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CYOA: The Orc and the Tower Part 20
🕑 Added 2025-07-30 16:45:41 +0000 UTCYour ears prick up at the faint and distant sound of heavy stones grinding together.
The faint hairs on your body stand on end as the very mists around you seems to be suddenly filled with danger.
The gravelly scraping is punctuated first by one deep thud, then another and you realize that the sound is coming not from above but below. You all apprehensively gaze down into the misty shadows below.
“Surely the enchantment has worn off by now…” Carab murmurs uncertainly.
In a whirl of tentacles Carab slips fluidly into the recess of a tunnel entrance in the wall of the chamber, narrowly avoiding a large shape that hurtling up from the darkness below.
You barely have time to recognize it as a bookshelf before it turns into a cloud of splinters, dust and paper and masonry. Some of the volumes and scrolls emit thin screams as they fall, tattered and limp down into the mists.
“No ordinary enchantment could last so long, it could be another like us, Paier!” Carab shouts.
A moment later, mouth of their tunnel is crushed by another projectile, closing them off behind an immense pile of rubble.
“Like usss? But what is it?” asks Paier.
The goblin confirms frantically that it does indeed appear to be a lot like Paier, in fact. You follow her pointing finger downward into the parting mists.
Parting the misty air like an enormous ship’s figurehead, the statue of Paier steadily climbs the wall of the chamber, seemingly heedless of gravity's snares. Its movement is only slightly encumbered by its shattered and crumbling arm. The three of you turn and flee up the stairs.
The chamber above contains large cauldrons, workbenches and instruments of enchanting scattered around an ironwork floor through which you can hear the lumbering progress of the statue.
Chains hang from the domed ceiling like menacing iron vines, bearing fruit in the form of shackles, evil looking hooks, and in a few cases, large crystals.
A pale light shining down from an opening in the ceiling draws a chaotic web of shadows on the floor as it passes through the ironwork of a twisting staircase leading upward.
“Thisss is the wizard’sss enchantment room, we are near the top of the tower,” says Paier, upon entering the room, interrupted by the sudden din of agonized metal floor beams being wrenched apart.
The statue forces its head and shoulders through the flooring, heedless of the cracks and chips appearing all over its carved surface. It gazes across at you with its undamaged eye, glowing with the rune of Mesmera.
The goblin makes a snarl and tightens her grip on her staff and spits a foreign sounding curse about the hideousness of the statue.
“Mind your mouth, goblin! That’sss me!” hisses Paier, indignantly.
Thinking quickly, you decide to:
Comments
Winton Kidd
Yesssss 💖😤 I'm so glad! I don't often get to shoot for different vibes like "eerie" in my work, so this is a special treat for me to try something out of the usual❤️
Winton Kidd
I'm sure we'll find a way 😤😤
Winton Kidd
Thank you, buddy🥺🥺🥺🥺 this kind of encouragement gives me life 💖😭 thank you
Winton Kidd
😂 this is a peak example of me relying on the audience to infer sexy undertones hehehehe
Winton Kidd
I'm really really glad that the vibe is coming through, I think it took a minute to start using the brushes required to make it feel authentic. I do feel a little bad that this update is strikingly unsexy but for that goblin drawing. I gotta balance things out next time 😤
Winton Kidd
😂😂😂😂😂😂❤️ I love this
Winton Kidd
❤️❤️❤️ thank you Ethan I live on this encouragement❤️❤️❤️
ActualPerson084
the view of the statue smiling beatifically as it climbs the inside of the wizard tower to presumably squash our trio… so cool. the big reveal of the Stay Puft marshmallow man is remembered as a comedic moment in Ghostbusters, but it’s a truly eerie image! and “the statue pursued” has a similar (but different) energy
JuniperDenn
They BETTER go back for Carab my beloved 😤😭 pls, I beg! Absolutely amazing work as always, Winton!
C1U5T3HU6
Your beautiful, evocative, and dynamic scene/world building is jaw dropping, Winton! The beauty of the workshop detail as the stone head bursts through or the scene of the statue climbing, and the way your characters react to the world and situations around them is phenomenal!!! Absolutely stunning 🥰🥰😍🥰😍🥰😍🥰
BurntCalimari
I love how everyone said "bdsm?"
E.D.V Art
The more this series progresses the more it genuinely feels like one of those old school illustrated adventure books, I love that. Also the fabric manipulation on the goblin squatting frame is *chefs kiss* for all the right reasons
Sephiroth1204
m-maybe the statue is friendly?
Ethan
I love this
Winton Kidd
They just keep getting bigger 😩💕
Taylor
(It autocorrected to carbs initially which is also accurate in that sentence🤣)
Taylor
Carab nooooo😭 lol
Xev
Oohoo we love a big woman!!
