In Progress [LP CYOA] Tower

Is Rasputin a Nazgul too?

Never, ever, deal with the Mad Monk. I wonder why he makes our skin crawl. Is it just our imagination, or can we really sense him and his wrongness?

I'd be willing to shoot the lantern and run like hell, but we have a lame leg, and the girls might not see in the dark all that well. Still, it's better than stoning the commander - what does that even achieve, do we expect a rout? - and... I am not sure about hitting Rasputin. We'd have to outrun the soldiers, and everyone would see us - it won't be long before they come find us in the village. Maybe the lantern is our best bet to remain unidentified. But Nathaniel have just seen Scotty, so I doubt we'd remain anonymous for much longer.

Andrew should've stabbed him instead!

A. You take out your slingshot and shoot out the lantern. Returning the darkness should distract them long enough for an escape attempt.

Let's go.

"Another" of the gates, huh. I wonder what is in them and why they need to be "witnessed". I also wonder how many steps are there left to go.

Edit:

We get the feeling he is looking right at our hiding place, though.

 

He's just looking. I think our chances of escaping undetected by just staying put are highest with E. All the other options are garbage.

 

Maybe. But the way he is looking is giving us the heebie-jeebies through the metal cover.

They are about to find out there are more kids in these ruins in the next couple minutes, and then they might start looking for real.

 

I don't think that there's any good way out of this situation: either we take one for the team and (hopefully) get to keep Rain with us, or someone gets hurt here. E is the best choice for a peaceful resolution, because it gives Scotty's dad a chance to diffuse the situation, but it's not a sure thing. It is my backup choice for exactly this reason.

I think that D will definitely work as described. It will immediately distract Rasputin, the expedition's leader, and give him reason to let the other kids go in favor of us, the disfigured child with a book Astra. Condemn me for saying this if you want, but I'm getting strong Luoying Manor vibes right now: I think that Rasputin is to us as Lord Zhang was to Jing.

And I've also been talking a lot of guff about messing with international politics from the beginning, especially if it's on the side of the Austrians, Russians, or the Ottomans. I need to back up that talk as well.

 

It doesn't seem like the knights are stupid / chaotic evil enough to shoot all over the place if the lantern goes out. Seems likely that if we did nothing, they would take Andrew and Scotty into custody via Nathaniel's mediation.

B&C really don't sound good. What's our slingshot gonna do, knock them out? There's zero reasons for it to have any better result than hitting the lantern. It's more risky, more likely to get us spotted, more likely to escalate the violence and get a kid killed.

D might have been reasonable if douchebag kid duo hadn't turned up and the knights were searching the room, but right now it seems premature. It's 50/50 as to whether Rasputin can really detect us or not.

A > E, though I'm torn 50/50 between them. Seems to me if we want to make an intervention and escape then darkness is the only thing that gives us a chance.

 

What? This isn't a bandit lord who is kidnapping the kids. Rasputin's here to do a job, which is done. He either gives absolutely zero shit about the kids, or he needs all of them captured to maintain secrecy.

I have zero idea why you think this is how it'll play out. Imagine you're on an important secret mission to open the gates, and you've completed the job, and then turns out a couple of kids snuck in for the lulz, and now another kid comes out of the room and says LET THEM GO, TAKE ME INSTEAD. Your response is "wtf dude why do you even think I care". Astra? Andrew has an astra and he just used it. The disfigured child? OOooooh he has a scar, the dude is not gonna give a shit.

Or do you want to talk to him about how you were the first in this room and found this book Astra and how the crystal ball worked? It'll probably get our Book confiscated, at the very least.

 

How do we know the two kids will rat us out? It's a chance that Scottys father takes control of the situation and gets the boys out before they can say more incriminating shit.

It's not necessarily the Knights I'm only worried about. What about Andrew and Scotty, they're scared shitless and Andrew has an ultra fast sword in his hand. And it has nothing to do with being stupid / chaotic evil. It's very possible to be spooked by a sudden bang as would result from a stone hitting glass, and everything turning dark, especially if they've had bad experiences in the ruins they've visited prior. No reason not to go with E.

Tigranes already roasted your little paragraph about D. It is clear that Baltika is in it for the memes first and foremost.

 

Worth noting that this is before Rasputin's rise to power, and the total decline of the Romanovs. He isn't yet known at court. Presumably, this is what gets him the position.

No one is saying that. The choice states the girls would have to figure the way out on their own while we get everyone's attention.

Andrew's Astra is a known entity, he didn't get it from the ruins.

And yes, an Astra could be a valid reason to detain us, as would be any messing with the ruins. Depending on how that goes, our connection to Rain might come up (since we are literally known as "that kid who lugs that other kid around everywhere"), and we don't know where that plotline leads except that it is important.

There is a possibility of her or us both taken away from the village.

 

Yes, but the benefits afforded to us by the darkness won't last for long. Remember, the hallways in these ruins are illuminated and our bum leg won't allow us to outrun trained soldiers, especially not with Rasputin's third eye. I think we should either let Nathaniel (the only adult on our side) handle this, or take one for the team.

Because the point of D is to get the girls out of here by distracting Rasputin and the soldiers, thus getting them out of danger. Nathaniel can probably negotiate for Andrew and Scotty, but we'll be left as the sacrificial lamb.
Why do I think Rasputin will take an interest in us? Because, as a literary character, we ooze mystery and the historical Rasputin had a lot of sympathy for lepers, outcasts and the downtrodden. Like I said earlier, my intuition is leading me to him as it did to Master Zhang, another character with a menacing, creepy aura.

What you call memes, I call an interesting story. This is what everyone was telling me when I wanted to approach Zhang Jue back in Luoying, and again when I wanted to join him when he holding Master Yao hostage. I've said this on the previous page, I'm in this for an interesting story first and foremost, and fuck me if Rasputin wasn't an interesting character without magic powers. I really do want to become his apprentice. It's clear that the man knows stuff about Astra, at least.

 

Fair enough, if it wasn't for Rain I would be all for it, but we already have one story that we need to deal with, that being Rain. Plus, we know exactly where they're headed, the thirtieth floor. Who's to say we can't escape out of here undetected and set our sights for whatever is on said floor? Maybe we can meet these folks again.

 

I know, this is the only thing that makes me not 100% on D. But I think that we can trust Father McClellan and Sophie to raise her, and to do it well. Better than us, in fact, but I do want to be her big brother.

We'll be doing so regardless (maybe), but I don't see how that is related to what I said. For one, we know jack diddly squat about these 'gates' they're talking about, and I'm sure that no knightly order will want to share information with us as an outsider. Not for free, anyway.

 

D. It might be the only chance to save everyone. We are just a kid, we are no match for Rasputin and his soldiers. Yet.

 

A.

I don't trust E when the monk just exposed our friends hiding outside the door. We'll just get caught with E. A is a target that should be within our abilities and should be able to produce enough chaos to make a run for it. We have a stealth skill anyway so slipping out when the room is in darkness should be the most feasible escape we've got.

 

Abandon ship, all hands to the lifeboats.

 

E>A

 

E

 

I don't know which Order that Nathaniel was working for, but I think he sold confidential information to the Russians about this set of ruins that are a piece of the puzzle in unlocking the elusive 30th Floor. He did it in exchange for a position of good standing with The Order of the White Eagle. Judging by his son, sniveling cowardice runs in the family.

Definitely. We gotta fucking bolt NOW. I think that B will work great in allowing us to slip away, but will cause chaos and bloodshed. Andrew might be a Theseus, but he doesn't deserve to die to potentially die... well, not yet at any rate. It will be a cruel irony that in causing a Theseus to die, we become a Theseus ourselves. We mustn't let it happen.

I am in agreement about E. Right now, attention is focused on Andrew and tensions are high. These guys will come looking for us, but I don't think that there will be a better time than the present. What are you hoping will happen if we wait five minutes? Rasputin could sense Andrew in another room despite trying to undertake a ritual. What do you think will happen if he's on full alert and three other kids are in the same room? Nothing good, I can tell you that. He'll sniff us out, for sure.

A, let's get the fuck out of Dodge.

 

I think the guard captain can handle a slingshot. The only thing B would accomplish is initiate hostilities and make them go after us. If something like B could work and induce chaos so easily, these guys wouldn't be pros. All it does is get us proper fucked, I think. C is in the same class. Rasputin here probably has 10 constitution so it wouldn't even phase him, assuming he wouldn't just dodge that shit with his ridiculous senses.

A is the only escape plan that seems feasible. D could work for the girls, but then we'd be abandoning Rain, so... not an option.

 

A has a good chance of going horribly wrong, the way I see it. Nathaniel is currently trying to diffuse the situation with Scotty, but who knows what will happen if the room suddenly goes dark and people are scurrying about. If Scotty gets killed in the kerfuffle, we will get the blame, everyone will hate us, and worst case we get thrown out of the village. Every option seems bad, D and E look the same at first glance, as Rasputin seems have some kind of sixth sense. He sensed Andrew and Scotty, and he's probably sensed Sophie and Elizabeth as well. If we step forward it will demonstrate moral character to the knights (uncertain whether they'd care) and win us points with the girls. However, there's always the chance that Rasputin won't mention that we're hiding behind the block. Who knows? They're probably the safest options.

A is risky, but might go very right. It won't, but it might. The big problem being that usually we'd be able to rely on the fact that the soldiers don't know which exit we take, which way we go in any forks etc. But Rasputin will still be around to guide them. Again, we'd be relying on him not leading them to us, or some unforeseen x factor carrying us through. I think it's a bad idea. Therefore, my vote is:

A

 

Nah man. If Rasputin here were going to avoid mentioning the kids hiding, he wouldn't have revealed our friends hiding outside the door. It's just our turn next to get exposed. E will definitely get us all caught.

 

I'm not so sure about that: we definitely can get out of this room in total darkness, but then we'd exit into a well-illuminated hallway, with a regiment of trained and physically fit soldiers in pursuit. With an alert Rasputin. Considering that we have a bum leg, I think that the only person who can't outrun us is Scotty, and Andrew might even carry his fat ass out of here since he knows that his friend is out of shape. We, on the other hand, will be easy to chase down.

We only know of one way out of here, so unless we can hide from Rasputin's third eye in some dark corner of this ruin, we'll get caught anyway. I'm not saying that A is impossible, just that it is unlikely to succeed. But you raise a fantastic point that Rasputin probably suspects our presence already in E.

I think that our fate was sealed the moment we chose to follow the girls.

 

They have their own mission priorities over chasing kids though, and rushing down unknown branching paths in ruins is probably not something they're all that eager to do. We'd also have a head start on them thanks to the chaos. So A is by far the best chance we have of escaping them.

I'm pretty sure that the right decision here actually makes a difference. And since we don't want to lose Rain, we need to escape. That leaves A afaict.

 

In principle I agree with you, however I hadn’t thought about joining the Russian military at this point. It’s a bit sudden to be pressed into service (and probably called upon to do some sort of war crime like massacre elves, which we will inevitably do with glee rebel against and will have the Russians chasing after us for the rest of the game).

I am going with E>A>D.

Allow me to explain:

E I think E is our best chance to make it out peacefully and unconscripted.

A offers everyone in our group the best chance of escape. Yes, including Andrew unfortunately. Actually, it offers him a better chance of escape than it does us as we have our leg to worry about.

D is the “brave” option, but we will likely be pressed into military service and lose Rain for a time. I am not ok with this. We sacrificed our leg and our FACE for her! We need to safeguard our investment. The only reason I include it is because idiotic options like shooting Rasputin or the knights are on the table. Also, it’s unlikely the girls will escape even if we chose D as they obviously aren’t very stealthy.

Again, though I think E is our best chance to make it out peacefully and unconscripted. I am fairly certain Rasputin’s gaze is mostly our imagination.

edit: I got A confused with B. Updated.

 

I don't know, man, I just can't see us outrunning them with a bad leg. You gotta admit that having your men attacked and your light source taken out by a ranged attack in a dark dungeon is extremely suspicious, especially for military personnel. I'm pretty sure that A will provide the captain with the incentive to track down the people attacking his men. The only way that I can see A working out is if we can give them the run-around in these ruins.

Huh?

 

This is how I see it playing out too.

I think the girls will probably stay quiet. And if not, at least we won’t have cucked ourselves with A by letting everyone in the group escape but us.