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Baltika9

Arcane
Joined
Jun 27, 2012
Messages
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Puckish rogue (ye gods, we found the rogue!)? I like those, they're fun. In fact, Jing is one as well.
 

ERYFKRAD

Barbarian
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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
C.
The last thing I want is to worry about some wannabe action girl during a raid. Get her dad in the know so she can stay the fuck out of everybody's way, if we turn her down, she just might ask Songfeng just to try pissing us off. Bugger it all.
Plus if we kill her friend's husband, we'll just have to... comfort ... both of them.
 

Baltika9

Arcane
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C.
The last thing I want is to worry about some wannabe action girl during a raid. Get her dad in the know so she can stay the fuck out of everybody's way, if we turn her down, she just might ask Songfeng just to try pissing us off. Bugger it all.
Well, to be fair, she seems the adventurous, petulant sort that doesn't really care what her father thinks. I'm pretty sure she has been grounded more than once, didn't really care about it and sneaked out anyways.
You notice the girl, Zhou Zhideng’s sister, looking moody and displeased. You sigh.

“What’s the matter?” asks Xiahou Yu.

“See that girl? Zhou Dingqiu’s daughter?” you whisper.

“Yes, what of her?”

“It’s going to be trouble. I know how this is going to go,” you grumble. “She’s going to try to sneak on board the ship and tag along for some reason or another.” Xiahou Yu chuckles. “Surely that cannot be true. She looks too meek to do such a thing.”

“Trust me, brother Yu. You’ll see.” You sigh again.
...
Making your way through the streets of Yangzhou, you begin heading back towards the ramshackle hut that now serves as your temporary lodgings. Reaching a narrow street corner, you turn into the narrow alley suddenly, pulling Yu along with you.

“What’s the matter?” he asks.

“It’s happening sooner than I expected.” You gesture at him to move further in. Then, you wait.

You hear footsteps approaching your position, their pace picking up now that they are After a few seconds, the owner of the footsteps appears. She gives a gasp when she sees you waiting for her in the alley, taking an involuntary step backwards.

“Miss Zhou.” You give her a curt greeting. “A rather bold thing for a young maiden to do, running after two men in broad daylight.”

She shakes her head and frowns at you. “I was going to call out to you when we reached a more appropriate place to discuss matters. I suppose this place is appropriate enough.” Without any hint of worry, she steps into the alley, giving you a stare as if daring you to do your worst.
“Well, to come after me alone you have more balls than any of the Songfeng disciples at least,” you murmur. “What is it that you want to discuss?”

Miss Zhou nods and begins. “I have a request-“

...

Miss Zhou peers at him, before saying, “Hey, didn’t I see you walking the streets one time in nothing but a sackcloth?”
If we help her solve this problem tonight, we will make a friend of her and can be 100% certain that she will stay back on home shores. As well as getting the opportunity to scout out the Island and sabotage the pirates for an easier fight tomorrow. Really, A is worth the risk and I doubt she's as useless as many here think. Yeah, she didn't fool Jing, but we trained stelth against fucking tigers on a godforsaken island whose only other sentient inhabitant was a genocidal loony. And then we practiced street stealth with and against Chi Quilin, the crazy snake girl.

And if her friend gets killed during the raid in C, I doubt we'll be doing any comforting for either of them. Unless Jing is into necrophilia.
 

Esquilax

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treave, where is Jing's morality at right now? At the moment he strikes me as the sort that is loyal to those close to him, but he's willing to be ruthless if there's a goal in mind (i.e. Shun's mission) and isn't at all averse to bloodshed thanks to his upbringing and Zhang's teachings.

Not that this is a major point for me, but where does your confidence come from? Yes, her story is legit, and she prefers betraying her father and his men to telling them the truth and hoping that they spare her friend. As long as it favors her, she is willing to play dirty.

Why do you think that she'll make an exception just for you, should, say, it come down to owning up to the plan? If both of you are discovered by your allies on the island, do you think she'll admit to what she had been doing?

Keep in mind that she doesn't see this as betraying her father, she sees it as looking out for her friend. Don't attribute to malice that which can be explained by stupidity. I also don't see how we'd be "discovered" on the island - the whole point of going there now is to arrive before the other pugilists do. We've put ourselves in a bit of an awkward position with the challenge, and going to the island first allows us to steal the initiative and really turn the situation in our favour.

The last thing I want is to worry about some wannabe action girl during a raid. Get her dad in the know so she can stay the fuck out of everybody's way, if we turn her down, she just might ask Songfeng just to try pissing us off. Bugger it all.
Plus if we kill her friend's husband, we'll just have to... comfort ... both of them.

She isn't going to ask the Songfeng disciples because she knows that we're her best hope. Everybody in that room knows that we're the most skilled fighter there, by far. She's far better off asking us for backup than she is six Songfeng disciples. As for her skills, keep in mind that the Zhou Clan is a martial arts establishment, so it's quite likely that she has some skills and isn't clueless. I'm not saying that she is an amazing fighter, but she's probably above average compared to most of the pugilists here. I'm basing that statement on her father being the head of this establishment.

Given that we accepted the challenge, I just don't like that C doesn't put us ahead of our competition when it comes to killing the bandit leader. Yes, A poses more risks, but we already signed up for risks by accepting this challenge in the first place, so taking the initiative here will allow us to accomplish the goal that we publicly set out to do. We're not helpless here; we have Qilin's poison, the Yuchang Sword, lethal techniques that are perfect for this situation, and Yu's knowledge of their language to give us options.

Sure, I guess we can still attempt to kill the pirate leader with C, but considering the tools we have at our disposal, I'd rather not give our competition the chance.

Besides, we're playing as Xu Jing the Harem King. From Yunzi onward, we have not ignored a damsel-in-distress over the course of this LP. Refusing this chance to include yet another sexy lady in our stable of women would be disgraceful. Our love must be all-encompassing.

Lastly, there's also a matter of knowledge to be gained. I find it very strange that these pirates are attacking again after sixty years of peace between the Tang and Nippon; this girl's friend might now the motivations behind it. I suspect that there might be a WiB hand in these attacks.
 
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treave

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jul 6, 2008
Messages
11,370
Codex 2012
Kashmir Slippers - C
Baltika9 - A
Nevill - C
XenomorphII - A > C
Kipeci - A
Zero Credibility - C
Smashing Axe - C
Esquilax - A
Jester - C
Stygian Lurker - C
Ifeex - A > C
Ganymede - A
Tigranes - A
ERYFKRAD - C

***

Current tally:

A - 7
C - 7

treave, where is Jing's morality at right now? At the moment he strikes me as the sort that is loyal to those close to him, but he's willing to be ruthless if there's a goal in mind (i.e. Shun's mission) and isn't at all averse to bloodshed thanks to his upbringing and Zhang's teachings.

Loyalty, yes, but this should be governed mostly by his feelings, not pragmatism; i.e. even if you have this great plan that will save the world, don't expect him to cooperate if he really hates you for what you've done to him personally unless your plan is really good and there is no other alternative. Or if he likes you, but your prospects are really shitty and he knows it is, he'll still attempt to move heaven and earth to make it less shitty so that it'll work out in the end, rather than abandoning you for greener pastures.

As for ruthlessness, he has zero qualms about killing or hurting people who he thinks deserve it, or who've attacked him, but he isn't going to go all ruthless and genocidal for the sake of some nebulous greater good of his own accord either. It would likely require an explicit order.

This could gradually change depending on your choices. Or drastically, depending on the options.
 
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Baltika9

Arcane
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Messages
9,611
I like how Jing plays the part of the reluctant, grumpy hero. "Yeah, I'll help you. The Jade Emperor only knows why I'm doing this, because I sure don't. Not that I care about your anything. Stupid girl."

They'll be calling us "The Southern Grouch" at this rate. :lol:
 

Baltika9

Arcane
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Messages
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treave, random question: if Jing didn't introduce himself to Zhang that day in the Manor, whom would he take on as an apprentice eventually? It would be hilarious if it would be Scholarbro, taking the "drunken tiger punching" option on his island.
 

Nevill

Arcane
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Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Esquilax said:
Given that we accepted the challenge, I just don't like that C doesn't put us ahead of our competition when it comes to killing the bandit leader. Yes, A poses more risks, but we already signed up for risks by accepting this challenge in the first place, so taking the initiative here will allow us to accomplish the goal that we publicly set out to do.
Tell you what. I'm up for A if that means completely ignoring her mission and using the situation to our own advantage. But nooo, some of the A voters want to help her and make her their friend, and for me this is totally a non-priority. Whether she is malicious, stupid, or both, we don't need such a friend, especially not on a mission that is dangerous enough as it is.

We already have an edge when it comes to the competition in C, due to our superior skills.
 

Baltika9

Arcane
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Messages
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Then sway the vote in the next update to do just that if you think A is a good idea. Besides, there are plenty of "fuck her!" opinions around here.
 

Nevill

Arcane
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Shadorwun: Hong Kong
I don't see enough A voters that want to do it for their own good to think that such swaying would even be possible. In fact, so far I've only seen Esquilax and - maybe? - Tigranes.

But, man, it would make for an interesting narrative, and I'm a sucker fot these. We'll see. :)
 

treave

Arcane
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Codex 2012
treave, random question: if Jing didn't introduce himself to Zhang that day in the Manor, whom would he take on as an apprentice eventually? It would be hilarious if it would be Scholarbro, taking the "drunken tiger punching" option on his island.

No one.
 

Nevill

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Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Where did he got his previous apprentices, then? Did they come to him voluntarily? If not, why would he stop?

Or is it "no one of note"?
 
Joined
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A couple of questions for treave. First, is our scholar friend any good in a fight or is he going to be another liability in a battle that we would need to look after? And second, if we go with C, can we intimidate our side into making sure the pirate girl is captured unharmed?
 

Esquilax

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And second, if we go with C, can we intimidate our side into making sure the pirate girl is captured unharmed?

Well, considering that the plan is this:

The young man comes to the fore and begins talking. It is a rather basic plan that is hard to mess up – now that they have identified the hideout of the Wo pirates, they will sneak in under cover of darkness, burn the pirate ships, and begin exterminating the scum.

I doubt that they'll be able to notice a single pirate girl under the cover of darkness and in the chaos of battle. Miss Zhou wouldn't have asked us to do this if she thought that her friend wasn't in serious danger. During the actual fight, our side is going to be much more concerned with just surviving than they are going to be with rescuing a person who is part of the group that they intend to kill. This isn't going to happen.
 
Joined
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Messages
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Good point, good point. Still, I think it couldn't hurt to impress on our side that they really should be paying attention to what the fuck they are doing while in the extermination phase of the attack. They certainly appear to more afraid of us than the pirates right now.
 

Baltika9

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I think our refusal to put Songfeng in their place dampened their fears a little. Honestly, I don't believe it will work or would work even if we did. In the haze of battle they really won't be trying to puzzle out one girl out of many on that island, just not a priority when you're fighting for your life and some random wench tries to off you to protect her husband. That's just wishful thinking. If we want the girl saved, C is definitely not that option.
 

Nevill

Arcane
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Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Which is why most of the C voters don't care about her. He made her bed when she married a pirate, now she has to lie in it.
 

Baltika9

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Should Jing be condemned for becoming Zhang's apprentice to save Master Yao and Cao'er? He had very little choices, and all of them except one would lead to the death of at least one of them. How do we know what circumstances made this girl marry a pirate. Really, we are not the person to preach to anyone about decisions and public perception.
Really, what is up with this moralfaggotry? Jing is no a guy that judges people from a mountain. That's straight Orthodox Sect reasoning and you know exactly which one I mean.
 
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a cut of domestic sheep prime

Guest
If we succeed, it would be a total coup, but if we fail and the daughter dies, we will look like a monster and everyone will blame us.
Of course, if we tattle on her, she'll hate us forever.

The clear choice is D. Let her get herself in trouble. If we have the opportunity to save her, we'll look like a hero. If not, it will be her own fault. The downside is that the pirates will be alerted, so that may mean more casualties, but that's even more opportunity to look heroic as we break through the lines the other fighters are being slaughtered by.

edit: I know this may be selfish, but she's the one who put us in the position of making this decision. For us to back off and let what happens happen is probably what she wants, should we say no.
 

treave

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Codex 2012
Where did he got his previous apprentices, then? Did they come to him voluntarily? If not, why would he stop?

Or is it "no one of note"?

No one that would have survived.

A couple of questions for treave. First, is our scholar friend any good in a fight or is he going to be another liability in a battle that we would need to look after? And second, if we go with C, can we intimidate our side into making sure the pirate girl is captured unharmed?

You don't need to worry about him.

No, that's not possible. Not even Zhang Jue can force them into such a decision, which I believe should be sufficient explanation.
 

Kipeci

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May 22, 2012
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Vicksburg
If we hadn't rolled to survive Zhang Jue breaking down our meridians, what would you have done?
 

Jester

Arbiter
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Mar 24, 2013
Messages
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I like how Jing plays the part of the reluctant, grumpy hero. "Yeah, I'll help you. The Jade Emperor only knows why I'm doing this, because I sure don't. Not that I care about your anything. Stupid girl."

They'll be calling us "The Southern Grouch" at this rate. :lol:
Yao, dmn young Yao. Looks like our time with him left some lasting damage. :D
A for now. There's a lot of risks, but yes, there was nothing in the deal that we couldn't go in alone and win the bet first. If it works, we'll be respected.

The pessimistic side of me says this will probably be spun into some impression that we kidnapped Zhou's daughter and took off to sell her to the pirates, or something...
Pessimistic side is pirates running away in numbers letting them carry on pillaging and Jing end up as person who fucked up orthodox operation right before they bring down the hammer.
 

treave

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Codex 2012
Nah, the roll was a joke. Wouldn't be much of a protagonist if he died from something that'd merely kill everyone else.
 

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