[LP CYOA] 傳

[Zero Credibility]

We'll also be witnessing that her father was a lying treacherous scumbag, and running the reputation of her school into the ground.

I don't think we'll be doing just that, unless you mean we should lie. The only thing Jing knows about the old man is what Yao and the masters have told him. And surely they would be better witnesses for that than we are.

 

[Baltika9]

Let's prioritise them by risk.
...
I'm pretty torn between B and C. I'd go for B since it seems a more interesting option, but the high risk of the choice, and the recent events conviced me we are not indestructible.

Let's not do that, actually. Are we invincible? Hell no, nobody in this setting is (even Zhang Jue was defeated by Wang) but Jing was a bad SOB when he was injured, with quick wits and brutal decisiveness, and balls of steel. I don't care how you put it, but the way we bluffed the BDS was amazing. And pulling off the assassination of the chief of police while at half-strength was nothing to sneeze at as well. Yes, we did get captured because the whole thing was a setup in the first place, but we succeeded.

Now that we're back at full strength and have Cao'er to look to our injuries, Jing is an engine of destruction in true Zhangian tradition (I'm just saying, our Master didn't become a badass without bteaking a few bones and ripping a few muscles). We took down one hundred men on the Minamoto island (I wonder if Shun picked them up) and three Masters, even if they were rather average. And that was our first big fight, and we handled it admirably and awesomely, netting quite a bit of benefits, cool sword and a nice PER technique. Don't let Jing's convalescence (a very short one thanks to Cao'er, who is travelling with us now) undermine your confidence in him guys, we are back to be better than ever.

Also, we will never achieve the rep for Zhang's challenge by playing it safe, and going to the Fire Cult's base is much better for our chances of beating them at their tournament and thus, winning.

 

[Fangshi]

“Of course! I help because I want to do what is right, not because of what people are called. I promised to help you before I knew who you were, and that was because I sensed you are a good guy. Even if you are the Southern Maniac’s disciple, nothing has changed from five minutes ago. I’m pretty sure you’re the sort of guy who’s kind at heart,”

She is just adorable, can we keep her? Hopefully she does not get manipulated into a position where we have to fight her though...

Now tough choices I suppose, I really want to find out what is going on with that Fire Cult at some point and Yunzi would be the perfect in, into the group (The Brazilian Slaughter and Jester won me over and I am trying not to just assume these guys are evil off hand, guess we will see ). Going to the Fire Cult may also encourage Jing to become a more independent minded character as he would be spending more time away from the prince and court politics (well provided the cult does not brainwash him...). Ultimately choice sort of feels like the odd one out but it is very intriguing.

-Positives: We get to find out about the cult, ummm.. Yunzi (if something happens, which it will, we will be there to help her), it ties in nicely with the competition that is coming up, we may be able to learn unusual techniques and the like, maybe the cultists are not evil and could be a strong ally for Shun. And I suppose they may be able to tell us something about our neigong, it might be worth while to have experts from a completely different martial tradition examine our unique neigong and see if they know of anything like it (though I would not necessarily expect anything).

-Negatives: It is the least (overtly) connected choice to our primary mission, both Shun and Mao seem like stronger leads and it allows events in the east to continue to deteriorate without our help (or harm I guess).

Now from a character perspective I think Jing would go with B, if he thinks Shun is in danger then he should head to Wudu and see what he can do. He may be able to act as a go-between, between the Wudu and the government (provided the Wudu did not actually do it). Defusing the situation would definitely help the prince and I imagine the Wudu would be willing to help Shun uncover the conspirators in revenge for being set up.

-Negatives: Wudu's secretive/paranoid worldview (Quilin should be able to vouch for us) may make it difficult to help them, our own bad rep with the government (Shun hopefully still trusts us but the rest of the military won't), our complete lack of knowledge of the situation (I suppose we could make it worse, though this goes for all the options really). If we want a more independent Jing then running back to Shun may undermine that a bit as he falls back into old habits.

-Positives: Well the Wudu may not get wiped out/scattered and may become a potential ally, Shun may be in better shape if we intervene if there is a plot to attack him, Quilin would definitely appreciate the help (if she goes by herself and the government attacks she may die in the fighting), It would give us a chance to make contact with Shun (hopefully discreetly) and get an update on our mission objectives.

The final option strikes me as the safest, we could definitely use practice and rest and investigating Mao could help us gain a better picture of what exactly is going on.

-Positives: We retain access to Emei resources and can train under the watchful eyes of the Abbess, Yu and Cao'er (this is essentially our Rocky montage here I think), we can keep an eye on Chanfeng and Yu (ask them about Mao and the like), obviously we could investigate Mao provided we are careful (don't want to make an enemy of Lingshu or call down a bunch of government attention), we would be continuing the mission Zhang gave us (by preparing for the challenge) while working towards fulfilling Shun's mission as well (by investigating Mao).

-Negatives: Not too many actually; the biggest is that we would not be out in the world actually doing things, Shun, Yunzi and Quilin would just have to look after themselves and they are all capable enough that this would not be a definite death sentence but it almost certainly will not have universally positive outcomes. Odds are something happens to the Fire Cult and Shun and the Wudu come to blows. Though I will admit I don't think Shun is the type to be played a fool, he probably won't just storm in there and start something without trying to figure out what happened, whether of not he has the resources and influence to manage the situation or not will be the question. Hopefully Shun has had time to pick up a few ninjas and can use them as go-betweens and as protection from assassination but I guess we will see if we pick this one or A.

My brain say to go with C since the stronger we are for the main event the better, but out of loyalty to Shun B might be the best course, then of course my curiosity demands A to finally find out what is going on with the Fire Cult...

Ah to hell with it we never pick the cult routes (and it is not like it will win anyway) A, the Fire Cult is just too interesting to pass up again, barring that we are Shun's field agent we should focus on maximizing our abilities and investigating leads within the pugilist world, Shun has not survived this long by being an idiot (he must know this has trap written all over it) and he has allies at court and people close to him who have the sole responsibility of protecting his ass, hopefully he will manage and can work out something behind the scenes with the Wudu (even if he is required to publicly "destroy them" maybe they can figure something out, if they can't well you can't save everyone...).

Edit: ah enough with conditional votes, Cult or bust

 

[SirArvedeth]

Torn apart between B and C. On one hand, our bro might be in danger, and we have to protect him. When I'm considering other options than B, I'm getting anxious - Shun doesn't have to be assassinated or poisoned to die there. One unlucky slash during battle and he's dead. Also, if I recall correctly, there was something about another heir-title claimant. And treave suggested, he is not that incompetent... Anyway, we might save our Shun-bro if anything bad would have happen, as well as find some info on Shun's enemies.

However, history shows that when we are in need of some recovery and we are doing anything but resting, it ends bad for us. C has additional bonus in chance of finding out sth about Qingcheng.

C for now, let's find out sth about uncle Mao

 

[Baltika9]

I just don't see how soft training and friendly spars will help us refine Zhang's killer moves. Now is the time to strengthen the techniques we're good with, not learning new mediocre ones. If we come out to the challenge with a soup of so-so moves, and no strong ones, then we have already lost.

 

[Rex Feral]

I was just stating the risks so you guys know. As you've seen above I went for the riskiest choice, since a meeting with Shun sounded interesting for me.

Also as long as we don't go full retard on any choice I think we will prevail in the most dire of situations.

Hopefully.

With treave at least, root would have fucked us ten times over for less stupid choices.

 

[Esquilax]

Glad that we managed to recover (with the exception of our neigong). Let's do some speculating:

Then, with less than three months to the Fire Cult’s challenge, things began moving. First you received news that Luoying Manor had been burnt to the ground by the Emperor’s troops. Lady Ji was missing, and the land had been turned into a temporary base for Tang soldiers.

Shortly afterwards, even worse news came.

The Emperor had been poisoned and fallen into a coma. The blame was put on Tulu Huodu of the Wudu Cult, and an army of ten thousand had been dispatched to exterminate them. Leading the army was the Crown Prince Li Shun – as the favoured heir it seems that the court had pressured him to take personal responsibility for the attack on his father.

Okay, so apparently the spark that lit the fuse was that someone decided to burn down Luoying Manor, or rather, convinced the Emperor to do so. Tulu Huodu, being a member of the Manor is naturally assumed to be a prime suspect who did the deed in retaliation. We of course, know better - the Wudu Cult prefer the status quo because it's good for business, so they don't have a reason to rock the boat. My initial theory is that there's an Imperial agent inside the Wudu Cult aligned with a faction that is opposed to Shun that managed to do the deed. I could be wrong, but somehow I suspect that we aren't the only one aligned with certain factions of the government who is deep in the pugilistic world. There's us and Mao Sanjiao, so there could be others too.

As for the choice, I disagree with Rex Feral. I think that there are going to be big risks wherever we go - Mao Sanjiao will be a threat in C once we're preparing for our tournament, as I'm sure that he's definitely wised up to the fact that we blew his cover. Song Lingshu may have kept our identity a secret, but Mao Sanjiao is close to her, so he might coax it out of her. Likewise, with A we risk running afoul of the Fire Cult since they definitely don't like how close we are to the temple lord's betrothed. That being said, I'm with you that B does seem to be the most risky. Just saying, plenty of ways to fuck up and potentially die horribly with the other choices.

I just don't see how soft training and friendly spars will help us refine Zhang's killer moves. Now is the time to strengthen the techniques we're good with, not learning new mediocre ones. If we come out to the challenge with a soup of so-so moves, and no strong ones, then we have already lost.

Maybe we can meld new techniques with existing ones. I think that this is kind of a false dichotomy. We have the Yuchang Sword, learning some Emei swordplay is a perfect fit for us. Besides, we refined Zhang's killer moves through long, consistent training over a year and a half too. It wasn't just all-out wars with Guo Fu and fighting a hundred pugilists; both approaches have their place, but it's worth noting that orthodox types are actually significantly better in terms of their proficiency at various techniques because they actually bother to sit down and practice martial arts as a way of life more than we do. There's definitely something we could learn from that.

Anyways, for the choice, I'm too intrigued by the Fire Cult to not go after it. Shun sent us in to the pugilistic world, and I think (hope?) that he can handle himself. The fiery neigong and strange moves that they use intrigue me, and we did have the invitation from before. I think it's also worth noting that the temple lord was noted by Jing as being about as powerful as Zhang, which puts him up there with the Five Greats. No matter if we pick A or B, we will be around someone who is an incredibly good martial artist. Plus, of course there's Yunzi in A.

A, but I could flop to anything still.

 

[Nevill]

We'll also be witnessing that her father was a lying treacherous scumbag, and running the reputation of her school into the ground.

I don't think we'll be doing just that, unless you mean we should lie. The only thing Jing knows about the old man is what Yao and the masters have told him. And surely they would be better witnesses for that than we are.

What I meant, we would be supporting Yao in a court session as a witness. And what Yao will say would - probably - amount to just that.
It changes very little for Lingshu - we are not on her father's side in this.

 

[Rex Feral]

Of course all choices have their risk, and we might die horribly following any one of these 3. I was judging them by comparison and thinking about the possible obstacles that we might meet on our way.

If there was no danger to any one of these paths, the updates following would be boring, and treave knows better than that.

 

[Zero Credibility]

What I meant, we would be supporting Yao in a court session as a witness. And what Yao will say would - probably - amount to just that.
It changes very little for Lingshu - we are not on her father's side in this.

I doubt we would even be called to witness - just what is it we would say? We weren't there when any of these things happened and everything we know we have heard from Yao. So what's the point in even calling us? Cao'er at least might have something to say, she was there for some of these events. The main witnesses would probably be Yao and whatever master would speak on his behalf. Us, not really - we literally don't know anything about this and I doubt anyone would be foolish enough to consider us a good character witness.

 

[Smashing Axe]

The OCD powergamer in me is still squirming at the eye loss. We must find a fox spirit, or something to restore our perception. That's completely unrelated to the current choice, but... err. Yeah.

I doubt that's ever going to happen though, what with our luck.

 

[Nevill]

I doubt we would even be called to witness - just what is it we would say?

We have plenty to say. For example, the question about who broke Yao and Cao'er out remains open. Naturally, the Emei fall under suspicion. We may take it upon ourselves, since we are partially responsible anyway. We are one of the two who had been apprenticed by the man, so we have a good idea of what he would and wouldn't do - that might seem important to the court. We'll see.

The OCD powergamer in me is still squirming at the eye loss. We must find a fox spirit, or something to restore our perception. That's completely unrelated to the current choice, but... err. Yeah.

We must dodge the consequences at any cost, you mean?
It is our punishment, and we'll be stuck with it for a long while.

 

[Fangshi]

I just don't see how soft training and friendly spars will help us refine Zhang's killer moves.

Well so far almost all of our training has been of the lethal kind, sink or swim so to speak. Cao'er has great perception so she can analyze our moves as we spar and give us tips on how to refine them and clean them up at least a little. Yu has great scholarly ability and artistic skill so he could probably help us understand some of the more esoteric elements of our techniques and could maybe tell us about some moves that would chain well with what we know. Meacao could provide even more tips and pointers to improve our sword-fighting. All of this would contribute to higher skill and greater control over our techniques, and given that most of our techniques are lethal we should really strive for as much control as possible. Skill counts as much as raw talent here so it would definitely help us out. I mean we are physically superior to just about everyone our age (notable exceptions being BroFu for strength/neigong and Yunzi for speed) and that has gotten us quite far but at a certain point we are going to have to focus on some theory craft and refine our style. I mean there are good reasons why Boxers and MMA fighters don't just go into matches cold.

This is all related to one of the reasons I want to visit the Fire Cult actually, I hope it would be a good learning experience for Jing to get more chances to learn from non-Chinese fighters, it will expand his horizons and help with the development of a unique and difficult to counter style. Both A and C provide opportunities to improve ourselves (C being a much more sure prospect) without actually further injuring ourselves before the challenge. B definitely promises some combat but if we do something gloriously stupid like usual we can kiss competing in the challenge goodbye.

 

[Smashing Axe]

The OCD powergamer in me is still squirming at the eye loss. We must find a fox spirit, or something to restore our perception. That's completely unrelated to the current choice, but... err. Yeah.

We must dodge the consequences at any cost, you mean?
It is our punishment, and we'll be stuck with it for a long while.

Don't put words in my mouth. I was expressing sentiment, nothing else.

 

[Rex Feral]

Why do I have a feeling we'll be meeting Gao Ying wherever we choose to go now ?

We investigate Mao. "Why Jing, I didn't knew you cared. Too bad Mao's secret can't get out."

We go at Wudu clan. "Jing, so nice of you to be in the very fortress I was infiltrating. Well I guess I can't let you blow my cover."

We go to the Fire cult. "Ah Jing, I see you finally joined a mighty pugilist sect. Good for you, Jing, Good for you. Unfortunately my mission is to assassinate powerful pugilists here. The more the merrier. I guess I could include you, as well."

 

[Baltika9]

Or, since we revealed our alliance with Shun, "Shit's going down, bro, Shunbro needs you."

 

[Rex Feral]

Is he really on Shun's side? I wouldn't trust that snake.

 

[Jester]

B for me
We got their heir so we should be able to get to them. It could be setup for assassination attempt on Shun possible if its 2 step plan. First assassinate Emperor and use political pressure to force Shun to retaliate, if he would poisoned by secret police agents blame could be put on Wudu. On the other hand if it was Wudu someone would have to get huge amount of money to make it worthwhile for them and it would be interesting to find out who was that. It could be that there is fraction in Wudu or some new power trying to gain first position in this branch of trade, allied with second prince. Taking into consideration that Wudu thought that chaos is bad for business i must agree with Esquilax that they probably were framed and someone is using IC to destroy their tracks, the question is is Wudu a scapegoat or not needed assassin. If first they should know who are other unorthodox poisioner sects capable of this, if second we might find out who was contractor. If Secret Police it would be good to give Shun info about that.

 

[Baltika9]

Doesn't really matter now, we're immune to acupuncture and resistant to poisons, and are a total beast in martial arts. In a straight-up fight with us, he gon die.

 

[Esquilax]

Is he really on Shun's side? I wouldn't trust that snake.

What a coincidence, that's probably what he thinks about us.

The hesitation before he fired his dart at us (and missed) seems to indicate that yeah, he does serve Shun. However, since we just barged out of the window, he couldn't take the chance of us being aligned to another faction, so he tried to take us out because he's been trained to be certain; if you're not sure that someone's on your side and your instincts tell you they aren't, you should probably kill them. If we run into him, he will assume that we are the enemy, since we ran away. That being said, he's definitely Shun's agent.

Our buddy sure knows how to pick 'em.

Doesn't really matter now, we're immune to acupuncture and resistant to poisons, and are a total beast in martial arts. In a straight-up fight with us, he gon die.

Gao Ying doesn't do straight-up fights.

Besides, he didn't have much trouble handling us in the solo assassination. Before this train of thought starts snowballing to the point where we start thinking we're invincible and we bite off more than we can chew, I think we should remind ourselves that we still don't have use of our neigong, which is probably one of our best assets as a fighter. We did have use of our neigong during the solo assassination scenario, so stat-wise, we were still pretty close.

Of course, I'm not trying to scare anyone off B, there are plenty of good reasons to go with it, let's just keep some sense of perspective here.

 

[Baltika9]

Besides, he didn't have much trouble handling us in the solo assassination. Before this train of thought starts snowballing to the point where we start thinking we're invincible and we bite off more than we can chew, I think we should remind ourselves that we still don't have use of our neigong, which is probably one of our best assets as a fighter. We did have use of our neigong during the solo assassination scenario, so stat-wise, we were still pretty close.

And before this train of thought makes us scared of him, I would like to point out that we've never actually fought and we didn't even use our neiggong in the assassination, since it would re-open our internal wounds and fuck us up. In both scenarios, we ran as fast as we could to get away from him. Jing is brutal and fast fighter, with our neiggong, we can definitely take him.

But I think he's Shun's guy, so we'll be alright.

 

[Fangshi]

So here is another argument for A (because damn it I really want to see what the cult is like):

Yu thinks we do not value our own life, and he is actually a fairly good judge of people so I am inclined to agree with that assessment (well that and Codex is very high risk/high reward so yeah Jing does a lot of risky stuff). Now that is all in keeping with Jing's character, he was raised to be a tool of the prince and that is still largely how he sees himself (maybe not as a tool of just the prince but definitely as expendable). And he behaves as such, he really does not seem to rate his own existence as terribly important.

If we decide that, that is not a good thing and that the boy should try to be more independent and assertive then maybe we should aim to make him a bit more selfish than he is. Have him place his own happiness and his own priorities a bit higher then he does now. Maybe Jing should go off with Yunzi, go after his girl, see if there is maybe more to life then just being a tool of the prince, it may be good for the boy because I have the feeling that he will need a reason to live to make it though the war that is coming. Anyway it is something to think about.

Now the primary concerns I see as good reasons to pick B come down to Shun and Quilin/the Wudu but they may not be as dire as they seem at first:

Shin has many followers, many of whom are solely responsible for his protection, Gao Ying may be one of them. If Jing is the only thing standing between the prince and death then he is screwed anyway. With no loyal, and most importantly capable, followers at all the dynasty is doomed to failure anyway so Shun is either completely screwed or he does have enough resources to make it through this.

Now the Wudu are a more pressing concern (in that maybe we should be concerned for their survival) but the government wiped out the Ashina and that did not kill them all, many escaped (including Yunzi) so even in the worst case scenario where Shun and the Wudu are doomed to fight there is still a decent chance that Shun and Quilin will both survive. It may also be of worth to note that the Wudu are a lot more sophisticated than the Ashina, it could well be the case that they will scatter and go underground if it looks like they will be attacked, they may have backup plans so we should not just assume they will be wiped out.

It may also be possible that Shun will be able to come up with something, he does have resources and influence (and he does not seem to be terribly keen on attacking the Wudu), he is after all a fairly intellegent guy and the Wudu are not without skill when it comes to manipulation and espionage so it may be possible for the to come to some sort of deal. Jing's presence could definitely improve their chances but also carries risks. Jing is no diplomat and we may wind up in a situation where we are wasting our time or where we are given the choice between letting things deteriorate or doing something heroic and incredibly stupid (lets fight 100 pugilists 10 000 soldiers alone!) further reinforcing Jing' almost suicidal nature.

 

[Anabanana]

The OCD powergamer in me is still squirming at the eye loss. We must find a fox spirit, or something to restore our perception. That's completely unrelated to the current choice, but... err. Yeah.

As a habitual savescummer and minmaxer myself, you have my sympathies. It's too bad that kind of OCD powergaming is what led us to this reroll in this first place (let's pick the optimal choice and savescum so we can see all the routes).

People are bringing up the good point that Shun can probably take care of himself. He's been in the thick of courtly situations for way longer than we have; with our luck, going there might even fuck him up. If we assume that Shun doesn't need or want us with him, then we should look at the long-term threats, the Fire Cult and Mao Sanjiao. I have a feeling that between A and C, A might give us a better chance of achieving a peaceful resolution with the Fire Cult, and C will give us a better chance of surviving the tournament, so it mostly depends on how you want to resolve the situation and which girl you're more interested in. Agh, this really is tough. All three options seem really exciting.

I think I might flop to C... we'll need to be at our full strength for whatever is to come, especially given our lost eye, we really need to investigate Mao, and I do want to see more of Song Lingshu. She's been really great to us so far. And what is this talk about grabbing her from Bai Jiutian? Obviously to repay her we should be her wingman and try and get her together with him.

 

[Baltika9]

What do you mean, 'surviving' the tournament?

 

[Rex Feral]

I think he meant 'winning' the tournament.