Littlest Nymph in the Labyrinth
From Create Your Own Story
You are a young boy, approaching the awkward age of puberty, but not quite there yet. You live in a small village in the mountains, and your father is a goat herder. You are likely to inherit his profession, as there is not much else you could do in this place. You spend your days playing with the other children of the village and chasing unruly goats around with sticks. Ultimately, life is boring. You gobble up the stories about grand adventures that the occasional traveler tells you and the other children, and you like to play pretend hero, but because the other kids do not like you very much, you tend to get stuck playing the bad guy.
There is a famous cave near the village, called the Vastus Catacombs. Your parents never let you play near there, and the entire village does not seem to talk about it even though so many travelers come by to visit it.
You recently came to the realization that none of the travelers headed for the catacombs ever showed up in the village again, and you shared your revelation with the other kids.
A small adventuring group was soon formed to investigate the mysterious caves, but they made you stay behind because they did not like you. They never came back.
You spend a few days as the only kid in the village, and all of the families in the village, except your own, are furious at you for not telling them that their children were going to the caves. Your parents try to protect you from the anger of the other villagers, but eventually your father is knocked out with a spade by a furious drunkard and your mother is pushed aside and held down as the men and women drag you out of your home and into the dirty street, squeezing you painfully hard, yanking on your ears, slapping you across the face, spitting on you, and calling you terrible names. The abuse continues for several minutes before you manage to slip out of the grip of the people and run into the wilderness to escape.
You run in wild directions, but you find yourself inevitably drawn to the very cave that started all of this trouble. You reach the mouth of it, and, peering back, you can see the lanterns and torches of the villagers coming towards you in a small mob. However, the darkness inside the cave, along with the cold breeze coming from it, chills you to the bone. Should you push further on to escape the wrath of the villagers?
Do you:
