[LP CYOA] 傳

[ChumBucket]

B.

 

[treave]

treave, can you elaborate on the options Jing is thinking about?

None of them are workable by the time the update ends, but he hasn't given up yet. Something might pop up in the next few seconds.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

C: Plant one on the lady pronto.


Nah, I vote A.

 

[tropic]

A may actually interfere with Shun's plan. He said not to worry and seems very composed.

Flopping to B - he has consistently been a step ahead of us.

 

[tropic]

“Your predecessor was a fool but rather thorough in his defenses. I predicted you would leave the safety of the capital with such a lure, but to be honest, I did not expect you would come prepared.”

“My father left behind some interesting writings in his laboratory,” smiles Shun calmly. “I do not seem to have prepared enough, though.” Somehow, their voices carry through the air softly, even through the powerful winds.

Is he bluffing? I think so...

 

[Nevill]

Is he bluffing? I think so...

Bluffing about what?

He wasn't kidnaped, he chased the woman himself. It is obvious he was prepared.

Wonder what that enough was about, though.

 

[Rex Feral]

I'll go with B. Maybe I'll flop to A later, maybe not.

 

[Nevill]

Shun stands before the altar, facing the veiled lady. He casts you a quick glance and gestures briefly with his fingers. Do not worry.

Even as his clothes are whipped about by the wind, his expression remains unchanged. Xiaofang is down on the ground, but Gao Ying is nowhere to be seen.

This is getting interesting. I wonder how much the contingency plan we think Shun has relies on Gao Ying.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

A - Do we have any other plans? No? Ok then.

edit: I need time to think. B

 

[Akkudakku]

Flop to B. Let Rage handle this. Also dont interfere with Shun master plan.

 

[tropic]

I'll take a turn at tallying.

asxetos - A
Smashing Axe - A
Azira - A
Ifeex - A
Kashmir Slippers - A
ERYFKRAD - A
Kipeci - A
Elfberserker - A
वाहन - A

Baltika9 - B
Kz3r0 - B
Absinthe - B
Chumbucket - B
tropic - B
Rex Feral - B
Lambchop19 - B
Akkudakku - B
Jester - B
archaen - B
Tribute - B
Grimgravy - B

A - 9
B - 12

Akkudakku flop
Kipeci flop
Jester added
archaen added
Tribute added
Grimgravy added
Elfberserker added
वाहन added

 

[Elfberserker]

So, we have super power loli on the first corner.

On other corner we have highly intellligant and powerful guy on other corner...Who has rage button

Abstain for now

 

[Tribute]

but you just had to blaspheme against the gods by that little act in which your servants pretended to their hallowed names, didn’t you?” She laughs mockingly. “When we saw that terrible show, we decided to speed up things just a little as a reward for your hubris.

Having reread that update recently, I was wondering if this was going to come up soon.

 

[Tigranes]

I don't get that passage, can someone dumb it down for me?

 

[tropic]

Can someone explain the rage button to me? I must have missed it.

 

[Nevill]

After reading the update one more time, I decided to share some random thoughts on the matter.

First, let's remember our conversation when we finally met with Yu and Shun announced his plan to visit the conference in secret.

“Lady Ji of Luoying Manor. As I suspected. What do you think about this, as a former fellow of Luoying? Is it plausible?”

“I… would not know. She did not seem like the sort to have any family. Or at least, any living family. Your Majesty, please reconsider your visit.”

“I have to agree with Xiahou Yu. Please reconsider, Your Majesty.” Gao Ying adds a word of support, cautioning Shun. “I do not think it wise to put your royal personage in potential danger. Remember, your father did burn down Luoying Manor. This may be a trap.”

“You might die,” you say bluntly. “Are you certain about this, Shun?”

“Are you – all of you – implying that you are too inept to protect me?” he laughs. “Well, if I die, then that is all I amounted to. But I cannot run an empire with so-called immortals and deities undermining my rule every step of the way."

[...]

You know that there is no stopping him once he is fully convinced of his course. There would be no point – Shun has likely considered his options more thoroughly than you have. If he is confident that he will not come to harm, then you will believe him. You will just have to support him as best as you can.

It appears that Shun have done extensive research into the matters of Luoying Manor, Ladi Ji, and Immortals in general. He knew what he would be dealing with. It is also evident that he was not wrong. The tricks the Lady pulled did not work on him. He was unaffected by the zither. He passed the halls full of shadows without incident. He was the one who pursued her to the top of the cliffs rather then the other way around. So far, his research have payed off.

But if he was prepared, how come he found himself in such a mess?

Well, there is another angle to consider here.

In the prologue it was established that Shun and Jing have developed a secret sign language between the two of them:

You glance sideways at Shun’s hand. Two fingers are extended, circling twice in a clockwise manner. That’s the gesture for ‘Do as you please’, which also means, in your experience gained from the decade you have spent as his companion, ‘I’m going to sit back and enjoy the show’.

So the possibility of miscommunication is rather small, even though he does not utter a word. If at any moment he felt that he was overconfident, underprepared, or otherwise have found himself in trouble, he could have given us a sign. Yet, the only signal he have given us so far is the 'do not worry' one, and he still did not cancel it. Naturally, such signals are only given if the person in question wants to do something worrysome:

“Don’t worry,” you whisper to Princess Jinpa.

“What do you mean, don’t worry?” she asks worriedly.

You throw her off the balcony.

As the soldiers scream in horror, you make your own leap while they are distracted.

Moreover, I am reminded of yet another Tufan scene:

He shakes the fan at you angrily, his eyes dark and hateful. “You won’t be smiling for much longer. Make a single move and these two beauties will get their throats slit, as wasteful as it would be.”

You glance at Qilin; she shakes her head almost imperceptibly, though you can tell that the rest of her body is immobilized via pressure points, as is Cao’er. There doesn’t seem to be any fear in her eyes – she has something up her sleeve. You decide to trust in her and play along.

“Very well, I won’t move,” you sigh. “What next?”

That time, too, Qilin gave us a signal to prevent us from making rash moves and allow us a peace of mind while we come up with a plan.

Between Shun's calm demeanor, his overall intelligence, sign language, and the absense of Gao Ying (he can't be far since Xiaofang is here), I am inclined to think that Shun has the situation under control and we have to put our trust in the man. Yeah, it takes a lot of courage to stay calm when a person you care about is threatened... but I would not be so arrogant to presume that any plan we can come up with as a desperation measure would be better than what Shun has in mind.

Naturally, I might be talking nonsense here, and Shun might have been caught off-guard, or he does not want to put us at risk, or he miscalculated and his plan is going to backfire on him, or anything else that my paranoia haven't come up with yet, but... you know how it goes. If Shun can't handle one measly Immortal...

Strongly leaning towards B.

 

[tropic]

I don't get that passage, can someone dumb it down for me?

When we deposed the prior emperor, we created the illusion that the heavens had ordained it, and it pissed them off.

 

[Absinthe]

Tigranes, when we overthrew the emperor, we faked the emperor's ascension to heaven and had Qilin play god to pretend the heavens backed Shun as the new emperor.

It was massive blasphemy. I was wondering when heaven would get involved after that stunt.

 

[Azira]

The Heavens can't take a joke? What a bunch of wankers. Can I vote to have Jing flip the lady the bird?

Retracting my PRAY vote.

 

[Smashing Axe]

Yeah, fuck heaven. Retracting my PRAY.

 

[Nevill]

It was pretty obvious that the Heavens are just a bunch of petty never-do-wells, since Lady Nuwa is still butthurt over what happened thousands of years ago.

Get a life, woman.

 

[Rex Feral]

I'm glad my opinion about the heavens and the gods was proven right. Gods can never be trusted.

 

[Baltika9]

Bros, what do you think of this:

“At the cost of the people suffering in the time it takes for a new dynasty to arise and impose order? I am not so callous that I will stand aside and watch as that happens. You can do your best with your famines and plagues, and let us see whether the capricious whims of the gods can suppress the ingenuity of man,” laughs Shun lightly.

Perhaps this is a hint?

 

[Rex Feral]

I'm sticking with B since I think Shun has a plan and I trust him with it.

 

[Kipeci]

Am I still on the pray tally? If I am, you can safely take me off of it. After I made the ill-advised decision to inquire more into the... 'hora-hora'... I think I'll never be for the 'hora-hora' option again, at least not while Jing seems to have half of a chance of survival. If we kill him off again/it looks absolutely certain to me that some choice is going to result in that, well, we probably deserve to be trolled more for our collective stupidity, so I'll go for it.

Anyway, I'll flop to A. If she doesn't think it'll kill her, we may as well go ahead since the situation is going to be rather dire for Shun.