In Progress [LP CYOA] Tower

But we could find some amazing way to die ignominiously.

There are two subvotes under each option. Why is that?

 

A child playing with fire might not be the best idea. And I don't mean because of us but because of the baby. We'll be fine.

 

C2, 'cause I'm a filthy coward

 

A2

 

A2, we chose to get involved now let's run with it. Do or die.

 

I like the B options more than the others. A is too gung ho and focused on killing the thing for no apparent reason past 'I am a hunter and I must hunt'. C is too much of an asshole, and while I wouldn't have minded playing an indifferent jackass, that ship already kinda sailed for me when we decided to investigate the scream. B strikes me as a relatively level-headed option, whilst also allowing our intrepid PC to remain a non-asshole (for now). Just my two cents.

 

Setting a fire in a forest is usually a bad idea as forest fires are relatively uncontrollable. Not a great way to save the woman and the child. Distracting and pulling the beast back to traps seems, like others have pointed out, like more or less the same option as shooting it and drawing it's attention. Shooting is arguably a more surefire way to draw it's attention, although treave has indicated this is more a selection of character defining choices rather than a selection of outcomes. So there is that.

Either way, if we were to ignore the dying woman we might as well have just kept on hunting earlier.

 

Don't forget our prospective sidekick, who she is protecting.

 

What's with all the White Knighting to save these randos?

A2

 

Hey treave, could you tell us of the wisdom of starting a fire in the forest, in terms of risk to ourselves or the two we might be trying to save? I assume we have enough basic fire/forest/safety sense and wisdom to get some notion of whether or not this idea is reasonable.

 

C1>C2

 

Well, she's protecting a baby. If she dies and we save the baby, then that baby is now our sidekick. I want a sidekick.

 

Although, maybe our social isolation under the tutelage of a cranky crazy master has made of us some retarded variant of social darwinist without any moral obligation to help one's fellow man. The shadowbeast needs to eat too. And as the weaker hunter in this scenario, our role is clearly to scavenge the leftovers.

Look, I'm just thinking aloud, okay

 

That is a very intersting take on the character. And we've never done anything like this before.

Tempting.

 

C2 > A2

Let's not burn our forest down. I doubt a small flame will be enough to scare this monstrosity anyway (and fires take time to get going).

 

This is true - the voting bloc, esteemed members like Smashing Axe aside, are composed mostly of softies (myself included) that can't commit to truly being an evil bastard.

Isn't this wisdom enough?



Another thing to keep in mind:

I'm obviously speculating here, but our actions, like carelessly setting a wildfire, can have an affect on our surroundings that we can barely conceive of. Starting a fire in some dry underbrush is really rash and dangerous, and you could end up killing a lot of wildlife and surrounding villagers doing something like this. Don't get me wrong, I'm confident that it'll scare the beast away - mutated bear-wolf or not, it acts like an animal, thinks like an animal, and is probably scared of fire just like any other animal.

Other than my speculation of a possible butterfly effect resulting from our actions resulting in more harm than good, I'd say that we'd have more to fear from the resulting fire than we do from this creature should we choose B2.

As far as the A, options, A1 definitely the safer of the two. Once this beast has stuffed itself until its good and drowsy, you might be able to have time to knock back a few arrows into its skull before it knows what hit it. I don't think A2 is necessarily a DEAD END, but holy shit, we're in for one hell of a fight if we take it.

As for C, I dunno, I like what Tigranes said about this being an interesting take on the character, but I guess it rubs me the wrong way for some reason that I can't quite articulate.

Going A1 for now.

 

We've lost a meal because of this freak, no way I'm letting it enjoy one free on us.

B1.

We have some skill in stealth and traps and should know something of how the land is laid out here, and if I know anything about tropes the dying lady shepherding a soon-to-be-orphan in the woods has some sort of bullshit that she can let rip with her dying breath if given a chance. No interest in starting a forest fire, this place yields us our bread and butter.

 

Another thing to consider: how much fun, and for how long, would we really have with such a character? I think it would wear thin after a bit.

We should save our new sibling/sidekick. Kill the mother if she resists.

 

This should be conclusive proof against any B2 vote, actually.

B2 flop to C2: We are a hunter raised away from the trappings of civilisation. We have no time for the fantasy that all can be saved, or that we must save any life at any cost. We hunt all prey the best we can, for our own ends, and leave no regrets behind.

This isn't necessarily a "kill everybody sociopath" option. I think that is a poverty of the imagination. There's more than "rush into save some random person against an otherworldly gigantic deadly threat on our own" in life.

 

Guys, I think you're overthinking it with the forest fires. While it is a clever way to split the B vote (), I think treave cleared it up earlier:

All options will do something.

Plus, I think Aragorn Jr. here has enough brains and experience to not burn the whole goddamn place down. Controlled forest fires are a thing, gentlemen, and they're used quite regularly too.

Tigranes, Great King of Hayastan, scion of the Artaxiads! Bestow upon me thine royal grace, and answer: dost thou still support our glorious cleansing flames, or hath thine kingly attention been swayed to another course of action?

===Votes===

A1 - 1
A2 - 4 (5)
B1 - 2
B2 - 7
C1 - 1
C2 - 3

Poll (open) Poll (close)

Esquilax - A1

Kz3r0 - A2
hello friend - A2
Grimgravy - A2>C2
Azira - A2>A1>B2>B1

Zerafall - B1
Kipeci - B1

ItsChon - B2
ERYFKRAD B2>A2
Baltika9 - B2>B1
Nevill - B2
asxetos - B2>A2
Lambchop19 - B2>B1
Absinthe B2>B1

Smashing Axe - C1>C2

baud - C2
oscar - C2>A2
Tigranes - C2>B2

 

Armenia Man no like fire no more

 

You judge (as a 10 year old novice hunter) that the beast would pose more of a risk than the fire. You can find some dry wood in this particular area but the air is still moist, so it is not likely a single spark would make the entire forest go up in flames; though on the flipside, it is always possible that the fire would not be big enough to chase the beast away either. As for why exactly the environmental conditions are this way, just chalk it up to the peculiar weather patterns within the Tower.

 

I was going to literally suggest this exact idea, and change my vote to C2 (hence my question regarding the nature of the beast attacking the humans. If it was something that didn't look natural, it wouldn't fit into our social darwinian view, but if it could just be a regular animal than it would fit right in), but I went against it because I think it's a little too autistic to conflate the life of a human with the life of an animal. If it was targeting some baby animals I'd be all for it, but humans are different. I'll stick to B2.

 

Alright, votan time!

A2>A1>B2>B1