Ruphel's Run-in with a Rambunctious Relic!

Ruphel

400

The wind from the valley rustles through your fine fur as you put a small paw up to block the sun and look ahead of you. There was still a few miles before you would reach the next town and you were getting tired. Walking all day was in the job description of being a traveling merchant but that doesn't mean it got any easier over time. You subconciously adjust your large green backpack over your shoulder as you put your head down and continue walking. No sense in wasting daylight!

Another small gust of wind comes through the valley and you can't shield your face in time. You find yourself blinking out the dust from your piercing blue eyes. Being a chinchilla meant you were used to dust, but you still didn't like to get it in your eyes!

You slowly walk over to the underside of a cliff face to get yourself out of the sun and clear your eyes of the dust.

<% character.name = "Ruphel" character.addGold(400); character.inventory.addItem("map"); character.inventory.addItem("book"); character.inventory.addItem("scroll"); character.inventory.addItem("red-potion"); character.inventory.addItem("feather"); %> The wind from the valley rustles through your fine fur as you put a small paw up to block the sun and look ahead of you. There was still a few miles before you would reach the next town and you were getting tired. Walking all day was in the job description of being a traveling merchant but that doesn't mean it got any easier over time. You subconciously adjust your large green backpack over your shoulder as you put your head down and continue walking. No sense in wasting daylight! Another small gust of wind comes through the valley and you can't shield your face in time. You find yourself blinking out the dust from your piercing blue eyes. Being a chinchilla meant you were used to dust, but you still didn't like to get it in your eyes! You slowly walk over to the underside of a cliff face to get yourself out of the sun and clear your eyes of the dust. [[Shade, glorious shade!|Shade]]

As you clear your eyes of the dust you can just barely make out an argument happening between three people overhead. The argument builds in anger and before long all three of them are screaming at each other. You figure that it's just a bad disagreement between travelers and that if you wait it out, it'll blow over. But that was before you heard a long and drawn out shriek followed by the sound of steel hitting the top of the rock. Only a moment later, there were 2 more screams and then...silence. [[Huh, that can't be good|Investigate]]

You climb up the small cliffside and throw yourself on top of the rock. It's a wonderous view over the valley and you can see the top of the nearest town from here! It's also not the only thing you see when panning over the horizon. A few feet to your left you can see the bodies of three birds. All of them have deep sword wounds in their chests. Looking to your right you can see the murder weapon. A single solitary sword with a smattering of bird's blood along the blade. The trail of blood leading to it matches the trail on the ground going to the bodies. It looks like whatever they were arguing about was dire enough to warrant killing each other over. You could take the sword, clean it up and try and sell it to someone in town. You'd need some more gold to purchase supplies for the next leg of your trip after all. But then, out of the corner of your eye, you catch something glinting in the talon of the bird furthest from you. Maybe they were fighting over a shiny trinket you could sell instead? [[Go pick up the sword|Sword]] [[Look at the source of the shine|Trinket]]

<% character.inventory.removeItem("scroll"); character.inventory.addItem("sword"); %> You walk over to the sword and carefully pick it up. You do your best to keep blood out of your fur as you clean the blade with the spare scroll you had in your bag. Once it's clean of the bird's blood, you place it carefully into the bottom of your backpack. You weren't much for weapons, but hopefully you could sell it to someone who was. You can't shake the feeling of curiosity over the shiny trinket in the bird's talons though. It's as if the shine is calling out to you and you go and investigate exactly what it is. [[Investigate trinket|TrinketII]]

You decide to walk over to the shiny object and see what it is. The bird is grasping it tightly in it's talon, but you can make out that it's a talisman of some sort. A large "X" with the middle of the stone set in a bright pink. It hung from a silver chain. <% character.inventory.addItem("relic"); %> You carefully untangle the talisman from the bird and hold it in your paws. You turn it over and find that nothing seems particularly noteworthy about it. Just another piece of jewlery. But it might fetch a high price at the town. You decide to put it in your bag for later. After cleaning up after the birds and making sure their bodies were at least out of the sun, you took out your notebook and made a note. Once you got to town, you'd let the coroner know where they were so they could have a proper burial. With that taken care of, you closed the book with a *THUNK* and placed it back into your bag. [[Townward bound!|Traveling]]

As you walk along the road you find that your backpack seems to be getting heavier. You chalk it up to you being tired and press on anyway. <% character.inventory.addItem("book"); character.inventory.addItem("book"); character.inventory.addItem("book"); %> [[Keep going|Getting Heavier]]

To restart, please close the window and then relaunch the game.

You decide to walk over to the shiny object and see what it is. The bird is grasping it tightly in it's talon, but you can make out that it's a talisman of some sort. A large "X" with the middle of the stone set in a bright pink. It hung from a silver chain. <% character.inventory.addItem("relic"); %> You carefully untangle the talisman from the bird and hold it in your paws. You turn it over and find that nothing seems particularly noteworthy about it. Just another piece of jewlery. But it might fetch a high price at the town. You decide to put it in your bag for later. After cleaning up after the birds and making sure their bodies were at least out of the sun, you took out your notebook and made a note. Once you got to town, you'd let the coroner know where they were so they could have a proper burial. With that taken care of, you closed the book with a *THUNK* and placed it back into your bag. [[Townward Bound!|SwordDeath]]

<% character.inventory.addItem("sword"); character.inventory.addItem("sword"); character.inventory.addItem("sword"); character.inventory.addItem("sword"); character.inventory.addItem("sword"); character.inventory.addItem("sword"); character.inventory.addItem("sword"); character.inventory.addItem("sword"); character.inventory.addItem("sword"); character.inventory.addItem("sword"); character.inventory.addItem("sword"); %> You go to take a step and find that your bag is slightly heavier. You go to readjust the backpack by rolling your shoulders and hear a small sound *tink* In the next moment you hear metal on metal clanking around in your bag until a bunch of swords poke out from the bag in a big sharp explosion. Unfortunately for you, many of them get lodged inside your body. As you bleed out next to the side of the road you wonder why you even considered taking the sword in the first place. <% // The character will receive 20 points of damage character.damage(20); %>

About a mile down the road, you feel as though your backpack is twice as heavy as before. You decide to keep pushing through the pain though and hope that the town isn't that far off <% character.inventory.addItem("book"); character.inventory.addItem("book"); character.inventory.addItem("book"); %> [[Keep going|Getting Heavier II]]

<% character.inventory.addItem("book"); character.inventory.addItem("book"); character.inventory.addItem("book"); character.inventory.addItem("book"); character.inventory.addItem("book"); character.inventory.addItem("book"); %> You can't stand the weight anymore and stop walking to catch your breath. As you wheeze and get your stamina back you take the backpack off your shoulders and let it drop to the ground. WHUMPH!!! It sounded like it was filled to the brim! You open it up to try and figure out what's going on and get hit in the face with a book as it pops out of your bag. Rubbing your forehead, you notice that the whole bag has been filled to bursting with books! Fliping through them, you notice that they are all identical copies of your notebook you placed in your backpack moments ago. They all have the same writing in them and you can even flip to the exact page where you marked the location of the bird's bodies. This was very strange. Why would your book suddenly multiply like this? [[And then it hit you|Hit me baby]]

Not the reason that your stuff was multiplying, but rather another book had popped out of the backpack and landed into your face again. WHACK!!! You groaned as you rubbed your temples again. There had to be a reason this was happening. But you hadn't made any magic user mad in some time, so a curse was very unlikely. Retracing your steps in your mind you went through the last few days of travel. The annual gathering of merchants at Hammebe, then a trip through papaya country, and a small jaunt through the area where you always got your designer fur combs to sell, and then... the talisman! [[You reach in to grab the talisman|GrabbyHands]]

<% if (character.inventory.hasItem("relic")){ %> Testing this feature <% } %>

<% character.inventory.removeItem("book"); character.inventory.removeItem("book"); character.inventory.removeItem("book"); character.inventory.removeItem("book"); character.inventory.removeItem("book"); character.inventory.removeItem("book"); character.inventory.removeItem("book"); character.inventory.removeItem("book"); character.inventory.removeItem("book"); character.inventory.removeItem("book"); character.inventory.removeItem("book"); character.inventory.removeItem("book"); character.inventory.removeItem("map"); character.inventory.removeItem("scroll"); character.inventory.removeItem("feather"); character.inventory.removeItem("red-potion"); %> You go to grab the talisman at the bottom of your backpack, but the more you move the books around, the more of them get in your way. You grunt and shove and evenutally get fed up with trying to move them and just dump the contents of your bag out onto the ground. The books keep falling out for a good couple minutes, but your patience is rewarded when the talisman drops out and lands on top of the small mountain of books with a metallic tink. You pick it up and turn it over in your hands again. Nothing about it has changed and it doesn't feel any different. But this had to be the cause of your multiplication problem. There wasn't any other explanation that made sense! You know that you can't keep carrying it if you want to be able to reach the town by nightfall. But something clicks in your head as you're winding up to throw it into the horizon. If it can duplicate books, what else can it make copies of? You could be a very rich chinchilla if you decided to keep it. [[Toss it|Toss]] [[Keep it|Keep]]

<% character.inventory.removeItem("relic"); character.inventory.addItem("book"); character.inventory.addItem("feather"); character.inventory.addItem("red-potion"); character.inventory.addItem("map"); character.inventory.addItem("scroll"); %> You turn the talisman over in your paws one last time before gripping it tightly and flinging it as far as you can throw! You watch as it sails through the sky and lands on a mountain face nearby. Good riddance. You pack up the rest of your stuff and make your way back down the road [[thinking to yourself "What a strange thing to happen"|Early Ending]]

<% character.inventory.addItem("book"); character.inventory.addItem("feather"); character.inventory.addItem("red-potion"); character.inventory.addItem("map"); character.inventory.addItem("scroll"); %> You decide to keep the talisman after all. It could come in handy for making a quick buck and if you were careful maybe it wouldn't become overwhelming again. You put one of the many copies of the book into the very bottom of the bag so that it wouldn't get in the way again. But the question remained, what should you put into the bag last? [[Your gold|Money]] [[The Feather|Feather]] [[The Red Potion|RedPotion]] [[The Map|Map]] [[The Scroll|Scroll]] [[Doesn't matter, you're going to wear the necklace|WearNecklace]]

<% character.removeGold(200); %> You manage to make it to the town before nightfall and happily take a spot in the inn. The iguana that runs the joint wasn't keen on you trying to get a discount by selling him the feather, but he was nice enough to give you a room for only 200 gold that night. That would leave you with enough to buy some supplies in the morning. You'd have to keep moving if you wanted to make it back to your normal trade route before the Freeze came through. Thankfully you had managed to avoid getting wrapped up in any business with that talisman. That could have been dangerous! Early Ending: Skipped the adventure! If you want to play again, please refresh the window.

<% character.addGold(400); %> You decide to put your money pouch in your backpack last and then lay the talisman gently on top. You get back on the trail and hope that the talisman doesn't start duplicating things again. After a while you start to notice that your bag is becoming much more jingly. Every step you take getting louder and louder as your pack fills with coinbags. At first, you're very excited to have so much extra money. [[But then you have to stop again|MoneyBags]]

<% character.inventory.removeItem("red-potion"); character.inventory.removeItem("scroll"); character.inventory.addItem("feather"); character.inventory.addItem("feather"); %> You decide to put the feather in your backpack last and then lay the talisman gently on top. You get back on the trail and hope that the talisman doesn't start duplicating things again. As you continue down the trail, you find signs of another struggle. This time one of the victims is still alive. You run over to them and try your best to tend to their wounds. The crocodile gives you a toothy grin and does his best not to wince as you pour your red potion on his stab wound. As the cut starts to close up you use the scroll in your bag to craft a makeshift tourniquet and stop the bleeding. You ask him who did this and he tells you of a roving band of cat theives that tend to pick off travelers in this area. This was news to you, as the last few times you had walked this trail there were no such threats. [[You asked him if they would be back|CatsReturn]]

<% character.inventory.addItem("red-potion"); character.inventory.addItem("red-potion"); %> You decide to put the red potion in your backpack last and then lay the talisman gently on top. You get back on the trail and hope that the talisman doesn't start duplicating things again. After hiking down the trail for so long, you find yourself getting thirsty. You open your bag and find that the red potion you had in there had been duplicated a few times. You had paid a pretty penny for a health potion so far out in the country and having more than one was certainly going to come in handy. You decide to drink a potion to whet your whistle and [[continue walking|DrinkingMore]]

You decide to put the map in your backpack last and then lay the talisman gently on top. You get back on the trail and hope that the talisman doesn't start duplicating things again. You travel along for a while and find that at one point you feel as though you've been traveling in circles. [[So you pull out your map|CheckMap]]

You decide to put the scroll in your backpack last and then lay the talisman gently on top. You get back on the trail and hope that the talisman doesn't start duplicating things again. After a long time you decide to stop and open your bag. [[Huh, that's interesting|PaperGalore]]

You're not going to take any chances with this thing. If it would duplicate anything while in your bag, why would putting them back in a different order be any different? No, you thought the best course of action was to just wear the talisman. It had a chain for it to be worn after all. It stands to reason that it was crafted to be a piece of jewlery of some sort. You carefully lift the talisman up and thread your head through the opening, folding your ears down at first so it could rest on your neck. The metal was cool, but not cold against your fur. The "X" of the talisman hung just above your heart. You put everything else back into the bag and put the backpack back on to start down the trail again. Now the only question was to take the shortcut or the long way back to town? [[Shortcut|WearNecklaceII]] [[Long way|WearNecklaceHeart]]

You're walking for a while in silence when another gust of wind blows towards you. This one is much stronger than the last one, however, and it catches you by surprise. As you walk into the wind, the talisman gets pushed deeper and deeper into your fur. You strain against the force of the wind and it gets harder and harder as you push forward. It eventually comes to a point where you can't keep up with the force and your legs buckle under you. The wind pushes you back and you collide with something furry and familiar. [[CRASH!!!|CopiesOfYourself]]

The long way was more scenic anyway. You had enough supplies to take a little detour. And since you didnt come through here that often, it was a nice treat. You continue down the trail and find that something has put your mind at ease. Maybe it was the calm of the valley or possibly knowing that you could soon rest. It was hard to put a paw to the exact reason for the feeling. But it wasn't long until you were so happy you were skipping down the road. Skipping! You haven't done that since you were a kit! And every time you skipped the talisman bounced a little off your body and hit right over your heart. The more you skipped, the better you felt and before long you were positively glowing with energy. [[Them warm fuzzies|GoodSamaritan]]

<% character.removeGold(350); character.inventory.removeItem("red-potion"); %> You eventually come across some ferrets travelling the opposite way from the town. A mother and her son from what you could make out as they hurried past. They looked dishelved and sad as they tred along. You stop for a minute and look back at them. You had to keep moving to get to the town in time, but they were obviously in need. The warm feeling comes back in full force and you make your decision. You skip over to them and ask if there's anything you can do. The mother says no, but the son asks if you have any medicine. Apparently his mom is sick and they can't afford medicine so they're traveling to the nearest town with help for people like them. You were going to sell that red potion for some extra cash, but you couldn't let them go without. You end up giving them the potion and before the mom can reach into her pocket to pay you you stop her. Placing your paw over hers you ask her how much her medicine costs. Tears well in her eyes as she spontaneously hugs you. You pat her back and reassure her that she's alright. That she's safe now. The son joins in on the hug and it's then that you begin to cry too. After everyone collects themselves, the mom explains she would need about 350 gold to get her medicine. You reach into your bag and count out the money for her without a second thought. She takes the coins from your hands slowly, not believing that someone would be that selfless for a stranger. You give a warm smile and say your goodbyes as you head over to the town. [[That felt pretty good, maybe I'm cut out for other work|New Life]]

<% character.inventory.removeItem("book"); character.inventory.removeItem("map"); character.inventory.removeItem("scroll"); character.inventory.removeItem("feather"); character.removeGold(50); %> When you get back to the town, you sell all the rest of your stock. You keep the talisman as a reminder of the revelation you had in the valley that day. From then on, you devote your life to making sure that the residents of the town can live without need. And every day you do something nice, you feel a little better. Soon the whole town learns of the generous chinchilla that always skips everywhere. And every time they see you in the streets their hearts feel a little more glad. Ending: Heart grew three times that day! If you want to play again, please refresh the window.

You find yourself in a big pile of... well, yourself. It's a bit disconcerting, seeing all these other copies of you and how they're all reacting in much the same way to each other. You go to touch one of them and find that it's the same soft fur you have. Not a mirage or an illusion. You had never anticipated that the talisman would be able to make copies of an entire person! More distressingly, it seems like the talisman also made copies of itself! Each copy of you had their own talisman hung around their neck. After some light conversation with yourself you all agree to get the whole mess sorted once you get to town. So, with backpacks on backs and eyes set to the horizon you all [[headed for town|TooManyCopies]]

<% // The character will receive 19 points of damage character.damage(19); %> The plan was going fine until another gust of wind kicked up. Once that one was done there were at least twelve of you running around. And so the pattern continued, with 24, 48, 96, and so on... When the sun came over the horizon in the morning the town didn't know what to do with the Hundreds of thousands of chinchillas that had dropped dead from exhaustion outside of the entrance to the town. Everywhere the townspeople looked was a sea of fur and backpacks. Ending: Sea of bodies If you want to play again, please refresh the window.

<% character.inventory.addItem("scroll"); character.inventory.addItem("scroll"); character.inventory.addItem("scroll"); character.inventory.addItem("scroll"); character.inventory.addItem("scroll"); %> The scrolls had multiplied, but it wasn't as much of an issue since they were so thin. Since you were taking a rest, you thought it might be fun to try some origami. One of your merchant friends was pretty good at it and you always wanted to try your hand at it. You gently fold a scroll into a shape that is supposed to resemble a flower, but ends up coming out more like an angry blob. Not satisfied with your attempt, you try again. [[And then again|Papercraft]]

<% character.inventory.addItem("scroll"); character.inventory.addItem("scroll"); character.inventory.addItem("scroll"); character.inventory.addItem("scroll"); character.inventory.addItem("scroll"); character.addGold(50); %> You kept reaching into your backpack for fresh scrolls and the talisman was more than happy to give them to you. By the end of your rest you had managed to master the flower and were getting started on a rather fashionable looking boat. But daylight was burning and you had places to be. You stuck the flower in the top of your backpack so that it stuck out and made your way back to the town. Once you had made it to the town, someone had commented about the flower in your pack and asked if you could make them one. You told them that you could, but it would be a gold to do it. He paid quicker than you had anticipated and you got to work. By the time you were leaving the next day you had made 50 gold in paper flowers. Over the next few years you honed your abilities and supplimented your traveling business with folded scroll origami. The extra money was enough to visit your merchant friend again and show him how much you had improved! Ending: Papercraft mastery If you want to play again, please refresh the window.

<% character.addGold(800); %> The backpack was getting heavier to carry again and while you didn't want to have to part with any of the gold you now owned. You had to make room somehow. [[So you took all the gold out and carried it in your arms|MoreMoney]]

<% character.addGold(1600); %> So now the strain was less on your back, but you had to carry it in your arms. At least the amount in your arms wouldn't duplicate. That didn't mean the backpack stopped getting heavier though. You stopped another 2 times to switch out the gold from your back to your arms and it got to the point that your arms were so full of gold that you didn't notice when every few feet a small bag of coins would slip through your overextended arms. [[Leaving a small trail of riches straight to you|GoldenEnd]]

<% character.addGold(9600); character.damage(19); %> By the time the band of cat thieves finds you, you can barely move with how much gold you're carrying. They quickly trip you and claw out your throat so they can take their fill of treasure. One of the cats finds the talisman in your bag and quietly slips it into his pocket. After they get their cuts of the gold, they scamper off into the night to look for their next mark. Ending: Golden greed gets you gutted If you want to play again, please refresh the window.

<% character.inventory.addItem("map"); character.inventory.addItem("map"); character.inventory.addItem("map"); character.inventory.addItem("map"); character.inventory.addItem("map"); %> You pull a map out of your bag and find that you are going too far to the right. So you make a small correction in your heading and start traveling towards the left. A few hours later you find that you're lost again and you go to pull out a map. This time, however, you find that you end up pulling out four different maps. And they all don't look the same. It seems like the talisman was copying the maps at whatever angle they ended up laying in the backpack. [[uh-oh|LostEnding]]

<% character.inventory.addItem("map"); character.inventory.addItem("map"); character.inventory.addItem("map"); character.inventory.addItem("map"); character.inventory.addItem("map"); character.inventory.addItem("map"); character.inventory.addItem("map"); character.inventory.addItem("map"); character.inventory.addItem("map"); %> You wander the valley for hours, trying to find the correct direction to head in, but each time you look at one of the maps you get even more lost. It gets to the point that you collapse from exhaustion and aren't found until the next morning when a friendly camel unearths you from the mountain of maps that popped up overnight. Ending: Getting lost in your maps If you want to play again, please refresh the window.

<% character.inventory.addItem("feather"); character.inventory.addItem("feather"); character.inventory.addItem("feather"); character.inventory.addItem("feather"); character.inventory.addItem("feather"); character.inventory.addItem("feather"); character.inventory.addItem("feather"); character.inventory.addItem("feather"); %> You talk to the crocodile and the both of you come up with a plan to escape should the cats come back. You show him the talisman and the multitude of feathers now residing in your backpack. With some supplies from his gear the two of you make your backup plan and then hit the trail once more. About an hour down the road you hear a cat's hiss come from nowhere. "I thought I killed you already Jake" [[And then you both ran|Escape!]]

<% character.inventory.removeItem("map"); character.inventory.removeItem("book"); character.inventory.addItem("feather"); character.inventory.addItem("feather"); character.inventory.addItem("feather"); character.inventory.addItem("feather"); character.inventory.addItem("feather"); character.inventory.addItem("feather"); character.inventory.addItem("feather"); character.inventory.addItem("feather"); %> You and Jake take off running as fast as you can. There was a ridge just over the next hill that you had planned on running to. You catch up to Jake and hop onto his back and just as the hissing and growling of the mob of cats is right on your heels you release your backup plan! A set of grey wings sprouts from the bag on Jake's back as Jake tries desperately to flap his arms. The erratic flapping lets loose a torrent of feathers into the faces of the cats. And with you sitting on top of the wings with the talisman in hand, the feathers just kept coming nonstop. After a stressful couple minutes of flapping the cats are covered in enough feathers that they can't move. Jake drops the wings and you manage to escort him to town to see a doctor. Ending: Bird brained schemes sometimes work! If you want to play again, please refresh the window.

<% character.inventory.addItem("red-potion"); character.inventory.addItem("red-potion"); character.inventory.addItem("red-potion"); character.inventory.addItem("red-potion"); %> You keep drinking potions as you walk so that you can keep space in your backpack. You're not sure why they had a disclaimer on them. You're feeling great! Better than great even! You can't remember the last time you walked without feeling at least a little bit of pain in your ankle and now it's gone. A few potions later and you don't have any back pain. Another couple and you feel as spry as a kit again! [[By the time you reach the town, you think you should should see a doctor|PotionEnding]]

<% character.inventory.addItem("red-potion"); character.inventory.addItem("red-potion"); character.inventory.addItem("red-potion"); character.inventory.addItem("red-potion"); character.inventory.addItem("red-potion"); character.inventory.addItem("red-potion"); character.inventory.addItem("red-potion"); character.inventory.addItem("red-potion"); character.inventory.addItem("red-potion"); character.inventory.addItem("red-potion"); character.inventory.addItem("red-potion"); character.inventory.addItem("red-potion"); %> The doctor gives you a clean bill of health. SO clean in fact, that he wants to keep you overnight for further study. But with all your healed extremeties, it's hard for you to sit still. And before long you've scampered out the doctor's office window and run down the street hooping and hollering. A nurse comes from the other room and asks what all the commotion was. The doctor replies that you broke out in a sudden case of health. Ending: A cure for what ails ya! If you want to play again, please refresh the window.