[LP CYOA] 傳

[Baltika9]

She already trusts us, so it's just a matter of time. Here's hoping we will dedicate time to studying YX's techniques and practicing them with Qilin. Fighting in the dark should give us some...interesting situations.

 

[RealDDc]

Can't we just take the shortcut through the waterslide and get out of here? That psychotic out-of-depth endboss gives me the creeps.

Oh and treave can we pocket a batch of that luminescent moss, could be handy in the future if it still emits some light after beeing plucked.

 

[Nevill]

You can, if you are so desperate that you don't care where you end up.

For now, there are worse places to be, so let's not rush to get to them.

 

[ScubaV]

Haha, jokes on you B1 voters. Yang Xue's heart of madness softens by the caring and dedication the two lovebirds show for one another over the long weeks underground. That is, until his madness inevitably returns, accompanied by newly awakened lusts for his long lost wife. Since she is not around, his demand for an arm changes into something else...

 

[Smashing Axe]

Haha, jokes on you B1 voters. Yang Xue's heart of madness softens by the caring and dedication the two lovebirds show for one another over the long weeks underground. That is, until his madness inevitably returns, accompanied by newly awakened lusts for his long lost wife. Since she is not around, his demand for an arm changes into something else...

Xu Jing was ready to put out for Shun on a whim, I don't see why he would hesitate for this guy. I mean, so long as he teaches us martial arts...

 

[Baltika9]

Haha, jokes on you B1 voters. Yang Xue's heart of madness softens by the caring and dedication the two lovebirds show for one another over the long weeks underground. That is, until his madness inevitably returns, accompanied by newly awakened lusts for his long lost wife. Since she is not around, his demand for an arm changes into something else...

I don't know if it's a good or bad thing that we don't have Yunzi with us instead of Qilin right now.

 

[Esquilax]

Okay, I guess we have the choice of either rift-jumping letting the current take us into a (possibly?) safer place, or banking on Yang Xue's current demeanor not to change while we look for an exit.

“Youngsters nowadays. You will see. Oh. A year or a month or a week later you will either die to save her, or her to save you. I will sit and watch which will happen. Food… it tastes all the better if you wait for it.”
...
He had made no moves to eat you or Qilin for now, apparently having forgotten his own words, but you were forced to fight him for rats whenever he arrived. Most of the time you lost, though sometimes you managed to steal a rat or two from the old man, to his screaming protests.

Yang Xue is even more capricious and prone to dangerously changing his mind on a whim than our own beloved Zhang Jue. He could decide that waiting for a meal isn't fun anymore, at which point, he could immediately kill the both of us.

The one intriguing thing about B2 is that it seems that there is some life beyond the stream:

The fish in the waterfall cavern had been too difficult for you to catch in the end; it seems that the pool extends a lot deeper and further underground than you had expected, and any careless attempts to capture them would only send the fish hiding deep beyond your reach. The stream, however, must be flowing somewhere – perhaps it would lead to the outside of the caverns eventually.

If the fish are able to go further beyond our reach, then this implies that there is some sort of life beyond our current location, and that it might actually not be so inhospitable there. Now, I'm certain that it isn't all sunshine and rainbows either; this current is bound to lead us somewhere, and I've seen enough action movies to know a dangerous waterfall scene when I see one:



Tempted to flop back to B2. Still sticking to B1 because even after the success of Operation Immortal, YOLOTIGERing has its limits.

 

[Absinthe]

I'm not sure I see the appeal in B2. If we vote B1 we improve our odds of survival and we can learn more wall techniques. I think at the very least before we try to get out of here, we should make sure we have a means of survival in the probable event of failure. And judging by the last wall technique we learned, it's not like sticking around and learning some more would be a waste.

 

[Esquilax]

I'm not sure I see the appeal in B2. If we vote B1 we improve our odds of survival and we can learn more wall techniques. I think at the very least before we try to get out of here, we should make sure we have a means of survival in the probable event of failure. And judging by the last wall technique we learned, it's not like sticking around and learning some more would be a waste.

That ignores the easily changing disposition of the insane cannibal lurking in the tunnels here. If it were just us and Qilin, by all means, stick around and learn a few things. My point is just that both of the B choices seem to have risks - though admittedly, I like our odds in B2 even less. But not by much of a margin.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

I'm with Esquillax on being wary of this guy. That's actually a big part of why I don't want to tear off our arm for him. If it weren't for the fact that this is a prison cell and such an obvious avenue of escape should have been noticed by it's constructors, as Nevill mentioned, I would vote B2. I'm hoping for either a rescue or reasoning with the man using the amulet or something in B1. It's a gamble, but less of one than diving into the water.

 

[Nevill]

If the fish are able to go further beyond our reach, then this implies that there is some sort of life beyond our current location, and that it might actually not be so inhospitable there.

For me, this only implies one thing - the stream is deeper than you care to explore.

The 'source of life beyond our current location' might be the stream's bedside that you can't reach. That's not the kind of 'hospitable' I care about.

Honestly, I can't understand how does that influence our situation and/or judgement in any way.

I'm hoping for [...] reasoning with the man using the amulet or something in B1.

Want to give it a second try?

 

[profreshinal]

treave where are we?

I think this LP is set at the Tang dynasty and the tang's dynasty capital was Chang'an (Xi'an) but somewhere you posted that the secret tunnels are below the Taiye Lake which is at Beijing near the forbidden city.

Am I wrong on the dynasty or is this an alternative universe where the forbidden city exists a few 100 years before the real one?

 

[treave]

There was another one in Chang'an back then. The one in Beijing was named after it.

 

[profreshinal]

There was another one in Chang'an back then.

Another lake or another city or both?

 

[Esquilax]

I'm with Esquillax on being wary of this guy. That's actually a big part of why I don't want to tear off our arm for him. If it weren't for the fact that this is a prison cell and such an obvious avenue of escape should have been noticed by it's constructors, as Nevill mentioned, I would vote B2. I'm hoping for either a rescue or reasoning with the man using the amulet or something in B1. It's a gamble, but less of one than diving into the water.

This could be read as an argument in favour of B2. A rescue isn't going to happen, and the dice roll from showing the amulet would have sent Yang Xue into a murderous rage. So really, with B1, you're saying "fuck, I got nothing". Well, if you really have absolutely no option, then gambling on B2 is the best bet and the smartest thing that we could do.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Want to give it a second try?

Ah, I missed that. Well...

edit: yeah, I got nothing, but a rescue is possible and better than yolotigering into the water. Again, there has to be something really bad downstream or else why chose this place for a prison?

 

[treave]

Another lake or another city or both?

Lake.

 

[Esquilax]

edit: yeah, I got nothing, but a rescue is possible and better than yolotigering into the water. Again, there has to be something really bad downstream or else why chose this place for a prison?

It's better? What the fuck could possibly be worse than the most dangerous pugilist in China, sealed for the past thirty years? My entire point is that if you have no obvious solutions at hand, then going for the gamble in B2 is the best bet.

You are making some compelling arguments in favour of YOLOTIGERing into the water, bro. I must think on this.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

It's better? What the fuck could possibly be worse than the most dangerous pugilist in China, sealed for the past thirty years?

Smashing our head against a rock while flowing down the stream? Falling 100' off an underground waterfall and being dashed to pieces onto some jagged rocks? Drowning in some nameless chasm? Yeah, those things are worse.

 

[Baltika9]

edit: yeah, I got nothing, but a rescue is possible and better than yolotigering into the water. Again, there has to be something really bad downstream or else why chose this place for a prison?

My issue with the "well, rescue is sure to come!" thing is this: okay, our friends showed up and found us in this chamber. Now what?

 

[Nevill]

It's better? What the fuck could possibly be worse than the most dangerous pugilist in China, sealed for the past thirty years?

Death.

Death is worse than living besides the insane pugilist that might or might not do nasty things to you. At least you know that you can trade your arm to him in exchange for becoming his instrument for revenge.

You can't even try water diplomacy.

My issue with the "well, rescue is sure to come!" thing is this: okay, our friends showed up and found us in this chamber. Now what?

It depends. Our friends would probably need a permission from Shun to enter these tunnels, else they risk running into the secret police. Hell, they might even show up with an escort of tasty agents.

Even better if Shun forces Gao Ying to do it.

 

[Smashing Axe]

My hope with B2 is that it will take us to a magical underwater faerie dragon realm full of stat boosts.

That's just me though.

 

[Baltika9]

It's better? What the fuck could possibly be worse than the most dangerous pugilist in China, sealed for the past thirty years?

Smashing our head against a rock while flowing down the stream? Falling 100' off an underground waterfall and being dashed to pieces onto some jagged rocks? Drowning in some nameless chasm? Yeah, those things are worse.

It's better? What the fuck could possibly be worse than the most dangerous pugilist in China, sealed for the past thirty years?

Death.

Death is worse than living besides the insane pugilist that might or might not do nasty things to you. At least you know that you can trade your arm to him in exchange for becoming his instrument for revenge.

That's total hamster wheeling and fear-inspired rationalization: but what if this, but what if that? That works for every option: what if YX just goes berserk and eats us? What if we slip on a rock, dash our skull open and end up in his belly?
Bottom line is, Jing and Qilin are good swimmers with talents in agility and qinggong, so if Jing could make a controlled blind-fall at insane speeds, then I think we can definitely make a good descent downriver, following the flow.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

At least you know that you can trade your arm to him in exchange for becoming his instrument for revenge.

In fairness, we don't know that. For all we know, he could change his mind and club us to death with our own arm and proceed to remove our clothing and feast upon our succulent gonads. He is a lunatic after all.

You can't even try water diplomacy.

Actually, I have to admit I'm having flashbacks to sphere diplomacy here... Remember how we had that rift open up just behind us and we were all "we don't know where it could lead! We could end up in a black hole!"...?

 

[Nevill]

That's total hamster wheeling and fear-inspired rationalization: but what if this, but what if that?

Dude, if you are going to throw yourself of a 15-story building, the question 'what if you go splat?' suddenly becomes a very valid one.

Same thing with jumping into the river. It is not some very remote possibility that we are talking about. Don't try to write it off as fear-mongering. That's just common sense.

then I think we can definitely make a good descent downriver, following the flow.

Yes, they could. Can they resurface, though? The presence of air pockets or an exit is not something that their skill can control.

Remember how we had that rift open up just behind us and we were all "we don't know where it could lead! We could end up in a black hole!"...?

You also don't know if it was really better there. After all, it did lead to a separate Universe.