Choose Your Halloweenia Adventure

You’ve come through the magic spooky door and found yourself in Halloweenia!

First things first: do you jump on the Ghost Train, or start exploring on foot?

You don’t have to wait very long until you hear a loud ‘Wooooooo’ sound coming from the tunnel, and see the dizzying red and green lights of the Ghost Train as it speeds into the station. You step through the open doors, handing your ticket to the conductor as you pass.

“Mind the gap,” he says. At first you think he is referring to the gap between the train and the platform edge, but then you notice that his head is split in two, with his exposed brain pulsating between the two halves.

The train takes off so quickly you are flung into the back of your seat. You can only see flashing lights through the windows. Just as you are getting used to the incredible speed, the train comes to a sudden stop, and all the internal lights go out. It is dead silent.

“Hello?” you say tentatively. “Mr Conductor? Have we broken down?”

There is no response. Ten minutes pass, and you can still only hear the sound of your own breathing in the darkness.

Do you wait for the train to start moving again, or try to force your way out of the doors?

You take a deep breath to quell the mounting anxiety, and resolve to wait until the train gets going. After all, the train can’t sit there forever...can it?

It seems like hours pass before anything happens – and that thing is NOT reassuring. A ringing sound, like a bell, emanates faintly from the darkness outside. It gets louder and louder, and sounds closer and closer. Just as it sounds like it is right on top of you, the train doors fly open, and a red light beams through the tunnel outside.

You step outside – and scream as you smack into a huge, hulking body just outside the door. The body turns slowly, revealing a twisted face and small, bald head. It’s a troll!

“Ghost Train security,” the troll grunts, its fetid breath in your face. “Follow me out of the tunnel.”

The troll begins to lumber down the tunnel – but suddenly you spy what his huge body was blocking: a door with the words ‘Emergency Exit’, smeared in dark stains that may or may not be blood. Surely the troll should have just taken you through that door to get you out of the tunnel? Maybe he’s not train security at all!

Do you follow the troll, or go through the exit?

You decide to trust the troll – after all, you’ve never been one to judge people by their appearance.

The troll leads you through the dark tunnels, occasionally grunting at you to point out a trip hazard or a wrong turn. Just when you start to think that following him was a bad idea, he comes to a large iron gate blocking a set of stairs. He takes out a giant bundle of keys, unlocks the gate, and points to the staircase.

“Main Street up there,” he grunts, and lumbers back into the darkness before you have a chance to thank him.

You reach the top of the stairs and find yourself in Halloweenia’s Main Street. You take a deep breath, grateful to be out of the smothering darkness at last!

Finally, you can explore Halloweenia properly. Where do you want to go first?

You feel around near the doors for a tool to help you escape – and helpfully find a crowbar attached to the wall. Breakdowns must be a pretty regular occurrence on these trains! You lever the crowbar between the doors, opening them just enough to squeeze through.

You find yourself in the train tunnel. You can see faint lights coming from two different directions – north, and south. Which way should you go?

You turn to the northern tunnel and head towards the dim light. It doesn’t take long before you begin to hear voices coming from that direction. Encouraged, you pick up the pace.

The voices get louder and louder as the light gets brighter. You round a corner – and find yourself in a room filled with vampires lounging around on coffins, drinking red liquid from goblets and playing cards.

“A human!” one of the vampires gasps as she notices you. “How did you come across our lair?”

“It..it was an accident,” you stammer, eyeing off her large fangs. “I was trapped on a train…”

The vampires cluck and shake their heads, muttering about “poor maintenance” and “terrible infrastructure”.

“Well, as long as you are here, would you like to join our poker game?” the vampire asks. There is a disconcerting gleam in her eye.

Do you agree to play? Or leave, and go back through the tunnel in the other direction?

You sit down on a coffin and pick up the cards that are dealt to you. They aren’t very good cards.

Do you fold, or try to bluff your way through?

“I fold,” you say, and place your cards face down on the table.

The next round goes better for you, and soon, with a few wins under your belt, you find yourself having a good time with the vampires. In particular, you find yourself getting along well with the first vampire who spoke to you, who you now know to be called Monique.

Hours pass in a flash, and Monique turns to you. “Well, the hour grows late, and Halloween is almost over,” she says. “We can show you the way to Main Street if you want to explore some more before you must return to your own world – or you can stay and have another drink? I must admit, I’d love if you would stay.”

What do you choose to do?

You decide that it’s time to leave. Monique takes your hand and leads you through a narrower section of the train tunnels, until you come to a ladder.

“Main Street is up there,” she says. “Well, it was lovely to meet you – hey, make sure you follow me on Instagore!”

You wave goodbye to your new friend and climb the ladder. You’ve reached the Main Street at last! Where should you go next?

“I raise,” you say confidently. One by one, your opponents fold – but as you reach for the pile of chips on the table, one of the vampires reaches over and flips your cards.

“You didn’t have anything!” the vampire shouts.

“Yeah, well, that’s how poker is played,” you say, a little smugly.

The vampires start to argue with you, accusing you of cheating at the game. Things are getting quite heated – you know you are in the right, but maybe it’s best to just walk away, and head back out to the tunnels to try a different way out.

What do you do?

You head down the tunnel to the south, aiming for a dim light that seems to indicate the outline of a door. As you get closer, you hear strange noises from behind the door – cheering and applause, mixed with the occasional growl and shriek that makes your hair stand on end. You’re not sure you want to know what’s on the other side.

In the darkness, you can just make out another door on the other side of the tunnel. There is no light shining behind this one, but there are also no strange noises. Which door do you go through?

You find yourself on the Main Street of Halloweenia – a quaint, but spooky collection of spider-webbed buildings that lean haphazardly against each other.

Where do you want to go first?

You walk up to the ticket booth, where a werewolf sits dressed in a snazzy red vest.

“Whaddya want to see?” the werewolf growls.

You look at the board behind him. It looks as though your options are ‘It Came From The Shower Drain’ and ‘Zombies And Witches: A Forbidden Love Story’. Which movie do you choose to see?

You pass by the snack bar, which is filled with just about every kind of candy imaginable. You fill up a giant bucket of sweet things and head into the movie theatre.

You take your seat amongst the rest of the audience – vampires, skeletons, mummies and more. You are quickly engrossed in the movie, and in your snacks.

The only thing is – these particular snacks are very noisy. There are crinkly wrappers, crunchy things, and even one kind of chocolate that makes little fireworks and explosions every time you bite into it. You can sense the other moviegoers around you getting restless. There are whispers, and annoyed sighs. Halfway through the movie, those whispers start getting louder.

“Hey, you with the snacks! Keep it down, will ya?” one says.

“Shut up over there!” says another.

“Keep quiet, or get out!” someone growls right behind you.

Do you leave the movie theatre, or stay and keep eating your snacks?

You decide it might just be best to get out of the theatre – while you still can. You make a hasty exit, hugging your bucket of candy to your chest.

Out in the corridor, you realise that you came out of a different door than the one you used to enter the cinema. You have no idea how to get back out onto the street from here.

In front of you is a closed door. To the south is an opening that appears to lead into a tunnel. Which way do you go?

You find the right theatre and settle in to watch. The movie is great – you laugh, you cry, you scream every now and then.

Hours pass in a flash, and the movie is still going – this film is longer than the director’s cut of Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King! You’re not sure if you should sit through to the end, or leave now and go check out the shops on Main Street. What do you do?

You set off down Main Street, peering into windows as you pass. Oooh, that shop has bats in cages, and frogs in tanks, and some sort of fire-breathing guinea pig creatures in a pen on the floor! This one has frozen brains – a convenience store for zombies? And this one is the scariest of all – it sells rack after rack of grey, shapeless clothing! SHUDDER!

You are passing a narrow alleyway when you hear a voice calling out “Free haircuts! Free haircuts!”. You look down the alley and see a tall, thin man standing outside of a barber shop. He grins at you with yellow teeth.

“Want a new haircut?” he asks. “Totally on the house! We’re the best stylists in all of Halloweenia!”

You eye the man with suspicion. “Free? What’s the catch?”

“No catch,” he replies. “Just a nice little welcome gesture!”

It HAS been a while since you had your hair cut. Do you take him up on the offer?

“I don’t need a haircut – thanks a lot, though!” you tell the man.

He shrugs. “Oh well. There’s always plenty more meat – errr, customers to be had.”

You back out of the alleyway again, back on to Main Street. You’re quite hungry now, and you see a sign for a café up ahead. Time to see what Halloweenia dining has to offer!

You take a seat inside the café and look at the menu. Raspberry twizzlers, served with a side of sour gummy worms. Licorice allsorts dusted with a fine lemon sherbet. A soup of orange soda, with lime jellybean croutons. Wow, this place is awesome!

After getting your fill of sugary treats, your waiter – a translucent, bloody ghost – brings you the bill. That’s when you realised that you totally forgot to bring your wallet to Halloweenia! What are you going to do? You could run out without paying – or maybe offer to spend a few hours doing dishes to work off the debt?