You knock decisively on the door set into the tree trunk knowing a tree nymph is inside with your bag.

It’s too late to change my mind now, I’ve knocked.

You hear the door start to open.

You still have time to run and hide.

I’m not leaving without my stuff.

The tree nymph opens the door and looks warily up at you.

“I’m meant to be scared of you?”

It is not advisable to upset a tree nymph.

“And you are?”

“I’m the owner of the bag you stole from the side of the river. I want it back.”

“I’m not a thief. You dumped it.”

“I temporarily had to leave it behind because the wasps were after me. I jumped into the river.”

“The river let you go?”

“Evidently.”

“The rest of your life is gonna be wild! I wouldn’t like to be in your shoes. The river only lets those it knows are gonna have a bad time of it, free. You’ll be tastier when you next meet.”

“I’m not planning on going in the river again.”

“You won’t be able to stay out if she’s chosen you. Could be in a week, could be in twenty years, but then… you’re her eagerly anticipated meal.”

“Never mind all that nonsense, I want my stuff and I’m not leaving here without it.”

“It’s mine now. It’s in my possession. That means it’s no longer yours.”

“You stole it.”

“People that go in the river usually vanish. Sometimes they choose to disappear. Sometimes someone else makes that choice for them. Without the river of shifting sands being so good at keeping the place tidy, there’d be bodies everywhere - literally polluted by people.”

“Listen, I need to leave this place and I can’t without my kit and herbs I spent hours picking. There’s an old beggar waiting back at the tavern for a poultice. His feet are a mess. I can’t help him without those herbs.”

“An old beggar you say? Has he only got one eye and walks with a staff?”

“Yes. Do you know him?”

The tree nymph does not reply. He is deep in thought.

“Where’s the whirlwind of fury I was so worried about confronting? I would’ve knocked on your door louder and sooner if I’d known you were so… harmless. You’re not fierce at all.”

“Shush! I’m thinking. The beggar changes things. I have hidden fangs and I planned to tear your throat out then dump you in the river but… if the river let you go, you have much to endure yet. And if he’s waiting on these herbs as you say… my teeth are no match for Hodin.”

“Hodin?”

“What will he give you in exchange?”

“A blank map. I need to find my grandfather’s scrolls.”

“A quest?”

“A necessity. I can’t go home without them.”

“Others are looking for the scrolls.”

“They can’t be! Even I don’t know where to start looking.”

“And that’s what’s worrying me. Hodin doesn’t help everyone. For some reason he wants to give you a head start. I envy and pity you in equal measure.”

“Are you giving me my stuff back or not?”

“You can have it. I’ll even give you something extra. Don’t thank me. It will lead to trouble for you, I’m sure, but I don’t want to get involved. And it’s all your fault, so you’ll have to fix it.”

“What’s my fault?”

“I didn’t just find your bag. I also found a man killed by the venom of Giante Wasparella. In his hand was a note. It was written in code, but I deciphered it.”

“I think… I was responsible for his death, but it was an accident. I didn’t realise giving them some cake would do what it did. They almost killed me.”

“That’s why you ended up in the river?”

“Yes. It’s quicksand, actually. What does the note say?”

“It’s about the king. He’s coming to Dragonsclawe and there’s a plot to kill him.”

“There’s always a plot to kill him.”

“But this one’s well-organised.”

“I know.”

“You’re not involved, are you?”

“No, but I overheard them discussing it.”

“There’ll be chaos if they succeed. It must be stopped. Who was plotting?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know anyone in this town.”

“Would you recognise them if you saw them again?”

“I don’t know. They all wore black if that helps?”

“Not really. Many of the Guilds wear black because it doesn’t show the blood as much. The Honourable Guild of thieves, Guild of Butchers, Guild of Poachers, Guild of Assassins… There’s at least a dozen of them.”

“What’s the message? The de-coded one?”

“It says - ‘Safe house under observation. King coming a day early. Need a new plan. Need barrels back. Trust no one.’ Does that mean anything to you?”

“No. Why should it? I knew the king was coming because Trellis is at the tavern I’m staying at.”

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“Trellis? He’s back?”

“Yes. He thinks I’d make a good spy, I think the same about him.”

“He’s a dangerous man. Far more so than Hodin is. Take the message and your bag and leave. Never return. You never met me. You found the note on the man, and you never saw me.”

“Where’s the man’s body?”

“In the river. He’s vanished.”

“I can’t believe he died because of my actions and now… I’m involved in this. I just want the scrolls. I don’t want to get mixed up in any plots. I want to go home.”

“Are your scrolls in code?”

“Yes. One that I don’t have the cipher for.”

“Take this, it’s the note’s cipher. It may be the same. There’s been talk of a scroll in the cave of the silent scream on the edge of town. But no one’s been brave enough to go in and get it.”

“How do they know it’s there if no one’s been in the cave?”

“People talk. Sometimes it’s just stories but… the fear’s real. Curiosity nudges folk, but instinct holds ‘em back. I love codes. There’s nothing more satisfying than revealing what was once hid. Words you were never meant to read… forming right in front of you. I desperately want to get my hands on that scroll myself to decode it, but no way am I going in that cave to get it.”

“So, you want me to go in and get it? Then you’ll decipher it?”

“I’m game if you are. There’s no code I can’t crack.”

“It’s tempting, I’ll think about it. If the map shows a scroll in the cave, I’ll have to go in for it.”

“And you’ll bring it back here to me? If you survive the ordeal, obviously.”

“What’s meant to be in the cave?”

“It’s best you don’t know. When I was told my bones wanted to leave my skin and hide in the deep earth forever.”

“I’ll come and see you tomorrow and let you know what the map shows. I need to get these herbs back to the tavern if I’m to make the poultice tonight.”

“What will you do with the message?”

“I’ll probably give it to Trellis and let him deal with it. I don’t want anything to do with plots.”

“I don’t, either. Don’t mention me to anyone. Tell them you deciphered it.”

“Okay. I’m Valda by the way.”

“Hickrick. There’s your gear. It’s all there. I haven’t even looked inside the bag. I think Hodin has brought us together. Fate, some call it, but Hodin does the same thing. It’s never a good thing being a toy of the gods. We’ll need to be careful. We won’t live a boring life from here on in. I’ve always wanted to go on an epic adventure. It’s just… I didn’t expect it to be with a Shield Maiden careless with cake, under the watchful eye of Hodin and Trellis.”

You leave Hickrick behind and head at pace back to the tavern.

Go on, say it. Ask me why I said I didn’t know who the plotters were.

I am sure you have a good reason.

I don’t trust anyone here. This message Hickrick says he’s decoded - it might be a fake message. If I deliver it and it’s wrong, it’ll be me who gets in trouble for it. He doesn’t want to be mentioned so again, I’m the one in the firing line. It sounds right though. The safe house… the barrels… It looks like Elspethe’s plan is about to be scuppered and she doesn’t know it.

Will you tell her?

I don’t know what to do.

Your current choices are –

1. You take the note and cipher to Trellis.

2. You throw them both in the fire and forget about them.

3. You warn Elspethe and tell her the message.

4. You own up to being responsible for the messenger’s unfortunate death.

5. You wait and see what happens (Do nothing).

6. You tell Hodin what’s going on.

7. You pick a side – Pro king, or anti-king.

None of those choices are going to end well, are they?

No. But you have had a good run, considering.

You have even so far, managed to avoid being killed by a small but deadly tree nymph.

The map’s the favourite choice for me. After all, my main quest is finding the scrolls. I’ve nothing to do with this plot.

Oh, but you have. You became involved when your cake killed the messenger. The tree nymph got involved when he found the message and your bag. You got involved when you poked around and found the secret passageway in the tavern. You got involved when you overheard the plot and didn’t tell Trellis. You got involved when you saw Elspethe murder a man and knew her true form and kept quiet about it.

Whether the king is killed or not, is now down to you. You have the message. Who you choose to give it to will change the future. It would not have happened if you had not arrived here. Choose wisely on your next course of action.

Can we not stop the game and start over?

That is not possible. The game continues till you complete it, or you die - here and in reality.

But I can’t… I just want to find the scrolls. I don’t want any part in any plots.

You are responsible for this new chain of events. A man is dead because of you.

But that is not all.

The man’s name was Tom Goode.

What? The one in… Trellis’ song?

Yes.

I thought he was 100 miles away?

Apparently, he was much closer.

I don’t understand. What has this got to do with the plot? Why did Tom Goode want the King dead so badly?

The feud reignited not just the old row, but a war. A conscripting war. A war where you must pick a side. The Relphas chose the king, the Goodes chose to murder the king. Everyone will need to pick a side sooner or later - even you.

You must choose wisely.

I wish grandad Potts hadn’t been so obsessed with Elizabethan spies and codes. I might’ve had a chance…

It is certainly entertaining watching this unfold.

I’m glad someone’s enjoying themselves. But listen, I can’t tell anyone about the message. If I do, they’ll want to know where Tom Goode is, and how I come to have the message… I know, I’ll say a tree nymph gave it to me. It’s the truth.

They will haul you off to the Star room for sure if you say that. You will be testing out every torture machine in the place.

I can’t exactly go to Trellis with the note and no reasonable explanation, can I?

The situation is this. You have killed Tom Goode by accident, yes, but he is still dead because of your careless actions with cake. The tavern has a warning about it on the menu, so they are not liable.

Tom Goode is going to be missed. They will look for him. They will not find him because your accomplice disposed of his body after taking the secret message off him.

Accomplice?

If Hickrick had left the body where it was and had not taken the message and decoded it, you still would have been in trouble for his death, but as you are a tourist, they would have been lenient. But now… it looks like you and Hickrick were in it together.

Elspethe is going to be spitting venom when she finds out what you have done.

I can’t tell Elspeth what happened! That girl has many dark ways to kill someone. She already doesn’t like me.

What have you decided to do?

Do? I don’t know. There is no good option. Perhaps I should just do a runner? Or I could blame it on Hickrick. All of it. That’ll teach him to steal off people.

Adding more options is not helpful. You had the butter honey cake, and you were in the vicinity of his untimely demise. Once people work that out, you will (literally) not have a leg to stand on.

What’s the punishment for murder, here? Hanging?

They do not hang people here.

That’s a relief. I thought they would, somehow.

Not properly, anyway. Partially. It is what happens after that where it starts to get dark… as in you will be introduced to your ‘inner self’.

I get it. You don’t need to elaborate. Are you sure there’s no quick route home?

The scrolls are the quick route. Without them, your journey through this world to get to the levels gaining the skills you need to win the game and go home will take years.

I can’t decide what to do. Can I roll the dice?

You can, but it is a high-risk strategy. You cannot go back on it once the dice gives a number.

Do it.

1. You take the note and cipher to Trellis.

2. You throw them both in the fire and forget about them.

3. You warn Elspethe and tell her the message.

4. You own up to being responsible for the messenger’s unfortunate death.

5. You do nothing (wait and see).

6. You tell Hodin what is going on.

7. You pick a side - pro-King or anti-King and take appropriate action.

8. You go on the run.

9. You blame Hickrick for Tom Goode’s death.

10. You hire a guide.

Are there any numbers you particularly do not like?

Most of them, I’d say. Any one of those could send me off on a tangent and I’m sure I will be happy with the resulting ‘adventure’.

But the game would not be a real game if there was no risk to you, or options. The fact you have choices means the story you are writing is evolving with every step you take. Whatever you do or say can change what your grandad originally sketched out.

Nothing here is fixed.

No one knows what will happen next.

Not even grandad Potts?

No. He only planned a basic framework. It is how characters act and the choices they make that shape the adventure - and if you survive, or not.

I don’t like this game. The sooner it ends, the better. I need to find the scrolls. Just roll the dice, I’ve got potions to make.

The dice is rolled

It is number 3