[LP CYOA] 傳

[Nevill]

WQS has steered us wrong before, +1 SWORDS has steered us wrong before, but trolling has never steered us wrong.

Well, that, and I am reminded of this quote by Shun:

“It was pretty obvious to me. No matter. If we play our cards right, I can declare a general amnesty for the Fire Temple. They too can be of use. Just stay sharp for any opportunities to serve the country and I’ll have my excuse,” he grins.

A public deed like this may be just exactly the sort of thing he was talking about. We took credit for the idea, and we came up with the proposal to bring it to the Emperor together. It may be a good first step to become officially recognized as the agent of the Empire (since we aren't fooling the main players anymore)... if we don't fuck up, that is.

 

[Baltika9]

Or get framed for something that happens on the road.
My main problem is that in A we have the Batman Rogues Gallery travelling with Jianghu's Justice League (as far as politics and public perception is concerned, anyway). We'd make the prefect scapegoats for anything unsavory that happens on the road.

Edit: ducking cellphones.

 

[ChumBucket]

B has the added problem of trying to sneak with our whole entourage. Not an easy prospect.
A

 

[Esquilax]

B has the added problem of trying to sneak with our whole entourage. Not an easy prospect.

Who says we'd be sneaking with our whole entourage? We'd be going in ourselves, along with someone superb at stealth like Qilin - it'll be romantic! The focus on B will be recon/info-gathering, so the less of us there are, the better.

 

[ChumBucket]

Or get framed for something that happens on the road.
My main problem is that in A we have the Batman Rogues Gallery travelling with Jianghu's Justice League (as far as politics and public perception is concerned, anyway). We'd make the prefect scapegoats for anything unsavory that happens on the road.

Edit: ducking cellphones.

I get the impression that framing can be on the docket regardless. If we follow and get spotted: we were scouting to steal it. If we join him it is just to put ourselves in position to steal it. If Gao Fu is given the sword and looses it, it was our idea and we probably manipulated him to get.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Or get framed for something that happens on the road.
My main problem is that in A we have the Batman Rogues Gallery travelling with Jianghu's Justice League (as far as politics and public perception is concerned, anyway). We'd make the prefect scapegoats for anything unsavory that happens on the road.

Edit: ducking cellphones.

I get the impression that framing can be on the docket regardless. If we follow and get spotted: we were scouting to steal it.

And then we say we were ordered to follow them by the Emperor himself and Shun backs us up. Nie knows of our close ties to him. Why would he bother with such an accusation?

 

[ChumBucket]

And he can back us up just as easily for both A and B. The only exception is if Shun is dead, which is why everyone is staying a mile away from D.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

And he can back us up just as easily for both A and B. The only exception is if Shun is dead, which is why everyone is staying a mile away from D.

Nah, in A Nie will have all his buddies there (including 2 people the Zhang family have already blackmailed to assassinate us) as witnesses/accomplices/thugs and with our being in close proximity to him, there is always the possibility of him using poison on us (remember that he possesses a poison even the masters weren't able to detect). If he was planning to frame us, chances are he'd want to kill us and then frame us afterward due to our ties with Shun - it's difficult and somewhat pointless to defend a dead man with a rep as awful as ours, even if you are emperor. In B, well, he'd have to detect us first (our sneak skill is 8), then he'd have a much more difficult time of killing/framing us than in A.

Besides, in A he knows for a fact we are there. This will keep him on guard the whole time, so I doubt he'll let slip what his true plans are. In B, there's a chance we might be able to eavesdrop and figure out his plan since his guard will likely be down.

(postbrofist) edit:
Anyway, I'll state again to be clear: I don't think he wants to steal the sword because he's risking his rep by being the one to guarantee its delivery and I don't think he'll want to frame us, except as a pretext for killing us (which he very much wants to do). I think he'd be most likely to try to kill us in A.

 

[Nevill]

Nah, in A Nie will have all his buddies there (including 2 people the Zhang family have already blackmailed to assassinate us) as witnesses/accomplices/thugs

He can bring the whole army with him, we have the Ultimate Loli-shaped Answer to that!

and with our being in close proximity to him, there is always the possibility of him using poison on us (remember that he possesses a poison even the masters weren't able to detect).

Oh! Oh! Guyse, I know the perfect counter to that! We just use our WQS to copy Qilin's Liedu Zhanhua Skill along with her neigong!

Checkmate, Lambchop!

Look, I don't see what is so bad about Wuxing trying to kill us (if he does try). It means we have derailed his plans enough for him to resort to desperate measures. We just have to avoid getting killed, and that is one area we are fairly proficient in.

B relies on Bai Jiutian's cooperation, since the girl can spot us through walls (it's love, I'm telling you!). And seeing how the Dex was "Can't trust Bai, can never trust Bai" in the previous choice (at least those who weren't against it because of the DEMONZ), well... not saying that it won't work, but it would be inconsistent with us turning down the chance to gather information from her earlier.

Who says we'd be sneaking with our whole entourage? We'd be going in ourselves, along with someone superb at stealth like Qilin - it'll be romantic! The focus on B will be recon/info-gathering, so the less of us there are, the better.

Wait, but who will stay back to make sure no one makes a move on our harem?

We should have broed it up with Gao Ying. We need a personal eunuch.

 

[Akkudakku]

Hey or lets have Young Master Bai carry the sword, with us as bodyguards

 

[Absinthe]

Lambchop19, we would also have Miss Qilin (poison expert) and Cao'er (godlike physician) with us who would both recognize these poisons and be capable of treating them. We could also just copy their poison absorption neigong with Wuxiang Qiankun.

As for Shun, if they accuse Jing of treason, the emperor could easily declare us innocent. If he wants, he could even directly counter their testimony as a witness which would royally screw over their framejob.

And in A, we have better opportunities to talk with Miss Bai. In B, they will have their guard up more because a sword like that draws some serious attention if it looks even slightly vulnerable.

Akkudakku, I was tempted to raise that as an E vote, but unfortunately that would drive a wedge between Bai Jiutian and Nie Wuxing which won't help us with either of them (and it would lower BJ's value as an informant).

 

[Esquilax]

And in A, we have better opportunities to talk with Miss Bai. In B, they will have their guard up more because a sword like that draws some serious attention if it looks even slightly vulnerable.

The whole point of B is to ensure that Nie Wuxing doesn't have his guard up. Now, of course Madame Nie is smart and I'm sure that she probably knows that we are going to be tailing them at some point (they know that we didn't come all the way here just to happily let them take the sword like that), but I can't see how we'd have better opportunities to talk to Bai Jiutian in A - where you have two blocs of people with a ton of mistrust towards one another - rather than in B - where, even if they suspect that Xu Jing is planning something, they won't know how he's going about it.

If you're looking to use Miss Bai as an informant - and that's of course the play that we should be going for - I don't see how we'd arrange a meeting to take an advantage of that with the Douchebag Sects and their allies' eyes upon us. The one angle that they are less suspicious of here is Bai Jiutian, whom they don't realize we are allied with.

Anyways, Lambchop has swayed me to B once more. The lack of trolling will be made up for by a romantic nighttime visit in Miss Bai's chambers.

 

[Baltika9]

I'd like to remind you bros that Shun's position as Emprah doesn't give him free reign to do and declare whatever the fuck he wants to. Bottom line is, we are the villain of the jianghu and Nie and his pals are it's heroes. Just like in the Fire Cult vs Big Wang scenario, he can't just declare them innocent without any negative impact on himself (yet, at least, since he's still a very recent monarch), just like sticking up for Xu Jing, the Prince of Trollan, over Wuxing won't be a simple deal for him.
The reason I consider B to be the better choice here is because we, one, do the 'right' thing that looks good on us and, two, put Wuxing at ease which makes it easier for us to spy on him. We honestly don't have enough solid, concrete information on his plans which is why I'd rather we take a step back from him and observe and analyze from a safe distance, without getting our group of the jianghu's greatest villains involved.

romantic nighttime visit in Miss Bai's chambers.

The only thing that matters.
Anyone have a tally?

 

[Nevill]

The lack of trolling will be made up for by a romantic nighttime visit in Miss Bai's chambers.

The one you passed up the last night? Pah!

Don't lie to yourself, from now on you'll be going to bed early like a nice kid you are. Because nights are scary.

The one angle that they are less suspicious of here is Bai Jiutian, whom they don't realize we are allied with.

Do they? Madam Nie at least should suspect that we had a motive to save BJ's life, and the woman is the only enemy that is truly dangerous in Nie's camp.

 

[Baltika9]

We neglected to caress BJ's beasts. We must redeem ourselves!

 

[Nevill]

The reason I consider B to be the better choice here is because we, one, do the 'right' thing that looks good on us

I am sorry, how is dumping the responsibility and the honor of carrying the Emperor's gift on Wuxing looks better than participating in this ourselves?

 

[Baltika9]

Because we play by orthodox HONRABRU rules (like i said, makes us look good) and let the cowardly duchenozzle take the fall when/if something goes wrong and we fix his fuck up.

 

[Esquilax]

The one you passed up the last night? Pah!

Don't lie to yourself, from now on you'll be going to bed early like a nice kid you are. Because nights are scary.

Point taken, but I don't think that the detail about Jing's night-time alertness was a red herring. Just like how I think we likely dodged Madame Nie's attempt to turn Qilin against us by going to meet with her and Nie Wuxing, I also think that we avoided an (unknown) consequence by going to bed early like a good little boy. Unless you're doubting Codexian Paranoia, which is proven to work 100% of the time.

Because we play by orthodox HONRABRU rules (like i said, makes us look good) and let the cowardly duchenozzle take the fall when/if something goes wrong and we fix his fuck up.

This is a simple escort mission - he won't fuck it up. What we're banking on in B is a means to rendezvous with Bai Jiutian, uncover a few things from Qilin, and perhaps if the YOLO within us is strong, to take the Xuanyuan Sword from them. Hard to say at this point, though.

 

[Nevill]

Because we play by orthodox HONRABRU rules (like i said, makes us look good) and let the cowardly duchenozzle take the fall when/if something goes wrong and we fix his fuck up.

We play by the same rules in A, do we not? In fact, we make the rules and share the spotlight evenly. It is a selfless act, don't you see?

Unless you're doubting Codexian Paranoia, which is proven to work 100% of the time.

Because at times when it appears like it didn't work, it in fact worked better than we hoped it would, and it saved us from Yunzi being killed and the Empire being ruined without us even knowing about it?

The paranoiac logic is indeed infallible.

 

[Baltika9]

Again, my probkem with A is the company we keep they will be around Wuxing and his ctonies, who will outnumber us if not necessarily outclass us.

 

[Nevill]

Again, my probkem with A is the company we keep they will be around Wuxing and his ctonies, who will outnumber us if not necessarily outclass us.

What do they have against Master Zhang (God Bless His Soul)?

What does Master Zhang have against being outnumbered?

Edit: Wait, are you trying to run away from a fightan on a basis that you are at a disadvantage? TREASON!

 

[Baltika9]

THE LORD has nothing against being outnumbered. However, HIS ways are mysterious and we cannot even begin to guess what HE will do next. Relying on HIM to come and bail or asses is a disgrace to HIS teachings.

 

[Absinthe]

Shangguan Chuji could also come.

 

[Baltika9]

Describe to me the amount of fucks either of them have to give at any given time.
I'll wait.

 

[Esquilax]

Because at times when it appears like it didn't work, it in fact worked better than we hoped it would, and it saved us from Yunzi being killed and the Empire being ruined without us even knowing about it?

The paranoiac logic is indeed infallible.

No, I'm saying that sometimes it can be difficult to tell from the get-go whether something was a good decision or not. As voters we have a tendency to immediately think that a choice is shit if it doesn't work out well instantly. Look at all the butthurt after we decided to talk with Nie Wuxing alongside Qilin: "BAAAWWWW WE COULD HAVE GOTTEN +1 SWORDS!!!" We got a hint of their plans (admittedly, not enough) and we managed to strengthen our relationship with Qilin, ensuring that she's less likely to be manipulated by Madame Nie. Sometimes the consequences of a choice don't pan out instantly, and I had a bad enough gut feeling the last time to forgo the option to squeak in another adventure before the meeting. Maybe we would have missed out on it and overslept, maybe we would have been possessed by a demon and woken up with our bloody hands clutching Shun's throat - I don't know - but my point is that just because something doesn't work out in our favour right away doesn't mean that there weren't benefits either.