[LP CYOA] 傳

[treave]

It doesn't reveal demons, it hurts them.

 

[Absinthe]

That is some amazingly baseless confidence you have there, Esquilax. I gave clear reasons for why I expect the teamwork to fail in A (Girl is scared shitless and we don't have any real notion of his defenses plus we have to do this strategy session in a short amount of time). Whatever crap he's using to survive the sword stabs, we'll figure it out if we use B, but if we do A, we won't. It is unreasonable to expect to overcome his defenses with an unreliable ally and without even understanding these defenses and yet devise a working plan quickly.

 

[Esquilax]

That is some amazingly baseless confidence you have there, Esquilax. I gave clear reasons for why I expect the teamwork to fail in A (Girl is scared shitless and we don't have any real notion of his defenses plus we have to do this strategy session in a short amount of time).

I don't have much confidence in A, either... which is why I'm still on D. But I still stand by the fact that if we die in A, it won't be because Zhang Minyue couldn't work well together with Jing. Most likely, we'll die because the Sword Demon will tear us to shreds for being a degenerate homosexual who was hoping for kinky demon sex. If he is a demon, Jing's best option is A.

Whatever crap he's using to survive the sword stabs, we'll figure it out if we use B, but if we do A, we won't. It is unreasonable to expect to overcome his defenses with an unreliable ally and without even understanding these defenses and plan all of this quickly.

Knowing what he's doing and being able to counter it and defeat him are two different things. Now, if we pick B, that kiss option in A won't be available because while we're on B, Jing's qi is no longer poisonous to Jian Yixiao, assuming that he is in fact, a demon. It's the chaotic aspect of our qi that ghosts and supernatural beings can't stand, so if he is a demon, we'd be throwing away the best weapon we've got against him. However, if he's still a man or his abilities are just some rare, super-unorthodox thing that he learned from Shulgi, then B is the best option and A gets us killed.

Basically, if he's a demon, A is a win. If he's still a man, B is a win. Problem is, it feels like guesswork and I can't really conclude what he is. I'm leaning towards him being a demon because of the dark undercurrent in his qi, the utterly bizarre techniques he has at his disposal, and the fact that he seems to be far deadlier/crazier this night than he was in our previous encounter, but it feels like too much of a hunch for me to actually vote on.

 

[Absinthe]

She will definitely fail. Here's the problem: Zhang Minyue has already lost the mental battle. Jian Yixiao has the Chixiao Sword with its commanding aura. The girl could not match him when she wanted to, and she certainly cannot fight him now that her spirit is gone. Jing does not have the kind of amazing charisma to help her regain her fighting spirit even if he pushes her back into the fight. It is gone. She already lost the fight.

And Wuxiang Qiankun is not an all-or-nothing option. We mix in Wuxiang Qiankun with the rest of our tricks. We're not obligated to handicap ourselves by staying in Wuxiang Qiankun the entire time if indeed it would be a handicap. We can mix in chaos qi if that's what works. Even if Jian Yixiao turns out to be a demon, we would fuck him up anyway. Did Zhang Jue go "oh snap it's an oni better give up on conventional weapons?" No, he killed it anyway - because you can do that.

 

[ScubaV]

Guys, we're about 150 pages away from surpassing the Pillars of Eternity thread. Let's not fuck up and die.

 

[Nevill]

I have zero doubt that if we go with A, we will do whatever we planned to do.

The only problem here is - will it work or not? If it does not, then we just get stabbed at point blank range, simple as that.

There is no way to know, similarly how there is no way to know if whatever firepower WQS will bring will be enough to stop him.

But there is no arguing against "bros, it will totes work, trust me, bros!"

 

[profreshinal]

D

I haven't read any good arguments for A or B and I think D gives a decent win. Sword demon doesn't get an extra sword, the girl is saved and the Zhou clan doesn't get utterly slaughtered. Besides in D Jian Yixiao won't have a safe place to stay anymore luckily Jing is there and can offer her one .

 

[Absinthe]

Guys, we're about 150 pages away from surpassing the Pillars of Eternity thread. Let's not fuck up and die.

Then flop to B. A is doomed to failure.

At this point I just don't want D to win. We came here specifically to stop this guy from killing anyone else, we started fighting him, and now we're just going to fuck off and let him kill everyone here?

Shall I interpret this as a ranked preference A>B>C vote?

 

[Esquilax]

She will definitely fail. Here's the problem: Zhang Minyue has already lost the mental battle. Jian Yixiao has the Chixiao Sword with its commanding aura. The girl could not match him when she wanted to, and she certainly cannot fight him now that her spirit is gone. Jing does not have the kind of amazing charisma to help her regain her fighting spirit. It is gone. She already lost the fight. She could try to fight if we encourage her, but she will fail and lose.

She's obviously scared, but she hasn't run away and she's still standing by us. As long as Jing is there to keep her strong, Minyue will hold up against the pressure. But this obfuscates the real issue - which is, "will the strategy in A work?" If he's a demon, it's crazy enough that it just might work. If he isn't, we die in a humiliating and hilarious way. That's pretty much it.

And Wuxiang Qiankun is not an all-or-nothing option. We mix in Wuxiang Qiankun with the rest of our tricks. We're not obligated to handicap ourselves by staying in Wuxiang Qiankun the entire time if indeed it would be a handicap. We can mix in chaos qi if that's what works. Even if Jian Yixiao turns out to be a demon, we would fuck him up anyway. Did Zhang Jue go "oh snap it's an oni better give up on conventional weapons?" No, he killed it anyway - because you can do that.

Let's assume that Jian Yixiao is a demon for a second. If that's the case, we know that the surest - and perhaps only - way of defeating him seems to be by using Jing's chaotic qi. But if you're using Wuxiang Qiankun, you're using his qi. So if he is a demon, you aren't going to be killing him while your using his qi. Again, assuming that he is a demon. Which, we can't really know to begin with.

Also, I doubt that the choice would be written in such a way that if WQS turns out to be ineffective, Jing can just switch back to his own qi and use the strategy in A or do something else. Otherwise it wouldn't be a choice. The whole point of B is to beat him in a fight by using his qi, not ours, so why would we switch back?

 

[Absinthe]

For your A point "she hasn't run away":

Zhang Minyue ducks behind you, her eyes wide with fear.

Close enough. She ran to the safest place she could find.

As for "cannot use chaos qi with Wuxiang Qiankun." You know what, lets ask treave. Hey treave, if we use Wuxiang Qiankun, is Jing obligated to go full retard and use Wuxiang Qiankun all the time or might he also switch to chaotic qi if that works better for him?

 

[Kz3r0]

Actually the choices are more clear than someone thinks:
A-works only if he is a demon, else is suicidal, very bad.
B-we have a fighting chance.
C-rely on what other people will do, unreliable at best, and we still fight him.
D-cut and run, if he is so weackened that will allow us to escape we could probably fight him else we are risking another stab in the back.

All in all A is the worse and should be avoided, the others seems all viable somehow.

 

[Absinthe]

Yeah but if we pick D we will have to fight him again later, and I'm not sure our abilities will improve much in the meantime, so I'm curious how we'll have better odds next time. He's weakened now.

 

[Nevill]

Actually the choices are more clear than someone thinks:
A-works only if he is a demon, else is suicidal, very bad.
B-we have a fighting chance if he is a human, otherwise we can't harm him, very bad.

Fixed it for you.

If WQS does not work, switching back to chaotic mode returns us to step one, where we've already been had.

But that's a non-issue, since it will totes work, right?

 

[Kz3r0]

Yeah but if we pick D we will have to fight him again later, and I'm not sure our abilities will improve so quickly in the meantime, so I'm curious how we'll have better odds next time. He's weakened now.

That's the point, D works if he ie weack, so is just giving up our chance to kill him.
Sincerely only B or C seems sensible choices.
And better repeat that the worst, and with the highest chance of failure is A.

 

[Absinthe]

Nevill refuses to acknowledge the possibility of switching back and forth between order and chaos as needed in B. He's also neglecting the fact that in chaos mode we would still have our insights into his moves from Wuxiang Qiankun in order to make his claims of "back to square one."

 

[Kz3r0]

Actually the choices are more clear than someone thinks:
A-works only if he is a demon, else is suicidal, very bad.
B-we have a fighting chance if he is a human, otherwise we can't harm him, very bad.

Fixed it for you.

If WQS does not work, switching back to chaotic mode returns us to step one, where we've already been had.

But that's a non-issue, since it will totes work, right?

Actually this is an argument in favor of B, even if he is a demon we can still fight him, and resort to kissing afterwards.
B still gives us a chance to fight back if he is a demon, A is a death sentence if we are wrong.

 

[profreshinal]

Yeah but if we pick D we will have to fight him again later, and I'm not sure our abilities will improve much in the meantime, so I'm curious how we'll have better odds next time. He's weakened now.

Jing has some smart friends, some even have scholarly knowledge and are interested in the occult. Maybe those friends can explain what happened and come up with a plan.
Yu where are thou?

 

[Nevill]

Actually this is an argument in favor of B, even if he is a demon we can still fight him, and resort to kissing afterwards.

Sorry, you have to choose now. Either you fight and kiss him, or you fight and fight him. That's what the choice is for.

You want to kiss, go A. You want to fight conventionally, go B. There won't be a magical switch from one choice to the other in the middle of the update if your chosen course of action turns to be stupid and ineffective, similarly how there won't be a choice to call Zhou guards for help if we don't manage the Demon alone.

The claims people make baffle me sometimes. The LP is ongoing for the better part of the year. Was there a single update where things have been different?

 

[Kashmir Slippers]

Yeah but if we pick D we will have to fight him again later, and I'm not sure our abilities will improve much in the meantime, so I'm curious how we'll have better odds next time. He's weakened now.

It won't be night. We could have our posse with us. The other swordmasters might band together and help us. Xuezi might have some insight about what he is that could help us.

There are a lot of things that could help us in a new fight. Hell, not having a dozen swords lying around for him to play with would make things easier if nothing else works.

Not that D won't have its drawbacks, but I feel that this time discretion is the better part of valor.

 

[Akkudakku]

Actually this is an argument in favor of B, even if he is a demon we can still fight him, and resort to kissing afterwards.

Sorry, you have to choose now. Either you fight and kiss him, or you fight and fight him. That's what the choice is for.

You want to kiss, go A. You want to fight conventionally, go B. There won't be a magical switch from one choice to the other in the middle of the update, similarly how there won't be a choice to call Zhou guards for help if we don't manage the Demon alone.

The claims people make baffle me sometimes. The LP is ongoing for the better part of the year. Was there a single update where things have been different?

Why does Jing has to be so stiff with his reactions. When shit goes bad (but still is not critical) he should change to the second best option!

 

[Nevill]

Why does Jing has to be so stiff with his reactions. When shit goes bad (but still is not critical) he should change to the second best option!

And when it fails, to the third one. With rollbacks, if need be!

Why didn't we tell Gao Ying to wait until we bring BJ over after we assassinated the chief of the secret police? It's unfair!

 

[Absinthe]

We don't need to kiss him, Nevill: we have palm strikes to drive our chaos qi into him. The kiss is just an extra stupid (if more efficient) way of delivering our qi into him.

 

[Fangshi]

Let's assume that Jian Yixiao is a demon for a second. If that's the case, we know that the surest - and perhaps only - way of defeating him seems to be by using Jing's chaotic qi. But if you're using Wuxiang Qiankun, you're using hisqi. So if he is a demon, you aren't going to be killing him while your using his qi. Again, assuming that he is a demon. Which, we can't really know to begin with.

I am not sure I follow.

Why is A considered the only way to kill him if he is a demon? I am not even sure it is the best way to kill him if he is a demon. What is to stop him from stabbing us while we kiss him demon or not? Hell with that many swords in him he probably only has to hug us really hard to impale us as well. We might end up defeating him only to die alongside him.

In B if we can keep up with him we can probably still kill him. If we can do enough physical damage to him that his body simply gives out then we can also win. If we manage to chop him into several large chunks that should do for him just as well as injecting qi into him I should think.

I am starting to think we do have the advantage here. He is wounded, we are not. There are two of us and only one of him and the WQS should surprise him. And you know what they say, if it bleeds...

Spoiler

 

[Nevill]

Why is A considered the only way to kill him if he is a demon?

Mostly because it is the only way to kill a demon we've seen with our own eyes. It's not like we encounter those often.

But I agree with your sentiment.

 

[Absinthe]

How about Zhang Jue and the oni? I'm pretty sure he didn't kill it by kissing him.