Ryan North is the writer of The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, a retelling of Hamlet in a Choose Your Own Adventure-style work called To Be or Not to Be: That Is The Adventure, and the webcomic Dinosaur Comics. On Tuesday (August 18) he decided to go for a walk with his dog, Chompsky. At one point it started to rain, and later he climbed into a skate bowl to get (an admittedly cool) picture of Chompsky:
https://twitter.com/ryanqnorth/status/633701131806490624/photo/1
Realizing he was stuck, North turned to twitter to explain his unfortunate situation.
These are the steps out but I can't get up then with Chompsky, am I definitely going to die here y/n pic.twitter.com/9JhK5O0rLy
— Ryan North (@ryanqnorth) August 18, 2015
Twitter responded in the best possible way, by turning North’s adventure in to an escape the room, or point and click style adventure game.
@ryanqnorth Action: Search surroundings
— Imaginary Thomas (@imaginarythomas) August 18, 2015
North responded by tweeting pictures of the hole, and describing the contents of his inventory: an umbrella and “a pocket computer with internet access”. Over a series of tweets, he explained how the sides of the skate bowl were too slippery to hang on to due to the rain, how he couldn’t get close enough to the top to nudge Chompsky out and then follow, and that he was reluctant to leave Chompsky alone. Not to be discouraged by such limitations, twitter responded with other possible solutions.
. @Chirurgic might take a while pic.twitter.com/EGPYtCf10Y
— Ryan North (@ryanqnorth) August 18, 2015
https://twitter.com/johannespunkt/status/633702200796168192
https://twitter.com/ryanqnorth/status/633702673812975617
@ryanqnorth You are tall. Stand on toes, put Chompsky up top, hold leash. Then climb up?
— KrazyCaley (@KrazyCaley) August 18, 2015
https://twitter.com/ryanqnorth/status/633704210635341828
One follower suggested North use items he had on him to find his way out.
.@ryanqnorth maybe use your tshirt and leash to build a body sling for chompsky to pull him out after you climb out.
— Daniel Baxter (@bearisgaming) August 18, 2015
This did not work out as well as North and Baxter had hoped.
No way to make shirt into sling big enough for Chompsky, now I am topless and stuck in a hole, please advise pic.twitter.com/4bhyO2QUgx
— Ryan North (@ryanqnorth) August 18, 2015
It did, however, lead to other suggestions to combine inventory items.
@ryanqnorth Are you wearing pants? You can turn pants into an emergency backpack: http://t.co/QJDeNvat2E
— Krister Rollins (@KristerR) August 18, 2015
https://twitter.com/iheartmuseums/status/633708607436099586
Worth a shot I guess! https://t.co/EL6Np8l3zr
— Ryan North (@ryanqnorth) August 18, 2015
Which saved the day! Twitter rescue achieved!
IT WORKED!! I'M OUT OF THE HOLE! pic.twitter.com/x8QMgUxrSD
— Ryan North (@ryanqnorth) August 18, 2015
Of course, North could have used his pocket computer to call 911 for help, but as he put it:
https://twitter.com/ryanqnorth/status/633706512825892864
North later compiled the best tweets about his adventure, which he is calling Hole Quest, into a Storify which is definitely worth a read. For more funny things involving Ryan North, check out The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl from Marvel, his webcomic series Dinosaur Comics, and the incredibly clever To Be Or Not To Be.
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