[LP CYOA] 傳

[TOME]

And the satchel exploded with heat and light, if I remember correctly. And fire could affect them, we have the five poison powder, maybe we can backstab...

 

[Baltika9]

C2 is a much surer bet, is all. No way in hell are we spending fifty chapters working for King Yama and looking for water dragons to bring her back, just because we didn't ask for help.

And throwing explosives right next to the hostage you're trying to save is still kinda dumb. Even dumber is to do it right in front of the whole Cult.

 

[TOME]

Yes these is a difference but yet you are still saying that the number of juniors fighting doesn't matter. I don't get that logic.

 

[Baltika9]

Judging by how easily Ahura almost killed Jing, we had no time to react, we and our peers are mooks to him.

 

[Nevill]

The sheer volume of mooks can tire out a better fighter. But when there are only 4 mooks? They'd better off picking on someone of their own caliber.

 

[TOME]

I agree that in C2 Qilin is saved almost certainly. But in the mean time the sword saint is defeated, the eight sect here gets slaughtered and the fire cult becomes the only dominant power left.

 

[TOME]

The sheer volume of mooks can tire out a better fighter. But when there are only 4 mooks? They'd better off picking on someone of their own caliber.

They would be better off anywhere else. But the point I'm trying to make is that would the sword saint & others be better off if the juniors were elsewhere? If the masters thought the juniors have no role in the fight, they would have said so.

 

[Baltika9]

Not necessarily: if the Sword Saint and Masters don't need to be constantly looking out for us small fry (if it weren't for Shagguan, Jing would have been a kebab), they can focus on the actual fight and put all their energy towards Ahura, instead of spreading it out on protecting us and fighting. Besides which, the sect heads are replaceable, their Sects will endure.

As for the Cult becoming the dominant power, well, you're forgetting these guys:

And the genius Emperor leading them. Not to mention LORD Zhang Jue.

Spoiler

On a completely personal level, I couldn't care less about the sects. Qilin is Jing's woman, she takes priority.

 

[Nevill]

It depends. We really know little of his true strength.

If the Fire Lord wants them in, they'd be here by now... so you can presume that he thinks he can at least take on all three of Huashan, Taishan and Kunlun at once even if he is not at full strength. The Grand Taoist was the only man he cared to mention as a threat to him. Remember, the Sword Saint is hard to read and doesn't reveal his identity often, so he may assume the man is at the most slightly better than Nie Wuxing, and took down an injured Vahista by surprise, or various other reasons he can think of.

Of course, whether this means it's going to be a close battle that you can tip, a loss for Ahura, or it turns out he does have enough in the tank to beat all of them anyway, you won't know until the update.

What we know is that he is certain he can beat us, and that our hands are tied as long as Qilin remains captured. It is hard to determine what the future would hold.

Maybe Zhang will arrive and force him to retreat. Maybe the orthodoxes will hold out until we save Qilin and sound the retreat themselves. Maybe without Amesha Spentas to come to his aid the whole thing would end in a draw. We don't know.

Or maybe the younger fighters will end up a nuisanse and distractions for their masters to keep them alive.

Even if we could achieve victory, it will not be definitive while they hold Qilin to twist our arms. Therefore, we go to her to resolve the situation... and hope for the best.

 

[TOME]

Will the sects endure? They lose here and the fire cult attacks their HQs next. The country is thrown into chaos when there is no one protecting the land and next thing you know, Shun gets overthrown.

 

[Nevill]

They lose here and the fire cult attacks their HQs next.

There are still 8 of them. It takes months to get to them.

Look, if one Ahura Mazda is enough to throw the country into chaos, China would have been done for long ago.

On a completely personal level, I couldn't care less about the sects. Qilin is Jing's woman, she takes priority.

How can you be so cold to your future stepfather-in-law Wuxung? Do you not care for your pretty twin stepsisters-in-law?
Man, the trolling possibilities, they are endless...

 

[Baltika9]

Dude, that's projecting waaaay out there and being completely unreasonable: we don't even know what will happen one hour from now, and you're going forward for years.

Besides, the million man army, new constabulary and Gao Ying may have something to say about that. And the racist Han Chinese. And LORD ZHANG. And Yang Xue of the Manly Spear.

 

[Tigranes]

If Ahura is such a big cock that he can outcock everybody else, then we are fucked in anything but B, which we all refuse to do because he's a douchebag. Hence, we can set that aside for now.

I also believe that although the Oldies are significantly jmore powerful than the Young'uns, it's not like a 1 to 100 difference where we will make as much difference as a fly. I think Ahura is beatable, not some kind of invincible superman who will smash the sect heads and the sword saint away with impunity. The only question is whether we can actually be of help; I'm pretty sure if we can beat Ahura, then that is the best way to keep Qilin safe, ultimately, as well.

A for now.

 

[TOME]

Nevill, I'm voting C1. I know we can't win while Qilin is held hostage, but I don't want to throw all of our resources on one battle and lose the other.

 

[Nevill]

Tigranes, what does beating Ahura do for Qilin? Not killing him, just beating?

I believe the Masters are tough enough cookies not to die here easily. If push comes to shove, they will be able to retreat.

I agree, if they die here, we'll be fucked, but that's the thing - you don't know if you can beat Ahura here and now with the help of 3-4 juniors, and you don't know if he can kill the masters without them. And if we don't know that, I'd rather be where I know our presence would matter.

Nevill, I'm voting C1. I know we can't win while Qilin is held hostage, but I don't want to throw all of our resources on one battle and lose the other.

As I said, C2 prevents the Fire Temple from pouring the resourses in the same battle as well.

A - (Lord + 3 Amesha Spentas) vs. (Zhang? + Saint + 3 leaders + lesser fighters + Jing)
C2 - (Lord vs. Zhang? + Saint + 3 leaders) and (3 Amesha Spentas vs. lesser fighters + Jing)

Why is one worse than the other?

 

[TOME]

I believe we can't beat Ahura here with these players. What we can do, is to play time or even force him to retreat. If Zhang is coming them time is what we need and that means throwing the juniors into the fight.

 

[Nevill]

I believe we can't beat Ahura here with these players.

So do I, but for those who think otherwise, they'd have to explain why Amesha Spentas wouldn't join the Fire Lord once he starts losing, and why fighting them in A is better than fighting them in C2.

I believe that, given enough time, the masters will eventually lose this fight. Therefore, we should clear a way for them to retreat.

 

[treave]

Hey treave, would the big fight gone differently had our decisions somehow left Song Jiangke alive and present to fight the Amesha Spentas alongside the Great Taoist and the other masters?

Song Jiangke is not strong enough to significantly affect the result of an all out fight between the Fire Cult and the Eight Sects with both Ahura and Wang Zhengchong at full power. The outcome of such a battle, played to the end, would mostly hinge on who would go down first, the Fire Lord or the Grand Taoist, and the Eight Sects' leaders already outnumbered the Amesha Spenta anyway.

Also, being unable to defend against that hit from Ahura doesn't necessarily mean that you would have died of it. And you don't know if Vahista is the weakest of the Amesha Spenta.

 

[Nevill]

Well, Vahista and Song Lingshu were known for a while as the only ones to survive the explosion unscathed. This suggests that they were not at the epicenter. And we assumed that Song lived because she was too inexperienced to make a difference and thus did not participate in the major battle.

It is a conjencture that Vahista is on the same level with her, but it is not a too far-fetched one.

 

[Esquilax]

Well, Vahista and Song Lingshu were known for a while as the only ones to survive the explosion unscathed. This suggests that they were not at the epicenter. And we assumed that Song lived because she was too inexperienced to make a difference and thus did not participate in the major battle.

It is a conjencture that Vahista is on the same level with her, but it is not a too far-fetched one.

It's pretty goddamn far-fetched. Song Lingshu is a strong pugilist, but considering the trouble that Bai Jiutian was having with Vahista (they were pretty evenly matched, with Vahista slowly gaining the upper hand), I doubt she'd last anywhere near as long as BJ did against him. It's probably more reasonable to say that she might be on par or even better than someone like Su Liaojing, though.

 

[Nevill]

I meant that he occupies the same place among Amesha Spentas that Song Lingshu does among the sect masters. Meaning, he is the weakest of the bunch. That was the point, not comparing his power with Lingshu's.

And no, I don't think she is as powerful as a sect master who has 20 years of practice on her.

 

[treave]

Vahista didn't get away from that battle unscathed. The extra material involving the Sword Saint (even if it is of dubious canonicity) indicates that Vahista is supposed to be injured even before he fights Bai Jiutian, which would have been made even more clear had you chosen to participate in that fight.

 

[Nevill]

The extra material involving the Sword Saint (even if it is of dubious canonicity)

It outright states that Bai Jiutian is a dude, so it can't be true.

I want to believe!

 

[Rex Feral]

Can we close the votes soon? I just want another update.

 

[Azira]

That'd be fine by me. Not seeing many flops.