Journey through Gordor (in Contests)

Warning: this is a longer-style contest, and will not end in a day, potentially even a week. Do not enter if you are not up to the challenge mentally to complete this puzzle! ;)


Storyline: Welcome to Gordor, home of the PirateKing. Somewhere, hidden amidst the swamps, forests, and caves, is the hidden Lair of the Spydah! Great treasure was once buried here by Mushu, Servant of the Lord Todd. Do you dare risk the dangers of Rangers, Mantras, and Hello Kittyous to quest for the treasure?


Guidelines: Every day, maybe twice a day, I'll log in and update where everyone's at and the choices they have. Your goal is to navigate the fields of Gordor and find the Spydah's lair to claim your treasure; but the path through Gordor is twisty and filled with snares, and only a few may find it. Note: If you stand in one place for more than two days, the soft ground is liable to swallow you up! Please let me know if you will be unable to log in and update your decisions for a time period of 2+ days.


There will be no entry fee for this contest. Simply post your name and the decision you'd like to make at each point, and I'll take care of the rest!





Starting:

You are at the entrance to the Gordor Forest, and the Bastian Path lies before you. As you walk boldly down the path, you suddenly come to a fork in the road. Which will you choose, left or right?

Ima go right.

Andy xP
Left path please!

Zog Severance shall go right in search of a heart kill!

left path :)

Plagues.
Will take Left.

(nice contest btw)

Ty goes left, because right is never right, specially not in gondor, every-one knows that.

Tyriel, filled with trepidation, and scared witless by the Gordor Forest, will take the path so far least traveled.

Therefore, Tyriel will steal Hatch's hatchet and cut straight ahead a continuation of the Bastian Path...

...And by that, I mean Tyriel will go to the right.

Hatchy

/me chases Tyriel down the right path to reclaim his hatchet

The Colonel leads his Custard army into the right-sided foray.

Silva takes the path least travelled, and forges down the middle.

(Think on your feet!)

*points and laughs at everyone that went right. (you guys is gonna die).*

Slayer is carried to the right by his servants.

GL goes left. Always go Left. ;)

Serialkiller goes left. :)

DoS chooses right, because right is the opposite of left.

left

Tasuki sense the presence of some delicious morsel to the Right.

I go right

I will follow the CC to the right.

King goes left because he sees someone being carried right

i don't know.
the path to the right is up hill versus left which is down hill, i choose to go left as i hate to walk up any hills.

I'll go right. GL went left. And GL is particularly good at getting lost on his way home.

Sorry, that's JW goes right.

Left handed = sinister
Sinister = treasure (or the guarding thereof)
Treasure = win

therefore:
Left = Win

Lochnivar goes left...

Lauren sneaks off to the left.

*Lauren mistakenly mixed up her directions, and meant to go right.

He understands as he looks down both paths that they both lead to danger. But they both lead somewhere, as none build paths to nowhere. But caution is always good in such troubled times. He sets off toward the right, staying 15 feet off to the side of it, but never losing sight as he plunges in to the dark land of Gordor, preparing for danger, pain and above all... success.

Right.

LA left please.

OpVines starts to head to the right but is chased by a boogeyman and takes the left path.

Bananco is eaten by a Grue.

Left.

/me goes right

Linguala stares to both sides, hoping to notice some trail of the path Th00pie took.
Ends up examining until nightfall and decides to continue his journey tomorrow at dawn.

/me decides to go left for no reason

The Encore makes a calculamacated guesstimation and trots to the right.

/spins around in a circle until dizzy enough to puke, then goes forward in a random direction which happens to be right.

Thrak reaches the fork in the road, turns around, and groans "None Shall Pass!"

Moments later, relieved of a few kidney stones and guided by the theory that GL knows where to find the alcohol, he takes the path to the left.

Update Time!


Note: Starting late has little penalty, so if you haven't made an entry yet, feel free to jump in!

Invalid Entries.

Deathsheadjoker, lostling, Tal, Henk, Soxjr Clone, Godwolf, Marlfox, edyit, Obscurans, and RX3 get in a fight with a man at the entrance, who seems to be demanding their names. After refusing, the man swings his sword and lops off lostling's hand!
Lostling cries a little, then walks back to the start of the forest, hand in hand. The rest of the group look, horrified, at the man brandishing his sword. They pee their trousers and run back to join lostling.

[You may re-enter, but you are back at the start.]

Left.

Andy, Plagues, Ty, GL, Serialkiller, King, IDK, Lochnivar, LA, and Opvines collectively decide to form a party. Marching to the left, they see a glimmer of what appears to be gold in the distance! The group madly rushes, pushing and shoving, headlong toward the glimmering object...which appears to be a golden ring, held by a Medusa.
GL was pushed facedown into the mud during the stampede, and did not see the Medusa. Finding his friends turned to stone, he makes a mad dash back toward the forest entrance, but trips and falls into a spiked pit. Ouch!
Thrak, who followed GW almost religiously in search of alcohol, falls into the pit right behind him. Though he slides down a spike, his heart remains pinned to the top.

[You may re-enter, but you are back at the start.]



Right.

Zog Severance walks to the right, and stomps on a heart he finds in a spike pit. Ewww, you've got heart on your boot.
Tyriel grabs Hatchy's hatchet, and runs down the path toward the right, swinging and yelling as he goes.
Hatchy chases Tyriel down the right path, oblivious to his surroundings.
The Colonel leads a rag-tag group of soldiers down the right path. A wicked-looking hobo with a dagger stops him, and asks to join his group. [Y/N]
Slayer is carried to the right by his servants, who grumble amongst themselves about how long it has been since they were paid. DoS chooses the right path, despite some confusion between which path is left and which is right.
Tasuki heads down the right path and finds a delicious looking doughnut lying on the ground! Pick it up? [Y/N]
Johnnywas, taking wise note of GL's drunken directional impairment, heads out to the right. He sees a flask of whiskey down a small trail which strays from the main path...Go get whiskey? [Y/N]
Lauren sneaks around from left to right, trying to decide upon a proper choice, and eventually follows the crowd headed right.
Encore grabs a scrap of bark and a piece of charcoal and starts writing out some equations...after a few (mis)calculations, he eventually decides upon the path to the right, and heads down that way.

[Congratulations! You have chosen the correct path. Please read the options at the end of this post!]


Alternative Choice.

Silva attempts to hack his way through the forest, and runs headlong into a Grue! The Grue tackles and eats him, then spots a delicious Bananco dessert.

[You may re-enter, but you are back at the start.]


Continuation!

The group wanders through the forest, swatting away oversized mosquitos and cringing at the sound of wolves howling in the distance. Eventually, they reach a large rectangular stone building. Entering, they find themselves at a crossroads. There are four doors within this building:

The first door is covered with moss and cobwebs, and appears to be incredibly old.
The second door is wooden, and appears rotted with decay. It smells a little, too.
The third door looks new, as though it has been recently added. Its golden frame gleams, and it appears to have a bright light shining from behind.
The fourth door also appears to be a recent addition, though not quite as recent as the third. It is a dark violet door with images of various mythological creatures engraven deep into its surface.


Which will you choose? [1, 2, 3, 4]

The adventure continues...

Tal goes right

Plagues, Goes right. After he gets treated with a soft potion, to remove the effects of medusa.

Thick Skulled the Manic takes the left path, strewn with gore, easily avoiding the traps.

HA!

Tyriel approaches the first door and, stealthily but quickly, swats away some cobwebs and proceeds through, hoping he lost Hatch somewhere along the way.

DoS uses TY as a shield in case of any giant spiders through door number 1.

SK goes right

Last Gasp runs down the right path and chooses door #13... hmm... I that's not a door but the lintel between doors 1 & 3. So, continuing the theme of right he chooses door #3.

IDK skips alongs the right path.

i choose door #4

Obscurans magically brandishes a new-found name tag, charges down the "right" path this time and did not decide, but still goes through door 2

The Encore, which as much bravado as he can muster, kicks down the decaying door 2 and charges in! RARGH!

You may only choose one option per turn.

If you were delayed and then chose the right path, you must wait until you have traversed down the path before you choose a door. I.E. you are one turn behind.

with*

So it's whoever manages to guess incorrectly the least times eh? At least I didn't get right the first time in any case. Yeah, Obscurans decides to go "right"

GL goes right. GL always finds the right way home when drunk, and is dissapointed he doesn't have a beer to hand to help him.

"Johnnywas, taking wise note of GL's drunken directional impairment, heads out to the right. He sees a flask of whiskey down a small trail which strays from the main path...Go get whiskey? [Y/N]"


Johnnywas puts on his magical pants of protection/lucky pants and then answers "Y". Gimme whiskey.

I choose right

Thrak follows GL to the right.

My name is "I" so its not an invalid entry o.o

Slayer has some trouble fitting his carried throne through door number two. After a few hours of whippings and a small peasant revolt, Slayer walks through door 2.

PK wanders back to the entry, and notice some fresh tracks to the right, and follows them. Upon finding the 4 doors, PK knocks on the third, and opens it. (door 3)

Tasuki inspects the area around the donut and make sure no string is attached to it. Content, he place the newly found donut into a spell-lock bag which was recently purchase from Whizmart and continue his way... [Y]

Recalling how ancient the legends of Spydah, Mushu, Rangers, Mantras, and Hello Kittyous was, Tasuki bat away the cobwebs and decide to go through 1st door.

(my last post was 2 turns, so I skip the next one?)

Zog Severance chooses door number 4 as that happens to be every travelling accountants favourite/lucky number.

[Y] The Colonel decides to enlist the hobo. He chases Tasuki through Door 1, hoping he can trade the hobo for that doughnut.

DeathsHeadJoker is confused to find himself in the place he was before, but decides to take it in stride and attempt once more to plumb the depths of the right path.

Hatchy runs headlong into door number one and falls over. He then gets back up and opens door number two before attempting to enter

Draugluin takes the right path?

Jahr wanders aimlessly through Door #2

Henk Bres walks up to the doorman and ask if he could go in.

If the doorman approves he walks to the right

Negator charges through the undergrowth, glancing at his pocket watch, muttering repeated swear words under his breath. Arriving late and out of breath, he surveys the scene, taking in the burly guy with the blood-stained sword, and the various people working up the nerve to re-enter what must be surely be the Forest OF D00M! Shrugging his shoulders, he trots off to the right, hoping to catch up with the storyline he spots receding into the distance.

Marlfox goes right. After having his butt whipped by a guy with a sword.

Jiraiya hearing of the horrors of the left path, chooses to march down the right path... the path of victory!

BluBBen takes the right path. Because he know that is the right thing to do.

OpVines goes to the right.

Hakai goes to the right.

Lostling stealthly move right

Update Time again!

Invalid Entries.

Raw swaggers up to the man at the entrance to the forest, insisting that he be let in anonymously. The man halfheartedly thwaps him in the head with the back end of his blade and knocks him out cold, then drags his unconscious torso back to the start.

[You may re-enter, but you are back at the start.]

Left.

Thick Headed jumps to his feet, runs up to the fork in the road, and charges left, lowering his eyes to avoid the Medusa's gaze...he charges into her, knocking her senseless, and grins at his triumph. Suddenly, a loud buzzing noise envelops him, and he ponders what is coming...suddenly, his countenance is twisted in agony, and he reels in agony as he suffers a smiting from angry bees. He passes out.

[You may re-enter, but you are back at the start.]

Right.

Tal, Serialkiller, IDK, GL, Thrak, Soxjr, Deathshead, Henk, Jiraiya, BluBBen, Opvines, Hakai, Last Gasp, and lostling form a party and charge down the path to the right, bashing goblins and magical missile monsters to the sides as they rush through the forest.
Plagues slowly follows the group, slowly unstiffening from his earlier encounter.
Obscurans wanders down the right path, shakes his head at a drunken and teetering JW, and then continues ahead.
Drauglin helps the wincing Marlfox down the right path.
Negator, seeing the footprints of many, many brave adventurers before him, breaks out into a dash down the path, hoping to catch up before the treasure is claimed by another lucky adventurer.

[Congratulations! You have chosen the correct path. Please choose a door, #1-4!]

Door Choices: #1
Tyriel sneaks into door #1, having finally eluded Hatchy...and falls right over the edge of a broken bridge, into a deep chasm that appears to have no bottom. The hatchet remains at the front of the bridge.
DoS, following Tyriel closely in an attempt to use him as a shield, falls over the edge right behind him.
Tasuki, distracted by his newfound treat, walks right over the edge of the chasm and falls to his DOOM. At least you didn't die hungry! Colonel opens door #1 and looks in cautiously...he turns to change his mind, but is pushed over the edge by the wicked hobo! Betrayal!

Door Choices: #2
Encore kicks down Door #2, and it bursts into tiny bits of wooden debris. He rushes down the path!
Slayer, carried by his servants, gets stuck in the doorframe and is forced to abandon his mobile throne. He continues along on foot.
Hatchy charges through the rotten wooden doorframe, still convinced that he's after Tyriel and his lost hatchet...
Jah wanders aimlessly through Door #2.

Door Choices: #4
Zog cautiously opens door #4, and notices nothing threatening. He wanders down the path slowly, and comes to a junction...


Alternative Choices.

Johnnywas grabs the flask of whiskey and begins drinking, only to discover it is a never-ending flask! He drinks and drinks, and soon comes to a crossroads of his own...continue drinking and let your drunken fate decide where you go, or sober up and charge ahead?


Continuation!

Door #2 goers: You come to yet another multiple-way crossroads, going NW, NE, and SE. You've come from the southwest...which direction do you choose?

Door #4 goer(s): You find, as you cautiously creep down the path, that there is a side path to your right. Do you head down the side path, or move on forward?

Which will you choose?

The adventure continues...


(P.S.! Imagery of the current progress will come with the next step of this grand adventure. This will only happen occasionally, though!)

Tal enters door number 3

Hakai cautiously creeps through door #4.

Slayer hears the angry mob of once-servants behind him, and sprints to the northeast.

GL walks confidently through door number 4.

Lostling takes door number 2 :)

oops i mean door 4

DeathsHeadJoker stares at the doors labeled 1-4 and ponders which way his fate will take him. After many moments of pondering, followed by a minute or two of deliberation, he boldly sets foot through door #3.

Is it too late to enter?

Marlfox goes through door #4.

door2

Right path and door 3 please =D

Tasuki awakes hours later to find that the fall damaged him badly but did not killed him.

Eating part of the magical donut, he is recovered fully.

Investing a slight breeze to the left, Tasuki notice a small tunnel. Tossing the partially eaten donut aside, Tasuki traverse through the tunnel and find himself back at the entrance of the forest.

Hoping for better fortune this time around, Tasuki takes the right path.

Henk got a tip from the big swordsmen and he said to take door number 2.

Henk is no fool and carries with him a big mallet as he enters door number 2.

DoS brushes himself off from the fall, pulls his shoulders back, and strides into the right path. He feels that the first two parts were all a terrible dream.

Koekje - certainly, anyone may enter at any time. :)

Plagues. See's lostling being indecisive about his choice, but finally chooses door 4. So plagues does the opposite and goes through door 2.

i choose door #4 and possible the side path?

Last Gasp grabs a few handfuls of wood debris from door #2 stuffs it in his pockets and then walks through Door #4.

Thrak continues to stalk GL through door #4.

Thick Headed the Manic takes the left path after garbing himself in anti-bee gear and reflected sunglasses.

Grasping for a handhold, The Colonel's fingers close around something as he slips over the edge. As he tumbles through the air, he manages to plant the hatchet in the lower parts of the bridge's foundation, breaking his fall. Counting Tasuki's donut as lost, he climbs back up to gut the treacherous hobo, and to return the hatchet to its rightful owner.

....or not, Colonel. :)

You're back at the start for now. Left or Right?

Let drunken fate take me where it may!

Haha. GW your gonna die again.

But what of Hatch's hatch? And what of my army?

The Colonel charges down the right path. He gives a flying dropkick to the back of the hobo's head, sweeps up the hatchet, and bounds on through door 2.

I know it's one step at a time, but I figured it would be just as effective to know what's going to happen to me for the next three turns.

I'm a fast runner. Can I catch Hatch?

Or I dunno. I guess if you find more whiskey bottles in the woods for me I'll choose some more options.

Lauren decides to go through door 4.

Obscurans forcibly goes through the yielded door number 2.

Zog Severance tastes the beat of a heart straight ahead and therefore will cautiously take the side path.

Tyriel, angry at himself for falling to his doom without holding on to Hatch's hatchet, heads off to the right again.

Kevlar finishes his 12th prescription on his cat and finds contest late and heads to the right.

Beginning to tire, The Encore sees freshly laid footprints in the dirt and continues NE.

so where am I again? I think I am supposed to skip this turn.

You aren't ever supposed to skip a turn unless I specify.

If you designated multiple actions last turn, I ignored whatever you put aside from your current turn's action.

It's hard enough to keep up with what everyone is doing; I'm not going to babysit your posts to see what you said you'd do later.

Update Time Again!

Left.

Thick Headed charges back onto the path yet again, and turns a hard left...and runs right into a bouncy wall! That wasn't there before! It appears this path has been blocked off. Looking around, annoyed, you find what appears to be an old Crossbow+Grapple turret in the dirt nearby. Do you try it? [Y/N]

[You may continue next turn.]



Right.

Andy, Tasuki, DoS, Colonel, Tyriel, and Kevlar both stampede down the path to the right, determined to catch up to the other adventurers...as they hurry forward, they notice the ground beginning to rumble and crackle! Pressed onward at an even more rapid pace, the group rushes into the Crossroads House just in time to avoid being swallowed up by the chasm that has developed behind them!



Door #2.

Serialkiller attempts to run down the path of door #2, but suddenly spots an ogre demanding his name! He turns and flees the angry beast, and decides to wait a moment inside the Crossroad House before continuing.
Plagues enters Door #2, following the fresh tracks in the mire. Obscurans walks proudly through Door #2, and then groans as he reaches the path. Swamp mud all over my shiny new boots??
Henk grins at Obscurans as he walks past him, brandishing his mallet. "It's an adventure, you should've dressed to fit the part!"



Door #3.

Tal and Deathshead look at each other, then door #3, then each other again...and gleefully clasp hands and bounce toward the golden pathway! Flowers blossom at their toes, and birds twitter cheerfully as they skip gaily down the pathway.



Door #4.

Following the Heroic figure of Zog as it fades into the distance, the fan-crowd of Hakai, GL, lostling, Marlfox, IDK, Last Gasp, and Lauren wander, enthralled, after him. Thrak comes along too, but seems to be fancying someone else in the crowd...


Door 2 continued.

Slayer and Encore decide upon the NE pathway, ignoring a poorly hidden pit along the way, and trudge wearily along until they reach a decision point - continue forward, or turn left? Either way appears to lead them deeper into the forest.


Door 4 continued.

Zog continues down the main pathway, and comes to another crossroads...it is no difficult decision, however. He looks around...to the left, safety. In all other directions, roaming beasts and vermicious knids threaten to chew him up should he take a step too close. If only he'd remembered his Vorpal Blade...!

[Continue to the left, or be eaten.]


Continuation!

Door #2 Goers: You come to yet another multiple-way crossroads, going NW, NE, and SE. You've come from the southwest...which direction do you choose?

Door #3 Goers: You continue down the path until you reach another fork...to the right, or press forward?

Door #4 Goers: You find, as you cautiously creep down the path, that there is a side path to your right. Do you head down the side path, or move on forward?

Door 2, Part 1: Do you go ahead or left?


Which will you choose?


The adventure continues...

News Update!

Due to the crumbled path, all respawns will now occur at the Crossroads House, a checkpoint!

Image Update - Here is the portion of the map explored thus far by our brave adventurers:

Thrak continues down the side path to the right and leaves a trail of beer lures behind him.

WHAT KIND OF QUESTION IS THAT!?

YOU -ALWAYS- USE THE GRAPPLE TURRET THINGY!

Y =D

Woot. Hehehe. Grapple turrets are awesome.

DoS charges into the third door into the blossoms! On his way through the door he sees that someone dropped an automated submachine gun assassin crossbow, he picks it up for some protection. He never knows what Tal or Deathshead might do to him on this golden pathway.

Draugluin shuffles through Door #3

/me continues slowly to the northwest

Last Gasp looking desperately for any weapon continues down the path... spying a bouncy ball instead he picks it up and plays with it bouncing it off lostling's head.

Tyriel looks for Hatch's hatchet, but, seeing it nowhere, decides that Hatch must have picked it up, and heads through door 2, where he hopes Hatch went. Err, well, perhaps he'd rather go where Hatch isn't, since he did steal his hatchet. Regardless of where he wants to go, Tyriel does go through door 2.

GL strides boldly down the side path to the right.

Obscurans strikes out for the NW path for his boots demand vengeance!

idk shadows thrak as he lay out his doom.

JW wonders where his drunken stupor has taken him?

The Encore, hoping for some sign of life, continues ahead.

Marlfox goes down the side path.

Zog, wondering why his body took him along the main path when his mind chose the side path, decides to take the 'safe' option and go left.

Negator, rushing after the groups of adventurers ahead, doubles his pace when he realises the long, expanding crack in the ground racing towards him from behind. Not matter how hard he runs, though, he cannot escape. The crack overtakes him and opens into a yawning chasm under his feet. Looking up "through the fourth wall", he pauses implausibly hovering in mid-air, shrugs his shoulders, then plummets cartoon-like into the depths, only to find himself re-spawning in front of what looks like a house...

DeathsHeadJoker, being well versed in days of yore, chooses to strike off to the right.

The Colonel immediately opens door one and kicks that dirty hobo off the edge of the bridge. He also checks the ground to see if there are any remnants of a useful tool for his journey. He cautiously exits and shuts the door behind him, then strides self-assuredly through doorframe 2.

Tal presses onward "Forward to Victory!"

BluBBen steps quickly through door number 1.

BluBBen changes his mind right before entering door number 1 and takes door number 3 instead.

**Phew, must read all the updates before posting -.-**

Plagues, spots a forest off to the north east, and he wants nothing to do with the forest so he goes off in the NW direction. *cautiously*.

From door number 3 Andy decides that his team likes going forward so he calls a charge...

"FORWARDS!"

Slayer continues along the path, moving ever-forward towards the prize, which awaits him.

Cube finally decides to get up and enter and follows the large number of footsteps off to the right.

SoulFire decides to take off after taking a nice long nap and goes to the right.

"Zoglog[T] 7:25 AM EST
Zog, wondering why his body took him along the main path when his mind chose the side path, decides to take the 'safe' option and go left."

My bad; you actually did take the side path, but I typed out main path. If you check the map I posted, though, you took a turn. :P

Update coming in a few hours! :)

Tasuki recalling the horror of falling to his potential death with door #1, decide to venture onwards with 2nd Door.

Henk laughs as he wanders along, but stops laughing coming to the multiple crossroads.

Henk thinks, as he look at his mallet, which way to go.

Not knowing he spins his mallet like a bottle to see which way to go...

The mallet stop at NE thus Henk goes North East.

On ward my friends!

OB, in that case, could I change to take the main path? I wanted to go down the road Zog didn't take. ;)

PS your map is confuzzle!

I'm assuming I'm the one up by the 3 red dots, when's the next update? I thought being ill yesterday would cause me to miss out but this isn't going to be left to die is it?

IDK is starving with nothing to eat. it is damp and humid and i can not move while i am stuck in mid step without an update.

I think I've drunk all the whiskey. I think I'll start looking for a secret exit from this cul-de-sac.

I've been walking in the north west direction for two days now -_-.

I'm sorry, everyone - I've been working on getting a draft of my research essay to present tomorrow; as soon as it's presented and I come home from the university, I'll put up an update.

I'm sorry I made you all wait this long without explanation.

Good luck with your school stuff, man.

This contest is indefinitely postphoned until I find a more effective way to run it. As people split down different pathways, it becomes more and more difficult to keep track/make the update post...I think a graphical update would be more effective/easier, but at the same time, I don't want to give the whole thing away as people are going through it. =\

If anyone has a better idea of how to do this rolling around in their head, feel free to CM me. :)

Sorry to postphone this contest. Hopefully it will re-open/restart soon with a better approach.

It is good OB. You rock bro. But postphoned, haha.