[LP CYOA] 傳

[treave]

There will be plenty training to be had, but you will not be stuck to these sects for good. You could be an unrepentant rule-breaker and get excommunicated by your master, for example.

This vote will be open for two days.

 

[Smashing Axe]

B>E>D
What would have happened if we went with B in the last choice? We go to his side immediately, but the woman follows us after dispatching of Yunzi and the Prince gets injured?

In regards to this choice, I'd rather focus on the sects that compliment our skills already. Unarmed and sword combined sounds like a pretty good combo, and redirecting the flow of an opponent's attacks sounds like it'd go well with our agility. The Beggars are pretty tempting too, since I like the idea of us having a roguey skillset to balance our fighting. And wandering by ourselves, saying screw the rules, I'm going to learn this on my own, has a ring to it that suits our hero's personality and sign. That said... wandering the world our own way sounds like it relies on a lot of luck. So...

 

[Kashmir Slippers]

C

 

[treave]

In B, you make a hasty retreat, due to your poor luck the woman notices you, Yunzi notices you, but the woman doesn't go after you because she would rather kidnap Yunzi. Which she does. I think you can guess for yourself what ramifications that might have down the road for our hero's personal life, given the woman's rantings.

You would not have been forced out of the palace, but the prince would come with this offer anyway since he needs someone he can trust to infiltrate this other world that has just rudely meshed with the byzantine internal politics of the Imperial Court. It would be up to you whether you accepted or not at that point, though I'd say staying in the palace would have turned out to be a bad idea anyway, Codex and intrigue don't mash too well.

Of course, having a staunch ally in the Ashina tribe will prove useful down the road...

edit: You will be getting the opportunity to improve your physical stats directly (besides luck), reflecting your growth as you age. Picking a different choice here will give you a different selection of ways to improve your stats - basically the stat growth won't be the same for each sect.

There will be two such chances given throughout the LP - the rest will have to be sought out or encountered.

 

[Tigranes]

Told you so.

I imagine i will say that several more times over the next few updates

 

[ERYFKRAD]

B sounds straight up our char sheet.
However E feels like a better prospect for the task at hand.
I suspect we could use the whole exiled schtick to get in with these assassins faster.

 

[Smashing Axe]

B sounds straight up our char sheet.
However E feels like a better prospect for the task at hand.
I suspect we could use the whole exiled schtick to get in with these assassins faster.

It'd be amusing if we got in with them and they eventually assigned us the task of assassinating the Prince.

 

[Nevill]

I have absolutely no idea where this sentiment is coming from:

The soldiers believe their prince is at the gate, the enemy leader pretty much admitted to having abandoned her "get the Prince" plan. He's there and he's planning to GTFO.

And if the Prince really is kidnapped, why would we want to go to the gate? "The Prince is missing! Go back into the camp and find him!" I think it's just baseless paranoia (I would know, had my share of it in the past ).

What I meant is that the leader abandoned her plans for the prince because she met Yunzi and became fascinated with her instead. If we denied her Yunzi, she might have resumed her original plan, and we wouldn't be there to stop it. By story conventions, nobody else would be able to do so either. Never did I imply that he already was kidnapped - we would go to the gate to prevent that from happening and let the leader do as she pleases with Yunzi, hoping that she goes away after that.

The choice was worded "do you help the prince, or the princess"? It was only natural to assume that if we choose one, something happens to the other. But I guess it does not matter now.

What would have happened if we went with B in the last choice? We go to his side immediately, but the woman follows us after dispatching of Yunzi and the Prince gets injured?

My guess - the woman takes Yunzi and leaves. The Ashina are furious, the war with the nomads draws nearer.

Told you so.

We knew. Still wouldn't vote any other way.

 

[Kipeci]

B. Unarmed and swordery are our strengths, we should strive to be the best. C would be fine too, I guess.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Anyhow, Voting C.

 

[Smashing Axe]

I suspect if we went with E, we will get a luck boosting option. Wandering the land, one is may encounter a fox-spirit or the like.

 

[treave]

Or you could be captured by a bandit clan and forced to become a stud for their inbred family.

Endurance +3!

My guess - the woman takes Yunzi and leaves. The Ashina are furious, the war with the nomads draws nearer.

The Ashina would have been upset with the Tang, yes. Some of them begin to blame the Tang prince's arrival for the kidnapping. Furious might be too strong a word to use, though, but you can expect that the next kurultai won't have the Ashina's moderating voice. They would simply not speak against an invasion.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I suspect if we went with E, we will get a luck boosting option. Wandering the land, one is may encounter a fox-spirit or the like.

Wouldn't we have to be lucky enough to find a luck booster in the first place?

 

[Baltika9]

Told you so.

I imagine i will say that several more times over the next few updates

Oh, I knew the risks going in with this. Honestly, though, we did the right thing: we secured the Empire's borders, we made a friend of an entire Mongolian tribe.
[quote="treave, post: 2835012, member: 9666"
Imperial Court: -40 (Shunned)
Ashina Tribe: +100 (Idolized)[/quote]And we began a potentially awesome love story between Jung and Yunzi (if we play our cards right, we could become a real Khan later), I just hope we won't have to choose between her and Princebro. So, yeah, I don't regret a single thing, but thankfull we avoided tasteless pig-rape.
My preferences would be
E>D>C
Wandering, because it really suits our character and I really want to freeform this LP. It also gives us the potential to customize our playstyle.
Beggars, because I really want our guy to learn drunken boxing:

The warriors, because SPEARS, FUCK YEAH.
By the way, treave, how the hell did Jung actually recover from that woman's strikes? Do we have some Dio-level willpower or was it just our ridiculous STR score?

 

[treave]

You'll find out why in the coming updates. Perhaps earlier, perhaps later, depending on where you go. It's nothing to do with willpower or strength, but more to do with your terrible luck.

 

[Baltika9]

Does it have something to do with all of this?

Huluzi shakes his head. “My departed mother was a half-Han concubine of Bulun’s father; my grandmother was a minor Tang princess. They taught me the language,” Your jaw falls open in surprise, but his own expression just grows grimmer. “Since I have mentioned this, let me warn you to be careful, Xu Jing. The Imperial Court plays deadly games that wrap up innocents without a care, no matter how far they run. You should stay away from their politics.”

The Ashina warrior walks away, leaving you to your thoughts.

“We still have no leads on the people who attacked the Ashina camp that night or what their true aim was,” Shun says, nodding. “The woman who broke my arm was clearly a master from the Central Plains, but by all accounts she is not a member of any orthodox sect.”

“I wouldn’t think so, from her behaviour and moves,” you agree. “but it is possible that she disguised her stances.”

“That is true,” the prince admits. “Unfortunately we do not have much contact with the pugilistic world; the Emperor has been content to let them do as they wish for years while he hides away with his little superstitious toys. That old fool.”

“Well, he bought me because of what those toys told him. And he might just be right, I mean, look at my luck.”

Shun looks exasperated as he grabs you by the shoulders. “I have told you this many times, Jing. You are not cursed with bad luck. All you are is a person who has encountered misfortune, and there is no evidence that will happen till the day you die. You are focusing overwhelmingly on the bad things that happen to you and not the good - that is why you think your luck is poor. Superstitious nonsense is going to drag our country into the grave, and I don’t need that from you of all people.”

“Wait, you don’t believe in the gods or ghosts, then?” you grin. You know he is deathly scared of ghosts.

“Well, no. I mean, I do believe in gods, and ghosts. But I don’t believe that fate controls us. We are what we make of ourselves,” mutters Shun. “I would rather work the fields than pray to the Jade Emperor for good fortune. Anyway, we are meandering from the point. Shut up and listen for a bit, Jing.”

The Adjutant

You were brought into the Imperial Palace as playmate to the young Crown Prince. The old Emperor sought to groom you into his heir’s right hand man, and you were given training from a very young age. You have been grateful for the opportunity, being bought from poor peasant parents, and your loyalty to the Emperor and the dynasty is likely unmatched. You have not been blessed with luck, however, being born under a star of disaster – indeed, the old Emperor sought you out for this very trait...

Perhaps our horrible luck isn't just a coincidence...

By the way, I know who's behind the attempt.

Spoiler

It's Shulgi.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

You'll find out why in the coming updates. Perhaps earlier, perhaps later, depending on where you go. It's nothing to do with willpower or strength, but more to do with your terrible luck.

Either the assassin was using some kind of Fist of Anti-Fortune, or we're in it deep now.

 

[Azira]

The balance aspect of the Wudan sounds compelling. I'll go for that.

B

 

[Smashing Axe]

The balance aspect of the Wudan sounds compelling. I'll go for that.

B

That and swords and fists goes perfectly with our current skills. We also have really good agility and decent endurance, so we should be able to pull off a mix of ying-yang energy fairly effectively.

 

[Baltika9]

Striking out on our own would also allow us to make good use of the Yinglang Step. How open would the Wudan be to us practicing it, treave?

 

[treave]

Most of the orthodox sects don't really like it if their disciples start practicing skills not of their sect's teachings. How strictly they behave about this differs from sect to sect, but you don't know who is more strict or less. Shaolin is probably the most strict, though. A good rule is simply not to get caught.

At any rate, each of the sects have their own qinggong. Shaolin's is more geared towards acrobatic tumbles, while Wudang's focuses on high, soaring jumps. Huashan will involve quick steps to help with swordsmanship, and the beggars' is especially good at running away. Each will have overlaps though.

 

[XenomorphII]

C

 

[Baltika9]

Hmm, yeah, that sounds rather limiting. I guess the Orthodox Sects give us a solid start in the pugilistic world, but there's just something charming in freeforming a badass wanderer, tracking down our own techniques and teachers (some of the most badass ones are hermits with little regard for regular society) and making our own way in the world. Also, makes finding the assassins easier, as we're not going to be cooped up in a stuffy monastery all the time. I'm really curious about this whole shebang.
Lady Luck? Who needs her, we have skills and talent. I think it suits the character the most.

 

[Smashing Axe]

I do agree with you that wandering around as our own man would be the coolest option, but we should follow the narrative structure where we join a strict temple, learn their ways, act out, and then move on to learn our own path. Getting a good foundation in martial arts seems pretty necessary before we start free-forming. Also then we get old rivals and members of the sect trying to hunt us down for using their techniques.

 

[treave]

Due to your background (your loyalty is ultimately to the Prince), you can opt to leave a sect after picking up their techniques - a farmer, on the other hand, might not be as free. But be warned that this could reduce your reputation with the faction severely, depending on how much you learnt and what relationship you have with their leadership. They usually don't like it if people pop in just to learn their techniques and then scurry off after a year. Could mean you get labelled a technique thief and get a bounty put on your head.

You could also piss them off so much that they expel you, though usually in those circumstances they may attempt to cripple your inner strength as a punishment before throwing you out, so that your martial arts capability will be limited. But the punishment varies depending on just how pissed they are, and how much you've learnt.

There are ways to leave cordially, but usually people don't get to do that before they've spent a good ten or twenty years of their life repaying the master of the sect for taking them in and imparting his skills.

edit: As for the last choice, to wander, it doesn't mean you won't pick up masters and martial arts along the way, but it does mean that your training will be highly unorthodox from the start, and so will your reputation. You will still get as much opportunities to improve yourself as with a major sect, except in a different direction. It would be harder, though, that much I can't deny.