pain until finally it begins to topple. [[Next | killed]]

You try to run from the Tentabeast but it is too fast for you. It snags you with its tentacles and mauls you to a painful death. [[Restart?]]

The creature falls to the ground, smashing a nearby giant fungus. The fungus releases spores into the air. These could be toxic. Do you put on your gas mask? [[Put on mask]] [[Keep mask off]]

You line up a clean shot on the skull of the Tentabeast. Holding your breath you take the shot. The bullet whizzes through the air while the load bang startles nearby creatures. The bullet makes a clean cut straight through the Tentabeast skull. [[Next | killed]]

You creep slowly through the undergrowth. Careful not to alert the Tentabeast. Unfortunately, you’re not as quiet as you think. Your rustling alerts the Tentabeast. The 10 foot creature pounces on you, mauling you to death. [[Restart?]]

You quickly make your way into the jungle. The sun soon sets and the jungle is plunged into darkness. However just as you begin to lose visibility, the giant fungi and other plants began to bio luminesce. Their soft glow lighting the path ahead. Suddenly you hear a noise ahead. It’s a kind of squeaking and screeching accompanied by a hum like that of a very large bee. (if: $shotgun is true) [ You cautiously approach the sound, shotgun at the ready. Making your way through the dark undergrowth, you soon come face to face with the source of the sounds. A Snarl Beetle hovers close to you. This giant insect glows in the dark and hunts at night. It hovers around with large humming wings. Its sees you and begins to approach you. Do you stay and fight or run? [[Fight | shot fight snarl]] [[Run | shot run snarl]] ] (if: $sniper is true) [ You take aim through the undergrowth. Through the darkness you see some movement. The movement is accompanied by some glowing creature. You quickly discover the sound and glow is that of a Snarl Beetle. This giant insect glows in the dark and hunts at night. It hovers around with large humming wings. Do you shoot the beetle or try and avoid it? [[Shoot | snip shoot snarl]] [[Avoid | snip avoid snarl]] ]

In a panic, you pump shot after shot into the creature. The Snarl Beetle’s hard exoskeleton makes for good armour. However, the creature goes down with little effort. [[Next | killed]]

You quickly take flight, north towards the mining colony. The snarl beetle is slow to keep up and you get away safely. You keep running however, afraid of what other dangers lurk. [[Next | post mask]]

You quickly take aim at the head of the beetle. Holding your breath, you take a shot, However, the thick exoskeleton of the beetle blocks the shot, cracking in the process. You line up another shot at the crack made by the last shot. Holding your breath, you fire again. This time the round pierces the snarl beetle killing it instantly. [[Next | killed]]

You try to creep past the Snarl Beetle. But its nocturnal instincts don’t need to see you to know that you’re there. The beetle quickly sniffs you out and attacks you. The Snarl Beetle pins you down and sucks your blood, only stopping when it has every, last drop. [[Restart?]]

You finally make your way out of the jungle into a massive clearing made just for the mining colony. In the near distance, you can see collections of machinery and smoke rising from chimneys. This small mining colony is the only place humans can be found on this planet. Wherever the rumours of alien artefacts surfaced, it must have been here. (if: $day is true) [ You notice the daylight fading, the 5-hour day was all too short for you. However, you feel you must pursue the artefact with or without daylight.](if: $night is true) [ From the corner of your eye, you see the sun begin to rise over the chimney tops. You take some solace knowing the snarl beetles won’t come after you during the day.] Strangely, you have not seen a single person around the complex. This, baffles you, but you decide to continue your investigation anyway. Looking around, you see several options to continue your investigation. Firstly, you could enter the mine itself to look for both the missing workers and clues as to where an artefact may have been found. Otherwise you could head to the foreman’s office, and try wriggle some information from them into the whereabouts of an artefact. [[Head down the mine | mine]] [[Consult the Foreman | foreman]]

Putting the mask on was a clever idea. You had heard stories of parasitic fungus found on this planet. It would not have been wise to take your chances here. [[Next | post mask]]

The spores prove to be more than toxic. They quickly consume you, leeching off your cells and growing into your brain. You remain alive for at least a week but controlled by the spores. Still conscious you live, painfully, under the control of a fungus. [[Restart?]]

You decide to head into the mine shaft. The steep slope that helixes down, deep into the ground, seems to go on forever. As you go deeper, it gets darker and darker until the only light remaining is the soft glow of you torch. Just as you were about to give up, the shaft begins to level out. Walking down this path just a little further reveals a junction. Looking down each tunnel reveals nothing but darkness. Do you take the right or the left tunnel? [[Left]] [[Right]]

You decide that if anyone knows anything about anything here, it would be the foreman. The foreman’s office sits at the top of a small building in one corner of the site. Making your way inside and up the stairs, you come to a door with a plaque that reads: “The Office of Foreman Jones” in bold gold plated writing. Without hesitation, you knock on the door. You hear a voice from inside: “come in, come in, I’ve been expectin’ you”. Cautiously, you open the door. Inside, you are met with a man in a business suit and a cowboy hat. “please, have a seat” the foreman exclaimed. “so, who are you, and what brings you to good old Elock 3?”. you think that the foreman might not be trustworthy, you wonder to either tell him the truth or lie? [[Tell the Truth | truth]] [[Lie]]

You take the Left tunnel. [[Next | mine cont]]

You take the Right tunnel [[Next | mine cont]]

The tunnel is dark and damp. With each breath, you feel the air getting heavier. Not only that but the air begins to smell. Very faintly, you hear sounds coming from ahead in the tunnel. It sounds like water flowing and the rhythmic sound of pickaxes in unison. Eager to find the source, you begin to move faster through the tunnel. To your left, you catch a glimpse of a sign. Do you stop to read the sign? [[Stop | sign]] [[Keep going | no sign]]

you pause momentarily to read the sign. It reads: “due to the level of cave ins we have decided to halt the use of machinery, all work from here will be by hand. Any complaints can be taken up with the missing persons register. – Foreman Jones”. With this information, you decide to walk a little lighter, wary of cave-ins. You proceed down the tunnel once more. [[Next | mine cont 2]]

In too much of a hurry, you press on, not caring much for what appears to be a normal safety message. [[Next | mine cont 2]]

You swiftly make your way to the end of the tunnel where it opens into a massive cavern, brightly lit and filled with glowing blue crystals. A waterfall and underground river flow at the far wall and many workers can be found along the cavern walls. Their picks striking the crystals in unison. With every strike the crystals flash brighter and then get darker again. You climb down into the cavern and attempt to ask a worker about the place. The worker does not respond. They appear to be in too much of a daze to do anything other than swing a pick axe. You try again with another worker, but only get the same result. You think you might try shaking one of the workers to see if they respond. But you also think this could be dangerous. Do you shake the worker? [[Shake him | shake]] [[Leave him be | leave]]

You decide that something shifty’s going on and that it’s in your best interest to solve it. Grabbing the worker by the shoulders, you give them a violent shake. The worker quickly snaps out of their trance. It takes them a moment to realise where they are and what they’re doing. “you, you saved me” said the worker. “the Foreman must have brain washed us with the relic we found.” You ask the worker about this relic. He tells you that a few months back they broke through into an ancient alien burial ground. There they found an alien orb. It was later discovered that the orb had the ability to control the minds of anything. The foreman used this to force work out of the miners. “We’ve got to get back at Foreman Jones. “exclaimed the worker. “will you help me?” You think to yourself, should you help this man or should you force him to show you to the burial site. [[Help him | help]] [[Request to see the burrial site | burrial site]]

You decide it best not to touch the worker, for fear you might startle him and get injured yourself. Pickaxes can be dangerous. You decide it is best to look around a little bit. But before you can get very far into your search you hear a voice form an intercom. “I’ve been watching you, I saw your ship land not far from here. I don’t know who you are, but I wouldn’t mind you telling me, what the hell you’re doing in my mine?” It was immediately clear this was the foreman, the same foreman that had enslaved all these people. “well stranger, you gonna’ tell me who you are?” Do you respond to the foreman or not? [[Respond]] [[Ignore]]

You decide to help the worker. Together you awaken the rest of the workers in the mine. You lead a charge back up the mine to the surface where you confront Foreman Jones. The foreman is quickly overrun by the workers and is savagely hacked to death with pickaxes. In the foreman’s office, you discover the alien artefact, sitting in a glass case behind the foreman’s desk. You snatch the artefact and begin making your way back to your ship. Your job is nearly complete, and bringing the artefact home to earth was the last step. However, you couldn’t help but wonder was it the right thing to do. Thinking about the power the artefact presented, you wondered was it safe in the hands of humanity. It was up to you. Bring the artefact to earth. Where the government will study it, or you could destroy the artefact here and make sure no one can use its power again. If so, you’ll return to earth empty handed with a failed mission. [[Finish the mission | bring]] [[destoy the artefact | destroy]]

You tell the worker that you would not help him. You didn’t come to this planet to free him and his colleagues. You came here to find an artefact. You tell the worker to show you where the burial site is. The worker refuses to tell you anything and tries to run. You give chase and quickly catch him. You fall into a desperate struggle. Taking out a knife you threaten the worker. You tell him you’ll slit his throat if he doesn’t tell you where it is. The worker still refuses. Do you follow through with your threat? [[Slit his throat | slit]] [[Back off]]

You return to earth with the artefact, your employer is so impressed, that they doubled your reward. Enough to allow you to live happily without ever working another day. However, it was not to last, it wasn’t long before the artefacts power was discovered. Its attempted use to take over the world led to all-out war. All civilisation was destroyed in the process. The last humans buried the artefact before dying themselves to radiation poisoning. The 100,000 years that followed ushered in a new age of earth. With the lack of humans, plant and wildlife prospered. The remaining radiation caused many mutations in both. Plants began to glow in the dark and some animals started to grow strange appendages. Earths oxygen supply tripled and many insects grew to massive sizes. Earth developed like this for 100,000 years. lying untouched by any civilisation. Until finally a small fleet of a far-off alien civilisation began to mine the earth for minerals. Taking them back to their own planet. [[Finish]]

You believe the artefact to be responsible for the extinction of the civilisation that once lived here. You knew the same would happen to earth given the chance. You took it upon yourself to save earth from such a fate, and destroy the artefact. With the artefact gone, you return to earth a failure. You receive no reward for your efforts, but continue your efforts as a freelancer. You live on proud of the service you did to earth, despite not getting recognition. [[Finish]]

Thank you for playing My decision based game. would you like to see what other paths you can take? [[Restart?]]

You tell the worker he brought this on himself before ramming the knife deep into his throat. Before bleeding out, the worker spoke through coughs of blood. “go behind the waterfall, but you’ll find nothing there”. With a one last splutter, the worker died. His colleagues remain brainwashed, mining crystals like clockwork. Wiping the blood from your knife, you make your way behind the waterfall. There you find a narrow passageway, with a small shaft of light at the end. You crawl through the tight tunnel. Once through the tunnel opens to a large room. Alien markings adorn all the walls. In the centre of the room stands a pedestal, empty. The artefact which had once been held here was taken away. Despite its removal, the room itself was proof enough of the alien civilisations existence on this planet. Bringing photos of the room back to earth wouldn’t be enough to prove its existence. You’ll have to bring something more tangible. With little time before the foreman notices your existence, you either take part of a wall or leave with just some photos. [[Photos]] [[Wall]]

Backing off the worker, you let your guard down. He quickly grabs the knife from you and before you can react, he buries the knife in your abdomen. In shock, you collapse on to the mine floor. It’s not long before you black out. You die minutes later. [[Restart?]]

You hastily take a few photos, thinking best not to destroy such a site. With the photos in your bag, you make your way out of the mine and back to your ship. Back on earth, you show your photos to your employer. While impressed. Your employer only gives you half your expected reward. Further expeditions are sent to Elock 3 in search of more evidence. You return to freelance work with the guilt of murdering the innocent worker. [[Finish]]

You decide to make sure you get your full reward and take a chunk of the wall. Taking the pick off the worker you murdered, you begin to strike the wall. From outside you can still hear the workers, chipping away in unison. In a rush to leave the mine, you begin striking the wall faster and stronger. Suddenly the whole room shakes and parts of the walls collapse. The narrow entrance is blocked with large chunks of rubble. You try to move the debris but its too heavy. Trapped in the burial site, with no escape, you breathe your final breaths, regretful of your murder of the innocent worker. [[Restart?]]

You respond to the foreman, Introducing yourself as Mondo the freelance interstellar treasure hunter. You explain the artefact you’ve come to Elock 3 to find and why you entered the mine. “oh, you mean the one I have right here in my office?” exclaimed the foreman. “it sure is a mighty little trinket.” “that being said, I can’t let you have my little money-maker. I also can’t have you spreading the news of its existence. With regret Mr Mongo, I’m going to have to say my goodbye.” [[Next | zombies]]

You choose to ignore the foreman and continue your search. “quiet one, aren’t we?” exclaimed the foreman “well it seems we have an intruder, get ‘em boys!” [[Next | zombies]]

It is only now that you realise the vacant eyes of every enslaved worker on you. And without hesitation they spring to life. The army of mindless workers quickly corner you. You are violently hacked to death by pickaxes. [[Restart?]]

You tell the foreman your name and about your mission to recover a rumoured artefact and return it to earth. “You mean like the little ‘doodad’ I have here?” exclaimed the foreman, pointing to a strange orb in a glass case behind his desk. “this here’s a one of a kind alien artefact dating back to a once intelligent, civilised society that lived here on Elock 3 100,000 years ago.” You ask the foreman if you could bring the artefact back to earth, to aid humanity’s understanding of the galaxy. The foreman pointedly refuses. “now I can’t let you bring my precious li’l darlin’ back with you to earth, I have much need for it here. I also can’t have you telling your employers of its existence. Promise me, you’ll keep it a secret!” You realise the foreman had attachment issues and that it was best to get away. You tell the foreman that you’ll keep his little secret safe and return to earth empty-handed. “awe you’d do that for me? you’re the best. And because you’re the best, I’ll let you in in a little secret. This artefact has special powers. It can control the minds of others. It works by taking control of their motor functions, leaving them conscious but powerless to stop its effects. I tell ya, I got a whole army of zombies chipping away down there, Say would you like to become one? I’ve been looking to fill some vacancies recently and I think you’d be the perfect candidate, now just hold still, and you might feel a small pinch.” Before you know it, the foreman had already started to brain wash you. Powerless to stop him, you become another member of his zombie army. You spend the rest of your life down in the mines chipping away at glowing crystals. But you lost your sanity long before that. [[Restart?]]

You attempt to lie to the foreman. You tell him you’re on your holiday and stumbled upon this place. The foreman looks at you surprised for a moment. “we both know that’s not why you’re here” said the foreman “that’s a government tagged spacecraft you’ve got there. Now would you like to tell me why you’re really here?” [[Tell the truth | truth]]