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[LP CYOA] 傳

a cut of domestic sheep prime

Guest
edit: Baltika is lost in a wetdream. ;)

It's not about them hating him. It's about:
1. Their pride.
2. Their disgust of him.
3. Their NOT TRUSTING him.

Oh, and technically Zhang didn't fix you. He merely smashed all your meridians, and allowed you to fix yourself. :lol:
That's because Zhang is a frick'n badass! It's just how he rolls. :M
 

Esquilax

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Ding, ding ding - we have a winner! In fact, Qilin said as much in a previous update. Also, don't forget that the Wudu Cult were the ones behind the assassination attempt on Rong Sr. They have no problem going after anyone, if they can profit by it.

And seriously, bros, that Taoist will have ZERO interest in helping us - especially if Yifang has already told him we are the Maniac's disciple. And I'd say that's pretty damn likely given what a stool pigeon she's turned out to be. It's time to harden up and pull our heads out of power gaming fantasies that won't happen and will only make things tougher down the line. Long-term, bros. Long-term.

I don't think that Master Rong is a great example. It's not clear that the Wudu Cult was engineering a takeover of the Songfeng school, and I don't think that's what they were trying to do in the first place. The more likely scenario is that the Wudu Cult acts like an unscrupulous arms dealer, so if you buy poisons from them, whatever you do with it is completely up to you. Basically, as long as you pay up, they don't care. Rong Zhiyu bought the Wushian Canshui Poison off them and used it on his father without any direction from them.

That being said, Qilin definitely knows more about our past due to our scars, that part is pretty indisputable. She knows that Jing grew up among nobility, and she now knows that the scars on our back were there before we had met Cao'er three years ago. Considering that she's an intelligent person who knows how to put two and two together, she's deduced that we are not actually a noble because the scars indicate a commoner's punishment, meaning that we are an exiled/disgraced commoner who was brought up with a noble's education so as to serve the Empire better.

As for A, I would absolutely love to learn the techniques that these Persians have. Considering that we already possess Ashina techniques, getting some more information on these people would be a great way to forge our own style futher. Having a mish-mash of exotic, foreign martial arts techniques is very tempting. One of the big benefits of being unorthodox is that you're not tied to some sect that bans styles and techniques that aren't Chinese (though of course, I'm sure that doesn't apply to all sects).

We're far more likely to make friends with the foreigners as Zhang Jue's apprentice than we are with the Central Tao and the Northern Monk. And well, the only reason that we're cool with the Abbess is because we rescued her granddaughter and have sensitive information regarding her past. It's a pretty extreme series of circumstances that led to our relationship with the Abbess, and I doubt we can repeat it with the other sect bigwigs.

Edit: Flopping my original post back to A

Edit #2: Also, I'm aware that we won't make friends with the Persians overnight. They're masked for a reason, and they probably don't want to come into contact with the locals either. While we won't learn techniques from them right away, they possess techniques that are obviously effective and are a complete unknown to any of the Chinese competitors. Laying the groundwork for a friendship with them is very, very useful. Learning a technique from one of the Eight sects is useful, no doubt, but learning a technique that none of the Eight sects have ever seen is even better.

Guys, as I've said before, if we want to learn some skills, our best bet is to do so outside of the orthodox sects. Sure, we might learn a few techniques either through winning the tournament (the prize is a technique manual), theft of technique manuals, or through making a few friends on the sly within the sects, but we the Persians represent a very skilled group of people that seem like they could teach us a lot.
 
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Nevill

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Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Esquilax said:
No, that can't be it. We've known Chi Qilin for a couple of years now, so if she knows that we had the scars since before Cao'er found us injured, then that narrows things down significantly. That bandit who barely looked at us for a minute could figure out who we were. If she knows that we have a noble's education, but suffered a peasant's punishment, well, then that probably means that we serve the Imperial Family in some way, but we were punished or exiled. Really, there's good things about C (being able to see what the sect heads know about the impostors), but if you want Qilin on your side, A is the best choice.
Remind me again, why can't we be a cast out noble (she does know that much even now), who never worked to pay for his food, was exiled or ran away, resorted to thievery to feed himself, and was caught and punished with a severe beating? How does she connect the dots of what is already known to her to 'he is an agent of the prince on a secret mission'?

Neither Qilin, nor Cao'er know of our life before we became an apprentice to the Killer Physician. The bandits had found a letter from the prince, expensive clothes, and a sack full of gold, which made them suspicious as to our identity. Qilin knows nothing of a this.

This is so far-fetched it isn't even funny anymore. This is Shulgi-watches-you-from-under-your-bed level of contrived argument.

Why is A better for pulling Qilin to our side? Did she even ask for your help?
 
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Esquilax

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Remind me again, why can't we be a cast out noble (she does know that much even now), who never worked to pay for his food, was exiled or ran away, resorted to thievery to feed himself, and was caught and punished with a severe beating? How does she connect the dots of what is already known to her to 'he is an agent of the prince on a secret mission'?

I didn't say that she'd be able to connect that we're the Prince's secret agent, I just said that she's able to figure out based on the nature of the injuries (lashes tend to be distinctive) and the fact that they were already there when Cao'er found us, that we are probably a low-born individual who served the Imperial Court rather than a true noble. No Shulgi conspiracies here.

Nobles don't tend to start slumming it for shits and giggles, so she obviously knows that circumstances led to us getting kicked out of the Imperial Palace. Again, take a look at the anecdote with the bandit in the beginning of the first chapter after we went off on our own. In our possession, we had a bunch of admission letters with the Imperial seal that their leader recognized. When he saw the lashes across our back, he immediately figured out that we weren't high-born because they typically wouldn't mark up a noble with sticks.

Given that Qilin knows the same details that the bandit did, and now she's seen our scars, she's probably deduced that we're a servant of the Imperial Court. Again, nowhere did I suggest that she knows of our mission from Shun, the extent of our relationship with the Imperial Family, that sort of thing. The only conclusion that I made was that she's a smart, perceptive person, who has inferred a bit about our past given the information at hand, which is the same information that the bandit had when he came across us. That's it.
 

a cut of domestic sheep prime

Guest
How does she connect the dots of what is already known to her to 'he is an agent of the prince on a secret mission'?
Not what he said at all.

Anyway, you just don't brutally beat someone of noble blood, so as E said, that combined with our manners points to the fact that we are an exiled servant. And since we were publicly exiled, it wouldn't take much for her contacts in the Wudu cult to find out if any young noble servants were beaten and exiled from the imperial court in the past several years.

That doesn't equate to us being an agent for the prince, but it does draw a great big connection between the two of us.
This is so far-fetched it isn't even funny anymore. This is Shulgi-watches-you-from-under-your-bed level of contrived argument.

Why is A better for pulling Qilin to our side? Did she even ask for your help?
One, I think you are exaggerating. This is perfectly plausible given her background and obvious level of intelligence.

Two, working together to help someone generally has a way of making them like you more. Also, this is a game, remember? Qilin points +1.
 

Nevill

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Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Esquilax said:
Nobles don't tend to start slumming it willingly, so she obviously knows that circumstances led to us getting kicked out of the Imperial Palace.
And that is different from what she already knows how?
Esquilax said:
Given that Qilin knows the same details that the bandit did
I've edited this part in afterwards. The bandits knew that we were executed while being a noble. Qilin does not.
Lambchop19 said:
Anyway, you just don't brutally beat someone of noble blood,
Unless they are slumming, stealing and otherwise behaving just like your ordinary street rat.
Lambchop19 said:
Also, this is a game, remember? Qilin points +1.
I am reminded of the "Try Again" D choice. I thought that it would give us Qilin points too.
It is not that type of the game.
 
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a cut of domestic sheep prime

Guest
Thanks for ignoring what I said before that. Ok, you think stealing something will give you points with them, but helping them won't make them like you at all? What are you even saying?
Unless they are slumming, stealing and otherwise behave just like your ordinary street rat.
No, you'd have to do something pretty bad to get beat like a servant as a noble.

Anyway, that changes nothing. Just add that as a conclusion she could draw. She'd simply have her contacts also see if any young nobles got beaten like a servant and then exiled too. (I'm sure few if any and that would be a rather public event as well, so it'd be pretty easy to find out if it happened.)
 

Nevill

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Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Please re-read my post.

Nevill said:
Remind me again, why can't we be a cast out noble (she does know that much even now), who never worked to pay for his food, was exiled or ran away, resorted to thievery to feed himself, and was caught and punished with a severe beating? How does she connect the dots of what is already known to her to 'he is an agent of the prince on a secret mission'?

Or do you think that noble outcasts steal food while proclaiming their nobility?

Lambchop19 said:
She'd simply have her contacts also see if any young nobles got beaten like a servant and then exiled too.
She DOESN'T KNOW that we were beaten THEN exiled. It would have been much more likely that we were exiled THEN beaten.
 
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a cut of domestic sheep prime

Guest
Again, I saw that in your post and, again, it makes no difference. Our common mannerisms/attitudes combined with our noble speech still points to our being a servant. She might also just check if any nobles our age-range were exiled just to be sure. I really don't imagine it's a common occurrence. In fact, asking Cao'er how long she'd known us would narrow the timeframe even further.

She's highly intelligent, used to dealing with plots and subterfuge (probably since childhood), and her father is the head of the Wudu Cult. She flat out said that having us killed would be easy for her. You think having us investigated wouldn't be? You think someone who specializes in poisoning people and who does it for learning and entertainment purposes wouldn't be sly, analytical, or paranoid enough to put things together and check up on us - even if it was just a good hunch?
 
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Tigranes

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What are C voters hoping for anyway? That GT would take one look at us and say you poor thing, here's some trick that can help with your qi (where we already killed our meridians and thus disabled most Wudang shit that would work)? That they'd tell us something magical about Zhang Jue or Shun's mission target or the WiB that we don't know, even though they didn't know about WiB and didn't know who was ZJ's apprentice before we told them? That they'd what, support our plans for any of our major missions, that we haven't even told them about? What could they possibly offer, except the one logical thing - we need you for something, something shady, so we can cut you loose later. Obey us, because we are the heads. Oh, also, you seem to be an abomination.
 

a cut of domestic sheep prime

Guest
What are C voters hoping for anyway? That GT would take one look at us and say you poor thing, here's some trick that can help with your qi (where we already killed our meridians and thus disabled most Wudang shit that would work)?
:D
"There's still one more meridian you have left, Jing. Bend over and let me stimulate it."
 
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Baltika9

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Please re-read my post.

Nevill said:
Remind me again, why can't we be a cast out noble (she does know that much even now), who never worked to pay for his food, was exiled or ran away, resorted to thievery to feed himself, and was caught and punished with a severe beating? How does she connect the dots of what is already known to her to 'he is an agent of the prince on a secret mission'?

Or do you think that nobles outcast steal food while proclaiming their nobility?

Lambchop19 said:
She'd simply have her contacts also see if any young nobles got beaten like a servant and then exiled too.
She DOESN'T KNOW that we were beaten THEN exiled. It would have been much more likely that we were exiled THEN beaten.

Because not everyone over analyzes shit like we do.
except the one logical thing - we need you for something, something shady, so we can cut you loose later. Obey us, because we are the heads. Oh, also, you seem to be an abomination.
Ahem, Tea-Time With Zeus, anyone?
 
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Tigranes

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I don't know. I just wish that whatever vote wins, I'd like to know what are the expected positive outcomes of that vote and the reasons we can consider that probable. Sometimes we do, and I don't mind if my preferred vote loses. But too often it seems like there's a lot of hand-waving but at the end of it nobody really knows what we voted for. If C wins I hope it's for more than "hey, those guys, they're powerful, I guess we'll talk to them."
 

Baltika9

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I don't know. I just wish that whatever vote wins, I'd like to know what are the expected positive outcomes of that vote and the reasons we can consider that probable. Sometimes we do, and I don't mind if my preferred vote loses. But too often it seems like there's a lot of hand-waving but at the end of it nobody really knows what we voted for. If C wins I hope it's for more than "hey, those guys, they're powerful, I guess we'll talk to them."

I definitely feel you on that one, man, with twenty guys all voting at the same time, it's pretty damn easy to get on the bandwagon and roll with it, and once it takes off there's no changing the course. I suppose the times of our dramatic deadlocks and deep update-chenging debates are over, this shit's gone mainstream now.
:troll:
Anyway, I totally agree with your points and I sincerely doubt we'll be able to sway anyone to A, but I might as well give it one last try.

Because honestly, what do you guys expect from C? That the Masters will work with us, Zhang Jue's apprentice that has been acting like a total jackass and humiliating their sects this whole tournament (yes, our stund with Nie Mudan was extremely disgraceful and humiliating, and it really doesn't reflect well on us honor-wise; choices and consequences), on equal grounds? Why would they do that, when they have all the cards on their side: Zhang's "apprentice" is running around the city attacking innocent bystanders and pugilists, we personally have absolutely zero standing in the world at large, our stunt at Songfeng can be spun two ways, the villain or the hero, but in the end we killed Junior on unsupported allegations of poisoning. They have all they need to strong-arm us into following with their agenda and taking the fall, with very little compensation. The Abbess can't really cover for us even if she wants to, because then she reveals to them the truth about Quingcheng and how exactly she abused her powers for Yao, Yifang and Cao'er's safety. Not a smart move in front of your rivals. I mean, really, what do you expect from Zhang Jue's sworn nemeses, free goodies and the benefit of the doubt? Our past history speaks for itself, and it's none too stellar.

On the other hand, if we don't attend at all, they can have fun putting the face to the name and picking us out from the crowd. They know Man Tiger Pig, sure, but our merchant persona is a complete unknown to all of them except the Abbess, Yifang and Cao'er. And even then, they'll have no proof to pin the blame on the crowd's favorite. And in exchange for helping Quiling, we'll get the potential to either expose the Persians as WiB collaborators or open friendly contact with them, depending on what the truth is, and act from there. It's much more difficult to use people as your pawns if they're aware they're being played, as well as earning brownie points with her (and hopefully avoiding another date-rape).

I suppose that if there are any upsides to C, it will show us exactly where we stand with the sectarians on a personal level, how willing are they to work with us on a respectful level and what they really are like behind close doors. Also, doing their dirty work for them gives us a lot of opportunities to gather blackmail on them personally, which can be extremely useful in the future, "Planning a coup, are we? Might want to rethink that, noble masters." :smug:
 

kazgar

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They know Man Tiger Pig, sure, but our merchant persona is a complete unknown to all of them except the Abbess, Yifang and Cao'er.

And everyone the monks have talked to, they've already blabbed to huashan.

Edit: I think somewhere along the way we'll bump heavily into the fact we're a kid in an adults world, as much as the combined neurons of the 20 people who vote in this thing think otherwise. Might as well be sooner rather than later.
 

a cut of domestic sheep prime

Guest
edit: the monks may be gossips, but doubt they've told anyone flat out. Under questioning from a high up in the pugilistic world they said we were only MTP's friend and I doubt that noble ponce went around to each of the sects blabbing his suspicion. Plus, I'd rather not give up on preserving our anonymity for...actually, what does C give us again?

Good points, Baltika. I cannot emphasize enough how much I agree with Tigranes here:
What are C voters hoping for anyway? That GT would take one look at us and say you poor thing, here's some trick that can help with your qi (where we already killed our meridians and thus disabled most Wudang shit that would work)? That they'd tell us something magical about Zhang Jue or Shun's mission target or the WiB that we don't know, even though they didn't know about WiB and didn't know who was ZJ's apprentice before we told them? That they'd what, support our plans for any of our major missions, that we haven't even told them about? What could they possibly offer, except the one logical thing - we need you for something, something shady, so we can cut you loose later. Obey us, because we are the heads. Oh, also, you seem to be an abomination.
 

Baltika9

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They know Man Tiger Pig, sure, but our merchant persona is a complete unknown to all of them except the Abbess, Yifang and Cao'er.

And everyone the monks have talked to, they've already blabbed to huashan.
Only they still don't know our face. And if we stick with Quiling, it will stay that way.
 

kazgar

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They know Man Tiger Pig, sure, but our merchant persona is a complete unknown to all of them except the Abbess, Yifang and Cao'er.

And everyone the monks have talked to, they've already blabbed to huashan.
Only they still don't know our face. And if we stick with Quiling, it will stay that way.


As you walk away from the table, the Shaolin monk Xuzhan spots you. He looks at you with a slightly curious expression and comes over.

“Sir, might you be-“

You nod quickly and gesture at him to follow you to a more secluded area. Once the two of you are there, he scratches his bald head.

“Might you be Young Master Guan?” he asks in a whisper. You see no need to keep up the pretense, and nod.

“My father let me come, but he doesn’t want me shaming the family name, you see. My merchant family isn't too fond of martial arts,” you explain quickly. “He would only let me participate on the condition that I appear masked. I’m sorry to ask this of you, sir monk, but could you help me keep this secret?”

so he's a shaolin monk, and a gossip, you think the grandmaster doesn't know?
 

Baltika9

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He knows the name, but not the face. Unless these shaolin guys really tried to remember exactly how we looked and every detail of our face. Besides which, Quiling is a mistress of disguise and intrigue. Unless she sold us out, she can definitely keep ua safe and hidden from them.
 

Esquilax

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He knows the name, but not the face. Unless these shaolin guys really tried to remember exactly how we looked and every detail of our face. Besides which, Quiling is a mistress of disguise and intrigue. Unless she dold us out, she can definitely keep ua safe and hidden from them.

kazgar, you raise an interesting point, but if we aid Chi Qilin in unmasking Nameless, perhaps we have another solution on our hands:

You fight back the sudden panic and stare at her face. It is very plain and average. Forgettable – no one you’ve seen before. You have not met this girl before, you’re sure. On the other hand, there is really only one person in this city who knows your true identity and would speak to you like that.

“Is this how you really look, Qilin? No wonder you only appear before me with your face made up,” you whisper back.

Why couldn't she perform the same acupuncture trick that she performed on herself? We would appear differently than we are now.
 
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Well, treave has already summed up the arguments pretty well. Essentially, the masters of the sects can help us with our real mission both directly and with information. The Abbess will be there and she kind of likes us, so I see no harm in talking to them to at least find out what else they can tell us. Because so far our quest for the WiB has been going rather badly. What I find unclear is how is unmasking the Nameless going to help us? Her mask falls off - she's a Persian woman you have never seen before (because we have never seen a Persian). And then what? Why would they then establish contact with us? Wouldn't they be more likely to be upset about losing the mask?

Oh, and of course all the masters already know who we are. A simple merchant's son does not get an audience with the grandmasters of the three of the most powerful sects just because he was another random victim of the masked attackers. The Abbess would have informed them if they didn't already know when she has set up the meeting.
 

Baltika9

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Because we have no pressure points, bro, acupuncture is completely out of the question. She can whip us a conventional disguise, definitely, and with her skills it will do the trick (hell, she can even throw us into drag if it comes down to it), but no acupuncture for us.
 

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