In Progress [LP CYOA] Tower

My respect for Andrew has increased considerably. Despite initial Codex paranoia to the contrary, the kid is brave, principled, and willing to stand up and do the right thing even when the he's completely on his own and the chips are down. He's solid.

treave, I take it that our bum leg wouldn't affect our PC's ability to swim if need be?

Going to echo the hivemind's insistence on A. We aren't equipped to fight this beast, but we are built for navigating around it.

 

B. For some bestial badness, because someone has to vote for it.

Kid vampire is afraid of running water, ok? >_>

 

A - no way I am messing with that beast. Let's hope the stream leads to another exit...or an underground elf village were they do not, I REPEAT NOT, eat children.

I would also like to add that while I am glad Andrew got a well-deserved beat down, I'm not pleased by him getting the D from a Russian pedophile. A beating is fine, death is fine, but this is a fate worse than death to be sure.

In hindsight, Absinthe, I can see us shooting the light and escaping going one of two ways. It's clear they would have had an interest in pursuing us. Silencing witnesses. But Rasputin and the others didn't really seem to care about it too much. Alexi wanted to get his rocks off more than he wanted to keep Andrew from talking via the shame of being raped. I think they may have let us go. However, if we fell during our escape, we would have to pray Alexi didn't see our burns as a turn on.

 

I wonder if this, our first Astra would have been "Water, mutability", to perfectly align with our sign, no matter which of the three we chose. Or if we got lucky with the book?

 

He's a moron. If he knew they weren't supposed to be there, he should have also realized Scotty's father was complicit in their plans before singlehandedly trying to arrest a group of enemy knights.

His mistake was trusting too much in the power of his astra. He wanted to play hero at the risk of his own life and the lives of his friends.

 

He's like 13 bro. It's difficult for grown men to take proper stock of a situation before acting rashly, much less a kid. He was struggling between doing what he knew was right, and his basic instincts of self preservation. Kid has probably never lost a fight in his life, this will be a valuable lesson for him. Hopefully the Russian dude is just gonna make him do laundry or chop onions with his sword or something. I don't have much faith in Andrews ability to withstand a week of getting his shit pushed in without losing his sanity.

 

Oh I know, but see my edits.

I'm saying he didn't do this for principles. He did it because he wanted to play the hero and thought his astra made him invincible.

Also, he understood enough to know the knights were enemies. For a 13yo to think he can win against a group of grown soldiers - all of whom are also likely armed with astras - isn't just arrogance, it's foolishness.

That in concert with the fact that he risked the lives of his friends, which he also did in coming here while bragging about how his astra could deal with anything, leads me to my conclusion.

He wasn't making some noble sacrifice or brave stand. He thought he was invincible and wanted to be a hero. He got beat down for it and he's about to learn just how vulnerable a 13-year-old boy can be.

 

I think that it's a bAndwagon. Let's pass time with some speculation and theorizing!

You're both right. Andrew is a brave and principled young dude who will take a bullet for his friends. I like him. However, he's also a complete moron with an invincibility complex. You see four soldiers armed with swords and firearms. You suspect they're spies, so your first thought as a fourteen-year old boy is to attack them with a sword. Without body armor. What the fuck, bro. We'll need to be the Sekhenun to his Ean.

Next, Alexei Did Nothing Wrong. He had an idiotic, entitled boy walk in on a secret operation, injure one of his men and start playing hero. His courage is admirable, but he had to subdue Andrew, before the child actually got someone killed.

I disagree. We have nothing that links Nathaniel to any knightly orders. His introduction reads as follows:

Nathaniel probably got hired as a guide through the ruins he discovered, with the instructions that he was to keep quiet. He couldn't do so, and now he's paying for it.

 

I mean, agreed, the issue is that he's giving off sadistic pedophile vibes. If he just chained the boy up and said let's dip, that'd be one thing, but unless we're getting mixed up due to cultural differences, he's about to hurt and fuck this little kid.

Perhaps this is true, but if these guys aren't from the Order of the White Eagle, who do they work for? The Tsar is an obvious answer I guess, but that also leads us to the question of who exactly do the Order work for? treave Do the orders connected to respective countries answer to said countries leader? Or do they just have a bias towards them and help sometimes? The fact that they were masquerading as Knights seems to indicate foul play.

 

mah boots of free action, bonded to another - and that grouchy Sophie no less

we love water, let's get the girls wet without risking their lives - A

 

Before leaving he will probably come a-knocking, it would be a good idea to decide to hide for a week, when they will supposedly leave or maybe get ready to follow him in the crusade against astra beasts with Rain as a sidekick.

 

I suspect that this girl would be more interested in us if we really were the thrall of a vampire, she has some kinky fetish too.
Prime waifu material.

 

A

 

treave Might as well lock it to A. These updates are like crack, I want as much as I can get.

 

I think we should join him. Here's what I'm getting of the overarching story so far.
1. The Angels of God are the elves, and they are working with different mystics and scientists throughout the Tower. It jives with the possibility that they live beyond the Wall of God, thus they 'come from above,' i.e., from God and Heaven.
2. The devils that Rasputin spoke of are the nazguls/shadowbeasts, and they're hunting the elves and pursuing these Gates of God. Maybe this is why they broke in here a few months ago? I think that the Nazgul we killed in the prologue was one such intruder.
3. Rasputin is one of the good guys, and he is very powerful. He can help us keep Rain safe and maybe even help her find others of her kind.
4. Rasputin can be a good mentor for us, even if he's an unsettling person. We have no right to judge him on that. We ourselves are kinda creepy, aside from being ugly.
5. These guys are not Knights, but a special task force from the Russian Imperial Leibguard (the Tsar's personal bodyguard regiment). They also aren't the only ones pursuing these Gates of God and access to the Thirtieth Floor. And there's probably more than just Rasputin out there, like Crowley and other famous occultists.

Elizabeth is best girl.

That's funny, because both of them have been Stone Cold OGs so far, definitely more brave than Squealing Scotty.

I read it as a cocky and very pissed off officer putting a dumb little bitch back in his fucking place. Like I said, Did Nothing Wrong.

We could fight a shadowbeast, or we could get the girls wet. Decisions, decisions.

 

This sound of water that we hear off in the distance: treave, how strong does the current sound? I am dreading the distinct possibility that it's a waterfall and that we've got a long way down. Still, I think I'd take that over a beast that we have no idea how to (a) hide from, or (b) trap/ensnare.

According to the lore update:

I suppose the Tsar got some trusted men stationed in the Motherland and entrusted this super secret task to them? He didn't want to leave it to someone from the Tower and risk having it leaked? I don't know.

 

Sophie seems to have troubles with the glasses, I guess bad affinity there.

 

I asked because Baltika9 suggested fighting the beast 3-on-1 so I was curious if we could see, for example, the girls' stats? Or even Andrew's?

 

Speaking of unsettling, your adoration of the man is getting progressively more creepy...

That said, I agree with you to a point. He does have that Shulgi in his latter years vibe.

Then again, do keep in mind that he just locked a bunch of children in a room they may not ever have found their way out of. His powers of perception, be they magical or otherwise, clearly detected us and probably detected the beast as well.

He seems not only a man of genuine faith, but also a bit of a gambler. Rather than waste time killing us or seeing us captured and raped by the knights, he locked us in the room. If we escape, it will be the will of heaven and if not, that will also be the will of heaven.

 

By the way seems that the Leib Guard here is inspired by the Oprichniks.

 

No. This type of secret police, intelligence and counterintelligence work is exactly what the real Leibguard of the Russian Empire did. They also cooperated closely with the actual secret police and took part in subduing domestic revolts. These are not nice people.

No, this is the Zhang Jue situation again. All I'm saying is that he's one of the good guys, and that he will be a good teacher for us. Not that we need to suck his dick. If we do end up as his pupil (please let it be so, treave), I expect a tough go of it. But with our physical and mental stats, it's nothing that we can't handle.

 

I was referring to their sexual habits.

 

Andrew's behaviour is typical hero complex. Dude wants to do good, which is nice, but he thinks that's all that's needed and can't stop himself charging in Leeroy style. In some cases that will be useful, in some cases he's going to make a big fat mess and make things worse.

All things considered, probably for the best that we didn't go with him and that we're not with him now. Perhaps he'll be hunting us down in the future.

 

Ah yes, I forget that the codex is a place for horny dudes in the best of times. Now that we're all on quarantine, sex is all we can think about. This is why we are all so obsessed with whom Andrew will stick his dick in, and who will stick their dick in Andrew, and whether or not someone will stick their dick into us.

...are you guys sure you're just not possessive of Andrew? Because it's cool if you are. I guess we can play as a gay dude if you want.

 

A