[LP CYOA] 傳

[Nevill]

Nobody trusts Bai Jiutian, except for the gullible folk. Not the Masters, not Qilin, and not us.

Damn it, I don't think we can win with it, because I am incredibly suspicious of it, but I can't possibly think of a way to win without it. In fact, why would Jiutian leave a way for us to win at all? If it was a drug in those leaves, and not a poison, Qilin might not notice it.

In this case, the only logical conclusion would be not to play. Take the medicine to heal somewhat, win the tournament, and move the hell out of here.

Flopping to AB.

 

[Baltika9]

BA, no risk, no reward. The poison will show itself against Faceless, and we can act from there. Besides, we gotta be at 100% for any WiB fuckery.
If we can't defeat Jiutian while poisoned, we have no right to be Zhang's apprentice.

 

[Nevill]

The poison will show itself against Faceless, and we can act from there.

There is a chance that a drug is so diluted, it won't be noticeable before it is too late. The medicine needs time to work its magic. Why a drug wouldn't?

If we can't defeat Jiutian while poisoned, we have no right to be Zhang's apprentice.

If we can't take all the stadium, at once, with one hand, standing on our head and reciting poetry while drunk, we can't really be called the Maniac's apprentice, I agree.

 

[asxetos]

treave , if the medicine had any side-effects, would Cao'er know it?

edit: i mean actual side-effects of the herb, not added poison/drug etc.

 

[treave]

Overdose by even a bit and it kills you. It's a very strong medicine. Cao'er wouldn't make such a mistake, however, so you don't need to worry about that. As it turns out, you barely have enough for one dose anyway. Other side-effects may include mild-to-heavy nausea and dizziness, but this should occur shortly after the moment of ingestion and subside in a couple of hours.

 

[Zero Credibility]

If he calls us a liar, then he has no proof. With B1, if we were willing to come to a fight to go against the "slander" against us, then it would cause confusion and make people think that they've got the wrong guy. Even if they unmask us, they only know us as Guan Shide. Everyone who knows of our true identity is an ally of ours.

Eh, could be, but I prefer my paranoid musings.

Anyway, I don't know if he would risk something obvious like giving us a drug or poison. Not when he was the one giving it to us in plain sight. If there was even a suspicion of foul play it would invalidate the whole point of this duel. Now, if he had one of his flunkies deliver it to us later, then I would be really worried.

 

[Nevill]

Anyway, I don't know if he would risk something obvious like giving us a drug or poison.

How is giving us drugs obvious? The whole point of drugging someone is that it isn't obvious.

What, we lose and then we start crying about being drugged? Who would ever believe that?

If there was even a suspicion of foul play it would invalidate the whole point of this duel.

If the drug only induces a slight dizziness, no one would suspect a thing, but it would still cost us a fight.

 

[Esquilax]

Anyway, I don't know if he would risk something obvious like giving us a drug or poison. Not when he was the one giving it to us in plain sight. If there was even a suspicion of foul play it would invalidate the whole point of this duel. Now, if he had one of his flunkies deliver it to us later, then I would be really worried.

Wat? This man is the star of the orthodox world, upright and respected. We are Zhang Jue's apprentice. If he kicks our ass and we cry foul because we were drugged, who do you think people are going to believe? Of course he'll risk it, his reputation shields him.

 

[Esquilax]

treave, provided we don't get into any scrapes between now and the day we are scheduled to fight Bai Jiutian, at what percentage of our overall does Cao'er think she can get us up to if we don't take the medicine? IIRC, you said that we fought at about 40% against Yifang.

 

[Nevill]

I'd estimate the damage to be at 32.333%, repeating, of course.
What use are the numbers, anyway? It's not like we have something to do with them.

All we need to know is that it is a difference between having two fully functional arms and one.

 

[treave]

Your stamina will be at full tank against Bai Jiutian provided Nameless doesn't force you to exert yourself like you did against Guo Fu. The issue, however, is your arm's mobility. Your left arm won't move as fast as it should. You can still use it in a fight, but it'll be like having one and a half arms. Not too effective. That won't change much between now and the duel against Bai.

 

[asxetos]

AA.
Focus on the championship and get whatever advantage we can to win fast and as easily as possible.
If we lose to Bai Jiutian afterwards, we can claim that he drugged us and ask for a rematch when we are better

 

[Baltika9]

Wat? This man is the star of the orthodox world, upright and respected. We are Zhang Jue's apprentice. If he kicks our ass and we cry foul because we were drugged, who do you think people are going to believe? Of course he'll risk it, his reputation shields him.

Okay, that's a fair point. But if we're drugged, no one is forcing us to follow his terms, so we can tell him straight up, "you drugged me and I don't admit the loss. You want your victory, you can find me later See ya later, fag."
If he went this far, he'll chase us till the end of the world for our admission of inferiority. We take a rep hit, but do we really care? I don't.

Anyway, I'll be missing out on four days of DISCUSS! being online only intermittently, so let me lay out all my reasons for BA:
1) the fight with Faceless shouldn't be too bad if we're at 100%, she'll be coming in with her neiggong which our qi can definitely counter. If we act strong and fast, even with our arm, we can definitely win it even with our bad arm.
2) this fight is something I just want to do. We grow with our challenges, the greater the risk the greater our improvements.
3) scoring the victory will be a huge bonus to Zhang's victory. Also, if we win honorably and restrain ourselves from humiliating Julian, we're basically bulletproof against any slander and can safely scratch Huehueshan off our list.
4) we have the Frathouse that wants us to kick Jiutian's ass, so we can expect freebies under the table and a huhe rep boost with them after our victory.
5) no one says we can't pay off Quilin to drug Jiutian. She loves that shit.
6) Zhang will definitely be amused.

Ergo, sticking to BA. We already won, we just don't know it yet.

 

[Smashing Axe]

Overdose by even a bit and it kills you. It's a very strong medicine. Cao'er wouldn't make such a mistake, however, so you don't need to worry about that. As it turns out, you barely have enough for one dose anyway. Other side-effects may include mild-to-heavy nausea and dizziness, but this should occur shortly after the moment of ingestion and subside in a couple of hours.

Okay, now I'm really paranoid. Maybe he is part of the conspiracy after all. They plan to attack us whilst we are under the effects of the drug's side effects.

Is there anyway we could relocate to a random location to administer the drug and wait it out?

Also... Now I know this is a long shot, but consider it carefully. That two-bit swordsman heir of the Songfeng academy, he had spent a period of study at the Huashan sect , and when he returned, he poisoned his father in a bid to inherit the school. Maybe he wasn't acting alone, and there's a secret society amongst the Huashan who lean towards the unorthodox cloaked as the pinnacle of orthodoxy. After all, where did the heir get the poison? We're told Wuxu, but this guy was fairly incompetent and may lack the clout to obtain poison alone, maybe there's more to this than meets the eye. Certain members of the Huashan could be teaching poisons.

 

[Nevill]

Here are some counterpoints.

1) Even with the medicine, we won't be at 100% against Nameless. The medicine takes 2 days to work.
2) You can do it later, when you are sure you are not being drugged. There is too much to lose here, and the tables might be rigged.
3) A victory at a later date would be more probable, and no less sound.
4) This assumes our victory.
5) I would love to do that, but how?
6) This assumes our victory.

But if we're drugged, no one is forcing us to follow his terms, so we can tell him straight up, "you drugged me and I don't admit the loss. You want your victory, you can find me later See ya later, fag."

Yes, refuse the deal you accepted before the challenge and act as a sore loser in full view of the Eight Sects. See if anyone takes you seriously later.

 

[Zero Credibility]

Hm, well here's my (completely uncalled for and probably wrong) analysis of the poison / medicine situation.

His motives for giving us that medicine is that his plan requires him to beat us at full force. He can't really claim to have defeated us fairly if we have a broken arm, now can he? And he can't wait for our arm to heal because he wants to do it while his sect buddies are in town. Slipping us something extra to tip the odds, sure, it's possible. But for that something extra to be undetectable by both our medicine and poison expert, neither of which he has no idea we have? That doesn't sound as likely. In the end the question is of which is going to be more riskier when going against him - a half-broken arm or the possibility of some very subtle drug, which is the most he could get away with. Anything stronger than that and Cao'er or Quilin would notice something wrong with us, like they did the last time. And keep in mind the duel with him is in two days - it would also have to be something that would have no effect in that time. On the other hand, if he was truly devious, he would only slip us a part of the poison, with the other part supplied during the fight, possibly by poisoning his blade. The classic two-part poison plot - it's not paranoia if they really are out to get you.

Heh, maybe we could just ignore him and wait in town until our arm is healed, training and getting ready for him. And if he comes asking for us, just tell him we'll be ready in a week, and he didn't really expect us to trust him enough to use his medicine he oh-so-thoughtfully just happened to have on his person at the right time, now didn't he? And we are so sorry we screwed up his scheduling.

 

[treave]

Is there anyway we could relocate to a random location to administer the drug and wait it out?

If they plan to attack you, they'd already be tracking you to know where you are, right? Which means once you leave the inn they'd follow you. Which means relocating is useless and could end up being even worse for you.

Assuming that this is their plan, of course.

 

[Esquilax]

Okay, now I'm really paranoid. Maybe he is part of the conspiracy after all. They plan to attack us whilst we are under the effects of the drug's side effects.

Is there anyway we could relocate to a random location to administer the drug and wait it out?

Our arm and our body are injured anyways. If they wanted to do anything, they would have come after us already. No, what they intend to do is more subtle. If Bai Jiutian beats us, an outright humiliation will force us to do drastic things to accomplish a challenge and regain respect. The conspirators within the committee aware of this.

Okay, that's a fair point. But if we're drugged, no one is forcing us to follow his terms, so we can tell him straight up, "you drugged me and I don't admit the loss. You want your victory, you can find me later See ya later, fag."
If he went this far, he'll chase us till the end of the world for our admission of inferiority. We take a rep hit, but do we really care? I don't.

Really, just like we could have said "We're Zhang's apprentice? So what? See ya later" last time, right? That's nonsense; it's the same thing and we'll take the same rep hit regardless of what silly excuse we come up with. "Nuh-uh, I'm not fighting, 'cause you drugged me! I can't prove it, but you did!"

You make all of these points assuming victory, forecasting this ridiculously optimistic analysis, yet you have no idea how we'll get there. Just a "trust me bro, we got this!" attitude that it'll all somehow work out. I don't understand, you want to win the tournament then beat Bai Jiutian on top of that as well? You can't have your cake and eat it too, man. How are we going to manage that?

 

[Nevill]

His motives for giving us that medicine is that his plan requires him to beat us at full force.

His plan requires the public to think that we are at full force. Whether this would really be the case is up to the debate.
If he is one of the conspirators - and there are signs pointing at it, he would not give us a fair chance. He is a very strong opponent. A subtle advantage is all he really needs.

What do you have against earning the title of a champion, then challenging him at a later date? He can not refuse a champion, whatever our reputation might be.

 

[Baltika9]

Or bring in Guo Fu as a bodyguard. Just invite him over for dinner, we have cash to spare.
Also, it's a whole lot of assumptions and guesses we're making about Bai Jiutian and his motivations. Perhaps we're not being entirely reasonable and objective here? We don't have too much to link him to the WiBs personally and his demands run absolutely contrary to their shit-stirring plans. If we prosttate and apologize, what grounds do they have for a riot? Even less than they have now.

 

[Kipeci]

Okay, so the medicine might make us dizzy? That's the argument?
If we don't think it will make us worse off than having a broken arm, we should take it. If it does (say, the two-part lethal poison idea... which is really silly, as we'd die from poisoning right after he stabbed us and thus there's no reason for him to go with it) cause us worse problems than our broken arm, we shouldn't take it.

 

[Baltika9]

You make all of these points assuming victory, forecasting this ridiculously optimistic analysis, yet you have no idea how we'll get there. Just a "trust me bro, we got this!" attitude that it'll all somehow work out. I don't understand, you want to win the tournament then beat Bai Jiutian on top of that as well? You can't have your cake and eat it too, man. How are we going to manage that?

Because we're not David fighting Goliath:
We have Yandi to trach us his style and give us pointers, the guy definitely prepped for this.
We have Cao'er and Quilin to identify and cure poisoning.
We have, as much as I hate the idea, Quilin to poison him and enough money to hire her.
Lastly, the Frathouse is on our side. Hypocritical bastards they may be, but they want to see us beat Jiutian's ass to the ground. We can definitely expect some freebies from them under the table. Even more pointers on his styles, or even techniques to counter Huehueshan's styles.

Oh, it's going to be extremely difficult, but we can pull it off. And I want to pull it off.

 

[Zero Credibility]

His motives for giving us that medicine is that his plan requires him to beat us at full force.

His plan requires the public to think that we are at full force. Whether this would really be the case is up to the debate.
If he is one of the conspirators - and there are signs pointing at it, he would not give us a fair chance. He is a very strong opponent. A subtle advantage is all he really needs.

What do you have against earning the title of a champion, then challenging him at a later date? He can not refuse a champion, whatever our reputation might be.

Yeah, that's is what I meant. Which is why I accounted for the possibility of a poison or drug, and even proposed to maybe wait until our arm heals on it's own before taking him on, to avoid this possibility and troll him in the process. As for the champion title - I don't care about it one bit. As far as I'm concerned, we should just quit the tournament right now to properly prepare for our fight and not risk lying in bed like Quilin did after getting hit by Nameless.

 

[Nevill]

Perhaps we're not being entirely reasonable and objective here?

Ok, let's be objective.
1) There is a committee that acts independently from the Masters - at least, our Masters.
2) The committee issued an invite to ZJ's disciple for some nefarious purposes.
3) WiB are involved with the committee. They were attacking peeople and posing themselves as ZJ's disciple when we didn't show up. If they didn't expect us to be here, this plot couldn't have happened.
4) The committee is willing to bend the rules to get us.
5) Bai Jiutian is on the committee.
He seems trustworthy.

If we don't think it will make us worse off than having a broken arm, we should take it. If it does (say, the two-part lethal poison idea... which is really silly, as we'd die from poisoning right after he stabbed us and thus there's no reason for him to go with it) cause us worse problems than our broken arm, we shouldn't take it.

And if we don't know - and we don't - we just throw a coin to decide?
I'd say you are better off not fighting this battle at all.
The poison can not be lethal, since the fight is not to the death. He can't allow himself to kill us. But being dizzy is not something you should laugh away. It affects our overall coordination instead of just one arm.

 

[Baltika9]

Okay, but his demamds are completely contrary to the goals of this conspiracy. I think he's acting on his own pride here and while he is a vain bastard, nothing we have can pin him as a vain scumbag.