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treave

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Codex 2012
A Challenger Arrives

Neither you nor Yifang make a move. Her sword is held steady as she keeps her focus pinned on you. The nun takes one step forward. You hold up a hand, stopping her in her tracks. As she looks on in puzzlement, you rummage around your garments. After a while, you whip out a folded, grey piece of cloth, which you hold out to her in an unmistakeably apologetic manner. Her eyes widen.

“I am sorry. I should not have stolen this,” you say, soft enough that the crowd cannot hear you clearly. “Your serious and earnest aura just now convinced me that I have erred in my ways. I see the light now.”

She relaxes almost instantly, a smile lighting up her face. “That is wonderful! I am glad you have repented. Let me teach you later about the wonders of the Buddha’s teachings!” Yifang comes towards you to take the skull cap back, but you stop her again once she is close enough. “Wait,” you say. “There is one last thing I would like to do.” Yifang looks at you with a puzzled, innocent smile. “Yes?”

Putting the skull cap to the pig’s nose of your mask, you inhale very, very deeply before letting out a satisfied sigh. The crowd begins whistling and jeering you in good humour, laughing at your antics. Yifang’s face turns red instantly. “G-g-g-give that back right now, you impure pervert!” she stammers, running towards you. You flee from her, holding the skull cap over your head.

The two of you begin running in circles around the ring as she attempts to snatch back the skull cap. “Why do you always act like this?” she moans, clearly frustrated with your recalcitrance. “Don’t you take anything seriously?”

“Let me guess,” you chuckle as you duck her grasping arms, “you thought that if you really beat me in a fight, I would listen to you?”

“Yes! You are arrogant and boastful and perverted. I wanted to show you that-“ –she attempts to grab the skull cap with a wide swing, but fails– “-that there is always someone better, so that you would be humbled and listen. If I beat you today… if I just beat you today…”

She comes at you with her sword, but her movements are sloppy and impatient. Her eyes are tearing up from your bullying. You suppose you shouldn’t go too far – you should stop before she starts crying. You dance back a few steps. Twirling the skull cap around your finger, you say, “So all you want is for me to listen to you, right? Okay. If you can get this back, I’ll listen to you for… let’s see, about an hour. I will sit quietly and consider everything you have to say seriously.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. I give you my word.”

“Then…” Yifang comes at you with renewed resolve. Her technique is keen and swift – her first stab would have hit you right in the chest if she was not aiming for the more difficult target; your hand holding her skull cap. You manage to draw back in time, but she presses the attack without pause. Even with your knowledge of how the Qingcheng Stab works, you find yourself quickly being pushed towards the edge of the ring. Her control over the technique is absolutely flawless; you find yourself thinking that the counter you had devised would probably work only four times out of ten, against an opponent of her caliber. If this had been a serious fight, where she was aiming to defeat you instead of getting the skull cap back, you would have certainly lost by now in your current condition.

As it is, you can predict where she will strike thanks to the treasure you have in your hand. Still, you won’t be able to hold out much longer. You slow down your movements, clutching your injured arm. A look of concern passes across her face, but it doesn’t stop her from closing the distance as she attempts to wrest the skull cap away from you now that you are in a vulnerable position. Clever girl.

In desperation, you toss the skull cap away, out of her reach. She leaps after it.

Yifang catches the skull cap and turns around to look triumphantly at you, but at the same time the gong is sounded, signalling that she is out of bounds. Her face freezes as she realizes a bit too late what you were planning. Silly girl. You bow towards her respectfully. “I will listen to all you have to say later, as promised.” Thankfully, Yifang isn’t as cunning as Qilin. That would never have worked if she was.

The crowd is in a good mood despite the anti-climatic end to the match, apparently humoured sufficiently by your antics.

As you are announced the winner, a young man comes running towards the stage. The tournament officials attempt to restrain him, holding him back. He seems to be wearing the uniform of a Huashan disciple.

“You!” he shouts, his voice ringing loud and clear, “You are Zhang Jue’s disciple, aren’t you? Man Tiger Pig!” There is an audible gasp from the crowd as they begin to murmur at this accusation. Yifang begins to come towards you, clearly worried, but you wave her off with a quick and subtle gesture of your fingers.

You take one step forward and stare silently at the Huashan disciple from behind your mask. You have not met him before, of that you are sure. He falters slightly under your wordless gaze before bravely continuing his allegations. “Your master killed my father! How dare you come all the way here in front of the honourable and noble Eight Sects when you study under such a cruel and murderous man?” The tournament officials continue to push him back as they do their jobs. The man is clearly disrupting the event.

“Wait!” calls out a man from the benches where the tournament committee sits. As he stands up, you recognize the clothes to be that of Kunlun. He appears to be in his early thirties, with a rather distinguished moustache above his lips. “Officials, free this brother of ours and allow him to speak. If indeed Man Tiger Pig is Zhang Jue’s disciple, he must at least face up to the sins of his master. That is his duty as an apprentice. We can afford to bend the rules for such a serious matter.”

The tournament officials reluctantly let go of the Huashan disciple. With a single bound he leaps onto the stage.

He shouts out his challenge, “My name is Yu Gan! Your master, the Southern Maniac Zhang Jue, killed my father Yu Bing. He was struck down without righteous cause and died a horrible death. I have trained all my life to avenge his death. Now that I know his disciple is here, I would seek a match to uphold my father’s honor! Will you respond, Man Tiger Pig?”

When he finishes, he places one hand on the hilt of his sword. You find funny that he is using the name ‘Man Tiger Pig’ so seriously in connection with the tragic death of his father at Master Zhang's hands. The crowd is waiting with bated breath, eager to see how you will react.

***

A. You admit to being Zhang Jue’s disciple. You don’t think there is any need to hide it now, after your conversation with the leaders of Wudang and Shaolin.

B. You deny being Zhang Jue’s disciple. You don't think Yu Gan's appearance is a coincidence. Someone is trying to lure you out, and you are not going to oblige.

***

1. You will fight him. Whether or not you admit to being Zhang Jue’s disciple, if he has come up on stage you can’t let him leave without the fight he wants. That would be rather impolite. Besides, it would serve as an easy reminder of your strength after your anti-climatic win over Yifang.

2. You don’t fight him. You aren't going to push yourself after managing to avoid a straight fight with Yifang. It may disappoint the crowd, but you can’t please everyone. You'll just have to talk your way out of the challenge.
 
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treave

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Codex 2012
bit mby we should change vote patent to something like vote Jester A for now? Should make it easier on you.

Oh, it's fine. No need to change anything, I'm already tuning out the endless Horikita Makis by now.
 

Esquilax

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You take one step forward and stare silently at the Huashan disciple from behind your mask. You have not met him before, of that you are sure. He falters slightly under your wordless gaze before bravely continuing his allegations. “Your master killed my father! How dare you come all the way here in front of the honourable and noble Eight Sects when you study under such a cruel and murderous man?” The tournament officials continue to push him back as they do their jobs. The man is clearly disrupting the event.

“Wait!” calls out a man from the benches where the tournament committee sits. As he stands up, you recognize the clothes to be that of Kunlun. He appears to be in his early thirties, with a rather distinguished moustache above his lips. “Officials, free this brother of ours and allow him to speak. If indeed Man Tiger Pig is Zhang Jue’s disciple, he must at least face up to the sins of his master. That is his duty as an apprentice. We can afford to bend the rules for such a serious matter.”

Well, you never know with our luck, but this seems obviously staged. Even before our conversation with Miecao and the Frathouse bros, we had suspected that there were a few people from within the committee colluding with the WiBs, and this could be a desperate attempt to draw us out from one of their agents. This whole conversation, with the Huashan disciple stepping forward and the Kunlun committee member encouraging him to speak up, reeks of a setup.

However, treave, I thought that there was no fighting outside the tournament allowed for the duration of the competition, right? Does this mean "no fighting outside tournament grounds" or "no fighting outside of the scheduled matches"? But nevertheless, I'm assuming if this guy is calling us out, he wants us to fight right now.
 

treave

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Codex 2012
It means no fighting outside scheduled matches, but he doesn't seem to care, and the tournament committee seems to be giving this whole thing their tacit approval.
 
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Yeah, this whole thing stinks of a setup. Not sure what's the best course of action, but I'm leaning towards A2 for now. A because we are planing to declare ourselves anyway, so lying might be counterproductive (though I could be convinced otherwise). 2 because jumping to the challenge is exactly what would be expected from a Maniac’s apprentice. Try to talk our way out of this instead, we have some skills for that. If he still attacks us after that, then defend ourselves, sure. But that way puts him as a clear aggressor in the minds of the audience. If the goals of the conspirators is truly to start a war between sects and Zhang, then let's not play their game.
 

Smashing Axe

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Divinity: Original Sin
Yeah, I don't think denying it will do us any good in the long-term. That said, I definitely don't want us to fight anymore, we still have a chance to win the tournament, and it's imperative that we do, for ego purposes. Whilst this reeks of a setup, I think the trap is more related to us attacking than the crowd knowing who we are. Yes, they'll take actions against us tonight, but if we stay with our bros and rest for as long as we are able, we should be in decent shape tomorrow hopefully.

A2
 
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Nevill

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Shadorwun: Hong Kong
treave said:
“Wait!” calls out a man from the benches where the tournament committee sits. As he stands up, you recognize the clothes to be that of Kunlun. He appears to be in his early thirties, with a rather distinguished moustache above his lips. “Officials, free this brother of ours and allow him to speak. If indeed Man Tiger Pig is Zhang Jue’s disciple, he must at least face up to the sins of his master. That is his duty as an apprentice. We can afford to bend the rules for such a serious matter.”
treave said:
He shouts out his challenge, “My name is Yu Gan! Your master, the Southern Maniac Zhang Jue, killed my father Yu Bing. He was struck down without righteous cause and died a horrible death. I have trained all my life to avenge his death. Now that I know his disciple is here, I would seek a match to uphold my father’s honor! Will you respond, Man Tiger Pig?”
We are not restricted by the need to uphold honor, neither we are obliged to carry out any duty people may attribute to us. We can lie today and tell the truth tomorrow - as long as the Masters are there to confirm our identity, - or we can keep silent, if the situation worsens any further. One thing I am sure of is that there are people that want to lure us out for their purposes, and I don't want to play their game. The man might be under the direct orders to provoke us. Hell, he is from the same sect Jiutian is, and the latter had been suspicious of us for a while now. Revealing our identity while the committee is eagerly waiting for it, and not on our terms, just seems foolish to me.

Accepting the accusation and refusing the fight might not be an option here - even the officials are ready to forget about the rules under the pressure from the committee. The man can just force us into a fight to the death, which isn't something we need right now. Even if we do not harm him too grievously and do not cause a greater incident, we would still be too tired to win the tournament tomorrow.

The audience shares their concept of honor and duty with the man from Kunlun. It would look strange if we refused a fight after admitting to the accusation. Yet if we reveal ourselves after achieving our own goals and disrupting those of the committee, whatever they are, we can always accept the man's challenge then, provided he still wants to issue it. It would be an eccentric thing to do, sure, but still within the expectations of the onlookers - if we would still care to please the crowd, that is.

If we refuse to acknowledge ourselves as a ZJ's disciple today and win the tournament tomorrow to then reveal us anyway, what do we lose? We won't be seen as a weakling - we would not have won the contest otherwise. We would be seen as a liar, maybe, but we have a reputation of a badass to uphold, not a saint, and winning the tournament establishes it much better than an angry exchange of words with allegedly-revenge-seeking nobody.

Therefore, I vote B2. Flopped to B1. Never liked this stupid tournament anyway.
 
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ERYFKRAD

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Strap Yourselves In Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Right now I'll go with A1.
I'm likely to flop later, but for now I'm voting for beating him to get something useful out of him.
 

asxetos

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A2.
Reveal ourselves but dodge the fight.
Tell him that we can fight once the tournament is over.
Also tell him that he is has no honor for trying to fight an injured man.

Nevill , if we dont reveal our identity now, it will be every anticlimactic to do it at any other time. Atleast now it is still salvagable.
 
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Nevill

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Shadorwun: Hong Kong
asxetos said:
Tell him that we can fight once the tournament is over.
The problem is that he wants to fight now. He just told you that your master had murdered his father, and you are thinking to respond with 'can't this wait for tomorrow?' The committee wants to provoke you, of course it can't wait for tomorrow. They've got the officials convinced, too.

If you had considered you injury serious, you wouldn't have been fighting Yifang just a moment ago. No, I don't think that line of reasoning will get us anywhere. If you do not want a fight, better not to play their game at all.
 
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Esquilax

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Excellent, the bandwagoning begins. treave, in circumstances such as this when there's vengeance at stake, is a duel to the death customary even among orthodox sects? Zhang might have killed Yu Bing, but as unorthodox martial artists, we aren't really obligated to defend his honor the way that a Huashan disciple would be obligated to defend the honor of his own school. If he feels so strongly about it, maybe he should take it up with Zhang instead of some guy who isn't even responsible for killing his father.

Ah shit, I just realized that in this world, your Master reflects on you greatly. You can't just refuse a challenge issued at an orthodox tournament by a man with a strong claim to do so so lightly.

Yeah, I don't think denying it will do us any good in the long-term. That said, I definitely don't want us to fight anymore, we still have a chance to win the tournament, and it's imperative that we do, for ego purposes. Whilst this reeks of a setup, I think the trap is more related to us attacking than the crowd knowing who we are. Yes, they'll take actions against us tonight, but if we stay with our bros and rest for as long as we are able, we should be in decent shape tomorrow hopefully.

Dude, fuck ego. But you do have a point that we're definitely being provoked into fighting. According to the Master Wang:

“I agree,” says the Grand Taoist, turning to you. “They wanted you here. As the Southern Maniac’s disciple they had expected you to act like your master, walking in brazenly and possibly maiming one or two arrogant fools who decide to bite off more than they can chew. They were probably prepared to provoke you into doing something foolish.”

Given what we've already accomplished here and the names we've defeated, I see the clear benefit of revealing ourselves here and now. Also, there is no fucking way that I am fighting Guo Fu again once he starts studying with one of the Eight Sects. But given that Bai Jiutian already knows that we are the merchant Guan Shide, we can definitely expect some reprisal later tonight if we refuse this challenge. Perhaps Bro Fu can protect us for the night?

Also tell him that he is has no honor for trying to fight an injured man.

Yeah, that's not going to work. We've just fought Yifang while injured, and our antics throughout the tournament have been less-than-honorable. Still, if he's feeling brave, why doesn't he go to Maniac Island instead? We can give him directions.

Given our injured state, A1 presents a huge set of problems. Yu Bing is likely a senior student, so he's probably rather skilled. Since this challenge is about vengeance, I'm assuming we'd both be putting our lives on the line. This presents a lose-lose situation for us, because even if we win by slaying him like we did Rong Zhiyu, we'd end up playing into their hands. The only way that we'd stand a chance here is by going all-out on this one, and there seems to be no benefit to it.

B1
 
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Nevill

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asxetos said:
Nevill , if we dont reveal our identity now, it will be every anticlimactic to do it at any other time.
Not at all. Revealing ourselves would just forfeit our chances for the victory. We would be forced in a defensive position, trying to explain that we didn't do all that shit people attribute to us. We only have their masters to vouch for us, and that still might not prevent a fight breaking out.

If we win tomorrow, we will be allowed word as a victor. We can say that there was a campaign to discredit our name by those who were jealous of our abilities, so we thought it wasn't wise to tell everyone of our true name before that. People would be much more likely to listen if we back our words with the authority of the one who had won their tournament.

Esquilax said:
This presents a lose-lose situation for us, because even if we win by slaying him like we did Rong Zhiyu, we'd end up playing into their hands. The only way that we'd stand a chance here is by going all-out on this one, and there seems to be no benefit to it.
Exactly.
 
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treave

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Excellent, the bandwagoning begins. treave, in circumstances such as this when there's vengeance at stake, is a duel to the death customary even among orthodox sects? Zhang might have killed Yu Bing, but as unorthodox martial artists, we aren't really obligated to defend his honor the way that a Huashan disciple would be obligated to defend the honor of his own school. If he feels so strongly about it, maybe he should take it up with Zhang instead of some guy who isn't even responsible for killing his father.

Fighting to the death is the usual fare when dealing with matters of bloody vengeance, yes. Well, you aren't his father's killer, so perhaps he's just looking to beat you up to get back at Zhang.
 

asxetos

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The real "officials" of the tournament are the Sect Masters, and they will back us up if we want to postpone the fight unti after the tournament.
I think A is the way to go about our identity, because while it is lame to be revealed like this, it will be lamer to be revealed later.
My only concern here is a very probable attack by the WiB tonight while we are recovering. We should take all precautions and as much help as we can get.
 

ERYFKRAD

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Strap Yourselves In Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Bros, I wonder if this here chap is really someone dishonored or a setup. If it is a setup and we forfeit the fight now, how do we catch him later and make him spill the beans on what he knows? Is it in any case possible to troll-fight him?
 

Nevill

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asxetos said:
The real "officials" of the tournament are the Sect Masters, and they will back us up if we want to postpone the fight unti after the tournament.
The committee wants to trap the Masters in a situation where their hand is forced. They do not want to kill Zhang Jue, but if the man kills a hundred of their disciples in self-defense, they would need to either respond in kind, or leave the game and their posts with it. Defending us would weaken their position among their own sects, which they admit they already can't run by themselves.

We do not lose anything if we reveal our identity later. What does 'lame' even stand for? We would have an explanation ready, and if not everyone buys it, well, suck it up, you sour jealous losers - we are the champion, and you are a bunch of loudmouth nobodies.

ERYFKRAD said:
If it is a setup and we forfeit the fight now, how do we catch him later and make him spill the beans on what he knows?
Why not ask him out tomorrow? He told us his name, he can't leave the matter be if we dare him to repeat his claims the next day.
 

ERYFKRAD

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Strap Yourselves In Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
If it IS a setup I don't think he'd stick around until then. In fact- challenge for tomorrow, he disappears, and they could say we killed him. Better to face him now, get what we can out of him, and be done with.
 

Nevill

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ERYFKRAD said:
If it IS a setup I don't think he'd stick around until then. In fact- challenge for tomorrow, he disappears, and they could say we killed him. Better to face him now, get what we can out of him, and be done with.
Do NOT challenge him for tomorrow. Do not challenge him now at all.

Tomorrow, when the time comes, say to the crowd that you are ready to face the man if he is still around.

He is one of the Huashan, he proclaimed his name for everyone to hear. He is allegedly waiting for the disciple of ZJ to show up. Where would he go after that? And if he does, it will give our words even more credit, because the setup would become obvious.
 

ScubaV

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As I see it, if we choose B then we have to continue our masquerade for some time. If we deny being ZJ's apprentice now and then turn around and declare it at the end of the tourney we will just look like a coward who wanted to avoid a REAL fight in everyone's eyes. It may or may not be better long-term, but it will waste our efforts so far. However, if we declare our identity now and use our speech skill (which is decently high) to good effect we can come off as someone who isn't as bloodthirsty and sociopathic as people would expect. This will also dampen efforts to build resentment toward Zhang Jue. The plotters will be forced to abandon their plans for the tournament or take drastic measures. If they choose the latter, mistakes will likely be made that we can take advantage of.

A2
 

ERYFKRAD

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Strap Yourselves In Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
ERYFKRAD said:
If it IS a setup I don't think he'd stick around until then. In fact- challenge for tomorrow, he disappears, and they could say we killed him. Better to face him now, get what we can out of him, and be done with.
Do NOT challenge him for tomorrow. Do not challenge him now at all.

Tomorrow, when the time comes, say to the crowd that you are ready to face the man if he is still around.

He is one of the Huashan, he proclaimed his name for everyone to hear. He is allegedly waiting for the disciple of ZJ to show up. Where would he go after that? And if he does, it will give our words even more credit, because the setup would become obvious.
If he does go somewhere, all someone'd have to do is mess stuff around at where he lives, make it look like a fight happened, and we'd be in it, again. Unless we haul out witness who can say we were not near him, in which case we'd be accused of bringing accomplices or whatever. I will admit that's a hell of a stretch, but I'd rather not rule it out when we don't know too much.
Also, if he does run away, we might have to spend time and effort in tracking him down, or finding other leads. He's at hand now, I say we grab him while we can.
 

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