Current Events > Teen Titans CYOA: Romance Resurrected Part 13.5

(+) Yeah! (+)

Cartridge88 posted...

B) Shower first

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A
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B)

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B

"I'm going to shower now," you say.

"Wait, does that mean I have to... wait?" she asks. "To eat, that is."

"There's a heat spell on both plates," you say. "You can go ahead and start eating, just keep my plate under the spell."

"Okay~," she says as she sits down.

You bring your change of clothes with you to the bathroom, but spot something Raven left behind on the floor.

"U-Um, Raven," you say as you open the door. "I believe you left something behind."

You carefully hold out her pair of undergarments with just your index and middle finger.

"Oh!" she says, very red right away.

She floats over to take them from you and put them away in her luggage.

"Don't know how I missed that," she says. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," you say before closing the door again.

You shower, dry and dress then rejoin Raven. She's already had a third of her pancakes and a portion of eggs. You sit down, undo the heat spell on your plate and dig in.

"Even being kept warm, these are still good," you say.

Raven nods while chewing.

"You've got everything, yes?" you ask before popping more pancakes in your mouth.

Raven finishes chewing and swallowing before saying, "After you found my underwear, yes."

The two of you share a little laugh.

Raven of course finishes eating first and double checks her luggage as well as the bathroom. She has everything order so you hurry to finish eating. You double check your luggage as well as the bathroom for your things, and you're also set to go.

"Alright," you say. "Let's get going."

You two go downstairs, you pay the finaly bill as you check out, and then return to Shadowfax.

"Natchez is roughly three hours away," you say as you double check your map. "Thanks to our filling breakfast, we can have lunch..."

A) Just before arriving
B) Just after arriving
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B
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B.

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B

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B

"Just after arriving. We'd need to get a lay of the land, for starters, and maybe we'll be lucky enough to spot those shadows we've been hearing about."

"Ooo, I hope so," Raven says. "I need to know what's going on with that."

You start Shadowfax's engine and head out on the road. You head North and find your way to I-10 West.

After New Orleans comes Metairie, Kenner, and enter the Maurepass Swamp and its Wildlife Management Area. The swamp looks rather nice for a swamp.

After the Maurepass Swamp, you pass by more urban areas, such as "Dutch Town" and "Prairieville." You eventually pass through Baton Rouge, which is rather lovely with its view of the Mississippi River along most of the highway. It is here that you transition from I-10 to US-61 North.

After drifting away from the river and edging more northeast, you leave Louisiana behind and enter Mississippi. You pass through Woodville, Doloroso, Sibley, and then finally arrive at Natchez. The other border of Mississippi and Louisiana is to the West, with the river returning to represent it naturally.

"Okay," you say. "Let's get that lodging first, then start on a shadow hunt with lunch."

You drive around to find some options, and there are really only two locations. Therefore, you two settle on...

A) Natchez Grand Hotel
B) Holiday Inn Express & Suites
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Cartridge88 posted...

A) Natchez Grand Hotel

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A)

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Malcrasternus posted...

Cartridge88 posted...

A) Natchez Grand Hotel

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A

You pull into the parking lot and walk into the Natchez Grand Hotel's front lobby. It's a lovely brick building and furnished like a manor. You walk up to the front desk and the concierge.

"Welcome to the Natchez Grand Hotel," the young woman says with a beaming smile. "How many nights are you planning to stay?"

"Umm... I think three nights should be fine," you say.

"Three nights," she says as she types on the keyboard. "Very good. Now, we only have rooms with single beds available at this time, is that alright?"

"If that's all that's available," you shrug. "Are they at least near each other?"

"Yes, we have rooms across the hall from each other, as well as neighboring each other," she says.

"We'll take neighboring rooms," you say.

The concierge types that in.

"That will be $500 up front," she says as she holds out the two room keys.

You'd be upset but again, it's two rooms, not one. You use your credit card for this one, and then you receive the keys. Raven takes those while you carry the luggage and you head to the elevator. You go up a couplo floors and she leads you to rooms 225 and 226.

A) Take 225
B) Take 226
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B.

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A.
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B)

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B

"I'll take 226," you say.

Raven hands you the key for that room, and you open it up as Raven opens hers. The rooms are nice, almost like small apartments. For you, the bed is against the right wall with television on the left, so you'd imagine Raven's room is the reflection of that.

You set your things down by the bed and regroup with Raven in the hallway.

"What do you say to..."

A) Pizza
B) Tacos
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C. Mexican
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Cartridge88 posted...

B) Tacos

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B

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B

"Tacos?"

"Sure," she shrugs. "Didn't we pass a Taco Bell on the way into town?"

"Why yes we did," you say as you remember it. "Let's go there."

You and Raven return downstairs then outside and to Shadowfax in the parking lot. You drive South to Sgt. Prentiss Drive and the Taco Bell on the right side of the street. There is no drive-thru so you go inside.

It isn't that busy in here, so you and Raven are almost immediately at the front of the line.

"Welcome to Taco Bell," a young man at the register says. "May I take your order?"

"I'll have the 3 soft taco combo meal," Raven says.

"And I will have..."

A) Same as Raven
B) The 3 crunchy taco combo
C) Something with a burrito
D) Something with a quesadilla
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A
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D

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bump just in case
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one more bump
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COIN TOSS

D

"A quesadilla meal. Steak, that is."

"Okay," the cashier types in. "That'll be $10.56. Here or to go?"

"To go," you say as you hand over $11.

You get the receipt and change in return, and wait off to the side. After a few minutes, your order is served and you exit the restaurant before double checking. Raven's tacos are soft tortillas and you can smell the steak in the quesadilla. From there, Raven holds onto the food as you ride on Shadowfax.

"So where should we go with our lunch?" you ask her.

"Well, let's not go back to our hotel rooms," Raven says. "We need to start searching for those shadows."

"Ah yes, of course," you say. "The shadow sightings were rather all over the city, so we should try for..."

A) North
B) South
C) East
D) West
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B
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C

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bump
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COIN TOSS

C

"The East side."

You drive along Sgt. Prentiss Drive and it takes you Northeast. You pass the Natchez National Historical Park, cross Liberty Road, and a Walmart Supercenter to transition onto Devereux Drive.

There isn't anything all that impressive out this way, and Devereux Drive continues on out of town. You turn off there onto Morgantown Road. This is the suburban part of town, so you circle back.

"Not a lot of places to sit and eat this way," you say.

"Can't we just pull over here?" Raven asks as you cross a little bridge. "A nice little creek, some grassy areas, make it like a picnic of sorts."

A) Yes
B) No
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B
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A

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bump
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COIN TOSS

B

"No, no," you say. "At least, not a picnic here. Let's circle back somewhere else."

You go back up Devereux Drive and turn off onto St. Catherine Street.

"There are so many churches for one little town," Raven says.

You spot some nice woodlands a few blocks over and head that way on Auburn Avenue. You pass by "Fred's Greenhouse & Garden" and enter the woods. You decide to park on John A Quitman Boulevard and have your little picnic lunch.

"I didn't see any tourists hunting shadows on the East side, so I think we can cross that part of town off the list," you say as you peel the quesadilla slices apart.

"Probably," Raven shrugs as she unwraps a taco. "Where were most of the sightings said to take place?"

You check your phone for news about the shadows.

"Well, they do seem to favor central to northwest," you say. "We should've checked these first..."

"We need to head to those areas, then," Raven says.

"Of course," you say. "We're in central Natchez, so we'll check..."

You look at the map of Natchez on your phone.

A) Duncan Park
B) Natchez National Historical Park
C) Open field behind Cathedral High School
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A
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B

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bump
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COIN TOSS

A

"Duncan Park. It's closest, for one, and looks rather nice."

"Yeah, because that makes a difference," Raven smirks.

You take your time enjoying your quesadilla.

"Mmm, good steak," you say.

"Yeah?" she asks.

You nod while chewing. She takes a bite of her taco and seems to enjoy it, too.

There is a gentle breeze blowing, but also some bugs flying around. You shoo the bugs while peeling another piece of the quesadilla off.

"Are you stalling so we don't find the shadows?" Raven asks abruptly.

"Hm?" you say, mouth full of cheese, steak and tortilla.

You shake your head no before chewing and swallowing.

"Why would I be stalling?" you say. "They're just shadows, not ghosts."

"Yeah but it could be ghosts causing the shadows," she points out.

"Well better than the ghosts actually being there."

Raven saves her third taco for later but you've completely finished your quesadilla. You head out, going east to Melrose Avenue and turn right to go south. You go down, turn right onto Ratcliff Place, and then find Duncan Park Road. This of course takes you to Duncan Park.

Duncan Park has a lot of open fields, but there are tennis courts, a few baseball diamonds, several ponds, and is even next door to the Auburn Antebellum Home, which is actually a museum inside an 1800's style Southern home.

A) Check the tennis courts and baseball diamonds
B) Check the ponds
C) Just walk around the fields.
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B
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Cartridge88 posted...

B) Check the ponds

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B)

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B

You park Shadowfax and walk with Raven across the wide open field towards a very big pond off to the east side. You have to go past the tennis courts and baseball diamonds and then even more open field, and reach the pond. It isn't the cleanest, but at least it's still a shade of blue.

You walk around the pond and watch as a few ducks splash around.

"Well this is nice and all," Raven says as she looks around. "But I don't see any strange shadows yet."

"Hmm..." you say as you look around. "Well let's keep looking."

You move from this big pond to a smaller pond. This barely has anything in it so you move on even from this pond. There are very long ponds near the back of the park, to where they're almost small lakes.

"Should we ask around about the shadows?" Raven asks. "I feel like we need more clues than people's pictures."

A) Ask people
B) Ask spirits
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B
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B.

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B

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B

"Let's ask the spirits," you say. "They might be able to tell us a lot more about this situation."

"Okay. Do you want to summon them? Since I summoned Gulf."

"Sure," you say.

You bring out spirit paper and sketch out the nature centric diagram. You activate the paper, and a few twigs combine with leaves to make a rather lanky avatar.

"Hello, young wizard," the little stick man says with a light wave of his stick arm. "I am the Nature Spirit of Duncan Park. How may I help you?"

"Hello, Nature Spirit of Duncan Park," you say. "Are you aware of these sightings of shadows?"

"Oh, yes, I've certainly heard about them," he says. "I felt them creeping at the edges of the park here."

"Just at the edges?" Raven asks. "They don't come into the park?"

"Not yet," he says. "But I just know that they're much more fearsome than just being shadows suggests."

"Oooh~!" Raven says, clearly intrigued now.

"Do you mind if I call you 'Duncan'?" you ask the spirit.

"Not at all," the spirit says.

"Duncan, can you tell the origins of those shadows?"

"Well, no, not its origins," Duncan says. "I just feel how it is. It's this thing of malice and darkness. It has a heat to it, like it is on fire yet can never be consumed by the flames."

"Whoa..." you and Raven say.

"If it doesn't cross into the park," you say, "where does this... thing tend to go?"

"The other spirits say it stays north of here, but that's all I know," Duncan says.

"There's a lot 'north of here,'" you say.

You go back to your phone for a map of the town.

"We were just on the east-side," you say, "and with Duncan Park near the center, we can cross off just over half of the town when it comes to our search."

"Leaving just North and West Natchez," Raven surmises.

A) Go West
B) Go North
C) Rest a moment
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B
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C.

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C

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C

"Well, I think this is a good time to rest then," you say.

"What? Why?" Raven asks.

"Thank you for the help, Duncan," you say with a bow.

"Glad to be of service," Duncan says as he bows back.

You tear the spirit paper and Duncan's twigs fall into a neat little bundle.

"We rest now because we've barely had any rest today," you say. "We may have our hotel rooms and stomachs full of Taco Bell, but three hours or so on the road still takes its toll. Besides, the hotel is on the west-side, so we're heading that way anyhow."

Raven pouts a bit before leading the way back to Shadowfax. You two hop on and ride back to the Natchez Grand Hotel.

"How long are we going to rest?" Raven asks as you pull into the parking lot.

"Just a couple hours," you say. "We can start our search again in the afternoon, starting with the west-side."

"So what're we supposed to do until then?"

A) Strategise
B) Research
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Cartridge88 posted...

A) Strategise

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