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[LP CYOA] 傳

Absinthe

Arcane
Joined
Jan 6, 2012
Messages
4,062
And you have the exact quote from treave on this being a thing that happens, right? Otherwise people might think that you were pulling this point entirely out of your ass.
I'd sooner say you're the one pulling it out of your ass for claiming that Jing will magically be completely alright when his technique gets pushed beyond his abilities. Come on, go back through the CYOA, there's a trend here, what happens when Jing goes beyond his limits? Hint: He gets fucked up. Even without that, even if Jing only messes up slightly like "copying copying oh shit I missed a step what happened?" against Bai Jiutian one missed step would be all the opening he needs.

If we're at a distance anyway then we've still managed to copy a couple of his sword moves so we're still better off.
Aside from the fact that I think Bai Jiutian won't even give us the chance to recover like that, we can expect Bai Jiutian to just launch counters to his own moves. If we can't copy BJ any further then using BJ's own moves against him is just a way to make ourselves super predictable and easy to counter.
 
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Esquilax

Arcane
Joined
Dec 7, 2010
Messages
4,833
Too much time spent on arguing about whether or not to use Wuxiang Qiankun, not enough time spent thinking about whether it was actually possible for you to get to Zhang to kill him/cheat with the powder/whatever it is you wanted to do without Bai Jiutian taking you down while you're not paying attention to him, when he's pretty much stated that you were his most important objective at the moment.

I told you guys it was a waste of time to discuss the techniques. :lol:

This is easily some of the worst DISCUSS!!! in this entire LP. We're spouting baseless hypotheticals on things that we can barely begin to speculate on and treating them as fact. Case in point: Bai Jiutian is hiding his neigong and he's somehow prepared to massively fuck us over. The more likely scenario is that he, like most Huashan fighters, isn't a neigong specialist, so he's focused most of his martial arts training on skills and awesome, flashy qinggong. I'm also not buying the argument that using Wuxiang Qiangkun in a fight will leave us in a worse position than fighting Bai Jiutian without it would. Yes, there are a lot of things to consider and a lot of downsides to confirming our possession of the technique to Bai Jiutian, but leaving us worse off in a fight is not one of them.

Absinthe, I'm not sure what you intend to achieve with A2 - what's your goal? Do you want Bai Jiutian to team up with us? If so, then why not go with the diplomacy options? Do you want to kick his ass - if so, why not go with the option that gives us the biggest edge? What do you want to get out of this? I don't really support A1 for some of the same reasons you don't - it plays into BJ's long-term strategy by giving him what he wants - but at least I know what A1 voters are getting at. It's either "I want to kick Bai Jiutian's ass!" or "I just want to find a way to survive this fight". Not terribly sophisticated, but at least I know what they want.

So forget all this number-crunching aspie bullshit: what do you want?

And I'm still of the opinion that considering Jing has been honing his martial arts every waking moment, there is no sane reason for him to have magically fallen behind Bai Jiutian. We even pushed our swordsmanship as far as it could go recently. The last we skipped on swordsmanship is where we chose Wuxiang Qiankun meditation over a sword tech and picked up a +2 to qinggong (with a very important +1 agi).

How could we have fallen behind Bai Jiutian when we were never really ahead? Remember this?

Tier Three
Miecao, Nie Wuxing, Chi Tianxie, Haurvatat
Bai Jiutian
Su Cheng, Liu Ye

Tier Four
Gao Ying, Yifang, Hei Brothers
Murong Yandi, Liu Chanfeng
Xu Jing, Yunzi, Guo Fu
Su Liaojing, Yiling, Song Lingshu
Wu Brothers, Shaolin Xu Monks

Okay, this is an old list from two years ago, but just because we've been training very hard, doesn't mean that Bai Jiutian has been resting on his laurels. The gap in skill between us at that point was pretty fucking big. While we've certainly narrowed that gap with our Zhang Jue training and our trip to the Fire Temple, but that has nothing to do with how much stronger BJ has gotten in the interim. You bring up all the techniques that we've learned, which is all a fancy way of saying "We've gotten stronger" (well, no shit, of course we've gotten stronger!) but you can't really say how much stronger BJ's gotten in that time either. You're completely neglecting the other side of the equation.

treave stated before that Jing is probably on par with the younger Amesha Spenta, like Armaiti, at this point. Given the fact that BJ was hanging with a wounded Vahista two years ago probably means he's advanced quite a lot since then.

Anyways, I think you've gone far past the land of reasonable speculation and into an area where any theory can be spouted so long as it fits your arguments. This has turned into a massive pissing contest.

I'd sooner say you're the one pulling it out of your ass for claiming that Jing will magically be completely alright when his technique gets pushed beyond his abilities. Come on, go back through the CYOA, there's a trend here, what happens when Jing goes beyond his limits? Hint: He gets fucked up. Even without that, even if Jing only messes up slightly like "copying copying oh shit I missed a step what happened?" against Bai Jiutian one missed step would be all the opening he needs.
...
Aside from the fact that I think Bai Jiutian won't even give us the chance to recover like that, we can expect Bai Jiutian to just launch counters to his own moves. If we can't copy BJ any further then using BJ's own moves against him is just a way to make ourselves super predictable and easy to counter.

If he's that good, then we're fucked whether we use Wuxiang Qiangkun or not. I mean, if he's a spectacular swordsman on such a level that he can invent counters to his own techniques on the fly, and then counters to those techniques on the fly, while also having a significant speed advantage, then why the fuck are we fighting him in the first place? Oh, and the reason that his techniques pushed him beyond his abilities in certain situations like the Hundred Man Battle was because if we didn't push ourselves past those limits, we would die. So I'm not following your train of thought - if we don't hold back whatsoever, how would we be in more trouble than we would be if we do?
 

Kayerts

Arcane
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
883
Archaen, a bear named spigot, Kayerts, would you care to weigh in on this vote? Which do you think is better?

I think that for about two years, treave has been turning our frequently incoherent decisions into consistently enjoyable updates, at an average rate of several thousand words per week. It seems like the latest activity is testing his patience, and that seems pretty legit to me.

Consequently, I'm disinclined to drag this out unless there's a really, really compelling reason to, and I haven't seen one. All of the A and B choices have risks and potential upsides that I acknowledge but cannot meaningfully evaluate, perhaps because my reading of the non-treave posts in the thread has been kinda spotty. In conclusion, I'm sticking with my D vote. I feel it has some real potential.
 

Baltika9

Arcane
Joined
Jun 27, 2012
Messages
9,611
No, all of you are wrong. Flopping to C, it's the only way! (This is totally not a serious vote)
 

Absinthe

Arcane
Joined
Jan 6, 2012
Messages
4,062
This is easily some of the worst DISCUSS!!! in this entire LP. We're spouting baseless hypotheticals on things that we can barely begin to speculate on and treating them as fact. Case in point: Bai Jiutian is hiding his neigong and he's somehow prepared to massively fuck us over. The more likely scenario is that he, like most Huashan fighters, isn't a neigong specialist, so he's focused most of his martial arts training on skills and awesome, flashy qinggong.
I don't think there's anything weird about Bai Jiutian having master level neigong. Just because Huashan isn't necessarily a neigong specialist doesn't mean that they'd be retarded enough to neglect neigong. Neigong boosts stats. Bai Jiutian pretty much should have a master level neigong by now. He's a master of sword qi. Hell, if his neigong were so weak, he shouldn't have been able to take on Vahista's fiery qi two years ago.

I'm also not buying the argument that using Wuxiang Qiangkun in a fight will leave us in a worse position than fighting Bai Jiutian without it would. Yes, there are a lot of things to consider and a lot of downsides to confirming our possession of the technique to Bai Jiutian, but leaving us worse off in a fight is not one of them.
It is definitely a downside. It's just a downside you're refusing to consider. You know well enough Bai Jiutian wouldn't goad Jing into using Wuxiang Qiankun unless he had something up his sleeves to deal with it. The possibility that Bai Jiutian could actually make this backfire is real enough to consider.

Absinthe, I'm not sure what you intend to achieve with A2 - what's your goal?
I want to avoid disclosing that we have Wuxiang Qiankun or that we are the new lord of the fire temple. That leaves A2. I have reason to believe all the other options will have bring bad results.

Right now it sounds like the gap would have widened, if anything.
No. I'm sure Bai Jiutian improved also, but orthodox fighters progress don't quite progress by leaps and bounds like Jing has through throwing himself into all sorts of ridiculous situations. Don't forget that Zhang Jue's training is on an entirely different level of intense. Yes, I happen to think that the gap shrinks over time so long as we seriously devote ourselves to improving our martial arts. I also happen to think that in a wuxia narrative, the main character does tend to improve faster than his opposition when he applies himself.

treave stated before that Jing is probably on par with the younger Amesha Spenta, like Armaiti, at this point. Given the fact that BJ was hanging with a wounded Vahista two years ago probably means he's advanced quite a lot since then.

Anyways, I think you've gone far past the land of reasonable speculation and into an area where any theory can be spouted so long as it fits your arguments. This has turned into a massive pissing contest.
Esquilax, you've done jack shit but try to piss on my arguments with this post of yours. You haven't provided rationale as much as you provide conviction that I must be mistaken and opinions that I must be ridiculous and other shit like saying the discuss is crap.

If he's that good, then we're fucked whether we use Wuxiang Qiangkun or not. I mean, if he's a spectacular swordsman on such a level that he can invent counters to his own techniques on the fly, and then counters to those techniques on the fly, while also having a significant speed advantage, then why the fuck are we fighting him in the first place? Oh, and the reason that his techniques pushed him beyond his abilities in certain situations like the Hundred Man Battle was because if we didn't push ourselves past those limits, we would die. So I'm not following your train of thought - if we don't hold back whatsoever, how would we be in more trouble than we would be if we do?
Yes, Bai Jiutian would have to be an amazingly spectacular swordsman to know counters to his own moves. It's not like in his many years his opponents could ever have used counters on him which he would learn about or that he would know his own moves well enough to know their weaknesses and how they might be exploited. Nope, it's grade A blinding supreme insight into the way of the sword that enables him to do something like this. I mean sure, this one time Jing countered Rhong Zhiyu mid-fight by having practiced his move for a single night, but if Bai Jiutian has around 10 years of experience with his own moves and manages to come up with counters to them spontaneously then clearly he is an unstoppable sword god we have absolutely no chance of defeating.

Now seriously, think about what you said.
 
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Kipeci

Arcane
Joined
May 22, 2012
Messages
3,027
Location
Vicksburg
If you're confident they're going to flop, have the floppers post their change of mind as soon as possible. You have 24 hours, I'll postpone any update writing till then.

This was posted over twenty-four and a half hours ago, I'm pretty sure the window has closed for any flopping. The eventual update will speak for whomever is right, or else demonstrate that it was a bad idea to come here without friends in general I guess.
 

treave

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jul 6, 2008
Messages
11,370
Codex 2012
Since the latest I promised the update was on Tuesday prior to the extension, that deadline will now be moved to Wednesday. The update might appear before then, depending on how things go, but it won't be later than that.

Though some of you might want to check my tally again to ensure I didn't get anything wrong.

Final tally:

A1 - 8
A2 - 5
B1 - 4
B2 - 2
Bx - 1
D - 2


Post-flop:

A1 - 12
A2 - 6
B1 - 1
B2 - 1
D - 2
 

Azira

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Nov 3, 2004
Messages
8,519
Location
Copenhagen, Denmark
Codex 2012
If you're confident they're going to flop, have the floppers post their change of mind as soon as possible. You have 24 hours, I'll postpone any update writing till then.

This was posted over twenty-four and a half hours ago, I'm pretty sure the window has closed for any flopping. The eventual update will speak for whomever is right, or else demonstrate that it was a bad idea to come here without friends in general I guess.

Or demonstrate it was poor form to pick option D the first time, and that rollback's a bitch?
 

Kipeci

Arcane
Joined
May 22, 2012
Messages
3,027
Location
Vicksburg
If you're confident they're going to flop, have the floppers post their change of mind as soon as possible. You have 24 hours, I'll postpone any update writing till then.

This was posted over twenty-four and a half hours ago, I'm pretty sure the window has closed for any flopping. The eventual update will speak for whomever is right, or else demonstrate that it was a bad idea to come here without friends in general I guess.

Or demonstrate it was poor form to pick option D the first time, and that rollback's a bitch?
Well, that too. Zhang Jue said that he would make Jing the most powerful fighter of his generation even if he was less one arm, if we just go around acquiring enough crippling injuries from these rollbacks it won't make anything less interesting...

I have a vision of Jing's limbless torso flying through the air and wrecking the orthodontists with ass-based techniques.
 

treave

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jul 6, 2008
Messages
11,370
Codex 2012
Black and White III

Swishing your wodao casually from side to side, you stand carelessly, smirking at Bai Jiutian.

“What are you waiting for?” he demands.

“I’m waiting for you to make me use everything I have, like you said. Is your memory failing you?”

He responds to your flippant remark by lunging forward, his sword held out in front of him in a powerful charge. Narrowing your eyes, you swiftly snap your sword back into its sheath and raise the scabbard in a pinpoint block. The strength of his thrust drives you back several feet, your boots dragging in the ground. As you reach out to grab his sword-arm, he bends it arm and elbows your hand away. Now freed from Bai’s blade, you lash out with the wodao’s scabbard, aiming for his face. He evades it, leaning back as the wooden sheath passes a mere inch away from his nose. His foot comes up, striking your arm before you can react, and with a quick circular motion, he brings his sword back to the fore, slashing towards your chest.

With your free hand, you hurriedly gather your qi and push forward in a defensive Xianglong move: The Fierce Dragon Crosses the Great Rivers. The pressure generated from your palm strike slows down his blade before it reaches you, enough that you are able to slip the back of your hand against the flat of his blade and knock it aside with a swift blow. Following up, you attempt to grab him with a Diving Eagle Grip, but with a sudden burst of speed Bai Jiutian darts into the blind spot of your left eye.

“You’re too slow!” His sword shines silver as he shouts, launching two consecutive slashes in a cross that force you back and tear up the ground with cutting qi. Having put you on the back foot, Bai presses his advantage with a relentless sword dance that almost outpaces your ability to defend against it. Even though you successfully block or evade his attacks, he is never discomfited – his poise remains perfect and he lets slip no glaring errors in his swordplay which you can exploit.

Of course, Bai Jiutian cannot keep this up forever. As the dance comes to a close, it is your turn to move. His sword slows for just a fraction for a second, signalling the end of the move, and you dart forward. His expression changes ever so slightly as he tries to reverse the direction of his blade to slash at you – it arrives, but not so fast that you cannot parry it. Blocking his attack, you draw the wodao in a swift counterattack. The blade leaves the scabbard with a high-pitched ring, arcing towards Bai. His jaw clenched, he throws his body sideways, dodging your slash by a hair’s breadth. The sharp edge of your blade trails across the front of his clothes, leaving behind a cut so fine that it is almost invisible.

“That is some quality silk,” you say approvingly. “It parts smoothly.”

“I’ll wring the payment out of you, Xu Jing,” growls Bai Jiutian.

“Tally it up after I’ve finished cutting your clothes off of you.” You go on the offensive, performing the Leaf Dance of the Azure Dragon as you move around him gracefully in a series of quick and precise slashes. He deflects each and every one of your attacks expertly, his brow furrowed in concentration.

You halt for half a step, seemingly hesitating, and Bai Jiutian grabs that opportunity without thinking. He lunges forward with a quick little slash that would have disarmed you had you not been expecting it. You parry and pull away from his sword, allowing his momentum to carry forward. Making use of it, you spin and throw a Returning Wind Spear at him. He grits his teeth and scowls; this attack of yours is too fast and powerful for him to block cleanly. He kicks off of the ground, avoiding your kick with a jump that propels him high into the sky.

Just where you want him.

You give chase; leaping after Bai Jiutian, you take the fight skywards. Your feet cut through the air as you unleash a powerful sequence of kicks at blinding speed – the Shadowless Thunder Breaker. This will end it.

He dodges every single kick effortlessly.

“Wha-“ Before you can complete your exclamation of surprise, he brings his sword down upon you with a powerful two-handed slash while you are vulnerable. You realize, with a sinking feeling, that the sheer force from this attack will easily cut past your guard even if you block it.

There is no helping it. You drop the scabbard, letting it hang from your waist, as you quickly mimic his grip.

His blade swoops downwards, yours rises up.

The swords clash, edge meeting edge with a high-pitched clang that echoes throughout the gorge.

When the two of you land, further apart than when you jumped into the air, there is an expression of barely restrained triumph on Bai Jiutian’s face. “Is that it? Is that what you have been hiding?”

You shrug lazily, smiling, and beckon at him with one wagging finger. “Why don’t you find out more, to be certain?” You can feel your qi already dissolving back into chaos; it will take a short while before you can fully employ Wuxiang Qiankun again.

Bai Jiutian raises his sword in a salute and chuckles confidently. Then, he resumes the fight. You cross blades with him, parrying desperately as he speeds up his attacks.

“What’s the matter? Why aren’t you using that move again?” he calls out, flicking his wrist as his sword snakes past your guard, making a light cut across your forearm.

“You need to make me use it, no?” you grin.

“As you wish! I’ll let you have a taste of Huashan’s Zixia Swordplay… let’s see if you’ll continue to be stubborn even then.” A powerful swirl of qi – almost tangible to the naked eye – spirals through Bai Jiutian’s sword-arm as he raises the sword in a high stance that is clearly bad news the way Vairya’s special stance is. You lower your own stance in response, your right hand hovering above the hilt of the wodao as you dig your feet into the ground.

With a shout, Bai Jiutian strikes. His sword gleams with a shade of crimson akin to that of clouds at dawn.

Your hand lightly touches the hilt.

The red blade swims through the air faster than your eye can follow.

It is not sight that you need to use now, however.

You close your eye.

Your fingers close around the hilt.

You wait for the last possible moment… the moment when your opponent has committed to the attack and will no longer be able to change his trajectory.

On sheer instinct, at the edge of death, you draw.

Your wodao leaves its sheath to meet its foe.

Metal strikes metal. The sound is clear, like the chiming of bells.

Your fingers give way, the hilt slipping from your grasp as the force of Bai Jiutian’s Zixia Swordplay flings the wodao away.

But you are already moving forward.

Your eye snaps open.

As Bai Jiutian prepares his follow-up attack, your left hand has already plunged into the front of your robes. With a flick of your wrist, you pull the Yuchang Sword from its hiding place. Your pace becomes faster – more predatory – as you return to Bai Jiutian his Huashan sword dance.

Taken by surprise, he barely has the time to return to a defensive position. Still, this is his technique– he knows it well enough to read your next moves. You take the next step before he has fully recovered. The flow of your qi begins to surge forth into the Yuchang Sword as you raise it high, the blade gleaming red.

“A gift for a gift. Here, have this back!” you shout.

Bai Jiutian’s eyes widen even though he had surely been expecting this. Your sword plunges towards him at a speed faster and more powerful than any technique you have in your own repertoire.

Suddenly, the look in his eyes changes. The blade of his sword blurs; it seems to sink into a deep shadow as he moves in a way even your Wuxiang Qiankun cannot grasp – there seems to be a strange transformation in the flow of his qi, taking a soft, imperceptible yin tone. The bastard still had something in reserve.

You stop your attack, the point of your blade a mild tremor away from nicking his eye. His own sword is held just under your chin.

“I think,” he says carefully, eyeing your sword, “we should call a truce for now. Then we can talk about this like gentlemen.”

“I agree. We can do that the moment you lower your sword. Be a good boy now, Tian’er.”

“I don’t think so. You should be the one to put your sword away first.”

“I’m not going to argue with you about this. Alright, we’ll do it at the same time. On the count of three?”

“Agreed.”

The count reaches three, but neither of you budge.

“You can’t be trusted, can you?”

“The same goes for you. Alright, let’s try this again.”

It still doesn’t work.

“You really should cooperate. My arm is getting tired. I might poke out your eye.”

“I might give you a very close shave.”

You hear a shuffling movement. Turning your head slightly, you spot Zhang Manxing crawling away out of the corner of your eye. He has the vitality of a cockroach, it seems. He raises his head slowly, turning around to look at you.

His gaze meets yours and Bai Jiutian’s, and he freezes up.

You move your sword away, nodding at Bai.

He breaks away from you without a word, his attention now turned towards Zhang Manxing. With a desperate shout, Zhang tries to make a break for it, scrambling to his knees and pushing off the ground with his one good arm. “I’ll kill you! I swear, I’ll kill you! I’ll get my brother to violate and destroy everything you hold dear!” screams Zhang in a mix of anger and fear. He does not get far before Bai Jiutian’s sword is buried in his back, piercing clean through his body.

Zhang stumbles forward, screaming, before Bai can remove the sword. As he goes after his shidi to retrieve the blade, a cloud of thick yellow mist greets him. It looks like that pouch wasn’t the only surprise Zhang kept on him. Crying out, Bai Jiutian strikes at Zhang reflexively, pushing him away.

Zhang Manxing slips, totters on a rock, and falls, plunging down into the depths of the gorge. Hopefully, that is the last you see of the bastard…

“How are you feeling?” you call out cautiously as you edge towards Bai Jiutian. The mist has cleared quickly, leaving him prone on the ground. If it is what you think it is, you can’t really do anything for him anyway. You wouldn’t want to, to be honest.

As you draw closer, you see Bai Jiutian clawing at the ground with his fingers. He is breathing heavily, his face flushed. “Go away!” he screams, his voice cracking.

“Do you know what you just breathed in?”

He does not reply, glaring up at you.

A second later, his eyes roll up in his head as the effects of the drug prove too much to bear – this appears to be a lot more potent than what Song Lingshu had endured. Bai Jiutian falls unconscious, beads of sweat lining his face. You go in a little closer and nudge him with the tip of your boot. He’s still out like a brick. Kneeling down, you take his pulse. Your initial guess was right – the drug was a lot more concentrated this time. It is beyond your skill to stabilize with any treatment other than the easiest way, and you do not have time to move him anywhere.

Then, something perplexing happens.

His face changes – you recognize the technique, having seen it once before in Guizhou; it is the Wudu Cult’s acupuncture disguise. The shift in his features is subtle but pronounced, his brows growing more delicate, his jaw less pronounced, and even his stature appearing to shrink slightly as his shoulders narrow.

“Whoa,” you say.

Bai Jiutian’s eyes open again, consciousness returning slowly; the gaze of those eyes is clouded as thin, elegant fingers clutch at your leg, tightening their grip. The only sounds in the gorge are of the swift flowing river below, and a heavy panting.

***

A. There is no choice. You’ll have to cure Bai Jiutian the old-fashioned way. You might be hated for this, but it is a risk you are willing to bear.

B. You can’t bring yourself to do this; Bai Jiutian's fate is really none of your concern anyway. You leave and flee down the mountain.
 

XenomorphII

Prophet
Joined
Jan 23, 2011
Messages
1,198
A

Not really thrilled with it, but leaving Bai to die sounds worse (though I guess it would have advantages, namely not having to fight again).
 

Esquilax

Arcane
Joined
Dec 7, 2010
Messages
4,833
This has been the most worthwhile wait for an update ever. Nobody said being a Harem King would be easy. It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it!

A
 

Fangshi

Arcane
Joined
Jan 9, 2014
Messages
1,997
Fuck BJ.

No seriously, fuck Miss Bai.

A

Edit:

Not like we have much choice anyway unless we want her to die. Though maybe it would be wiser to let her perish. She knows our secrets, she is powerful enough to be a real pain, she may well hate us for 'saving' her, and if we hide the body no one will ever find BJ.

Still it would be a horrible way to go...

Not sure.

Double Edit:

On second thought she is a snake. We will have to kill her eventually, may as well do it now.

B
 
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