In Progress [LP CYOA] Tower

And if Tlalli doesn't kill her opponent quickly?

Sophie is far more vulnerable than Liz. Liz's boots will give her a movement advantage over all of us and she has a lethal animal as her guardian and not a busy old lady or a dumb 10-year-old that thinks this is a romance option choice and is about to ditch her.

Plus, strategically, Liz is a worthless target. If they take out Sophie on the other hand, we won't be able to see them coming anymore and we'll be screwed.

Also, it would really suck if Sophie died. She didn't even want to come along. It was Liz who suggested it. Even if Sophie just gets taken, we won't be able to see them and we'll have no way to find her. Dead.

 

Ah, right. There was the assumption going in of only one shifter, and now Tlalli got tied down with a fight with the second one.

That being said, I nevertheless feel like we gotta adapt. I get that we can't just look at unknown variables and try to account for them, but in my mind, there is just way too much evidence of more shifters being present:

We came in assuming one shifter, but a second one emerged from the swamp. Curiously, the water began rising at the end of the update, leading me to believe that whatever danger is happening or likely to happen, it's going to come from the swamp.

If Sophie is in danger, it's extremely unlikely that something would come up behind her - if something is coming after her, it'll come from the swamp. Tlalli has one shifter under control: leave her to it. The second shifter is heading in Bernard and Liz's direction: while not as adept as Grandma, Bernard is capable enough and Liz has the orb. That leaves us to take care of anything that might come out of the swamp. Given that we've already had one shifter spring out of there, and an ominous clue at the end, which leads me to believe that that area is where we need to focus our attention.

 

These things are apparently fast. I don't have faith in our ability to kill something before it does anything.

And what if it doesn't come from the swamp? We know Tlalli started tracking her target on another level, so they clearly aren't tied to the swamp in any way that would force them to be there. What if it comes from a place closer to Sophie and out position is too far away to do anything with any accuracy?

Also, if we have a gun, we want to keep Sophie behind us when we fire. Frankly, I doubt we'll even be able to get off a shot and will fumble with a safety or similar, but if we do and hit Sophie, well, that would suck even worse.

And if we are sane and pick the sharp blade, it should be obvious that we would be better suited being able to place ourselves between her and whatever is trying to attack her.

 

It is also possible that the shifter is doing this for the simple reason of putting Tlalli in rought terrain, where it has the advantage. But yes, it's definitely possible that it may be preparing grounds for an ambush. And even if there is no one else coming behind, we're still in a position to assist Sophie if someone does go after her. Alright, consider me swayed.

Flipping my flip-flops to D>A>C E>C. I do want to be like grandma, hitting stuff and doesn't afraid of anything.

I've addressed this point earlier: Tlalli is a woman with decades of experience, a ranged fire spell and big fuck-off sword-club. It took her less than a second to slice off an ear from her changeling. Tlalli will be okay, which means she can help Sophie be okay.

The changelings don't know that, though. Also, I'm not agitating for 2C for romance points. We're ten years old, bro.

Moreover, I'm worried that we'll just be in her way.

 

How do you know that?

And even if they didn't know it, think like a predator for a moment: who do you target?

The weakest member of the herd. That would be Sophie, since she's on her own.

 

Assuming I'm correct (which, granted, if I'm right) I'd rather get a shot at it/a chance to stick this creature while it's just leapt out of the muck rather than when it's charging at us full-speed. It's an even less appealing option to fight these things when they are ready and aware of their surroundings.

Sure, that was a bit of curious speculation on my part. Was just wondering if this is their habitat - obviously, as treave said, that's not the case. These things aren't tied to the swamp and it's not their "habitat" for lack of a better word. But nonetheless, both of them came from the swamp, and it seems to be a great place to hide. While it's possible for them to come from elsewhere, they've all attacked us from the same area so far.

I think it helps to put ourselves in the shoes of the shapeshifter: A crazy old-lady Hunter is coming after me? What do I do? I know she's going to track me down eventually, so I try and even the odds by making the battlefield conditions favourable. I allow her to track me down, then get her stuck in a bunch of mucky swamp water with poor visibility, where I also get a few of my allies to to lie in wait as well (after all, where else would they hide?). A swamp seems like a great place to turn a trap against your would-be pursuer.

They could be anywhere, I acknowledge that, but one has already emerged from the swamp that we haven't accounted for, and I reckon that there wouldn't be any other nearby areas where it would be as easy to hide.

Your logic (which makes perfect sense!) is this: Sophie is our eyes and ears on the battlefield > Sophie is vulnerable > Stay close to Sophie and attack anything coming her way. I'm just taking that one step further; my logic goes, Sophie is our eyes and ears on the battlefield > Sophie is vulnerable > Prevent any threats from reaching Sophie. And so far, since all of our threats have come from the swamp, I think that we ought to focus our efforts there.

Anyways, I think that'll be it for my posting on and on about this choice - think I've said my piece. I just felt particularly passionate about this one and wanted to open up the discussion a bit.

 

Nothing is ever 100% certain.

 

You are rekindling worries of the local anti-2nd-amendment squad.
You want to be able to react to situation changes, but we are some distance away from all three "points of interest". If new enemy emerges, and we have a melee weapon, we need to get there first, which will take us some time, so taking them as they are leaping out of muck isn't going to happen. If we have a revolver, we now have an ally and a enemy entangled some distance away, and have to do exactly the thing people warned us about. No one wants to chance friendly fire when we never handled a gun before.

This is why people want to move closer towards where they think things may go down.

Take out the detection that allows her to find you, wait for the night, and slink away.
Haven't you played enough Starcraft?

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I am not at all sure they are interested in taking down a hunter who looks like she could murder them for days if only she could catch them.

 

This is a good point. If we're sitting around in a bush, waiting for something to jump out of the swamp, yet we don't have a gun/slingshot, there's no way in hell we'd be able to react fast to close the distance with a melee weapon. You're not going to ambush a goddamn thing sitting in a bush 20 feet away from the action.

Likewise, if you are staying close to Sophie, having a firearm/slingshot is more dangerous. Other than the risk of fatal friendly fire (with the slingshot too - you hit someone in the head with that, they are toast), you want a close-range weapon because enemies are running towards you and you most likely don't have either the time or the skill with the weapon to get more than one decent shot off. Maybe. 21 foot rule is a thing, after all.

Regarding your last paragraph, keep in mind that our presence is just as unexpected to them as the presence of multiple shapeshifters was to us. We expected one shapeshifter; they expected one Hunter.

Based on the circumstances, the most logical combination would be 1B2E (stealthy shots from a slingshot while hidden away, plus you'd make less noise), or 1A/D2D. You either pick a ranged weapon and snipe, or you stay close to Sophie and play bodyguard.

 

"Assume stuff and you make an ass out of u and me". Blergh, hate that saying, but nevertheless it has some truth to it.
I'll amend my original vote, but only towards trying to actually help take down these shifters. That's what we're here for. It's practical. We do have fighting experience. We can use ranged weaponry. The faster we drop these things, the safer everyone will be.

Oh, and two shifters might just mean they're a pair. Maybe it's mamma and pappa shifter, protecting their young...

In before we find their young in the next update and decide to keep and raise one of them. A sibling for Rain.

 

We forgot one important actor in this drama: Sophie. She's a rather sensible girl, so I doubt that she'll stay still like a distressed damsel in a cheesy Western.

If we follow Liz, she will likely take off after us.

No idea what she'll do in E.

She'll likely stay with us in D, barring something completely out of left field.

 

She is rather sensible, so the only way she is going somewhere is if she loses that sense. Staying still is the smart thing to do, after all, assuming no other hostiles, and even if there are more, moving closer to an active fight when you don't know how to fight and do not want to isn't necessarily a better idea.

I think the smart move for her would be to reconnect with someone not currently engaged (i.e. us), but it's hard to predict what she'll do. Maybe she is afraid of our scars that much.

Ah, yes. A tour where we collect orphans to join our glorious ranks while simultaneously murdering their parents. I think we had something like that going in Myth...

 

CA

Quickly deal with the new foe. She seems to be rising the water level what could spell trouble for the girls who will no longer be able to flee quickly from danger.

A revolver is great for intimidatory purposes even though it will take some time for us to become even halfway good at it. I think our mental stats and personality mean we're unlikely to do anything dumb with it either. It would also be worth a good amount if we sell it down the road.

 

Truly you belong on rpgcodex.

 

Treave, if we pick E, are we still in a position to help Sophie if something comes her way? Can we hide someplace (and/or relocate Sophie) so that this becomes possible?

 

I really want the revolver to work.

I know that it won't, but I really want it to.



On the plus side, maybe the one we'll accidentally shoot is the moron who would actually give a 10-year-old a gun.

 

A leaves Liz and the cat to deal with a threat they weren't meant to deal with alone. Not good.
B is closest to the original plan. We hope to survive long enough for grandma to come save our bacon. Surviving is what we're built for. Plus this second shifter seems to be associated with water given

and maybe our fishiness will help.
C has us taking on grandma's role in the original plan. Not great, but reasonable given the second shifter.
D has us protecting sis, but she's only one not currently in danger. Could be good if another threat appears, but USELESS in one doesn't.
E is similar to D but leaves sis open to direct attack if there is a third shifter. Again, totally USELESS if there isn't.

B and C are the most reasonable given the threats we know of. I prefer B because it's closest to the original plan. It puts US in the greatest danger (assuming there are only 2 shifters) rather than one of the girls. I'll put my faith in our hardiness and ability to annoy the second shifter so it doesn't even think of Sophie.

 

these are not your modern 10yo kids (well, Sophie is a bit fancy)
this kid had been given bows and knives and stuffies and other lethal tools and used them before
also, J. M. Browning made his first firearm at age 13

 

Nothing is ever 100% certain.

 

Grimgravy presented an awesome argument. D feels a bit too passive, since you're waiting on someone to come after Sophie before you do anything, whereas with B, you're adapting to the situation by stepping in for Grandma temporarily. We're well-suited to take a beating, although I really wish we would stop being on the receiving end of these ass-kickings. We're going to end up a cripple at this rate. Still, I'm confident that we can buy Grandma enough time to kill the runaway shifter and come back before we get too hurt.

Flopping to AB. I changed my original post as well.

 

Clearly we are asking the wrong questions. We need to ask what is the best possible choice which would allow us to do everything we wanted to do and avoid everything we do not.

...if the character considers a choice, he thinks it will work and that he'd be in a position to do anything he plans to do. The question is whether reality corresponds to the expectations.

 

Yeah, but what if every option results in a DEAD END?

 

We pick the DEAD END which has the most +1 SWORDS in it. Stats SWORDS are important.

 

Esquilax, Grimgravy, 2B is the most unreasonable idea. It's precisely us attempting the sort of heroics that are above our level. In the best case scenario, 2B will see us injured. In the worst case scenario, we are injured and Sophie dies. We're not that good yet. Understand, 2B puts us in a bad fight and places Sophie in the very worst position possible. Instead of her being alone and Tlalli handling the shifter here, it will be her being alone and us handling the shifter here. If there is a possibility for any of the choices we pick here to result in Sophie dying, 2B would guarantee it, because it puts her in the very worst position possible. And once that happens, we are in deep shit with Scotsfield in general and McClellan too.

 

Devour soul?