[LP CYOA] 傳

[Grimgravy]

B1>A1

 

[Bloodshifter]

Treave can we not pick up the powder for teh sexy times from where Zhang was unhanded?

 

[treave]

Sure, you can try to pick it up. Just vote D.

***

Kayerts - D
ERYFKRAD - A2
Rex Feral - A1>A2>B2>B1
Azira - A1
Kz3r0 - A1
Elfberserker - B1>A2
Kipeci - A1
Akkudakku - A1>Bx
Ifeex - A1>Bx
Baltika9 - B2
Jester - A2>A1
Esquilax - B2>B1
asxetos - B1
Lambchop19 - A1>B1>C
Tigranes - A1>A2
Absinthe - A2
TOME - B2>A1
ScubaV - A1
Grimgravy - B1>A1
Smashing Axe - Bx>A1
The Brazilian Slaughter - A1

***

Current tally:

A1 - 10
A2 - 3
B1 - 3
B2 - 3
Bx - 1

 

[Smashing Axe]

Bx>A1

 

[Absinthe]

Alright, so as I see it, here are our options and their outcomes:

• A1: We play exactly into Bai Jiutian's hands by using Wuxiang Qiankun and try to beat him with it. I have to guess that since Bai Jiutian's entire plan by fighting us is to make us use the Wuxiang Qiankun technique, this is going to end really badly for us. If we're going to reveal it, we might as well go with B1 and retain the possibility of diplomacy. If we go with A1 we're just trying to make Bai Jiutian eat dirt, and worst come to worst I imagine Bai Jiutian will call for help and Nie Wuxing will fucking destroy us. GG. At any rate, Bai Jiutian is probably not planning to fight fair against the Wuxiang Qiankun technique. But for some reason you guys are expecting that if we do exactly what he wants, he will lose to us. It defies reason.
• A2: We take on Bai Jiutian's challenge and fight him into probably a stalemate, possibly win/defeat. Here we don't use the Wuxiang Qiankun technique and give him reason to believe we actually don't have it since we go balls-out crazy without Wuxiang Qiankun. As I see it, it's the best option. It hides knowledge of the technique, and as far as I can tell, this is what we all had in mind when we voted to meet Bai Jiutian in the first place. This is not the easy option, but it does seem to be the most likely option to work. Even if we lose, since Bai Jiutian now has reason to believe we don't have Wuxiang Qiankun, so he is more likely to want the Zhang manual by cooperating with us.
• B1: Like A1, we let Bai Jiutian know we have the Wuxiang Qiankun skill. Since we're back to dialogue, maybe we can get somewhere from this. However, I am very leery of sharing this information. I think we're putting our whole party at risk and there's still a decent chance he'll call for help and have us subdued right now.
• B2: We tell Bai Jiutian we're the new lord of the Fire Temple and inform him it's just some other Fire Cult technique. Lets recap: We're in the middle of Huashan (Leader of Eight Sects) and we tell Bai Jiutian that we are the Lord of the Fire Cult (Eight Sects' worst enemy), and Esquilax trusts Bai Jiutian to let us go and that everything will end well. I expected Esquilax to have more sense than that.
• C: Judging by what happened in D, we eat a sword in the back and die.

All the options are looking bad, but A2 seems to be the best of them.

Worst option:
C: We die from a sword in the back.

Really bad options:
B2: Huashan will want the fire lord. We're not getting out of there.
A1: Bai Jiutian isn't planning to fight fair against Wuxiang Qiankun. Since we're no longer cooperating for sure, he will either run away or call for help and now we're exposed with Wuxiang Qiankun. If he calls for help, we're done for, and since the prize is getting rid of 1 rival (Xu Jing) and obtaining 1 manual (Wuxiang Qiankun) I think he is prone to doing this. Sure, his master gets it first, but if Bai Jiutian makes himself useful enough and gets a manual, he can stand to inherit.

Options with chance of success:
B1: Maybe just maybe Bai Jiutian will be interested in working with us since we're back to dialogue. However, we expose the Wuxiang Qiankun technique and put our crew in danger. If he's not interested in working with us because he'd rather take our manual now, see A1.
A2: If we lose, he might decide to get rid of us anyway. If we win, score. If we stalemate him, good enough. At any rate, if Bai Jiutian becomes more convinced that we probably don't have the tech, then we stand a solid chance of cooperating with him since BJ does want a legendary manual and his best bet would be to get the Zhang clan's copy. Even if we lose, he could decide it's better to get the Xiaoming Jiuyang manual (since we don't seem to have Wuxiang Qiankun) and that means he'd need our help.

 

[Kipeci]

Even if we lose, since Bai Jiutian now has reason to believe we don't have Wuxiang Qiankun, so he is more likely to want the Zhang manual by cooperating with us.

Still ignoring all the "I won't let you off the mountain until you reveal your secret!" business? He's not letting us go unless he extracts something juicy from us (no way we're winning this match wiithout WQ) and aside from that we have WQ, what is there? Revealing the Fire Cult business? I don't care to do that and you don't appear to, either.

He's suspicious of us because of irregularities found expecting the body of the guys that led him to believe that we probably have the WQ skill, telling him the Fire Cult business means that we have him suspicious of that AND he knows our affiliation with them. We wouldn't even tell Cao'er's grandparents about that business, there's no reason to give that information to BJ.

 

[Absinthe]

Still ignoring all the "I won't let you off the mountain until you reveal your secret!" business? He's not letting us go unless he extracts something juicy from us (no way we're winning this match wiithout WQ) and aside from that we have WQ, what is there? Revealing the Fire Cult business? I don't care to do that and you don't appear to, either.

If Bai Jiutian were really so certain as you claim that we have the technique, then he wouldn't bother trying to get us to confirm we have it. How many times are you going to ignore this counter-point? I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it to you half a dozen times so far and you have never had a good answer.

 

[Kipeci]

If Bai Jiutian were really so certain as you claim that we have the technique, then he wouldn't bother trying to get proof from us in the first place. How many times are you going to ignore this counter-point?

Yes, he wants proof. Do you think one fight is proof enough to kill all of his suspicions? He said he wasn't letting us off the mountain until he'd gotten the secret out of us, so we have to let loose something reasonably juicy during his interrogation. So what is it that you intend on revealing when he beats us up? Because you entirely ignore this every time with some sort of 'eh, Jing can stand it' and 'but he'll immediately hook up with us to plot against the zhang clan!' idea that seems ludicrously optimistic even when you aren't claiming that we'll win outright.

Do you want to reveal that we had the skill and just wasted his time with a fight to obscure that, or that we are now the leader of a certain fire cult?

 

[Absinthe]

Yes, he wants proof. Do you think one fight is proof enough to kill all of his suspicions? He said he wasn't letting us off the mountain until he'd gotten the secret out of us, so we have to let loose something reasonably juicy during his interrogation. So what is it that you intend on revealing when he beats us up? Because you entirely ignore this every time with some sort of 'eh, Jing can stand it' and 'but he'll immediately hook up with us to plot against the zhang clan!' idea that seems ludicrously optimistic even when you aren't claiming that we'll win outright.

Do you want to reveal that we had the skill and just wasted his time with a fight to obscure that, or that we are now the leader of a certain fire cult?

Neither. I want to kick his ass without using Wuxiang Qiankun, which you are too blind to admit is possible. I'm expecting a stalemate out of this for the most part, but a win could work.

Would it be enough proof to kill all his suspicions? No. But it would probably significantly lower his suspicions. That's good enough and if we don't show the Wuxiang Qiankun in a crazy dangerous fight, then he can't expect torture to somehow fucking work on us, so the interrogation would be a complete waste of time and he wouldn't do that. I have no idea why you insist he will interrogate us after A2 because if anything A2 proves to BJ there is no fucking way we're showing that we have the technique.

My problem with A2 is that Bai has been repeatedly show to be perfectly willing to snuff Jing out. If Jing is useless to Bai, then what stops Bai from executing Jing then and there in case he loses? See Heihu Valley, where after FIGHTING ON HIS DAMN SIDE for most of the battle, Bai Jiutian spies Jing and Yunzi, and once she leaves, ambushes the weakened Jing. It was only the Sword Saint and Murong Yandi showing up that stopped Bai from killing the weakened Jing.

The fact is that Jing is not useless to Bai Jiutian. We're offering cooperation on obtaining the Xiaoming Jiuyang manual which the Zhang family will not part with and Huashan has not even told him about. Bai Jiutian is not getting it on his own, so he will need help from us to get it. In A2, that would be his best option.

You know what? DEATH TO BAI JIUTIAN!

Still A1

Time to show our power to this clown and prove WHO is the ultimate pugilist of our generation!

For fuck's sake. What the hell is making you think Bai Jiutian will be so nice as to fight fair against the Wuxiang Qiankun so that he can get himself killed? We're in the middle of fucking Huashan: if we're actually killing Bai Jiutian, he will just scream for help and Nie Wuxing will come out to kill us. I don't think we can use Wuxiang Qiankun on Nie Wuxing so that's GG. Bai Jiutian is the one trying to make us use Wuxiang Qiankun. Would he really do that if he didn't have a plan for it?

 

[Kipeci]

Neither. I want to kick his ass without using Wuxiang Qiankun, which you are too blind to admit is possible. I'm expecting a stalemate out of this for the most part, but it would work.

Enough proof to kill all his suspicions? No. He'll probably suspect, but for now this is a very strong indicator that we probably don't have a technique. That's good enough And if we don't show the Wuxiang Qiankun in a crazy dangerous fight, then he can't expect torture to somehow fucking work on us, so the interrogation would be a complete waste of time and he wouldn't do that. I have no idea why you insist he will interrogate us after A2 because if anything A2 proves there is no fucking way we're showing that we have the technique.

So all his rhetoric is just a mask and he entirely intends to let us off the hook so long as we don't use the move against him, because apparently he never considered the idea that one could want to hide such a move.
I don't know what his interrogation method is, if it's torture or whatever else, but if you inflict half the stuff that was done to Yang Xue on anyone, even a stone cold badass I'm pretty sure the words will come flowing out. He evidently knows how to locate some of our posse-- some of which he has good reason to harm or bring in to face 'justice'-- and he could think up some ways to make us reveal things, I'm sure. I'd love to live in your world where I can assume he's just going to be best buds with us the moment he's done caving our face in and will bear no further suspicion of us, and where Jing won't tell anyone anything because he's such a badass, but I'd rather just get it over with in A. It gives BJ the confirmation that he wants, allows us to train the move, and lets us move on in our business relationship.

 

[Absinthe]

So all his rhetoric is just a mask

This is Bai Jiutian. OF COURSE HIS RHETORIC IS JUST A MASK. When has it not been?

and he entirely intends to let us off the hook so long as we don't use the move against him,

Entirely? No. Enough to consider working with us and get another chance of confirmation down the road? Yes.

I don't know what his interrogation method is, if it's torture or whatever else, but if you inflict half the stuff that was done to Yang Xue on anyone, even a stone cold badass I'm pretty sure the words will come flowing out.

Uh, no? This is a wuxia story. Stone cold badasses who can handle any amount of pain exist here. And Xu Jing has some superhuman resistance to pain. At any fucking rate, if fighting someone while risking his life doesn't make Jing reveal a technique, it's unlikely that interrogation will. I think you're just getting too focused on "disproving" A2 to consider how ridiculous you are being right now.

He evidently knows how to locate some of our posse-- some of which he has good reason to harm or bring in to face 'justice'-- and he could think up some ways to make us reveal things, I'm sure. I'd love to live in your world where I can assume he's just going to be best buds with us the moment he's done caving our face in and will bear no further suspicion of us, and where Jing won't tell anyone anything because he's such a badass, but I'd rather just get it over with in A. It gives BJ the confirmation that he wants, allows us to train the move, and lets us move on in our business relationship.

He's not going to be best buds with us dumbass. He'd just consider a temporary truce while we work on a mutual objective.

 

[treave]

Some stuff to consider.

On one hand, it's unlikely that Bai Jiutian can scream for help (if he even wants to). Unless the rest of the Huashan disciples are hiding in the bushes, his shouts are not going to carry over to the next peak where the sect itself is located, a good few hours away on foot.

On the other hand, thanks to your qi-absorbing abilities, if you manage to hold out for long enough he'll likely exhaust himself before you do.

 

[Absinthe]

At any rate, there is no way Bai Jiutian would make us fight him with Wuxiang Qiankun unless he was sure he could deal with it. I just can't expect A1 to actually result in a fair fight where we beat him. That would be too retarded for Bai Jiutian.

 

[kazgar]

that's a bloody long bow to draw.

 

[kazgar]

"Oh he's got some otherwise unknown mystery techniques that's legendary and can lead to armies killing each other all over the place, I should be fine with that, yeah, totally, ill just tease it out of him and then presto blammo, counter with my usual moves and she'll be right mate"

Definitely BJ's thought process in leading to this fight.

 

[treave]

Also note that you can only mimic techniques in Order mode, and right now your neigong doesn't allow you to separate the streams permanently.

 

[Esquilax]

Some stuff to consider.

On one hand, it's unlikely that Bai Jiutian can scream for help (if he even wants to). Unless the rest of the Huashan disciples are hiding in the bushes, his shouts are not going to carry over to the next peak where the sect itself is located, a good few hours away on foot.

On the other hand, thanks to your qi-absorbing abilities, if you manage to hold out for long enough he'll likely exhaust himself before you do.

Ah yes, I had forgotten entirely about the benefits of our chaos mode. As did Absinthe, apparently, because he never mentioned a word of this. The END boost might be enough to withstand some damage as we close in and start draining some qi. I still think that we'd get a little fucked up from the ordeal though. However, the same issues remain; if we can't close the distance on BJ, we can't qi drain because it depends on our Unarmed skills. And BJ has proven to be spectacular at keeping as at the edge of his sword.

That being said, treave, couldn't we theoretically mimic his techniques with order mode, use our improved swordsmanship to close the distance, then go chaos mode once we're in Unarmed range? I mean, I assume that would be Jing's plan if we decide to use Wuxiang Qiankun.

I dunno, I might go with A2 now that I've heard this angle, but I'm still not quite sold yet.

 

[Absinthe]

I hadn't forgotten, but I was busy emphasizing the benefits of Order mode and wasn't interested in wasting time on people going LOL U CANT USE CHAOS AND ORDER AT SAME TIME. At any rate, we can use Order mode to close in on him and Chaos mode for unarmed.

Considering Bai Jiutian's neigong is lower than ours, our qi-absorption should be very effective on him. Even if he blocks our moves, he'll suffer.

 

[Kipeci]

This is Bai Jiutian. OF COURSE HIS RHETORIC IS JUST A MASK. When has it not been?

He has a public persona that he keeps up. He doesn't keep it up in our personal meetings. We have no reason to believe that he's any less serious than he says he is.

Entirely? No. Enough to consider working with us and get another chance of confirmation down the road? Yes.

Drawn entirely from your rectum.

Uh, no? This is a wuxia story. Stone cold badasses who can handle any amount of pain exist here. And Xu Jing has some superhuman resistance to pain. At any fucking rate, if fighting someone while risking his life doesn't make Jing reveal a technique, it's unlikely that interrogation will. I think you're just getting too focused on "disproving" A2 to consider how ridiculous you are being right now.

Yeah, nice dodge of how he can easily acquire some of our harem and threaten them, even if Xu Jing is able to resist whatever other interrogations that we have going on here. We saw an experimental truth serum in action mere updates ago, ffs, it's not that hard to make people talk if one knows the right people. Not using the move in a fight can just as easily be chalked up to Jing being an idiot who thinks he can take on BJ without the move until the point where BJ disables him, which happened pretty fast the moment we let our guard down in the disastrous bad end a moment ago. You always get so wrapped up in your viewpoint that you can't possibly consider another, so it's pretty rich for you to call me ridiculous for being half as hard-headed as you.

He's not going to be best buds with us dumbass. He'd just consider a temporary truce while we work on a mutual objective.

Isn't he the dumbass if his plan is to cave in our face and go 'whoops sorry, guess you don't have the super-special move, wanna take on the zhang clan that I just said only a fool would go against?' We still go through his processing, something that you conveniently gloss over every time.

On the other hand, thanks to your qi-absorbing abilities, if you manage to hold out for long enough he'll likely exhaust himself before you do.

Correct me if I'm wrong, treave, but doesn't that rely on physical contact still? If he mostly fights us at the edge of a sword with us only sneaking in the occasional blow, won't that severely limit our capabilities to recharge?

I'll be going to sleep now, I just hope that all the votes don't go to hell and I wake up to another bad end.

 

[treave]

That being said, treave, couldn't we theoretically mimic his techniques with order mode, use our improved swordsmanship to close the distance, then go chaos mode once we're in Unarmed range? I mean, I assume that would be Jing's plan if we decide to use Wuxiang Qiankun.

You could. His strategy in both choices is essentially the same except that A1 adds some of Bai Jiutian's repertoire to your own to help with creating openings. You can't match him exactly with just Wuxiang Qiankun because if he uses some techniques while you've re-entered the chaos phase, you won't be able to mimic those.

Correct me if I'm wrong, treave, but doesn't that rely on physical contact still? If he mostly fights us at the edge of a sword with us only sneaking in the occasional blow, won't that severely limit our capabilities to recharge?

If you're assuming that you can't get in close enough to do the occasional absorption in the first place then you better talk or run, because there is no way you will win in that scenario. Besides, you have greater reserves than he does to start off with, as far as you know.

 

[Baltika9]

Don't we have to be in hand to hand range to make use of our qi leeching? Chaos mode is cool, but it still doesn't solve our problem.

 

[Absinthe]

He has a public persona that he keeps up. He doesn't keep it up in our personal meetings. We have no reason to believe that he's any less serious than he says he is.

Other than the fact that it's apparently doing a marvelous job of convincing you to give Bai Jiutian exactly what he wants. Although maybe the credit for that lies with you instead of treave's Bai Jiutian character.

At any rate, I'm done arguing with you. You seem to use "Because Bai Jiutian said so!" and "I trust Bai Jiutian to be honest" over and over again as your defense for why absolutely 100% Bai Jiutian will ignore all reason that - A) we might actually not have it and B) even if we did, we're not telling - so he would just interrogate us. I'm sick of these circles.

Don't we have to be in hand to hand range to make use of our qi leeching? Chaos mode is cool, but it still doesn't solve our problem.

We've already made that happen in the fight so far. If we leech, even blocking will seriously weaken Bai Jiutian.

 

[Baltika9]

No, by all means, please continue.

 

[treave]

If you don't think you can land a single hit on him without using Wuxiang Qiankun then the most that A1 can do is perhaps help you stalemate him or not lose as badly, and A2 is suicide. In that case, do consider C.

Or D.

 

[Absinthe]

I think it's absurd to assume we can't land a single hit on him considering we've already done that.