[CYOA] The Mountain's Hunger

[CYOA] The Mountain's Hunger

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Reality TV producer Ethan Reeves is haunted by the disappearance of survivalist Maxine "Max" Ryder during a solo wilderness challenge. As Ethan returns to oversee recovery efforts, he becomes entangled in a web of local secrets and an ancient, predatory entity, forcing him to confront both human deception and supernatural terror.

Plot

Reality TV producer Ethan Reeves is haunted by the disappearance of survivalist Maxine "Max" Ryder during a solo wilderness challenge. As Ethan returns to oversee recovery efforts, he becomes entangled in a web of local secrets and an ancient, predatory entity, forcing him to confront both human deception and supernatural terror. Ethan discovers Max's hidden camera footage, revealing glimpses of a monstrous creature and suspicious behavior from locals. The search team experiences a series of terrifying encounters, mirroring Max's final recorded moments. Ethan uncovers a long history of disappearances on the mountain, all covered up by a conspiracy of silence among the townspeople. As Ethan closes in on the truth, he must confront the creature and the complicit locals in a heart-stopping climax, risking everything to expose the truth and find Max.

Style

Write the story as a **tight third-person limited narrative** that blends Paul Tremblay's media-savvy psychological horror with Dan Simmons's atmospheric creature terror and historical conspiracy. Use contemporary thriller prose: direct, punchy, grounded in film production, forensics, and survival gear. Ethan thinks in frames, cuts, footage, and what will play on camera. Build dread through accumulating wrong details: unnatural breaks in trees, impossible claw marks, locals holding eye contact too long. Anchor horror in physical sensation—wet fur, rot, brush movement, fear like metal. Keep the threat ambiguous: creature, town, or both. Let Ethan’s cynicism clash with impossible evidence, and make his arc about learning some things are too real to package. Dialogue should feel recorded: interrupted, evasive, awkward, modern. Ethan notices when people are performing. Pace like a thriller, horrify like folk horror: quick chapters, constant momentum, slow seep of mountain wrongness. Show conspiracy through absence—missing records, stopped conversations, redacted articles, and what people refuse to say.

Characters

Ethan
Ethan Reeves is a jaded reality TV producer in his late 30s, known for his cutthroat tactics and ratings-driven mindset. Ethan is haunted by guilt over Max's disappearance and driven by a desperate need for redemption.
Dr. Amelia Chen
Dr. Amelia Chen is a brilliant cryptozoologist in her late 20s, brought in to consult on the possibility of an unknown species. Her expertise becomes crucial as evidence of the creature mounts.
Sheriff Lena Hawkins
The local law enforcement officer, in her mid-40s, who seems oddly reluctant to pursue the investigation. Her family has guarded the mountain's secrets for generations.
Maxine
Maxine "Max" Ryder is a charismatic and skilled survivalist in her early 30s, Max is the show's breakout star. Her fierce determination and refusal to be underestimated made her a fan favorite before her mysterious disappearance.

Locations

The Mountain
A remote, mist-shrouded wilderness area with a long history of mysterious disappearances and local legends about a predatory creature.

Examples

Last turn of each response must end with a CYOA style "options" block. Each option should include: - A label: emoji + short title, e.g. "🔊 Isolate the Whisper" - Content: a concise description of the next scene or direction that option will lead to. Guidelines: - Make each option a distinct approach: investigation, confrontation, taking action, deception, etc. - Make each option offers different kinds of tension, discovery, conflict, or action. - Keep the labels options short and punchy. - Option content should be written in third person, summarizing what happens next.
Choose The Next Step

Openings

(instructions)

Write at most 200 words before generating the “options” block to give the reader a chance to steer the narrative.

(narrative)

Ethan had watched Max's final footage so many times he could recite the timecode from memory. 02:47:33 was where she wiped mud off the lens. 03:12:09 was the last time she smiled.

He clicked play again.

The laptop screen filled with Max's face, closer than she usually filmed. Day 15, according to the burned-in timestamp. Her skin had that waxy quality the wilderness brought out—dehydration, probably, and too much adrenaline. Ethan had seen it on a dozen contestants. He knew what good television looked like.

This wasn't it. This was fear.

“There's something out here,” Max said. Not to the camera. Not to the audience. Just stating a fact. “I thought it was wildlife at first. Bear, maybe. But bears don't—” She stopped, head cocked like she was listening. “They don't follow you for three days.”

Ethan's finger hovered over the space bar. He'd pulled this footage from Max's backup cache two weeks after she'd gone missing. The sheriff had watched it once, said it showed nothing useful. Ethan had watched it sixty, seventy times now.

At 04:51:17, Max's eyes cut left. At 04:51:19, something massive moved through the trees behind her.

The frame went to static.

Ethan paused it, zoomed in on that last clear image. The shape was wrong—too tall, too angular. His editor brain wanted to call it a camera artifact, lens distortion, a branch catching weird light.

His gut knew better.

(narrative)

BEFORE YOU START

Go to the “Settings” and set “Max Output Paragraphs” to 0.

On Mobile:

  1. Click the “Settings” icon in the top left corner.
  2. Click the “Settings” icon under “Model”
  3. Then adjust the “Max Output Paragraphs” slider to 0.
Choose The Next Step