Choose Your Own Ending!

[Shield Maiden]

The Giant sighed. "Now you see why you need to destroy them."
I tilted my head to the side. "No, I don't. Why do they need a wizard? Procuring a wizard is relatively simple, and once you do it they'll leave you alone."
The princess and the Giant stared at me. "....'relatively simple'?" asked the Princess. "Who told you that?"
"Well, given that witches exist and that you, sir," I gesture to the Giant, "are a giant, and the princess eyes /glow/, for crying out loud - surely wizards exist and can be found."
The two continued to stare. The Giant replies. "You mean you don't know...?" Seeing my confused look, he continues.

A. "The wizards have been extinct for hundreds of years."
B. "There are few wizards in the world, and they do not hand out favours to any old person."

[The Happy Islander]

"The wizards have been extinct for hundreds of years."

This was a sobering surprise. "Well, why do those witches expect you to get some for them, then?" I asked.

King Mervis paced up and down the room, scowling. Finally he came to a stop in front of me.

"See, it's like this," he said, speaking very rapidly. "When the Princess was an infant, those two witches stole her, and began raising her up as their own. We are still *ahem* working on undoing some of the raising they've done, but" (in a whisper) "the dear girl still isn't good at telling the truth." He went on in a normal voice. "The only way I could get them to give her back to me was by promising to find a wizard or two for them to hire to do some of their dirty work. Back then, there were rumors that there was a wizard or two left, far far away, but in all my searching, I have found none of them." He lapsed into a grim silence.

"What do you want me to do?" I asked.

Mervis mused. "I don't think I can hold those witches off for much longer, so you must move quickly. I want you to..."

A. make a plan for satisfying those witches even though the wizards are all gone."
B. help me build up defenses around the castle in preparation for the witches' return, to see if we can keep them out that way."

[jesusgirl4ever]

help me build up defenses around the castle in in preparation for the witches' return, to see if we can keep them out that way."
I cocked my head. "Don't witches normally have magic? So couldn't they theoretically destroy whatever we do?"
A. He deflated. "Didn't think of that." He sat down with a defeated sigh. "We have to do something! I- I can't lose my daughter." At that moment I felt very, very sorry for him.
B. "Anything the Deliverer touches can withstand them! I'm sure of it!"

[Ariel.of.Narnia]

He deflated. "Didn't think of that." He sat down with a defeated sigh. "We have to do something! I- I can't lose my daughter." At that moment I felt very, very sorry for him.
"Well... is there anything we can do? You could just run away."
The Giant sighed. "No. Once you're in this castle, you can never get out."
I pursed my lips. "Great to know that now...," I muttered. And then a dreadful thought came to mind. "Wait... if we can't leave... how are we to find a wizard?!"
"We can't," the princess said.
"But we must hope," the Giant said, taking his daughter onto his lap.
"They'll inevitably get their way. You realize that, right?"
Both just sat in silence. Long, awkward silence.
So I broke it by asking...

A: "Why do the witches want the princess anyway?"
B: "Do the witches have weaknesses?"

[jesusgirl4ever]

"Why do the witches want the princess anyway?"
"They said that they want a successor to become the kingdom's witch after they die," the princess explained. "But I don't want to be a witch!"
Suddenly, a plan started to form in my mind. "Can they be killed?"
"Only by poisoning them. Or by stabbing them with a gigantic spear, but that's too obvious."
"They never saw me. What if I pretend to be a wizard and poison them afterwards?"
A. "You would do that?"
B. "Marvelous idea!"

[Ariel.of.Narnia]

"You would do that? No one's ever suggested that before."
I quailed at my own suggestion the moment he asked that. "Well, I mean...." Grr, I hate it when I open my big mouth!
"I know the perfect poison!" the princess exclaimed. "I'll go get it!"
Well, I brought this upon myself. "So what's the best way to go about this?"
The Giant said,
a: "I think you should be willing. Wizards and witches should get along, I would think."
b: "I think it'd be more convincing if my spiders tied you up."

[jesusgirl4ever]

"I think you should be willing. Wizards and witches should get along, I would think."
"Oh. OK. Should we make up a name for me?"
"Yes, yes, your name wouldn't do for a wizard at all. Which do you like better....
A. Alatar.
B. Pollando.
(and if you know where I got those names, *applauds*)

[Ariel.of.Narnia]

(They wound familiar. Why do they sound familiar?)

"Alatar," I answered. "Alatar the wizard. I like the sound of that. So what else would help me be more convincing? Would my spelunking gear help?"
"Your what gear? Oh, that outlandish stuff you came with? I doubt that. You're going to have to look more like the rest of us." He paused, then got up and swam upward. "Come with me, I may have suitable attire you could wear."
I followed him to what looked like a guest room, where he began to pull out garments that were far more outlandish than my spelunking gear ever could be. Most of them were ugly, garish things; the ones that weren't were either sewn for someone who was either misshapen or had really peculiar fashion sense.
"Which would you rather wear?" the Giant asked.
I chose...

A: the burlap-like monk robe that would have fit the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
B: the vibrant purple robe covered in bright yellow stars that would likely fit me.

[jesusgirl4ever]

Normally, I would have chosen the burlap-like monk robe that would have fit the Hunchback of Notre Dame. However, the vibrant purple robe covered in bright yellow stars that would likely fit me seemed more wizardly. "Perfect! Now, let's go find you a wizardly staff!"
The giant dragged me off and showed me two staffs:
A. one that was a simple purple.
B. one that was a neon-like yellow that nearly blinded me.
(They were the names of the "Blue Wizards whose names [Gandalf] had quite forgotten." )

[Ariel.of.Narnia]

(Ah! That's why they sounded familiar!)

I took the neon-yellow staff. Maybe I could blind the witches into oblivion or something, I dunno. I tucked my gun into a deep pocket in my robe when the Giant wasn't looking.
When we returned to the great hall area, the princess leapt up from her chair and swan to us.
"My dear, I'd forgotten you were to return to us with the poison," the Giant apologized.
"I was not waiting long," she replied. Then she gave me a once-over. "You look the part."
Problem was that I couldn't tell if she was serious or if she was being sarcastic but without a sarcastic tone. At any rate, I felt kind of silly all the same, now that she had commented on it.
"Yes, I think so too," the Giant said. "Dearest, would you be able to teach him anything he can use against the witches?"
She tossed her hair and glared at me with those glowing eyes of hers. "I think not. I was not with them that long, you know." And she swam away.
The Giant sighed. "Would you follow her? She tends to hide whatever she does know about the witches from me."
"But she said she doesn't know how to help," I protested. "I mean, I'm not magical."
"Please? You may be our only hope."
I almost said no, but then I remembered what the would-be-Deliverers in the dungeon had said: to do whatever the Giant asked. So I followed her out of the great hall and into something of an submarine garden, teeming with little fish that darted to an fro amongst the fronds and coral and anemones and other things I couldn't remember the names of. When I finally caught up to her (the robe really slowed me down, she was sitting on a bench made of marble (or was it a giant pearl?). I asked her...

A: about the poison.
B: about anything wizardly.