Please enjoy this Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) story I’ve built. Story premise is you’re a male adventurer searching for treasure in an enchanted dungeon, armed with your wits, sword, and armor. Be wary (or not) in your choices!
Introduction: You stand at the entrance to the Bleak Dungeon. The forest around is lush with life, yet this black structure stands like a stain on the surrounding canvas. Vines and all the woodland creatures keep their distance from this structure. Its walls are high, made of large stones. The stones continue into the ground, and you’re not certain how deep they go. A solid iron door is the single entrance to the dungeon, and as disinviting as the appearance is, the door opens easily. You move inside, and the door closes behind you. The handle falls off and then the door falls towards you, solid stone wall behind it. With no clear way out, you move forward until you see a set of winding stairs. At the base of the stairs leading up hangs a piece of parchment with gently rolling text written upon it, the ink a deep red. The stairs leading down are lit with torches hanging from the walls, the air still and silent.
• Go up (go to Section 009)
• Go down (go to Section 010)
Section 001: The hallway is filled with various forms of plant life and fungus, all green and glowing. Most of them are smaller than your fist but there are so many that you can’t seem to see the stone floor or walls. Just layers of green. At the end of the hallway you can see another light, this one more natural like sunlight.
• Clear a path (go to Section 016)
• Walk across (go to Section 026)
Section 002: The torches lighting the hallway have helped warm the floor. You inspect the wooden door and find a lever to lift. You hoist up the bar and pull open the large door. Inside you discover a burial chamber. There are tombs along the sides, each with treasure pilled up around them. There are rolls of wrapping on the floor and broken vases scattered about, fortunately none contain any organs. One of the tombs is not covered.
• Investigate the open tomb (go to Section 003)
• Clean the floor (go to Section 006)
Section 003: The open tomb is empty inside. There’s an outline where a body should go, but no treasure or remains to loot. You trip, hitting your head against the base of the tomb, as your feet and legs are quickly enveloped by animated wrappings. More loose wrappings on the ground of the burial chamber are moving towards you. You draw your sword and try cutting away at your bindings. Your sword arm is pinned to your side, and the wrappings squeeze tight enough that you are forced to drop your weapon.
Your other arm is pinned as well, and now the wrappings have constricted your chest. Your body is lifted from the ground as wrappings latch onto the top of the tomb. Your back is placed into the recess of the tomb you saw earlier. Finally, you try to yell for help. It’s not like you’ve seen anyone else in this dungeon thus far, but it’s worth a try. Wrappings close over your mouth, your ears, and your eyes. You hear the lid of the tomb begin closed shut, and all goes quiet. Looks like the treasure was you all along. Story End.
Section 004: The door opens, creaking on its hinges, and you see a dimly lit room with a black coffin in the center. The coffin opens and from it a tall vampire emerges. Before you have a chance to retreat or attack, it reaches out with its hand and bids you to stop. You are kindly commanded to drop your sword, which you do. The vampire motions with its fingers for you to approach and you step forward. As the iron door closes behind you, the vampire’s fangs close in on your neck. Story End.
Section 005: You persist, ignoring the sounds and continue advancing down the hallway. You presume it will be a single hallway and eventually your hands touch another door. You fiddle for the handle, find it, and are soon on the other side of the door. You hear a heavy clang of metal as the shackles fall off your boots. Carefully, you reach up and remove the black cloth. Vision restored and movement unhindered, you examine the room.
It’s a small room lit by a single candle. There lies a single large chest across the room. There doesn’t appear to be any lock on the chest, just a single chain running from the ride side into the ground in front of you.
• Examine the room and chest further (go to Section 017)
• Open the chest (go to Section 028)
Section 006: You spend time picking up the broken vases and wrappings. With your feet exposed, you don’t want to risk any cuts. It takes a few minutes to tidy up but you get the burial chamber to a point where it’s safe to walk around.
“Thank…you,” a voice whispers. It sounds like its coming from the air around you. “You…honor us with…your care. Please…take one treasure.” The voice of the spirit subsides, and all is quiet. The burial chamber seems…content. You can’t exactly put a word on it, but the air in the room feels more relaxed now that the area is well-kept. You examine the treasures around you and decide it’s best to only take one piece. You could always return for more, spirits permitting. Story End.
Section 007: It’s a long way up, each step getting heavier due to the shackles. After an hour, yes an hour, of climbing you crawl up the final step. Exhausted, you decide to rest. After you regain your strength, you stand and examine the only door. On it is nailed another piece of parchment:
BLIND MEN CROSS WITHOUT THEIR SIGHT.
BRAVE MEN CROSS WITHOUT THEIR FRIGHT.
BEST OF BOTH, REWARDS DELIGHT.
There’s something bunched up behind the parchment. You reach behind it and pull down a long dark cloth. Before moving into the room, you decide how to approach.
• Put on the blindfold (go to Section 023)
• Draw your sword (go to Section 24)
Section 008: You didn’t come here to play at riddles. You head down the stairs and vow to return with a wizard or bard or someone who can think through this tower as you fight off any monsters. You’ll find a way out, disappearing door or no. As you descend, you realize you should have been to the bottom for some time now. Instead, the stairs continue to wind down. You stop, exhausted from the extra weight of the shackles. As you catch your breath, you see out of the corner of your eye a small push-door. It’s half the size of a regular door, but it’s the only thing besides stairs you’ve seen for what feels like an hour.
• Continue down the stairs (go to Section 010)
• Take the doggie-door (go to Section 030)
Section 009: You move to read the parchment:
THE STAIRS ARE SET TO HOLD THE WIEGHT,
OF GIANT’S STEPS BOTH LARGE AND GREAT.
ADD TO YOURSELF SOME EXTRA BULK,
OR TURN BACK NOW AND HIDE YOUR SULK.
You inspect the stairs, placing a foot on the first carved stone. Your boot passes through as if nothing was there. You pull back before you can pass through fully. How far down would you fall? Despite the illusion of the steps, on top of the first step rests a set of iron shackles. You pick them up and they’re heavy. They should have fallen through the illusory steps, but you recall the script from the parchment.
You open and attach the shackles over your boots. They clink shut, a long chain running between them. Your feet now feel heavy, but sure enough the stairs are solid as you begin your ascent. The stairs spiral for a time until you finally encounter a wooden door. The stairs go on.
• Continue moving upwards (go to Section 007)
• Head back down (go to Section 008)
• Examine the door (go to Section 012)
Section 010: At the base of the stairs you descend into the quiet dark. The stairs eventually stop, and you face a forked option: to the left you see a thin hallway covered in thick spider webs, to the right you see an old iron door.
• Go right (go to Section 004)
• Go left (go to Section 011)
Section 011: The hallway is tight and occasionally you have to lurch your body forward to move through the webs. You consider bringing out your sword, but risk losing it in the webs. You begin to see the end of the hallway, with a faint green light pulsing around the next turn of the hallway. As you move forward, you realize the boots of your armor are firmly stuck in the webs now.
• Struggle against the webs (go to Section 018)
• Remove your boots (go to Section 032)
Section 012: There’s a large doorknob on the wooden door. It does not budge as you try to turn it. Instead it grumbles and moves beneath your fingers.
“Mmmph!” the doorknob tries to say. You remove your hand. A mouth appears to move across the face of the doorknob. “That’s no way to open me,” the doorknob says. Its voice is slow, like creaking wood. “Truth be told, I don’t know how to open me.” You look around and don’t see any keys hanging on the wall, or parchments with cryptic clues.
“There must be some magic,” you say.
“Oh, yes,” the doorknob says. “I do remember something about a magic word.”
You think for a while. There are a hundred magical words he could try, and a thousand others you likely don’t know.
“Please?” you ask.
“Please?’ the doorknob replies. “What kind of a magic word is ‘please’?” Just then the doorknob burps and begins wiggling back and forth. It turns a full circle to the right. You quickly grasp the doorknob and pull the door open. As you cross the threshold, the shackles around your feet pop open, clinking back down to the bottom of the stairs. The door closes behind you.
Before you lies a narrow hallway. The stones lining the walls are smaller than those at the base of the dungeon. At the end of the hallway, it forks to the left and the right. The left passage is dark, with faint sounds of clink chains. The right passage is lit by a single torch far in the darkness.
• Turn right (go to Section 014)
• Turn left (go to Section 025)
Section 013: Lockpicking was not always your best skill. You reach up to the man’s hands and run yours across the manacles holding him in place. You find the key hole and bring out a small knife. You hear the movement further up the hallway drawing closer. With a quick wedge of the knife, the old manacles pop open. The man falls into your arms.
You look down the hallway and see a golden set of armor moving towards you. It’s moving at a constant pace, almost mechanical. It stops when it sees you holding one of its prisoners, then rushes towards you.
“Sorry, friend,” you say as you hurl the man in your arms at the advancing foe. As his body connects with the armor, the golden pieces burst apart. The arms separated from the breastplate. The legs separated from the boot. And the metal helmet fell backwards up the hallway. The man groans on the floor of the hallway, but whimpers when he sees the pieces of armor beginning to move back together. Before any of the pieces can connect, you grab the legs and hurl them down the hallway behind you. You grab the arms and restrain them in the empty manacles. After all this, you turn to see that the helmet has joined back with the breastplate. The man has tried to slow it down, weak as he is. He’s grabbed onto the helmet and tried to pull it free.
You draw your sword and jab the breastplate, pinning it to the floor. It squirms for a few seconds, then you see its golden color fade. The armor lies still, and the man grabbing the helmet relaxes. You help him to his feet and slump his arm over your shoulder. It’s a short walk up the hallway. You see several small chests, each filled with the belongings of the captives back down the hall. You find the chest for the man you’ve saved, give him time to rest, and decide how to split the gold, armor, and weapons. It may take two trips, and none of the rewards seem magical, but loot is loot. Story End.
Section 014: You walk down the right hallway towards the single torch. The light around you only seems to grow darker. As you reach the torch it’s almost impossible to see forward, so you decide to take the torch with you. The way forward illuminates with each step. You come to a door and pull it open.
A rush of wind moves forward and blows out the torch. You move through and close the door behind you. You’re outside on a balcony of the Bleak Dungeon. There are taller parts of the stone work around you, but you can see that you’re still high up from the ground. The wind blows strongly. Stone gargoyles line one edge of the stonework. There’s a door across the breezeway leading to another tower to climb. You go to open it, but it doesn’t budge. Nailed into the door is another piece of parchment. Why the wind hasn’t blown it away, you’re not sure.
TO MOVE ON, ONE MOST LOOK BACK
SEE HOW THEY STAND, THEIR POSES TRACK
Less to go on than the clues about the steps. You look back and take further notice of the gargoyles. There are eight of them, each more worn down by the wind and rain than the one next to it. The one closest to you and the locked door appears the newest, carved more in the shape of an elf than a gruesome demon. Each stone statue seems to be reaching in a different direction.
There’s an empty pedestal where a ninth gargoyle should be. You look over the edge and see a crumbled gargoyle on the ground near the bottom of the dungeon. You pace back and forth, studying the statues. You step onto the final pedestal and begin moving, copying the gargoyles from oldest to newest.
• Up, Up, Down, Down, Down, Left, Left, Right (go to Section 029)
• Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right (go to Section 033)
Section 015: You came here to get rich. You tell him as much and the old man snaps his fingers. You’re covered in a golden set of armor. The face shield shuts tight and the armor begins moving on its own.
“I’ve been in need of a new jailor,” the old man says. “The old one was getting slow.”
You're trapped in the armor, it begins moving on its own. You begin working for the old man, compelled to capture other adventurers the armor catches lurking around the Bleak Dungeon. Story End.
Section 016: You pull out your sword and begin hacking away at the growth. With each swing, the green light around you pulses. You begin to see the stone floor underneath the removed plants and fungus. You also notice a thick haze has built up around you, making it difficult to breathe. You cover your mouth and continue slashing away, each time the green light pulsing and the haze becoming thicker.
Your head becomes light as the fumes become too hard to breathe through. You cough but can’t seem to catch your breath. You look down at your hands and see small green spores have latched onto your skin. You collapse onto the floor, your head landing in a soft patch of plants. You just need to catch your breath. Just need to rest your eyes for a bit. Just…Story End.
Section 017: You pick up the candle and begin exploring the room. You look for any hidden switches or loose stones. Not finding anything, you pivot towards the chest. You stare at it for a few seconds, trying to identify if any trip wires are present. This high up, a simple trip wire could open the floor and let the fall kill you. You don’t spot any traps, but you do notice that the chest has moved.
It used to be perfectly parallel to the wall, but the front left corner is now slightly closer to you. And is it…breathing? You set down the candle, draw your sword, and lunge it into the chest. Instead of wood, you hit flesh. A mimic! The pseudo-chest creature rears back in pain, its lid opening to reveal rows of jagged teeth. With another deft lunge of your sword, the creature collapses, dead. You pry open the chest and it reveals a gory mess of the remains of digested former travelers. But there’s also a few gold coins and even a small jewel-encrusted dagger. It’s not much of a treasure haul, but you do get to walk away unharmed. Story End.
Section 018: You pull against the webs with all your might. As you inch forward, you hear a loud hiss above you. Spiders the size of your hand begin descending in front of you. You swat at them, but your fists are constricted in more webbing now. Your movements are disturbing the rest of their webbing, so they envelop you in so much webbing that you can’t move any part of your armor. Your feet, your arms, even your head are stuck in place. They can’t seem to bite through your armor, but this spells the end for your adventures through the dungeon. Story End.
Section 019: You stand, draw your sword, and attack! The giant has a confused look on his face, which is the last look on his face before you stab up at him. The giant stumbles back, his stew clamoring over and spilling onto the floor. The giant falls limp. You investigate his belongings, searching under the bed. You pull out several novels, all romance novels about a giant and a hand maiden whose love just wasn’t meant to be. Because what would their parents think? And where were they to go? But despite all odds they find a place to love and live and was this really all there was in the giant’s stuff?! Story End.
Section 020: The ruse works. You bark several times and the giant returns to his cooking. It takes a long time before the right opportunity to safely get out of there presents itself. Until then, you are a giant's best friend. Story End.
Section 021: You unwrap the cloth from your face. To your disappointment, you see just an empty hallway. No gold, no women, no food. You turn around and pace back and forth, but no good. On your last turn, you meet the eyes of a giant snake. While normally you would draw your sword and step back, your body doesn’t respond. The snake’s eyes are…too fascinating to look away. You get lost in them, thinking of nothing else. You feel the snake coil around you, constricting your body, but you can’t seem to break its trance. Story End.
Section 022: You find the darkest part along the hallway and slump against the floor. As soon as the jailor passes you, you’ll get the drop on him. The noise becomes more prominent, footsteps becoming louder. You squint your eyes and in the dim light you can see a large man in golden armor moving towards you. No, not a man, just the armor. As it moves closer you can clearly see that there is no body underneath the armor.
It moves closer. As you ready yourself to pounce once it passes, you hear a faint “help me…” from the man hanging on the wall. The armor stops, still a few feet in front of you. The man lets out “help me…” again and moves his head weakly in your direction. The armor turns with intent towards you and before you can stand it grabs your shoulder and tosses you back and forth against walls of the hallway for a minute. You feel the fight fall out of you.
The armor picks you up once more and drags you back to the man hanging by his wrists. You are hoisted off the ground and feel metal manacles clamp around both of your wrists. The magical jailor rips your sword from your belt, your armor from your body, and your boots from your feet. It pats you down one final time before stepping back and then moving back along its route down the hallway. Story End.
Section 023: You wrap the black cloth tightly around your eyes, careful not to let through any light. You reach for the door and open it with ease. Once through, your ears pick up multiple sounds, so many that you have to stand there and focus. The clinking of gold coins. The giggling of women. The roasting of meat, the scent of which fills your nostrils and makes your stomach growl. You’ve walked ten paces into the room, the sounds and smells becoming more prominent as you advance. The clinking of your shackles is drowned out by the sounds of riches and splendor around you.
• Ignore them, keep walking forward (go to Section 005)
• Remove the blindfold, investigate (go to Section 021)
Section 024: Your sword is out as you move through the door. This high up, there should only be enough room for a small room. Yet the other side of the door reveals a long and open room. Given the magic you’ve encountered thus far, it’s not too much of a surprise. At the very end of the hallway lays a large chest.
As you begin moving across you hear a hiss and see a large snake slither in front of you. Its head is as big as yours. It bares its fangs as it lunges towards you. With your sword out, it’s easy to deflect. But the shackles around your feet become a hinderance. You trade blows with the snake for a few minutes. Its strikes are quick and precise. Your parries are strong, though don’t seem to injure snake’s skin. With a trip in your footwork, you fall hard onto the floor of the hallway, your sword falls out of your hands. The snake coils around you, and you black out from the pressure. Story End.
Section 025: A minute walking down the left passage, and you finally learn the source of the clinking metal: skeletons and bodies of men hanging by their wrists along both sides of the stone hallway. As you move closer to the freshest body you see the faintest moving of its chest. It’s a young man who likely came exploring this dungeon in seek of treasure, same as you. He’s wearing his only his small clothes and his body is covered in sweat and grime.
Before you can inspect any further, you hear heavy movement further down the hallway. It sounds like an armored man, a big one at that. The jailor, possibly? This hallway is too narrow to fight with your sword, and you risk injuring the hanging captive.
• Free the prisoner quickly (go to Section 013)
• Play dead until the guard passes (go to Section 022)
Section 026: With your feet exposed, the plants and fungus are tickling your feet with each step. The small bumps and scratches against your soles causes you to laugh. You also notice that small amounts of green gas are being released every time the plants and fungus are disturbed. You cover your mouth, trying not to breathe in any of the spores. It’s difficult as the tickling sensation is almost overwhelming.
The passage is long but eventually you reach the end. The sunlight hits your face and you feel happy to be outside of the dungeon, treasure or no treasure. You look back and the footsteps you’d made begin to disappear under the reforming plants and fungus. Perhaps you’ll revisit the dungeon again in the future. More prepared. And with another set of boots.
Section 027: The old man thinks for a moment and snaps his fingers. You feel a tickle in your throat as you begin loudly boasting of your adventures and conquests. You're not able to stop, shouting at the top of your lungs of what you’ve done and where you’ve been. The old man snaps again, and you find yourself outside the Bleak Dungeon. You stumble back into town. The church can’t seem to cleanse you of whatever curse befalls you. You soon find yourself committed to the asylum, clad in a straitjacket. Story End.
Section 028: You move forward, and pry open the chest. All these riddles and tests, you just want some gold, gods be good! Instead of treasure, the chest reveals a large tongue and a rank smell. The rims of the chest are lined with sharp teeth. The lid slams shut on your hands, teeth sinking through your armor and into your wrists. The tongue licks over your fingers. You don’t make it out of this room. Story End.
Section 029: As you crouch a third time the magic trap springs, stone creeping into your boots and over your body, forming over you until you are just another gargoyle. It’s a quick end, and a long wait. Hopefully the wind doesn’t blow too hard, or you may teeter over the edge. Story End.
Section 030: You duck down, and crawl through the passage behind the door on hands and knees. The passage opens into a large chamber, where everything you see is oversized. The chairs, the fire pit, and the bed.
“Fluffy, is that you?” a giant bellows from the other side of the room. He’s wearing a loincloth and tending to a stew pot over the fire. Huge claw marks cover his eyes, and you quickly infer that the giant is blind.
• Draw your sword! (go to Section 019)
• Bark like a dog! (go to Section 020)
Section 031: The wizard is taken aback. He snaps his fingers and your armor and weapons are gone, replaced by modest robes, a broom, and a bucket. Your magical training begins! The old man keeps you on your feet most of the day and tending to his old collection of books most of the night. Despite his reluctance towards you for the first month, you both slowly begin to grow on each other. Story End.
Section 032: You reach down for the straps around your boots. You untie them and step out of your boots and onto the floor in front of you, careful not to get caught in any webbing. The floor of the dungeon is cold. You make it through the hallway, sans boots, and turn towards the green light. You find a wide chamber with two branching hallways. The one on the left is lined with green mushrooms and plant life, the source of the light from before. The one on the right is lit by torches along both sides of the hallway, leading to a large wooden door at the end.
• Go left (go to Section 001)
• Go right (go to Section 002)
Section 033: Something seems right about this pattern. As you make the final movement you hear a creak and the door beside you slides open. You move inside and shut it behind you. If there was a mirror, your hair surely would look a mess. Nevertheless, you climb high into the tower. At the top you see an old man scribbling over parchments, those like the two you’ve seen.
“I’m sorry,” you start, “but do you sit up hear making riddles and designing traps all day?”
“Such a rude young man,” the old man says as he looks up from his work. “Yes. So long as brazen adventurers continue to pillage this keep for any of my supposed treasures, I must occasionally refresh my traps. Tell me, what treasure have you come seeking: Gold, Glory, or Wisdom?”
• Gold! (go to Section 015)
• Glory (go to Section 027)
• Wisdom (go to Section 031)
CYOA Dungeon Crawl (M/M)
Thanks so much for writing this, friend! I'm a sucker for fantasy and CYOA, and this was a treat. (Especially liked the tomb-ending; look forward to reading more of your stuff.)
This was good. My first round didn't end well. I was only one choice away from getting treasure, too.
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fratboydanny
- Centennial Club
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This was fun. Thanks for creating such a fun multiple choice story!