Zork is questing! Episode 1/25

Zork sighed to itself as it entered the next room of Frank Presents: The Insanely Frightening Haunted House. Once again, the haunted house was leaving a lot to be desired. Obviously fake ghosts hung on strings and one animatronic ghost was malfunctioning, barely rising above the chair it was stationed behind. Zork thought the only good thing about the haunted house was it hadn't paid to get in, a friend had bought them the ticket.

Zork is questing! Episode 2/25

Continuing onward, Zork started wondering what it should tell its friend about the haunted house. Zork didn't want to seem ungrateful for the gift, but the poorly executed display of "haunted" decorations made them wish its friend hadn't spent the moles at all. Zork was so distracted by its thoughts, it failed to notice it wasn't the only one currently in the obviously-put-together-as-a-monetary-scam haunted house.

Zork is questing! Episode 3/25

"Oh how lovely," Zork muttered sarcastically. "A room of inflatable, oversized mushrooms."

Zork vowed never to tell anyone about how it became lost in the inflatable forest of mushrooms for several excruciatingly long minutes. it smacked one of the mushrooms, causing it to let out a low hisssss as it began deflating. Zork started moving faster to avoid getting caught having accidentally broken one of the props, once again failing to notice it wasn't alone in the haunted house.

Zork is questing! Episode 4/25

"Well this room isn't as bad as the others," Zork grumbled out loud as it entered a section of the house decorated like a graveyard.

"I'm inclined to agree," said an unknown voice making Zork jump, "But the walls are just covered in printed plastic sheets."

"And the tombstones are obviously styrofoam," added a second unknown voice. Zork looked around surprised to find it wasn't alone in the room.

"The glowing crystal isn't a bad touch," the first voice, belonging to a strange owl responded. "Not sure why a crystal would be in a graveyard though..."

"Let's find out!" the owner of the second voice said excitedly, racing towards the strange gem.

Zork is questing! Episode 5/25

"Don't touch it!" Zork shouted too late. The peculiar creature barely reached the crystal when the room went black. Zork lost its baring as there was suddenly no up or down, nothing to be seen, and nothing to be heard. For an undeterminable amount of time, which may have been less than a second or months long, Zork floated in the vastness (or minuteness?) of nothingness.

With a loud wham!, Zork thumped onto a cold, gray floor. "Ohhh, my head..." Zork grumbled as it stood itself up, quickly realizing something was wrong with its body.

"What happened to you?" called the barely familiar sound of the strange owl...only it was coming from a bat?

"Oh no, oh no, oh no," came the voice of the peculiar creature who was now...large and furry instead of small and scaly.

Zork is questing! Episode 6/25

"What's wrong with me?" shouted Zork, discovering its limbs were covered in blue scales.

"You? Look at me!" responded the large, furry creature.

"I have to get out of here!" Zork shouted, running off, the others following behind him.

"Let's calm down, please," said the owl-bat as they reached a large room where it was difficult to tell down from up. "We're all experiencing something strange and getting over-excited will be of no assistance to us."

"Oh! Oh-ho!" came yet another new voice to Zork. "Seems you three have gotten yourselves into some trouble, haven't ya?" Zork looked towards the new voice, finding a young Thunder Monster in the room with them. "Oh I've seen this before," the Thunder Monster said as it examined them. "Only way to fix it is to find what caused it."

"And how do we do that?" the furry creature responded with indignity.

"The quest is afoot!" a cried the owl-bat before anyone else could respond.

Zork is questing! Episode 7/25

Zork followed the Thunder Monster - whose name Zork now knew to be "Alder", and that Alder was much older than he looked - out a door and into a foggy wood of bare-branched trees. The owl-bat, Gerald, flew excitedly over the barren trees, seeming to enjoy himself, with the once-not-so-furry creature Eldag following behind them.

"A green crystal you said?" asked Alder the Thunder Monster. "That might be hard to find around these parts."

"Could a different gem help us?" Zork asked.

"No, other ones will just make things worse for you, we need to find another bright green one. The same exact one if we can."

Zork huffed, seeing Gerald enjoying himself perhaps a little too much for the current circumstances.

Zork is questing! Episode 8/25

Gerald's over-excitement led to trouble faster than Zork could have imagined.

"Oh look! A crystal!" Gerald shouted as he divided towards a bright, glittering crystal underneath the river they were travelling along.

"Gerald - don't!" Zork once again shouted too late.

Gerald barely reached the surface of the river when a bright flash overtook Zork's body, its limbs aching, stretching, contorting to unnatural shapes and angles. A quick glance revealed the bodies of Gerald and Eldag doing the same.

Zork is questing! Episode 9/25

"Now you've done it," Alder the Thunder Monster said as Zork felt its limbs finally begin to settle.

"Eeep!" came Gerald's voice followed quickly by a soft splash!

"I've got 'im," Alder said as he waded into the river, pulling a not-quite-small-but-not-quite-large mouse to the bank.

"I'm still furry!" wailed Eldag. "I miss my beautiful green scales!"

"I did warn yeh," Alder scolded.

Zork looked at its reflection in the water, sighing as he saw a face which wasn't its own looking back at them.

Zork is questing! Episode 10/25

"Arrrgh!" Zork shouted as it found itself being entangled in some very unruly and unkind vines.

"It's a trap!" screamed Eldag.

"We're going to die!" yelped Gerlad.

"Don't be so dramatic," Alder replied calmly as a set of vines twirled themselves around him. "They're just having a bit of fun."

"This is fun?" Zork cried as vines hoisted them into the air.

"Not fun at all!" Eldag shrieked in alarm as vines turned her upside-down.

"Actually, I think it's quite relaxing now that I'm used to it," Gerald replied serenely as vines swung him side to side.

Zork is questing! Episode 11/25

"See? They're helpful little things once you stop frightening them," Alder the Thunder Monster said as the somehow conscious vines carried him through the dense trees.

"It is nice not having to walk," Gerald responded, glancing at the bog below them.

Zork grumbled as it was passed vine to vine, noticing Eldag didn't seem too pleased either.

"Ah, here we go," Alder said as vines set him down on a clearing in the bog. "This seems like a good spot to continue on foot... claw... paw?"

Zork sighed in relief to feel ground below itself again, even if it wasn't firm ground.

Zork is questing! Episode 12/25

"Which way should we go?" Zork asked Alder.

"Let's try this way," Eldag said, leading the way.

Zork glanced at Alder who merely shrugged. "Any way is a good way." Zork sighed, following behind the others.

"Oh no.. Oh no oh no..." Zork looked around the others hearing Eldag's worried voice. Eldag started to back up quickly, ramming into Gerald then Alder.

"What is it?" Zork asked anxiously as Alder was rammed into them. Yet no one was able to answer, for as one they fell into the swampy water beside them.

Zork is questing! Episode 13/25

Zork gargled wordlessly as it is pulled down into the depths of the marshy water, dragged along by the torrent of a strong whirlpool. Through brief glances from spinning, it sees the rest of its group being dragged down along with them. Slowly the little light available from the world above disappears, leaving Zork to twirl along the whirlpool in darkness.

Zork is questing! Episode 14/25

A loud shuck! and a soft thump leaves Zork laying on the muddy floor of a dark and expansive cavern. Zork watches as one by one the whirlpool drops his comrades onto the ground around them. Holding its head, Zork squints looking around the dark, damp cavern.

"I think I see some light down this way," Gerald says as he starts down a vague path.

Zork glances in concern at Eldag and Alder before following after Gerald.

Zork is questing! Episode 15/25

"It's getting rather hot," Gerald pants as the cavern begins to fill with steam.

"Where is it coming from?" Eldag asks, getting her answer much sooner than she expected as a small flame shoots up from the ground beside her.

"Careful, dearies," Alder softly calls. "Lots of dangerous places down here."

"You're telling me," Zork says sarcastically, not noticing the shining red gem hidden behind the flames before them.

Zork is questing! Episode 16/25

A mighty fwoosh! sends Zork and its comrades flying up into the cavern. How was Zork to know there was a dangerous crystal beside them? Zork screamed in fear between the quickly approaching cavern roof and the feeling of its limbs once again stretching and contorting. Yet Zork's cries fell on deaf ears, as no one could hear them over their own shrill screams and rushing steam carrying them all upwards through a narrow cavern shaft.

Zork is questing! Episode 17/25

Caught in the rising steam fueled by the roaring inferno below, Zork, Alder, Eldag, and Gerald emerge from a fissure, spit high into the night sky above.

Alder seemed to be enjoying himself as he clasped his hands behind his head, freefalling through the sky. Zork reached for Alder, fearing for all of their safety, when a breeze caught its wings pulling them open, causing them to glide right past Alder.

Zork cried out in confusion and alarm as the breeze began to carry them away from the others.

"We're coming, Zork!" it vaguely heard someone shout behind him.

Zork is questing! Episode 18/25

Zork sighed in relief as he splashed into a lake high in the nearby mountains. Soft calls from above the water let them know the others had successfully followed them and landed safely. Zork emerged from the water pulling itself onto the rocky ground, staring wide-eyed at Eldag and Gerald.

"Shut it, Alder!" Eldag said angrily, her transparent body hovering ominously.

Yet this anger didn't phase Alder, who cackled in glee. "Look at yourselves! Such chaos you three create!"

Gerlad perched, preening his long feathers. "At least this is closer to normal for me. Being stuck as a wingless-mouse was terrible."

"Are there winged mice where you're from?" Zork asked curiously.

Zork is questing! Episode 19/25

"What is that?" Eldag asks, looking around with alarm.

"What's what?" Zork asked suspiciously. Yet it didn't wait long for an answer, as the water from the lake began to climb up its legs. Zork quickly flexed its wings, taking to the air.

Eldag floated grumpily after him, with Gerald taking a moment to grab Alder from the quickly rising water. Alder complained loudly as they flew away from the flooding lake. Zork spotted a brightly shining crystal beside the lake, causing them to flap its wings faster.

Zork is questing! Episode 20/25

"You lot are no fun," Alder continued to complain as they rose higher and higher among the mountainside.

"We're not here for fun," Zork hissed.

"Aren't you?" Alder countered, causing Zork to pause.

"Do you see that?" Eldag questioned, pointing towards a shining object on the mountainside. Zork's eyes widened spotting a bright green gem nestled on a rocky ledge. "This is it!" Eldag shouted in excitement, doing her best to hover towards the crystal. Gerald sympathetically flew behind Eldag, flapping his wings to push her along faster.

Zork is questing! Episode 21/25

Zork reached the rocky ledge first, landing beside the glowing crystal. It did appear the same as the type they had encountered in the haunted house. Approaching carefully, Zork squawked in alarm as its limbs began to stretch and contort once again.

"It worked!" it heard Gerald call landing beside them. Zork watched as the bodies of Gerald and Eldag both began to change, noticing Alder smiling mischievously behind them.

Zork is questing! Episode 22/25

"Okay, we're back to normal," Zork said in relief. "But how do we get back home?"

"The crystal brought us here, could it take us back?" Eldag asked, now happily back in her scaly form.

"The crystal only transports one way," Alder cackles.

Zork narrowed its eyes at Alder, "So how do we get home?"

Alder smiled wide, "It's no fun if I tell you."

Zork sighed in frustration, it looked around them, trying to find something, anything. "What about...that?" it asked, signaling towards a set of branches creating an archway.

"Let's find out," Gerald said taking the lead.

Zork is questing! Episode 23/25

"Oh very good eyes you have there, Zork!" Alder called as he climbed the twisting branches of the archway, perching himself at the top.

"How does this work?" Gerald asked, landing on a branch.

Zork approached the archway cautiously, "Will this really get us home?"

"Or at least back to the haunted house?" Eldag asked.

"Only one way to find out," Alder smiled. Zork took a deep breath, closing its eyes, quickly entering the archway, Gerald and Eldag following. Zork heard Alder's voice calling after them, "Thanks for visiting Frank's Insanely Frightening Haunted House!"

Zork is questing! Episode 24/25

Zork blinked in surprise, finding himself suddenly back inside the obviously-fake graveyard filled with styrofoam tombstones. Eldag quickly raced to the only door on the far side of the room, wailing in surprise as a giant inflatable vampire swung down in front of her. Even Gerald let out a hoot! of surprise.

Zork took one last look around the room, spotting the troublesome gem near the entrance, and shot out the door after Gerald and Eldag.

Zork is questing! Episode 25/25

Zork paused outside the haunted house with Gerald and Eldag, looking back at the half-hearted decorations marking the building. Eldag and Gerald shared their relief of finally being back home, and were talking of telling their friends of the crazy adventure they went on.

Turns out Frank's Insanely Frightening Haunted House had a lot more to offer than first appearances revealed. Zork wasn't so certain anypet would believe them though unless they witnessed it themselves... Was that why Zork's friend bought them the ticket and sent them alone?
Zork has completed the quest! Please select another pet as visitor, so it can also take part!