AWKWARD ZOMBIE

It occurs to you that maybe, it would have been prudent to try this before stepping off the bridge. But there is no time for that. You have to get to the Important Thing. And at this point, you don't know what to do besides wander, so you need to hope you run into someone who can help. So far, everything seems extremely empty.



your expert examination of the masonry of the crossroads determines that these bricks must be the architecture of the gods. It would take more than just travel to wear them down. You're not even sure if you could damage them with your hammer.


So that leaves a random direction, you suppose.

You take the path to the left, and follow it until you reach a small area that has a small stone wall built around it. in the center of the area marked by the short wall, you see some white stone structure, too small to be a house. Do you go toward it?




>Move toward the structure
>Turn back
>[think outside the box]

Yell out, asking if anyone's there. If someone responds with something non-hostile, or there's no response, keep going. if there's, like, snarling or something, or some threats or whatever, book it.

You consider trying this, until you remember that you have no breath and no words, like when you tried to reason with the Tritoun.

walk about halfway down the path and examine it again

Approach cautiously.

Waltz in like you own the place. You've been ok so far, what else can go wrong?

okay i'm just gonna go over here

*ahem*

alright, walk up and knock on the door. same reactions.

You decide to start heading down the path toward the white structure. But about halfway down...

As you get closer, you still don't see anyone around. You can now tell that it is some sort of shrine, which would explain why it's so fancy without really being usable as shelter. It has moss growing on it, indicating that someone hasn't been here to clean it for some time now.


Forget it! It's not like there's anything hiding in there, you have a wide open view of everything around. There is nothing to threaten you right now. You lean into a run and move toward the shrine at a much happier speed, until your feet cross the invisible line where the path meets the short wall. You stop to look around. much like the bridge out of the Wastes, this looks like it's carved from a single stone. You walk all around it, and each of the four walls has a shelf carved out of it. All but one of those shelves is empty.


In it lies some kind of sparkly stone on a string, as well as a hefty hardwood branch with one end wrapped in a funny-smelling cloth, and two shiny, almost metalic stones.

What will you do?


>Take the items (specify which)
>Do not take the items, and leave
>[Think outside the box]

try to place your hammer in one of the other 3 slots on the walls. Maybe it means something.

You swing the hammer over your shoulder and unwrap the chain. Hrm, you take note of the fact that this takes longer than what you want it to in a bad situation. You'll need to get better at it in the future.

In any case, you wonder if the other items are some kind of offering. Maybe they were traded for some kind of favor? Although you can't really just LEAVE the hammer behind. It's worth a shot, you suppose. Maybe the favor will sever the chain for you so that it's an honest offering?

You place the hammer on an empty shelf. Nothing. You wait. Still nothing. Maybe it's the wrong one? But nothing happens with any of the other two empty shelves either.

You're back where you started with this alabaster shrine, only one side seems to be of any interest. The one containing the sparkly stone on a string, and the cloth-ended branch with the sharp, chipped stones.


>Take items (specify which)
>Do not take anything, leave
> [Think outside the box]

Examine sparkly stone.

Take the branch. You might be able to use it as some sort of quicker weapon than your hammer.

You examine the sparkly stone. It seems almost like a milky glass, with many colorful flakes suspended inside, that change as you move the stone. Very pretty, but very useless. You turn the stone over in your hand, to see the word "NAME" inscribed on it. You wonder what that means. The string is wrapped around it in a way that it could be worn around the neck as a pendant. It doesn't seem to exert any type of heat or unexpected weight, or anything that you would describe as power.



You decide to take the branch with the cloth wrapped around the end. You're not sure if you'll need a weapon, or if it's supposed to be used for something else, but it couldn't hurt. Although now you only have one free hand, since you don't have pockets or bags to hold anything.

You glance to the sparkly stone in your hand.

>Take it with you
>Leave it behind
>[...]

Equip sparkly stone.

You decide that you like the sparkly stone. And it's not like anyone else is keeping it. You look around to confirm that there is no one and nothing that these items might belong to. Still nothing. So you think about how to carry it. You don't want to take up both hands by carrying things, and you don't want to risk dropping the sparkly stone. Ah, the string looks like it would make a large enough loop to wear it around your neck! So you put it on this way.
Nothing happens, but you like the stone all the same.

There is nothing else here, so no point in staying. You go back toward the crossroads, stone around your neck (the more you wear it, the more you like it!), and cloth-capped branch in hand. It is time to pick another direction to get to the Important Thing.

[[Directions will be N, S, E, W from here on out. Paths you've already traveled will be marked in aqua, your position will be marked in fuchsia.]]
[[As a reminder, West is Left, East is Right]]

>N
>E