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[LP CYOA] 傳

Esquilax

Arcane
Joined
Dec 7, 2010
Messages
4,833
And none of those will happen within 3 days. Certainly, new developments may arise, but "gone forever" seems quite unlikely.
...
Bullshit. The Wunan Sect was only taken out literally yesterday. We're not a month late or a week late here. We're in the direct aftermath. If we're quick about it, we can find the remnants of the Wunan sect and other things. With our skills and stats, we are guaranteed to find something useful, since Jing has 8 perception he will find stuff, Yu has done his homework and crazy high int so he will be able to deduce details, and Yunzi is fast enough to chase down anyone from the Wunan Sect we find.
...
No, coming clean with Yu gave us the option to confront Chanfeng on peaceful terms and establish a diplomatic solution with her, not her captors.
...
For starters, there is the high likelihood of imperial agents in the Black Dragon Society? They might recognize Yu, and Jing is just going to announce himself? Yunzi can still get caught? And these guys are pros. Our reputation might be badass, sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if they have badasses in their own crew. They might agree to a meeting, sure, but who's to say the meeting will be to our advantage?
...
That's a hell of a strawman there. A is not for hiding and you know it.
...
No, worst case scenario is that we all get found out and die. After that, there's the risk of getting caught with other consequences. And after that, there's the possibility that they do one of those poison-enforced bargains where we have no choice but to do what they want.

I think that you're trying to minimize the consequences of A while attempting to make C2/D a lot worse in comparison, and I feel it's baseless at times. The bottom line here is that Chanfeng has been captured by a group that wiped out her sect, she's already seen as a "frigid scarred nutso bitch" as is, and it feels like you're minimizing the situation when you say "oh, well, it's only three days. What's the worse that could happen, guys?!" A shitload, because that's asking for trouble - these guys clearly want an unstable and dangerous type like Chanfeng out of their hands as soon as fucking possible. And it's no guarantee that wherever she's going is going to be any better than it is here, either. This is just the situation as is, and we have to deal with it as is instead of hoping that it gets better somehow.

I'll grant you that Jing's nifty Reikan technique will help us observe a crime scene, no doubt about it, but it's not anywhere near as good as talking to the eyewitness that we've been looking out for this entire time. She might be privy to a lot of things that we won't get through going into the forest, and she is the most likely to be candid with us because we have Yu along with us.

As for your point about them recognizing Yu; really? I mean, in hindsight I agree that the guys who came after him might have been a few raw BDS recruits (their skills were rather shit), but I really think that you are blowing things out of proportion far beyond a reasonable point. I think that it's far more reasonable to believe that the situation with Chanfeng will change in the next three days than it is to believe that Yunzi, a non-Persian who always wears a mask in public, and Xiahou Yu, a wandering scholar who has been languishing in Yuhua Hall for the past few years, will suddenly be recognized right off the bat and we'll all be in deep shit.

As for my point regarding "hiding", I meant "hiding" in the sense of fucking off and trying to play it safe when the situation calls for some decisive action. I don't always go for the balls-to-wall choice, but here I think it's the right play. Our party is all on the same page, we have a fearsome reputation - what's stopping us? Why are we getting hesitant all of a sudden?

Night Goat: Just read the updates, ignore the pointless DISCUSS!!! that we all revel in. Most of the pages here are just the rest of us shit-talking back and forth, so just look at the actual updates linked in the first page.
 

Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
So, uh... how much for a young nubile slave nowadays? Is there going to be a sale? Will there be volume discounts? If we pawned off our wodao, could we buy one? How much money did we win at the tournament, how many we could have bought? It would be nice to know how much does a human life cost in this day and age.

Is this sort of thing legal? What is different about the western regions that the slaves are shipped there?

How does a slave status work in the universe of the LP? Are slaves branded? Is such a status permanent, or can a slave be legally freed?
 
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Absinthe

Arcane
Joined
Jan 6, 2012
Messages
4,062
I'd like to participate in this CYOA, but I'll never have time to get caught up. Can a nigga get a synopsis?
Eh, you should read the updates. At least you need to read the prologue. Here's the situation right now:

Xu Jing (currently a wandering unorthodox martial artist trying to figure out wtf was behind the events of the prologue), Yunzi (the princess from the prologue, currently also the Holy Maiden of a Fire Cult that's sent a challenge against Eight Sects to see who is more capable of protecting the people of China, and is also trying to figure out wtf was behind the events of the prologue - Wunan sect? - and these dudes trying to get her just now - Black Dragon Society), and Xiahou Yu (wandering scholar, we saved his life once and paid his way out of debt bondage a second time. He's searching for his long lost love Liu Chanfeng who happens to be the assassin from the prologue. He saved her life and sheltered her when she was on the verge of death. Then assassins killed his family, she rescued him and ran off. Assassins also tried to kill him when we rescued him in Luoying Manor.) have just discovered that the Black Dragon Society has destroyed the Wunan Sect and captured their head (who we are assuming is Liu Chanfeng, based on the description) and we are trying to figure out wtf we are going to do.

As for all the discuss going on now, these three posts sum it up:
Voting A.

Rationale on each vote:
A - We have 8 PER, so this is sure to succeed.
B - If we had Kagemi I'd just vote B, but we don't. These guys know their stuff and Jing is injured. If we get caught (which seems likely), the results wont be pretty.
C - If Yunzi doesn't get recognized (target), and Jing doesn't get recognized (Imperial Agents), and Xiahou Yu doesn't get recognized (Agents were trying to off him in Luoying Manor, remember?) we'd still be suspicious since Yu can't fight, Jing is too weak at the moment, and Yunzi shouldn't be showing off her skills (which can get her recognized). There are too many ways to fuck this up, but if it works it can pay off well.
D - Not only does it run into the same problems as C (along with the fact that Yu is even more likely to get caught when telling his story), but they just locked Changfeng up and we're basically announcing we're on her side. We have nothing to bargain with except favors and there is a high chance they are being paid well or otherwise ordered by the palace to imprison her. This is bargaining from an extremely weak position along with giving them very good reason to keep a close eye on us.
A for now, yes. Sneaking isn't likely to work very well, C2 covert operation is also OK but we are still injured and I'm wary about situations we can't untangle ourselves from. treave mentioned no pressing time issue for now, either, so A seems just sensible recon.
I'm surprised that nobody had mentioned this:

There were also those that whispered of an Imperial decree involved in this assault, that the Wunan Sect had somehow offended the palace.
...
She was currently imprisoned in their headquarters, a small fortress about an hour’s travel from the city that had been granted to them by the prefect of Xiangyang in return for their assistance with keeping order in the countryside.

The Wunan sect pissed off somebody off who was powerful (one of the Grand Eunuchs is a safe bet) so the Black Dragon Society was sent to take them out. Judging by the fact that the Fire Cult is trying to bring foreign values into China and was a potential threat to stability, the BDS was sent after them for the same reasons. This little tidbit is making me more convinced that this group has its fair share of Imperial agents within it. treave, the BDS seems to operate a bit like an organized crime group in that the authorities will turn a blind eye to a few dead bodies so long as the assassins do their part to maintain law and order; is that true?

First off, fuck A. We can't risk losing her trail and we can't take the chance of her going elsewhere; if she does, how would we find out where? What, are we just going to knock on the doors of the Black Dragon Society HQ and ask them politely where she is now? She is here now, that might not be the case if we wait too long, so we must act now. We're never going to be perfectly, 100% prepared for every situation, so we have to make do with what we have. ScubaV makes an interesting point that if she does relocate, it might be easier to approach her if she's not in a fortress, but that's assuming (a) we can pick up her trail again, (b) she doesn't end up in another place that's equally fortified and (c) that the BDS suddenly start to think that having a "frigid scarred nutso bitch" around is way more trouble than it's worth and kill her instead. Leaving things up to chance is unacceptable here.

D sounds a little too reliant on the Black Dragons not caring if her former love sees her and I'm not sure what they might ask in trade for that.

Nah, they don't give a shit. Yu is just some wandering scholar, they don't know that he and Chanfeng has a history, I doubt that they give a shit. With D, I think that we can arrange a meeting with her, though of course Yu would accept no less than Chanfeng's freedom. Given that he knows something of our past, I don't think that he is above trying to rat us out to the BDS if we decide to leave Chanfeng to rot without either busting her out or arranging for her freedom in some way (which is pretty understandable in his position). I also am not particularly keen to owe this group a favour, which makes me somewhat hesitant to pick it. That being said, treave, would we be approaching D with our true identity, as Zhang's apprentice?

That leaves C, which I see as the most attractive choice at the moment. I very much doubt that anyone here will come after Yunzi, mainly because all the assailants that came after her are now dead and because she seems to always wear a mask in public. Nah, I don't think that anybody will know that it's really her.

The real question here is whether to stay secretive or to try and become a member using our true identity. Here are what I see as the pros and cons:

Seeking Recruitment as Zhang Jue's Apprentice

This instantly gives us the respect and fear of those around us who also want to join up with the BDS. The downside is that there might be some punk who might try to fuck with us to make a name for themselves. The other downside is that while we are as proficient as any assassin at killing thanks to our awesome teacher, Master Zhang isn't exactly known for his subtlety, which is pretty important if you're an assassin. Taking on a small army of pugilists, while awesome, might not be what these guys are looking for. However, the biggest issue with C1 is that it seems to me that the BDS is clearly closely linked with certain elements of the Imperial Court, which might be trouble for us down the road.

Seeking Recruitment Anonymously

This makes us no different than any other dickhead who walks in asking to join up. With our injured condition, standing out compared to the other candidates will be extremely difficult. The upside here is that draws less attention on us; keeping a low-profile is crucial since Yunzi is with us.

I'm not sure what to vote for yet, but I'll go wit D for now.

Edit: removed conditional vote. Conditional voting is cowardice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Continuing the DISCUSS now.

I think that you're trying to minimize the consequences of A while attempting to make C2/D a lot worse in comparison, and I feel it's baseless at times.
Funny, I think you're trying to minimize the negative consequences of C2/D and maximize negative consequences of A, and I feel that's baseless at times. A is pretty much guaranteed to succeed between our lineup's skills but you throw in phrases like "that's a lot of maybes."

The bottom line here is that Chanfeng has been captured by a group that wiped out her sect, she's already seen as a "frigid scarred nutso bitch" as is, and it feels like you're minimizing the situation when you say "oh, well, it's only three days. What's the worse that could happen, guys?!" A shitload, because that's asking for trouble - these guys clearly want an unstable and dangerous type like Chanfeng out of their hands as soon as fucking possible.
They only JUST attacked the Wunan Sect yesterday. That means they're still recovering and getting their shit in order. By all accounts they're either going to sell them as slaves or hand over to the palace. Either way, they'll be sitting on her for a bit before things get final and either way they're going to profit from giving her away, so they won't be killing her.

And it's no guarantee that wherever she's going is going to be any better than it is here, either. This is just the situation as is, and we have to deal with it as is instead of hoping that it gets better somehow.
Except she's in a fortress right now which is also the headquarters of the Black Dragon Society. This is the place you want to walk in with 2 people who are wanted and 1 person who will still quite possibly get recognized on sight and ask them to be pals and let Yu speak to his beloved Chanfeng. If she leaves the fortress, it's easier to approach her and get shit done.

I'll grant you that Jing's nifty Reikan technique will help us observe a crime scene, no doubt about it, but it's not anywhere near as good as talking to the eyewitness that we've been looking out for this entire time. She might be privy to a lot of things that we won't get through going into the forest, and she is the most likely to be candid with us because we have Yu along with us.
I don't think they wiped out the whole Wunan Sect. As a group they may be done for, but we can probably find witnesses or survivors when we check it out. Yunzi has the agility to chase anyone who tries to flee the scene anyway. And just investigating the crime scene alone can tell us a lot between our high perception and Yu's int.

Besides, if we succeed at getting a conversation with her it's going to be under strict guard AND we will owe the BDS shit. Maybe if the ghost will spy for us we can get some details out of her, but even then we're putting ourselves in a risky situation.

As for your point about them recognizing Yu; really? I mean, in hindsight I agree that the guys who came after him might have been a few raw BDS recruits (their skills were rather shit), but I really think that you are blowing things out of proportion far beyond a reasonable point. I think that it's far more reasonable to believe that the situation with Chanfeng will change in the next three days than it is to believe that Yunzi, a non-Persian who always wears a mask in public, and Xiahou Yu, a wandering scholar who has been languishing in Yuhua Hall for the past few years, will suddenly be recognized right off the bat and we'll all be in deep shit.
We're walking into their headquarters after a big operation. Pretty much EVERYONE in the BDS will be there. If even ONE of the BDS people recognizes one of us, we're fucked. Chanfeng also rescued Liu when his family was being assassinated. And there's the possibility that Yu's family was ambushed because Yu was sheltering Chanfeng. Either way, there's a decent chance recent events have brought back memories of Yu's family (and Yu himself) to the fore.

As for my point regarding "hiding", I meant "hiding" in the sense of fucking off and trying to play it safe when the situation calls for some decisive action. I don't always go for the balls-to-wall choice, but here I think it's the right play. Our party is all on the same page, we have a fearsome reputation - what's stopping us? Why are we getting hesitant all of a sudden?
Neither do I, but I did vote for the hundred man battle. But in this case, it seems like all our other options are bad and if we investigate we will get better options and know more about what's going on. Our fearsome reputation isn't as awesome when we walk into this fortress that is the headquarters of the Black Dragon Society where all their top brass are. I'm sure they have some badasses too so while our rep can get them to consider us seriously, it really doesn't give us any clout especially while Jing is injured and Yunzi once again is trying to elude notice. But it does tell any palace agents that Jing is getting involved in their shit which means trouble.

And that's the problem. You want to go in and be a man of action, but we are coming in from an extremely weak position, risking a lot, and promising a bunch just so that we might get a nice conversation with Chanfeng which will probably be under guard to boot. I don't know how fruitful you're expecting this to be, but I doubt we're going to get much out of this other than hardship. And we're ruining chances of getting to her without any guards in the future.
 
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a cut of domestic sheep prime

Guest
I'd like to participate in this CYOA, but I'll never have time to get caught up. Can a nigga get a synopsis?
The setting is ancient China.

Our hero, Jing, is a "Soul Reaper" and an amoral transsexual who is hunting the legendary 5 balls of power. He/she is an expert horse rider and is generally known as the luckiest person on the planet. He/she was a Japanese high school boy/girl, but traveled back in time through an ancient power called "Geas". His/her goal is to marry prince Shun - a handsome wolf demon - but he/she has to find his/her magic balls before that can happen. On his/her journey (s)he's met many people including Yu - a perverted priest who's always asking women if they'll bear his children, but an otherwise sober man - and Yunzi - who is an honest cat-girl that is always open about her feelings toward Jing.
 

Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Sounds about right. I think by the end of this LP that's how things would turn out under our careful guidance.
 

Baltika9

Arcane
Joined
Jun 27, 2012
Messages
9,611
You forgot to mention Zhang Jue, the handsome and compassionate master of martial arts and world-renowned healer with his "Harmonious Palms of the Heavenly Emperor", and his quest to bring world peace with as little collateral damage as possible.
 

Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
As for AD(D) debate, I'd like to reiterate that any information an eyewitness possesses dwarfs anything that can be surmised from vague clues that we aren't guaranteed to find. Not to mention that the most sensitive information, about the attack on the prince three years ago, can only be obtained from Changfeng herself.

I don't believe for a second anyone would recognize one of us. None of us have been doing anything that would attract the attention of the imperial police as of late. The only one who might interest them is Yunzi, and that end is pretty damn well covered.

Yu wasn't even sought out. He was the one that called the man out two years ago, not the other way around.

Baltika9 said:
and his quest to bring world peace with as little collateral damage as possible.
This is kind of true. That is why Japan needed to be taken out ASAP.
And about this healer bit - none of his patients suffered from their ailments after he was done with them.
 
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a cut of domestic sheep prime

Guest
You forgot to mention Zhang Jue, the handsome and compassionate master of martial arts and world-renowned healer with his "Harmonious Palms of the Heavenly Emperor", and his quest to bring world peace with as little collateral damage as possible.
He also wears a turtle shell on his back fsr...
 

Baltika9

Arcane
Joined
Jun 27, 2012
Messages
9,611
Baltika9 said:
and his quest bring world peace with as little collateral damage as possible.
This is kind of true. That is why Japan needed to be taken out ASAP.
Oh man, I can't wait for that special on him. I'm picturing "DOOM 1: The Zhang Jue Invasion, Or How The Minamoto Clan Became A Shogunate, by Yorikawa."
:bounce:
 

treave

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jul 6, 2008
Messages
11,370
Codex 2012
ERYFKRAD - B
Kipeci - D
Baltika9 - D
Nevill - D
Absinthe - A
Tigranes - A
XenomorphII - A
Kashmir Slippers - A
Lambchop19 - C2 > D
ScubaV - A
TOME - A
Esquilax - D
Grimgravy - D
asxetos - D
Jester - A
Azira - A
Anabanana - D
Rex Feral - D
Ifeex - D
Omicron - D
a bear named spigot - A
Smashing Axe - A
obiter dictum - A
Elfberserker - A
Nim - D

***

Current tally:
A - 12
B - 1
C2 - 1
D - 11
 
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Baltika9

Arcane
Joined
Jun 27, 2012
Messages
9,611
Godfuckingdamnit, now we're tied. Drag this on through the weekend, why don't we?
:rpgcodex:
ERYFKRAD, care to break the tie?
 

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