[LP CYOA] 傳

[treave]

Well I did say that he was sufficiently diplomatic, just that when he's with the prince he sometimes forgets his place. Also, he's spent nearly a year trying to fix diplomatic fuckups of his master's fault. He's been putting his court education to good use.

As for the exact details of the poison, it'd be too risky to discuss it here, or to expect to be given a room secure from eavesdropping where you can talk. But you can guess it's probably no ordinary poison.

 

[Jester]

B2
Can we give him advice to take some time off being head of school, excused that will help him recover? Tipping that he got talented heir? I think that son aggressiveness could increase this style reputation and old master will continue stagnation. Killing son or helping him get steering wheel is only way to ensure old man life without risking style honourable reputation. Either old man will see flaws of his son and attempt to guide him, or he will be oblivious to them and we would not be able to make him see it. Pointing that death from ignoring prescription is not damaging to our master reputation as healer, mby son will get memo that we gets the job done despite all circumstances but physicians are neutral.

Edit. B2>B1 either merciful or without reward but RIGHT.

 

[treave]

That's a good point. You could hint at him taking time off and leaving matters to the son in B2, sure. I don't see why not. Whether it'll work is another matter, but at least you would have tried. Outright asking him to step down would be too presumptuous even for someone who saved his life, since he founded the school.

 

[Esquilax]

Expecting anyone in this school to believe your word over that of their young master, without any shred of evidence, when you are in a pinch yourself and could be expected to lie to save your own skin - that is an exercise in futility.
...
You glance at Rong Zhiyu. You know that he will not give up this easily and that he will make another attempt on his trusting father in the future. However, you are also certain that Rong Muben, oblivious to the danger, will not listen to your warnings. After all, you have not managed to find any evidence at all.

Basically, this is an all-or-nothing choice. You either go full YOLO and kill Rong Jr. while accusing him of attempted murder or you shut the fuck up and leave. We have no evidence, and it'll only antagonize the Master. That being said, I do see some merit in A2, but it would be a long-term play: this guy had co-conspirators, but they operated in secret, which tells us that many of the disciples here are loyal to Master Rong. If we encounter Rong Jr. in the future, I'm fairly certain a few people here would remember our warning. But that's neither here nor there, as I don't think that approach is worth it.

I am really reluctant to kill Rong Jr. because we had already made a promise that we wouldn't be taking any lives today. The boy is an asshole, but he's also their only child and they've staked their entire lives into ensuring that he would grow up to not be a shithead. They haven't succeeded, but we can't go back on our word without a huge hit to our reputation, so I don't like that option.

That being said, going A1 would mitigate the whole "going back on your word" issue: in this case, we would be exacting Yao's toll because of Rong Jr.'s dishonorable attempt to poison his father, right? But then you go back to the issue of having no evidence.

Flopped to B1

 

[treave]

Yes, A1 would be you basically saying that it is okay if you do not believe me, but this is why I will take your son's life, to ensure the life Cao'er saved won't be ended prematurely by his own son.

You'll basically take the rep hit and hurt their feelings in exchange for trying to protect them. Because you can take it. Because you're the hero the pugilistic world deserves but not the one it needs right now. Because you're Tigerman.

 

[Storyfag]

I really like Jester's B2.

 

[Azira]

Tigerman

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I wonder if Rong Sr. had some different plans of who would succeed him. That may have made Jr. jump the gun.

 

[treave]

I wonder if Rong Sr. had some different plans of who would succeed him. That may have made Jr. jump the gun.

Well, even if he didn't, after last night's romp with Mrs. Rong things might be different now.

 

[Nevill]

I can't believe what people are arguing for. Will elaborate when I get close to laptop. For now, A1.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I can't believe what people are arguing for.

Welcome to the codex, boss.

 

[Esquilax]

You know what, it's occurred to me that there are a bunch of other advantages associated with A1:

There is a path ready for you to take - a path where you prey on Rong Muben's honour to protect him. The Killer Physician’s price. Though Cao'er had declined it, you know she will follow your lead in this matter, deferring to your judgment of the situation. You will claim it, and you will claim Rong Zhiyu’s life in a fair duel so that there can be no complaints. Rong Muben, being the honourable man that he is, will be forced to accede to your request. He will not seek revenge for this price, though you will not be favoured by the Songfeng school either. Who can be, after killing their young master and heir?

Okay, so we won't gain any favour with Master Rong, but there is great status in a fair duel. Rong Jr. is only a halfway decent fighter at best, but the guy is the heir to the academy, which means that he has a level of status that exceeds his level of skill. It's sort of like how in boxing or MMA beating an overrated fighter improves your reputation and gets you into title contention (i.e. last two guys who beat Alistair Overeem). If we take out Rong Jr. then we'll never be welcomed at the Songfeng sword academy (and possibly, by extension, the Huashan rep will be hurt), but we will gain some measure of fame - and infamy - as the man who took out the heir to the Songfeng sword academy. That's got to mean something.

Of course, killing him will eliminate a long-term threat down the road in Rong Jr., so that's obviously important. He's ambitious, and he's a slimy fuck with a great reputation: that isn't a good thing for us.

 

[Zero Credibility]

Well fuck again.

A1

Just state bluntly that he's been poisoned, not ill. Cao'er can give the details on what type of poison has been used and the fact that she has successfully cured the old man will give her all the credibility she needs for that. As for who the poisoner is, tell him we have no hard evidence, only suspicions against his son. Maybe they'll believe us, probably they won't - but if they won't then clearly state the reasons for asking our fee - to protect them from their own son. If they start their own investigation later they could confirm as much - I doubt this fool has covered his track that good.

Tigerman, fuck yeah. I just hope we can pull this off without ending up as a tiger rug.

 

[Kipeci]

A1

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Looks like our reputation will take a hit regardless of whether we confront him or walk away...

EDIT: Vote withdrawn, going for A but undecided on the rest.

 

[Kipeci]

I just noticed that our orthodoxy took another hit. For what choice did that happen, treave? I've not kept track of it the past few updates.

 

[treave]

I just noticed that our orthodoxy took another hit. For what choice did that happen, treave? I've not kept track of it the past few updates.

For 'stealing' the sword just now. You had to play it off as your own mistake because that was the only way you thought you could alleviate the suspicious atmosphere that Rong had cultivated. But it still gives you the reputation of being an eccentric who takes what he wants without asking, even if he means no harm.

Also, I have orthodoxy running like karma, meaning that it's uncapped. Don't expect one big move of an 'orthodox choice' to wipe out an entire lifetime of unorthodox reputation.

 

[Kipeci]

Ah, okay. Would that also be a reason for our bad rap at the school, then? I guess that could depend on other factors, too-- obviously, the heir despises us and has a good amount of influence in the organization.

 

[Kashmir Slippers]

Is there any way that we could tell him that he was poisoned without charging anyone? It seems to me that the choices are either accuse the son of poisoning him or make no accusation at all.

We are doctors, and our patient does have a right to know. I think we should just tell him to his face in front of everyone, or better yet, get Cao'er to tell him. It might win us some more credit with him, because it makes it seem like we saved his life even more than if he was just sick. His son might even act such an idiot that he condemns himself.

Holding off on voting for now.

 

[treave]

Ah, okay. Would that also be a reason for our bad rap at the school, then? I guess that could depend on other factors, too-- obviously, the heir despises us and has a good amount of influence in the organization.

Yes, the major factor for your current poor reputation would be a combination of that incident and Rong Jr's handiwork.

Is there any way that we could tell him that he was poisoned without charging anyone? It seems to me that the choices are either accuse the son of poisoning him or make no accusation at all.

All in all, that'll have the same effect as B2. You could opt to say it if you want, but it doesn't accomplish much in practical terms. He'll just ask his filial and trusted son to investigate the poisoning.

 

[TOME]

You guys have made some shitty choices here. Taking grass cutting instead of healing touch and coming here when we could have gone to the beggars. If only my mobile could into writing. If only.

Jester's B2.

Commie red is extremely hard to read if you happen to be partially colorblind.

 

[treave]

Well, Muslim Green is fine, just so long as it stands out I reckon.

 

[Bloodshifter]

A1

 

[Jester]

You know what, it's occurred to me that there are a bunch of other advantages associated with A1:
Okay, so we won't gain any favour with Master Rong, but there is great status in a fair duel. Rong Jr. is only a halfway decent fighter at best, but the guy is the heir to the academy, which means that he has a level of status that exceeds his level of skill. It's sort of like how in boxing or MMA beating an overrated fighter improves your reputation and gets you into title contention (i.e. last two guys who beat Alistair Overeem). If we take out Rong Jr. then we'll never be welcomed at the Songfeng sword academy (and possibly, by extension, the Huashan rep will be hurt), but we will gain some measure of fame - and infamy - as the man who took out the heir to the Songfeng sword academy. That's got to mean something.

Of course, killing him will eliminate a long-term threat down the road in Rong Jr., so that's obviously important. He's ambitious, and he's a slimy fuck with a great reputation: that isn't a good thing for us.

What you base level of his skill on? We had jump on him, because he was expecting doctor not tiger in disguise. Hell we didn't even use one move in that encounter, he opted to show believable proof of us being thieves. If we didnt succeed in speak roll he would get us kicked out, free to do what he want. After loosing this gamble he had no explanation why starting something so he backed of.

I was very well aware of possibility of getting fame by defeating him still i am not so sure we can win that. This will be death match for both us, even though we got some kicks and basic skills in sword, that guy was training for his entire life to be martial art master so i expect 2-4 in sword fight and some techs. We got nice stats that is true, but Treave written that its relative to our age, we are what 15? Opponent is adult so expect that even if he is average he will be equal or better than us. We could risk fight if we could use ki for our advantage. That distraction ki would could lower his stats and pressure point cripple him to point of being beatable. Poison would work to i guess. But we got kicks and i don't recall us trying to link them to sword art so no special techs and sword will win vs leg in my opinion. Mby use of Three Poisons Powder would help us and would be nicely ironical.
Although scratch that if Treave will say that we can remake character that is fine by me. Hey mby i will get that scholar. : D

Ps Oh and if he will have grudge mby we will be able to taunt or blackmail him later getting more fame/power if he will improve school standing.

 

[Azira]

A thing to consider guys: a rather large percentage of you wish to challenge Rong jr. He's a dick, yes. But odds are he's much our superior when it comes to combat. Let's look at it shall we?
Our combat skills are sword and unarmed, both a "1".
We have 1 combat technique, the kick, at "1".
And we're going up against someone who's trained with swords at the Huashan school, and who wouldn't mind giving Jing the tier 1 Songfeng sword technique?

Odds are he's vastly Jings superior in a duel. And if Jing challenges, who gets to choose the rules of the duel or the weapons allowed? Isn't that tradionally the right of the challenged?

Just realized, Jester's saying much the same. Just trying to add my own voice of reason (or is it?).