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Kashmir Slippers

Magister
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Here, obviously
A. What the hell, eh?

We don't actually have to win the tournament, so getting info on our opponent isn't that important.

We might as well try to take her on equal ground. We won't always know our opponents secrets when we are fighting for real.

The first choice might lead to something interesting relating to the overall story of our true quest.
 

Jester

Arbiter
Joined
Mar 24, 2013
Messages
1,493
Could it be we finally are going to met the rogue?
A for me
face, shape, name less? Either they are related or odd.
 
Joined
Feb 11, 2007
Messages
2,951
I would presume that Cao'er keeps close to the Abbess, and the Abbess oversees the training matches of her best student personally, if not trains her outright. So I bet Cao'er knows something about it.

Yiling is the most dangerous of our competitors, safe for the Sword Saint's disciple. You can't turn away from that fact just because you defended yourself really well against some aging nuns on your home territory.
We also fought against the Abbess, the master of Emei. While we didn't win that fight, it's a pretty safe bet that whatever Yiling knows she learned from her or some of the other older nuns. Also, the Abbess knows we were heading for the tournament, and yet she has let Coa'er there despite knowing that the girl would do pretty much everything for us, a disciple of the Maniac. Would she really let her in on sect secrets or let Yiling do so, knowing we might find out about it from her, if not at the tournament then later while travelling with her? Cao'er could very well have some observations that might help us given her high perception and special talents, but I don't think that is worth giving up the opportunity to find out what is really going on here.
 
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Esquilax

Arcane
Joined
Dec 7, 2010
Messages
4,833
I'm really conflicted on this one.

Also, the Abbess knows we were heading for the tournament, and yet she has let Coa'er there despite knowing that the girl would do pretty much everything for us, a disciple of the Maniac. Would she really let her in on sect secrets or let Yiling do so, knowing we might find out about it from her, if not at the tournament then later while travelling with her? Cao'er could very well have some observations that might help us given her high perception and special talents, but I don't think that is worth giving up the opportunity to find out what is really going on here.

It's not that Cao'er is "let in" on sect secrets, it's more to do with the fact that Cao'er is extremely perceptive and has a photographic memory. Whether she knows the full extent of Emei techniques or not, she'll definitely spot the holes in Yiling's game even if she's only seen her in action once, there's no question about it. That being said, actually reaching Cao'er and getting the info from her will probably be a bit tricky as well.

Then there are these masked impostors. This isn't the first time we've encountered someone like this:

Turning around, you see a person garbed entirely in black, even though it’s still light.
...
“You are a brave fighter, little Tujue girl. I came searching for the boy prince but found something more fun,” says the person - no, woman - in black.

A lot of questions here. The suspicious things that we know of are the invite sent by the senior disciples to the Southern Maniac without their respective sect heads being aware of it, these masked freaks making it to the elimination rounds despite the fact that nobody outside of the Eight Sects has done so before this in the past three years, and now the black clothing and hidden identities suggest a connection to the Woman-in-Black.

Very hard choice to make here. Yiling is a favourite to win, so we really need an edge on her from Cao'er that would allow us to defeat her without revealing the true measure of our own skills, but at the same time, there is a conspiracy going on here that might be connected to the person who attacked Shun. For the tournament, I would like to at the very least make it past Murong Yandi, since we know his particular style the best.

I'll have to think about this some more.
 

Tigranes

Arcane
Joined
Jan 8, 2009
Messages
10,350
Well. Everything points to how awesome (and beneficial) it would have been to manipulate our reputation...

Given that we went with the anonymity plan I've steadfastly tried to keep to it but now we are facing a real difficulty. Should we choose A and get hurt or delayed or whatnot, or simply have a lack of information, we may lose to Yiling and realise that we really haven't gained a whole lot from the tournament - the (temporary) friendship of the Shaolin man, a YouTube trailer of the Taoshan in action, a personal beating by Yiling. We can hope to beat Yiling with A but it would mean actually trying and saying goodbye to our 'fight like Nemo' plan.

The last few choices have been so messy due to simply incorrect speculation so let's get some things out of the way. It's highly unlikely that Zhang Jue would give a shit and we shouldn't be jeopardising the imporatnt things - our missions - because Zhang Jue cares about his disciple's reputation in a year's time.

I think the only reason to go A is if we believe this weirdo is connected to Shun's mission, and the only reason to go B is if we bellieve Cao'er can help us win without exposing our style. It really would be nice if we could beat Yiling somehow then lose horribly to the Huashan man, it would give us quite a bit of information on two prime targets and the horrible defeat in the latter should depict the former as a fluke.

A for now, though. It's an opportune moment re. Shun's mission that fell into our lap and it's unlikely this will happen again. If we're wrong and the man is just a nobody thief/joker it shouldn't give us much trouble. If they are in fact the rogue or some other contestant, we might learn information either way...
 

Smashing Axe

Arcane
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Messages
2,835
Divinity: Original Sin
I'll throw my lot here in with A. We should still be able to win the next battle, it'll just be more difficult, and the right choice more obscure.

A
 
Joined
Feb 11, 2007
Messages
2,951
Whether she knows the full extent of Emei techniques or not, she'll definitely spot the holes in Yiling's game even if she's only seen her in action once, there's no question about it.
I'm not so sure. Cao'er is perceptive and has many talents, but she is a total beginner when it comes to Emei techniques and new to fighting in general. If Yiling's techniques really have some holes (and that's an if), would she recognise them for what they are even if she spots them?

Though I suppose we might ask her to slipp the girl some laxatives or something similar - that would certainly help us. :lol:
 

Esquilax

Arcane
Joined
Dec 7, 2010
Messages
4,833
Absolutely agree with Tigranes. Guys, don't worry about our reputation - what the fuck are we worried about here, that someone might sully the good name of Zhang Jue's apprentice? I thought one of the main perks of being unorthodox is that we don't have to constantly worry about how we're perceived by others, so let's take advantage of that bad reputation instead of putting ourselves at a disadvantage by constantly worrying about people framing us.

I think the only reason to go A is if we believe this weirdo is connected to Shun's mission, and the only reason to go B is if we bellieve Cao'er can help us win without exposing our style. It really would be nice if we could beat Yiling somehow then lose horribly to the Huashan man, it would give us quite a bit of information on two prime targets and the horrible defeat in the latter should depict the former as a fluke.

Based on the way that the brackets are set up for us, the most likely people that we would face before the quarter-finals are Yiling, Nie Mudan and Murong Yandi. Since we've already invested ourselves in learning some of the ins and outs of Murong Yandi's technique, I would at the very least like to get past him. We can drop out at the semi-finals, where we'll most likely be facing a Shaolin monk.

I'm not so sure. Cao'er is perceptive and has many talents, but she is a total beginner when it comes to Emei techniques and new to fighting in general. If Yiling's techniques really have some holes (and that's an if), would she recognise them for what they are even if she spots them?

Everybody's technique has holes in it. Even a guy like Master Zhang can be beaten, though whether we're in a position to see those holes in the first place and to exploit them is a different story.

I think it's important to recognize that Cao'er has become a pretty respectable fighter in the time that we were off with Master Zhang. Remember this?

You quietly pull the window open and clamber in. As your feet touch the floor, she springs up suddenly to face your intrusion, her hand blurred in a throwing movement. You feel a sharp sting – looking down, you see two needles embedded near your pressure points. At those locations, it would cause swift paralysis… if you still had pressure points. You pluck out the needles, pulling down the cloth mask that covers your lower face as you do so.

“Your throwing has improved, Cao’er.” you wince. You hear a strange, choking noise in her throat.
...
“Would you be willing to journey with me? Not today, no… perhaps in three months or so? It should not take me that long to learn what I need… I think?”

The Abbess looks scandalized that Cao’er thinks that she will be able to master what she has to teach in three months. Yao only laughs confidently. “She is a fast learner, Lihua. In her fifteen years of life she has learnt what it took me more than fifty years to know.”

I doubt we'd be underestimating Cao'er's skill at fighting if we still had our meridian lines. She's a genius with a photographic memory, I believe that the past few weeks that she's spent with the Emei would give someone with her natural inclinations a great insight into the Emei fighting style. Really, as Yao said, she is a very fast learner and she probably has a fairly good idea of the Emei style even after being with them for only a short time. There's pretty much no question that Cao'er would be able to help us a lot here.
 

treave

Arcane
Patron
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Messages
11,370
Codex 2012
Honestly, the brackets have turned out a bit more dramatic than I'd expected or hoped for. Who knew that the RNG had a flair for theatrics. It's blowing the tournament's load early though. :rpgcodex:
 

Azira

Arcane
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Messages
8,519
Location
Copenhagen, Denmark
Codex 2012
Imagine if we'd started play as someone really smart and perceptive, eh? Someone such as a goat doctor?

...


Bet you're all regretting not voting for that option at the start, yes? :troll:
 

Smashing Axe

Arcane
Patron
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Messages
2,835
Divinity: Original Sin
Imagine if we'd started play as someone really smart and perceptive, eh? Someone such as a goat doctor?

...


Bet you're all regretting not voting for that option at the start, yes? :troll:
Knowing what I do now, goat doctor/scholar would have been my first choice.
 

Grimgravy

Arcane
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Sep 12, 2013
Messages
3,469
Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire
Tough choice. Given that the "Maniac's Apprentice" just attacked someone, we might not be able to declare our identity without forfeiting the tourney and maybe having to beat a hasty retreat. Fighting is strictly forbidden, after all. Things have gotten complicated. Hmm. I think this guy is part of a plot against us, not the Prince. So...

B
 

Kipeci

Arcane
Joined
May 22, 2012
Messages
3,027
Location
Vicksburg
It was Dog Doctor or Goat Scholar. Goat Doctor would have only minimized our Charisma without providing much else in return beyond either of those options. :rpgcodex:
 

Absinthe

Arcane
Joined
Jan 6, 2012
Messages
4,062
Voting A.

Sooner or later our guy is going to be known as Zhang Jue's apprentice. Having this clown muck around is only going to result in reputation losses and other shit when it happens.
 

Esquilax

Arcane
Joined
Dec 7, 2010
Messages
4,833
Knowing what I do now, goat doctor/scholar would have been my first choice.

Eh, you always want what you can't have. While I would have really liked a Goat Adjutant, the Goat Doctor is just way too creepy. A high INT/PER fighter would also not have a lot of fun tricks to play with in terms of neigong or qinggong, so there are always going to be tradeoffs. Nevertheless, Goat Scholar would have been a lot of fun too. A godly INT 10 from the start would give us a lot of interesting insights.

Something that I find interesting is that treave stated that there are techniques out there that you need to be low INT to truly be able to use them to their full potential. Something about understanding the essence of a technique - makes sense, a mentally retarded person like the Farmer would just be focused on doing the technique rather than thinking too hard about things.

Anyways, I have no regrets. I like Xu Jing a lot. His charm opens a lot of doors that wouldn't be open to us if we played as a really nerdy, high INT/PER type either. Plus, I like being fast and strong.

Honestly, the brackets have turned out a bit more dramatic than I'd expected or hoped for. Who knew that the RNG had a flair for theatrics. It's blowing the tournament's load early though.

Heh, I thought that this was intentional, based on Jing's bad luck. After all, what are the odds that we'd have to encounter Yiling, Murong Yandi and one of the Flowers of Huashan within the same bracket? Maybe his bad luck has spilled over into real life again. There's certainly no question that we're in the toughest bracket, by far.

Sooner or later our guy is going to be known as Zhang Jue's apprentice. Having this clown muck around is only going to result in reputation losses and other shit when it happens.

Again, given that we're the apprentice of the most feared and brutal martial artist in the world to begin with, why should we care about this? We aren't orthodox types, so why this obsession over our rep? It's not like we have a good image to protect here. That being said, I could see some downsides. If these guys are causing a lot of trouble in our name, we could end up catching a few bounties because of their actions.

Tough choice. Given that the "Maniac's Apprentice" just attacked someone, we might not be able to declare our identity without forfeiting the tourney and maybe having to beat a hasty retreat. Fighting is strictly forbidden, after all. Things have gotten complicated. Hmm. I think this guy is part of a plot against us, not the Prince.

Great point. We don't know if this conspiracy has anything to do with the Prince. However, even if it doesn't, something is definitely fishy. It's important to remember that the invitation to the tournament was sent out by the senior disciples, unbeknownst the the various Masters in their sects. The most plausible theory here is that the masked competitors - Nameless, Shapeless, and Faceless - are some of the same senior disciples who invited us into the tournament in the first place. treave, do we know if they competed in the battle royale or in the team challenge?

I dunno if we'll have to forfeit the tourney if we decide to take it all the way, though. Unlike these jokers with the masks, we have people here like Sister Yifeng and Abbess Miecao that can vouch for Xu Jing being the true apprentice of Zhang Jue once our mask is off. It wouldn't put the Abbess in an awkward position because we could say we had the mask on to avoid her during the tournament. If they're still not satisfied, we could brutally murder one of these masked fucks with our Shouwang Mad Claws to show that we're serious. Then there would be no doubt.
 

treave

Arcane
Patron
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Messages
11,370
Codex 2012
They participated in the battle royale. You'll get more details on some of the more interesting competitors next update.
 

Baltika9

Arcane
Joined
Jun 27, 2012
Messages
9,611
I don't quite see what all the concern with Yiling is all about. We fought the senior veterans of the Emei, we know and are accustomed to their moves and tactics (we can get a crotchguard and solve half our problems) and going to see Cao'er together with the nuns may very well put us in an awkward position, she may let some info slip about our presence to her nun sisters. And Yifang will probably be with her too, thanking us profusely for our help in retrieving her relative and how we should repent, not to mention they'll get grilled by the other girls on who we are and how we know them.
A.
Not that I care much about our anonymity anymore, but I'd still rather we set up some sort of drama for the Big Reveal.
Honestly, the brackets have turned out a bit more dramatic than I'd expected or hoped for. Who knew that the RNG had a flair for theatrics. It's blowing the tournament's load early though.

Heh, I thought that this was intentional, based on Jing's bad luck. After all, what are the odds that we'd have to encounter Yiling, Murong Yandi and one of the Flowers of Huashan within the same bracket? Maybe his bad luck has spilled over into real life again. There's certainly no question that we're in the toughest bracket, by far.
It's a sign from above to proceed with my all-on-one plan, we should defeat the toughest opponents in the most humiliating and Zhang-like fashion possible, without maiming or killing them.
Edit:
I dunno if we'll have to forfeit the tourney if we decide to take it all the way, though. Unlike these jokers with the masks, we have people here like Sister Yifeng and Abbess Miecao that can vouch for Xu Jing being the true apprentice of Zhang Jue once our mask is off. It wouldn't put the Abbess in an awkward position because we could say we had the mask on to avoid her during the tournament. If they're still not satisfied, we could brutally murder one of these masked fucks with our Shouwang Mad Claws to show that we're serious. Then there would be no doubt.
Heh, I'm down.
 

a cut of domestic sheep prime

Guest
B - Let them frame us. This joker is nothing but a distraction. Remember what treave said about our luck and the fighting brackets? I have a feeling this nun is no joke.

And remember, they're called "castration nuns" for a reason...
 
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Rex Feral

Prophet
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Jan 29, 2013
Messages
1,300
B. After reading 144 pages, I feel like caring for this competition a bit.
 
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Esquilax

Arcane
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Dec 7, 2010
Messages
4,833
Lambchop19, while I agree that we might be taking the nun far too lightly - she did nearly beat the greatest pugilist of our generation last year - she isn't a Castration Nun. Besides, even if she were, those techniques would be forbidden here. But it's important to remember that every fighter is different, and has different strengths and weaknesses, so just because we've had a sparring match with the Abbess, it doesn't suddenly mean that we can beat Yiling with no problem. The tournament rule set favours her orthodox style of fighting, so we need every edge we're gonna get. Considering that she came close to beating the greatest pugilist of our generation, I would say that Yiling is probably on par with Murong Yandi in terms of skill.

Getting an even worse reputation is going to cause big problems for us, particularly if we incur a bounty from an orthodox sect because we're being framed, but I think we gotta stay the course. We just can't take Yiling lightly. If we win the tournament, admitting we're Zhang's disciple is an awful idea if we ignore the impostors; just accept the reward of a Shaolin technique, memorize the knowledge of our opponents, and move on from there. I still might flop to A, though.
A

Interestingly, there are also three other participants besides you in animal masks – a tiger, a wolf and a cock.

Anyways, I sense a great opportunity for deception if we manage to put on one of these masks at some point in time.

treave, are all the matches occurring simultaneously? If not, I'd love to maybe get the chance to compete against some of our potential marks in the other brackets, particularly the Shaolin monk and the other Huashan sister. If Qilin has spiked the communal water (with laxatives, of course), then one of our masked friends might be out of the match with a bout of diarrhea before the big match, giving us the opportunity to take the mask from him and fight while he's indisposed.

As for Murong Yandi, I think he gave us an interesting clue:

To your surprise, Murong Yandi flushes slightly. “I-It’s my first time participating in a public tournament. I only joined this year because I desired to fight the famous Bai Jiutian, but to my disappointment he did not participate.”
...
For the past seven years, the tournament has been dominated by Bai Jiutian of Huashan – a peerless, elegant pugilist whose skill has brought him victory match after match. This year he is ineligible to participate due to his age, though he is still widely considered the best pugilist of your generation.

If he came here with the specific intent of defeating Bai Jiutian, then that tells me that he has been preparing for the Huashan swordsman's particular style. Much in the same way that our own Chuzhan Fist was designed to counter Wudang techniques, I think that this guy may have built his style around beating some of Jiutian's signature techniques.
 
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Baltika9

Arcane
Joined
Jun 27, 2012
Messages
9,611
Getting an even worse reputation is going to cause big problems for us, particularly if we incur a bounty from an orthodox sect because we're being framed, but I think we gotta stay the course. We just can't take Yiling lightly. If we win the tournament, admitting we're Zhang's disciple is an awful idea if we ignore the impostors; just accept the reward of a Shaolin technique, memorize the knowledge of our opponents, and move on from there.
If Zhang's Apprentice does get framed for some heinous crime, then our whole challenge becomes much more difficult. Declaring our name anywhere, including the monasteries, will just set the authorities on our trail as easily as doing it here. We need people to know and acknowledge our victories, otherwise we failed our challenge. Not to mention the rep hit we'll take with the orthodox sects.
In comparison, we fought Emei vetetans on the island and their school head, I thinl Jing has their basics down, we have the leg up on her. She's not going to be an easy opponent, not at all, but she's beatable without us inquiring.

These people in black, well, we're the tool of their conspiracy, or our name is. Either way, overlooking this will bite us in the ass later more than Yiling will.
 

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