[LP CYOA] 傳

[m4davis]

A

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

We know from the fight with Rong Jr. that Jing was trained to kill helpless and bound men to protect the prince from a young age and given his tattoo and background, this guy is no innocent and may present a danger to our mission as well as the prince's life. No way he lives.

A

 

[Esquilax]

treave, we received a boost to our Scholarly Knowledge a few updates ago: has Yu taught us some more about factions within the Imperial Court or about how the country is governed? You mentioned that our studies would be focused on war and governance, so what has our pal taught us over this period of time? I'm curious here because I want to know who the main players might be in the Imperial Court. Of course, I understand that we might not really be privy to a lot of the intrigue at this point, but I'm hoping to see if we can determine what factions these various Grand Eunuchs belong to (i.e. Li, Wang) and a bit about what their goals are.

I suppose what I'm wondering here is that can we draw on any of our knowledge of the topics that we've learned about to help us in this situation.

 

[treave]

Uh... Scholarly Knowledge isn't Modern Political Studies 101. You study history, classics, treatises. How would a lowly scholar who hasn't set foot in the palace suddenly know all about political factions in the Imperial Court? That's not the stuff they ask you about in the Imperial Examination.

As far as how the country is governed, hasn't it become clear from the various lore dumps so far? Emperor at the top, then the Grand Eunuchs, ministers, and you have an assortment of generals and prefects and officials with various responsibilities. I don't think a full description of the bureaucracy is necessary?

 

[Grimgravy]

A
Doesnt seem like the time or place to question a guy who will get more dangerous as time goes on.

 

[ScubaV]

A
B might get us some useful information, but will almost certainly result in this guy escaping. That's too dangerous for us. If we were at full strength I would contemplate B, but not as is.

 

[Esquilax]

Uh... Scholarly Knowledge isn't Modern Political Studies 101. You study history, classics, treatises. How would a lowly scholar who hasn't set foot in the palace suddenly know all about political factions in the Imperial Court? That's not the stuff they ask you about in the Imperial Examination.

As far as how the country is governed, hasn't it become clear from the various lore dumps so far? Emperor at the top, then the Grand Eunuchs, ministers, and you have an assortment of generals and prefects and officials with various responsibilities. I don't think a full description of the bureaucracy is necessary?

Nope, not necessary at all. I was just wondering whether our current level of Scholarly Knowledge would help us in making a few theories regarding what's going on in the Court.

 

[treave]

What is going on is probably obvious (and generic) - a ploy in a power struggle of some sort so that certain people may gain an advantage or leverage over others. The martial artists are a powerful tool in this aspect, so their support would be desirable; this would explain court involvement in pugilist politics. What you don't know is the specifics, and Scholarly Knowledge - which really is mainly reading - can't help with that - you need an up-to-date account from a trusted spymaster, for example.

The Grand Eunuchs are all competing spiders sitting in their criss-crossing webs, where doing something, anything, is probably preferable to not doing anything because that means you fall behind. If you are to wonder who the Prince's enemies are, amongst them, it's hard to say: all of them can be enemies, all of them can be allies. They are a fickle sort. There is a chance that Eunuch Li is now backing the Prince, for example, and you'd be offing a potential ally, but there is an equal chance he isn't, and you are ridding the Prince of a troublesome enemy.

You'll have to make this choice without knowing which is which until later.

 

[Kipeci]

Our luck can make us reasonably certain that it'll be the opposite of what we would prefer.

 

[Anabanana]

Yeah, which is why I think we should interrogate him first, no matter what. We are dangerously in the dark about the whole situation; we should at least make an attempt to interrogate him. I don't think that the Black Dragon Society is going to help us at all with understanding what's going on in court.

 

[Kipeci]

The court isn't our business, our business is backdoor pugilist shady stuff. Going for court knowledge that is probably a pack of lies is not a good exchange for closing the doors to our entry of something that very much is our business.

 

[TOME]

we won't get clear picture from a field agent. I doubt he has all the necessary pieces we need to identify enemies and friends inside the court. We are much better off playing our own game and acquiring allies than playing with spymasters a game where we don't even know the players. We need to play their game at some point, but let's wait until we get info on whos who from a trusted source, or at least until we can control our surroundings to some extend.

 

[Esquilax]

The court isn't our business, our business is backdoor pugilist shady stuff. Going for court knowledge that is probably a pack of lies is not a good exchange for closing the doors to our entry of something that very much is our business.

Well, that depends entirely on whether this mysterious assassin is a potential ally or not. If Grand Eunuch Li is backing the Prince, then saving this guy's life will put us in the fast-track to infiltrate the Black Dragon Society and we have a great new resource that we can learn a lot of new things from. Of course, the downside if he's not a potential ally (i.e. the Grand Eunuch is working against the Prince) we're in very deep shit.

Really, this is very much like a game of Prisoner's Dilemma.

 

[Kipeci]

Clumsily attempting to interrogate him will put us on his good side and reccomendation list in the society just because there's a 50/50 chance that his master's interests may temporarily be coinciding with the prince?

That seems like a rather hefty risk to take, especially since he'd be well primed to betray our reason for entry if ever thier was a flop in allegiance for him or his master.

 

[Tigranes]

Yep. Sure, there's a slim chance that he turns out to be our BFF, but I'm sticking with A.

 

[treave]

Esquilax - A
Smashing Axe - B
Ifeex - A
Anabanana - B
Jester - A
Ganymede - B
asxetos - B
XenomorphII - B
ERYFKRAD - B
Zero Credibility - B
Elfberserker - A
Kipeci - A
Rex Feral - A
TOME - A
Nevill - B
Tigranes - A
The Brazilian Slaughter - A
m4davis - A
Lambchop19 - A
Grimgravy - A
ScubaV - A

***

Current tally:

A - 13
B - 8

 

[Nevill]

treave, I am sure you are tired of hearing this now, but if the votes close earlier, will the next update come faster? Because I am willing to flop if it does. I do not believe B has a chance in hell. Even if I am voting for it, I am not doing so on the merits of the choice itself.

To think all of this could have been avoided had we not chosen to go into full retard gentleman-scolar mode and keep our name a secret.

 

[treave]

Yeah, it does look rather hopeless, but unfortunately I don't think the next update is coming that soon. It'll take at least 24 hours from now I figure.

 

[asxetos]

treave you missed my B vote i believe.

 

[treave]

So I did.

 

[Azira]

Let's see if we can get this into overtime, shall we?
B

 

[Stygian Lurker]

Voting A

 

[Omicron]

Voting B.

 

[Kashmir Slippers]

A

 

[Baltika9]

Flopping to B. I just can't let myself vote so contrary to Jing's character: no way he'll kill someone out of fearing him as a threat. And, well, we really do need the info out of him. Will it be loaded with lies, hell yeah, but there will be some kernels of truth here and there.