Bertie is questing! Episode 1/25

Bertie sighed to himself as he 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. Bertie thought the only good thing about the haunted house was he hadn't paid to get in, a friend had bought him the ticket.

Bertie is questing! Episode 2/25

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

Bertie is questing! Episode 3/25

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

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

Bertie is questing! Episode 4/25

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

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

"And the tombstones are obviously styrofoam," added a second unknown voice. Bertie looked around surprised to find he 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.

Bertie is questing! Episode 5/25

"Don't touch it!" Bertie shouted too late. The peculiar creature barely reached the crystal when the room went black. Bertie lost his 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, Bertie floated in the vastness (or minuteness?) of nothingness.

With a loud wham!, Bertie thumped onto a cold, gray floor. "Ohhh, my head..." Bertie grumbled as he stood himself up, quickly realizing something was wrong with his 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.

Bertie is questing! Episode 6/25

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

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

"I have to get out of here!" Bertie 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 Bertie. "Seems you three have gotten yourselves into some trouble, haven't ya?" Bertie 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.

Bertie is questing! Episode 7/25

Bertie followed the Thunder Monster - whose name Bertie 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?" Bertie 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."

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

Bertie is questing! Episode 8/25

Gerald's over-excitement led to trouble faster than Bertie 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!" Bertie once again shouted too late.

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

Bertie is questing! Episode 9/25

"Now you've done it," Alder the Thunder Monster said as Bertie felt his 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.

Bertie looked at his reflection in the water, sighing as he saw a face which wasn't his own looking back at him.

Bertie is questing! Episode 10/25

"Arrrgh!" Bertie shouted as he found himself 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?" Bertie cried as vines hoisted him 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.

Bertie 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.

Bertie grumbled as he 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?"

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

Bertie is questing! Episode 12/25

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

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

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

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

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

Bertie is questing! Episode 13/25

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

Bertie is questing! Episode 14/25

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

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

Bertie 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," Bertie says sarcastically, not noticing the shining red gem hidden behind the flames before him.

Bertie is questing! Episode 16/25

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

Bertie is questing! Episode 17/25

Caught in the rising steam fueled by the roaring inferno below, Bertie, 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. Bertie reached for Alder, fearing for all of their safety, when a breeze caught his wings pulling them open, causing him to glide right past Alder.

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

"We're coming, Bertie!" he vaguely heard someone shout behind him.

Bertie is questing! Episode 18/25

Bertie sighed in relief as he splashed into a lake high in the nearby mountains. Soft calls from above the water let him know the others had successfully followed him and landed safely. Bertie emerged from the water pulling himself 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?" Bertie asked curiously.

Bertie is questing! Episode 19/25

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

"What's what?" Bertie asked suspiciously. Yet he didn't wait long for an answer, as the water from the lake began to climb up his legs. Bertie quickly flexed his 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. Bertie spotted a brightly shining crystal beside the lake, causing him to flap his wings faster.

Bertie 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," Bertie hissed.

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

"Do you see that?" Eldag questioned, pointing towards a shining object on the mountainside. Bertie'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.

Bertie is questing! Episode 21/25

Bertie 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, Bertie squawked in alarm as his limbs began to stretch and contort once again.

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

Bertie is questing! Episode 22/25

"Okay, we're back to normal," Bertie 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.

Bertie narrowed his eyes at Alder, "So how do we get home?"

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

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

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

Bertie is questing! Episode 23/25

"Oh very good eyes you have there, Bertie!" 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.

Bertie 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. Bertie took a deep breath, closing his eyes, quickly entering the archway, Gerald and Eldag following. Bertie heard Alder's voice calling after them, "Thanks for visiting Frank's Insanely Frightening Haunted House!"

Bertie is questing! Episode 24/25

Bertie 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.

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

Bertie is questing! Episode 25/25

Bertie 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. Bertie wasn't so certain anypet would believe him though unless they witnessed it themselves... Was that why Bertie's friend bought him the ticket and sent him alone?
Bertie has completed the quest! Please select another pet as visitor, so it can also take part!